AHHHHEEEAAHHHEEAAA

Okay, I am just slightly jazzed about the trees turning all shades of warmth and dragging out the old Thanksgiving ornaments the kids have made over the years. I'm even excited about putting out the old decorative candles made in the shape of pilgrims and Tom turkey (who by the way got just a wee bit melted several years ago and looks like he has a crick in his neck).

The view from our window of the trees in varying shades of gold, orange, green and red is awesome. I LOVE FALL!

Last night as we exited one of our favorite restaurants the smell of fall was in the air and it was wonderful. When this season rolls around and I smell that cool evening air I feel like Tarzan pounding on his chest and making that AHHHHEHHAAAEEAAA warbling sound. I do believe it is a power thing with me and I am totally okay with that.

So, with dust cloth in hand, clothes strewn down the hall in pile to be washed and a merry heart, I will usher in the first good cleaning of the fall, complete with decorations and all the fanfare of a new season of hope.

Yes, it is a season of hope no matter how life looks. What may appear to be changing and dying is actually about to put deeper roots down so that when this time next year rolls around, strength will be increased. Yeah for fall. Yeah for God's kind of change!

Things NOT to Ask a Woman

Having married in our late twenties we didn't immediately try to have children. Even though we were older than most of our friends when they married, we were not in a hurry to start a family. It wasn't until I was about to turn 34 that our first child came along. Three years later came our second and along about 46 number three arrived.

Any way you look at it, 46 is not the same as 26 even though at the time, I could escape being identified as 46.

As many a new Mom experiences those first months with their baby, sleep is a commodity and fatigue is a constant companion. I was no different. Our third did not sleep through the night completely until he was 8 months old so by that time I was very ready to have that first full night in snoozeland.

However, it was somewhere within the first few months after his birth that a dreadful event occurred. I was looking rather haggard that morning as I put him in his carrier and off to the store I went. This was not a store I usually shopped because even though they carried groceries and hardware the smell of stacked fertilizer was more than I could bear. For some reason, this grocer was located in the area where I was running my errands so I thought a quick pop in for whatever it was would lighten my day.

A perky checker was cheerfully ringing up the customer in front of me. Then it was my turn. Her first words out of the box were, "Oh, you taking care of your grand baby today?" To which I responded curtly, "No, this is my son!" End of conversation.

The urge to expose my stretch marks to this checker were put on "check" (pun intended). I payed for my few items and huffed out of the store more tired than when I had arrived. That okie dokie feeling that morning had burned off with the smoke coming out of my head!

Eventually I blew it off, but here is one thing you do NOT ask or say to a woman. "Is that your grandchild?" In this day and time it may be or it may NOT be their grandchild.

By His Spirit

Whenever I wrangle within, I pray that God deals with me.

Long term wrangling just leads to anger, depression and bitterness, so I would rather get it over with sooner than later. It is kind of like what Moses through Aaron asked Pharaoh as to when he wanted the plague of frogs to end to which he replied "tomorrow". Well, I do not want to take a page out of Pharaoh's book in waiting to move ahead.

So, God spoke this morning to correct me and now, peace is coming...release is here. His gentle reminder of what He spoke to me many months ago concerning our own children applies in this situation I have been wrangling over.

We as parents love to think we have had a great influence on our children. We like to think that they have hung on every word of wisdom which issued from our mouths. When, in reality, we have both done good and have acted foolishly as well at times. An unkind word spoken in haste. Wrongly sizing up a situation in their lives. Ignoring them when we are busy with another activity.

As HE reminded me this morning, if I want to take credit for the good things about our kids, then I will also have to take credit for the bad things as well. Once again, I realized that I am not God. Our children whether born of us or come to us through our children, are in the hands of God. Oh yes, we are to help guide, but God can do a much better job than we can.

It is a matter of submitting to HIM and letting HIM lead us. The HIGH powered Mothering instinct which God put there for a purpose can get into overdrive and hoard those precious ones who were given to us to raise. The balance can only be accomplished in listening to the perfect Father who made them and knows even the number of hairs on their heads.

As a Mother, I know, at least today, what I am to do. Now, it is time to put time and energy into praying...seriously praying because it is NOT by MIGHT, NOR by POWER (Mother Power), but by MY SPIRIT saith the LORD OF HOSTS.

