I have asked several of you for prayer requests multiple times. I will not ask again. I understand that sometimes it’s uncomfortable voicing your problems. Even to a friend. I can see where that would be even more difficult than talking to a stranger. I won’t pretend to know all your worries and fears and struggles, but I know a few of them. And don’t borrow trouble, I’m not going to type them out here. Maybe that’s what concerns you, that even though I don’t have to use your name, someone could figure out who I was writing about. I get it. Thomas Wolfe was ostracized from Asheville after he wrote Look Homeward Angel. He didn’t use their real names, but the descriptions were so blindingly obvious (and accurate) people talked for decades. I haven’t read it (yet, it’s a book club selection later this year) but I say maybe the folks of Asheville should have treated him with a little more respect if they didn’t want their faults and realities trotted out for all to enjoy. I mean, read.

Anyway. No matter. Some of you struggle with family issues, or career issues, or health issues. Some of you struggle to simply believe. Trust me, I get it. There’s nothing to be ashamed about. You just talk to the Lord and work it out. It’ll be fine. The more you talk to him, the easier it gets. I promise. Even if you just sit there and cry awhile. I’m sure He’s used to it.

Lord, I pray for my friends who can’t or won’t speak the words to me for their specific prayers. I don’t know their hearts, all their dreams and desires and heartaches–but You do. And I pray for complete healing of their bodies, restorations of their souls, and a opening of their heart to you. I pray that they let go of whatever burdens they carry and release them to you. I pray for them to know that love is always the right answer, and if you can’t love, pray till you can. Nobody’s opinions matter except yours, and we are all buried in the same size hole. Unless we do something truly monumental in our time on Earth, nobody will know anything about us in a hundred years. We’ll be reduced to a headstone and maybe a few lines dedicated to our passing in the newspaper. It’s hard to leave a lasting mark. You tell us in the book of James that life is but a vapor. So why worry? It’s not easy to lay problems at your feet. Well, it’s more in leaving them there, not in the handing them over. So help us be proactive in helping others- that always puts our problems in perspective and helps us see our many blessings. I thank you for placing me among people who know you, in a country that we can worship freely. I thank you for the people I can depend on in my life. None are perfect, I don’t look to them as an example, but as people who have been placed here to do your work. We all meet for a reason. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Today I gave up fast food. Usually it’s not a threat, since I typically just eat it for lunch if I eat it at all. I had my wondrous salad again. What with all the salad and spin class, I should be in the negative weight by now! But life doesn’t work that way. But maybe this is the way I need to set my mind to working: not that I shouldn’t do something, but that I can’t.

It has certainly been a different way of life. And the day I corrected dairy sure made me wish I had gotten it right the first time.

I guess we’ve all got plenty to learn, and living for the Lord is as good a place to start as you will find.

Love from Appalachia,

Amy xoxo