Hallelujah! We Are Not Alone

Forgiveness… what a convicting word.  What does it mean?  It’s hard enough to tell someone that we forgive them.  It’s even harder to actually do it, whether we ever tell them or not.  The Greek word translated as forgiveness means to “let go” or “release”. A friend recommended the book,  Forgiving What You Can’t Forget by Lysa Terkeurst . My first thoughts were that this would be a pretty easy read for me as most people have no idea what all I’ve had to forgive in my life.  Then thoughts immediately came to mind of those whose words had hurt me personally or their actions had hurt my family. I thought of how I had “forgiven” them by being around them, doing things for them, and treating them nicely even after what they had done.  Then I realized, that if those things were so easy to recall, maybe I hadn’t truly let go and released them.  Maybe I hadn’t truly forgiven them after all.  This wasn’t an easy pill for me t...

A few years ago, a piece of property at the end of my lane came up for sale.    Dad was immediately interested in it.     In one area, under the branches of several cedar trees, was a small piece of pipe sticking out of the ground. No one seemed to know why it was there. We dug around in the pile of limbs and leaves and found nothing but the small pipe and it was left a mystery.     Dad purchased the property and not much else was thought of it.   One day after he passed away, Rusty and I were riding on the UTV and noticed that something looked odd in that area. We got out and pushed some of the brush out of the way and there underneath it all was the top of a well casing.  It had been there all along.  I desperately wanted to call my Dad and tell him what we had found.   A few days later, we measured the depth to make sure it had water and to prepare to put in a hand pump. The hard work of drilling a well had already been...

I’ve had several people tell me lately how strong I am.    Those that know me well, know that things aren’t always as they appear.    I’m not near as strong as a lot of people think.   I’m reminded of the first words of,  Just A Closer Walk With Thee .    “I Am Weak But Thou Art Strong…”.     I went through a period where all I knew to do was to draw my strength from Him, because I didn’t have any on my own.    I recently watched a Focus on the Family video where the contributor said that sometimes we as Christians think that people are far from Christ in their weakest moments, but for a Christian that is often when they are the closest because drawing close to Him is the only way they are surviving.   Several months ago, I reached my breaking point. There were many things that contributed to it. Some were: Almost losing my Mom who lives hours away and driving many miles to watch and wait for her recovery pr...

So many times, we think that no one else would understand what we are going through.  We can be lonely even when we are surrounded by a group of people.   I went through a long period in my life where I was friendly to a lot of people, but I didn't want to get close to anyone else.  It's much easier to not have many friends than to have them and lose them whether that be through death, distance, or desertion.   As I began to let my wall down, that fear of desertion crept in.  If my new friends, knew how anxious I am sometimes or if they knew of some struggles within my family, would they walk away?  Would I wish that I had never let that wall down at all?  Who hasn't had an unreasonable fear creep inside of them at times? One day as I was driving, the song, God Really Loves Us, by Crowder, came on the radio.  It had been out for a while, but I had never paid a lot of attention to the words.  This day was different.  The fi...

I've always found it easier to put my thoughts on paper because I tend to ramble and beat around the bush when I talk.  I recently shared something that I had written with a couple of people, pertaining to a very anxious season in my life.  I was encouraged to "put it out there, to help others".  I wasn't sure if this was anything that I wanted or needed to do, because it makes me vulnerable and open to criticism and... Who am I to think that anything I write would help anyone else? I asked a friend and published writer, "How do you know if something you've written is worth sharing?" She said that if it helped me, it probably would help others and not to allow my testimony to go unheard when it could help someone else.  That when we overcome something, it's up to us to help someone else overcome.  I thought about that and gave one of my journal entries to a friend to read...she cried.  She later told me that she didn't cry because o...