It has been said that the social structure among animals which most closely resembles human is that of horses. Since humans can be swayed by pride, peer pressure and unrealistic social expectations it makes sense to look closely at horses to get a basic understanding of our social needs. Horses are not so burdened with unrealistic expectations. They do what they need to do.
Horses do change their role in the herd but not because of outside pressure. They see a need and fill it if they are in a position to do so. This is very different from humans who quite often change roles based on selfish reasons and not necessarily for the benefit of the herd. So let's look at horses and see what we can learn. Horses group themselves in a few different ways, by family group, by bachelor group or by a group of assorted singles. Every group has its own hierarchy and works for the benefit of the herd. The primary kind of herd is the family group. Within the family, there is a lead stallion and a lead mare who take on the primary roles for the safety of the herd. Horses do not operate within a democracy. When the lead horse "speaks", the others must listen and respond immediately. Their lives depend on this type of relationship. Much like a human family, democracy really doesn't work when raising our young. The lead "stallion" and "mare" have the knowledge and experience to know what dangers lurk around the herd and the other members of the herd must simply act as instructed when orders are given at times when their wellbeing is at risk. Horses operate with a chain of command structure. This is what also works best in human families, especially with very young offspring. Another interesting thing about horses is that they rely on each other. They know each other and understand the needs of the herd to the point where they will switch up their roles if needed. Horses pay attention and act quickly. For some reason, humans have gotten the idea that working alone is a favourable position to be in but if indeed our social structure and needs most closely resembles that of horses, then we need to sound the alarm on this social anomaly. If a horse is isolated from a herd, it becomes nervous, apprehensive and irritable; he simply can't function normally. So it is with humans. We tell ourselves that it is desirable to operate well beyond our instincts when there is so much evidence to the contrary. A horse has two basic responses to danger. Either attack or run away, and running away is his best option because his ability to fight is limited. Humans have somehow convinced themselves of the opposite, that we should fight every danger rather than removing ourselves from the situation....as quickly as possible. We suppress our natural, life saving instincts and force ourselves to stand and fight. We also teach our young this very damaging approach to danger. For humans, unlike horses, those dangers take on many forms. In the wild, a horse's danger comes from predators. For humans, our dangers are much more complex but the principle is the same. Why do we insist on standing and fighting when the damage we sustain will be greater than any benefit of fighting? A horse knows his security is found in staying within the safety of his herd. Humans think we are smarter and so often reject our herd in favour of solitude, and thereby reap the hazards that come with that choice. Horses instinctively make choices based on what benefits the herd because this is also what benefits the individual. Humans often get this turned around and first seek to benefit themselves and then try to convince themselves that their choice will also benefit the herd, if they are even part of a herd. Horses find their mental health is best served within the herd. We have already mentioned what happens to a horse who is isolated - nervous, apprehensive and irritable, to the point of not even being able to function normally. If we are most similar to horses, then we need to take notice of this. Mental health issues in humans are rampant and not to be taken lightly. But what can we learn from horses, whose social needs and structure are so close to our own? Horses suffer serious mental health issues from being separated from a herd, from being kept alone. And it's not just about being kept from other horses. A horse can thrive mentally by being with other prey animals. It doesn't even have to be other horses. To put this in human terms, we don't have to be with our family herd to thrive but we need, NEED, to be with some kind of herd. Physical and social isolation is very damaging. Sadly, humans keep telling themselves that this is a favourable position to be in, even a sign of strength, and yet we only have to look at one isolated horse to see how wrong this is. When the horse is returned to a herd, he can again find his security and his place and again function normally. When humans suffer from mental health issues, our balance, our security, our return to sanity can most often be found when we return to a herd. I have heard it said that it has been found most beneficial when humans can share their painful experiences in a group...and that this is strange but I would submit the only thing that is strange about it is that we would ever think that this is a strange place to heal. Horses know that their sense of security is within their herd...and the most common type of herd is the family herd. As humans, we have alienated ourselves from our family groups in favour of so called independence. Horses give us an alternative in either the form of a stallion group, which we see very commonly in humans, as well as in a herd of assorted singles, something we also do as humans. Where we humans fall apart is that we also give ourselves the option of being in no herd, which horses know is the most dangerous place of all. We structure our work and life to keep us apart from each other as much as possible and then when mental health issues appear, the affected person is looked upon like they are weak or broken when all they need is to be integrated into a herd (any herd) for balance to return. Of course, I am not addressing