Westwoods

  Jasmine shares her heart with me from time to time. She's been married about the same amount of time as me and appreciates my honesty about the ups and downs of the aforementioned constitution.  Most people know that I have struggled to survive in my relationships, not only to survive, but also to thrive. I have "metamorphosised" one could say. Still...I am not a butterfly, tho my wings are finally unfolding. I read in my Bible this morning about Jesus' teaching on 'who is my neighbor?' Put another way... 'Who should I care about?' Jesus answer... paraphrased of course...(The one who comes to where you are. The one who sees you wounded and hurt and left alone. The one who has compassion and is moved to doing practical things like feeding and putting on salve, and giving drink. The one who cleans the wound and binds it up. The one who prays for the work done.) If you do all this you are being aware of who and what your response is to loving God and lo...

I was hearing what you were asking. And I know that battle line. Because I've been there too. I know what its like to pray and muscle that thing to the ground...it will not triumph over me...so I pray. God will win. I think God shows He loves us when He gives us these impossible assignments that requires all of our hearts wrestling. Sadly, we don't often recognize it as His love and care and provision for how we can best serve Him in His kingdom. Often it just seems lonely and misunderstood.  We want to explain our position to the naysayers and the ones who think they know a thing or two about our situation, the one they have never walked themselves.  We are tempted to MAKE them understand. We want encouragement and backing from humans. Somehow, that's just easier...to reach out to the humans in our lives.  Instead we could choose to lean in to the pain and lonely road that we are given to walk, to view it as a gift, and to not isolate ourselves into bitterness and anxiet...

    I will sing of the goodness of God! How is it possible for us to hold extreme sorrow and extreme joy in the same cup? My cup runneth over with both. Last week our first grandbaby was born. And my friend had another grandbaby go to Jesus...another angel baby...my friend's daughter lost another baby. A whole family mourns. Life. Hope. Stunned. Gone. It's so hard to see God's goodness in this place. I witnessed the birth of our granddaughter and prayed that Jesus would give me some of the pain her mama was experiencing.  Overwhelmed by the goodness of God. A miracle. Our joy isn't negated by the sorrow of the other. Yet, they both run together in the same stream. How? Why? We are told to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those that weep. I didn't know it would happen together.  And this is our earthly life. There are things that happen to us that can look like losses. Or great big fails. Or ongoing circumstances that seem to never change or heal or impro...