Miracles Among Us

So I posted 3 weeks ago about some devastating events that were happening. Things didn't turn out the way we thought they would.

Hope Abigail Gordon (Baby Abby) was born on September 23rd, 2010. She was born with a condition called Trisomy 18 and wasn't expected to live but a couple of hours. But, once again, we all put God in a box and God stepped out of that box in a big way. Abby lived among us for 12 days and touched people around the world. A wonderful couple, Randy and Ellen Olive, photographed her journey each and every day and shared her life with us on their blog, www.oliveourmoments.com. Additionally, Melinda Gordon, Abby's Mommy, shared her thoughts on her own blog, www.hopeabigail.blogspot.com. You should go read about this amazing little girl. It is awesome to follow an actual miracle. Every single breath she took was a miracle. Every time she opened her eyes it was a miracle. She was so strong and absolutely one of the most beautiful babies I've ever seen in my life. While my heart breaks for the Gordons and all the many family members and friends that Abby touched, I am comforted by the fact that this little girl came to earth for 12 days, and completed her mission for God. It would be interesting to know how many people actually came to Jesus because of Abby. I bet there are many. The incredible faith that the Gordon's had before, during and after Abby's life is an amazing testament to God's enduring grace and love.

Anyway, there is the update. The sadness is gone and the celebration of Abby's life has begun.

Until next time.....

Incredible Insights

And here is the first one. It has been EXACTLY a year since I last blogged. My how time flies when you are having fun. I'm not going to blog about what has happened over the last year because frankly, I can't remember to save my soul!

Today I got an e-mail from a dear friend of mine. It talked about instances. How your life can change in an instant. It was one of those motivational, uplifting type e-mails that I usually just read and then discard. But something made me take pause with this one and I really started to think about it.

This week has been full of sadness for me.....sadness for other people. TJ has some friends that he knows from trailriding, Bill and Char Kincaid. They kind of have the same story we have. They met later in life, fell madly in love, and they were soulmates. Last Thursday Char came home and Bill was gone. His keys were in his truck. His wallet (cards and money), cell phone and knife were in the house. He was gone. The police came out and declared him a missing person and the search was on. Both the sheriff's department and the Texas Rangers were involved. And we all prayed for Bill's safe return. Tuesday night I couldn't sleep. When I can't sleep, I feel like that is God's way of telling me "Let's talk." So I did. I prayed a simple prayer "God, whatever Your will, let it be done. Let tomorrow be the day. Let this be over." Right after I prayed that prayer, I fell into a deep and restful sleep. As I was leaving for work on Wednesday, TJ called me and said they had found him. He had died of natural causes on an adjacent property. I was so sad for Char and for his kids. In an instant, their lives were forever changed.

There is a lady who went to our church, Melinda Gordon, who became pregnant. She found out during her pregnancy that her daughter would be delivered, but she had a disease that would not allow her to live. Once delivered, she could have hours or minutes with her. Even knowing that, Melinda and her husband decided that they would carry this precious baby to term and allow their beautiful daughter to enter this world and become a part of their family. All throughout her pregnancy, this baby made herself known - she kicked her mom like crazy almost to say "HEY I'M HERE!!" Well, today is this baby's birthday. Hope Abigail was born this morning at 8:09 a.m. a wooping 3 lbs. 4 ozs! She will only be with them for an instant, but she will be their daughter for an eternity. My GOD what an instant!!

The thing about these two families is that in the worst of times, they are looking up. They are looking to the One who created and allowed the instances. In their pain and sorrow, they realize that God is there with them and they are praising him for all of the instances they had with their loved ones. I am overwhelmed by their grace, because I know that it can only come from God.

Anyway, those are my incredible insights for today. I'll try not to be such a stranger.

Until the next time.....

Pennies from Heaven

I know that a lot of people believe in pennies from Heaven. God talks to me with pennies. If you don't know what I'm talking about, pull a penny out of your wallet and look at it. It says "In God We Trust." I have gotten pennies my entire life. I didn't really notice them for the longest time or realize the signficance. They would just show up in the oddest places and I'd just kind of say "Huh. Weird." But a few years ago I started seeing the pattern and finally had an "aha" moment and realized God was talking to me in pennies. It's God's way of telling me "Hey - I got this. Trust in ME!!"

I am telling you that every time I start to kevetch about something, a penny shows up in the oddest place. I will be worrying about something while I'm in my bedroom. I'll walk out, come back in and there will be a penny on the floor or on the bed. It wasn't there before. Somehow it just appeared.

When my dad died in December, 2007, I felt a range of emotions obviously. One thing that continuously bothered me and was on my mind was whether or not Dad was happy and if he'd made it to Heaven. The logical side of me knew that he was happier than he'd ever been in the presence of the "Son". But my not very logical side couldn't quite grasp that. I've always been one that needed proof that something had happened (probably why God started dropping pennies!). Anyway, we went back to the funeral home for the 2nd time. As I stepped out of the car, there was that dang penny on the ground at my feet. So I let go of the worry.

