From August to February

Life is a process of beginnings and endings. In both life and nature, there are times when things move slowly and don't seem to change very much. Then, suddenly, things change quickly. Moving from August to September, the weather changes gradually at first, and then it seems that suddenly summer is over. It is the same in our lives; transitions are as natural as the changing seasons.

Life transitions are challenging because they force us to let go of the familiar and face the future with a feeling of vulnerability.

That is where we are at right now. Been here before but now……well we have moved from August to February in a blink of an eye. March 2009 completely changed the map of our lives. My beautiful, vibrant and funny mother in law had a stroke. God’s hand was upon her, her deficits are not visible, but insidious they lay in her memory and thought processes. She has devotedly taken care of her husband, my father in law over the last few years who is ravaged by Parkinson’s.

Any significant loss makes most people feel fearful and anxious. My future is filled with questions, and I’m afraid. I am anxious and my life is disrupted. Behind is the familiar, present… the very unfamiliar. There is an awareness of feeling completely unprepared, unqualified, shocked, sad, and confused. I want to learn to identify and express my feelings. It's normal for me to try to push away feelings of fear and anxiety.

This transition however gives me…gives us, a chance to discover our family’s strengths and a chance to explore a new life with new adventures. We now are caring for our children and our parents. God has orchestrated in all His Majesty and omniscience an opportunity for us to serve and care for family in such a way I never thought possible.

The positive side I see right now is an opportunity to assess the direction our lives in the path we are taking. This is a chance to grow and learn. I pray this time of reflection will result in a sense of renewal, stability, and a new equilibrium.

I have a sense to rush through this transition, to get back to the norm. To get my in-laws moved in…to get back to the norm. But this is the norm now and I sense the Holy Spirit saying “Don't be in a rush”. I don’t excel at feeling insecure, anxious or vulnerable. Come Holy Spirit; come with Your quiet rustlings. Help me hear all that you are whispering to me... ”Be still and know that I am God!”

What does God promise his people?

He promises us relief from all troubles in the next world and relief from some troubles in this life. Faithful people throughout the centuries witness to dramatic deliverances from sickness, from financial woes, from all manner of troubles. Flesh-and-blood human beings have testified to our Father’s healing presence in times of troubles with a supernatural peace that passes all understanding.

Sometimes we aren't relieved by God. Sometimes we merely endure through faith. This isn't such a bad thing. We are never nearer to God than when we are troubled. In times of comfort and ease we forget Him. In the worst of times, we suddenly remember, "Ah, what if I asked God for help?"
Sometimes the answer is the help we pray for. Sometimes the answer is "Lean on me, and you will survive and thrive."

As I journal, and as I seek the Lord I am continually reminded of His promises. I hunger and thirst for His Word….for more of Him. Lord I hold Your hand ever so tightly through these changing seasons!

Psalm 73:25-26 Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

Psalm 119:50 Remember your promise to me, for it is my only hope. Your promise revives me; it comforts me in all my troubles.

Psalm 23:1-4 The LORD is my shepherd; I have everything I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.
Even when I walk through the dark valley of death, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

Psalm 18:2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the strength of my salvation, and my stronghold. .

Psalm 46:1-2 God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear, even if earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.
Psalm 71:20 You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth.

Psalm 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted, binding up their wounds.

Isaiah 41:10 "Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand."

Isaiah 43:2 "When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."

Matthew 10:29-31 "Not even a sparrow, worth less than a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows."

Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light."

2 Corinthians 4:8, 16-17
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don't give up and quit.
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are quite small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever!

FUNNY FRIDAY

Love to laugh!

