BLOGMAS 4: Day 2

PREAMBLE

Hello and welcome to day 2 of this edition of Blogmas.

This year’s blogmas is different from last year, however I’ll get the opportunity to share the themes that are captured in my heart.

Let’s ride in..

COMFORT

Comfort is a term used to describe peace and safety. It is to provide warmth and shelter.

It can be expressed in many ways, via words and actions.

We are pulled towards comfort especially when we are overwhelmed and for the times we do not find it, we may decide to create it.

Yes, comfort can be created

We can find comfort in people, things, activities, or animals.

As long as we can find solace in it, we find ways to remain attached to it.

However, this sense of comfort can make us addicted.

ADDICTION

Addiction is an attachment created from a place of solace to the point of loss of control.

Addiction is controlling and this control is maintained by continually returning to the source of addiction where comfort has been received.

Therefore, this means that comfort does not always come from good places.

Comfort can come from anywhere

At first, it was comfort that was sought after with addiction, it becomes more than a temporary release, it becomes a source to remain.

Addiction is always about control

THE BETTER WAY

Okay, comfort does not always lead to addiction.

We can derive comfort from sources that do not keep us addicted.

We can be comfort

1 Corinthianz 1:3-4 Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts and encourages us in every trouble so that we will be able to comfort and encourage those who are in any kind of trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.(AMP)

We can find comfort in things, people and places but even in our search for comfort we should not that God is our complete source of comfort and from the comfort we recieve in His presence, we can comfort others.

Sometimes, those short words of prayers, that text, that touch, acts of service can go a long way in providing the comfort a person around us needed.

I pray we do not miss the opportunities to do so

I have recieved comfort from people and at times I needed them.

These comfort I received helped me face the difficulties I was experiencing at that time.

I have tried my best to do same and I hpe those I did it for also felt comforted by my presence.

It is pleasing to be a person whose presence brings comfort.

Now to you, I have shared mine. I wait for yours.

You can respond via the comment section.

Like, share and act on what you have learnt.

Until next post, stay safe and God bless.

#daughterofabba

Blogmas 2: Day 10

Preamble

Today was mixed with different emotions.

The network was a bit unsteady and took out of the intended time for today’s topic.

Let’s dive…

It is well

We were talking about her medical condition and she was telling me a lot. It reminded what a teacher said before: “Your patients knows about their condition more than you”

I said the above because even though I knew about the condition she was talking about, she had better knowledge because she was living with it and I gained knowledge asking her questions.

We talked and from our mini conversation, I learnt a lot and I was again made to appreciate very important details of life that is easily wrapped up as a normal routine.

Her medications, and the concerns she had, made me mutter “It is well'”

I have used this phrase so much this year and I have used it because I did not know what else to say because the thing I wanted to say was not enough for the situation.

Speechless

Gradually, it has turned to a word I have used to replace complaining.

There are many things happening and sometimes if I were to take all of these events into consideration, I would suck myself dry.

Instead of doing that, I decided to opt out for a peaceful option of reminder.

Using this phrase is a reminder for me that God is in control.

It is well because God is still in control.

I do not believe in using another person’s misfortune to count our blessings. I believe that we should be grateful regardless of another person’s story, sad or happy.

2020 has been a year that caused me to declare this phrase and yes “It is well”.

The heart hears what the lips say and sometimes even when it is hard to believe in the comfort of God’s word, declaring it reminds the mind that you trust in the LORD.

Why is it well?

Because God is still in control

And also because it is bettter to hope than to be hopeless.

All of us are facing personal battles and sometimes, they threaten too hard, however unless we believe in God’s power to keep and strenghten us, we would get soaked up in the worry of the now.

It is well

Psalms 46:1-3  God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. (KJV)

This chapter is a reminder of God’s constant strenght regardless of anything happening. A reminder that God is not changed by our circumstances.

In the storm. In the calm. God is God.

And I will share this hymn, some parts of it:

IT IS WELL by Horatio G. Spafford

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
 When sorrows like sea billows roll;
 Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
 It is well, it is well with my soul.

 Refrain:
 It is well with my soul,
 It is well, it is well with my soul.

 Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
 Let this blest assurance control,
 That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
 And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Now to you

What does the phrase “IT IS WELL” mean to you?

What phrase have you used a lot this year?

Your thoughts are welcomed.

I will confess: I almost missed today because I was super sleepy and slept off while trying to write the post. I fortunately woke up before the time turned the next day. There were probably extra things I would have liked to write but for the purpose of meeting up with the time, I will stop here.

