Happy Circumstances

So I have certain circumstances in my life right now
that I am very happy about
and that tend to take up
a lot of space in my mind.

When I wake up in the middle of the night...
it's the first thing I think of
and it brings peace and happiness to my soul.

Doesn't matter what else is going on...
Cause this thing is so big
Nothing overshadows it.
For now...

But at some point
negative things will overwhelm it
because its only a circumstance
and circumstances change.

But what should be taking up
a lot of space in my mind...
And what I should be thinking about
in the middle of the night...
And what should bring peace and happiness
to my soul...
is the love that Christ has for me.

The love that will never forsake me...
never leave me alone
in the night watches.

When I wake up in the middle of the night...
it should be Christ's love
that gives me peace in my soul.
That makes everything else pale in comparison.

I'm working on it, Lord!

Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Church...

My daughter-in-law is always giving me
sample products from Super Supplememt
since my son works there...
for which I am duly thankful for!

Lotions, creams, eye creams,
shampoos, conditioners, etc.
And all organic!

So the other morning as I was getting
ready for church
I realized my legs were desperately
needing some hydration.

I went to my cute little can
that has all my samples in...
and pull out an orange package
of Weleda Lotion.
Hmmm...orange package...
not sure I've had an orange one before.
It's gotta be lotion...
but not terribly sure
since I don't have my glasses.

So I run all over the house
looking for my glasses...
kind of a normal thing around here.

Can't find them anywhere...
Also a normal thing around here
So I figure
what's the worse it could be...
eye cream instead of lotion?
And it's organic so it's not
like it's gonna hurt me, right?

So I rip open the little packet...
squeeze it all over my legs...

As I'm trying to rub it in
I notice it's very sticky...
and won't rub in.
OK...so now finding glasses
is of ultimate importance!

I find them and frantically
and with greasy hands, I might add
look at the package...
...wait for it...
Diaper Cream...
yep...
I just spread diaper cream
all over my legs
and by now I'm already late for SS.

Good news?
After I finished rubbing it in
I didn't need to put lotion on my legs
for a week!
Exaggerating...
only slightly though...

But the bigger question is:
Why would she give me that???
I'm not that young...
or that old for that matter.
Hmmm...
Questions that need an answer!

You have some explaining to do, Lizzie!

My Prayer

"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple." Ps. 27:4

All David wanted
was to be in the Lord's presence,
to see Him,
and to commune with Him.

That's all he wanted.

What do I want?

Life sometimes gets in the way
and you forget what you really want.

And it's not sinful things necessarily...
Maybe it's even important things.
But do I want it more than I want
to be in His presence...

Everytime we go see our kids:
Alex and Liz and Nic or
Adam and Heather, Elyse and Blake,
when I walk in the door...
I want to see the babies.
Love the kids...
and love to see them...
But, pretty much gotta see those babies
within the first 5 mins.

Last week when we went to Adam and Heather's
Blake was playing with his toys.
So I ran over, picked him up
and covered him with smooches...
which I'm sure he didn't entirely enjoy!

"Where's Elly" I ask.
"She's upstairs taking a nap."
I knew we were getting ready to go to dinner
and that I wouldn't be able to see her.
Knowing I felt bad
Heather said it would be OK
to go up and say hi to her
since she wasn't actually asleep yet.

So I ran upstairs,
peeked in her room,
and she looked up..."Hiiiii Grama".

I sat down on the floor
and we talked for about 10 minutes.
Sweet communion...even with a 2 year old.
She told me what she had been doing...
I told her what I was doing...
She put her hand on my face
and said, "I love you, Grama".
Brought tears to my eyes.
All I wanted to do was sit
and talk with her and enjoy her.
Didn't matter what other
distractions or sorrows or trials
I had going on in my life...
At that moment nothing mattered
but sitting and talking with her.

Then I went to church on Sunday
and Russell talked about that verse in Psalms.
He asked if we love to sit and just be
with our Lord the way that we ought.
I thought immediately of sitting
and talking with Elly
and what joy and happiness it brought
to my heart.

Do I feel the same way about
the one who gave everything
to pardon my soul...
because He loved me so much?
Do the trials and sorrows I bear
disappear in His presence.
Do I sit and cry when I hear Him say
I love you, my child.
Does nothing matter in the light
of His presence?

That's how I want it to be...

But I have to work at it...
not just giving him the few minutes
I have in the morning.
I have to spend quality time with Him.
Time talking to Him...praising Him...
singing to Him.
He needs to be on my heart all day.
David said he praised the Lord all the day.

David's prayer is my prayer...

Others will fail me...
Circumstances will change...
Relationships may cease...

But Christ will always be there for me.
To talk to me,
to encourage me,
to put His hands on my face
and tell me he loves me!

As long as I have that...

I need nothing more.

Where is My Husband?

My husband is missing...

The man living with me now
has done something with my husband.

When my kids were little
I had to explain why I was
buying them underwear.
"Do they really need those?"
"Seriously, Russell...underwear...
yes, they need them!"

Now, when I am shopping...
I find him in the baby department.
And in his hands he has an outfit
for each baby...and sometimes more than one.

