Once in a Blue Moon

We have all said it, right? We use it as an excuse actually. When we think of changing something in our lives, of taking a leap of faith, we put it off and say, "Once in a blue moon I think about....."

Did you know that they don't occur often? The next blue moon doesn't occur until July 2015, which is 3 years away.  So what is a blue moon you ask? A blue moon occurs when there are two full moons within the same calendar month, the first at the very beginning of the month and the second at the end.  That's why they don't occur very often.

So, what is it that you have thought of changing, what is the new challenge you have wanted to take but just haven't out of fear of failure? What is it you would like to take a leap of faith for, but have allowed fear to keep you from doing? Want to learn a new language? Take up a new hobby? Sign up for that missions trip that you think you could never go on?  What is it?

The enemy of our souls would love for us to live in fear and discouragement, but Jesus Christ died to give us a full and complete life.  That isn't a life that starts once we die and get to heaven, it starts right here, right now!  What's stopping you from grabbing on to that full and complete life that God has laid out in front of you?

If you will only think about it once in a blue moon, you are in luck! Today is your day!  Today is a blue moon; I saw it myself as I was out for a walk this morning.  Today, grab hold of what it is God has for you and jump! Take that leap of faith. It's yours for the taking.  God's got you. He won't let you go!

Have a blessed day my friends and enjoy the blue moon like I do!

The Rock

A pile of rocks, it is just  a pile of rocks in the middle of someone's yard.  The largest one is about 2 feet high, just to look at, it's nothing special. All winter long it just sits there, but come the spring, when the frost is no longer an issue, that rock does something special, well special to me anyway.  That rock is actually a fountain and water will shoot up a couple of inches over the top and fall again. Oh the sound of the water hitting off the rocks below always puts a smile on my face.

That rock reminds me of the story of Moses and the people of Israel when they were wandering in the desert. The people were complaining because there was no water in sight, but God didn't need for there to be water around for Him to give His people a drink.

"I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel." Exodus 17:6

How many times do we face the seeming impossible and wonder where God is, wonder why He isn't showing up? How many times do we grumble and stay in a position of grumbling?  God understands our humanity, but He also wants us to remember to trust Him with everything.

So what is your seeming impossibility? What is it that you just can't seem to get through today?  Just like the water that poured out of that rock for the Israelites thousands of years ago, God wants to pour out just what you need into your life if only you will trust Him. Run to Him, He is waiting to hear from you; He wants to hear all about it.

" Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

God may or may not answer our request the way we want him to, because he sees the big picture and knows what will work out for our best. One thing is for sure though, the more we run to Him, the more we lean on Him, the more we trust His heart, the more He will develop us into the men and women He created us to be. He is definitely making something beautiful out of our lives.

So when I pass that rock and hear the sound of the water I remember what God did for the Israelites in the desert all those years ago and I remember that He wants to work in my life in miraculous ways as well.  Nothing is impossible for our God!  What a beautiful reminder to me.  I love it!

One Lonely Blossom

A couple of months ago I wrote about two magnolia trees that had suffered from the effects of blossoming too early in the season; having their blossoms die once the cold weather returned..  The one tree that grew without any protection from the elements held on to its dead blossoms, with its leaves not breaking through as quickly as the other.

With time, that tree did indeed flourish; its leaves a lush green. It stands beautifully next to the sidewalk as I walk by, but if I look closely, into the middle of the tree, I can still see the dead blossoms that never did fall.  That tree has held on to the devastation of the past winter.

A few days ago as I walked by I looked at that beautiful tree and noticed something, a single lonely blossom, but one blossom reaching up to the sky.  That beautiful blossom spoke to my heart; hope. It is not the season intended for it to blossom, but it has anyway. No matter what we have gone through in the past, no matter what hurts have gotten us down, there is always hope.  Jesus Christ died to give us hope. He wants to turn all the negatives of the past, all the hurt, the pain, the bad choices, all of it, he wants to turn them into beautiful blossoms of His glory.


