There is none like Him!

Today was a lifetime full of experience for me. Looking back I realize that each moment, each place and time  of this day was overflowing with God's grace and mercy for me and for the people with whom I interacted, for the situations that were birthed and resolved from wake up until this moment I have been experiencing the mighty grace of a God who is faithful even as I teeter on the edge of falling He protects and defends me and He hears my prayers.

I don't want to go into details because I don't want to draw attention to myself so much as to the unbelievable and humbling grace of my Father who art in Heaven.

It began last night as I made a decision out of my self-will that, in the morning, created another decision of mine to cancel plans I had made to visit someone I love dearly who is sick and in the hospital and to be with his wife. I also had a friend who was going with me who cancelled because of a forgotten prior commitment. Had things gone according to my plans we would have visited in the morning and I would have been home in time to attend a graduation party in the afternoon.

I attended the graduation party where I received a call that led me to choose to go to the hospital as soon as possible where the situation had worsened quickly. (Stay with me cause I want to share the power of a living God with you)

On the way to the party I stopped for gas. An old friend was at one of the pumps gassing up his motorcycle. We have chemistry but no history and that is enuff info on the matter. We talked, had not seen each other in months, caught up on stuff for a few minutes, he bought my gas, the chemistry was real and I am very lonely in my marriage. I ended up agreeing to go for a motorcycle ride in the near future and we parted ways.

Immediately the struggle began inside of me. I started rationalizing and fighting with myself. Finally I called a friend and confessed the huge fantasy building in my mind. I asked God to help me, parked and went into the hospital.

Over the course of a few hours my friend's wife and I became alarmed by her husband's worsening condition. We went to the cafeteria for a rest and here is where I start tying all of this together.

My self-will the night before was turned to God's purpose because I was positioned for God to do His will for my friends later in the day when my presence best served His purpose.

God was not finished. I would have missed the graduation party had I gone to the hospital in the morning. I got the call at the party where there were a group of Christians who prayed for my friend.

I met my old friend at the gas station causing me to confront a struggle that is intensely challenging for me when it occurs. I made a bad choice. I became confused and faced a life changing decision point. I confessed it and turned it over to God.

At the hospital a dear friend of mine who works there was able to see my friend, find me and his wife in the cafeteria and offer us insight that gave us an entirely new perspective on how to best serve and care for my friends husband. On the nurses floor the nurses immediately agreed and, much to our amazement, my friend, so desperately ill, let go and allowed the nurses to guide him. He even became convicted of what they were telling him. We had prayer and I left to go to a friend's to decompress before going home. I was still struggling with this incident at the gas pumps. I talked to my friend about it and left her house feeling the old nature sparring with my new life in Christ.

I randomly chose a movie from Netflix and it was completely about a woman who felt lonely in her marriage, chose to hang out with this other man and, long story short, the consequences were devastating. My God showed me beyond the shadow of a doubt where I was heading if I continued in my train of thought and I know as good as I know I am sitting on my couch this moment that my Father loved me that much to grace me with a story that brought me back to my senses and away from the temptation.

So, short story long, God redeemed my self-will through out the day, used each moment of the day to build on itself showing His glory in perfect timing, perfect love with a healthy dose of  a much needed lesson for me.

We asked God to grant my friend peace, calmness of spirit and the last call I got from his wife she told me the drama and stress had subsided and her husband and my friend was relaxing, letting go and calm. The night nurse had first put her arms around him and told him she loved him and then began the marching orders. WOW!!

There is none like Him. I am not saying God ordained that I make self-willed choices to cause a change in my plans. He had a plan for today and I was in it because He chose for me to be in it. God loved us today, He guided us today, He protected us today, He gathered us together today. He does it all the time. Today it was revealed to me as the day wore on and by this time of the day I am in awe. Tomorrow I may not see the path so clearly. I might not see it at all but that does not mean the path is not evolving or that I am any less on it. I don't know the mind or the ways of God. There is none like Him!

I Don't Even Know What To Call This!

I've been in such a somber mood of late. It is time to break on down to the other side.

But first, I have had the discussion of people's impression that I am eccentric with someone again. I am at 100% in yays rather than nays. This covers the span of a few years now. I chafe at the definition though I can't imagine why I give a rat's tiny buttocks about it. Could be that I am even proud of it. How would I know? It is an assignation that does not match with my vision of an eccentric. Hold one moment! I am going to get the definition of eccentric. Be right back!

Whadda' ya think?

A personal favorite!

I just like this little song! Ya!

The Lark Ascending - Ralph Vaughan Williams

This is long and it is beautiful. I put it here for me but each of you are worth the hearing. My spirit calms, sorrow takes a place a little further from my heart. It is well with my soul.

Seventy Times Seven

 

OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER .

 

 

 

Matthew 18: 21-22

²¹ Then Peter came up to Him and said, Lord, how many times may my brother sin against me and I forgive him and ^[a]let it go? [As many as] up to seven times?

²² Jesus answered him, I tell you, not up to seven times, but seventy times seven!

 

 

 

Oh, wow! This journey is difficult and I am tired!

 

I am going to bed!

HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE

I have lost my mouse. I lost it a week or two ago. Now I have lost the thingy I plug into my laptop so that I can operate that mouse. I don't do so well using the pad on my laptop. I tend to hit super scroll by accident or delete everything I have written with some movement I have yet to discern.

