"All Who Are Thirsty..."

My poor, sleep-deprived brain has been sitting in idle mode for the past 3 days. Seriously, I haven’t slept – I’ve coughed instead. Not just a simple a-hem and we’re all done. No, it’s a cough with attitude; the kind that flips you inside out and turns your face the shade of a ripe pomegranate! It waits until I’m in the frozen food aisle of the grocery store and sneaks up quietly to tickle the back of my throat. Of course, I’ve no other alternative but to rip open the glass doors and bury my cough in bags of frozen peas and carrots!
This stagnant-brain phase has rendered me pretty useless, plunging me knee-deep in a slimy puddle of writer’s block! I can barely write my own name these days, let alone muster up something witty and wonderful! My book projects are collecting dust bunnies, and the article ideas have stopped flowing.
I’ve tried jumpstarting my creative energy with coffee, and lots of it! I’ve tried chocolate, aromatherapy, laundry, even dog licks…nothing! It’s really frustrating.
OR…it could be that I’m standing dangerously close to the jagged edge of that deep-dark valley known as Menopause. Hey, that’s it!! That’s where my active brain cells have gone. After all, we’re now officially into “fall.” I just hope I’m not about to fall into a vat of hot flashes, cold sweats, more elaborate mood swings, random bouts of emotion and weird food ravings. I’ve heard crazy stories about that old Mizz Menopause. She’s the reason my motivation well has run dry! It’s all her fault. I wonder what else I can blame on her? Hmmm.
It’s hard to imagine that God would ordain such a season; a clear-cut, defining point as we transition from one phase of life to another. But he has. I have to trust and believe that he ordains it all, the highs and lows, the pain and the joy.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
(Romans 12:12) NIV)

I'm Praying for You

Heavenly Father,
I come to you in prayer this morning and ask that you bless those who are running on an empty tank today. Those who are expected to fulfill obligations and exceed expectations. I ask that you strengthen those who may feel so beat up with life and so caught up with the demands of the day that they feel unworthy to cry out for you.
Bless those who have given their all that they may discover the vast resource of your love and grace. Lift weak arms. Renew and encourage and give light to those who continue to stumble in the dark of their own will. Replace discouragement, loneliness and sadness with your peace – the peace that not only transcends all understanding, but the ways in which we’re accustomed to thinking.
And at the end of the day, let those who have come to you feel refreshed, cleansed and loved beyond measure.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“…And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19)

Who's Holding Your Hand?

“Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. ⁴Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, ⁵to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.” (Titus 2:3-5) NIV

I love this passage – don’t you?

In this day of calendars and to-do lists,

rushing here and there

racing against the clock,

doing, being and accomplishing,

it’s not the items crossed off our list

or the mornings we rose before the sun

or even the dreams left to be pursued,

but the way in which we’ve chosen to live out our days,

and who's in control of our heart

that really matter in the end.

Whether intentionally or not,

we’re setting examples, you and I.

Whether we’ve climbed the stairs two at a time

or sat out our chance to dance in the rain,

let those who come after us see, instead the One who held our hand

the whole way.

Son In My Eyes Sundays

Good Morning to you.

Is the Son in your eyes today?

Thank the Lord for another beautiful Sunday! I am so excited to get to church and worship the Lord! Whatever you’vebeen through this week, and whatever you anticipate for the week ahead, bring it with you and leave it at the cross. Nothing is too big for our God!

"Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness".

I Chron 16:27-29

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu4PWSnVabg

"I Am a Friend of God!"

Elasto-Mom

Do you ever feel tested? Like you’re on a carousel that never stops spinning? Or worse yet, like a puppet on a string, and the puppeteer gains great pleasure in dragging you through mud puddles over and over again just for laughs. Oops, did I write that out loud? There I go again giving away some of my naughtier moments of childhood (insert sinister smile).

I’ve certainly been tested this week holding down the castle with my husband out of the country on a business trip. I’m used to him being away a few days at a time – just goes with the territory, but this week has been an unusual strain physically, emotionally and logistically. The good news? He’s flying back home today! The other good news? Romans 8:28:

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those

who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

It’s easy to feel like we’re fighting the battles alone when we’re in the middle of them. It’s after the smoke clears and we get a moment to catch our breath that we realize we couldn’t have survived a second of it without the presence of a mighty, loving God who promised never to leave us nor forsake us.

You’re not alone in your battles today. The One who conquered the grave is on your side. He sees your sacrifice. He knows your frustrations, and He knows just what you need.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will

give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Take It Personally

Hello there! So glad you’ve taken a few minutes out of your busy, hectic day to stop by and chat.
You know, I realized something this week: there’s nothing sophisticated about sitting perched on a doctor’s table wearing only a paper gown and a timid smile. When you’re completely stripped down physically, you feel exposed.
You feel vulnerable.
You feel cold and hope the doctor doesn’t wander in while you’re up milling around looking for the thermostat in your easy-breezy attire.
Resting your fate in the hands of the guy/gal who walks in with a stethoscope around their neck can be intimidating. What if the news is bad? What do all those “U-hum’s” spoken with creased brow really mean? Did they remember to wash their hands after the last patient? What are they really looking for, anyway?
One has to wonder.
I kind of think God sees us like that all the time. He doesn’t care if we’re dressed for success or slogging around in hand-me-downs. He sees the essence of who we are all the time – our true selves. We can’t hide anything from him, no matter how well we think we’ve perfected the art over the years.
Somehow, in the middle of our struggles - in the middle of the noise, the chaos, the music and the laughter, he is there waiting for that moment of quiet when the stuff of life subsides and you find yourself in that vulnerable place once again sitting, alone, exposed, maybe even a little lost. He’s the one waiting to come through the door to examine your heart, to take away those feelings of emptiness and vulnerability once and for all. God knows you like no other – and only HE can HEAL you for LIFE!
“This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” (1 John 3:19-20)

What Would Erma Do?

How did they do it? How did our mothers and grandmothers cope in a world void of cell phones, computers, microwaves, “me time,” the Food Network, Starbuck’s and of course, email buddies? Well, they had Erma Bombeck, of course. She had a way of smoothing over the day-to-day frustrations with her own style of wit and humor, and in so doing, encouraged others to do the same.

I love reading through the collection of her newspaper articles all cleverly assembled into book form. Her spirit, captured in the pages of “Forever Erma,” (Andrews McNeel Publishing) will continue to touch hearts for generations. I admire her practical, no-nonsense approach to life’s ulcer-inducing situations.

I wonder how she’d handle the 7am trumpet scales my husband blasts from our dining room each morning…over…and over…again; painfully hammered out until he gets each note (somewhere in the realm of) audibly pleasing!

What would she do about the cranky buzzard who sits in our parrot cage OUTSIDE my kitchen window squawking and singing in a voice that smacks of Ethel Merman on steroids?

She had no “Easy Button” for the many days when those we normally love and enjoy morph into some foreign, horned species and inevitably suck the joy right out of life. Like the rest of us moms who learn as we go along, she pulled up her big-girl pants and dealt with the hassle of the day…one cup of coffee at a time. And she managed to make us laugh in the process.

There’s much to learn from someone who loved so deeply and embraced life with a super-sized heart. Life is so much easier when handled with a little humor, don’t you think?

Thank you, God for creating us with the ability to laugh; for the choice you give us to somehow dig out the funny from the mundane. Thank you for situations that call for a light-hearted response, and let us remember to not take ourselves too seriously.

"A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

(Proverbs 17:22)