Lifted up

Children, courage, Faith, grace, Motherhood, praise, Prayer, rest, Trust, Uncategorized

At 7:11 on August 11th, I’ve overslept.

Lingered on crisp cool sheets too long, praying before rising.

Lord, let my words be love, fix what needs to be fixed  draw me near, keep me near so that others draw nearer too.

Feeling  56, I stumble towards coffee, look at my phone and see my cousin’s text:

“I know you prayed for me regarding my career. Just wanted you to know that God answered. I love you and hope this is the happiest birthday yet. Thank you for your prayers.” Lara

I replied to her and  myself really…

I love you. This is amazing! Prayers take longer than we like but are answered in Gods way. I needed to remember that this morning!!!!!
You deserve this. Love you.

Then went about my day, ending with a birthday cake colored sky and my prayer, the one I longed for most in the smiles of my children, it was answered.

image

I’ll look up today and everyday. I’ll lift my eyes to the one who sees me, hears me, knows me.

Knees down, face up, hands and heart open and waiting.

Linking up with http://katemotaung.com/2016/08/11/five-minute-friday-lift/

image

The world, to me

courage, Faith, grace, praise, Prayer, Teaching, Trust, Uncategorized, Vulnerability
image

Feathers, flowers, baby pine cones and birds…little is much.

It would mean the world to me to stay in this place. The sweetly surrendered time that brings me pause

Causing my eyes to burn warm with the sensation of blessed assurance.

The time, not searching, unhurried, not anxious, the time that I pause inviting God’s reply.

The moment, seconds only really when I pause and it comes, His voice, in a clear and gentle rush of real…

You are good.

You are pursuing me, continue.

I see you getting closer. I see your grasp holding more tightly now,

my desires for you.

I see you choosing to rest, not fix.

I hear your voice, notice your words, your thoughts.

I see you choosing love and mercy over authority and demand.

I see you, righteous and strong; beginning to wear your robe of assurance now.

Your days of feeling unfit to wear the garment of my love are fading.

I see you, beginning to wear it well, beginning to lovingly smooth its sleeves and collar as you wait, peacefully,  prayerfully before speaking or acting.

Your days of self-righteous rushing ahead are necessary no more.

You anticipate troubles, expect hardship; in this world, there is much over which to worry.

But, you know trust. You’ve chosen to be wise and humble, forgiving and meek.

And though I’ve promised you’d inherit the earth, it’s good to see you content in the smallest of its things, to see you beginning, finally to  believe

You are blessed.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5

Linking up with Holley Gerth and Jennifer Dukes Lee

http://holleygerth.com/

http://jenniferdukeslee.com/happiness-dare-pre-orders-gifts/

Broken Cherished Things

courage, Faith, family, Teaching, Uncategorized

IMG_0935_kindlephoto-25539975

I moved it inside.

The plant by the pool, neglected and uncertain of thriving, the one with the succulents and stones.

I’d planted it meticulously remembering, “not too deep, room for roots to grow, break up the roots and soak it all down good, but don’t beat them to death with water …then leave it alone”.

I took the time, finally to use her pot

thinking it’d be my focus, my tribute and yet it was barely making it now midsummer.

So, I brought it inside, the succulents in the broken-edged pot.

The shallow dish planter from my mama’s deck, its edges crumbled and broken off in chunks, still I’d kept it all these years.

It sits nearby now, beginning to live again brightly.

Vivid green, sprigs of new and thriving of what was planted before.

It must be the choice of spot, the repositioning or perhaps just the noticing of need, my giving an honored spot close by.

Or maybe, the remembering of being cherished and loved again.

Moved closer now, close as possible to remember her love.

Remembering her hands in dirt, seasoning in the pots and icing on the cakes.

Found in the Morning

courage, Faith, Prayer, Uncategorized

image

Morning makes me feel like a child, there are chances and choices and I wake with the realization of opportunity.

Morning, more clear in its inventory of me, my prayers are more honest, less prompted as if thoughts were shuffled in my sleep to the place they become conversation with God, bedside and solitary.

