Sunrise...Sunset.

It's been kind of rough the last few weeks.  I feel like we gain ground in our spiritual life, but then well pardon the expression, all hell breaks loose!  Have you ever had one of those days?  Or maybe a few weeks of that?   I really honestly do believe that when trouble comes as it has this just means something BIG is about to happen.  I mean we say it all the time to each other right?  Yeah, I know...it's sometimes HARD to hold onto that truth, but hold onto it we MUST!

So imagine my wonderful surprise when a few days ago my husband received this text from one of our dear friends.  His take on things really made me smile!  And made me excited to see the sunrise in the morning.  I had to share it...so thanks John.  I needed that text!

"It's a new day brother!  New challenges, new opportunities for God to display His abundant grace and mercy.  My thinking has been centered a lot around that verse, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world!"  John 16:33 (NIV)

"Darkness comes every single night, it's unrelenting always looming in front of us.  But just as regularly without fail, the sunrise pushes the darkness away for another day.  It's the one thing that people all over the world get up to see and are amazed at its beauty each time.  But the darkness has to come again each night in order for us to experience that spectacular display in the morning."

"We have no control over either one.  The choice we have is whether we stand in fear of the darkness that will come, or we eagerly anticipate another glorious sunrise that is just as sure to come."

"So with you:  Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and NO ONE will take away your joy."  John 16:22 (NIV)

No one will take our joy!  Wow...what a thought...and what a wonderful reminder of something that happens everyday all over the world.  Darkness and Light.  Sunrise and Sunset.

Today...choose JOY!  Choose to smile at the little things...and NOT to worry over the big things!  He is IN CONTROL...and YOU are His Child!  He's got this!

Thwart...now there's a word you don't hear every day!

My husband has gone on another missions trip.  Sometimes I feel left out.  I mean since we have been married he has gone on a lot of trips without me.  I will say however when we were first married I know God told me that my first ministry was to my husband and my children.  Our son is old enough to have gone on a few trips with his dad and our daughter is about to turn 14!  To me this means-get out the checkbook because NOW all of us can go on a missions trip together!  

This trip he is in Kenya!  I am so excited for him.  It's the first time he has ever been to Africa!  I can't wait to hear the stories he has to tell.  I always try to do something to encourage him before he leaves.  This time I felt impressed to give him a card for each day he is gone on his journey.  It's really just a postcard I made with publisher and card stock.  Each day I have either written him a note, or another family member has attached a note.  I give him a challenge and a verse or two to encourage him.

The first day my challenge was to just ENJOY the ride!  It's a LONG journey from Atlanta to Africa!  You need to sit back and just enjoy the ride. Kind of like life right? That will preach but I won't go there since it's almost 3:00 in the morning and I want to finish this so I can TRY to get some sleep.

The verse I gave him was Job 42:2. It says "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted!" 

Great WORD thwarted...I don't think it's used enough these days. It means to frustrate or baffle. Kind of where Randy and I are right now. We are frustrated...by unanswered prayers. Baffled because we can't understand WHY God isn't moving. We are consumed with worry...and doubt! 

But LOOK again at the verse. It says I KNOW YOU CAN DO ALL THINGS! NO PLAN of yours CAN be thwarted!  (Don't you just LOVE that word?????  I do!)

In that verse is all we need to remember.  All we need to hold onto when life starts hitting us upside the head. It says, I KNOW you CAN do ALL Things!  Not some things. Not maybe you can pull it off. NO HE CAN DO ALL THINGS!  But the verse doesn't end there, it takes it one step further!  It says NO PLAN of yours can be THWARTED!  

God isn't up there looking at his plan on paper feeling baffled or frustrated about things!  His plans will COME to pass, even when it looks like there is NO way they can happen IF God said they would well they will!  (I mean...HE IS GOD right?)  Here's my challenge to you today!  Don't be baffled...don't be frustrated. Remove doubt and worry...I'm going to! You see I serve a GOD with a PLAN! And even though I would LOVE to know the plan right now...LOVE to check it out, I TRUST that HIS PLANS are the best ones...and they cannot be THWARTED! 

He isn't FRUSTRATED or BAFFLED...and WE shouldn't be either!

Never Insignificant

   
This Blog was written back in April but I never posted it.

I scanned the news report today. Nothing.  I typed in "pedestrian struck on Mableton Parkway April 15".  Nothing.  To the news right now the person who was hit last night may be insignificant...to someone he was family.  To my family it was just how we ended our very long day of school, work, ministry.

     Our Ladies Connection was full of fun, laughter and a short dose of Gina's teaching thrown in.  I pray it helped someone...I know it ministered to me when I wrote it.  The usual QT run after church to get our favorite snacks had me hitting my husband in the arm as he made fun of my driving yet again.  I threw the keys to him before getting back in my car..."You can drive then!"  I said with a smile, oh how glad I am now that he was driving.

     Coming past our church building with the bright cross blazing on it I smiled thinking of all that we had accomplished that day.  Cresting the hill we could tell that something was the matter as cars blocked both lanes of traffic.  I saw shoes in the road.  Maybe they fell out of someones car I thought?  Then I saw the expressions on the faces of those out of their cars standing in the road. Turning my head slightly I saw someone laying in the road.  I knew.  Oh I knew.  Yet another person had tried to cross this busy road to get to the convenience store.  They hadn't made their destination.

     "You have to stop Randy!" I said from the passenger seat.

     "Honey what good can I do?" his quick reply.

     "Look at their faces, they don't know what to think how to process.  Maybe you can just pray for someone.  Encourage them!  You have to stop!"

     He did.  Pulling into the turning lane.  The car still running.  In the back seat I could tell that our daughter Aiden-Rose was getting upset.  So many people.  So much confusion.  I began to pray..I began to cry out where are the cops!  Someone needs to get here!  They need to get here now!  I saw a familiar black truck pull up and one of our church members get out to walk over to the chaos.  Still no rescue vehicles.

     I called a friend to try and calm down and then I began to notice the car to the side of us.  A young man was obviously in pain the damage to his driver's side meant that somehow he must have been involved.  I could see the look in his eyes-he was living his worst nightmare.  Finally I saw the fire truck.  Our car was in it's way but before I could even get out our church member came and moved the car to the side of the road.  Allowing the emergency vehicle entry to the chaos.

     In the back I still heard the cries of my daughter, "I want my daddy!".  Even a thirteen year old wants her father sometime.  I calmed her down somewhat by saying, "Aiden-Rose your daddy is trying to do what he can to help right now."

     As we sat there for a minute we saw nothing but blue and red lights as car and ambulances and oh so many emergency vehicles began to descend upon the scene.  I was in the way.  So I asked our church member if he would give my husband a ride home, and I drove off.  Still shaking.  Still trying to calm my child.

     We called our friend back before we made it to our road because well it was obvious my child needed to talk to someone and I needed to arrive safely home.  Pulling into the driveway my friend asked if they could come over and help.  At first I said no, then I quickly changed my mind.  I had no clue how long the night may be...or what I would hear when Randy finally arrived home.

     They arrived pretty quickly.  Hugs...tears...a full disclosure of what I had witnessed.  Before we knew it the sounds of more sirens was filling the night sounds.  Then lights coming into the driveway. My husband had arrived home.

     His story was pretty much what we figured.  A young man tried to cross a busy road to get to a convenience store.  He hadn't made it.  One car struck him and pulled over.  Another car ran over him and drove away.  No one there had really known what to do.  My husband who had been a fireman went over to look for a pulse.  He had felt something weak he thought, but he really felt like the man had died.  He prayed for him.  Tried to comfort him.  He prayed with others there as well.  Bringing whatever comfort he could.  Then knowing there was nothing else he could do, he came home.

     We were a sad group.  A quiet core of believers trying to come to grips with what had just happened.  I had spoken on Choices that night at our Ladies Connection.  How we needed to really think about the things we decided to do.  I was sort of angry with this young man for the choice he had just made.  A choice to cross a busy road at night dressed in dark clothes.  I was angry and yet I grieved.  I grieved for the family who were about to experience a nightmare!  I grieved for a mom who would never hold her son again.  I thanked God for my children...their health...their well being!

