{"id":104,"date":"2012-04-23T17:24:48","date_gmt":"2012-04-23T22:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/conni-dilworth\/?p=104"},"modified":"2012-06-12T17:13:30","modified_gmt":"2012-06-12T22:13:30","slug":"how-sweet-it-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/conni-dilworth\/2012\/04\/23\/how-sweet-it-is\/","title":{"rendered":"Conni Now: How Sweet It Is"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My day-to-day life has been looking pretty ridiculous lately. A never-ending list of errands to run, home projects to complete (right now it\u2019s to clean the upholstery on a lovely new-to-me arm chair I thrifted last week), correspondence to respond to, new computer programs to learn and people to see.<\/p>\n<p>I think what tires me most with my to-do list is all the details that need to be thought through. I usually don\u2019t have a problem making decisions, but it\u2019s the obscene AMOUNT of decisions I\u2019ve been needing to make that is exhausting and, honestly, discouraging.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you could find a way to tangibly encourage me today or tomorrow, that\u2019d be great.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve said this to the Lord several times in the last few months.<\/p>\n<p>I would then expectantly wait for a burst of energy that would allow me to accomplish so many things. Or a constant state of creative genius that would enable me to make decisions better. Or a magical eraser that would take things off my to-do list after they were unexplainably completed. Or the ability to fly so I could run errands quicker. Oh, and cute little birds following me singing a sweet and upbeat tune.<\/p>\n<p>Unsurprisingly, none of these things happened. \u201cWhere\u2019s the encouragement Lord? Why is the Comforter not doing His job?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ironically, the Comforter did His job wonderfully by using this time to teach me more about my relationship with Him. A few things He\u2019s been teaching me:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>My definition of encouragement is different than His definition of encouragement.<\/li>\n<li>Encouragement is found in His Word.<\/li>\n<li>Encouragement is found through Him using those in my life around me.<\/li>\n<li>Encouragement does not mean that pain and suffering stop.<\/li>\n<li>Encouragement is a real and tangible thing when found in truth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">The Lord is convincing me more and more how sweet it is to be loved by Him. The song by James Taylor sums it up well:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">\u201cHow sweet it is to be loved by you<br \/>\nHow sweet it is to be loved by you<br \/>\nI needed the shelter of someone&#8217;s arms and there you were<br \/>\nI needed someone to understand my ups and downs and there you were<br \/>\nWith sweet love and devotion<br \/>\nDeeply touching my emotions<br \/>\nI want to stop and thank you baby<br \/>\nI want to stop and thank you baby<br \/>\nHow sweet it is to be loved by you<br \/>\nHow sweet it is to be loved by you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">If you hear me humming this, be encouraged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My day-to-day life has been looking pretty ridiculous lately. A never-ending list of errands to run, home projects to complete (right now it\u2019s to clean the upholstery on a lovely new-to-me arm chair I thrifted last week), correspondence to respond to, new computer programs to learn and people to see. I think what tires me [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":943,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/conni-dilworth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/conni-dilworth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/conni-dilworth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/conni-dilworth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/943"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/conni-dilworth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/conni-dilworth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/conni-dilworth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/conni-dilworth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/conni-dilworth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}