Lord, Don't you care? Yes.

As we come in to chapter two we battle that question many do of, “Lord Don’t you care?” And the response we give life too often enough, “It’s just not fair.” I really like these little shaded sections in the chapters that have little lists or it takes the message a little further in helping you identify areas where you may just not have realized you need work in yet. Such as in one little box that talks about signs of a Martha overload. It has different sayings that if you hear yourself saying or thinking then you may be on the verge of an overload. I think the two in this list that stick out to me are "I have the capacity to help everyone" and "I am the only person available to help." We always complain about how it is the same people doing the same activities and work again and again and it's easy to get overloaded. We want to help but sometimes we can let ourselves take it a little too far. We start to say, "It's just not fair." Jump with me to chapter 4 where we read about the story of the man with the wagon of stones. Wow! What a way to help us see how easy it is for us to become overloaded, say it's not fair and blame God for our problems. We become overloaded because we try to reach beyond the task God has given us that was never meant to be overloaded nor more burden than we could carry. I think we need to learn to zip our lips when someone asks us to do something and take it home in prayer before giving a response. It's so easy to say sure I'll do that without even really thinking about what it can do to your already busy schedule. I know I am guilty of it.

Back to chapter 2 where we learn the 3 deadly D's: Distraction, Discouragement and Doubt. She tells us a story about a priest who the devil finally reached with these D's. How easy is it for us to get brought down with these? They seem insignificant compared to other tools the devil could use but they can make a big difference in our lives. In a shaded area she gives us some strategies that we can use so that we can fight off discouragement which I find helpful. For some of us the littlest thing can make us discouraged so I hope you find some of these useful. As we conclude chapter 2 we continue with our questioning if the Lord really cares. Of course He does. Sometimes when something bad happens to us, all we can focus on is the bad and forget all about good things He has done for us. I am reminded of a cartoon that I want to share with you. When I first saw it, I was WOWED. It put in a visual perspective for me how much He does care. I couldn't find the pictures any bigger so I put the words in for you in case you can't read them. And I'm not sure who to give the credit to so if you know please tell me. I got this in a forward e-mail a long time ago and I haven't ever forgotten it. If you would like me to send you the e-mail so you can have the full size version just let me know. I hope this gives you some food for thought and helps answer the question that He does indeed care.

"Lord Protect me."

"Why...??!!"

"Are you alright? I might have missed a small piece."

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