Fight Until We Can Fight No More

I have the privilege of traveling for work fairly frequently and I get to hear some amazing speakers and artists.  I was in San Francisco this past summer and Paul Byrom was singing for one of the main events of the conference.

Paul Byrom is an Irish Tenor who performed with Celtic Thunder for many years.  He often comes to the United States to perform and also travels as an ambassador for Ireland.  This alone piqued my interest because of my Irish heritage and my love of Irish music.  I was even more interested when I heard him start to sing "Ireland's Call", the national anthem of Ireland.

What really resonated with me is the theme behind the song.  For those of you who have not heard Ireland's Call (I had not before this past summer), here is the song:

What stands out to me the most are these words from the song:

Come the day and come the hour
Come the power and the glory
We have come to answer our Country's call
From the four proud provinces of Ireland

Hearts of steel and heads unbowing
Vowing never to be broken
We will fight until we can fight no more
'Til our final requiem is spoken

Ireland, Ireland
Together standing tall
Shoulder to shoulder
We'll answer Ireland's call

The connection to me is that we, as Christians, have a call on our lives from our Father, who resides in Heaven, the Country we all long for.  The battle is fierce in this world and we must fight with our spiritual weapons to be salt and light.  This is the day and hour to answer that call- to fight until we can fight no more, 'til our very last requiem is spoken.

In my own life, the enemy has attempted many times to take me out through an offense done to me by someone else.  This is one of his greatest weapons, to have believers focus on the offense and let down their spiritual armor to walk in the flesh.  I can speak from experience that the enemy has then gained ground in two people's lives- the offender and the offended.

Now is the time to recognize the attacks of the enemy and stand together to answer the call of the Lord on our lives.  We must battle in prayer and fight every attack with the Word.  

Followers of Jesus
Together Standing Tall
Shoulder to shoulder
We'll answer Heaven's call

Just this week I heard another song with great lyrics, "Love Alone is Worth the Fight", by Switchfoot.

Actually, my favorite words from the song are the words in the title, "Love Alone is Worth the Fight".  Another portion of lyrics from the song is "we're only here for a season".  Absolutely, and in this season, while we still have breath, we should be bringing all glory and honor to Him.  His love is so great that he sent His only son to die for us- what amazing love.  Love alone is worth the fight to battle in the spiritual, fight every attack of the enemy with the truth of the Word and point others to Him "'til our very last requiem is spoken".

Faithful Friends and a Grateful Heart

Some posts are a place to gather my thoughts and reflect on how God is refining and purifying me, while other posts are a memorial, as with Joshua and the 12 stones, of what God has done.  This post is to remember and thank the precious people who have been the hands and feet of Jesus to me over the last 5 years.

Outside of the last 5 years, there is only one other time in my life when I have truly needed other people to help carry me when I couldn't walk on my own.  I have trouble accepting help, even when offered.  God has a way of breaking down our pride and barriers in ways that are so kind and compassionate. 

I asked to know Him more and He sent His people to reveal Himself to me.

I want to remember and say thank you.  This thank you is long overdue.  Perhaps it has taken me 5 years to heal in order to really say thank you because I now recognize just how much the Lord has taken care of me through all of you.

I started this post a month ago and am just now getting back to it, I think because it is so personal.  I haven't cried over the pain and loss and destruction of 5 years ago for a long time.  This week I have cried several times, some of the tears were because this time of year is a tender spot, some were tears of gratitude for what the Lord has truly healed.

This may be a long post or a 2-part post because there are too many people to thank!

To start at the beginning, I must thank Andrew, Emily, Allie and Aiden for being the joys of my heart and keeping me going when days seemed long and nights seemed longer still.  This picture is from our first Christmas alone (Aiden was in my tummy).  Andrew, Emily and Allie made sure we had Christmas just as close to how we always had Christmas, including Andrew putting up the lights and Emily and Allie helping because they didn't want me on the ladder while pregnant with Aiden.  I know their pain was great then, too, but their joy and love blessed me then and blesses me now.

Oh, my, how little they were!  This was a hard time emotionally for many reasons for all of us.  I have always sent out a Christmas letter and family picture.  I decided this first Christmas alone to only send a picture of the kids.  I have done this for the last 5 years, much to the dismay of my children.  They have wanted me to be in the picture.  I have decided that they are right, I should have been in the pictures.  This year I will be in our family Christmas picture.  Yet this picture is a reminder to me of them agreeing to a picture of just them in order to help me at that time.

