Could It Get Worse?

Today was one of those days where I asked myself this question many times.  Really?  Seriously?  Wow!

A drive up river with downed trees, downed power lines only to discover that the person I was picking up today really didn't need a ride, but had no cell reception to tell me this until I was there at 6:30 for the pick up.  A corporate visit at work that didn't go well for me....even though I was the one doing things correctly and the person that got kudos was not.  A drive home that found me stuck behind a slow moving car from Idaho (no offense if you are from there.....just relaying the facts here).  A customer mad at me about the price of a gallon of paint (a common complaint these days).  A spray can making session that found me putting waterbased paint into a machine that requires oil based paint to make spray cans sue to another employee shaking the wrong kind of paint.  THREE clean-up sessions at the spray can station later and then the customer left because I apparently took to long to make his paint which left me with two spray cans and a partial gallon of paint that no one else will really want to buy.

I share all of this not to make you sad, make you appreciate your life, or make you feel bad for me nor to complain.....but rather to share with you the great joy I feel tonight as I realize that none of this is a surprise to the One who is really in charge here.

Think about it for a moment.  Do you remember a time, maybe even today, that you have felt like everytime you turn around there is something else....yes, even something worse....that is staring you in the face?  How I react in moments like this is what is important.  What I do, what I say, and how I react are the things that God is concerned with.  He already knows how I am going to react, what I am going to say, etc.  He knows it all and He loves me anyway!

It is with a less heavy heart tonight that I can say to Him, "Lord, I have no idea what the lesson here is, but I ask that You help me to find the point of it quickly and move on!"  What a relief when I turn things over to Him as they happen.  See, today, I was praying things like: "Father, may the truth be seen in this situation."  or "Father, help me to remain calm right now." or even, "Father, let me not take offense to that comment."  Rather than getting all "fired up" as I call it, I decided to let the Fire refine me.  At the end of the day....I am a better person and closer to my Father because of it.

Praising Him for being my comfort, my support, the holder of my identity, the One who sees me and loves me more than I will ever fathom!  Grateful tonight that I am my Beloved's and He is mine!   Looking forward to tomorrow....no matter how bad it gets.  Because when my focus is on Him, any bad can be made good!

Bucket List

My daughter Alyssa and I are about to mark off one more thing on our Bucket List of things to do in our lifetime...we are going to sing a song together in church in a few weeks.  A friend has agreed to play guitar as we sing the following song.  

Now, Alyssa, she has  great voice and although she will be nervous a bit, she is saying she will be "fine with it".  I, on the other hand, haven't sang in front of people since I believe...mmmm...sophomore year of high school when I tried out and made the choir when I sang "The Rose" by Bette Middler (with no accompaniment, none the less).  Ever since my guitar-playing friend came back from a worship team practice and announced to me, "Well, you and Alyssa are scheduled to sing on Palm Sunday".....the fear has set in.  Needless to say, I almost crossed "Sing a song in church with my daughter" off of my Bucket List without actually ever accomplishing it!  Seriously, I was tempted!  Afterall, who ever sees my Bucket List?  Who would know any thing different years from now when I have passed away and my great-great grandchild finds my notebook and says, "Look......great-great grandma Quale sang a song with her daughter in church."   Thinking about Alyssa, I remembered that this is on her Bucket List as well.  We did not know until recently that we share this Bucket List entry (along with get a professional manicure....but that is side tracking) and how would I be able to convince her to mark it off without actually doing it as well.  She reminded me that if I just mark it off, I would be "defeating the purpose."

See, I am one of those people who has no problem talking in front of large groups of people while only singing loudly in the shower.  I would never take a shower in front of a large group of people, and I have been known to talk to myself while in the shower.....well, you get the idea!  While I know that this is something that He has for me to do, I am a bit nervous...just the same.  Then today, the REASON for being so nervous hit me like a ton of bricks.  For what I can recall as the first time in my life, I am self-conscious about what others will think of my singing voice...what they will think of me.  As soon as I recognized this feeling of "what will they think, what will they say?", I immediately surrendered those thoughts to the Lord!  What better way for the enemy to thwart the plans that He has laid out for me at this time than to stop me before I ever even open my mouth!?  

See how that comes full circle?  Isn't that the enemy's plan in all his schemes......to "defeat the purpose"?  He comes to kill, wound, harm, destroy and devour those of us who claim Jesus as Lord.  To cause us to doubt that the Lord is bigger than all of these schemes?  

