Sacrifices of the heart

I took a few days off of blogging, as Sundays are busy for me, and yesterday, I got caught up playing a game on the internet. I do that sometimes to shut down my mind. It's always going with different ideas, and so I'll play a game on agame.com to wind it all down.

So I get back on and hear such horrific news about a man in Los Angeles who shot and killed his entire family -- mother-in-law included -- and himself. He's been unemployed for some time, and I guess became despondent over the recent financial difficulties facing the country. Another man in Nebraska gave up his NINE children at a hospital so that they could be taken care of. My heart cries for these poor souls who feel as though there is no hope!

It reminds me of stories my mother and grandmother told me. My mother's father died when Mom was young, yet my Gram kept the house running and everything together. Numerous people -- even Gram's own sisters - told Gram to give up my mother and her underage siblings to an orphanage. Gram refused and said that she would trust the Lord would help her, as long as she'd try her best. He provided for Gram and her family. My grandmother came from a wealthy family with a maid and all, yet she learned to plant gardens, to can, to sew and to work jobs that her sisters thought were beneath a woman of breeding. My grandmother always told me what ever I faced in life, that if I did my part, God would do His. I learned tenacity from that woman, and even though she died at the ripe old age of 95, I miss her every single day.

At any rate, my mother used to tell me of a family that lived down the street from them who faced similar circumstances. The father of the family died, leaving the lady of the house alone to take care of her children. She later gave up the children to an orphanage, but not before getting an assurance that she herself could work at the orphanage; the children all grew up and understood the sacrifices their mother made.

To get through this hard time for the entire world, we must all make some sacrifices; HOWEVER, I urge anyone who may stumble upon this blog to NEVER GIVE UP. Please, do not think for one millisecond that suicide is the answer to this problem! NOTHING is so bad that you have to consider suicide as the answer --and I know, I've been broke, forsaken, unloved. You name it, I've been through the gamut. Even as a pastor's wife, it gets so very lonely. HOWEVER, I am NEVER alone.

And if you're reading this, and am downhearted, then my friend, I urge you that instead of giving up, give it all over to the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in His word: "Take my yoke upon you, for my burden is light." And He's so right. I've lived without Christ, and that's when life seemed the least worth living -- even though I had money at that time. Do I face troubles? Every single day. However, knowing that everything comes together for good to them who love the Lord, knowing that NOTHING shall separate me from the love of Christ Jesus, knowing that there's a better day coming if I trust that He will give me what I need, all helps me to keep strong in the turmoils that beset us all.

We need to stop thinking that money is the answer to our problems and realize that money is just a tool to help us help others. In the words of Corrie Ten Boom: "There is no pit too deep that God is not deeper still." God WILL help you out of the pit -- you must dare to have hope in the midst of hopeless times.