Transient Trials

                                                                       

Do you know suffering? I believe we have all suffered. You can not fully live life  without a degree of suffering.
In the recent past  though I have experienced a new kind of suffering.
Accusations made against me falsely, and injustices from an employer and coworker hurled me down a path I had not yet travelled. 
To  not be believed in and to be treated in a harsh and irrational manner and to be lied about, is unfamiliar suffering for me and a strange grief.

                                                                    

I do not recognize the emotions that have suddenly taken over my heart.
 Rage and revenge are not tools I had  considered picking up before. Suddenly I am tempted.

Suffering is not new. The Bible gives great comfort to all suffering...
http://www.openbible.info/topics/suffering
 I know most of these verses by heart...and the sermon Jesus taught on the mountain.
Ann Voskamp says ...
The staggering truth is: Suffering is never a meaningless waste of your life, but a meaningful way through your life.

I bake a pie for my friend's  family.  My friend, I found out, has  been admitted to a mental health facility....somebody with five young children at home.
Somehow as I crumble the topping ingredients together, my own suffering is paled.
It is a shadow, not gone but diminished somewhat.
                       

Is there  more suffering now? I ask myself....as I think about this book I recently read.
or when one is experiencing suffering are we more  acutely aware of it?

Things I ponder while I wrestle out grace and forgiveness.
The only  medicine I know that will heal my fragmented heart.

                                                                

      I wait, I wrestle....and somewhere in the grunge of it all...I see the edge of joy.


                                                                   

                              I named this post transient trials....nothing here is permanent, 
                                       not even our troubles....(praise the Lord!)   

                                                                  

         For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward.
                                      Romans 8:18

Misty Meditation

The other morning the fog was a panoramic slideshow.....the sun was attempting to push it away. It looked beautiful and it felt like a reminder to persevere...to always be hopeful...and YES spring is now on its way!

Certain days life's path is clear,undimmed, bright...

dreams seem to have taken flight midst stars somewhere...

Other days it can feel like dreams got lost in air...
                       

Fog seems to blur what we know is there.

 The path can be difficult to discern.

                                

We cling to the things we know and have learned...like faithfulness, grace and Hope.

Fog seems to blur what we know is there. 

But we know it is there.

                                     Whispers are words too. 

              so

We keep on giving, loving and learning. and we see and understand what we didn't know.....    eventually

                               

                             

    we emerge energized by truths that fog revealed...
                   

                                                   
                                       

                                               

An Intentional Reflection

Lately the word intentional has been going through my mind.
I read about intentional decorating and it resonated...
This is in fact exactly what I have been trying to do.....without realising I was being intentional...:)

                                                                                                

                a fave winter pass time....sunny window, tea, magazines....

                                                         

It's funny when you stop and consider all the implications of being intentional.
Even the art of what I call 'studied carelessness'     ...is intentional.

Makes me want to live more intentionally as well....


   
                                                                                                           

Isn't that what we all crave?

Purpose....

belonging


 and usefulness....

oh to dream...

                                         smoke shadows drifting off

      Mindful  and aware of how beautiful each little nuance of life is.....

                            

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

                                     HAPPY MIDWEEK....already.

Little Luxuries

In the midst of an intense deep freeze here....
                                                   

but silver linings seem to find their way through to my soul somehow...                 

welcomed daughter Katrina home for a week as she took a break from her studies and life in the city....

love hearing her play the piano again...                                   

white flowers in the winter....could not resist them even if I tried...
             
than I read this timely post...

                                 simply adore the crisp white blooms...

warm muffins on mornings when buses don't run and schools are closed due to cold...
              

hanging laundry out in the winter....yep. I'm that crazy....but look I don't have to go out to hang it up....my clothes line comes inside...
pretty neat...huh?

                         " the winter sun has gold in it"...is a quote my mother in law taught me....

and last I 'll share my concluding line with a conversation I had with my daughter this week...

"I have learned there is always something in your life that keeps you on your knees....always something that keeps us from being okay on our own....
somehow only there do we gain proper perspective"....
                                    

Warmest of wishes to you and all your week brings....Lucy~