Family Part 2

Well, just finished this evening with my entire family. I am so thankful to have a wonderful husband with whom I can process my inner feelings and then let them go. I wish I could get to the point where I didn't feel negative emotions, but I don't know if that's even realistic. My time with my sister was pretty superficial - no depth of conversation at all. It makes me so sad...I see how she is hiding behind materialism and buying more and more "stuff" to try to ease her pain and make her feel better about life. I get sad as I see her focusing her time and attention on her material goods. But then God gently nudged me tonight and asked me, "how is that any different than turning to food for comfort or watching too much television so that you don't have to deal with anything for awhile?" We all have our struggles, our vices we turn to in efforts to self-medicate, to feel better about ourselves, to avoid having to feel, to avoid having to deal with something difficult. I'm reminded that every person is on a journey, and most every person is struggling in some way. Some people are in our lives to walk alongside them throughout life's ups and downs. However, we can't walk alongside everyone. Unfortunately, my sister isn't one who I am getting to walk alongside of for whatever reason. So, what do I do? I pray for her and I love her. I demonstrate kindness. I don't shy away from asking how she is really doing if given an opportunity - to remind her God cares. If I get my eyes off of myself and on to Jesus, I can see clearly and am available to be used by Him to share a word or an act of kindness. I want to be used by Him. I don't really know if I was used by Him in any special way tonight, but I know my heart was in the right place. That's a start, right? Tomorrow is another opportunity to be used by God.