"An Artist's Walk with God"

Don’t you hate it when someone tells you to stop complaining and whining when you feel bad and really just want someone to listen to you? I am normally a very positive person and am the “go to person” for many when they are hurting and need to share their heart.

I am not a stranger to pain, hurt, loss of a loved one, loss due to miscarriages, health issues, among other pains. I guess at 58, you would have to expect a life of some pain and challenges and I have had my share of them. I thank God He knew to give me a sister to lean on and share with.

I think as women, we do need to have someone “your person” that you can share with, talk about anything with and even complain to. There are times that I do not want to load her down with my problems, and frankly I should not. She is dealing with her own issues. Don’t get me wrong, sharing with another woman, especially if she is a believer, is helpful. And sharing our burdens, our heavy hearts with someone we trust provides us an emotional balance. In a way, it restores us.

But, here is what I have learned in my 58 years and what I wanted to share! I have to be careful to not let all the issues and burdens overwhelm me to the point that I cannot see through them. I think God puts “things” in our life that we totally miss because we are not looking. If I let the feelings of hurt or depression overwhelm me and blanket me I tend to wrap up in the blanket and not peep out. If we allow ourselves, no matter how hard it is to let go of what we are going through to breath deep and actually peek out of what we think is our safety bubble, for hope or encouragement, we will find it.

I am not saying this will be easy because I know when I am hurting, the last thing I want is to expose myself to more hurt. What if I look for that happiness and it is not there and I find more pain. I know this feeling. But, keep looking. God many times is sharing His blessing in small things like a kind word from someone, a stranger that lets you in front of them in the line, even someone humming a pretty tune around you. If you can let the small blessings around you into your day, you will possibly not let the next hurtful thing drive you deeper into your hole.

Once you start looking for the small things, you will start to SEE them around you without looking!! God does not promise us every day will be without pain, but He does promise to be faithful in His love and be there for us when we are going through pain. To everything there is a season. When my brother was missing and then found dead, life stood still for me. I could not breathe for days. But I did eventually breathe and He was there waiting for me.

One verse that is a promise I hold onto is: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7. No one can be there for me on every occasion. But I know that God is there. I might not reach out to Him as my first source because I am hurting and think He is not listening to me and cannot comfort me like a phone call to “my person” but, actually, He will never be working, be on the phone, or on vacation, but His phone is never busy. Let God by “your person.”