I wanted to find out whether Aiden was going to be a boy or a girl.  I think Andrew was even more excited to find out if he would ever get a brother!  My sweet children, mom, sister and friend Karen all loaded up in my van and drove to Woodland for the ultrasound appointment.  Karen even filled my car with balloons to celebrate- she's good about that- celebrating life in the midst of suffering, for which I am very grateful.

There wasn't enough room for everyone to come in to the ultrasound room at once, so my children came in first.  My mom said there was no doubt when Andrew came out that he was getting a baby brother, he just couldn't contain his smile!  This picture is to remember celebrating life and joy and the gift of Aiden and the support and love of friends and family.

And these pictures are reminders of life and life abundantly:

Oh my, this post is getting so long and there is so much left to say and so many people to thank.  To be continued...

Facing the Giants

What are the giants you are facing in your life?  Fear, debt, broken relationships, lost years?  We all have giants we face in life.  The question is how do we handle those giants?  Do we stick our heads under the covers and hide and pretend they will go away or do we persevere against the odds and face the giants?

I heard a great comment once that FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real.  That 90% of what we worry about never comes to pass.  I had to think about that for a while and assess if that is true in my own life.  I have to say that it is.  90% of the things I worry are going to happen never happen.

So fear itself has become more of a giant to me at times than the actual giants.  It has paralyzed me from moving forward at times and has made me ineffective in the areas I can make an impact in.  The opposite of fear is faith- faith that you are where the Lord has called you to be.

When we operate in faith instead of fear, we are operating in the strength of the Lord and not our own.  The dreams that God gives us are meant to be carried out.  The challenge is to discern what dreams are from Him.  Once we discern that, there is no stopping the forward movement of our dreams.

Are you called to be a leader for the Lord?  Have you had fears or giants that have kept you from moving in the dreams God has given you?  Cry out to Him to put a new song in your heart to face those giants and move forward to be the leader for Him.

Perhaps you have been in a season of suffering that has brought you to a place of knowing Him.  That suffering is preparation for the dream He has placed on your heart.  We can only carry out the calling He has on our lives when we know Him.  Often knowing Him comes in the suffering.

Cry out to Him.  Listen for His voice.  Perhaps now is the time to rise up and face the giants and walk in His strength and power to be the leader He called you to be and carry out the dream He has placed on your heart.

As you rise up and face the giants, you will see more clearly the people he has placed in your path to bless.  Only when we are healed can we see the blessing of being healed and then reach out to bless and help others heal and grow.  What a revival we will see when we rise up to face the giants and walk in the calling the Lord has on our lives!

I will join you in facing the giants!

Facing the Giants

#facingthegiants

Wind and Rain and Flooding, Oh My!

Wind and Rain and Flooding, Oh My!

The wind is howling, the rain is pouring down and the rivers and streams are flooding here where I live.  Needless to say, the weather is what everyone is talking about.

Last week we lost power for a little while, but weren't impacted too much because it came back on after 4 hours.  We enjoyed talking and being together without the distractions of the technology we are usually tied to.

11 years ago, though, was a different story at my house.  We had just moved back to our home town after being gone for 5 years.  Our oldest was 3 and our daughter was 11 months old.  We moved from a brand new home into a 50 year old house that needed massive remodeling.

The first week we were in our new (old) home, the weather made me begin to wonder about living in our new home.  A storm came in similar to the one we are having now.  We have a huge picture window in our living room that faces the front of the house.  The wind was as fierce in that storm as it is now.  I was sitting on the couch in front of the picture window with our 11 month old daughter and the wind blew the single pane window onto the couch, very close to us.

We got the pane put back in the window frame and looked around to make sure everything else was secure before going to bed for the night.  The wind was howling and the single pane windows made it seem like there was a freight train coming through our bedroom.  I loved that we moved to the country where our kids could have the freedom to play without fear, but our home was stretching the limits of my patience.

We set about to slowly replace and remodel many things in our aging home.  I was pregnant with our third child when we started the remodel process and remodeling with 3 small children was challenging, but now brings fond memories.  I wielded a sledge hammer and helped take out a double sided fireplace, while my son swung a hammer and helped take down walls.  All three kids rode their bikes through the house because there was sub-floor for a while. 

