Five Minute Fridays – Prompt Word “Mess”
You know what time it is, right?
FIVE MINUTE FRIDAY!!!
Our prompt word today is: Mess
The idea is to write for five whole minutes without regard to proofing … don’t worry about a thing. Just let the words FLOW!!
Ready?
Set?
GO!
Oh dear one. I see you hurting. I see all that goes on behind your smile. Your silliness tries to disguise it all, but I know you. I know your heart. I know the pain you’re silencing.
You feel like you’re a mess. But, here’s the thing. There is a message in your “mess.”
There is something good that will come from all of this. Today we’re not sure what “good” there could possibly be in ANY of this, but I am clinging to the promise that God has given in HIS word! He has a plan and a purpose for your life, dear one. He does not have plans to harm you but to prosper you, to give you a future and a hope …
Hope.
Hold on, don’t lose hope, darling. I’m here. I’ll help in whatever way I can.
I love you more than you could ever imagine. If only my love could save you. You’d never hurt again!
There’s no mess here. There’s beauty. There’s grace. There’s mercy. There’s love.
There’s something deeper developing from all of this. Your desire to help others is one … it’s a beautiful thing to think that while you’re hurting, your thoughts go to all the others “out there” that are hurting to. You want to help them, to rescue them, to help them, to guide them down a different path.
There’s much to be said about the type of person that you are.
Honey, you’re hurting, and yet you think of others!
You’re not a mess … just like you’re not any of the other things that your head is telling you. Listen to my heart speak to yours.
YOU MATTER!
You’re wanted.
You’re needed.
You’re important.
You’re loved … more than you will ever know in this lifetime or the next.
STOP!
Remembering Those That Have Gone Before Us
Less than a year ago, my sister passed away after a several month bout with cancer. As it gets closer to what would have been her forty-eighth birthday on May 11th, I find myself thinking of her and the effect she had on so many lives during her short life. As I think of her, I am continually amazed at what she accomplished with the trials and tribulations that she lived through.
My parents had two children, Julia and I. I am, or was, the oldest. Both of us were born handicapped. I hate that word; “handicapped.” It has a stigma attached to it for many people. We both inherited eye conditions from my father. My condition was not nearly as serious as Julia’s. Both of us were born with cataracts. As such, I have nearly no vision in my left eye and I have had a successful corrective surgery on the right. Julia, however, not only had cataracts in both eyes, but a detached optic nerve in one eye (which one I cannot remember) and glaucoma. Over the years, Julia had more than twelve surgeries to try to save her sight. As she explained to me one time, her sight would get better for a while after a surgery but then go back to where it was or get worse. It came to the point where Julia completely lost her sight a few years ago.
None of what she went through stopped her from living a full life. She achieved a Master’s degree in Education and Counseling. Her first job was as a counselor for the State of Illinois where she worked with abused children. When she decided to leave Illinois for Minnesota, she was unable to find work because of her physical limitations with not being able to drive. I did what I could to help her by building a website specifically for visually impaired people which Julia called eyes2eyes.com. And though her sight began to gradually fade, she built her website into a large community of support for those suffering with various visual conditions by doing online and phone counseling. The hard work she put into the site with posted articles, tips and so on to help the visually impaired got the attention of media around the world to the point where she did a guest radio appearance in Australia, and co-hosted a radio show based in France that catered specifically to those who were visually impaired. Though she made have been “handicapped”, Julia touched the lives and helped many people all over the world. One of her best friends she made though her work lives in Israel and Niki honored Julia by flying here for her funeral last August.
My point is telling you all this is not to boast of Julia’s accomplishments. My point is that no matter whom we are or what our situation is, God has given each of us a special talent. It is up to us to find that and to nurture it because we are all special in his eyes. He has given us each of us something special within ourselves. Julia found that and made the best of her situation. Our gift doesn’t have to be something that is world changing. All it has to do it to make your world a special place for you and those around you.
As for me, I was closer to Julia than to anyone else in our family. Now that she is gone, I am in a very lonely place right now. So I have taken Julia’s lead and begun to use some of those special things that God has given me that I let slip over the years that bring me and those around me joy. It has helped to get me through those days where I truly feel alone in a world full of people. Happy birthday Julia, I miss you more than mere words can ever express.
~The Quiet Computer Guy
The Quiet Computer Guy does web design/development, multimedia design/production and is an adjunct faculty member at a community college. He volunteers his time helping non-profits and small businesses with their web site and computer needs. In his spare time, he plays with a local classic rock band.
Does God Test Us?
We have a very special guest contributor with us today. I have had the privilege of knowing Gregory Thompson for the past 17 years. We have been through it all together, although not side-by-side due to the distance in miles, but always heart-to-heart.
I tease Greg by saying that he is my little Indian boy, as he is part Native American. He was raised with his mother’s strong Native beliefs and fully embraces it. He is also in the medical field, as you will see from his writings below.
It is an honor to share his beautiful musings with the world.
Life is full of pot holes along the path. My own life experiences are what make me the person I am today: from a near fatal car accident, to experimental brain surgery, to a stroke.
The good things about seeing patients that I work with is that I get to witness their healing and walking — not being wheeled, but walking — out of the hospital. I also have the joy of seeing the faces of the children no matter what their diagnosis may be.
Could all of these be God’s intervention … or could it be just God’s creation?
We all have a free will to make choices to do the right thing … or not to. We are allowed to make those choices. We all have the guidelines of what we have to do to be a good person. My choices have always been to try to do anything I could do to take the pain or fear away from the patients that I have the honor to serve as part of their treatment team. Was it God’s intervention in my life to turn me away from a career in Marine Biology to a career in Respiratory Therapy and furthering on to Nurse Practitioner? Some may say yes, while others may say no and reason that it was simply what my interest evolved into. For me, though, I think that in some way, somehow, I was given the desire to help and heal. I can’t say that it was God … but I do feel that I want to make God proud and happy that I am utilizing the talent and putting the education to a good use and most certainly not to take advantage of it to only further my own self instead. I want to take the pain away and help bring them peace.
There are people that come into our lives that do that very same thing for us.
They may not even be doctors or nurses. They may be an accountant, a homemaker, or even a police officer. These people come into your life and bring such joy and peace. They make you want to be a better person, perhaps of the internal guilt you may feel for not always being the person you should be.
Is this God sending an angel to help guide you?
We have all of these questions with as many answers as there are stars in the sky.
I don’t feel that God tests us. That would imply a level of un-trust on the part of the Almighty. That’s not the Omnipotent Being that I envision! God, the Great Spirit, Allah, Buddha, call him (or her) what you wish. I just know that the Almighty is not there to manipulate our lives but to provide strength when we are at our weakest. In my opinion, God is there to pass that strength on when those around us, those we love most, are at their weakest.
During my recovery from the brain surgery, there was one person that gave me the strength – the will – to recover. That same person gave me all of the strength that she had while I worked my way back to some semblance of normalcy after my stroke. This person never asked for anything, never expected a “thank you” … she just poured encouragement and support into my recovering body. It was this person that, to me, enabled me to recover.
So, I’ll ask …
Does God, the Almighty test us?
OR
Does He see the trials that we encounter and provide His angels to lend us strength and guidance?
Personally, I feel that He sent an angel to me. I only hope that as I progress down my path in life that I can prove to be worthy of the love, support, and encouragement that I have received from my angel.
