Be it done unto me...

So our church is meeting in a new location.
I personally don't like it, but that's often the way growth feels.
Uncomfortable.

There is a little step into the meeting space and I need help getting over it on my way in and out.
For some reason that little tiny step feels big to me because I have to rely on others to help me.  This prevents me from leaving quietly and quickly if I want to escape early.  And it leaves me feeling a little claustrophobic.

I know it's not a big deal, but for whatever reason it feels big in my head!

Anyhow, this past Sunday, after an amazing worship time and message, I left quite quickly, once again feeling the pressure of the impending "step".  Two men kindly grabbed my chair, in a rather unconventional way, and gently lowered me to the terra firm and I swiftly wheeled off to my car.

As I was getting myself settled a dear little woman ran up to me and said she had been sitting in her van waiting for me to come out.  She has been severely incapacitated these past months with adrenal fatigue and other ailments.  So she said to me that she thinks of me daily and prays for me often now that she has lost so many of her own abilities and strength.

Oh my.  My heart thrilled with this knowledge and I was so humbled to know that I have a little prayer warrior, fighting for my life out of her own weakness.  Isn't that outrageously beautiful?

And she asked me a question.  How do I not fight against the losses?

Out of my mouth popped these words..."just pray that prayer that Mary prayed when the angel gave her the overwhelming news that her life was about to change radically."

The prayer being:

"I am your maidservant, may it be done unto me according to your good pleasure".

I'm not sure of the translation or if those are the exact words, but the sentiment is definitely there.  And suddenly this became a sermon to myself.

In my new season of another level of loss I need to pray this prayer.
God knows all about my hands and the new level of loss and disability and pain.
No problem, He says.  Trust me.
So I'm grateful that He used "THE STEP" to get me out to the car early so I wouldn't miss this sweet little wisp of a woman's ministry to me.

If we have eyes to see His loving care, even in those awkward places of life that feel like huge inconveniences, we will be ministered to very, very often!

Oh Glorious Fall

I just hardly have words to describe the beauty that is happening outside again.
Autumn.
This season is most likely the most beautiful of all.
I admit that I don't long for fall because I know that winter follows closely on it's heels, however, since it's here I am drinking it in.
My eyes are full of beauty.

Every window in the house becomes a framed painting filled with colours of fire and glory and warmth and harvest.
And the fresh crisp air is just downright good and wholesome - the smells of fall are like no other.

The colours of the silver maple leaves outside my bedroom window turn my room into a golden haven. 

Of the many sunflower seeds I planted, this is the only brave soul that managed to bloom despite the irregular watering schedule.  

And imagine the fun God had as he thought up these spiky delightful flowers. 

Tonight I drove out to Summerland with my Butterfly Gals and we celebrated Lora's birthday.  Truly an occasion worth celebrating.  Last year when she turned 60 she more or less wanted to die, but there has been some metamorphosis going on and she is now reverberating with life and hope and joy.  So we celebrated this year instead which made way more sense.

A metamorphosis and new wind in one's sails is definitely worthy of celebrating.  Unfortunately my phone camera has ceased to work so I haven't got photos of the event.

I also attended a funeral this afternoon of a woman who was a very dear friend of my mom's and the mother of some dear friends, Jeff and Sue.  Beautiful Olga.
She gets to hang out with Jesus now.  Face to face.
Unimaginable joy.

A day of celebrating one milestone and one glorious homecoming.  Again, the joys and sorrows are intermingled on this journey.

Glimmers of Glory

A dear friend invited me to join her at a Vineyard conference this weekend in Chilliwack.  So, since I'm doing the Carpe Diem thing, I figured that would be a grand idea.  If God opens the doors and I have some energy, I'm going for it!
I've taken a long enough hiatus from 'conferences', and since I only get church every second week I thought some extra worship and teaching would quite nicely fill in the gaps I've been experiencing.

Before leaving I had a visit and chat with my doctor about "my hands" (sorry - this issue just keeps coming up with ridiculous frequency in these posts, but it's kind of a big deal in my little world right now.) We discussed possible physio intervention, renewed my drug prescriptions, talked about the "no heroics approach' if I am to have a near death episode and so forth.  After which my friend and I zoomed off into the mountains on our little adventure!  She had to drive because I had taken a migraine pill to drive away the ugly feeling that was creeping up my neck and over my head.

