A corrupt, beautiful, God-made world.

Lately I have found myself thinking a lot about how different the world around me seems.  It's almost created a sense of fear inside of me.  It feels like everywhere I turn there's another travesty happening.  People hurting, people's hearts broken, people so deeply desiring healing, people yearning for answers, people who don't know where to turn, people in need, people being ignored, people crying out for help.  Ah!

Who am I to act like I have the answers.  I don't.  I'm undereducated on so many topics being thrown around in society these days and even on topics of the past that seem to be resurfacing.  I usually feel like I just want to build a small underground village with room enough for all my people so we can escape all the crazy and hurt.  I want to help.  I want to be a voice of reason.  I want to help show hope, but I am terrified myself.

I recently posted a status update on my Facebook about "friendship".

As friends we are called to encourage, lift up, cheer on, stand in the same corner, celebrate in the happy times, hug in the hard, sacrifice, be intentional, be genuine, and just plain have each other's well-being at heart. As friends one of our successes is also the success of the other. Let's pat each other on the back and love each other hard--Makes life so much more pleasant! A dear friend said the other day--"I'd rather have four quarters than one hundred pennies".. Wake up tomorrow and be someone's quarter!!!

 I have my people and I am so thankful for them, but I have also been deeply hurt by friends in the past, and, sadly, I'm sure I have done the hurting to some also.  I just think we need each other in times like this.  We need people we can trust, people we can lean on, people who absolutely desire for us to be happy & us to be happy for them in return, people who help us strive to reach that happiness, people who keep our deepest darkest secrets-don't hold them against us, don't use them against us, and who trust us with theirs.  There's a need for more of these people! We need to be these people every single day of our lives.  We need to close our mouths and open our hearts.  We need to strip away our judgmental eyes and gossipy lips.  We need to put ourselves in others' positions and TREAT EACH OTHER LIKE WE WOULD WANT TO BE TREATED!----("we" meaning ME included)
This world is not our home.  These things that seem like ginormous every day disasters are not our eternity.  They will pass, but goodness gracious we have to love each other through them!

Getting caught up in every day life is easy, but sometimes every day life is hard.  It is just plain hard.
We recently built a house, and I remember in the middle of it all I sat down next to Ben one night and said, "I feel like I'm investing all this time and energy into something that is just going to waste away."  I immediately regretted the fact that I hadn't been investing all that energy into my relationship with Christ.  Letting myself get caught up in the day-to-day and looking at "the next best thing" had me feeling empty.  Yes-I was excited to build this home, move our family in, and start making memories, but I quickly realized it isn't WHERE we are that matters.  Jesus puts us right where we need to be, and He surrounds us with those he desires for us to be surrounded by to fulfill his purpose!
My friend Hope recently posted 1 John 2:15-17 and it was such an eye opener for me:

Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For everything in the world- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does- comes not from the Father but from the world.  THE WORLD AND ITS DESIRES PASS AWAY, BUT THE MAN WHO DOES THE WILL OF GOD LIVES FOREVER.

It goes right along with the fact that there's more to life than what this world has to offer, but it also agrees with the idea that we (I) have got to stop letting myself get caught up in the "keeping up" and just enjoy what and who I have!

Every season of life has its peeks and pits.  Sometimes the pits seem so deep, and other times the small pits are overshadowed by the monstrous peeks!  Whatever the season of life is and whatever curve balls come our way we can rest in knowing that Jesus is our atoning Sacrifice and in Him and through Him we have a glorious awakening coming! Come, Lord, Jesus... come!!!!!