Whew!

Becoming a Woman for All Seasons

Having daughters is a trip and of course having a son is a different kind of trip. Each child whether grown or not is a wonderful blessing to our family. The trials have been there with each, but mostly the joys are what we remember.

This evening, I was thinking about one of our daughters in particular and I thought it especially important to expound upon (or is that just "on") her life over the last year.

Perhaps a little background from a mother's perspective might be nice...

She was named at birth and had the beautiful hair coloring of her sister and father.
Her name...given to her by the Almighty carried several meanings. One was that she would manifest Him and that she also would have no judge but God himself. A very big vision for such a tiny little lady so full of spunk, curiosity and an imagination that Disney himself would have loved to have had.

She was so small she had to wear suspenders because slim was just not slim enough. She said "no" when in Kindergarten I asked her if she needed help opening the door because she had to use every muscle in her body just to get it cracked.

She, though sometimes nervous, had the courage to step out and try even if she didn't get what she was pursuing. She had the courage, and her courage gave her favor in the eyes of a special teacher who saw in her a unique quality of being able to make people smile. She had, and still has God manifesting his light in her life.

She had the courage to go overseas when most wanted to stay at home. In her, I saw growth...one more step to becoming a woman for all seasons.

I saw courage as she made harder and harder decisions, and with each new lesson learned, she let her determination to follow God take her to the next lesson. Of course, she is not to her destination as of yet, but then neither are any of us.

Courage is her name. Determination is in her character. Brilliance is her covering. God is her judge.

Sometimes we forget the journey we took to becoming the woman we are today. Sometimes we forget that there were times when others truly did not understand what we were going through and made quick judgements or threw out canned Christian phrases which made us feel small and inadequate.

En-courage means to infuse courage into someone. This may mean that a hard word is necessary, but it generally is followed by the truth of who God made them to be. Not all are prophets, and to those who are prophetic, a word spoken out of season can have the results of cutting off one's limb and walking away before applying salve for healing.

Each woman is different and each has her own personality. This little lady I write about has such a gift, it makes me cry. Whenever I talk with her, she nearly always teaches me something through her relationship with God. She is not where she wants to be, but she is becoming a woman for all seasons.

Remember when you passed from one season to another and wondered how you got through it? Remember how when you ached you thought that season would last for a lifetime, but it didn't? Remember how alone you felt but then found out that you were not really alone? Perspective has come for most of us after we got through the storm. Sometimes it has come during the storm so that we would not give up.

Whatever you are going through today, remember that you are becoming a woman no matter what your age...a woman for all seasons of life.

P.S. - To you, my sunshine, I love you! Remember your call, to manifest Him. Remember, only He has the right to judge you! God loves you.

Comfort

I find it pleasing in the evening to put on my fuzzy socks and relieve my feet of the confinement of shoes. Within those fuzzy socks, I can spread out my toes, for I have a very wide foot, and wiggle them around until they are comfortably in the position each little toe prefers.

Of all the simple pleasures of life, this is certainly one that is performed each and every day with the same amount of ahhhh each time.

Another simple pleasure is derived from the quiet in the house when everyone is sleeping and my computer beckons me to think and write and type those last words of the day. For I, as a woman feel compelled to empty my tank of words even if they have not been spoken but rather written.

Some live a life of comfort continually doing only what pleases them the most. I shall not judge or misjudge them because I do not know what lies in the hearts of those who live in that fashion. But, I find my own comfort in a cup of tea in the quiet of the morning or snuggling up to my husband as he sleeps. Comfort is in a story before bedtime when our youngest is just starting to drift to sleep and cannot stay awake through more than a page.

Comfort is in knowing that love is mine. Comfort of the love of my husband, a child, a parent brings a smile. Comfort is having the promise that Heavenly Dad loves me and always will. Comfort is being assured He will always be here for me.

"Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you." (NKJV) 2nd Corinthians 13:11

Letters of Love

The letters we found, most of which we had never seen before, were stuffed inside a box in the back of the closet. They were not in the file cabinet my Father kept as neat as a pin in his office, but were tucked away in a secret place for his eyes only.

