Richard

The reality of life is it's not always sunshine and rainbows.  Life is just not perfect this side of Heaven.

One year ago today, my husband lost his father and I lost a best friend.

He was content.  He was simple.  He was caring.  He loved to watch and talk about sports.  He would visit us from Montana twice a year for two weeks at a time.  He would tag-along wherever I went simply to be involved in our lives.  He would nap when the boys napped.  He would sneak candy and real Coke when he thought no one was looking.  When he was away, he would call regularly just to check in.  He was slow which caused me slow down...

His favorite restaurants remind me of him.  His favorite foods remind me of him.  His favorite sports teams remind me of him.  And, as funny as it may be, making my bed reminds me of him. If he did it every day, surely I can too! #goals

Scars of Testimony

Later last year, we lost our dog, Unkas, as well.  We all worked through the emotions of these two holes in our lives.  I remember thinking "What will God do with these empty place of loss?"  Recently, it came to me...He will heal the wound with His love leaving a scar of hope that I can hold on to, remember, and share.  Hope of refreshing, replenishing, reviving, and renewing.  If He did it for me once, He will be faithful to do it again and again.

In remembering his father this week, my husband wrote this:

"Thursday will be one year since I was waiting on Kyle to start the member guest and I got the call from my brother, what a difficult time - without Colby being there with me, I would not have made it through those first couple days.  But now, I wanted to give praise to God.  It’s as if God said a week after Unkas died, “Son, I love you! You have mourned and hurt enough believe what you said you believed when you accepted me as your savior, I am your comforter, I will protect you and heaven is perfect and your dad and your dog are here enjoying themselves, they miss you and someday when is time you will be with them here!

God has delivered me for now from the pain of mourning.  He has also delivered me from other things He knew weren't good in my life and through His Spirit, he has softened a heart that used to be so hard only Colby and CJ were allowed.

Thank you God for your Grace, I don’t deserve your blessings but accept them with open arms."

I'm reminded of the song, Overcome by Jeremy Camp referencing Revelation 12:11.  It says, "We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, everyone overcome."  Share the words of your testimony, show the scars from your wounds.  You never know who it may help.  Don't let the pain you went through be wasted.  Use it to help someone else as Christ helps us figure out this life we have here on earth.

See you on the other side, Richard!

Grandpa and CJ

Grandpa and Colby

Grandpa and Noah

Grandpa and Cooper

For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less.

2 Corinthians 5:1-5 (MSG)

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)

Wounds

A couple weeks ago after receiving an abnormal skin biopsy, I went back to the dermatologist to have the surrounding area removed to ensure "it" was all gone.  I knew I was getting stitches that day but didn't realize the care and discomfort it would cause me.  Having a bandage on sensitive skin for two weeks was not fun.  I was so excited to have the stitches removed on Valentine's Day just in time for a few fun nights out with my love and friends.  We also squeezed in a day at Hollywood Studios with the boys.  Maybe the roller coasters were not such a great idea...

You can imagine my dread and discouragement when I felt something *pop* in the middle of the night.  Yep, the wound had opened.  I {cringe} as I type this and literally almost passed out from nausea when I surveyed the raw wound in the daylight.  (I'll spare you the gory details.)  I was so <mad>.  After calling the doctor, I sort of reeled in the disappointment all day until the Lord revealed something to me that evening.

During a time of worship, He said...

Man tries to heal wounds with temporary fixes such as "stitches".  But God allows open wounds so He can lay His seeds on fresh soil and heal the wounds His way.  "Trust My ways," He said.  The opening of a wound makes us nauseous and uneasy so we must trust in Him to support and sustain us.  Open wounds make us uncomfortable so we take comfort in Him.  When I don't want to or can't get up, He holds me up and comforts me in rest.  We have to look at our wounds and not turn away, so when He heals us, we remember where we were before.  And when He has healed us, we can reflect back and look how far He has brought us.

He allows our scars so that they can be testimonies to others of what He has done.
"Don't hide them," He said.  "Show them.  Talk about them.  Talk about Me."

So, I ask myself and let me ask you, too...

What wounds do I need to let Him open and heal His way?  What scars of mine have a story, a testimony, of Him to be told?  How could those testimonies help others?

By allowing Him to touch our wounds, we can be healed.

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by His wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5b

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross,
so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness;
by his wounds you have been healed.
1 Peter 2:24

PS - Wear sunscreen! ;)

The Hiding Place

Can I just tell you a little about this book and how I stumbled across it?

This year in BSF we studied the book of Romans which is a letter from Paul to the Romans about righteousness (and for me love).  He explains the depth of our human unrighteousness and the astounding love God has for ALL people.  Out of this great love, God graciously gifts righteousness through Jesus Christ to all who believe.  Through His righteousness alone is the only way.  We cannot do anything to earn righteousness (or right-standing with God) on our own.  The righteousness He bestows upon us is simply a gift given for truly believing in who Jesus is and what He did on the cross.  It is given to anyone who calls on His name.

John 3:16                Romans 10:9

One of the homework questions took me back to my favorite quote...

“This is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.”

Now, I've never known who said it, who wrote it, or where it even came from.  I can't even tell you when I first found the quote or where I was in my life at the time but I knew it impacted me somewhere deep within and wanted to remember it.  Nor did I ever research the answer to those questions until recently.   All these years later, answering a question on my BSF homework, led me to find out.

It was written by Corrie ten Boom in her book, The Hiding Place.

(thank you, Google! 😉)

Well, now I had to buy this book and find time to read it.

