Beauty

Dakota and I were at Disney last week for her birthday. We had such a good time and I let Dakota pick every single thing she wanted to do. The result of this freedom of choice for her was that I waited in many "meet the character" lines. The very last thing we did before we left late that night was stand in the Tinkerbell and fairies line. When our time finally came to go into the special room to meet the characters, we had to wait for two people in motorized wheelchairs to come in from a special waiting area. They were both adults and were in motorized wheelchairs as their handicap had limited them in their use of anything but their hands to control their wheelchairs. I did not notice anyone assisting them and they were having a bit of a time positioning themselves in such a tight space to get pictures with the characters. This man and woman were apparently affected by a handicap that had severely limited their bodies in a physial sense. The woman was very frail and could not speak or hardly hold her head in an upright position.

What amazed me was the connection these two had together. I enjoyed watching the joy that they had getting their picture taken with Tinkerbell and the other fairies. Then I heard the man tell one of the fairies that they were newlyweds and on their honeymoon. It was then that I noticed their bride and groom buttons that they were each wearing. As we exited the character area, I got to talking with this man for a few minutes as his new wife kept going ahead in her wheelchair. As he drove off to catch up with her, I had to video them because they were such a wonderful couple and I wanted to be able to remember them. What I didn't realize is that I would capture something special on video. See if you can hear what he says to her on the video. (There is a lot of background noise)

He says to her, "This is our moment, our time, our day". He loved her so much! I was so honored to be able to see that moment they shared. There would be many that would not understand how their relationship could work. But at the same time, it was very obvious to me that they were far more advanced than many of us in realizing how precious a single moment can be just because they could be together even when it was sharing a stroll in two motorized wheelchairs. What a beautiful picture of Christ! He sees no boundaries or handicaps in us! He only sees love and love that includes each one of us. It is He that comes to us and says, "This is our moment, our time and our day". Enjoy that love!

Psalm 42:8

By day the LORD directs his love,

at night his song is with me—

a prayer to the God of my life.

Drivers Permit

Tyler just got his driver's learning permit today. Brent and Tyler are down the road at a school parking lot practicing as I write this. What a journey it has been to get to this moment. I had to stop and reflect on all of the events that happened to get to this day. How many hours did Tyler have to ride in the car until he could get to the point where he could be behind the wheel? That counter started when he came home from the hospital as a newborn and continued until today.

Did Tyler have to be patient until this moment? Not really. He did not know as a baby that he would be able to drive and even as a child he knew that he was not old enough to drive. When his birthday came around in February he still was not ready and voiced that he did not yet want to go get his permit. Then came the opportunity for him to go see his grandparents in Idaho which would require him to fly by himself accross this country. Because he was to fly, he was going to need a government issued ID card. What better ID to get than a Driver's Permit? It took an unrelated event to driving to get him driving.

Sound Familiar? I think about the way God works in our life when it comes to His will for our lives. He has such a HUGE plan for us and yet he knows when we are ready. Sometimes we get a glimpse of His plan and it scares us to death! He knows us and how we are and how we react and still get scared. So he brings something good in our life to lead us down the road we never thought we would get to travel. God is so good. He is so creative and has such a plan for each of us.

Ephesians 1:8-10 (New International Version)
8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9And he[a] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

Vultures

Every morning I drive down a main road that was cut through the middle of a conservation area. The sad part of this road is that there is still a large amount of wildlife (including deer) that insist on crossing this busy road to get from one side of the landscape to the other. A result of this passage is most of the animals do not make it.

The vultures love this road. They actually sit up in the trees all day long waiting for something to be killed. If they are hungry, they know that they will not be hungry for long.

This caught my eye one day as I was traveling and it sent me to Google vultures when I got to my computer. They really are amazing birds and it is said by many that they are very misunderstood. But not looking at them to become an advocate for their position in the food chain, I found the facts about them so interesting as it relates to us in our spiritual walk.

Vultures do not work very hard at getting their food. It is said if they cannot break the skin on the dead animal, they will just sit and wait for a bigger animal to come along and do it for them. They are not affected by any bacteria and can even tolerate anthrax. They can eat the oldest, nastiest, and diseased animal and be absolutely fine! They eat until they are gorged with food! They overeat to the point that they will just sit in a daze until it is digested and they are able to move again. They only attack sick, near-dead or dead animals and do not go after the ones that are healthy and strong. They anticipate which animals that will be. It is said that vultures would line battlefields and just wait.

