Once upon a time, U. S. Senator Sam Brownback, (presently Governor of Kansas) was given the honor of escorting Mother Teresa around the great city of Washington D.C.  When it was time for her to leave he helped her little tiny frame into the car that would take her to the airport. Her parting words were unforgettable.

"Sam, always remember three things; All for Jesus! All for Jesus! All for Jesus!" 

A few years ago I met a man who had met Princess Diana. He was a medical doctor in a hospital in the UK where she chose to spend a day visiting the very ill. 

"What did you think of her?" I asked him.

His reply to me went very much like this:

"She was real. Oh, she was very real. She wouldn't let the press in while she was visiting  with each individual patient. She spent time caressing every one of them with sincere, loving compassion. She encouraged, she loved, she gave hope. She was an angel."  he told me.

I think it is amazing that these two very influential women died within a few days of each other. Princess Diana died August 31, 1997 and Mother Teresa died September 5, 1997.

The photo above is a journal that belonged to Princess Diana. The page showing is a written message to her from Mother Teresa.

It says:

"JESUS is the TRUTH to be told; JESUS is the LIFE to be lived; JESUS is the LOVE to be loved; JESUS is the LIGHT to be lit. LET US LOVE JESUS with an undivided LOVE, And others, as He LOVES you and me." (Mother Theresa) 1992 ~ written in a prayer journal given to Prince Diana

The journal above reveals what Mother Teresa shared with Princess Diana. 

I have been reading the Beatitudes every morning this week.  I see Mother Teresa reflected in every one of them. But the genuine beauty of it all is this . . . she would not want me to see her. She would want me to see the one she lived for and loved for . . . Jesus. 

Your thoughts?
 
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Matthew 5:8 

I want to thank "one of my girls" Dawn Rickerson  for letting me use this picture. She got to visit the Princess Diana exhibit and she said that this was her favorite item shown. Dawn truly understands what genuine beauty is all about. Thank you so much, Dawn! I think you are very beautiful! God bless! 

 

 Heart to Heart

Tomorrow I will be sharing about this.

I hope you will stop by.

Blessings, sweet friend! 

 The Call

 The word "Gethsemane" is on this page of my dictionary. Do you see it? It is on the lower right hand side. I didn't see it until I was posting this photo. I flipped open the book, set it down, took a picture, posted it . . . and there it was. 

Gethsemane . . .

I haven't even read the definition yet, but I got the message. 

Gethsemane . . . that place where Jesus surrendered His will for the Father's. 

(prayer)"I surrender, Lord"
 
It is not right to compare a calling to His cross. He carried our sin to the cross. It was ugly. The sinless One bearing grotesque sin of all mankind. His body torn and bloody.  No, I can't compare my calling to His. Not in that way.

On a much smaller scale, I can relate to the wrestling match of wills. The sheer determination it takes to lay down my will for His will. 

Hesitantly, I have picked up my "pen" once again. I am leaning on Him, relying heavily on Him. I am hoping for this kind of message to come every time I write, my friend. The kind where God wants to say something to us and so He does. He can use one word and speak volumes. 

"Gethsemane".

Are you a writer? I have recently joined an online group for writers called (click on it here) "Compel"  It has inspired me so much and helped me reach a level of focus that I have never attained to before. I highly recommend.

My bucket list is evolving in the first part of this journal (above). The second half is filled with goals for my writing and a few other areas of my life. I wrote them down yesterday. Do you have a bucket list? What is number one on it? Dare I share one of mine with you? #6 on my b-list: Write at least one children's book and have it published. Can you recommend an illustrator? What about goals. Have you written your goals down? What area of your life are you super focused on right now?

One of my goals is to stretch my vocabulary. I am going to try to add a few new words every week. I receive Merriam Webster's Word for the Day in my inbox every morning. I have been receiving a new word every day for years. I am going to take it to a new level and write of few of them and their definitions down in this little notebook (above). I will write a sentence about the word and hopefully will be able to retain their meanings . 

