Welcome to my FMF post. Where I join Kate and the others in blogging from my heart for 5 minutes; unhindered by the need to edit or corrections. Just my heart to yours on this fine Friday. You can either follow the FMF link in the sentence above or hop on over to how it works from the button on my side bar! Join us!
His Laughter – My Favorite Sound.
Today’s Prompt is: Still. So lets ….
Today I honor this man, The Hubs.
If you’ve frequented my blog you know who he is because I mention him often! ❤ Today is his birthday!
So today I honor the most honest man I’ve ever known. He changed my life almost 26 years ago! Wow … 26 years. I actually met him when I was 19 (and thought he was old.) but our worlds would become one when I was 24.
This man’s honesty, integrity and character are evident in him everyday, without fail. It thank God that He made me discerning enough to choose the man He sent for me, and me for him.
I am awed by this man’s strength and dignity in all things, and I could not love him more. That is until tomorrow comes and I realize a new and wonderful thing in him.
O’ Lord this man. We declare and decree the Word of God. “Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.” “By His stripes you are healed.” “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” “You shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord.” “Don’t forget the benefits of God. He heals all our diseases.” “The Lord will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds.” “Affliction will not rise up a second time.” “The power of the Lord is present to heal you.”
I count our years together as blessings, having realized that our successful marriage and relationship was God’s plan . How much more wonderful can a life be, than to live the life that God unites between the two people he built for one another?
With all my heart and soul, I love this man STILL and always.
My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:18
I’m reading ‘The Shack’ by William P. Young, again. Yes, it’s that profound. Not just good, PROFOUND. I encourage you read it and then keep in your library … you can find it in paperback for under $8 and on Kindle for less that $5! Follow the link above.
Quickly, I want to address what we think about God’s parenting style in our hard times.
Being what is considered a ‘mature’ Christian I rarely blame or question God. I was awed to discover that I didn’t blame or question God when The Hubs was diagnosed with lung cancer. I did all the things people do when they are presented with the grave, worldly understanding of such a diagnosis.
My head spun, my eyes became water spigots and my heart dropped and ached terribly, for the longest time. I slipped unhindered into a cavern of fear. It was dark and cold and I’d wake in the middle of the night just to check if he was breathing; when even the night before the diagnosis this was not a question in my thought processes. Now (or I should say then, it was over a year ago) it was a constant concern.
We were faced, blindsided by mortality. Oh how offensive that truly can be. I was offended. It never occurred to me that my husband, who had smoked for 40 years, could get cancer! How silly is that? [btw: he was diagnosed with non-smokers cancer, go figure]
But I never questioned God on the why. I just prayed, at first, that desperate wife’s prayer for healing, explaining to God how I couldn’t imagine living without this man he created for me. How I’d want to go with him. That there was nothing left here for me if he was gone. And then it changed, the prayer changed, when I came out of that tailspin. I began to pray the already received promise and thank God for our life so full of blessings. I don’t recall how long it took for the transition I speak of. But it came and I began to move forward, purposefully.
That said, I was reading the book, while waiting at some appointment or other, yesterday.This was the dialog between Mac and his youngest daughter, Missy, that caught my heart:
“Is the Great Spirit another name for God – you know, Jesus’ papa?” Missy
“I would suppose so. It’s a good name for God because he is Spirit and he is Great.” Mac
“Then how come he’s so mean?” Missy. She goes on to question why Jesus was made to die on the cross.
Mac goes on to tell her that Jesus didn’t think God was mean. He said Jesus knew God was full of love and loved him very much. That His daddy didn’t make Him die. Jesus chose to die because he and his daddy loved you and me and everyone in the world; that He saved us from our sickness.”
SAVED us from our sickness.
I knew this all along. I knew it when they presented the diagnosis. I knew it in my tailspin and I knew it when I came up for air. But deep down; did I question God’s logic in all of this?
Maybe, I guess I must have at some point. But I didn’t linger there, because when I think about God and His roll in these things we encounter in this life my head goes to the #1 scripture for the question: “Why, God?”
Jeremiah 29:10-13 10 For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
And the #2:
Isaiah 55:8-10 10“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
For me, this speaks it all, and it’s my husband’s scripture. This scripture has been spoken over my husband by many preachers, many who didn’t know him at all. And it’s the Jeremiah 29:11 always left my husband bristling. =) Not anymore!
