Salve for the Soul

Salve for the Soul

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Salve for the Soul

Beloved, come to Me daily for a fresh supply of hope and strength.  As you turn to Me, I will refresh and renew your soul. I am the slave you seek. I alone can strengthen you for today’s challenges, for I know what your day holds.  Trust in Me, your loving Savior, to renew your strength; so you can soar on wings like eagles; and run and not become weary, you will walk and not faint. (personalized Isaiah 40:31)

A daily step towards Jesus fortifies the soul.

Sitting in the middle of discouragement, feeling held back by my daily grind of dialysis, has put me in a funk.  I find myself longing for health, energy and my life that was. I can say I miss being able to live my life not worrying about the clock, the food, the fluid intake.  Every day, being watchful of what goes into my body and monitoring the status of my health, can drive a person crazy.  Some days, I just need to sit in it for a while and grumble.  For me, the grumble is good.  To release the tension, the anger, the intense frustration with the state of machines, tubes and the daily care of a dialysis catheter in my abdomen.  

 Life is not picture perfect, not everyday is Instagram worthy…but maybe it should be.

When you’re in the thick of it, daily living out your truth, SUFFERING IS SUFFERING.

To speak this truth of your suffering is where God can shine.  When we’re stuck in the middle of the daily grind-God wants to hear our frustration and disappointment. By releasing it to Him and being authentic, He will help to soothe and fortify our souls.

But to do this, we must create some space in our day to speak to God.  Do you have space carved out?  

The world would rather we don’t have the space to talk with God.  Often the pulls of children, husbands, and jobs doesn’t allow for a lot of extra space in our lives to sit with Jesus, but to be our best selves, the one God created us to be, we need to fight for that time, the relationship with Jesus.

Fight for time with the Lord, guard it as if guarding our lives, our lives actually depend upon it. 

Relationships take time to develop, they take time together, to find our voice within the relationship.  As we spend time with the Lord, He reveals who we were meant to be, who He created us to be, and our voice becomes clear, confident and bold.

It’s in this place that contentment is found.  The fight, the striving, the continuous going, the pretending can stop. We can be who we are in the moment with God.  We can grumble, be real, share our suffering with Him and find the peace that only He can provide in this difficult season of suffering.

Contentment in our souls is only found in Jesus.

“God’s gift of grace is undeserved and is always a balm for our over-striving weary hearts.”(Kristin A. Smith, A Moment to Breathe)  We don’t have to be perfect.  We don’t have to pretend everything is going ok everyday.  When we give voice to the suffering, it is not grumbling, it is simply being honest with where we’re at right now.  However, when we continually sit in our grumbling and allow it to become the central focus of our lives, then we have allowed our circumstances to replace who we’re created to be by God -a light in this dark and weary world.

Our central focus should not be on our circumstances, but on developing a relationship with Christ that will continue to sustain us through the highs and lows of life here on earth.  And it’s in that relationship that our story is told and viewed by others.

What does the way I live my life say about my story? Authenticity is necessary for God to shine through me.  

In Philippians 2:14, Paul speaks of grumbling in the negative. I believe sharing the lows in our lives with a trusted friend is not grumbling, but staying in the negativity is.  Sitting in it for days on end is stewing in it  and doesn’t allow for us to move forward in peace and joy. 

God’s love is wide and He can take the grumbles when life isn’t going well In fact, that is what relationships are about-honesty, unity and sharing. Philippians 2:15 goes on to say that we can be blameless, pure and shine like stars.  I believe we can’t shine unless we live and breathe and share our truth.  

Hardship, illness, death-the things that disrupt the life we’ve chosen, throws us for a loop, this is natural, but learning to walk in it, holding firm to the word of Life , holding firm to our family, friends, and Jesus-that’s what gets us through it.

If you’re struggling, reach out to share, release your burden so you can be free to move forward to walk your truth.  This is the one and only life you get to live here on earth.

Know someone struggling, reach out, take them out for a meal and ask the hard question: How are you really doing? You can be the hands and feet of Jesus and help to bear another’s burdens. 

Yours In Christ,

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3 thoughts on “Salve for the Soul”

  1. Julie, you share your heart and love our Lord so well. Thank you for opening yours with us. You are not alone in the deepest part of you. Sharing is caring. Love and hugs to you. June

  2. Thanks for your always encouraging words Julie. Thank you for your transparency in your struggles. Continued prayers as you walk this journey.

  3. Praying for you daily friend! Love how you encourage others in the midst of your circumstances. Love you to the moon and back : ) Nancy

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