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Today

by | Nov 8, 2012 | Uncategorized

I woke up today feeling a sort of heaviness in my spirit.
Still feeling sadness from the election news and the concern of our future.
I know and realize God is on his throne and is in control
but it still feels incredibly disappointing that we have to deal with more devastating economic issues for the next four years.
I am glad that my hope is not in man or politics.
My intention to write for 31 days last month didn’t work so well.
Through that process I discovered that the zeal for writing is inspired by a stirring in my spirit
not from a challenge placed upon me by other writers.
Writing is hard and sharing from one’s heart even harder.
If I have said that once I will say it many times over.
It cannot be forced or mandated it has to be from a hearts need
to share something deep within.

We are heading into the season of thanksgiving.
I pray we will not fall into the mass thinking that thanksgiving is minimal and Christmas is more important.
We always have things to be thankful for if we look closely.
For me thanksgiving is the most important day and concept.
I am not forgetting the power of the birth of the baby and the Christmas story.
But if we cannot learn to be thankful we won’t appreciate the depth of what God has done for us.
My heart remains heavy for many things and for many reasons.
Will you join me today to slow down.
To breathe in the breath of life you have been given.
To be thankful for all things both good and bad.
The lessons are what we receive in the midst of the journey
no matter how hard the journey has been for us.
Shall we begin today to seek the one who sits on the throne and keeps all order
even though we don’t understand and don’t feel peaceful about the outcome.
Today is all we have.
We don’t have yesterday and tomorrow is not given to us yet.
Shall we begin today to give thanks to the one who most deserves it.

Fall reflection

by | Nov 5, 2012 | Uncategorized

1st Corinthians 13: 4-8
Love is patient and kind.
Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud.
Love is not rude, is not selfish, and does not get upset with others.
Love does not count up wrongs that have been done.
Love takes no pleasure in evil but rejoices over the truth.
Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always endures.
Love never ends.

Joining Deidra of jumping tandem and the Sunday Community
Photo taken by Sharon O in Oregon

Thirty nine years

by | Nov 3, 2012 | Uncategorized

Two standing together
 fall of 1973 November 3rd.

Thirty nine years ago were were young and barely out of high school.
Not really knowing what we were doing or saying as we stood in the front of that sanctuary.
Many came to watch us say our vows as we stood with fear and uncertainty.
It was a ceremony that changed us.
For the good and for the rest of our lives.
In the years to follow we made a family.
A son came then a daughter.
Then they both married and had sons and daughters making us grand parents.
It has been both challenging and beautiful.
We have had scary times and fun times.
We have learned throughout the years each others personalities and humor.
God has strengthened us when we felt weak and didn’t think we could go any further and
he kept us walking towards the goal of being a family and a team.
I am grateful you have stood by me in my worst days and kept the promise to love me.
It has been a journey we never could have prepared for.
No books can tell you what life is like day in and day out.
It is a commitment.
It is life of hope.
Shall we try for another thirty nine years?

A reason

by | Nov 1, 2012 | Uncategorized

Thanksgiving.
It means to be grateful and full of thanks.
A time for us to sit and think and find a reason
for reflection.
Everyday we do have many things to be thankful for.
We have breath and life, and hope and love.
We have family and friends and health and blessings.
Today on this first day of this season of thanksgiving.
May we ‘find a reason’ for reflection and gratitude
for everything God has given us. 
Giving thanks with a grateful heart today.

I will

by | Oct 30, 2012 | Uncategorized

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you;
I will remove from you a heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Ezekial 36:26
Whenever I think of God saying to me… “I will” it feels like a promise to my heart.
He does not say it lightly nor does He say it without knowing what HE is saying.
I will.
Just as he said in the new testament “I will be with you always” it is a promise for us to hold very close and to remember.
We are not alone.
In the process of writing this I looked into the bible gateway site and typed in the two words, “I will” and the site showed 2,318 matches.
All the words that show ‘I will’ together were there along with other sentences using them in different contexts.
Meaning for me that it is a theme God continues to use throughout the years.
God was telling the people something then and He desires to tell us now.
I will …
God said it in many circumstances to many different people.
I remain amazed.
It is comforting to know He stands by his word. Always.
Two simple words.
Relating a promise and commitment to us.
His desire is to have a beautiful relationship with us if we choose to believe in his love.
Are we ready to receive him and say “I will” in return?  

Morning rays

by | Oct 29, 2012 | Uncategorized

They are to stand every morning to thank and to praise the Lord, and likewise at evening,
1 Chronicles 23:30

Joining Deidra on Jumping tandem with the Sunday community.
Photo by Margo of Yamhill, Oregon

At the Cross revisited

by | Oct 23, 2012 | Uncategorized

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(This was originally posted in 2010 I hope it blesses and challenges you)

At the Cross

Sunday when we were in church, the worship leader played a song.
It ministered to my heart, and I felt a longing to share more about what the Lord was showing me through it.
The chorus:
At the cross you beckon me,
Draw me gently to my knees,
And I’m lost for words, and so lost in love
I’m sweetly broken, wholly surrender.

