Following in the footsteps of my daughter!

This is Gwen and her friend Angel in 4th Grade.  Angel invited Gwen to CYC (a midweek children's program at her church).  Gwen really wanted to attend, so we added this evening event in to our already packed schedule.  The good news was that sometimes I drove Gwen to CYC and Angel's parent would bring her home.  I had no idea how important CYC would be to Gwen and to me.  I'm not exactly sure when it was, but at some point, the wonderful women who taught Gwen's group, encouraged her to "pray and ask Jesus into her heart".  Now (remember my blog from yesterday) this church did not believe in infant baptism and practiced "believer baptism".  I really didn't care at this point.  Gwen was very clear that something important had happened and she felt changed.  I know that Gwen began to pray for our family.  I started to help her do Bible memorization, learning passages along with her.  And shortly after this, I experienced a very real change in my own spirit and truly began to know and understand the real presence of Jesus in my life.  I know that my own spiritual walk really started as I walked in Gwen's footprints.  That may seem like an unusual thing...for a mother to follow her daughter.  It's interesting because this was just the path that Jesus planned for my life.  I had a strong church background, so many seeds sown in my generations, always knew Jesus was real.....but I had not really been living fully for Jesus.  Yes, this was a real banner year for both Gwen and I.  And for our family.  Sometimes it IS a child that leads!

That church that hosted this CYC program... well, it is not a church that exactly matches my beliefs.  But the core, the center of it all, was Jesus.  And that was enough.  I am so thankful for that little girl who would not stop asking her friend to come.  And I am so grateful that Gwen pressed us to let her attend.  If I stop and consider what might have been had I dug in my heels and refused to let her go to a different church, I get very sad.  I know that there are some people and churches that would discourage letting a child attend a different denomination for this kind of program.  In fact, our pastor at the time, told Gwen that nothing had happened when she prayed that prayer, since she already had Jesus in her heart at her baptism.  Unfortunately, he missed the point that something very real HAD happened!  Again, I think this is an encouragement for all of us to really consider the body of Christ as our sisters and brothers. We need to stand together in unity, and BE the body of Jesus, working together.  Not fighting among ourselves.  When we succeed in that, we will have the power and the authority to stand against any enemy that might attack us.  And let's face it, we need that power and authority today more than ever before.

So these first footprints had the solid foundation of Jesus as the central, core imprint.  And these footprints were those of a child.  But Jesus did an amazing work in these steps.  He not only changed Gwen, but he also changed me.  Really quite an amazing thing.  I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit drawing Gwen and I to come into a deeper place with Jesus.

Jesus, thank you for your great love for us and your plans and destiny for each person.  Thank you for children's programs and the amazing volunteers that change peoples lives every day through your Word.  Holy Spirit, thank you for speaking to children.  Keep us all mindful of the ways that we treat our brothers and sisters in Jesus.  Help us all to tear down walls that divide us and be open to standing on the unity we have in Jesus.  Amen

Amazing, incredible, awesome night!

What an amazing night I had last night.  I am writing this post in the morning, rather than at night since I didn't arrive home until after 11:00pm last night.  It was the opening night of this conference.  I am so blessed to be able to attend this event, even if I had to leave "early"- before the end of the session last night, since I have a 40 minute drive home. 

 

Here's the absolutely amazing part of the night.  HUB Ministries found out that there were 12 other major events like this happening around the United States on the same weekend.  As Nancy Magiera said, this is highly unusual.  She found some evidence that throughout history, these dates have included some of the largest revivals ever seen.  She got in contact with the leaders from these other conferences and together they decided to "prefer someone else, rather than themselves".  So last night the conference opened with all of us praying and interceeding for the OTHER events!  And more than that, IRIS Ministries (Rolland and Heidi Baker) - the ministry that is supported by HUB, has a large International event this weekend.  They have invited 7,000 leaders from the top 50 countries that persecute Christians to a large conference.  So, it was possible to imagine being united with people (as Nancy put it) "from sea to shining sea" as well as reaching the nations. 

