The Opposite of Loneliness is NOT Togetherness

Have you ever felt lonely?  I mean really lonely deep in your gut.  Being around others in a group, the “togetherness” would seem a logical solution to the problem.  It is not.  One can be lonely in a crowd.  Why is this so?  The opposite of loneliness is not togetherness rather the opposite of loneliness is intimacy.  Certainly there is that intimacy between GOD and man when we accept the gift of HIS son JESUS CHRIST.  HE sends the HOLY SPIRIT to live within us.  The HOLY SPIRIT is the indelible mark of that intimate relationship.  Our creator longs for us to be in relationship with HIM.  HE created each one of us for the distinct pleasure of knowing us.  Isn’t that amazing?  The GOD of all creation desired me into existence because HE loves me.  One sided relationships do not work.  How many of us have known one of these sometime in our existence.  The LORD wants us daily to choose to come to HIM and commune with HIM, make HIM lord of all we do.  It would seem to be so much easier if we were still in the garden and could walk with GOD like Adam did. 

GOD created Eve as a help mate for Adam.  Why?  HE knew what was to come, sin would enter the world and our intimacy would be broken.  We as human beings need intimacy or loneliness will devour us.  This is why the design of Adam and Eve.  It is a mental, emotional, physical example of the relationship HE desires with each of HIS creation.

The intimacy when two souls interact.  That can’t happen unless you are open to it.  You know what I mean . . . that best friend you could talk with about anything . . . you can pick up conversations with even after months of not talking to each other.  This is a kindred spirit, this is where intimacy if flourishing. 

I think as we get older it is most difficult to be open, as the light of hope has faded within us.  It is shaded by the disappointments and unkempt promises of our loved ones.  The unseen hurts pile up and the light is almost extinguished.  Almost is the optimal word here.  We are made in the image of GOD we are eternal as HE is.  Our bodies may wither and die but that which we are, will always be.  How frightening for those who do not know the LORD, to be for eternity separated from the LIGHT all because during this brief moment while they walk this present Earth they have chosen to reject HIM.

Do you know JESUS?  Are you feeling alone and searching for intimacy in your life?  Start here and the rest will come.

• Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

• John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that HE gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in HIM would not perish but have everlasting life.

Yours always,

Elizabeth Antonnette

The Endless Day

Have you ever had a day that never seemed to end?  Today is that day.  The day was not filled with turmoil and strife but rather was filled with a deep inner question that the LORD was asking, "Do you trust me?  Do you really trust me? Do you trust that I will take care of you in all things, in all ways?"  I say that I trust and I know that HE orders my days and I know that I know, there is no such thing as coincident in the life of a believer.  Yet, here comes worry and his companion anxiety cropping up their insidious heads....dividing my mind between faith and doubt.

I've been dwelling on Matthew 8:23-24 today, the lesson where Jesus got into the boat with his disciples.  Knowing full well there was a cataclysmic storm brewing, HE intentionally went to sleep.  HE being GOD had no doubts or fears, HE slept.  I have asked myself continually how this applies to me today and this is what I have discovered. 

• JESUS, you have led me into harms way with full knowledge and intent.  The wall is down and I am exposed. There is a gentle whisper in the distance, "I am here, trust me."
• You have allowed the storms of emotion to prevail over me so that I have cried out, SAVE ME! Save me from myself as I can't stop turning around to view the past with all its pain and broken dreams.  There is the whisper again in the distance, "I am here, trust me."

It seems as much as I try to move away from the past hurts, they haunt me.  I want to trust and I want to have faith beyond where I have been.  My beloved JESUS, speak those words of healing in my heart, "I am her, trust me." 

The past is a disaster area or is it?  I am trying something different this time, I am going to choose to see clearly what it is that frightens me so much, but as I turn around and strain to see what it is. . . . all I see are outlines and some shapes that seem somewhat recognizable.  There is a haze, no, a fog which is thickening, and maybe, just maybe it will make the past indistinguishable.  The thought of this, the hope of this, is lifting my spirit even now.

I've been asking myself if I should cast aside these dreams of mine, but HE seems to be saying, "give them to ME."  Like a gardener who lavishes his attention on his precious roses, JESUS wants to gently cultivate and water those dreams so that they will come into full bloom.

Yours always,

Elizabeth Antonnette

The Lesson of Love

The word love is used far too often these days as a slang term, people saying “luv ya” and the like. It minimizes a word that should carry great significance.  At the beginning of relationships, love is used incorrectly to describe the incredible, electric infatuation felt when attracted to someone.  This tactile infatuation fades but love is so different.  May it never be that I underestimate that infatuation and love might exist simultaneously.  This is a hope and a dream I have, to meet that special someone which the LORD has designed as a perfect match for me.  As the BIBLE is the infallible Word of God, I can claim the promises, the factual evidence found therein.  HE shows us this special “match-making” in the creation of Adam and Eve.  The world is a big place unlike the garden at creation – how do you find the one?

