Life-Everlasting

Where are you going when eternity comes for you?  Is that something you think about or do you push it away like an unwanted friend.  God wants you to spend eternity with Him, He has made a way for you to do that but it is up to you whether you do or not.  He loves you and would not want anyone (that means you) perish.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”  Revelation 3:20

All you have to do is accept His offer and ask Him and He will never leave you or let you down.

Are You A Sledgehammer?

Life has been pretty hectic for me lately.  The time I have for writing has dwindled and when I do have time I am so tired I don’t want to write, I want to rest!  When I really start getting busy I tend to say no to the things that give me life and continue to say yes to everyone and everything else because heaven forbid I let someone else down.  That has to come to an end to some extent.

Don’t get me wrong, there are many times when we need to die to ourselves and continue to give to others, even when we are tired and overdone.  But when it happens on a continual basis something happens to us.  We empty out so completely that there is nothing left to give… not even a kind word to the ones you love the most.  You know what I am talking about don’t you?  Of course you do because it can happen to us all.

I was at church last night and I got to hear one of our pastors that doesn’t normally preach because our teaching pastor was home recuperating from surgery.  You know how you get used to hearing someone and then you realize someone else is preaching and the man (or woman) inside of you gets bummed.  Not because the other person isn’t great, but because you had set expectations there weren’t going to be met.  We can be so selfish sometimes.

Pastor Mike is a funny man, lively and outgoing!  My husband and I are introverts so sometimes people like him take us back a bit… mostly because we wish we could be so lively and happy to talk with everyone that we come in contact with!  He has a passion that is intoxicating and his passion for the Lord is something I will always aspire to.

In his message last night there were some wonderful points, many that should be shared… but in this season of my life the one that hit me the most had to do with being a sledgehammer.  He told a story about tearing down a wall with a sledgehammer and seeing the rubble all around him, likening that rubble to the people we leave in the wake of our unkind, angry or even hateful words. What I wrote in my notes was this… “Words are like sledgehammers… don’t leave a pile of broken people laying on the floor behind you when you are done with them.”

It cut me deep.  Not because I am a nasty person and talk horrible things over others.  The opposite is true most of the time.  I love to encourage others and make them feel wonderful about themselves.  But if I am honest, the people I love the most get the least of that side of me.

See I am tired from all that goes on my life as most people are today.  So when I am home with my family they get the brunt of that.  Example… My daughter comes running into the room, loud and laughing with the joy of the Lord because she has fully memorized her long Bible verse (something I struggle doing) and just wants to share it with me, what do I do?  I immediately tell her to quiet down and to quit running because I am tired and don’t want to hear it!  Now, I wasn’t overly loud or mean when I said it, but my words though they were true, took the wind out of her sail and left her feeling lifeless and unimportant.  My heart was crushed as soon as I saw what I had done.

How often do I crush part of her spirit with the quick words that just flow out of my mouth?  Am I bringing life to her or crushing her spirit and draining all the happiness and joy she has right out of her?  It is said that children laugh over 400 times a day and adults… only 17.  Are my words robbing her of those laughs?  I am not saying there are not times that she needs to be serious, but do we prefer serious at the expense of joy?

My new prayer is that I would see her and my husband for how the Lord created them… filled with great joy and love for HIM… filled with happiness that bubbles over in laughter and sometimes jumping, screaming and spinning craziness.  Those things can cause me a bit of anxiety but I can live with that anxiety because it is reminding me that I have lost my laughter and have become the sledgehammer and in the moment I can choose to be different.

Are you the sledgehammer or do you choose to be different as well?

Single Soul

Never Forget

I have been away for a while.  August was a crazy month for our family and September is the start of school for us.  So needless to say I have been busy with family and more recently very busy with getting our Muppin started with school.

As I woke this morning and looked at the date on my phone sadness fell over me.  This day is one filled with so few memories and those that I have are not happy ones.  September 11 was my dad’s birthday and in 2001 I woke that morning feeling great grief over the loss of him earlier that year.  It was his first birthday that he would not be with us to hug on and to love.   We had lost him to cancer and those memories of his last days still deeply haunted me.

On September 11, 2001 the house was quiet, I was alone with my grief and I didn’t know what I was going to do with myself.  Finally I pulled myself up out of the safety of my bed and went to the living room and turned on the television.  Maybe I could cover my thoughts up with mindless TV.  It was early so I crawled onto the sofa and began looking for the news, when I found it, I was forever changed.  The news was showing a picture of the first World Trade Tower with smoke billowing out of it.   At first I was confused.  I remember thinking, “this is a terrible show I want the news.”  I quickly realized that it was not a movie and sadly it was very real.

As I watched the unfolding events in horror, I witnessed the second plane fly into the second tower live.  Alone in my living room I gasped and screamed “NO!” and the tears began to flow.  I could not believe that what I was seeing was really truly happening.  It couldn’t be, this had to be some sick joke like Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast in 1938.  This had to be mass hysteria all over again.  But it wasn’t, this was truly happening, it was sadly real.

So for the next several hours I watched as things unfolded and untold numbers of people died.  The tragedy was heart breaking and nothing was going to make it better.  Nothing would fix this.  Moms, dads, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, friends and heroes would die and no one would bring them back.  September 11th was nothing but pain for me due to the memories of my dad who was lost to that horrible thing called cancer and now… sadly… the American people would share in my grief but for a very different horrifying reason.

Today I still cry on this day for my lost time with my dad, but I also cry for all the lives lost and changed by the World Trade Center attacks.  My life was forever changed by the attacks.  My heart is especially saddened for all the children lost and those children who will never get to see their parents again.  No child should have to lose their parents but especially not this way.

Our country has been forever changed by this day and I pray that more people have been changed for the good than bad.  I end in a prayer that the Lord would bless all the survivors, the families and friends of those lost and all the people who worked tirelessly and selflessly during and after the attacks.  I would also pray that those still here today will look at what happened and know that there is one they could turn to for the peace they could never have alone.  Our Lord Jesus.  I pray the Lord blesses you and keeps you all safe, God bless each of you.