But, after my Mother's death, my Father remarried. I distinctly remember the day we moved everything out of his home. He took very little to his new bride's house so the remainder of his possessions were distributed to family and friends. His letters however came home with me.

I put them in our already overloaded garage to be dealt with along with volumes of other paperwork at a later date. The next year was a year of getting a lot of "stuff" out of the garage and that meant it was time to go through the stacks and stacks of my Fathers personal items.

It was a joyous time for me reading each and every letter written between my parents in a time when our world was at war and he was in Pearl Harbor. My oldest two siblings and my Mother and Father made up the family at that time and as I went through all of the pictures, souvenirs from Hawaii and the like, I sensed the closeness and love between them.

I will have to admit, it was a little strange to read love notes between the two, but it was also comforting because the distance between them at that time had not diminish their relationship, but rather stoked the fires of love. It was evident that they had each other on their minds.

Our days demand real time communications, but the art of expressing love through letters should never be lost. Even if those letters must be hand delivered at a later time, there is something soothing and releasing about penning our thoughts down on paper...a lost art which once stoked the love of my parents and probably our grandparents.

God's love letters to us have given us release from bondage, soothed our frustrated spirits and brought us into a relationship with the One who absolutely adores us. There is none who loves us more and who desires good things for us more that He.

His model to us as married couples is one of love. So, revive the art of letters, given to the one you love as He wrote to us, His bride.

Isolation

Isolation is one of the hardest places to rest. Yet it is in the place of solitude that God can actually give you strength. It seems strange, but I can prove it through the stories of several men of faith.

Take David for example. He was stuck with tending the sheep...an alone kind of existence. Notice, I didn't say lonely, but alone...there is a difference. Now whether or not he was lonely for human companionship, I cannot say, but I know that he learned to communicate with God in that alone place. He learned to hone his talents (rock slinging, writing songs, etc.). He learned to clearly hear the voice of God above the bleating of the lambs and the growl of the bear. He "got" a relationship with God.

It was in that relationship he was able to defeat Goliath, rout the Philistines, and become one of the greatest military "giants" of his time. It was in that alone place he found confidence that the God who called him was bigger than any boogieman (Veggie Tales). Plus, he got the girl!

Think of where he would have been had he not learned to play his harp and sing while tending the sheep? It was that talent which initially put him in front of King Saul. Where would he have been had he not learned in that isolated place to sling rocks? History would have looked a lot different.

So, let's see...alone-ness for David meant...a tight relationship with God, a honing of his talents, great confidence and a fulfilling of his destiny!

Joseph is another example of one who was isolated for a period of time in order for him to acquire the necessary tools to really be God's Man. From being rejected by family and sold into slavery to being lied about and spending time in prison, he was taught at each juncture how to manage the affairs of a great nation. He, like David developed a confidence and a real relationship with God. Plus, he got the girl!

I believe so many people do not fulfill their God appointments because they do not allow Him to put them in a place some like to call a wilderness. Remember, Jesus was lead into the wilderness with purpose. (P.S. The wilderness is not a bad place to be...there is always provision!)

The struggles we all face when we head into that isolated place do not need to be. The wilderness is not the struggle. The struggle is our not giving in to the time of teaching because we see no future value to the whole experience. It is easy to mentally block our hearts and minds to the lessons of God. Remember, His yoke is EASY and his burden is LIGHT.

This is even difficult in my desire for easy-street-peace to think a yoke easy and a burden light when it feels like someone is reaching deep inside and ripping out everything familiar and comfortable.

But no one and no circumstance can tear out the Love of God being poured into all of the dry and empty places of our lives. Seek Him first...then your desires will be a gift of God to you.

I am sure I have never been where some of you are, and I am also certain you have never been where I have been. However, the times of isolation and learning and trusting and honing talents and learning skills are so important in this time we live in. Time is being crunched and I see God training and teaching and equipping in short order. It is either now, or later, but God is saying it is now...because later is too late.

Remember, both of these men of God...David and Joseph...ended up with the desires of their heart plus more than their dreams and visions could contain. Do you REALLY know all God has in store for you...the places you will go and the lives you will impact?

God's desires for you are that you have HOPE and a FUTURE...that I do know.