     The only way we knew to end our night was in prayer.  So we held hands in a circle and we prayed.  Prayed for the emergency workers.  Prayed for those who had witnessed this terrible tragedy. Prayed for the family of this young man.  Prayed for this young man.

      All day today I scanned the news.  Nothing.  Finally this evening the first news came online.

     He wasn't an insignificant person.  He was a young 29 year old man who made a bad choice.  I don't know if he had a history of making bad choices, or if this was his first. That doesn't really matter.  I pray he had a relationship with Jesus.  I pray he had peace.  I pray for his family now.  I pray that NO ONE will ever feel insignificant!  I pray that no matter how much we need to get to the other side...we will really stop and think about our choice.  That we will pray about our choice.  And that we will never feel insignificant....God doesn't think we are!

He WILL Do it!

I can't sleep!  Ever have that problem?  I don't want to check out Facebook...okay honestly I already did, not much going on at 2:00 AM on Facebook.  I just chatted with my husband in Africa.  Yeah, thank heavens for Messenger and WiFi...when WiFi is up and running that is!  I don't really feel like playing a game...I could go clean some more, but honestly..ummm NO!

So here I am!  Simply ME...sleepless in Georgia!  I had another wonderful time this morning reading my devotion...okay honestly...let me tell you Ezekiel is pretty discouraging, but the devotion books I read before I get to Ezekiel....wow...powerful stuff!

My Jesus Lives Devotion was talking about Divine Protection!  And my Joyce Meyer devotion was "I want a mind change!"  (Oh Lord DO I ever!)  I have to admit that even though Ezekiel isn't all warm and fuzzy today's reading had a powerful verse for me.  Ezekiel 17:24 at the very end of this verse it says, "I the Lord have spoken, and I WILL DO IT!"

Sweet huh?  Not I might do it if you are really good to me.  Or if you pray a gazillion times in the right way, fast all of the junk food you want to eat and oh yeah help an older lady across the street. No he says I have spoken and I will Do It!

My son made me mad this summer!  Like really mad.  I told him to do something and he started getting really mouthy with me and was telling me several reasons why he didn't need to do what I told him too.  I wouldn't back down, and then I realized that even while he was being mouthy he was doing exactly what I told him to do!  I wanted to be mad!  I wanted to pinch his little head off, but all I could think of was, you told him to do it and he did!  How can you be mad when he's doing exactly what you told him to do?  (Okay parents out there I know I could be correcting the attitude, but he's almost 20, he knows everything and I have a LONG way to go before I know it all!)

Getting back to Ezekiel and God!  I am so glad I serve a God who when HE speaks and says HE is going to do something, HE does it!  Aren't you?  I tell my story all the time but I guess it bears repeating.  I was told as a teenager I may never be able to have children.  When I married my first husband I was having one prophecy after another spoken over me about children, and then he died. At 31 I was a widow and ummmm....childless.  I knew God had told me I would have children.  He not only had spoken it to me, but he had spoken it over me using his people and prophesy.  But ummm I was a widow.  You did get that right?

Three years later I married and became a mom overnight to my son, whose mom had passed away when he was 14 months old.  But I knew even as I began bonding and loving on my son that God had told me I was going to have a child.  After 5 months of marriage I was pregnant!  For the very first time!  Oh that wonderful moment I could tell my husband!  The joy, and then the agony after a miscarriage.  I was depressed!  I became discouraged...until I remembered through the voice of my son that GOD had told me I was going to have a child!  A son-Josiah and a daughter is what He really said!  My next pregnancy was NOT without troubles, but at the end I finally held MY promise! You see when GOD speaks something well you can take it to the bank...it's GONNA happen!

So what has He spoken to you today?  Has He told you not to worry that He will sell that house...Gina...then rest assured...HE will DO IT!  Because WHEN GOD SPEAKS...THINGS HAPPEN!

Angels Among Us

I am sure you are like me and you have heard someone tell you that they have seen an angel.  I've heard of angels saving lives, encouraging individuals and bringing revelation to some, but I had never heard of angels that showed up at a funeral.  Well...this is my story...and I know it happened because I was there.  

My first love and my first husband Rob died after only four years of marriage.  I was devastated to say the least.  A widow at 31 with no children, just memories of an incredible man of God, an unbelievable love story.  The last year of our marriage we had spent more days in the hospital than out of it trying to fight the cancer that was ravishing his body.  

When he finally passed away from this horrible disease I didn't quite know how to react.  Should I rejoice that his battle was over and he was walking on streets of gold, or should I cry hysterically for what I had lost.  The battle had been so long and tiring for both of us.  We had been living in Virginia at the time.  My family all lived north of us in Maine. His family all lived south of us in Florida.  So most of the time we were alone and all of the care had fallen to me.  Physically I was exhausted.  I let my mother take over the arrangements for his funeral, adding my two cents only when I had to.  I knew that Rob was at peace finally, and down deep I knew that I couldn't fall to pieces in my grief.  

Rob had fought his last battle so valiantly and I was so proud of him.  He had never lost his faith in God.  He had proven himself to be a true soldier of the cross.  I nearly lost it at the viewing.  Seeing him there in that silver casket with his dress blue Marine Corps uniform on, so silent, so still. Somehow I held it together that night.  I heard people whispering, wondering how I could be so strong.  I wondered myself most of the time.  I knew however that his funeral would be a different story.  

The same pastor who had married us just a few years before would be leading his funeral.  Several of Rob's Marine Corps band members made the journey to Maine in January to be there for me and to honor his memory.  I knew it would be hard to see them.  I remember sitting on the front row that day.  My father sitting beside me his arm around me.  My four brothers sitting on the next pew over as pall bearers.  Shock was still in their eyes that this could happen to their sister.  Shock and I have to say anger too.  I was the last one of us to get married, and I wasn't the youngest either.  My younger brother had married two years before Rob and I.  Yet now I faced an unknown life.  

The praise team from Rob's church began singing and I felt so much peace in the songs.  I even stood at one time, hands held up to heaven worshiping God and in my heart saying, "God I have NO clue what you are doing, but I will trust you!".  The words our pastor spoke brought laughter, tears and comfort to me.  I had recorded a message through my tears just minutes before the service and I held it together as I heard myself speak over this amazing man.  Then it was time for Rob to have his part in his own funeral.  

Rob was an incredibly talented and gifted musician.  Those last few months of his life he was most often found in our upstairs guest/music room recording albums of his own music and the hymns he loved so much.  It only seemed fitting to me that Rob play his trumpet one last time.  As the haunting sounds of his trumpet began to play "Amazing Grace", I lost it.  The tears I had been able to hold at bay for so long came streaming down my face and I bowed my head in defeat.  That's when something simply amazing happened to me.  

I felt another presence next to me, but that was impossible.  On the other side of me was the church aisle.  But I knew someone was there.  I could feel the softest touch on my shoulder.  I raised my head and suddenly I saw three angelic beings.  One was kneeling in front of me.  His head bowed but his white blonde hair completely visible.  The other two were standing on either side of me.  Their heads also bowed as if in honor.  They were huge warrior looking men.  All three similarly dressed.  All with the same long white blonde hair.  No wings.  No halos.  I didn't feel fear or cry out.  I felt in my spirit that God was allowing me to see something supernatural that day.  I felt like they were there for two reasons:  one to honor a fallen soldier, and two to bring me comfort and to let me know that no matter what I was never alone!  This whole incident happened in seconds.  I didn't tell anyone about it.  I guess I thought they would all think I was crazy.  

I know what I saw that day.  I know what I felt.  Three angels sent just for me so I could know that God had not forgotten me.  It seemed fitting that they should be there.  Rob had several times reminded me that we should always be careful how we treat strangers because we never knew if they were angels or not.  I had worried so much the night he passed away that he was going to be alone when he died.  I felt like they were there to let me know that truly we are NEVER alone.  

I guess in writing about this finally I am saying we should always remember that even in our darkest night God is always there right beside us.  His angels it says in the word watch over us.  I don't put stock into all the angel stories I hear.  I certainly don't talk to my guardian angel or anything crazy, but it is comforting to know that God cares about what happens to me.  It is wonderful to know that when I needed Him the most....He made sure someone was there for me!