I am writing in large letters because normal appeared so tiny to me. Yeah? Well, I am not young anymore and normal is unnatural to me on a good day. If anyone reading my posts prefers normal, leave a comment. I dare you! I don't even know if the darn "comment" function works on this blog. Not resentment or anything. This is me writing so of course the words are precious and beyond reproach. But they don't have to be in large text. I am a people pleaser. Let me know. I am also sarcastic so I will either change the size or ridicule your request.

My friend John has lung cancer. Little place on his left lung at the top of the lung. My friend John and his wife Miss B are among my favorite people in all the world. I worked with John for a number of years before I retired. He is about my age...little older. He wears khaki to work every single day. He carries ink pins in his top pocket with one of those plastic pocket protectors inside the pocket. He makes a steady "huh-huh" noise 95% of the time. He is a conspiracy theorist. He is the quintessential gentleman. He loves his wife of over 30 years in a precious and romantic way. He is detail oriented. DETAIL ORIENTED! He loves God and his country. Will defend women with the bravado of one of the legenday knights of King Arthur's court. He will drive anyone absolutely and completely nuts with his convoluted thinking processes. He is old fashioned. He wears real clothes away from work and he is nice looking in his street clothes. He is an accomplished painter, He paints historical scenes of our area. He researches for up to 2 years for accuracy. Very few people even know he paints. Very few people allow themselves to look past the decidedly eccentric ways of my friend John. He is funny. He has very little understanding of the computer creating multiple opportunites for side-splitting laughing moments. He doesn't get what is funny and launches off into a conspriacy theory with wild abandonment, talking to himself when we have long ceased to listen. He is probably a genius. Probably at the high end of the genius level. He had an awful childhood. Crazy mother who put him in an orphanage, orphanage put him into foster care, he put himself on the streets making his own way by the age of 13. God graced John with an awesome, petite woman full of southern grace and charm. They married. They have never had children. They are spectacular. She is a lady through and through. She is John's reason for breathing. John is the product of a sad mischance. John's father looked for all of his children and he found them and raised them and sent them to college. The orphanage would not tell John's father where they had placed him. John did not know this story until about five years ago...Soon enough to meet his dad and to be able to attend his funeral not long afterwards. John drives me nuts. We dig at each other verbally all the time. We laugh and have the best time poking fun at each other. He is the best of the best. He is a square peg in a round hole and I am so grateful. I am so filled with joy for knowing him and his lady love, Miss B. I will be at the hospital when he has his surgery. Of course I want John here but if God has decided to bring His strange and wonderful child home then I will have one more reason to shout with joy when I meet him in our Father's House.

John 14:2

The Message (MSG)

The Road

14 ^1-4 “Don’t let this throw you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I’m taking.”

 

YUCK! BLEH! POOR ME! (Copious tears of self-pity)

On days like today I wonder where my gratitude has gone. I look for it to appear instantaneously. This is a futile expectation on days like today. I am required to go looking in every nook and cranny for it. I will rephrase that last sentence. It is best, by a long shot, that I try to find my gratitude on a day like today. It is not a requirement.

 I have been in low cotton, for three weeks or so, with a viral something or other that hit like a sledgehammer one evening while I was watching t.v. Yep! Felt o.k. one minute and the next wondered what on earth had taken over my body. Keep in mind that I am a recovering alcoholic with the ability to exaggerate even the smallest event in my life but, this time, I am telling the gist of it. I've got doctor's notes to prove it. Because I tend to dramatize I called a close friend today and asked her to tell me if she thought I was being a drama queen. She  assured me, with references to my past, notes at the bottom of her conversation with me, quoted resources, etc. that I am not dramatizing. She reminded me that at one time I was ill like this on a recurring basis with few breaks between. In essence I have been doing much better. Unfortunately, I have gotten stuck  in a familiar pattern of trying to get well. The difference is that I am choosing to rest.

I went looking for my gratitude and found this and know that it is true. Pass the humble pie, please!

TINY LITTLE POST

Walking home from my mother's house tonight I thought, "My gosh, I think I just heard a whip- o-will." (I've no idea how to spell that name correctly and am too lazy to look it up.) This distinctive bird call brings a flood of memories when I hear it.
My Papa (maternal grandfather) imitated the calls of many birds. This was a gift he earned through hours of time in the woods hunting or farming along side of those same woods day after day.

This whip-o-will was one of his best calls. I have stood by his side as he responded to the call of this wild bird luring it closer and closer to the edge of the property. "Whip-o-will!" would come from the woods surrounding my papa's home. "Whip-o-will!" my papa would echo back in a whistle which must have seemed like an identical echo to the unsuspecting bird. I may be a bird brain at times but I have no idea what birds are thinking. There is the possibility they were onto my Papa and would volunteer to take turns calling their distinctive call, listening for my Papa's return call and move just a little closer until they were at the edge of the woods. I can see the remaining birds holding their sides in bird laughter at their precocious choice.

I said this would be short. I called back to the whip-o-will I heard tonight. Even I didn't believe myself. My papa, temporarily resurrected, stood at my side. He drew in a breath, paused a split-second and whistled a clear, spot on, reply to the whip-o-will. As I turned the corner of my yard my papa faded. Another second passed. From the woods I heard the replying call of the whip-o-will.

I miss my papa!

(I wrote the post before including the actual call of the whip-poor-will but I'll be darned if I am going back through this post and correct my spelling of the bird's name. Maybe that is why the bird did not respond to me.)