So...it appears that I am now a "blogger." I looked up the history of the word "blog" and I found out that the word was created when I was 41 years old. The original term was "weblog" and was quickly shortened to the word we know today as "blog."
Welcome. Welcome to my little tiny corner of the internet. I'm excited to have a voice and a part in the inception and birth of Danny Strickland Ministries. I didn't realize Danny was going to ask me to be a part (to have my very own corner), but I'm thrilled to do so as we launch into this adventure and season of ministry.
Now, of course, when you have a blog, you have to have a picture. Danny was putting the website together and showed me the picture he had chosen for my corner--and of course, I immediately vetoed it. "No! No! No! You can't put up that picture!" It looked like I was falling out of the frame and we all know...a picture is only as good as YOU look in it.
We scrolled and perused and looked and cropped and still couldn't find a picture that I would agree to. Then I remembered the beach pictures. "Hey, how about the ones we took at the beach this year? I think that one is pretty good."
And TA-DA, the picture for my corner was found.
A few days later, as I was looking around the new website, my eyes landed on the "approved" picture and I was suddenly struck with exactly "when" that picture was taken. The day we did pictures at the beach was probably one of the worst days of my life. So many horrible and cruel things were swirling around us, but we forged on to get those pictures of the family, as we do each year during our vacation. Trust me, it was a BAD day.
At that moment, the picture on my blog took on an entirely new perspective. It looks nice, hair in place, lipstick good--but behind all that, my heart was aching. To the casual observer, no big deal. It's a nice picture. But, the things happending that don't show in the picture....Oh my.
The moral of the story: Things are not always as they appear. They're just not. In this day and time when we are saturated with pictures and information through social media, I think it would be good for all of us to remember...things are not always as they seem. The picture sometimes doesn't tell the whole story-for sure.
All of us come to Christ THE SAME. All of us are sinners in need of a Savior. All of us have messed up. All of us face hurts and pains. All of us have things about our lives that we would change and all of us have something about our lives that someone else would love to be said about their lives. All of us. The comparison that is just that--a trap.
Yes, we've worked hard on this website so that it looks good and tells our story well. Nothing wrong with that. But, at the end of each day, we are just putting one foot in front of the other -- persevering, seeking, and resting in the grace that is ours and the Savior that has gone before us.
"Look at the birds of the air, they don't sow, they don't reap, they don't gather into barns; YET your Heavenly Father feeds and cares for them. Aren't you more valuable to Him than they are?" Matthew 6:26
Yep, it was a bad day. A bad day with a good picture. And whether good or bad, He is ALWAYS caring for me. That's enough.
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