Life is like a Maze!

The Lord is allowing me  to teach Sunday School for a lovely group of Deaf Adults.  Our Church has been reading through the Bible slowly.  Each Sunday, Pastor preaches from the chapters the congregation was to read the previous week.  I also, in Sunday School class, with God's help, share a lesson from the assigned reading.  I have found Isaiah to be challenging. 

Yet this week God POWERFULLY spoke to my own heart from Isaiah 30.

  AMEN! 

The Israelites, OT book after OT book, have rebelled against God's Word.  They begged forgiveness and He was faithful to forgive them.   Two miles down the road they are complaining and rebelling again.  Isaiah 30 says WOE TO THEM who keep going back to Egypt.   It seems like such craziness for them to entertain the thought of going back to Egypt where they lived in SLAVERY, just because they get tired of the same food, or whatever.

Yet  we, God's Engrafted Children  (Christians)  , OFTEN act the very same way as the Israelites!!

I started SS today with a MAZE....asking this adult class  to find their way from Egypt to the Promised Land.

 

I watched each student as they tried to look ahead for walls. 

 

 

 I watched as they bumped into a wall and had to go a different way. 

 

 

 I saw the temptation for one to view another's paper because it was too challenging for them. 

 

 

 I had to encourage one student to continue rather than to quit. 

 

 

I watched as one thought she was done, only for me to show she had not come out the exit, but rather ended at a wall. 

 

 

Curve after Curve, wall after all, each student kept on until they proclaimed with glee, "I'm done!" 

 

 AMEN!

 

 

My heart ached within me as God continued to show me how "real to life" this maze is.

 

 

Before starting the actual lesson, I explained to them how the Maze was like Real Life. 

 

• We are on a journey to Heaven, it started the day we bowed ourselves in faith to Jesus.
•  
• All along the path, there are bends, where we cannot see what is coming up.
•  
• We do not always know if we made a right choice or not, until we hit the wall. 
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• We should not stand smashed against our mistake, but turn around, until the right path is reached again. 
•  
• We all wish life was a nice easy, straight journey from our Salvation to Heaven....and it is...in a way.   Isaiah 35 says there are no lions or predators on this path....Lions may roar and darkness may be near, but our road is safe because JESUS has not only put us ON the path, but walks with us, step by step.  

 

 AND THE GRAND FINALE...

..will be Heaven! 

 

•   It may take a while to reach it.
• We might get tired in the journey.
• We might get bruised as we bump into walls..
• BUT..... we will all make it....

 

WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE!

 

 

This is the REST of the Lesson:

 

 

 

Thank You, Lord for YOUR Word!

RIDING in a STORM

This morning I woke up with

a Heavy Cloud of sadness

as I reviewed friend after friend

who was in crisis.

 

 

 

 I WANTED to rescue each one.

I WANTED  to take their pain away.

 I WANTED to put the Sunshine back into their life.

I WANTED to hand them a never ending supply of JOY.

I was even willing to take the pain on myself and off my friends.

 

 

 

 BUT, I am not God!  

(Bet that surprises ya, hey?......ha ha)

 

 

 

I have learned SO MUCH from the 'cloud time' in my life,

and so glad that I walked thru it. 

 

 I learned about GOD, and I was able to learn about MYSELF. 

 

  I need God, and with HIM, life is a WIN-WIN. 

 

 So who do I think I am,

having the desire to rob them of learning from God!  

 

My desire was VERY SELFISH!

 

 YET STILL my heart aches for them.

 

 

GOD SHOWED ME SOMETHING TONIGHT....in a STORM!
 

 

My hubby and I were on our motorcycle riding home from visiting my sister, about an hour away.  Clouds looked dark ahead.  We started out without our rain gear, for it was not raining....but the WIND was very strong.  It was actually TOO strong for my comfort.  I felt the bike was riding on an angle due to the wind.  I was hanging on, where I usually do not hang on.

 

GOD began to show me this is LIFE

here on Earth. 

 

I was not alone.  I was with my husband who loved me.  HE was driving me HOME. All I had to do was ride along, even though the wind battered me, the clouds were ominous, the rain was pending, but we were heading home TOGETHER.

 

Soon my hubby pulled over and he got out the rain gear for me to put on, and we started out again.  The rain came, the wind battered me, I clung on ,wishing we were in the car, or already at home.  My hubby kept moving forward.  Both of our shoes filled with rain water, but for the most part we kept dry.

 

FINALLY, the rain calmed down, the roads were more visible and I was able to relax more.  I watched the lightening  and heard the thunder, but we kept moving forward.   Finally we pulled safely into our driveway and I got off.   My driver had not been stressed at all, he said "That was a good ride."   I looked at him in disbelief.  Were we not together the entire way?  How could one 'LOVE the ride', and the other one 'Totally Uncomfortable'?

 

Everyone has their own personal ride thru life with Jesus.  He is driving.  We voluntarily got on the back by faith in HIM.  He drives and we have choices....to LOVE the ride, or be totally uncomfortable at what we see or feel.

 

Either way....we end up HOME.

 

I would rather go thru life ENJOYING it, then wishing I had not gone along in the first place.

 

Do you understand what I am trying to say? 

 

 

 

 

 

WildFlowers

Rarely does a mom, or a grandma, tire of a little one coming to them, with a BIG SMILE lifting a fist-full of wild flowers. 

 

 It seems every child sees more flowers growing than adults do. 

 

 Perhaps because they are shorter and closer to the ground. 

 

Perhaps because their life is more simple and they look for the beauty around them.  

 

But WHY do these little ones feel compelled to bring them to a mom or grandma?   That is always puzzling. 

 

They SEE the beauty of the flowers, they DECIDE to pick them so they can SHARE them with mom or grandma.  And we all take them and put them into a glass and enjoy their LOVE until they wilt and we hurriedly throw them away , hoping the little one will not notice and say anything.   

 

Most every mom and grandma has experienced this kind of surprise love gift. Their eyes dancing with joy as they lift their fist-full of wild flowers to you. 

 

We never think things like:  "HOW CHEAP you are being, you little squirt!"  We never think that their love is minute because they have given us  a costless gift. 

 

All we know is that for that second of time, our heart is bursting with LOVE for a little one who has taken the time to surprise us with a gift that he/she picked. 

 

They saw beauty and thought of us! 

 

 It doesn't get much better than that!

 

Sadly,  as we grow older, we somehow think our gifts have to cost more, or they are meaningless.  We expect gifts on our Birthday, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Easter, Christmas, Sweetheart's day and on and on.   In fact many women feel unloved if no gift is received on those special days.  

 

Oh to go back to the small gifts that you know come from someone just seeing beauty and wanting to SHARE that beauty with you!

 

Like sharing a sunrise or sunset with someone.

 

Like looking for seashells on the beach with someone you care about.

 

Like sitting on a blanket with a friend and watching the ocean waves roll in.

 

Like walking around the block hand in hand with your spouse!

 

Like watching TV holding hands with a loved one. 

 

 .

.

.

.

.

.

Like this morning:

.

.

.

.

My hubby

(of 40 plus years)

.

.

.

.

brought in

.

.

.

.

 

 a fist-full of wild flowers

..... for me!

I am Loved!
 

 

THE WALLET

GOD IS AMAZING!

 

(I just found this in my drafts, so even though it was written quite a while back, I will add it)

 

Now, if you are a Christian, that comes as no surprise to you at all. 

 If you are watching God working in your life you see Him all over you and in your day. 

 

One of the highlights of our  Christian walk , as a married couple, started when we learned to LOOK for God at work.

 

We call this activity: "GOD SIGHTINGS". 

 

So many times we have missed Him at work in us and gave credit to His creation, rather than the Creator. 

 

But now....we LOOK, and give credit where due!

God loves to send SURPRISES!  

 

I tend to call them GOD HUGS, or GOD KISSES....for they are  personal blessings that warm my heart.

 

I picture Jesus looking down at us, saying: "I am going to send them a Blessing today and let them know I LOVE them."

 

Jesus decided to bless ME, to bless US.   AMAZING!!

 

Here is one example:

We were both tired from bringing load after load from the mobile home to our new Blessing House....many of you know what I mean...moving can be ALOT of work!  It is physically tiring and to find "the place" for things is a mental and emotional strain.

I carried the top drawer from a filing cabinet we had picked up a couple years ago from a neighbor who had deceased.  

 

His son said we could have anything in the house we wanted for all the help we had given his dad.  We took the two drawer filing cabinet. 

 

  I also carried in the second drawer and placed on the couch.

 

 Ken went out to get the cabinet itself. 

 

 I heard him say:  "We are Rich!"

In the bottom of the cabinet (where normally we would never see) there was a wallet.  NOTHING in it but money.  No Identification.  No pictures.  Just money.   $175.00!

WHEW that was exciting as we stopped hauling things to investigate the wallet.  We laughed and thought of our neighbor RAY as we found bills hidden in various pockets of the wallet.  So much like his personality.

 

We could almost envision Ray and God looking down in pleasure as we enjoyed this surprise treasure.

Now Ken will have to decide what to do. 

 

 We had the phone number of our deceased neighbor's son. 

 The son told us to keep the surprise treasure!

 

It was such a FUN SURPRISE!

I love GOD and how HE loves on His people!!!

 

I love God and how He loves ME!

 

I love His Hugs and His Kisses!

 

God does this over and over and over again.

Just when I am feeling overwhelmed, or discouraged, GOD sends me a Care Package wrapped in Love.  

 

We serve an AMAZING God!

I MISSED IT!

I MISSED IT!

I was VERY disappointed with myself! 

 

I wanted to watch this special RED MOON eclipse! 

My hubby and I went outside  and looked at the MOON several times during the late hours of the night.   It simply looked like a full moon to us with a RED  glowing ring around it.  But that was not the eclipse part.  We knew we needed to stay up until 2:00- 3:00 AM to see the eclipse in action.

SO...we made a plan.  

 

We will watch movies on Netflix downstairs IN OUR CHAIRS instead of on our bed, lessening the temptation to sleep. 

 The first movie was about a Church that is about the farthest from our church as you can get!  Not only was it huge, but their was major pride, greed, competition and adultery in the leadership.   With sadness, not entertainment, we watched this video...praying for Churches that are seriously struggling with "sin in the camp" and we thanked our LORD that as of this moment in our time, the leadership of our Church is sweet, loving, dedicated to God, dedicated to their marriage and united.  We counted our BLESSING.

SUCCESS.....we are still awake!  BUT it is not 2:00 - 3:00 yet. 

 

The Second Movie was about a struggling family. The wife was a believer in Jesus, but the husband was not.  They were trying to make a happy marriage, but no matter how hard they tried their interests were very different and they did not understand the actions of the other.  They had two children that kept them together.  At the point where they almost split...tragedy struck their house.  Their daughter had a serious fall and not sure if she would be paralyzed or not.  Like so many times a tragedy will make a couple hold hands, putting aside their marriage issues. The man, like JOB, realizes he is about to loose his family, his business, and anything that means anything to him.  He realizes his life is a mess and he is at fault.  He has tried to DO and LIVE without God.   He goes outside and pours his heart out to GOD, saying he does not want to live one more moment without HIM in his life.  At the end the daughter comes home from the hospital in a wheelchair, but the impression is clear....the family will heal because they are now guided by the SAME God, headed in the SAME direction, and life is no more just about him.    AGAIN the movie was a springboard to pray for those struggling in their marriage, in their family, and we prayed for our family.

 

SUCCESS.....well kinda......we are awake,

but struggling now to stay awake.

It is 1:30 AM

 

We looked at each other and knew we had a full day ahead of us. 

 Together we decided our sleep was more important than seeing this moment of history.

 

THAT was definitely a FATIGUE decision ,

not necessarily the BEST decision!

 

We headed upstairs to get some sleep.

 

 

 

When I woke up............I ran to the window!

 

 

 

 (Well, OK......I carefully grabbed my phone to give me light as I slowly made my way to the window. ha ha)

 

The moon was only missing a sliver on the right, meaning that was the LAST movement of the eclipse.   There was no color.  

 

It was 5:00.  I had missed it!

 

I was disappointed with myself! 

 Why could I not stay awake for this event!

 

I WANTED to see it, but I MISSED it.

 

 

 

I don't always get things done that I plan. 

I don't always make the best decisions. 

I often fail.  I disappointment myself.

I disappointment people. 

 

BUT

 

The greatest decision I ever made was to believe in Jesus, repent of my sins and declare my allegiance to HIM for the rest of my life.  He accepted me into His forever Family!

 

I do NOT have to worry about missing Heaven!

My future is secure in Christ!

 

So whether I enter at my physical death, or via the Rapture,

I am ready!

Waking or Sleeping I will be in the presence of my LORD forever.

 

But UNTIL THEN......I will serve HIM.

 

 One day at a time.

 

Like.....TODAY!

 

 

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in THY sight, O Lord my strength and my Redeemer!

Train Whistle at 4:30 AM

We live near an active railroad track. 

In the daytime I love to hear the rumble of the train tracks and the occasional sounds of it's whistle as it approaches an intersection.

 

 We cannot actually SEE the train for we are surrounded by trees and an orange grove.  But we get glimpses occasionally as we come down the road, and we are VERY AWARE the train is there.

 

When we first moved here, our dog would start barking, and we would run to the windows expecting to have a visitor.  After numerous disappointed peeks we learned he can hear the train going by, before we can hear it!  Our dog now is used to the sound and has stopped barking at it's approach.

The other night we were AWAKENED by the loud whistles of the train at 4:30 AM! 

