Super Spring

Ah, the glory of a blustery Spring day!  I had my bedroom window open so the breezes could blow in and the fresh air filled my room and lungs.  Just look at that blue sky and those glorious white clouds!  Winter is really and truly gone and I am jubilant over the official start of the warm seasons.  It's like a very large part of me just lives for these times and for warmth.  I have to be careful to pull my mind away from a scary little spiral it wants to go down thinking that before I know it this wonderful warm time will be ending and I will be heading into the cold dark tunnel of fall and winter again.  Silly me.  So I pull myself back into the proper posture of living in this abundantly beautiful amazing moment. 

I must say that this has been the warmest March I can ever remember.

The apple tree in our back yard has little buds.

There are leaves on the poplars.

In town there are all sorts of trees in blossom and it just looks and feels and smells glorious.

We've had blessed rain so the grass is a vibrant green on the hills and in the orchards. 

I'm loving this early Spring following such a mild lovely winter, but am wondering what will happen if we have frost...

And today was my first day back teaching my beautiful students after a two week Spring Break.  Vic was here for a week to help us with the apartment, but sadly after blitzing for three days he fell quite sick and that was the end of that.  Poor guy.  He and Elsie and I had fun one evening going to a Christian movie downtown together and we had a few special family suppers together with the original 5 of us gathered around the table.  Such sweet fellowship and such a gift that we all love each other so much.

This evening Patrice and I saw the movie "Cinderella" which I JUST LOVED.

So much of it spoke to me about heaven and the wonders of this love story that is playing out between Jesus and us...His bride.

There is so much to live for and to look forward to. 

We may feel like we're covered in dust and ashes down here with some wicked opposition trying to steal our joy and make us think that we are poor and lowly, but in reality we have a Prince coming to redeem and claim us as His own.

Maranatha... 

Velcro Girl

My life is increasingly held together by velcro.
As my body's limitations increase, there is a need for me to be "held up" and "held together", quite literally, by braces and supports.  And these are held onto my body with velcro.

I'm glad I didn't see this day coming, as I would not have believed that my carefree, fast paced existence could ever have slowed to this extent and that I would have needed so many devices to hold me together!

Thankfully, there is grace for the moment and for the situation and every time I reach a new level of "need" I learn to adapt to the additional pieces that need to get strapped onto my body.  This is accompanied by initial frustration and some angst to be sure, but eventually I am filled with gratefulness that I am able to access and benefit from the help.

This is how I soldier on.
Grateful to God that "this is only temporary".
I rejoice exceedingly in the knowledge that one day, in the not too distant future, I will be able to shed this broken down body with all of it's helpful supportive devices (wheelchair, car lift, back support, hand splints, glasses...) and take flight with a brand new body.

It's gonna be out of this world amazing!
And until then I will gratefully pull myself together with velcro!

fond farewells

So another epoch in orchard life is coming to a close.
I wish I had better documented the comings and goings of community life up here. There have been a number of girls that have come and stayed for months, or years and I haven't even gotten pictures of the various combinations, but they are all in my heart and memory.

Tonight we celebrated Becca and this particular little family formation.
Precious times.
A rough beginning, but a sweet ending.

Becca has been such a gift to us up here.  She's been real and honest, she's been vulnerable and kind.  She has reached out and included us in her life and has allowed us to share in her journey.  Out of a season of darkness for her and into a season of much light and joy.

Her laughter and excitement when she returns from her road hockey, her love for the many friends in her life and her desire to live wisely.  Her passion for beauty, health, design and art.  Her love of nature and her desire for adventure.

In a few days she'll be off on some travel adventures that she's been longing to have for close to three years.

Our farewell evening evening looked something like this.

Lots of laughter, a delicious meal, some tears, gifts, loving words and of course a photo shoot in the orchard with the puppies.  We had strawberries and cream out on the patio on this incredibly beautiful spring evening followed by a game.

