Heart To Heart

Yes! Where is YOUR place of freedom? In the song, "Place of Freedom" there is a line that says - "I'm going to lift my hands till I can reach heaven..." - and I know that can be a bit confusing,  but I so 'get' it. Heaven is not far away.  HE is not far away.  But other voices and distractions and questions can get in the way of the very real saturation of heart that comes only from being in the Presence of God.  The safeness of His Presence.  The peace of His Presence.  The joy of His Presence. Sometimes I lift my hands in surrender.  Sometimes I lift my hands in declaration.  Sometimes I lift my hands to say, "YOU ARE HIGHER THAN ANYONE OR ANYTHING IN MY LIFE." "...It's a place of healing....it's a place where I find freedom..."

I rarely just pass on someone else's work, but here's a timely word ...  I love this  .... February 25, 2016  /  Jodi Detrick  /  Faith ,  Praise Somehow, through the thicket of despair and the snarled undergrowth of discouragement–even though thorns of doubt snag your soul and cause you to bleed resentment at the unfairness of it all, beat a path to praise. G rab the sturdy handle of your will fixed to the razor-sharp scythe of this truth: God’s eye is on you and His sustaining love will bear up your weary heart. Beat a path to praise.  Cut through the briars of crazy circumstances, stomp down the poison-weed of thes e whispered lies: you’re not good enough or important enough for God to help…you brought this on yourself, so just deal with it…no one cares; you’re all alone in your confusion. It’s time to whack away at self-pity and the mental amen-ing of enemy deception. Though it takes all you have left, beat a path to praise. ...

This morning I was suppose to go in for a (fasting) blood test.  I know this, because I was hungry last night.  Unfortunately, I woke up 3 minutes after I was actually suppose to be at the lab.  So - I jumped up, and imediately had a honkin' leg cramp in my calf.  Really?  Cheese and crackers -  that hurt.  You'll be glad to hear that I put on clothes, put on a hat because my hair looked really bad and headed out. Had the test.  Ouch.  But successful.  Getting blood work done is always a challenge.  I have had people get angry at me because they couldn't find a vein and I guess it was my fault.  Whatever. It reminded me of one of the trips I took to this same lab with my mom.  It was early in the "she needs a wheelchair" days and the wheel chair I found at the lab was for a VERY large person....and I couldn't figure out how to lock down the legs.  So her hamstrings got a good stretch that day.  Yikes.  I...

Hosea 2:14-15 Therefore, behold, I will allure her (Israel) and bring her into the wilderness,  and I will speak tenderly and to her heart.   There I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor (troubling) to be for her a door of hope and expectation .  And s he shall sing there and respond as in the days of her youth and as at the time when she came up out of the land of Egypt.   Life is weird.  I get that God doesn't think it's weird, but honestly, I do.  It will be nice when we get to heaven and see how all the pieces fit together, but for now we hold each piece and treat it as an invaluable part of the whole puzzle.  Even when it doesn't look like it fits ANYWHERE. The thing that helps me the most with this puzzling life is to hear from God.  That settles my heart. So....what if God is silent.  What if God seems to be sharing grand things with "everyone else", but with you it seems...silent.  What then? M...

Long, long ago in a far away place...we used to use VHS tape to record events.  We'd use those tapes, and then tape from the copy of the tape.  Basically, you'd see the quality of the recording go down with each generation of copies.  Yes, it was a loooong time ago. I remember one time I sat down to watch a Christmas Extravaganza that the music department had worked hard at presenting.  When you direct something like that, you don't get the whole picture - so I sat down (by myself) to watch the taped results of months of work and rehearsal and sweat and prayer. You know what I remember about that tape?  Every time the camera was focused on my face, my nose looked like a flame was coming out of the tip of it.  My nose looked like a Bic lighter.  That's all I remember - large nose - fire coming out of said nose!  The quality of the repeated copying had made this phenomenon happen.  Super great.  Don't remember a single song - just that...

I've traveled to places where there were stores, but no food on the shelves. I've been honored to eat unwashed strawberries with dirt visible on them - it was the best that that family had to offer a guest.  I ate them with joy, even though I knew my system would deal with parasites for weeks after returning home.   I've watched flies enjoy the food before we did at a picnic with abandoned children.  The food favorite was bread with meat grease spread on it.  Not a ice chest in sight.   As we start the month of November - a month given to gratefulness - I have a vivid picture of the first time we went to Romania.  Things changed as the years went by, but the FIRST time we went - the toilet paper was so rough it had splinters of wood in it.  It was ( dab don't rub ) rough....and that was in the hotel we stayed at for awhile!  I took home a roll of that toilet paper to help my perspective stay in check.   I'm a Costco toilet pap...

We've been going to (what is considered a large) gym in our town for about ten months.  The size seemed intimidating to me, my pre-conceived ideas of what the people would be like wasn't a draw, and even how to dress to fit in added to my reluctance. But - one day after officiating at yet another funeral - DW and I marched into the 'club' - wearing our 'we were just at a formal funeral' attire - and committed - to something, anything that seemed sane and physically wise.  Sometimes funerals motivate a person. I've treadmilled and weight machined and even been given direction from a trainer for a little while.  Then,  I decided to try joining a class - a Zumba class.  I'm trying new ways of exercise because I know I need it. Going by myself to a class that I have no backround in felt intimidating. The fact that I got flipped-off in an unique way by a lady in the parking lot didn't ease my anxiety. She was aimed to turn right but evidently re...