God is saying right here, I will visit you in your illness [Babylon] and I will perform My good word [the promises] toward you and I will return you to this place [Divine Health] … for I know what I’ve planned for your life and the plan is good and will give you a future and hope! … and so much more. This scripture is so deep!
I am reassured by it. I know Daddy is not mean, that this illness is not His design for our lives. We don’t allow the illness to define us as a family, The Hubs as a person or our lives going forward. We live our life in forward motion, as though nothing is amiss. We don’t question God about it.
We know that like the rain and snow, we were sent [born] and will not return until we have done our work, planned by the Father, for the kingdom, that He planned for us.
We will fulfill our Kingdom Destinies! And nothing can stop that.
Though we do ask when it will stop; the chaos that comes with this malady. I think that’s a different question.
We call on Him for answers and we pray and He listens. We seek and we find Him because we search for Him with all our hearts, everyday.
So, my question: Are you blaming God for somethings? Are you asking Him why in regard to something or some circumstance in your life?
Know this. Today. Right here. If it’s a bad thing it is not of God’s design for your life, but He will use it so that you come out of it SURE of His presence and love and stronger for the test!
Thanks for reading. Give me your ‘few words’ about where you’re at today with God’s parenting of you in your life. I’d love to share this quiet day with you.
It’s Tuesday at Ten time! And Karen’s prompt is right on time and right on the money, again!
Really, what am I grateful for … so very much!
Life is difficult here in Hutchland, and probably in your life too! Yet I remain grateful, even if I have to be reminded to count my blessings in the moment of challenge, for this life we have.
So how do I find my Grateful in times of difficulty? Here’s the story of how I keep my gratitude in order.
Like yesterday ….
I didn’t think I’d be doing much of anything today. I am tired and not feeling great after yesterday’s medical appointment adventure day! It really was a long day, with some hiccups in what we expected to be the plan, and the outcomes of the day.
Feeling great, and optimistic, when we started out on what we knew was going to be an extended day, turned into information we weren’t expecting, tests and retests and then a long drive home in quiet reflection!
LOL! Quiet reflection! Oh! I am so grateful for the humor we enjoy in this relationship of our, The Hubs and I. Somewhere along the line in our travels back and forth to appointments and chemo and radiation we saw or heard a commercial, or in a movie, that basically ended in one of the characters saying, “from now on the car will be a place of silent reflection.” So the thought of that just cracks us up!
Anyway! Back to grateful!
I’ve had several kinds of “counseling” since about the age of 19. Due to family issues, abuses and neglects in my life. From childhood and far into my adulthood. But the one form of counseling that has had the most effect on my true healing is a simple AA Beginners Learning to Live group and Step Meetings with women who think like I do and incorporates a LOT of God into it.
Over the years I have been grateful to find that AA is actually based on Christian counseling methods! It’s developed, over time, to incorporate all beliefs, but it has never denied it’s Christians roots.
The Higher Power is defined as God in all the literature. =)
All that said, I have learned, from constant consistency from my sponsor, that when I get in a REALLY bad way I need to make a GRATITUDE List.
Not too different from the guidance of the bible and probably originating there:
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Colossians 3:16 ( I have found in my studies of scripture that many of the most profound messages in the bible are in [fill in your bible book here], chapter 3 and verse 16. Seriously, has anyone else noticed this? God surely makes these things so easy for us to find!)
Gratitude … on Facebook I’ve seen, lately, the encouragement of picking and challenging friends to 5 or 7 days of posting what they are grateful/thankful for. I’ve also noticed, among my list of friends, that if one is having a hard time or has slipped into a negative rut they are especially encouraged to write this new form of the Gratitude List. What I like about that is that it makes me feel accountable to others around me.
After all I’m supposed to be shining my light and showing those around me Jesus. Well it’s hard to do that when I am overwhelmed with the world or my current circumstances. It’s hard for anyone. I have a friend on Facebook, who over the years, I have become very close to. She could be my daughter. Usually a very happy and positive lady, she’s been having a hard time with the world around her. She even made this evident this morning. Her words broke my heart for her. ” Stick a fork in me, I’m done and it really doesn’t take much these days especially in a world where you constantly being shown how worthless you are. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for SO much… it’s the rest of it I’m absolutely choking on. HAPPY MONDAY POSITIVE PEEPS!”. I began to pray for her relief from her pain. This lady will soon be back to her wonderful positive self; but it’s so evident how all of a sudden when a tragedy crops up we truly see the world as the fallen place that it is!
