Be Happy Tip for 5/22/14

Newspaper article for May 16th

Hey there - I just wanted to share my newspaper article that came out today in a few Southern California Acorn papers: 
http://www.simivalleyacorn.com/news/2014-05-16/PDF/Page_029.pdf

How Testimony is Born

There’s an angry wind whipping through the trees today. Anything not anchored down stands a good chance of getting toppled over or otherwise disheveled…much like the umbrella I watched this morning as an unexpected gust uprooted it from my garden and sent it somersaulting right over the fence into my neighbor’s yard.

Oops…uumm, can I have that back? (all smiles)

Sometimes when harsh winds blow, when angry storms rage, when life brings us to our knees with shock and awe of the deepest kind and we find ourselves helpless and out of control, our natural instinct is to run for cover. We duck and hide, turn away and against the pain and the suffering until the winds cease and we’re back to rainbows and song birds. We shy away from the bad memories; the piercing ones that sting clear into years of gray hair and wrinkles and forever poison the soul.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

But what if it’s not that easy?

What if you feel God running each memory through your mind like a continuous slide show?

What if He’s leading you to face each painful one head on; to look at and dissect every feeling, every emotion and hurt…over…and over…again?

And your heart cries out, “Why, Lord? Why do I have to keep going there re-living and re-hurting over and over when it just adds to my anger and resentment?”

Perhaps that’s how healing happens. When you agree to walk back through the fire…again…, but this time knowing He’s right behind you, beside you and ahead of you with every gasp and every tear.

Because that’s where testimony lies, He whispers.

Because His hand is in the living and the breathing and the sighing AFTER the storm as well as during it! Perhaps it’s the wisdom gained in those years of gray hair and wrinkles that allows us to see and feel those memories more clearly and with maturity.

If we'd been handed a lifetime of days filled with rainbows and song birds, we’d easily crumble with the onset of the first clouds. The tears, the confusion, the deepest pain…He’s been there with you through it all ready to bless you with abundant healing and mercy on the other side.

It’s a process to get from hurt to healed; a journey you don't have to walk alone.

Blessings,

Debbie

Heart Strings

   I truly believe that God brings people into our lives not by accident, but by His divine appointment. He knows our personalities, our strengths and weaknesses, sees our dark days and knows how one can offer support and much needed encouragement to another. He knows just how to gather and connect His people by everlasting heart strings.

   On the other end of one of those heart strings is my dear friend, Nancy Sullivan. Though we’ve never actually met in person, I’ve come to know this amazing woman of faith through several years of blogging and social media networking, which is just a fancy term for “we’re together on Facebook a lot.”

   Nancy has brought me to tears more times than I can count…but in a good way. She gets right to the heart of me with the sweetest compliments and "atta girls." She has been a strong and consistent support of my every endeavor. Through her comments on my blog posts, cheering me on through self publishing my book and my numerous trials and fails over the past several years….Nancy’s “softer voice” has spoken among the loudest to my heart.

   And now it’s my turn to cast a little light on someone who has brought so much light to my life.

   Nancy has published her first book. Her softer voice is spoken here through devotionals and poems in a beautifully crafted collection. Her sweet words that bring glory and honor to our amazing God are truly a precious gift given from her heart to yours. It’s just become available for order Here and I just know it’s going to bless all who read it. I can't wait to see what God does with this!

   It's also been a pleasure to walk one more journey together, as Nancy is a regular contributor for Christian Women's Voice Magazine!

   Some people just make my heart smile. They're the bright spots in a dark day. They're always there with just the right words sometimes offering a hug from many states away, but they're genuine and real and you know it.

   Much love to you, my friend.

   Debbie

   

Removing the Weeds of the Day

Today I’m a caged bird needing to spread her wings.

The sun and shifting clouds keep trading places and I watch the clock eager to escape these confining walls toward the big open.

It’s the sweet golden finches & hummingbirds, the trickle of my fountain, my passion and love for creating in the dirt and flowers that calls me out today. It’s breathing in the scent of fresh earth and chickens and drifts of jasmine and coaxing the roses to their full glory…as if they need my help.

It’s how I re-set my soul and where everything makes sense; a visual result of my efforts.

There’s something so healing about the clipping away of what has flourished and spent. Removing the weeds of the day always begins on the knees, don’t you think? It’s the easiest way to pull up the whole root, not just the part you can see because there’s always so much more that lies beneath.

There’s always so much more lying deep within us all.

Yet it’s the dropping to our knees, either there in the dirt or there in the heart…where freedom truly lies. The roots can run long and deep and those rose thorns cut sharp when you least expect, yet I crave being part of the process.

and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown  of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor. (Isaiah 61:3)

Yes…removing the weeds of the day always begins on the knees.

Be Happy Tip for 5/8/14

Set your minds on things above...

It took a morning of frustrations, of doing little jobs meant for others, of venting and heavy sighing to those with authority and ability to right these wrongs and return my heart rate to normal…to open the door to God’s gentle correction.

He spoke there in the quiet.

After I’d hung up the phone.

After my words spilled out a bit restrained but direct.

And He brought me to this:

“Whoever is patient has great understanding,
but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.” (Proverbs 14:29)

And there in the quiet I thought about how small my frustrations were in the whole grand scheme of things. With all that’s taking place in our world today; the evil, the destruction, the turning of eyes away from our Creator, the suffering and immeasurable loss and pain.

I had to let it go.

Let go and stop the thinking and the justifying and the dwelling on what was really insignificant in comparison.

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

(Colossians 3:2)

There’s a scale to each day. The distribution of weight is determined by what fills our thoughts, how we react to not-so-pleasant situations…Whose words we allow to sink the deepest in our hearts.

The enemy loves when we allow ourselves to get caught up in the small stuff because it diverts our eyes from the indescribable peace of knowing Jesus. I pray you will keep your eyes on things far above your frustrations today and every day.

Many Blessings,

Debbie