I'm going to keep reading books about writing. I found the one pictured above at a garage sale last Saturday. It was 25 cents well spent. Thank you, Mr. Zinsser! There are so many good books about writing out there. Scotty (my husband) says I should write one. I think he is thinking of the $ because we writers like to read about writing more than we like to write. I'm not sure how he knows this. On Writing Well is my favorite book about writing . . . at the moment.

Community helps so much! I sensed a kindred spirit when I attended a local Christian Writer's Group last month. I was so inspired by their accomplishments, their goals, but most of all their warm hospitality. I can hardly wait for the next meeting!

I have been running away from this and like callings for a long time. I have felt like a Jonah, sleeping in the bottom of a boat on stormy seas, having nightmares about whale's breath. Well, that is how I used to be. Now I feel like Peter, out of the boat, walking on water, looking at Jesus, knees shaking . . . wind and waves threaten. I'm trusting, though, that should I fall . . . instantly He will offer me His hand and come to my rescue!

Blessings to all writers out there! I would love to hear from you. What are you doing to keep the writing embers stirred? If you are not a writer, what is your calling and do you ever wrestle with God about it? What tools have you found that inspire you to keep going?

"And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed saying, 'Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.'" Luke22:41-42

                                     Suffering

A friend called me last night.

 She has a friend who needs a friend. She needs someone who has left footprints on the tough road she is walking now . . . she has been abandoned by her circle. They are weary of providing a shoulder for her tears. 

Would I? Could I step into her world of devastation and be a reliever for a bit of time? 

I want to. I am familiar with the ache of her wound. Healing has come now, joy restored and I feel strength to hold her hand while she travels on this difficult path.

I cannot fix her soul nor can I fix her trial, but I can walk through fire with her as one who has been through fire . . . this particular fire. 

I will pray that her outcome will be as good as mine. I want to tell her that eventually relief will come and all pieces of her wrecked life will be neatly placed back into their appointed grooves. I want that for her, but I have learned that it might not be so. There are times when life's puzzles are completed with pieces missing.

This is her story. It will be her testimony. God will use different means to bring different ends. Someday she will tell how she survived . . . she will be able to explain what it was like to be carried as one who has been in His arms.

 Earthly companions often fail us in these times. They run out of words that comfort. I might run out of words,my shoulder might grow weary. As long as there is grace I want to be there for her. 

I am praying that a season of rejoicing will come. That she will experience the kind of joy you have when the prodigal comes home, the healthy baby is born, or someone is healed of deadly disease. 

"Lord, let her life be heading for happy times."

My pastor made a statement on Sunday that continues to echo in my mind. "Jesus did not come so that we would not have to suffer, He came to save our souls." 

I have felt the agony of suffering . . . I realize there are degrees . . . I know that mine has been minimal compared to others. When you are in your valley it doesn't seem so . . . it doesn't seem possible that anyone could hurt more than you are hurting, but there is always a deeper level of suffering happening somewhere in the world. In times of suffering it is difficult to see beyond your own world. There is no other world . . . at least for awhile. Who has strength for it? The Lord knows this.

The Lord has done great things for me. He has rescued me from the trial my new friend is experiencing . . . "Thank you, God!!!" It wasn't instant relief . . . it came with time . . . but respite from storm finally settled in. 

I will tell my new friend that the Lord did not instantly deliver me out of my experience of pain, but He was faithful and always with me. I will try to be that for her, but I will also make sure she knows that I will not be able to carry her . . . He is the one who carries.He is the only one who can. 

"He will lead His flock like a shepherd, He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young." Isaiah 40:11

                                something borrowed

 I had to borrow this beautiful photo of Olivia and her "mawmaw". Livvey is wearing her mawmaw's beauty and her bridal gown. They are sharing a moment of pretend.  

There are many lovely facets to this sweet photo.

First, it speaks to me of one generation passing on a legacy to another. Mawmaw's strength and dignity are being passed to this little lovey, Livvey. Compassion, generosity, love and forgiveness are worn daily, like a garment, in front of Olivia, her siblings, and her cousins by this beautiful woman of grace. It is genuinely demonstrated to them so effectively they will have to try it on for themselves.Godly character will  pass from one generation to another. Oh, the wealth of their heritage!

