Simple Journey

I want to know a song can rise from the ashes of a broken life... --Mike Donehey, 10th Ave. N.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

A Home Coming

Praise God the Father who bestows All gifts to us in love, below --

I am so glad to be here again! We have a view out across the slough, so beautiful, especially when the sun is shining. Listening to English Country Dance music and looking at that view yesterday, it was almost a déjà vu, but wasn't. It was a memory of such happy times, but I never was that happy here all those years ago... or was I?

Why do we only reach appreciation for what we've been given when we can no longer have it? Is it simply because we forget the negatives that came along with it? Or is it a punishment for focusing on negatives in the first place, or for something else? Or maybe we can't see the beautiful forest because someone planted ugly trees to obstruct our vision, which are only gone when we've past through?

I miss Momma and Daddy here so very much. I want to cry when I come over the big, green bridge, so high above the Bay, remembering when we brought our kids to visit Granny and Grandpa for the first time. We drive into North Bend, but veer left and continue down 101 to Motel 6 or Best Western. I'm not to go into the mobile park, driving slowly because Daddy doesn't want me to make his neighbors mad, notice the changes in his friends' single-wides, see the improvements he's made on his home, enjoy the Christmas lights strung along the bushes that line his drive, say "hi" to Mom's swans in the front yard, greet Daddy and Momma with hugs and kisses at the gate, Wally Wags, yipping excitedly at our feet. No, never again.

This is our great sorrow while we dwell below.

But in Heaven, "Oh, what a gathering!"

Sunday, June 7, 2009

What a Friend!

What a friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Oh, what peace we often forfeit,

Oh, what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged—

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful,

Who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness;

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy-laden,

Cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Savior, still our refuge—

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?

Take it to the Lord in prayer!

In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,

Thou wilt find a solace there.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised

Thou wilt all our burdens bear;

May we ever, Lord, be bringing

All to Thee in earnest prayer.

Soon in glory bright, unclouded,

There will be no need for prayer—

Rapture, praise, and endless worship

Will be our sweet portion there.

/

Joseph M. Scriven

Friendship is sacred to me. Somehow I have seemed to have lost most of my friends over the years. I went one way and they went another, and life got so busy we just lost contact and that was that.

Friends can hurt like no others, all unwitting. Friendship provides growth ground unequaled by any other relationship but that of marriage. Families are easier, as you have no choice about those, and you can get out of those easier than a very good, very long-lived friendship. Families expect you to go your own way now and then. But friendships can be cloying, controlling, manipulating, and abusive, all in the name of friendship. Misunderstandings abound, and trust is lost.

I find myself pulling back from relationships under these circumstances. "Just let me be alone!" my soul exclaims. But there is One who seeks me out, and won't allow me to remain in my den, nursing my real or imagined wounds. There is one Friend who knows me to the bone, and who will never betray my trust. I never need shrink from His presence, He never suggests what would hurt, His ways are gentle and full of peace.

Jesus is the Friend of sinners, the rest for the weary, the lighthouse for the lost, the pilot over my shoulder. When others would steer me toward their own goals, He whispers, "Peace, be still! and know that I AM God."

When my soul suffers a blow - a purpose crisis, an identity question - I need only return to the place where I hear only one Voice, the Voice of my truest Friend. It's only His opinion I need, only His love that feeds, only His presence I crave. I go looking for them in my human friends, and I am disappointed sometimes. But when I go back to the "Circle of Quiet", as Madeleine L'Engle put it, I am never disappointed.

Keep me true on the path with You, dear Friend. Let me not stray away for long, pull me back when I've aimed my little boat at the wrong target: the approval of anyone but You. And thank You for being my one true Friend.

With love from your simple friend,

Patty

Job 19:19 All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me. Job 29:4 Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God's intimate friendship blessed my house, Job 42:10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.

Psalm 55:12-14 (New International Version)

12 If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him.

13 But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend,

14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God.

cProverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 27:6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

Proverbs 27:9 Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel.

Ecclesiastes 4:10 If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

Song of Solomon 5:16 His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely. This is my lover, this my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 9:4 "Beware of your friends; do not trust your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer.

Jeremiah 9:5 Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning.

Jeremiah 38:22 'They misled you and overcame you— those trusted friends of yours. Your feet are sunk in the mud; your friends have deserted you.'

Lamentations 1:2 Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is none to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

Micah 7:5 Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend. Even with her who lies in your embrace be careful of your words.

Matthew 26:50 Jesus replied, "Friend, do what you came for."

Luke 5:20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."

Luke 21:16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death.

John 3:29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command.

John 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

James 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend.

James 4:4 You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.