In a Matter Of Hours, It'll All Be Over...

...And they depart on the anniversary of my mom's death.

The question isn't, "Why this day?"  The question is, "Will You show me Your plan in the midst of this heart-wrenching weekend?"

...and the answer is a resounding, "YES, I Will."

Because He is faithful, I can trust Him.

Cinderella and Hope

As the rooster crowed off in the distance, I sleepily woke to this scene from Elf in my thoughts:



...but it wasn't Buddy jumping up and down about Santa coming, it was ME jumping up and down and screaming like Buddy about Jesus.  I KNOW HIM, I KNOW HIM.

Talk about waking with a smile...and there was no Folgers in my cup~

(I don't drink coffee anymore!)

Think about the reality of telling people, "I know Him.  I know Him.  This is what He's like."

This is what I dream of for this year.  This is my passion.  To walk so closely to Jesus that when His name is spoken, something inside of my being leaps with joy and I exclaim, "I know Him!"

My guess is that if Daddy woke me up with this visual, I can bank on it!

I sat up, giggling to myself, pondering the magnitude of that much zeal for Him when I saw myself as Cinderella...missing my shoe.  (Not sure where the movie themes keep coming from and the switch from one movie to another one!) I saw Him draw near.  He had the shoe!

My heart's cries have reached His ears and my Prince of Peace has come with the answer.  He knows where the missing shoe is. 
I don't have to search for it. 
As He bends down to put it on my foot, I am satisfied. 
It fits. 
I fit. 
I would love to write that we danced together, but the reality is the dance hasn't begun yet. 
But there is hope. 
Confidence that the things I've been believing for will come to pass. 

So, this new year, as you awake each morning, listen. 

Just listen for His voice. 

 

He may make you laugh. 

 

He will be near you. 

 

I know Him. 

He delights in singing over each one of us.

 

He promised and if there's one thing I know about my Daddy...

 

He NEVER lies.

 

 



The Summer of our lives...

Are you making the most of your summer? 

Here's a visual glimpse of what summer is revealing to me...

 1. ...this journey called 'life' is to be savored.

...blink and it's gone.

2. ...that with each 'time sacrifice', grace is available to enjoy the moment...the gift of her medication means I get to have her here longer:

3. ...that simply smiling before I even have my first thought has brightened each day tremendously...why did I wait so long to start this habit?

4. Daddy knows what I need, so I choose to be as a little child and dance!

5. that losing Uno two games in a row to your grandson is fun...giggling warms the heart and laughter has drawn us closer!

6. ...my Garden is a constant reminder that He waits for me daily. Just as the flowers need daily watering, so do I~

7.  Even when life has been challenging, there is still beauty to revel in:

8.  Sometimes life appears all twisted in knots (ever feel like this?), but He still amazes me with His tapestry of beauty!  Flowers bloom on this 'tangled mess' daily!

As each day unfolds, every one of us on the spinning ball have choices to make.  Will we choose to only see the troubles that Jesus said we would all have...or rather choose to ignite each day with looking past the temporary and into His eyes, seeing what He sees:

Life.

I choose to see through His eyes.

How about you?  What choice will you make today when all around you things are spinning out of control...your control?  He holds the universe in His hand, surely He can handle our cares, struggles, limitations. 

The summer of our lives is so short.  Start today to journal what He wants to show you.

When the fiery darts fly

He knocks on the window wearing an over sized t-shirt and carrying two things: a empty pretzel bucket, partly filled with dollar bills in one hand and a stack of papers in the other, his words spilling out faster than the droplets of rain hitting the glass separating us.  He tells of how his house burned down, the Red Cross isn't helping them anymore, and their hotel rent is $195 a week and he works to pay $100 towards the rent and groceries and gas and how the bank has set up an account and could we fund the account. 
There is a boy standing with him that chuckles and I think about how strange that is...
We listen, hoping he'll breathe in between his words, but he really doesn't.  I ask to see his paper about this fund account and he goes on about a woman that he met there in the parking lot last night, promising to give him more money 'than the $20 she gave him, but she didn't do it'.  
I know what I must do, not for him, but for me.  I reach into my wallet and pull out the only money I have: $5.  I know deep in my heart he isn't being honest, but it doesn't matter.  I must do this. God will deal with him.  God has been working to bring me more freedom with money.  I gladly hand it over and then I only wish we had done one more thing:  prayed with him.

So the darts fly.  'You blew it again.  He'll never know the Truth.  You had an opportunity and you missed it.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I read it on Facebook:  'I hate my bro.'  Words from my boy to his brother while they are at Amy's sharing her laptop; well, they're supposed to be sharing.  Those words sting my heart. Are these the tender-hearted children I birthed?  Publicly shredding one another.  MY first instinct is to ban them from Facebook.  Maybe then they'll get it...or perhaps take away the X-Box.  Will that show them how serious I am?  And to top it off, I've walked in on Love in the middle of this 'heart-training session' and just began barking out 'consequences' for their actions...

