Lion and Lambs

With my illness changing my life so drastically these last couple of years, I have been fighting desperately to control it, to make it go away, so I can get my life back. As anyone with a chronic illness knows, it is futile.

The letter to the editor in latest edition of HopeKeepers Magazine addressed this very issue. She was explaining that we don’t have to be obsessed with fighting our battles, we simply have to face them. She referenced 2 Chron 20:12

…For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

There are many places in the Bible where the kings and warriors were facing battles for which they lacked the strength needed for victory, and yet each time that they focused on and followed God, they overcame. The fight is His, whether it is on a battlefield or in our life, and we need to let Him be in control.

Thus my resolution:
stop being obsessed with the fight…just face and focus;
to boast in my weakness according to 2 Cor 12:9

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. NIV

and to glory in the Cross that made all this possible.

I was moving Lion and Lambs to a new server, so you were getting a blank screen there for a while – sorry. I figured that with your hostess being out celebrating her birthday this weekend, the timing was right.

Let me know if you find anything to be wonky with the site, now that I’ve been monkeying around with it…..

It’s time to go now. My things are packed. I’ve loaded the bike that never got ridden. I’ve packed the books that never got read. I’ve put away the cross stitch that never got sewn. With great disappointment I put my journal, empty of my own thoughts, in the box with the cards that never got sent. The regrets for things intended yet left, start to consume me, in an attempt to overshadow the things learned, accomplished, healed. I remember the first days, feeling so good, laying in the sun, reading. So many plans. So many goals. My ambition exceeding my ability. A journey began so many weeks ago, though it seems I only got here yesterday.

God has been teaching me through J, that my plans are simply that, my plans. God’s plans will prevail. Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.” (nkjv) Likewise in Proverbs 19:21, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” (niv) J and D have dropped their plans quickly and often as my migraines have come on with a vengeance since I have been here.

As she’s done unknowingly so many times before, my dear friend came to my rescue as though she were reading my mind. She sent me an e-mail to help support me through the process of bringing this journey to a close. She writes:

I have been thinking of you and praying for you. And especially in the area of the Lord “calming your anxious heart”. A lot of times when we set out to do something – whether it be a vacation or sabbatical or whatever – and it draws to a close, we sometimes start the beating up process on all the woulda, shoulda, coulda. The Lord has been working with you – and if HE wanted you to accomplish something more, HE would see to it. As we say “whatever Lord” – HE can do His work in His way and according to His schedule.

I pray that you will continue to “present your body as a living sacrifice” to Him during these final days in Albuquerque – knowing that He continues His work until the day He returns. Phil 1:6 Amp “And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.”

You are dearly loved and appreciated.

You, my friend, are dearly loved and appreciated.

She has loved and encouraged me through many trials and joys in my life. She has held me up, held me close, and just plain held on for me. Yesterday my chiropractor told me that I was very blessed to have the great friends that I have, only having met D and J. He has no idea. For me, D and J have been Jesus with skin on these last eight weeks. They are an outstanding representation of the close friends that God has gifted me with. He knew the love I would need to survive the trials. I have quit talking about my friends on this blog like I used to. I need to return to it. Friends as special as mine need to know how much they are cherished.

Now I must face saying good-bye. The time has come to take what I have learned and return to my life, finding the purpose and the place to give back. It means I get to be reunited with my friends back home, but it also means my heart will be torn leaving my new friends here.

My sister just directed me to a very worthwhile project that I want to share with all of you. Over at The Museum of Left Wing Lunacy, they are encouraging everyone to participate in Operation Nativity to send a message to the ACLU that they can’t stop Christmas. What they ask is for each household to put a nativity scene on their own property. What a great idea and one I think we should share with all our friends and family. We could have a plethera of manger scenes beaconing a message across this country!

Enough is enough, it is time to pack!! Everytime I complain about the weather it gets colder! First I feared the 20’s; I complained, then when I was supposed to be on my way home it hit the teens; I whined, now tonight it is supposed to get down to 7°. They tell me we are too low in altitude to get this cold or to get snow. I wonder if they consulted THE Weather Man??

So if You’re listening, I am NOT complaining, just let me get outta here before Mr Snowmiser lowers the thermometer any further…please ??

I was browsing through D’s CD collection which, in a different genre, rivals my sister’s, and which similiarly is categorized and alphabetized. Amazing. Just by the shear numbers I should have figured she would have a little of everybody Christian. I wonder if KLOVE has any idea this many Christian albums are available? We have nicknamed them the top 14 station. But that is another subject.

Anyway, with only three days left to enjoy them, I found Caedmon’s Call Cds. I really like much of their music, and even the one’s I don’t like have pretty incredible lyrics, so the Christmas carols are going on hold for a short time.

While listening I discovered a song written by Aaron Tate and Ed Cash titled Valleys Fill First. The lyrics are very profound and make you sit and reflect. I want to share two of the verses:

Down in the valley, dying of thirst
Down in the valley, it seems that I’m at my worst
My consolation is that you baptize the earth
When I’m down in the valley, valleys fill first

Down in the valley I miss the mountaintop view
But it’s here in this valley that I am surrounded by You
Though I’m not here by my will it’s where your view is most clear
So I’ll stay in the valley if it takes 40 years

…though I am never sure if it is meant as a compliment. Hmmmmm…

Learned about the quiz from my sister, here is the link to find out what kind of sheep you are

AAaaaccckkk! I checked next weekend’s forecast for Phoenix…that must mean I am really going home! I think people in the office might be pleased. However, after seeing the forecast and laughing once again at the weather advisory, it looks like I will need my personal fan aimed at my desk again. It makes it difficult when one wears sweaters in June (when it is 110° out) and one delights in 60°. We do agree on our love of the sunshine though!!

To fill you in on the source of my laughter, Phoenix has a Freeze warning because they are forecasted for 40°, Albuquerque is forecasted to get down to 14°. I will admit, once I re-adjust to the weather, I LOVE Phoenix in the wintertime!!