A Funny Thing Happened On My Way to Retreat ...

Being a wife and mom, working part-time as well as working from home, computers, Facebook, AIM, Twitter, emails, blogs, and a cell phone that makes it all accessible 24-hours a day ... my life can be so full of noise. So I was really looking forward to "unplugging" and connecting with other women during women's retreat. Besides, even though cell phone reception is horrible at Silver Spur, I knew of a spot in the middle of a bridge where I could post and occasional Facebook update and picture from my iPhone ... you know ... so my family would know what I was up to!

But a funny thing happened to me on my way to retreat ...

Unbeknownst to me, my phone fell out of my bag just outside of my house as I was leaving. Ahahhaha! God, you are soooo funny! I guess I was meant to TRULY unplug :)

I had a refreshing time at retreat and got a chance to spend some quality time with some amazing women. Thanks God!

I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T

I am a strong woman of God.

I know His Words are true.

I know He is a God that cannot lie.

And I don't need to know or understand everything about Him to trust Him.

I am not being easily moved,
because I know He sees and holds my yesterdays, my today, and all my tomorrows.

I don't wallow in what-ifs or why-me's, because I've learned to count it all joy when I fall into various trials, and I know that the testing of my faith produces patience ... and I want to let my light shine before all men that they might see my good deeds and glorify my Father in heaven.

BUT

Sometimes along the way,

In being that strong woman of God,

I become this person who thinks she's got it all together and no longer needs her Daddy. In the journey from feelings to faith, my heart can take a brisk stroll far away from Him. But I am so thankful that I'm never out of His reach.

Lord, help me to start each morning, quietly with You. I don't want to always be in such a hurry. Help me to remember that I am your child and that you delight in spending time with me. I pray I constantly and consciously walk with You, instead of ahead of You. Amen.

Foul Weather Friends

I received this as an email from Dayspring.com this morning. It spoke to me in that it's much easier for me to walk through the rain with other people than it is for me to allow other people to walk with me ...

What about you ...

I wish I had a big red umbrella that would keep all the rain out of your life. I would hold it over your head and the drops would splash, splash and you would never even feel them. But I don't have a big red umbrella...so I'll walk through the rain with you.

God doesn't intend for us to go through our storms alone. We all need our "foul weather friends" who will venture out into the weather with us.

There are two questions we must answer to not only survive but thrive through life's storms;

Who will walk through the rain with us? And will we let them?

Friends love through all kinds of weather. Proverbs 17:17 MSG

(Devotional quote from the 365 Day Inspirational Calendar, Rain on Me based on the book, by Holley Gerth.)

(Image is a picture of Rolf Harris' The Red Umbrella.)

Beauty - Often Noticed, Often Felt

I see it ~ and it moves me ...

It's not always the "pretty" things. An old photograph. The shadow of a parent walking with his child. The view from above after climbing a steep hill below. A lone, unoccupied bench in a garden of greenery and blossoms. The quiet companionship of an elderly couple sitting in a corner at a coffee shop. It's not always the "pretty" things.

When something external invokes something internal and makes us take notice ... We see it ~ and it moves us ... that's beauty.

But, as Sarah Markely notes, "We seem to be able to find beauty in the world day after day but we struggle to find it in ourselves."