How Is Your Hope?

Okay so I overslept on this rainy Friday morning.  So that means Aiden-Rose overslept because I was supposed to wake her up so Daddy could take her to school.  He was out on his morning jog!  Wow was he motivated!  Me, well here I am at 11:00 in the morning with my second cup of coffee growing cold not quite as motivated in one way, but what an AWESOME devotion time I had this morning!

Our church is in the process of going through a "Reach the City" campaign.  (Check it out on the Web sometime...  http://www.reachthecity.com)  We have been challenged by our Pastor (MY FAVORITE PASTOR ever!) to participate in this awesome campaign and to read the book, "A Life that Wins" by Mike Holt.  I have to say it's a great book, and no this isn't a shameless plug for our friends book.  It really is good! (I will say here though for those from our church who may be reading this-Full Life Family DON"T forget to bring your book to our services.  There are fill-ins you are going to want to put in the book!)

For those of you who will actually stop and read this I have to share something that spoke to me today, and sorry Mike it wasn't from your book.  It was from THE BOOK! But your book "A Life That Win's" did spark this Blog!

Intercessory Prayer has become such an important part of our week at Full Life Church.  It's not just something we do on Tuesday.  We stop and pray for the needs of those on our list whenever they come to our thoughts throughout the week too.  I know it can get very discouraging for those who have been praying and praying for a need or a serious issue.  Been there, done that...and have several t-shirts!

When I was praying for a child it looked so hopeless at times. I mean having your husband die well you get my drift.  But I kept pressing on.  Believing more than anything that although GOD may not deliver HIS promise in the time or manner that I thought HE would...that eventually HE would give me the desires of my heart.  And HE did!  Yes...I experienced LOSS in the promise. Three babies I'd rather have here...but who I know are in heaven.  But WOW did GOD do a GREAT thing eventually. An AWESOME son who I am so proud of, and a very SWEET daughter who has me wrapped around her finger. (Daddy too, but don't tell him I said that!)

In my devotion today I read Micah 7:7.  "But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me!"  Did you read that...I watch in HOPE for the LORD! Not for the thing I want or need!  I'm waiting for GOD to show up and DELIVER hope to me and my situation! GOD WILL HEAR ME!  Now that's a promise!

Thinking about this verse brought me back to the darkest time of my life which oddly enough wasn't after the loss of my first love Rob.  (Don't get me wrong that was pretty dark.)  But I'm thinking more of the time I suffered my first miscarriage.  God had restored to me a family.  I had a beautiful home in Jacksonville Florida.  A wonderful Godly husband and a terrific four year old son I didn't even have to suffer labor or morning sickness for!  Still I was believing that God had told me I would have a child.  So how could he allow the promise to come and then take it from me?  For those who remember me during that time, well let's just say I wasn't my usual upbeat happy self.  I was full of sorrow.  How could God allow me to suffer another loss?  What was up?  

It wasn't until HE showed up with HOPE that I began to wait for HIM to SHOW up in my sorrow and NOT for HIM to answer my prayer!  Yup that's what I said!  I remember my son climbing up into my lap, wiping my tears away and saying, "Mommy please don't cry!  God told me we are going to have a baby and it's gonna be a girl!"

A voice of HOPE!  I began to see that there is a whole life to live.  People who care for me.  So many blessings that GOD has already given me.  Yes I still prayed and believed I'd actually have a child one day.  But my prayers were more focused on allowing GOD to love me through my sorrow. Allowing Him to be all that I needed.  I think sometimes we get so focused on getting an answer for our prayers that we don't just stop and rest in the fact that we are HIS kid's.  He wants to bless us!  He wants to give us the desires of our heart.  But He also knows what's up ahead of us.  He has a perfect time to answer your prayers.  He really does have it all under control.

I guess today I am asking you...How is Your Hope?  Are you praying that He will answer that prayer in the way you want HIM too?  Or are you watching and waiting in HOPE for the Lord to show up!  I know that for me it was a scary place to be.  Wondering if He would heal my first husband of cancer. Would I be alone again?  When Rob died I did think my life was over, but I remember digging into the Word of God and letting it SPEAK to me!  Remembering Rob's passion for the Lord I believed that my life wasn't over!  That God did still have plans for me.  When the answer is NO-there is STILL HOPE!

So for those of you who are waiting out there for God to answer or for Him to show up in your situation I say KEEP WATCHING IN HOPE!  (Yes...I'm thinking here of several on our Prayer List...and several friends in Ministry who have been waiting a while for God to hear and answer...) It's COMING!  Just keep waiting and watching with HOPE!  And for our dear friends who have been waiting on a building for their ministry...I just feel so strongly...IT"S coming!

And for those of you wondering how I could ever tie in a plug for the book "A Life That Win's", one of my "hinge" decisions was to start writing again! (Guess you will have to read the book to find out what a "hinge decision" is!)

Blessings ~ Gina

The Hard Questions

     Two weekends ago I had to go to one more of my classes for the Georgia School of Ministry.  Being completely honest, it was a hard weekend for me.   I hadn't really been in the mood to read our text book on Romans or to complete my homework.  I didn't want to read over the study guide and get ready for my exam either.  Life was very busy for me that week and I just wasn't interested in my class.  I got there on Friday night, and honestly right off the bat I determined it would be a hard class. Why you ask?  Because our teacher asked us to answer a very controversial question, and he was well, in your face about it as we gave him our answers.  (No you don't need to know what the question was.)

     One thing you do have to know about me however, is that I do not debate, EVER!  I don't watch political debates on TV, and I dislike arguing over things.  In other words as my teacher for the evening so eloquently put it..."So for you Gina things are black and white right?  No gray areas?".  And I guess I would have to answer, yes!  Or maybe I could tweak what he said and say this, when it comes to my beliefs it's pretty much black and white, with a few gray stripes. (Which oddly enough is sort of like my daughter's dance costume this season...sorry random thought there.)  Getting back on track here.  To find myself in a class where the teacher asked hard questions that just ached for a debate came as quite a challenge to me.

     My blog is not about the questions asked that weekend, or how I handled them, instead it's about the benefits of hard questions.  There are times when we all need to think about how we would answer the hard questions in life.  Questions like, "How can a loving God allow natural disasters to happen?  He could have prevented it."  Yes, I think we all pretty much agree that HE is God and He can stop certain things from happening.  Why doesn't He?  To be honest I don't have an answer.  But I do know this, that even in the midst of a horrific disaster He is there for those who call out to Him.  Life isn't easy.  Bad things do happen to good people.  I should know. 

    I believed for a long time that God loved me like crazy...and I still do.  But in my naivete I believed that His love for me meant He would never allow bad things to happen to me.  Then my first love, my husband I planned on spending the rest of my life with died from cancer.  I struggled with anger, discouragement and all of the other feelings one has after a loss.  Until in the middle of the night several months after Rob died, there in my lonely apartment trying hard to fall asleep once again, I heard the Spirit of the Lord say to me, "Get up and dance before me Gina."  I was like yeah right...but I knew in my heart I had to do this.  So I did.  (I won't tell you the song...well because it was several actually and because...well that's for another blog, after May 11th).

     It probably wasn't pretty that evening, my dance, but it did something special in my heart.  It started a healing process in my life, a process that reminded me once again just how much He loves me.  He loves me enough to share my grief.  In those quiet evenings when I listened to His voice and either danced, or worshipped Him, He spoke to me.  Through the music, through His word, through my obedience. 

     Hard questions.  We all face them, in our own lives and from others.  We need to be challenged with them sometimes, so we can come up with answers better than, Because! 

     Jesus asked hard questions of his followers.  He asked one day, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"...and just a few minutes later He asked, "But what about you?  Who do you say that I am?".  Later in His journey to the cross at the garden of Gethsemane He said "if it is possible may this cup be taken from me."  He didn't really say it like a question, but I have to pause for just one moment and wonder if that isn't what He meant that evening.  Here He is in a garden, surrounded by those who say they love Him and will follow Him and they can't even stay awake while He agonizes over what He knows is coming.  He has to be thinking and wondering, isn't there another way?  Oh He is willing to go the distance, I mean He says, Not my will but yours.  And there in that simple statement is the answer I so often look for.

