Isaiah 53

4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

You’ll have to really bear with me today as you can tell my mind is “out there” somewhere! See, this week has been mixed with everything from

basketball practice

to a healing service where Nick was lifted up

to visits from new ministers and old friends

to gifts arriving in the mail from a professional football player (thank you, Donnie Nickey for the Titans helmet and jersey and sweet card! WOW!)

to being rear-ended yesterday while at a red light by a girl who was living out of her car…..and who ended up coming to our home for a shower and to do laundry. I am praying that she will be coming to church Sunday (PLEASE PRAY-Our church is now trying to help her get an apartment and furniture) and PRAISE GOD-My van shows no signs of the impact!

to subbing

to being the mom my healthy kids need

to being the mom Nick needs
and the list goes on and on and on………………….

So as I sat here today wanting to share what is on my heart, the word “STRESSED” just came into my mind so quickly that I had to do a little image search. When I found the picture above, I couldn’t help but feel it was a little comedy relief from God!

See, one of the ministers who prayed with Nick this week used the verse above (“with His stripes we are healed”) in his prayer and when I saw the picture of the zebra with the stripes falling off due to stress, I had to laugh out loud.

Serving a Savior who allowed His stripes to heal us can sometimes lead to a little bit of “earthly stress” where if we were zebras, we may very well LOSE OUR STRIPES!
I think that’s what serving Him is all about……
Losing ourselves in order to find Him!
I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I try so hard to “lose myself” in Him….the devil just loves to add a little stress!
So, I have decided that the next time I feel shortness of breath and a slight headache from all the things facing me, I am going to remember the picture of the zebra and smile.
And then I am going to remember what Jesus did for me on the cross.
Trying to lose my stripes and remember His!