When I look back at my life, there are painful moments that continue to reveal themselves, coming to mind at the most inopportune time.  Those memories can hurt to the core of my being.  I can deal with the pain, I can forgive whoever needs to be forgiven, but in the end, those blossoms that died continue to mark who I am at my core.  That mark can become a thing of beauty if only I will allow it to be, if only I will allow God to heal me at my core. I can choose to stay stuck in my pain and my sorrow, or I can choose to allow God to heal my heart and use it all to impact the lives of others for his honor and glory.


"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

If I do that, if I allow God to do his thing in my life then he will make my life a life of beauty.  I, like Isaiah, feel like I will be able to say, " The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,   to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,  and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor."

That is exactly what I want. I want my life to reflect the hope that comes with one lonely blossom.  How about you?

Looking For The Same Old Thing

Most people don't know that my favorite flower is a sunflower. I just absolutely love to see them standing tall reaching for the sky.  They are simply beautiful, and when I find one, it just warms my heart.

Each morning, as I have been out on my walk I have been disappointed at one house in particular, where for the past 2 years they have had beautiful sunflowers out front.  I have been looking for weeks, to find none.  Tonight as I walked past the house, I looked at the garage, and there lining the driveway were a few sunflowers standing tall, about  40 ft from the end of the sidewalk.  If only I had looked more closely, I may have seen them before tonight.  Then, on the other side of the garage, at the back of the property were at least another 20 sunflowers reaching for the sky.  How beautiful.  Because I had only looked for the flowers at the front of the house, I totally missed the beauty of the gift to my heart that stood tall farther back, farther from my field of view.

How many times do we look for the same old thing, in the same old place disappointed that it isn't there? How many times do we expect God to work in the same old way, disappointed when he doesn't?  We think we know how he is going to work because that is how he has worked in the past.  But our God is a creative God, he loves to do new things.  He loves to surprise us with more of himself.  We need to stop looking for God to do things in the same old way. We need to start expecting him to show up when we least expect it. He desires to bless his kids, so we shouldn't be surprised when he does, grateful, but not surprised.

"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."  Isaiah 43:19

After I discovered the sunflowers at that one house, I found 3 more houses along my way and the last house, just around the corner from home had sunflowers both out front, and in the backyard peaking up over the fence. What a blessed day it was indeed!

What Might Have Been

Today I watched a video posted on GodVine, of a 15 year old girl sharing her story.  When she was only 9 years old this young girl's mother took her own life, leaving her daughter to experience the pain of a life without her mom.  The girl had a positive message but has had a sad life story.  The pain this young girl had to experience and will forever experience is heartbreaking.

While I watched her video I flashed back almost 26 years ago to a night when I was done with living. I had written a good-bye letter to my former husband, and a good-bye letter to my daughter.  I had a jug of juice sitting on the table, a bottle of pills beside it and a glass.  I went to my daughter's crib and picked her up to say good-bye for the last time.  The pain was too much to bear any longer.  She was only about 7 months old at the time.  While she slept in my arms, I held her for about 45 minutes, sobbing and rocking her, thankful she didn't wake up. Finally I realized I could not do that to her; I put my precious daughter back in her crib and crawled into bed, leaving everything where it was on the table. As you can tell, I never did take those pills, nor did I ever get to that point again.  For that I am forever thankful to my Heavenly Father.

This afternoon as I watched the video, I saw my daughter in that young girl and I saw the pain I could have caused her if I had gone through with ending my life.  I picked up my cell phone and sent my daughter a quick text thanking her for saving my life.  It was then that I realized that she was the same age that night as my dear little granddaughter is now.  Oh, the joy that I could have missed. My daughter knows the story, she knows that she saved my life all those years ago and for that I am forever thankful.

