Fear

When my blue-eyed boy learned to walk at ten months old I nearly had a heart attack every day.  That precious boy got himself in some humdingers!  He has rarely sat still since.  I spent most of last summer waiting for him to return from adventures in the "forest" or a bike race around the neighborhood.

Those sweet memories make this year's reality bitter.  Two years ago John got bit in the back of the leg by an over-excited dog.  For two years fear has been leaching onto John, slowly dragging him into a pit of fear.  His fear is one I understand well.  I was terrified of dogs as a girl.  There was a man-eating St. Bernard I had to encounter each walk to the park.  There was a vicious lab who terrorized the park.  Somehow I didn't let the fear keep me from adventures, although I do remember at least once my beautiful sister had to fetch Mom to rescue me from the vicious lab who had surrounded me while I was up on the slide. 

Fear has fenced John in.  Our neighborhood is teeming with dogs, all friendly.  Sometimes the furry friends get out of their spaces and run as wild as the children.  So John remains within sprinting distance of the house.   His fear convincing him that at any moment the licky-monsters are going to turn into "vicious man-eating dogs!"  His fear has convinced him that all dogs are to be feared, even dogs he layed in the grass with last summer.

It has broken my heart.  So we bring it to God.  Every night we pray together asking God to heal him from his fear.  When he goes outside we talk about being courageous and that God is bigger than his fear. 

And we, my blue-eyed boy and I, wait for God to answer....

Take-away's from #RealTime2015

~ Never underestimate how delicious it is to eat a meal you did not have to prepare or clean up

~ Bathroom humor + farting noises = hysterical.  Jeff Foxworthy can make a girl nearly pee her pants when retelling his colonoscopy story.

~ You can always find a friend when you are out of town with 1300 co-workers

~ Perspective makes a world of difference.  Case in point,  to a Northerner, 60 degrees means shorts and a t-shirt for a 6 am run.  To a Southerner, 60 degrees means tights, shorts, two shirts, and a fleece.  I had one Southern belle tell me she never works out outside if it is below 61 degrees.

~  Craig Groeschel taught me that the quickest way to forget what other people think about you is to become OBSESSED by what God thinks of you.

~ Dr. Tony Evans can preach and it is fun to be amongst those who worship in ways far different than me.

~ Hearing a prayer in a different language moves this girl to tears

~ Going to Sea World without your children and riding a roller coaster is a lot of fun.

~  Your face can hurt from smiling so much

~ If a supernatural power is within you then it should also come out of you.  The Holy Spirit is just waiting for the invitation.

~ Meeting new people is fun; as is their expression when you tell them you are from SD, or that you have four boys, or that your beautiful sister is taking care of them plus her own four.

~ Flip flops in February are fun

~ a stutter (Neal Jeffry), a hearing impairment (Tamika Catchings), or a massively, messed up childhood (Jim Daly) are not enough to disqualify you from ministry

~Mandisa can bring out your inner dancer without you even noticing.  Old dance team moves may or may not have slipped out.

~sometimes God can bring encouragement from people you don't even know.  One FCA-E huddle member shared how impactful a teaching Chris had done was on his life.  If, for no other reason then that, the weekend was worth it.

Dear Sister

I heart you! 

Tomorrow you are letting me get on a plane to fly away to a warmer place.  To do that you are taking in my four squirmy, germy, rambunctious boys.

I heart you!

You never bat a beautiful eyelash at the work it involves.  You just do it.  (Better than Nike, I might add). 

I heart you!

I heart you for about a million other reasons but right now, the opportunity to escape my life for a few days is the top of my list.

I heart you!

Dear...

Dear future Daughters-In-Law,

I am trying!

With Joy,

your MIL

Love

We are already 8 days into 2015 and I finally feel like I know what God has laid on my heart for this year. Each year I seek one word to live out, to seek, to try to do well. It usually ends up less than I expected but more than I hoped for.  (If that makes any sense at all).

When asked what the greatest commandment was Jesus did not hesitate.  He did not think about it.  Love. The greatest commandment is to love God and love others. "All the Law and the Prophets hand on these two commandments,"  he explained in Matthew 22:40. 

As in the past I start of thinking I already got this word nailed.  I, of course, would like to think I am good at love. Love is easy. But then I look to God's description of love and I know I fall short.

Just take a look at the checklist given to us in the oft quoted "love" chapter, 1Corinthians 13.  "Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 

Ooftah!  Patient and not self-seeking.  Calm and forgetting those wrongs.  This is going to be a lot of work.  Work well worth the doing.

Here's praying that a year of working on love will produce fruit and growth in so many other areas as well. 

"He knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold."  Job 32:10