got water?

I'm just sayin...I feel thirsty.  My spirit feels a little dry.  Like after being in a desert for several weeks, with only little drops to drink along the way.  I am parched...needing the washing of the water of the WORD, as Ephesians says. 

See, I have lived on sips for the month of December!  With all the busyness of what had to be done, places we had to be, and fun we just had to have!   But along the way only sipping little bits of His Word here and there, always being distracted by what called my name for the day, ...wrapping, shopping, decorating, baking, singing, laughing, talking, scurrying, and of course, just enjoying the season.

So now I find myself longing for the filling up of what only He can give me.  A drink that satisfies and refreshes a parched and "too busy" soul, in need of some sweet refreshment.  Jesus Himself says, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to ME and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within Him."

I need His streams to fill me up this week, so that I can have sweet waters to pour out on those around me.  Something that is refreshing and lovely, not stale and dry. Trust me when I say, that without His sweet waters, I got some stale and dry people... let's just be real!  You too?

Take a moment today...whether you are returning all that didn't fit, or dragging that dead tree out to the curb....and fill up with a drink that will truly satisfy your deepest needs and driest places and bring sweet refreshment to your soul!

Jesus....the one drink that truly satisfies.

peace, joy and hope..not at wal mart, people!

I was buying some Christmas plates at Wal Mart the other day that read Joy, Peace and Hope, and as I stood at the register, I watched the prices ring up on the screen.  "joy", "peace", "hope"...$3.00.

It got me thinking on the way home.   How many people desperately wish everyday that they could go to a store and pick these gifts up?  I know I have had many times in my life when I would have given my last dime to buy a little peace, joy and hope.


You know the lines would be out the door.
"I'll take some joy please....because truth be told, my heart feels very flat lately.  laughter is hard to come by.  everywhere i look, it looks a mess.  i'm tired of pretending."


"Do you have any hope left?  I need some quick.  I am sinking in a hole of despair. depression. pain. I am sure that things can't possibly change for me, for others, for the hurt we have carried!  I'll take even a small glimmer please...I just need something to hold on to. "


 "Peace??  I'll take all you have.  I am stressed out, desperately dry, too busy to see straight, angry and tired....and it's Christmas for heaven's sakes!!"


The truth of the matter is this. Though I do love me a good Wal Mart with all their varied selections, they can't supply what our hearts need most desperately.  Only God has that, in a store that is never on backorder.


 I find it interesting that often in my own life I keep waiting for God to remove the circumstance that is so difficult....so I can have peace.  Or, take away the pain of that relationship....so I can have joy.  And, change that desperately needy situation...so I can finally have some hope!


Actually, God allows our circumstances to be difficult, purposefully difficult, so He can be the Calm in our storm.  How do we appreciate His calm, without knowing the fear of the storm?  We want peace in our trial, and we think that means waiting until the trial is over.  God says, I am Peace...a Peace that passes your understanding.  You can have My peace right now, in the midst.


He promises that we can have abundant joy...full and overflowing.  Bubbling over.  Not because all is well all around us, but because of Who He is inside of us.  His joy is real!  When we remind ourselves that this temporary life, with all of it's painful moments, is but a vapor...our fullness of joy comes from knowing that this is not all there is.  Our Home awaits...a Home with no more pain, no more crying.


How about hope?  I am pretty sure this is the one that would sell out the soonest.  For there is not one of us who doesn't carry a desperate need that needs the breath of His hope to remind our hearts that He sees, He is at work, He can be trusted, He is able, His promises are true, and nothing is impossible for Him.  God's hope is the only real hope there is and He will never say to your situation...Wow, I'm not sure about that one?  He is HOPE...no matter what.


So, in the busyness of a season frantic with shopping, parties, presents, all on top of the stuff we were already dealing with....go to the One who can offer you true joy, abundant and sweet.  true peace...so that your hearts will not be troubled.  true hope...He is aware of what concerns you today.


Romans 15:13, "May the GOD OF HOPE fill you with all JOY and PEACE, as you trust in Him..may you overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Jesus!

So I can rarely find anything that says JESUS this time of year, the whole sweet reason we celebrate! I finally made big red glitter letters and spelled out His wonderful name to hang across our doors like garland, cuz I mean He is the centerpiece of it all...this season, every season.

"Take a good hard look at Jesus. HE's the centerpiece of everything we believe, faithful in everything God gave Him to do." (Heb.3 in the Message) 


How can you proclaim His beautiful name this time of year?  In your home, in your words, in your heart?  He is the Reason...

an amazing life....

