Mother's Day 09

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

I know I'm a LITTLE late in getting this up and posted but hey, what can I say? I have been busy with a half a dozen and one things and then a bunch of nothin. In other words, I'm gettin old and slowin down. Is that a good excuse or what?

I was up in Eureka visiting with my sister and that took some time away from posting so I will blame it on that. Will post pics of my visit with her later. But for now back to Mother's Day.

We threw a surprise dinner for Sis. Allard and Sis. Wilson and had a great time of fellowship with just the ladies. As you can see by the look on Sis. Wilson face we really got her. Ha ha ha ha ha! I love a good surprise. I don't know where Sis. Allard thought she was going but where ever it was she didn't end up there. We had better plans for her that night.

Nothing like getting together with God's people and enjoying great Godly fellowship. It just has a way of lifting one's spirit and soon it's as if a weight has been lifted right off of your shoulders. I wouldn't trade my spiritual family for all the friends, fame or fortune this world has to offer. Isn't God Good?

Locked In With Him

On May 3rd of this year, Sis. Charlene Wilson and I went to Bakersfield to enjoy lunch and to get some supplies for a surprise Mother's Day dinner for Sis. Allard and Sis. Wilson. There have been so many things going on in my life over the past 7 months that it seems that I have been caught up in a whirlwind and can't get my feet on solid ground.

On the way home to get ready for the evening service with such a heavy heart, I told Sis. Charlene, "I feel that I am nothing but a lowly caterpillar in search of something better in this life. I feel as though I need to climb upon the Tree of Life and go as high as I can and then go out as far as possible on one of those high branches. There on that branch I need to begin to spin a cocoon. A cocoon of Jesus! I need to spin Him around me so tight until I can see nothing but Him. I need to wrap God around me until I can not hear or see anyone or anything but Him. I need to be able to focus ONLY on HIM. I need to stay there in that cocoon and not move or come out until I am healed and made into what He wants me to be.

That evening Pastor preached such an awesome message. He hit me full force with the Word of God. Pastor preached from Isaiah 40:25-31. He spoke about how the eagles will plunge themselves into the storm and spread their wings until they rise higher and higher until they are above the storm. There they will stay until the storm is over. This is what we need to do when we are hit by the storms of life.

I thought to myself, like the eagle, this lowly caterpillar will climb that Tree of Life to rise above my storm and there I will stay until this storm passes by.

Then Pastor spoke on verse 31, "They that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength..."

He said the word "wait" does not mean to serve or to stand by but it means to get intertwined with, to get tangled up with. Then he asked us if we ever had a slinky as a kid and if it ever got so tangled up that there was no way we could get it untangled. That is how we ought to be with the Lord. We need to get so intertwined in Him, so tangled up in Him that there is no way that anyone or anything can ever separate us from the Lord. No storm, no heartache, no pain, no suffering, no weakness, no problems that should come our way can separate us. We will climb higher in Him. We will rise above it all and there we will stay and focus on Him until the storm passes by.

I looked across the isle at Sis. Charlene and yes, I passed a note during preaching. I said, "Like a caterpillar making a cocoon, wrapping myself in Him until I am made into what He wants me to be." She replied, "I think you just got confirmation. All you need now is a quiet place to meditate, pray, read His word and hear His voice."

Then last night Pastor preached from Matthew 22:35-40. This is where the lawyer asked Him what the greatest commandment was and His reply was "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment."

Again, pastor confirmed how we should be so wrapped up in God that nothing else could ever take the place of our relationship with God. Using the term "WRAPPED" taking me back to my feelings of be wrapped up like a caterpillar in her cocoon. Wrapped up in God.

Our relationship with our spouse, children, our jobs, etc. nothing, NOTHING can ever become first in our life over God. There should never be anything that could ever come in to destroy our love for Him. It's all about Him.

I don't know where He is wanting to take me from here. I don't know what His plan is for me through all of this heartache and sorrow. But I do know this one thing, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28 KJV).

I am climbing that Tree of Life and I am spinning that cocoon. For I must focus on Him and His will for my life. When I come out, I don't know what I will be, but I do know this, I will be in His will and He will be holding my hand. I will mount up with wings as an eagle I shall run and not be weary, I shall walk and not faint. How can I be so sure? Because I went to a high place in Him and there I waited upon the Lord. I became entangled in Him insomuch that nothing can separate us from one another and I have renewed my strength in Him.

IF!

Last night at prayer meeting I was lead to turn to 2 Chronicles chapter 7 and began to read in my bible. Great story about the finishing of the temple that Solomon built that his father David had a burden for. Solomon made an end of prayer and a fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices and how the glory of the LORD filled the house. The priests couldn't even enter into the house of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled the place. Then all the children of Israel bowed their faces down to the ground upon the pavement and worshipped and praised the LORD saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

It's not like that today. When the fire from heaven comes down, we don't have to leave the building when He enters into it. We get to stay with Him and bask in His glory. We don't have to bow our faces down to the ground in His presence but we lift our faces towards heaven and we worship Him freely. Today, we still worship and praise the LORD, For He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever.

