Doing the Right Thing

 Good Morning everyone. I hope your Saturday is starting off well. I am running on lack of sleep and lots of tears. My first thought was to just skip this day altogether but that is not an option and truth be told, digging into my Bible is the best thing for me so we are going to look at the last verse in James chapter 4 this morning. 16 words, but big ones.

I lost one of my best friends yesterday, it has been a long hard struggle for her with scleroderma and the disease had ran its course in her body and I knew she was getting tired. I also knew she knew Heaven was waiting and I know she knew it was her time to go. She was not only one of my best friends but for the past 10 years, she had been my boss. She was the one who could talk sense into me, talk me off a ledge and cheer me on when I was feeling full of self-doubt. She was the one that I would walk in her office and ask her a question because I wanted to see the look on her face instead of hear her words, because she was one of those people that the facial expression told the truth but sometimes she would okay my hairbrained ideas even though she thought better of it but I could read her face like a book to get her real feelings. The last time I did this, I drove to her house on a Sunday afternoon because I needed to make a decision about cancelling a trip to stay for a meeting at work and I wanted to see her face when I asked her what I should do because I knew, over the phone, she would say go. Her face in real life that day said go too, but I know I did what she really wanted me to do that way. 

We have laughed together, cried together, been stressed over things beyond our control together and fought poverty together. During Covid, she, Carol Tracy and I spent more time together than we did with our own families. When everyone else was sent home, we were still at the office and we would plan meeting up between constant daily conference calls with the state and other entities that had a stake in what we were doing. We knew we had to keep the agency going and we knew if one of us got Covid we all would, so we just keep going. When I started going to the gym, it didn't take long to start having a three day a week ritual of grabbing Starbucks for the three of us. Little things that would get us through hard days. If Starbucks were alcohol, we would have had big problems as ERBA ran on a lot of Starbucks between the three of us. 

She has left a giant hole in my heart and at work. 

When Cathy started getting sick, it was hard to accept. I mentioned Carol, we were kind of the three musketeers. I am the oldest and Cathy is the youngest. The day she had decided she was resigning from ERBA was the last time I had a good visit with her, we talked on the phone as she was on her way home from the hospital. I told her that day this was not how any of this was supposed to be, but I know that as hard as it is to accept, it is God's Will. 

We need to get on with the lesson, thanks for listening, or reading my outpour. 

Here we go, James 4:17

"Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it."

Highlight= okay, as I said, it is 16 words, so it is just the whole verse. It is so powerful. Explain= I always have this picture in my head of getting to Heaven and standing before the judgement seat of Christ. I know some people think because we are saved, we won't go before the judgement seat  and we won't go before the Great White Throne where we are judged for our sins before heading to Hell, (Christians have already been spared from this because our sins were already judged and paid for at the cross) but 2 Corinthians 5:10 says " for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, either good or bad."  So, we will all appear before the judgement seat to go over what we did and didn't do for the Glory of God. I can picture this giant screen of going over scenes just like out of a movie where we had missed opportunities, things we knew we could have done, and not taken the time, or not cared enough. Now, if we are Christians, this won't get us kicked out of Heaven, understand that, but we will receive rewards for the things we did do, things to lay at the feet of Jesus in honor of Him. Apply- I try to imagine what the world would be like if everyone that felt led to do some random act of kindness reacted to it every time they were pulled. I honestly don't remember most of the times that I have been led that way and did what I felt I was led to do. I do remember one time we were at the Japanese restaurant for lunch. It was a year that Andrew hadn't had much work and we were maybe a bit on the struggling side anyway but we always celebrated birthdays at Japanese so we went ahead. There was a mom and two little kids there. I felt led to pay for their lunch. I made the mistake of telling Andrew, who was not the one being led to do this and he told me we just couldn't. Well, we could have, and we should have because I was being told to. I know that scene will play on my screen as will many others that I am probably oblivious to but I learned that day, don't talk it over with anyone else, just do it because God told you to.  Respond= Lord, always help me see what you are telling me to do and not ignore your signs. I know that if you lead me to do something for someone, you will also provide the way for me to get that done and that I should never let money or time stand in my way. 

I hope you all have a good Saturday, it is going to be a rough week for many of us, any extra prayers for Cathy's family and friends would be greatly appreciated. 

💖 Mindy