A Prayer for my Children

I was listening to my son's CD, "Money",  in the car,  and felt the need for prayer for him...for both of my sons, actually...make that my daughter,  too...no, make it all of us...the whole family....friends....the world.

maybe if I prayed the sun would shine for me? 

"Our father in heaven, hallowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

take away all the things that trouble me?

"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Lead us into temptation and deliver us from evil."

Fill my pockets FULL 

my fridge with food to eat?

"Give us this day our daily bread."

but I don't have the time.

"Oh, but you do! You took the time.  The words came from you. You wrote the words, sang the song, you thought the prayer in your head, in your heart...you did pray....you did take the time!" I wanted to call my son and tell him that.  

But, I just thought it and by my thoughts, it was also a prayer!

"For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. AMEN"

"I am good."

Another son, another place, different circumstances....yet he is a writer as well.  He writes his "mantra".  "I am good.  I am good."  Yes, son, you are good!  You are.  I love you. 

I am praying for you!




Only GOD can turn a MESS into a MESSage, a TEST into a TESTimony, aTRIal into a TRIumph, a VICTim into a VICTory. GOD is GOOD... all the time!

A post on Facebook, by my daughter...a prayer...going through a "mess"-
work, marriage, home, child, stress, money...


She is making life into a "test", a "trial"-
want to be perfect, want to be right, want to be successful,
so like me, so like her mother.

Yet...God can change things, God can help us be what we are on the inside,

"good enough"!

God is GOOD! All the time!

Thank you, Lord, for helping me sort out the thoughts of my family today!




‎"This life, therefore ... is not righteousness but growth in righteousness, .... not health but healing, ... not being but becoming, ... not rest but exercise. ... We are not yet what we shall be, ... but we are growing toward it. ... The process is not yet finished but it is going on. ... This is not the end but it is the road. ... All does not yet gleam in glory ... but all is being purified." 


Martin Luther

A Place for Me Among the Sunflowers in Spain

I was standing there, truly there, in Spain, and actually in a sunflower field, among the sunflowers.

It was hot, there was a little breeze, but the sweat was streaming down my back as I coerced my husband, Doug, to take pictures of me there. I was really there. I was among the sunflowers.

I was amazed actually, that I didn't feel more of a spiritual connection to the flowers. They surprised me with their dry furry stalks and the weeds that were on the ground, pricking my ankles made it difficult to walk. I wanted to feel something "special" there. I wanted to feel connected to the earth...but I felt hot, and slightly frustrated with my husband's off color comments about how I ought to "take off my clothes and run naked through the sunflowers".

That was what was on his mind, I guess. Not mine. I wanted a spiritual experience. I had looked forward to finding the sunflowers in Spain, and really "connecting" to that experience of looking up at the sun and feeling a connection to God. I was hoping for more than I got, I guess.

The flowers themselves surprised me...I always thought that they followed the sun with their faces, but really their backs were to the sun, kind of like it was warming their "back sides".

They are tall...almost as tall as I am. They truly are beautiful, too. When I think back on it, I am amazed at how they grow at all in that hot, dry climate. Their color is warm, yellow, orange and all shades of green. They are warm, like the hot Spanish sun that was beating down on us as we stood there studying them.

All in all, I know God was there...the hot sun felt overwhelming, like His love for us. His blessings to me were so obvious throughout the entire trip; family and friends in another country who love me and will always love me, the ability to speak and understand another language, the ability too, to communicate without language as Doug was so able to do, the opportunity and the resources to be able to go at all...were all gifts from God. He was there.

Just standing there, feeling the warm breezes on my face, seeing the colors of the amazing flowers, and reflecting on all of the blessings of my life and my trip. It was a spiritual experience after all. It also had a touch of reality, blessed reality.

Praise God for my moments of reality, "among the sunflowers!"

Mother's Day

Finding a Note

Tucked in my devotional book, a hand written note is there. Written on a piece of "grocery list" paper with a sunflower on it, I receive a note. It is written with childlike writing, printing, and the spelling is surprisingly correct!

"Dear Mom,

All you do for me is so greatly appreciated and I can never express how grateful I am."

My 23 year old son, an adult man in body only, still waiting for the maturity of a "man" to develop in him. I wait, I watch, but mostly I pray for him!

Lord, take care of him, draw him close to you again. Cleanse him from his sins, ....forgive him. He is my son, I love him. Now, he is in YOUR hands. AMEN

I am sitting here "thinking", knowing in my heart intuitively that even if there are troubles ahead for for my son, that if I am lost in my own obsessive thinking and all the excuses, lies and disappointments that are all signs, I must turn my focus away from that. I am simply having a relapse of thought.

"It's grace and mercy you give me..."

Today I refuse to ask questions. I put my doubts aside, I move on. I have a life to live, too. A good one....I have been blessed. I can extend God's grace and mercy only through the power given to me.

"I wouldn't have my life without u and even now I wouldn't survive.

Your son, with love"

I have had my Mother's Day card! I chose to take those words at face value, trusting with hope that they are based on love. I trust the love that I feel. I thank the Lord for it!

I go...face the day...one moment at a time.

"And when people escape from the wicked ways of the world by learning about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up with sin and become its slave again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the right way to live, than to know it and then reject the hold commandments that were given to them. They make these proverbs come true: "A dog returns to it vomit" and "A washed pig returns to the mud."

2 Peter 2:20-22

Whose problem is it?

"It's not your problem", God replied.

I haven't posted in a while...don't know why. It seems like the year is already spinning out of control and rushing forward! I haven't had a moment to catch my breath since the new year began. WOW! Today I have a quiet few moments of peace here.

I am waiting for my son to come home so we can take care of some errands with him, gas in the car, oil change, groceries, laundry in the mean time...dinner, etc. It will be busy! I am anxious to see him and hope he is okay, for today! When I ponder how he will ever find a way to live life on his own, when I wonder, "Will he ever get a job?" When I ask myself, will he become a "productive" member of society? I know I am walking into dangerous thinking territory! Dangerous! A friend of mine posted the lyrics to a song, entitled, "I AM" on a website forum. The chorus says:

"It's not your problem!" God replied!

Now that's a good one, it's definitely NOT my problem, is it? And when I make it my problem, it shows a lack of faith in the POWER of the almighty to do anything. Nothing is impossible with God! I think I needed to hear that today!

Thoughts swirling through my head about what changes will be made in my work situation for next year. Wanting to have things worked out and running smoothly. So many changes! Good friends leaving and moving to different schools. Teachers being shuffled around and moved. Assistants who are like my right and left hand, will not be with me again. It is so difficult to face these changes. I'm feeling the confusing and frustrating thoughts of doubt. Will it all work out?

Then there's that chorus again:

"It's not your problem!" God replied!

I'd better go now...listen to what God is saying to me. Cast all my thoughts upon Him and rest in His care.

I am NOT God! Thankfully, none of these problems are mine to deal with! Thank YOU very much! I needed to hear that reply today, God. TODAY!