Good Morning!  Here was this morning's random scripture, and it really spoke to me:

"Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things  I do not know. They repay me evil for good; my soul is bereft. But I, when they were sick - I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest. I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother, as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning. But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against me; wretches whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing; like profane mockers at a feast, they gnash at me with their teeth. How long, oh Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions! I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you." Psalm 35:11-18

I don't know about you, but I love folks with all my heart. All of it. If you are my close friend, consider yourself family, and know that if you choose to turn on me, I will be devastated. When you choose to love like God loves, giving your all without regard for yourself, you will get hurt. I have been hurt this way a few times, and felt just as David does in Psalm 35.  What I love most about this Psalm is how it ends. "Rescue me from their destruction.... I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you."  David was being hunted down and hiding in a cave, so I understand that he was asking God to spare his life. But in my life, I can see it as asking God to rescue me from emotional destruction.

 I carry my friends very close to my heart, and when they choose to "check out" of my life, I mourn it like a death.  I worried about this until my therapist told me that going through the grieving process doesn't only happen in death. And it's okay to cry, because going THROUGH the grieving process is necessary to mental health. It is those who try to circumvent the grieving process that never heal. So like David I grieve, and then trust that God will heal me. Then I will have yet one more reason to praise His Holy name.

So today I ask you:  If you are grieving any type of loss at all, are you trusting God to heal you THROUGH your grief, and are you ready to thank Him when He does? I challenge you to allow yourself to feel the pain, trusting God to "rescue you from destruction", in His time.  I'll pray for you. You pray for me. And the Holy Spirit will intercede for both of us.  With that combination, we have no option but to be okay.

ALL is Grace!