Words are exchanged and then silence before the thoughts that can no longer be hidden from the day are offered, truth.

Lord, help me to stay on track, get back on track and stay there.

Have I hidden my eyes from you or have I allowed the maze of life to mask my view?

No need for pretty words or inserting of song or verse.

The heart has spoken in the time before day takes over and tries to obscure my view.

The secret things unhidden. I have been found.

The longings and commitments unmuffled and unmarred by this world we live in.

Morning, a brief abiding and

A prayer to stay here longer, abiding in Him.

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at His coming. I John 2:28

Prompted to write about being “Hidden”.

todayi am

 

 

 

 

Cause me to see, Lord

courage, Faith, family, grace, Motherhood, Prayer, rest, Teaching, Trust, Uncategorized

Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.

Psalm 143:8

image

I watched a little boy digging a tunnel from the place where the tide crept close up to his mama’s feet. His lanky arms, working hard with occasional glances up to meet eyes and small of his mama.

A straight line, little clumpy hills bordering the hollowed out path from edge of ocean to his mama.

She smiled towards him, then towards me as I stepped over his tunneled path to walk down towards the open space of shore.

Her smile, a knowing smile, the sweetness of motherhood, our bond.

What beautiful stories are the ones of mamas and children, brief moments of treasure.

We walked on, my husband drifting ahead, slightly towards open water. My walk more slow, a response to the invitation of space wide and unhindered now.

I reach down to touch a washed up feather, wet, dull and textured, beaten by surf into its shape.  I’ll place it in my book, allow it to dry, become white again and cause me to remember it as my treasure.

This morning’s verse, a morning verse, a call to God to turn my heart, my eyes and mind towards grand things and small things. The King James Version, more direct a request  asking “Cause me to know you and see you, God.”

Cause me, stop me in my haste; may I be unable to look away, to not be aware of you, Lord.

Turn my face, Lord. Open my eyes and heart to the wide expanse of your glory and to the smallest of stories that invite my reading along.

 

Saturday morning with Sleeping House

courage, Faith, family, Prayer, rest, Uncategorized

image

All are sleeping, cool quiet house and coffee in hand, I pause to pray.

Lord, help me; help us to love one another…to love well. Remind me to start with love, thinking of the great writer, Og Mandino’s words, how love sees everything, frames the perspective of everything from the beginning.

Help me not to strive to be the fixer of all, the holder together of all and the keep the peacer of all.

Help me to notice You today.

Remind me to pause to remember all the sweet and powerful answers to my prayers, your hearing and your replies and your goodness in my life.

Help me notice others in a way that is more attentive to hearts, to vulnerability and to need.

And then strengthen my compassion and my empathy so that I know clearly “but for the grace of God…” or just a reminder, not sad just memory of a time I might have been similarly downhearted.

Dear Lord, help us to love one another. May our hearts be light and our time be joyful.

Thank you for laughter.

We look forward to more silly, more funny and fun.

We love you Lord, our souls rejoice.

Thank you for the beauty of our earth.

Because of mercy, I pray

in Jesus name,

Amen

New and Foreign Territory

courage, Faith, Prayer, Teaching, Trust, Uncategorized

She asked if I’d help and I was hesitant.

“I don’t want to say yes and not do it well. I want to make sure it’s right for me, want to make sure I can connect.”

image

I told her I knew nothing about being a Missions leader because, well…I’m just not a mission type person. It’s all so foreign and far away. I’m not worldly thinking. I told her I’d look into it, see what a leader should look like, don’t want to do it halfway.

All the countries, all the places all over the world and “Shoot! I’m afraid to even get on a plane!”

All my life I’ve considered my work my mission, called it that sometimes.

poverty, abuse, homelessness and suicide

My mission field is my work.

Still, I promised I would consider leading and the deadline to tell her, I missed it, but knew she was waiting to hear, waiting for me to pray about it.

I hadn’t until just now.

Asked God, “Clarify to me what you would have me do.”

Last week I met someone who described faith in action as being a deliverer of God’s kingdom right where you are to as many people as possible, to just start a spread.

