Life

DD and I went on a grand adventure last week. We traveled nine states in six days. It was great fun. We went to see my son at basic training. It was family day and he got two day passes. He mostly dreamed of eating and of course he ended up with a bit of a stomachache the second day from all of the food he is no longer used to eating. Mostly we just visited and visited and it was wonderful to spend time with him again.

His girlfriend and her family met us down there and we had such a nice visit. The second day, family that we haven't seen in too many years came out and spent a few hours with us as well and it was so nice to visit with them too.

My son looks so good and so strong and he's changed a bit and not at all, all at the same time. He has lots of decisions coming up in life and we talked about all of those and listened as he dreamed about it all the different things that he could do with his life and tried to help him to figure out what the best plan is for him.  

He is doing great at basic training and I'm so proud of him. I only wish that his dad could have gone to see him too but he was out of town for work. We Skyped with him a couple of times which was wonderful and he got to feel like he was a part of it and my son got to ask his dad advice and tell his dad all his dreams and hopes for his career as well.

My sweet daughter and I had lots of quality chatting time in the car on the way there and on the way back. We talked about her future and her plans and her wants for her future. She's only 15 so she's still in the planning stage, well I think we all are no matter the age but it's hard because she's starting to look at colleges a little bit here and there and she's just not sure what she wants to do.

Listening to my kids talk about their future and what they want out of their future really warmed my heart because both of them talked about wanting to have an impact on the world around them, wanting to make a difference. I realize now what an important trip this was. At first I just thought it was going to be this great adventure for my daughter as we have never traveled alone before and then  great fun to see my son but I realize now that it was a really important trip because we were able to show my son how much he means to us and that we will always be there for him whenever possible and it was important for my daughter and I to have this time of bonding and chatting and just really exploring life together.

So anyway this is where I've been for the last week or so traveling with my daughter to see my son. While we were camping the week before,  I injured my finger and went to the doctor today about it finally and it is now in a splint so I'm testing out this whole talk to text thing and hopefully it's not going to be too messy for a blog post.  I hope to be back blogging as usual really soon if this talk to text thing works out okay otherwise it might be a week or two before I'm back to typing easily. I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend!  Blessings.

Discouragement

Discouragement... where does it come from and why does it come?  It's crazy.  Often, I think it comes from within ourselves; maybe from fear, uncertainties, or even just laziness.  I don't know but it does drive me crazy.  It can bring me to the brink of tears.  It makes me cranky, sad, mad, unhappy, and well, just plain hard to live with!

So, how do we overcome it?  Well, sometimes, for me, it's just a matter of saying, "God, you can have this.  I don't want it.  I want to do what you want me to do so just take this negative stuff away from me and I'll keep following if you keep leading."

Other times?  Well, it takes shedding a few of those tears and talking it over with my husband or one of my precious kids who are wiser than their years sometimes or with a good friend (which includes my husband and my kids!).  Letting it all out often helps.  Sometimes I have to let it all out a few times before it's really all out though.  

Sometimes?  It's both of these!  Sometimes I need them all in my corner, God, my family, my friends.  Sometimes I need to throw a little temper tantrum, realize how silly I'm being, and then I can move on by letting go.

1 Peter 1:6-9 "In this you rejoice even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith - being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.  Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with a indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

It reminds me to have faith and remember what I have faith in and why and how the genuineness of my faith is precious and tested.

John 15:19-20"The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you." 

This one reminds me that I belong to something bigger and better and that I'm not alone in this.

As I typed that, a song immediately came to mind...

"His Eye is on the Sparrow"

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

I sing because I’m happy,I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

Ahhh... I needed that.  I think I'll just listen to those words for a bit and let them sink in deep, just breathing them in and breathing out the discouragement.  I'll let God have that.

Drop what you are doing!

I read two great scriptures this morning for my devotion.  One was from Matthew 4:18-20  "¹⁸ One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. ¹⁹ Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” ²⁰ And they left their nets at once and followed him."

The other was from 1 Kings 19:19-20 "¹⁹ So Elijah went and found Elisha son of Shaphat plowing a field. There were twelve teams of oxen in the field, and Elisha was plowing with the twelfth team. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak across his shoulders and then walked away. ²⁰ Elisha left the oxen standing there, ran after Elijah, and said to him, “First let me go and kiss my father and mother good-bye, and then I will go with you!”
Elijah replied, “Go on back, but think about what I have done to you.” "

In both of these scriptures, those who were called dropped what they had in their hands or dropped what they were doing and answered the call.  The question that followed was "What do you need to leave behind so that you can GO out and fulfill God's call on your life?"

Whew, what a hard question.  I was struck by this and how well, it went with what I wrote yesterday and listening for the call.

What do I need to leave behind so that I can answer God's call?  Hmm...my first thought was personal and more for my personal call... it's those (people, organizations) who hold me back, who don't want me to serve.

