“I thank my God that there is no affliction, cross or sorrow laid upon me, but that my heavenly Father gives me the power to bear it and to be willing.“

I Corinthians 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

 
Tonight I’m getting together w/ a group of friends. We’ve not all been in one place for over a year now. We’d called our gatherings “Vegas,” well…because most of you know the saying,

“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”™

We would hold each other accountable and were able to say anything to one another because we knew what we said would be guarded and held near and dear to our hearts.

I’m thankful for my online friends here and my irl friends. It will be good to reunite with these dear friends once again tonight.

I admit I have a love-hate attitude toward friendships.

Though I’m an extrovert, I’m right on the borderline, so I need a lot of time alone.

I like reading and study and writing. You can’t really do those that very well when you’re with someone else or a group of people. Though when meeting with a friend or a small group of friends, I can reflect on what I’ve read with others, so that’s a case where the two come together.

I really don’t like large groups of people; I often find myself uncomfortable in such situations. But if I can find a single person with whom I share a common bond, I can speak with her/him for quite a long time (e.g.- just mention the doctrines of grace or Piper or ML-J!).

For example, I attended an event in the past year and ended up talking with someone, and as far as I was concerned I would have been quite content to sit with that person for hours and hours more. I’m not good at small talk, but if that spark comes, that little insight that you know you there’s something bonding you below the surface stuff, then I’m glued in place and attentive and engaged.

Though I know friends are a gift from God, as with all God’s gifts, the devil can twist that, so we end up worshiping the gift rather than the Giver. We can never become more dependent on our friends more than we are on Christ. He must be central. He alone is our all in all. Our friends are an extension of Him, and, as with all His gifts, they must be held with an open hand. That has been a lesson God keeps shoving in front of me time and again, especially in this past year.

I’m thankful for you, my friends here, and especially thankful for your prayers, comments and messages after my post last night. I am alive and kicking. I think I freaked some of you out by what I wrote.

FYI: I become discouraged fairly often; it’s just most of you don’t see it happening in real time, but it comes out in little snippets in my writing. I feel akin to Jeremiah in many ways. However, I will say the other day was pretty extreme, but I am thankful God brought me to my senses quickly and got me out of that miry and slimy slough of doubt, despond and despair and helped me to fix my eyes on Him once again.

I am thankful for all the Aarons and Hurs God has graciously provided for me, including those in my Vegas group as well as many of you who have lifted my arms on several occasions.

That said, I hope I can do the same for you. And I hope deerlife can be a place we can do this for one another. As Jesus told Peter,

I hope deerlife will be a place where we can strengthen one another as we battle and encourage one another to press on to the prize of the high calling. (Please see more about my vision for deerlife at the top of my main page.)

How have friends encouraged you?
How have you struggled in your friendships?
Do you have a friend or friends who regularly keep you accountable?
What might we be doing here at deerlife to encourage one regularly?

 
As most of you know, the post title is taken from Colossians 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Yesterday morning I was feeling discouraged. I was driving to BSF, breaking into tears along the way. Not really wanting to go, but knowing I should be. We all gather together and open by singing two hymns, but I didn’t want to go in there but rather just go up and hide away in our group’s room. Well, I went ahead to the opening as I knew I should, and as I was entering the hymn “Standing on the Promises” (Russell Kelso Carter) was being sung, so as I was getting settled in the pew I began singing along:

His mercies were new yesterday morning!

Throughout the day that lyric continued to be water to my dry soul, because even though I’d heard it in morning, I began to wither once again and lapse into deeper discouragement.

I had begun wondering what I was doing blogging, particularly asking myself why I started up this site, but the others as well, and with that the usual taunting and tormenting thoughts were coming into my mind about ministry in general: “Why bother?” “Who cares?” “What you’re doing won’t make a difference. If you stopped, who would really notice?”

After our study, I once again needed the loving discipline of my heavenly Father (these are things I’ve continued to struggle with and they’re all pretty interrelated). He showed me once again (because I am slow to learn *sigh* – I ask your continued prayers for me…thank you!):

I actually came to a period yesterday when I couldn’t write (even though I have many, many thoughts/ideas I’d like to write on, probably too many!). I didn’t know if I wanted to write any more on this blog or on any of my blogs ever again. The thought of blogging again actually sickened me for a time. I’ve known frustration with writing and I’ve known writer’s block and I have had times when I’ve been discouraged or felt I didn’t have anything to write or wasn’t sure how to write it, but I had never ever had such a temptation like that before. That frightened me.

That said, all this came on the heels of my recommitting myself to blogging here just about two weeks ago. (I wrote about that here).

The devil is prowling but the Hound of Heaven is too! Thanks be to God the One that saved us continues to guard us and keep us!