Winning the Lottery

God asked us to move.  I was afraid to move and begin again.  You see, my husband was the pastor of a small town church and the people there had become our family.  I was quite happy and quite comfortable with my life.  We had two young girls who would have to move out of the only home they had ever known.


We felt like we were supposed to start a new church plant and we even found the right town about 90 miles from our home. We knew we were on a journey of a lifetime! After the initial shock, we began to become excited about what God could do. We had no church, no building, no people and no money.  It felt as if I was standing on a high dive, looking down into an empty pool and then I heard God say..."Jump!"  It is so much easier to have faith when the pool is filled to the top with sparkling blue water, but when all you can see is an empty pool, it is much harder to trust.  That is exactly what God was saying: "Trust Me". 


If God asks you to do something, He will provide what is needed.  He said, "trust me", so we began to look for a house in our new town.  As we drove from "house" to "house" in the realtor's car looking for a home in our "price range" - did I mention we had no money?  I had tears streaming down my face as the realtor drove us to the last rundown shack for us to tour before lunch.  I could not move my two young daughters into a home that should be condemned by the health department!  God wouldn't move us out of our nice home only to bring us to this..would He?  I was so confused.  How would this ever work?


We took a break for lunch at a local restaurant.  As my husband went up to peruse the buffet, I sat alone and dejected at the table.  I began to question God about this idea to move.  It was  not possible to buy a decent home with no money in the bank.  We had already toured all of the broken down, dilapidated homes that was for sale in the area.  I thought about the last place we had toured before lunch that had floors slanting at such an angle that my girls would fall out of bed at night...they would roll right out! I was questioning why God had asked us to move if we could not even find a decent place to live.  I was looking at our bank account in my head and the doubts began to overwhelm me.   Unable to hold back the tears burning my throat, I said, "God, if we are going to get a house, we are going to have to win the lottery!"


God spoke clearly to me as I sat at the small wooden table wiping the tears that were running down my face.  I heard the words in my mind so clearly, I almost looked around to see if anyone else had heard it too. 


God said, "I AM your lottery".


Again, I had been looking at the wrong things.  I assumed we had to do all of this on our own, with our own bank account.  I am not saying that you should go buy a house and expect God to pay for it.  God had asked us to move.  When God speaks to you, and you know what you are asked to do, He will provide you the means to do it.  He will provide a way to accomplish the task He wants you to do. We were willing to obey, follow Him and begin a new journey.  God was once again trying to teach me to trust Him.


As we left the restaurant, I had renewed hope.  A friend was with us since we had decided to not return with the realtor.  We began to drive down random streets looking for the homes on our list.  We pulled over to get our directions straight as we did not know the area.  Dennis, my husband, and his friend Ron were looking down at the street names and city map.  Sitting in the back seat, I was getting a look around the neighborhood.  I looked across the street and what do you think was sitting in the yard of a beautiful home?  A "For Sale" sign!  This house was not on our list, so it must be out of our price range, but we decided to walk around anyway.  It happened to be empty inside.  We called the number off the realtor sign.  God had another surprise - the office was at the end of the block.  They came right over to show us around.  I fell in love with this house at first sight! It just so "happened" that the house had been on the market for over a year.  The owners were building another home and needed to sell - the price had just dropped...into our price range!  I did not have to settle for a decent home, I was able to buy a home I loved.


The day we signed the papers for our beautiful home, I realized that sometimes we need to look past what we can see.  We need to close our eyes and start to walk out to the end of the diving board.  Sometimes, all God is asking of us is to hold our breath and jump.  He knows the future and He can provide the water!  Go ahead - don't be afraid of what God is asking.  Take a deep breath and dive into life!  He is waiting to show you what He can do.

Have you ever done anything Stupid?

Proverbs 14:15 "The inexperienced one believes anything, but the sensible one watches his steps..."


Have you ever done anything stupid? Sometimes we don't listen to wisdom or even our own conscience telling us not to do it...and we figure...why not? No one will see me anyway.  We forget that even though no one sees us or knows what we did or said, that there could be consequences that follow.  We could find ourselves stuck in a very uncomfortable situation.


