love

A Shoe Story

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unnamed[1] (8)We’ve had an 11 year old with us this past week, and to say it has been amazing is an understatement!  Robert’s grandson has stayed with us while his older sister had to have back surgery, and we have re-learned a lot about the joys of having children around!  He is a carbon copy of his dad, and cute as a button, with incredible manners and grace.

As I left the house today, however, I saw these shoes and just stopped to take it in.  Our grandson is a neatnik – always has been – and is VERY particular about where his stuff is at all times.  But here they were, his outside shoes strategically beside PawPaw’s outside shoes…snuggled up together for any immediate needs that Robert might have for a helper!

God spoke to me SO vividly through this that it caught my breath and I grabbed my camera before I missed the opportunity.  Conner’s shoes represented in every way his love and devotion for Robert.  He wanted to be ready for anything Robert was going to do, he wanted to be anywhere Robert was going to be, and he was willing to relinquish his normal control over their location so that they could be where Robert’s were.

My heart jumped with joy as I realized that is what I too so desperately want!  Not in physical shoes, but with my spiritual ones!  And not with Robert, but with my Heavenly Father!  I want to be so in love with the Lord, and so devoted to Him, that if a picture were taken of my spiritual shoes it would look just like this!  I want to be ready to go, desiring to go, and ready to relinquish any control I think I may have over where those shoes are, so that I can be available at a moment’s notice to do His will!  And I want people to be able to see that I am that close!

Isn’t that an amazing thought?  Any idea where your shoes are today in comparison to your Father’s?  Where will they be tomorrow?  It is my desire and prayer that we can ALL look at this picture and changed our shoe locations!

The Power of One

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IMG_0826It’s amazing what happens at my workplace sometimes, and how God uses that in my life.  Friday was an EXTREMELY busy day, and I was trying my best to keep up, smile, get things right, and pull through.  In spite of the busyness however, I was able to occasionally have moments to talk with my customers.  I chatted with an older couple as I filled their drinks and we discovered that we had ministry in common – he is a pastor, I was a pastor’s daughter and now am a pastor’s wife.  I had a great time helping them and they left smiling and happy.  As I waited on my next customer, the husband came back in and waited for me to finish, then brought his hand from behind his back and gave me this flower!  He said his wife wanted me to have it for “being so great to them”!

If you want to know what the power of one can do, I can tell you from that personal story.  Suddenly my world was a little bit brighter, my knees a little less painful, and the next at least 10 customers got EXTRAORDINARY service because of my happiness!

And not wanting the joy to be just mine, I took it back to the kitchen to someone who does a lot of the thankless things there, and showed it to her.  She was amazed that someone cared enough for ANY of us to do that, and she too was encouraged.  She told me when I left that afternoon that it had made her day, too.

So what’s the point of this?  It is this.  Tomorrow is another day….and for all of us, it’s another opportunity to encourage each other and share God’s love.  I’ll be at church tomorrow, looking for someone who just needs something small to lift them up and keep them going.  Wherever you are, I hope you do the same.

We as Christians sometimes get bogged down in all the evil in our world, and think there’s no point in trying because it’s all going downhill.  WRONG!  We see every day now that one terriorist with a bomb, or a gun, can make a HUGE impact – in all the wrong ways.  We need to start fighting back with what we have – the love of Jesus!  One hug, one smile, one kind word – can also make a HUGE impact – and all for His glory!

Brokenhearted Together

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We were a group of four yesterday when we entered the airport, and then suddenly we were once again just three.  We had been four for a solid week – Robert, me, Mom, and my sister – having a great time, laughing, catching up, and just enjoying each other.  And suddenly, a week had flown by and she had to go back to her husband and her life. It was a pretty gloomy ride back to the house, with each of us lost in our own sadness at seeing her go.

When we got home, Robert and I were supposed to go to an awesome wedding of two very special young people in our church.  We had been looking forward to it for a couple of months. And yet…we needed each other.  And Mom needed us.  We needed to be together and just hang out, to give each other the strength to face our first evening back together as “just us”.  So we did.  Frozen lemonades and ice cream, then a movie, then soup and cornbread later.  Nothing fancy, just love…and being together.

Which is exactly the way God intended life to be for all His children – together (Hebrews 10:24-25) .  Life is hard enough without the added stress and danger of doing it alone (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).  Of course the Holy Spirit is with us always (John 14:16-17) but when sadness comes and hearts are broken, we need the physical comfort of each other as those who know and love Jesus, King of Kings.

The comfort of “together” provdies courage. It gave us the courage to  leave the airport yesterday, and my sister courage to go, knowing that we would have each other. It has given two friends recently the courage to leave gravesides and keep going as their church families surrounded them.  It is giving another friend at church courage to hear the words from her doctor last week that the diagnosis was wrong and she does have cancer after all.

Together in Jesus is the only cure for broken hearts. If you aren’t experiencing “together” on some level, make that change today, and watch our Heavenly Father bless you!

Love Makes Me Dance!

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VBS11VBS12VBS13I was so fortunate to capture this moment last year during our Vacation Bible School.  Robert and I kept the toddlers, and Ruthie had just been adopted from an Asian country by a family in our church.

Adopting a child from overseas is a grueling process, at best! We saw her family go through tons of paperwork, hundreds of visits, thousands of questions, and that was just to get started!  We prayed with them through the interviews, the waiting, the red tape, more waiting, and finally – a trip to Ruthie’s country.  Even then, it took many days to get her, go before government agencies, formally adopt her, and then get to take that wonderful trip home.

Although very shy at first, Ruthie quickly warmed up to her new family, her new home, and her new church family.  We were playing and singing to music and she just broke out in this dance!  And why not!  She had gone, in a very short time, from being completely alone in a cold, overcroweded orphanage where her basic needs were barely met, to a wonderful world of love, care, beauty and happiness.  She was WANTED.  And she was ADOPTED!

This is such a beautiful picture of God’s love for us!  He has gone through the ultimate to adopt us – the death of His only Son, Jesus, on the cross.  He has brought us from a VERY far away country, the land where sin and the devil reign.  He also had to wait – longer on some of us than others – for us to come to Him.  And just like Ruthie’s family took her before the ruler of her country and said “yes, we want her”, Jesus has brought each of His children before the King of Kings, and said, “yes, Father, I want them, because I died for them”,  What love!  I am wanted, and I have been adopted..I believe I need to dance!