REFLECTION 2007

We ushered in 2007 with three children four and under…life was busy to say the least. The transition from two to three children went better than expected and we saw prayers answered. Isabella and Annais settled into their new roles as big sister and brother easily and both were quite nurturing to Kaira.

In February the Lord blessed us with the house of our dreams. I got my Floridian style house nestled in North Georgia with a mountain view and Todd got his ranch floorplan. Within a month to the day of looking at the house we moved in and put the townhouse for sale. It did not sell so quickly, but in the eight months it took to sell we learned a lot about God and His heart for us. We reached new levels of faith and learned to trust Him in everything. Praise God the townhouse sold in November and we will not carry that into the New Year. It is a relief that I don’t think we have fully experienced yet.

We successfully completed pre-kindergarten with Isabella at home. She could count, recognize all her letters and sounds and was eagerly anticipating kindergarten. We are almost half way through kindergarten and I must say everyone is learning a lot. I’ve contemplated rewriting Everything I Need to Know about Life I Learned in Kindergarten as I am finding that to be true. Isabella is reading short stories and Annais by default knows his letters, numbers and can write some of them. He says he’s in kindergarten too and refuses coloring books and crayons, but is quite happy with old worksheets and a pencil. He adamantly requests “school work”.

Kaira is curious, at least that’s what Isabella says and I would have to agree. Annais will come to me and say, “Mommy, Kaira is in mischief again.” And she usually is! The girl has always got something to do, which usually includes emptying something out, so she can get in. She has perfectly executed a 911 call complete with officer arriving at our front door in 10 minutes flat. Her huge, piercing blue eyes combined with her infectious smile bless all who come in contact with her. She is a mommy’s girl, which is a new experience for me, one that proves difficult with her being one of three.

We are now a family of five with more loads of laundry than I think are legal in a category 4 drought. Having a larger home makes housework challenging - nothing is ever “all done”. Some weeks I clean the floors (or some of them), some weeks I change the sheets, some weeks I have even gotten all the laundry done, but NEVER has it all happened in the same week. So, if you drop by and the floors are dirty there’s a good chance you’ll sit on a clean potty, but if the floors are clean…you may want to try the gas station bathroom down the road.

Life is good and God is better. He has absolutely done exceedingly abundantly more than we could ever ask, think or imagine. His faithfulness is matchless and we are blessed, honored and humbled to be called His children.

MISTER ROGERS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

Judgmental? That’s not a word that we would typically use to describe our “neighbor” Mister (Fred) Rogers, but he described himself that way once and according to author Amy Hollingsworth, only once.

While in seminary Fred would visit different churches to see how different ministers preached. He and some friends decided to visit the church of a well-known and well-respected preacher. They soon discovered that he was away and there was a guest speaker. Fred, not impressed sat through the sermon making mental notes of all the rules the guest speaker was breaking. When the sermon was over he turned to his friend to commiserate and she was weeping. She told him that that man had said exactly what she needed to hear. It was then he realized that the Holy Spirit was able to transform that message into what his friend needed to hear – no matter how bad he thought the message was.

This experience shaped the rest of his life. It changed his Neighborhood as well. He said, “I’m so convinced that the space between the television set and the viewer is holy ground. And what we put on the television can, by the Holy Spirit, be translated into what this person needs to hear and see, and without that translation it’s all dross as far as I’m concerned.” Go Mister Rogers!

The lesson he learned from that guest speaker was: What is offered in faith by one person can be translated by the Holy Spirit into what the other person needs to hear and see. The space between them is holy ground, and the Holy Spirit uses that space in ways that not only translate, but transcend. (From The Simple Faith of MISTER ROGERS http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=452295&netp_id=356977&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW&view=details, by Amy Hollingsworth, page 35)

It made me think of blogging. What God prompts us to write from day to day, however spiritual or comical can be just what someone needs at that moment. The Holy Spirit can make just the right words or phrases minister to that person at their point of need. It also made me think of our critical nature. We are so quick to judge the things we see and hear, when we really have no clue how that very thing could be ministering to someone else.

During a meeting for a retreat weekend the leader brought out a little chick, you know the kind that peep when you put your fingers on the contacts? Well, she brought this thing out and did an exercise with the group and I couldn't stop bawling. It ministered to me deeply and God spoke loudly “to me” through that exercise. I heard and saw just what I needed at that moment.

You just never know what is going to minister to someone. Be careful what you say about others, especially your pastors. If people are following the leading of the Holy Spirit they are ministering to someone, it just might not be you. Or it could be you, just not at that moment.