 

The evening worship included these words............

 

Every eye is on the bridegroom, every eye is on the king

Behold His glory.  We will see his glory.

Lift up our eyes, come let us adore him.

 

Isn't He holy,  Isn't He worthy,  Isn't He beautiful.

 

Yes, I am expectant and hopeful for the rest of this amazing event this weekend.  It is so wonderful to see UNITY among ministries!  It really feels heavenly.

 

Yesterday I came upon this utube video The Christmas Scale.  What an awesome video.  And an amazing reminder ...... Joy to the World, The Lord has come!  So, Come Let Us Adore Him!  Yes, a Christmas message in October!

 

Jesus, thank you for this opportunity to worship and pray in unity with so many of your people around the world. Bless these events, and other events that are unknown to me, happening this weekend.  Thank you for this video and the story that it contains.  Help us all, Holy Spirit, to live and walk in the knowledge that we have JOY, because the Lord has come.  And help us to come together and adore Him!  Amen



Result of a shopping trip...

Today's picture comes from a small little event that happened while I was shopping this morning.  I actually started my Christmas shopping at a "Big Toy Sale" at a local store.  I had my list and was ready for the crowds.  Last year I tried to go to this sale and it was INSANE!  Today, not so much.  This must be a result of the economy downturn.  At any rate, there was a "four generation" family shopping ahead of me.  The sight of these little ones, shopping with their mom, grandma and great-grandma took my breath away.  And those two little girls reminded me of Lia and Ellie.  And I remembered this picture.  At this point, in 2009, my mom was able to still go shopping with us, and we often did that during our visits.  It wasn't much longer though and she was not as able to get around.  And soon, we were doing the shopping for her and she was happy to stay at home.  But that family today, reminded me of the wonderful times I had together as four generations.  I am so thankful that Gwen always made time and took great effort to get to Minnesota to visit my mom.  It wasn't easy traveling with babies, but Gwen and Tim made many, many trips.  Even though Lia and Ellie won't remember the details of these visits, they do remember my mom.  And for that, I am grateful. 

You know, I am thinking that this blog is really about YESTERDAY'S blog.  It's all about the people.  Yesterday I was thinking about the church, but today - it's all about the family.  I would like to think that my kids would say that we spent a lot of time together as they were growing up.  But I guess I'll have to ask them to hear their actual answer.  I know that we often laugh and laugh lots when we are together.   There seems to be many, many, triggers for the laughter and it doesn't matter what the occasion, we find things to laugh about.  It also makes me so thankful for the time that I have gotten to spend with my grandchildren.  But more than that, it makes me committed to spending as much time together as we can.

Ken was reminding me that things usually happen for a reason.  Today I am feeling more sure that my job situation has happened for a reason. I have been able to spend more time with the people around me.  I saw friends and had time to visit with them. And I am looking forward to being able to spend more time with family in the days ahead.  Additionally, I am going to be able to attend those conferences that I had mentioned before. Yes, more time to be with the people that matter to me. 

As I was driving home from shopping this morning, I heard the song "How Great Is Our God".  Boy do I love that song!  It's about being together -  one line of the song is "sing with me...." 

 

How great is our God,  Sing with me
How great is our God, all will see
how great how great
Is our God

You're the name above all names
You are worthy of all praises
and my heart will sing
How Great is Our God

And along with it being a song that we sing together, the idea is that ALL WILL SEE that our God is great. Just as I was thinking yesterday, this "Gospel" is all about people.  It is all of us that know Jesus, getting together.  And when we are together (AKA in Unity), then people will see that and begin to understand just how great our God is!  And this getting together is really about getting together with people who are not just like us.  That is when the true unity is clearly seen by the world.  I remember hearing that the most segregated hour of the week is 10:00am on Sunday morning. This is because there were so many "all white" or "all black" or "all Asian" or "all Hispanic" churches.  I am going to be adding a prayer for the "Church" (remember that the church is the people) to come into unity, so that we can sing together and THEN the world will see HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!