There is a message of confidence . . .  there is an aura of beauty we portray when we are sure of being loved. Olivia's radiant face is beaming because she is sure of who she is. She knows . . . she doesn't have to think or wonder . . . this little girl knows! She is confident. She is secure! It is very beautiful!  Psalm 34:5 came to mind. "They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed." I wonder, would the Lord want us to wear such a countenance of confidence . . .  without a trace of arrogance? I think He does.

Oh, and there is a message of wearing something borrowed, being dressed in beauty that we could not have gotten for ourselves. As Christians, our "wedding dress" was purchased for us, passed on to us.We must borrow, we cannot buy it ourselves. We could not afford it! Sometimes it seems it fits rather loosely about us, this rightness with God that we have been given, no? I hope to grow into it in time, with the help of God's measureless patience and grace. 

It also reminds me of days and seasons past . . . it seems like a lifetime ago, when my "little" girl was trying on my wedding gown. She would float around our house dressed in everything many sizes beyond her own . . .all decked out in heels, veil, gown, jewelery, bouquet. She would light every candle we owned, enhancing the ambiance. Yes, in this photo I see my "little" girl, pretending before becoming . . . playing dress up in wedding attire years before her real, tall, dark and handsome groom actually stood waiting for her to join him at an altar.

It reminds me of a lovely summer day when all those moments of pretend were put far behind us and I was the momma of the radiant bride.

Another facet . . . I don't imagine that Olivia has had one single thought about a groom. That makes me smile! It opens up a whole new plethora of summations for me. 

Mostly this picture speaks to me of love . . . oodles, and oodles, and lots and lots of love.

 What does this sweet photo remind you of? 

" . . . and be found in Him, and not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith." Philippians 3:9 NKJV

Photo used by permission. Thank you, Lezlie, for letting me share this really beautiful photo of Olivia and her "mawmaw"! It is a timeless treasure! 

 

 

We have lived in our new home, a little apartment in a brand new state, for 80 and 1/2 days. What joy! We have been 

whittled

humbled

stretched

refined

renewed . . .

I am finding my voice again . . . my writing voice. I have laid this writing thing down for a very long time . . . partly because I had to. Our world was on fast forward and I was not able to keep up. 

Partly because I wasn't sure of it.

I'm wondering now if I ever really had found my own writer's voice. I honestly do not know, friends, but I am back here again looking for it . . . my real, true voice. Thank you for your patience with me.

Fall makes my heart dance. Air crisp and fresh, skies the bluest of blues, trees dressed in glory. How fun it is to explore this beautiful state in this favorite of seasons! 

We have purged ourselves to a state of simplicity and we have found a liberty as freeing as leaves floating on a gentle breeze. We are marveling at creation with renewed childlike wonder and awe. I want to tell about it and many other wonderful and marvelous things. 

Thank  you for stopping by to hear my story!

"You have put gladness in my heart, More in the season that their grain and wine increased. I will both lie down in peace, and sleep, For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:7-8 NKJV





 

The back of my hand brushed the ivory cresses of her cheek, feather-like, brushing away her tear. Come closer she whispered. I embraced her fragile frame, "you are my best friend" her voice wrapped in weakness spoke to me. I couldn't imagine it, me? I had known her for such a short time. 

She lived in room 37, the revolving door of the home. How many crossed her threshold each and every day? A more loved woman I have never known. She had been collecting friends for 96 years. I was astounded! Her best friend! She thought that much of me? I couldn't grasp it. It was beyond me. She was gone so fast! The days that she and I were best friends were too brief. 

She had such a short time to completely rearrange my heart. She loved deep, quickly. It didn't take years to become best friends, it took a moment. She had a way with everyone . . . she was safe . . . she was a well of love ready to offer drink to the thirsty. 

I finally understood . . . everyone who had touched her life became her best friend. It was as real a friendship as the blue of sky. 

There is a cloud of witnesses and Flossie is there among the greats, cheering us onward, those she so gracefully left behind. We will see her again . . . my best friend.