Melissa the Prayer, Thankful for His Comfort

Oh Lord, How Great Thou Art.  This is my anthem today.

Oh Lord my God

When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds
Thy hands have made
I see the stars
I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout
The universe displayed

Then sings my soul
My Savior, God, to Thee
How great thou art
How great thou art
Then sings my soul
My Savior, God, to Thee
How great Thou art
How great Thou art

And when I think of God,
His son not sparing,
Sent Him to die,
I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden
gladly bearing He bled and died
to take away my sin

When Christ shall come
With shout of acclamation
And take me home
What joy shall fill my heart
Then I shall bow
With humble adoration
And then proclaim My God
How great Thou art

My friend, Sarah, has gotten me into watching a YouTube channel called Good Mythical Morning.   These two guys crack me up.  They are funny and fun and I really enjoy watching what they are going to come up with next.  Yesterday's episode was about a scientific study about how talking to yourself in third person can calm you and reduce your heartbeat and stress level.  Poor Link was stuck in a box with stressful things, including a six foot snake around his head and face.  

I don't think I have laughed so hard since I started watching them.

But the idea of talking to yourself to relieve fear, stress and anxiety - I can see it.  I understand the concept and I even get the fact that when you are talking to yourself, you are less likely to be thinking about the things that are making you stressed or anxious or fearful. Yet, I have found a better way.  

Prayer.

Talking to yourself is all good - ask my husband (haha) - but talking to God, I think that is even better. Those of us who know God and have a relationship know that He provides us with a Comforter - who is the Holy Spirit.  He is promised to us.  Acts 2:38 says, "And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."  Jesus promises us in John 14:16 that "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever." 

So today as I see my friend finally laid to rest, I will be in constant communication with my Lord.  His Holy Spirit will be providing comfort and peace - I know this to be true. I can be assured that I will see my friend one day again when I close my eyes for the last time and walk into the Heavenly home that Jesus speaks about going to prepare for us.  My hope is in the Lord.  Without that Hope, I would be and have nothing.

Grace and peace, my friends,

M

Melissa, Friend of Shelly

The way I happened upon her ad for office help was so strange...

Today is my four year anniversary working for Shelly.  Four years ago, I wasn't even looking for a job.  But I had thought about finding something part time because I knew that money was going to start getting tight with all of these kids going to high school (boy has it been!)  And then one day, probably mid-August of 2013, I got a random email about a job opening at a church in town.  They were looking for a church secretary.  So I thought about it and then put together a resume and sent it over to that church.  The next day I picked up the little paper that gets thrown into my driveway and actually looked at it...  I almost never look at that thing.  In it was an ad for office help for a local chiropractor.  Since I had applied for the other, I thought to myself "Why not" - and I sent in my resume to that one as well.

I got a call back the next day.  Heck, it might have even been that afternoon.  (I emailed my resume in.)

I interviewed and then interviewed again and then she called me to start two weeks from that day.  I've been here ever since.

I used to think, for the first year or so, that she couldn't remember my name.  :) She called me 'the front desk girl' a lot, but I soon figured out that names didn't always come to her easily.  we developed quite a rapport  - one of our favorite funny things was when she would be thinking about a patient but couldn't remember their name, so she would start listing where they lived or who their kids were or what they did... And I would say, "Oh, you mean Tom Jones" (Not really our patient - ha) and she would say something like "How do you do that?" :) I loved those moments.

We talked a lot about life. We talked about parenting and marriage and we talked a lot about spiritual things. Even though she was older than me by 9 years and had kids longer, she would ask my advice about how to approach this or that.  We had a mutual love for cats and talked about how we would love to have an office cat, but we knew it might not go over so well with patients who didn't like cats or who were allergic. <3

She always remembered my birthday - and I will always remember hers because it is the same day as one of my kids.  She was so thoughtful with gifts and it was her dedication to writing Thank You notes that I have seen the value of sending a hand written note.

The past couple of years I prayed with her often.  She wasn't afraid to ask hard questions.  Her faith was so strong. She would tell me stories about things she experienced while in the hospital or when she wasn't feeling well at home - the Lord was close to her and was revealing Himself to her in very special ways. She didn't always know how to interpret that, so we had some really good conversations about them.

She loved so deeply and so purely.  She loved her patients so much that she worked until she absolutely could not work any longer - and I know that even in her druggy state during the last few weeks, she was still thinking about her work and her patients.

I know that God put me in Shelly's life for a purpose and a reason.  I am so glad that I didn't throw that paper away that day or choose to not send in my resume for the job.  To me, even though this job is not what one would consider a 'ministry' position, it has been for me.  One might think that I am just the 'office help', but I consider myself to be an Ambassador for the Lord. ;)

It'll be interesting to see where the Lord will lead me next...  my job here is not quite done (and I still do not know how long things will continue for me here) but you better bet I'm going to be listening for His voice to lead me to the next spot in my journey.

Grace and peace,
Melissa

Melissa the Griever

I don't know how to do this.

My friend, and boss, Dr. Shelly McGath has left this world for one greater.  Right now I don't know what to do or what to think.  She was a staple in my life for the past four years - in fact, my work-iversary is Thursday...  I started working for her four years ago on September 13, 2013.

Right now I just don't have any words to say.

So don't mind me if I seem to be acting a little differently...  I have never done this before.  I have never lost someone that I saw nearly every single day.

M

Melissa the Bearer of Bad News...

My mantra the past month or so has been #stressstressstress.

Yes, I actually say "hash tag".

This last weekend was a huge Band Mom undertaking that I am glad to say is over and now I can enjoy the rest of my boys's marching band season.  I love helping and organizing all that I do, and yet it has been a nice distraction from my daily life where I am living/working in limbo, not sure what is happening from day to day.

My prayer life is pretty active as it is (I literally went to sleep last night repeating the words "calm the wind, Lord" over and over in my head) - but I wonder if God is like "Woman, I've got this." Which I know He does.  But when you are living in the land of unknowns and you like planning be prepared for things, it makes it difficult to be excited for the day ahead.

Being the constant "bearer of bad news" does wear on a person... and I know that some people I speak to over the phone or talk to in person do not think about the fact that I have repeated some of these same words to literally hundreds of people by now, but I am getting weary. I am definitely relying very heavily on the strength that can only come from someone greater than you or I - and that is God.

So as I am trudging through this week, I am looking forward to the weekend where I will have fun being surrounded by marching band goodness...  there is a football game Friday night against our hometown rival, then my youngest marches in a parade on Saturday morning and then in the afternoon I get to watch my boys perform at a marching band competition. There will be joy. <3

Have a good week, friends.  And remember to pray and support those who have been affected by all of the natural disasters in our world.

Melissa