Confessions of this Gal's Sinful Heart

When I first "officially" got saved, I attended a Southern Baptist Church and one of the staple hymns was "I Surrender All"  The chorus goes, "I surrender all, I surrender all.  All to thee my Blessed Savior I surrender all.  Click here to hear the lyrics .  I've found myself humming the song as of late and I think it's God reminding me that I need to surrender all my problems to Him. Now if you're a faithful reader of my blog you know that on more than one occasion I've labeled myself a control freak.  I'm not so much a "cast your care" (1 Peter 5:7) kind of gal.  I'm more like, let me take matters into my hands until I screw things up so bad I have no other choice than to rely on the God of the Universe to straighten them out.  Funny thing is even though I know I don't have any control, I still believe that I can control things.  The bible says, " apart from me (Jesus) you cannot do anything."  John 15:5.  ...

A very dear friend of mine is going through a painful divorce and is struggling with finding strength to carry on.  A cousin's 14 year old daughter has been suffering through painful chemo treatments.  A very close personal friend has recently discovered she has breast cancer.  And there are so many more I know that are hurting.  The question is just what do you say? Dear Sisters I have wrestled with knowing just what to say to those who are hurting.  I've tossed and turned trying to think of a better response than simply, I'll pray for you.  Offering up the I'm praying for you response  is good but without follow-up it's an empty promise that so many of us tend to make.  I've made a committment that I will pray.  Right there and then, either over the phone, through a text or email or in person.  Because I believe that we need not offer that statement alone, we need to pray, with them, for them and every time they cro...