A week or so ago, I got a call from someone I worked with telling me they had just had a very unpleasant conversation with one of our tenants. He told me the doctor was furious and called him every colorful name in the book. He said he'd never been talked to like that before. Then he said that we all needed to meet with this yahoo. So the day of the meeting we decided to go up and take a look at the space in question. As we entered the elevator to come back downstairs to our office, I noticed on the wall in the frame that held the elevator permit, there was a penny. I looked at Matt and Patrick and said "The meeting will be fine." I proceeded to tell them why and they just kind of went "Yeah - whatever." Well, the meeting went fine. No tension. No screaming. We just walked through the steps of getting the space finished, agreed on some deadlines, and said goodbye. It was that simple.......THE POWER OF THE PENNY!!

Yesterday I was kevetching about something else at my office. I looked down on the floor and there was that penny. So I'm not going to worry Lord!!

THE POWER OF THE PENNY!!

So start looking around for your pennies from Heaven. God will send them!

Until later....

Praising God Today!!

So the colonoscopy is over and God has answered my prayers! My colon is clean as a whistle (except from some pesky hemerrhoids!). Praise the Lord!!

The relief I feel today is amazing. For months I have woken up every day wondering if I had a tumor growing inside my colon or if I had a piece of my colon that wasn't quite working right. On the days when I would have bleeding I would just fret and worry. Then I would hear that small, still voice that said "Worry about nothing - pray about everything - it's my command daughter." So I prayed. And I didn't just pray about what was going on inside of me. I took time to pray about everything. I prayed for others a lot and saw some miraculous things happen. I prayed for situations and again saw miracles. God has grown my faith through all of this and it has been an amazing transformation.

So thank you Lord for letting me go through these many months of fear. It has made me trust you so much more than I had.

Praise God!

Until later....

An Inner Peace

So I've been listening to "The Shack," by William P. Young, on my IPod again. This is probably the 5th or 6th time I've listened to it. Every time I hear something new in it. It is such a well written, painful and healing story. It's kind of like "Dinner with a Perfect Stranger" and "Day with a Perfect Stranger." I can listen to those two stories over and over again because they deal with something that is very near and dear to my heart. That is the love of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Friday is the BIG day - the day of my colonoscopy. I feel like I'm in prison tonight and having my last meal. My wonderful husband made homemade jambalya. It was heavenly. I've been on Weight Watchers going on two weeks and have really been diligent about counting everything I put into my mouth. This week I've wanted to chuck it all and say "Well heck, I'm not eating on Thursday or half a day Friday. So I can eat anything I want!" Then reality hits (and my want, need, desire, whatever) and I realize that I really do want to be healthy again, and the first step to good health is losing this excess weight. So I pray through. I went back for seconds tonight and then put the plate away. I wasn't hungry. I was just...well....ticked off that I can't eat tomorrow! LOL!! Then I think to those kids in Burundi where our church is doing mission work. How they may go for days without as much as a piece of bread. And I know then that my "sacrifice" of one and half days of food is just uncomfortable - not deadly.

So anyway, back to the colonoscopy. I am no longer afraid of the results......Let me say that again.....I AM NO LONGER AFRAID OF THE RESULTS!! God has given me this amazing peace going into this process. I have felt better than I have in a long time the last few weeks (other then terrible allergies). But it's more than that. God has come to me and has put His arms around me, sat me on His broad lap, and just held me close to Him. I've felt it.....HIM.....every day. Something tells me that the results are going to be no big deal. But even if they aren't and we find an actual reason for the bleeding that I experienced earlier in the year (which I haven't had since mid-July), then God is preparing me to take whatever journey that He has in store for me. I know that He will be with me every step of the way.

If you haven't read "The Shack" I strongly encourage you to pick it up. There is a message that you need to hear somewhere in that book. This time I took away just that point.....That God is with me ALWAYS. No matter what I go through in life, big or small, He has NEVER left me and He will NEVER leave me. I have that assurance......and so I have this peace.

Results on Friday!!

Until then.....

Personal Inventory

A very wise friend of mine told me once upon a time that I kept myself busy from morning until night so that I wouldn't have any time to take a "personal inventory". I thought she was nuts at the time. I was busy because I was busy and nothing more! I mean, I can't say "no" when someone needs me, right? Just because I wake up early, start the day running at mock speed, and then fall into bed at the end of the day, that doesn't mean I'm hiding from myself or anyone else. Does it?