Jesus, thank you for another reminder today that people are the most important thing.  People in our family, people that are in the world and people that are in the church.  Holy Spirit, thank you for bringing that song to me today, along with the reminder about how important it is to sing together as the body of Christ.  Jesus, thank you for all of the churches that are doing this today.  Thank you for the places that are a picture of unity in you.  Jesus, what a blessing you have given to me with this time off.  Thank you for the time to reflect on what is really important.  Jesus, thank you for all the four generation time that I had.  Bless that family that I saw this morning.  And Holy Spirit, remind people to appreciate their family time together.  Jesus, you are great and you have the name above all names. Amen

A broken shoe that brings revelation....

Can I complain a little bit here?  Can you believe that my "new" favorite drive home route (that I talked about last week) has suddenly become a disaster?  They just started ripping up that road for.....road construction.  UGHHHHH!  So, as of today, I guess I will just have to suffer through a longer drive home. 

On to the topic of the day.  Yesterday I noticed that my left sandal felt funny.   I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it - until I actually took a closer look.  The entire rubber sole of the sandal was split, all the way through to the insole!  These were not cheap shoes! And they had been new at the start of this summer.  For the last 4 years I have had to be extra careful about the kind of shoes I wear.  After a very painful bout of  Plantar Fasciitis, which took over 6 months to resolve, I really don't have any choice BUT to wear the right shoes.  I did a lot of research and found that for someone my age (!) it was especially important to prevent a recurrence of this condition.  So I watch for sales and just grit my teeth at the extra expense of the correct shoes.  So, here it is, nearly the end of the season and there are no sandals to be found anywhere.  Now this wouldn't be so bad if we were not in the midst of an incredible heat wave.  It was actually a record breaking 97 today and very humid. I was particularly disappointed to lose these sandals because they had been so comfortable!  In the midst of checking the internet to try to find the same shoes, I decided to look into getting a refund for these defective sandals!  So, I called the store and found out that they would take them back!  Even though I did not have the receipt or the box.  They were able to find my purchase through my credit card.  So today I made a quick trip to the store and was able to quickly and with no hassle, get my money back!

 

What a blessing!  I wasn't expecting this at all.  It was so neat to see that there are still some stores that value a customer's satisfaction and will make things right when a product doesn't perform well.  Unfortunately, this isn't the normal anymore.  Most stores have such a strict return policy that it doesn't pay to try to return something.  I was reminded of a time when Ken and I tried to return a $10 item that we had purchased the day before at an electronics store.   Even with a receipt it was an unfortunate experience.  First we had to go to customer service. After waiting in line,  they looked at the item and the receipt.  They then sent us to the counter.  Where we waited in another line.  Again, they looked at the item and the receipt.  Told us that we had to proceed to the "return counter".  Where, once again, we waited in a line.  Finally they issued us a piece of paper and sent us to yet another line, to actually finally get our $10 back!  Needless to say, we do not return to that store!

In the midst of this easy return, I was thinking about integrity.  That led me to research the definition of integrity:

• possession of firm principles: the quality of possessing and steadfastly adhering to high moral principles or professional standards
• completeness: the state of being complete or undivided
• wholeness: the state of being sound or undamaged

Yes, this sounds like the God I serve!   He has firm principles and he is steadfast!  The triune God is the picture of unity - completeness.  The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are complete and undivided - in total unity with each other.  And Yahweh is totally sound!   I am so thankful that this whole episode with my shoe, actually led me to see and understand, in a new way what integrity means.  And more than that, to grasp another piece of information about the character of Yahweh. 

Jesus, thank you for using the simple things like a broken shoe, to help me understand a bit more about who you are.  Jesus, help me to take in the qualities of integrity that I have seen today. Thank you that you give all of yourself to us, when we give you everything that we are.  Lord, you are so amazing and I am so in awe of your great plan that includes helping me to understand this truth of integrity.  Holy Spirit, help me to hold on to this revelation and write it into my spirit, so that I can walk in your integrity.  And, Jesus, thank you for the store that accepted these shoes for return.  Bless them as they operate in integrity.   Amen