cancer

I just spent the last hour in a hospital room visiting an old friend who is dying of cancer. What a dreadful disease. Cancer strips you. Not only of hair and body mass but of dignity. You eat from a bag. You eliminate waste into a bag. There are tubes every place there is room to place a tube. But as I sat there talking with my friend and reminiscing about old times there was a sense of joy. Cancer can not take a person's soul. It can not strip you of the joy of knowing that there is a better place being prepared for you. It can not take the fact that you matter to God away. My friend feels like she is in a "win-win" situation....either way she will go home from that hospital room. In this war--cancer will lose.

PROPHECY

Cool video from Matchbox Twenty...what are they trying to tell us?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlqfpPf_EO0&feature=dir

REASSURANCE

But this uniqueness goes beyond giftedness; it reaches as well into the depth of each of our experiences in life. No one else has your life. No one else has your pain, your hardship, your joys and sorrows. Everything in life shapes us and we are shaped by everything for a reason – so that we can touch others in a unique way based upon who we are and what we’ve been through. God doesn’t waste anything in our lives.
Every piece of our lives and experiences can be used of Christ to touch someone else. We were made for each other; we live for each other; we even die for each other. We die with hope so that others who live might see the reality of Christ in even the darkest of hours. God uses everything.
Are you just getting by, or are you living for a reason? Think about your unique gifts and ask yourself how those gifts are benefiting others. What specific way is God using you to touch others in the Body of Christ? Do you seem to have an extra measure of wisdom, or mercy, or discernment, or knowledge, or administration, or desire to serve? These will help determine how you can look for opportunities to help others.
And then think about the things you have gone through so far in your life – especially the difficult or challenging things where God has met you with his presence and power. That information is not just for you, it’s for you to empathize with and encourage others who have encountered similar struggles.
God isn’t messing around here. There are no accidents with our lives. Whatever we have received and experienced has shaped who we are, and because of that, we are qualified servants. There is truly no one else like you … for a reason. --John Fischer

Right on!!!

The Test

God has such a sense of humor. Like when He has me read Psalm 139 at New Community---you know, the verse where it says "cross examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I'm about..."yeah, that one. Then He puts people/situations in my life where I have to struggle to respond/react in a way that will be, shall I say, God Honoring?? He brought some dirt to the surface. Ways in me that are NOT His ways. I have some work to do. *sigh*

FRIDAY

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy Fridays?? No, not the restaurant, although it is a great eating establishment...I mean Friday. My day to myself. I do not go to my job on Fridays. I get up when I want, drink an extra cup of coffee, watch the Today show and spend a little extra time in the Word on Friday. I usually talk to my son on Friday morning while he is stuck in Nashville traffic. Sometimes, I shop. Sometimes I meet a friend for lunch. Sometimes I simply enjoy being at home. I might finish that great book on Friday. I may take a long walk. I may download some songs on the IPOD. No agenda. Have I mentioned how much I enjoy Fridays??

RENEWAL

"I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint"

Jeremiah 31:25

Thank you, Lord, for this time of relaxation and renewal...Let me go forth now with more energy and purpose in my steps and a new determination to do whatever it is you have for me to do.

Thank you for the beauty you showed me this week...and the calmness that is within my reach if I just seek it.