Chicago

Just a brief hello for those of you that might be missing me and wondering where we are. Was I ever really a Chicago girl?

This now country girl is back in the city on holidays, thanking her Lord that He has so changed her life in the past eight years. (Hmmmmmmmm, 8, new beginnings again)

The pace of life here is absurdly fast for no good reason. I feel like I need to catch my breath.

We spent last night on Navy Pier. Ride on the giant ferris wheel where Rick was able to shoot these pictures, dinner, Cirque Shanghai then fireworks.

Yes, it's a very nice place to visit, but how did I ever live here?

Cafe Chat Week of August 23rd

This week Kim asked: What is one thing you were convicted about when you were younger, but now being older and wiser you have changed your mind on that belief? Why? Or on the other side, what is one thing you may have not held a conviction on that you now do? Why?

I knew my issue the moment I finished reading the question, for the change in me was so dramatic that it was a defining moment in my walk with the Lord.

I lived 43 years without knowing Jesus, and even though God had chosen me as His own, I walked in darkness. I will save my salvation story for another time, but you needed to know just how long the world had seeped into and ruled my life. Redemption and rebirth are astounding. His great love and grace beyond words. I was surely a new creation. My views on moral issues seemed to change in an instant. I suddenly saw right from wrong. Many shades of grey turned black and white.

And yet…

I struggled with the issue of abortion. It was a choice I believed I would never make for myself, but I still felt strongly that a woman had the right to choose that road if she felt it best. I spent much time feeling that I must not be a “good enough” Christian if I could still hold this belief. I remember telling someone that God Himself would have to change my mind.

How many of you know what happens if you give God a challenge?

One night, about five years ago, after crawling into bed, reading, praying, wishing my beloved goodnight, listening to the rhythm of his breathing as he drifted to sleep, I began to think of two women in our life that were pregnant. I knew I was to pray for them. As I began, I sensed I was to pray for all pregnancies. I sensed the Lord asking me “And what about those that are ended by abortion, almost before they begin?”

“Yes, that’s sad, Lord” I replied, “and I would never do that, but I still think the woman has the right to choose.”

There should have been thunder and lightening, for the Lord’s answer exploded in my spirit.

“You have no rights! I have ALL the rights.”

Something in me broke, and I began to weep without restraint. I repented for ever having held the belief that abortion was a valid option. I prayed for those women who had made that choice, that they would learn forgiveness and grace. I prayed for the children who were never born. I prayed for those who were missing siblings that had not been born, and wondered if their spirits could sense the lack. I cried and I prayed and I prayed and I cried. When morning dawned after this sleepless night of tears I knew my beliefs were forever altered.

If you think God doesn’t want to talk with you, or doesn’t answer prayers, just ask Him to change the parts of you that are misaligned. He is faithful to answer.

Join us this week at http://www.internetcafedevotions.com/2008/08/august-23rd-cafe-chat.html and share your answer to Kim’s question.

Tagged!!

I've been tagged by Allyson at Oury Family
I’m supposed to share an Alphabet story, the A to Z 's of me.

Attached or Single? I am totally attached to Rick, for now and forever.

Best Friend? My best friend is the Holy Spirit. He leads me, guides me, and comforts me. My next best friend is my beloved husband Rick. I also thank God for changing my heart about female friends. I now have wonderful women in my life.

Cake or Pie? Hard to choose, but as a surprise to me as well as anyone who knew me in the past, I would have to say Pie.

Day of Choice? Sunday. "I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD." Psalm 122:1

Essential Item? Watch. I seem to always need to know what time it is.

Flavour of Ice cream? Homemade Brown Sugar Ice Cream

Gummy Bears of Worms? Worms. Bears are too small and sticky

Hometown? Chicago suburbs

Indulgences? The Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings made with bananas instead of apples.

January or July? If you have ever survived a Manitoba winter you would say July, just like me. That's assuming you don't enjoy 40 below temps before the wind chill.

Kids? No kids, just pets. Though I've been told I will have many spiritual children.

Last Movie I saw in a Theater? Shrek 3 at Clear Lake Theater in Riding Mountain National Park with a huge group of friends after we spent Canada Day 2007 in the park

Middle Name? Fern. I used to hate this, but now the thought of being named after a growing thing is quite delightful.

