A New Journey

Yesterday began a new journey for me, one I do not want to take, will not enjoy at all, and it may end in tragedy. My co-worker, Sheila, found out she has cancer and it's not good. Not that any cancer is good, but some are admittedly better that others. This is not good. My first thought was to pray with her, but I couldn't. I really couldn't, tears would have been all I would have to offer up. So I called Terrel, my wonderful minister and friend. He came immediately and prayed for us. This is such a hard time of the year to learn you have cancer. Christmas is to be such a happy time. This just reminds me that many people find Christmas to be hurtful and I should realize that not every one is joyous.

My business will be full blast in less than a month and Sheila carries a vital role in that business. My journey of helping Sheila through this will not be easy, however I hope the one thing she learns from me that it is her journey and not the outcome that is important. I hope she learns that in our journey that Christ is reflected.

I pray Dear Lord, help me to be the employer that I must be to reflect Christ.

Cookie

I met Cookie about 3 years ago and boy did she have the baggage. I didn't know if I really could handle her friendship or not. You know some friends just demand too much. You see Cookie had just come out of a very abusive relationship and she looked at me as her salvation. But I'm no Saviour!!! Oh, yes I do try to imitate the Saviour, but to actually be the Saviour, I don't know. Well we decided to take it slow, first she needed to learn to trust again. You know once the people you love abuse you it's hard to trust again. Cookie still could function on her day to day activities, it was actual relationships which were damaged. The question lingering in my mind, my heart , my time , my being, was do I want to commit that much to one? Oh, I'm committed that much to my husband, my children, my family, but Cookie is no relation to me. She is optional. Like I said, we decided to take it slow and it has been slow, in fact even today our relationship is still not normal, but it is coming along. She is becoming more trustworthy of me and even Kevin too, ( which I know is especially difficult for her). Today she will spend time in one on one interaction for a short period of time and actually enjoy it. But then she has had enough and off she goes. This relationship is all on her time table and that's OK with me. I think one of the best times was when we had the Small Group over from church and Cookie showed up. She really surprised me by interacting with the small group and seemed to actually enjoy her short time she spent with us. But alas she again had to run! Cookie is teaching me patience, perseverance, and joy in the small accomplishments. Not everyone is as I think they should be, they each have their own baggage and I have to go along on their timetable. Even if their timetable is much slower than what I would like. Sometimes the beauty of the relationship is the time it takes getting there. You know my relationship with God is the same way and I'm forever thankful to Cookie and God for teaching me these things.