serious health issues that have gone well beyond the healing that is facilitated by a herd but I certainly suggest that many, if not all issues would be remedied or at least profoundly mitigated by simply returning the individual to a herd. If indeed human social structure most closely resembles that of horses, then we must look closely and learn everything we can from horses. Their social structure is based on the horses' knowledge of each other and of their surroundings. Their decisions are made in the herd's best interests. Their optimum mental health is achieved when they remain as part of a herd, even though that changes over the lifetime of the horse. A horse herd is based on each animal participating for the good of the group, roles changing as needed and a chain of command to facilitate immediate decisions being made for the safety and protection of the herd and each horse being secure in finding their place, albeit changing, within the security of their herd. Why then should it be suspect if a human finds mental and emotional healing by returning to their herd? This is exactly where we need to go, especially in times of stress. We are urged to further isolate ourselves from our primary herd and force ourselves to seek a herd of assorted individuals to find healing. Even horses know that the primary herd is the family herd. A personal example of this is from when I was a child, approximately 7 years old. My mother was attending classes and working. My dad worked and I was attending school full time. My social structure was thrown out of balance because of the prolonged absence of my mother in the evenings. At that young age, my primary herd was a herd of two. I began to struggle, becoming nervous, apprehensive and irritable. I wasn't able to function normally. For me, my primary herd was my mom and I...and that was disrupted. I struggled to the point of getting the attention of the school counsellor who decided that I needed to be removed from my family, from my herd. My mother had the wisdom to challenge this outrageous decision, convincing the counsellor to just let her have spring break with me. If I wasn't better after spring break, she would have no choice but to accept their intervention. Of course, she proposed this knowing full well what she had planned and the expected outcome. During spring break, my mom took me to classes with her by day and to work with her by night. I would sleep in her office while she carried out her duties. What was accomplished? I was returned to my herd and therefore was balanced mentally and emotionally again. When spring break ended, I returned to school as a happy, well adjusted child. The school counsellor was mystified. How could my mother achieve this without the help of "professionals"? I needed to be returned to my herd. Period. This is what strengthened and balanced me. I shudder to think of the devastation that could have been caused had I been removed from my herd altogether and forced to survive outside that structure of optimum security and safety. We should never be surprised to see mental and emotional healing in someone who is able to reconnect with their herd, after all, that is how we are designed. It seems that the "mental health profession" is largely in place to "help" humans learn to resist our natural instincts which hold the source of true healing of mind and spirit and develop ways to cope that we were never meant to learn. How often we see individuals in counselling for years so they can keep trying to learn to function alone, apart from any herd when we have clear evidence that such a life will never give us anything but nervousness, apprehension and irritability and leave us completely unable to cope...and yet we insist. Is it any wonder that severe mental health issues are rampant in our individualistic society? We keep trying to force ourselves into a frame that we are not designed for. If it is well known that humans are akin to horses in our social structure and social needs, why is the source of our disease such a mystery? The answer is so simple that we refuse to accept it. We want prescriptions that have known devastating risks. We want clinical diagnoses that make us frightened to even think we can cope without the established medical industry. We have been given the tools for our healing, but they have been frowned upon or even outlawed by a society that prefers the sanitary world of the doctor's office to the messy natural world of real life. Those who know how to heal themselves without the prescribed methods given by the medical profession are looked upon as suspect, loose canons and not at all reliable when in fact it is these very people who are the most healthy and "normal", who have learned to assess their own risks and needs and reconnect with their herd to reestablish mental and emotional balance. It seems our society would prefer that we simply learn how to shut off our instincts and learn to cope with living outside of our herd. This is, by far, a more dangerous proposition for the health and wellbeing of a society already putting itself under so much pressure to perform outside of our natural state of being. If indeed the social structure of a horse herd is what most closely resembles the human instinctive social structure, then that needs to be looked at carefully. The secrets to our wellbeing are right there for us to learn from. In my own present situation, following my instinct to remove myself from danger rather than standing and fighting was definitely the right thing thing to do. It's the only thing that makes sense. The next part of that plan needs to be to connect with a "surrogate herd" while I have to be separated from my primary herd, although, with the modern miracle of the internet, a good wifi connection is all that is needed to stay involved with one's primary family herd. Being human is messy and complicated, but that is the only way it is real. If we would just set aside our ideas of "higher intelligence" and learn from our peers in the animal world we would find that the answers we seek are not nearly as complicated as we think they should be.
