Friday, we talked about envy in life group. One of the first scriptures we read was Psalm 37: 1-3, the first part saying, "Do not fret because of evil men, or be envious of those who do wrong..." This struck me because I read In the Presence of My Enemies by Gracia Burnham this week. She and her husband Martin were held hostage by Phillipine rebels for a year back in 01-02.
She talked about how they struggled with envy and hatred especially as they saw their captors eat more than they did and not share when they could have. Martin would say how they were suppose to love and serve everyone, even terrorists. They came to the point where they decided to be thankful for any food they had and it helped with their survival. Martin ended up dying in the jungle when the Phillipine soliders rescued them. Another hostage was killed and Gracia got shot in the leg.
I read the book in two days because I couldn't put it down! It convicted me of how spoiled and unthankful I am. It is a great testimony of how the grace of God carries us even in the most horrid situation.
Envy has been a great struggle in my life since I'm bad about comparing myself to other people. I've really tried hard not to do that but since the miscarriage, I'll admit I have failed many times. It's so easy to question, "Why me?" I think I'm starting to climb back up from the hurt of this experience. I have seen good come out of it, especially connecting in a new way with my parents, who had a miscarriage 22 months before I was born.
Saturday, we got to see the Bost side of the family to celebrate Thanksgiving. John was in from Hawaii and Mathew and Rachel back from Florida. I'm glad we got to see them all!
It's been quite rainy today, so we couldn't walk the dogs. We had a nice life group about distortions of God, and how our experiences have shaped wrong ideas about him. It's a constant struggle to see God's love despite the unfair and bad things that happen. But, Jesus experienced hurt and unfairness, so who can we better relate to then Him?
Laugh moment of the week:
When I came home for lunch Friday, I watched Jimi climb inside a blanket on the couch. He hid in between the layers.
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