Scooby's Winter Woes

    Our little dog Scooby-Doo has had a rough winter. His short little legs have not kept him out of the high snow. At times, I wonder how he can see. He has to go out side to do his business. He's had much difficulty finding a cleared place to relieve himself, after the many snows we have had. You should see him as he whirls around and around, as if making a snow potty instead of an angel.
    As I listened to the weather forecast calling for temperatures of below zero, I told my husband that we needed to get Scooby-Doo a winter jacket and boots. He fussed and said, "he has a fur coat. If we get him a jacket and boots, he will be warm and run all over the neighborhood." I protested and said, "it's suppose to be below zero! If I wrapped him up head to tail, he won't want to stay out in that." I decided firmly that my little doggie was at least having a winter jacket, along with the fluffy one God gave him. So I bought him a jacket, he looks dashing.
    One morning it was 18 degrees below zero, crazy cold. I opened the door for Scooby to go potty. He ran out, about two feet, stopped, tail tucked firmly between his legs, then backtracked into the house very quickly, not even bothering to turn around. He looked at me as if to say, "Eek! I don't have to go that badly. Nope!" Then came the sad puppy eyes and front paws upon my leg while standing on his back paws. "Put my jacket on, pretty please?" I had forgotten his jacket. I strapped it on and off he trotted. Looking more like a prancing pony, then a dog. He was very quick, as the legs holding him shivered so violently I thought he would fall. Scooby ran in quickly and didn't care about having his jacket promptly removed this time. He plopped himself right in front of the gas heater. Then looked back at me as if to say, ahh! I'm good now. He is fine with his jacket on cold days and he doesn't mind not having boots too.
Proverbs 12:20 A righteous man regards the life of his animal,
But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

Are we ready?

  I have pretty much grown up in church. I think I probably cut my teeth on a pew. I have heard for years about how God is going to bring revival and people would pour into our churches. I have prayed the prayers right along with fellow Christians that God would bring people from the north, south, east, and west. I have waited and wondered why this hasn't happened on the grand scale that we have believed for. I don't have the answer, but I have had some questions rolling around in my brain....
  I have been privy to some real honest dialog from people I don't know. A man who was sharing about his struggle with a drug addiction stated that he went to a church once. He felt something pulling at his heart. He went forward for prayer and was met with a palm to the forehead and a declaration that "it was over". He thought that seemed easy enough. Then later that same day he set his sheets on fire while he was getting high. Another lady (also struggling with addiction) said that she went to church as a kid and what she learned was that God was good and she was not. He was way up in heaven and out of her reach. She knew she would never measure up, so why try? Yet another young addicted mama with a newborn at her feet told of her recent relapse. She was overwhelmed with guilt, loss, depression, and fear of being alone. She is set to move out of a community shelter into her own housing soon and is terrified to be on her own.
  As I have listened to these humans talk openly about their issues and struggles, I find myself wondering if we as the church are ready..... Are we ready to truly accept these people with open arms knowing their issues? Are we ready to go beyond a Sunday morning prayer and be a friend? Are we ready to let the drunk sleep it off on our couch? To hold back the hair of an addict going through withdrawal while they are vomiting? To drop everything to care for a child whose parent is temporarily incapacitated? To invite them into our home knowing that they just may steal from us? To answer the phone at 2am and really listen to the one who is on the brink of ending it all?
   Don't mishear me...I absolutely believe that God can do miraculous things during Sunday morning services. But I also believe He is calling us to go beyond what we ever thought we were capable of and build His kingdom with bricks and stones made of love. We have heard it said that if you build it, they will come..... Are we ready?

Sick Today

My nose has been dripping for a week. Thankfully it was the only symptom until today. Today the headache and fever arrived. I haven't done very well with homeschooling today, and I was stressed until I read the writing class' instructions about using a rare Friday off to catch up anything that has fallen behind. We did get everything done, but it was a relief to remember the slack in our schedule.

Jesus is like that. He's the much needed grace that gets us through. When things are going well, that seems easy to remember, but it's when things are going badly that we forget he's there. I'm going to rely more consciously on Christ as I work through this cold, giving thanks it's nothing worse.

Swan Song

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Swan Song

Precious Existence!

