I can't believe that it has been 9 days since I last posted. I usually have so much to say. Every time I thought about writing something, it just didn't seem like the right time. Now, it is the right time.
This past week has been quite a busy one, it seems. Today we had quite a few storms throughout the state. I must confess that I am not the least bit a fan of bad weather. I do okay with a little light rain. But when the weather channel starts talking about tornadoes and such, I can just feel my skin crawl.
When we talk about storms, we think of the ones that come hidden in dark clouds raring their ugly heads with bolts of lightning. But those are not the only storms. A dear friend of mine was whirled into a massive storm Tuesday. It started with a phone call. My friend was on her way to work in New Orleans when the phone rang. Her daughter had been in a head-on collision with an 18-wheeler dump truck. They couldn't tell her what condition her daughter was in. My friend immediately started to cry, scream, yell, and call out to God. Thankfully, my friend knows how to battle the storms. She's already had to do that just 16 months ago tomorrow when her 16 year old daughter was killed in a car wreck on Christmas day. She called out to our Lord. Within a few hours, thousands of people were praying for my friend, her family and her daughter. Her daughter suffered a broken arm and her neck was broken in two places. All of the praise be to our God, because she was able to go home yesterday. It looks as though her neck should heal itself and they are waiting to find out what needs to be done next week on her arm. Now tell me, after reading that, that God doesn't still perform miracles! Wow! He most certainly does!
I'm still doing a slow process of healing around here. I have to say that this surgery has made every attempt to get the best of me. I went back to the doctor Wednesday. The hysterectomy aspect is healing fine, but there are a few complications from the bladder surgery. The pain is getting worse at times, but I still know that God is watching over me and is going to completely heal me. I just need to learn a little better how to ask for help. I have always had the attitude of "If I have to ask someone to do what they can see needs to be done, then I would rather just do it myself." Not the right kind of attitude to have at all, especially when you are recovering from surgery. Every time I think I have this pride thing conquered, something else comes along! God is such an excellent teacher, isn't He?!
I have felt as though it has been Christmas around here the past few days. A friend sent me a stack of Karen Kingsbury books. I can't wait to read them. He also included 2 other books. One is a daily devotional called "Jesus Calling" and the other is a little book on evangelism called "Secret to an Open Door". I am already halfway through with that one and I can already see that I will be reading it over and over. It is definitely a treasure. It is on my top 10 books to recommend!
We are supposed to go look at an RV sometime this weekend, if possible. A friend of ours found it and everything sounds good about it. But it is definitely in God's hands and many prayers are being said before our eyes are even going to be laid on it. I am so excited about what God is doing in our lives. Every day is a new learning experience with Him.
The mid-part of the week brought another learning experience to me. I have a few friends on Facebook that it seems it is apparent that they are not fans of one another. Both are Christians, but it seemed as though one was just way too abrasive and harsh. The words that he spoke and typed were reeked with condemnation. I found myself getting angry with him for how he was acting. Then, all of a sudden, the mirror surfaced and I didn't care for what I saw at all. Slowly, I was being pulled into the same attitude towards him. Thankfully, God threw that mirror in front of my face and I was able to see clearly what was happening. I was able to talk at length with that friend later on and share with him one of the things that I feel is so important: Above all, put on love. Colossians 3 tells us the rules for holy living. Colossians 3:14 tells us "And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Another lesson that I learned this week through this quarrel was the fact that we are not supposed to quarrel. 2 Timothy 2 tells of a workman approved by God. Verse 24 tells us that "The Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful." I feel that he and I both learned a little this week. I sure hope so. It's all about God. And God is love. We have to deal with situations in a way that is pleasing to our Father. It's not about our anger or our hurt feelings. Every day there will come situations upon us that we do not agree with or support. But how we deal with those situations is the defining point. We must handle ourselves in a Christ-like manner. Once again, God is an excellent teacher.
Every day, there will be a storm. Trials are storms. Temptations are storms. Life on this earth is a storm. But through each and every one of those storms, we have a bright shining light just waiting to shine through. Our God is watching over us, waiting to throw out that rainbow telling us that all is well. Can you see it?
