“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.” (Matthew 5:4)
 
Each of us has had to mourn in our life. Whether it was over a loss of a job, dream, relationship, abuse, or even divorce we still know the pain and hurt of the situation that we had to grieve over. Many people when a friend is crying often, feel overwhelmed and tell them “Do not cry,” however, there is nothing wrong with crying over a loss and having to let go of something that they held dear to them. We tell people not to cry but, God made us with the capacity to cry and shed tears over the things that we hold dear to us. One major thing that we must grieve over is our own heart and wicked nature.

Mourning in this instance here relates to inner spiritual grieving of a broken and contrite heart. When we grieve over the sorrowful state of our own evil heart we then can be comforted by the mercy and saving grace from God. When we come to realize our own brokenness and can grieve it then we can allow God to work within us. We must be vulnerable and allow God into the dark parts of our souls and work within us.

​True repentance and confession include an element of grief. Although we can rejoice in the promise of God’s forgiveness, we must mourn that we have done evil acts that God is not proud of. Repentance is possible when we come to mourn over our own wicked behavior. We may struggle our entire lives with a particular wicked behavior, addiction, or language but when we want to truly overcome an addiction, we must hate it in our souls. We must mourn the harm that it caused ourselves and others. Those who grieve will be comforted. God comforts his children when they turn their hearts back to him.
 
Heavenly Father, may we recognize our own brokenness and learn to grieve the pain and hurt that you have felt when I turn away from you. Lord, may I turn my eyes to you and seek your comforting embrace.
                   
Praying for you,
Stacy Watkins

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” (Matthew 5:3)
 
There is a verse in the song We Believe in God by Amy Grant that recognizes we all need someone else’s help because life is hard “We believe in God, and we all need Jesus cause life is hard.” When my cousin was around three, she would go around singing this song but instead say “we all need Mommy cause life is hard.”  Life for three-year-olds can be difficult with people making them take a nap and playing with stuffed animals all the time. However, she recognized that there were things that she could not do for herself, and she needed help. She needed someone she could depend on to help her in her time of need.

Generally, when we think of people who are blessed in their lives our minds think of the wealthy, those with good careers, and close family relationships. However, Jesus does not say these people are blessed, but those who are poor in spirit. Jesus states, that the poor in spirit inherit the kingdom of heaven. Here he is not looking at the person’s financial status but, the depth of their spirituality is broken, bankrupt, and apart from Christ. The poor in spirit recognize that they are incapable of providing by their own strength, goodness, or even righteousness they need someone else to help them along. We must realize our own spiritual emptiness and humbly approach God about our wrong doings in life and where we need help whether it is with addiction, loneliness, or even controlling our temper.

​The Message Bible translates the verse as “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more God and his rule.” When we exhaust all our resources and see no possible solution, we become blessed since we lean onto the one who made everything. When we get out of our own way from being prideful and recognize that we need help we allow for God to work within us.
 
Heavenly Father, Lord, give us a heart that is humble in spirit and not dependent on my own merit.
 
Walking with you
Stacy Watkins

“And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.”
            Hebrews 10:24-25

The last few weeks have been spent gathering with different friends, and family members celebrating the various holidays. We can remember the days of laughter expressed with joy. Some of the encounters might not be completely fun while others were filled with debates that left you feeling annoyed and even with worry but, the holidays remind us that we are made for companionship that with the right people we are better together.

When we have been hurt by so many people in our past, often we come to believe that we do not need people in our life we can do everything on our own, but we were not created for isolation. We are created to live life with people and for a purpose. The hardest part is finding the right people to become a part of your community. As we age, we might become skeptical of having anyone become a part of our community when we see a new face often, we do not want to trust them since we do not know them, or we do not want to be hurt like we have been in a previous friendship. It is hard to trust after being hurt, but we cannot go through life alone.
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Trusting a new person can be hard since we must be vulnerable. We must let them know who we are it can be scary; however, at the same time we must be brave and willing to be loved by another person. We need people in our communities that will encourage us to become our better selves, learn to grow, and develop to thrive. When we find the right people to become a part of our community we do not just grow, but flourish. We become even more than what we expected we can become.
 
Heavenly Father, may you place the right people in my path that will continue to challenge, encourage, and even help me flourish. May your Spirit help me discern who I need to let in and who I need to stay away from.
 
Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins