Jesus Wept

For Monday Manna this week, Joanne chose the shortest verse in the Bible. Don't forget to join us at Joanne's for links to more thoughts on this great verse!

Jesus wept.
~John 11:35

This is a verse that has grabbed me each time I've read it for the last several years. I always see the compassion of Jesus in this verse—whether it's compassion for the heartache Mary and Martha were going through, compassion on Lazarus for calling him away from the better place he'd gone to, or compassion on the lost people all around Him. Jesus was a compassionate man.
He is a compassionate God.
He sees our heartaches and understands our sorrows.

But Your are a God of forgiveness,
Gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness;
And You did not forsake them.
~Nehemiah 9:17

The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
for His compssions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great it Your faithfulness.
~Lamentaions 3:22-23

Not only can we depend oh His faithfulness, but we can depend on His compassion—remembering that He is a just and righteous God.

The fact that the Bible records that Jesus wept is a vivid reminder to me that He is compassionate and that He does understand what we're going through and just how frail humanity is. There's tremendous comfort for me in Jesus' tears. When we're going through a hard time and we come in contact with a compassionate person, we really appreciate and feel their concern. How much greater when we encounter Christ's compassion and tears for us?!

Heavenly Father, thank You for understanding me, and loving me. Being the just and righteousness God that You are, You could have passed over being compassionate, but Lord, I'm so thankful You didn't. Please help me to always run to You for compassion, but also to never take it for granted. You paid a high price for compassion. I love You, Lord Jesus. Thank You.

He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrow He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
~Isaiah 53:3-4


Be sure to join me Tuesday At the Well for Smelly Cans!

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Unplugged

Welcome to Fiction Friday! Today Dorinda is our host at Treasures in Jars of Clay. Be sure to join us there for links to more fun fiction! And if you're posting fiction with us, don't forget to add your link to Mr. Linky at the end of Dorinda's post. See ya there!
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Unplugged
“I'm so tired of it all,” Carla complained as we dug through boxes looking for costumes for the Easter Presentation.

“You're already tired of looking? We've only just begun and there are six boxes,” I joked, hoping to side-track her.

“Gracie, you know what I mean and it's not a joking matter. I'm thinking about divorcing Darren. I just don't think I can spend the rest of my life with him!”

My hands stopped above the box and angel wings fluttered onto my lap. Those would work for one of the pre-schoolers. Where's Pamela, Lord? She would know how to handle this. The room was so silent the clock sounded loud to me. If I sit here long enough she'll laugh and tell me she's kidding. But she didn't.

“Did you hear what I said?” she demanded, back ramrod straight and fists resting on her thighs.

Help me out here, Lord, because this is way out of my league. I waited for Divine intervention, but none came.

“Why do you think that?” I hesitantly asked.

“He doesn't listen to me and he doesn't care what I think. How's that for starters?”

Whoa. For starters? I made my hands dip back into the box and lift out the next thing. What's the king's sash doing in here with angel wings? Focus, Gracie.

“But why not trying to work through things?”

Carla looked at me as if I were off my rocker. “Work through things? Now you're not listening either. I told you, the man won't listen and he doesn't care! He's not gonna 'work through' things. C'mon, Gracie, get your head in the real world.”

Control, Gracie. Get control. I gritted my teeth, trying to listen to common sense, but my rash side was getting in the way. Real world? Girl, let me tell you about the real world! I counted to ten, then to twenty, but it didn't work.

“The real world? I'll tell ya' about the real world, Carla. In the real world we're required to grow up and get our eyes off ourselves. In the real world we have to buckle down and do a lot of things we don't want to.” Carla's eyes widened, but I was on a roll. “In the real world we have to work our hineys off to make dreams come true because there is no fairy godmother who will wave her magic wand and give us everything we want. In the real world life is not all flowers and romance, it's blood, sweat and tears and running on commitment when the love's run out, and then coaxing the love back to life. The real world is not like we imagined back when we were playing dolls.” I lowered my hands into my lap and looked at my stunned friend. Oh, now that was real inspired, Gracie. See, Lord, I told ya' that I wasn't the one for this job. Now what?

