A Little Light

[LindaW]

I saw so many good ideas to post today but I think I will stick with my original idea. It's from the upper room, which, sometimes I forget this is the world wide web, so if you are not familiar with it, it is a little booklet of people's God stories. I am finding such joy in reading this every day - I am finding such joy in all kinds of things! You should read it too, it would be like reading it together.
Anyway - yesterday's story had a part that kind of stood out to me. It talked about "living in the midst of drought, not a drought of water but a drought of compassion, understanding and love -- a drought of the heart." "The refreshment we need comes from God, who ministers to our drought weary hearts through a song, (yes it actually said that!) the kind words of a friend,(or anything else their creative mind can think of!) an unexpected telephone call, or a note sent in the mail." You can thank Hilly Hicks from California for those words. Hilly Hicks? Don't get me started.......ok, focus. What I thought about when I read Hilly's words ( ) was that I know what that feels like. And I pray that I have been God's refreshment for your soul in at least a million creative little and big Linda ways.


LindaW

and I hope you read the last post too......

[LindaW]

"The vacation we often need is freedom from our own mind. Appropriately curtailing our obsessive thought patterns is our plane ticket to the pristine beach, the vibrant jungle, of our deeper hearts."

- Jack Adam Weber


Take a mental vacation, right now, to wherever you want to go. Close your eyes and just be exactly where you want to be.
Wow, look at that smile!!!




LindaW

[LindaW]

Ironically this was my email for today:

Linda, we believe God wants you to know ... that today you should take a vacation from worries.

Take this moment to conjure up a fond memory. A time in your life when you were content and happy. Dwell on that moment for a while, let those feelings of contentment permeate your soul. Today is a good day to be content, so take a vacation from your worries.


Ok.....................sigh..........


LindaW

[LindaW]

I had a post about tomorrow. The meeting. And I was gonna say how I feel and how I felt, and why I did what I did before, that I know wasn't understood. But I know God was in it. And I typed the whole thing up and I read it and it made so much sense and it seemed important and relevant. And it really is. And then something inside of me just stopped me and I have tears in my eyes saying this. Something inside of me said simply, " I choose love."

I don't know what that means right now, but hopefully you do.

I choose love. I simply choose love.

LindaW

[LindaW]

"Even when you are miles away, if you love someone more then anything, you can feel them when you close your eyes as if your souls are together as one." ~Karen Kostyla


LindaW


"I hope one day you will grasp how truly loved you are." -- God




I felt that those two went together.

[LindaW]

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Heb. 11:1
"We walk by faith, not by sight."

Ironically I seem to do better at believing when I am trusting the eyes of my heart instead of my actual eyes.
Sometimes looking through my eyes just hurts.
I guess I have to work on that.



LindaW

[LindaW]

I just (sometimes I say why me God!) came upon two kids walking down my street with a b.b. gun and saw them pointing it and shooting it all around and I asked, actually quite politely, what they were doing? And don't you know that right after that, one of my windows was shot out by a ...b.b. gun. Yeah, I don't feel safe tonight.

LindaW

[LindaW]

Ecclesiastes 3
American Standard Version (ASV)
3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:

2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Ok, ok, I will go against EVERY instinct in me, which is screaming out that an embrace is exactly what is needed, and I will try to refrain from embracing. But could you please, please, please......seek....or speak...or you could embrace.....can you sew?? Something??

(oh that's funny, two smile faces appeared instead of just one......and that, was a God thing!))


LindaW

[LindaW]

I feel like I missed something really important.
And whatever it is, it's making it 1000 times harder for me.




LindaW

[LindaW]

So I think you are going to find this funny. I was scanning tv channels and I came upon this black and white video of John Lennon and his band playing a song. Oh I just realized I have to say that this was not the Beatles.....It was his band, I guess. I still have no idea what channel I was on but God knew. So I'm a Beatles fan, so I stop for a few to listen to this song and I'm kind of giggling to myself at the quality of this "music video". So John is playing piano, and sitting not 5 feet from him on a stool is Yoko Ono, who of course everyone knows was the love of his life. She isn't "in the band" -( like Linda was with Paul ) -- she isn't playing an instrument...... she is sitting there.......5 feet from him........crocheting. Once I noticed her it was like I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I was thinking to myself just how weird that was, that she is sitting there crocheting in the middle of him recording this song. And it was like God smacked me aside of the head, because no matter what the real story of the video was, I said - out loud --- "I guess he just really needed her to be close by, where he could see her, and feel her, and know that she was there."




LindaW

[LindaW]

I can without doubt say, I am living whole heartedly. With my whole heart. Vulnerably, but whole heartedly.


LindaW

[LindaW]

I feel like I missed something really important.
And whatever it is, it's making it 1000 times harder for me.




LindaW

I still feel this in my heart. Like I missed something and it's making it so much harder for me.

[LindaW]

http://youtu.be/yd8aOFvh4VI

So I hesitated finding this song on youtube. Only because this song saddened me when I heard it. But I finally found the courage to find a video and I think you would be interested to know how it affected me.
I picked the one I felt led to, and as I listened to it -- I didn't feel sad. I didn't feel the sadness that I originally felt hearing it. In fact the exact opposite happened. I found my hands and my heart being lifted lifted lifted as I listened......and by the end.....well honestly not far past the beginning.....I found my arms weren"t just reaching up.....they were out spread.......yes..."out spread"... interesting term.......and you know what that looks like.


LindaW

[LindaW]

I feel like I have to focus on the songs. The songs were healing parts of me I didn't even know needed healing. I have to focus on that. Listen to the words, feel the music. Let them speak to my heart and soul. I need that. And I need gentleness and kindness.



LindaW


for some reason I feel better because I feel like that was really "heard".

[LindaW]

"Life is funny sometimes, but if you look close enough you find hope in the bars of a ♫song♫ , in the eyes of someone you love, and in the word of the Almighty. Never give up-- have faith. ♫ *L*O*V*E* ♫ Is showing you care, not just by your words, but by your actions. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.... It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ♫ T*R*U*E* L*O*V*E* ♫ never fails."



LindaW