Tonighttt, tooonightttt...

Well, tonight was fun. Three friends and I went out to dinner and were going to go bowling afterwards, but when we arrived at the alley, we discovered it was a league night. Lots Of People. Oy. So we decided to go kill time for about an hour. Not being sure what to do, we puttered into the middle of town... then I came up with a fabulous idea! How about we go to our local eatery which has an internet connection and hang out in there for a while. We could sit ourselves down and act like we had computers--typing away on the tabletop and pointing out items of interest on the nonexistent screen. Sweeeet. So we did. I can't believe how much fun it was! We got some pretty funny looks. It was later in the evening, so there weren't that many people there, but I think we may have given those who where something to go home and blog about (hehe). Once an employee came over and asked us if we wanted anything to eat (to which we replied in the negative) and they did their best to act as though nothing was out of the ordinary. I mean, the customer is always right, right? No matter how much they look like a mental hospital escapee. Hahaha... there was a lot of stifled laughter from us when they went away.

Then, after we had killed enough time and after we had packed up our invisible computers in their invisible cases, carefully folding up the invisible cords and tucking them away, we blew the joint and went off to the bowl-ery. Lots of people had left by then and we had a lane to ourselves. Fun was had by all.

Cryptic, yes.

I was talking to a friend yesterday about a situation I was freaking out about; something that I've been chasing in fruitless circles around my mind for a long time and have always ended up with the same uncomfortable conclusion. However, in the middle of our conversation, she said one of those "duh, I should have realized that all by myself" things to me and I sat there going, well, duh (of course). Then all my distressed-out feels started to fall away and even though nothing about the situation has changed, God stepped in and helped me to realize that what I was feeling wasn't just me feeling unable to deal with the situation, but it was that I was fearful. I don't think I've ever been so happy to find out that I was afraid of something. It's like having lots of strange physical symptoms for a long time and then finally getting a diagnosis. "Oh, it's Fear!" The problem is still there, it still needs to be medicated, but it sure helps to know what it's called.

Of course God didn't just leave me sitting there thinking "Woohoo! I'm afraid!". I walked away from that conversation into the dining hall just in time to catch the tail end of a meeting (there's been a Ladies' weekend going on here). Just as I walked in the door, Andrea started singing that song titled "Be Not Afraid". The words are from Isaiah 43 and go something like this:

"Be not afraid, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned... For I am Jehovah your God... you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you." Be not afraid.

Hmm, I believe can handle that. :)

EDIT/

I forgot to mention that once I started to be happy about being afraid, all the fear went away. Cool....