Flaming darts fly straight to my heart:  'Will you ever learn how to submit to your husband?  Trust him to lead?  You failed again.  Attempting to change their hearts, you control the external.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...though the darts be engulfed in flames, aimed squarely at your heart: 

Remember:

"And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns."  Philippians 1:6

...and you've tossed and turned about from a fitful night of warfare because there is unrest about you:

Remember:

"Stay alert!  Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.  He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.  Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith."  1 Peter 5:8-9a

...and you want to lash out and fight with words, defend yourself and set the record straight:

Remember:

"...Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all the strategies of the devil.  For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in the dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."  Ephesians 6:10-12

...and you feel as though you're going backwards when communication is strained, tension fills the air around you:

Remember:

"...humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.  Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you."                1 Peter 5:6

...and they will fly because our adversary is bent on stealing our joy:

Remember:

"Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love?  Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?  (As the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.)  NO, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us."  Romans 8:35-37

So when the darts fly, flames blazing toward the heart and tormenting the mind, and be assured they will fly, just remember that we have been given a breastplate, body armor to protect our heart and protection for our mind:  God's righteousness and His helmet of salvation. 

I will remember this:

"We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.  This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.  We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.  We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.  We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God.  We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.  Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies."  2 Corinthians 4:7-10

"And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love.  Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow--not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.  No power in the sky above or in the earth below--indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Fog filling the yard, while everyone is still sleep, I dance in the joy of my salvation, remembering one more truth:

"What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?  IF GOD IS FOR US, WHO CAN EVER BE AGAINST US?  Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else?  Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own?  NO ONE--for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us!"

Have a great weekend remembering how deeply loved we all are~

Thanks on Thursday!

There's something about the spring breezes and open windows that makes me want to play in dirt and bake more...I have no ida what it is, but I am grateful.

I began this post, along with two more, almost two weeks ago.  Sometimes, I freeze.  I think to myself, 'you need to sit down and jot your thoughts.'  But then interruptions come, my mind goes blank and that clock across the room just keeps ticking away.  The longer it ticks and I wait, the harder it is to write.

I hate that.

So, for the few minutes I have, I will jot.  I mean joy.  Joy about that great things in my life:



the beans growing like weeds in my raised bed.



cooler weather in March, a definite gift.

a dancing sparrow, bounding nearer and nearer me last nite as I sat with Love  reading at a Starbuck's.

my dad as excited about fishing today as a child on Christmas morning.

my Love building me a beautiful trellis, remade from a divider he made me last year.








Unfolding of beauty, one petal at a time...and heavenly fragrance.

children I photographed on Kite Day at my church.

These are just a few of the many things I've been thankful for in the last two weeks. The list has gone to #103 and as it climbs, my heart has been enlarged with joy for all He is and does in me and my life.

Late but not too late.  Join me in the Gratitude Community over here:

Joy Catchers...

The sun peeking in between the blinds this morning, calling me to run free and the voice of Daddy telling me some time during the night that I've allowed the enemy to stop me from experiencing His joy by wallowing in self-pity...(why have I allowed that to go on for so long?).
Yesterday, I finished reading, "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis to the boys and there's a chapter that speaks of a beautiful woman that has a husband that's walking around with a 'doll' on a chain that he won't let go of (the man is as small as an organ-grinder monkey, the "Trajedian" a tall man)...self-pity...it speaks for the husband and in the end, the husband shrinks and becomes so small he can't be seen anymore.
The chapter slapped me, scolded me and rebuked me for allowing that ugly 'thing' to rob me of joy Jesus went to the cross to give me...
My heart's cries have been to be passionately in love with Jesus and so I came into the Light and renounced this attack and have been meditating on being in the kingdom and experiencing every moment of every day reveling in His love, absorbing His peace and transformed by the strength of His joy.
He did it. Says that 'for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame and has set down at the right hand of God'. Also says that the God of Hope will fill me with all joy and peace in believing that I may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit...the precious Holy Spirit living in me. He does it, He is honored when I walk in love, the light and express His power in my heart and life.
I woke up thinking that there is something I can give to others...to make a 'joy catcher'. A something or other that anyone can grab hold of and keep their joy; it's our strength and we all need it, right? Any ideas of what that 'thing', i.e.-bag, etc, might look like? Share them, please...
Don't you just love how Daddy draws us to Himself and then fills us with Himself.
...the rocker is calling me.
But I'll have to sit in mine, not my sister's in Florida!