Stove Top Pain

As quite often, my inspiration for today's post came from something I saw… and then way over thinking it. I was at a friends house talking with her in the kitchen when she put her hand on the stove top to lean on it and continued talking. She has a flat stove top with multiple burners and she just put her hand directly on it (obviously because it was off) and never thought anything more of it. However, as mentioned, I did think about it and below are the thoughts I came up with, based on my experiences and possibly the experiences of yourself as well. It gave me a different perspective and I thought I might as well share and see if it encourages anyone else.

Now, most of us don’t put our hands on stove elements. And most of us especially don’t put our hands on stove elements and then turn it on… that results in… you know… burnt flesh, which sucks. And is gross. BUT do we do this with our emotions? Do we bring our minds to a place that can cause us harm? Perhaps at first going over old photos/journals/emails/thoughts, etc. will not be painful but if you continue to keep your mind dwelling on such things will pain not come? Pain that is brought forth by unnecessarily focusing on the emotions you felt at a certain time in your past, the wrongs people did you, the guilt of the wrongs you did, etc.. This very same pain which you have already worked through, fought to overcome, forgiven yourself, forgiven others and moved on.

Similarly, if you put your hand on a cold stove element and turn it on, at first it will not hurt you as the element is cold, but if you keep your hand there eventually you will get burned as the element heats up. Would you then not look down at your burnt hand and ask yourself “Self… why did I just do that? I knew that I was going to get burned if I kept my hand there.”

So I guess my thoughts focus around the fact that while I don’t think it’s bad to look back at the past, it’s also not smart to stay there… that is where the pain is and if you keep your emotions(hand) on the past(burner) you have the great chance of burning yourself. Learn from the past and walk confidently in the present and into the future with the lessons you learned.

Friends, be careful by the stove; that crazy contraption.

No Scissors Needed

I help at an afterschool care program at one of my local elementary school’s and something happened the other day that has made me think about patience, and more specifically, waiting on the Lord. It also fits well into my theme of healing that I am focusing on for the next few Mondays.

So basically, at this program we give the kids a snack, let them play outside, and then do some crafts with them. A lot of these children are needy in the sense that they don’t know how to do crafts without direct assistance from someone. They are all super sweet kids, but again, they are very needy in that they all want reassurance that they are doing their craft right or they want me to show them constantly step by step how to do something (even though I’ve given directions to the group already). Now the other day we started making piñatas (which is a great adventure in itself!!), and, in typical fashion, one of the little boys asked me for help. As I was just finishing up helping someone else I told him I would be there in a minute. So about a minute later I head over to his side of the table and the little darling had taped scissors to his face! Scissor handles on his forehead and the scissor part going across his eye, taped on with none other than green painting tape. They were dull children’s scissors… but still!! Obviously I was a little shocked and I asked him “why did you tape scissors to your face!?!” to which the only thing he replied in an accusing tone was “… you said you were going to help me..” then proceeded to un-tape the scissors from his face.

After I shook my head a bit at this child’s theory (waiting for help=tape blunt scissors to eye), it actually has been on my mind because I wonder how often adults do this when waiting on the Lord for direction, more so how often do I make up my own waiting techniques? We have directions previously given to us (the Bible) but yet obviously also want reassurance from the Lord to let us know we are on the right path, this part makes sense. But when we have to wait on the Lord for something (healing, a new job, a husband or wife, a situation to resolve itself, etc.) do we wait patiently knowing a sense of direction will come? Or do we get bored and do something to get attention; an action that many times may do more damage than good. For instance, if you are waiting for a situation to resolve itself, do you get tired of waiting for an opportunity and instead pick up the phone and start yelling and accusing the opposing side or just decide to egg their house? OR If you are waiting for the perfect husband do you get tired, think that God forgot about you and go spend your time with the wrong men, or try and grab the attention of any male willing to give it?

Essentially: If you don’t get an immediate answer do you tape scissors to your face because you think this may help the process along?

I’m not looking to accuse anyone, these are simply things I am pondering for myself the last couple days about my past, present and future. How am I preparing myself and acting while waiting for something to happen? I know that before when I was looking for healing I tried my best to wait on God’s timing to heal a lot of the wounds I had, but in the meantime I tried to help heal those wounds myself with horrible results; in fact damaging myself more and making it harder for the original wounds to heal. This makes me reflect on my present and look forward to the future with hopes of leaning more on the Lord as opposed to my own ideas of healing.

Friends, I encourage you not to tape scissors to your face. No matter how tempting it may be to try and takeover with a plan that you think will have quick results, wait patiently on the Lord to finish the work he has already started in you. Healing will come, resolution will come, relationships will emerge, new opportunities will arise if you share your dreams with the Lord and wait on him to deliver them in perfect timing.

And I don’t usually end with a verse but today I shall share one of my favorites:

“Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31

Band Aids & Stitches

Rethinking my blog lately. Not as in “what is all this stuff… DELETE” but as in needing to be more constant and following through on saying all the things that have been put on my mind and heart to share with others, particularly women. On that same note though, I think many of the things that will be said men can also ponder on by knowing how to give women the grace and space that they may need, and essentially helping to protect their hearts. One of the greatest blessings you could give is patience while trying to understand.

And so moving forward, if you are interested and would like to follow, I am going to aim to post every Monday and keep my posts somewhat flowing on the same thread, which is I suppose Healing and Restoration. Finding joy in everyday life again to the point that you smile like a fool and people want what you got.

