SING FOR JESUS!!!!

YOU CAN DO IT!

Early on, confidence comes from your parents. If they encourage you and support your efforts you will learn to be confident in your own abilities. Later, confidence is gained from experiences. We learn that failing isn't the end of the world and success is worth the effort.

YOU DID IT!!!

Even if you are asked to sing alto when soprano is your forte.

"Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name." Psalm 30:4

On the Second Day of Christmas

After a wonderfully worshipful candle light communion service, I was leaving church when the day took a sudden wrong turn. Only one day after my daughter wrote this, my ears were assaulted with the words “Is your daughter pregnant again?” (My daughter was not with me so she could not appear to be pregnant.)
Unbelievable,and yet not, coming from the resident curiosity seeker. When I answered no and failed to make a hasty retreat, the questions disguised as concern came next. My pre-planned answer of Only God knows the answer to that would have encouraged her to ask again next week.

The desire to give a rude reply was strong for a flashing second. Just a few moments earlier I had felt so close to God and had felt so grateful to Jesus for the sacrifice He had made for me. I was not going to let a rude person steal this from me. So, I patiently told this woman the medical reason my daughter was not with child. It was none of her business and I knew she just wanted to be 'in the know'. Yet, I still tried to explain. Just as my daughter had said, it made no difference. I still got the 'well, you never know, it can happen." response.
I do know. It has happened! Weren't you listening?
What is wrong with people?? Only a very close friend could have the privilege of asking that question and a close friend would know not to ask.

I almost let this ruin a perfectly good '2nd Day of Christmas'. Almost.

“Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord;

keep watch over the door of my lips.”

Psalm 141:3

GOD IS GOOD

"Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes.

His wife said to him, 'Are you still trying to maintain your integrity?

Curse God and die.'

But Job replied, 'You talk like a foolish woman.

Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?'

So in all this, Job said nothing wrong."

Job 2:8–10

~~~~~~~~~~~

I notice that when Christians share good news,
they often say something like
"God is good." or "God is so good."
But, I don't usually see comments on fear, pain, anxiety,
or other troubles followed with that statement.

We tend to want to emphasize how good God is
when He has been especially good to us or someone we love.
Sometimes, we follow that statement with 'ALL THE TIME'.

If we truly believe that,
then we should exclaim "GOD IS GOOD."
even when the news is bad

or we are struggling.

Yesterday Satan viciously attacked me.
I was stunned, unable to respond appropriately
and I was disheartened.

But I want to say, despite that cold, brutal attack
GOD IS GOOD.

Because if He is good on the mountain,
then He is good in the valley.
God has been so good to me,
He is good right now
and He will be good tomorrow.
God is good!!!

~~~~

How has God been good to you today?

IT DOES A BODY GOOD!

I love my daughter's blog on bad manners reverence in church! read it here

It does a mother's heart good to see results of her investment of time and training.

On Mother's Day when we were driving to our Island destination, I was back seat (actually front passenger) driving. I hate bridges and spoke harshly regarding her driving style while crossing the bridges to the Island. There is no driving style on a bridge that will completely satisfy me, but keeping to the inner lanes does lesson my angst. Anyway, she didn't even act offended. Wow! She may have been offended, but she didn't act offended. She let it go. A very adult attitude.

And today she expects those who are worshiping her Lord to act worshipful! Just like she was taught! I love it!

" Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;

worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness."

Psalm 29:2

WHEN GOD MAKES PERFECT SENSE

A few years ago I discovered a Dobson book entitled When God Doesn't Make Sense. I was enduring trials brought on by misguided Christians in my church family. None of it made any sense to me at the time. I asked God why? I thought about Job a lot. I prayed a lot. Still, I was crushed in spirit. As I struggled through those dark days I found ways outside the church to use my gifts instead of dealing with the painful circumstances at church. In effect, I let others decide my response to their own weaknesses.

While Satan may have worked hard to sabotage my assignments from God, he could only have a temporary hold as my strength came from a mighty fortress. Standing firmly now, from the other side of pain, I clearly see that God did make sense all along.

"My grace is sufficient for you,

for my power is made perfect in weakness"

2 Corinthians 12:9

Had I allowed Him, God would have given me the grace to stand firm in the face of my accusers. Instead for years afterward I would get unexpected barbs from certain persons because they had heard something and accepted it as truth. I ignored these, thinking I was not defending myself. However, I realized later that it was God I was not defending. It was His reputation I did not protect since I was serving in His name.

There is always a reason God allows us to suffer and in the end our actions and reactions should glorify Him. Keeping silent is not always the right thing to do. It is in surviving any ordeal that we are able to relate to others who are struggling. It is then that we are able to share that His promises are indeed true. And this is the likely reason for our trials!

I can not remember where I saw this. It isn't mine. But it is true.

Believe God ~ Follow His instructions ~ Receive His promise

Prayer Request:

The one who reminded me of this verse is enduring a trial of her own. It may appear that God is not making sense right now. Please pray that His plan will soon become clear.

A Life is A Life, No Matter How Small

I believe what God's word says about life,

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you," Jeremiah 1:5

I vote life not pro choice. As far as I know my Christian friends vote the same way. Any of us would be quick to speak for pro life and against pro choice if we were asked our views. We would probably recite scripture to back up our claims. Why then do we act as if we do not believe this? How can we expect the world to understand our pro life view if we do not live as if we believe it.

When my daughter lost her third pregnancy we were heartbroken. We had viewed the ultrasound, we had prayed for the health of this child. We were devastated. Yet, when Christian friends asked how my daughter was doing and I replied, "She has lost her baby." (not a miscarriage) most said things like, "Oh, that happens, she can have another." Since when are human beings so easy to replace as in, "Oh, you dropped your cookie. Here, let me get you another one."

