The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
– The Bible
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scripture friday.
The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time.
– The Bible
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walls.
The walls we build around us to keep sadness out also keeps out the joy.
-Jim Rohn
Ever see a flower growing in an unexpected place?
Even a rusty fence can be home for a delicate vine.
We all have barren places in our lives. Don’t let that emptiness you feel make you hopeless. There is ugliness in life but there is also beauty. They dwell together.
It’s far too easy to become hardened and bitter, and before you know it, you’ve built a wall of protection around yourself.
Don’t keep the beauty from growing in your life! Let it wrap around the ugliness and diminish its power of negativity, sadness, and hopelessness.
It has that power.
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self-pity
Be careful you don’t stay in your pain too long.
Some people do not want to move on. They may resent the pain and in reaction to it, stay there and sulk.
Be careful of self-pity.
And misery … it does like company.
You may find yourself very alone.
Doesn’t the earth teach us that a long, dark night breaks with morning sunlight?
At some point, you have to welcome the light. How about today?
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let freedom ring.
do the next thing.
“Have you had the experience of feeling as if you’ve got far too many burdens to bear, far too many people to take care of, far too many things on your list to do? You just can’t possibly do it, and you get in a panic and you just want to sit down and collapse in a pile and feel sorry for yourself.
Well, I’ve felt that way a good many times in my life, and I go back over and over again to an old Saxon legend, which I’m told is carved in an old English parson somewhere by the sea. I don’t know where this is. But this is a poem which was written about that legend. The legend is: ‘Do the next thing.’ “- Elisabeth Elliot
The world is busy and complex.
It’s your choice if you want to get off at the next stop or be swept away in the current.
The simple things in life are often the most profound.
Slow down.
And just do the next thing.
sacrifice.
Sacrifice is when we care about others over ourselves.
It may be giving our time, money, or possessions. It’s almost always doing the opposite of what we might choose to do with those things.
It costs us something because it draws from a depth of caring that is very close to our heart. We feel the withdrawal from our soul and it can be painful. Yet, it turns out to be a joy to know our sacrifice made a difference for someone.
Even if they don’t know about it.
What if the recipient of your sacrifice isn’t grateful for their circumstances changing because of you? That is part of your sacrifice.
It hurts when you know what you’ve given and it is not appreciated. And sometimes, it’s even thrown back in your face.
If you’ve wondered about Christianity, that’s really what it’s all about. Jesus gave his heart to the world. He sacrificed himself and endured the cross because of the joy that awaited him.
When you sacrifice it is noticed by God. Don’t focus on the pain. Focus on the joy that comes from sacrifice.
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scripture friday.
Always be joyful in the Lord! I’ll say it again: Be joyful!
-The Bible
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wait on the Lord.
I know what it feels like when it seems that things will not change.
It feels like your situation will never end and it will consume you.
The thing I have personally experienced is – it won’t.
Have you thought about the immensity of the earth and 2/3 is covered by water?
And yet it does not overtake the land.
How much more important are you?
God is fully aware of your situation.
We have to be patient and wait. He knows the right moment for it to change.
Meanwhile, God keeps you close. It may not seem like it but he does. It’s not until you look back that you see it.
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9 years.
Standing at your child’s grave is surreal. Even after many years you wonder, did this really happen?
At the same time, you know it did.
I stare at the etched letters of his name. I look at the date of his birth and remember. I look at the date of his death and remember.
So much life has gone by.
I remember being afraid I would forget his voice. I haven’t.
I’m in two worlds with two different measures of time. He is not here, he is there. But where exactly? I know there is heaven. But I don’t know where it is or what it looks like.
I just know this: to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). And it gives me peace.
I clean the headstone since I can’t stand the little bits of green moss that settle in the crevices. I pull a couple of tiny weeds. I didn’t help him then – perhaps I can be of help now?
There are no tears. I’ve cried them all.
I leave that place under the pine tree with an empty place in my heart.
And I wait.
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when it hurts 