The mountains were glorious, the golden trees of fall lit up brightly amongst the evergreens.

Chilliwack greeted us with rain followed by the sad discovery of a not very accessible bathroom at our hotel. Just one bar behind the toilet and none beside it to keep me from keeling over in either direction if I lose my balance.  Ahhhh, this is an affliction in my life that I will be very glad to leave behind one day.  Unable to find another place to stay, we decided that just one night in Chilliwack would be plenty.  And then we lay on the large comfy bed and started praising God for everything that was still so awesomely good in our lives.  And we prayed for the dear refugees suffering under the tyranny of the IS.  It brought some great perspective into the situation. There is always so incredibly much to be thankful for, at any given moment.  Even when bathrooms in the lobby must be accessed.

And then we shared communion.  Right there in the hotel room.  Jesus' precious body and blood became our sustenance.  Glimmers of glory...

We drove in all sorts of directions trying to find where we were going in that little town, and somehow we always ended up where we needed to be.  The "Lead On" conference was an absolute delight.  We arrived just in time to witness the local first nations people singing and drumming their welcome to us.  Somehow, after all these years of making ourselves at "home" here in Canada, we (the collective "we")
have begun to realize the importance of honouring those who were here long before we arrived and asking for their permission, on some level,  to do what we do here.  It felt so right and good.  Their drumming and singing in the dimly light room, the stories told of the villages and tribes that were there before the residential schools started causing all the grief and their settlements were slowly diminished. There was sorrow and pride and joy all intermingled.  God will make all things new... more glimmers.

Once again God's glory fell during worship and the weight of His presence in that barely lit room swam around us.  His precious body, all of us older and somewhat wiser, kind of broken we limp along, straining towards heaven, lifting our faces until He comes and kisses us.

Heaven touches earth and the joy reverberates.  That palpable presence, that sense of destiny and appointment and yes, the glory of the seen and of the unseen.

A dear woman named Eleanor Mumford shared her story of walking with Jesus all of these years and daring to step out to believe that He is still calling us to do the works that He did while He was here.  How sometimes we see the glory and the answers and we get the miracles, and sometimes we don't.  But in spite of the "already here" and the "not yet" phenomenon that accompanies this journey of faith, we press on.  We keep praying for people, and loving and serving and blessing.  God is in charge of the rest.  So let us not grow weary with doing good.

Pretty soon these glimmers of glory will lead us on to the full on, mind blowing visual glory of the Great I AM.

It really won't be long anymore.

Twenty Eight Years

My heart is just full tonight.

It's Daniel's birthday and I got to spend a few hours with him today, picking him up from University, taking him out for lunch, taking him shopping to buy the boots he's been wanting and then driving him back for his last class.
Patrice met us at the restaurant which was really sweet.

I hardly have words for how happy this made me.
Just hanging out with my kids.
Sharing pieces of our lives with each other, and enjoying these moments. Dear Nicole had to work and I could sense the missing presence of the sparkle and zip she adds to our gatherings and I'm glad that she's part of us now too.

Oh how God loves us.
That He allows us to share in the privilege of procreating and to taste of a love so sweet, so deep, so profound and so amazing that it hurts.

And this in turn gives us a glimpse of His great love and longing for us.

How can it be?
This great mystery of love and life and family and eternity.

I'm so grateful.

Standing In the Word

Tonight at prayer the Lord's presence was strong and heavy and sweet.  

So very restful.  We sang about waiting on Him.  

And it was okay to sit in silence together.

We felt the grace to wait and rest in Him.  

And we prayed for each other.  

There were pictures and words and simple prayers and tears.  

I felt so quiet inside.  

It was that peaceful blanketed feeling that I've had a few times this fall. 

And then they prayed for me.  

Gathered around me like a safety net.  

Pouring out love and prayers like ointment.

I felt so covered, like a divine weight was pressing on me and it was good. 

Even though my hands had been uncomfortable and I had sat through a long spell of spasms shaking my body, all was well.  

Donovan had another picture of me, one that he seems to get frequently.

He said he saw me standing and preaching again.

I was standing IN the Word.

I love that picture.  

There was the prayer that even as my soul prospers that my body would prosper.

And that there would be divine alignment from head to toe.

Amen.  

 *************************************