I read in Matthew, a parable of an invitation to a wedding, unopened by many, ignored by many.

Then today, thinking about the question, the nomination…I journaled again, the words of Jabez…Bless me indeed, adding little words…good things, best things, right things.

Then on to the next line, a simple, vulnerable, powerful prayer…

Enlarge my territory.

I stopped, knew it then, underlined the words, straight solid and bold.

I researched the goals, the purpose of WMU and I decided to help.

Woman’s Missionary Union challenges Christian believers to understand and be radically involved in the mission of God.

To be challenged to understand more and to be radically involved.

To help the women and girls of my church as believers becoming more involved in things we see as “foreign”.

Linking up to hurriedly talk about help for Five Minute Friday…I think I took longer, though.

http://buff.ly/29QYESi

prayer for the middle

courage, grace, Prayer, rest, Trust, Vulnerability, wonder

IMG_0709_kindlephoto-496260

Dear Lord,

Help me to live with purpose, with meaning, with intention.

And let those three not be measured or determined by

another. Let the three be determined only by you

and by your promise.

IMG_0707_kindlephoto-421061

Help me not linger, disenchanted in the waiting,

the waiting for time to do all I feel so deeply you’ve made for me to do, the things of me, made by you.

Help me to move from hope to knowing.

Yet not rush, head and heart stumbling over self, a careless and haphazard effort driven by insecurity or comparison.

Dear Lord, help me to live as you purposed, as you promised.

Help me to live and love in the middle of hope and heart and

best to come

in time.

because of mercy and because of asking

and of believing,

I say

Amen.

And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said to Him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.”  And Jesus in pity touched their eyes and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.

Matthew 20:32-34

 Linking up with Jennifer Dukes Lee at Tell His Story and Suzie Eller’s prompt, Lord, I need a sign.


Live Free Thursday

Color and Heart

courage, Faith, grace, rest, Trust, Uncategorized

image

I began to think, if this happens at just the right time and the precisely right way, then I will know it is just as it should be.

That I should continue to create the Colors of My Bible journey, story, art.

To visit friends, honor them and God, telling the stories of us.

I got lost, though, and I wondered if maybe it was a sign, the directions told me I’d arrived when in fact I was crossing one of three old country bridges over a wide, wide river.

If precision and pattern or duplication of previous experience were signs of favor, perhaps this was a sign of something else.

Of course, I took it that way.

But, only for a second or two, this time

remembering asking God for an unfolding of my day in early prayer.

Giving up control as a measure of contentment.

I will feel confident and determined, I will write. I will paint.

I won’t rationalize and manipulate the patterns, colors, textures and encounters.

Setting out to create the perfect blog, column or canvas.

Ending up with an attempt at duplication and nothing more than effort, no heart.

Thankfully, the heart knows clearly and the mind slowly remembers.

Then I’m afforded moments, sort of stumble upon open windows of times that are

Quiet, calm and easy.

And I fill the time with heart, words, and colors

Words come, precise and uncontrived.

Stories flow from relationship, encounter or stillness of memory saved, unfolding without agenda.

Nothing good by force, Lisa.

Art, writing, stories and encounters…life.

Layers soft, colors thick, stories touchable.

Less force, always heart.

More heart.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.  

Proverbs 4:23

Create.

Five Minute Friday

Not Be Overtaken

courage, Faith, Prayer, rest, Trust, Uncategorized, Vulnerability

Turmoil was all around.

Thoughts and questions about how and when might be the end of grace, of safety and whether calm might return again…before another wave overtook them. Overtakes us.

No Fear of Storms

The water must have been dark, dark and ominous because of the storm and emotion of the day.

Jesus was praying on the mountain, mourning the horrific loss of John, seeking understanding from His Father…doing what He needed to do to continue His calling.

The storm was treacherous and maybe the disciples left on the boat thought, surely this is the end.

The mercy of God has run out on us.

But, Jesus came to them, walked across the waters raging and calmed them, calmed the storm saying: “Do not be afraid.” Matthew 14:27

Take heart. Be assured, truly.