Everyonce in a while I run across a "dumb blonde" joke that gives me a little tickle. Being that I've been blonde many times in my life AND that I have many such moments under my belt, I feel qualified to approach a thing such as this! So from time to time I will have an honorary "Blonde" moment to share~

Sick Leave

I urgently needed a few days off work, but, I knew the Boss would notallow me to take leave. I thought that maybe if I acted 'Crazy' then he would tell me to take afew days off. So I hung upside-down on the ceiling and made funny noises. My co-worker (who's blonde) asked me what I was doing. I told her that I was pretending to be a light bulb so that the Bossmight think I was 'Crazy' and give me a few days off. A few minutes later the Boss came into the office and asked, 'What inthe name of good golly are you doing?' I told him I was a light bulb. He said, 'You are clearly stressed out.' Go home and recuperate for acouple of days.' I jumped down and walked out of the office... When my co-worker (the blonde) followed me, the Boss asked her, '..Andwhere do you think you're going?!'

(You're gonna love this....)

She said,

'I'm going home, too. I can't work in the dark . '

1,000 WORD THURSDAY

REST

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.

Matthew 11:28-30 (Msg)

Her own private war

As I lay watching her documentary, I was in awe of a brave and beautiful woman laying bare the brutal reality of her two and a half year battle with cancer. In awe of an icon whose beauty defined a decade and whose strength and bravery are defining her final chapter.

Farrah Fawcett is ‘praying for a miracle’ in her battle with cancer.

The ‘Charlie’s Angels’ actress has undergone an unsuccessful spout of radiation and chemotherapy treatments in a bid to beat anal cancer, but she insists she has not given up a fight.
She said, “Cancer is a disease that is mysterious, headstrong and makes its own rules. And mine, to this date, is incurable.
I know that everyone will die eventually, but I do not want to die of this disease. I want to stay alive. So I say to God-because it is, after all, in his hands-It is seriously time for a miracle’”

In a documentary of her battle with cancer, the actress tells of how she never expected in her lifetime to be stricken by the disease, and says the diagnosis instantly changed her priorities.
She said, “All of the things I have ever hoped for in my life, finding a doctor to surgically remove my anal cancer did not even make the top one million on my list.
“But now it is number one, number one as in primary cancer, meaning was the first in and for that reason, it needed to be the first out. Because this peanut-sized tumour that has sent its army of mutant cells to my liver. And it would continue to send reinforcements into any organ into my body unless someone did something to stop it.”

This is an incredibly intimate and moving story.

These words “So I say to God, because it is, after all, in his hands: It is seriously time for a miracle."

We are praying for you girl. Praying for your husband and your son as well. May they see Jesus face as you look to Him for strength.

Funny Friday

Cup of Tea ~
One day my mother was out, and my dad was in charge of me.
I was maybe 2 1/2 years old.
Someone had given me a little 'tea set' as a gift, and it was one of my favorite toys.

Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea', which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home.

My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!'

My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I came down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy; and she watched him drink it up. Then she said, (as only a mother would know),
"'Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach to get water is the toilet?"

1,000 Word Thursday

NEW SYMBOL

“I am proud to be an American. I'm proud of the freedoms we enjoy because of the brave men and women serving this great country and who have served.” Carrie Prejean

AMEN SISTA

In Case you missed this tempest in a teapot, recently we viewed the Miss USA pageant in shock and awe in regards to one loaded question and one profound answer. One of the contestants, Carrie Prejean, during the interview segment, was asked a question in regard to Gay Marriage by openly gay Perez Hilton. The contestant came in second, and after the Pageant, Perez lashed out with vicious profanities re; “the dumb b----,” Carrie on his blog.

Carrie Prejean of California is making headlines for actually having an opinion beyond "world peace is a good thing." Miss California's answer,

"We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. (ok the wording is a little strange) And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised."

That’s what’s so great about being an American - we’re able to have our own opinions. Being a Christian conservative I fall into the Prejean camp of “family values” however; I love this country and I love the freedom we exercise on a daily basis. From Perez’s’ freedom to his mindless daily ramblings to my ability to gather weekly with my church family and worship my Abba Father who died for each and every one of us. We live in the best country in the world and I stand for freedom of speech....whatever your opinion is!

God bless you, Carrie, for standing by your convictions and your faith in God. It must have been tempting to compromise your integrity (I sure wish you had not posed in some of those shots though). No doubt it’s been a difficult few weeks for you, considering the many attacks from total strangers you’ve endured, but you’ve also sparked a tremendous amount of people who are shocked by so many people’s desire to rob you of your First Amendment rights. You’ve become a symbol of free speech.

Tuesday's Quotes

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
Mark Twain

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.

~ Alan Cohen~

AQUA NET

My daughter just asked me today…Mom why don’t you ever straighten your hair?
I said “honey, Big hair balances out my plump rump roast!”
I love to watch her throw her head back and fill up a room with her hearty laughter.
But it gave me pause to ponder my passion for “hair gone wild”

As if coming into my fashion prime during the 80’s were not enough, I’m from Texas were everything is better…. BIGGER! That’s right!

Bring on the Aqua Net baby, Power Ballads by the “HAIR bands” such as Poison, Cinderella and Bon Jovi. It wasn’t just us girls, NO the guys had it going on as well.





We can’t forget the ‘I'm-Closer-to-God-Than-You Bangs’ oh yeah. Bangs were meant to be big and teased. You were not ready to take a stroll through the mall without them.

What was it that caused us to wear our funky, gargantuan 80s hairstyles like a badge of honor?
From the bangs that reached for the heavens with frizzy passion, to the ‘LIKE TOTALLY RAD’ extremely asymmetrical new wave social hair statement,
to the funky side ponytails walking ‘hair-in-hair’ with the mullets. Hairstyles in the 1980s were about excess, VOLUME, experimentation, and enough hairspray to protect our heads when the Russians dropped the bomb.

Hair

Teased, permed, volume, volume volume!

MOM

Before I was a Mom , I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom , I had never been puked on. Pooped on. Chewed on. Peed on.

I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts. I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom , I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.

Or give shots.. I never looked into teary eyes and cried. I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin. I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom , I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put her down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much. I never knew I would love being a Mom .

Before I was a Mom , I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body..

I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom , I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay. I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom .

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom .

1,000 Word Thursday

Refreshment

Jeremiah 31:25 (NIV)

I will refresh the weary and satisy the faint.

Tuesday's Quotes

To escape criticism –

do nothing,

say nothing,

be nothing.” --

Elbert Hubbard

My TRUE reflection

I can just see her now. She is very domesticated (does everything from scratch whether it is something to eat, something to wear, or something to hang on the walls or cover the beds/windows). Anything that can be recycled it is. She is so organized that there is never any wasted time or energy. Her children are home schooled. She is creative and imaginative. Bargain hunting is a breeze. It seems that everything she touches turns to gold.

She is the "perfect" weight, well liked, fits in and everyone wants to be around her. She is smart, motivated and really seems to have arrived. Surely she does devotions every morning and has secured a mansion of eternal glory probably not far above the mansion she currently lives in.

Yet really there is no way to see the secret pain that she may possibly be living in or the potential bondage that comes from the energy of keeping up such a facade.

I have felt so inadequate and so far behind when I think about such things that I am defeated before I ever get out my front door.

Why?

• How many talents have been entrusted to me?
• Will I multiply what I'm entrusted with, or focus on anothers talents?

Sound familiar? I've talked to many women over the years who have in fact shared such an inward battle as this.

I too have felt so defeated that I have wanted to give up before I even started. If we play this game of life like we will never arrive,

then we play like we have already lost........like losers.

How can we over come these feelings?

When we are surrounded by those with a better "score" than ours,

BELIEVE GOD!

Isaiah 64:6 We are all infected and impure with sin. My righteous deeds are but filthy rags.

Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:7 "of what greater worth or value than gold is our FAITH!

Not our righteous acts but our FAITH is credited to our account as righteousness. God wants to heal our hearts and change us from the inside.

He has a purpose for our lives.

Too much adventure stands to be missed to live beneath our talent.

If faith pleases God, let us exercise it lavishly.

We must spend time with the Lover of our soul, absorbing His living life giving word down to our very marrow.

I've come to realize that by keeping my eyes determinedly focused on Him, I'm focused on the One who is solely qualified to show me my TRUE reflection.

I want to play like a winner in this game called life.

I want to be ALL He created me to be!

MUSINGS OF A SWINE FLU

I work in a Petri dish otherwise known as a hospital. As we gear up our education talks with patients and remind one another of the ABC’s of protecting ourselves, my mind wanders…………

• Get plenty of exercise because exercise helps build your immune system.
• Wash your hands often. If you can’t wash them, keep a bottle of antibacterial stuff around.
• Wear a mask when out in public places and avoid going out in public as much as possible while the swine flu is spreading.
• Get lots of fresh air. Open windows whenever possible.
• Get plenty of rest.
• Try to eliminate as much stress from your life as you can.

OR …. You can take the doctor’s office approach. Think about it, when you go for a shot, what do they do first? Clean your arm with alcohol.. Why?
Because alcohol kills germs. So……

• I put on my mask,
• walk to the liquor store (exercise),
• I put lime in my Corona (fruit),
• celery in my Bloody Mary (veggies),
• drink on the bar patio (fresh air),
• tell jokes, and laugh (eliminate stress)
• then pass out (rest). The way I see it, if you keep your alcohol levels up flu germs can’t get you!!!!

Ok kidding aside and on a more serious note, I just find myself AMUSED and AGHAST all at the same time!

~ Amusement…Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt can use even a pandemic to capitalize on their career. Genius I say! I think they beat out Madonna and Paris Hilton on creatively reinventing ways to storm media attention.

~ Aghast…..Yes I realize swine flu is aptly named because of its origin but if I’m going to be infected by a virus I want it to be named something a little more provocative.

Something such as CC H1N1 (Cindy Crawford) VSH2S1 (Victoria Secret)GB3400N (Gisele Bundchen) or even HBIn2T (Halle Berry).
My good friend Laurie shared her opinion with me on this subject and added
“I agree! Something about Swine, Bovine, Canine, Blubonic, etc. – just not as ‘romantic’ as, say, ‘Scarlet Fever’ – now there’s a romantic disease! Ha! ; )”
Funnay Lauurriieeee

To cap off this irrelevant conversation with something more relevant I could not sign off without talking about matters of the heart. It is hard not to be swept up in fear and speculation as the media shows scads of people wearing masks and people getting sick.
I don’t doubt someday we will have a day such as this and it will be much more virulent. We see it in the hospitals now, stronger strains of viruses and bacteria. It takes more and more antibiotics to kill off a bug that used to take one simple antibiotic.
The Lord gives us clear instruction repeatedly to rest in Him, cast our cares on Him, to be anxious for nothing and…..

“I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4).

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 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” (Proverbs 3:5-8).

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10).

Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Funny Friday

LOVE TO LAUGH

I know this story is pretty old and has circulated the Internet at least for 10 years but it gets me every time.....and I think it's because I can see myself doing such a thing.



A young man shopping in a supermarket noticed a little old lady following him around. If he stopped, she stopped. Furthermore she kept staring at him. She finally overtook him at the checkout, and she turned to him and said, 'I hope I haven't made you feel ill at ease; it's just that you look so much like my late son.

'He answered, 'That's okay.'

'I know it's silly, but if you'd call out 'Good bye, Mom' as I leave the store, it would make me feel so happy. 'She then went through the checkout, and as she was on her way out of the store, the man called out, 'Goodbye, Mom. 'The little old lady waved, and smiled back at him..

Pleased that he had brought a little sunshine into someone's day, he went to pay for his groceries. That comes to $121.85, said the clerk. 'How come so much .. I only bought 5 items...
'The clerk replied, 'Yeah, but your Mother said you'd be paying for her things, too.'
'Don't trust little Old Ladies'!!!