I remember one of these situations someone was stuck in while I was working at a school one year:


Two kids at my school...outside on a cold February day...the coldest day of the year! One kid says to the other kid, "hey, you should stick your tongue to that pole". 


So, this is the story...We didn't know he had done anything stupid.  We would never have known what had happened after that little phrase was spoken because we never heard it said.  We never would have seen it happen...and we didn't.  What did we see?  The kid, standing in the snow, with a napkin stuck on his tongue.  "Why does he have a napkin stuck on his tongue?", we wondered.  When we saw the blood spotting the napkin, we seemed to all have a pretty good idea what may have gone down.  We knew what really happened when he spoke in a muffle, "Carl tolll me tu thick maa thung tu da poe". 


Yup...a real life "Christmas Story".  He took the dare of a "friend" and stuck his tongue right to the pole - some of the kids thought it was cool they could see parts of his tongue still on the pole...ouch!


So, remember...if we follow the wrong advice, or don't think about the consequences before doing something, we may just find our tongue stuck to a pole...ouch!

Finding Joy...

As I went on my trip to Thailand, I planned to visit and encourage people who are hurting.  These people have been brought out of terrible darkness and are working now with different ministries around Bangkok. 
The one thing I did not plan on was that they would show me what the Joy of the Lord is.  As I saw their genuine smiles, laughter and light in their eyes, I saw in myself something I didn't know was missing.  I lost the Joy of the Lord somewhere along the way.  It took a trip around the world for me to realize it was not there. 


I had planned this trip to help show God's love to others.  God planned this trip for others to show me His Joy. 


I am excited for this New Year 2012 - That I may have a fresh start with the Joy of the Lord!
Psalm 51:12 says, "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation..."  God can restore our Joy.  The funny thing is, many times we don't even know we lost it.  Lets take a look at our lives and see where our joy comes from - if you have misplaced God's Joy as I have this past year, then pray Psalm 51 over your life with me:  "Lord, restore to me the joy of Your salvation"...


May you find your Joy again during this new year of 2012 -


"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit"...Romans 15:13

A Beautiful Garden

This is a new year with new ideas, so I have decided to start a blog.  The name I chose for the Blog is "Seeds of Hope...". Some of you may consider this a profound name - I Kind of thought it was insightful - planting Seeds of Hope into women's lives...


Most of you do not know, although my  mom does, that I am a terrible gardener!  House plants die, fake plants are smothered by dust and yard foliage?  Well...let's just say I definitely do NOT have a green thumb!


I am sure my mom can attest to the fact that she could not trust me to pick the "ripe" tomatoes from our small plants under the kitchen window when I was young.  I still remember many half-green little tomater runts sitting in the window sill above our sink - my little handiwork!


As I grew and was married, Dennis and I bought a home that had previously been owned by a flower "Monet".  This woman planted perennial flowers (these are the kind that pop up on their own each year - Amazing!) all around the home, deck, shed and even a special made flower garden in the center of the yard.  It was a Masterpiece!  I loved looking at the stunning colors, to smell the beautiful fragrance and see them dancing in the wind.  I would just sit on our deck and enjoy the beauty of the gardens that surrounded me.  Then, as the weeks went by, the flowers began to droop, dry up and die.  I asked a friend what could be wrong with my lovely plants.  She asked me if I was watering them every night.  EVERY NIGHT??? I was so confused, since I thought that was what the rain was for! So, needless to say, when thunderstorms came through, my garden was beautiful!


Sometimes that is how life feels.  We feel like we are drooping...days are dry and no longer full of life.  We look into the mirror and wonder where the beautiful color of our youth went.  We question our Creator when He sends the storms to flood our life...why do You send this storm into my already dry and painful world? We can't see what the Creator can see...the Storm is what is needed to bring Joy and Peace.  Then, we will overflow with Hope..when we trust that our Creator knows how to take care of His Beautiful Garden.


So, with this blog, along with life, I pray I can spread Seeds of Hope to women who may be drooping, drying up or dying.  As God brings storms into our lives - He will water these Seeds of Hope.  Then, as you see the Son...He will look down and see how beautiful you are - His Masterpiece!