Bruise on My Banana

Recently during a family crisis uncertainty was in the air. Decisions were having to be made that were not easy to make. All of those who were involved tried their best to stay strong for each other. 
As difficult as it was to maintain my strength I managed to stay strong for a short while. Soon the weight of my emotions were starting to take their toll on me. The slightest thing would send me into tears.

For example, the day I found a bruise on my banana that started a flood of tears. As silly as it sounded that was where I was in fighting my emotions as was the case of other family members. Coming together one day we got to giggling about our emotional state. We all were at that delicate moment of crying at the littlest thing like a bruise on our banana.

What started out a critical moment soon turned into a time of laughter and comfort. Giggling about the emotion of crying over a simple bruise on our banana took our minds off the seriousness of the business at hand.

Too often we allow the little and big things in life to get to us and emotional havoc takes over. We lose site of the shore we should landing on and that's the one belonging to Jesus. We make the bruise on our banana to be something more than what it needs to be.

It's important we turn to God for our comfort and strength. Once found and properly applied its up to us to use that to help others. Help others to overcome and conquer their strongest emotional states when even a simple bruise on their banana can send them into tears.

There is no doubt about it, our feelings are fickle, and they can't be trusted or relied upon. We need to reach out and rely on what is reliable and that is God himself. Trusting in His strength, the promises of His word and the comfort in  His strength, power, and love. Standing by the truth that greater is He (God) that is in our hearts than any bruise on a banana.

It's time to giggle, its time to rely on God. Toss those bruised bananas and trust in God.


Copyright 2015 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing.

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Tattered, Torn and Faded

“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 33:17-18





In my Bible the page this verse falls on is kind of tattered, torn, and faded. It’s a scripture I have leaned on so many times the imprint its left on my shoulder remains there like a fresh tattoo. In fact it’s where I am right now as I suffer from the heart disease called “broken” secondary to being crushed in spirit.




Each day as I read this scripture I curl myself up in a fetal position in between the “He delivers them from all their troubles” and “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.” There I wait patiently for my Heavenly Father to put His arms around me and tell me everything is going to be okay.




Upon reading this scripture and believing the truth in it that God will hear the cry of the righteous and deliver them from all their troubles we need to know in our hearts that eventually things will be alright. Truly as much as we would like to have the added clause at the end of the verse that says, “PS Come to Me and you will never experience being brokenhearted or crushed in spirit” its not there. We can read it all we want, change translations, or peak in between the lines but it’s not going to show up it’s a waste of energy. When you are feeling brokenhearted the last thing you need to waste is your energy because you have so little of it.




What we need to be doing with our energy is turning to the Great Physician for treatment of our temporary disease. Crying out to Him and waiting for the delivery to happen. We can either do as we’re told or turn our backs on it pouting as we say, “If He really loved me this wouldn’t be happening right now.” It’s not God’s fault I am brokenhearted right now. He didn’t cause it but He can cure it with His love, strength, wisdom, grace and guidance.





The problem is we need to want to be cured, to take our medication of being patient and wait for the Lord to work in us. We need to know and believe in our hearts that we don’t have to wind up like Humpty Dumpty where there weren’t enough of the kings men to put him back together again. With our Lord and Savior, Kind of Kings there is enough of Him to put us back together again. Definitely enough of Him to heal the tattered and torn and faded spirit that lies in pain within us.




It’s our choice to make our pain a permanent tattoo or a temporary one that will eventually go away. We may not know when it will happen or what the process will be but that’s where faith and trust come in to sustain us. If we do this before we know it we will find ourselves rising from our fetal positions to stand strong before the Lord facing the world in His strength.



Our job is wound care, God’s job is healing. God can’t do His job if we aren’t properly taking care of the wound in the first place. Too often we like to pick at the scab, open the wound up all over again only to create a bigger irritation and more of an infection than we had in the first place. Nope, instead we need to pick up the Bible and spread upon our wounds the healing ointment of knowing God hears He’s not ignoring us. He delivers not abandons. He is close not far away. He saves He doesn’t throw away. He restores the tattered and torn and brings back to life the faded in spirit.




Praise the Lord for His healing, Praise the Lord for His care!

© 2011 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing