Today is Sharing Day at Community Bible Study, the final day and celebration that closes 30 weeks of study. We studied Mark and Ephesians this year, and it has been marvelous. Next year we’ll be spending our 30 weeks in Daniel, Job and 1 & 2 Peter.

The leadership from our class will do a song at Sharing Day that I can barely get through without sobbing. Tears stream down my face every time we sing it. I don’t think any song better depicts what CBS is all about.

It’s called “Ancient Words” and is sung by one of my favorites, Robin Mark.

Have you heard the song? It makes me want to take up my Bible with more reverence and awe than I do.

If you have never attended CBS, you can click here to see if there’s a class near you. This fall will begin my 16th year and nothing has ever affected my spiritual life more.

Have a blessed week!

If you have visited my blog regularly, you may have come to recognize some of the names of the friends who comment here. It always makes me happy when a commenter acknowledges another person’s comments or offers encouragement. I’ve seen this happen on other blogs as well, as if a tiny community of people who haven’t met springs up under His name and love.

Today I’m going to share a prayer request with you, from my dear friend Kay who lives in Cornwall, in the south of England. She and her husband Alan are sincere believers who live a quiet life, face some serious health problems with cheerfulness and trust in God, and who have recently gone through a very difficult thing. With her permission, here are Kay’s words:

‘I believe that the enemy strikes out at us in various ways. In my experience I’ve found that he tends to spot my weak points and attacks them one-by-one. In the past I’ve been attacked financially, through bullying at work, health issues and loneliness, to name a few.

However the latest attack is related to a tradesman who has taken £865 from us and has not done the work. He has given us EIGHTEEN excuses and has had three phone calls from the police about this matter, and still he continues to dangle us on a string, so to speak.

Because this is basically a civil matter, we could take months pursuing this debt and still end up with nothing in return.

We have lost a large amount of money and although we are not rich, to be totally frank, God has indeed provided us with all we need. So, in a way, it’s not so much the amount of money that hurts, it’s more that I feel that my husband and I have been taken for fools. And I know that is a pride matter which is sin. But, even though I know my error, it feels like my ‘spark’, my joy, has been taken from me. I have suffered depression in the past and right now I can feel it’s trying to overcome me again.

I don’t ask for prayer for the return of the money, I ask for prayer for protection against depression.’

So, dear readers, will you pray for Kay and Alan? I am praying not only for what Kay has requested — that her joy and spark would return, but that this money stolen from them will be repaid.

I invite you to leave a comment to let Kay know you’ll be praying, even if it’s just a word or two. Or maybe God will impress a scripture on your heart to share with her….

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.  Ephesians 6:18

Thank you and God bless you all….

Last week Michael and I drove 2 1/2 hours south to Stillwater, Minnesota to do several things. One thing was to have a special templated MRI for my upcoming minimally invasive total knee replacement surgery on June 10th. I laid absolutely still in a huge noisy donut for ten minutes and then the MRI was completed. Since my dear friend Su and I are on this Knee Adventure together, she and her husband Danny also drove down because her MRI appointment was right before mine.

After those appointments the four of us grabbed a quick dinner at Chipotle Mexican Grill, which was delicious. For those who might still say TACK-o for taco, Chipotle is pronounced chi-POTE-lay and not chi-PO-tul. 🙂

Then we checked into our gracious and beautiful bed and breakfast room at The Aurora Staples Inn, where we were warmly greeted at the door by the proprietor, Cathy. Cathy gave us a short tour of this elegant manse, saw us to our rooms, and invited us downstairs to the library where yummy appetizers were waiting for us.

Michael and I stayed in the lovely Giverny Suite, and below is a photo taken from the doorway. Whenever we stay someplace new I like to walk around the place and take in all the details, the views from the windows, the paintings on the walls, the books on the mantel or the magazines on the coffee table, the cleanliness of the bathroom (yes, it’s true). The first order of the day for Michael is to immediately try out the bed and pronounce whether or not it will give us a good night’s sleep. Neither of us were disappointed. There were so many things to appreciate in this inn and in our room, and the bed was great. You can click to enlarge the photos if you like.

