Seven lessons I have learned so far this year…

1. I am in control of my health. I would not have agreed with this statement this time last year. I would have said this was not possible. I would have told you, impossible. Today, I am living nearly migraine free and that is something I never thought I could or would ever do. I truly thought I would live the rest of my life in pain.
2. What people think of me is not as important to me as what my God and my family think of me. So, if you aren’t one of them, while your opinion is important, I am learning through the school of hard knocks, where my absolute trust belongs.
3. I can get by on a great deal less than I think. I don’t need to eat my meals out. I can give more away. My house doesn’t need to be perfect to have people in my space. My carpet is stained. My walls aren’t beautiful. My house says lived in. Yet, what I’m realizing is, God is still asking me to open my house and invite people in.
4. The Bible, the more I study, the more I realize I don’t understand and want to know. Prophecy amazes me. The beauty of His word astounds me, frustrates me and yet, as it is inerrant, I am humbled.
5. As my favorite humans get older, I want to be by them more. Whether it’s sitting reading together, having a meal, watching a show/movie/YouTube, going to Goodwill, whatever, let’s do it. Time is too short. Life is too precious. Let’s be together. Get off the damn phones and sit together.
6. How I see church is changing. I don’t know that coming together for four songs and a half hour message to me is church. I come to church and want to worship the King with my community, hear the Word taught, but there’s something missing. Community together. A friend of my son’s spoke of church in Mexico and it being a near all day experience. (No worries, not I’m not there.) It was community. It was a meal. It was fellowship.
7. The more I work with the elderly in our community the more I realize how often they, as a group, need our love, attention, respect and care. I see so often, in the doctor’s practice I work with, the people, alone, in their homes, with nobody to check on them. No friendships. No meals with others. How do we change this? It’s a lesson I’m learning. We are needed.

Thanks for reading my list. What would you add? What is your list of lessons learned? #octbloggingchallenge #hopewriter @hopewriter

Psalm 37: 4 Trust [^LHave confidence in] the Lord [Prov. 3:5] and do good.
    ·Live [Reside; Settle] in the land and ·feed on truth [or find reliable pastureland].
⁴ Enjoy serving the Lord,
    and he will give you ·what you want [^Lthe requests of your heart].
⁵ ·Depend on [^LCommit your way to] the Lord;
    ·trust [have confidence in] him, and he will take care of you [Prov. 16:3; 1 Pet. 5:7].
⁶ Then your ·goodness [righteousness] will shine like the ·sun [^Llight],
    and your ·fairness [justice] like the noonday sun.

Expanded Bible (EXB)The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.