Validation...

God loves me, oh yes, He does!

For the last two weeks, I really have not been feeling well. I am not a "complainer" when it comes to how I feel - mainly because that leads to the inevitable "how are you feeling?" and other hovering questions by well-meaning relatives, friends and loved ones. And while I know they mean well, I am a bad patient - I hate when people hover - and get very irritated when people do. (Sorry, Mom and Grandma and Julie and ... well, you know who you are...) And yet, when I get in my self-pity mode, I want to scream that no one seems overly concerned that I am sick. It is a vicious, vicious cycle.

But God showed me today - actually, over the last week - that He loves me, that He is concerned and that He cares. "Out of the blue" (and I say that in quotes because I don't believe anything is truly random, but all a part of His plan for our lives), the following things have happened:

- a phone call from my former pastor, who just called to say Hello and ended up encouraging me in ways he will never know.
- a phone call from my father in which he literally said, "I just called to say 'I love you' and that I really mean it." - which if you knew my father, you would know this is HUGE. (and he's reading this, so I ain't talking about him behind his back...)
- a co-worker of mine told me today (when I was relaying to her my distress about how fat I feel and about the size of the gown I just bought for my church's anniversary gala that I will be Mistress of Ceremonies for next weekend) - "stop it! You are beautiful just the way you are!"
- an email from a high school friend who hadn't heard from me with the frequency that she normally does who wrote me to say, "I just wanted you to know that I've been thinking of you and that I care tremendously about you."
- the phone call from my brother this morning expressing his concern about all the medical tests my doctor keeps running (with no seemingly good results) - and if you knew my brother, you would know this is HUGE also...
- the comment to a blog I wrote that said, "keep up the good work" - (and I'm feeling all guilty for not writing all the blogs God has put on my heart to write...
- and there have been other things....too many to write about - and some too personal to share.

All I am trying to say is this:
Often we get bogged down with the "busy-ness" of our lives
and feel overwhelmed
and that things are out of our control
and that nothing is going right
and that everything is going wrong

God knows
God cares
and if you stop and listen, He'll let you know that He does
in just the way you need to hear it.

God loves me, oh yes, He does! And He loves you too!

Be blessed.