The thought came to my mind that in our spiritual walk, there are vultures. Each person has their own vultures that line the trees of their life waiting. It might be addictions, guilt, worry, pride and the list could go on. It is when we are sick, tired, angry or physically exhausted that these vultures attack. We know when we are vulnerable and it is during these times that we must realize that we need to take care of ourselves physically, emotionally and spiritually or we can fall victim to the attack.

Each of these vultures do not have any interest in making us a better person, but are so selfish that they will not stop until they completely devour us to the point that there is nothing left. Only we have God, who is ready to drive them away when we look to Him.

Job 15:22-23

He despairs of escaping the darkness;

he is marked for the sword.
He wanders about—food for vultures;

he knows the day of darkness is at hand.

Back on Track

It has been awhile since I have written anything. There have been many more signs posted in my road since I last wrote. I have seen destruction, construction, and reconstruction in my life. I am still here though it all.

How much can we go through in our lives and still come through on the other side? Why must we journey down such hard and treacherous roads? I have come to the conclusion that God's ways are mysterious and involve much faith. Whether we want to understand or not, obedience in Him is required to make it through the other side. I keep thinking about the man that saved someone's life awhile back when the subway train was coming. He basically tackled the guy and laid on top of him between the tracks while the train passed over them.

Can you imagine how much the other guy must have been confused and hurt? But the pain of being tackled to the ground was nothing compared to being hit by an oncoming train which ultimately would have resulted in death. That pain was minimal. Maybe God does the same thing for us? Maybe the pain we are enduring right now is our salvation from something even worse?

I am learning to be content in the moments of confusion and hurt knowing that God will wrap His loving arms around me, even if He has to tackle me to the ground to save me from so much more than I could imagine!

Isaiah 55:8-9

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

Rough Road

Easter morning, I took a drive and came accross this sign. I literally went down the road and made a U-Turn and came back and pulled off to take a picture of this sign. I have never actually seen this sign on a road before. The funny thing is, I think God put it there for me and let's just say He had my full attention.

I put this photo as my computer wallpaper on Sunday, not even knowing what Monday would bring to me and my family! As our family well knows, we have been through a lot of hardships and God has done a wondeful work in our lives. I am so blessed that He has not given up on me yet! We got news on Monday that really was earth-shattering to us. The ironic thing was I already knew that the road was going to be rough the day before somehow.

I have been thinking about this sign today. When you are driving in your car and you see a sign such as this, what do you do? If you are like me, you would probably slow down, be alert and cautious as you move forward. I do not think anyone would answer, "turn the car around immediately and not proceed!" That would not make sense, especially if home was just down the road. We would automatically know that someone had assessed the road situation and considered it driveable, but with caution and care. We have faith in the D.O.T in these instances, don't we?

So why do we not trust our creator? When He post that big sign in my life, why is my first instinct to turn the car around? Or maybe I could just pull off on the side of the road until the construction is finished. When the road is perfect, then I will proceed. (In Florida, that would never happen!) It sounds so silly when speaking of roads, doesn't it? God has promised that He will be there for us. It is He that has assessed our road and deemed it traveable. Although we may need to proceed with caution, we can know that home is on the other side.

Psalm 37:34

" Put your hope in the Lord.

Travel steadily along his path"

Lessons from Chickens

I was driving to work the other morning and came across this site in the middle of a busy intersection. Remember the childhood joke, why did the chicken cross the road ? That was the first thing that came to my mind! What in the world were these chickens doing in the middle of town and why would they even think about crossing this busy intersection? There are no farms even close to here and I have no idea how they got there in the first place.

Then I thought of the answer of this childish riddle: to get to the other side. What a feat for these chickens if they were able to make it accross!

I have felt like these chickens lately. I end up in situations that seem to big for me and I usually feel like I stand out like a sore thumb!! I just want to run back to the farm where I belong and yet I realize that I am in a place on purpose and what a wonderful joy it will be when I accomplish what noone else (including myself) would have thought possible. Doesn't God do this for us in our daily lives?

Psalm 126:2-4

" We were filled with laughter,

and we sang for joy. And the other nations said,

“What amazing things the Lord has done for them.”

Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us!

What joy!

Don't give up on your dreams!

I had to post this. This really touched my heart. It is just a reminder to keep going when there is absolutely no one on your side!


Susan Boyle on Britain Got Talent
by dwarthy
">