Alive and Active

An anxious heart weighs a man down, 

but a kind word cheers him up.

Proverbs 12:25

This afternoon, we had gotten some news/made a decision that was disheartening. I'm confident in the decision we made for our family, but at the same time it was a hard decision to make, and in the end it tugged at my heart, and made me very sad/frustrated. Anxious. But the Lord had other plans for the day, He made it clear He wasn't going to let me sit and wallow.

Immediately after the first tears fell a woman stopped by my office to drop something off. She had a very kind smile, knew nothing of why I was blowing my nose, never asked, but chatted with me for a moment and got my mind off of it and went about her day. One would think, hey now let's just start wallowing again, not today. The moment she left the phone rang, on the other end was a pastor telling me he was stopping by the office.

This church planter/pastor is such a riot. He backed in the trailer he'd borrowed from my office, opened it up and told me everything him and his two friends (with him) had done to fix it up nice, and all of their future plans, and they had many. Then he waltzed into my office and offered to help with 10 different things, made  50 different jokes, and came up with solutions to problems I'd have never thought of. He is one extremely resourceful pastor. But above all of that, they were kind.

The Lord killed me with kindness this afternoon, filled what is normally a very silent office space (filled  only with time to think and process and over think and over process and wallow and be anxious) with laughter, kindness, friendly suggestions, promises of help, and camaraderie for an extended period of time.

My frustrations have eased, my heart has been settled, and my Joy has been replenished. Proverbs 12: 25 came to life, my anxiousness completely replaced and lifted by the kindness I was shown today.

Don't you just love it when the Lord does that? When He shows His Word as alive and active? What comfort that is, because it means we can rest and believe verses like this one too:

The Lord is faithful to all His promises 

and loving towards all he has made. 

Psalm 145:13b