A Banner of Peace

As a child, I remember being terrified as adults in my life fought.  It felt as if my whole world was falling apart.  Every bit of peace I had dissolved as the voices got louder.  I wanted to run away and hide.

Conflict has always caused me anxiety.  Angry faces and frowns and sharp voices cause the knots to begin in my stomach.  Sharp words and scowls can leave me quaking on the inside. 
My head throbs and I want to hide, childlike and in fear.

The world we live in is in constant conflict.  All it seems to take is a careless word to cause fights and disagreements and feuds to start.  People are so quick to lash out in anger.  What our world needs is peace.


Isaiah 11:1-10 ~

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of might,
    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
    or decide by what he hears with his ears;
but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
    with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
    with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Righteousness will be his belt
    and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

The wolf will live with the lamb,
    the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
    and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
    their young will lie down together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
    and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.

What a beautiful picture of not only Christ's first coming, but his Second Coming.  Christ came to earth as a baby, grew to a man and during his ministry drew people from all walks of life to himself.  His death and resurrection brought peace to those who chose to follow Him.  

His Second Coming will also bring final peace to this world that is in so much turmoil.  The picture of mortal enemies living in peace is beautiful.  His people will live in harmony forever.

I can't wait for that day when there will be no more arguments, angry voices, and conflict.  Wars and violence will end.   There will be ultimate peace and as verse ten says, it will be glorious.

The anxiety and fear will melt away.  The anger and frustration will disappear.   Frowns and scowls will dissolve.  

What a beautiful thought during this second week of advent!

Stripped Away

I woke up at 4 a.m. and lay in bed thinking for a bit before I got up. I feel like I'm on a runaway train and it's hard to believe that Christmas is just 18 days away.  It doesn't feel like Christmas here.

► The tree is looking a bit bare since we didn't put all the ornaments on.
► There are no other decorations around.
► My walls are bare now that I've taken down the pictures.
► No Christmas cookies have been made
► All of the "Christmas" activity is gone.
► There are no presents bought and will be very few this year as things are tight.

As I lay there I was thinking, "This stinks!"

However, as I lay there feeling full of self-pity, the Lord reminded of something I wrote in my book, One Clear, Still Night.  Christmas is not about the decorations, or the packages, or the sparkling lights.  Christmas is about one solitary gift that changed the world.  It was given without pomp and circumstance, in poverty, and in the dark.

All the trappings are stripped away this year and I'm left with what?  The Gift.  The one thing that makes my life have meaning.  The only reason that I should rejoice.

And that is what Christmas is about, my friends.  That is why even with a daunting task in front of me, and multiple, huge changes taking place all at once, and feeling very alone, I can have joy and peace.

This stripped away Christmas leaves me with one thing - Christ alone.

And that is the one thing that keeps me moving forward, step by step, with a heart full of joy.

Faster than a Speeding Bullet

Remember the description of Superman?  He was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to jump tall buildings in a single bound. 

Well, that's what I'm going to have to do in the next two weeks.  We made the decision to move a week earlier and will be leaving on the 21st.  So that leaves me with just 15 more days to pack up the house!  Breathe in ~ breathe out ~ breathe in ~ breathe out.

So I'm plugging away at my list and adding to it as I think of things.

However, I'm going to continue to stay organized and write out a weekly to-do list here for the big items.  I will carry over my list from the week before so I can see my progress.

Week of 11/24-11/30/13

Finish 3 table runners - Actually, made four of these between Sunday and Tuesday.  Crazy!
Finish 2 tea cozies - Made one as well as two bread baskets and that is it folks!
Make pies & bread for Thanksgiving orders (Made 7 pies, 4 dozen rolls, and 2 loaves of Challah)
Trip to dentist  This has been postponed until Monday
Drop off items at boutique
My own Thanksgiving dinner
Set up Christmas tree - there will be a revolt if I don't have the tree.
Haircut for me
Cut Dan & Nathan's hair
Pack 6 boxes - Alas, I packed ZERO, ZIP, NADA!
Go to my sisters for the weekend - Heading out this morning 
Took car to garage to replace water pump.
Get rid of piano
Get rid of entertainment center

