4 Steps

Today we had a guest speaker at church and he was great.  He was talking about “interesting times” – how these are the times that God uses to grow us.  And we (as free-will individuals) have the choice to make every day (especially in “interesting times”) if we are going to be in the moment joyfully or pissed off (no, he didn’t use these words) because either way, we are going to stay in the moment until it passes.

Proverbs 15:13

“A joyful heart makes a cheerful face; but when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken”

I have had some anxiety lately – there have been a lot of “interesting times” happening with some of my cancer friends – reoccurrences, hospital stays and worse – of course all these lead me to play the “what if” game….then my head is so wrapped up in the what if’s, it is hard for my heart to get to the truth back out to me…I AM NED (NO evidence of disease)…end of story…that is all I need to know for today, that is all I have is today – today.

So our speaker spoke on 4 steps to get us out of our heads when it all comes crashing down and get us back to our heart – to where we can hear God and listen.

-        Hope on a foundation of gratitude “Hope is the dream of someone awake”

Hope is such a beautiful thing. Hope can truly get you through SO much.  Just the thought of it being a tiny bit better is hope and that thought is enough to carry you through.

-        Faith. Trust and belief in something you don’t see.  I don’t believe we don’t see God – I believe we can choose to see Him in everything.  BUT I know it takes faith to believe in His love for us, His hand reaching out you in the dark.

-        Joy – when your heart shows up on your face. Our speaker was given 6 months to live – over a year ago.  He said it all with his JOY to be up there, speaking, showing us – he said, we all only know we have today so we mice well l dance (all while do a little dancing jog on stage!)

-        Love – love is all around us – all the time – it is up to us to look for it, feel it, and return it, BUT it is always around us.

-        All of these are on a foundation of gratitude.  Gratitude for what we have – not longing for what we want.  Even in the midst of dark, dark times – we have SO much to be thankful for.  When I was smack in the middle of chemo and I honestly thought I couldn’t do one more treatment, I prayed and saw this vision in my head…A BIG canyon…I was on one side and Eric and Ian were on the other. God told me NOT to look down, look only ahead to them.  I did just as He said, and He held my hand all the way across the canyon to them.  I realized then that I am alive, I always have Him there to hold my hand, I have an AWESOME family and friends, I have a talent that lets me speak my heart, Eric is able to provide for us in an amazing way, etc, etc, etc, etc – the list could seriously going on forever.  That is when it hit me – I have to be thankful for what I have – not long for what I want.

I have to remember this everyday - I know we each need to remember this every day.  I know we all are going through our own times – some more interesting than others, but there is something in your situation that you can be grateful for – find it and hold on it.