MADNESS

But that's the thing, you can be mad. You can get mad. That is totally OK. You can shout at God. You can tell Him how mad you are. Shout your frustrations. Don't hold it in. It is OK to get furious, to not understand. To want to yell at God. Because it sucks. And it's going to feel that way. But sometimes, shouting at God is what we need to do. It doesn't make him hear us better, but in our frustration, when we turn to Him, we acknowledge the fact that we know He is in control. We know that He has the answer. We know that He's the one that truly has our best interest at heart. So when we are mad. When we are angry. When we are frustrated, that's not something you turn away from and tell yourself to ignore. However, you don't linger there. You move on. To conversations with God, turning to Him in prayer and refocusing that anger and frustration into something positive by trusting in Him and knowing that He will ultimately work everything to good. And unfortunately, there is no timeframe for when God will answer you. You may feel even worse. But unless you take your troubles, your frustration, your anger, guilt, madness, shame. Until you voice those feelings and bring them to God, you're only going to feel worse.

Left Behind

The things you leave
After you're gone
The things left unsaid
Left unlived
Left undone
The words you might say
Are not here today
But all is not lost
All is not gone
It is in those left behind
Left with memories and hope
Left to remember
And to cherish
Left to carry on

Left behind are the burdens of life
Left to those still to live
Yet the things you leave
Are more important than you think
Left to the people you love
Left to pass on
Those things you shared most
Showing that you cared the most

And above all
It's the love that you have
That gets left behind
It stays with those people
And though hearts break
And never fully mend
Yet like an imprint on their hearts
The LOVE for each one of them
Remains

2/4/2017 -- ALJ