God Is Faithful

Moments after receiving the phone call, telling me my sister had gone to be with the Lord, I played this song off her CD. There are no words to describe the wrenching, tearing pain in my heart, nor the comfort. As I listened to her sing, it was as if she was singing it to me from her new home... Heaven. She was singing it with new understanding, new absolute certainty, as she stood before the Lord... God is faithful. God is faithful to see you through this, trust Him. God is faithful to see you through everything He's allowed in your life, trust Him. He's right beside you... even now... trust Him.

Sometimes I am overwhelmed, but He isn't. Sometimes I'm taken by surprise. God is never surprised or taken off guard. Sometimes I 'feel' abandoned, yet He is faithful and never, no never leaves me or forsakes me. I often don't understand why He allows some things, but He knows exactly why. My beautiful sister is with Him now and all is made right. She loudly and beautifully proclaims that He is Faithful and trustworthy.

Debbie and I always encouraged one another, laughed with each other, loved each other. And I'm finding that the legacy still lives. Even though she's moved, she's only on the other side of Jesus... and He is very near.

What legacy will we leave when it's our time to move? Will we still encourage and cheer the hearts of those that are walking out their earthly journey? Will they look at our lives and know that we still proclaim that He is faithful?

Manure?

Manure

It takes many elements to produce the most beautiful flowers and fruits. Among them is manure, generously applied at the end of winter. It can be dug into new flower beds, scratched into the surface around plants that haven't come up yet, placed carefully around plants that are up or made into a tea to water with. Care must be given with each method. Manure can burn roots and leaves. Yet the results make the risks necessary.

When your life is full of manure and everything just plain stinks - trust the Master Gardener. The creator of heaven and earth knows exactly the right amount and which method will produce the most beautiful Christlike heart in you. It's not enjoyable. Actually quite disagreeable. But, it is necessary.

Maybe God did promise us that life would be rosy after all. If you consider the dirt, the thorns and the manure.

Take heart. If you're being fertilized now - spring is near.

'We must go through tribulations to enter the kingdom of God. 'Acts 14:22b

Bloom Where You Are Planted

Little Book of Gardening Tips

God reveals so much about Himself to us through His creation. No one else can compare in their imagination and creativity. There is no color or form or fragrance that God did not create. No one thought of something first . God was first.

Most people enjoy a garden. They are soothing and peaceful. Our eyes and noses delight.

The garden is also a wonderful place to discover the mysteries of God. So when you stop and smell the roses, breathe deeply, look closer. God is with you and has many, many lessons to teach you and secrets to reveal.

Come and enjoy.
Welcome to my garden.

Bloom Where You Are Planted

A gardener will occasionally dig up a plant and move it to a new location in the garden or give it as a gift to a friend. This is the gardener's job. A plant never grabs itself by the ankles, yanks its roots out of the ground and runs across the yard to a spot it deems as better for itself.

Do you desire to run when things get hot? Or see others spots as more favorable than your own?

If you would be pleasing to God you must remember - you are not the Gardener.

Be content where God has you. Be still and know that He is God. He knows your needs, far better than you do. He knows just how much sun, shade, rain, drought - everything you need to thrive and bloom in Him. He also knows what other plants you need around you to pull out and complement your particular beauty.

Leave yourself to His care and bloom where you are planted.

 

In Strong Arms

 

I did this drawing of my grandson, Caleb, being held in my husbands arms shortly after he was born. It always reminds me of being held in the Father's arms, safe and secure. Caleb is so relaxed and trusting, oblivious to the dangers of the world because he feels the safety and strength that holds him.

When the Lord calls us His children and says that of such is the kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 19:14) this is what I see. A child sure of his/her Father. A child free from the cares of the world. A child that trusts daddy to take care of them, love them and always do the best for them, even if it doesn't always feel like 'the best'. Especially when it doesn't feel that way! Hebrews12:11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Chastening isn't punishment... it is loving guidance through life. It is the stuff that peace and righteousness are made of.

How often have I heard someone say they're being punished with much sorrow and self condemnation. Yet the Lord demonstrates the opposite. If we are being chastened, we have much reason to rejoice! It means we are His and He loves us and is growing us up, making us useful for His Kingdom. 

^{Psalm 139:23} Search me, O God, and know my heart;
         Try me, and know my anxieties;
 ²⁴ And see if there is any wicked way in me,
         And lead me in the way everlasting.

Come as a child, trusting in strong arms.

Beauty From Pain

Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings. 1 Peter 4:13

The sufferings of Jesus were not the 'ordinary' kind of suffering that mankind faces. He suffered according to the will of God. It is only when we are related to and abiding in Jesus that we may become partakers of Christ's suffering. Only then can our suffering come under the hand of God and be transformed. Only then can beauty come from pain and ashes. Only then can our Lord make use of us in our suffering. Usefulness that stretches into eternity.

I have railed against the grief and suffering that was brought to my life. I have cried about how unfair it is. And I'm right. It is unfair. Yet, if I remain in that attitude, my suffering remains mine alone and can't be transformed. Jesus went to the cross without once uttering how unfair it was to die at the hands of man.. those He created!, for their very sin - when He alone was sinless. Talk about 'unfair'.

How can God have said to 'count it all joy' when trials and tribulations come at us? We cannot know exactly why God is taking us this way, but He knows. And as we become partakers in the sufferings of Christ, new life comes forth. Jesus' suffering is still affecting lives 2,000 years later.

I don't want my suffering to be an ordinary thing. I want to be able to look back and see His light and love poured out over it, sanctifying me and using me. I want to hear 'well done My good and faithful servant.' I want to bear my cross with grace and honor Him who asked me to bear it. Let not my heart faint within me.

He's Always Been Faithful

In loving honor and memory of my dad.

Dec. 7th, 1923 - Dec. 3rd, 2009.

Grief

^{Over the weekend, my dads health has deteriorated. This man, once so tall and proud, is now confined to a hospital bed. His kidneys aren't functioning properly, his potassium level is dangerously high, blood work shows that he's had a heart attack sometime within the last two weeks. He is experiencing severe dementia symptoms and both his hips are now dislocated due to degenerative disease. My tall, strong dad will never walk again.} 

 

^{In the dementia, he was trying to remove the IV's, and other assorted equipment. When the nurse tried to stop him, he became uncharacteristically combative and they had to put him in restraints. He's been experiencing mild dementia for a year or so... but this weekend, it roared through him. The doctor's believe this is tied to the high potassium levels. They don't promise that it will improve if they can get the potassium down, but they're 'hopeful'. That is of course, if he survives this. They have told us that a massive heart attack is imminent if they can't lower the potassium quickly.}

 

^{How do you deal with the heartbreak of seeing your parent suffer these things? How do you adjust yourself to this new picture you have of them... especially when we all long to remember them in their days of strength. How do you grieve the loss of one so special and dear to your heart?}

 ^{I will trust in the Lord. I will rest in the knowledge that my father is being held by his Father. Our Father knows when a sparrow falls. He knows the number of hairs on our heads. He has prepared a mansion with many rooms. He has written my dads name in the Lamb's Book of Life and He is joyously anticipating the homecoming of his son... my dad.} 

 

^{And when that day comes, whether it's now or ten years from now... though this earth will be poorer and my heart will be wrenched, Heaven will be even richer for me.}

 

 

^{1 Peter 5:10} But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. ¹¹ To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

 

Psalm 30:5 Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.