Join the Dance

Arms in mid flight

Body twirling in delight

My little Sophie spins

In every picture of her I see it -Hands never all the way down.

My little butterfly- always ready to take off and fly.

Carefree- Happy

Where does the dance go?  As we get older why does the twirling stop?

As dearly loved children, we start out life knowing that we are accepted and loved just the way we are- knowing that our parents will take care of us– that all of our needs would be met. 

But then we grow up.  We get schooled.   We become wise.   We can do things ourselves.  The cares of life take up residence, make our hands hang low and the dance slows or stops altogether.

Jesus said, “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 18:3

We need to be free again like a little child, trusting and knowing that our heavenly father dearly loves us and that he will always do what’s best for us.  A small child is dependent on their parents for everything.  We need to depend on our Abba Daddy for everything!  HE is our provider, our protector, our shield, our deliverer, our healer, our savior, our redeemer, and our counselor.  He holds our lives in His hands. He has got everything under control.

Maybe you entered the kingdom of God with childlike faith, but somewhere along the line, you got schooled- became wise- thought that you were big enough to handle things on your own.  I know I sometimes find myself there.  Not truly living in the freedom that is ours.

Christ has set us free to live a free life. Galatians 5:1(MSG) 

I want to live there- totally free- totally trusting- able to dance and fly.

Child like faith

Child like wonder

Mountains to climb

Dragons to slay

Princesses to save

Worlds to conquer

Oh what Freedom

Oh what joy!

Let the dance begin!

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!”  It is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. Roman 8:14-17

Shake a Leg!

A typical Pittsburgh day has me in a funk.  The gray seems to suck the energy out of me.  Nothing is wrong, just feeling kind of yuck.  Oh how I want to lay down and just take a short nap.  The dog had us up at 5:30 AGAIN but I fight the urge and start dinner.

I have the "Open Sky" CD by IONA playing.  15 years old, but it has been musically inspiring me again.  So I chop the vegetables for our chili and sing along while I gaze out the kitchen window.  Still gray and getting grayer. Even looks like the rain may be coming.  Can't seem to rise above the pushed down feeling.

The next song starts with the uilleann pipes playing a celtic melody and it sounds the way I imagine Ireland looks.  Green and lush.  The tempo picks up and I sway as I continue to chop.  Soon the music is swelling and I have to get rid of the knife in my hands.  I am doing a clog dance in the kitchen - picture Riverdance- straight body and feet flying.  Well not exactly but the heaviness is lifting the more I dance the more my energy is restored.  I look out the window.  There is a break in the clouds and the sun is shining through.   God's little reminder to me.  Praise Him - the joy will follow!

Let them praise his name with dancing

    and make music to him with timbrel and harp. (Psalm 149:3)

Psalm 150

 Praise the Lord.

Praise God in his sanctuary;

    praise him in his mighty heavens.

Praise him for his acts of power;

    praise him for his surpassing greatness.

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

    praise him with the harp and lyre,

praise him with timbrel and dancing,

    praise him with the strings and pipe,

 praise him with the clash of cymbals,

    praise him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgzVSrIROEc

Taken Away

I was out stomping around the backyard a few days ago.  Between the dog and the winter, the backyard was looking pretty nasty – until today.

Snow ushered in the 1^st day of Spring and now the yard was covered.  The white blanket hiding all the ugliness; all the yard’s imperfections simply gone! Tomorrow however, when it reaches near 60 degrees, the blights will reappear again, for they were never taken away, just hidden from my eyes.

How grateful I am that God doesn’t just cover our sins like that blanket of snow hiding the mess.  He completely removes them. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12) East never meets west so they are gone forever. Once we have repented and asked for forgiveness, how silly to take those sins back and claim them again as our own.

My sweet friend shared a story of a woman who had been very ill but now was healed.  She wrestled, as I sometimes do, with the thought of the illness reoccurring. God asked her why she was stealing from Him.  Stealing!  She couldn’t believe her ears.  “Lord I would never steal from you!” she cried out.  In her spirit He spoke.  I have taken that sickness, my child, in my own body – don’t take it away from me – that would be stealing.

As I heard the story it pierced my heart – had I been doing the same thing?

I had never thought of sickness being taken away in the same way I had thought of sin being taken away.  Taken away for good never to haunt me again.

When I think about it, weren’t all those people who were healed by Jesus in the bible healed permanently? Yes! They weren’t just healed for a season- they were healed for good.

As I have learned to not take my sin back, but to leave it at the cross with Jesus, I need to learn to never take cancer back but leave it with Him. He has graciously taken it in his battered and tortured body, and even though "worry thoughts" may come, I need to take those thought captive and remember. He has taken it all.  Taken it all away.  All sin.  All sickness.  In exchange He has given me new life and I want to live each day taken away by Him.

