Sometimes God speaks to me through the words he gives me initially for another. Or maybe they aren't really ever for another, but he knows I will listen more intently if I first suppose it is for another.

Either way is actually okay. The point is hearing God. And I did this morning.

One of my friends posted that she missed her son on facebook. I know that she has struggled with sending him to school this year and her heart is truly missing him. And  yet, I also know that she felt that the answer of him going to school was a clear answer. So, I prayed, "what can I say to help her, what advice would the bible give?"

And suddenly I was making a comments telling her all the things she could praise God for regarding her son...and the list continued...and things kept coming to my mind. Big things, things that if taken away aren't small and yet I know I often forget to even acknowledge that they exist much less be thankful. Finally I ended in the way that seemed right  with a paraphrase of Psalm 118:24.

I was thinking about my comment to her later as I was driving to school and frankly wondering if she would "get it" in the manner I meant it. And suddenly I realized that the answer was as much for me as for her. This has been a summer of people going away. Some have moved, some have left places that directly impacted my life, some have taken new opportunities...emotionally it has been long. And some days I am tempted to post my status as "I miss them!"

Cause I do miss them!

Yet clearly I heard that this is today's path, these are today's ventures. God has rearranged things from my comfortable and I have to stop looking behind at my loss and focus on my gain. The way to  not be stuck in the "I miss" is to be focused on the reality of all my blessings.