ABANDONED and AFRAID

ABANDONED, ALONE, AFRAID

but NOT FORSAKEN

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

GOD PROMISES to never leave us or forsake us. This promise is golden. Circumstances may defeat us. People may betray us. Conflict may depress us. God says He is here for us. We can count on Him. It's true. God is our rock in times of trouble. He doesn't abandon us.

WHEN YOU are abandoned, you can feel all alone. Fear, worry, and pain make it difficult to move forward. The isolation one feels is overpowering. God says, "I'm here. Let me help you. Give it to me. Trust me with it." You wonder how to do that. You picture your hand in His.

I WAS ABANDONED by my mate more than once. The pain went deep. My babies were hurting. Most people didn't know how to help us, though they tried. I needed God so very desperately. Knowing He was there and wouldn't forsake me gave me great comfort. I clung to Him. He said, "Trust me."

I LEARNED to trust God with the many difficulties that come when you are left and alone. When I'd been abandoned, it was with no knowledge of my mate's whereabouts. My life collapsed. I had to make a new path. I sought God every day for the strength I needed. I prayed and read His Word.

GOD MET ME where I was at. He heard my cries. He ministered to me in the deep places of the heart. He helped me find work, take care of the kids, and get a handle on things. It was harder than I can put into words. God became my 'enough' to make it to the other side. God carried me through. I am so thankful.

TGBTG

NEVER GIVE UP

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

I read her Facebook comment. She'd shared a book about abuse to help her relative. It hadn't opened up a dialogue like she'd wished. In fact, it seemed to have shut the door between them. Had it been worth it, she wondered.

You can't force people to be open.

You can't make someone change no matter how much you want them to. You can't make someone care, acknowledge the issue, or consider what matters to you.

Is it worth it? I think so.

A seed is sown. It grows. It flowers. It produces fruit. God brings the increase. Some things take much time. The other person may find it difficult to express his feelings. He may be worried, scared, or in denial.

Here is where grace comes in.

Extend grace with patience. You open the door. Give it time to settle in. Let God nurture it. Pray, pray, and pray with an open heart. Trust, trust, and trust some more. God's answers almost always play out over months and years, not days.

God makes a way.

Bless her for caring enough to engage in sensitive issues, for being brave. She is an example to us. We all have a voice at the table. We should be wise and loving as we use it. God helps us keep in balance. 

Trust in God's wisdom and grace, and His impeccable timing. We do our part; God does His part; we're in this together.

TGBTG*

LIFE BALANCE: Thoughts for Today

~THOUGHTS~

GOD
God lifts me up when I am down,
  holds my hand when I am weak,
    and shelters me when I am afraid.

MEMORIES
Sunday I went to church with my Dad at the retirement home. The pianist played "His eye is on the Sparrow" for the offertory. It's a beautiful old song. How lovely to be like the sparrow. "I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free. His eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me."

LIFE
Be gracious. Be loving. Be kind. Allow your life to minister to others.
Be strong. Be brave. Be resolute. Allow your life to find its strength.
Be aware. Be honest. Be authentic. Allow your life to speak its truth to all you meet.

BALANCE
Spiritual life involves the heart, mind and soul. I suppose that is why scripture says to love God with heart, mind and soul. Doing so initiates and keeps in balance the purity and energy of the Christ life. The mind is often the emphasis, but it is incomplete without the heart.

JOY
Do you ever have feelings of goodness well up in you? I love it when that happens. I could call it, spontaneous joy. While I drive country roads--pass acres of farmland, notice native oaks and plants, view the Western, Eastern, and Sutter Butte mountain ranges--happiness stirs in me.

MOTHER
My mother taught me how--
-to cook, can, clean, and sew,
-to play and appreciate music,
-to take good care of my things,
-to do and be my best,
-to be kind,
-to be courteous and respectful,
-to know about God and to pray,
-to be helpful,
-to serve,
My mother taught by example.

ALIVE in the SPIRIT

I am thinking, praying, reading, listening, asking, seeking, revisiting things of God.

A few minutes ago I felt the intimacy of closeness with God while praying--like an insightful awareness of being extra alive in the Spirit, like of my prayer being active with feelings of freshness, not weariness or sleepiness. I've missed the sweet fellowship I used to have--the aliveness--the joy of my salvation.

Praise him! Thank you, Jesus.

Maybe the long night is done and morning is breaking. I just read in the Book of Numbers how the children of Israel uprooted at a moments notice, then landed for a night, month, year--until God moved them to their next destination.

The 'not knowing' when they would pack up and go had to be hard on them. The Israelites learned to lean on God, to trust and obey him. The same is true of us. We get discouraged or impatient, fearful and unsettled. Then God says, "I got this," and he does.

