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This is My Prayer for You

by | Sep 8, 2012 | Uncategorized

from a very special friend of ours
I pray you can take a moment and listen to a gentle teaching from Joel.

On the road less traveled, here, sitting in the middle of the Salmon River, I want to lift up a prayer for you:
I pray that you would know
the richness of God’s love and presence in your life.
He is the God of life.
He is the Breath of life.
And as you breath your lungs take in the presence,
the very presence and power of God.
(If you don’t believe me, just read your Bibles…
…or just get out here, where nature screams it.)
But in this moment in time –
Wherever you are at –
Whatever your struggle –
Whatever your victory –
Whatever your pain –
Whatever your shame –
Know this – that you cannot escape the presence of God.
And I pray the you would sense that right now.
And as you draw in the next breath that it would give you peace and strength
– to get through this day and face tomorrow.
And that you would trust that the goodness of God would follow you
– like a never ending stream.
And that you would know God in the way that I have come to know him.
And see him in everything that lives.
And that you would find the time to escape man’s world and man’s creation
and see God.
In some ways that’s a big prayer and in other ways it is so simple.
I pray that you will breathe the presence of God in,
in a way that you have never known or never understood.
And maybe you’ve never believed –
But as you take your breath
(We’ve lost in translation,
but literally the Bible says that he is our Breath, he is our Life)
And as you draw in that Breath this life that fills your body and your lungs and your heart,
Know that God is present – not just with you but in you
and by virtue of his presence he knows your thoughts.
Your struggles.
Your secrets.
And he loves you anyway.
May that give you peace and joy and security today.
Worship him.
Breathe him.
Know him
– like you’ve never known before.
This is my prayer for you.
From the road less traveled.
You know what I’m going to say…
Get out there!

My prayer

by | Sep 8, 2012 | Uncategorized

After reading the book “Saying it well” by Charles Swindoll.
It has left me with many things to process.
He tells the reader to find your calling.
Your place in life that gives you peace.
A calm heart’s condition.
A restful soul experience.
A knowing that you are right where you need to be right now.
In reading that I had to ask myself… have I found my call in life?
Is it possible to ever really find it?
This blog is three years old now. 
Over 500 posts have been written and what can be said about it is this:
The heart and soul of why I sit before a screen and pound my thoughts out by the strokes of a key board
is to encourage others in the process of relationships.
Looking back into the writings that the Lord put on my heart the whole message is knowing one’s heart condition.
Creating an attitude of gratitude as I learned from the wonderful
Ann Voskamp and her book ‘A thousand Gifts’.
We have many things to be grateful for even when we feel we have nothing.
When we feel we have nothing then we need to start small just as Ann did and write down everything before us and around us and open our eyes to what we really have been given.
In the “Saying it well” book he tells the reader if one is going to write or speak
it has to be in such a way that when others hear your words
they will feel and be moved and be touched within
by the intensity and power of what they read.
Ann has done that by simply teaching others to be grateful.
Touching others with our words is not an easy task for a writer.
We have to reach in and find the right reason to share what is on our heart.
Charles Swindoll said, “whenever someone is reading your writings or listening to you
they are taking a part of their day to pay attention.
Make it worth their time.”
I am learning:
It is the character and the life of your writing that will help others to return.
We read favorite books because we enjoy their style and their personalities.
The same is true for this kind of writing.
More than anything I want this to be an authentic place where being real is the way it is and being honest and open is acceptable.
Today I am grateful and thankful for the readers who read this writing of mine and comment and encourage me in this process.
My prayer is that I can encourage you too
as we walk this journey called life together and perhaps in this process we can all find ‘something to think about’.
 

In time

by | Sep 4, 2012 | Uncategorized

It has been two weeks now since we lost our old black dog.
My heart is still heavy and sad.
I watch Emma my old red Australian cattle dog lay outside on her bed.
She is lonely.
I can tell she is not sure of what to do without ‘her buddy’ near her.
Change is hard.
How can we move towards change
We can put our foot down and resist it or
we open our hands and welcome it.
For me
change is hard.
I rarely move my furniture.
I drive a 1995 toyota corolla.
We have lived in the same house now for nearly 16 years.
(the longest I have ever lived anywhere)
When we find a church we love we don’t like to leave it.
Change brings grief and stomach upsets and fatigue.
Especially if we have to change and we didn’t want to.
Losing a buddy was not something Emma wanted.
None of us want to lose something close to us.
When we do
our choice is to feel it
acknowledge it and then move forward
taking one step at a time
one very small step at a time.
Emma is very sad.
I do believe dogs grieve.
In time she will be less sad.
In time she will know we are here for her.
In time she will understand she gets special attention
because it is only her now.
We all need to accept life as it changes

In a moment in time.

Something new

by | Sep 3, 2012 | Uncategorized

Soft clouds awakening the day… the dark shadows representing
the quiet of the night.
We open our lives with anticipation of what is to come
in the newness of the morning.
A new day
A new beginning
A new chance to begin again.

Joining Deidra on jumping tandem with the Sunday community
{photo by Margo from Yamhill}

To realize

by | Aug 27, 2012 | Uncategorized

When our hearts bleed from deep pain and grief
all we can do is trust in the one who gave us the feelings and
thank Him for the ability to cry.
To sit with another and say nothing
when their hearts are grieving…is a gift we can give them.
Our pastor taught today on Job.
The story of Job is in the Old testament about a man who loved God.
Who stayed firm and strong in his testimony in the midst of losing everything dear to him including his health.
Job lost many things and still he praised God.
I challenge you to read the book of Job.
He was a wealthy man and yet he was brought down to nothing.
Loss is part of life but we are never prepared when it happens.
Like a rug pulled out from under our feet we slam to the floor
unsure if we can get back up again.
When we reach up and ask another to be with us
we begin to realize we cannot do this walk alone.


Joining Deidra on jumping tandem with the Sunday community
{unsure of who took the photograph ~ found it in my picture file}

Loss

by | Aug 24, 2012 | Uncategorized

The last blog post I did was about our old black dog.
It was my 500th blog post.
I can’t believe it has been that many times of sitting here
pounding out
thoughts and questions.
Isn’t that interesting?
A significant mile post and also a significant loss.
This month has been a really hard one and losing our old dog
was just another reminder for me that we must stay strong
and focused.
I was reading something by John Eldredge from
www.ransomed heart.com
in the letter he said something I need to think about
on many levels.
How do you want me to be looking at this Lord?
It is a simple question.
It is also a really hard one.
My first blog year was full of grief… each writing
seemed like a pouring out of my heart and spirit.
Losing a family pet is really hard too.
We have been here before with each one of those who went before him.
None of them are easy to let go and say goodbye.
Our yard is different right now.
My dog Emma is quiet and I believe she is missing our old black dog who was her friend.
She seems a little lost.
Not too different from any of us when grief strikes our hearts.

Our Old Black Dog

by | Aug 22, 2012 | Uncategorized

Resting at night in our family room.
He liked an old blanket or sometimes a dog  pillow.

Our Old Black Dog, formerly known as Samson was put down today. 8/21/12
It is a sad day for us.

We have guessed he is 15-16 years old now.
When we rescued him from the pound he was about 3-4 years old.
My husband was looking for a dog to take fishing and camping and he wandered into a petsmart one day and saw him there. He called me and said ‘You won’t believe what I found’.
He was very excited to bring him home.
They said he had to go to the pound to actually adopt him.
We had to take in my Australian cattle dog Sadie and my dachshund Sophie so they all could be introduced to each other before they would release him to us.
(sometimes dogs don’t get along and that would have been a bad deal)
We all piled into the car and headed to the pound.
Sadie was not happy and perhaps even felt like we might be leaving her there.
Sophie was oblivious to the entire trip.
After we adopted him we put him in the car carrier and headed home.
He howled and hollered and carried on for miles as I looked at my husband with a look that meant
“what did we get ourselves into?”.

My husband stopped the car about half way and took Samson out of the dog carrier.
The rest of the ride home he sat on the seat and never whined or barked or made any noise.
He just didn’t like that dog carrier.

He became good friends with Sadie blue and after she passed on I picked up Emma Rose a red heeler.
They played and romped and just became good buddies.
He loved it on the water with Papa O he even had a life jacket just his size.

When our grandson was born the two Sam’s would often get confused
if we said “Sit” they both would sit down so we changed our Samson dog to Old black dog….or Obd.

He adjusted to the name well and our grandson learned to call grandpa’s buddy “Obd” too.
He will always be remembered as our ‘old black dog’ and my husbands fishing buddy.

Each one tells

by | Aug 19, 2012 | Uncategorized




Generation after generation stands in awe of your work; 
each one tells of your mighty acts. 
Psalm 145:4 (the message)
Yesterday I watched a concert with Franklin Graham and his son Will and I knew they were following the faith of the father, Billy Graham. Generations will share and tell and let others know of the love of God.
It was refreshing to see the baton of faith, passed from one to another.
Joining Deidra on jumping tandem with the Sunday community.
(photograph by Cathy B from Oregon) used by permission.

There is a purpose

by | Aug 15, 2012 | Uncategorized

In the next chapter of the book ‘Saying it well’ by Charles Swindoll
he tells us that saying it well requires dedication.
We must do what it takes to pursue our dream.
If we want to write then we must make the time and devote our ‘intentions’ to that dream.
If we want to do something else then we must do what it takes to prepare for it.
For some that might mean going back to school, or a training setting.
It might be a huge inconvenience for a short season but we are pursuing our hearts desire and it will be worth it once we have successfully met the challenge.
For others that might mean we have to quit the job we have so we can do what our heart is calling us to do.
That is basically what I did when I quit my job and began to write in this blog.
It is a process of becoming familiar with the dream and knowing how to make it happen.
He tells us there are three things for us to think about:
a. Identify our calling
b. Devote ourselves to preparation
c. Begin the journey
In order to begin a journey we must remember why we are pursuing our calling.
Some of us will go towards a new direction easily.
Our life experiences have already prepared us for hard and difficult times ahead.
Using the depth and insights we have learned gives us a head start above others and sets us apart from those who have not had life experiences like ours.
He tells us that keeping our ambition in check will help us in making good choices.
If we want to pursue writing then we must do what it takes to become a good writer but also understand that our life experiences bring a wealth of knowledge to us much more than a class room study book.
Don’t underestimate your life experiences.
He also tells us to pay close attention to our gut instinct.
“A churning gut means to apply the brakes and stop.”
“Intuition is powerful especially if we listen to it.”
Sometimes we have to take a break or even say no for a detour can mean other better things will come our way later when the time is right.
“When you feel restless pay attention to what your heart is telling you.”
Saying it well comes from handling life’s circumstances and transitions and coming out better on the other side.
We learn from our set backs and the paths that take us to different places.
He also tells us to seek counsel from those who really know us and
who are encouraging to our hearts and our dreams.
His final thought when ending the chapter is this:
“God crafts the character of a person using experiences as tools for shaping us.”
In saying all that, I do feel like the storms that I have had to pass through in this life did prepare me for my writing.
I cannot write from a place I have never been but
I can write from a deep place I have been
in such a way that others can feel ‘they are there with me’.
What I can write about is the journey God prepared for me to go on years before I went on it.
It was all for a purpose.
It was all for a reason and a plan so that I can learn to ‘say it well too’.

To know who you are

by | Aug 14, 2012 | Uncategorized

Continuing on with the book, “Saying it well” by Charles Swindoll.

The next chapter he focuses on being prepared.
He tells us before you say anything or share anything you need to be prepared enough so that others are aware that you know what you are talking about.
In the effort of preparation he said for us to make time to not be distracted.
I know when I am writing or forming a blog post if the phone rings it is not answered.
I do not let myself get distracted by email or facebook or messaging.
As I sit in front of the computer if it is writing time
that is my focus.
I do not let anything get in the way of my thought process.
That has to be an hour that is not disturbed.
It takes discipline to get up and write.
Even Jeff Goins in his writing challenge said for us to make time every day to write.
Write everyday so that your practicing increases your skill level.
Just as in anything we do the more practice time we allow ourselves the better we become.
If the goal for us is to become good writers we must take the time now to get it done.
Charles tells us: “the future is never promised to us so we much act today.”
The other part of preparation that he tells us about is choosing good and wise mentors.
Others who are walking the same path as we are but have done it much longer and can give good advise.
The other part of preparation he tells us about is to have a clear understanding of who we are and also to always be authentic.

Remembering his three things to focus on:
Know who you are
Accept who you are
Be who you are
In order to move towards a calling such as writing or speaking we need to acquire the necessary skills in order to move forward.
If we need a class to help us then we need to take that class.
If we need to practice writing then we need to submit guest posts.
He tells us excellent communicators never stop preparing.
It takes effort.
Be passionate about what matters to you.
Excellent communicators know who they are.
Sometimes when we write we end up also speaking about what we wrote.
Be prepared. Be passionate. Be disciplined.
Begin to do what your heart is telling you to do.
Begin to express who you are to others.
Are you ready to begin today?