Just to the right in the picture above was a corner gas fireplace, and since the weather in Stillwater was not what we expected for May, we enjoyed the warmth of a fire most of the time we were in our room. If you check out the website to the inn and look at the different rooms, you can see The St. Croix Suite, which is where Danny and Su stayed, right across the hall from us.

Here’s a photo of the inn, but you’ll have to picture it in different weather — while we were there it snowed a bit overnight, sleeted and rained, and the wind blew the chill into our bones, so the strolling we had planned for quaint downtown Stillwater was cut short.

Su and I were scheduled to attend a two-hour exercise and informational class from 5:30 – 7:30 that evening, so we all went downstairs to the library for our welcome appetizer before we headed out.

Since we had just eaten an early dinner we weren’t very hungry and I felt bad for wasting Cathy’s efforts for us, but to sit with friends we’ve known and loved for decades and to enjoy this serene and beautifully appointed setting seemed like such a gift.

Spouses were encouraged to attend the class, so Danny and Michael came with us. The room was filled with over-55 folks who were scheduled for either knee or hip surgeries. I was so glad we went, because I learned a lot and felt even more certain about my decision to have this particular surgeon and hospital for my ordeal. Su felt very reassured too. A Physical Therapist and an ortho nurse went through all the details of what we can expect, how we can prepare for surgery, and what recovery will be like.

The contraption in the distance at the right in the photo below is a CPM (Continuous Passive Motion) machine, and when we’re not doing physical therapy, walking up and down the aisles of the hospital (within hours of surgery) and occupational therapy, our legs and knees will be bent and straightened while we’re resting in bed. For a photo of how it looks, click here.

I’ve been doing my exercises and a few of them make my right knee burn like fire, but in this very short time I can actually feel a difference. There’s less pain and more stability, and more range of motion. With such dramatic results, I might have been tempted to just do the exercises for a month and forego the surgery, except for the icky-looking deformity that makes my lower leg splay away from the center now. My valgus angle isn’t as bad as this photo, but this will give you an idea what I’m trying to describe.

Back at the inn, this is a picture of the landing on the second floor right outside our suite. I thought it was so nice that they keep that little corner refrigerator filled with treats for their guests.

The Aurora Staples Inn has handsome woodwork everywhere, and wallpaper that makes a guest feel like they’ve taken a step back in time. Or a thousand steps back in time. This view below was on the landing. Look at the gorgeous inlaid floors too.

Breakfast was at 9:00, so we got to sleep in — yay! Out of habit Michael and I woke very early, but to be able to stay in bed and read by the warmth of our fire was divine. I read a Psalm out loud and we talked about how grateful we are to know the Lord is always with us, how He sustains us, opposes our enemies for us, and draws us to Himself.

When we came down to the dining room our places were set and Cathy served us the most delectable fresh fruit parfaits with yogurt and granola, and then a baked French toast dish with blueberry sauce. I had no room for the petite dessert offered but I’m sure it was a delight to the eyes and the taste buds.

It’s just so nice to be expected, isn’t it? Cathy took every care to make us not only feel welcome, but expected. A Keurig coffee maker with fresh water set up in the parlor, books and games for the borrowing, a generous appetizer, friendly sharing during breakfast, the fridge stocked with treats, a tray with a pot of coffee placed quietly outside our door each morning…we felt tenderly pampered.

Su and I have been friends since 1980. She was the matron of honor when I married Michael, and I was the matron of honor when she married Danny. There’s a peaceful comfort that often comes in friendships that have lasted so long. I never feel like I have to be super perky and well-behaved around Su, because she loves me no matter what. And I think she feels the same kind of ease with me. We have known each other during some very unperky times, and the Lord’s faithfulness to us has been great.

Danny will be Su’s caregiver when her surgery is over and she’s recuperating at home. He’s one of the best men we know.

Michael and I slept later than usual, but I think both of us look permanently ty-ode. Nights can be challenging these days, especially in unfamiliar places.

Su and I have 32 days until our surgeries. Will our hospital rooms be right next to each other? Will we race our walkers down the hall together? Will we text each other about how bad the hospital food is? Will our pain meds make us goofy and foster some giggly memories?

Stay tuned, and I just might share about it here. Exciting stuff, people. 🙂

God bless your weekend, dear friends and family….

“If you cannot find time to pray, ask for forgiveness. Ask to be cleansed of the sin of having no time to pray…

…it could be that Satan is pushing you into too much work so that you cannot take time to pray.”