    I looked for it as I watched Rob die.  I looked for it after my first miscarriage.  My second miscarriage.  And my third.  I don't know all that God will allow to come into my life, but I do know that His will be done, and that the path He has put me on may be full of twists and turns, bumps and falls, but He...He walks right beside me!  Holding me up...filling me with joy and loving me as I journey on to my final destination.  And the truth is I want others to join me on this journey.  So classes, like the one I just took, that challenge you to search for answers to tough questions are exactly what we in the "church world" need.  That weekend as hard questions were being asked I was being challenged to think like the world does, not like the church.  We aren't going to reach the world with pert Christian answers.  We need to be able to come up with answers that will make them think, make them realize that we have a faith worth looking into. A faith that is more than rules and regulations.  A faith that is all about relationship.

     In the end I can honestly say that what I thought was going to be the worse class, ended up being the best!  No, I still won't become part of a debate team or watch any sort of political debate on TV, but I will study harder to show myself approved, so that one day, when a hard question is asked of me I will be able to honestly answer it, and pray that God will use my words to touch someone's life.

Once Choice Away

     So it was spring break here in the Atlanta, Georgia area, and like so many others we took a trip south to Florida.  We love heading back to what most of us consider our "home" state.  I say that because three of the four of us were born in the Sunshine state, I was born in Maine.  I was looking forward to our trip to the beach. It came on a great day, not too hot at all.  However before we could get there, and here's the part I don't really want to admit too, my husband and I had a fight.  He said some things, I said some things and to be honest I don't really even remember what it was all about.  All I know is that I decided I wasn't going to talk to him.  So I didn't.  I sat on that beautiful beach, and didn't say a word.  I just fumed inside.  I thought of all kinds of things I wanted to say, I held onto every grudge I could think of, and well I made myself miserable.

    Finally he asked me if I wanted to walk on the beach. At last I thought, here is where he apologizes profusely for being such a jerk and begs my forgiveness.   We walked in silence and I fumed even more.  I began to think things like, "This is a perfectly romantic thing to do, walking on a beach, and I all I want to do is yell at him and run away!"  And, "Wow, I didn't realize he could go this long with out speaking!"  (Sorry honey, just had to say that!) As we were nearing the car and our children, he stopped me finally and began to ask what the matter was.  Our conversation got pretty heated as we went over the stupid argument we had, but finally we were laughing and joking and yes, making up.

     I didn't want to make up before he made me start talking.  I wanted to be angry with him for a long time!. I wanted to yell, scream and well, I wanted to just walk away.  It was in the car on the way home that I remembered a conversation I had with someone almost 14 years ago now.  We were discussing his "fall" back into sin, and the beginning of some extremely tough times for him.  He told me then it was just one bad choice he made that created a huge mess.  He went on to say, we are all just one choice away from making a bad decision, from taking a plunge into hard times.  Isn't it the truth?

     I mean I know life is hard, and things happen to make us want to quit.  Quit on life, on our marriages, even on our friendships, jobs, you name it!  But God has said in His word to Choose Life!  It's found in Deuteronomy, yeah I know who really likes reading Deuteronomy?  But there it is, Deuteronomy 30:19. "This day I call the heaven and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Now Choose Life, so that you and your children may live." 

     Every day is a choice.  A choice to live with God's love and favor, a choice to be happy, to live on, and to fight for what's really important.  My friend made a bad choice, but he's learned to forgive himself and to pick up and go on with God.  In the past four years I have had three friends choose another path-suicide. It breaks my heart that they came to a place where they just gave up, they didn't choose life.  They allowed the cares of this world to wear them down, and discourage them. I wish I could have been there for them.  I wish they were something I could have said or done to change their mind, to help them see that there is so much to live for.  Yes, we make bad choices and we have consequences we must face but with God-well-all things are possible!  He gives us strength to face another day when we feel like giving up.  He is our Father, and His plans for us are good ones.  We have to put our trust in Him everyday, choosing this life He has blessed us with and knowing in our hearts that He holds our hands as we walk the path He has placed us on.

    That day on the beach I could have chosen to stay angry with my husband for a very long time.  I could have allowed bitterness to creep into my heart, and not forgiven him for words that were said and if I had, it would have been the stupidest thing I have ever done in my life.  So I encourage you with this, be careful when you make a decision-your choices determine your destiny.  If we are not careful, or if we make a choice in anger we could be just one choice away from making the biggest mistake of our life. 

Little Things

I remember a song that a wonderful woman of God used to sing at our church while I was growing up, "Consider the Lilies".  (If you get a chance go onto YouTube and find the following link!  Sit back and enjoy!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIx_0nTkmcE )  My favorite line in the whole song, and it isn't a very long song is this, "But He's not to busy to care about you!"  What an amazing thought...the God of the universe isn't too busy for me.  Kind of encouraging to think about isn't it?  He cares about the big things in our lives...and more importantly He cares about the small things too.  How do I know?  I just do.

This past week was my birthday.  It ended up being a celebration that lasted more than just the 26th of March, and oddly enough I was okay with that.  A dear lady from our church called me just before I left work the day before my birthday.  She asked for just a few minutes before I left.  I had no clue what she wanted but I met her at the door to the church.  In her hands were the most beautiful coral roses, a birthday card and a gift bag.  Her words were, "I just want to celebrate you this day before  your birthday!"  I was touched, and tears came to my eyes as I remembered a day oh so many years ago that often I forget, but a day that helped me realize that God cares about even the little things that matter to me.

You see after my first husband died I had to get on with my life.  I moved back to Florida, and lived in an apartment for a while until God through the help of my best friend's mother, brought me a wonderful home that had been taken back by the bank.  It needed a little cosmetic work, and the siding of the house was damaged, and the garden was kind of bad, but it was my first home and I loved it!  (Still do...I miss that house on Blue Whale Way!)  I had been in the house for a few weeks when outside of my bedroom window in what little garden there was, I saw a small rose bush that had just started to bloom.  In that quiet moment I prayed a simple prayer, "God, you know I love roses, and well I really wish that this rose bush would be those coral colored roses that I love so much!"  I forgot that prayer for a few days...but God didn't.  You see I woke up one morning, looked out my window and there it was...the first bloom of that wonderful little rose bush, and yes, it was coral! 

Oh some of you reading this may say, it was just a coincedence, but I don't think it was. Why?  Because there have too many instances in my life where "small things" have happened to encourage me, to bring a smile to my face, and I choose to believe that these things come from God!  He cares about you because you are His child, and what matters to you matters to Him, no matter how small.  I challenge you after you've read this to go to Bible Gateway or pull The Message Bible off of your shelf and look up Matthew 6:19-34.  But until you get that minute...here's what I really want you to hear, "If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers-most of which are never even seen-don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you?" (Verse 30)     

God cares about the little things in your life!  He really does!  He will do His best for you, and yes, that includes coral roses!

Handled It Like A Pro

Have you ever felt like running away?  Well that is where I have been the past few weeks.  Life has been a challenge.  I've been discouraged, depressed and well...ready to just pack my bags and hit the road.  I've struggled with my attitude and my actions.  I've stomped my feet and cried out to God and boy have I wanted to just escape.  This past weekend, however,  I witnessed something that completely floored me, and convicted me of my actions and attitudes.  My daughter is on a competitive dance team.  Most of the girls on the team compete solo dances as well as team. This is the very first solo for three of the girls and one of them was the first one out on the stage after an already long day of dancing.  As she took the stage and her music started she stopped right in the middle of her first few steps.  She stared out at the audience and froze.  The cheers from her family and her team mates broke into her thoughts and after a moment she began to tap again.  She ended up finishing the rest of her routine to the applause of many.  One of the judges actually began to clap and cheer her on when she started to dance again. I have never been so proud of a little girl!  (And believe me these little girls have given me so many reasons to be proud of them over the last four years)  When the awards were handed out the judges awarded her the "Handled It Like A Pro" award!  We all stood up and cheered.  She told her mother later, "Mommy I wanted to just run off that stage, but I knew I couldn't."