Carla slowly closed her mouth, her back losing its stiffness. Once again I heard the blasted clock and, without thinking twice, reached over and pulled its plug, putting an end to its incessant ticking.

Carla quirked an eyebrow at me. “Are you gonna pull my plug, too?”

I threw a shepherd's headdress at her.

“I think you've been saving that speech just for me.” She blew the bangs out of her eyes and fiddled with the fringes on the headdress. “But, I think you got it right. Life isn't anything like I imagined it would be, back when we played dolls.”

“Back then you wanted to get married, have babies and raise a family. Are you willing to give all that up just to get Darren to listen to you or to see if he cares?” I asked her.

Carla sat there smoothing the fabric while my lungs burned from holding my breath. “I would be giving it up, wouldn't I?” She looked at me with tormented eyes. “It's just not like we dreamed it would be.”

“No, it's not.” I sighed. “But sometimes it's better.”

A small smile tugged at her lips. “Yeah. Sometimes. Maybe I shouldn't do anything rash then. Ya' think?”

The starch evaporated from my spine and I sagged in relief. “You'd be hurting more than just Darren if you did.”

“Like myself?” she asked wryly.

I grinned as I waved the cord at her. “Yeah, but if you try it, I'll just unplug ya'. Deal?”

“Deal.”
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Dont' forget to join us at Treasures in Jars of Clay.

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December's Blessings

Time flies when you're having fun...and busy, and another month has slid past without doing a blessings post. In the confusion and busyness of December I put off telling you about some of December's blessings, so I'm adding them to this month's blessings.

At the very beginning of December I received this print from Joy of Bee Joyful Quilts. She found me as a result of my joyful cow (in my sidebar) and she sent me this print as an encouragement. I just love it! Thank you, Joy!!


If you enjoy quilting, (and I do!) you'll enjoy Joy's site.


Then, as a result of the The Internet Cafe's Holliday Giveaways, I won two items. One was this darling pin handcrafted by Deena of Dances with Monkeys. It's on my purse and it reminds me to love. Thank you, Deena!


December came to a close with another special blessing as a result of the Holiday Giveaway. A very special bracelet from Loni of Writing Canvas. There is a birthstone for each of my five children, and on the sides, between little blue hearts, are small birthstones for the two babies we lost. This bracelet has quickly become a treasure. Thank you, Loni!

Be sure to stop by Loni's site, Bracelet Stories, for your own memory bracelet. Loni is an incredible woman, and the bracelets she custom makes are stunning and so full of meaning.


Well now, that wraps up December's blessings. Thank you, Joy and Deena and Loni! You each blessed me tremendously! Sometime within the next week, I'll post about January's blessings. Stay tuned!

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Burn Up

The other day I entered the dining room and saw a paring knife sitting beside the four wick candle I've been burning this month. My darling husband had decided that the candle was burning its wicks too fast, leaving a whole lot of wax unused, so he helped it. He trimmed the wax from the top of the candle and dropped it down into the melted wax. He did that many times and even trimmed off the side to feed the wicks and keep them burning longer. His objectives? To enable us to see the flames and to keep the wicks burning long enough to burn up all the wax.

Our Heavenly Father has similar goals for our lives. He wants the flame of our life to be visible to those around us and He wants us to burn up for Him, not burn out.

Your are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; ~Matthew 5:14, 16

Originally, the whole purpose of candles was to illuminate the darkness. We're to be doing that, too, but we can't be effective if our flame is obscured by walls of unused wax. That's when the paring knife needs to come out to trim down the wax. Sure it changes the candle's appearance, many times leaving it much less appealing, but if the end goal is to illuminate the darkness, that's what needs to happen.

Too many times we're so concerned with having a visually appealing candle that we don't worry about how long the wicks last. If they get a little too long and start to smoke, we just trim the wick, without thinking about the burn time we're losing. God goes about it differently. He trims the wax and drops the shavings into the melted wax pool to raise the wax level, not worrying about the outward appearance. He wants the wick to burn all the wax.

