Grandmother

I had a phone call a few weeks ago from a sweet lady that I know from church. She was checking on my grandmother! She (my g-mother) has been in not so good health for awhile and this lady was genuinely concerned about her, her physical health as well as her spiritual health. I think more than anyone it has been my grandmother who has been a spiritual role model for me and to know that someone else was taking note of her was deeply touching to me.
Anyway, my friend wanted to know what I thought she could do for my grandmother. I was just stunned. I asked her to just keep praying and visiting. She said she would and I thanked her immensely for her call. When I hung up the phone I was just so overcome that I just bawled.

Unfortunately, I try not to think of my grandparents aging and their health declining, but Sue really helped me by acknowledging that they do indeed have people who care about them and pray for them. People other than my dad, aunt and uncle. God is so good no matter what. He has blessed me with 3 grandparents for my 38 years and counting. Christian, praying grandparents at that.

Thank you Sue for causing me to stop, think, and be thankful to God!! And thank you for caring!

happy hour

i worked kdp today for s. at 2:30 i got a phone call and the voice asked if i was about to leave and unfortunately i planned on being there for quite some time.
"meet me at the back door"
so i go out the back to see a sweet smiling face with a big sweet tea.....just for me!!
sonic happy hour sweet tea. she knows me well!!
thank you bekah for being my friend, for showing great empathy, and for the ohhhh soooo good sweet tea!! you made my last hour VERY happy!!

The comma.

The comma.

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i've been sifted before and don't doubt i will be again

...this is me...satan asked to sift ME and this is what makes Jesus my forever Father and friend.

"Greater love has no one than this, that He lay down His life for His friends." John15:13

the following (with a few changes from me) comes from the KLRC blog April 5, 2010 (which comes from another blog) at this link: http://klrc.com/shows/article.asp?id=1623589

I found it in Luke 22. In that chapter, Jesus is being led away. He is headed to the cross. A million prophecies are coming true and chaos is breaking out a little amongst disciples that up to this point have sworn to serve until death. In the midst of that, He pulls Simon aside because He KNOWS that Simon will soon betray Him.

He says to Simon in Luke 22:31-32:

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for YoU, Simon, that YOUR FAITH MAY NOT FAIL.”

And then, He drops the 9 words that I can’t write about enough. The 9 words that I often turn to when I’ve failed and messed up again and feel hopelessly undeserving of hope.

Jesus tells Simon:

“And WHeN you have TuRNeD back, strengthen your brothers.”

Do you see what Jesus is saying in that first half of the sentence, And when you have turned back? He’s saying:

You are going to fail.

You are going to fall.

You are going to lose it.

You are going to make commitments and break them.

You are not going to always be the man (woman) your family needs.

You are going to SIN.

But, but, but, you WILL turn back.

You will come back. You will know redemption. You will know return. You will know a God that not only allows the “comeback” but actually celebrates it.

When I read the phrase “And when you have turned back,” I read a loud, WILD picture of what grace really looks like.

And then, if you go too fast, you’ll miss the comma. You’ll miss the gap that sits quietly between the next thought. You’ll miss it because like me, you might misread the second half of that sentence.

Here’s what it says:

“And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

But here’s how we write it sometimes:

“And when you have turned back, repent for a long time and stay a long way from me until you are clean enough to return to my presence.”

“And when you have turned back, please stay far away from any ministry opportunities. You are too broken to help other people. How can you minister to others when your own life is so messed up?

“And when you have turned back, here are the 57 things you need to do in order to earn back my good favor.”

But Christ doesn’t do that! He drops a comma like a grenade.

He gives us the GIFT of the comma and then tells us to strengthen our brothers. Not beat ourselves with emotional whips. Or lay in a hole of shame. Or stay to the shadows of church afraid to be seen.

He wants YOU. In His arms. By His side. Surrendered and free in His presence.

Not because you deserve it or have earned it or are perfect.

Because of Easter.

That’s it.

We all get the comma of grace.

I read this on another blog today.....someday I will get to be friends with Beth Moore and her family. God never fails to teach me something through her!
this poem is amazing....




Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
[Sir Francis Drake]

A GIFT

Here's a story from a time long long ago.....around hmmm, last year.
There is this lady at church, probably old enough to be a grandma, but not sure if she is one. I made a fool of myself, but she just overwhelmed me with a blessing that I couldn't help myself! One Wednesday night I was walking by the nursery door at church where she was serving, bless her heart, and she hollered at me to come over. So when I did, she reached out and handed me this doily thing. I opened it up and it was a crocheted doily her mother had made and it had our last name designed into it. Now, not knowing she had asked her mother to make SEVERAL for different ladies in our church, I was amazed that she would have done this for me. It was/is beautiful! I started bawling like a baby, but what she didn't understand was that Keith's mom had a doily just like it framed and hanging above the piano in their home. After both of his parents passed away, Keith's sister-in-law got the framed LIPFORD doily. I was okay with that b/c his brother is older and it was not too big of a deal, but I was still a little sad. Anyway, when I saw my friend's gift it just brought back a flood of memories and emotions and boy did the gates of my eyeballs open!!
I cannot tell you how much God blessed me through this. I hope my appreciation blessed Charlene right back. Isn't He funny to work in such little things. I hope to soon have a picture of this. I've not gotten the hang of putting that much work into this blog! :)

August 17th

Wow! I had a great birthday yesterday (even though I'm a year older!) Once again God has overflowed my cup with blessings! They may be small in the big picture of things but they were huge to me! I had a surprise phone call (while I was in Wal-Mart) from a sweet, sweet lady whose house I used to clean. I hadn't seen her in a few years except for once at the library and out of the blue she called me to tell me happy birthday! I was shocked and happy! We talked for over 30 minutes I think. Turned out that my wonderful friend Wendy (who is her neighbor) told her in passing conversation that Monday was my birthday, so she just thought she would call me and say hi. It blessed me to pieces!
THEN, during prayer meeting last night Bekah shows up with a box of ice cream bars, the kind that are chocolate covered, for me! My favorite! She had called my sweet hubby to ask him what was my favorite! THEN,
Wendy, who had tried to catch me at home all day, showed up with a MOST DELICIOUS HUGE coconut cake! I haven't had a homemade coconut cake in a long time. I've never even had one except what my grandmother used to make, but she is not able anymore, AND she made my family a twice baked potato casserole. I love both these girls so much I almost get beside myself about it!
I also had another good friend who remembered my birthday by just saying it and her young 8 year daughter came running to me hollering HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS KAREN!
Melissa, my dear friend for 30+ years also sent me a cute message on FB.
At Allee's 2nd grade open house last night, another friend that I don't get to see much, had heard my name on KLRC's birthday show and she made a point to tell me H. B. too!
My bestest friends of all, Keith, Garret, Caleb, Allee had me a cute surprise treasure hunt ready when I got home from prayer meeting at TEN O'CLOCK! They got me the Wii Fit game. I felt like a little kid, I was so excited!
God has blessed me through and with these precious, precious gifts of friendship and family. He IS faithful!!! He went out of His way today to let me know He sees me, celebrates, and sings over me! He quiets me with His love! (Zeph 3:17)