Week of 12/1-12/6/2013

♥ Dental appointment
♥ Fill out school papers for Emily's new school (a huge packet). Done except for the address and phone number since we need to get that in place first
♥ Take medical form to doctor for signature
♥ Help Nathan with resignation letter for his job
♥ Dan got a post office box at the new place
♥ Pack at least 10 boxes 20 Boxes!  Whoo hoo!!!
♥ Purge all the clothes in the house - bag up those going to thrift store  Emily's room & our room complete
♥ Make 2 aprons for an order
♥ Visit friend for lunch on Wednesday
♥ Visit different friend for lunch on Friday 
♥ Change the address at the post office
♥ Make cookies for a cookie swap next Saturday (They are going into the freezer)
♥ Divvy out all the computer files to different people in the church who are taking over my jobs
♥ Purge craft items that I don't use and give away.
♥ Make a phone call to see about getting services set up for Nathan in new location.
♥ Pull old dresser out of Nathan's room
♥ Call friends to get specifics on Stephen's living arrangements 

Week of 12/7-12/13/2013 (Carrying forward the things I didn't finish)

♥ Back up fabric I'm giving away
♥ Post furniture on facebook that I'm giving away  Yay, it all went within minutes!
♥ Friend's Christmas open house
♥ Go to Joann Fabric to pick up fabric for order
♥ Drop off order
♥ Drop off clothing at clothing bin
♥ Cookie swap; package cookies
♥ Set up phone & internet in new house.
♥ Take medical forms to doctor to sign for Emily's epipen & inhaler
♥ Doctor appointment to get results of sleep study
♥ Purge clothes in Nathan & Stephen's room - pack up those going to thrift shop
♥ Make 2 aprons for order. 
♥ Pull old dresser out of Nathan's room
♥ File quarterly sales tax return for the business
♥ Take down curtains in the house, wash and pack
♥ Get the house electric put back in the church name  No longer my problem.  I called and we can only cancel the electric.  A representative from the church has to call to put it in the church's name.
♥ Pack 10 boxes
♥ Figure out how to get Stephen's furniture to his new apartment
♥ Narrow down the furniture to what's going and what's being given away
♥ Fire house giving us a going away party.

I'm sure there will be a lot more but that's what's on the list so far.  

Some great news is that Dan & Nathan went up to the new church on Wednesday & Thursday and Nathan was interviewed by the fire department.  They voted him in so he is an official member of their department.  He just has to go through a few month probation period.  He loved it up there and didn't want to come back!  That is a wonderful thing.

If you see a blue flash, it's not superman.  It's ME! 

Christmas Memories

I have to be honest and say that this is a very hard Christmas for us.  Things are not the same.  For one thing instead of a house full of decorations, I have a house full of boxes.  Many of the church related traditions we've always organized are being done by someone else.  I'm struggling with the transition and Emily is struggling with it.  Dan actually made the comment the other day that he feels like a guest preacher in our church now. :-(  After talking with other pastors and their wives, we know these are normal emotions but it still is hard.

The other weird transition for me too is that in just a month, Stephen will be moving out and living on his own.  So all of the big stress-producers in life are hitting us all at the same time!  Change of job, moving, financial issues, children moving out.  YIKES!  No wonder I've been having heart palpitations (and yes, an EKG and Holter monitor showed irregularities but nothing to be worried about).

I don't have a lot of Christmas related photos this year, but I was looking back at some from our time here and it's amazing how my kids have grown in the ten years we've been here.  They have grown up in this church.

We moved here in May of 2003 but unfortunately, the only digital photos I have date from 2007 since that's when I started blogging.  But it's amazing at how they've grown.

Christmas 2008 (Blurry!)