My Girl

This day, 24 years ago, I gave birth to a treasure.
My dear daughter arrived on the scene in a fanfare of medical personal and paraphernalia, worship music, laughter and anticipation at 2:18 in the afternoon on the first day of Spring.
I got to choose the day, so it sounded like a great day to celebrate a new life.

So here we are on a cloudy, rainy first day of Spring once again.  All the fresh beautiful smells of new life abound and my heart rejoices in the good gift that was given to me those 24 years ago on the 20th of March.

God has such good plans for this dear one who has battled long and hard.
He will perfect that which concerns her and of that I am confident.
Because He is faithful and true and is fighting for all of us.

God's Showing Up

Tonight our "book club" group gathered around a table full of goodies and stories were spilling out of us, conversations making the room buzz.

As I was getting the tea on I laughed at some of the comments I heard.
This group of women is just the BOMB!  Seriously funny women; smart and witty with hearts of gold.

One of us, Sue, just became a grandma a few weeks ago and it was hilarious to hear her response to someone asking to see a picture of the new little fellow.
She said "oh he just looks like a baby" and no picture was forthcoming.  How absolutely refreshing.  We are all just so unique.  She has been training him to suck his thumb.

Later the conversation turned to what people were giving up for lent, which has been going on for eons already.  Sue said "Oh, is it lent?"
We all decided that we are fasting books for book club.
Which really isn't a fast at all because we haven't read a book for many, many months.
At one point I responded to someone's comment by saying "Cut to the cheese" instead of "cut to the chase", perhaps being somehow motivated by the beautiful fruit topped cheese cake that Bev had brought...  Oh my.
We laugh easily and often at ourselves and each other.

We are so over 50 and enjoying ourselves in spite of our inadequacies.  I was trying to get the iPod to play some classical music in the background, but forgetting, AGAIN, how to operate it I asked the ladies if they could help me figure it out.  They make curious sounds of confusion, looking at the iPod as if it were some sort of mystical device and I was  forced to get young Sara to help me.  It was somehow gratifying to be surrounded by other confused women in the face of this fast paced technology that has left us often scratching our heads. I'm used to being the oldest in my house of women, but in our book club I believe I am the youngest.

There were seven of us plus God.

Which makes an unmistakable and amazing majority.
God and a pile of His angels and His sweet presence FILLED the room and after hearing Donna share about the spiritual journey she and her husband have been on, we got all excited about the prayer of Jabez that she has discovered and how God is rearranging their way of looking at life through this grid of scripture.  This led us to more scripture and of course we had to dive straight into prayer.

Well, it seems God is up to something.
Not like He's been "inactive' but He is certainly on the grid in a very tangible way these days.  Suddenly there was prophecy with manifestation and a holy hush fell on the group.
We waited on Him, worshiped Him, prophesied over one another, laughed and had an amazing God
encounter.

Funny thing, the same thing happened last night at our Wednesday night prayer meeting.  Prophesy with manifestation and the presence of God showing up in a powerful way.

I'm excited to see what's next.
Our prayer is that we will steward this next move of God well, with humility and grace and wisdom.

May He remain the centre at all times, receiving all the glory, at all times.
Because He Alone is Worthy.
Amen.

God Art

I like letting God get a hold of my days and watching how He intertwines a bunch of truth and beauty into my grid.  I felt like there was an overlap that happened between my hearing the most wonderful stories last night from someone who has been to heaven and back and then today seeing the artwork of a man I deeply respect and admire.  It was like he had seen and painted what she had witnessed.

So this is how it happened.  A dear and amazing friend of mine is here for just a few more days before heading back to Istanbul and she had arranged to see an artist friend of hers today. It just happened that I would be her transport and would get to enjoy the visit as well.

We got royally lost on the way, even though I had googled the address, but it was an outrageously beautiful sunny day and we were driving through the hills and pine trees enjoying each other and the view.  We had a good prayer time too for some people she knows back in Turkey who are suffering under the Syrian rebel attacks, so it felt like a good kind of lost.  No wasted time!

