But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness. ”
2 Corinthians 12:9a
Blessings in our life take various forms.
Sometimes that form can be painful. It can hurt. It can wear us down.
We want to GIVE. UP.
But Paul didn’t give up. He kept going.
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,
so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake,
I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9b-10
Recently, during the sermon the priest said
“In a sense when given to God our thorns can become blessings.”
Fr. Keith Laskowski
July 8, 2012
Giving our thorns to God can be difficult. After all, if we can just “fix” things, surely it will be OK.
But it usually isn’t OK. For me, I usually just make it worse…whatever IT is.
So, I work on giving my thorns to him. I work on letting go.
Lord, you are continuing to remind me that “you’ve got this” and I don’t need to worry about it. I just need to trust and let go. Please help me do that. Help me believe that you can turn this thorn into a blessing.
In the past few weeks, I have read some awesome blog posts. Please take the time to check out some of them…
Nancy at Out of My Alleged Mind…check out the Pilgrimage tab at the top of the page. Then read these posts. Please!
Michelle at Graceful…a beautiful post about listening.
Stefanie at UpLIFTing Words…an lovely post on forgiveness.
Logan at the Allume blog…just today reminds us to enjoy the JOURNEY…not just race to the top.
Sarah Mae at Sarah Mae where Life becomes worship…a great reminder that we need to write when we have something to say. Not just write to write. More of my thoughts on this later. But it was a liberating post for me…because sometimes I get caught in the trap of writing…just to write. Not waiting on Him to lead me.
These are not the ONLY good posts I’ve read, just a few that have really touched me. Please check them and out and let them know I sent you.
And continuing my gratitude journey…
653. vacation.
654. safe travels.
655. IV antibiotics.
656. home health nurses.
657. husband feeling better.
658. prayer group friends.
659. husband that cooks.
660. and pulls the pork.
661. fun weekends.
662. sleep.
663. personal trainer.
664. new accountability group.
665. reminders of His grace.
666. reminders of His love.
667. that thorns are sometimes blessings.
668. new running shoes.
669. new friends.
670. planning more trips.
671. anticipating visit with my parents.
As the weeks have drug on it has been easy for me to lose hope.
Will things ever get back to some type of normal? People were not created to live in isolation.
Will we be able to see someone smile or will we always look at them and only see their eyes?
Will people gather without having to sit 6’ apart?
I don’t know the answer and I’m not posting this to debate the news media’s portrayal of the pandemic.
I’m sharing this today because I spent some time with the Lord thanking him for the things I DO have and not focusing on the things I don’t have. The things I have lost since March.
I looked up scriptures about hope.
I made a list in my prayer journal of things I’m grateful for.
Life goes on. Life crisis continues even during this pandemic. People die naturall and tragically. And babies are born. And weddings happen and new lives begin.
This crisis in our world isn’t a surprise to God.
And my hope and security is in Him.
If you scroll through the photos, you see things that made me smile this morning and reminded me of the goodness of God - even now.
With all the grief and sadness in the world I wasn’t sure how I would handle today. How I would allow myself to grieve this loss? Today when there has so much WRONG in our world. In a post @deidrariggs shared today she reminded us that life goes on. And I realized that today this is my life. And I can grieve this loss. My life goes on... I am thankful for the 4 days we had her. On Friday I will remember each event of her last day and I will remember her dying in my arms.
And I will be both sad and grateful. #infantloss #trisomy18 #stlouischildrenshospital
Chatter