 Not only once, but repeated whistles as if there was an intersection at every block!   It was quite unusual and definitely WOKE us up.

We don't know why the Conductor decided to blow the whistle that night, but it was alarming!

 

After a while, we both fell back asleep.

 

In the morning, while I was having my coffee with God. 

 

My thought was: 

"OH, I wish it had been the sound of The Trumpet! 

 

 Right now, I would be in the presence of my LORD........... SEEING what I believe! 

The Rapture will occur soon just that way.  When we least expect Him, Jesus will come to the clouds and call the Believers in Jesus up for a Grand Family Reunion!  No warning....just be prepared.  Be ready!

 

I am so very ready.   When I thought of how the train whistle startled us awake.  I found myself very home sick for Heaven, even though it is a place I have not yet seen.  I long for HOME.

 

I may never hear a train whistle the same way any more. 

 

  To me it will be a reminder of the TRUMPET that will someday soon call me away.  

 

MAYBE tonight, while we sleep,

 the TRUMPET will blow, instead of the train whistle!

 

When that happens, I will be GONE!   Gone from Earth!

 

Hallelujah!

LONG DISTANCE GRANDMA

I find it hard to be a good Long-Distance

 

All of our grandchildren live about 1500 miles away from us.   We have no idea what to say on the phone to them, nor they to us.   It is very difficult.  We do not know what they like or do not like. They do not know us either. We are strangers to each other.


Recently I decided to try something new ....started with the one who has says over and over to her daddy that she misses us....even though she barely knows us.   Therefore we started with Alyvia. She is five years old.

I bought a book for her Birthday, but instead of sending it,

I kept it here with the plan to READ IT to her over SKYPE

and then I would send it to her.

Our son Andy was receptive to that idea....and downloaded Skype on his phone so we could try this.

As I become more comfortable with the process of Skype and learn where to hold the book so she can see the pictures.....it is  becoming a TREASURE that we both look forward to!

My son lets me know when it is a good night for them, or I will shoot a message off asking if it is a good night.  When we agree it is a good night, we agree on a time.  My granddaughter has her bath and gets in her jammies and then they go to her bedroom and we begin to Skype.

The book we just finished was called  He's Got the WHOLE WORLD in His Hands, an Ideals publication.   It is actually a well known song:: 

He’s got the WHOLE WORLD in His hands 

 He’s got the WHOLE WORLD in His hands.

 

He’s got the EARTH and the SKY in His Hands 

  He’s got the NIGHT and the DAY in His hands.

He’s got the SUN and the MOON in His hands 

 He’s got the WHOLE world in His hands.

 

He’s got the LAND and the SEA in His hands 

  He’s got the WIND and the RAIN in His hands.

He’s got the SPRING and the FALL in His hands 

 He’s got the WHOLE WORLD in His hands.

 

He’s got the ITTY BITTY BABY in His hands 

 He’s got the YOUNG and the OLD in His hands.

He’s got EVERYONE HERE in His hands 

 He’s got the WHOLE WORLD in His hands.

 

He’s got the WHOLE WORLD in His hands

 He’s got the WHOLE WORLD in His hands.

 

So since I want my grandchildren to know who I AM as a person:

I also taught her some sign language.  Her daddy, next to her, helped her form the right shapes on her hands.  The underlined words above, are the words we SIGNED together.

 

 

We also added verses for fun :

He's got Grandma and Alyvia in His hands..

He's got Daddy and Grandpa in His hands...

 

Since we finished the book:

I asked Alyvia if she was ready for me to send the book to her in the mail so she could read it to me.    She decided she needed more practice on the words, so we will go over the book again....singing and signing as we go.

 

Do I think this will take away the gap from us?

 

NO

 

But I am hoping that I will get to SEE and know the REAL Alyvia over time.

I am hoping that she will SEE and know the REAL me, her Grandma, far away, who adores her.

 

I  am an Absent Grandma in many ways. 

I miss out on all their sports activities, all their recitals, the Birthday parties, school programs, all their fun events, not there to invite them over for supper, and yes, will continue to miss sending Birthday cards from time to time.....I am not there.  I will not be nominated for Grandma of any Year.

 

BUT....God has us here.

 

We love being in full time ministry. We love the little Church God has called us to.  We are where we should be, because that is where He wants us.  And we are most happy when we are in the place where God wants us.   

Here is where we are. 

There is where our grandkids are.

That is our reality.

 

I will just keep trying to find ways to connect.

Yet the greatest gift I can give them is prayer.

My hubby and I pray for their parents.

We pray for our grandchildren.

We believe in GOD!  We believe in Prayer!