Week 2 April 2019

 Running Behind

April  11, 1029

Photo by Rachel Ramsdell Photography

Do you ever feel like you are a "day late and a dollar short"?
that the "clock is running away from you"?
that you are "running behind"?
Like me this week!
It was all if a sudden Wednesday!  And I hadn't done my blog....and then it was Thursday!!
I shake my head! We have calendars and clocks, watches we wear, watches we carry, clocks in our cars and clocks on our phones...yet we loose track of time!
Sometimes because we are so busy, sometimes because we are caught up in the joy of the moment, and sometimes maybe we are so ill....physically or emotionally we haven't any idea of day or time.
But God never looses track of time, He never runs behind.
📖 As for God, his way is perfect: Psalm 18:30a

His timing is spot on!
📖    There is a time for everything,

    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,

    a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,    a time to tear down and a time to build,

  a time to weep and a time to laugh,

    a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

  a time to search and a time to give up,   a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,    a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is a song we sing at church ...How Great Is Our God
And one verse in it is:

Age to age He stands
And time is in His hands
Beginning and the end  Songwriters: Chris Tomlin / Ed Cash / Jesse Reeves

No matter how you are feeling about your time...today...this week or even for your life.
YOUR time can be in His hands!

📖  But I trust in you, Lord;

I say, “You are my God.”

My times are in your hands;

deliver me from the hands of my enemies, 

from those who pursue me.

Let your face shine on your servant;  save me in your unfailing love. Psalm 31:14-16

The one thing we don't want to do is waste it!  IF you haven't given God your life...placed all your time in His hands...
Maybe NOW is the Time!!

📖  For he says,

“In the time of my favor I heard you,
    and in the day of salvation I helped you.”

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation   2 Corinthians 6:2

If you have done that...just now...or in the past.... sing with me!
How Great is Our God      by Chris Tomlin (click on link)

Photo by Rachel Ramsdell Photography

Week 1, April 2019

 Best Birthday ever 

April 2, 2019

So I had a blog started...and yet again God inspired me...in a whole different direction.

I was going with April Fool....but something happened yesterday,  my birthday, that put a whole train of thought in motion.
First of all in my morning "knee time" giving thanks to God for 53 years....blessed years...rough times scattered through out, but learning, growing, drawing closer to Him through the trials.  But really a very blessed life!

At church we sang "Are You Washed in the Blood"

Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless?
Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

After church we gathered back at my house for a PARTY!   With 5 grandchildren it HAS to be a party!  My mother insists!  Balloons, birthday banner, candles on a dessert! (though little lips were blowing them out faster than we could light them!😊)
See what I mean...Blessed!😍

But then my daughter shared a conversation she had with my oldest grandchild...her son....at church;
"We were singing Washed in the Blood and he looked at me and said "'I'm washed in the blood'".  So I asked if he knew what it meant and he said 'if you aren't washed in the blood you aren't a Christian and if you are washed in the blood you are a christian'"
WOW!
 I looked at him..."you got it Bud! Are you washed in the blood?!  "Yes" he said and we gave a "high 5"!!
Best present ever!  My grandson knows he is washed in the "soul cleansing blood of the lamb!"
And here is where I started thinking...
The Best Birthday ...even though one celebrated with 5 grandkids plus the conversation with my oldest is pretty hard to beat...would be the one in which I realized I too was washed.

1. Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing pow’r?
   Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
   Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
   Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
   • Refrain:
     Are you washed in the blood,
     In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?
     Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
     Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
2. Are you walking daily by the Savior’s side?
   Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
   Do you rest each moment in the Crucified?
   Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
3. When the Bridegroom cometh will your robes be white?
   Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
   Will your soul be ready for the mansions bright,
   And be washed in the blood of the Lamb?
4. Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,
   And be washed in the blood of the Lamb;
   There’s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,
   Oh, be washed in the blood of the Lamb!  (Elisha A. Hoffman, pub.1878)

When I realized the perfect Lamb willingly shed His blood for me, so that my sins would be forgiven, that I would not have to spend eternity separated from my Heavenly Father.  My "birth" into the family of God!
You have to agree...Best Birthday Ever!
I hope you have had one of those birthdays!  You may remember the exact date and time....you may not.  I remember the place I was and how old I was (9 or 10)..not the exact date. But God knows and there is rejoicing
📖  "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10

Having that Birthday and walking daily by His side allows for rejoicing for all the rest...for every day!

