Thursday, May 1, 2014

Perspective

Tuesday was a tough day for me.

Sometimes people are insensitive and by the end of the day, I was feeling very down and discouraged. The weight of our situation was sitting heavy on my shoulders.

I am blessed with a great group of friends that know me and love me and allow me to vomit on them when needed.  They are my encouragers and they listen and then they always bring my focus back where it needs to be. 
 I love them.

 One of my friends suggested last night that I join her church the next day in the tornado relief effort...see what I mean....she knows that when you are in a pity party and looking at yourself, the best thing to do is to SERVE others and get your focus outward instead of inward.

So, Wednesday morning my husband and I joined a local church on their work crew and we ended up at the home of someone we knew!  We had no idea their house had been hit by the tornado and it was so great to be helping this couple!  

The damage was massive and seemed overwhelming at first.  Though we only made a dent in the clean up, we were able to get a lot done and you could see a difference when we left.

Our friend, the home owner, was out working too and I was just impressed with his attitude...smiling, happy and so grateful.  You see, they only had 3 minutes warning before the tornado hit.  Yet, what impacted me the most was that in the midst of all this damage and devastation to his house and property, he took the time to come up to me, put his arm around me and ask me how I was doing with the situation with our church. He took the time to encourage ME.

By the time we left, I felt like God had given me a great big hug.

And then I came home and read this blog and story about a local mom that lost both her boys in the tornado...you need to read it.

God not only brought me encouragement today, He also got my focus off of me and He gave me plenty of perspective of my situation.

My God is good and He has a plan..
..for me and for you..
..and it is good.

And you will make a new start, 
listening obediently to God
keeping all his commandments 
that I’m commanding you today. 
God, your God, 
will outdo himself in making things 
go well for you...


6 comments:

Rebecca Jo said...

Wow... just wow...
What are the odds you'd end up right there in that home of people you know. God knew...

There's so much healing in serving, isn't there?

StephieAnne said...

Sara, when I saw that you were helping yesterday (it just seemed inappropriate to "like" on Instagram - but I totally like that you were helping!) - it made me wonder how God might be using you and Steve in such a unique and purposeful capacity that never would have been possible if he'd already been assigned to a church (or was still at your old one). It just seemed like God was totally using you, "For such a time as this".

Now, after reading your blog post, I can see there was even more at work. And that story about "April" - oh, my goodness - what a heart wrencher and oh-so-inspiring.

Praying for you dear friend!

mer@lifeat7000feet said...

Hi Sara,

Just catching up on your blog. I'm sorry for what you're going through right now but HOW AMAZING that God prepared your heart for this in the ways that He did. I am blessed at the tenderness of His work in your heart...and by your ability to see it while in the midst of the "hard".

Mari said...

I'm sorry you were having a tough day. Glad that God knew just what you needed1
The story about April puts me to shame.

Loralee said...

Thank you for sharing from your heart. It was wonderful to read your words this morning.

God is good.

Loralee said...

Thank you for sharing from your heart. It was wonderful to read your words this morning.
God is good.