– Corrie Ten Boom

*         *         *         *         *         *

I just read an article in our local paper about how a small company has opened a Segway tour business in our city. They will offer guided tours on the beautiful miles-long Lakewalk of Lake Superior, which I always say is our treasure. People from all over Minnesota drive to be near Lake Superior, and I’ve never grown tired of living close to it myself.

When you see it in person for the first time it’s staggering how huge it is. Growing up with plenty of opportunities to see the Pacific Ocean, I was speechless when I first laid eyes on Lake Superior in 1981, and gasped to Michael, “What’s that?”  Ahem. It’s a vast body of water, the largest freshwater lake in the world, and it looks like an ocean. And it still takes my breath away 32 years later.

So a chance to have a new experience and ride a Segway near the Lake sounds absolutely fantastic to me. People will have to ride single file and go fairly slow, helmets will be required, and everyone will wear a device that allows them to hear the guide share historical facts about our gorgeous part of the country.

I do like to walk on the Lakewalk near Lake Superior too, but I’ve had this teeny-tiny knee issue for a couple of years now and walking through a grocery store to buy raspberries, corn tortillas, eggs and canned pinto beans is about what I can manage without knashing my teeth.

Hopefully my teeth will shout hallelujah when my knee replacement surgery is over and all my physical therapy is complete and I’ll feel like walking long distances again.

Anyway, after I read about the Segways, I thought about the things I would like to do, but don’t, because of one excuse or another. Some of my excuses are presently legitimate, like the aforementioned knee that makes powder of my bones when I walk long distances. But I’m a fairly adventurous person even if few people would ever suspect this because of my stay-at-home hermit-like tendencies. Even as a little girl I used to plunge into the cold, mighty, thundering Pacific and swim so far out past the waves, when I turned and looked toward the shore the people looked like colored dots.

Here are a few things I would love to do:

Ride a Segway
Cycle long distances
Swim every day
Learn to high dive (I can do front and back flips now)
Water ski
Teach a class
Drive a Sea-doo on our Lake
Zip line through a forest in Alaska
Ride a pleasant, dependable horse
Para-sail
Buy a Vespa and use it for short errands
Be in another book club
Learn to love the taste of raw juices
Skydive from a plane, but only if Jesus Himself told me ahead of time that I would land safely

And conversely, there are a few things I would never want to try, no matter what. They are:

Mountain climbing
Rappelling
Working diligently to acquire a taste for alcohol
Driving a race car
Roller blading
Flying on a trapeze
Smoking
Raising Pit Bull Terriers
Spelunking
Starting a catering business
Scuba diving

So hey, what are some things you would try if you knew the outcome would be just fine?

What are some things you would never be interested in doing, no matter what?

I know that sometime soon I’ll be taking a Segway tour. At least it’s a start….

When I was a sophomore (age 15) at Covina High School in Southern California, one of my classes was Creative Writing with Mrs. Geneva Knutsen. She was a lovely, smiling, stately woman who wore a blonde wig, glided slowly and gracefully around the classroom, and spoke in composed whispers.

I have a notebook from that class that I’ve kept over the years, primarily because it makes me smile. It’s filled with the semester’s assignments, our attempts at sonnets and essays and contemporary poetry.

One day Mrs. Knutsen passed each of us a different picture or illustration clipped from a magazine. Our assignment was to write a poem or story to go with that picture.

Here is the illustration I was given (which I cut in two so I could fit it on one page, along with my typing from our IBM Correcting Selectric), and my poetic attempt that went with it (click to enlarge, and you might be able to click twice to enlarge more):

I have one word: sheesh.

Michael and I will be traveling soon, heading south the the place where I’ll have an MRI on my right knee in preparation for my upcoming surgery.

And guess what? Snow is in tonight’s forecast. It’s May 1st, and it might snow.

