Precious Wildflowers

A dear cyber friend emailed her thoughts today. They touched a deep chord in my spirit. May I ask you to pray for her? I'll not share her name at this point.

GLORY TO GOD

My youngest daughter lovingly brought me a pretty wild sunflower she had picked from beside the road at my parents' farm. "Here you go, Mommy. It's for you!" she said as she handed it to me. I looked at the pretty yellow flower and thought of the hundreds of flowers growing beside the roads all over the Kansas countryside where my parents live. I was glad she had brought it to my notice and wanted to share it with me. These flowers are barely noticed and are taken for granted by busy adults that pass by them. Each of these flowers and all the many varieties of wild flowers that grow on mountainsides, in meadows, and along country roads all over our world were created by God, and are for His glory. Many of them are never even seen or appreciated by human eyes, but God sees each of them and takes pleasure in them all.

As I looked at the wild sunflower and its delicate, lovely petals, God brought to my mind the precious, delicate little life that has been growing in my womb. Its life has never been seen by any human, and only a small number of people have even known of its existence. Now that life has ended at only a few weeks. In my sadness, God speaks to me saying that its life was not in vain, that it brought glory to Him and was His creative work. He planned each day of its life, and knew it before it was even conceived. Its life gave our family much joy from the moment we knew of its existence, and we praised God for His gift.

As my baby's life was short and fleeting, like a wildflower's, it was beautiful and had a purpose. I thank God for this reminder so lovingly brought to me by Him to comfort me in my grief and sadness.

Please pray for my friend. Though her ultrasound has confirmed the death of her little one it may be weeks before her body naturally miscarries. These are hard weeks....but precious weeks.

I've been waiting to find the right time to share the memorial we have for our little ones....but the time is never "right". This dear friend's emails of the past few days have surfaced the need to do that. Her words brought a new peace to my heart in the midst of the tears as she shared how reading my pregnancy journal had helped her in this season in her life. God has a purpose for each sorrow we walk through. Dear friend, I'm with you in prayer as you and your family journey through this time. Thanks for allowing me to share your heart on my blog, I am going to put it in the pregnancy journal and I know that in the future it will minister to others. May that eventually bring you a measure of peace.

I'm BACK!!!! and I'm BLOGGING!

I got back late last night. My flight was delayed twice....I had a good laugh about the delay in Dallas. I THOUGHT I'd finish a book I'd tucked into my luggage. HOWEVER, they changed our gate of departure about 8 times in one hour. (That may be a fanciful enhancement - it MAY have been only 5...felt like about 20 but that time of night).

I had a great time and am processing. I'll post more later. I went not knowing a soul and came home with 30 - 40 sisters. That type of experience takes a bit of time to process. ::snort:: Mel (MH - I KNOW who you are! ::snort::) - I hardly missed blogging....but now I'm itching to get current. I think I did well to only fall off the no-blog wagon ONCE - don't you? I thought of sneaking into Deb's computer room early one morning; but decided I wasn't THAT neurotic...yet! ::snort::

What's up with this? At the airport????


It's Mine!

Mike got tired of putting $100 of gas in the van every week. It's a 2002 Toyota Corolla with 60K on it. He figures it will last us a long, long time.

I asked what I would get when I got back from the International Conference if this garnered a car. I'm dying to go DRIVE.....the emergency fund took a big hit...but Mike's right that this will save us quite a bit of $ each month.

Thanks for all the input on which mini-van we should buy. ::snort:: I'm really o.k. with this....I am excited about the idea of a sporty car rather than the 15 pass tank....and I can take 4 at a time with me.

©2008 D.R.G.

Boasting...

“But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Gal 6:14

“Thus says the Lord, ‘Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindess, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,’ declares the Lord”. Jer 9:23-24

I’m writing today’s devotional from the USO at DFW International. I’m going to keep this sweet and to the point. I’ll figure out how to upload it later. ::snort:

I love these verses. They call me to evaluate that in which I “boast, exult, glory”. I’m commanded to boast in the cross of Christ – in the knowledge that I understand God (which would never happen without the infilling of His Holy Spirit) and that I know (am intimate with) God. God delights in me boasting in HIM, his cross, my relationship with Him. Did you catch that? Father/Lord/Lover delights in me bragging on Him. Oh yeah – it’s more than bragging but the concept causes me to humbly worship Him. What a God we serve.

Are you ready for some random thoughts I’ve mulled over this week? They’ll not be flowery – this setting is too busy for THAT.

~Whenever I feel qualified to do something for the kingdom, I realize that I’m putting my dependence in ME and not on Him. I can easily begin to boast in my skills, knowledge, expertise and become off-kilter.