Eventually we found our artist friend, John's house (after interrupting him with 2 or 3 phone calls) and we settled into his living room with our bagels and coffee enjoying the lake view from his big picture window.

All around us hung his fantastical amazing paintings.
He is just SO TALENTED.  The colours and layers of...pictures upon pictures with portals into other places and stories behind the paintings were just awe inspiring.
He's still working on one of his paintings that he got the vision for back in February of 1991.  It was obviously one of those "God dreams" that you don't forget and he later heard the audible voice of God saying "It won't be long" so I'm pretty sure he won't ever be forgetting the visual he got.  It was so cool hearing how he interacts with God and how deeply he ponders the concepts, messages and purpose behind some of his work.

I think I accidentally put the picture below in upside down, but his art is that amazing.  You can look at some of it either way and it's incredible. 

A lot of his paintings are simply beautiful lake and valley scenes from the Okanagan, some are more geometrical and some are just out of this world.  I felt so grateful to be part of that visit, to hear his heart and to be able to pray for him as he releases these prophetic works to the public.

Below is the Jerusalem topographical picture the Lord gave him to paint.  The story behind the picture is mind boggling.  Little glimpses into something eternal.  He's catching bits of heaven and putting them onto canvas...

He's got a website right here

http://johnrevill.com

The Flu with Company

I've kind of fallen out synch with my blogging but hopefully I'll be back on track.

Something feels good and right about being regular in this little practice in my life and there is a record for me of God's faithfulness when I take the time to do this.  

Soooo, to recap the excitement I'll do a little backtracking. 

I got some kind of an ugly flu last week that sweep through my body like a storm and miraculously swept out again quite quickly.  I got people praying since I am not very brave when I'm sick.  

Funny how you can feel on the verge of death one day and arise a day or two later virtually unscathed.  

For some reason the "aching body" part of this flu triggered my spasms and increased my blood pressure, which in turn triggered migraines so that whole combo was pretty ugly.  But Hallelujah, joy came a couple of mornings later. 

I'm always just so in love with life when the storm passes and I'm back to regular paralyzed life again.

Oh, and I also had company during this crazy little flu spell.  Dear Marcy was here for a few days while Nicole was working and it just so happened that the timing coincided with my sickness.  She was very gracious as I just kept disappearing into my dark bedroom to sleep away the aches and pains.  

We managed to have some nice times together as she returned for a few more days when I was doing well.  We had a sweet dinner with the kids, went to a movie, took Oma for a drive by the lake on a beautiful sunny day and spent time praying, listening to teachings and watching movies together.  She is such a very dear friend and even though she is daily battling the effects of Huntington's she is overcoming in an extraordinary way. 

Her faith is of the deep and abiding sort.  

It has been earned through years of clinging to God, immersing her mind in Scripture and living a life of sacrificial love for others.  

She is one of the most humble, servant hearted women I know.  

And she is my son's mother in law.

That's pretty sweet.  

So we have an understanding of suffering to some degree and it binds us together.

I feel honoured to have her as a friend - for some 32 years now.  

Amazing.

And it's going to continue on eternally.

Even more amazing!

God kindly sent some deer for our viewing pleasure.

Some fabulous people with the loveliest backdrop!  

Beautiful Body

Small but Mighty...
Our little congregation of believers.
We are small but He is Mighty.

We shared the morning
Loving, Listening, Singing, Hugging, Snacking, Encouraging, Praying.
Believing and walking Together.

I'm so grateful for this bunch of people I get to worship with.
And for the greater Body, spread throughout the World.

Believers in the Risen Christ.
Diverse and Captivating,
Rough and Unfinished, but somehow
Reflections of the Divine

All of us works in progress,
but beautiful
This body of Christ
This mystery
How He choses to dwell in our weak earthen frames is truly a wonder.
We, so privileged to carry the Great I Am in our wee tabernacles.
The light spilling from the cracks.