affliction

Today I slept in, it was super good to be able to do this. BUT, I did feel a bit lazy. I did not work out, and I should have not been so lazy....but I am totally okay that I did.

I was woke up this morning by my brother Troy who called at just the right time because I needed to get my butt out of bed, but didn't really have the motivation to do so. When Troy called he called to say that he can help me install the stuff (alternator & belt) in my car for free, all I need to do is purchase the stuff and I am good to go! WHOOP WHOOP, thanks so much Troy!!!When I was driving to work today, I had to just take a moment to soak up how beautiful the sky was. I mean today was SOO NICE. It was extremely beautiful and amazing, the temperature was honestly at the best temp it could possibly be at, and just such an enjoyable day. Work was okay, I love little kids. It seems like the more I am around them, the more I love them. Even when they aren't behaving good at all, I still love um. PATIENCE is essential!!!

I got out of work around 6ish and went over and chilled with my friend Marty for a bit. I hung out with Marty because I was already downtown, Marty lives downtown, and my Bible study was going to meet downtown.(***** is not in this picture, he just left, Matt is in the white)

Bible study was like....WOW. We dug into Philippians and were sharing thoughts and what not. Well, my friend ***** was there and well he hadn't been at Bible study in quite some time. Not since when I use to go really early in the morning. Well, ***** and Matt kept dissagreeing on stuff right from the get go. It started when I was asking Matt for some guidence about the LDS faith, and mat very quickly and sure of himself because of personal experiences told me what I needed to hear. He pretty much just reassured what I already knew. Well, this hit ***** and he pretty much rebuked what Matt said. Even though Matt was speaking truth. Well, we kept digging into the verses and ***** kept getting more and more distant in his tone and expression. Then, he told us about his father, and how he has been really really sick lately. Ever since his younger brother moved out of the house and started making some really bad decisions, his dad's health has been going down hill fast. Well, the conversation in the Bible study some how got on the topic of healing. We all agreed that Christ has the power to heal people, but sometimes chooses not to. Sometimes for reasons we aren't even suppose to understand. I saw ***** start to breathe hard, and start to turn very pale. I moved from where I was sitting right next to him. I put my arm around his shoulders and said, "hey man, tell us whats wrong." He said with a creepy look on his face, "get behind me!" I asked him what was going on, and his eyes locked on matt, and he would not look away. Then he told all of us, "GET BEHIND ME, THIS IS NOT OF CHRIST." We were all kind of like "*****, what are you talking about man?" He kept stairing, and stairing, it was soo creepy. He was pale and overcome. Eventually he leaned over and curled up, he started sobbing uncontrollably and said, "my father has to be healed, I HAVE TO KNOW HE CAN BE HEALED." I told him that he didn't have to know that, and that understanding that Christ is in control is all he needs to know. Once he sat down again, I started to pray over him. I put my arm over his shoulders again and just prayed, I put my head to his shoulders and asked that God remove this from him, that the pain and worry be relieved from him. It was at that moment that I could feel some of the pain that he was carrying. I started crying over him and could almost feel his fear. It was a very powerful and moving moment. We spoke about it later tonight on the phone. I felt the urge to send him a text message that said, "I am proud to call you my friend *****." He called me and said that he was really being attacked by the devil who was trying to make him believe that what he experienced tonight was not an affliction, but just a coincidence. He told me that when I had my arm over him praying for him, that he could physically feel a burden lifted off of him. He said he felt like God was allowing me to share in this burden, just to assure ***** that he has friends and brothers in Christ who want to walk right with him and stand firm in the faith. AMEN!! It was a good Bible study.

hummmm Wednesday I just BLOGGED about Philippians. God is good stuff. God is the only stuff, for this i'm certain.