So, I went to see Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. It was beautiful to see the grounds and his house, his books, his creative inventions. But I must say that Thomas didn't really capture my attention as much as this grave stone I noticed walking past the old family graveyard.

"She went about doing good and set at liberty them that are bruised."

What a summary of this woman's life! Oh, I could only pray for such a conclusion of mine.

See, what I know, what I am learning more and more as I continue this journey called life, is that there are bruises all around us, in the people we see everyday. It is a fact of living in this fallen world that is filled with stress, pain, struggles, fear, sickness, death.

The truth is this, Christ is freedom...there is no liberty to be found apart from Him, so this woman must have known Him, must have known His powerful word. James 1:25 talks about the Word being the perfect law that gives freedom! She surely must have known this along with His tender love, and His cleansing forgiveness, because you cannot extend to others what you know nothing about.

She also must have had some bruises. Is anyone exempt from that? The Word tells us that we are given comfort so that we have comfort to give. I think a bruise recognizes a bruise. Our bruisings and hurts give us a keen discernment to the ones found in those around us. We recognize the despair of a situation and extend freedom and hope by saying, "I've been there, He helped me, He can help you too."

This I know to be true...on my own, I got nothing good to extend to anyone. Wrong sized bandages. Expired ointment. Missing gauze. Queasy stomach.   I myself cannot offer liberty to anyone, but I can help love them in their wounds, and lead them to the One who has the salve that can heal their bruisings.

Lord, by your amazing grace alone, help me have your eyes to see the bruises in those around me. To care enough to ask, and pray, and love, and listen, and help when I can...but mostly to extend to others the Truth and Freedom and Grace and Hope found in You alone.

I wonder if the lady with this gravestone knew. You know, knew that she was known for loving people like that. Or maybe she just knew lots about bruises, found a soft and sweet freedom in the One with the salve, and spent the rest of her days pouring that out onto those around her. what a life indeed.

missing boots...big reward, what not to put on your new year's list, and a pitiful pit!

So I might have had just a little pride in thinking I was the kind of girl that always pulls herself up by my boot straps. You know..keep on going, rejoice in the Lord, put on the happy face, deal, stuff it down, do what's right, say what's Godly, live holy, and move forward. oh, and be perfect too.

This year for me has been a personal journey of the painful awareness that all of that has been a sham. a joke. living in my own strength, yeah right! and it's landed me tottering over an edge right into a pit, mostly a pit of fear. A pit that I've known was there, because I've felt the cold mud in my toes more than a time or two, but in my own strength have tried to cling to the top, elbows on the edge, trying to breathe deeply of the fresh air my lungs so longed for.

And, I don't mind sharing what will not be on my new years list, because it's what I prayed for in Dec. of 2009...and trust me when I say, lesson learned! I asked the Lord to go deep, give me more, transform me to look more like Him. and I think I envisioned some sort of a glowing light and peaceful moments, maybe even angels singing in the background, joyfully growing in Him, while leading numerous women's Bible studies. not hardly!! In fact, I have said to the Lord these very words, "DEEP ENOUGH!!" and yesterday I declared that my new resolution this year is that I just want to be fake and pretty! ha

In truth, I know that God knows my heart's desire for more of Him and less of me, and more importantly His own perfect desire for my life, whether or not I put it on my new year's list.

And, I pray that I am learning to trust Him more in this season, in this process. That indeed He is making me look more like His Son. That I will come forth as gold, not by any doing of my own, but because HE promises it. That He will use all things together and work them for my good. That good might look different than I thought. That the path may be hard to walk, but He promises to broaden the path beneath me so that my ankles do not turn! That it's not about me or anything I can muster up, it's all about Him.

And really, that He has hidden my boots on purpose!... it's part of Him going deeper, revealing all the things that I claim and cling to and proclaim from a place of true desire but not daily reality. He is allowing this season which has been filled with many more questions than answers, insecurity, uncertainty, unsettledness, and fear...because of His great love for me.

Because if He allowed me to keep thinking that I can pull these straps up, figure it out in my own understanding, walk in my own strength, always striving to do more, please more, be more, smile more,...I lose. Eventually the straps will snap...or I would..or maybe I already did. And, the glory of the Lord is missed in our lives when we don't acknowledge the empty places and weaknesses that desperately need His filling and strength.

