Who's responsibility is it?

Have you ever heard the saying "it takes a village..."?

Have you ever had an injury that was so bad that you couldn't take care of yourself? Where some days it hurts even to just sit up in bed, or its painful to eat something because you've lost your appetite. Your parents have to help you go to the bathroom, and shower, and even drink that sip of water you need.

I had an injury like this senior year of high school, it sucked! I blow my whole right knee out, and had to have two surgeries performed it. I couldn't go to the bathroom when I needed to the first couple of days, because flexing the muscles to pick my leg up off the couch hurt too bad. So I had to call my brother or one of my parents to come and pick my leg up off the couch. I'm sure it got annoying, they had to stop what they were doing and come help me, they had to be a little selfless.


I'm a completive person and so I hated asking for help, and once I could do things on my own I felt like a free bird. Things started to look great, but then something was going on that we couldn't tell unless they opened me up, so we had to start all over again, back to using their time and effort, and I hated asking for help sometimes which of lead to me getting more hurt or breaking something, not asking for help always led to more trouble. Asking for help can be hard sometimes, but sometimes even when we don't have the words we have to try.

In the body of Christ we are one, we are a body made up of individual parts working together for something bigger. So when the foot gets hurt, the whole body is hurting. Everyone is drained and just hurting. The foot can not heal unless the rest of the body helps push nutrient and the correct things that is necessary for it to heal. This is the same for the body of Christ. When one person is hurting sometimes to have to give a little extra of yourself, so that they can get healthy.

And sometimes when that person (or part of the body) keeps getting hurt and you kind of roll your eyes and take a deep breath and just get tired of helping this person (or body part) out you do not want to fight for them any longer. But it is just like when I had my second knee surgery I still couldn't help myself. I still need the pople around me to help me and to be selfless more than other so that I could get to a point in my healing where I was okay, and could do things on my own. They had to be patience, but so did I.

Romans 12: 3-8 says:

"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully."

So who's responsibility is it? It is yours. It is your responsibility to help that person out that just cant get well, that keeps getting hurt. The body has to work hard to stay healthy, so you better take a deep breath and be ready to help out and give a little bit of yourself. They never said being a Christian was going to be easy, but that it is going to be worth it.

Romans 12: 9- 18:

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited."

Will you help? 

What are you Holding on to?

A part of this road tip is leaving beauty that you may not want to leave, or beauty leaving you. That sunset you want to hold on to just another hour, that sweet moment you talk to an old friend, or that one person that just understands you. Attachment was created for a very important reason in the development in children and babies. A comfort that was reliable and stable.

Sometimes we don't get that. We have mother's and father's who weren't there. We have inconsistent parents who didn't know how important it was to be in their child's life, until the child grows up and sees the hole it left in their heart. Or maybe we had really great loving parents who was very involved in our lives and always made sure we were okay emotionally, spiritually, and physically. These parents knew the important of a child and what it meant to be nurtured and have that natural healthy attachment.

Without parents two things can happen. One you can never attach yourself to anything but to unhealthy things, like drugs, alcohol, and sex, because these things are always consistent and they will always make you feel good. This one you usually move from one to another and don't know it's an attachment problem. Or two you attach yourself to people who care about you, but aren't consistent and leave a lot. But they help them and feed them what they need when they need it. This type usually knows that they have attachment problems.

Where we invest our love, we invest our lives. Time, effort, emotion. It becomes a part of who you are. We become attached to things, and sometimes not even knowing it. We get comfortable with what we have, we get comfort from that person or that guy/girl, or that movie, because we invest our love into them or it.

All through my life I attached myself to older women due to trying to find the comfort from a mother that I never had. These women mentored be, understood me, prayed with me, and even sometimes saved my life in hard situations.

But in life things aren't usually there forever. We lost people, things, or interest. And with that comes hurt. A piece of your heart that you invested with all your love is now gone. And usually one side is hurt more than the other, because usually one side has control over most of it.

A friend is there to help but not to be attached to. And we tend to not know that we are attached until we lose it.Until it is gone and we feel like we have nothing else. 

But you also had most of the control because you knew you were attached and you didn't do anything to stop it or change it, it seems to be your fault. To me it is always my fault. I find my comfort in people and not always in the Lord, and that right there is going to leave me hurt, because no one can fill you up like He can.