When I heard these words it hit me...you see I've wanted to run off the "stage" for weeks now, but I have kept dancing, although I haven't been handling myself like a pro.  No instead I have been that spoiled little girl who stomps up the stairs and says, "This isn't fair God".  I've moped around the house feeling sorry for myself and my circmstances.  I've ranted and raved.  I've threatened.  One day I took out the suitcases to start packing, you will be happy to know I put them back. I have let the performance take control of me, instead of me taking control of the performance. I've done what I knew I had to do with entirely the wrong attitude.  I've grumbled through my act, and not enjoyed every moment of it because I knew everyone was watching me.  I've put on an act that all was well because you know I can't have one hair out of place when I "perform". The truth is life is messy.  It's full of drama and upsets.  Moments when we want to run off our stage and just hide!  But we can't.  We are surrounded with such a "great cloud" of witnesses.  Heavenly ones, and ones here who watch as we fight on in the midst of our circumstances.  They want to know if we are going to give up or go on with God.

I have to tell you that this little girl is now my "heroine".  I want to remember that scene when she began to dance again forever.  I want to burn it in my memory and never forget it.  I want to learn to "keep" dancing when the cares of this life wear me down.  More than anything though, when I walk through Heaven's gates, I want God to hand me the "Handled It Like A Pro" award.  I want Him to be proud of my attitude and my actions when life's dramas hit hard.  So keep dancing, in the midst of the storm, you see I believe He dances right beside you.    

Okay..so this is one of my favorite sayings.  Just had to post it.  Not much to say today...except I am so glad that God is in CONTROL!  The walls are coming down..my office paint color isn't quite what I thought it would be...but it's still nicer than the fish! I'll post pics tomorrow...IF I can.  Only a few days until the kids start school...and I feel like GOD is about to do some amazing things..doesn't HE always?  Have a blessed day!  Gotta go practice my piano....NOT really!  Blessings!

Jeremiah 29:11

I know it's been months since I last wrote.  Truth is life just gets busy sometimes, and it's been a very busy summer.  It isn't that I haven't thought about writing...I have probably started at least 20 blogs, in my head, I just haven't actually sat down to write them.  This time however, I need to write.  I need to write about one of my all-time favorite scriptures, Jeremiah 29:11.  "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.  Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and hope."

Yes, it has been a very crazy and very busy summer.  Let me give you just a glimpse of my summer.  We have had plans to remodel the bathrooms at our church, a much needed job, for sometime now. Well there we were in the middle of our summer vacation and boom...the phone rang at 9:30.  We were in the hotel room trying to get our daughter asleep because she had her big dance competition the next morning and I was going to have to wake her up at 4:30 AM just to get her ready and at the venue by 6:30 AM.  So the phone rang and it was one of our deacons letting us know that a water valve had busted in the ladies bathroom and our foyer that had just been renovated two years before was underwater. In fact the bathrooms were flooded along with the nursery, the hallway, the church office and most of the sanctuary!  We were 6 hours away in Florida....with commitments.  We couldn't just drop everything and take off, so we told our deacon to call in the reserves and do the best he could.  We finished our vacation and came home to a mess!  (The good news is by the time we are done remodeling...well it's gonna be a whole brand new church just about!  Guess we are remodeling those bathrooms a little earlier than planned!)  And it hasn't stopped yet!   Honestly it's getting to be something new going wrong almost every day, we are kind of laughing about it now. 

My husband and I could be stressing about it...we could be worrying...we could be living in the day by day drama of it, but we aren't why?  Because we both remember Jeremiah 29:11...we've lived it before.  We've had our "dreams" shattered, our hopes crushed...only to see that we serve an amazing GOD, a GOD who sees beyond the shattered dreams...the crushed hope and says, "Oh what a beautiful thing I can do with this!"  (Kind of like those ladies we all admire..you know the ones I am talking about?  The ones who go to a yard sale...sees someone else's castaways and takes it home because she sees potential!  And oh what she does with it!!!!!)  That's what God can and does do with your shattered dream!

I'm talking about shattered dreams all because of Ryan.  Ryan is the youngest son of my best friend Michelle.  He's "my redheaded son"!  Well that's what I call him.  After the death of my first husband and my move back to Florida, Michelle and her family sort of adopted me.  Most evenings I would be at their house having dinner so she could help me pass my college algebra class.  We went shopping a lot too!  I can still remember one shopping trip to the mall with her two sons, Jared and Ryan.  Jared looks exactly like Michelle, Ryan has red hair, did I mention that I am a red head too?  Well Ryan was being a bit....ummm active that day and the sales lady just had to make some comment about "redheaded children", I almost started a fight right there in the JC Penney kids department!  (Then she really would have found out what they say about redheads!)  Most of the time everyone thought Ryan was mine, and that was fine with me.  (He really has red hair from his dad!) 

Well back to Ryan and shattered dreams.  Ryan became a very focused young man.  He went to high school and joined the ROTC and decided that the military was what God had planned for him.  He was full of dreams, plans and thoughts of graduating from Paris Island and wearing the USMC uniform.  (I was so excited..my first husband was a Marine and I couldn't wait to go see him graduate!)  I was able to be at his going away party in Jacksonville, Florida only a few weeks ago, and it was a great party for a great kid!  Three days later Ryan got on a bus and was taken to Paris Island.  Just a few days into that first week of basic training and Ryan was in a hospital room because he was experiencing tremors in his hands.  Later tests would reveal some abnormalities that make it impossible for him to pursue his dreams of being a Marine. 

His mother posted the news the other night on Facebook and in her message she said this, "Ryan received the news that they are going to disqualify him and are sending him home.  He sounds good.  He knows God has a plan and He will lead him."  It just struck me...as a matter of fact, our whole Sunday morning service yesterday became just about that, God has a plan and HE will lead. So many people are running around with shattered dreams.  A job is gone.  A husband has left.  A diagnosis has come in and it's bad.  Your dreams and your plans seem to be taking a turn you can't understand.  The church is flooded after you've been having an increase in attendance and giving and now people aren't coming back...ooops did I say that?  Anyways what faith Ryan has!  That he can say at 18 years of age, "I know God has a plan and He will lead me!" 

We all need to remember that!  Maybe the way life is heading is not the way you thought it would go, BUT GOD knew!  He saw!  And HE is the one who will LEAD...if you will listen to his voice!  I know after Rob died that I had no clue what I was going to do.  So many things to consider, and there I was only 31 wanting to be a wife, not a widow; wanting to be a mother, not childless.  It took me a few weeks to just get rested up after the turmoil.  Then it took me a few more months just to wrap my head around the "new" life I had to think about.  When God finally told me to leave my family in Maine and move back to Florida where I just had a few friends and a great church my first thought was, "Are you sure God?".  (Okay maybe it was "Hey God can you be the one to tell this to my mother because she really isn't going to like it!")  But I knew that He was telling me to pack and head out.  Now I can look back and say I am glad I did. 

My husband Randy said something yesterday....oops the day before, it's after midnight, a new day now!  During the altar call that became our service..."Nothing has God wringing his hands in desperation.  Nothing takes him by surprise."  He knew about Ryan's problem before Ryan went to Paris Island.  He knew the water valve was going to bust this summer.  God isn't up there saying, "Oh no what am I going to do with Ryan now?  What are Randy and Gina going to do about the church now?"  He's got a plan...and HE will lead. 

Maybe this is just for me to write about here in the wee hours of the morning.  Maybe I am just encouraging myself....but hey even us Pastor's Wives need to remember sometimes...Jeremiah 29:11-I have a plan Gina, says the Lord!  I have a PLAN...and I will LEAD!

All I can say is Thank You Lord...I promise to follow!  I can't wait to see what you have in store for my "redheaded son"!

Open Our Eyes God!

I am not sure if you keep a journal, but I do.  Or maybe I should say I did.  Seems like life is so busy now that writing daily in a journal is almost impossible.  I love to re-read what I wrote however!  It helps me to see where I've been, what God has brought me through, and often just makes me smile remembering the things that God has used to teach me lessons. So here I am going to share with you a journal entry I made several years back...I hope it makes you smile, and THINK!