Christmas 2009 (Blurry too!  Boy, I'm glad my picture taking skills have gotten better) ~



Christmas 2010 ~ 

Christmas 2011 ~ 

 

Christmas 2012 ~ 

Christmas 2013 ~

The only one I have so far is Stephen & Emily decorating the tree.  This is Emily's normal "You are annoying me face" but I know they'll be all smiles come Christmas Eve! ;-)  (Hmmmm....this one is blurry too.  Maybe my picture taking skills haven't gotten that good! lol)

My children have grown up and are becoming young adults.  That's a wonderful thing and I'm so proud of them, but boy, am I feeling old!

That is my bit of nostalgia today. :-)

Wednesday Words of Encouragement

John 8:12 (MSG) ~

Jesus once again addressed them: “I am the world’s Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in.”

I spent the weekend at my sister's house.  I went to bed around 11 p.m. on Saturday and woke up at 2 a.m. and immediately something seemed off.  She lives on a mountaintop in the middle of 500 acres of wilderness.  There are no street lights and the dark seems really dark.  But there was also an eerie silence that I couldn't figure out.  Then I realized I was no longer hearing the hum of the furnace.  I reached for the lamp and hit the switch.  No light.   I stumbled my way to the door, banging into all kinds of obstacles in the unfamiliar surroundings.

Then I saw an eerie glow coming from under my door.  It turns out the electricity had been out for about an hour and my sister and brother-in-law were up and were working on the woodstove by the glow from a flashlight. That glow lit the way for me to find the bathroom door.

So many people today are stumbling around in the dark.  They are lost, confused, discouraged, depressed and in despair.  They struggle just like you and I do with various trials in their lives, but they don't have the light of Jesus in their life.  They are wandering through life, bumping into things and totally blinded by the darkness.

I love this time of the year because I'm reminded once again of the wonderful gift we have received.  A savior was born so many years ago that lit up the dark world.  He illuminated the darkness and provided a way for us to walk in relationship with God.  We no longer have to stumble around in the dark.

For those of us who follow Him, we too, are to be a light in this dark world.  Our lives are to glow with His love.  We are to illuminate the dark shadows around us.  We are supposed to light up this world.

My challenge to you in this first week of Advent is to turn your light on!  Live your life in such a way that Jesus shines through you.  Provide light to your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers.  Make sure that you are not so consumed with busyness that you forget to make sure your light switch is on.

Have a blessed day!

Tragedy to Triumph

I want to share with you this morning how God has turned what could have been a tragedy in our lives into a triumph!  It's a story of redemption and grace and love.

Our young man, Nathan, has faced challenges his whole life.  He was born with some difficulties right from the get-go, though we were pretty ignorant to what the grave faces and crowd of doctors and nurses working over him at his birth would mean down the road. 

We realized something was haywire when at the age of two and a half he still couldn't speak.  At three and a half he started speech therapy.  He was terrified of everything.  The wind blowing a leaf near him would send him screaming and shaking with terror.  He would turn bright red and you could feel his heart racing.

Sleeping was a nightmare.  He would cry and scream with fear.  And he when he did sleep, he would do it in spurts.  I never felt rested.  If we slept at someone else's house it was terrible.  He'd be up at 3 in the morning.  No matter how much or how little sleep he got, he would be up at 4 or 5 each day.  I cried a lot those years.

Of course, well-meaning people didn't help.  "Maybe you should discipline him more."  "Let him cry it out."  "Preschool will be good for him."  And I did all those things because I thought perhaps they were right.   He never interacted with anyone else.  He would sit in the class and play by himself and make truck noises all day long.

As he got older, we discovered multiple learning disabilities.  He never got past a 5th grade reading level.  His writing skills never progressed past 1st grade.  His math skills are elementary age.  His processing speed is very low.

When he was thirteen he started developing vocal and motor tics and was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome.  He had such violent tics that he would often hurt himself.  At the age of fourteen and still looking like he was eight years old, he started growth hormone therapy and had daily shots for four years.

And finally at the age of eighteen, after some very inappropriate and devastating behavior we finally heard the word that I had long suspected - autism.  Because Nathan is so high functioning he fell through the cracks.  He never acted out in school.  In fact, he was very meek and mild and pleasant.  So what should have been diagnosed from the start never happened.  

