Friends, Family, strength and weakness

I wrote this today for a friend who is grieving from the loss of her mother, and the responsibility of all that comes with that, recuperating from a long year of trying to meet her mothers needs, tryint to help her family understand how and why she is feeling what she is feeling, job issues for both her and her husband, as well as many "life" changes that come for all of us at one time or another, ..... and all in the span of the last 6 months.  the first part i share is from a book we are studying in our adult bible fellowship class at church and my thoughts on some things I am pondering and the second is a story form a 'hugs for a friend' book i was given.  then again...  my thoughts.  after re reading it I thought we all are in places in our lives.....very different in the pages....how the story reads.....but the same in the cover....we are all doing and journeying thru this thing called Life it is messy and hard and complicatied, and thought we could all benefit from a little encouragement today!  I appreciate the different walks, challenges and sufferings that are uniquely part of you and what God created you for.  WE are saved by grace through faith....our existence is not random....he knew who he was creating....and designed us for specific work....jer. 1:6-10


excerpt from: crazy love by francis chan

........maybe life's pretty good for you right now.  God has given you this good stuff so that you can show the world a person who enjoys blessing but who is still totally obsessed with God.  OR Maybe life is tough right now, and everything feels like a struggle.  god has allowed hard things in your life so you can show the world that your God is great and that knowing Him brings peace and joy, even when life is hard.... to be brutally honest it doesn't really matter what place you find yourself in right now......Your part is to bring him glory- whether eating a sanwhich on a lunch break, drinking coffee at 12.04 am so you can stay awake to study , or watching your four month old take a nap....the point of our lives is to point to him!  .....If life were stable, not fragile....we would never need God's help, for these reason we reach out to him.  
*Worry, implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough or loving enough to take care of whats happening in our lives
*Stress. says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace towards others, or our tight grip of control.  
*Basically these two behaviors communicate that its okay to sin and not trust God because the stuff in my life is somehow exceptional.  Both worry and stress reek of arrogance.  
end of quotes: 


>I have to confess I  struggle with some of this..... mind you these are quick quips out of this book...and to get the full context you would have to read the chapter.......but when i read the scriptures that go with them.....it challenges me to look at things differently....our "stuff" ...problems, trials, burdens are not unique  or "exceptional" ......neither  in regards to others and especially in regards to Christ....this challenges me to look at life differently......deal with worry differently, trials and tribulations both temporal and ongoing differently.....and continually ask myself......is my life pointing to him???  what am I obsessed with?



Story from hugs for friends:
Right away, from the very first week, God seemed to know that the world would be too wild and whooly for us to make it on our own.  He looked at Adams single self and announced: It's not good for man to be alone .  Then he went to work and fashioned a friend for him named Eve.  When Noah came along and the rain became a flood, God knew Noah would be going through some pretty rough waters.  so he sealed Noah up in the ark and brought his family along for the ride.  God gave Joshua to Moses as a companion for his journey through out the wilderness.  for fourty years they walked and talked and checked their maps, until finally they found the Promised Land.  Daughter in law Ruth was God's gift to Naomi after the rest of her family had died.  In young Davids most desperate hour, the Lord found Jonathan to be exactly the kind of friend David needed to make it to safety.      When everyone and everything was ripped from Job's hands , God allowed the comments of Job's comrades to keep him compnay.  And even as his only son traveled dusty roads and sailed stormy seas, God flanked Jesus with faithful friends and followers.  
The Father knew we couldn't make it on our own either.  So he birthed us into families, but he doesn't stop there.  Once we've been born again, he sets us up with a loving community that laughs awith us and cries with us an prays us on to forever.  


My thoughts:
I know it may seem sometimes that our "families" both birthed,  legal and otherwise may have let us down.....or don't understand us....or have become impatient with us maybe even unfair......or wanting us to be on their timeline....see things the way they do ....implement coping skills that they have.......but we need to know that God sees us......how he created us....our personal uniqueness in all we do and the way we do it ....he sees great value in all of us.  he loves us and understands us the way no other can.  he does not make mistakes, and knows the feelings we  have even if we don't utter them or jot them down.  he gave us those feeling to "feel"  not to sin in.... but to "feel" feeling gives us a better "sense"...... to help others down similiar paths, it gives us compassion and a realness that can't be faked.   I think we should embrace the moments of our lives both pleasant and unpleasant ....go with it....."feel" it.....not to allow it to make us numb......and non responsive.....potenially bitter ......but to use the grief, pain or joy to further our understanding... or come to peace with our lack of understanding.....I think to hold on to even the unpleasantness.... in a good way.....i know....that sounds stupid......but i have found that you can hold on to it......the experience...the memory....or lesson..... store it away if you will,... as a hidden strength you will pull from one day to help another.....or to cross another bridge of your own.  Not that you don't move forward and away from the intensity of this moment in your life......but glean from it all that God intends..... or has allowed for....( heal the wound but leave the scar?)   We can be there for one another pulling from our  "store" of experience and pain or joy and feeling it with each other......in a different way.....now......but in one that has patience, empathy and sympathy for your burden......we can pray each other thru.....walking right beside each other.........  Take heart for Joy comes in the morning!