Love

Life is sometimes very, very challenging. Ill-health, difficulties at work, problems with relationships, uncertainty of all kinds...sometimes it just seems as if nothing is going right in any way.

But I can still breathe.

And as I breathe, I pray. I pray with words and without. I pray my words and those of others, when I can remember them. But above all, I pray the Lord's Prayer.

Today, I got stuck on 'Our father'. I found myself thanking God for my husband, that He is OUR father together, that we are no longer orphans (in the sense of the world, as all our parents have passed on now) but that HE fathers us.

And Peter says:
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."

Cheri Gregory offers an interesting take on this:
"In the classic “Hero’s Journey” paradigm, heroism and villainy involve the same two core elements:

sacrifice and salvation
A hero sacrifices herself to save others.
A villain sacrifices others to save herself....

it all comes down to surrender.

The choice to:
live like a villain, sacrificing others to save myself.

or
surrender to the one true Hero – the One who sacrificed himself to save me,
quit chasing Holy Grails,
hear (from the One who heard from his own Father, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased”) “I’m so glad you’re my daughter!”
receive His Blessing…

…and start bestowing."

Love is indeed the answer to all our troubles. Putting others first, remembering that God is OUR (not just MY) father, because God loves me. 

I don't need to EARN it by loving others.

I don't need to GRAB it by being selfish.

God loves me anyway. Just as I am. No conditions.

Wow.

And so, knowing this, I can be generous:
"Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help....

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.... 

Each of you has been blessed with one of God’s many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gift well. ...Everything should be done in a way that will bring honor to God because of Jesus Christ 1 Peter 4:10 - 11

A confession...

I began to blog partly out of a need to reference inspirational articles. I needed somewhere to store them where I could retrieve them when I needed to. Often, I think I'd be best off just 're-publishing' - rather like 'retweeting' - every inspirational blog I read. Don't really need to blog myself when there is such wonderful stuff out there.
Today was one such day. A hiccupy, teary, 'whoops' day which reminded me of the need to receive encouragement, to store it on my blog as well as on my heart - because I forget too easily. A day when I needed to read this.
Several months of stress - husband ill, a  busy school year, adult children flown the nest, unkindness from a friend resulting in the loss of friendship (her choice, not mine), and struggling to serve out of my comfort zone in a small traditional church - have left me tired and surprisingly lonely. I have much to be thankful for and to take joy in - my husband's health is now under control and he is back at work, and I am enjoying the summer break from school, to mention just a couple of lesseners of stress - but I have found social interaction hard work. I've felt alone, even worthless, and my joy seems to have disappeared. For today, anyway.
So Ayla's words of encouragement were very timely. A good reminder that I cannot - must not - depend on circumstances or others for my joy.
I pray that I learn the lesson PROPERLY in my heart.
Then there was double whoops, as I was reminded to 'look to Christ and remember just how precious I am in His eyes' over at Messy Marriage...
Hmmm... lessons to learn indeed.
(I'm thinking I may still be needing to add to this post...)

'Only' me, little me...

I've been pondering the idea of 'only' for quite a while now. (I'm not finished yet.) I look at the wonderful online ministries all over the world, or friends who have a wide influence, or even women I know close to home who seem to do marvellous and BIG things for God's kingdom.
Then there's me. Just me.
I've been tempted to look at what I DON'T have or do.

So I was interested to read that Courtney, of Women Living Well (with whom I'm linking today) has wondered about the difference she can make with only two children. Two doesn't seem enough to her. Yet many women have no children at all. Many women, unlike her (she has a large online ministry), like me, have only tiny spheres of influence.

I appreciate Courtney's honesty and her insights. We all tend, as she does, to look at our 'lack'. We crave lots of friendships, as Ayla shared recently. We crave importance. We crave a sense of worth, of purpose.

Sharing this with a friend yesterday - a brand new, scarcely known friend, but a friend where we connected instantly - she reminded me that God is pleased with me for standing just where I am.
Because I WAS 'standing' - in a small church, as a lone Christian in my workplace - because I WAS there, God could use me.
It hadn't felt like that.
I need to remember the words of John Newton:

'A Christian is not of hasty growth, like a mushroom, but rather like the OAK, the progress of which is hardly perceptible, but which in time becomes a great deep rooted tree.'
I need to keep patience, trusting that God will do what He will do because I am standing. Like the man with the withered hand: He (Jesus) went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there... Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. (Matthew 12: 9 -10, 13, NIV)
The man with the crippled hand just stood there: all he did was do what Jesus told him.

So now, in the space of a few days, I have been reminded that:
I may feel small and insignificant, but I am standing where I am. God can use me.
I have 'only' 2 children - but they are already doing great things in obedience to God.
And I am thankful for many good friendships, but the best of all is the one who 'sticks closer than a brother' (or sister).
Jesus.

Oh, just one more thing. I'm not sure I'll be saying to anyone on the phone or when I drop in on someone that it's 'only me'. Mae Mobley was told in 'The Help' (read the book, see the movie): 'You is kind. You is smart. YOU IS IMPORTANT'.
Yes, we are indeed.

(Click on the links for better and deeper explanations from Courtney and Ayla on this idea. I'm thankful that I read their wisdom and can share it here.)