Has something unusual ministered to you? I'd love to hear about it. If you don't want to comment here email me.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:29-32

im•mersed

September 19, 2007 RiverStone Church

...and anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the fire, and then it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water of cleansing. And whatever cannot withstand fire must be put through that water. Numbers 31:23

American Heritage Dictionary
im·merse (ĭ-mûrs') tr.v. im·mersed, im·mers·ing, im·mers·es
1. To cover completely in a liquid; submerge.
2. To baptize by submerging in water.
3. To engage wholly or deeply;

WATER - lyrics

I could get lost in all of Your love for me

Your love and mercy is all that I need

Great is Your kindness, great are Your deeds

And when the world surrounds me, You’re all I see

Hold me in Your arms

Catch me when I fall

Hear me in my darkest hour

Your love flows like Water washing over me

Your love flows like Water washing over me

Click here to listen to WATER:

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=267399

FIRE OF GOD

Photo by Brent Purcell

This picture was emailed to me this morning and I have thought about it all day. I am so drawn to it. If we were burning and on fire for God people WOULD be drawn to us! People light fires for warmth or beauty - how many people do you know need warmth in places that have grown cold and need beauty where only ashes remain? He wants to do that through us. Oh, how I long to burn brightly for my Savior. I want to be so ignited that others are drawn to me without me speaking a word. I want His love, His presence, His peace to radiate from me.

The song that has accompanied this picture in my mind all day:

Start A Fire

Verse:
Start a fire in me, let the flames run free
Burn away the dross, Holy fire of God

Chorus:
So let it begin, let it be new
Let me be used for Your sake
Giving glory to Your name
I can live, knowing that You
You reside in my heart
O Lord you are a fire, fire of God

Be blessed, be ignited...BURN!!!

GOD'S GOT MY SLEEP NUMBER

For me “sleep number bed” is an oxymoron. We had a “sleep number bed” for a little over two years and there wasn’t a whole lot of sleep going on. We got the bed and I was thrilled - ready to experience the sleep Lindsay Wagner described. My sleep number was 25, I knew that and I remembered that, but the bed couldn’t. I’d set my bed on 25 and settle down for a restful night, huh, the bed had other ideas. Through the night the bed would change the setting usually to five which is basically “deflated”. This presented a serious challenge for me and Todd when I was pregnant. I would wake up to pee and I’d be stuck in a sink hole in my own bed. I couldn’t get out, so I’d have to wake Todd up to hoist me out of bed. Select Comfort sent us replacement parts, lots of them, lots of times, but the bed just didn’t work.

Recently I recalled a book I read over the summer A Life That Says Welcome: Simple Ways to Open Your Heart & Home to Others by Karen Ehman. In the book the author mentions a list that her and her husband make every year of things they need and want, then they pray and ask God to provide them at little or no cost. Each year almost everything gets crossed off their list. I had been suffering from terrible neck, shoulder and back pain and after countless visits to the chiropractor and massage therapists there was little relief and I determined the bed to be the culprit. So, I began my prayer…Lord, I need a bed…you know I don’t have any money for one, so I’m excited to see how your going to do this! Spiritual, huh? Well, God must have thought so, because two days later He gave me a bed.

It was October 31st and I woke up to a dead battery in my van, so I walked across the street to my neighbors to borrow a battery charger. On the way I noticed a steady flow of water coming from my yard and cascading down the street. First things first, the battery! My neighbor opened his garage to get the charger and what was before me, but a king sized mattress. Mental note: Ask neighbor about the bed. It never came up in conversation and I had to get a new battery and deal with the water leak, so I’d talk to him later.

After getting the battery installed and the water company coming out my neighbor asked how it was all going and then there was a lull in the conversation. So, I said, “I saw a mattress in your garage, are you wanting to get rid of it?” “Yeah, you want it?”, was his reply. He told me that he was taking it to the dump the next day because he had purchased a sleep number bed. Funny, huh? Todd brought the mattress into our garage and as I loaded the kids in the car I glanced at the mattress with a grateful heart and saw the label “Stearns & Foster” (a very good and expensive mattress). I had to laugh out loud because it so like the Lord to give you the best when you ask. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

…when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Proverbs 3:24

If you think it is wrong to ask God for something like a bed take it up with Him!

Have you made a purchase that you later regretted because it didn't work like it said it would? I'd love to hear your story...

THE INSPIRATION

Naming a blog is a big deal. It's kind of like naming a book, you want it to be catchy and unique. I don't know if this qualifies as either, but it spoke volumes to me above all the other names I considered.

During a time of great healing and rejoicing the enemy interjected a time of great stress and turmoil in relationships in my life, but before he had the opportunity to do that the Lord gave me these verses out of Psalm 18:16-19 to comfort me and prepare me for the battle. These verses continue to minister to me and bless me every time I recall or encounter them.

He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me OUT OF DEEP WATERS.
He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the LORD was my support.
He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.

The Message bible reads:
But me he caught—reached all the way
from sky to sea; he pulled me out
Of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos,
the void in which I was drowning.
They hit me when I was down,
but God stuck by me.
He stood me up on a wide-open field;
I stood there saved—surprised to be loved!

For many years my motto was, "I'm just trying to keep my head above water" - hence, "out of deep waters." I remained there a long time not knowing there there was such an incredible life to be found in Christ.

Chaos was my enemy disguised as my friend, we went everywhere together. It took some getting used to peace, I had to confront the discomfort and press through to the other side. It truly was a great surprise to know how much I was loved by the one who created me and it makes me love Him all the more. I seek to know Him more everyday and the more I know the more I want to know. He continues to heal me, make me whole and minister to the deep recesses of my heart. My heart is completely His and I long to share His love, compassion and desire to heal with anyone who will listen.