The Last Leg

The last drop from my filled cup is gone, yet not forgotten.

Funny how we painfully savor some things and others we cannot seem to devour fast enough.

That is how my last month has been. Painful and joyous and at moments almost unreal. Even now as I sit and try to write, tears are trying to fill my eyes and spill out. It has been rough and long and I am tired.

Bob's mom made it through surgery with flying colors and has started the last leg of chemo treatments. We have been informed that this leg will be harder, more intense, and at the end, she should be on her way to remission!! We just have to finish this last leg....and it is proving to be harder and more intense...prayers would be appreciated!!

At the same time, my husband and I feel like we are on that last leg too! Still have not sold the house in Texas or the cabin, and have had to make the decision to move again as we are not able to buy the current home we have been renting.

Right now I would like to give praise to all those women in the military who move for living!!! My hat goes off to you!

Why is it the last leg of any race or adventure is always the hardest, yet will be the most rewarding?? I remember doing a half-marathon with TEAM IN TRAINING with my sisters in honor of our oldest sister. The last two miles were brutal!! I am an asthmatic and my lungs were not happy at mile 11, however I refused to use my inhaler because all I could think about was the last week of my sister's life and how she fought so hard.... I could fight too! My sister, Janice, understood. She stayed right next to me with inhaler in hand, cheering me on and as my foot crossed the finish line put the inhaler in by mouth...I will never forget that!! Finishing that race is one of the highlights of my life!! (My little sister, Jennifer, finished before me, however we later learned that she had broke the top of her foot during the race because her shoes were tied to tight!)


The ending is where my focus is, not fighting through the pain...because the most rewarding part is still yet to come!




The truth is that the MOST REWARDING is yet to come!! Heaven awaits!!

But for now, the most wonderful shades of green are helping me to push forward and finish. Life is awakening again and the banner is waving in the distance...marking the finish line!!




I pray that were ever life has you on this journey, you take a moment and breathe, look around and watch for the signs of the ONE who is cheering you on to the finish line!! You might just be surprised at how loud HE is cheering!!

Cup of Joy Refilled

What a wonderful weekend I have had!

I spent the weekend on a women's retreat and received a filling up of my joy cup!!

For most of the time here, I have been searching for fellowship with new journeymen (women) on my spiritual walk. I was so blessed at our church in Texas and so wanting and needing the same blessing here. I knew God had a plan for me, but I was growing weary and needed assurance...

Well, I now have a cup overflowing....AMEN!!!

God is so faithful and I just have had 48 hours of confirmation...really, it does not get any clearer than this!

So to all my new journeymen(women), I am so blessed to have met you and look forward to taking long walks in the garden with you!

Thank you Lord, for your mercies are great!

Building of a Temple

In the building of the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and NO HAMMER, CHISEL OR ANY OTHER IRON TOOL WAS HEARD at the temple site while it was being built. 1Kings 6:7

Have you ever been to a construction site? The noise is almost unbearable!! So think about this verse for a moment.



It took seven years to build the temple, and there was not a sound of hammer, chisel or other iron tool at the building site!!

This astounds me.

During this Season of Lent, when we are focusing on the magnitude of the CROSS, I am struck by this quietness. This absence of modern day tools. This great reverence for the MOST HOLY PLACE, that begins at the moment of construction.



And this quietness begs the question, if I am a temple for the MOST HOLY, am I allowing too much noise at the construction site?

The answer would have to be yes. The noise of jackhammers, saws, chisels and the like have taken residence in my being. Television, cell phones, computers, worry and fret have made themselves at home causing confusion, exhaustion and doubt. All stealing the quietness and the calmness of rebuilding the temple. We live in a society of here and now, whatever will make the process quicker is what we are after. This of course is what the enemy has wanted all along, because with the modern day tools we drown out the STILL SMALL VOICE that is trying to give direction and speak LOVE.

Please don't miss understand me, these things are great tools when used in the correct places, at the quarry!!

Even Jesus went to the quiet places, leaving the crowds and the noise behind to commune with the FATHER.

Us getting away from the "quarry" for awhile.

We need more time away from the quarry and more time building in the quiet reverence of the MOST HOLY PLACE. I am still in awe of this verse...NO SOUND OF TOOLS at a construction site!! GOD works this way, in the silence, building HIS temple in us.

May you spend your weekend enjoying the silence at the construction site!

Stumbling on the Path

Well, it did not take long...I have already stumbled.

I have this bucket with all my "rocks" in it, and this weekend some of them started to fall out. One right after the next. I was successful, for a while, at picking them up and putting them back in. However by Sunday afternoon, I found myself sitting on the side of the road, in the dirt, crying over these "rocks" that would just not stay in the bucket.

A glimpse of beauty within all the "rocks"!

I really wasn't in the dirt, or on the side of the road, and I am not talking about real rocks.

What I am talking about is lack of faith. Trying to be in control. Not trusting in the ONE who knows how best to carry "rocks".

My husband's mom, Mary, lost her sister-in-law on Saturday and on Sunday, Mary was having unexpected surgery for a strangulated intestine...these were my rocks!!

So, when I say I was in the dirt on the side of the road...I was in despair and forgetting WHO really was in control the whole time!

Mary made it through surgery just fine, and will be given a "day pass" to attend the funeral later in the week.

I learned how to lean in better, and give over the "rocks" that I thought needed carrying.

Don't you have a bucket too??

The CROSS is where all buckets were emptied, once and for all. There really is no need to carry them around anymore, unless you are picking wild flowers....The power of the CROSS turns our "rocks" into wildflowers!!




So, I continue my WALK in FREEDOM with a few less rocks and a couple of wild flowers, hopefully by EASTER I will have a full bouquet!