If you have more to share on today’s reflection, kindly share.

And if today’s topic blessed you, kindly share to someone else.

Stay well and blessed.

#fromamedicalstudentfaraway

Grieving: The Art of Grief

Preamble

This topic follows personal events that happened recently.

I hope by writing, it would provide some comfort🌸

Stages of Grief

Denial

Anger

Bargaining

Depression

Acceptance

It does not always follow this sequence. It can be a mash-up sometimes.

A star

“I can’t believe she’s gone” I chanted to myself as I walked back home. It continually rang in my head as I sat in the classroom, and in the bus. I could not believe it. I am still struggling to accept it.

The day before, the world was mourning Kobe Bryant and I was losing someone precious. His death had shook me too, not a fan before but the thought that his death had taken him by surprise. The fact that he had died with his talented daughter. The fact that he was a good man, father and husband. The fact that other people had died unexpectedly. These kind of stories drench my heart in tears.

Why good people?

The premonition came, I was quite sad not knowing I had a reason to cry.

I saw the news, she had passed away.

She made my childhood so memorable. I called her my second mum. I had been planning that when I visited her state, I was going to stay with her.

The pain came gradually. I could not believe it but I cried. I cried out my eyes then I felt numb.

The next day, I was laughing at school with my friends. No-one had noticed that my face was sad, maybe I am good at concealing grief.

In the night and in the morning I felt weak but I stood up anyway. I felt God lifting me up to go out. I knew the reason why, when I did.

Everyone was super kind.

I just felt kindess. They had not known what had happened but they were kind, and that was some comfort.

Good memories flooded my heart. This pain had come quite close. This hurt was something I am going to feel for a while (I don’t know its lifespan)

The first time I felt it

I was quite young but her death hurt me for years.

Some people are too feeling, I am one of those.

The first time I watched A Walk to Remember, I cried my eyes out for days. That was the first time I realized that I was too feeling.

If you do not feel like I do, you will not understand.

Grandma

The warmest memory I cherish of her is her hug in the middle of the night while we shared the bed.

It happened so many years ago but I never forgot that feeling.

I am her doppleganger and have been called grandma by my family members. Strangers have called me grandma without knowing that they were just reflecting.

The pain was that I had wanted to see her but couldn’t. We had planned to see her but she left before we could complete our plan

It took a while, and my main comfort was that she had lived long.

She is the reason I am called Roseline🌹

Poetic days 5

I shared in the previous post that I had lost a classmate from secondary school. We were not close buddies but we never had a misunderstanding.

Thoughts crossed my mind about her several times. Thoughts of her in the past, her laughter, her behaviour, her face, her existence.

In the time frame of past, she was existing, she was fine. We were not worried we would lose her.

Now all that are left are memories. Memories that cannot be touched. Memories that can only be remembered, and nothing more.

Love hurts

You hurt the most when you love.

You grief more when you love.

Grief depends on how much you loved. It eats deep without your knowledge, you feel numb because you lost someone/something you thought you would always have.

C.S Lewis wrote a book using a pseudonym because he wanted no-one to know it was him. He had written the book as a tribute to his late wife. After her death, the sorrow that engulfed him was so overwhelming that he almost lost himself. The beauty was that he rested in God through his sorrows and that reflected in his expression of pain.

I have not read the book yet but I’ll share the title : A Grief Observed.

In one of my most favourite Korean series which I repeatedly watch and cry (cry), the male protagonist once asked the female protagonist “What kind of love do you want?”

She replied “Sad love” (sippun sarang)

In another secene he said “Happiness does not last for ever. Sadness does not last forever”

His statement was actually the basis of her response.

The remaining movie is heart drenching. Thinking about it makes me teary

I recently watched Frozen 2 and it was all bits of emotional. I love the Part 1 to pieces and this second part did justice.

Olaf as usual with his touching quotes said as he was drifting away “Some things are permanent, love”

Anna when she had lost Olaf and Elsa sang “This grief has a gravity”

Every grief has a gravity.

Art differs, so does grief

People grief differently.

Some cannot cry until their heart turns into shreds.

Some cry and cry

Some create a mechanism to move o.n

Grief is not something you can be well prepared for.

I had foolishly told a friend that it was better if a death was expected, it would help with grieving but now I know that grief cannot be well prepared for, especially when you truly loved.

It is love that causes the grief.