This life is not easy, but as humans I think we begin a slow amnesiac type of tolerance to what’s around us; and until something makes those things that we think to be important the small things that they truly are we are unable to remember what is important and to count those amazing everyday blessings that fill our lives!
But! I’ve been taught by my God and my relentless friends of like mind that that is EXACTLY the time to write that list.
A very dear friend, mentor and powerhouse in the Ministry of Prayer, reminds me and encourages me too, in this. I must say, my mentors and friends really do cause me to be so thankful to God for putting them in my life!
I have also come to see my gratitude list as a prayer of sorts, for the day or for the crisis at hand. =)
Further Instructions: Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
They say:
Just get to it! Write that list of what you are thankful for! Count those blessings! Pray! It changes one’s attitude immediately! It works!
Well it must work, it works for me. It’s guidance from the bible and from any good counselor!
So, what am I grateful for today? After yesterday and the Monday before? Here goes … 10 things I’m grateful for this week, today:
My Gratitude List
1. Those who take the time to remind me to count my blessings. Today I must thank Karen for this, and Margie, who has been doing this for over a week with me, reminding and praying for and with me.
2. That God is our healer, not the doctors.
3. That The Hubs let me know what he thought on that. He said, “It’s ok. God heals me, not the doctors or the chemo!” So grateful for his sharing how he thinks about these things! That said …
4. For good doctors and specialists.
5. That 6 weeks out, The Hubs remains in good health!
6. I am eternally grateful that God made me smart enough to realize His choice for a husband for me almost 26 years ago!
7. I am grateful for God’s faith working in me. It is my stay and fortress.
8. My crazy and odd family!
9. For my Dachshunds and the Cats that remain. Always there and always faithful!
and lastly but never leastly …
10. For this blessed life that God has provided for us here in Hutchland!
Finding the grateful in the roughness of this life is not always an easy task, but I promise you, my sweet readers, that when practiced it has a profoundly positive affect on you, your attitude and ultimately the world around you! I encourage you to join us all at Tuesday at Ten and begin that Gratitude List of yours! We are all here on the same journey. We might be at different legs of the journey but I, for one, am grateful that you are here with me and I am not alone on the path.
Welcome. Tuesday is the day I join the writers over on Karen Beth’s blog, Finding the Grace Within for her Tuesday at Ten blog Link up.
It’s simple, be creative with the prompt: writing, art or whatever your craft may be, you have 1 week to create and link up at that bottom of Karen’s page so that others can link up with you. Be sure to visit your “link up” neighbor and spread the joy of connection! Just follow the link above. Looking forward to your post.
Today’s Prompt ….
Silence …
I used to loath silence, mostly because either there was noisy chaos or absolute silence when I was a child. So I became an adult who required background noise; even if it is white noise; like the sound of the blades for a fan beating at the soft, sweet autumn breeze coming through the window or hitting the floor on a cold winters night.
I dreamed, though, of a silence that feels like my fall blossom photo above. Sweet autumn breezes with the smell of fresh grass and wild flowers. The sun adding a touch of warmth on the breeze and those pretty rainbow dots before your eyes, for the staring at it’s bright, late afternoon rays.
And that, my dear friends, is as romantic as this girl gets. =)
I don’t loath the peaceful silence quite so much anymore; maybe at night when Hutchland is asleep. But there isn’t much loathing of the peaceful kind of silence anymore.
Silence brings scripture to mind, mostly because silence has become a practice of waiting on God.
“The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.” Exodus 14:14
Some versions say “The Lord will fight for you and you will keep your peace”. Either way this is one of the very first scriptures I latched onto as I began my walk in Christ. Coming from chaos, a true son of wrath, I had to learn to be silent and peaceful. I had to learn to put down my emotional and mental weapons and allow God to fight for me while I was quiet. Not easy for the tenacious girl that I was, or the tenacious woman that I’ve become.
But I was diligent to learn peace and silence. Or should I say accept peace and silence?
It’s been years and years of diligence and it remains a discipline that I must practice. A friend taught me to disregard my first three thoughts before I reacted with words. NOW that was hard! I possess a quick wit and the skill of sarcasm, as if it were my native tongue; like I said a true son of wrath. I learned though, the art of the action of silence. No words.
