LOVE HURTS

♬    LOVE HURTS

        by Nazareth

Love hurts,
Love scars,
Love wounds and marks
Any heart not tough or strong enough
To take a lot of pain, take a lot of pain
Love is like a cloud, it holds a lot of rain
Love hurts,
Ooo-oo love hurts

I'm young,
I know,
But even so
I know a thing or two, I learned from you
I really learned a lot, really learned a lot
Love is like a flame It burns you when it's hot
Love hurts,
Ooo-oo love hurts

Some fools think
Of happiness, blissfulness, togetherness
Some fools fool themselves, I guess
They're not foolin' me
I know it isn't true I know it isn't true
Love is just a lie made too many blue
Love hurts,
Ooo-oo love hurts

I know it isn't true
I know it isn't true
Love is just a lie made too many blue
Love hurts,
Ooo-oo love hurts
Ooo-oo, love hurts, Ooo-oo

A Friend to myself

Get Up And Boogie from Just A Friend on Vimeo.

Being loved can be frightening

So I've been having a series of good days, and feeling pleased and comfortable, until today. Something happened today that I don't believe has ever happened to me before in my life. My Dad had come to visit, and my psychologist happened to come by while he was here. She was very very kind to my Dad, and she also had very very positive things to say about me. My family has had a long, agonizing time of it all these years trying to get proper help for me. But up until this woman, who cared about me enough not to ever halt my progress just for the money... put it this way: this woman cared both about me and then too, my Dad. It's called responsibility. Handling the position with full sobriety.

And so, the outcome of her visit was that my Dad's thinking about me was transformed. He was very pleased with everything. The way I looked, the way I smiled, and many more things made him very proud.

Well, all of this, my psychologist's positive attitude, and my Dad's newfound confidence in me, resulted in me feeling so strange, that this evening I began to develop physical symptoms. First off, I was convinced I had a high temperature, and I had them check my temp 3 times and it was perfectly normal. Then, after that subsided, I honestly felt I couldn't breathe at all. Fortunately, I have a respiratory therapist tonight who has known me for years, and she very patiently came and tried to help me.

To conclude, friendship can be terrifying for some people. I am looking now at a future of self acceptance, and being wanted and appreciated for what I have to offer. And my Dad jumping on board with it all is just truly amazing. I fear God. That's something I pray will never change. But to fear being loved is not right.

♬    Rebecca St. James: Stand

My adventures with PowerPoint

What is your dream? from Raya Stuiver
This here is a PowerPoint presentation. Somehow I heard about "SlideShare", and I became curious about it and decided, wouldn't it be cool to figure out how to do one? And so, this is basically my third one. I will probably be sharing most of them with y'all because I think what I've been sharing on SlideShare is related to what I share here on Always Your Friend. Hope you like it.

Trust and Never Doubt (by Rizen)

Trust and Never Doubt from Just A Friend on Vimeo.

Getting off of other people's sins, and onto their strengths

This here can make life so much easier. I want to get my focus back on friendship. Friendship is not about changing people, it's about accepting them and loving them right where they are. And this applies to our world view. We should not be aiming to change the world. Rather, our highest hope should be to find meaningful friendships, and enjoy life.

See, a few days ago, I found out that someone close to me is doing something unwholesome. At first, I was completely shocked. I felt hurt that my own ideals and the way I've chosen to live meant so little to him. And earlier today, I realized something. My friends' sins are none of my business. This person loves me and I love him as well, and anything he does that really has no affect on me or our friendship, there is no reason for me to involve myself in. How freeing is that?

Let us stop seeking to fit people into our mold. Matter-of-fact, we probably should toss the mold in the garbage. Even fitting ourselves into it every day gets awfully tedious! Let us, as we seek to make friends, not go into it with an attitude that we're going to go straight for finding out their weakness and teach them how to be like us. That's not friendship. It's fixing people. Being in a fixing position with people is really a drag, isn't it?

Instead, let us meet people with the thought that we will find out all the cool things about them. Let us look to know what makes them happy. Let us find out what foods they like, what sports they like, what actors and musicians they like. I bet there are amazing things to be found out about everybody.

I think what happened to me many years ago, is that I felt so utterly unloved, that something inside me died. And after that, I coped by deciding that I was going to play "the sage". And I pictured in my mind that I was going to sit in my apartment in this enlightened state of mind, and that everybody was going to come to my door, and I would know exactly what Bible verse to share, and their lives would be changed forever. It was my broken heart that caused me to create that in my mind.

Do you think maybe we get hopelessly hurt in love, and our need to fantasize is birthed, and we decide: we're going to be a billionaire, we're going to marry our favorite singer, we're going to become an important world figure? Not only are these things unlikely to happen, but even if they should, they don't remove the original problem, a broken heart.

A broken, lonely heart needs love. There was a time when I was very very broken. And I tried achieving my own little agenda. But it only made things worse. Because indeed I don't know the solution to everybody's problems, neither individually or collectively. What I need is the courage to ask you to be my friend. To like something about me in a real way.

