Encouraging Words - Thanks!!
November 7th, 2006 at 10:49 am by Dee O'Neil Andrews
I'm back to not one, but two exclamation points here in my heading this morning, so aren't y'all impressed with yourselves? You should be. I had 11 comments left to my "blahs" post with very encouraging words and lots of positive thoughts and ideas for a rapid recovery.
It all worked. Today is a two exclamation point day already just arriving home and finding all of your encouraging comments and emails, too.
I find this really interesting for several reasons. One is because I'm reminded once again of what a dear family y'all have become to me - all of you, my blogging friends, brothers and sisters. This is the best that blogging can be in my estimation. What do y'all think?
Another thing is that I'm reminded how quickly my greatest strengths - my oft times exuberant personality - can fall into disarray and despair as to whether I'm making any difference in anyone else's life. But you all have proven me wrong (which I already intellectually knew, but needed to be reminded emotionally, I guess - ever get like that?).
God blessed me with that roller coaster personality such that I'm either way up or way down, while seldom ever being in the middle just coasting along. Over the years I've tamed that bent toward excesses either way so that they are manageable, but they are still a dominating force.
My mom, who is even keel in all things (and who I emulate as much as possible) sees my personality quirks in a positive way (bless her heart) in their goodness. At times she even envies me a bit that I can be so expressive and intense in my feelings while she's (in her view) still slogging along.
We are all what we are and we must make the most of what we've been given, I think. (Don't you?) The quote I read this morning from This Day's Thought ties in perfectly with what I'm talking about here and it's something I'd never really thought of in that particular way, but it's true. So here it is. What do you think? Are your weaknesses directly tied to your greatest strengths do you think? I know mine are.
"Many of the Bible characters fell just in the things in which they were thought to be strongest. Moses failed in his humility, Abraham in his faith, Elijah in his courage, for one woman scared him away to that juniper tree; and Peter, whose strong point was boldness, was so frightened by a maid, as to deny the Lord."
D. L. Moody
Leave your thoughts on your strengths and weaknesses, if you have any (thoughts or strengths or weaknesses!)
P. S. The trip was fun and I enjoyed it, but I enjoyed coming home again even more, as always. So it was time well spent. The only bad thing was that it was storming mightily over Gulfport when we came in for landing to the point we had to divert back to Baton Rouge to wait out the cold front passing through for an hour and a half. Turbulence was awful and it was very scary. I was praying in preparation for possible death, but happily am here for another day, for which I thank my Father.
Glad you’re in better spirits! In teaching / preaching over the years, I’ve pointed out the correlation between the strenghts / weaknesses in biblical characters. I’ve never given it much thought as it pertains to my life as I’ve never spent much time trying to identify strengths. The weaknesses are glaringly evident, though, and most of my time is spent trying to deal w/ the weaknesses.
Glad you had a good trip and are back with two !!
I can see how things that I may be blessed at being good at may also be my downfall. Satan does hit us where we spend most of our time…..
Glad you made it back,
Don’t know of my strenghts but my weaknesses ( very shy, don’t know really how to express myself.
and I ask myself , do I make a differnce in anyones ele’s life!
but anyway
glad you are back, and feel better!
Perhaps my strength is knowing what my weaknesses are while my weakness is not knowing my strengths. Did that make any sense?
O.K., I’ll take a stab:
Strengths – loyalty, sense of humor, takes time to ponder things
Weaknesses – likes to avoid confrontations, at times not given to strong opinions
I have heard the saying that the church is only as strong as the weakest member. Sort of on the same note. I know my strengths are often what get me in trouble
I am so glad you are home and feeling better. A trip can really help, especially when you see loved ones. Take care of yourself and don’t let the blahs take hold again.