July 2, Gen. 22:1-19; Mt. 9:1-8

Abraham trusted God, and Jesus trusted God, and trust for Jesus led to his going to the cross.  Today has been a rough day. I have cooked a meal, I had a young friend come in and is staying the night.  But I am simply exhausted. The elderly lady that I have been having trouble with tells my friend i did not listen to her and so on, and my friend wants to pass on the information. It bothered me because I do listen, I am good at listening, but in this case I think I understand now that what she meant is I listened to her about her beliefs and I did not buy them.  To me that is not a necessity for relationship to believe like I do, but in her case it is acceptance or no acceptance.  I also realize that I have become quite fond of her over the months and the total rejection is painful.  I had let my guard down. I think often about getting old and now about getting really sick, and I wonder what I would do.  Again it comes back to trusting, having faith. Ultimately that is what my journey in life has been about is having faith, and keeping the faith.  A quote that speaks to me now is from Paul of the Cross:

"When you feel the assaults of passion and anger, it is time to be silent as Jesus was in the midst of His sufferings." -

It is best to keep silent for ultimately in that silence there is redemption, and so I am keeping silent, but it hurts like hell.   Deo Gratis! Thanks be to God!