May my final breath

In its joy and its sorrow

Encompassing the expanse of life

In Thankfulness express

How wonderful the music

How tangible the Spirit

How endless the love

That there is More than even this

Not to be grasped with hands, but

Let it Go, to fly Free

That the fleeting memory

Of who I am

Met with Who You Are

And was overwhelmed by Grace

Changed by Love

And transformed In Beauty

Yours to sing a New Song

Ever In Eternity

Beyond my wildest Dreams!

Fallen.

     Fallen was alone. She was in the Pit of Despair. In the Pit of Despair, there is only blackness, there is only alone, and there is absolutely no light. But Fallen was deceived. God sent to her Helper. Helper had once been Fallen.  Helper had spent deep lonely time in the Pit of Despair. Helper knew the way by heart and went in to find dear Fallen.
     Helper found her friend and said, "Hey, I've been here, it's not any fun, stand up please." Fallen curled up tighter and said, "I can't. I'm all alone here. There is no light." Helper knew to her core that very awful feeling. She knew just what to say, "You are not alone. Look!" Helper pulled out a small lighter and flicked it on. There were MILLIONS of people in the Pit of Despair. Fallen looked around with wonder in her eyes. "I thought no one else was here!"
     Fallen looked around, she stood to see the many of other Fallen around her. Enemy was near. "Come, that is what Enemy wants you to think. Please look over there." Fallen shielded her eyes against a small pin prick of light in the distance. "What is that?" She asked. Helper said, "It is the Light of Hope you get from knowing the truth. You stood up, you saw that you are not here alone, you can now see the light."
     "But Helper, it is so far away, how do I get there?" Oh, Helper knew the way, it wasn't easy this part, she took Fallen's hand.  "Fallen we must walk through the Land of What If's and face them all." Fallen shrunk back in fear. "I can't. I cannot! That is what landed me here!" Helper hugged her dear friend Fallen. "You beat them with the So Then's." Fallen didn't know that place.  Helper smiled, "It is a game I play. It goes like this. First Enemy attacks with, 'What if  your husband died tonight where will you be?' " Fallen shrank. "I hate that one." Helper grimaced, "Yes, me too. I say, 'So then, I'll have my parents here to help me.' "  Fallen looked confused. Helper kept going. "Then Enemy says, 'What if you have no money?' I say, 'So then I'll get a job.' You must keep going with the So Then's until you reach, 'So then, GOD WILL HOLD ME IN HIS HAND.' That is always the winning card of that game. Enemy NEVER has an answer for that one. You have to say that So Then a lot, it's the winner."  Fallen looked up and said, "So then, GOD WILL HOLD ME IN HIS HAND! OH! Helper, that felt good.  And it felt scary." Helper said, "I know, but look!"  Fallen lifted her eyes and the pin prick of light was as big as a grapefruit now.
     Helper saw her friend move forward slightly. "Fallen, now you get a new name, but you must want it." Fallen looked very afraid and very unsure. "What will my new name be?" Helper said, "In order to get more light you have to become, Fighter."  Fallen looked terrified. "I can't fight alone. I do not know how and that is how I ended up back in the Pit of Despair!"  Helper held her friend again and said, "I am here now, I've called in reinforcements, and you have a sword. You're just not using it at the moment."  Fighter looked confused, "Sword.  sword. OH! That sword...Where did it go?" Frantically Fighter rummaged around her cloak until she came up with it. "HERE! HERE IT IS! I remember it! I remember its help!"  Helper looked at her friend and told her how to fight. "Learn it well. Practice with it every single day. Don't lose it again." Fighter looked at the light she had a basketball sized exit coming at her. Helper said, "I've called in Family. They will help you. But now, can you see the way out?"  Fighter stood and looked back at the soft darkness and back up at the blazing light. She felt the tug of both. She looked at the light and turned in that direction.
    Fighter and Helper had many more journeys to go, but by and by Fighter came out into the light completely and asked how on Earth to stay out of that again. Helper smiled, "When you feel ready, God will give you a new name. It will be Helper. You will tell your story. You may feel ashamed to say it all, but then you will be mostly free. Shame is Enemy's weapon. I gave my shame up a LONG long time ago."

And now, blog follower, I have told you my story. I have told you the truth of my journey. If you are in the Pit of Despair, please know this moment. YOU are NOT alone. At one point or another we have all been there. Reach out to a friend, doctor, counselor, parent, or trusted pastor. Google Depression and look up symptoms. There is always a way out and you are not alone.