God constantly shows us that he is in charge, not us. Each of us must learn to trust God for the journey--and all will be well according to his plan. We wait on God, trust in God, and believe in God. Our hope is in God.

Our faith is being developed. God's ever-present grace breezes throughout the events of the day, be they tumultuous or peaceful. God is here. He is alive and well. God sleepeth not. Thankful am I for his re-assurance to me. Rich, indeed, is God's divine presence. Dependent am I on his everlasting love.

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS GONE WRONG

Let's be honest here. . .

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS LIMITS TRUTHFULNESS

I wish we didn't have to dance around PC correctness and other protected expressions and groupings. What we can say in public is limited to these guidelines and social constructs. I want to know what someone really thinks without its being white-washed into PC conformity. Society is that retribution is to be feared. Old writings seem more honest to me. I see a freshness in them rarely seen in today's literature. Such thinking is not allowed anymore in the public marketplace of ideas.

I don't know about you, but I constantly run my thoughts through a grid before I write or say them. Sometimes I can't say what I mean for fear the PC "police" will take notice. PC ideology goes too far in controlling the way we do life, literally. People take offense, make waves, sue, attack, accuse, vent at ridiculous "perceived" slights. Higher education has fed this monster and now we're reaping its reward.

There's no end in sight to this path we're on.

Freedom is being confined to the PC mentality, which is re-classifying the way people and beliefs are being viewed. It's scary. Read the tweets. Lots of hateful statements about traditional, patriarchal, matriarchal, familial, moral, religious, and institutional belief systems. While some of this is deserved, much of the rhetoric is unkind, arrogant, and hateful. Some day it will make fools of us all. Truth will be silenced. Honest writings will be impaled for some reason or other.

The intelligentsia of the day will, most likely, control the public conversation. Some of this has already infiltrated major players, public entities we all use. Where will it ultimately land? What is the logical conclusion? People will be falsely accused. Careers will be tanked. History will be shamed. Concepts will be limited. Religions of God and Christ will be deconstructed as myths...and effectively silenced. No longer will freedom reign. Censorship where only certain voices are allowed to be heard has an agenda. Well? Worst case scenario...welcome to a society where most everything is controlled.

I see it as an injustice creeping into mainstream America. In some ways, to me, the ideas being circulated as true have skewed the ability to listen well, to consider or entertain an idea separate from their own. "You have to believe like we do or you're wrong," that sort of thinking. Candidates for public office walk a fine line, at least most of them do. To not play the PC game brings on the haters, and I'm not kidding.

I hope I'm wrong and the path turns in a different, better, less PC, less to slap undeserved labels on people (i.e. "racist," "sexist," "misogynist," "bigot") more honest direction. We must speak to it.

I love my country. I want her to be a shining light. I want justice for all. My heart says, let freedom ring. I pray for America, land of the free and the home of the brave. Just saying.

PROOF: Article on Big Tech Censorship here to learn more.

* * *

For more, visit my author site at nlbrumbaugh.com.
Have a blessed day.

AUTHOR BIO

N. L. BRUMBAUGH

AKA

MERIDIAN WOMAN

Thought you might like to see this.

Why I do what I do. In April I updated my Bio while on vacation visiting my kids in Florida. Somehow I forgot all about it and noticed it this morning. Guess it's time to get with the program and add it to my writing home. Here's a looksee.

BIO

Norma Brumbaugh is a memoirist and writer of Christian non-fiction. Her writings pull from her country roots as a farm kid plus 20 years as a walnut farmer, her profession as an educator and reading specialist, and her life-long participation in ministries as a teacher, leader and speaker.

Norma writes lyrical prose in a blend of life's experiences and personal story with its practical application for daily living. She enjoys contemplative silences while practicing meditative prayer. She prefers thinking outside the box. Natural elements compliment her spiritual interests.

Her book "The Meeting Place: Moments with God at Lookout Point" distills a year's worth of contemplations written at a bluff overlooking Butte Creek Canyon. Another of her WIPs is a collection of thoughts written at Abbey of New Clairvaux, a Trappist monastery in Vina, CA, foreword by Abbott Paul Mark.

Norma has several manuscripts near completion. Her passion is to show the beauty found in an ever-deepening, intimate relationship with God. Her favorite of her writings is "Silent . Sacred . Space: The Secret of Alone-Time with God. She is also writing a novel, "The Girl With No Name."

Follow Norma
- nlbrumbaugh.com
- meridianwoman.blogspot.com
- twitter.com/nlbrumbaugh

- Facebook.com/nlbrumbaugh.