📖  Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”

 I answered, “Sir, you know.”

And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Revelation 7:13-1

Christ shed His blood on the cross, died and rose again so that our sin...ALL who have sinned...

📖  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  Romans 3:23

 can be "washed" clean 

📖  God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. Romans 3:25

📖  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. Ephesians 1:7-8a.

and stand before the Father holy
📖  But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical bodythrough death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-  Colossians 1:22

Are you washed in the blood? 

YES I'M WASHED
In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb!!?
YES MY garments ARE spotless! 

they ARE white as snow!
I AM washed in the blood of the Lamb!!

To stand before the Father, washed clean, blameless, without blemish....
Best Birthday EVER!!!! 

Week 5 March 2018

Heritage Hunting

March 28, 2018

 So I have to start with an extension of last week.  God truly has had every step of the journey...from the amazing doctor...to even the surgery timing around the storm that dumped a lot of snow on Long Island!

Marah was the Drs 5th P.O.E.M. patient at Stony Brook. ( he has done approximately 50 before he came to Stony Brook )   and he said she was one of his most satisfying patients!  Because of how restricted her esophagus was, with no hope of relief on its own...and his "repair" was showing immediate positive response!!

While we were there on Long Island staying with dear friends (another amazing blessing) we decided to do a little "heritage hunting".  Google is an amazing thing!! (Google Maps is the BOMB in my book...with it I can travel anywhere!)

Kevin's grandfather was the principal of a school on Long Island...and they named the school after him.

"Okay Google..." We found Harry B Thompson Middle School!  It was only minutes from our friend'8s house!!

We took a ride...took pictures!

On our way back...we find out the street address where grandfather lived...and where Kevin's father grew up....literally around the corner...down the street and across the road from our friends! All of 3 minutes by car! Another drive by and photos!

It was so strange for Kevin to touch a part of his past he knows very little about, he never knew his grandfather. 

But it got me thinking how so important our heritage is to us.  Ancestry.com is huge, as well as other tracing family lineage sites.  How many of us have our family trees all done? 8 I have family lines traced back to ships crossing the ocean!

We like a connection with our past...helps us feel a part of something...bigger than ourselves.

If you are a believer of Jesus Christ you have an amazing heritage! And your "hunt" doesn't have to go any further than God's Holy Word!!

The lineage of faith recorded in Hebrews 11  lists all those who were faithful, and the amazing things that God did through their faith.
Then there is the family tree of Jesus.  Important enough to be listed in God's Word!

📖 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

 Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,

Perez the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram,

 Ram the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,

Obed the father of Jesse,

 and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, [Bathsheba]

 Solomon the father of Rehoboam,

Rehoboam the father of Abijah,

Abijah the father of Asa,

Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,

Jehoram the father of Uzziah,

 Uzziah the father of Jotham,

Jotham the father of Ahaz,

Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,

Manasseh the father of Amon,

Amon the father of Josiah,

 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah[c] and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

 After the exile to Babylon:

Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,

Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,

Abihud the father of Eliakim,

Eliakim the father of Azor,

Azor the father of Zadok,

Zadok the father of Akim,

Akim the father of Elihud,

 Elihud the father of Eleazar,

Eleazar the father of Matthan,

Matthan the father of Jacob,

and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah. Matthew 1:1-16

I highlighted the women listed because it fasinates me the people God uses to accomplish great things!  There is a great book called Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers that tells the story of each of these women.  We can't even imagine, when we allow God to use every part of us, what impact that will have now or in future generations!

