Lifes Storms

To my friends and family, both biological and Christ's, first of all...sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have been dealing with life's storms. Secondly...through the storms of life (and reading devotionals) I have been reminded about God's grace through the storms of life.

God is here...right by our side...going through the storms...feeling our pain right along with us. But in these storms...we can find refuge in our God...we can hide under His wings of love...we are  uplifted by His Grace...we are held securely in His in his arms of everlasting love...it is here that we can find rest for our weary soul...

And for this...I give God praise...even in the storm.

A Lesson from Shyanne

Shyanne, who is all of 10 years old, is the daughter of my husband Ray and myself. She is wise beyond her tender years. She was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes this past Friday, August 13th (go figure...Friday the 13th...). Now, I am the normal mom...I cried, fought with God...cried some more...She is our middle child...she is bright, energetic, loving, kind, thoughtful and all the rest (I don't say these things just because I'm her mom...others have affirmed what we already know)...so why did this have to happen to her, why does she have to live a life of counting carbs. and having needles? I had some dreams for her that I have had to bury...to change from what they were. What is God doing...does He really know (We all know the answer to that one but I had to ask anyway...) But what we have witnessed is remarkable...we have seen God move and use her...We have an awesome God!!!
Here goes...instead of spending the normal time in the hospital, which is 3-4 days, she was out in less than 24 hours (I never realized my training as a Veterinary Technician would come in handy with my children...LOL)...she then proceeded to want to go to church the next morning to take part in the Vacation Bible School Sunday where the kids took over the service...She danced with the rest of them...read scripture...had ice cream with her friends (only a little bit but she was still able to have some...)...remember I asked how God would use this situation and Shyanne... We have also started a Facebook page called "Team Shyanne". People sign up to be part of Team Shyanne by only agreeing to pray for her. (This may be the most important position in the Team Shyanne group. she needs all the prayers she can get...we all do) She has people all over the world praying for her (I mean ALL OVER THE WORLD!). She is bringing people together to pray in one accord...one voice. We have signed up for a walk for Juvenile Diabetes where she is the team captain. She is one of the most optimistic and inspirational people I know.
Her/my dreams haven't died but have morphed into something beautiful... As for the question how can God use her...well I think I have answered my own question or is it God has answered through her. We are very proud of our little "not so Shy Anne"...I know that what ever life throws her way...she will do just fine... Lesson: God can use us where ever we are, how ever we got there and how ever old we may be. God is amazing and speaks to His children in many ways. Even through the life of a child....

AMEN?

"Child/Children"

The New Testament talks a lot about the Child/Children. To have faith like a child...We are children of God, co-heirs with Christ...The Kingdom belongs to those who are like these Children (Matthew 19:14)...Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 18:3)...I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” (Mark 10:15). I believe that we need to have a childlike faith and trust in God.  It is not in "seminary"...it is not in "studying the Bible"...it is not even in our intelligence...it is in that total abandonment of what we see and understand...the trust in our God and in our Savior that we come to the throne of grace...sit in Abba's lap...and feel that sense of peace and joy...that sense that every thing is alright because "Dad's got my back"...that child-like adoration that some feel for their earthly dad...or some other "father figure"...but even more deeply than that...

The Lesson I had for today...

The lesson that I learned today is actually a two fold one:

1. I may pray for God to make me faithful but I have to make sure that I take the steps in the direction to be faithful. God is not "Santa Clause". When we ask for God to help us to be faithful...i.e. in a relationship, in our call in life, in what ever we want to be faithful in...we must also do our part. We sometimes forget that part, We ask to be faithful and expect to wake-up faithful the next day. We tend to expect God to do all the work (after all...He is God you know...) but we are on this journey not alone but we are in a partnership with God and we, as partners, need to live up to our "part of the relationship." faithfulness is not something we are born with but something that we, with the saving, helping, grace of God, cultivate. It is like a habit. It takes 2 weeks to form a new one. It's one of those "Fruits of the Spirit" that we must have planted in our hearts and with watering and tending it will grow.
2. The other is this...If I should "fall off the wagon" of being faithful, I need to get right back on again. We, as humankind, do not like to fail. We want to succeed in life (remember...society says that if we don't succeed we are a failure to our race...so to speak). We don't want to start over again with the same thing...what if we fail again....what if we make it worse the second time around? No one likes to fail but it is in our failures that we find some of life's crucial lessons (If the Wright brothers had stopped when they failed and not decide to learn from their failures how would we be able to fly?) these lessons are HARD at times but it is these moments...these times when we are laid bare and barren on the floor...these times when we hit rock bottom...it is in these times, as well as many other times on our journey of life  that we are able to see God move in our lives and we are able to see things from a different perspective and maybe...just maybe...if we reach out just enough, we can touch the hand of God and be lifted up and made whole...have that feeling of God saying "OK now lets brush you off and start again...but this time...let's try it My way".

If God is for us and with us, who can stand against us.

Lesson for me today

The lesson I learned from "Souvenirs..." today was a very important one I think for all of us. In order for Christianity to survive we must reach the younger generation. It seems that many of this generation are "turned off" to Christianity. They want nothing to do with "the Christians they know." We need to find new ways to engage the younger generation but we also need to search within ourselves to see if there are changes within us that need to happen first. Are there attitudes that we need to change? Are there "prejudices" within us that need to be removed? What can we do to be more open and friendly to the younger generation? Are there ways in my life that are chasing people from instead of to the Light of Christ?