Here are the words to the song that Alyssa and I will sing.....with Jesus as our focus and strength.  The words are powerful but the One who the words are about is indescribable!  This song is all about Him and we are prayerfully going to honor that fact when we share this song that He has placed on our hearts to share.

Beautiful Scandalous Night

Go on up to the mountain of mercy,
To the crimson perpetual tide.
Kneel down on the shore,
Be thirsty no more,
Go under and be purified.

Follow Christ to the Holy Mountain,
Sinner, sorry and wrecked by the fall,
Cleanse your heart and your soul.
In the fountain that flows,
For you and for me and for all

[Chorus]
At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree,
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me,
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white,
On that beautiful scandalous night.

On the hillside you will be delivered,
At the foot of the cross, justified.
And your spirit restored,
By the river that pours,
From our blessed Saviour's side

[Chorus]
At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree,
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me,
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white,
On that beautiful scandalous night.

Bridge,
You carry the sin of mankind on your back,
And the sky went black.
Go on up to the mountain of mercy,
Go the crimson perpetual tide.
Kneel down on the shore,
Be thirsty no more,
Go under and be purified.

[Chorus]
At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree,
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me,
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white,
On that beautiful scandalous night.

[Chorus]
At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree,
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me,
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white,
On that beautiful scandalous night.

On that beautiful scandalous night,
Beautiful scandalous,
Miraculous night...

Like I've Nothing to Give....

....ever feel that way?  Well, I have felt that way for some time now.  Seems like every time I turn around, the Lord is requiring that I give up a bit more of me.  Realizing that this is what is required to become more like Him, I still often struggle with giving up the secret inner things that keep me from Him.  Wanting to be a person who obeys Him, I will give it up when He asks, but I struggle for a bit before coming to that point of complete surrender in that particular area of my heart.

For instance, the Lord has been asking me to forgive others who inquire about my children's current state of rebellion and then offer advice...when in fact they do not even know what we have been through over the past 6 years or so.  They cannot understand the depth of heartache and pain, because for the most part we have keep our struggles ever before the Lord...and only occasionally present them openly to others.  Then there are those who have judged us....questioned our parenting "skills".....doubted our faith.....pointed fingers.....and even said to my face, "I pray daily that I never have to go through THAT with my child (children)."  My heart sinks when I hear things like this.  How my heart has longed to hear instead, "I pray daily for your children."

I have learned over this season of my life that God is more than able to uphold me with His mighty right hand.  He is more than willing to show me how to love beyond what I see....just as He does with me, really.  He, yes HE, knows the plans that He has for my children.....even when all else says otherwise, I choose to believe the truth of what He has shown me.

Was it really a coincident (of course, I believe it was was God's predestined plan) that so many years ago when I was pregnant with my son, that it was THEN that the Lord gave me the life verse for bringing up my children?  Jeremiah 29:11 is something that I prayed over them before they were born and literally almost daily since their births.  As of late, it is something that the Lord has sung over me as I have had to watch both of my children make some life choices that cause pain and hurt in so many ways.  HE is faithful....HE loves unconditionally....HE knows the secret pain that I hold in my heart and have to nearly daily release to Him, over and over and over again.

Prayer is not the least we can do...it is the MOST we can do.  For in praying, we are giving up once again that which we never really had in the first place.  Anything that is ours....was His first and is His still.  Even children are not ours...they too are His.  He gives them to us for a time to raise in the best manner we can....... and that is what we did.  Of course we have regrets for how we may have handled things in the past, of course we have questioned ourselves....I have even asked God, "Are you sure you wanted me to be a parent?  I kinda suck at this in case you hadn't noticed!"  He simply reminds me that He knows the plans he has for Zach and He knows the plans He has for Alyssa.  None of this is a surprise to Him...He has not once been caught off guard throughout ALL of this.  I have learned to release ALL things to Him as He asks and to rely completely and totally on Him for ALL.

Just as He asked Moses so long ago, He has asked of me, "Is there a limit to my power?"  The way in which I answer this question, each time it is asked of me...when doubts creep in, when people talk, when others question my abilities, etc etc.....THAT is what He is concerned with.  Do I really believe that He CAN change things?  That He can move in the lives of the ones I love that seem so very, very far from Him at this time?  When my heart is in the right place within Him and His will for my life, the answer is always, "No Lord. There is no limit to your power.  I believe that."  Other times, I struggle a bit with an occasional, "But...".  He is quick to ask again, "Is there a limit to my power?"  Sometimes it takes a bit of time in prayer to move my heart in the right direction, but really....isn't that what faith is all about?  Trusting when I cannot see what is coming next?  He is more than able to do far and above all that I can imagine....so maybe at times of doubt, I need to imagine a bit bigger than I have been and ask myself, "What areas do I put a limit on God's power in my life?"  It has been a eye-open experience to ask Him to reveal to me those area that I need to release to Him....trust Him in.

