TooTired to Finish This

The e-mail I opened yesterday afternoon asked if I would be willing to share during this morning's Bible study. Loving Beyond Yourself was the topic for the day.  Isolation, depression, sorrow & grief, brokenness, and self-centeredness were areas of discussion. They are obstacles we need to overcome if we want to freely love others. I could choose any area I wanted to speak on. Brokenness called my name. I answered.

After mulling over a few ideas, I decided to get up early this morning and head into McDonalds to finish thinking, put some notes down on paper, then time what I wanted to share. The challenge was keeping the presentation to ten minutes. To make a long story short, I didn't get up early, I didn't go to McDonalds, but I did finish thinking, putting notes down on paper and timing what I wanted to share. Fifteen minutes, ooops, time to edit.

My prayer through all this was, "Lord, show me what to say about my own brokenness and how you have been helping me overcome it so I can once again love others. Give me something that will touch the heart of at least one person. Amen."

Several thoughts that were new to me rose to the surface. I shared them because I thought they were relevant. Other thoughts that have been with me from the beginning were also shared. I have decided to share a few of them here.

First of all, when something I love gets cracked, chipped or broken, I do all I can to put it back together again. Likewise, when something of great value, such as a Ming vase, is broken, experts do all they can to restore it. That is the way God is with us. Each of us is of great value and we are loved. God does all we will allow him to do in restoring us. We aren't thrown on the trash heap.

In addition, I shared about moving from the "poor me" mind set to the "God didn't put me here for me, but for Him" mindset. In has been a slow process of listening to the Spirit speak through scripture, sermons, music, journaling, conversations with family and friends, and observing life around me.

(I'm not sure where I want to go from here or how to get there. My body is tired and my mind muddled. I have more to share, and much editing to do, but for now, I just want to go to bed. Please try to make some sense of what I've written so far. Much of what I shared, I have posted in previous entries. Tomorrow is a new day. Let's see what it brings.)

By the way, several ladies talked to me after the Bible study and thanked me for the encouragement they got from what I shared. Thank you, Lord.

Have a great night.
Jan