We rewired, re-plumbed, insulted everything, took some walls down to the framing and rebuilt, re-floored, put in new windows and doors, re-roofed and much more all while living in the house.  Whew!  I am exhausted just thinking about that process with three small children!  No wonder I was exhausted for several years!

Though remodeling was exhausting, I am ever so grateful now because we have a warm, energy efficient (my electricity bill this month was &50!), secure and quiet house.  The wind is howling, the rain is pouring, the river is flooding and we are safe and warm.  "The weather outside is frightful, but inside it's so delightful." 

Managing an old house by myself without it being remodeled would be exhausting, but managing an old house that has been remodeled is a blessing.  I may not have been able to see the blessing while we were remodeling, but I can see it now that we are safe and secure in the middle of the storm.

P.S.  I hope you are all safe and secure in this Winter weather!

In Everything Give Thanks

So the verse from the Bible, "In everything give thanks", has been running through my mind for the last week or so.  While I am normally a pretty content person, I was struggling with this a little, during Thanksgiving week, of all times!  There has been so much to take care of with Winter coming, that I think I was feeling overwhelmed and not looking for the blessing in the circumstances.

The circumstances I was feeling overwhelmed with, though, quickly brought me reminders of why I should be grateful in everything.  Here are several reminders from my week of reasons to be thankful:

1.  My yard was getting fairly overgrown and not very attractive.  I have been wanting to take care of it, but was a little nervous to do so because some of the plants and trees are pretty old and I didn't want to cut what I shouldn't.  I thought my son was at the neighbor's working on a fence when he came in the door and said that I needed to come outside right now to see what he had done.  Without being asked, he had trimmed the bushes and the trees.  The without being asked thing is huge because it is usually a major chore to get him to mow the lawn!  He trimmed everything and raked it all up in order to put up the Christmas decorations.  The house looks beautiful and he was blessed and I was blessed.

2.  The last four years have brought a major change in friendships with people I love.  Three of them contacted me, after not much contact, and wanted to reconnect.  It was good to hear voices that I haven't heard for a while and to remember the joy in those relationships.  Some relationships that had been broken are being restored and that is certainly one of the best blessings.

3.  I still live in the home that our children have been born and raised in.  It is a lot to manage sometimes.  One of my dear friends and I were talking and I mentioned that my kids were outside helping a neighbor and she said, "what a blessing that they can be outside and you don't have to worry."  I was humbled by that comment because I often take for granted that we live in a place where our neighbors watch out for and love my kids.  My kids can ride their bikes and go down the street to the neighbors' and I don't have to worry.

4.  We have had wind storms that have knocked the power out.  We lose heat, water and electricity when the power goes out.  We lit candles and had flashlights and were waiting to see when the power would come back on.  My kids all worked together to make sure we were safe and warm.  My oldest daughter counted the candles to make sure that we didn't accidentally leave one burning later.  My youngest daughter went around and gathered jackets and robes to make sure we were all warm.  We were just gathering up some things to go stay with a friend when the power came back on.  It was fun to be distraction free- definitely a blessing in disguise!

Speaking of a blessing in disguise reminds me of the song by Laura Story called, "Blessings in Disguise".  

Here are some of my favorite lines from that song:

'Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

I know that the trials in my life are what have brought me to recognize the blessings the most.  Enjoy the song!

P.S.  Whether you are on the mountaintop or in the valley, may you enjoy and recognize the blessing!

One Loud Fam

The Lord has been bringing reminders to me from my past recently. I think the Lord knows what we can handle because, even a year ago, those memories may have brought more sorrow than joy. Today, though, I can think of times gone by and be thankful for the memory. Those memories are a part of me and my family and have shaped who we are.

For several years we lived a little distance away from our extended family, so our church and work family became our support network during those years. One of the families we worked with had 3 children very close in age. The license plate on their vehicle read 1LOUDFM, at least that is what I think it said. The meaning behind I do remember clearly, though; one loud family.  The best part of their license plate was that they took great joy in being "one loud family".  It wasn't that the family members were being rude or disrespectful, it was that they truly enjoyed being together and sharing their lives.  The kids were teenagers and young adults involved in multiple activities and they all supported one another.  At the time we only had one son and I remember thinking that my life was very different, but respected them for how they treated one another and enjoyed being together.

