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A First Timer’s Thanksgiving

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I am at my desk quietly interceding for people who are struggling  missing someone on their “first thanksgiving without them”.

I know how they feel.  My dad, Jerry,  won’t be here for the first time to tell me how much my sweet potato pie reminds him of his mother’s.  I won’t be visiting grandma, Anna,  for the first time at the nursing home and hearing “There’s My Pretty  Brown Girl”.  Nor will I be sneaking baby Emmanuel his first taste, for the first time, of something he would be too young to eat.

Threefold pains aside, I am spending Thanksgiving being grateful for the touch that each of these individuals placed on my heart and my life…whether over the course of many years or just one gracious hour. Thankful for the first times with them and the lasts.

The best way for me to  honor their memories is to live life fully and  with full expectation and wonder.  The best way to thank God for their presence is to see that the blessings I have received from them far outweigh the sorrows of being temporarily apart from them.   Some glorious  “Forever Thanksgiving Day” will be ours for the first time….. someday.

For now, my prayers are with those other “first timers” who need to feel those same blessings and to be rewarded with the smiles and laughter that come from precious memories.

If you are missing a parent, then be there for someone who is missing their child.   If you are missing a child, then be there for someone who is missing a parent.   You get the idea!  The measure that you pour out will be returned to you.

I also  want to encourage those who don’t know what this feels like, to one…..be thankful….. and two…. be kind enough to “step in for a first timer” this holiday season.  Don’t discount their feelings, but volunteer to surrogate a broken heart and make sure they don’t struggle alone.

So for now, I will make one extra sweet potato pie…….. and will eat the heck out of a slice for my dad.  Then, I will put on my best dress and make Anna proud.  I then (when nobody is looking) will  be pulling out a tiny spoonful of mashed potatoes for my grandbaby.

As the joy of being thankful fills my heart, I pray the same for you.  Happy thanksgiving!.

Love Always, Chelle

 

 

ON THE SUBJECT OF PINK POLKA DOTTED ELEPHANTS

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Source: ON THE SUBJECT OF PINK POLKA DOTTED

Pink Polka Dotted Elephants.  That is what I call thoughts that come from out of nowhere to distract you from focusing on what is right and good. The Bible instructs us to think on those things that are lovely, things that are pure, and are in line with the Word of God.  It instructs us know that God has a plan for our good and our welfare.

But tonight, after taking my usual bedtime routine of potions, pills and injections and all the other expensive crap designed to keep me breathing …. along came that stupid elephant in the room.

No…. I wasn’t high off of anything… LOL.   He had come to visit because someone had posed the question earlier “Are You Afraid Of Dying Young?”.  I didn’t answer the human who said it…. but apparently inquiring devils wanted to know.

I tried quoting reaffirming scripture after scripture in my head to make the stupid thought go away.   “Jesus Bore My Sickness and Carried My diseases and By His Stripes I am Healed. “I shall live and not die but declare the works of the Lord”. But to no avail….the little imp was determined to interrupt my sleep.

So here is how I answered to make him run back into his imaginary evil world.  NO….I am not afraid of dying young… but rather I am more afraid of PEOPLE who will watch me grow old but try to make me live like I am dying.

They  mean well.. but do they really have to remind me of how bad I look every time they see me.  Yes,   I know what the doctors said.. But I also know what Jesus died for.  My symptoms are just that, symptoms of lying vanities……. because I know I am already healed.   Whether it manifests for you to see is not my problem or God’s.  Could you please just rejoice in the hope and testimony I am aiming for?  And No, I am not putting down my microphone.  I am pretty sure my head wont explode while hitting a high note.  And yes, I laugh and think it is funny that you don’t know me well enough to know that I don’t intend to lay myself away and just accept anything.

Pink Polka Dotted Elephants In the Room beware the Overcomer has come!   You may not  always be able to  ignore the silly thoughts the devil sends.  But remember the devil knows that he has already lost (big dummy)…. he is just trying to trick you into focusing on lies and stupidity. The only way he can beat you is if you allow your imagination to run in his direction.   Address  those contradicting thoughts what with you know to be true about God’s Word instead….thoughts of healing, prosperity, love and dreams of the good things God wants for you in a life more abundantly.

So enough of the elephants .  Back to hell’s zoo they go!  For Good this time.

 

 

 

To Hear God

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To Hear God

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: John 10:27 (KJV)

Today is a really big day in my household and even as I write this, I am blinded by tears of joy and thankfulness.

My youngest son, Isaiah, has been enveloped in near silence for almost three years, due to profound deafness caused as a consequence of chronic kidney failure. In fact, it was the sudden on-set hearing loss that sent us to the doctors and contributed to saving his life as he was showing no other symptoms of the killer poison flowing through his veins.