I am a wordsmith, I’ve been told, but I no longer use it as a weapon. =) I allow God to fight for me, most times.
My silence, however, is just as effective as my cutting words were. In some of my relationships it has caused some to pause and tread with caution, which allowed me a rare insight into how I affect other,s or not.
I found that silence is a tool in and of itself.
“A soft answer turns away wrath,” Proverbs 15:1a
And silence stops it. Eventually.
Being silent has allowed me to find a peaceful place within myself, the act of being, where I can confer with God before I say anything to anyone or any situation. I’ve even found that in that silent, peaceful place I don’t have to respond at all; that my voice is not always needed. That was a hard lesson for this wordy girl. I naturally want to explain or lecture or just be heard.
But SILENCE is sometimes much louder than a voice. It stops people. It raises the hair on the back of my neck sometimes. And other times it seems to expand within me; a peacefulness that I cannot put into words, though it has a name. The Holy Spirit.
So now I sit here with just the sound of that fan, it’s been warm these last few days here at the Jersey Shore, and the soft breathing of Buster at my feet and find I’m finally content with silence. I can finally curl up in it and listen to all those sounds that actually make up silence. The singing of birds gathering to train for the journey south (we call them town hall meetings, Hubs and I.), the distant whooshing sound of the cars passing on the main road a block away, even the crickets and Hazel, the beagle, barking for the joy of being outside, next door.
The symphony of today’s silence.
It all allows me, finally, to be able to sit and wait on God, in every circumstance of my life.
Silence is no longer lonely. It is quality time with Father, hashing out this journey I walk with Him. It is time to ponder the blessings and enjoy my life no matter what is going on.
Silence is Peace; and Peace is a person. Jesus. So I’ll end this here and …
“Be still, and know that He is God.” Psalm 46:10
Thanks for reading!
Andrea
Just for a smile here is Buster … my sweet pup.
Buster.
Tomorrow begins the 31 Days of writing challenge!
Click my button below and it will bring you to my 31 Day page. Where I will put the links to each of my 31 posts, making it easy for you, my dear readers to find them throughout the month.
On this introductory page are the links to the two different challenges that I will be participating in. Follow those links there for the rules and the themes if you want to use them.
It’s been a long week here in Hutchland, with days stretching into the wee hours of the morning; and I have 5 Minutes to tell you about it!
1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..
Oh and Ahem, if you would take pity and turn off comment verification, it would make leaving some love on your post that much easier for folks!
OK, are you ready? Please give us your best five minutes on:::
Wide…
I saw the topic and this immediately came to mind, considering this weeks event!
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” ~ Ephesians 3:16-19
Tuesday evening a freight train ran through my yard at 9:30 pm … literally minutes after our bible study guest left our home. It was a TORNADO! In New Jersey! REALLY!
The Hubs and I were straightening up and he was about to head back out to work … OT! 🙂
Then this tremendous noise and wind and the curtains violently sucked out and then back in with a snap and a muted crash or boom was heard as our home (1800s Victorian Farm House) shifted west and back east again and settled back! Literally 5 minutes! 😀
The Hubs and I looked at one another and said What The …
Upon looking out from the porch I informed the Hubs that branches were down and maybe he should check before he left, so he did and …
Our 60″, 88′ around the base, 100+ year old Swamp Maple had been uprooted and had hit our home!!! REALLY!?!
And then the week continued …
You can see how wide the top branches are from the ground to above the roof of my 2 story home!
You can wonder how wide spread the damages were!
But your best guess would be wrong!
“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—”
Today I can tell you that I have a minute grasp on how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. Now I don’t pretend to know why this happened. Some would ask why God would allow this. Others would say that He allowed it to happen for a reason, to change things. Still others would say things just happen, for no understandable reason!
I say … this happened and what I learned were these things (and they will not soon be forgotten!):
*God is always with us! (Minimal damage to the house,considering, and no one hurt and repair is already in motion!)
*His love for us is the biggest, most unfathomable thing we can contemplate!
*And ALL situations can be used for blessing! (We were able to bless a family we know with firewood to heat their home for the coming winter!)
Wide … Yes … God and all his purposes and plans for us are WIDE! As in from the EAST to the WEST!
STOP!
* Forgive me 😉 I did go over the 5 minutes a bit. Blessings everyone! … there are always blessings, in all things.
Today I honor this man, The Hubs.
One Page at a Time. 