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Changes

by | Feb 24, 2011 | Uncategorized

Changes in our lives often bring grief and loss.
May we embrace and mourn our changes today.
Let us not refuse them and loose what God has in store for us~
from John Eldredge a popular writer and speaker.

I am not one who likes change.
My house is normally the same and my friendships too.
Habits are generally the same over and over and food tastes too.
When a change happens it is hard.
I don’t generally adapt easy to it.
This last month we have dealt with my husbands surgery and visits to the emergency room and then the visits to the various doctors and the inconvenience of his one arm in a sling. I have had to do more and be more patient. It has been good but also hard to be patient and remember he is frustrated at his ‘change’ of situation.
It has been good for him to rest.
To allow the arm to restore itself. As his body recovers from the trauma that has happened.
I think the best thing we can do when these type of events take place is to EMBRACE them as John says. The energy it takes to deny or discount ‘the new’ situation is far worse than saying ‘ok I am not really liking this but I am resting in it.’
Change… is hard. Change is necessary.
Each season we see change. Leaves fall and go dormant, bulbs rest waiting to bloom.
It snowed last night and that change was pretty and white and also created inconvenience for many. The only real way to deal with change is to embrace it.
Then rest in the knowing that soon the new change will be transformed into something we find comfort in.
How do you adapt to change? do you embrace it or fight it?
It is a good question for us all.

He listens

by | Feb 17, 2011 | Uncategorized

Psalm 116:1-2

I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!
Can you even imagine the God of the Universe bending down to listen to the cries of those who are asking for mercy? (mercy means to have kindness or compassion)
Have you ever talked to a child and really got down to their level.
Perhaps bending a knee to get closer so you can hear them?
That is what this verse is saying.
He bends down to listen.
I would love the Lord even if I thought he didn’t listen
but isn’t it wonderful to know he does?
How powerful that is.
That we are important enough to have him listen.
He bends down to listen
when I whisper
when I cry
when I laugh
when I speak
when I sing
doesn’t it make your heart happy?
Oh that we can know and experience the deep love of God
and understand how important we are to him.
I will pray as long as I have breath~
because I know he hears me.

A candle burning

by | Feb 15, 2011 | Uncategorized

Last night my husband made us a wonderful Irish whiskey flat iron steak dinner, baked potatoes with peas and little pearl onions. It was sweet and very good. He did it all by himself with his arm still in a sling and he even had the table set with a candle burning.
It was a wonderful Valentine treat.
Often times I tell him “I don’t want a card or gifts on Valentines day. It’s a day when Hallmark makes a ton of money and florist shops go crazy.”
I would rather have a simple evening together and a ‘surprise’ on another day when I ‘don’t feel good’ or when my heart is hurting or when I just need a bit of encouraging. Something nurturing for my heart and spirit not just ‘because it is the day to do it’ but because you want to lift my mood up a little. Thank you honey for a wonderful dinner and your surprise in planning it.
I appreciated it.

JJ Heller – What love really means – Lyrics

by | Feb 14, 2011 | Uncategorized


This is really a beautiful song.
When I first heard it… the words just settled into my spirit as
I listened. There is a very moving question
throughout the song… my prayer is that it ministers to you in
in a powerful and wonderful way as it did to me.

Our messes

by | Feb 9, 2011 | Uncategorized

A few weeks ago in one of our Pastor’s teaching he said,
“Our messes are based on false agreements.”
“Our normal way of thinking or working in the spiritual sense
is outside in- instead of inside out.“
Then he continued to teach out of 1st Corinthians 2:9-15 talking about the Spirit.
However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”
the things God has prepared for those who love him- these things are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them?
In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given to us.
Then Pastor said: “The irony of the spirit… the part of God that we are closest to… we are the most unaware of.”
I pause so you can think about it~
Most unaware of… least thought about… not given time or recognition.

