Oh, To Be Young

It is dark out.  Everyone around me is cranky.  I didn’t sleep well.  There are things I am seeking to discern . . . the attitudes around me are hard to dodge and seek to destroy my own.

Ah, but this quote just found me.  Hope is nearby  . . .

The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible, and achieve it, generation after generation.   Pearl S Buck

Darkess Or Light – A Quote

Leave the door open to the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.  - Rebecca Solnit -

Our trust in the Lord changes things, changes us, changes our perspective on darkness versus light.  When we open the door in our hearts and let Him in, we follow the unknown path but with His hand in ours.  Thus the darkness has a new light.  It has been forever changed, as have we.

Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous. - Psalm 112:3-5

Rumi Quote of the Day

Something opens our wings. Something makes boredom and hurt disappear. Someone fills the cup in front of us: We taste only sacredness.  - Rumi

I’ve so often told folks that following the Lord in my life means that even if I go over the cliff, He will give me wings!  The challenges in my life continue, but His love, provision and constant presence will NEVER fail me.  Things don’t always go according to my plan.  I don’t always see the ways in which He has redeemed some of the stuff I’ve lived through, but I have NO doubt that His purpose will be met in all my stuff and that He did bless my mess of the past and use it!  His love NEVER ENDS.

Quote of the Day – Kindness

Someone referred to me as kind the other day and my initial reaction was “wow, I thought he loved me.”  Amazing how this world’s misuse of words and acts can change things (he does love me) . . . but this quote says it so well:

Genuine kindness is no ordinary act,

but a gift of rare beauty. 

- Sylvia Rosetti -

 

 

Quote of the Day – Light Still Shines

Love this quote.   Makes me think of a tiny babe born in a cave/manger . . . a light shining in us and through us still . . .

 How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.  - William Shakespeare -

 

Giving Thanks – Two Days Early! A Praise Report!!!

Okay, I was going to save this for Thanksgiving, but like many of you, I will be cooking Thursday morning, and picking up last-minute things tomorrow and doing prep work, so here’s a praise report I’d love to share with all of you so that you may give thanks with me!

Many of you know I’m having procedures done to restore sight to my right eye, and to control an eye disease which causes improper blood flow and ruptures which can cause serious reductions in sight, pain, and obvious challenges in performing everyday tasks in the manner I’ve always done.  It is not entirely curable at this time, but there are treatments which can in some cases restore some lost sight and enable a return to “normal” life.  I’ve had mixed results and for months there’s been no measurable improvement and I’ve suffered from pain and poor vision.

On November 11th, as I went up to communion, one of my priests put his hand on my head and eyes and prayed for my healing.  Many people have been praying for me for some time including many of you though you may not have been aware of my situation aside from my provision challenge.  The eye disease has made seeking provision all the more difficult.   I’ve been battling this disease for over four years now.

By later that afternoon, November 11, I realized “wow, my pain’s gone.  Come to think of it, it hasn’t hurt since I left church.  Not a bit of pain.”  This past week, I began to notice that my brand new prescription reading glasses were not working as they had just a couple of weeks ago.  My reaction was “oh, no.  It’s getting worse.”  I admit, a tiny voice inside me said “next time I see my eye doctor, I need my prescription checked.  I need to know if  . . . ” but I didn’t pay it much mind.  Suddenly, early last week, I realized a very surprising thing.  I’d been, off and on, mistakenly wearing a pair of old over-the-counter readers which were a very low “strength” and could see better with them.

I hate to admit it, but the pieces of the puzzle still hadn’t come together until I went to church Sunday.  As I held our hymnal in my hands I realized that I could see the words and notes better with no glasses on then I had with any corrective eye wear in a long time.  As I went to communion, a stirring in my soul happened as Fr Chris approached me with communion, I detected a hesitation in him but he didn’t stop to pray for me this time.

I found out later that he’s silently seeked the Lord’s guidance about prayer for healing and the Lord said “I’ve done what I have done.”  Friends, healing comes in all sorts of ways.  Sometimes in an instant and sometime in a way entirely different from what we asked, and at other times gradually.  This week I have realized my sight, still far from perfect, is dramatically better than it’s been in a very long time!

I don’t know what the Lord’s ultimate plan is in the big picture, but I have no pain after weeks of steady pain in my diseased right eye and my vision is for certain stronger.  My left eye is “legally blind” since birth, so I have wrestled with a lot of fear on this for some time now.  In the last few days now I find I keep picking things up to read them because I can!  I’ve been a “bookworm” my entire life, but in the last 4 years I’ve had to try not to be since it was so difficult.  This week, it’s hard to focus on practical things because I can see better, folks!  I truly can!  I’ve been concerned about my ability to work and earn a living and not simply due to the economy, but due to my sight. I am not afraid.  As I close, I want to share with you a scripture passage which the Lord placed on my heart 8 years ago in a time of challenge and which He has placed in my path steadily since that time.  Please rejoice with me, continue to pray for this weak and flawed human who loves her Lord so much, and believe!

Jeremiah 29:11

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Monday Quote of the Day

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.  - Pema Chodron -

The Lord is moving in me in some amazing ways, so look forward to revelations of a variety of sorts, meanwhile He keeps placing certain Scripture in my hands, heart, and soul, especially Psalm 23.  When I read this quote, I could not only relate to its spiritual significance in my life, but it also struck me as very much like the verse “yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death . . . ” Dear readers, we all know how THAT story unfolds, don’t we?

 

Bible Verse of the Day – Serving

“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”” Joshua 24:15 NIV1984

Worship In The Storm Monday Bible Verse

Whether it’s the hurricane or the spiritual storm, perhaps today is a rough one for you.  It has been for me.  Perhaps you wonder what you have to give to God whom you love and who loves you so much?  Here is an answer.

“[A Living Sacrifice to God] And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” Romans 12:1 NLT

A Bible Verse – A Prayer

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.” Psalm 51:12 NLT