Relief

I was searching for quotes on different subjects and found this...

~ We all need a little relief now and again ~

Golly "G"

My friend Jenster posted this on her blog.  

Rules: If you want to play, leave a comment on this post, and I’ll assign you a letter. You write about ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter, and post it at your place. When people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on and on...

1.  Grandparents - my grandparents are all gone but I have wonderful memories of time spent with them and I love the relationship my kids have with theirs.  What a wonderful way to learn from very wise people.

2.  grace - without God's grace we are all lost

3.  gifts - I love not only the kind of gifts that you can touch but even more the kind you can't.  You know the unexpected kind word - a gentle hug - extra help just when you thought you couldn't go on

4.  Gap - one of my favorite stores!

5.  gem - the bigger the better - what woman doesn't like gems

6.  girlfriends - I have the best girlfriends - they are always there when I need them and when I don't.  Life without girlfriends is like life without grace!

7.  grin - who doesn't love to smile or for that matter love to see someone smile :)

8.  guitar - I love music although I am more partial to drums but that begins with d

9.  gab - Anyone who knows me knows how much I love to talk!

10. God - because He loves me unconditionaly and is always there with open arms waiting for me.

Sooooo - who wants a letter?

 

But I really need it....

Have you ever wanted something so badly it consumed you? You know like when you are a kid and wanted that special toy. You had to have it - if you didn't you just knew you would die.

Everything you did revolved around getting that toy - trying to explain to your parents why you needed it - always pointing out when a commercial came on about it - talking about your friends who had just gotten one - even resorting to tears if necessary.  You thought about it all the time.  

Most of the time you didn't get it and amazingly you didn't die.  If you were lucky enough to get that special toy you probably played with it for a short time before it either broke or started collecting dust somewhere.   

It amazes me how even after growing up we can still be consumed by wanting something. That thing may or may not be good for us.  It may or may not be necessary.  It may or may not change our lives.  We may really want it or we may only think we want it but yet it consumes us.

Every waking thought becomes about how to get that ______ (you fill in the blank).  We find ourselves day dreaming about it.  We talk about it - trying to convince ourselves and others how much we need it.  Once in a while we are even driven to tears when we can't figure out how to get it.  

"I'd rather fight You for something I don't really want, (we think we want it) 

than Take what You give that I need"  Hold Me Jesus

Why can't we just take what God gives us - after all he knows what we need!

Grace

As I sit here watching the snow falling I keep thinking about how beautiful it looks while it's snowing.  The white flakes falling freely from the sky.  Every flake different.  Each one not knowing where it will land but together creating a blanket of white covering everything it touches.

It's as if God is sending a blanket of white to wash away all my sins.  Covering them in His grace. Just like the old hymn says, 

"Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow."

I am holding on tight to this!

 

Taking a deep breath - and liking it!

Today was a definite turning point in 2009.  Sometimes in life we get to a point where we feel like we are going in circles.  Each day is just like the last.  We're not sure where we are heading or why.

I've been there for quite a while now.  I thought I was listening to where God wanted me and changed the focus of my serving.  Still I felt lost - trapped.  A friend took this picture and wrote these words which explain the very way I was feeling ...

12/365 no way out

"There is nothing like feeling trapped. Trapped in yourself, trapped in a job, trapped. Just trapped.

The funny thing is most of the time the glass isn't that thick. It's easily broken with just a few slaps. It might be worth a few cuts, a little blood. You might get out.

Isn't it worth getting out?"  Gail

Today - though - I broke through the one of those panes of glass.  It was a pane I have looked at for months but didn't know how to break through.  Breaking through was as easy as listening to what God was saying ...  Now is not the time for you to try to do My work on earth but a time to let Me do my work for you ~ hold you, restore you, be strong for you, love you like no one else can.

So today I stepped away from my leadership role in Student Ministries at my church.  After finishing the final things I needed to, having conversations with key leadership people (they are more than leaders they are my friends) and turning in my keys I walked out of the building.  I took a deep breath and felt the air rush into my lungs - I held it for a moment because I feel like it is the first deep breath I've been able to take in quite a long time.  I think it is the first of many this year and I can't wait!

When words fail

I don't like it - no I hate it when people I love hurt.

I get so frustrated when I don't have the words to help. I just want to make things better. But sometimes when a friend is hurting there are no words of comfort. Words of wisdom only seem to be cold. Words of love don't seem to ease the hurt.

So what to do? Love them through it. Hold them when they need to be held. Pick them up when they fall. Wipe their tears when they come. Pray for them. Just love them!