Thankfully there were a few who said, "I am so sorry. or I am sorry your family has to go through this." And I thank God for those few. Most asked intrusive questions, or made shocking remarks. Even from extended family. So much advice to be sifted through. My daughter, and me too, wanted to scream "This is the third time!"

Even her grandmother's first remark was, "How far was she?" This was the # one question. While we realize it is far more difficult to deal with losing a full term baby than an 11 week one, is one a greater tragedy than the other? That is IF we believe what we say we believe. A life is a life. It felt as if the compassion was rationed out based on how far along the pregnancy was.

Then I began to notice that people rationed out their joy and congratulations in the same way. When I announced to my morning exercise buddies that my daughter had just confided that she is pregnant, one of the women quickly remarked, "What is she, 5 days?" "Actually she is 5 weeks", I answered, and then proceeded to give a short lecture on why women do this to other women. Either you are pregnant or you are not pregnant. If you are pregnant then there is a life and if there is a life are we to ignore it until it is of a worthy age?

I think not. If there is life, then I have a grandchild on the way and it would be negligent of me to skip praying for that child because he or she was not "big enough" yet.

So, the result of all the thoughtless, and sometimes hurtful, remarks was that when my Daughter and Son-in-love were blessed with another pregnancy they decided to tell no one. They made this decision in order to avoid the painful remarks if things did not go well. They told me and my husband and my Daughter's boss and allowed me to share with a couple of friends who did not live nearby. So we had a very small prayer team. Eventually they allowed us to share with my son and his wife.

It is stressful keeping secrets, but the need was emphasized for me one Sunday when a friend at church asked about them. I simply said please pray and shared a recent story where an elderly relative had shook his finger at my daughter and said, "You better get to it." He did not know she was pregnant nor did he remember what she had gone through last spring. His shocking remark caused her to feel pressure to provide the family a child. Pressure she did not need. My "friend" said, "Daughter is hyper sensitive" and said it as a criticism. I became pretty hyper sensitive myself and I had to bite my tongue.

So we all held our breathes and prayed until the first ultrasound, all the while trying to hide our joy. A week after the first ultrasound there was a sign of trouble and another ultrasound was performed with a more hopeful outcome. During these weeks every time a the phone rang I was a little apprehensive about answering. When it was my daughter I didn't relax until I heard her sweet calm voice.

One day my daughter and I went shoe shopping and she allowed herself to walk through the baby section of the department store. Excitement creeping in at the thought of sweet babies.

Then came another ultrasound in December and thankfully a new, kinder and more compassionate doctor to give the dreaded news. Even the nurses in this practise said how sorry they were. And this time the hospital staff were even more compassionate because "it's her 4th loss. " For the rest of the world, my daughter dealt with this nightmare alone except for her husband and parents. This time there were no kind church members to bring food or friends to send flowers. We kept the secret so well that three days after undergoing surgery the two of them hosted our annual extended family Christmas party at their home and the guests didn't even know she had lost a child a few days before. Even writing that breaks my heart. They could have cancelled the party but then we would have had to explain why.

Grieving alone. All because we let others steal our joy. There are so many lessons to be learned through this. We shouldn't allow others steal our joy, live what you say you believe, and have mercy, show compassion and empathy for others pain or loss. All you need to do is say "I'm sorry" or simply give a warm hug. Neither of those things will take away the pain, but they won't add to it either. Allow women to grieve, don't try to sweep away their feelings. Every one's grief is different. I grieve not only for my grandchild but for the dream of motherhood for my child. I, also, grieve for my daughter's lost innocence. Life is hard and it is even harder to watch your children suffer. My daughter's grief is different from the worlds grief. She does not grieve as one without hope.

Grief seems more poignant at Christmas, perhaps because our thoughts are on a baby who came to save the world. There are so many reminders of God's love for us and He will magnify our Joy.

"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. "

James 1:2-3

HANDMADE CHRISTMAS CARDS

For more than 30 years I have sent cards at Christmas and for at least 25 years I have designed and made the cards myself. When the country was complaining about the price of stamps (15 cents, why it's highway robbery!!!) (stamps were 10 cents when I started doing cards in 1975. I would think, what is 15 cents, then 20, then 30 cents, to say to a friend "I thought of you." Because it would be the only 'gift' you would receive from me I wanted them to be special.

Sometime in the middle of the hot summer I would dream of the card. Then I would begin working on them on Labor day. This was quite a task for me because I am not particularly artistic. I could only do so much. A few at a time until I completed them on Thanksgiving weekend. Many times the cards had something that only I knew the significance of, like the blue bird for Spencer photo shopped into the tree on the card.












This year I have not only not begun the cards, I went out a few weeks ago and purchased cards! Horrors, I still can't believe it. The earth did not tumble out of the universe, but I am still waiting anxiously lest the card police find me.

As the cards come in it is another marker for a different Christmas. As I read the boastful letters and the sweet letters and even one that is so filled with simple day to day experiences in the life of a family that it is just perfect; I am drawn to the bag of unsigned, unaddressed cards and really want to stay up all night getting them ready to mail. But I won't because I need my energy for tomorrow and most may not notice we didn't send a card this year. And if closer friends notice maybe they will stop and think of us and wonder. What they will wonder is a different story.

The burden pressing on my heart and mind is the reason my family chose to endure alone these past couple of months. And I don't like the answer. It is a sad commentary of many Christians today. Perhaps tomorrow I will explain.
My daughter shared this verse on her blog today:

"The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all"

Psalm 34: 17-19

Amen!