The Hear It, Use It Weekly Round-Up: Light in Darkness

I can't thank you enough for shining joy and light into my life this week. I'm not going to lie...these last couple of weeks have been hard. But your words of encouragement -- both in emails and comments and in your own blog posts -- have kept me afloat and helped me see God in the midst of it all. You are beautiful!

Here are the Hear It, Use It picks for this week:

"My Visit to a Hmong Village in Thailand" at A Pause in the Path -- Shanda takes us to visit Lesah, an 89-year-old widow of five children, all deceased. Lesah makes her living as a weaver, and I have to say, this glimpse into her modest life offered me some much-needed perspective.

"King of Kings" at Finding Me in You -- As I've struggled with some idols in my life recently (read: publishing, the writing life) these words from Monique ring so true: "We create gods for ourselves, giving out the devotion that rightfully belongs to the True King. We find out identity in people, and other tangible, earthly gods...At times that which is seen blinds us from the beauty of beholding that which is unseen." 

"Behold the Handmaiden" at Tuning My Heart -- I wrote about Mary in my "Hear It, Use It" post on Monday, so Roseann's reflections that dig more deeply into the story behind Mary's resolve really resonated with me: "This yes was not a momentary yes...this was not a short-term act of obedience...this yes was a yes to a lifetime of obedience...this yes would completely alter her life...This makes me ponder...what is He asking of me? Am I willing to say a life-altering yes?"

"Why I'm Following the Children" at Redemption's Beauty -- The power and grace of seeing Jesus reflected in the eyes of a fellow human being...Shelly's story, and her honest telling of it, gave me the chills.

"If I were Mary" at Jennifer V. Davis -- Another post about Mary, and Jennifer made me laugh with her honest reflection on what she might have thought if she'd been in Mary's shoes: "If I were Mary lying on that bed of hay, I would doubt. God, where are you? Why didn’t you plan for the birth of your Son?" Yup, I can sure relate to the role of the doubter! Seriously, though, there is SO much to ponder in this lovely post.

...Thanks for stopping by...talk to you all tomorrow...

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