~I am NOT to boast or glory in my wisdom, my strength, my riches or ability to make money, my family, my homeschooling, my accomplishments….I’m to boast in HIM….His care, His provision, His strength…

~Enjoying a sense of joy at a job well done is not pride or the boasting we see in these verses.

~Because of Christ the world (world’s order, sin nature) is crucified to me. I’m crucified to the world. I’m not to try to balance sin with righteousness – I’m to crucify it.

If I were home, I’d find the lyrics for this song to share….it’s a favorite of mind. I’ve found myself humming it repeatedly after reading the above verses this week. My paraphrase of the lyrics…

“In Christ alone
I place my trust
and find my glory in the glory of the cross
In every victory
let it be said of me
my source of trust
my source of strength
is Christ Alone.”

(Oops I was singing along and garnered a “look”). ::snort::

What are you boasting in this week? Are you depending on Christ or yourself? He never fails me….I often fail myself and others.

©2008 D.R.G.

Super Size Saturdays

“The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands.” Prov 14:1

I think one of the most important things we can do for our families is to allow the Father to search our hearts daily. I must evaluate my actions at His prompting.

Are my choices, my reactions, my interactions with my children building my home or tearing it down?

Are my responses to Mike building our home or tearing it down?

Are my schooling choices building my home or tearing it down?

Are my choices on time-management building my home or tearing it down?

Notice it says the foolish woman TEARS her home down with her OWN hands. We so often take steps to destroy the very thing we desire to build up. It appears that there isn’t a neutral ground….I will either be building my house or tearing it down.

This Super Size Saturday I invite you to take a moment to evaluate your actions and your heart along with me. I know it’s our desire to build a godly legacy in our families. I can have a perfectly organized house of genius’ and still have missed it if I fail to introduce my children to the Lover of their souls. My daily actions in the trenches can work against my heart’s desire. If you find that you’ve been tearing down your house…..I know a solution.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I Jn 1:9.

And then? Begin to do the things the Spirit drops into your heart to do. Ask HIM to show you the best way to repair what you’ve torn down and to begin to walk as a wise woman who builds her home!

For more Super Size Saturday posts click here.

©2008 D.R.G.

USO

I'm here at DFW USO. I enjoyed a free breakfast and water. I found shampoo in the bathroom. YES. I've typed a devotional and thought I'd be able to post it to SHS, GAFB blog and put it in que here....but woe is me! I forgot my jump drive. How do I get the info from my lap top to the internet. Ah well. I even took a photo for y'all.

I managed to make it through security with my ONE bag.....they had to search it. I gave up my hairspray but begged for my Tom's toothpaste. ::snort:: I'll have flat hair but clean teeth - I can live with that.

Ah - I'll never fret about my children flying again. The baby behind me SCREAMED from the moment they walked on to the plane until 10 minutes out.

Hmmm...that's it. I planned to upload the PWOC newsletter to the blog. I'm hopeless without a connection...and I'm too cheap to pay for one day of T-mobile.

I'm minutes away from meeting my new PWOC Internet friend, Diane. Hon - remember chicken is ready to go for dinner and Friday night is pizza night. Be good little ones. Debbie in NY tells me that I can't do a thing about home and must spend this weekend having fun and relaxing....I shall give it a shot. Those mommy genes are fairly strong.

©2008 D.R.G.

Hey All - Bernard and the Pharmacy...

Just in case any of you ever catch a comment by Bernard before I do....I've not asked for any info from a Candadian pharmacy and I hold the continued comments and links to be suspect.

I wouldn't click it if I were you. If it continues I'll have to set comments to moderation but that would be a big pain....so I'm hoping.....it quits.

Enough said...though I have many witty comments I thought of saying. ::snort::

Running to get the to do list finished and get PACKED before I fly out in the a.m.

©2008 D.R.G.

MY BLOG

Time to switch gears and remember that I write my blog as a family ministry....my head has been in PWOC land all day. I've spent the day creating a local blog....yippee! I was so glad to get approval. I think it's coming together nicely...though I have more ideas, photos and such to add. At this point I'm stuck deciding which post divider I like. If you care to drop by and vote on the top right hand side it would be great. LOL The board will be popping in to to see what they think. I wonder if I'll have more time to work on it tomorrow?

Today I spent a huge amount of time workig on the PWOC blog.

I also finalized our United food order.

I tried to finalize the produce co-op order - but I haven't finished yet. Maybe still.

I talked with Krista on the phone.

JAMIN finished his second book. He plans to edit this and submit it to a contest that promises to publish the winner's book. He finished a month ahead of his self-imposed schedule.

Jared found a mowing job - they paid well and he earned it. It rained off and on all day; three times while he was mowing.

You can't tell what this nearly 3 yo girl is doing...but she is walking...backwards...her favorite way to walk around the block.

©2008 D.R.G.