Yes, it is in my places of weakness that I find His glorious strength. That has always sounded good, but I don't know about that fully yet, but I think it's on His list for my new year. Grace made perfect in weakness?... don't really know about that yet either, but I know its on His list for my life in Christ. Joy in His presence not based on any circumstance...don't know enough about that, but want to and He wants me to as well. True freedom in Christ, in every area...on His list too. Some of these things may be on His list for me for the rest of the days I'm here on this earth, because it will be from glory to glory that we will be transformed.

Many months ago as I was falling asleep, I talked to the Lord about my pit, often one filled with fear....and at that time I hadn't even fallen in yet. I told Him that I feel like I live on the side of the wall, aware of the muddy bottom, but most moments able to keep my head and shoulders above the edge, trying to enjoy the daily view, but with arms feeling tired and starting to shake. And wouldn't you know it, the next morning when I opened my Word, I turned exactly to Psalm 40... "I cried out to the Lord, and He heard my cry. And, He turned and answered me, HE LIFTED ME out of the slimy pit. wow.

I wasn't meant to climb out of the pit, boots strapped on, strong arms clawing myself out...wasn't meant to, and clearly not able to either. And, neither am I meant to live clinging to the side of the wall either, fearing the fall....but longing for the fresh air of the surface. So, in His time, I know He will lift me out. He will lift me out!... His doing, His strength, His ways.

So, let me be clear....I still have many days where I'm desperately looking under beds and behind the couch for my stinking boots! Cuz it's what I know to do. Show me the problem, I'll work to fix it. Show me the straps, so I can pull them up and just deal, be on my way, change this because I hate this place!... but truth be told, those old boots weren't made for walking (oh, you know you are thinking that is so good!)

Yes, my feet feel cold, barefooted for sure as I'm still clearly in "a" season, but I am hopeful. That He is shaping a pair for me that will fit just right. That my boots and me will be beautiful in His time, that they will be the perfect fit. That they will allow me to walk on the heights, and maybe even walk alongside someone else in the depths and hold their hand and offer His hope. To walk according to His Word, and walk humbly with my Lord. He is shaping them for me even now...and He is lovingly shaping me.

And, that is amazing grace, unfailing love at it's best..that He doesn't allow any of us to remain the same, but lovingly removes all the things we cling to, that He purposefully "goes deeper" and reveals all that really keep us from running in His fields of grace, breathing deeply of the Spirit's sweet abundance! ahhhhh.

boots and a pit and new year's resolutions...well clearly you see how they could all be in the same post right? :)

the God Who sees me...Who sees you

Remember the story in the Bible where Sarai, Abram's wife couldn't have children, though she desperately wanted them.  So, one day she said to her husband..."Go sleep with Hagar, maybe we can have a family through her."  The Bible says, Abram agreed.  I BET HE DID!!  I mean, seriously, I can imagine him saying,  "Well, honey if you insist!"  

So, Hagar became pregnant and eventually the relationship between her and Sarai became so strained, so ugly, such bitterness and anger that Hagar ran away into the desert.   

In the desert....  alone. mistreated. broken. hurting. needy.   Ever been there?

And, then the Lord.  An angel of the Lord showed up to minister to her needs.  Her very specific needs for that very specific moment.   And Hagar gave this name to the Lord who had spoken to her,

"You are the God Who sees me"

Oh, is that so good.  You are the God who sees what I am going through!  Who sees and knows exactly what I need at this moment.  The God Who is at work to provide a way for me through this desert.  Who promises to walk beside, to be an ever present help in time of need.  

What is your place of need today?  God sees.  Even in the deepest places of brokeness, hurt, fear, uncertainty, tiredness...He sees.  He is your Provider, Deliverer, Stronghold, Peace.  Speak out to Him today those things that He has promised to be for you, and watch for the sweet ways He wants to minister to you.

Ed u ka shun at it's BEST!

Thought I would share a fine home schooling moment, the kind of one that just makes a mama so proud!!!

As Levi was taking the language section of his test...he had to pick the word that best fit into the sentence.  It was something like this...

Last week you ______ to the park. 

go

went

will go

goed 

I couldn't believe it when I watched my son mark the answer "goed".    GOED??????   Seriously, I had to turn my head to keep control from just busting right out laughing.

After the test was over I was like,  Son?  Goed?    I said, "you better Goed to your room now, cuz your gittin a spankin with that kind a ant-sir!!"  

(Just kidding about that...but we did have a good chuckle over it.) 

But hey, you know, you can't get them all right, all the time!!! :)