Sometimes No Words Are Better

Silence is awkward. We just have to say something. So we say what we think should be said. And then, once out of our mouth, we cannot take it back.

Job made a statement that has really touched my heart.
Job 3:26  I have no peace! I have no quiet! I have no rest! And trouble keeps coming!"

I have realized this so acutely, since our family's personal walk in this crisis in Haiti.

To most, it is just what you see on the news.  And we have been there too.

To most, if you turn off the TV, or sign off the internet, the images go way.   Not so for those who have been there and have seen, touched and smelled with their senses.

To most, you would really like to hear first hand from someone who has been there, to hear the STORY.   It is not a STORY to those who have experienced it.

Sometimes, trite, thoughtless comments are extremely hurtful.

In case you have no idea what those are, let me share just a few:

I bet you missed simple things like showers and a bed inside.
I can't wait to hear all your awesome stories.
I am sure you have a lot of sermons and sermon illustrations now.
How are you adjusting to being home?
You are a hero.
I am so glad this crisis is over.

So what can I do for someone and their family who has just returned from Haiti?

Give them TIME to process the incredible things they have just experienced, and that people they love are still living every single moment.

Allow them space to share WHAT they can ,WHEN the time is right.

Remember that the crisis is still going on. It will continue to be tragic and impact lives on a moment by moment basis.

Pray. Pray. Pray.
Give sacrificially when it is asked for.

Love. Agape love. Sometimes love is very quiet and just listens.

Chasing Their Hearts,
Glenda Johnson
womanaftergod@gmail.com
http://www.twitter.com/GlendaJohnson63
http://www.facebook.com/BibleBowlGlenda

Sitting By A Well

It is no secret to those who know me that I love the ocean. The water has such a soothing sound.

The pool during the summer months brings such a welcome retreat from the heat.

The hot tub is a relaxing, therapeutic haven for sore muscles in it's swirling awesomeness.

A cool drink of water. A pot of water for coffee. Sweet tea, the drink of the south.

A shower or bath. Brushing your teeth or washing your face.

Laundry. Dishes.

Watering plants. Mopping the floor.

As you read this, how many times today have you already used water?

Clean water. Safe water.

Did you think about your clean, safe water as you used it today?

I have thought about it constantly.

You see my son is in Haiti. (see yesterday's blog)

Yesterday, sitting in the middle of a totally destroyed mission compound, they still had a well with clean, safe water.

This morning, due to aftershock on top of aftershock, the well is compromised.

No more safe water. What does that mean?

Dehydration, dysentary, loss of the ability to fight disease, to even get clean.
My son said to his wife in a very precious one time only conversation this morning " Man do I stink!"

This changes his situation dramatically. Water. Who would have thought that water could change your life so instantaneously?

Jesus did. Listen in on a conversation He had with a woman;

John 4:6-15   Jesus sat down by the well because he was tired from traveling. The time was about six o'clock in the evening.
  A Samaritan woman went to get some water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink of water."
 (His disciples had gone into the city to buy some food.)  The Samaritan woman asked him, "How can a Jewish man like you ask a Samaritan woman like me for a drink of water?" (Jews, of course, don't associate with Samaritans.) Jesus replied to her, "If you only knew what God's gift is and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him for a drink. He would have given you living water."
  The woman said to him, "Sir, you don't have anything to use to get water, and the well is deep. So where are you going to get this living water?
  You're not more important than our ancestor Jacob, are you? He gave us this well. He and his sons and his animals drank water from it."
  Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks this water will become thirsty again.
  But those who drink the water that I will give them will never become thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give them will become in them a spring that gushes up to eternal life."  The woman told Jesus, "Sir, give me this water! Then I won't get thirsty or have to come here to get water."

Jesus knew water could make a difference in everyone's life. He alone is the living water we can draw. We can be sustained. Our lives overflowing with Him.

So today, this is what I know:

The well in Haiti is compromised. Jesus is sitting there. He is offering my son, his mission team, and every Haitian family there, "the living water".  Clean water or not, the "the living water" is there and flowing abundantly.

Every time I turn on a faucet today, I will not just see water that sustains and cleans the physical life we have. I will pray to the One who is the "the living water". He will sustain me today and beyond today. I will claim the promise,
John 7:38  As Scripture says, 'Streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me.'"

As I was writing this morning, one of my prayer warrior friend's FaceBook updates said something that touched my heart. I hope you are as inspired as I was:
Sandy wrote:
We are praying for all of you. God put on my heart while I was in the 'shower' to have a water fast today so I can keep Billy and the people in Haiti in my prayers. I have to start over, (again), I have unconsciously used the water twice already today after my shower. Love to all the Johnson family! PS I have never done this before --

Water for the living. Required by the living. Will you partake?

Chasing Their Hearts,
Glenda Johnson
womanaftergod@gmail.com
http://www.twitter.com/GlendaJohnson63
http://www.facebook.com/BibleBowlGlenda

Are You Sure God?

It is one of those day. Not a bad day. It has actually been a very good and productive day. It has however been a day that in the back drop, slowly worry has started creeping in. Now as I sit here to write, I am exhausted. It is more of the mental kind verses the physical.

Have you ever noticed how worry can just zap you of you energy, joy and well-being?

As I worry I have a hard time having the energy to meet the needs of my two kids who have the flu.

*Hmm one of my reasons for worry......

As I am caring for them, I need to pack to go out of town for 3 or 4 days because my husband is having surgery about an hour and a half away from home. I am over-whelmed and too tired.

*Hmmm again one of my reasons for worry.....

As I think about my husband being in the hospital for 2 or 3 days starting tomorrow, I know I must also go with my daughter to the perinatalogist for a consultation for a pregnancy that is becoming an increasing concern for both my daughter's health and my grandchild's day after tomorrow. I know we probably have 28 more weeks of bed rest with me caring for my 16mo granddaughter. And I must care for my husband. AND I must be prepared to support my daughter and son-in-love if we have a loss .

*Hmmmm once again,the reasons for my worry.

As I write this I am tired.

Isn't it interesting that all the things that make me worry are things I need the energy to accomplish that the worry steals????

Are you tired from worrying about things. Real things. Things that are truly difficult and affect your ability to serve Jesus, or to be the wife or mom that He has called you to be?

Me too.

And once again Jesus speaks through His Word and through the Holy Spirit to me.

Mat 6:34  "So don't ever worry about tomorrow. After all, tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (GW)

Really? I don't have to worry about tomorrow, or the next day or the next?
Jesus said I don't have to.

Then He talks to Martha and says: 
Luk 10:41  The Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha! You worry and fuss about a lot of things.(GW)

She was wearing herself out worrying over things that did not need to be worried about.

He could have just as well been saying,
"Glenda! Glenda! You worry and fuss about a lot of things."

Could your name go in there as well?

As we chase after Jesus' heart we must trust that in that heart everything is already handled for us.

You see He also said:
Pro 1:33  But whoever listens to me will live without worry and will be free from the dread of disaster."

There's the issue. We dread disaster. I dread disaster.

If we will listen to Him, the worry can march it's scrawny little,  obnoxious butt right out the door!

I am choosing right now to stop the worrying.

Want to know what is amazing?

I suddenly have the energy I need to get through the rest of the day!

What will you choose?

Chasing After Their Hearts,
Glenda Johnson
http://twitter.com/GlendaJohnson63
womanaftergod@gmail.com