Outward Adornment

As I was getting ready for work the other day, I decided to wear my cross necklace.  A friend bought it for me for my birthday a couple of years ago.  Peyton wore a cross.  I think about him even more when I wear mine.

As I was putting it on, I wondered if my Christianity was big enough to support the symbol around my neck.  I’ve been working long hours and so has everyone else around the office.  It can get tense quick and I’ve been guilty of letting my humanity show too much.  I said, “Yes Lord, I will wear it and I will act like You are with me (because He is).”

I got to my office very early.  I hadn’t been there 30 minutes when someone comes into my office.  I’m thinking “great! what do they want ALREADY?!?!?”  They start telling me all kinds of stuff that I don’t want to deal with at the moment; I have my own stuff to take care of.  I can feel the bad attitude rising up.  Then they stop and say,  “That sure is a pretty necklace you are wearing.”

I smiled, listened to the person, handled it and had a very good day ALL DAY.

Thank you Lord for using anything and everything to show me You are with me.   I am More than a Conqueror.

Lesson #2 from “The Hiding Place”

Corrie and her family hid Jews from the Germans that had taken over Holland.  Corrie became one of the leaders of the “underground” that kept many Jews in hiding.  The underground housed them, forged official documents, arranged stolen food coupons and had secret signals in case of a raid.  The courage they showed was truly God given.

While in the camp, Corrie and Betsie would pray about their future outside the camp.  Betsie was very sure about what they were to do.  They were to have a home for people who were damaged by the war, whether it be from their time in the camps, battle itself or losing their homes, families and lifestyle. 

After Corrie was released from the camp, she tried to go back to working for the underground.  She was given a small assignment and she was terrified.

“Whatever bravery or skill I had ever shown were gifts of God – sheer loans from Him of talents I needed to do a job.  And it was clear from the absence of such skills now, this was no longer His work for me.”

She knew she was to start a home for the war broken people and yet her first thought was to go back to something familiar.  There have been times I have wanted to go back to the familiar.  Why does this seem so appealing?  Because I think I can do it on my own and I won’t need help from my Father?  Familiar is yesterday.  God is about today and tomorrow.  He is a living, moving, progressing God.  He wants us to live and move with Him. 

Corrie did start the home for the people.  Many people experienced healing and restoration there.  She also toured the world, telling her story.

There are many miracles told throughout the book.  You need to read about them and be inspired to stay in God’s “hiding place”, His perfect will.

Lesson 1 from “The Hiding Place”

God had directed me to read “The Hiding Place” by Corrie Ten Boom.  I had read it before, a very, very long time ago, but I knew He was telling me to read it again.  I received a lot from this book.  So much so, I will have to tell it in separate posts. 

In the portion of the book I am talking about now, Corrie & her sister Betsie are in the extermination camp Ravensbruck.  They have cut their own hair terribly short because of the lice.  The living conditions are beyond deplorable.  A bible was miraculously smuggled in under Corrie’s clothing.  The sisters are reading from the bible to the others every night.  The circle gets larger and larger around the group.  This scripture is read

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword"?  …….Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”

They were experiencing every horrible thing listed in that scripture.

This is a direct quote from the book. 

More than conquerors……It was not a wish.  It was a fact.  We knew it, we experienced it minute by minute—poor, hated, hungry.  We are more than conquerors.  Not “we shall be.”  We are!

Corrie goes on to say that they lived in two different worlds.  The external one grew more horrible every day.  The internal one, the life they lived with God, grew better daily, truth upon truth, glory upon glory.

These words leapt off the page at me.  Not because they are the title of this blog, but because they are life.  These women knew their purpose and answered God’s call in the midst of an earthly hell. 

Father God, I will answer Your call on my life.  I will glorify You in spite of any circumstance.  Through You, Who loves me, I am more than a conqueror.

Read the book; it’s awesome.

Blood from a Turnip

I start to post and then I stop.  My thoughts don’t seem worth writing.  I am having the same battles I’ve written about before.  I miss Peyton and I want him on earth with us.  Our lives are good, but I know they would be better if he were here.  I usually come to a small resolution by the time I finish typing my posts, but I don’t feel this is going to happen, so I don’t post. 

I don’t want to hash over the same stuff.  The everydayness (I’m sure that’s not a word, but it fits) of my feelings is boring.  They are heartbreaking, but boring.  I am tired of this battle.  I want it all worked through and figured out.  Maybe that is why it seems so hard.  It is not a sprint; not something that can be resolved in a matter of months.  Life is for the long haul.  Dealing with grief is for the long haul

Isaiah 40:31

³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
       will renew their strength.
       They will soar on wings like eagles;
       they will run and not grow weary,
       they will walk and not be faint.

My Hope is in the Lord.  The fact that I will be reunited with Peyton makes the loss bearable.  I still don’t like it, but I will live with it and I will encourage others. 

God is good and He loves us.  satan is a liar and he loses, ‘nuf said.

I read over this post and I don’t care for that sentence “makes the loss bearable”.  I don’t want to bear the loss.  I want to carry the good memories and look toward our Heavenly future.  You see, God is guiding me and teaching me about using HIS strength and HIS power, I won’t have to carry anything; He will.  If I let Him.

I titled this post the way I did, because I didn’t think I had a post in me, but He did!

 

Tom’s Birthday

We had a fun celebration for Tom’s birthday.  47 years young.  Actually, I think it was a good excuse to have some people over.  We haven’t done that in awhile.   We had some good chopped pork (from a gas station).  It really is good, they have a giant smoker behind the building and they make some gooooood meat.  The cake was good too, lemon with raspberry filling.  Lemon is Tom’s favorite and since it was HIS birthday.  Here are some pics from the get together.  Some of our favorite people were there.  I just realized I didn’t get a picture of the Peanuts. 

   

When it was over and Tom & I were alone, we were both thinking the same thing.  It was fun, but it would have been even better if Peyton were here.