forever

today was hard.

it really started yesterday. a friend from church left me a voicemail saying she left her husband (who is an alcoholic and drug addict) and had to leave town. she wanted me to know she was safe and to please let everyone know she was okay and she'd be in touch. when one of us talked to her husband later we found out she hadn't taken any of her stuff, not even her bible. that's a bit troubling and not quite right somehow. i don't know what to think. we told her when she was ready to leave we would do all we could to get her a place to stay. he never physically hurt her so she couldn't go to a woman's shelter. i tried to call her at the seattle number on my cellphone, but i think it was a payphone and nobody answered.

so that was heavy on my mind today. i also had some gum last night that had nurtrasweet in it, which gives me migranes. i've been cracked out on advil and excedrin migrane all day, but i've still got a killer headache and the classic slight swelling on one side of my face. it's pretty sexy.

in addition to that i was told the positions i applied for at work were filled...not by me, either, as you may have guessed. this made for a pretty hard day. the 'bright' side is that the only difference between myself and the ones that got the positions i wanted was that they're trained to book latin american vacation packages, whereas i just book europe. my managers said they're going to get me trained into the latin department the first two weeks of june so i the next time something opens i will be ahead of the game. that shows they have an encouraging amount of faith in me, but i still cried on my drive home.

my small group from church had a prayer walk last night. i went with 2 people up a street by the freeway. it was pouring rain- the kind of rain that has water in rivulets down your face. as we stopped under an awning i though about one of my co-workers talking about how they got rained out trying to camp at the beach over the weekend. i had told her that lewis and clark had the same problem. then it struck me how permanent God is. two hundred years later and the seasons are the same. people are the same. He brings the blessing of rain on the just and the unjust...even when we don't get that the rain is a blessing. He never changes and never tires of giving mercy and showing love. today i sensed His nearness as i prayed and cried on my drive home. i'm in His hands and so is my friend, wherever she is.