Warm and Fuzzy

By
“But your loyal love, Lord, extends to the skies; your faithfulness reaches the clouds. Your righteousness is like the strongest mountains; your justice is like the deepest sea. Lord, you save both humans and animals. Your faithful love is priceless, God! Humanity finds refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the bounty of your house;you let them drink from your river of pure joy.Within you is the spring of life.  In your light, we see light.”
Psalm 36: 5-9 CEB
What do you do when you’re having a really, totally, horribly bad day? Do you isolate yourself, or flock to friends? Do you seek out music or movies to relate to your feelings? Do you try and keep yourself busy with homework and tasks, or do you space out and let your mind go numb? I think that this is an important thing to know about ourselves. Sometimes these outlets can be good, but other times, our coping mechanisms don’t always help us face the problem at hand.

When something happens, and I’m having a really bad day (or week) I usually tend to isolate myself. I just want to get on my couch with my fluffiest blanket, favorite ice cream, and whatever show I decide to watch on netflix... which is usually Friends. I know that I need some time to process my feelings, and let myself think through what is happening. I have always been bad about seeking help in times of crisis. I’m really good at talking to people AFTER something has happened, but not so good at letting people walk with me through hard times. This also means that I am not always good about including God in these times. This is something that I have tried to work on the last few years.

To me, words that friends or loved ones say in times of stress or hurting can always help a little. These words can remind us that were not alone, and that we have people supporting us. That being said, I think that sometimes words offered from the outside, can act as a bandage for our wounds. These bandages help, and are very necessary to the healing process, but we still need a lot more to totally recover and mend our wounds. That is where scripture helps me when I need to heal. I especially love Psalms verses, like this one, for times of hurting and healing. The poetry and majesty of this section from Psalm 35 instantly makes my heart and head change their perspective. Simply put, this verse from Psalm 35 gives me the warm and fuzzies! When I read it, I feel a wave of peace and serenity wash over me. Scripture like this one reminds us of the never ending, “loyal love” that God has for us. Words from friends can heal some wounds and help us to feel better. Words from God can heal our soul. Scripture helps remind us the importance of what God says about us, not what people say about us. The Bible tells us how loved, valued, and wanted we are by the ultimate father, creator, and redeemer.

Find a few go-to verses that can help you in times of stress and crisis. Let the Word of God warm your heart and heal your soul.

Pictured: Salvation Mountain in California (This picture and the messages on the mountain also gives me the warm and fuzzies!)
To read more: Psalm 36

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God's Overlook

By
Image
“Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these ‘nobodies’ to expose the hollow pretensions of the ‘somebodies’? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.” - 1 Corinthians 1:27-30 The Message - As a person of smaller stature, I hate being overlooked. Some might argue that much of who I am is to stand out and be noticed. Yet no matter how great I think I am, the apostle Paul here reminds us that God has preferential consideration for those who are ‘nobody.’ God uses people who are lost, broken, and left out. Even if we are ‘somebody’ and think we have it all together, when we come before God we must recognize that our plans are silly foolishness compared to the work that God has for us. The trick of course is to not hate o
Read more

Light as a Feather

By
Image
 " And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them,  “If anyone would come after me, let him  deny himself and  take up his cross and follow me.  For  whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake  and the gospel's will save it.     For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?     For  what can a man give in return for his soul? " Mark 8:34-37   (ESV) There is a lot packed in these four verses from Mark. What stands out to me most through all this talk about losing or gaining our lives and our souls, is in verse 34 where we are told to “take up your cross”. This is an instruction I have heard many times through the church, but what does it mean to take up your cross? To me, taking up our cross is choosing to be a Christian everyday. The conscious effort to treat people a certain way, to rely on God, and to think about Him in our actions, decisions, and thoughts. It’s choos
Read more

Light in the Darkness

By
Image
 “Arise! Shine! Your light has come; the Lord’s glory has shone upon you. Though darkness covers the earth and gloom the nations, the Lord will shine upon you; God’s glory will appear over you.” - Isaiah 60:1-2 CEB - Darkness is a real thing. Not only as we get to the winter months where it might be dark before you get home from your afternoon or evening activities, but we know darkness on a personal level sometimes.  Darkness is that voice in us that makes us doubt ourselves. Darkness is that feeling that no one else knows what you’re going through. Darkness is cold isolation and separation.  Yet we know through the birth of Christ that God’s light breaks in upon us. The love of God that comes in Jesus finds us just as we are, just where we are. God’s love warms up the coldest isolation and lets us see ourselves for the beautiful creation God made us to be. One of my favorite images is the sharing of the Christ candle we do at our Christmas Eve services.  Something a
Read more