Hill Country Thoughts

Why Write About Pain?

Pain is one of the things that I have been dealing with for the last seven years. It is part of my normal, everyday life. It never, ever goes away. The medications that I take, dull it and the side effects of the medication cause drowsiness and other effects and because of that I have to rest a lot.

This pain and the side effects are the very things that keep me focused on the Lord, reminding me of how far He has brought me and how much He has been changing me, that I am in the process of changing daily, becoming more like the Lord in heart, in attitude. It is an inner journey, that I am not the same man, that I was seven years ago, that I am becoming more conformed to the Lord.

Yes there are days that it takes everything within me to move forward, to go out into the marketplace, to be out in the coffee shops, etc., for those are the very places the Father wants me to be, For it is there that I can focus on others, to look outward, not inward.

It is there that I get to meet new people. To listen, a lot of listening, to encourage, exhort, lift up others. To share the hope, the peace, the rest that I have in the midst of this journey called life. The pain, the things I physically go through maybe my thorn, for they keep me focused and remind me that my strength comes from the Lord.

Yes there are days, I want to let go, but I cannot because I know that the life I live now is because of the Lord, that he is allowed my children and grandchildren to see the changes he has made in me over these last seven years. That others can see and know it is the grace of God, that has enabled me to be where I am now spiritually, and emotionally.

Though I’m on full disability and I can’t do the things I used to, I can do what I’ve been called to and that is to go out into the marketplace, where people are. For me it is the coffee shops, it is amazing how long I can make a large cup of coffee last

I have met so many awesome people over the years in the coffee shops and made so many new friends. I’ve been able to exhort, encourage and lift others up. In a coffee shop you overhear so many things and many times I feel a sense of the Lord to lift those things to Him in prayer and I do, others may reap the fruit, but I get the honor of planting the seed, even though I didn’t talk to them personally. I have learned it is important to respond to those promptings of the Lord. In a coffee shop as well as other places, you overhear conversations, even when you don’t want to.

I don’t know exactly why I felt to share this today, but I have learned when the Lord says to write, I write, the rest is up to him!

I hope the words that I have written will encourage you in your walk, in your life, for we all deal with pain, not all of it is physical. He uses the things we go through to make us stronger and enables us to touch others, because we share out of a relationship, out of a life with the Lord, and we share that very life with others, not out of theory but out of a relationship, that our lives reflect that reality, for often our lives speak louder than our words.

Till later,

Paul

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It has been awhile since I have read a book that really grabbed a hold of me, as did “Thin Places: A Memoir” A book that was raw, open and real. It will touch others who have gone through the hurts, disappointments, the pains and the losses in life and to see Mary’s journey that led to healing.

Her book brought me to a place where I could look back, to see the many “Thin Places” on my journey with cancer, surgeries, divorce and a lost of everything. Where I could see the “Aha” moments, where the Father revealed himself to me, that gave me the strength, the hope to press on. Like others, I will never be the same after reading “Thin Places.”

Thank you Mary!

Paul

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One of the things that I am wondering about at the present, is what to write about? What direction am I to go?

What do I have to offer in the Lord, what can I share that will exhort and encourage others? To help them in this walk called life.

How do we uncomplicate, what has been made complicated, especially when it comes to our relationship with our Father, with the Lord, we are to have a childlike faith, to trust in the Creator of heaven and earth!

That we are to walk daily in fellowship and communion with our Father, with the Lord, with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit , that we live in Christ and he lives and abides in us now, the Kingdom of God within.

I cannot live in yesterday, nor walk in tomorrow, but I can walk daily with the Lord, share his love, his peace and rest, that He gives.

We can abide in him, to be changed day by day, living a real life, in a real world, that our lives will reflect that relationship by the life we live, for our lives speak louder than our words.

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned, as I went through chemo and radiation, through surgeries, through a divorce, not by choice, is that the Father, the Lord, the Holy Spirit comforted me, gave me the strength to persevere, to not give up, to hold on to the hope, even when it appeared to be but a thread and to see the Lord bring me through it all to become stronger than I ever was before!