One thing I kept pondering over the last week is the difference between band aids and stitches. In the literal sense, these two things are quite different, one is for covering a simple wound and one is for restoring a serious wound. This is the same for a healing heart; if you’ve been hurt badly by something/someone your wound can be simple or serious. If you throw a band aid on a heart that requires stitches, for the sake of wanting to “be ok” and move on, you will only have temporary healing. Eventually, that band aid will get soaked through with the blood and pain of your wound and fall right back off, possibly causing you more and more pain as that wound is continually exposed. If you work to get the healing stitches that you require and use time to rest your heart, that heart will heal to such a degree that there will be minimal damage to show that there ever was a wound there. As mentioned in a previous post, ScarsCarry Stories, I have such a scar and I wear it proudly now, which seems odd, but I’m not afraid to speak out about what God has helped me overcome. I used up boxes and boxes of band aids trying to stop my bleeding heart and I just couldn’t do it. I eventually sought out the stitches I so desperately needed and took the time to just let my heart rest. And rest and heal it did, but it took much longer than I wanted it to because the same way you can’t peer pressure or intimidate stitches to heal, you can’t give your heart a deadline to heal.

This post may be much more serious than previous posts but for those that are searching for answers and healing, I encourage you to consider the question: Are you putting a band aid over a wound that requires stitches?  

Rainbow Eyes

You know that one picture that has this little cartoon and it says something like "sometimes I'm so happy I have to shoot rainbows out of my eyes"? Yah. That's how I feel today.
It may be disguised behind my droopy eyelids that are overtired since I stayed up too late (again) because of being too happy to sleep. But the rainbows are there. And like rainbows they shine through a gloomy day to represent a bit of joy and remind us of God's promises to us. Sometimes there is gloom before the rainbow... but the rainbow comes.

Joy, joy, unspeakable joy today. And rainbows.

Roadkill - Accidental Attempts

I just have something simple today to comment on.

Why do animals want me to run them over?

In the past couple weeks I have almost ran over two possums and a rabbit. It gives me a half heart attack every time! I don't want to kill any innocent animals! (or guilty animals either, just to clarify.) Possible roadkill is becoming detrimental to my health. That ridiculous and dreaded moment where you slam on the brakes hoping that the possum or rabbit will still be running on the other side of your vehicle when you've come to a complete stop. Or that moment where you swerve hoping that the possum will end up going in between the wheels of your car. But then you realize that your car is too low and you thunk the possums head because the dumb thing was just sitting in the middle of the road looking at you with these beady eyes.

That is all. Questions I ask myself, sometimes complicated, sometimes... not so much.

Trunk or Tank?

Good Day Friends,

So earlier today, as I was driving home with my trunk door open... the door bouncing up and down in my rearview mirror, I thought to myself "Sherylynn, why the heck is your trunk open? Think... thinking...ohhhhhh I know what happened you pulled the trunk button instead of the gas tank lid button. Hmm this makes sense why the gas tank lid was still closed when I was at the gas station 4 minutes ago and had to go back into my car, because I was totally thinking that I had hit the button when I originally got out of my car. I'm really hungry. oh shoot... I should probably pull over and close the trunk door." Yes, these are how my thoughts go. So anyways, after I pulled over to close the trunk door (awkwardly not realizing I was stopping in front of a house with people standing in the doorway watching me... *smile and wave*) I drove away thinking that I wasn't surprised at all that that happened because the gas tank and trunk door button are right beside each other. And THEN I jumped into Sherylynn's Deep Thought Time.

Sherylynn's Deep Thought Time: Having just come from church, where Loving without Limits was the focus, I thought to myself does this happen with God's love? Be not confused friend, I'll try and help you understand where I'm going with this. I am working with these definitions:
A car drives people throughout their daily lives.
A car trunk stores stuff that can be taken out at every location or stored until it is needed.
A car's gas tank is constantly needed, it must be present every time you try and get somewhere.

So, if you think about it and combine the two, are we taking God's love and storing it in our car trunk or using it to constantly help us as we drive through our lives? Are we storing God's love only to be taken out at certain locations or around certain people, such as only around Christian friends? Or are we using God's love in every aspect of our lives, depending on His love to help us reach our friends, near and far?

The best part: God's love is totally not 127.9¢/L

Hi my name is Sherylynn… I’ve been clean for 6 days now..

So the elephant is no longer under my care and life is returning to normal. Hmmm wait that sounds like I killed it or something, no, that did not happen. The elephant is alive and well at his home and I am back at my home. Ahhh home. Such a wonderful place to be. I don't have time for a 'serious' post I've been thinking about lately but I just thought I would tell you something that has been a bit of a problem in my life for the past two weeks:

Yam fries.

I can’t stop thinking about them. I made the most wonderful mistake of going to the Cactus Club about two weeks ago and getting some of the most delicious yam fries. Ever. With 3 different dips. Best. Ever. So anyways I got hooked on them and the entire week after first eating them I was on the search for yam fries that were equally as good, if not better, than the ones I had at the Cactus Club. This search brought me to Wings, home made freezer yam fries, and finally to Triple O’s. While all these places had delicious yam fries, they were just not the Cactus Club fries that were constantly spinning in my head taunting me. Bravo Cactus Club! (hands over fake award). And so, yes, a week later I found myself back at Cactus Club eating those delicious yam fries with my 3 dips. Oh man…just thinking about it... so good. So then I got my fix and I thought, ok good, this phase is coming to a close (I’m like a toddler, my “Why?” phase is probably still coming). So now this past week I am happy to report that I haven’t eaten one fry, which is good because that was a crazy lot of eating out in a short period of time… but my addiction is acting up again. The last two days I just have yam fries with those 3 dips on my mind. Mmmmmm. Do I give in? Do I stand strong?

There are much worse addictions out there, I’m just glad I’ve caught one that is delicious.