"Look at that little hat...Nic would like that!"
"Elly would look cute in that little dress"
"Blake needs those shorts!"

This is clearly not the same person
who used to grill me on the buying of underwear
for his barebottomed boys!

I like this guy better!
I can buy pretty much any sweet thing
I find for the babies...
and he's all for it!

O That Will be Glory for Me

I remember as a child
when anything bad happened,
a skinned knee, someone mean to me,
I could always run home to Mom
and she would hold me
and brush all my little girl cares away.

I wish it was that easy now...

I read a novel about a lady that died
and went to Heaven.
When she opened her eyes in Heaven
she saw Jesus with His arms open wide.
She ran into them
and cried and cried for the sorrows of the world
until there were no tears left.
Then Jesus wiped her tears away...
and for all of eternity
she never cried for those things again.

How I long for that time...
when my Saviour will wipe
all the cares and hurts and sorrows of this life
away from my eyes and heart
and I will never have to cry for them again.

Heaven's Child - For Sakura

You will never know the heartache
of a sin filled world...

You will never know sickness,
or sorrow or pain...

You will never know disobedience
or the strife that it brings...

But you will know love,
in perfection and fullness...

You will know joy
that never will cease...

You will know Heaven
and it's beauty untold...

And you will know the Saviour
in intimate closeness...

How blessed you are
for the things you'll miss
and for the things you see
that our eyes cannot.

See you in Heaven
little China Doll

My Eyes

My eyes have never seen my Saviour...
yet my heart gazes on His beauty...

My lips have never kissed his cheek...
but my soul has been kissed by His care...

My hands have never touched his face...
But His Spirit holds my hand and gently leads me...

My ears have never heard His voice...
Yet He spoke to me today...

My arms have never embraced Him...
Yet He lifts me up from the angry waves...

My feet have never walked streets of gold...
But my hope sees that day afar off...

when I will see my Saviour with my eyes,
when I will kiss His cheek with my lips,
when I will touch His face with my hands,
when I will hear His voice with my ears,
when I will embrace him with my arms,
and walk beside Him in the way!

The Great Divide

I've discovered some things along the way
in my relationship with God.
And it's not all that different
than the way he deals with others.

There comes a point in every believers life
where God asks you to put away childish things
and come closer to His side...
to have a truly victorious life.

Yes, He always wants that for us...
but sometimes we become complacent
and satisfied with our spirituality.
Not smug necessarily, just content
with where you are.

But Christianity is never about being in one place
never to move again.
Christ is ever drawing us closer
and closer to Him.

I have seen it in my own life
and in the lives of others.
Oswald Chambers remarks on this
in his book,  My Utmost for his Highest.

He says, "God's order has to work up a crisis
in our lives because we will not heed the
gentler way. He brings us to the place where
He asks us to be our utmost for Him,
and we begin to debate; then He produces
a providential crisis where we have to decide-
for or against, and from that point
the Great Divide begins."

The 'Great Divide'...
That point where you have to decide
whether you are gonna give it all up
for a closer walk with Him...
or not.

My husband taught us one time
that God will show you a truth in His Word...
then He'll bring along something to test you in
what He has shown you.
If you trust what He has shown you...
and make the right decisions
you'll grow and He will go on
and show you some more things.
But if you don't use what he has shown you
He'll continue to show you that truth
over and over again and test you
to see if you will learn it and put it into practice.
But you won't go much farther in maturity
if you don't learn from the things He is showing you.

He'll bring you to a place
that you can't get through on your own.
Then He'll show you something
to help you get through it...
You can accept what it is He's
trying to show you...
Or you can refuse to learn
and go on suffering in your self pity.
Accepting produces the peaceable
fruit of righteousness that Hebrews talks about.
Rejecting produces bitterness
or at the very least apathy and discouragement...
"I give up!"

So which would you rather have?
The more abundant life the Lord
talks about in John 10:10...
Or the kind of life the majority
of Christians are living today...
a ho-hum existence of going to church,
coming home and living your own life
without the power of God!
I want more!
What about you?

Hateful Tasks

Today I decided since Aaron
had to do something he hates...
that I would join him
and do something I hate.

And since it was a sunny day...
which makes any hateful task
not quite as hateful...
I went out to clean the chicken coop.

I take Strider
since he also loves the sun...
(in actuality he loves everything,
a trait I seriously need to emulate)
and we head out with shovel in hand
to clean the chicken coop.

Running commentary:

"Strider...stop eating the chicken poop."

Shoveling...

"You guys (chickens) are disgusting...
don't you do anything but poop?"
"Ugh!"

"Strider...stop eating the CHICKEN POOP!"

A few minutes later...

"Sheesh, you guys...you stink!"

"STRIDER...STOP EATING THE CHICKEN POOP!"

More shoveling...

"I don't know why I even keep you guys...
you stink, you poop and half of you
aren't even laying any eggs."

"OK...Strider, go play somewhere...
you're disgusting!"

Later still...

"Strider...get out of the street...
Strider...leave the cat alone...
OK...get over here Strider...
Sit!"

"OK...all done"
"Now you girls have a nice, clean coop."
"Here's some fresh water...
and some food cause you're such good girls."

"C'mon Strider...how about a treat?
You were such a good boy!"