Begin Again

They come out holding signs

Signs of who they were and who they have become

Of what held them back and now what pushes them on

Signs of their past and of their future

Imprisoned / Set Free

Timid / Bold

Lost / Found

Unloved / Loved

Addicted / Clean

Rejected / Accepted

me / Him

The newly added chorus of Amazing Grace fills the church as they walk across the stage bearing their signs of the struggle and flipping the sign to show the victory Christ has given them.

My chains are gone

I’ve been set free

My God, my savior has ransomed me

And like a flood his mercy reigns

Unending love, amazing grace.

The wells burst forth inside of me

Wells of joy and gratitude

The tears pouring so fast I can’t keep my face dry

Some of those bearing signs I know -Some are strangers.

I want to shout it out

Yes this one is me! - And that one that just crossed the stage is me too!

Oh how I related to that one - and oh I’ve also had that struggle before

Healing  -  Hope -  Starting Over -  Beginning Again

At the start of this New Year it is good to remember that we can have a fresh start.

No matter what our past- in Christ we can begin again.  He makes all things new.

Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new. 

2 Corinthians 5:17(CEV)

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14(NIV)

A Glimpse of Glory

The spray hits our upturned faces.

Braced by the unusually cold October wind,

Bundled in layers -wearing our rain gear

We stand together and take it all in.

Does he see it?  Feel it like I do?

Transcended to another realm we can’t look away

It is all too magnificent

Our eyes are fixed – looking - longing

Rainbows intersecting rainbows

Piercing brightness shining thru the ethereal mist

With eyes squinted we can barely look straight ahead

But we can’t look away - it is too glorious!

The boat moves us closer

The roar of the water growing louder and louder

We are in it now –in the mist

My smile so big it hurts- my heart so full I am about to burst!

The beauty and majesty are so great

We continue to look and are dazzled

Is this precious glimpse a sliver of heaven?

Is this a taste of His glory?

Are we getting close to the unapproachable light where He dwells?

The boat begins to turn around and I look at Phil with my tear filled eyes

Yes he has seen it too.

Our faces glow for we have had a glimpse of His glory

A recent devotion quoting the lyrics of an old hymn brought back the memory of our Maid of the Mist boat trip at Niagara Falls.

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,

In light inaccessible, hid from our eyes.

1 Timothy 6:16 says that Christ lives in unapproachable light. He is surrounded by such splendor and glory that our human eyes can’t look upon Him.  Jesus chose to leave it all for our sake. The Son of God became the Son of Man so that someday we can have a glorified body that will be able to live in that heavenly splendor with Him.

May I be a Maid of His Midst - face ever upward -eyes fixed on Him - heart full.

John 1:14 and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen His glory….

A Season to be Thankful - A Lifetime to be Grateful

During this Thanksgiving season I have so much to be thankful for.  For starters- I am still here!  I am healed and healthy.  I have the most wonderful loving husband in the world. His tender strength has got me through the hard times.  After 31 years of marriage he is still my best friend and my true love. I have two precious children who are my pride and joy. I have been so blessed to be their mom, and now also their friend.  I have a beautiful granddaughter who calls me up to tell me silly jokes, and whose free spirit delights me to no end. I have family and friends who I could write pages about they are such a blessing and joy. I have good food to eat, clean water to drink, a warm cozy house. The list could and should go on and on…

Ann Voskamp inspired me to make a list of  things I am thankful for each day. I want to live a life of gratefulness.  In the easy times and the hard times, in the messes and the blessings- to be thankful in all things.  For thanksgiving is the key that opens the door to his presence

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100: 4-5

Thank him in the good times, and thank him in the hard times.

Though the fig tree does not bud

and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will be joyful in God my Savior. 

Habakkuk 3:17-18

This daily counting of blessing has changed my life, and I would like to challenge each of you who take the time to read my meanderings to start a grateful list.  It will help you keep life in perspective. It will refocus your gaze off of your problems and onto the one who is the giver of all that is good and precious. 

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thess 5: 16-18

Alive!

Brought in the fig tree from my sister – out of winter’s cold

Leaves slowly wither - all that remains is a stick

It looks dead

It sits in our garage - I water it – occasionally-

My dead stick

I think there’s life under that ground, but I can’t be certain.

(This is my first year growing a fig)

The winter goes on long

Dark in the garage

But I water my stick

Will it come back to life?

I believe it will

I hope it will

Spring arrives – the ground begins to warm

Soon I will see if my stick survived

I bring it into the warmth of the basement

Tiny leaves appear!

I am thrilled- YES!

It is still alive!

When the nights turn warm I dig a hole and plant my fig back outside

Spring showers and summer warmth and sunshine do their work

The fig grows – it flourishes.

I can relate

In the past two years I was stripped till I felt bare as a stick

But underneath I knew my roots were still intact.

The warmth and sunshine of God’s love came through his people,

And the watering of His word did its work

By the grace of God I survived

I am alive and flourishing!