Is that Sad to you? It is to me.
Our messes are the things in our lives we need to work on.
Our messes are the things the Spirit can remove if we allow it.
Did you realize that Messiah begins with Mess?
Our mess can be His opportunity to show power and gentleness and healing and restoration.
John and Staci Eldredge talk about agreements.
As an example: if someone is hurt as a child they will tell themselves
‘no one is going to hurt me again in this way.’
The wall goes up and becomes a solid fortress.
That becomes an internal agreement.
No one will hurt me.
When someone says something hurtful or does something hurtful the wall is built and it is firm.
The defense becomes our way of thinking and our way of living
from that moment on… then into adulthood.
Oh I hope we can grasp this teaching.
How many false agreements are we carrying around in the woundedness of our hearts?
How many of them are holding us down and keeping us without power or healing or health?
Just to give you something to think about today.
I pray that our messes can be handed off to the great Messiah.
It is through the messiness of our hearts where we become healed,
if we open up and allow the agreements to stop.
Lord God help us to become ‘whole and healed’ people as we allow you to search our hearts and fill us with the hope and healing we so long for.
You are the God who heals and takes away our messes…
You are our great Messiah.

Breathe

by | Feb 7, 2011 | Uncategorized

Today I had my husband in the Emergency room for the second time in two days.
The surgery was successful.
The arm is tight to his chest, he cannot move the shoulder for four weeks.
Problem number one began with a small rash.
As the days progressed from Mondays surgery to Thursday evening the rash went from small to very red and all over his left side, when he removed the ‘tape and bandages’ he was very red and rashy and it just didn’t look right. By 11:00 pm Thursday I said ‘I am not comfortable’ with you sleeping tonight and me not knowing what that rash will do as I sleep next to you.
The doctor in ER said it was from what they washed him with in surgery.
Go home and shower and wait till it goes away.
Today on Sunday it is not gone after using benadryl every four hours and it is more red and rashy and even on his face and looks like it is a sun burn that is peeling.
The ER visit today said he is allergic to the sling and its fabric. SO… we have him on more medications, he is still NOT supposed to move his arm and I think I need to just stop and breathe.
What a week.
Nothing spiritual tonight to share just ‘breathe in and breathe’ out and use your voice when you don’t feel like you are being listened to. I was not leaving that ER without something for him.
Will pray it all works now.

Nourish

by | Feb 2, 2011 | Uncategorized

Nourish: to sustain with food;
supply what is necessary for life, health and growth.
To cherish, foster, keep alive
or to strengthen, build up, or promote.
To nourish, sustain, to support or encourage
to provide substance necessary for life and growth.

The word nourish is a powerful one.
When I think of life… nourishment is vital.
Without food to nourish our bodies we wither and die.
Without water we do the same only faster.
What about our spiritual bodies?
(to supply what is necessary for life)

Is reading the word of God the food we need
to have hearts that are ‘receptive and ready to receive?’
(to strengthen ~ build up~ or promote)
The word brings life into our ‘spirits’ and enables us to
hear and receive and restore
the parched hearts that are longing to hear.
When I think of nourish…
I think of when one is sick and they drink tea and eat soup and
snack on saltine crackers because the ‘body is weak and needs time’
to strengthen itself to a normal place.
Do you suppose our parched burned out hearts are like that too?
The core of ones soul is often the place of harmony in ones heart
or maybe not… if one is an angry person.

To be nourished is to receive life giving hope and peace.
Proverbs 3:7-8 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.
This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
I hope you find a ‘place of nourishment’ for your body and spirit today.

Patience

by | Feb 1, 2011 | Uncategorized

Today my husband had surgery on his shoulder.
I am not the nurse type so I am needing more patience
more compassion and more confidence
to push myself into places I am not so comfortable in.
The hospital itself is a challenge with all the things that makes up a hospital.
Then the ‘pre-op’ tasks and duties they have to do.
I was standing out in the hall feeling a bit woozy.
Of course breakfast had to wait till he left for surgery and I had several cups of coffee on an empty stomach. Not a good combination.
He went in at 10:20am to the surgery room and was home by 5:30pm.
The day was ok. He did ok. Thank you God.
The anesthesiologist said it was a bit shaky for a few moments when my husbands throat closed up on him as they were trying to wake him up from the anesthesia. He said he had to put a tube down his throat to open the passage for air. That sounds a bit scary and I didn’t really need to hear that. The night before my husband said to me, “you know what to do if something goes wrong …” I said yes with tears in my eyes. Trying to not think of the ‘going wrong concept’. After 37 years I did not or would not want to choose a life alone.
God was with us today as He always is.
I am learning to do some care taking.
It will be a bit of a challenge for at least 4 weeks till my husband can finally move his arm.
Lord give me patience but don’t give me any more intense challenges ok?
How are you all doing this week?