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*trigger warning - talking about physical and sexual abuse*
Sometimes when people talk about "being blessed", it can leave us feeling left out, isolated, decidedly "unblessed" due to difficult circumstances in our lives. You've probably seen or heard it said "don't compare your life to someone else's highlight reel" and I can't stress this enough. When we find ourselves in the middle of trauma or abuse, it is easy to think that we must have REALLY blown it in order to find ourselves here. And not only that, we sure aren't "being blessed"! Where does that leave us? It's hard to speak to anyone about this struggle because we often feel so much shame "Look what I've gotten myself into", "People are going to think I'm a loser for this", "I'm a fake! If I was who I claim to be, I wouldn't be in this situation". These are just some of the defeating lies the enemy whispers in our ears to keep us down. It is the enemy who smothers us in shame, not God. It is the enemy who tries to convince us that we are to blame for the abuse that someone else commits, rather than it being the other person's choice. I have done a lot of reading about narcissists and who they target since my own experience and what I found was encouraging. I read that narcissists prefer to target people who are kind and forgiving, people who tolerate the behaviours of others in an effort to keep the peace in a relationship. If you've been abused by a narcissist, what it actually means is that you have a good heart. Although abuse can make it seem like becoming cold and hard will make us safer, it really doesn't. Please choose love, no matter what. Of course, I don't mean to continue to stay in an abusive situation. I mean to continue being a loving person and allow others to benefit from your gifts, while learning how to create distance when you find yourself getting close to another possibly abusive situation. Let me tell you my story. When I returned to Canada from the Gaza Strip after being seriously ill in 2010, I brought with me the man that I had married in Gaza in 2009. (only to learn later that our marriage was never valid - something I became very grateful for!) I thought he was a great guy, just a bit undisciplined (which isn't always a bad thing!) He was with me through my hospitalization and I begged the Canadian embassy to let him accompany me home as I was afraid to travel alone in such fragile condition and we wanted to be together. Very shortly after arriving in Canada. he met some new friends and I was happy for him. I was struggling to recover and so accepted that I wasn't much fun to be around. I tried to complete his immigration documents but was unable to understand what I was reading, which was a lingering affect of the brain injury I had sustained. The forms didn't make any sense at all, and when I'd ask for his help, he would angrily tell me that he wasn't Canadian and so shouldn't be expected to know how to fill out the forms. Instead, he started going out more often and for longer periods of time with his new friends. He started staying out for days, up to a week, at a time. If I called and asked where he was or what he was doing or when he would be home, I got an angry response and was blasted "Why should I have to stay home?? There's nothing to do!" I couldn't disagree. I wasn't able to do much at that time. As I began to recover, suddenly my hair started falling out. I was horrified. I had thick hair my whole life, but now I was getting what I called "runways", bare strips of scalp showing through. When I would wash my hair in the shower, I would pull away handfuls of hair, to my shock and horror. I would stand under the water, my hands shaking, tears pouring down my cheeks, and stare at the clumps of hair in my hands. When I would mention it to him, his response was "So what? I'm bald! Do you think I want to be bald??" and I would immediate silence myself. I didn't know the cause of my hair loss and so I didn't know if it would grow back. Finally, it stopped falling out, for which I was very grateful. I started getting sick benefits because I wasn't able to work and finally was able to get into a self employment program to learn to create my own business. I was excited and hopeful! With him always asking me for money so he could go out with his friends and the other expenses I needed to cover, I found it necessary for me to take a part time job. With the self employment program, I was allowed to work part time as long as it was for a limited number of hours per week. Eventually, my hours