an old friend of mine is dying. my brother was nearly in a car accident that could have taken his life today. another friend's marriage is falling apart. people mere miles from me have lost their homes, jobs, schools, some friends and some family due to tornadoes that shook their world to its core. the world seems to be dissolving before our very eyes due to weather, tragedy, evilness and cruelty, starvation and war.
all of these horrible things, so many terribly unfair pieces of life. so many selfish people unwilling to reach out, too many stuck in their own small worlds, too many hurting to help another one in greater need than they. lady complaining behind me today in line because she only had "one item" and she couldn't believe the "rudeness of some people not letting her cut in front of them" (speaking of me, to me... who by the had been waiting in that very line before she even got up there for a good 6 minutes due to the very slow lady in front of me, and i had to get back to work, while the lady who was griping about me TO me finally went to another line where she checked out before i did, and was still in her car smoking a cigarette and chatting on her cell phone even after i exited the parking lot. some hurry she was in, huh?) mother yelling at her son last night at t-ball practice that "only babies cry, and you need to hush right now or i'm going to jerk you off of that field!!!!" for all of the other parents and children to hear. mean men abusing their wives, beating their children...cruel people who say cruel things...women who bash and gossip about other women because they're secretly jealous. the list goes on. it's never ending. things, i have been guilty of...
and here i am wanting to write about hope. i NEED to write about hope. because the weight of the aforementioned items alone can cause a soul to wrap itself so tightly in self-inflicted chains, it may never be free. there's a long list of verses i can list from the Bible. encouraging, uplifting Scriptures.words that have the power to heal, the power to bleed love through a stone-walled heart. but i won't do that tonight. too many verses come to mind, all at once, like flying gnats all around me. i'm swarmed by the words in His Word, but instead of swatting these "gnats" out of my face, i allow them to attack me. i breathe in these words, i let them fly up my nose, in my ears, and straight into my mouth. i want to take a bath in these words. there is one Scripture that always comes to mind in moments like these. it's a special verse just for me, and i hold it close to my heart so that it never ever slips away. Isaiah 26:3 "You will keep in perfect peace him, whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You." perfect peace, steadfast mind, on what? on Him. on His Son. on His goodness. on His hope. perfect peace. keep my mind on Him. not impatient ladies in line, not dying friends,not what ifs, not the trouble in the world...on Him.
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