Two days, two and 1/2 hours, 249 pages and I am at the end of a book that has stirred me in a way I haven't been stirred in a long time. It left me grateful that I read it. It gave me a sense of peace and enlightenment that I have been searching for but not quite finding.
I am left feeling thoughtful. My soul has been pricked and my mind is racing to capture the emotions that seem to escape words. If only you could feel what I'm feeling, search through my mind and my thoughts maybe you could understand although I'm not sure I do. I just know I have been touched, changed, given a little glimpse into something I asked about many years ago.
I don't think you can read it and not feel an impact on your life. I don't think you can push it aside or shut the door that it opens to the possibilities in your life or the notion that you've been going about it all wrong or doing it for the wrong reasons. That the quest is not in the answers but in how you handle the questions, the path or the hand that you have been dealt.
Have a little faith by Mitch Albom was the book I read during my forays to Barnes & Noble with my husband this week. I have read several of his books over the years and enjoyed them and the movies that came from them. Tuesdays with Morrie and 5 People You Meet in Heaven were my favorites, that is, until this one. It is a great read, a great lesson, a great story. If you let it, it will open up a place in you that you didn't know existed.
I have faith and at times it is as small as a mustard seed and others as large as the highest mountain depending on the circumstances.
I have a deep faith that there is a God, that Jesus is the Christ, my Lord and Savior and it is only through Him that we can return to the Father. I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and even though I don't understand all of it I can bear witness to the times when it has spoken volumes in my life, been my compass in the wilderness and a soothing balm to my wounded soul.
Reading this book about these three men and the journey their lives have taken them on has made me look at faith - particularly my faith, in a whole new way. I have a greater appreciation for it; for how I was raised and what it instilled in me. I can look at my flaws and faults and see them as something more than they were - things to be hidden and ashamed of. Now they are lessons in God's unfailing love, 2nd, 3rd, even 4th chances at life and doing it better or giving back.
Tomorrow is not promised. Have I given my best today?
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
My Sister's Keeper
Last night I went with a group of women from the church (WOW ministries human services division and the Treasure Wythe Inn) to Manor House to visit the women that live there and be a blessing to them through donations made last week.
The theme last night was “My Sister’s Keeper” and it was such a blessing. Manor House is a transitional home, located in Richmond and run by The New Life for Youth Ministries, for women going through different circumstances in life – drugs and alcohol abuse, emotionally broken down, homeless, etc. They live there for 12 months and during that time they are stripped of everything that is binding them up and rebuilt upon the foundation of God. It’s not an easy thing and there are a lot who start the program but never finish (but a seed is planted). For those that stay God does a mighty work in them.
They range in age from 18 – 40+ and are racially and economically diverse in their backgrounds but what they have in common is the desire to be better than they were. They want to make something of themselves and they want it to be through God. They have that disciple’s spirit of less of me and more of you God.
I was in awe of them last night and my cup runneth over from the opportunity to serve them. I was tremendously blessed just by being there in their midst and then to talk with them, hear their stories and feel the spirit was enough to allow the emotions to come tumbling out. I cried, I hugged and received hugs enough to fill my empty reservoir. The light in their eyes matched the smiles on their faces and even when they talked about how hard the program is, how much they miss their children, husbands, friends and family you could still see that desire in them to continue on.
To be able to fellowship with them, to encourage them to hang in there and share with them that although we might look like we have it all together we don’t, was very humbling. Outside appearances can be very deceiving and we let them know that. We have all gone through some stuff, we are all going through some stuff and we will continue to be challenged in our lives if we live for Christ but we are not alone. That was the message last night.
We all have the opportunity to be our sister’s keeper. To make a difference in the lives of the women we come in contact with in our lives whether it be at that home, our own homes, on the job, or even in the store there is always an opportunity to be our sister’s keeper.
No matter where you go in the world you are not alone. There are sisters everywhere you go. You just need to be open to the Spirit and ask God for the opportunity to be of service and He will reveal it to you. It might be just for that bus ride to the mall or that moment during a sporting event for your child that you connect with someone but that’s one more moment when you can share, inspire or uplift a broken hearted soul with a look, a hug, a kind word, or something more tangible like a meal, some money or clothes, if so moved.
We have all been charged with being our “brother’s keeper” and that goes for us sisters too. So I am blessed in spite of my mess and right now my mess is less on my mind than finding the next opportunity to be my sister’s keeper or to serve someone, some how in some way that will continue to give God the glory and take “me” out of the equation.
How about you?
The theme last night was “My Sister’s Keeper” and it was such a blessing. Manor House is a transitional home, located in Richmond and run by The New Life for Youth Ministries, for women going through different circumstances in life – drugs and alcohol abuse, emotionally broken down, homeless, etc. They live there for 12 months and during that time they are stripped of everything that is binding them up and rebuilt upon the foundation of God. It’s not an easy thing and there are a lot who start the program but never finish (but a seed is planted). For those that stay God does a mighty work in them.
They range in age from 18 – 40+ and are racially and economically diverse in their backgrounds but what they have in common is the desire to be better than they were. They want to make something of themselves and they want it to be through God. They have that disciple’s spirit of less of me and more of you God.
I was in awe of them last night and my cup runneth over from the opportunity to serve them. I was tremendously blessed just by being there in their midst and then to talk with them, hear their stories and feel the spirit was enough to allow the emotions to come tumbling out. I cried, I hugged and received hugs enough to fill my empty reservoir. The light in their eyes matched the smiles on their faces and even when they talked about how hard the program is, how much they miss their children, husbands, friends and family you could still see that desire in them to continue on.
To be able to fellowship with them, to encourage them to hang in there and share with them that although we might look like we have it all together we don’t, was very humbling. Outside appearances can be very deceiving and we let them know that. We have all gone through some stuff, we are all going through some stuff and we will continue to be challenged in our lives if we live for Christ but we are not alone. That was the message last night.
We all have the opportunity to be our sister’s keeper. To make a difference in the lives of the women we come in contact with in our lives whether it be at that home, our own homes, on the job, or even in the store there is always an opportunity to be our sister’s keeper.
No matter where you go in the world you are not alone. There are sisters everywhere you go. You just need to be open to the Spirit and ask God for the opportunity to be of service and He will reveal it to you. It might be just for that bus ride to the mall or that moment during a sporting event for your child that you connect with someone but that’s one more moment when you can share, inspire or uplift a broken hearted soul with a look, a hug, a kind word, or something more tangible like a meal, some money or clothes, if so moved.
We have all been charged with being our “brother’s keeper” and that goes for us sisters too. So I am blessed in spite of my mess and right now my mess is less on my mind than finding the next opportunity to be my sister’s keeper or to serve someone, some how in some way that will continue to give God the glory and take “me” out of the equation.
How about you?
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