crept up to where I was suddenly kicked out of the program without any discussion. I hadn't realized that my hours had crossed the threshold. I was devastated and very disappointed. At this point, the fights at home were getting louder and more violent. When I was asking him to stay home and stop leaving for days at a time, he would grab my arm and pull me into the bathroom, in front of the mirror. He would yell "LOOK AT US!" I was confused. "what do you mean?" He would yell again "LOOK AT US! LOOK AT YOU AND LOOK AT ME!" I saw a woman who was struggling to recover and who had lost a lot of hair and certainly didn't look her best. I'd ask again "What do you mean? What am I looking at?" Then he'd land the final blow "WE DON'T LOOK LIKE WE BELONG TOGETHER! LOOK AT ME AND THEN LOOK AT YOU!!!" I was humiliated. How could I argue with that? I looked terrible. On top of that, the brain injury had robbed me of my confidence. I had nothing to say. And he'd go out, convincing me that he deserved so much better than to be stuck at home with me. I don't know how I managed to pay rent, feed us (my youngest son was living with us), pay the household bills and manage to keep giving him all the money that he took to spend. I later learned that the money he had was being spent on mostly cocaine and ecstasy, as well as a few other things. He would routinely take my car and get parking tickets as he had no respect for the laws, for me, or for money. It was exhausting. But I was so ashamed of the mess I was in that I kept trying to make peace with him. It took nothing more than direct eye contact to set him off into a rage. I began taking drugs that would make me lethargic so that I didn't risk responding more than he wanted me to and thereby raging at me again. I felt so bad for my son, having to witness all of this so I did want I felt necessary to calm the raging. Then he added a new twist to our relationship. Whenever I was about to leave to go to church or work or visit a friend (or anything), he would insist on engaging in sex first. He claimed he loved me and was going to miss me and it wasn't fair for me to just go out like that. I hated it but would comply to avoid another fight. When I would protest, he would get angry and accuse me of neglecting him. He would always choose to time this just as I was about to walk out the door so I had to either leave dirty or miss out on what I was supposed to do. Shame washed over me like an ocean. I was drowning and didn't know how to get out. I was still in a mental state where I believed I couldn't take care of myself as well as feeling guilty about kicking him out because he was in a foreign country because of me. So the months dragged on. The thing about abuse is that it keeps eroding your heart and mind, and coupled with the brain injury, I really didn't see any options. But I continued to heal! I had to work very hard on my healing but I was reading books about the brain that convinced me that I had every reason to hope for a good healing! I pressed on. Was I blessed? You might say no, not at all - and it would be hard to disagree, but God never left me. It was God who gave me the mind and wisdom to keep reaching for books and online resources so I could learn about my brain and how to help it recover. It was God who kept me alive in spite of frequent threats and intimidations. I finally started noticing that not only was he leaving for extended periods of time, but he was also "breaking up with me" but only doing it as a means of scaring me into being alone. I realize that to you, this doesn't seem like much of a loss but to my continued insecurity, this was frightening. As bad as it was, I wasn't sure how I'd cope having to take care of myself. What I didn't realize, is that I was gradually healing and getting stronger mentally and emotionally. Finally, the day came when he "broke up with me" again and left for a few days. This time I was ready. When he returned, I had already packed up all of his belongings and had them outside for him. I had a reliable vehicle and I was making progress with work as well. I was feeling stronger and more confident and realized that I could choose to end this abusive relationship, no matter what he said. When he arrived home that time, I had locked the door. He hadn't brought his key. When he knocked, I opened the window and informed him that he wasn't coming in and that all of his belonging where packed up for him. He raged loudly, calling me every name under the sun, telling me how unfair I was being to deprive him of his home, but I stood my ground. I offered