Have a wonderful week,

Good Monday morning! I am on day five of an antibiotic and feeling better. As I said before, I try very hard not to take antibiotics because I don’t want to alter my gut flora if I don’t have to. Do you try to preserve your gut flora too? I know my friend Carey is very diligent about hers. 🙂 I’ve been drinking Kefir every day to to try ensure that some good bacteria will still stay on in my body while the antibiotic is using its big guns on the bad stuff. I’m so thankful to be up and around and not feeling like life is literally ebbing out of my body. Michael caught the bug and got well. Sara caught the bug and got well. I was not getting better, which clearly does not bode well for the state of my immune system, but this was not a huge surprise to me. I was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis over a decade ago and that is an immune system disease. I got sick with Sarc right after I was pressured to have a Hepatitis vaccination (another thing I’m wary about) because of our line of work. Years later I read that Sarcoidosis was increasing in medical personnel who had been vaccinated against Hepatitis. But….this is not going to be one of those old lady posts where I outline all the things wrong with my health.

Being a bit behind after 3 weeks of sinus infection and a titch of pneumonia, I have at least 3-5 things to attend to every day of this week except Friday. A crazy week ahead that I wish I could pare down, but all the appointments are mandatory. I just felt like getting on the blog here and saying hello and posting a photo of an arrangement my daughter Sara created recently.

It’s a fabulous table-top arrangement made of flowers, leaves and limes. And a succulent or two, and some dry stuff. She’s not here right this minute or I would have her give me the proper names for all these elements below — I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t say “flowers, leaves, limes and some dry stuff.”

Anyway, I thought of how life is like this. Don’t we all have some gorgeous figurative florals in our lives, those things that take our breath away and make us so happy we’re able to see and appreciate the glimpses of beauty we’re given? Like friends? Grandchildren? Stunning sunrises? The love and mercy of God?

And don’t we all have some figurative leaves in our lives? Just plain green things that are all around us and often go unnoticed because they’re just always there in abundance? Like air to breathe? Like ordinary duties to tend to day in and day out? Like messes that have to be cleaned and food that has to be prepared?

And how about limes? Do you have some limes in your life? I don’t mean literal limes, I’m talking about those things in our lives that are nourishing but are a little hard to swallow. Things like hardship that has been allowed because it will make us more loving and patient if we bear it while staying close to the Lord. Irregular people can be limes in our lives. I hope I’m not somebody’s lime, but I think I might be! Being in God’s waiting room while praying in hope and expectancy can be a lime-like thing. It’s good for you, but not your first choice.

I think we can take the beautiful blooms and the ordinary leaves and the sour limes we’ve been given, and let God make a beautiful arrangement from them. Sometimes he’ll use some succulents too, as in the photo above — things that grow even though the rain is scarce. And what if He throws in some dry stuff? Can’t dry stuff that isn’t very pretty or useful on its own add to the beauty? I think it can! I have plenty of dry stuff in my life that I’m hoping He uses for His glory.

I can think of one thing that should not be used in a unique arrangement like the one above. Anything moldy. That would have to be thrown out right away, so it doesn’t ruin the rest of the stuff. So while the Lord might use flowers and leaves and limes, I’m pretty sure He wants moldy or rotting things thrown out immediately. Lies, complaining, bitterness, cruelty, unfaithfulness…those sorts of things that never add to the beauty.

Anyway, this weekend Su and I will be having our MRIs to prepare for our June 10th knee replacement surgeries. Then we have to attend an exercise class to help us prepare for good recoveries by strengthening our muscles now. I think that would be a lime — a little hard to take, but very nourishing. 🙂

I pray you have a blessed week. Thank you for stopping by here.

What are the flowers, leaves, limes, or even dry stuff in your unique and gorgeous life arrangement?

When I was a teen, there were some people my parents knew who were predicting that World War III was just around the corner. My parents weren’t buying it, but I recall reading the Xeroxed words of this prophecy of sorts, and feeling disquieted and unsure. What would World War III do to our country, our planet, or even our family?

Just a year or two later, my parents’ thirty-one year marriage ended, and the aftershocks from that event felt worse to me than any war.

There’s so much that threatens our stability. Wars, rumors of wars, famines, plagues, recession. Drought, illness, divorce, infidelity. Addiction, selfishness, pride, worshiping at the altar of self. Isolation, deception, poverty, dishonesty, greed. And I’m sure you could probably add a few of your own thoughts about what threatens a person’s stability.

My own sin can undermine my stability. My prideful tendency to face the day in my own strength instead of humbly relying on the Lord minute by minute to guide me and enable me to love and care for those in my home, this feels unstable and precarious.

