I am feeling the major need to get out of here for a wee break. My man and I are heading to Barcelona to sample the food, vino and general chilaxedness of the whole place next week....cannot wait!
Sometimes a holiday is what you need to recharge and to get motivated for the stress ahead.
I said in my last post I would come back to the whole Gospel Crunch thing..It has been on my mind a lot but I have decided that I am sick listening to it and thinking about it. The main thing I have learnt is that I need to have more faith. I know I cant produce it within myself but I can ask God for more and I can expect more.
I have started to notice that when I ask God for something and I see change in that situation that it is not just the gift of answered prayer that comes into being...It is also the gift of faith. As I see God come through in the little things I begin to believe him more for the bigger hurdles I am trying to jump.
I guess its like exercise, not that I do enough. But the farther you run, the more you can believe you can run and then you run even further.
I have had a really positive experience working in Psychiatry. People often ask me if it gets me down. It does at times. And I know I need to be careful not to take too many of the issues I am confronted with home with me. One thing it has taught me though is that people need support.
When someone is mentally ill they will almost certainly decline without the support of others.
Friends, family, doctors, nurses, social workers.... people who care.
If you take the time with someone and listen to their story and if you give them the chance to process things out loud and then emphasize that they are not alone... they feel a great weight lifted off their shoulders. They may not instantly get better and they may face a long journey of recovery but in general time and people help as much as tablets. Tablets still help though.
I am very thankful for the people that I have in my life who love and support me and who make life better.
When it comes to division in our churches, families, group of friends or whatever, I think it is so important to remember the principle of community and of loving each other as we do ourselves.
It is never good for anyone to stand alone or to be isolated. Its important to have support.
Its not even a spiritual thing its just a life thing... we need other people more than we realise.
I suppose my prayer is for unity, not in a cheesy christian...we all smile at each other but back bite at the same time kind of way. But in the true, seeing the best in each other kind of way.
If you believe something different to what I believe that is so way down the list of priorities. at the top of the list is love and acceptance and grace. Seeing the best despite the disagreement. Disagreements are not wrong, they are healthy sometimes. Disunity however is crippling and leaves people bitter and depleted.
God is good. He brings people into our lives and asks us to work on the togetherness of it all. He asks us to believe him for as much as we are able to and he will cover our human disbelief with his grace.
As we see him answer the little utterances of our hearts then the gift of faith will grow inside us. We will see more and hope for more and ask for more.
The thing is that the "more" wont necessarily be for us... me me me.
It may not be God heal me, make me prosper...It will be God heal them, make them prosper and above all God unite us together so that no one stands alone. And as God's word says we prosper as our souls prosper.
A challenging topic that has made me realise that Its not about me anyway. My blessing is a biproduct of what happens when I love other people.
Roll on barcelona I neeeeed a holiday....
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