The song has been playing in my head since I heard it.
I wondered what the word beckon meant.
you beckon me.
Dictionary.com said: to wave and/or nod to somebody with the intention to make the person come closer.
God beckons us, waves to us, ‘come here, come be with me’. Draw near to me.
His intention for us is to draw near and come closer.
I visualized the scene in the movie, at the foot of the cross where Mary and the ladies were sobbing and grieving.
Remember the scene; can you go there with me?
How the reality of His death, brought the reality of His Life to them.
They were drawn near because of their love. He draws near to us, because of His love.
It is an awesome thought.
Have you ever been somewhere, maybe in a store or after a church service and you see someone you know, and you wave to them to get their attention. As if to say, come here, I want to talk to you.
That is what this is saying; to wave/nod with the ‘intention’ to make the person come closer.
He is saying to us, “please come, I want to share with you”.
Draw me gently, closer to the one who is asking.
I wondered in this context what did draw mean?
Dictionary.com said: to drag or pull
So He is beckoning us to come near, pulling our hearts, toward a new experience with Him, to fall on our knees in humble praise.
Moving our hearts into a new reality, just as the women at the foot of the cross were moved.
I am lost for words…I think when we SEE Jesus, we have no words, only worship.

I am lost in love…that means focused. Nothing around me can distract me.
God is asking for relationship.
He is calling to us, waving to us, saying to us, “remember me?”
Just as we would do towards a friend who we really want to talk to.
It is an awesome thought to realize, the God of the universe cares enough for us
to ask us to draw near.
He desires us to make the move, drawing us gently, not forcing us, but gently drawing us to our knees.
It is not accidental.
Come near, He is waving us purposely to come close.
Do you grasp it yet? It is relationship.
How blessed are we as people.
To have a God who cares for us so deeply, to desire a relationship with us.
(remember the hymn ‘what a friend we have in Jesus?)
He promises, if we draw near to Him, HE will draw near to us.
James 4: Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
The other part of the song.
I’m sweetly broken, wholly surrender.
That means, He breaks our sinful nature softly ‘not in an abrupt’ way.
Sweetly broken, gives me a word picture of how someone would hold a baby.
Sweetly nurturing.
We are broken in a gentle loving way.
As we surrender our lives to Him, ‘wholly surrender’ that means ‘whole’, all parts of our our lives.
Only through the cross, and only through the Lord and His love can we do this.

Psalm 63:2,3,4
I have seen you in the sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer.
Psalm 108:1
My heart is confident in you, Oh God; no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart!

I pray, that as we walk with the Lord, when he beckons us to come near, we will rush to His side, to spend time with Him.
Just as the women at the cross cried over the reality of His death,
may we cry over the reality of the Life He gives to us?
This is my challenge today.

I am

by | Oct 21, 2012 | Uncategorized

That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
that there is no one besides me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
Isaiah 45:6
Joining with Deidra on jumping tandem and the Sunday community
Picture by Maxine from Oregon.

 

Taking a risk

by | Oct 19, 2012 | Uncategorized

When I think of taking a risk it brings to me deep and almost anxiety producing issues.
Should I do what I feel is right to do or should I
step back and do nothing so the risk doesn’t cost me something.
Taking that first step always costs us.
We become vulnerable.
We open a door to allow acceptance and perhaps the door shuts.
We become unsure of ourselves.
We become unsure of our motives.
Taking a risk means we move one more step outside of ourselves.
Dictionary.com says risk taking is to expose ourselves.
Not in a bad way but to take a risk to show others our ‘true’ selves.
Our authentic selves.
Can we do it?
This challenge for thirty one days has been a risk for me.
It has moved me in directions of distance and fear and of uncertainty.
I wasn’t sure if I could do it for thirty one days with a consistent flow and consistent thought process.
If wasn’t something I felt like I had to do it would be easier.
At times I have written three times a week and never had a problem with it.
When it became a challenge for me
the words didn’t come.
They felt more pushed and pulled and taken out of context of the flow of my blog.
The month is not over and I will continue to try to write
with some sort of content and thought.
It has just plain been hard.
How do you handle a risk taking situation?
  

In Prayer

by | Oct 17, 2012 | Uncategorized

Finding topics with words and content and just not knowing
what to share has been really hard during this thirty one days of challenge.
Not wanting to repeat myself and not wanting to appear boring
I struggle with the writings.
They say a habit is broken in thirty one days if someone wants to change.
What about a thirty one day challenge to write more and with more intent?
Does it make it easier or harder?
It is challenging.
It is interesting.
I push myself and words are not available
it is like they are hiding in some dark place waiting
for a light to turn on and expose them.
At the same time I get feedback that the words written have been a blessing
so it must be a matter of my heart only.
My love of writing has gripped me for the good
but some days it pushes me to limits I cannot go near or complete.
Thirty one days of a challenge might be too long.
Continue to be patient with me and prayerful.
I will press forward in prayer too.