Well, it finally hit me. IMA GROWN UP!

My dad left me on Friday night. It was a sad ordeal, I cried…a lot. The realization that I'm on my own set in.

I dropped him off at Long Beach Airport and had an hour and a half drive home.  Plenty of time for my eyes to swell to the size of golf balls. And they did, my poor left eye was so swollen it took two days to go down!

The home sickness was setting in, the separation from my loved ones.  I put on my Tenth Avenue North CD and as I listened to each song The Lord reminded me of His faithfulness, what I’ve prayed for and how He is answering those prayers. In every situation in my life the Lord keeps reiterating

He wants to be my great Comforter in such a way that I would come to Him before going anywhere else.

 Now, every time I think of the word “comforter” I think of a blanket. Remember when you were a kid and you had that blankie(or perhaps it was a stuffed animal)? It probably has a few scars and a stain or two still on it ( mostly that nasty Gerber organic “Pea and Cheese Mix” that mom forced you to eat, You knew Blankie had your back!). Even so, it was YOURS and you loved it.   

Ahhh… man oh man, how wonderful that blanket felt after a hard day of making mud pies in the backyard. You’d crawl into bed, wrap yourself in the big ol’ fluffin’ puff and doze off to dream land. It just felt nice.

 You and Blankie would do everything together. You were BFFL’S!  You’d cruise with Blankie to the jungle gym, the zoo, to Mickey D’s, to the grocery store…you might have lost Blankie a few times while in the store. Your whole world turned upside in seconds,

 Dad searched frantically only to discover he was holding it in his hand.  In the end you found him again and life got back to normal.  When you were hurt you’d grab Blankie. It was Blankie that helped you through the scraped knee or oozing pustules ( ok, that was gross… sorry).

That’s how it should be with Jesus!! We should just let him wrap us up and hold on tight. Be our comfort when we’re hurting. Be our assurance when we’re fearful (or tearful in my case).  How great would it be if when our hearts were weary that it was as easy as grabbin’ that old bag of rags. Well, it IS that easy! (Only Jesus isn’t a bag of rags) I’m learning to take it back to the basics with Jesus. You should too.  Just let Him be your Blankie.  That’s what I’m doing!

I’ll leave you with a few verse from a worship song called “ The Lord Is”

“ The depths of your grace who can measure?

You fully supply all I need

You restore my weary soul

Again and again

And lead me in your righteousness and peace

You’re with me through every dark valley

There’s nothing that I have to fear

You are there to comfort me

Again and again

Protecting me, assuring me you’re near…”