When I wrote this blog, I was shoving dark chocolate in my face and gulping cinnamon tea because that is what I do when I need to pull myself together.
Why, you might ask, was I in my chocolate-eating, cinnamon tea-guzzling state? Why was I trying not to fall apart??
Well, sister, come into my kitchen and I’ll set the stage:
Conflict happens. When your ideas or plans or perspective bumps into someone else’s ideas or plans or perspective, crash… conflict. Right? The result is often hurt feelings, resentment and stress. We all experience conflict; it’s just part of being a human.
But, can we be honest? There really are some dear souls in our lives who seem to create conflict. They just plain rub us the wrong way! I call those dear souls sandpaper people! So, what do you do when that sandpaper person rubs you the wrong way?
Let’s face it- as women we are often overwhelmed, right? And if you’re a woman in ministry, life can feel even more overwhelming! Jennifer and Denise talked about ways to overcome those overwhelming feelings on FB Live today. If you missed it on the womensministry.net Facebook page, you can watch it here:
Would you describe yourself as balanced? Okay, stop laughing! Few of us have achieved balance. I stress myself out just thinking about it!?! I could write a book called Stressed Out: How I Achieved It While Seeking Balance!
I’m just not balanced enough to write a book about balance, but I know Someone who did.
We boarded the ship, plopped our bags in the cabin and raced out to the balcony. There I stood, leaning against the sea salt-dusted rail with my 2 BFF’s Joan and Paula. The breeze was magnificent and the fragrance of the fresh sea air was invigorating. We just stood there silently, breathing out the stress of life and inhaling the peace that only the ocean brings. We didn’t say a word until Paula spoke.
“I love the ocean because it ‘rights’ me.” She captured just how I felt with those simple words. The ocean does seem to “right” us — it puts us in our right place, doesn’t it? It reminded me of what David wrote; “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers; the moon and the stars, which you have ordained; what is man that you take thought of him and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8: 3-4)
We’ve all got stuff, you know? We’ve got hurts, questions and disappointments in our lives.
I’ve got stuff. Blindness is a constant, unrelenting, challenging loss — emotionally, spiritually and even physically. I’ve asked God for healing probably a million times… but, so far, healing hasn’t come.
My friend’s got stuff. Her daughter is fighting addiction — some days she’s better, someday she’s worse. My friend has prayed for her daughter a million times too. And, so far, healing hasn’t come.