The LORD told Solomon that He heard his prayer and that He had chosen the temple to himself for a house of sacrifice. I am reminded by this passage that many, many times God has heard my prayers and He has chosen me as a house of sacrifice. For He no longer dwells in a building but in the hearts of man. He also went on to say: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place." verses 14-15

Such beautiful promises God has made to me. I want to make sure that this house that I have yeilded unto Him is clean and pure so that His eyes will be open unto me and His ears will be attent unto my prayers that I send up unto Him. In order for these promises to come to pass I have a duty to Him as well. In verse 17 He tells me that I must walk up right before Him as David did and do all according that He has commanded me. For if I don't and I turn away and forsake what God has told me to do and go after other gods then this house (me) which He has sanctified for His name will He cast out of His sight. It will be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it so that he shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land and unto this house?

And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, (the world) and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them therefore hath He brought all this evil upon them.

I will keep this house Holy for He is Holy. He can not and will not dwell in an unclean temple. I must do all that He has commanded and observe His statutes and judgments. I can not forsake them for He is my God and I am His child. When the fire from heaven comes down, I want it to consume me for I am a living sacrifice and I offer myself unto Him. I want the LORD to fill this house (me) to the brim and running over so that there is room for nothing else to enter in.

I do not want to be that house that is looked upon as one that forsook the LORD but I want to be one that walks upright before Him as David did.

We Are Family

Where would we be without family? I hate to think about that. I thank God daily for my natural and spiritual family. I love you all very much. I need you! I couldn't make it a day without you. You are the wind beneath my wings. You lift me up when I am down. When I am weak, you give me strength. If I am lacking in faith, you give me a boost to bring it back. Likewise, if you are the one who is in need, then I will be there for you. I will lift you up when you are down, encourage you when you are discouraged, bring you hope when you feel there is no hope, send you joy when you feel no joy, restore a song in your soul when your song has faded, send a healing your way when you are sick. How you might ask? Through prayer! I will pray for you as you have prayed for me. God WILL answer my prayers and HE WILL hear my cry and you WILL be restored just like I have been. We laugh, cry, hope, dream, believe, stand, fight, struggle, push on, and NEVER give up together. Together we are a team and we can do all things through Christ which strengthens us.

His ways are far above our ways. We may not understand everything that we have to go through. The heartaches and sorrow that sometimes comes our way may seem unbearable but He will always be there to comfort us. Though we don't understand, remember, "And WE KNOW that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 So when troubles, trials, and tribulations come, don't be discouraged, don't turn your back on Him, or your family. Stand fast, reach out to Him, lean on Him, turn to Him, for He loves you and cares for you like no other.

Together, we can make it! You, me, & Jesus, we're a Team. WE ARE FAMILY!

Pecans In The Cemetary

On the outskirts of a small town, there was a big, old pecan tree just inside the cemetery fence. One day, two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts.

'One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me,' said one boy. Several dropped and rolled down toward the fence.

Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle. As he passed, he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery. He slowed down to investigate. Sure enough, he heard, 'One for you, one for me. On for you, one for me..'

He just knew what it was. He jumped back on his bike and rode off. Just around the bend he met an old man with a cane, hobbling along. 'Come here quick,' said the boy, 'you won't believe what I heard! Satan and the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls.'

The man said, 'Beat it kid, can't you see it's hard for me to walk.' When the boy insisted though, the man hobbled slowly to the cemetery.

Standing by the fence they heard, 'One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me.'

The old man whispered, 'Boy, you've been tellin' me the truth. Let's see if we can see the Lord.'

Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence, yet were still unable to see anything. The old man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of the Lord.

At last they heard, 'One for you, one for me. That's all. Now let's go get those nuts by the fence and we'll be done.' They say the old man made it back to town a full 5 minutes ahead of the kid on the bike.

Proverbs 19:22 "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine..." Sooooo.....SMILE, God Loves You!

My Grace IS Sufficient!

It seems my insurance doesn't want to pay for another MRI so they wanted more documentation proving it was necessary for the need of another one to be done. So I was called in for an emergency follow-up. My appointment was yesterday, Monday, the 30th of March. My Neurosurgeon was very upset that this had to be done. I really didn't feel like making the drive since I had a full blown out migraine but what can one do when the insurance company thinks they know more than the doctors or the person who is suffering with pain, right? My neurosurgeon made the statement that since I do have a brain tumor and they already have pictures of it on file, why in the world does the insurance company need more documentation? Don't they understand there is a need to keep track of the tumor's growth to make sure that there is no serious complications arising? To see if surgery is going to be needed or not? This is a brain tumor we are talking about not some freckle for Pete's sake! Yes, he was very upset.