What are you attached to? Is it healthy or will it leave you hurt and empty. How much control do you have over your attachments?

That one person...

Do you have that person in your life that you tend to hurt more than others, but it happens to be your best friend? The fights or arguments you may get in seem so hurtful, but in reality they just hurt us more because we realize what we have, and how much it would hurt if we lost what we had.

This person finishes my sentences and knows exactly how I'm feeling when I walk into the room. This person see's the little things and hears when I stutter and what that means. It is really the little things that I know I wouldn't be the same if I didn't have her. This person knows when you listen or when to talk. My favorite thing is that we can have silence and not feel pressured to talk because we are completely comforted just by being in the presence of each other. We can cry like babies, we can tell each other our deepest thoughts and maybe get embarrassed for a minute but an overwhelming feeling of peace because that smile they give you that says "it's okay, I'm your best friend". You feel safe around them. You can be completely goofy or completely serious and know that your only making memories whether they are good or bad they are still memories. You don't get embarrassed when you cry or they cry, you just walk over to them and wrap them in close and hold them. Certain things make you think about them, like a song or an old place you use to go. You dream up places where you want to go.

The amount of patience this person has for you and the willingness to fight for you and with you  feels like "what would I do without you, where would I be without you". But yet in life choices in random acts we may perform, we hurt them because they merely want the best for us. They get angry at you but only because they expect so much more from you, because you are better than what ever is hurting you or has hurt you. They hurt when you hurt.

They are a part of you.

They are like a father who watches you put sometime metal in the electrical socket and yells at you because they want you to learn and to know that it is not okay and can hurt you. But you give them a scared look of what did I do wrong because you didn't know better. You want the best for them and they want the best for you.

So why do we hurt them the most? When we push them away they continue to fight back and say "YOU are worth it!" Because they know that hurt and they look in your eyes and can see how you are really feeling and they know it is not personal, they know that it is just a part of friendship. They remember who you are to them and that they cannot loose you because of who you are to them. They come back because they know that smile you give them, that no one else can give, that overwhelming peace when your with them. We hurt them, when we don't mean to at all. We hurt them with our words and actions, but they know your heart and they choose to know better and they continue to fight for you and with you. We hurt them on accident, in our hurt we hurt them. We hurt because we are hurting and those best friends are the only people that will understand that, and they continue to fight for you.

They love you, even when you don't know how to say sorry, but they forgive you, even though it hurts. They love you and they are what you call your best friend.

Thank you for fighting for me, with me and the patience and grace that I may not deserve. I love you .

Your roots...your identity...

Where are you anchored? Where are your roots deeply tied into? What has you more than you have it?

Today I read this on my friends Facebook status "If you can't get rid of something you don't own it, it owns you." 

When we look at our roots, we can see where we find our identity. What we stand on. What are you standing on?

Being back in the real world, I realized that I was finding my identity in my best friends and in a job title. I lost my identity in the Lord completely this summer. You could say I walked away from Him, because I found my comfort and my value in my friends and in my job. After a friend and I had gotten in a big fight, I realized that I put almost all my eggs into one basket, and I found my pride in my job and stood on that with pride and dignity. 

I was lost this summer, but didn't really even realize that I was because I was okay in the world, but when I came back to my world I realized that I have my feet rooted in nothing. The things I was and still am rooted into can not give me what I need. They can not give me enough love to fill me up and then give me joy on top, they can not give me a solid ground, but instead they can both hurt me by leaving me/losing them.

I was lying to myself. Lies like "I am so freaking cool, I get paid to surf all day." " I wonder if I'm as important to her like she is to me" "If I wear this or act this way, maybe he will pay more attention to me" "I have to be a good role model so I get noticed" All these little thought over took my mind and had power over it. I had worldly pressures of finding a boyfriend and being the best camp counselor so all my kids would remember me. I was just so selfish, but didn't see it until I looked at what I was standing on. My own understanding.
 

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding
  in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

I was not giving the Lord the credit for the opportunity He gave me. I took credit for everything and in return I came out prideful and hurt. 

 
The bible says to build our foundation on rock. 
"It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built." -Luke 6:48

Rock is strong. The Lord is our rock.
"The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." -Psalm 18:2

We are weak without Him. Where are you standing, where are your feet anchored into?

The symbol of an anchor is HOPE. What are you putting all your hope in?

Where is your IDENTITY.