A Quote on the Real Battle

The most terrible, persistent conflicts remain confined to our minds-the unseen warfare within. That is where our confrontation lies, where true liberation and true peace must come."

Jonathan Hunter, Pgs. 11,12 "Breaking Free Of the Spirit of Death."

And not enough time for some things....

I just looked at my last post. For our fast-food society it is wayyyy to long, I'm afraid.

Sorry guys. It's a good thing I didn't read it at my talk at the weekend. Prayer words.

Unfortunately, you Bloggers got it. "Because this is my Blog"! I selfishly assert.

Anyway, as I delete 98% of all forwards I get, and don't have the patience for comments 1/2 as long at that last post, I feel like a hypocrite.

So, just know I agree with all who think I reallllly got carried away this time.

Lost sleep over playing with it, too.

So G-night, all- or none!

A TIME FOR EVERYTHING... in my words

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

Scripture is in bold, my thoughts aren't.

To everything, there is a season,

And a time for every purpose under heaven;

A time to be born: to come to life, to live, abundantly, fully. To be born again.

and a time to die: A time to let the seed fall into the ground and die;

And a time to receive of the fruit of that seed's sacrifice.)

A time to plant: “Those who sow in tears...”

and a time to pluck up what is planted: “...shall reap in joy...”Psalms 126:5

A time to kill: to be crucified with Christ and to put on the altar stuff we need to offer up.

and a time to heal: to receive His beauty for our ashes, His Spirit of Praise for our heaviness

A time to break down: to pull down strongholds of lies , guilt, shame;

And a time to build up: to start over, to make of what we've got something new,

to build ourselves up in our faith.

A time to weep: to grieve, to look at the losses and be real with how we feel;

And a time to laugh: to get away and do something fun; to bask in His JOY:

to tell jokes and play;

A time to mourn: to let yourself feel what's beating on the door of your heart, to look at what comes up and cry out to Him with all of our negative emotions;

And a time to dance: to be happy again, to sing, to rejoice and party in His love.

A time to cast away stones: to cast your burdens on the Lord and let Him just carry you; to let go, and to let God.

And a time to gather stones,: A time to take inventory, to look at the hard stuff, and hold onto the good memories, what is helpful, peaceable,-to what really matters.

A time to embrace: to give and to receive the comfort of others; to embrace the pain and let the H.S. bring His Comfort and Love.

and a time refrain from embracing: to get to work, function and put the stuff on hold.

(Or as Ray Barone would say, “We all have feelings.. But there's a time to express them, and a time to keep all that crap inside.” )

A time to gain: to get gifts, to get stuff, relationships, families, identities, or careers;

And a time to lose: to lose it all only to find your life Hidden in Christ.

A time to keep: to keep things, to keep watch, to keep trying and praying and standing

And a time to throw away: To get rid of burdens that are not ours to bear, to throw off false responsibilities and the “garbage” in our lives.

A time to tear: to purge, to get rid of stuff ; to tear it up and throw it away;

To tear off the old garments: old mindsets that which will not be able to hold the New.

And a time to sew: to fix what can be fixed.

A time to keep silence: To stay out of it, to mind your own business, or to just sit with someone and listen without giving advice.

And a time to speak: to encourage, exhort, let the truth be known, stand up for righteousness, defend the poor, speak out the Words of life.

A time to love: to sit and love God and receive His love; to love our neighbor, the unlovely, and our enemies. To love ourselves.

And a time to hate: To hate the devastation Hell and it's forces have brought on those we love; to hate evil, to hate that which is evil in our own flesh enough to give it up.

A time of war: to do battle in prayer against that which is trying to steal, kill and destroy us and those we stand for. To take action against wrong and defend right.

And a time of peace: To seek rather to be loving than right in our relationships. To turn the other cheek, to bless and to understand, and to rest.

To receive the Peace that He gives to us, and to be at peace with our losses, with our God, and with ourselves.

5. 9 What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?

( What's the point, what meaning is there in all of this? What do I really gain from all my hard work and all life's struggles?)

5. 10 I have seen the God given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied:

(Let me see, Lord, what you want me to do, and what really matters)

5. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time......

(He's not going to waste a thing. He is in the business of redemption and can bring life out of death. He WILL work everything together for good.)

D-Day. (Italian for THE- day)

It's March 11. 2011. 7 years and i still miss him. I still regret so much. I don't know about completion.Complete a phase, a leg, pass a baton?

But we won't be complete until we're with Him.

Dave is complete, then?

I hope so. This I know. He is comforted. He knows he is loved now.

I know this because of the comfort and love I have gotten from the Lord in these past 7 years.

I know this. Because as I kissed the cross; as offered up my pain, confusion, rantings, etc. to Him and chose to say that "this sucks, but You are Good. I don't get it, but I say, You are good, and I will praise you!" that elusive Peace that passes all understanding would come, and I would feel His heart of love for me, for David and for my kids.

Every good and perfect gift is from above. Children are a gift of God.

Today I reserve the right to ramble.

David was a gift of God. In the part of him that was made in the image and likeness of God, in the true self, he was wonderful!

And this year I realized something. He would want us to play Uno again!

"May the God of all peace fill you with all Hope and joy in believing so that you may abound in Hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

I can't, He can, Let Him. Draw near to God in your pain, and He WILL draw near to you.

Overheard in a Kindergarten line

"EEE, voo, EEE, voo, Rock you!" ( to the tune of, "We will, we will, rock you!" for those who don't speak Kinder-ese.)

One boy chanting to child in front of him repeatedly.

He taught it to me. It's "EEEE, VOO, EEEE, VOO."

All these years I had it wrong.

A time for War and a Time for Peace.

For example. after church at Idyllwild Bible church, a hearty, multi-aged snowball fight erupted.

7 year olds against adults who had teens making snowballs for them.

And in between, a 19 month old would toddle up to one of our legs and let his little handful of snow rip. He would teeter off smiling after watching it spray!

And then there was Jack and his 3 year old counterpart, a sweet little blonde girl. They would clumsily bend down, scrunch up some snow into a, well, a snowball-ish thing, and then get up to 6 inches from each other and toss. Sometimes it would actually splatter against the target.

Very cute.

But the next thing I know, both were standing together, sucking on pieces of snow.

"What are you doing now, Jack," I ask.

"We're having a snow eating contest," was his reply and they contentedly sucked away.

A winner was never announced.

A Word Fitly Spoken

In the beautiful journal Rosie gave me are little pearls of wisdom, hand picked and handwritten.

And always seeming to be just what I need.

Example:

I'd just written down this prayer:

" Pray and declare I will enter into the new God has. Pray that we would value life God is leading us into v.s. the life we are leaving behind."

And on the next page of my journal is a quote from EM Forster:

" We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us."

I'm keeping it short for ya, Sarah!

With Love to my kids.