"This morning as I sat on my favorite side of our "old" couch in our "new" home trying to catch up on my reading in my awesome devotional book, something happened that God used to speak to me through!  It may seem insignificant, but then again, it may not.

My children Josiah 10 and Aiden Rose 4 were quietly watching a movie in the den as I had my quiet time when all of a sudden Aiden Rose came screaming in pain out of the door.  I was startled!  She was running almost blindly to me only peeking through one eye.  It didn't take me long to see that some how all of her beautiful long eye lashes on her right eye were trapped under her eyelid.  You know how just one eye lash can irritate your eye, imagine all of your eyelashes on your eyeball!  I knew that in order to relieve her pain I had to get her eye open all the way and free those eyelashes! 

Aiden didn't understand that however!  She didn't want her eye to be opened.  An open eye was what started the pain in the first place.  As I tried to open her eye and calm her fears at the same time I realized that I needed help.  I told my son who was anxiously looking on that he needed to run upstairs for daddy.  While one more time I tried to calmly explain to Aiden Rose the need to open her eye.  Just as my husband rounded the corner I was able to get her to trust me enough to open her eye. 

After it was all over and we had prayed for her, each of us went back to what we had been doing before. I was still sitting in my favorite spot on the couch and tried to go back to my Bible reading when it hit me.  What had just happened was a lot like LIFE!  Each day, or maybe for you each month, something hurtful can or will happen to us.  We want to keep our eyes shut and hope the pain will just go away.  Many times the Lord wants us to open our eyes to the pain (incident) and to TRUST Him to get us through it!  He wants to get the "pain" out.  He often uses the painful situations in our lives to help us see Him more clearly.  We simply need to do the very thing that sometimes we are afraid of doing....Opening our Eyes! 

Today...I encourage you...if something painful has or is happening in your life, let God open your eyes to the reality that NOTHING is TOO HARD for HIM!  You can believe that HE will get the pain out, and even if the situation doesn't turn around, HE is ALWAYS there for you! 

An Anxious Heart

There are moments in our lives that stay with us forever, and then there are some things that slip silently into the night and we completely forget about them.  Several years ago I was a stay at home mom enduring another sweltering summer in Georgia.  My then three year old daughter was a handful, but add her very busy nine year old brother into the mix and well you can imagine that something was always happening in our  home.  Let's just say that life is never boring in the Scalise household.

This particular summer was especially unsettling for me.  My husband was an Associate Pastor at a church I had grown to love, when our Lead Pastor told us he was gently "pushing us out of the nest".  He said that he believed my husband would make a great Lead Pastor.  This was something we had not even discussed.  We love teenagers, and had determined that our ministry was to be Youth Pastor's until we were well into our Senior Years.  Well the whole process of leaving this town and church that I had grown to love and looking for a place to Pastor was making me a nervous wreck. 

You see I often suffer from an "anxious" heart!  My husband believes it's because I like to be in control of things, but let's not go there right now.  I am one of those people who gets excited by the prospect of change, but then reality hits when the boxes begin to come out!  I become anxious when I realize that I am leaving a place I've called home for four years, and wonder, just what is going to happen when we get to the new place, and WHERE is it going to be?  You can hear my "anxious" heart even in my breathing!  Sounds crazy right?  Well I have so many questions, so many concerns about our "next" adventure that at times I feel I can't even breathe.

I remember this one particular morning that summer.  I had got up before either of the children, a major accomplishment since they both like to watch morning cartoons.  I went to grab my Bible and devotion book to read in the living room only to find them gone from their usual place.  I marched out into the living room fully intending to harass my husband, who was still home, about taking my things.  Instead he simply laid the Bible down he was reading, took me in his arms and gave me a great big "bear" hug.  He never said a word.  He just held me.

Honestly at that moment I felt like God Himself was holding me close to His heart.  He wasn't telling me, "It will be all right Gina.".  He wasn't even saying, "This is the path to take, walk in it."  No, instead I felt like God was simply giving His anxious child a great big "bear" hug which said, "I'm here!  Don't be afraid.".

There are many times in life that we become anxious.  Maybe you are anxious because you don't know what the future holds for you.  I can't calm your heart with words, but I believe that if you let Him, God can!  He wants to give you a great big "bear" hug today!  He wants you to release your worry over what the future may hold and He wants to remind you of just WHO it is that holds your future! 

I encourage you today, if you are suffering from an anxious heart, get out your Bible and turn to Luke 12:27-30.  Then go on to Philippians 4:4-7.  Here it says this beginning in verse 6- "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the PEACE of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 

My wish for you today is that you will experience God's PEACE!

Stand by Your Man...Part Two!



Okay, so I come from a long line of Maine boat builders.  Maybe that's why I LOVE Noah's wife so much.  Here's a picture of my grandfather standing next to one of the fishing boats he built.  Kind of neat huh?

I left off the last blog by saying that Noah's wife had her own faith in God.  We all know the story, Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.  Noah was in a  unique way a savior of mankind, but for Noah where would we be today?  The Bible goes on to tell us that Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people.  God had an idea!  He was sick and tired of the sin that was going on in the world He had created, and He had to destroy mankind.  Yet when He looked on the earth he saw this righteous and godly man, Noah.  He decided to save Noah and his family and start all over again.  God spoke directly to Noah and told him what to do.  He laid out the plans for the ark and told him exactly how He was going to destroy mankind.

All right so here it is, the standing by your man part!  Imagine with me that you are living in a place where you have never seen the ocean, and you have no clue what rain is.  Imagine that your husband comes to you and says, "God told me last night that I need to build an ark because He is going to send rain and make a huge flood over all the earth!". Remember you have no clue what rain is or a flood for that matter and you don't even know what a boat is!  I am trying to get you to realize that Noah, his wife and the rest of his family must have been teased, ridiculed and mocked for what they were trying to do.  People must have gathered in his yard just to see what the old "coot" was up to now.

They were evil people in that day, so they must have jeered at his wife when she would go off to the market.  His son's must have been picked on at "school" for what their father was saying.  Noah wasn't even quiet about his project from the Lord.  In 2 Peter 2:5 it says that Noah was a "preacher" of righteousness. I have never met a quiet preacher yet, have you?  Especially when he knows he has something to tell people to try and help save them from destruction.  He was trying to convert the sinners before it was too late!

I have immense respect for Noah, his wife and family.  They must have gone through some very trying times.  They must have been looked on as crazy by the people surrounding them.  I can just hear the people now..."Rain, we have never seen rain, what are you talking about?", or "Flood what are you talking about?  This boat you are making is HUGE Noah, have you lost your mind?".  Noah's wife must have been free from the bondage of other people's opinions!  WOW, that's a gift!  Free from the worry about what her parents would say, free from the worry of what her friends would think of her.  Free to obey God no matter what! 

Noah's wife must have been a woman of God.  She stood by him even when she may have not been exactly sure of what he was doing.  She had to have faith in God and in Noah.  Nobody without faith could have done what she did.  How could she have backed her husband in building a large ocean going vessel to escape a flood when she had never even seen rain?  Without faith how could she have raised three sons with the constant sound of hammering in her ears as they joined daddy in his boat building adventure?  How could she have stepped onto the Ark that fateful day and left nearly everything behind, knowing that the world she would come back to would never be the same?  She must have believed that God could and would save them just as He promised!  She may have even been aware before she married Noah that her husband to be was destined for a special service to God.

The most crucial thing to her faith was the fact that her eyes had to be fixed on the world to come after the flood.  She lived and raised her family for more than half of her life in a world that was filled with sin and doomed for destruction.  She had to teach her sons to stand up to the wrong things in her world and live for the right things!  She must have  known how easy it would be for her sons to cave into the temptations all around them.  Isn't that what we are supposed to be teaching our children today?  That this is not our final destination?  This is just a temporary dwelling place!  Don't become a slave to the things around you, but look forward to heaven!

Her family had to be close because they had to move further and further away from the beliefs and practices of the people around them.  They also had to prepare for a time when there wouldn't be anyone else, except them.  Here is where I could go on to discuss the three women that Noah's sons married, but my blog isn't about them.  Again they are three nameless women but I believe that they had to have a strong faith in God too!  Otherwise I don't think they would have made it on the boat!  (I really love it that God often doesn't name peole in the Bible who do great things!  I think He wants us to all realize that we are somebody!)

