Continued Thought

Many of you emailed with great wisdom and love to yesterday's blog.

Thank you.

Time is precious, and it means so much to have your thoughts on this topic.

I'm still processing.

Some of you emailed saying I have a right to be hurt and angry, which makes me think you understand exactly where I'm coming from. You, too, somewhere along the road, have had hurt from the church.

Some of you responded with caution. Thank you. I in no way want my heart to become bitter or hardened because of this, and I also don't want to portray my home church as bitter or hardened. They have laws I don't understand, some I don't agree with, and I'm questioning the purpose of those laws. But I have peace knowing God is in control, and not me. He'll lead and direct so much more gracefully than I, and he'll lead in love when I believe I would probably lead in frustration.

Some of you responded with love. Just when I think I've gotten that practice down, I realize I have so much further to go. Your example reminds me to continue in that mind and heart. Thank you for loving me when I am reeling with hurt and anger and emotion.

Some of you called me out. Thank you for being honest and bold with me. My past hurts should not be directed on this new pastor. He's trying to adjust to a new church and that encounter was probably tough for him, too. Did he handle it perfectly? Nope, but neither did I.

Others of you responded with passion...which makes me think you're my dad. Thank you for being my protector. While you may speak with biting words at times, I think your words are filled with love because of that passion. You don't speak with so many words often, but when you do, I listen. I am more like you than I realize because my passion, too, often clouds my filter.

My heart is resting with the Psalms.

119:145-152 "I call with all my heart; answer me, O LORD, and I will obey your decrees. I call out to you; save me and I will keep your statutes. I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word. My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises. Hear my voice in accordance with your love; preserve my life, O LORD, according to your laws. Those who devise wicked schemes are near, but they are far from your law. Yet you are near, O LORD, and all your commands are true. Long ago I learned from your statutes that your established them to last forever."

For those who continue to seek God's law, I know these peripheral human laws will be corrected.

I really vacillated over whether or not I should have written yesterday's blog. Part of me thinks, yeah, I probably should have waited until my emotion thinned out a bit, but the other part of me is so thankful to each of you for sharing your wisdom, your love, and your passion.

Thanks for walking with me. Now that's the body of Christ.