{"id":886,"date":"2020-08-24T06:00:51","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T06:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/?p=886"},"modified":"2023-07-06T18:13:44","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T18:13:44","slug":"eyes-the-anchor-to-the-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/24\/eyes-the-anchor-to-the-soul\/","title":{"rendered":"Eyes:  The Anchor to the Soul"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The past couple of weeks we have been back in school after 5 months of being separated.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Things are different than they were March 13th.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A few items:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Each morning we \u201clog\u201d any symptoms and enter with a green check.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My classroom set-up is \u201cspread\u201d out for us to be socially distanced.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The greeting into the class is with a squirt of sanitizer.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The end of class is spent cleaning so the next group can come in with germs limited.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And a lot of the time we are wearing masks.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some of the time (okay&#8211;maybe a lot of the time) masks are uncomfortable.&nbsp; I live in the South.&nbsp; It is hot&#8230;and although we have air conditioning, sometimes it just can\u2019t keep up with the heat and humidity from the outside.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes the masks make it hard to hear and communicate with our voices.&nbsp; It can be muffled, and for those quiet students, you have to be \u201cin-tune\u201d and maybe ask for them to repeat something a couple of times.&nbsp; We are having to hit the \u201crepeat\u201d button quite a bit :).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And while many of us are accustomed to wearing \u201cfake\u201d masks, wearing an actual one forces you to look at the eyes.&nbsp; What I have found the past few weeks:&nbsp; those eyes cannot lie.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you truly intently look at someone\u2019s eyes, they speak. You can change your voice, you can plaster a smile on your face, and you can even change your body language.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But\u2026.those eyes cannot lie.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When joy is seeping through your veins, your eyes look alive.&nbsp; They have a glimmer and reflect energy and life.&nbsp; It is easier to make eye contact for a longer period of time.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When someone is struggling, you know.&nbsp; They look sullen and many times someone looks away.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In John 4:7-42, a Samaritan woman comes to draw water at NOON.&nbsp; Coming this time of day probably said a lot&#8211;she was trying to avoid people.&nbsp; Imagine what her eyes looked like though&#8211;eyes that had no hope.&nbsp; Eyes that displayed hurt.&nbsp; Eyes that had regret.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jesus didn\u2019t allow the barriers of the time to stop him from engaging in conversation.&nbsp; Instead, he reached out and asked for a drink.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He didn\u2019t allow her to feel rejected or ridiculed.&nbsp; He took advantage of the opportunity.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Imagine the change in her eyes as she walked away from the well after her encounter with Him.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You may be that person who helps them to \u201cfix their eyes on Jesus\u201d&#8230;(Hebrews 12:1-2) <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Will it take you getting out of your comfort zone?&nbsp; Yes.&nbsp; But think more about the opportunity to point them to the peace found in the one who overcame the world. (John 16:33).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A quote by one of the first trainings we had when we returned back has stuck with me.&nbsp; The leader of our training made the comment: <\/span>&nbsp;\u201cInstead of wondering what is wrong with someone, wonder what happened to that person.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We are all God\u2019s handiwork&#8211;you may be that person that helps lead them to restoration by the Master Artist.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Lee Ann wrote the other day for our FACEBOOK page.&nbsp; It is TOO good not to revisit&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The strongest shells often have the softest hearts. Sweet friends, look into those eyes above the masks. What are they whispering to you? Being strong does not always mean everything is great&#8230;it simply means a way has been found to get through the moments. Pay attention&#8230;look into those eyes&#8230;what are they whispering?&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Pray for opportunities.&nbsp; Look into the eyes above the mask.&nbsp; See what the eyes are saying.&nbsp; Be the one that points them to Jesus.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anchored to Him,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leigh Ann&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The past couple of weeks we have been back in school after 5 months of being separated.&nbsp;&nbsp; Things are different than they were March 13th.&nbsp;&nbsp; A few items: Each morning we \u201clog\u201d any symptoms and enter with a green check.&nbsp; My classroom set-up is \u201cspread\u201d out for us to be socially distanced. The greeting into the class is with a squirt of sanitizer. The end of class is spent cleaning so the next group can come in with germs limited.&nbsp;&nbsp; And a lot of the time we are wearing masks.&nbsp;&nbsp; Some of the time (okay&#8211;maybe a lot of the time) masks are uncomfortable.&nbsp; I live in the South.&nbsp; It is hot&#8230;and although we have air conditioning, sometimes it just can\u2019t keep up with the heat and humidity from the outside.&nbsp;&nbsp; Sometimes the masks make it hard to hear and communicate with our voices.&nbsp; It can be muffled, and for those quiet students, you have to be \u201cin-tune\u201d and maybe ask for them to repeat something a couple of times.&nbsp; We are having to hit the \u201crepeat\u201d button quite a bit :).&nbsp;&nbsp; And while many of us are accustomed to wearing \u201cfake\u201d masks, wearing an actual one forces you to look [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[301],"class_list":["post-886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-shelteredingrace-anchored-loved-jesus"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/shelteredingrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Green-Photo-Beauty-Skincare-Facebook-Cover-1-1.png?fit=2050%2C780&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1891,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886\/revisions\/1891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shelteredingrace.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}