Praying for you today that He would help you to answer that question as well. He is asking you today, "Is there a limit to my power?"  If your answer, like mine, is "But...", I pray that you would release that to Him and find comfort in knowing that there really is no limit to His power.  I look forward to hearing from some of you as to what it is that He reveals to you as you release more and more of your heart and life to Him.  Blessings!

My "Word" for 2012

Each year, I ask the Lord to give me a word that He desires for me to walk in for the year.  In the past, my word has been "pray", "rest", "believe" just to name a few.  He has used these words each year to bring a new understanding of Him, of me and of others into my life.  This year, I have been seeking Him for the "word" He would have for me.  Today, during my prayer time, that word was revealed.  The word?  "SERVE".  It is with great anticipation that I look forward to how He will bring this word to fruition in my life and who He will bring into my life to assist in the things He has for them and for me through serving.  Very excited!  Can I get a "Whoot"?

Getting Real

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EiV4yRdw04

This song (click on link above to listen/view video of this song) perfectly expresses how I have been feeling now for the past few months.  It is in silence that He has spoken the loudest to me over these past few months....and for this I am grateful.  As you are probably aware, it is in the areas of our giftings that the enemy loves to attach; and this is exactly what has been happening in my heart and in my life since early 2011.

At a conference I attended earlier this year, I took on a challenge to read only the Bible for thirty days.  This was the beginning of something much bigger than I thought it would be.  Have you ever had moments of questioning?  Well, I pretty much have been questioning pretty much everything in my life.  From "Why and I really here?" to "Did I raise my children well?" to "Am I gonna continue to go around the same mountain again and again and again?" to "Ugh....I will never be used for the things He has for me."  to "Why bother?".  Not wanting to sound sad or depressed, because it really wasn't anything like that.  It was a deep soul searching....moments of being real before Him in ways that I never have before.  Just me and Him.  No one else probably even knew what was going on (until now)....no one probably even cared (until now)....and I believe that is the way He wanted it to be (until now)......just the two of us.  I question; He answers.  Then He questions and I answer.  Honestly, deeply, unashamedly and unabashedly completely open to what He has for me.  

It is only now that I am ready for the things He has in store for me for the next season of my life.  Only now that He has prepared me for the things that He desires to do in me.  Still, there is an underlying "wait".  This is the reason this song fits my life so perfectly right now.  Waiting......it is not at all a game....for me it is a lifestyle.  Really, for me it is the only way to life....waiting on and waiting for Him.  An anticipation like no other.  A love like no other..... so I continue to.....wait.....

Honestly Waiting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EiV4yRdw04

This song perfectly expresses how I have been feeling now for the past few months.  It is in silence that He has spoken the loudest to me over these past few months....and for this I am grateful.  As you are probably aware, it is in the areas of our giftings that the enemy loves to attach; and this is exactly what has been happening in my heart and in my life since early 2011.

At a conference I attended earlier this year, I took on a challenge to read only the Bible for thirty days.  This was the beginning of something much bigger than I thought it would be.  Have you ever had moments of questioning?  Well, I pretty much have been questioning pretty much everything in my life.  From "Why and I really here?" to "Did I raise my children well?" to "Am I gonna continue to go around the same mountain again and again and again?" to "Ugh....I will never be used for the things He has for me."  to "Why bother?".  Not wanting to sound sad or depressed, because it really wasn't anything like that.  It was a deep soul searching....moments of being real before Him in ways that I never have before.  Just me and Him.  No one else probably even know what is going on (until now)....no one probably even cared (until now)....and I believe that is the way He wanted it to be (until now)......just the two of us.  I question; He answers.  Then He questions and I answer.  Honestly, deeply, unashamedly and unabashedly completely open to what He has for me.  

It is only now that I am ready for the things He has in store for me for the next season of my life.  Only now that He has prepared me for the things that He desires to do in me.  Still, there is an underlying "wait".  This is the reason this song fits my life so perfectly right now.  Waiting......it is not at all a game....for me it is a lifestyle.  Really, for me it is the only way to life....waiting on and waiting for Him.  An anticipation like no other.  A love like no other..... so I continue to.....wait.....

SSMT Verse 22

Galatians 5:1
 ¹ It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.