A Painting or a Donkey

THE  LORD  WORKS  IN  MYSTERIOUS  WAYS.

Sometimes  it  is  through  the

"BEAUTY  OF  A  BUTTERFLY!"

Sometimes  it  is  through  the

"INNOCENCE  OF  A  CHILD"

bringing  their  heart  to  us

on  paper.

Sometimes  it  is  through  the

"GARDEN  GATE  TO  TALK  WITH

PRECIOUS  FRIENDS  LIKE  MS.  TETE."

GRIEF  +  HOPE  =  HEALING

This  is  a  true  story  about  a

woman  in  grief  until  she  gazed

at  the  painting  above.

That  woman  was  me.

You  all  know  the  story

of  My  Amy  going  to  heaven.

Then my only  son  and  dil  moved

to  Kansas....

then  Leila,  Amy's  bff  went  to  heaven

and  so  the  story  goes.

THEN 

April  Fools  late  night

I  found  myself  at

Kecia's  Blog

http://lemoncholys.blogspot.com/

She  just  briefly  mentioned  that

it  had  been  20  years  since  her

son  Tucker  sustained  his  injury

and  she  expressed  her  grief  through

painting  this  picture

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As  I  gazed  upon  her  painting

it  was  unlike  anything  I  have  ever

experienced.

  I  could  feel  her  pain

without  words  and  if  our  eyes  had

met  they  would  look  a  like...

each  understanding  one  another.

The  tears  of  the  little  girl  in  the

painting  were  healing.

I  think  it  must  be  that  way  in  heaven....

no  sadness,  no  tears  but  you  will  know

each  others  heart  when  you  look  at  each

other  because  it  will  be

one  heart

total  joy

total  healing

total  love

of

JESUS.

Afterwards  I  just  began  to  feel  such

JOY  bubble  up  inside  of  me  and  I  BEGAN

to  start  singing  PRAISE  SONGS

TO  THE  LORD.

One  in  particular:

THE  JOY  OF  THE  LORD  IS 

MY  STRENGTH.

I  have  not  sang  a  song  in  5  years.

I  also  had  such  energy  and  was  able  to

do  laundry.

I  felt  like  boulders  had  been  rolled  off  of  me.

My  husband  new  immediately  I  was  different.

IT  TRULY  IS  A  MIRACLE  AND  I

PRAISE  THE  LORD...

that  out  of  Kecia's  grief  she  put

her  feelings  into  each  brush  stroke.

Now  I  am  not  saying  her  painting,

itself,  can  heal,  but  God  works  in

mysterious  ways

and  it  was  God  that  returned  my

Joy  but  He  used  Kecia's  painting.

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If  God  could  use  a  donkey  to

talk  with  Balaam,

than  He  can  use  a  painting  to

restore  Joy  to  me  and  others.

Now  Balaam  and  my  situations  were

different  but  both  meant  to  save.

Grief  can  destroy  you.

I'm  not  talking  about  recent  grief

but  the  type  that  goes  on  for  years  and

eats  away  at  you  and  you  have  no  peace..

you  feel  isolated  from  the  world

²²But God’s anger was kindled because he went,^(A)

 and the angel of the LORD took his stand in the way^(B)

as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey,

 and his two servants were with him. ²³And the donkey saw

 the angel of the LORD standing in the road,

with a drawn sword in his hand.

 And the donkey turned aside out of the road

 and went into the field. And Balaam struck the

 donkey, to turn her into the road. ²⁴Then the angel

of the LORD stood in a narrow path between

 the vineyards, with a wall on either side.

²⁵And when the donkey saw the angel of the LORD,

 she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam’s

 foot against the wall. So he struck her again.

 ²⁶Then the angel of the LORD went ahead

 and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way

 to turn either to the right or to the left. ²⁷When the

 donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down

 under Balaam. And Balaam’s anger was kindled,

 and he struck the donkey with his staff. ²⁸Then the LORD^(C)

 opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam,

 "What have I done to you, that you have struck me

 these three times?" ²⁹And Balaam said to the donkey,

 "Because you have made a fool of me.

 I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.

" ³⁰And the donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey,

 on which you have ridden all your life long to

this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?" And he said, "No."

                                        ³¹Then the LORD^(D) opened the eyes of Balaam
                                   and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way
                                      with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down
                                         and fell on his face. ³²And the angel of the LORD said
                                           to him, "Why have you struck your donkey these
                                     three times? Behold, I have come out^(E) to oppose you
                                      because your way is perverse^[a] before me.
                                                           ³³The donkey saw
                                           me and turned aside before me these three times.
                                           If she had not turned aside from me,
                                                                       surely just now
                                           I would have killed you and let her live." ³⁴Then
                                       said to the angel of the LORD,^(F)
                                                     "I have sinned, for I did
                                            not know that you stood in the road against me.
                                         Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn
                                         "Go with the men,^(G) but speak only the word
                                     I tell you." So Balaam went on with
                                                                    the princes of Balak.

                                                                      ~Numbers  22:  22 - 35
                                                          

I  WOULD  JUST  SAY  IF  YOU  ARE

DEALING  WITH  GRIEF  ISSUES,

pick  a  very  quiet  time...a  time  where

there  is  no  TV...no  confusion  and  go

to  Kecia's  blog  and  just  spend  a  little  time

looking  at  her  painting  and  reading  her

little  post.

The  painting  and  her  blog  is  very

inspirational.

If  you  click  on  the  button  of  her  painting

at  the  top  of  my  right  side  bar  it  will

take  you  directly  to  the  post.

PLEASE  NOTE:

After rereading my post and a grateful  thought  from

Kecia,  I  wanted  to  make  sure  if  you  are  in  grief

please  DO  NOT  STAY  IN  SILENCE...

there  are  so  many  of

us  hurting  in  blog  land  and  it  is  not  you  ever

want  someone  else  to  have  grief,  but  it  is  so  wonder-

ful  when  you  find  one  another,  can  support  one

another  and  you  know  in  this  great  big  world,  you

are  not  alone...we  have  a  common  bond...

a  support  team

There  are  far  too  many  people

suffering  in  grief  alone.

Sometimes  I  just  don't  know  how  to  properly

say  things  and  Kecia  did  not  know  I  was  going

to  do  a  post  about  her  painting,

so  please  do  not  hold  her  accountable

or  responsible

for  my  opinions.

    I  was  given  permission

to  post  her  painting  on  my  side  bar...

THANK  YOU  KECIA...you  are  awesome.

I  am  so  very  glad  I  found  your  blog.