Someone once told me that a person has friends and then there are the people that you can call at three in the morning. My neighbors are people like that. They’ve been in our church for years and they are a special bunch. Sandy and Jeff have two children and then there’s Daisy! Daisy is Sandy’s mom and she is just like the flower-always sunny and bright! Sandy and Jeff have a beautiful daughter, Elizabeth who was born with Cerebral Palsy and is now eighteen. The doctors said she wouldn’t live to see her teen years…but God. Well, this family has “endured hardship as good soldiers”, let me tell you. We’ve told them that they use more faith in one day than most use in months. Just now, as I was writing, Sandy text me because Beth is in the hospital and having a procedure done. Gee, and I was worried about finishing this blog and wondering what to fix for dinner yet my dear friends are dealing with their daughter being scared and in pain. Umm…some perspective perhaps? Don’t we mountain-climb over molehills while others are in the valley and need our attention?
My neighbors have been there for me. They are the kind of people that love me no matter what and care no matter when. I’ve gone over in the early mornings in my pajamas and no makeup (scary!) I’ve been on their doorstep crying, upset, and just needing a shoulder, a set of ears, and a diet coke! And they’ve provided all of the above! Being moms of special needs kids has given us a bond and an unspoken language. There are days when we can get overwhelmed and one way to deal is a drive and a soda somewhere. I’ll get a text or send a text that says, “In the car for a pop” and that is code for “I don’t want my kids to see me cry.” I text her back the other day, “just cry to God and cry for a miracle.”
It was only a few days ago that I was in the car myself. She text back some encouraging words and I lived to fight another day! The next morning, Sandy sent a text, while she was at the hospital, to check on me. I responded wondering why she was concerned about my pity party with the health crisis she was dealing with. Her answer astounded me, “I just wanted to hear some different information, just some normal talk.” She had heard so many negative and complicated reports from doctors that seemed surreal and abnormal. So the thought occurred to me that all of us need to hear some different information about our circumstances. It’s like the song says, “Whose report shall you believe?” Instead of listening to the abnormal, negative messages that we receive all day, we need some “normal talk”. So, where do we find positive, faith-building, and life-affirming messages? Do we look in the self-help section at the bookstore? Do we go to a wellness center and meditate? Do we get some tapes with mantras to recite?
We need to take a look at all the negative information that we allow to drown out the voice of God. He’d have to scream over the news, the phone, the computer, and our conversations to get a word in edgewise. I am guilty sometimes – got to be honest! We know what to do. Is there ever a time that we don’t pray, read the Bible, or listen to worship music that we don’t feel better? I can answer an emphatic NO THERE IS NOT! There are other ways to get “different information” but time with God is the best place to start. His voice is what we need to hear and He has a word pertaining to our current situations – whatever they may be. Hebrew 4:12 (Amplified Translation) says, “For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power {making it active, operative, energizing, and effective}”.
I know who to go to – we have a bond God and I…we have an unspoken language. That’s my “normal talk”.