to drive him to the bus so he could go back to his friend's home. He was furious. I remained remarkably calm because I realized that freedom for my son and I was imminent. All that stood in the way was one more car ride. As I was driving him to the bus, he was, of course, raging at me, threatening me and demanding that I allow him to come him. I wasn't persuaded. In an attempt to intimidate me, he punched the windshield of my car from where he sat in the passenger's seat. The window broke badly enough that I couldn't not safely drive my car without replacing it. As was intended, that action scared me. If he had enough force to break a car window with a punch, how much more damage could he do to me? I was no longer going to give him an opportunity to let me find out and kept driving. In the weeks after I dropped him off at the bus, I began hearing from people that I was horribly mean and cold to just kick him out "for no reason". His friends believed his story. I later learned that our marriage wasn't valid and is considered null and void. I was free. Was I blessed? Absolutely! I am alive, and healed. God has blessed me with wisdom and knowledge that I didn't have before. My son and I were protected from terrible consequences that were otherwise possible. I have not become cold and cynical, but rather I have grown in my empathy and understanding of what it's like to suffer trauma and how that affects our brain. I have studied the brain for almost 10 years now and I have learned how to help myself and to help others. Had I never been in that abusive situation, I might not have been so motivated to learn so much about the brain. In the years since, I have had the privilege of helping people who have suffered traumas of various types or their loved ones. I have hope! Am I blessed? I sure am! And I am doubly blessed in that God has taken my terrible experience and made it a training ground from which I can do so much more for so many people. I am grateful! Any my hair has completely grown back to its former thickness and shine! “To Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” Ephesians 3:20-21 IMMEASURABLY MORE THAN WE ASK OR IMAGINE!! What would that look like? “According to His power that is at work within us!!!” Wow! Live the “immeasurably more” that God has for YOU! 🙌✝️🙏 And don’t wait until you’re near death to realize that God’s immeasurably more is for you! Today marks the third anniversary since my mom’s death from glioblastoma, brain cancer.
In these three years, I have learned to navigate life around her memories rather than with her actively involved. But today, grief came for a visit. I didn’t argue with her, didn’t plead with her to stay away Instead, I slumped down on my bathroom sink and let her linger. I wept tears of sadness, pain, and loneliness as she quietly stood beside me. She said not a word but gently laid her hand on my back as I wept. She reminded me that it’s better not to grieve alone and so gave me a break from my tears to go into the other room and find Cameron. He was busy and I didn’t want to interrupt, but Grief reminded me that I needed him and that it was ok to ask for help. She reminded me also that he can’t read my mind and so I needed to speak. I gently asked him if he could finish what he’s doing after I left for work. He said he could and looked at me. I have learned that by expressing pain as anger, it only pushes people away and I desperately needed him to draw close, so I said quietly, “I need a hug today” As he hugged me and I began to weep again, I managed to say, “My mom died three years ago today” and then allowed myself time to express the agony I was feeling over the loss of my mother. He held me as I sobbed, tears flowing like a river down my face and onto his neck. Grief is lingering with me as I go about my workday, but she isn’t being pushy about it. She was consoled this morning when I allowed her to come and sit with me and I with her. Together we mourned anew the loss of my mom. By being open and asking Cameron to hold me in that moment, Grief backed away a little, took her hand off me and is allowing me to do my work. I know she will come calling again. And I will allow her to sit with me for a while until we quietly go our separate ways. There is no straight path to healing, and I am reminded of the quote (although I don’t know who said it first) “Grieving is the price we pay for having loved someone”. And I loved my mom. Still do. Always will. So, I know that Grief will stop by again sometime for a visit. Be sure to check out my page dedicated to Gaza's Christians.
