Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me!!!

How could he call me those names? I'm not a…… or a ……. How could he be so cruel? Does he really think those things about me? So many times I sat and wondered, was it the alcohol that made him call me that. Does he really think those things about me? The hurt was so great. How could I ever heal from those wounds? My mind played so many things over and over again. Do other people think those things about me as well? The enemy uses what he knows can weaken your spirit. I was there I thought I was down for the count. How does anyone get over those terrible things that were said?

Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me. As children we say this over and over when other kids tease and call you not so nice names and as adults we want to say the same thing, but as an adult you know that's not the case, words do hurt. They can also make and break a person. They hurt so much that we start at times to question ourselves and wonder am I really that type of a person? James 3:8 says "But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." Deadly poison? Yes, it has enough venom to kill someone heart, and spirit. You start to wonder can anyone or anything make this right again? Will I ever stop hurting? Well here is the amazing thing God and his amazing healing power can. He slips in at times when we don't realize it and starts the healing process. We pray over and over again "God please take this hurt away. " Then we sit back and wonder is he listening? Amazingly he is listening. Sometimes the healing will take longer but it happens. You start to realize that God is always there the wounds start to close up as he begins to deal with us through songs of worship, through messages, through that still small voice that speaks to us. He heals through the Holy Spirit. At times we sit during our quiet times with God and meditate on his word and we then realize "hey I'm not crying about that anymore, it doesn't hurt."

When we are hurt, when the sticks and stones have not broken our bones but the words have destroyed us we need to stand on his promise. Psalms 147:3 "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Then when he feels we are ready he slowly pulls off the bandage and amazingly enough there are no scars left because our amazing God has done an awesome job in healing and restoring that which was wounded.

"Father God, I ask you to take away any pain that is in my heart, mind and spirit from hurtful words. Lord heal and restore that which is yours. I stand on your promise and I believe that you will heal the brokenhearted and bind the wounds. Make it whole again and use it for your glory." Amen!

Our New Normal

picture by Michelle N.

How did we get here I thought as I sat in church. I just couldn't understand it. It was a Sunday morning and I was sitting in church as the service was beginning. I was so sad and my heart was so heavy. I was missing Doug horribly and all I could do was cry and wonder how I was going to possibly get through this. I had woken up that morning after getting little to no sleep thinking of Doug and crying feeling like my world was just falling apart. I got my children up; we got dressed and left for the church all the time I kept asking "Lord, how will I ever get through this; everything is crumbling around me". I turned on the radio in the car to our local Christian Radio station hoping to drown out my thoughts and stop myself from crying only to begin crying again as a song that I had never heard started playing. As I listened I felt the Holy Spirit begin to stir something within me. "When everything falls apart your arms hold me together, when everything falls apart you're the only hope for this heart, when everything falls apart and my strength is gone I find you mighty and strong I keep holding on…." He was telling me and reminding me just how wrapped tightly in his arms I was. As I sat in church the music started and though songs the Lord spoke to me once again letting me know that all I had to do was call upon him and know that he is God. Next came the message, by then the tears had dried and I was just praising God because he's always there to comfort you. The pastor started to preach and he started to talk about "new normal" within our lives. As I listened once again the Lord began to speak to my heart letting me know that this was our "new normal" within our changing season. You see we all have seasons that we go through, just like we have winter, spring, summer and fall we have seasons in our lives, within those seasons we have "new normal". Today my new normal could be working for the company that I currently work for but tomorrow I could be a stay at home mom. We need to change within our seasons. What was normal last season is no longer normal within this new season, that normal from last season is gone and we have entered a new normal. Our lives change every minute, hour, day, week, month and year yet we all want to stay where we are comfortable and although the seasons are changing around us we don't adjust to those changing seasons. If that season seems to be a hard season we want to curl up in bed and ask God to wake us up next season. We want to tell the Lord "I can't change" the change is too hard and I won't adjust but we can adjust. We are stronger than what we think; we have been made to change with our seasons. When we feel we can't change we have to trust the Lord that he is going to help us adjust and accept our "new normal" no matter how easy or hard it maybe. Acceptance is the key to adjusting. When we feel that our world is crumbling around us we need to realize that God is there and he will never let us go. We will never be alone in our "new normal". If we didn't have "new normal" the seasons in our lives would never come and we would be stuck in that one season all year round. I believe Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 says it best and I love the way The Message Bible best describes it. Let enjoy life and the changes God has put before us.

Ecclesiastes 3 – The Message Bible

There's a Right Time for Everything

¹ There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:

^{2 -8} A right time for birth and another for death,
A right time to plant and another to reap,
A right time to kill and another to heal,
A right time to destroy and another to construct,
A right time to cry and another to laugh,
A right time to lament and another to cheer,
A right time to make love and another to abstain,
A right time to embrace and another to part,
A right time to search and another to count your losses,
A right time to hold on and another to let go,
A right time to rip out and another to mend,
A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
A right time to love and another to hate,
A right time to wage war and another to make peace.

^{9 -13} But in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does? I've had a good look at what God has given us to do—busywork, mostly. True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time—but he's left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether he's coming or going. I've decided that there's nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life. That's it—eat, drink, and make the most of your job. It's God's gift.

¹⁴ I've also concluded that whatever God does, that's the way it's going to be, always. No addition, no subtraction. God's done it and that's it. That's so we'll quit asking questions and simply worship in holy fear.
¹⁵ Whatever was, is.
Whatever will be, is.
That's how it always is with God.

"Lord thank you for this new season (opportune time) that has begun in my life, help me to accept and adjust to my new normal. Help me to see what it is you have for me and help me to wait on your promises. Allow me to change with every season within my life with you as my guide. Thank you Father….. Amen!"