Comments on: sometimes we’re not “fine”

By: Kathy Breslin

Kathy Breslin — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 12:47:00 +0000

To everyone. I wish I could stand before you so you could see my face, my emotions, my passion, my guestures. I work at a mental health hospital in the middle of the night. I have some acquaintance with soul pain. I believe, with all that is within me, that there…is…hope. No wand waving needed. Christ IS hope. Even when you don’t feel his presence or even feel like you can acknowledge or even believe he is hope, HE IS. For those of you who took the time to respond with your cares and concerns, my heart aches for you. I wish I could share my faith that Christ is hope with you individually. I know this about him…every morning, in the wee hours, I see people who are broken, on the verge of taking their own lives and I hope for them and God spares their life for one more day (as I requested) so they can hear the gospel and experience God’s love. I hope for you. In my kitchen, I have pasted a little note all over every cupboard (because I need hope, too)…God restores my soul (Ps. 23:3). If you don’t have enough in you to hope right now, I will hope for you. I may not know much about God, but this one thing I do. He cares…always…and He is hope. Peace to you all.

By: Jenna

Jenna — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 19:37:00 +0000

I really appreciate this post. I think I struggle with letting others know I’m not fine because it seems to make them uncomfortable (like they are waiting for me to say “good!” with a big smile, per usual). One Sunday, I just couldn’t fake the smile so I answered honestly a few times (imagine that! :-)) and the gals didn’t know what to say or how to respond. I know that shouldn’t keep me from being willing to be transparent, but I fear it does.

By: Dwilker

Dwilker — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 08:06:00 +0000

Lara; Thank you for your honesty in sharing this post. I can relate to this so much and it is true that most of the time others want to hear “fine” when they ask and some even run as hard as possible in the opposite direction when you say “I’m not doing so good today, it’s been a hard week”. I am a 56 year old grandma who is presently caring for my 3 grandchildren (ages 9 mos.; 2 1/2 years and 4 1/2 years) each day. My daughter, their mother, is very sick and has been bedridden since the youngest was 2 months old. I am caring for these children’s physical, emotional and spiritual needs most of the time as well as 2 households and cooking meals for us all. My son-in-law works in the trades and works long days. I am struggling with being both a grandma and parent to these children and with maintaining the boundaries between our 2 families at the same time. There are days when I just want to run away from it all and not care any more but I know that this would not please God so I stay and continue to “scatter myself” and “die to self daily” confessing my lack of faith and belief as well as a lack of trust in a sovereign and all merciful and all loving God “whose steadfast love never ceases and whose mercies never end, they are new every morning”. It is a fight and battle each moment of each day. It is hard to watch my daughter suffering so and see no end in sight. I feel ill prepared and equipped for this major responsibility but there is no one else to step in and do it right now. My church is trying to continue to support us in lots of ways but many times when something doesn’t change very quickly and maybe even gets worse, they grow weary too. Truly, there is joy in my days, they are not all toil, my grandchildren are beautiful and sweet. It is a hard road that God has called me to be on right now and I do pray that it is a season only – He only knows how long it will last. I try to imitate David, the psalmist, who poured out his woes to God and then put his “but” in the right place by saying something like “I know that my God can deal with this all and work it all out in the best way”. My grandchildren sing the song “My God is so big, so great and so mighty, there’s nothing my God can not do for you” and I too sing it as it says a lot. Thanks for listening and sorry for the long comment. Blessings, Debbie

By: bc

bc — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 19:47:00 +0000

Hi Lara!

WOW! You slammed dunked this topic of “not being fine” and being really honest about it with others. So TRUE and I pray I continue to become more honest about
not being fine as GOD grows me into HIS likeness. God Bless You and keep bringing it on…as God leads you to. 😉

By: TereasaM

TereasaM — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 16:35:00 +0000

Today? I’m thankful for grace.

I love the message in this post. The surface answers we give in most circumstances are a real struggle for me. I try to be more real with people (when appropriate) but often begin to feel like people aren’t really interested in real answers. I like the simple and grace-filled way you worded your answer. Lovely.

By: Missy

Missy — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:17:00 +0000

You have no idea how appropriate this is to what happened at our church yesterday. A staff member “confessed” how he was “not fine” in resigning due to some financial mishandling. It was such a sad day, with part of his statement being we feel we have to be perfect in church ministry and there is no one to really go to when we are not. Many times we “the church” look at those that aren’t “fine” as having a spiritual problem, because wouldn’t everything be great if we were just right with God? I know it is something most everyone one left pondering yesterday and hopefully God will teach us all to be compassionate, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as He has shown forgiveness to each of us. We tend to give the pat response “I’ll pray for you”, but do we really? do we let that person know if we really are. So much to ponder and learn from His word!

By: HisFireFly

HisFireFly — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 14:59:00 +0000

We were just talking about this last night around our Sunday night campfire — and here you are… Amen to what’s real!

By: Lara Gibson Williams

Lara Gibson Williams — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 13:36:00 +0000

In reply to Amber. You know, it's funny. The more I've pondered this this morning, the more I think that we as believers should rarely be "fine." I mean, God makes it clear that there will be suffering in the lives of those who name Christ "Lord." Maybe we just need to think of a different greeting. (ha.)

By: Lara Gibson Williams

Lara Gibson Williams — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 13:34:00 +0000

In reply to Jillcarl. I know what you mean. I think we are so "busy" doing that often we miss the opportunity to make an eternal impact even with a simple, "Really. How are you?" Praying we live authentic lives. Blessings, friend.

By: Lara Gibson Williams

Lara Gibson Williams — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 13:32:00 +0000

In reply to jenbutterfield. Thank you, Jen. :)