Since working there in 2010, I have had the opportunity to give a seminar twice at a major missions conference in Vancouver, BC called MissionsFest. Please read about the miraculous way God got me to Gaza and the abundance of miracles He poured into my path along all of my journey. Look across the top navigation for Gaza's Christians and take a look! I have started going to the gym in the mornings and I spend an hour on the stationery bike. I have decided (with the help of my kids) that it's time for me to take charge of my health and do my part to be a strong, healthy and happy human being.
It is so important to realize that when, in 1 Cor 10:13, we are told to "do all for the glory of God", that means everything, including how we manage our health. I feel a bit ashamed that it has taken me this long to see the eternal importance of being a good steward of ALL of my resources, including this physical form God made for me, but I am happy that I'm here now. Back to the gym.... While I am spending my hour on the bike, I use that time to pray. I pray for those who are on my prayer list and I also pray for whatever God leads me to pray for. Yesterday, as I was praying, I was moved to ask God to give me direction and insight. We've now been in this Covid world for 6 months and I am also 2 weeks since having a surgery that I'd been waiting about 9 months for. It is time to move forward. But where? And how? So I prayed and left the answer to God. Today, a friend called me. I had met Svein at Missions Fest where I spoke earlier this year. It was a providential meeting as he is involved in Open Doors ministries and I also have a heart for persecuted believers. We have kept in touch via Facebook and I so appreciate his Godly passion also for persecuted believers. We have corresponded over the year on a few matters, and then a few days ago, he asked if he could call me. Of course I said yes. I had no idea that this phonecall was going to be God's answer to my prayer of yesterday. As Svein and I spoke, he shared so many things and among them were 2 passages of Scripture. One from Luke 3:1-2 where, among all the important and wealthy people of the day, God chose John to be his messenger. John was an outsider who lived and dressed differently from other people. He definitely would not blend seamlessly into crowds of people in the cities. Svein's reference was so poignant to me because I too live differently from a lot of other people. I don't live in a house or an apartment. I live in an RV and my only wish is that I could be more mobile, not less. I am not wealthy and do not keep up with new fashions. Of all the Biblical characters that could have been referenced in our conversation, John is one I can relate to very well. I cried tears of gratitude as Svein talked about God choosing John. If God would choose an oddball like John, surely He could also choose an oddball like me! So often I feel inadequate, ill equipped, unworthy to be called to anything great in God's kingdom and yet, today, I was reminded of who John was and yet he was specifically chosen. My heart is full of joy, gratitude and hope as I know that I am someone that God can use for his amazing purpose. The next passage that Svein referenced was Jeremiah chapter 1. Jeremiah thought he was too young to be used by God but God's reply was to ask Jeremiah what he saw in front of him and then God went on to explain his meaning and message for Jeremiah by these simple items that Jeremiah saw. When God calls us, he will inform us of his purpose through what is already around us. He meets us where we are to take us to where he wants us to go. What do I see in front of me? God can speak to me and show me the next leg of this journey for me by simply opening my eyes to what's around me. Look around, Linda. What do you see? Thank you, my friend, for being faithful in making that call to me today and for being faithful in speaking the message that God gave you for me. I am, as always, humbled, inspired and blessed that God goes to the trouble to reach down to me to answer my prayer. As I said on the phone, I have no idea why God is so good to me but I am grateful that he is. And I am grateful for this wonderful answer today to yesterday's prayer. ![]() “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” Isaiah 43:18-19 As I was going for my daily walk through a local forest with my friend, I saw a tree. It was more of a tree within a tree, or a tree within a stump, really. It caught my attention because it made me think of how God is with us. The stump is dead but there is new life growing right up out of it! How often do you feel that something you needed has died? Maybe you never did get that relationship you wanted, or the job? Maybe that goal that you are sure will finally make you happy just seems to stay a little out of reach, or the life you once had crumbled away in a death or divorce. Now what? We often feel like we have failed at life, failed in our walk with God, failed our children, failed completely as a parent, a spouse, a….. fill in the blank. The part of us that we were has died and it’s easy to think there is no way forward after that. It’s easy to think there is certainly no way to victory after that! But God – those two words are always the game