encourage the encourager

Exhortations should have one dominant note, and that note should be encouragement.
William Barclay on Romans 12:8

i would like to encourage those that are suffering ... to encourage the ones who walk along side, as caregivers ... but the road is rocky at times and we stumble over the least likeliest of stones ... even if we know in our minds the truth of the matter ... even if we know in our spirits that God is in charge ... our feelings, those traitorous emotions, try to tell us different ...

the past few days i have been fighting my emotions ... because they have simply not been true to what i believe and what i know ... yet emotions bubble and can spill over, trying to rule the day ... sometimes they win for the day, but in the end the victory ALWAYS belongs to the Lord ...

i don’t like to share negative feelings ... but on the other hand, i don’t want to leave the impression that we have everything under control and that we never have struggles ... we DO struggle with this chronic pain walk ... some days we struggle more than others ...

spring has always been difficult for us ... i get tired of winter and Leo is in more pain because of the humidity ... we KNOW there is this cycle ... that helps deal with it ... it is just one of those darker paths that we need to walk along ... i try to picture a beautifully sunlit meadow just up ahead ... where we can rest for awhile ...

so we try to ...rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and continue steadfastly in prayer... (paraphrased from Romans 12:12) ...

Leo and i are reading "Broken Things, why we suffer" by M.R. DeHaan, M.D. ... he wrote it in 1948, yet it speaks to our hearts today ...

and for my own personal reading, Joyce Meyer’s "The Battle belongs to the Lord" is well worth the time ...

if you think of us at some point during the day ... please turn the thought into prayer ... prayer is what always makes the difference...