But when I think more on it in context with yesterday's writing about his call to love one another, I think of ideas, preconceived notions, prejudices, fear.  We all come with something, have something that holds us back, that slows us down or stops us cold and sometimes we need to let those things go and let God lead us where he wants us, to do what he wants us to do, to love who he wants us to love.  We just need to follow him.  To follow his gentle nudges, his little pushes.  To listen to the whispers of our minds.  It's scary, I'll admit but... in my experience so far... it's been a great ride.  

Are you listening?

Not the same bird but a lovely one none the less.

This morning, after taking DD (darling daughter) to the ballet academy, I came back and took the dog for a leisurely walk around the campground.  As we were walking I heard this bird screaming.  Really, that's what it sounded like.  I have no idea what kind of bird it was but it was HUGE.  It was soaring through the sky, wings spread wide, screaming.  I imagined it was calling for it's children or it's mate.  We had terrible storms last night and this screaming made me wonder if this bird and it's loved ones had gotten separated.  Slowly, other birds started appearing in the sky calling out their reply to it's screams.

During the storms last night DH (darling husband) called several times to check on us.  He has to work a few days this week so we were separated for the storms. It was killing him not to be here with us during the storm and this bird made me think of him and his concern.

It made me think of all those who have survived storms and have searched for loved ones in the ruble.

It made me think of how God is calling out to us, trying to bring us to him, wanting to hold us and love us and how all we have to do is listen for him and answer him and he will fill us.

As the bird screamed and screamed over and over, I imagined it's concern and maybe even panic as it's screams went unanswered at first.

I can imagine God's concern and sadness as his calls go unanswered.  As it often went unanswered in the past.  His call to love him, to serve him, to be in a relationship with him.  His call for us all to love one another, for that love to override any differences, disagreements, rivalries, or even sin.  I want to answer that call to love and work at answering it everyday.  It's not always easy but I want to try every day.  Will you join me?  

Learning Less Might Just Be More...

There is a lot to be said about having minimal stuff.

I'll be really honest with you.  I have a lot of stuff, and I love my stuff.  I really do.  I have a really hard time throwing things away.  I have baby clothes, most my kids baby clothes and they are 19 and 15.  If someone gave me something, I most likely still have it.  All my memories are still wrapped up my stuff.  I know they are really but... for now they are.  I need to start parting with a lot of stuff and I have but I have a LONG way to go.

Getting back to minimal stuff...  This week DD and I are living out of our camper. We have minimal stuff and I love how tidy everything is.  Is so easy to keep things nice and neat.  I love it.  Don't get me wrong, we are running to the store in a few minutes to get some 'stuff' we forgot but I can see where and how the minimalist are making such a big splash.  It's freeing!

I love my camper and now I'm wondering if maybe this is a little bit of the reason.  I feel uncluttered, lighter, and free.  It's amazing! 

Hands and Feet

Missions have been on my mind a lot lately.

My husband's uncle is a missionary in Africa and is doing really wonderful things there.  I love seeing the photos he shares.

We just sent our daughter off on her third mission trip with our youth group from church, this year to Denver, CO where they will do great things as usual. They are posting photos of their service as well and it is touching to see youth helping, leading, and serving.

My cousin has spent the last 10 days in mission in Kenya at Naomi's Village with her precious family and as I've been looking at all the photos she has posted of the work they have been doing there I found myself wanting to go...

A conversation with my husband...

me: "Have you been looking at the photos of my cousin's trip?"

him:  "No, I haven't been on Facebook lately. Why?  Do we need to go?"

me: "Well... I've been thinking about it!  Maybe we need to go on a Family Mission Trip, but how?  We don't have that kind of money."

Then we were just quiet.  Thinking about it and the phone rang and it was as if God just hit me in the head with a brick.

You see I serve on the Nurture and Care committee at our church and I'm always looking and searching to see if there are people who need help and this phone call was just about that!

I hung up the phone and told my husband, "We don't have to go to Africa to do God's work!  He needs us right here!"  My husband,  just so happened to have the day off so we loaded up the truck and headed out in the heat to see what we could do.

After about 5 minutes of working a man pulled up and rolled down the window and looked as if he wanted to speak to us so I went over and he asked if he could help us.  He had lost his job last week and was in need of gas money.  He was a Godsend in two ways.

1.  I'm not the outdoorsy yard work type, so I wasn't a lot of help to my dear husband though I was trying!! His help was greatly appreciated and made the work go by a bit quicker.

2.  It was another knock on the head from God that there is plenty to be done right here in our own neighborhood.  We were able to to help 2 people at once!

I really needed this knock on the head.  Not that there is anything wrong with going to other countries or cities to be in mission.  That is a definite need!!  and I am so proud of  those who are able to go and do that.  They truly are the hands and feet of Christ but I needed to be reminded that it's ok and good to be in mission right here at home too.  Maybe someday, I'll be able to go on a BIG mission trip somewhere but for now, I'm ok with serving right here as I am able and needed.