I'm Thinking...

I'm thinking I should write a blog post.

It's been quite a few days since I've written a blog post.
(Not that THAT'S any great revelation. It's always been "quite a few days since I've written a blog post.)

The truth is - I have nothing to write which is worthy of a blog post.

So perhaps I should move on...

But before I do...



This is a photo of the magnolia flowers that WERE on our tree before the killer frost got them the other day. Now they're all brown and wilted and pitiful.

I said to Brillo Man last night, "Have you seen our magnolia tree? It's ruined. The frost wilted all the flowers. It's too bad. I hate it when we have a Spring like this. It happens all the time. The weather gets warm and the flowers bloom and then we get hit with a frost and everything dies."

He replied, "I see a few white blooms still."

"Yeah, well that's because those are the new buds that hadn't opened yet. But the tree, in all it's gorgeous beauty....it's ruined."

And that's pretty much how the conversation ended. And then just now, as I was posting this photograph...I started to think about the love of Jesus. Just when we think all is lost, or ruined, or wilted, or destroyed....He brings new life. There are those of us, who, at times, may still refuse to see the new blooms. But then there are those who are able to say, "I see a few white blooms still."

My prayer for today is that I will look BEYOND the wilted, withered mess of things - and see the potential that my husband saw...and that GOD sees.

Have a blessed day everyone. For now, I am moving on....to look for the white blooms...

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Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
-Isaiah 43:19a (NKJV)

...the Contemporary English Version
reads this way:

I am creating something new.

There it is! Do you see it?

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Jesus Spake

So, I was minding my own business... making the rounds on some of the Sisterhood blogs and thinking that I probably should head to bed because it was almost midnight and I have a ton of things to do for my class tomorrow....and just at that precise moment...I nearly jumped out of my skin when my phone emitted a VERY LOUD, "AHHHHHH!!!!" Sorta like the sound of angels singing (only different.) And this thing pops up on my phone?!?!:



How odd was that??

A little creepy even....
I'm going to bed!

ER ...in the wee hours of the morning

Last night, I ended up in the Emergency Room - again. Complications not from my broken nose and banged up face, but from my banged up right knee. I was convinced I had a blood clot. It felt very warm to the touch, I was running a low-grade fever and my leg was extremely painful. Two hours and an ultrasound later, it was determined I do not have a blood clot. Yeah!! AND...the ER doc pulled the packing out of my nose---oh, how much better it feels without all that cotton stuffed inside!

While I was sitting there, in the wee hours of the morning, the Lord filled my heart with a song....one of my favorites by CeCe Winans....His Strength is Perfect. Oh, how I needed to embrace those lyrics as I sang quietly in the exam room.



I let the words of the song settle into my spirit as I sang. And when the ER doc arrived with the good news that there was no clot, I raised my hands and said, "Praise God!" I then said to the ER doc, "We have an amazing God!"....as he looked at me kind of dumbfounded. I said, "Shake your head and agree with me Doctor, we have an amazing God!"

"Who knows why we go through the things we do," I turned to my friend who was with me as the doctor left the room, and said, "it just may be that I endured this whole fall/broken nose/bruised knee so that I could plant a seed in that doctor's heart!"

God is good.

At War.

So, this morning before church, I was sitting in the parking lot in my van while my spirit was at war with the enemy. My mind was going several directions at once and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I needed to get some control before I stepped through the doors of our church.

I sent a text to Pat and asked her to please pray. She responded that she would pray even before she had her morning coffee! (That's huge!) While she was praying in Michigan, I was praying in Pennsylvania....and then there was a breakthrough. I suddenly felt a huge wave of the presence of the Lord and the tears began to flow at precisely the same time I received a text from Pat which read, "I am at peace. God is touching you right now." OH...the amazing love of our Lord!

I was able to attend church...although honestly, it was difficult because the Lord's presence was tangible - it was difficult for me to sit! At one point, our pastor called me out and said she could see God's glory all over me and asked what it was that the Lord had for me to share with the congregation. I was able to share a vision He was giving me - part of which contained the army in the heavens doing battle for us - similar to what Elisha must have seen!


What a tremendous blessing! Forever and always I will be amazed at our Great God and how He orchestrates our lives. Here was my dear friend in Michigan, available and willing to pray with me across the miles, and the Lord used her tremendously to impact our little congregation in Pennsylvania. It is now hours later and I'm still basking in the glory of God's presence. He is amazing. I am so glad and humbled to be called a daughter of the Most High.

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And Elisha prayed, and said,
“Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.”
Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man,
and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses
and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
-II Kings 6:17, NKJV
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Where's my GPS?

I got lost this morning. Not on the road, but in the Land of Blog. Well, I wasn't exactly lost. I knew exactly where I was - visiting Vicki. What I didn't know was how the journey would effect me.

...Those of you who know me, know that I am ear-deep in books and papers and deadlines and assignments as I pursue my Master of Arts in Professional Counseling. The amount of time spent in this pursuit has been extreme - taking way more time than I initially thought it would. The technical writing has been intense with very little room for creativity. I'm an artist - 'creativity' oozes from me. There are moments in my writing for school that I feel completely quenched - yet I do know that I'm not to quit. God has made that perfectly clear, "There is a method to this madness," I hear from Him.

However, my heart is longing to break free and write and paint and flow with all the things that are inside my soul. I need to find a balance. I've had to set aside my huge, creative-writing style project and focus on technical, clear, concise, often dry and boring verbiage in writing "graduate level" papers. I've had to set aside my art. In a sense, I've set aside a huge part of what makes me ME.

Yet the Holy Spirit whispers that I must press on. "There are many whose lives you will touch - people who need to heal - people who will relate to your life and your story and you need to better understand how to help them," He says. And then I'm reminded of the young man in our youth group....who (although he doesn't know it) is crying out for help - help that I could offer based on what I've experienced in my life --yet there is a part of me that says, I don't have all the necessary tools to counsel this young man. And God says, "School. Don't quit. There is a method to this madness, and his name is -----."

Several years ago, I drew a picture of a young man. Today, I have given him a name.

I will not post it here, for there may be those who would recognize the name and I would not want to in any way reveal his identity. The Lord reminds me that it is for this young man, and for many other young people and adults who struggle....that I am to complete my Master's program.

So, in the meantime, pray that I am able to discover a balance - that I leave room for an outlet for my creative side - whether it be in my writing or art or blogging...or creating fun things with my daughter...such as the box we made to hold her Valentines....


....ah...the joy of being "lost" in the left side of my creative brain....

...time to find my way back to the right side....my next class begins soon.
It's all in His perfect timing, after all...
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You do have creative gifts.
They are foundational to your personality,
your ability to function from day to day
and your life callings.
Their discovery may have been delayed by hard times
or an oppressive childhood.
You may have been denied the opportunity
to develop your gifts.
But creative gifts are resilient
and quite patient.
They appear when the time is right
and can adapt to an ever-changing environment.
Even after being undiscovered
or neglected for decades,
they can walk onstage in brilliant colors
and dazzle you and those who are your witnesses.
~ Vinita Hampton Wright,
The Soul Tells a Story
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