stranded?

if you’re not from atlanta, or the deep south even, you’ll probably find it hard to believe what happened here a week ago. those of us who actually do live here still find it hard to believe.

last tuesday it began snowing around lunch time. temps were forecast to drop well below freezing come nightfall. well, say what you will but we’re just not suited here to deal with that very easily. many of us have never driven on ice, etc. so basically atlanta, as in atlanta-all of it, left for work many of which were headed to pick up kiddos. traffic is bad enough here but throw in snow, soon to be ice, and schools full of children many of whom arrive on buses around dark ( stagger bus system) and our city basically was stranded. roads quickly became gridlocked.and what followed was unreal. commutes to pick up school children normally taking 8-10 minutes took 5-6 hours. commutes out to the suburbs normally taking 30-60 minutes took 15+ hours. between atlanta & birtmingham, thousands of children were actually stranded in their schools-all night. thousands. hundreds of motorists spent the night in their cars, stranded. it was a hopeless feeling to watch the news that night, while the roads were iced over.

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speaking of stranded.

for those of you who have reached out recently i sincerely and genuinely thank you. last night as we climbed in to bed dan mentioned how many sweet supportive comments came in yesterday. the funny thing was my intention was not to focus on my mumble jumble thoughts. many of which are not filled with truth. i know my thought-life has been a little stranded the last year and maybe even more so the last couple of weeks. i feel like i usually bounce back pretty quickly and don’t linger longer in negative thinking. while we all have struggles to overcome, relationships that need tending & mending, and we all walk through disappointment with ourselves and even in others, we’re not meant to stay there. we’re not mean to get stranded.

i mentioned yesterday about the slippery slope of feelings like a failure. playing those thoughts over & over again in our heart does nothing but leave us stuck. that’s much different from learning from the past. that’s much different from realizing our own limitations and need for grace. a savior who offers mercy, new every morning. in & through him is often the only way to walk out of that place of feeling stuck.

i also think thoughts of bitterness are like that too. i picture a small cage in my house/heart. inside i have a very small animal. he’s not a safe animal in the first place, hence his position in the cage. he represents my thoughts of how someone hurt me, or how they didn’t treat me as they should. i feed that little animal with things like ” well. i would have never done that” and then i follow with a snack of “she’s so mean and ugly. can you believe her”. and surprisingly that little animal grows. i realize it’s getting bigger and i start to become a little more frightened of it. but it’s all caged up right? it’ll stay inside. well one day after all those feeds and snacks of replaying over & over again the ‘wrong’, of speaking into it the injustice of the situation that little animal becomes so big it frees itself from the, what i thought was, security of it’s cage. and now it’s taking over my home and everyone that comes into my home (hears my words, sees my actions) knows that this animal of bitterness now rules me.

that’s the thing about hurt and bitterness. we think we have it all under control. what actually needs to happen is that animal needs to go live somewhere else. we should never let it establish residence in our heart in the first place. small & caged or not.  it never needs to take up residence in our house/heart. a small amount of hurt and bitterness will grow like a wildfire in  your heart in no time. i realize this is so much easier said than done. and i’m going to completely risk over simplification right now. if  there’s an awareness of that little animal taking root in your heart, in my heart, we need to deal with quickly. it’s okay to be hurt or disappointed. but we need to move forward. ( and by the way, i am not talking about abuse, or anything that falls in line with that. i’m talking specifically on your basic every day issue. that’s all) one way is to repeat truths, outloud while you’re driving is a great way to start. (remember people will assume you’re on a bluetooth so it’s all good). those truths can be scripture. use your imagination. it can be a beautiful piece of poetry, whatever takes your heart back to it’s rightful place. for me that’s scripture. and katy perry played very loudly. (i kid. i kid)

i’m not going even pretend i can attempt a solid self help post here. this is really just a baby step reminder for me. that’s all. again, i’m  not trying to over simplify the strongholds that hurt and sorrow and feeling disappointment have over us. not for a moment. i’m just sharing a baby step. a baby step that can renew your mind and transform your heart though. i believe that.

the snow & ice are long gone today. saturday it was 60 degrees and gorgeous. i finally was able to capture a sweet young family who had to be rescheduled over & over again due to our weather. and as corny as it sounds, that beautiful sweet photosession that day was a symbol of hope for me as well. i’ll share it soon.

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2  corinthians 10.3-5

^“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ”

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& because i couldn’t resist. a little katy for the win.

“You don’t have to feel like a wasted space
You’re original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe a reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road
Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow
And when it’s time you’ll know

You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine“

& a few watercolor via the waterlogue app…if you haven’t. you must.