changer! What does God say? “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!” We often brush off God’s promise in this area. “But I messed up too much! I failed too completely for God to ever be interested in me!” But look at what He says – “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” Oh what comfort there is to be found in those words! We all have a past and for some of us, that past haunts us, tapping us on the shoulder way too often to remind us of our failures. “Do not dwell on the past”. God knows our past, He knows our every thought and every deed and yet He instructs us to not dwell on the past. He knows that’s not good for us. He knows that dwelling on the past will only hold us back from future blessings and fulfillment. We will never enjoy living in today’s victory if we insist on seeing ourselves through the lens of yesterday’s failures. Look at this tree. The stump isn’t even reduced to soil yet but that new tree is shooting up, strong and tall! The ground is fertile – period. So it is with God working in our lives. He doesn’t wait until we are utterly defeated and beaten down into dust. God can bring new growth, new life, new opportunities at any time! Do not dwell on the past. That tree doesn’t mourn the loss of what it originally intended. That part is gone. Caput. The stump is still standing and God has already brought about amazing growth in the new story. Don’t worry if there are still memories of your past failures. Those don’t need to get in the way of God’s new blessings! He is doing a new thing! Did the tree hold back the new growth because it was intent on dwelling on the past? Not at all! The new growth pushed up through the remnants of the past and carried on to new heights! Take heart, my friend. God is doing a new thing in you too. Look up and reach forward and let Him unfold new opportunities for you. Enjoy the new blessings. “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 "And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28 Berean Study Bible
God works – these are two of the most important words for me to remember when I don’t understand what’s going on around me. Since COVID-19 shut down “normal”, I have been doing grocery shopping and delivery for people who cannot or should not venture out into public places. I love what I do, knowing that I am providing a helpful service to the people of my community. There are those moments, however, when things don’t go as planned. Not as I planned, anyways. This morning, I decided to confine my work to a specific community in order to save money on gas. This community is not one where I get a lot of work, and yet I had an unmistakable urge to focus my service there. My second client only wanted a few things from a store that sells all premade food frozen in easy to use portions. I had to substitute an item for this client but everything was approved and I was able to complete the purchase and began making my way to the client’s home to deliver their order. I was part way there when they messaged me, questioning one of their items. They told me they didn’t want it. This had never happened before so I had to check on how to handle the situation. I quickly got back to the client, assuring him that I will return the item and that he needn’t worry about it. When an item needs to be returned, there is always the possibility that the store won’t take it back, so I was instructed to either dispose of it or donate it. I couldn’t bring myself to dispose of a perfectly good cake so I asked myself who I could donate it to. Suddenly, one of my friends came to mind. She lived in the city I chose to focus on and she has a family of boys so I was sure a cake would go quickly! I called her and asked her if I could drop something off, not telling her what it was. She invited me to come without hesitation. When I arrived, I handed her the delicious cake and told her the story of how I came in possession of it. Then we started to talk. It turned out that my dear friend was struggling due to the isolation that has been imposed upon her by this virus situation. We stood and talked and I listened to her agony and frustration. We ended the conversation with a plan go for walks together to tackle her isolation and my need for exercise. God is SO good! Only God could have directed me to choose to work in a community where I don’t normally get enough work to have an acceptably profitable day. But God knew what His plan was. He put a cake in my hands that needed a place to go and God knew which friend needed a visit today so He put her name in my mind and spurred me to call her. It is so humbling and heartwarming to be used by God to encourage someone who needed encouragement. When I see how God loves my friend, and today used me to show His love to her, I can see how much He loves me too. It is such a blessing to be part of this community that God has given me. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. The Bible says that God works all things together for the good of those who loves Him. And God showed me again today what that looks like in simple, everyday moments. |
Linda ToddLinda blends warmth, wisdom and humour into every presentation. Enjoy the ride! Categories
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