As if it were not bad enough that he had to immediately begin a 3 day a week , 4 hours at a time dialysis treatment, his hearing was also going away more and more each day. Yet, he endured without complaint. I was so amazed at the end of each doctor visit, even with a degrading prognosis, that his only question was “Will I still be able to play my drums?”

In the midst of impending and impeding silence, he still joyfully committed himself to continuing to play the drums for our church praise services every single Sunday he was physically able to. Sometimes, even when he could only feel the vibrations from the other instruments or by merely reading my lips for context clues in a song.

As the situation began to deteriorate and he had been denied aggressive treatment until his kidney situation stabilized, I found myself often praying, “Lord, if he can’t hear my voice, at least let him be able to hear yours.”

I have seen evidence of this hearing of the Lord’s voice in his life over and over again during the past three years. It is loud each time I hear him proclaim that he is already healed by Christ stripes. It is clearly audible with each banging on his beloved drums. It is the loudest whisper each time I watch my boy go off into surgery or to his regular dialysis treatments… again without complaint.

Today’s question is simply this: how do we react when it seems like God has gone silent? When it seems like the poisons of daily stresses, situations and hope deferred block our ability to hear His voice? Or when it seems like the voice of the enemy (or maybe even our own) seems louder than the last thing we heard God say?

Do we turn back, fall apart, stop cold in our tracks or blame God for not answering the way we wanted? Or do we, like my son, Isaiah: wait patiently, proclaim the Word, and continue to be faithful to the last instruction God gave?

I know the silence is tough and waiting is not an easy thing. Trust me, I have had to rebuke myself a few times over the past few years for not being more like my son in this situation. But true to His Word, God will come and His Word will not return void. Isaiah 35: 3-7 tells us to “Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.…”

It is a surety that you can count on. He will speak and He will answer and He will be heard by those who are willing to follow.

Which brings me back to today. After three years of waiting, therapy and surgery, Isaiah’s cochlear implant was turned on today with a special processor that restored hearing in one ear.

Yes, of course I cried when he confirmed that he heard me. I belly laughed as he blessed my sister and my Pastor by calling them first as he was able to use a phone for the first time in all these years.

My prayer for Isaiah has changed now. “Lord, even though he can hear my voice again, let him hear Your Voice even louder.”

Prayer:
Father God, we thank you, in the Name of Jesus, for all that You have said and all that You will say to us. Help us to walk in joy and patience as we proclaim your Word over every situation and circumstance. Help us, by the Holy Spirit’s guidance, to remain faithful to the last instruction you gave us, whether by th written Word , prophecy or by the gifts you have instilled in us. We thank you for the blessing of hearing your voice and we gladly commit to follow in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

LIVE! LIVE! LIVE

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LIVE! LIVE! LIVE!

The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy.I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it [a]overflows). John 10:10 (Amplified Bible)

I have just returned from an off Broadway adaptation of the musical, “Mame. “ The story chronicles the life, love, joys and pains faced during the Great Depression era of an eccentric auntie and her beloved nephew, who have been forced together by tragedy. The recurring theme exclaimed was “Life is a banquet and most people are starving to death. Live! Live! Live!”

This same reminder needs to be shouted out to even the children of God. In John 10:10, Jesus declares that He came that we may have life and have it in abundance. A full life! A life that over flows!

Sadly, (and oddly enough) we, who have been given full permission in Christ to love living, oftentimes muddle through in an existence that maintains a day to day without dreams and desires. Have you heard yourself say “maybe tomorrow” or “when the time is right?” Or have you declared yourself too old, too tired, or too broke to chase a possibility?

Well, have you? Have you chosen to allow the enemy to steal, kill, and destroy the life that Christ died to give you? Have you allowed yourself to be buried alive by limiting God’s plans for you by your own insecurities and doubts?

In Jeremiah 29:10-11 (NIV) God assures, that “I will come to you and fulfill my good promise……..plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Wow, what a guarantee!!!!

So I encourage you (and myself) today, …right now….dust off those dreams and plans! Step out in faith on those desires that God put in your heart. His life…..Christ’s precious life offered at the table of Calvary…. Is yours for the feasting! LIVE! LIVE! LIVE!

Prayer:
Father, in the Name of Jesus, I thank you for the sacrifice of the life of Christ in exchange for mine. I askyou today to give me the wisdom and courage to walk in the newness and abundance that was purchased on my behalf. Help me to live the life Christ died to give me. I thank you for the guarantee of a life to the full and I receive it with great joy. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.