Love is patient and kind, and the presence of jealousy or arrogance has no place in it.  One of the grandest components of love is that it does not take into account a wrong suffered, there are no grudges.  With that in mind, do you know love?

Real love finds joy in truth, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.  Love never fails—it is on a continuum.  Jesus is the example of love we have been given.  We rightly seek to emulate this state of love between man and GOD in our worldly relationships, woman and man, parent and child, one’s self and the needy.  This is where we put our feet, or hands into service for the LORD, as we express love in tangible ways.  Love is not a “thing” that we can claim possession of, rather it is the active, visual, auditory, tactile demonstrations that tell us love exists.  What is it you do for your special loved ones?  This is love.  What do you do for man-kind when you see them in need?  This is love. 

Is there love in your heart today?  Don’t you see, there is an endless supply when you are connected to the LORD.  Our purpose is to give it away to others so they can enter into the blessed hope of our Savior.  We love because Christ loves us!

Along my journey from behind the wall, I commit to keeping an open heart which gives and touches lives around me.  I will be patient and endure life’s trials, staying hopeful that I will find my special one the LORD has created for me.

Genesis 1

1 Corinthians 13

Yours always,

Elizabeth Antonnette

Morning brings LIGHT

Restful sleep punctuated by a sunny, brisk day.....what a wonderful thing. 

"The real voyage of discovery does not consist in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
Marcel Proust's novel, À la recherche du temps perdu—known in English as In Search of Lost Time and Remembrance of Things Past

There are so many blessing heaped upon us each day and we sadly do not recognize them.  Earth is our current home but some day we will go up to be with the LORD.  Isn't it interesting though to think about this world GOD has created....it was meant to be a place where HE could walk with us.  That is such an overwhelming picture which drives me to appreciate more the world we live in.  HE chose the color of the the morning sky, designed the shapes of the trees, and HE decided upon the fragrance found in lilacs which bloom in the spring.  And how about the feel of sand between your toes or the touch of a cool breeze across your cheek, think on those for just a minute.  GOD, created that for us.  Thank you my heavenly Father for eyes that can see.

Yours always,

Elizabeth Antonnette

Growth can be painful

"The Props, assist the House
Until the House is built
And then the props withdraw
And adequate, erect,
The House supports itself
And ceases to recollect
The Augur and the Carpenter ---
Just such a retrospect
Hath the perfect Life ---
A past of Plank and Nail
And sloweness -- then the Scaffolds drop
Affirming it a Soul."
Emily Dickinson

I am confused but not unaware that this journey is in the hands of my LORD.  Painful though today's lesson is I shall not loose sight of the goal. 

"However rare true love is, true friendship is rarer [still]."  Francois da Rochefoncauld

I reached out the hand of true friendship and allowed, though only for a moment, a meeting of two souls.  Heal the hearts of your wounded creation LORD.

Yours always,

Elizabeth Antonnette

The First Step

Dreams are almost always taller than you are . . . that way you have to reach to make them come true. 

Standing on a ladder is not something I fear but climbing to the top and trying to change the batteries in smoke detectors 17 feet off the ground is a bit harrowing. I think reaching for dreams can be that way too. As I stand at the top of the ladder and stretch toward the goal, I am in a position to have to trust that the ladder will hold me as it was built to do.  By nature, I want to try and somehow control my future.  My focus has been the past experiences I've had, the pain found in broken promises and they are paramount to looking down at the floor while precariously perched on the upper rungs.  The fear that takes over comes as one must let go of the control and trust.  

My dreams can be reached if I simply follow the example given, and avoid fear's claim on the future.  I choose to avoid this pitfall and claim the promise in 2 Timothy 1:7 "For God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and a sound mind," and Philippians 4:6-7 "Don't worry about anything, but through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your request to God.  And the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds."

To live in the here and now is going to be an awfully big adventure!

The Awaking

How can one sink so deeply into a life without emotion and not notice it until the very air has been removed from your lungs?  How can one get so lost behind a wall that they disappear even from themselves?  This will be the journal of my journey back.

After being off work the first week, my prayers and quite time with the LORD have become much deeper.  Despite that fact or maybe because of that fact, I was gasping for air as I found myself traveling into the recesses of this inner space.  The reality of loneliness is unbearable there.  The waves of it were sweeping over me and I was being tumbled around like sand in the surf.  Although I didn't know it at the time, it seems my very soul and spirit were awaking, desperate to be set free.  It felt as if I were great bird trying to stretch open its wings so as to feel the air lift it high above the Earth, but instead, felt the bars of a cage that held it in solitude.

How does one really do this, get free from behind the wall you yourself have built?  I was painfully aware that it was I that had mixed the mortar that held each brick in it's distinct position. I didn't realize the height nor the width that had been laid until now.  Can hope and hopelessness exist at the same time?  The battle for air is strong as we by nature want to survive.  This was no mere struggle for air; it was the intended work of the creator, my savior, my LORD Jesus Christ.

Although this work is not precipitated by the doings of man; it does require 20-30 seconds of courage; the complete and utter abandonment of self in order to step forward.

Yours always,

Elizabeth Antonnette