Thank you for being a friend....

You know who you are.

You are the one who calls all of the time. Even when I don't answer...you persist. You make sure that I am okay. Your timing is often perfect, but even when it is not...your friendship makes up for it.

You are the one who spent almost three hours on the phone with me. In that time I experienced laughter, tears, sarcasm, humor, commiseration, encouragement, Godly advice, wisdom, love, depth of feelings, nurturing of wounds, more sarcasm, joy, pain, flushing toilets, and well...just plain old good company.

This is the friend that when I say I need to go, hears the cues in my voice. The shaky voice that says, "I think I might cry, and I don't want to embarrass myself." This is the friend that pleads with me to not hang up, but to talk. I didn't even know that I wanted to talk about it. I didn't even know what "it" was. Apparently, I needed to talk. And she wanted to listen.

The good kind of listening. The kind that affirms, encourages, equips, and loves. The kind of listening that instead of saying..."Maybe you should....blah blah blah"....says this..."Your plate is full. You cannot accept that on your plate. You cannot take on one more thing, emotional, spiritual, physical. What you have to deal with is enough...and God will take the rest from you."

Why do I forget that? Why do I forget that when I feel I have nothing left to give...that I am doing all I can, doing more than I can, that God is waiting for me to ask for help. Not only to ask for help, but to say..."Lord, I'm not going to accept that on my plate...You didn't put it there...so please take it off."

You know, he does it.

His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.

Why do I forget that?

I think it is because I fall into comparing myself with others. Or maybe I don't want to let anyone down. In the end, I am letting down the most important people of all by weakening myself and my mind with the lies of the enemy. The enemy that is saying, "You are not good enough. You are not doing enough. You are not doing a good enough job." Ouch. All of those things bombard me daily.

God has not commanded that I master all things, only that I take all things to my Master. He wants to be the one to order my steps. He wants to be the one to give me my value. He wants to complete me, as I seek Him.

Thank you dear friend for reminding me that just because something is said, doesn't make it true. Thank you for reminding me to take my thoughts captive. Thank you for reminding me to weed out the crap, turn it over to the Lord, and carry on. Thank you for reminding me that my God wants to not only lighten my load, but carry it for me.

I love you.

The Maid