But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. ~Philippians 2:17

I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls...
~2 Corinthians 12:15

Have you ever noticed that the unburned wax of the candle ends up being an empty shell that hides the flame? What's the whole point of the candle? The wax or the flame? If it's the wax, then we're right to worry about the shell that's left unburned. If it's the flame, then we need to allow the work of the paring knife and feed the wax to the wick, making sure the wax burns so it doesn't obstruct the light of the flame.

For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. ~Philippians 2:13

 

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. ~Matthew 5:16

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...and Now...

Well, now that I'm recovering from the shock of deleting my sidebar (LoL), let me tell you about At The Well. There's a Grand Reopening going on, complete with door prizes that you really don't want to miss out on! I'm really excited about their new layout and I think you'll like it, too.

I'm honored to be part of the team there, and I'll be posting about Reflections on the Home. Other topics are: To Raise Them Up, Gathering At the Well (where older women are to encourage the younger women), To Have and To Hold (you guessed it: marriage), and Reflections on His Truth.

Be sure to join us over there and get in on the fun!

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Ooooops!

As you can see, I'm having some technical difficulties. I accidently deleted all my sidebar gadgets...

Sooooo, guess what I'll be doing in my spare time this week end? Yup! You got it!
Reconstructing and redecorating things!

Monday's Update: Well, I think I finally got my sidebar straightened out, reorganized and redecorated. There's still a few things to do and tweek, but the major work is done. So now we'll get back to our regular programming...

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Web of Love

Welcome to Fiction Friday! I'm so glad you could join us! We've had a quick change of plans, and Mr. Linky is here today. We hope you enjoy!!
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Web of Love
Kim wished the floor would open up and swallow her. She settled into the pew and studiously opened the bulletin, hoping no one would notice her. Jeff had been called to work as they were walking out the door to church, leaving her to face this first Sunday back on her own.

The hand on her shoulder made her jump. Taking a deep breath she pasted on a smile and looked up, dreading the pity and platitudes most people offered. What she found was Kyle's smile.

“Where's Jeff?”

“Some emergency at work came up just as we were walking out the door.”

Becky, Kyle's wife, squeezed past him and reached out with a hug for Kim. “I'm so glad you still came.” She sat down beside Kim just as Deb joined them.

“Kim! I wondered if you'd make it today.” After another hug Kim took a shaky breath and a swipe at her eyes. Becky and Deb caught each other's eye. “Virginia's knee is doing better, so she's teaching Sunday school this morning. It'll be so good to have her back—I've really missed her,” Deb said.

Becky followed Deb's lead. “She must have been able to get that steroid shot she was hoping for. She's been climbing the walls since she fell.”

Kim smiled thankfully at her friends; she recognized what they were doing. “She might have been cooped up at home, but she still managed to stay involved. She called me once or twice a day last week. She's an incredible lady, that's for sure.”

Someone sat down behind them and leaned forward to give Kim a squeeze. It was another one of her Sunday school classmates. “Did you just say that Virginia's back this week? That's wonderful! We'll all be back together again--it just isn't the same when some of us are gone.”

“I'm here! Did I miss something?” Two more couples sat down in the pew in front of Kim, and the ladies reached back to squeeze Kim's hand. She was completely surrounded by her Sunday school class members and their husbands.

Lord, I feel like You wrapped me in a web of love. These sisters You've given me are so precious. Thank you. I think I might be able to face the rest of the world now.

Mrs. Miller leaned over Kyle and Becky. “Kim, dear, I was so sorry to hear about the baby. There will be other babies...”

“Oh, Mrs. Miller, were those your pickles at the fellowship last month? They were simply delicious. Do you share your recipe or is it a family secret?” Becky stood up, blocking Kim's view of Mrs. Miller.

Deb leaned against Kim's shoulder and whispered, “You just keep smiling and let us handle the rest for a while.”
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Losing a baby is never easy and well-meaning people can say things that cause a lot hurt, even though there is truth in what they're saying. Thank God for the web of love He wraps around us. Sometimes it's through friends or family members, and sometimes it's through a special verse that speaks directly to our heart at that moment in time. However He works, He is there, loving us and holding us tight. Thank God for His love!

And while I'm thinking about it, check out the new At the Well! February 2nd is the kick-off and there's door prizes you do not want to miss! (oh, and did I mention that I get to be part of this great site? I'm so excited!)

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