One Year Ago Today...

One year ago this morning, my wonderful husband John crashed his motorcycle into a guardrail and went flying in the air to hit his head on the frozen ground. He was wearing a helmet and much safety gear (he looked like Neil Armstrong) but he still suffered a traumatic brain injury and then a pulmonary embolism and then an infected leg that required surgery.

But you know what? John is doing wonderfully today. God chose to heal him. Recovery built our faith as a family even as we battled fear.

If you prayed for John or my family during that time, THANK YOU! I want to write something profound about the experience but I can't. I am just grateful. Today Noah and I are going to go to John's work and take him out to lunch. We aren't having a big party. But the most meaningful celebrations are those moments when John and I look back and then up, praising our God once again for being who He is and having mercy on who we are.

The Old Testament is full of stories in which altars are built after God showed Himself to be the one true God, full of miracles and mercy and majesty.

Today I build another altar in my heart. I give thanks.

Blessed are the Gift-Givers!

(This is a Joyvotion - a devotional I send out every Wednesday/Thursday. If you would like to receive them in your email box, just email me and I will add you.)

“…It is more blessed to give than receive.”
Acts 20:35


On my mother’s last Christmas, she gave each of her four children a quilt she’d made. It was a beautiful gesture. Mama was battling cancer and she was weak. She didn’t go shopping. Instead, she gave us beautiful masterpieces. Works of art that took time and love.

When I think of gift giving at Christmas, I try to remind myself that giving is an act of love, not obligation or even tradition. My mother didn’t shop that Christmas so long ago. Yet it was one of the most valuable gifts I’ve ever received. That kind of giving takes time and effort. I’m not as good at it as I want to be.

This week, my friend Lynne reminded me that gift giving can be a precious act – a simple gesture of love.

I meet with Lynne and Sue once a week at Sue’s house to pray for our kids who go to a neighborhood public school. Moms in Touch is an excellent organization and I have come to love praying with other moms.

This past Monday, Lynne gave Sue and I presents. When I saw the beautifully wrapped package, my first reaction was guilt.

“I didn’t get you anything.”

“That’s fine, Robbie.”

I could tell she meant it.

I opened up the gift and was taken aback.

It was a Hallmark ornament. A miniature Barbie case that opened up to make a dream house, just like the ones when I was young. And of course, a little moveable Barbie was included.

I looked at Lynne, curious.

She said, “Robbie, I know you want a house and a Barbie body. We don’t care if you ever get a house or a Barbie body, but I wanted to support your dreams.”

I started laughing, even as tears filled my eyes.

“What a thoughtful gift.” I hugged Lynne as I started to cry. “Thank you for thinking of me.”

A simple gesture of love. Silly and sweet. And perfect for me.

I could envision Lynne walking around a store, trying to decide how to give me something that I’d enjoy and something that told me she loved me.

My mother’s quilt is a priceless heirloom. Lynne’s gift will be a treasured memory that will make me smile every Christmas. Both gifts exemplify love and friendship.

As I look on my Christmas tree and spy Barbie hanging out in her dream house, I am reminded to take my focus off the To-Do shopping list and focus on what truly matters – my family and friends whom God has given me to love. This season of celebrating Christ’s birth and all the gifts He’s given us is the perfect opportunity to love those around us through giving.

Be it an elaborate masterpiece or a simple symbolic gesture of love.

May we all be grateful in receiving and blessed beyond measure in giving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish each of you a wonderful holiday. Look up and thank our God for His provision in good times and bad.

And thank you for reading my blog. It means the world to me to have someone pop in and read my scribbling!

If you visit consistently, you've probably noticed my lack of consistency. Well, there is a reason. I am trying to put together a website and it takes a lot of tinkering and dreaming and planning. It also takes enormous self control to not throw the computer against the wall at times. :0)

So please be patient and give me a wee bit of grace for my lack of consistent posts.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Time to take my Health Issues Seriously!

A few weeks ago, I went to my doctor for a complete physical. A week later, I sat in the doctor's office conference room to go over my notebook with him. Yes, notebook. It was a complete physical including all my blood cell levels, the hormone levels and of course, cholesterol.

My trigliceride level, the bad cholesterol, is off the chart. Basically, I'm one foot out of the grave. Although I can joke about it, the seriousness of this issue made a huge imprint.

That afternoon, I tickled Noah and we were laughing and laughing. It occured to me that I may never see his wedding or hold his kids. Ouch. It is time! Time for me to seriously take my health issues seriously!! Seriously.

But how? I've tried every diet known to mankind. Okay, almost. But it seems like every one.

First of all, I have to give God my will. Basically I have to make the decision every day to surrender. Throw up my hands, wave the white flag and stop fighting. My spoiled brat ways of "I am going to eat this because I WANT to eat this must stop.

But I need help! Enter a nutritionist and a counselor. By combining their advice to me, I have begun a eating program that is doable and realistic.

See, I'm an all or nothing gal. This has sabatoged every single one of my diets. If I don't do it perfectly, well then, have a pint of ice cream.:0)

No more. Another weapon I've used against myself is self doubt which becomes self fulfilling. The belief that "This really won't work, because I've never been able to lose weight and get healthy before," is imbedded in me because of the past. So I have to combat that lie. Constantly.