What courage and determination Noah's wife must have had to sustain her lonely position.  To face the destruction of everything she knew.  What spiritual strength would have been necessary to endure the hostility and ridicule that she must have faced?  This woman a nobody?  No, she must have been one of the greatest women to ever live.  It doesn't matter that we may never know her name this side of heaven, she impacted the world's history forever. 

Here are four things I believe that Noah's wife must have had:

1.  She must have viewed life as an adventure to experience, not as a trial to be endured!

2.  She must have kept herself ready!  Preparing as best as she knew how for the upcoming adventure and trusting God for the rest!

3.  She must have trusted her man as she followed him into the ark that day!  Anticipating what God would do next!

4.  She must have been a prayer warrior!  I believe she had to have had that..."Cast your cares upon Him" mentality that says take it to God...and leave it with Him!  Because you see I believe that she must have known this  "floods" come and go in your life, But God is Forever Faithful! 

It took team effort to pull off the ark.  When all was said and done I believe that Noah realized he couldn't have done it without the help of his wife and sons.  She had been as busy and as faithful to the call as he had been.  Stand by Your Man...I couldn't help but think of this song when I was writing this message.  Our men may not be perfect, and they may sometimes say and do things we wonder about.  But God wants us to stand firm with them in the call He has given them!  Think about Noah's wife today in a whole new way, and maybe even thank God that He hasn't called your husband to build a big boat in the backyard! 

Blessings!



The Original Stand by Your Man Woman

A few years ago I preached a Sunday night message on a woman who I believe is probably one of the most overlooked heroines of the Bible.  She has a place in Bible history.  Many women in the Bible are never even named, just like this lady.  So...let me ask this...have you ever heard a message on Noah's wife?  Well I know that I hadn't even really thought about Noah's wife until I was doing some research on the internet and I came across a very interesting article on her.

Noah's wife is referred to five times in the Bible as just that, Noah's wife.  No name just a description of who she is by being associated with another person.  There is a whole message right there!  How many times have I been referred to as Randy's wife, not Gina?  Or Josiah's Mom?  I know that when I was growing up I was forever labeled by my brother's, Gary's sister or Steve's sister.  It really isn't a pleasant thing to be labeled that way.  We all want to be noticed for who we are, not who we are related too.  Okay, that was way off track let me get back to who I really am talking about. 

In my research on Noah's wife I discovered that according to Jewish tradition the name of Noah's wife is Naamah, which means pleasant one.  What a nice meaning.  I think she had to be a pleasant woman to have to deal with what she went through.  Noah's wife had an important part in a miracle of God.  She was a somebody.  I believe that she was just as much hand picked as Noah was.  She had a purpose and a reason for being.  She fulfilled her god-given role as a "helper" faithfully.  She helped Noah during several hundred years of farming.  She supported him during approximately 120 years of boat-building.  She was with him for more than a year of zoo-keeping on an enormous houseboat, and many other things as well.

The world back then was a very different place than it is now.  Disease as we know it was almost non-existent.  It wasn't unusual for a person to be a first time parent at the ripe old age of 100.  Of course back then we know they lived well into their 800's.  Can you imagine that? The plant life was different, the atmosphere was different...and Facebook was not up and running!

Yet there are similarities to our world too.  First of all the population was growing rapidly.  Scientists guess there must have been around a billion people alive at the time of Noah.  They were not cavemen either, they were rapidly developing many new skills, much like we are experiencing today with our technology that seems to change every few hours.  The most important similarity however is the sin that existed in the pre-flood world, just like our world today.  It seems like you can't even turn on the television without hearing about the violence and wickedness of this generation.  We are truly living in a society that is much like the days of Noah.  God was watching the world of Noah very carefully, and you can be sure that He is watching our's with just as much interest. 

Noah's wife knew that her world was under God's judgement.  Her husband had told her that God planned to destroy the earth with water because of it's sin (Genesis 6:13, 17).  God also gave Noah specific directions for building an ark (meaning box) to preserve his family and the animals.  I don't think she would have had a problem with any of this.  Noah's wife was very much aware that her God had created her to be a helper to her husband.

Many women today believe that fulfillment comes from living a lifestyle that is independent and separate from their husbands, but the exact opposite is true!  When a woman takes an active and supportive role as a wife she enables her husband to become all God created him to be and in the process God accomplishes His purposes and plans for them as a couple.  The Hebrew word for helper means to provide what is needed or lacking.  The idea is for someone to come alongside another and by her assistance and support enable that person to accomplish what could not have been accomplished otherwise.  Noah's wife knew that God would have revealed His plans to Noah before her.  She wasn't a nobody, but rather a real somebody fulfilling her feminine role!  She obeyed God by submitting to her husband's leadership.  The word says of Noah that he was a righteous man, and because of this she knew he would not have abused his position.

One thing I think we have to come to realize and remember about Noah's wife is that she had her own relationship with God.  Her faith didn't hinge on Noah's faith....I'll write more about that in another blog!

What Will You Do with Your "Broken Pieces"?

Wow...it has been quite a while since I last wrote.  I didn't mean to stop...but life sort of got in the way, imagine that!  I spent last week in Maine for a very relaxing visit with my family as we celebrated my mother's cancer free report.  For that I am praising God!

Last evening my husband and I were honored to share our testimonies with the women and men of a great church in Columbus, Georgia.  In my testimony I share about allowing God to take the "broken pieces" of our life and put them back together to create something beautiful.  My broken pieces came after the death of my first husband Rob, and the three miscarriages that Randy and I have suffered.  Our family was able to spend the evening with some really great friends there in Columbus, and we enjoyed an incredible time of fellowship.  Lots of laughter!

This morning after two wonderful cups of coffee with my friend Julia I was sitting in her living room waiting while she got ready to head out for breakfast.  From my vantage point in the living room I could look right into her dining room, when all of a sudden there was a loud crash and I watched as all of this crystal came falling off the shelves of her hutch.  It was eerie to say the least.  No one was in the living room and I couldn't imagine how this had happened.  My first thought was, there must have been an earthquake?  But I hadn't felt any tremors.  The next thought was well, I have to admit it did look a little like something out of a "Poltergeist" movie, but I knew that it couldn't be that either. 

My friend came flying around the corner and looked at the mess lying there on the floor.  I only had to take one look at her face to realize that those had been special pieces to her.  Her son and my husband began to pick up the shattered glass while she told me with tears in her eyes that they had been her mother's glasses.  All I could do was hug her, there didn't seem to be anything else to say.  The boys were taking the larger pieces of glass and putting them on her dining room table she was clearly not sure what to do with those pieces and then I remembered a scene from this phenomenal movie.

The movie is "Joshua" and there is a scene where a glass angel gets broken and it's really special to this lady.  She yells at Joshua, who is type of Jesus in the movie, and tells him that her life is like that broken glass, shattered and no one can fix it.  After Joshua leaves town he has a beautiful glass heart delivered to her, and the person who gives it to her says, "Imagine something this beautiful coming from all that broken glass!"   It's like a light comes on in her, because she realizes that what was being said is this, "You can trust God with your broken pieces, He can and will make something beautiful from them!"

I encouraged my friend NOT to throw away all those pieces, but instead to find someone who can make something beautiful out of that shattered glass. It may sound like a strange idea, but honestly I've seen too many beautiful things made out of the "messy" things in our lives!  I've watched God restore the broken pieces of my life and countless others, and make them shine for Him.  Somewhere there in Columbus, Georgia I believe there is an artist, who can take those shattered pieces and make a beautiful piece of art full of old and new memories! 

You see not only do I have a story of "broken pieces", but my friend does too!  She is one of my heroes!  She is a cancer survivor!  As a matter of fact, I think it's very fitting that those goblets were pink...you see Julia is a PINK WARRIOR!  One of several friends of mine who have fought breast cancer and won! 