Number of Siblings? 2 older brothers. I am the baby and the only girl. Did Daddy spoil me? You bet.

Oranges or Apples? Apples, crisp, hard, tart apples.

Phobia or Fear? Fear. I don't believe I have phobias about anything.

Quote? "He's not a tame lion" C. S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia, speaking of Aslan

Reason to Smile? I'm a child of the King!

Season? Autumn harvest time. It's almost warmer here in October than it is mid-summer.

Tag four more: Karen at Archibalds Archives , Tania at Faith Prints , Kim at The Christ Saturated Life , Kathy at Blessed Builder

Unknown Fact About Me? I love the smell of clover

Vegeterian or Oppressor of Animals? Used to be vegetarian. I remember an old saying that vegetarians are just people who can't hear plants scream. Now I'm an omnivore. I eat everything.

Worst Habit? Diet Cola

Xrays or Ultrasounds? X-rays

Your favourie Food? Any variety of oriental food, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese. Sadly, it's hard to find anything but Chinese here, and most of that is Chinese/Canadian and nothing close to what I was able to find in Chicago. Actually, the variety of cuisine is really the only thing I miss about the city.

Zodiac? I feel very strongly that I should disregard this question.

So there you have it, a snapshot of me, written quickly, A to Z.

Flying pig???

Sunday morning, Rick and I were taking our time getting up and moving. After hitting the snooze alarm, as I was beginning to doze off, in my mind I saw a flying pig. Yes, a little pink pig with wings flapping like crazy. It's not unusual for me to see silly little things as I'm falling asleep, but I've learned that these pictures are quite often God's way of trying to tell me something. So I asked "Okay Lord, why a flying pig?" He brought to mind that when we think something is impossible and will never occur we use the expression "when pigs fly".

I believe He wanted me to know that things we are praying for, even those things that seem too far out of reach, are possible for Him if we only believe. We have been singing songs about standing in His glory and receiving His miracles and yet…. That little voice snickers in the background "when pigs fly".

I sensed that our Loving Father was saying, "Get ready. Position yourself to receive. For I tell you, now is the time. Expect your miracles. Open your eyes and see. The pigs are flying."

"Jesus replied, 'What is impossible with men is possible with God.'" Luke 18:27

"Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." Habakkuk 1:5

My Ten Things for Tuesday August 19, 2008

1. Today I am thankful for writers bold enough to put their love for Jesus into words. My prayer is that I would always be counted among them.
2. Today I am thankful for a long stretch of time yesterday to almost finish lesson 5 in Naturally Supernatural, my current course at Christian Leadership University
3. Today I am thankful that God was, is and always will be. "And God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM and WHAT I AM, and I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE; and He said, You shall say this to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you!" Exodus 3:14 Amplified
4. Today I am thankful for brilliant sunshine that has been ripening the tomatoes in our garden. What a delight to the taste buds!
5. Today I am thankful for "The Shack" a book that cost me half a box of kleenex and more tears than I can count, and left me hungrier than ever to linger in the presence of our Lord. If you haven't read it yet, please consider doing so. For more info check The Shack Book I will soon write more about this, but still need time to process.
6. Today I am thankful for the love of a man who truly believes both halves of the Ephesians 5 equation "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself." Ephesians 5:22-28 NIV
7. Today I am thankful for all of the small frogs hopping around in our yard. Not only are they cute, but they eat the grasshoppers that are also trying to make themselves a home on our land.
8. Today I am thankful that plans are coming together for a workshop I will be presenting on "Living With Alzheimer's Disease" in October. I pray that more people would open up and take advantage of the help that is available.
9. Today I am thankful that harvest time is almost upon us. The farmers are busy checking their fields each day, making things ready, waiting for just the perfect moment to reap what was sown last spring. It is a prophetic picture of the greater harvest yet to come. But it is coming.
10. Today I am thankful that I serve a God Who continues to teach me what it means to be thankful.

What are you thankful for today? Go to X-Box wife and join us!

Cafe Chat Week of August 16

This week Kim asked "Tell about one time in the past 5 years where you took a HUGE Step of Faith in your journey with the Lord. What was the outcome?"