Redemption

The Season of Lent is upon us.
A time to reflect on sins committed and ones that were committed against us. A time to reflect on the ACTION that was taken to take it all away!

A Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins.
Isaiah 59:20

I walk in freedom today, not because of something I have done, but because of something I was/am willing to receive....FORGIVENESS!

My daughter dancing in FREEDOM!

I, as a mom, am constantly telling my children to apologize and forgive each other, but how many times do I actually do this for myself? Not near as much as I instruct them too!!

The enemy has come to steal, kill and destroy! The enemy wants you to remember your short comings, failings and other sinful nature...God on the other hand has sent HIS son and HE has paid the price for us! Do you grasp that?? I sometimes don't either, however we should really think long and hard on this...hence the Season of Lent!

I heard something today and am still trying to wrap my mind around it..."When God looks at us, HE sees us as white as snow, because we are made clean by the blood of Christ!"

Think about this.

When we look in the mirror what do we see? Do we see the glory of the MOST HIGH reflected back? I know I don't, however I should if I truly believe that I have been saved by the BLOOD OF CHRIST!

That is exactly what the enemy wants us to not understand and receive!! THE GIFT OF EVERLASTING LIFE THROUGH CHRIST JESUS, NAILED ON THE CROSS FOR OUR SINS, WASHED BY HIS BLOOD, MADE HOLY BEFORE GOD!

We live in a fallen world, and we all have human sinful nature, and we all fall short of righteousness.

There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by HIS grace through the REDEMPTION that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of HIS BLOOD-to be received by faith.
Romans 3:22-25

My challenge this Lenten season is WALK in this gift of SAVING GRACE, to accept the forgiveness and the NEW LIFE that Jesus so selflessly given me, to re-CLAIM my freedom and stand firm against the enemy!! Won't you join me?

I Fell

Two weeks ago I fell. I fell hard.

Temperatures rose to a balmy 37*, the rain fell gently down, the snow slowly melted and then as surely as the temperatures rose, they began to drop.



What had been water cascading down the asphalt driveway was now a crystalline black sheet of ice. This is when the fall occurred. When night and morning are blurred together. One day has ended, the next just beginning.

I was called to "rescue" my daughter from a sleep-over that had turned to homesickness; my husband, still on travel and landing at the airport; my son, sleeping and dreaming of new adventures. I pull on my coat and grab my keys and proceed to rescue my precious little one from the dark night.

I should have surrendered when my truck refused to climb the incline of the drive and instead chose to slide sideways back towards the garage, but my daughter needed me. Not once, but several times my truck refused my direct command to retrieve my precious little one. I was on a mission and failure was not an option. So, I get out of the truck and investigate the reason for the refusal, knowing good and well what the problem was, but not really wanting to admit defeat.



I am able to climb the incline, why shouldn't the truck be able too...and then it happened. I was standing in all my "in-control" self and then I wasn't. Though I should not have been, I was in total surprise of where I found myself...cold, wet, and hurt, really hurt. All I could think about was " Please, God, let me get to my daughter, she needs me."

I was not going anywhere. She was brought to me, safe and sound.

I had a lesson to learn and it has taken two weeks to fully receive it.

When we (I) fall from GRACE, it sometimes catches us by surprise even though we have seen it coming and refuse to take another route.

My fall has left me with back pain, no bruise, but pain that will take some time to heal. The bruise will come later, the hurt is deep.

Sin is that way. The hurt goes deep, the pain has caused scarring and sometimes we are unaware of the bruising until the shades of our sin become visible through the eyes of TRUTH.

The healing does come. The hurt is healed all the way through to the marrow, the root of the sin is no more. GRACE has been renewed.

I still have a way to go before my back is the same, however because of my fall, I was able to warn my husband of the ice, I was able to be humbled into letting go and allowing someone else to rescue my precious little daughter, and I have been blessed by the SPIRIT.

Now when my back catches, I am reminded of slowing down and listening to the still small voice that is leading the way, the way of the righteous, not of the in-control!!

The Small Voice in the Storm

Cloudy with a chance of wintry mix...rain/sleet/snow.

These are the days to curl up and read, write or watch a great movie..but they also represent the perfect scenario for the enemy to come and lay claim in your mind.

During this season of clouds and freezing rain, the roads turn icy in a moments notice, you have to be on guard. We should be the same in our faith walk..let me try and explain what I mean.

The enemy slips in unnoticed, with just a wondering thought, then that thought demands more attention and we give it, usually without a second thought as to what lie we are actually being told. Then, without much warning that small wondering thought has actually become a stronghold and we label IT as who we are, how we are, it is automatic, part of us...

Unlike the weather, this does not happen instantly, but over time. The enemy starts young..I am watching the battle begin in my own daughter and am trying to call what IT is at the start so that IT does not make permanent residents in her mind!

I speak as a solider who has fought those battles and still does. IT is the lies of the enemy. Lies that tell us we are unworthy, worthless, ugly, unsuccessful, and the list goes on...

When our season of life has turned cloudy and rainy, the lies seem to be louder and stronger and become more deadly. DO NOT give in to the lies (I am repeating that to myself)! Why is that do you think? Why when things are not so sunny and happy it is so much easier to fall for the lies? Has GOD changed?



The answer is no, GOD has not changed, we have just forgotten.

We have forgotten that HE has rescued us, died for us, and has set us free! We have forgotten the love HE has for us. We have simply forgotten to be still and know WHO has created us.

GOD is in the clouds, the wind, and the rain (frozen or not) speaking in a still small voice....quiet your (mine too) hearts and minds and listen to the TRUTH, for that TRUTH will set you free!