I am not done living life.  I started writing this blog almost 2 years ago as a new season of my life began, when my daughter moved out, but this new season seems to have one new season after another.   There is yet another one on the horizon, one that excites me to no end, but that story is for another day.

Today I end with Jeremiah 29:11-13, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."  With all my heart I just want to be the woman God is creating me to be.

No matter what you are going through right now, death is not the answer. God loves you more than you can begin to imagine and he wants to be part of your life.  He has forever changed mine.  Please seek help.

Here is the link to the video I watched.  Unforgettable-Video-Everyone-Should-See

Patience and the Photocopier

So this morning at work I was printing off a confidential document that was only about 75 pages long, but as I stood by the photocopier I quickly became rather bored.  Bad news for sure! I began to play with the copier, playing with one of the trays on the finisher, not realizing that the tray I was playing with would actually open.  With about 5 pages left in my document I hit the tray a little too hard and the machine just stopped.

One look at the screen told me that playing was a mistake, a big mistake. Window after window of instructions on which paper jam to clear next were the consequences of my poor judgment.  One page even tore in the machine causing even further frustration for me, frustration I ultimately caused. Five minutes later my hands were covered in toner but my job was finishing.  All I could do was laugh.

Timing, sometimes we just hate that God doesn't work on our time line but His own.  God says that there is a time for everything.

"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. What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.  He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."
Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

When we try to mess with God's timing, we end up bearing the consequences of our actions. It isn't just about what God wants to do in and through us, it is all about when he wants to accomplish those things.  If we will just hold on, wait for his perfect timing, we won't end up with toner all over  our hands and a mess in the copying machine.

God has an amazing plan for our lives, if only we will seek him out and seek to do it his way.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."  Jeremiah 29:11-13

Trust his heart. He is trustworthy.

A Tale of Two Magnolia Trees

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...", oh wait that's another story, but actually it fits for my purposes today.  This past March brought with it some delightfully warm days, days so warm that the trees were fooled into  thinking that spring was here and it was safe to blossom.  Unfortunately along with those beautiful days came the typical March nights, cold and frosty.  It was sad to see the end result of the frost, the death of the blossoms.

It is the end of May now and the cold frosty nights of March are long behind us.  There is a beautiful magnolia tree in my front yard that is covered with lush green leaves.  You would never know the damage the cold had brought just a few short months ago. But this morning, as I was out for my walk I noticed another magnolia tree; one that has been absolutely beautiful the last couple of years. The harsh cold nights of March were not kind to this magnolia tree, and for some reason, although the blossoms died, they failed to fall leaving this tree to continue to bear the evidence of the frost.  The lush green leaves are trying to come, but they are overshadowed by the dark brown flowers still hanging on.

The difference between the two trees is one of protection.  The tree in my front yard is next to the house with a western exposure.  The tree on my walk is away from the house, near the sidewalk on the north side of the house.

The two magnolias remind me of us as human beings.  Sometimes we go it alone through the cold dark times we face, and sometimes we surround ourselves with people who are there to support us, people who we know will have our back. If we surround ourselves with the right kind of friends, friends we know we can count on, friends who will be there, truly be there through it, then the after effects of the harshness of life will be lessened. If we choose to walk this road alone, we face the possibility of bearing the scars of the darkness for a very long time, long after spring has arrived.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says, "Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.  Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone?  A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken."

So who do you surround yourself with? Do you have people in your life who help you walk this road, who point you in the right direction? Or are you walking this road alone?  Sometimes it is difficult to admit that we can't do it alone, but we were never meant to do it alone.  Trusting others can be difficult, especially if we have been hurt in the past, but the result of trusting the right people can bring life back to our lives.

I know that I  have been amazingly blessed by some very special people that God has planted in my  life, key people who have been there at just the right time.  I think you know who you are.  Thank you for loving me for who I am.

Just one more thing, but the most important thing of all.  God always wants to be there for you.  He loves you and just wants a relationship with you.  He is waiting. Are you ready?