Out of the Ashes

Yesterday was a rough day.   The build up of the thought I would be able to Skype friends and family this week (Week of Christmas) and have working internet was so high that when it didn’t happen my expectations came crashing to the ground, along with my heart and emotions. Despair is a real thing.   It can happen in sickness, in circumstances, in hardship, and even in the little day to day things, like going without internet. I sat listening to the lyrics to the song, “Nothing is Wasted” by Elevation worship. It’s so true.   He can work all things together for good, and USE all things.   So I asked, “Dad, what are you doing in this one? In this moment?   What is there to learn?   How can these feelings of despair not be wasted.” Dad then spoke something I wasn’t expecting... He said, “Didi, for years, for centuries, people left their fathers and mothers, and families and friends to go to unseen lands to share my truth.   They left all they had, and they went with their

Sometimes we think the grass is greener on the other side, we live with complaints or jealousy or bitterness, until we finally get to experience the grass on the other side and we realize, it was just the shadow of the fence that made it seem greener. It is just as dry and hard as our side, maybe just in different ways.   I am learning to take what I have here and be thankful; to live in an attitude of gratefulness.   I have so much.   Some days are hard. Some days are easer than others, but everyday my life is easier than someone else’s.   My life is blessed, and my Father is with me.   This alone, relationship and knowledge of the Father, makes my life blessed. Today as I sit in a crowded area and have hundreds of people staring at my, I shift with discomfort, but I am reminded there are millions that live in my shoes who have it far worse. They face persecution and threats.   Here I simply am stared at. I am reminded how I stare at thos