Yes I had my days, yes there were days I wanted to quit, to die, to give up but there was always that tug, that presence, that peace of the Lord, that pulled me through to eventually become a pen in his hand. To write from the heart, out of a relationship, out of what has become real in me.

One of the greatest legacies that I have is my children and grandchildren, they have seen their father and grandfather become stronger and take what could have destroyed him,to press in even more to the Lord and the call to write from the heart.

Hopefully to give hope to others as they are on this path called life, for there is nothing we go through, that he will not carry us through if we will allow him to.

As we walked day by day with the Father, as we are in a attitude of worship, of trust, of faith, we will look back and see that He was with us and that He uses what we have gone through to touch the lives of others.

For we share our experience, not out the theory, but out of what has been made real in our lives!

May our lives, our gifts, our talents, that he has given us reflect that reality. May it bring hope to others, to see it reflected in our lives. That it will cause others to want to know more about that peace, that rest, that comfort that we have.

Till later,

Paul

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What keeps us from being real?

From sharing what is on our hearts?

Are we afraid of what people will say?

What they will think?

Rather than letting others know we are in pain, that we hurt at times, we keep it within, rather then letting them know that we need those who will stand with us, who will pray and lift us up during these times, that we can be real?

It seem’s like the past year I had basically laid my pen down, I allowed my passion to write to be reduced to a flickering flame that was almost extinguished!

I feel a stirring again in this new year 2010,  the breath of the Lord breathing life into me, to refocus my vision on Him?

Please lift me in prayer, that I will once again write from the heart, to share what is being made real within, that I might be an instrument in the hand of the Master Writer, to shake off this last year of heaviness and once again to be free indeed, to Write from the Heart!

Till Later,

Paul

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Hi Everyone,

Just want to let you know that beginning in January 2010 I will be concentrating more and more on writing, to share the things that have been made real in my life over these last sixty plus years, especially these last six years.

You will noticed that I have changed the title of my blog to “Write From The Heart“  to reflect more of the direction that I feel like the Father wants me to take.

The most important thing that I have learned over the last six years is how important relationship is and that is the one thing that He has made real. That He desires to  walk with us, day by day, be one with Him, with the Lord!

We indeed serve a living Saviour, a risen Lord, Jesus Christ!

My desire is to be honest, open and real, to share from the heart, hopefully that which will uplift, encourage, exhort others in this walk called life, that I will be able to share the hope, the rest, the up’s and down’s, victories and defeats, but more important, the hope that I have in the Lord Jesus Christ, in a heavenly Father, who has taken all that I have gone through, to turn me around. New doors  and new opportunities will be happening in 2010.

Thank you my many friends, for the encouragement, the reminders, and the hope you have shared with me.  I ask for your prayers as I begin this new path, that I will be sensitive to the Lord, to the Holy Spirit, to give out of what has been given too me, the hope that I have in God, that through this journey, I have never, ever been without hope!

Blessings and Merry Christmas my friends!

Till later,

Paul

The Mayor

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In the midst of the pain,
in the midst of despair,
in the midst of it all,
You are there!

In the midst of failure,
in the midst of hopelessness,
You are there!

In the midst of a heart broken,
in the midst of life shattered,
You are there!

In the midst of tears flowing,
You are all knowing and
You are there!!

In the midst of life’s turmoil’s,
when all seems at an end,
You are there!

In the midst, when we want to quit,
You are there!

When our hearts cry out,  no more,
please no more,
you are there!

In the midst of Light breaking and Life flowing,
You are there!

In the midst of restoration, of mending,
you are there!

With life flowing,
With Hope knowing,
You are there!

In the midst of it all,  Father,
in the midst of it all,
You are there!

In the midst of Your presence,
in the midst of your Spirit,
in the midst of who you are,
We are there!!

For in Your midst,
Our hearts heal, our wounds seal, and life
restored!

In your midst we see that You and You alone
are the source of our life,
for in Your midst is where we belong!

For it is in your presence and in your midst that you
have called us,
for it is here, in Your midst,  that

We belong!!

Writing for the King,

Paul E. Dawn Jr.

(C) June 2007

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