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UNDAUNTED
For a few very hard years this word was my mantra.
The word means
-undismayed; not discouraged; not forced to abandon purpose or effort
-undiminished in courage or valor; not giving way to fear
But the truth is, I was often dismayed by everything that had taken place, and I did battle discouragement. I battled fear and doubts. I hurt and was angry, and sometimes "undaunted" sounded more like a mockery than a mantra, and I was determined to be real about all of it in these posts, thus the name, Undaunted Reality. More than that, though, I was determined to live undaunted, not because I'm so great or strong, but because my God is, and no matter what this world looks like, He is the only reality that matters.
I pray I live the reality of Him beautifully undaunted.

Sunday, November 26, 2017

On the Days when Life Takes the Breath Right Out of You...I'm Here

Today I listened to someone talk about life and...a lot of things. How it isn't what she thought it would be and how she isn't who she thought she woudl be and the who is so much harder to deal with than the how and who is she to think that what she does...and why even...and she ended all of the fragemented statements with a long exhale like the life just deflated right out of her.
 
And I can't get it out of my head. That long exhale...and all the fragments she sees...and the purpose she doesn't see.
 
And I know. I know some of you beloved hearts are asking the same things becase your seeing your own fragments and you're not seeing the purpose, and this life sure can make a person lose their breath, can't it?
 
The truth is I can tell you all the fragments you see are pieces of a whole story God is writing, and I can tell you that because it is the truth, but I know the other truth is when life runs you so hard you can't catch your breath, it's really hard to catch a vision for that life.
 
So let's do this. Let's sit down on a porch swing together and sit the Truth on a table in front of us, and let's just swing...and talk...or not. And I'll hand you a kleenex because I can see the heart aching in your chest that is part of the aching in your soul, and you can let the tears fall, and truthfully, mine will fall with yours because, lands this out of breath place is hard, and nothing hurts like heart does
when the soul feels broken.
 
You can pour out the not understanding and the millions of questions of why, and I won't try to give an answer. I'll just try to be an answer, in my own silent way, the answer that you are not alone in this. You are not alone in you.
 
Sometimes the real answer isn't something that soothes the mind. Sometimes the real answer is someone who can keep company with the heart, and even if I can't fix your heart, I can hold it and let you pour it out and witness the bruises and cuts and bleeding...and hope that still beats...and the fear of hoping too much because...what if life sucks out the breathing and the beating?
 
But what if it doesn't? What if this part of Jesus in me can sit with you and speak value to you and you heart? What if the Jesus in me can give you enough to take another breath and to let your heart beat until it is beating strong and sure?
 
What if, for this time that your breath is sucked out and your beating is weary, you can find hope and strength by feeling the Jesus in me with you?
 
I'm with you.
 
With deepst love and most sincere prayers,
Jerri
 
Jerri L. Kelley
www.jerrikelley.com

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