I'm sure that all of you millions of my blog readers will be as shocked to hear this as I will be to share it with you, but here's the truth of it.
I'm about to turn 40 years old.
That's not the shocking part, really. The shocking part is the fact that I feel so ill-equipped to be writing a blog that was originally crafted as an encouragement to others...in the Word.
The older I get, the more I realize that you don't need me, or anybody else to make God's Word come alive in you. You just need Him, and His Word, and a commitment to both of you that you'll dig in, and dig deeper, and keep on digging.
And then, you need grace.
Grace for yourself, knowing that there will be things in life that hit you right between the eyes and will make you question everything you have come to know about God....about life....about everything you've ever even questioned....for that too, will seem to come into question.
Have I lost you yet?
It's the valley, my dear friends. Sometimes those valleys are brief, and you jet right through them like a gazelle.
Sometimes, they are deep and rocky and dark and smelly and confusing and you get cut up just trying to walk through them. As you make it along your merry way, "SLAM!" you hit a rock overhang you didn't see coming.
Or, maybe there's a pointy craggy rock poking right out from the side, one that you felt sure you'd be able to hold on to for support for your next step, and yet instead it cuts right into your side and leaves you bleeding.
Unexpected.
Painful.
Life.
What are we to do in times like these? Where do we go?
How do we make it through them?
Ah, I have more questions, but my Lord, he just laid down in bed...my invite to warm myself by his side, and spend the best hours of my day with the one whom I love beyond words.
To be continued...
4 comments:
What a beautiful post this morning! I can't wait to read Part 2. Hope you and your family had a very Merry CHRISTmas and have a Happy New Year!
First, I am so glad you are back, I have thought, prayed and wondered about how you were/are doing...
By your blog post...it does sound like you are doing okay.
I love your post-but,there aren't many times when I don't. ;)
You are right, God through the Holy Spirit is the one who will hold on to us and teach us all things and in a way that ONLY He can.
...your blog still a great place to come for quite a few reasons. Thanks for being there, we do learn from each other and we are meant to encourage one another...
Excellent descriptions of things that take us, by surprise...God is so faithful and His Word so true and I am so thankful!
Praise HIS Mighty Name!
We need Him and His word and also the people He works through. He had already worked through you to set up one of the dominoes in my life that brought me to Him before I saw your blog. But it has been a great source to come to when I had questions about how to change my life to reflect His presence in it.
It has been a great encouragement to see a strong woman that I know living her life in His grace because I don't have alot of that around me and it is sometimes just a great reality check when there is so much of the world around me.
Who knows how many people have stumbled onto this blog and been touched by something here and had a dominoe set up in their life through your writings here.
I am comforted by the fact that our life here is so short and it is filled with opportunities that He gives us to reflect His light and help His children. I am grateful to the many ways you have chosen to carry that out.
And I AM shocked that you are turning 40! Happy Birthday! You are beautiful inside and out and I wish you mountains to climb out of the valleys this year.
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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