Breaking Camp

A few years back God asked us to break camp.  He was preparing us, and preparing a place for us.  We had no idea where or how, we just knew he was asking us to ready ourselves to leave our little home in that lakeside city.  The first and only home we owned, and had made our vey own.  So, we began to pack.  Keep in mind that when you start gathering and labeling boxes, people start to ask questions.  We had no answers.  All we had was God's prompting on our lives.  Also, when you are packing and do not know where you will be unpacking you cannot label the boxes according to the destination.  So, we labeled them specific and according to the home we were currently living in.  

Then we felt e call to go to a small town in southern Michigan.  We began a journey with some dear friends and that time is so precious to us.  In the waiting time, we continued to pack up and prepare to move there permanently.  Then God closed the door.  We had told him we would be willing to walk through any door he opened, and we did.  Until he closed them all.

Just a few months later, still feeling the need to prepare to leave, we received another call.  This call was tugging at a hearts, but the timing was a bit laughable.  We were expecting to have our seventh baby, and I had oral surgery about a month before his arrival.  I also had surgery six weeks after his arrival.  In between surgeries and delivery we had several visits and interviews and lots of prayer times between my husband and I.  We started our children in yet another school year, and one week later we found out exactly where God was moving us to.  

In the midst of all of this we saw God and his leading in our lives in a whole new way. We learned that you don't always need to know where you are heading to prepare yourself for the journey.  If we had listened to the world around us, and waited to pack and prepare. Waited until we knew where, how and why, we would have never been able to do it.  We would have floundered, unprepared.  Instead, we were able to enjoy that sweet time with our newborn, relax and recuperate when needed. Still ready when our friends came to assist in the move.  So, how is God moving you? Do you feel him prompting you to prepare for a journey?  Is he asking you to do something in obedience to following him? Is he asking you to "break camp" in an area in your life.  Follow him, and walk through the doors he opens.  He will show you where to plant your steaks in the ground and where to rest in him.  And it will be beautiful....

Even the mundane

Every job seems to have at least one mundane aspect that could be classified as one's least favorite task. I absolutely loved being a teacher, but I wasn't always keen on the hours and hours of grading involved. Some unpleasant tasks we only face once or maybe a few times in our lifetime, such as potty training a child, but there are many mundane tasks that show up on one's "to do" list on a very regular basis. In a Bible study I completed on the life of Gideon, the author made two points about mundane tasks. First, she pointed out that God sent an angel to speak to Gideon while he was in the middle of a very mundane task - threshing wheat. Many times God uses a still small voice (I Kings 19) to speak to us while we are doing something very ordinary. Second, instead of complaining that it's time to once again scrub the toilet, fold the laundry, or cook another meal, we should stop and count our blessings. Many are searching for a job and would love to have the opportunity to grade papers. I need to dust, vacuum, and scrub toilets because I am blessed to live in a house. Thousands of people starve to death every day, and I am complaining about the effort involved in preparing yet another meal? It is so easy to take for granted the blessings in our life and to actually complain about things others can only dream of experiencing. The next time you are tempted to complain about a task that seems unpleasant to you, stop and reflect on the blessing in your life it represents. We have been very richly blessed.

Legacy

At the heart of every great family is a mother...

whose words speak a language of love

whose actions build a lasting foundation

whose lessons inspire for a lifetime

~American Greetings 

Tomorrow is my mother's birthday, and I have been thinking about her life and how blessed I am to be her daughter.  Mom married Dad when she was 18, and turned 20 just a little over a month after I was born.  She always tells my siblings and me that she grew up with us.  When we were growing up, I remember playing games, baking cookies, making homemade Christmas ornaments and smelling up the house making "Shrinky-Dinks" (remember those?) and jewelry from old pill bottles and plastic beads.  I still have a "pill bottle necklace" that we made for my Granny back then.  Mom taught me some of the basics of sewing and how to crochet a chain stitch.  But more importantly, she taught me to be generous, to be kind, to be honest.  She taught me how to forgive, and to ask for forgiveness when I have wronged someone.  She taught me how to love, honor and respect my husband, and that it is possible for love to last for a lifetime.  She taught me how to pray.  We would be here indefinitely if I listed all the things that I have learned by being her daughter.  I am so grateful that God placed me in the Kincaid family, and I pray that I will impart such things to my family as the years go by.  As one of her three children, I "rise up and call her blessed." (Proverbs 31:8)