Here’s where I go when I’m beginning to feel a little wobbly, a tad bit unstable in my ways of thinking and doing.

It’s my place of refuge in our bedroom, the big overstuffed chair by the windows that overlook Lake Superior two blocks away. And sometimes I turn the chairs so I can just spend time looking out over the water. I do my Community Bible Study here. I enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart (Psalm 100:4) by writing in my gratitude journal here. I think most of you have been named in that journal. 🙂 I sometimes write out my prayers here, calling out to God to help us and to have mercy on all the ones I love. This is a place of praise. And it’s a place of quiet, where I try to be still and know that He is God.

Here’s the passage of scripture I’m meditating on today:

He is your constant source of stability;
He abundantly provides safety and great wisdom;
He gives all this to those who fear him.

Isaiah 33:6 — The New English Translation

*         *         *         *         *         *         *         *         *

I know a woman whose special place to meet with the Lord is in her car. I know another who prays when she gardens or shovels snow. I have a friend who begins her day talking to the Lord and praising Him in the shower. I have another friend whose small bedroom has become her altar. Most of us have heard the account of how Susannah Wesley’s meeting place with the Lord was underneath her apron, pulled over her head. Where do you go most often to meet with the Lord?

How thankful I am today that no matter what theatens to undo us or to steal our joy and peace, there is always a place we can go to meet with the One who is our constant source of stability.

Blessings,

“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow….?”
Job 38:22a

    *       *       *       *       *       *       *

Here’s a song to listen to as you plod through this snowy post. It’s the song in my heart right now. 🙂

Last night’s snowstorm has moved on after dropping ten inches of the biggest flakes I’ve seen in a long time. Some of them were the size of potato chips.

This weekend we’re supposed to have temperatures in the 60s, so maybe I’ll even open some windows to air out this virus hotbed for a few hours.

I took this picture just outside my office sliding glass door this morning, at the back of our house:

You would never know by looking at this picture that our city broke a record last night. Things do look slightly snowy, but we’ve had a lot of snowstorms then melts, snowstorms then melts, so it hasn’t piled up as high as one might expect. There are some places where the snow is easily two feet deep, but the wind has kept things moved around a bit.

April of 2013 is now the snowiest month ever on record for our city. We got 50.2 inches of snow during this gentle month of spring.

The laundry is piling up, the floors are unswept, and I won’t even speak of my paperwork Alps right now. I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning and I’m still hoping I’ll be vastly improved by then. Antibiotics and I have a very complicated relationship and I prefer not to be in close communication with them if at all possible.

Things I’m thankful for today:

*This weekend’s warmer temperatures.
*I’m coughless as I sit and type this.
*I’m planning on hosting a summer Bible study again this year with my favorite women.
*My husband gave me one of his beautiful smiles this morning.
*That God is able to bring good from all situations.

What are you thankful for today?

This photo was taken by my father when my best friend Denel and I were in the fifth grade at Workman Avenue Elementary School. It was Easter season and we were ten years old.

Denel and I had just returned from Sunday School and we were holding the remainders of our ice cream cones from Baskin Robbins, which was right across the street from the church.

We were standing in the front yard of my house (that’s the garage window behind us) on Eckerman Avenue in West Covina, California. By this time Denel and I were starting to care about cool. Denel’s cool factor was much greater than mine; notice the knotted beads? Remember those? My sleeveless linen dress had a double-breasted navy blue and white checked matching coat that went over it. My mother liked classic, tailored clothes, and nice shoes. I had white patent leather, black patent leather, red patent leather, navy leather, tennis shoes, boots, sandals, penny loafers, and others.

I remember being obsessed with this song, and playing it over and over and dancing in my room. Oh, ho, what a visual memory that brings. My cool factor was still fairly low.

Three years later I was wearing bell bottoms, cropped tops, platform sandals and had discarded my plastic headbands and grown my hair quite long.

We have just learned that another big storm is headed our way, with a forecast of up to eight inches of snow. This has been one of the snowiest Aprils on record for us.

And I am still unwell, and will be going to the doctor Wednesday morning.

What a motley post this was. I was just walking by the office to go make a cup of tea, saw the computer there, and thought I’d sit down to say hello to you.

How old were you when your cool factor started kicking in?