And yet, I knew that something was wrong but was always told he's fine.  He just needs to get involved more.  But I knew that an 18 year old riding his bicycle around and around in a parking lot, pretending to be a policeman was very not okay.  But again, because he was so quiet and meek around others, no one could see what I saw.

Why do I tell you all this?  Because we spent years concerned about this young man.  What will happen to an adult who can't read and write?  What will happen if he can't live on his own without some assistance?   I cried many tears over this child.  And yet, God redeemed the situation and has done a tremendous work in his life in just 4 1/2 years.

Yesterday, Dan came home and told me that he found out that Nathan received Service Star of the Year Award at his job!  I'm going to share bits of the letter here so you can see why I'm just crying with joy today.

"Our center store associate, Nathan Groh, has been chosen as our Service Star of the Year for 2013...Nathan is an absolute ray of sunshine here.  He comes to work with a smile on his face, and is determined to do his work to the best of his ability.  He is respected by his peers and is a shining example of the 4 core behaviors!  Nathan takes great pride in his responsibilities.  He is always helpful to his peers and the customers.  He is always looking for ways to improve or searching for new challenges...Nathan has a heart for everything he does and achieves."

We also had a visit from the chief and president of the fire company last week and they presented a letter for Nathan to take to the new department where he is applying.  Some of the things they wrote were as follows.

"Nathan is one of our most valued members...If I had ten of him, I wouldn't need anyone else.  He pursues training avidly, responds to more calls than almost anyone in our district, shows up at nearly every work detail and is serving his first year as an officer.  He is a born firefighter, but moreover, he sets an example for every member here, being as willing to man a mop or broom as he is to man a line or a halligan...He sets a great example for our younger members, and even a few of our older members.  You are getting one of our best; take care of him."

I am amazed by God's work.  I am in awe at how what seemed such a hopeless situation to me has been used to work miracles.  What is even more amazing to me is how God worked outside the normal parameters to do this.  Instead of using the church for this work, he used a group of local firemen, as well as the kindness of teachers, social workers, employers, and co-workers to help this young man grow into the hopeFULL life that I now see.

He still has challenges.  He still needs some assistance with things, but he has grown by leaps and bounds.  And that, my friends, is how God can take tragedy and turn it into triumph!

Are you in Idle Today? Move Forward in Hope.

As a child and teen, I remember my mother always going out in the winter and warming the car up for about 10-15 minutes before we went anywhere.  She did this to get the windows clear of frost and ice and also to have a toasty warm car to get into.  I have done this too with any car I have owned.

However, I have since discovered that this is one of those things that the newer cars do not need.  In fact, you can be causing more damage than good by allowing your car to idle in cold weather.   Idling can actually cause more wear and tear on your car than getting in and just starting out slowly on snowy, cold days.

Are you in idle today?  Is your motor on, but you are stuck in place?  One of the definitions of idle is being without purpose or effect; pointless.  Have you forgotten the purpose of your life?  Are you ineffective in your relationships?

The first week in Advent is always focused on hope.  We often discuss the hope that the prophets foretold in the birth of Christ.  We talk about the hope that the Israelites had in the coming Messiah.  We rejoice in the hope we have in Christ.

I Peter 1:3 ~ 

"Praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is so good, and by raising Jesus from death, he has given us new life and a hope that lives on."

The hope that we receive in Christ should actually cause us to move forward.  We are to have hope that keeps us focused on the future, and not on the past.  Hope is forward thinking.  It is the settling knowledge that God is in control of all things and that He works all things out for the good of those who believe in Him.  

Have you forgotten that you have a living hope?  Are you focusing on past and present mistakes?  Are you stuck at a point in time where you keep reliving failures and disappointments?

Look forward!  Be hopeful!  Keep your eyes focused ahead!

As we head into the Christmas season, remember the wonderful hope that we have in Jesus.  Realize the wonderful work He is doing in and through you.  Lift up your head and keep moving forward.

Don't stay idle!  Surge ahead, and be joyful in the knowledge that you have Hope in Christ.