Getting Real

As I settled into my office this morning with my coffee at hand to check my email, I had no idea the day that was about to unfold before me. Looking back, it was nothing short of divine intervention that He led me to that one email with this quote in it...

"Integrity is the glue that holds our way of life together. We must constantly strive to keep our integrity intact. When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost." -Billy Graham

That right there, slapped me in the face. It was a wake up call to my Monday morning. The rest of the day....well it was messy. I hate to be negative, honestly I do. I want to be a light, I want to bring joy, but if I'm not genuine, then I'm nothing. Today was just a bad day. In fact, when I got off work I sent a quick text to my best girl friend that said..."have you ever had one of those bad days that seem to just gain speed with a thousand little things?" I spent my day dealing with health emergencies, people needing help, requiring my patience. I spent my day dealing with angry patients, yelling at me over circumstances out of my control. I spent my day listening to one particularly angry lady who is well known as a very "Godly lady" in our community, a pastor's wife actually, scream and yell at a coworker of mine. A coworker who's salvation I'm unsure of. I felt my heart crumble as I thought of her perception of Christians be tainted by the second. I wanted so badly to intervene and take the lady by the shoulders and scream stop stop stop it's not worth the damage!! By noon, I was ready to crawl back into bed. But instead, God reminded me of this quote. At the end of the day I can have a good cry if I want (and don't worry, I absolutely did. Ugly cry face and all.) but I cannot go back and treat people with the kindness I should've shown. I cannot rewind time and erase harsh words said out of frustration. God has called me to more than that. And praise God, He never calls us to do something that He doesn't give us the strength to do. So I promise, I will not become Negative Nancy. I will not turn this blog into a depressing complaint story. But in light of being real and genuine with you, here was my day. It wasn't so great. But...the greatest news of all, was my God was my strength. Even in the midst of tough circumstances, unexpected bad news, and difficult people, my God was still God. He was still on the throne. Thank You Jesus.