The Joy of Consolation

 

 

 

When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.

Psalm 94:19, NIV 








What do you do when 

your heart trembles

under a load of 

anxiety?

Do you have a word that soothes

or a song that comforts?

I have a treasure chest full

that measures an abundance of 

JOY

just waiting for me.

Sometimes easily forgotten, 

one simple thought

can take me down the path

that will open the vault of memories

stored

with friends of the most

heart-full kind.

There is the friend who 

drove the car while my husband held onto 

our mattress tied to the roof of the car.

Then there is the couple who 

brought 3 pies to our house

and got snowed in at Thanksgiving

so we ate all the pies, the four

of us, in ONE day.

Or maybe I would remember the

friend who eagerly shared my

joy in gardening and donned her

raincoat and boots

just so that we would not miss our

yearly Garden Planting Day.

Ah, yes, another gardening friend

came alongside

for our Secret Gardening Forays

as we transplanted and prettied

up our townhouse complex

together.

But what kinds of friends would

willingly

sign up to portray the cast of

a Gilligan Christmas

put on by the STAFF of your Church?

True friends who know what it means

to love to the full

day in and day out

because 

that's what Jesus calls us to do.

And by the time I've 

walked through the years

back up to the present,

and my heart is looking down 

the trail that is today,

I find a new list of friends.

Ones who have joined me with
Blogging, Facebook, and Emails for

Digital Loving,

a phrase I did not know could exist.

But then,

who would have thought that

mattress chugging,

pie eating,

boot wearing,

shovel bearing,

and 

costume wearing

could be ways to find true consolation

and JOY

from Jesus?

There is no room for anxiety

when my heart is so full

of LOVE like that. 


And so to all of my friends,
both near and far,
And to all of my Loved Ones
who live in my heart,
I am THANKFUL for the gift
of consolation
that Jesus brings through you.



I am linking this week over at these great sites:
#TeaAndWordTuesday, Meg Weyerbacher 
#TellHisStory, Jennifer Dukes Lee 
#LiveFreeThursday, Suzie Eller