"Your Life Depends On It"

No one seems to want to wait anymore...

Faster, Better, Newer and Sooner, unfortunately are catchwords that propel us through our day.

It has become increasingly difficult to actually relax.
We are all too familiar with road rage, vacations without rest and a constant search for the 'best' in new technology.

So, what do you do when you feel like life is getting a bit too hectic? ...When you just need to shut the world out for awhile?...

*For me I am content with a warm blanket and a good old fashioned book (and a kitty on my lap)
*I also enjoy a yummy grilled cheese sandwich with hot and creamy tomato soup, a favorites of moms' all over, for sick children...bringing back good memories and seeming to be my perfect comfort food.

*And yet,...I especially find myself quite content
just being still before God and praying, sometimes on my knees and sometimes just sitting quietly...
It is here that I find the most peace...It is here that I am just me...

Looking to the old ways of the past and seeking solitude in the stillness amidst our fast paced world seems to provide part of the answer when we can no longer rest...or when hectic schedules bound endlessly from one season to the next...

The scriptures gently remind us..
"Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls........" Jeremiah 6:16a

When contentment seems to elude you..try this...

Turn off the computer, cell phone, or any electronic device that promises to make your life faster, better or smoother..

Get the oldest fashioned book of all time and get alone with the very One,...who gives you breath.
and then,...take that very breath and do just that...
breathe...
*Breathe in and out His goodness
*Read
*Talk with Him
*Be still before Him
*Wait for Him

***...and then listen...listen, listen..
as though your very life depends on it,...because it does...

He will never force Himself upon you..
Instead, He waits patiently to shower you with the gifts you will love and need the most..

His Ways are tried and true..They are the Old Ways and they will never fail you..

When you seek solitude with Him, refreshment will come...
For a few of the gifts you are about to receive, open your Bible to Galatians chapter 5 and verses 22-23..and take a wonderful look..





(photo by travelshare)

"18 Again" and Remembering my Father

It rained today...

The storm clouds rolled in...
thunder rumbled, through the deep black billowing clouds...The wind began to lift the leaves... and a few gave way to take their resting place in the soil...
As the rain began to gently fall in the summer breeze..I quietly thought of my father..

Thirty-one years ago today, he left this earth for a 'land that is fairer than day'. He surprised us by leaving so suddenly.

I remember the day so clearly...

I was a fresh-faced student in a small  Bible college in Tennessee . Our college president..called me out of class.
I remember following him down a long hallway, trailing behind his long steady strides....and then descending slowly and deliberately down a circular marble staircase....
He never spoke a word.
Even though, he seemed to walk gently...I was apprehensive, I didn't understand...

And then he told me,.. my mama wanted to speak with me,... 
something was dreadfully wrong....as he handed me the telephone, my fears were confirmed,
I knew...in my heart...I knew,....it was either one of two people.
I was right in that,....It was my dad...In one moment of time, my life changed in an instant.

So many memories still cling to the corners of my mind,...while others are fading and as elusive as the leaves blowing in the wind...

Now, I am older ...
Now I remember ...bits and pieces of the person I once was....

Of the person I still am....of the person I have become...
I am thankful for my father...
I am thankful that I had eighteen years with him.
I am thankful He knew Jesus as his Savior.

The dark clouds that once enveloped me have given way to sunshine...
For now I know,.... in the same amount of time it took my life to change,... my father's life changed in an instant as well...He moved ever so quickly from this life unto glory...

I rest well tonight..knowing that one day, I will see him again...


1 Corinthians 15:51,52
"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed , in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed."