Moments...

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised (Luke 4:18) 

Courtesy of Flickr: here

At lunch I made my way to our local recreation department, because 1) I love going to the ball field, 2) it is a beautiful day, 3) the great outdoors makes this girl breathe better and 4) it has been a stressful day. I started my lunch by first chowing down on some lovely left overs of pasta (I know, super weird picnic food, but it was a last minute decision, folks). Through bites of food, I prayed choppy prayers for strength and for healing of my heart. You know, those days, weeks, months when you realize your utter brokenness. Yep, me too. I tried to soothe my stress with the Word, which of course pointed me to truth, but I need clarity and release for the tension in my shoulders. So, I did one of the things I do best...walk. I may have mention this to you guys before, but when I was stressed in college I had one little phrase that was almost always on my lips, "This is stressin' me out; I'm going for a walk". As you can see, the tradition (my therapy) stuck with me.

With each step I took on that geese poop covered asphalt (I know, lovely imagery), I felt the stress leaving my body (Have I mentioned I'm a big fan of walking?). Prayers tumble from my lips with a lot less effort when my feet are hitting the pavement.  And so they did. Since I didn't know how to pray for myself, I prayed for folks that God brought to mind. On a walk at the recreation department track, I will on rare occasions stop at little red bridge at the back of the track in a wood area. Today's, was one of those days. I realized, in that pause, that I have a lot to be thankful for, and so much to work through, but most importantly, I have a healer.

As I was rounding that last curve, I was reminded that I am understood. I don't know if that brings healing to your heart, but it does mine. I'm guilty of forgetting His ability to understand me- fears, stresses, hopes, and dreams. My life runs through His hands. I can trust Him to handle all of me. He is enough. Remember:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised (Luke 4:18),

P.S. I love how personal God is! As you know, I've given up sugar for Lent, and you may also remember that I am a BIG fan of reese's cup. Well, one of the guys at work just called me over to his desk to give me a pack of....wait for it...sugar free Atkin's diet peanut butter cups, which he swore was better than a reese's cup. Guess what friends, I have never in my life tasted such yummy sugar free chocolate! And this girl, was craving some chocolate. Then not even ten minutes later the same man came to my desk and gave me a Starbucks card with $10 still on it. And, you guessed it, I was craving a starbucks coffee, but couldn't find a viable excuse to spend the money right now.

Here's me praying God blesses you in sweet, personal ways today!

In His Name,
Jennifer