📖 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.  Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Romans 8:14-17

When I read this scripture I feel that, as a believer in Christ, I am in that lineage....I have a part in Christ's family line!!! Enough so that I am an heir to His Glory!!
How exciting is that?!
What better connection!  Being a part of this is definately part of something bigger...the biggest!!
I pray that you claim your heritage in Christ today!

Week 4 March 2018

 A Reminder (For Me)

March 19, 2018

God is in control of the journey! 

I was going to blog one of the other "thoughts" God has shown me recently....but then was impressed upon to switch gears....Something big is happening this week and I am constantly reminded that God has got this....all the time!
In this "race" of life as Paul refers to it, there are many individual hurdles we have.

📖 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 

📖 I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. Galatians 2:2b

📖 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?  Galatians 5:7

One of our daughters has had many of those such hurdles, and we along with her.  She has had health issues related to a rare genetic disorder.  All of which are manageable, not life threatening.  As she has always said, since a child, "it could be much worse" as we have read with other Allgrove Syndrome (a rare, progressive genetic disorder) patients.  
Minor issues like no tears (alacrima), difficulty in swallowing (achalasia), adrenal insufficiency, and autonomic malfunctions (as with her heart stopping, and then starting again, and why she requires a pacemaker) all manageable, but can progress into something less manageable.  As we have discovered over the years.  
How can we deny that God has been in all of it?
I know some people would say, "she could have just NOT been born with it in the first place", 
Yes, but we would not have seen God's amazing power, grace and mercy through out.
Some may say "He could have shown His power by healing her".  Yes, but lessons, for all of us, might not have been learned. Like patience, faith and trust just to name a few!
I was probably most in awe of the power and control of God when we discovered her passing out "spells" she had been having all her life were actually caused by her heart stopping, and then it would start back up again!!  Imagine as a mom finding out that information!....my mind flew back to the day she had had  about 18 of those passing out spells!  and that isn't even counting dizzy spells! I was a bit overwhelmed!  We finally discovered at 19, that her heart had been stopping when a monitor she was wearing registered her heart stopped for just over 10 seconds...and that was just when she felt dizzy...hadn't actually passed out!  We don't know how long the heart was stopping before she actually passed out....they put a pacemaker in before we got that data!
GOD WAS IN CONTROL OF EVERY HEART BEAT!  A very important lesson for me!    He started her heart back up more times than we would ever know!  But what about the heart beats that don't start back up again, those children who die, young adults, anyone whom we think has "died before their time".  BUT if God is in control, then it isn't before their time....it is precisely when God knew it would be.
He created our heart beat, and He is in control of every one!
SO through out the entire "race" He is in control, and NOW a fairly new surgical procedure is going to be done to help alleviate some of the more serious issues of the achalasia, which have been making it difficult to swallow and eat, leading to choking and aspiration.
All in God's timing and placement!  We could have pursued something sooner, or tried other procedures that have been out there longer, but thankfully we have come to this time, for this procedure, with this doctor, because God directed our steps!
This procedure is most successful if you haven't done any of the other procedures!  
This doctor has actually done this procedure on one other Allgrove patient!  (remember I said it was rare....we rarely meet a doctor who has heard of it, let alone treated it!)
We are going to Long Island for the surgery, where we have friends we can stay with for the week...rather than a hotel in a city where we know no one! (and it is in NY State for insurance purposes! Her having insurance is another way God has taken care!)

In those times when we don't know what is going on, or what is going to happen, we have to trust even more, be patient even more, persevere longer!
We can't let doubt or fear or anger or discouragement overwhelm us, or we loose sight of the One we need to focus on!
📖 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,   fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:1-3

On our knees we don't have to jump the hurdles, we can pass under them!  We still have the hurdles, but on our knees it is easier!

📖 Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6