I think it should be noted that the only reason this journey is taking place, the journey from pessimism to optimism, is because of Jesus Christ. By the Grace of God I am even here and I have not always appreciated that simple fact in the past.
Today at church we continued our Lent Series on Jonah. The book of Jonah is probably the most comical book of the Bible and I have enjoyed going through this series both at church and at Bible Study.
This week there was a lot to the message and frankly it would take me a long time to go through all of the good points. It's better to just listen for yourself once it is uploaded to the website (probably by Thursday) at marshill.org.
However, there were two points of the service that were really good for me at this point in my journey. The first was a line in a prayer we said together. It stated "let us not sour the joy of life." I feel that was very much what I used to do... sour the joys of life with my negative outlook. Now, I am trying to stop that and cherish the joy of life. Perfect Timing. God's timing!
Second was (long story short) about how God does not look down at us sitting in our troubles, sorrow, despair, etc. God is not above humbling Himself and joining us in whatever we are going through. He is a compassionate and sympathetic God. And the whole time I was listening to this part of the sermon, I kept envisioning Jesus, not just standing there feeling bad for me when I was at my lowest points, but sitting next to me and crying with me, entering into that space and that emotion. One thing my pastor kept saying was "God wants to enter into those times with you so that you will never have to be alone." How great is that? Some times, especially for someone like me who suffers from depression, it is easy to feel all alone, but I will never be alone because God is always with me!
I bought a ring for myself recently. It has a lot to do with the events that sparked this change in heart, change in attitude. I won't get into that here, for reasons stated in my last post, but I had the ring engraved on the inside to say "Jesus, lover of my soul." I wear this ring to remind myself that the only man I need in my life is Jesus. I am whole because of Him!
Here are some photos... maybe not the best quality, but it does the job! :)
You can kind of make out the engraving...
Grace & Peace
♥
Oh #4- LOVE THE NAILS! :D
ReplyDelete#1- Love the Ring!! VERYYY NICE!
ReplyDelete#2- Love the post today - even though I missed my church today it was like a mini sermon on your blog and it is a wonderful reminder to know that in our times of sorrow Jesus is with us!
#3- I did get to read the "deleted" post, and I just want to tell you, it brought tears to my eyes. Not because I was sad, but because I envy your strength, and your 100% COMPLETE TRUST in GOD!! I hope to someday gain that in my life that NO MATTER WHAT I would be able to have that attitude that you have. I try hard but its not always easy to just trust that He will bring us what we need in life, even if its not what we always "dreamed" it would be. You have such a good ♥, and a strong faith!
:)
♥ You!
Janessa...I am not certain what you "deleted" but I would recommend you leave your blog as is. If people can't handle what you are writing about then they shouldn't be reading. This is for you and about you....don't worry what others may think because you aren't (or shouldn't be) doing it for them. Do what is best for you during this journey. Of course be careful what you post when it comes to personal information so as not to attract "weirdos". :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Melody. It's not that I didn't feel they could handle it. It was actually some hard, but good things in my personal life. I just know that instead of supporting me, they and their friends would use it against me and that is not the kind of "noise" I need in my life right now. Just happiness and support. Maybe some day I will share it on here, but until then I will share everything else! :)
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