Smudge

Normally these things just come to me. Honestly, in the last year or so of writing this blog every week I can’t remember having to sit and ponder “What should I write?” The ideas and words just seem to be there as a gift from God. Today…not so much. So I’m going to to tell you about my Friday.

Last week was another one of those weeks that we all have from time to time that have just a little extra “stank” on it. Crisis and turmoil seemed to permeate my life and the lives of the people I love. There was stress, strife, and disappointment in abundance. Because I am codependent I allowed it to splash over onto me even when it belonged to someone else. The line between codependency and loving someone is often a smudge…

By Friday evening I was at my wit’s end and life just kept piling on. I’m sure it’s not just me, but have you noticed that life sometimes feels like being near the end of an escalator that people don’t understand so they just pile up at the end? Yeah, that was Friday. I didn’t feel like smiling. I didn’t feel like talking. I certainly didn’t feel like leading Celebrate Recovery and being all happy and stuff! That’s why I forced myself to do it anyway.

I put my bass down and told my music director Andrew that I would just be singing tonight so I could focus on the words. I told my testimony coordinator Christina that I wasn’t going to show the testimony we had planned because I just needed to talk to my Forever Family. And God showed up BIG!

We had a great turn out on a long weekend, up 30% from the week before. Worship was sublime. And God just flowed through me in my lesson. I’ve been at this ministry since 2003 and this was perhaps the best Friday night I’ve ever had. I have spent a lot of time reflecting on it; especially trying to figure out why it was so good. My simple answer is that it was an anointed time and I was obedient to His call. People will be people. Really. It doesn’t matter where you are or who they are, people will eventually be people. Some will want to put you in the shadows. Some will want to put you in the spotlight. None of that really matters because God’s call is going to outweigh all of the other opinions.

I used to love to watch the TV program Cheers! One of my favorite parts was when Norm would walk in and someone would ask him how it was going. My favorite response went something like this: Woody asks “How’s life treating you Mr Peterson?” to which Norm replies “Like it caught me in bed with it’s wife!” Yeah, that was my Friday. And then I was obedient to the call. I sat on a stool in front of the people and just shared what God had to say through me. And I was blessed.

We will fall down, but we will…

–Rise Up!!