Firsts and Lasts

Hello friends, it’s been a while since I’ve written. Life has been a whirlwind for weeks and it is really good to have time to sit and write again. It is so therapeutic and a lot cheaper than a counselor! J I had a thought a couple of days ago about firsts and lasts but did not have the time to write. So, I’d like to share those thoughts if you feel like reading.

             Let me begin this paragraph by saying that I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you will have a very blessed new year. The month of December was very different for us this year. There were many firsts and lasts. Adam and I had acting roles together in our Christmas musical at church– a first. He did his first solo every! It was our final Christmas musical with our dear friend and Pastor, Gene – a last. We also had our last meeting and our last service with him, his family and others on Christmas day – tough but exciting lasts. Dustin spent his final Christmas with us as a single man – another last and I started this blog, certainly a first! A friend invited me to a very intense Bible Study – a first because it is with a group of ladies at a church other than my own. I could list so many other lasts and firsts, but I don’t want to bore you. (Sorry if you are already bored.J)

            Lasts are often challenging and even painful, depending on the circumstances, but sometimes lasts can be positive. Well, I may seem to be going in circles here, but I do have a point so I guess I should get to it. The thing about lasts is that they often lead to firsts! Let me explain…

            When something ends, something else usually begins. Not always, but often. That reminds me of a verse that my pastor friend gave me a long time ago. In Philippians 1:6 it says this, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” I believe that this verse tells us that if God started it, He will be faithful to complete it. That is very encouraging to me, especially when I think about lasts. It may seem like the end of something, and it may be, but we have the hope of something new!

            Change is sometimes a very difficult thing, and I’m not sure I like it. For the most part, I like things to stay the same; comfortable and familiar. Well, I’m learning that God does not always leave us in the comfortable and familiar places. If He did, we might never grow spiritually. We would never learn to trust Him in the tough times and we might miss the opportunity to see His power at work in our lives if everything stayed the same.

            In this year of firsts and lasts, joyful and somewhat painful, friends moving on, weddings, new ministry opportunities, new church leaders, shaky economies, health issues, new babies, days passing quickly and fresh starts in the new year, I believe, as I’ve said before, that we always have One Constant in our lives if we are believers in Jesus Christ. We can trust Him. He already knows what our futures hold, He knows about the firsts and the lasts. He allows every one of them and He is right beside us as we walk through each of them. We can have hope that for every last, He has a new first for us. It may not be the same, it may not be what we expect, but it will be just what He has planned for us if we watch for it and follow Him. So, as we begin a new year, and as we face new days and new firsts and lasts, my prayer is that I will look to the One who can show me how to walk through them. Only He knows what is in store for us, but one thing I do know, no matter what comes our way, no matter who moves on from our lives, no matter what joys or sorrows may come, He is faithful. His mercies are new every morning and for that, I am so thankful!

 “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” 2 Thess. 2:16-17

Holy Bible, New International Version 1984

What's in My Bucket??

           Recently, I joined a women’s Bible study that is a mix of many denominations and many different women from all walks of life. I have already met some incredible ladies. I’ve been two times and it has blessed me so richly. It is very structured, and the entire time is spent strictly studying God’s Word. You know how we women can rabbit trail all over the place, but this study keeps us on the task of delving deep into God’s Word. I love it. We study at home, then meet together weekly to discuss our answers and then sit through a lecture. At home, we go over our notes from the previous week and then start the process all over. It is such a blessing. Wow, I’m blown away every time by what we learn. I pray that it sticks in my old brain!

