All About Peace.

I'm tired. I mean really, REALLY tired. And it sucks. It's almost 2 a.m., and I'm awake. I try to fall asleep, but Mr. J (the elderly man I help to take care of) keeps hollering out in his sleep and waking me up... I think he's having nightmares. I go in and check on him and twice he's had his shirt up, the blankets off, and his arm up over his head...thrashing his head back and forth and making loud sounds that sound like garbled words or something. I have woken him and asked if he's okay and he said yes...then about an hour ago, it happened again so I went in again and found he'd wet the blankets and stuff. Not beneath but above him. I think he was dreaming that he was using the potty or something. Poor thing. So we got him changed and dry, clean sheets & blankets. At 1 a.m., I was thinking "eek!!" but it had to be done! He's sleeping now, but keeps hollering and making sounds of upset. Don't know what to do. 

Pray, I guess...

There are a bunch of things I need to get done but not tomorrow--well, make that TODAY, now--because it's Sunday. We've begun, as of January, not to work on Sundays anymore. It's the Lord's day. If HE took 1 day off after working for 6, I think that when he says to "remember the sabbath and keep it holy" he probably meant it. For more reasons than just one... our bodies need time to recuperate and rest up...for cellular strength, mental strength, emotional and spiritual strength...it only seems right, doesn't it? To have one day where you just plain REST. Worship if you like, in that quiet place with Him (or however you do your time with Him), but no working for us! Yippee!! I have come to love Sunday.

There's a scripture on my mind...has been all day. "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus..." Philippians 4:6&7... I guess it's just getting that concept in mind that I'm trying once again to manage. Hmm... So... basically it's this: Worry about utterly nothing...instead, pray with deepest and humblest thanks to God as you let Him know just exactly what it is you need. In laying those burdens down at His feet, you will receive His peace--the kind of peace that is beyond anything we mortal humans could ever hope to understand--and it will calm us, through Jesus. Pretty rich. I am grateful that He loves me enough to tell me this. His love letters! Makes my heart feel so full and yet soft. I can close my eyes and imagine this:

A sunny, warm spring day...birds singing in the trees, butterflies set free after a long winter's cold...There is the softest of breezes blowing, the scent of honeysuckle drifting along with the warmth of that breeze. I am comfortable...so comfortable and secure--the kind of secure I have never felt in this life. I tilt my head up as a stray gust of air blows past my cheek and a long lock of hair falls over my eyes. A hand that is big--so big and so gentle--strokes that hair out of my eyes, and I feel his hand on my face. I glance up, looking into the face of the One that loves me more than any mortal man... His eyes are warm and gentle, kind and forgiving. His strong arms are holding me tenderly--as if I might break--and yet securely, that I know I'll never fall. He smiles at me and it's as if the brightest sun in the entire scope of the universe has come out from behind a cloud--but it doesn't hurt my eyes. It lifts my heart beyond any possible understanding. I am overcome with love and peace...the kind of peace I have never before known. I feel no pain. No sickness. And then that voice...deep, rich, true and perfect, lifts in song. A lullaby with my name on it. He rocks back and forth, holding me much as I held my babies, telling me that no matter what comes, He loves me and wants to be with me. He wants to know that I am aware of His love and caring, and that if I'll just hold on for a little while more, if I'll just believe and trust in Him, I will soon understand all the why's and wherefores that this life has thrown out. I close my eyes and listen to His song as He is singing over me... And then I respond with a song that I love to sing, sung unto my King!

What a wonderful maker

What a wonderful savior

How majestic Your wisdom

How humble Your love

With a strength like no other

And the heart of a father

What a wonderful maker

What a wonderful...God...

I love you.

A.