I just got a call a little while ago that a good friend of mine at a normal kinda routine doc appointment has been rushed to the ER for surgery. My family and I will be extending some help for them and their children. Please be in prayer for Gina and her family.

I woke in a pretty tough place this morning as I did not get any sleep last night. I hate that part of ministry and ministering to others. They keep me up at night and nothing but Gods grace on me will settle my heart down from the pain and give me peace and rest. I can try and talk myself into it, take an extra PM pill and still the hurt heart will keep you awake, the mind continues to run in all different directions and then suddenly, you realize that all this IS worth it. The people in my life are worth fighting FOR and if that means a season of hard tough things, I will do my part and more than my share of carrying the load, the hurt and doing without to fight for them. But to be honest and this is me showing my heart on my sleeve once again but I don't really care about it all that much because being humble is not such a bad place to be. Pride keeps us from our faith and being humbled gives us new eyes.

Man this is hard. You know what? It is HARD! Maybe this is why Paul encourages us in doing the "Work" of ministry. It is WORK and hard work at that. You put your heart out there. You offer Grace and acceptance and love to people. You sow seed. You make phone calls. You send text messages. You send FaceBook posts full of encouragement. You extend the hand of friendship and leadership. You pick up the phone in the middle of the night. You drop everything to meet the cries and you shoulder the tears. You get involved in family and personal matters. You extend yourself far from the comfort zone. And at the end of the day, you just feel like you've been ripped to shreds. But somehow you hang in there, determined to keep sowing seed. Sure, I may be a fool, but I'm a special kind of fool. I'm the fool who still believes that a tiny green sprout will rise up from the dirt.

Proverbs 15:22 - Plans fail for a lack of counsel, but with many advisors they succeed. We have to have older people investing their wisdom into our lives. Submit yourself to older people of faith.
Everyone needs a Paul in their life to be poured into. Right voices lead to right choices.

A worn Bible is a beautiful thing.

Lonnie~