           This week our study focused on Hebrews 11-13. We learned about many of the “heroes” of faith, Abraham, Noah, Moses…” It was wonderful to be reminded of all of the truths of this book. There were many wonderful lessons throughout the study. Chapter 11 truly is the faith chapter. I felt so encouraged as we left today. I’m thankful for the friend who invited me and told me about the study.
           I want to share a couple of the comments that our speaker shared today in the lecture. There was so much that really grabbed me, but these few things have stuck with me throughout the day today. First, after studying these chapters, I’ve realized once again just how much I need God’s Word in my life every day. If I want to live out and demonstrate a life of faith, and I do, then I must be consistently filling myself with God’s Word. I really desire to respond back to God’s Word with a trusting and obedient heart. I want to persevere and finish my faith race well, fixing my eyes on Jesus until I see Him face to face.
           Secondly, the speaker made a comment about buckets. She asked us a question. It was something like this; “What comes out of a bucket when it is kicked over?” She answered, “Whatever is it most full of.” Wow! That brief question really got my attention. It made me wonder what I am “full of”. Is it myself, or my loved ones, selfishness, pride, sin, materialism, busyness…? Or, is it Jesus Christ and His Word? What is going to flow out of me when I’m kicked over? I hope the answer is more and more of Jesus and His Word.
            We also talked about what faith really is. As she put it, “Faith is not merely THAT we believe, but WHAT we believe”. Lots of people believe. but, what is it that I believe? Do I know the facts of God’s Word? If all of my many Bibles were taken from me, how much of His Word would I be able to recall? She finished her lecture saying that she believes in some ways, Hebrews is still being written. In some ways, our faith walks are being recorded before God and before others. She asked what we thought would be “recorded” about our own personal faith walks. Will there be one sentence about my faithfulness or will there be a paragraph? I pray with all of my heart that I can live a life that demonstrates my faith in Christ to others in powerful and profound ways. Do I have a thankful heart? Do I worship God in all circumstances? Do I spend more time in God’s Word than I do watching my favorite TV show? Am I following the examples of the faith heroes in the Bible, or more importantly, of the One who died to save me? I pray that my bucket is full of more of these things than of the things of this world. If I’m kicked or put under pressure, I hope the love of Christ pours out of me. I know this is not always true of me. In fact, more often than not, it is probably not true. But I pray that my bucket is filling up with more of God’s Word and that it is changing me. So, I’ll close with a question to you, what’s in your bucket??

Laughter Truly is One of the Best Medicines!

           Last night, for various reasons, I did not sleep well and when this girl doesn’t get a good night’s rest, it is NOT a good thing. It throws my body and my emotions in to a mess to say the least. I needed to be up really early this morning to get some housework done and so that I could go to a doctor’s visit with Kenny. I was so tired, but more than that, my emotions were a bit out of sync. It’s a girl thing, you guys just might not be able to relate.

I drug myself out of bed and started the day. It was pretty quiet in the car on the way to his appointment. I tried to reflect on what I had read in my quiet time this morning before I left home, but my brain was just too tired to recall anything. We went into the doctor’s office and it was packed! It was almost standing room only. All I could think about was sitting in a room full of possibly sick people and that I wanted to douse myself with hand sanitizer!

The doctor was running about an hour behind. It’s funny how they have those little signs that tell us that if we are more than ten minutes late to an appointment, they will charge us or cancel our appointment, but it does not bother them to waste the patient’s time. Grumble, grumble! Finally, Kenny’s name was called and we were greeted by the friendliest nurse. She welcomed us with a huge smile and said a very nice “Good Morning”. I forced a smile and we followed her to the room where we would end up waiting a very long time. We could hear the doctor in the hallway for what seemed like forever discussing another patient’s poor fate openly with our door wide open, so much for patient privacy. His situation did not sound good. Poor fellow. (Not that we were listening..LOL!)

The doctor finally came in and delivered pretty good news. Most of Kenny’s tests were good. She did say the same thing that every doctor says to us at our age, “Cut fat intake and exercise more.” Did they really want our co-pay just for that advice?! Grumble, grumble again. We really like this doctor. It turns out that she is a real hoot.

While waiting for her, I was trying to finish up a biography that I’ve been reading for some time. It kept my attention, but did not really lighten my mood, but boy when she came into the room, something really unexpected happened. At some point between the discussions of fatty livers and high cholesterol, we got on the subject of cheese of all things. I mentioned that Kenny really loves Italian cheeses sprinkled on everything and that set her to talking about her husband. She explained that they had been married for 44 years and that since his retirement from the military, he has become her personal chef. She told us story after story about how he had rearranged her entire kitchen (in true military fashion)! Well, very unexpectedly, as the three of us laughed out loud for fifteen minutes or longer, the heaviness of my mood lifted. We laughed until I thought we’d all split a gut! At least if we had, we were at the right kind of doctor’s office – a gastroenterologist! J For once I can say that a doctor’s visit was enjoyable! She even told us that she had really enjoyed our visit too!

Well, I guess you wonder where this is all going…but if you know me well, you are used to that! Later when I got home, I re-read some things that I read this morning and came across the verse about laughter in Proverbs 17. In verse 22 it says, “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” I know this may be a stretch, but I believe that God knew that Kenny and I both needed that laughter. We left there and went into the drugstore and ran into one of our son’s friends. He had on the funniest Christmas hat and again, we shared laughter with him. Then, I had a brief phone call with an old friend and he made us laugh hysterically too! This verse really is so true in life!

