Here are some tidbits that spoke to me on a personal level. God will meet you where you are, but He has no intention of leaving you there! This is not only a comfort to know, but also a call to rise up! Trusting God's character in the midst of suffering. Trusting that He is who He says He is, that He loves me, that He has a purpose in it, and trust in the sovereignty of God. God's purpose for suffering: that the focus would be on God's glory and the preeminence of Christ, an opportunity for personal growth and to rejoice that this world is not our home, used to encourage spiritual growth in others, repent of personal sin, an opportunity to TRUST God when it's HARD, and demonstrate FAITHFULNESS when tempted to REBEL. It is in the times that we are so ready to give up or run away, that the choice the stay displays the greatest about of faith and trust! I will share one last thought before I move on (because there is so much I could share, but not in one post...).
Respect begins in the heart - having a godly attitude toward the person, godly communication with them, ask questions instead of making accusations, practice humility, show grace in words and tone of voice, use words and tone of voice that edify- build them up when they faith and commend when they succeed, express gratitude, avoid gossip or being critical of them in public or private to others who aren't part of the problem or solution, believe the best of them, deal with your problems first before trying to help them please God, and pray for them daily. Every time I read this, I am struck again by how much strife/anger/stress/etc we can spare ourselves if we followed this when dealing with others. Especially those closest to us!
Something else that happened this month; is that I managed to live a normal life for three weeks without a phone!!!! Simply shocking...I know! It is kind of ridiculous how attached we get to our phones and how much we rely on them. Can you imagine having to look up directions and write them down before you travel knowing that if you don't follow them correctly...well you might just have to STOP and ASK for directions!?! Picture a life where you actually have to find the person in order to communicate with them (or send them an email when you are near a computer)! Crazy!! Yep, it is crazy...also quite feasible and enjoyable! Before I broke my phone, I would purposely "forget" it, so that I wouldn't be bothered by others or tempted to spend a ridiculous amount of time surfing Facebook so that I appeared busy. To just go off grid for awhile. When I broke it, it opened up so many more of those opportunities! To be fully immersed in the moment. Not thinking about capturing a picture or texting my friends. When I was with someone, I was with them 100%, not distracted by texts, phone calls, and social media. I think one of the biggest loses we take with our phones, is our ability to communicate with the people we come in contact with everyday. So rather than being on your phone in the check-out line, have more than a "Hi, how are you" conversation with your cashier. Rather than be plugged into your music; talk with the nurse as you are donating blood or the guy sitting next to you on the plane.
As I looked around I noticed how much people are oblivious to everything going on around them. So here we sit; a world of lonely people looking for relationships in the wrong places. We go to Facebook, music, video games, movies, etc. None of these are inherently wrong, but none of them will ever fill you the way a real relationship with another human being will. Most importantly, none of them will ever fill the emptiness and loneliness in you that was created for God to fill.
You ever have those moments when you have feel like you have "made it?" Even if it only lasts for a brief moment. WinterJam was in Fort Wayne recently (it is a concert of several different Christian artists). I had a friend who actually knew one of the speakers on tour. The speaker was Stephanie Fast (if you don't know who she is...seriously, check her out!) and they gave us free backstage passes!! So we got to hang out with Stephanie and her husband!! They showed us their tour bus, we hung out in Stephanie's dressing room...and while in there met & talked with Lauren Daigle. You know...no big deal or anything. We got to watch several of the artists from the side of the stage and got to meet some of them afterwards! Dave from Sidewalk Prophets, Trip Lee, KB, Red, etc. I will not deny, I felt pretty cool/important. My moment of "having made it," was the fact that we had an inside connection to get backstage. However, I was also struck with how we are all just normal people. Really, why is it so cool to meet famous people? Is it just because their name is known by so many more people? Most of the time you meet them, they will not remember you. How could they? I mean if you met hundreds of people every night...you wouldn't remember them all. Do we hope that we might be the one person that they remember and become friends with? I don't know...it is just interesting to think about.
with Trip Lee
Another story before I end. I was donating plasma Friday. I had decided to donate from my left arm (which to preface the story, I don't use my left arm a lot, because although I have a good vein to donate from, it tends to roll). So I get all settled into my chair. The nurse said they needed to take a sample (they do that every few months) before donating, no problem (I thought). She sticks me and try to get a sample, but the blood isn't coming out fast enough. She adjusted the line and tried again with another sample tube. Still without luck, she asked another nurse to take over. So the second nurse adjusted the line and tried yet a third sample tube. It still wasn't working, so she said we would have to do a crossover (switch to my right arm). No problem (I thought yet again). By this time a third nurse was involved. Nurse #3 put the line in my right arm and got the sample pretty quickly. She then hooked me up to the machine to donate. However, the machine kept getting air bubbles in my blood, then the saline wasn't pumping back into my vein right. I was actually not sure exactly what was going on, but the nurse came and tried adjusted the needle again. However, she accidentally poked it through the other side of the vein (or something). All I know is I was all of a sudden pressing my lips together in pain. My first thought was it was just from adjusting it, but I looked down at the needle and my skin was very puffed up! I was like (in my mind) "what happened?! I know I said my left arm didn't hurt...but you didn't have to make my right one actually hurt!" Anyway, I obviously couldn't donate anymore that day. She said I had a hematoma....which is just a cool, fancy word for a big bruise; gave me ice and instructions to care for it, and sent me home. I say all that to say this....I now have a super cool/ugly looking bruise on my arm. :) And yes, here is a picture of it...
I will leave you with on last verse and thought:
"The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times." Psalm 12:6
God's word has been tested over and over again, and has proven true! Just as that silver was refined many times. The silver didn't disintegrate the more it was put to the fire, it didn't became burnt and ugly; not only did it make the silver more pure, but also more beautiful!
