Are you finished?

"I'm done." I said to myself as I put my head in my hands, "I don't want to do this anymore."  I looked around helplessly and decided to pray.  "Lord, help me endure."

I felt like a child, asking the ever-present, all-rescuing parent for help.  I felt peace.  And then, then I heard this, in my heart...

He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

John 19:30b

Wow!  At no point is my level of "done-ness" anywhere close to His.  And yet, He was not done, until it was finished.  He endured, He suffered, He persevered.  "For the joy set before him he endured the cross"(Hebrews 12:2).  That joy?  Our redemption.

Jesus endured unbelievable pain, rejection, scorn and shame, to fulfill what was required by the Law, to pay the penalty for sin.  It wasn't his sin he paid for.  It was mine.  It was yours.  And that future joy, of reunification between you and your Heavenly Father, that held him there. 

So, I guess I'm not really "done"!  If he endured for me, through his strength, I can endure what I need to endure.  It pales in comparison.

Mercifully, lovingly, there was no resentment at my whining, not condemnation for my weakness.  Just love, and grace.  For He has a heart that knows far greater pain than I could experience, and a love much purer than I could ever imagine.

Wedding Bells

 

Scott and I headed out Saturday to a wedding for close friends. It was so nice to dress up, Celebrate love, and dance with my man!! Weddings are my favorite!!

 

The bride, Nichole

And the proud parents!  Mr & Mrs T - we call them our 3rd family, as Scott was adopted into their family in High School and they are special people to us.

Birthday Boy!

Chica

In August our family grew, with the addition of an 8 year old, 7lb chihuahua named Chica!

Initially we fostered her, but it became immediately clear that she and Emma had a very special bond! Emma is her person, and they are adorable together. Thankfully she also likes the rest of us, and she and Duncan have fun together.

Don’t Settle

Maybe you can relate to this in someway. I'm not sure when my hip started to hurt. I just know that I complained about it, but I didn't pray about it, I just accepted it, like it's normal for things to hurt.

It sounds ridiculous, even to me, because if somebody told me that their hip was hurting when they walk, and it would cramp up, and they have back pain, I would tell them to seek help, something is wrong! But when it comes to myself, I'm much less inclined to ask for help, maybe I even believe in some subconscious way, that I deserve it. "I'm probably doing something that causes this pain, so it's my own fault."

Thanks to Springfield family chiropractic, my hip is infinitely better. And pain I had just fully accepted, and didn't even think about, has also been addressed and healed. I can turn my head the way I'm supposed to be able to!

But I'm always looking for a deeper lesson in things. This situation is no different.

How many of us accept situations in our life, that we would never tell people we love to accept. We would urge them to do something, to make a change, to take care of themselves. But yet we, simply dwell in the pain, sometimes unaware that help is available, other times unwilling to seek it out.

It looks different for everybody. You might be dealing with physical pain, unhappiness with your body, physical addiction, or literal pain. Or maybe it's emotional, and you have been hurt, abused, or neglected. You've accepted that negativity and isolation. Or maybe it's spiritual, and you live with guilt and shame for things that you've done, because forgiveness seems impossible, even to forgive yourself.

Our world is hurting,. Every single person, scarred by sin committed by us, and against us. Many of us are either living with the pain fresh and raw, bitter and angry, or we mask it, with substances, sex, shopping, self harm, etc.

What if we can actually heal the pain, we can change things. We can be changed. Yes, we need to pray, we need God to do what he does get all of this. But we need to take the steps ourselves to reach out, to look for Hope and help. Then, maybe our healing will help to heal the world.

Listed

Toby made a birthday list! Funnily our gift is not on here, so we'll see how that goes!!