God is stirring in my heart again. So much has happened in my little world lately that I know God is trying to get me off of dead center. Here's the problem Lord......I don't know where I'm going and sometimes I'm just too afraid to ask or jump! So I should have faith right? Well I think I do have faith....but right now some of the fear is far outdoing the faith that I have.

I guess I'm at that point where I really need to just "Be still and know He is God." I need to stop, sit down, shut my mouth and just listen. Here's the thing....I really, REALLY crave an all encompassing relationship with God. I really, REALLY want Him to be in control of my life. I don't want to have to worry from day to day about what is going to happen. I want to know that God is taking care of everything. So if I'm willing.....then why won't I just jump and let God catch me. Why don't I trust Him? Why do I think I can do it better? It is obvious to me and everyone else that I cannot do it better than God. Every single time I step away from Him, my life falls apart. When I am going to Him constantly in prayer, things fall into place.

Here's what I had......a quiet, drama free life.....really no bumps in the road....I was just rocking along from day to day. Was I happy? I don't know. I was probably pretty bored. So little by little, God has started piling things on. I have drama in my life (from other people) that I didn't formerly have......I dealt with it and grew used to it. Now it's just an inconvenience and no longer a tragedy. I've had a handful of friends get sick.....some of them haven't made it. And of course, my dad died in December, 2007. These were all real tests of my faith. I cried....I prayed....and then I gave it up to God. I am grateful and happy that my friends, and my dad are up in Heaven with God. Actually I'm a little jealous! Now I have two very dear friends who are sick. I'm lifting them both up in prayer and know that God will be their ultimate healer.

So, back to the question (see how I tend to deflect?). If I can believe this for my friends and my dad, why can't I believe and trust for me?

What can I say? I'm a work in progress.....

Until later...

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

What a great day! 7-8-9 - Well that only happens - well NEVER!!

Today is also my daddy's birthday! He would have been 78 today (also kind of weird with the 7-8-9 thing - LOL)!

It's been a year and a half since he left us to go home and I miss him every day. I like to sit and think about what he would be doing today if he were still here. I would have called him this morning early, early and wished him a happy birthday. He'd blow it off like it was no big thing. I'd tease him about it being 7-8-9. He'd probably crack a joke or two. Then he'd launch off into a tirade about something or try to get me to talk about what's going on in my world. He never was one to focus on himself. He always wanted to get involved in whatever was going on in your life. And he LOVED loved loved to play the devil's advocate on everything. It's why I didn't tell him I was leaving my old company after 13 years until after I'd made the move and had to give him a new office number. He would have talked about stability, loyalty, and a lot of other things I didn't want or need to hear (and had already considered). People used to tell me I had my feet stuck so far in the ground that I was growing leaves (meaning I didn't like change). I definitely know where I get that trait! LOL! Funny thing is that here I am, almost 2 years later, and happier than if I'd had good sense in this new (well not so new anymore) job! So I knew I was making the right decision. And after all I'd consulted the ultimate Father in prayer for this and knew in my heart it was the right thing for me.

He really was such a great dad though. I have so many great memories of him from my childhood. I'm sure there were some bad times too, but I really don't remember them. He was larger than life. He was so outgoing. When he entered a room, he owned it. He had so many friends, but would tell you that he could count his true friends on one hand. I'm telling you though, when we went somewhere, he knew someone! It was amazing.

One really fond memory I have of my dad is all of the times he gave me directions. Inevitably, he would say "Well, you start out on Washington Avenue...." I guess that is from his early days as a route salesman for Falstaff Beer. His "route" was all the beer joints in Pasadena and downtown Houston (which was Westcott and Washington Avenue as well). And when I first started driving he would tell me that if I ever got lost in Houston, just get on a freeway and start looking for signs for San Antonio. We lived out off I-10 west, and if we saw signs for San Antonio, we knew we were on the right track for home!

It's been 19 months since Dad died. And to this day, there are times when I still want to pick up the phone and call him to ask him directions, how to cook something, an answer to a question, whatever. It just amazes me how "close" he seems. I guess that's because I know that this is only a temporary situation and that I will be reunited one day with him. That is such a great promise from God. I've never had someone close to me pass away. Daddy was the first. And having that faith and belief in what God promises is the only thing that kept me sane after Dad died. What a wonderful gift!!

So Happy Birthday Daddy!! I miss you! But I know you are up in Heaven whooping it up with Grandpa, Grandma (on both sides), Aunt Connie, Uncle Jim, Uncle Carl, Aunt Beth, Uncle Bill, and most recently, your beloved niece, Barbara. Play a hand for me! And I'll see you soon enough for the big party!!

Until next time.....

PS (I would be remiss if I didn't mention that yesterday - 7-7-09 - marked 5 years since the day I met my wonderful husband, TJ. It has been an amazing ride sweetheart and I am thankful every day that you are in my life. I love you more each and every day.)