♬    Michelle Tumes: Do Ya

Neither Will I

I Won't Back Down

David Bowie - Starman (1972) HD 0815007

Longevity

Longevity is something that's very much missing from today's world. We don't like something, so we return it to the store and get our money back. Our child has trouble in school, so we send him/her to a private school, or we move to another area where he/she can attend a different school. We don't like a job, we quit and find another. On the flip side, an employee isn't working out, so out the door he goes. We don't like our boyfriend or girlfriend, so we break up and look for someone else. Nowadays, we can even change the gender we're born with. People think nothing of getting divorced. In fact, it seems most people who get married no longer do it with the idea that it's gonna last "Till death do us part". Worst of all, the suicide rate (and homicide) seems to have risen to an all-time high. People don't like their lives, so they just end it.

I used to listen to a lot of radio shows that talked about marriage and relationships. I learned a lot about sticking it out. The concept that "the best way out is through". I once came across a wall hanging that stopped me in my tracks. It said "Bloom where you're planted". The theory is, that God puts us in certain situations to grow us and to strengthen us. God has a special plan for each of our lives, and He has purposes for the circumstances we find ourselves in, even when they are not so pleasant. And because He plans for us to fulfill a particular purpose or purposes, when we move, or separate, or even go for plastic surgery, in the end we are going to find ourselves facing the exact same problems that we left.

You see, because the problem is not him or her or it, the problem is us. The problem is that there is something we lack that we can only attain by getting through our lives the way God has designed them. Be willing to work with what God has given you. After you master it, after you find your way within it. You will be triumphant beyond measure!

♬    Shekinah Glory Ministry: Yes

There Is Power In The Blood from Just A Friend on Vimeo.

WONDER WORKING POWER

♬   THERE IS POWER IN THE BLOOD
by The Tommy Coomes Band

There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb.
There is powe, power. wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

Would you be free from your burden of sin?
There's power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you o'er evil a victory win?
There's wonderful power in the blood.

There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb.
There is power, power. wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

Would you be free from your passion and pride?
There's power in the blood, power in the blood;
Come for a cleansing to Calvary's tide;
There's wonderful power in the blood.

There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb.
There is power, power. wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

Would you do service for Jesus your King?
There's power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you live daily His praises to sing?
There's wonderful power in the blood.

There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb.
There is power, power. wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb.
There is power, power. wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.
In the precious blood of the Lamb.
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

Evaluating friendship at the end of the day

I thought about starting a new blog where I just capsulise what I've experienced and learned each day. One way or another though, friendship is of central importance in my life, and therefore I would still be writing about friendship.

When you are being nourished by a friend, and are giving them nourishment in return, well... what can I say but that this is bliss? And as a result of the love and solace I receive from those who are becoming closer friends, I am growing and learning. And this growth is everything. It gives me the confidence I need to face life each day. It gives me the joy of knowing that I matter to people, of knowing that people see me as having something unique to offer.

And when I have a night like I had tonight ( or actually all day ), when I know that I gave friendship my very best, when I thought about the comfort of others, rather than mistreating people just because I didn't get my way, when all these factors have been there in my attitude, I know that whatever I've been worrying about will be okay.

♬    With A Little Help From My Friends

THOUGHTS IN THE WEE HOURS

GOD HAS GIVEN ME LIFE. OUR COUCH IS GREEN (SONG OF SOLOMON). LOVE IS EVERYWHERE I LOOK. RESPECT IS EVERYWHERE I LOOK. AND BETWEEN ME AND GOD, HE KNOWS AND I KNOW THAT I HAVE FAILED PEOPLE. HE KNOWS AND I KNOW THAT I HAVE UTTERED HORRIBLE THINGS OUT OF THIS MOUTH HE GAVE ME. I ALSO SOMETIMES SPEAK OF MY FAITH, AND I'M LYING. I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HEAVEN. THAT PART OF MY FAITH I DO NOT SPEND MUCH TIME THINKING ABOUT. BUT I FEEL HIS LOVE, EVEN NOW. I FEEL HIS LOVE. I FEEL HIS ASSURANCE. THE PILE OF MESSED UP JUNK THAT I AM, BUT HE PITIES ME.

♬   Shekinah Glory Ministry: JESUS

Have You Never Been Mellow

Breathe (as recorded by Rebecca St. James)

Breathe from Just A Friend on Vimeo.

Let me introduce you to my Best Friend

♬   SOMEBODY LOVES YOU
by Deniece Williams

I'm here to tell you
That each day I'm really praying for you
I know what you're feeling
I can see the walls are closing in
But there is an answer

And He's reaching out and calling to you
There's no need to worry
Let me make this very clear,
There's no one that comes near to you

Somebody loves you
And you know that it's true
Say I'm talking to you
Oh yeah, somebody loves you
And He wants to be with you forever

He's waiting for you
Oh He understands the pain you're going through
There is no problem
That my Jesus just can't help you solve

For He can do wonders
Won't you open up and let Him touch you
To Him you're a diamond
Let me make this very clear
There's no one that comes near to you

Somebody loves you
And you know that it's true
Say I'm talking to you
Oh yeah, somebody loves you
And He wants to be with you forever

Somebody loves you
And you know that it's true
Say I'm talking to you
Oh yeah, somebody loves you
And He wants to be with you forever

Nothing is stronger than the two of you together
Better than new and you'll be holding on forever

Somebody loves you
And He'd like a chance with you
And He wants to love you too

Just how much
He cares for you

Somebody loves you
And He wants to be with
Talking to you
Oh yeah, somebody loves you
I know
That He wants to you
Oh yeah
Somebody loves you
I know
That He wants to be with you forever

Somebody loves you
Somebody loves you
Somebody loves you