I've read through a few of the other posts, too - it's quite a thread! - so many testimonies of broken hearts and lives and yet of overcoming and being carried through! - and there doesn't seem to me to be anything to add, anything that was left out...
...except this! (;
Thanks tons Dear Heart.
You humble me with sweet tears. Thanks so much.
Of course, the analysis on the source of the perspective is abundantly correct. LOL.
And, yes, laughter . . . interestingly . . . tends to be a fruit of many fiery furnaces . . . at least those survived on God's side!
GOD IS FAITHFUL.
He IS the author and finisher of our faith and of us.
If we can't hold on, then let go--abandon--fall into His hands utterly helplessly. He IS there and will catch us.
Sometimes it seems like He catches us in a smelly muck when we'd have chosen perfumed hay or downy comforters. But if so, it's because for us at that moment, the smelly muck is HIS PERFECT LOVE to us.
And, I don't think it even matters a lot of the time whether we have "earned" the muck with disobedience and it's just reaping what's been sown . . . or if it's a natural outgrowth of someone else's rebellion we got too close to or were just part of that person's network so shared in the reaping.
IF God allows us to touch something . . . HE WILL USE IT FOR OUR GOOD because it is His Glory to do so and He loves those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.
I'm learning--still seemingly millions of miles to go--that when the 'catch basin' is smelly muck . . . to consider . . . the flowers the muck will serve must be beautiful indeed.
You are a deep treasure to me, too, Dear Heart. Your deeply felt; deeply discerning; deep caring and faithfulness to the Love and Priorities of Our Lord are a continual encouragement to me hereon.
And, your words today have been a much needed encouragement and affirmation to me. My step-dad is rather disparaging of my time on the computer. It's just a bias from an old farmer. He can play hours of solitaire quite comfortably. And I've mentioned the impact of my hours on the computer--which--had he deeper knowledge, he'd greatly thrill at and support. But, it doesn't compute for him and is not likely to in this life. That's deeply sad, to me.
So, your words have been a balm in Gilead and I thank you more than words can express.
I might try tongues but I don't think my fingers do tongues very well. LOL.
LUB,
LUB,
LUB,
Funny! Ah yes, laughter, a very necessary ingredient, food for the spirit and eases the burden. ..most pointedly, when I can laugh at myself.. deflates the ego to proper size and I'm no longer the center of the universe.
A most spiritual thread..
God Bless ..all
:)