Suffering

My heart is heavy, for I, too, am a parent. I cannot imagine getting a notice from my child's school, or seeing on the news, that there has been a shooting at his school.

The suffering today. The fear of the parents waiting for their children to show up. The overwhelming grief when those parents realize their child(ren) were among those senselessly murdered this morning.

Through Christ, we have a God who understands our hurts and broken hearts.

When we look back on this incident and the fallout that is coming – i.e. gun control, stricter standards for security at schools – we will not necessarily see God where children have been murdered.

We will see compassion from a nation and a world who identify with the senseless loss of innocent lives.

We will see riotous anger at the man who killed his parents and then went to a school to murder.

We will see prayers lifted up for the families who lost someone close to them.

We will see prayers for the living children because they will have psychological problems related to the shooting.

We will see an outpouring of love for the town, victims and residents of Newtown, CT.

In those things, we will see God and His great love for us.

In those things, people who did not have a relationship with Christ before today may have their eyes opened to the love and compassion of those who will open their hearts, doors and do anything possible to help in this time of suffering.

Something VERY important to remember during this time. It is not our place to judge the soul of the man who took these many lives. At this moment, he is facing eternity knowing what he has done. No one will truly know if he had a relationship with Christ, but it is not our place to judge him.

The only we can do, as Christians, religious people, parents… the only thing we can truly do is to forgive his actions, as horrendous as they are.

For in forgiveness, we find freedom to live without hatred.

James 5:9-11

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁹ Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door. ¹⁰ As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.

What Do You Bring?

I was told the other day that I was intimidating (yes, again!!!) because of the thought I have put into dating (whew! At least it isn't because of my personality this time!)

So, for anyone reading out there, I do not want to give the impression that I have all of the answers, nor do I want to mislead anyone into thinking life will be perfect when in a relationship. It is a lot harder than anyone expects and a real relationship takes work.

For example: I reconnected with a friend who had recently gotten married. He told me it was really hard, a lot harder than he thought it would be. Granted, I did not pry, nor do I know all of the details, but I can't imagine it would be so difficult six months in if the person is the one God intended for you. I'm not questioning his choices either, but that's just the way I see it.

Sometimes God puts people in our lives to show us things we would never have known about ourselves unless they were there. These can be good or bad things. We can be shown something we never would have thought about doing. We can get guidance or a clearer direction because of how these people look at things vs our stale way of seeing it.

I often find it interesting to see what a person will bring to my life, or what I would bring to theirs. Sometimes I wonder if that person will stick around for any length of time, or if they will bring something meaningful into my life. There are times neither happens, and that is okay too.

The few people God has brought into my life this year have each taught me something about myself, and I am grateful for those lessons. One or two was pretty tough, but honestly, that is the only way we grow, right?

One lesson was a couple of days ago. I am a romantic at heart, and truly believe I will have my own version of a fairy tale ending someday. A few days ago I was talking to someone and my attitude was pretty sour, which meant my outlook was completely different than the day before. So, he called me on it (pretty cool, if you ask me. Not too many do that) and wanted to know where the optimistic girl was from the day before. Made me realized I was a little crabby, but also made me realize how down I was getting myself because of my attitude.

I went to a camp when I was a teen and one of the things I always remember from that is this:

 

And it is so very true. And a quote from one of the biggest dreamers ever.