Not only was I captivated by Corrie's story of how God was in every detail, how Jesus impacted her family and those she met, and how the Holy Spirit led her family every step of the way but I also highlighted several more quotes to hold on to.  I've listed them below so I can refer back to them easily.  Maybe they hold significance for you, too.  I'd love to hear from you if they do.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"That was Father's secret:  not that he overlooked the differences in people; that he didn't know they were there."

"Childhood scenes rushed back at me out of the night, strangely close and urgent.  Today I know that such memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.  I know that the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do."

"Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed.  'Corrie,' he began gently, 'when you and I go to Amsterdam - when do I give you your ticket?'  I sniffed a few times, considering this.  'Why, just before we get on the train.'  'Exactly.  And our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things, too.  Don't run out ahead of Him, Corrie.  When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need - just in time."

"...yearning to say something, to heal something.  Wanting to love her better."

"Happiness isn't something that depends on our surroundings, Corrie.  It's something we make inside ourselves."

"Dear Jesus, I thank You that we must come with empty hands.  I thank You that You have done all - all - on the cross, and that all we need in life or death is to be sure of this."

"Perhaps only when human effort had done its best and failed, would God's power alone be free to work."

"The Bible lay at home on its shelf, but much of it was stored in his heart."

"And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His.  When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself."

I mean WOW...I have nothing left to say.

Going Deeper

A few weeks ago, I wrote about going deeper.  It wasn't until I watched Dr. Timothy Keller's sermon "Lord of the Wine" that my thoughts became even more clear.  For my own thought process, and yours if you're interested in reading further, I wanted to share with you what I learned.  The message is based on John 2:1-11 where Jesus performed His first miraculous sign of turning water into wine at a wedding celebration.  Through this miracle, Jesus reveals many things including that he has a powerful sensation to offer believers.

As Christians, we are invited to experience God through a new sensory ability.  Being filled with the Holy Spirit can illuminate the words on the page and reading the Bible can push you past just knowing to tasting and seeing the goodness and holiness of God.  In his message, Tim references Johnathon Edwards in "A Divine and Supernatural Light" when he says...

There is a difference between believing that God is holy and gracious,
and having a new sense on the heart of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace.
Like there is a difference between having a rational belief that honey is sweet,
and having the actual experience of its sweetness.

 When we accept Jesus Christ as our savior and receive the Holy Spirit into our lives, we move into that sweetness.  Tim goes on to say that it's one thing to know and believe God is gracious, but the first step in tasting it is you start to hunger for it, long for it, thirst for it.  Second, you begin to delight in it.  It's not just there for you to believe in, but it begins to ravish you, to delight you, and soothe you.  It begins to satisfy and overwhelm you.

"My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you."
Psalm 63:5

In the words of Beth Moore, you haven't tasted it until you can say,
"because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you."
Psalm 63:3

Life can be hard, but with the Holy Spirit, we have power over our joy.  Jesus sat there in the midst of joy at the wedding celebration sipping the coming sorrow he would face on the cross, so that you and I can sit in the midst of this sorrowful world sipping the coming joy.

2 Timothy 1:7 says, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."

Challenge yourself to go a little deeper next time you open God's Word tasting its sweetness and seeing His goodness.

Source

Easter M&M Cookie Bars

Happy *day after* Easter!

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!  Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:  'The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'"  Then they remembered his words.

Luke 24:5-8

In celebration of Easter/Resurrection Day, I made these tasty M&M Cookie Bars not once but twice!  The first time for my family and the second to share at church on Sunday.  They were a hit both times. :)

Here is the recipe.
I just switched out the regular M&Ms for pastel-colored ones.

I spent basically the whole day alone with my little guy.  My husband spent the day at his daughter's volleyball tournament...PS, when I find out who was in charge of scheduling a tournament on Easter Sunday, they will get a piece of my mind!  Anyway, my husband and I did get to out for a nice dinner Saturday evening to celebrate and I made the best of the day I had to spend with my little guy.

I started by making us (well, really just myself) Sticky Buns and an egg.  I may have had an extra cup of coffee or two or three...but I'll never tell!

Then, we served in the nursery at church surrounded by lots of little crawlers and toddling new walkers dressed their Sunday best.

After what seemed like a very short nap-time, we decorated real hard-boiled eggs, which my little guy preferred to throw because they looked more like balls then decorations.  I ended up having to retrieve one from underneath the stove with two pool sticks...

When dada got home, we set up a fun little egg hunt around the house.  He was so proud when he spotted a hidden one and loved splashing his little hands in the basket full of candy-filled eggs.

Overall, it was a good day.  I am thankful for the fragrant jasmine growing on my front gate, the day's cool weather, and the quality time spent holding and hugging my little guy.  But, I'm most of all grateful for a Savior who suffered and sacrificed while purposefully preparing the way to eternal life for all who believe.  What a journey for the precious Passover lamb.

The Heart Maker's Teachings

If I found a key on the road, and discovered it fit and opened a particular lock at my house, I would assume most likely that the key was made by the lock master.  And if I find a set of teachings set out in pre-modern oriental society that has proven itself of such universal validity that it has fascinated and satisfied millions of people in every century, including the best minds in history and the simplest hearts, that it has made itself at home in virtually every culture, inspired masterpieces of beauty in every field of art, continues to grow rapidly and spread and assert itself in lands where a century ago the name of Jesus Christ was not even heard; if such teaching so obviously fits the locks of so many human souls, in so many times and so many places, are they likely to be the work of a deceiver or a fool?  In fact, it is more likely that they were designed by the Heart Maker...

~ G.K. Chesterton (as quoted by Dr. Timothy Keller)

"You better not just doubt that it's not true.  You better know it's not true.  Because if there is a chance it's true and you miss it, your life is ruined." ~ Timothy Keller