Testing and documentation was done for the benefit of satisfying the insurance company. Doc took one look at me and knew I had a migraine. He plugged me into some wires with this goop and measured the strength of the pain by the wave patterns on the print out. Not good! The doctor was not happy that I have had a migraine for 27days straight now. So he gave me a little something to help me out. I went over to my daughter's and slept like a baby. It felt soooo good. I woke up around 6:45p.m. and went home and back to bed. Problem is I woke up around 2a.m. this morning with another migraine and it still hasn't let up. I am scheduled for more very extensive testing. He believes it has nothing to do with the brain tumor. So we will see.

This morning as the pain was so intense, I told the LORD, I can't take it anymore, He replied, "My Grace Is Sufficient!" Immediately I felt the presence of the Lord near and the pain began to subside to a dull throb. I do serve a GOOD & LOVING GOD!

As I lay there on my bed, I began to think about my pain and each throb as it would slice through my head, I began to think of Calvary and the pain and suffering that Jesus went through for you and me for the sake of our Salvation. Now, think of the very worst pain that you have ever, ever suffered and multiply that by 1000 and then maybe you will realize just how much He really loves us. To think that He would be willing to suffer so much pain and agony to take upon Himself OUR sins, OUR punishment, OUR beating, and to bear OUR cross that day at Calvary.

As the pain was so excruciating in my head and each throb would pound, I tried to compare it to each strike of the cat of nine tails that struck the back of my precious Savior. I tried to imagine it ripping the flesh off my back as it did His that day. I tried to imagine my blood running down my back onto my legs and feel my insides being ripped apart and exposed as my flesh was being torn away by each strike. The piercing pain that would shoot through my head, I would compare to when they pierced my Lord's side. Then I realized, Lord this is NOTHING compared to what you have suffered for me and you did it all in the name of LOVE. There is nothing that we go through that HE hasn't suffered and that HE doesn't understand. He knows our every pain, heartache, disappointment, sorrow and HE cares. Yes, His Grace IS Sufficient! But it doesn't stop there. For as the first song below says, He gives us Beauty for ashes and the second song says, He turns our mourning into dancing and our sorrow into joy.

As Easter is quickly approaching, let's remember the purpose of the cross and give Him thanks for what He suffered and endured for the sake of our Salvation. Then let us rejoice to know the He is ALIVE and that we too can make it through whatever comes our way. We are over comers in Him. His Grace IS Sufficient!

WDLC 2009

Western District Ladies Conference 2009 was by far the best I have ever been to. As I stated in my last post the speakers and singers were so anointed you couldn't but be blessed.

My sister and I went up a day early this year so that we could have an extra day of just sister/sister time together. We live so far apart that we don't get to spend that much time together so we took advantage of it. It was fabulous! After we got settled into our room. We took off to check out the Mall and the town. Then we decided on a place to eat dinner, the Cheesecake Factory. First time there for the both of us. I don't know what we were thinking, ordering all that food because we didn't eat it all. We ate the salad on our plate and one quarter of the sandwich. Then we made an attempt to eat all of the cheesecake. Didn't happen! Then we told each other, "Next time we come here we will split a cheesecake". LIARS!!!! Next time we went was just for dessert but we ended up getting appetizers and we got our OWN cheesecake and ATE IT ALL! Pigs we are!!!

We laughed so much together. Thought of evil things to do that would cause chaos. Like when we signed in at the registration table for seating for the Brunch I asked my sister, "I wonder what they would do if we mixed up all these name tags?" Then we snickered and giggled just to imagine all the confusion. Then we saw Sis. Cindy Ziegenbein coming our way and new by the look on her face that she knew we were up to no good. LOL! Of course we wouldn't have done it but just the thought was enough to laugh about.

When eating breakfast at Double Tree, we were laughing so hard and again Sis. Ziegenbein pops out of no where and tells us "You girls are having waaaaaay to much fun!" She scarred me because she just popped out of no where. Sort of like what the Lord is gonna do on that glorious day of the rapture. Know what I mean?

When we were eating at the Cheesecake Factory we laughed and laughed and laughed until my sides were splitting. Our poor waitress, she must have thought she had a couple of ol' ladies who had escaped from the loony bin because we were really over the top. But then again, she would just come over and smile and laugh with us and make sure we had everything we needed. She was really an excellent waitress. My poor sister, she never knows what she is going to get herself into when she is with me. I am the oldest and I have led her into more trouble through out the years in her life. You would think that she would have learned by now. She just keeps coming back for more. She must have blond roots.

We would walk up and down the halls of that hotel and literally have to stop because we were laughing so hard. I know people must have thought we were crazy. But hey, we were making up for lost time. Remember, we don't get to see each other very often. My poor sister, Jovina, that's her name, would beg me to please stop because she was laughing so hard and I was really carrying things to the limit. The more she begged, the worse I got and the harder she laughed. I know, I'm evil and then I wonder why I didn't get my healing. Go figure!!! :)

We had more than one person tell us, "What are you girls up to now?" I mean, come on, did we look that Ornery? Tee Hee Hee Hee!

The best part of our visit together was standing side by side worshipping our God in spirit and truth. Sure wish I had some pictures of that to share with you. But we were busy praising God then and didn't have our cameras out. So you will have to use your imagination for that part of our trip. God bless!