For You ~ My Forever Friends

It’s been a while, friends ~ a spot of time has passed in which I have not written anything down that normally must spill out of my heart without hesitation. I have not been intentionally withholding ~ in fact, I have longed to write to you and share with you.  Yes ~ I have missed you. It’s been a while, friends.

I haven’t forgotten to pray for you. You are in my heart. 

It’s been a time, friends ~ a time of solitude, listening, centering myself with my Jesus and my family. A time of wrapping my heart and mind further around the state I am in physically ~ of reconciling that with the Lord. It’s been a time of learning something new about acceptance and surrender (when is it NOT the time for that?).  It’s been a time, friends.

What has the time brought to you over the last month or two?, I wonder.

It’s been a journey, friends ~ a continuation of a journey in which the Lord brings new surprises along the side of the road for me to feast my eyes upon. A journey in which He has had to carry me along the way, and at other times, in which He has allowed me to stop and rest a while. The road changes daily, but the sameness that matters is there and found in Him (He is with me every step of the way). It  has been a journey, friends.

I feel like you are there with us a lot of the time.

I have much to share with you about this last month, but I am not quite ready just yet. But you are in my heart ~ deeply tucked inside ~ and for you, I am ever-so grateful.

I have been out on a temporary leave of absence from work for almost a month now. I have much to share with you and will promise to do so soon. I am a blessed and most fortunate girl.

But for today, I just wish to say that there is so much to be learned from living in each day with Jesus ~ simply one day at a time ~ one step at a time. Just doing the days with Jesus.

These days string together and certain things on the outside become fuzzy. The lack of that relentless need to know exactly what date of the month it is has been freeing for me. I have never felt that kind of freedom before ~ free to just let the day pass and fill it with what the Lord leads me and enables me to do that day. There is beauty to be found when illness creates limitations for us as long as we spend that time, that while, that part of the journey with Jesus.

Jesus can make us fly when our bodies seem to say we have to stand still.

• It’s been a while since I felt that, friends.
• It’s been a time I will never forget to cherish, my friends.
• It’s a part of this journey that by all worldly standards screams “this stinks!” but is having the most opposite effect that I could possibly imagine.

So for a while longer, I shall revel in that, dear friends. For just this small portion of time, I will move from one day to the next without worrying too much about all the plans and tasks that I cannot do, and embrace what I can. I am not sad. I am not feeling like I am missing out, although there are pockets of time in which I get sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I am rich. In spite of it all, I am RICH!

You are riding along with me in my heart on this journey, friend. This journey with Jesus at the helm.

I talk to Jesus about you every single day.

And although you aren’t hearing from me as regularly right now in this particular season, please know that I pray for your daily walk with Him ~ that your journey would be full of richness and joy and peace and learning.

And may you know without a doubt, that I have not forgotten you ~ my brothers and my sisters.

I hear from Him about you as well: I can feel His love for you. It is strong.

It is a beautiful thing.

Let’s celebrate the freedom that comes from knowing Him ~ from loving Him and loving one another. Let us celebrate the beauty to be found in the midst of that which can seem daunting or less than pleasant. Because wherever Jesus is, well….that’s where I want to be.

• He doesn’t always pick the beautiful looking road to take us on ~ no, He’s not a tour guide.
• He doesn’t always let us stop along the way, but if we are weary, He will always be there to carry us.
• He does give us rest when we need it, and amazingly, allows us to connect to one another through Him, even when we have physical limitations.

He is AWESOME.

He is ALL-KNOWING.

And He is FAITHFUL.

I thank Jesus for you, dear friends. And I just wanted to let you know I am thinking of you and praying for you. Oh, how I do miss you. I look forward to the time in which the Lord says I can write to you regularly again.

Let me know how you are doing in the comments, dear friends. And if you do? Know that I will celebrate along with you, and I will pray for you if  you are going through a difficult time.

I am certainly no Paul, by any stretch of the imagination. But I do relate a lot to what Paul might have been going through when he was in prison (on a much smaller scale, I am sure). I ran across this section of scripture again that sums up how I feel about you and just wanted to share it below.

It is for you…..For you are my forever friends.

I thank my God every time I remember you.  In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy  because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,  being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1: 3-8

 

 

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