Continuing to LOVE OUT LOUD

What a day today was! This week our church had the opportunity to help a couple who have not been unable to take care of their yard. They are in their seventies and she is very ill. Families and students were ready to get to work and help out these people that they didn't know nor knew anything about. So we got right to work even though we had no dumpster. It showed up later and was filled very quickly. I am still amazed at all we ended up getting done today. It's not complete but WOW it looks so much better than it did. 

While Danielle and I were on our way to the house this morning it hit me whose house it was. I knew them from the hospital. I remember when they would come in he would look so worn out and she just looked like she didn't feel well at all. I was overjoyed that I got to help these people that I know are dealing with things beyond their control. I really didn't expect to see her at all during the day, since I had never seen this woman stand up, but to my surprise she stepped outside while we were cleaning up and her husband was gone. The look on her face was so sweet. All she could say was how excited she was that we were helping. She was so appreciative that we were there. 

Today was bittersweet for me. I see patients come in and out of the hospital all the time. Some share what is going on in their lives and others just answer my questions and want nothing more than to get away from my desk, go to their appointment or test and go home. I am merely a stop on their visit. Nonetheless there is rarely a patient that I help that does not impact me in some way. There are not many days that I leave work without a burden for some patient. Today I was able to take the next step and show these people the love of Jesus outside of the walls of the hospital. 

Love/Marriage (Biblical vs. the Media)

It has become a family tradition to go to the movies every Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was very disappointed with the choice for this year's Thanksgiving Day choice. This made me even more excited about today's pick but I was also more skeptical as I am now of most movies. 

However, the movie that I watched today was far better. I loved that it was a traditional family. They didn't get married because they had to rather because they were in love. The thing that I admired most about the male role was that when times got hard he was willing to do anything to keep his family together. When asked by a friend if he had thought about leaving his wife the character replied with an "I can't believe you just asked me that" look. He talked about how nothing is worth giving up on his family. He couldn't imagine his life without his wife and kids. 

As I reflected on this thought it made me realize how we as females get such a skewed picture of marriage. The media tells us that you have to be thin, have the perfect face, and so on. We watch movies that tell us that it doesn't matter what you do with your life as long as you have a male with you. And by the way they probably won't hang around. They will only be there until someone else comes along. But why do we let the world define our lives. We are called to be in the world but not of the world. If we truly believe that then we wouldn't believe the lies that the world feeds us. We would trust that true love is that of our Father in Heaven. A love that would sacrifice itself so that we could live with Him FOREVER! 

I'm not hating on marriage. I am so excited to think that I could share my life with someone someday. But my heart breaks every time I talk to a girl who thinks that they aren't good enough. That they don't deserve what God has in store for them. That they need to be prettier, thinner, more approachable, more flirtatious, etc. I try to explain to them how much they are already loved. I am constantly broken for them and will continue to be until we can all come to the realization that we are not in control of the future. It is in the Father's hands. What good hands they are too...

SIDE NOTE: None of us deserve what God has in store for us. The beauty of grace is that we don't have to work for God's love. He gives it to us without bringing up our past decisions. He takes us in forgetting what we have done and knowing what we will do and how we will mess up but loving us anyway.