Strength of God

Things with my new job has gotten a little more stressful. I cannot go into details, but I can say that it is going to take more than I thought emotionally, physically and mentally. This past week has been trying and draining all I want to do is sleep for a day or two. Last night was the worst episode my client had. It scared the living daylights out of my co-worker and I. But we handled it professionally and with grace. I think honestly she and I had the strength of God in us to be able to do what was needed to be done. I was shaking to the core, but I somehow was able to pull it together to do what was needed to be there for my client and give her the care that she needed at that time.

God gives us strength when we don't realize it. There are times when we feel at our weakest but in reality I think we are the strongest because God is there helping us through. God helps us through the times that seem scary and like we aren't doing the best we need to do. I know when I was in the situation that I was in last night, I didn't think I was doing what I needed to. I felt guilty that I didn't notice things faster, that something bad happened when I was keeping an eye on the client. God was there with me and my co-workers giving us the strength that we need.

God gives strength to those who need it, even when we are unable to ask for it from our mouths. He knows when we need it even if we don't have the words to say it. I felt his strength last night and admitted it to my co-worker on my way home. Even though there was a bad episode last night we learned from it, grew from it and learned that our strength may not have been our own, but could have been from God.

Compassion

The job that I do is one that not many people would jump to do. While there are days when it is leisurly and we play games, but in the mean time there are days when it is draining of all emotions and physical strength. At the end of most days all I want to do is sleep because I am so drained and feel like I could sleep for days. There are times when I have talked to a co-worker because I wanted to cry from the things I have heard and seen with this job. While talking to him he said something that stood out and meant a lot. He said "this job takes a lot of compassion . Not too many people doing this job has that. That sets you apart."

The compassion that Jeff talked about is a compassion that I think could only come from God. I think I am the way I am because I put to much of my life into Gods hands and allow him to have full control over my life. Sure there will be times when I try to do things on my own, but hey I am human afterall right? I have so much compassion for people around me, sometimes I wonder if it is a bad thing because it allows me to forgive so much which people say I do to easily. But God wants us to forgive and forget correct? Maybe that is a part of my compassion, that I am able to understand why people choose to hurt others including myself to the point where I can forgive them for it.

This world today needs compassion; there is so much hurt and pain in this world, that people need someone who has compassion the way God does. We need to look at the world the way God would and appreciate things the way God would. We need to look at things through God's eyes and not our own.

Things Aren't As They Appear

Sometimes the things we want in life aren't as they appear nor do they go the way we expect them too. We cannot always have things exactly the way we want them. I know too often in life we try to plan out how we want our lives to be and how we want them to play out. We expect everything to work out perfectly to our little plans, but God has other things in his plans. Sometimes I have found when we rely on God while making our plans they match with his, other times not so much.

My new job feels as if God simply placed it action for me. I love the people I work with as well as the job itself. I feel like I am finally doing something worth while, and what God wants me to do, has wanted me to do. I feel fulfilled for once and it is because I put my job situation into God's hands. There are aspects of my job that some people don't understand and try to give me a guilt trip about it because the way my job pans out isn't what THEY expected it to be. But in reality it isn't about them or me, but the young woman this job is made for. God wants things for our lives and places us in situations that may not as they appear. Everyone thinks my job is easy and fun because there are days when it is, but it is so taxing mentally, physically, and emotionally.

When it comes to relationships we all have our ideas on the "perfect" relationship and honestly I don't think I have the idea on the perfect relationship because honestly is there really a perfect relationship outside of the relationship that we have with Christ. I think when we think of things and how we want them to appear we set standards that no one is able to achieve, not even ourselves. Things in our lives are never what they appear, because no matter how hard we try to plan or set expectations or standards, God has something else in mind. When we rely more on God and allow him to have control in our lives things will start to become what they appear to be.

Making Time.

I was reading m dear friend Jeremy's blog today and the title alone made me think and wonder. It was simply "Make time For What Is important to you." We all talk about the things that are important to us, friends, family, church, exercise, writing whatever it is there are things that we consider to be incredibly important. Many people say the most important thing to them is their faith, yet when it comes down to making time to pray, read the Bible or even go to church, they make excuses and almost find ways to not do those things.

In Jeremy's blog he was saying that we procrastinate too much to do the things that are important to us. Jeremy stated "Sometimes you won’t have time, you have to make time" I understand having things to do and not having a lot of time to do things, but your faith is the one thing that you need to make time for. You need to make time for God. Stop and take a few minutes out of your day to give thanks or to offer up a prayer of someone or yourself. While you drive instead of listening to music; take that time to talk to God, that is what my mom does. Like Jeremy stated in his make time post the little things make a difference and sometimes it is the little things that mean the world. A couple minutes here and there with God to pray and read a few verses makes a difference in your relationship with Christ.

Friendships

The past few days I have been thinking about the friendships that I have. There are many people in my life who mean the world to me. We have fun, we're there for each other, and we appreciate each other for who we are and of course we are always there for each other. I know many people think I am foolish for forgiving some of my friends who have hurt me deeply in the past. But in my mind, isn't that the point? If you cannot forgive your friends and forget about the pains they can cause sometimes, who can you forgive and who can you call a friend because people are always going to hurt you. I know that all too well. I have written in the past about a friend who has hurt me numerous times and I know there are people who don't approve that I still talk to him, but he is my friend and I don't want to lose the friendship that we have. So he hurt me in the past, I have hurt him too. The point of the friendship is that we forgive.

When I think about people who ask me "How can you forgive him" or "Why are you talking to him again" I just want to ask...Doesn't God forgive us no matter what? So why should we put restrictions and conditions on our forgivness, especially to people who we call our friends. God forgives us no questions asked, sometimes I think we should do that with the people who come into our lives; family, friends, church members, acquaintances whomever. I think we should forgive them and try to forget I mean how else will we move on? I have been told if you hold on to a grudge and don't forgive a person who hurt you it only hurts you. Sometimes the person who hurt you doesn't care that they hurt you and doesn't lose sleep over it (though guaranteed some do). Forgive them, forget what has been done and move on.

I know i need to take my own advice, and I know how hard it is to just simply forgive someone. In fact it is one of the hardest things to do in life, but that is why we have God to help us forgive people. By the grace of God I have been able to forgive so many people who have hurt me in the past. God has helped me forget about what was done to me and my friends. God gives me the strength to work through all the pain and forgive someone for hurting me especially my friends because sometimes that hurt the worst.