           We have so much to be grateful for and the joy that God allows us in the small, silly things is just one of many things that I am thankful for. My spirit has been so much lighter since our visit to the doctor. What a pleasant surprise from the Lord. (And I do believe it was a gift of grace from Him today!)
         
          The one thing that all of us can be most thankful for is the reason for the current Christmas season. Our Lord came to the earth as a lowly human baby, God in the flesh, so that He could live and die for us that we might have salvation. That alone should cause us joy like nothing else in this world.
        
          This weekend our church, (Seaford Baptist) is putting on our annual Christmas musical. I’ve been a part of this for more than twenty years and this year, for many reasons I believe that it may be one of the most memorable, not only for me and my family, but for our church. If you have the time this weekend, please take some time off from the craziness of daily life and come to see the production. (Fri and Sat at 7 PM and Sunday at 6 PM) I promise you it will bless you if you come. Life is so short and this year I really want to spend more time laughing and enjoying life with family and friends and less time running at the speed of light to get things done. Won’t you join us for a little joy this weekend? I hope so! God bless you and thanks for reading.

“Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them. The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad.” Psalm 126:2-3

Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV)

Our Den and It's Many Faces...and All of Our Boys. (Dec 4, 2011)

            Well, most of my blog writings have been pretty serious up to this point, so I thought I’d try something a little lighter today. It has been a pretty busy week this week with church musical rehearsals, event planning and daily life. So, today after a very moving and meaningful church service, and lunch with friends, we headed home for a little “r and r”. As soon as we walked into the house I was reminded of just how busy this week has been. Our den showed many signs that I had not been here to keep up with it all!

            There was much evidence that our house had once again been filled with several house guests over these last few days. When I say house guests, I mean the ever-changing group of twenty-something guys that hang out at our house several days a week. There was also much evidence that I am not only the mother of two sons, but of many sons, and oh how we love each and every one of them. I call myself “a mother of many sons”.

            Our lives have been filled with so many wonderful moments because of all of these young men. Some have lived with us, some have slept many nights on our couch and some we only get to see every now and then. We’ve spent enough money on groceries to have taken many very nice vacations, but I wouldn’t trade any of those wonderful moments and memories with them for anything. When they start their own lives, and get their own places, we are really going to miss these sounds of life.

            Back to our den, it often doubles as a hotel, a bedroom, a gaming room, a counseling center, a restaurant, a movie theater, and just a welcoming kind of place to hang out. If we added up the number of guys (and gals at times), I’m sure it would be way in the hundreds. We’ve had friends of friends here that we’ve never even met before! There are a couple of these guys that we could probably claim on our taxes, and two that we even affectionately call “Number 3A and 3B”. They know who they are. Some of our boys have gone into the military, some are married and have their own kids and some have moved across the country. We have beautiful memories of sleepovers, game nights, group dinners, great conversation, slurpee runs and our annual Christmas Eve stocking stuffer tradition. (That’s another story for another day!)

            I don’t think they know how much they have blessed our lives by spending so many hours in our den. If you ask them, they’ll tell you that I’m one tough momma! I get on them if they leave behind messes for me to pick up, or if they take their eyes off of the important things, like their relationship with the Lord. We pretty much have two basic rules, one is that after one visit, you basically become family and you are on your own in the kitchen, and secondly, don’t keep momma Terry up once she goes to bed! It makes me smile that they just keep coming back for more! They just want love, food and a place to be part of a family. We REALLY do love each and every one of them as family. When our front door opens, we are always waiting and surprised to see who will come around the corner into our den. Will it be one of our two boys or one of our many “adopted” sons?

            So, today when I walked into the den and saw a several TV’s, empty soda cans, pillows, blankets, a game table and pizza boxes scattered just about everywhere, my first thought was, “Oh boy, what a mess.” But then, I was reminded again of all of the fond memories and the wonderful sounds of life that they bring to our house and I just cannot get frustrated. After all, God has blessed us richly through our simple and comfortable den. It’s not that special, it’s just available.  

            We are so grateful for every moment that we have with our boys and anyone else who comes by for a visit, whether it’s a visit to Hotel Roberts, Terry’s Diner or the Pink Room. So, come on by for a cup of tea, a cookie bar, or even a slice of pizza. We’d love to have you anytime. Our home is always open and the lights are always on. Time passes so quickly and we want to spend every moment we can with our precious family and friends. What blessings you all are to us! J