God had spoken to me and my husband before we had even met that one day He would send us out. We shared those words as we were getting to know each other and agreed as a couple that we would listen for His voice and go where and when He sent us. That was simply a truth we received and pondered every now and then, but it sat on the shelf for God had not given us any vision of what He wanted us to do. We continued to grow in the Lord and in our desire to be obedient to whatever He might ask.

The Watoto Children’s Choir from Uganda had just finished their second visit to our church, and we had billeted 2 of the girls and their chaperone “auntie”. We gave them our email address saying we were interested in more info, thinking that we would become prayer supporters, something we both do for a number of different ministries.

A few months later we received an email about the possibility of joining a global team to build a teacher’s home in Uganda for Watoto Childcare Ministries. Suddenly, there was the vision, working side by the side with others we had not yet met, for the benefit of the orphans who had come to know Jesus and trusted him and us for their support. We looked at each other, and even without words knew this was God calling.

We discussed it with our pastors who agreed that we should apply to go, so apply we did, thinking that perhaps we would not be accepted on the team. After all, we would have to raise a large amount of money, more than what seemed possible to us.

We received another email, within a few weeks, accepting and welcoming us to the Global Team. Included in that email was info about booking our flights, how much money we would need to raise, sample itinerary, etc.

We were excited, we were happy and we were scared. I don’t think we had a fear of going, but we had doubts about our ability to raise the funds necessary. In faith we pressed on, trusting God’s Word that He doesn’t call us to a task without equipping us. We had to trust that if indeed He wanted us to go, He would provide all that was needed.

I was releasing my faith, and releasing the love of Christ within me as we spoke to individuals and groups about our mission and our needs. More money came in than we ever could have dreamed and yet not enough to cover all of our expenses. Again, we needed to stand in faith that if we used our own funds, God would take care of us financially.

God is and was true to His Word. We journeyed to Uganda to be part of a team of 43 people from Canada, USA, England, Scotland, Ireland and Australia. It was the experience of a lifetime, but only the first. We are already praying, planning and believing God to lead and guide us as we put a team together to return in 2010.

To share your answer to this week's question, join us at http://www.internetcafedevotions.com/2008/08/august-16-2008-cafe-chat.html

It was an ordinary life.....

They were a happy couple, living a quiet and simple life.....
One day he walked in from the garden with a ice cream pail filled with cucumbers.
So begins the horrifying tale of

PICKLE MANIA!!

It is that time of year that except for my regular work schedule everything else gets put on hold to allow me to freeze, pickle or preserve the bounty from our garden. The canner is almost always aboil, sterilizing empty jars or waiting to process jars filled with relish or jelly or salsa.

Rick comes home from work each evening and heads out to the garden to pick whatever is ripe. He comes back to the house with pails full, bursting with pride. I "oooh". I "ahhhh". I moan and groan about the work ahead of me.

So this past week it's been cucumbers. Cucumbers of all sizes, with many more still ripening on the vines. Rick also grows garlic, delicious flavorful garlic with cloves bigger than I've ever seen. The other night I peeled a very large head that consisted of only two cloves that need to be cut at least in half before they could be used. If you were to look at our garden, you would get the idea that we were ranching dill. It grows wherever it pleases and fills every empty nook and cranny. These factors of course lead only to one conclusion - garlic dill pickles. There will be whole pickles, pickle spears, slices and chunks. Some will have more dill than others and some jars will receive the extra kick of a sprinkle of hot pepper flakes. Tonight I will take the smallest ones and add sugar, turmeric and celery seeds to the mix to create sweet garlic dills.

And on and on and.............

When the cukes get too large they will get chopped, minced, ground and otherwise mutilated before being transformed into various types of relish, but for now, it's pickles. The magic of pickles.

Magic? Yes indeed. The cucumber goes into a brine solution as one type of vegetable and after spending time living in the brine, it comes out totally changed. That's what happens to us when we spend time soaking the presence of God. He transforms us. He takes away bitterness, blandness and adds flavour. He turns us into His own special creation, forever marked by His hand.

Take some time today to let Him pickle you. You will be changed, for His glory.