Yes, I can"t wait to see what someone makes of those broken pieces.  It may have been a hard thing to watch as those precious goblets came crashing down, but isn't that like our lives?  The difficulties we face are hard for the moment, BUT WITH GOD, even those difficulties can be made a work of art!  Let Him take the "broken pieces" of your life and make something beautiful out of it today.  Don't keep worrying, stressing or crying out over your situation, instead CAST YOUR CARES on Him, because HE CARES FOR YOU!  Then walk away and say, "It's in your hands now Father!"  Trust Him to take it, and make it shine!  After all....He is a Master Artist who delights in taking a piece of ordinary clay and making a beautiful piece of pottery!

And for my other PINK WARRIOR'S...who are still fighting, know I pray and believe every day that you too will soon hear those words...CANCER FREE!

Family Huddle Time #8-

When to Say No, and when to Say Yes!

So yesterday was a day!  First it was Sunday and one of the busiest days of our week.  I honestly have no fun thing to do with your family this week.  But I do want to share something that happened to me yesterday.  I said Yes, to way to many things.  I said Yes to working in the Church nursery on a Sunday morning, when I know my husband wants me in the service with him.  I said Yes to teaching Sunday School for the adult class....which I have to say was an AMAZING CLASS!  And I loved every minute of it.  The sad thing is I say Yes to much in life. 

My son is acting in a local theatre production and has practices every Sunday.  Yesterday was no exception.  After getting him some lunch we dropped him off at the church, and came home.  It was a great day for a nap.  Raining, overcast just a great day to rest and enjoy.  I wanted to just take time for me, and you know what it would have been okay if I had.  I could have read that book, or written that letter or taken that nap.  The more I thought of my daughter downstairs watching TV the more I realized I had said Yes to everyone else....it was TIME to SAY YES to her.  Sure I spend time with her, watching TV, taking her to dance, and doing other things, but what about just taking a rainy Sunday and spending time with her? 

That's what we did.  I found a "Once Upon a Time" scrapbook I had purchased years ago for her, with every intention of writing her her own fairy tale.  I got out all of my scrapbooking supplies and we spent hours creating a story together.  We had NCIS on at first, because don't we all secretly LOVE Gibbs?  We also saw Cupcake Wars, and David Tutera The Wedding Planner!  Okay, so we didn't really watch them we just had them on for noise!  Don't tell me you have never done that?  The neat thing is, we still aren't done with our project!  Yup...the clutter from it is still all over the dining room table!  But we'll finish today...after all today I have learned to say NO to things!  Today...the kids are out of school...the sun is shining...and I am saying YES to spending time with my TWO favorite kids! 

Don't always SAY YES!  It's okay to look at people in love and occasionally say, "NO I am sorry, I can't do that...".  Oh...and if you have an urge to do something creative with your kids!  DO IT!  Just say YES!

Family Huddle #7

I am determined to at least do this on my blog!  So...this one will be short!  The other day we were cleaning out our son's bedroom.  It was about time!  Tucked away behind some book shelves in the corner were these old poster boards.  It was a craft we had done one day while daddy was away.  He still had them!  Of course we ended up throwing them away that clean up day, but here's what the kids and I did.  First we went to the Dollar Tree and bought several white poster board.  (You could get whatever color you want however.)  We also found those ketchup/mustard bottles that you can fill up and reuse.  We went to a craft store and found acrylic paint in colors that they love.  Then we added the colors into the bottles.  We put on old clothes, laid out the poster boards on the back porch and began to squeeze the paint onto the poster board!  It really was a FUN day! Okay, so we didn't hang the pictures any where but they never forgot that day either.  It was creative and fun!  (You could fill up balloons with acrylic paint and pin the poster board onto something, then attach the filled balloons onto the poster board and get out your darts!  Now that sounds like something we will have to try soon!)

Get out there and have fun with your kids!  They grow up way to fast!

Family Huddle #5 & #6

Family is extremely important to me.  It's what makes me smile.  Like the fact that I love being able to watch as my ten year old walks home from school in her big pink winter coat, Coca Cola polar bear hat with a smile on her face as she screams...."Mom, I got a 100 on a math test!"  Yup...family it's important.

So last week I didn't do a "family huddle".  This week I am doing two in one, encouraging you to explore your "creative" side and love on your family.  I wish I could take credit for this next idea but I can't.  I stole it from a friend but since this is going to be a potentially long blog I decided it could be a two in one deal. 

A few years ago my husband turned 40.  I did a "40 Days' of Birthday Fun" for him.  I started forty days before his birthday with a nice dinner at a great restaurant with some friends we had been wanting to get together with forever. I got a baby sitter, took pictures and even grabbed something from the restaurant to remember it by.  I won't list all 40 things I did here, but I will highlight some of them.

• I made a scrap book so I could keep track of all forty days of fun.
• Took the family to Disney's Princesses on Ice...not my sons favorite but we did have fun!
• Had a Star Wars night complete with pizza, a Star Wars movie and some games.  We chose two teams and competed for points by doing a Star Wars word search with so many minutes on the clock; a Star Wars Trivia game; and then each team had to take things I had taken from my crafts to  "make an alien".  We had to name the alien and the planet they were from.  One was Princess Atara from Moldari, the boys made "The Flush King" from the planet of Bladder-ooine...they still remember this night!
• I got creative with change too...like one day I gave him 40 pennies and tried to find one from each year he was born...same with nickels, dimes and quarters.  (I bought him a photo box to keep his loot in!  Let me tell you it got challenging finding forty things to do!)
• One day it was 40 Hershey kisses day.
• We had Josiah day when Josiah made a special picture just for dad...it went in the memory album.
• One day I wrote 40 reasons I love you!
• On Aiden's day she painted a "fireman" picture because her dad is her hero, and he was a fireman for a while!
• Friends started getting in on this plan, one day a friend of his took him to play golf! 
• We had family football night (the original huddle time) when we went to see a friend's son play high school football.  It was freezing cold that night and Aiden said "my toes are like ice-clickles". 
• One day Josiah wrote his dad a poem. 
• One day Aiden wrote a poem for her dad. 
• One day it was 40 reasons you are special.
• Josiah wrote his "dream adventure with dad" which at the time was a Lord of the Rings adventure scenario, lots of Orc killing going on there.
• I wrote a poem on my dream vacation with Randy.
• I had a romantic mad lib one day, and a romantic word search game another.
• I bought him some crayons, because when we were dating we colored with Josiah, a lot!
• Aiden wrote a story about her favorite adventure with daddy.  She wants to head to California with him!
• There was a lunch date with Aiden, a movie day with Josiah, and a guys night out with his best friend.

  I didn't spend a load of money.  Some times I would, like when I paid for him and his best friend to go off for steaks one night.  It was work, but it was worth it.  In the middle of the forty days of fun his Mom suffered a heart attack.  I had to improvise a lot, like some days got changed quickly and I would send his "small" presents with him when he went out of town to Tennessee.  I wrote it all in his memory album, which is nice too, because now we can look back and remember just how sick she was, and how blessed we are she made it through. 

At the end of the forty days I got sneaky.  I had been planning a "huge" surprise party for Randy.  He had no clue, but I had managed with the help of his best friend to find out the e-mail addresses of friends from long ago.  I also had contacted many people from our older youth groups.  Several who were not able to attend made videos of themselves wishing him a happy birthday.  Many sent e-mails which I added to the scrap book.  I told Randy that a big party just wasn't in the budget.  He seemed let down, but he had no clue what was about to happen. 

We had two girls drive all the way from Florida to be with us that weekend.  They were part of the "surprise", but also my helpers.  They supposedly left after our Sunday morning service, but really they went up to the Fellowship Hall where a deacon let them in to decorate for his party.  Friends and family came after the Sunday PM service started and snuck in the back door of the Fellowship hall.   After the first praise and worship song, our worship leader said, "Pastor Randy you are looking a little tired there, are you feeling well?"  One of our friends came from the back running down with a stethoscope in hand and then the church was flooded with a load of people all singing "Happy Birthday"! 

Looking back it was so much fun!  So many great memories of people who took time out, even if it was just to send a card or an e-mail to wish him a Happy 40th!  It may not have been as good as what he did for me on my 40th, but I know we all still remember the 40 days of fun!  Hmmmm, maybe I will have to bring it back when my son turns 18? 

Love on your family this week, maybe even have a Star Wars night, after all it comes out in 3-D this week!