Change is difficult. Change takes purposeful effort. Change takes time.

And it is time.

Soul Food!

Today at my writer's group, Words for the Journey Christian Writers Guild, our leader said something profound. Michele Cushatt has a habit of doing that. She talked about taking breaks from the busy-ness of life to refresh ourselves.

"Take time to take care of your soul. Don't just let it be. Feed it."

Thanks, Michele.

It is easy for me to be lazy. Unfortunately, I don't have to think about being lazy. Just comes naturally. But being lazy, sitting around playing stupid computer games or watching TV is not necessarily taking care of my soul. It's letting it be.

To take care of my soul is to nurture it, like I would my child. I make sure Noah is well fed and clothed. But I also see to it that he has opportunities for joy, for challenge, for adventure, for peace.

So do I do the same for my soul? Do you?

I took a little time today and decided to purposely look for ways to give my soul opportunites for joy, for challenge, for adventure and for peace.

The holidays are coming. Busy-ness will be a constant temptation. I encourage you as I encourage myself to take time for our souls. Prepare a banquet for yourself, rich in delicious moments.

This year let's feed our souls, instead of feeding them to the tyranny of the clock.

Ivanka Trump's Wisdom. Seriously.

I watch The View. I will now pause for booing and clapping, depending on your view of The View. I like it, occasionally. Deal with that.

This past week Ivanka Trump and her mom were on talking about Ivanka’s wedding and new book. During the interview Ivanka said something that affected me profoundly.

Pause for “Seriously. Ivanka Trump.” and “Yeah, right.”

Barbara Walters asked what it was like to go through the divorce of her parents and all of the awful press during that time. Ivanka’s response was something near “I think if that hadn’t have happened to me, my life would’ve been too easy. I was very privileged so dealing with all the pain of that time helped me grow character.”

What wonderful perspective. How fabulous to see wisdom come from one who is young. Younger than me, at least.

So I’ve started to list (in my mind, but I may do it on paper) the awful periods of me life. Then I say, If

XYZ

hadn’t have happened, my life would have been too easy. I apply this idea to the fact that God is growing and molding me. Pain is a great teacher.

To further the thought, I considered my son. I would love it if one day he said “If that hadn’t happened, my life would have been too easy.”

But am I taking away that possibility by trying to rescue him? Sometimes I take care of life for Noah so he won’t be bothered. When I do this I am stealing his chance to go through difficulties. And he NEEDS to experience some kind of pain. I don’t wish that on him, but if I don’t allow it, how will he grow and learn perseverance? How will he practice looking to God for help if Mom is trying to save the day every time?

Do you ever look at the difficult times as gifts from God? Do you ever stand in the way of your kids’ growth through pain?

Who’d a thunk it? Ivanka Trump let me to the throne of God's wisdom.

Pause for “Sweet!”

Mind Your Own Business!

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we are at peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 5:1

Are you at peace with God? If you're not, you may relate to how this hamster feels. Without peace, a caged life is ours. God wants to unlock our cages and let us live in freedom. But how?

According to this verse, all it takes to be at peace with Him is to have faith in Jesus. That's it. Simple.

Then why is being at peace with God so difficult?

Enter guilt and judgement.

God has much more grace for us than we have for ourselves. Guilt for not being a "perfect Christian" (which is completely impossible anyway,) attacks us when we let our guards down. The enemy wants us to get our eyes off God and onto our own measly efforts to please. Guilt interferes with peace because it offers up a litany of reasons why we will never be good enough. Ergo, peace flys away.

Judgement interferes with peace because it takes our eyes off God and onto others. "She shouldn't be doing that." "I can't believe she let her son see that movie." At the root of judgement is comparison. Comparison in Christianity is futile. We are each individuals with individual strengths and weaknesses.

My mother used to tell me often to "Mind your own business." If she was alive today to see how our society loves to get in each others' business, she would be disgusted. From reality shows to talk shows, from open courts to blogs and facebook, our society has flung itself into the business of knowing other people's business.

The energy expended in looking around leaves less energy for looking up to God.

So I've started the mantra with Noah. "Mind your own business, Noah."

See, I know that if he learns early to "let it go" when he sees other sins, he will experience much more peace than the average Joe. If he learns now to repent of his failings quickly and then "let them go" he will use more of his time following God and less time wallowing in guilt.

He'll be at peace with God.

Last night and this morning I had the opportunities to go to two different writers' meetings that I enjoy. I made the choice to skip both, due to being tired and having a long list of to-dos. The enemy tempted me this morning to feel guilt about my choice. Ridiculous, but since I am such a people pleaser my first thought was I should go just to support others and make sure they know I'm for them. Nice enough motive, you'd think. But it comes from a place of guilt. I'm not "enough" because I am not pleasing everyone.

Then I heard my mom's voice, "Robbie, mind your own business." So I put down the guilt and looked up.

Peace reigned down on me.

Trust in Jesus, look to Him in faith and mind your own business. Let others' failings go. They're God's business. Repent quickly of your own sins and then let them go. What happens to your sins after you give them to God is well, His business. Not yours.

And enjoy peace. Deep breathing, smile inducing, gratitude rising peace. May Jehovah Shalom (the LORD is peace) bless you!