Now my children are 14, 12, 10 and 3.  I have "One Loud Fam".  I think the Lord sent the reminder from my past to be grateful for my "one loud fam" and to treasure the time we have together.  I am an introvert by nature and enjoy quiet time to regroup and re-energize.  There was a time when I would have felt the weight of "one loud family", versus the joy of "one loud family".  Quiet time does not exist for me, but now my energy comes more from enjoying the moments we have together.

The years that my children will be in my home are fleeting and I know that I will miss the busy-ness and noise when they are gone.  I love watching my kids enjoy one another.  My oldest son loves Christmas and thinks that Christmas decorating should start before Thanksgiving.  I woke up one day last week to him hanging all the lights outside, switching out the Fall decorations for the Christmas decorations and rearranging the living room furniture so that the tree would fit in front of the window.  He was so excited that his enthusiasm rubbed off on his sisters and brother and they were caught up in the excitement, too.

I had a quick thought of this time last year when he did the same thing because of his excitement and remembered that I was a little grumpy with him because of the mess I walked into, and not thankful for his enthusiasm and help.  I told him that I would just close my eyes this year to the mess and went to turn the Christmas music on and join in his excitement.  He mentioned that I was a little grumpy last year and gave me a hug and went back to work.  At the end of the day, the decorations were up, I cleaned up the mess without grumbling, the house looked beautiful and we enjoyed one another.  My blessings do overflow!

P.S.  Even if you don't have "One Loud Fam", I hope you enjoy the blessings and the people in your life today!  And when I am grumpy, remind me to do the same!

Consistency

My life changed drastically and suddenly four years ago.  I became a single mom to three young children and was pregnant with our fourth child.  In the middle of the chaos and confusion, I felt that God was telling me that He would redeem these lost years, but that I needed to stop playing in the shallow end of the pool with my faith- that He wanted to take me to the deep end of the pool and I needed to trust Him. 

I also felt like He was telling me that this process of growing up and growing in my faith would take time.  Like many Americans, I want a solution now, without having to wait.  I also wanted to have control of my circumstances and if I couldn't control my circumstances, I wanted other people to help change my circumstances.  I may not have verbalized this, but I did seek other people's opinions and prayer, at times before I sought the Lord's heart.

When everything is stripped away, you realize that you need to surrender and let the Lord lead.  All my striving in my own strength got me no where.  Once I was still and quiet, I heard the Lord speaking to me to seek Him in His Word and in prayer.  I wouldn't change the last four years, because the process of change has been, though painful, the most precious gift ever.

As I have sought the Lord, He has spoken to me that a lifetime of faithfulness is where our testimony lies.  His faithfulness to us never fails and we are to turn our lives over to Him to be filled up with Him and not ourselves.  Honestly, this consistency for me is often a minute by minute decision to take captive every thought.  The only way to take captive every thought is to know what His Word says.  We can only know His Word if we are in it.  Any time I feel far from the Lord, it is because I have moved and am not reading and praying as consistently, not because He ever moved.

I heard a great illustration a while back about the water drop that keeps dropping onto the hard stone.  Over time, the shape of that hard stone changes because of the consistent drop of the water.  The water doesn't stop, it keeps dripping and dripping and dripping.  It is not one drop that changed the stone, it is many drops over time that changed the stone.  So, too, with us and our faith, it is not a one-time "drop" that changes us, it is a lifetime of faithfulness.

It is getting up in the morning and determining to seek the Lord for that day.  It is in being present with those we love.  It is is continually seeking to lay down our own will and way and surrender it all to the Lord's will and way.  It is not the mountain top events in my life that have changed me the most, it is the every day surrendering and growing that have started the process of cutting away everything that does not bring Him glory.  I am certainly not there yet, but the last four years have shown me that consistency over time is where true faith lies.

The greatest heroes of the faith, to me, are the ones who have run the race consistently for a lifetime.  Though they may stumble, they get up again and again to be changed and used by the Lord.  I spent the first half of my life focused on doing things in my own strength- what an ugly testimony.  I pray the next half of my life is spent in service to the Lord and others.

The message of consistency rings true in all areas, faith, family, friends, business.  "The race does not go to the swift, but he that endures"  May we be found faithful in all things- being persistent like the water drop on the stone.  "Keep on keeping on."