I wish I could paint

I think that I am going to try and make excuses as to why I haven't been on here for a week. I have written two posts, thought that they were published only to find they went missing in cyber space. I am not techy (is that a word? spelling?), and I try to hang with the cool kids when it comes to the technology, but I just can't. Colin bought me an ipad a few months ago, and I do love it. I like that I can link emails from home and work, calender app is awesome, Angry Birds (enough said), and of course my FB and Twitter are at my fingertips. However, when it comes to blogging and pictures....I have issues. I have this app so I can blog, but it won't post or allow me to upload pix...don't even get me started on the pix. Right now I upload them to my old laptop (ol trusty), and then email them to my ipad, and then try and upload them....no dice. So today, I say down to blog from Ol Trusty. What an incredibly intense amazing post.....sorry Elizabeth :) At least it is new, right?

I am thankful for true, authentic friendships. I have been so very blessed when it comes to genuine friends. They are there in really good times, hard times, and with me crazy times. They laugh with me, cry with me, and call me out. It is so good to know that friends can and will let you know if you have done something wrong. I think that builds on the friendship so much more, when you can walk through the hard conversations and come out of them stronger. I believe that these friends are the ones that really sharpen me, hold me accountable, and genuinely see the real me....little tangent, but my friend needs to know I adore and love her for our chat this am.

Now, to the title of my post. Last night in our Esther bible study the following scripture stood out and spoke to me.

Isaiah 49:16
"See, I have engraved you on the palm of my hands"

I know you are all aware of my "vain imagination" in regards to fear. Beth also mentioned that last night. Ouch....God gives us strength, and in times when we really, really need His strength it is undeniable that He is there. What happens when I makes stuff up, and pray for strength for something that isn't even there....He can't provide strength if I am not really walking through the situation my "vain imagination" has thought up. Make sense? I conclude, that I am selfish when I spend all my time thinkng about me and my fear of death, cancer, etc. I am wasting my time and His holding tightly onto this fear. I have decided I want to let go of those fears and grab onto Jesus. I need to remember that he has held me so tightly, that I am engraved into the palm of His hands. Beth Moore demonstrated this by holding tightly onto a piece of jewelry and when she let go, the jewelry was indented into her palms. Jesus has a tight hold on me, and I tend to try and wiggle free. So if I could paint....I would paint a picture of His hands (not gonna happen, I could show you pix of HS art projects), and within his palms my initials insribed....not really easy to see, because I don't want to notice my name above His strong hands. Now that would be a cool painting. Then I would write Isaiah 49:16 at the bottom as a reminder of His promise to hold me tight.....I hope that this encourages someone today.

Promise to write before seven days go by!