tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51559316328474347842024-03-12T20:48:53.782-04:00Faith InterruptedLaura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-21753696786282253592016-02-16T16:21:00.001-05:002016-02-17T11:22:34.708-05:00Diagnosis.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">D<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">-<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">i<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">-a<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">-g-<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">n-o-s-i-s</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It’s just a word until you have to live it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">For some of us, just reading that. One. Word. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We relive a nightmare. Some of us grip our
hearts while we follow those black nine letters to a stifling moment that
forever changes our breathing in and breathing out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I sit with you in that suffocating definition, and - with some
fragment of understanding that was delineated for <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">our family</span> in <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">a <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">pediatrician's</span></span> examination room on September 6<sup>th</sup>,
2015 - I am reaching for you. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>Hope. </u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">God prepares us for our journey. Do you believe that? Do you
believe that our omniscient God sees your day before you live it, and because
He is a good God in whom there is all sufficiency, He prepares you with
everything you need to - not only endure - but to conquer every challenger? We,
who love God, are secure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>Hope.</u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” Psalm 42:5</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">My mom has always encouraged me to study God’s Word. She didn’t
just tell me to read it; she told me to study it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">So she called me one New Year’s
Day, about five years ago now, and told me how she asked God to teach her one
word for that year: one word. She asked Him to make that word his curriculum specific
to His purpose for her. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She asked Him to
teach this word to her verse by verse as He had written it, and then moment by
moment as she lived it with Him - in every circumstance He knew would be her
life. She prayed that He would make that word – His living Word - her
realization. And so I was curious.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I asked, totally disbelieving this was even possible, “How
do you know what word?” </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">She answered, “He will show you. Just ask,” she encouraged me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I have lived enough of life “not doing” what my mother had
said, so I thought good and hard about praying and asking God to teach me a
word. I want to know more than one, though. Just one? Question after doubtful
question, I acquiesced. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I asked God to teach me one word. “Lord, teach me one word;
teach me one word you know I need to realize; one word that through all things
I realize great truth about you. Let one word penetrate my heart and mind and
life. Thank you that you will always teach me with perfect intention and that I
can know with certainty that you do.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">There’s no magic in that prayer. I just expressed to God
what I hoped for – His attention.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Every year, for the past <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">five <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">years, God has given me a word to learn. </span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8P4-KD9r8WYswgM_VjUiGyjVZW5ar3fIOK72raPWrXaCS9H9bi7lQCdofwyeAWdcEmDkysCIsCavvBdSviN-OQ6Wkme342dDyRLb4hd-qWIcKKG6LparG0dZxGeNfKkl3XJu5WwkyjFY/s1600/IMG_9820%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8P4-KD9r8WYswgM_VjUiGyjVZW5ar3fIOK72raPWrXaCS9H9bi7lQCdofwyeAWdcEmDkysCIsCavvBdSviN-OQ6Wkme342dDyRLb4hd-qWIcKKG6LparG0dZxGeNfKkl3XJu5WwkyjFY/s320/IMG_9820%255B1%255D.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">always wonder if <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">He will do it again<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, like maybe <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">th<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">is prayer - this request of God to teach me something <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">entirely specific to my soul,</span></span></span> can only work <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">once. But every year <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">after, the first of the year, I ask H<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">im to give me a <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Word to learn from Him ag<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ain. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Days <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">will pass</span></span>, and the word <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">will be</span> everywhere. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">This <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">past year, 2015, my word was hope. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Hope</span> would not let me go. Verse after verse, conversation upon
conversation, pictures and songs; it was there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>Hope. </u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I didn't ask God for this particular word. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It wasn't like I saw it, and said, "Oh, that wor<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">d. Teach me that one.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">" </span></span></span>He gave it to me - cl<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">early</span>. And at first - I liked it. On paper, it was so pretty. What could He possibly want me to understand about Hope? I had no idea how hard hope could be to realize. It's just a <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">word - until you have to live it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with
me – a prayer to the God of my life…Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so
disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior
and my God.” Psalm 42:8</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">When I study, I write. God’s Word, pen, and paper are
powerful weapons against every enemy in 2016. What worked for Moses, Daniel,
and Isaiah, King David, and the other faith warriors through whom God wrote - is
an encounter quite good enough for me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>Write what you learn from God. </u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Diagnosis tells a story of God. Every time. No matter what. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I was sin sick. In 1997, Jesus diagnosed me and healed my
heart, soul, mind, and body. I chose to seek Him as my healer forever when I
was 27 years old. And from that point on, I now choose to seek Him and find Him
daily, and so I will read Him in our every diagnosis. No matter what. Will you?
He is there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I am not telling our story for any reason except to
encourage you in yours – not because we are doing this diagnosis so well, or
because our story is so dramatic, or horrific – it’s not. I want to tell you
our story, because God is in it, and my hope is that when you read Him in our
story, you will find His Word in your own. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/type-1-diabetes/basics/symptoms/CON-20019573">Type 1 <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">D</span>iabetes</a>: call out your own diagnosis, too. What is
it? Sickens you to say it, doesn’t it? I feel that heart cringe, that deep ache
with you. I feel it, and even as I type it I still stare at it in disbelief.
Write it. Write it down and look at it. This word will forever bring glory to
God in your life, because God will use it for his glory until he says it is
over and then HE WILL ERADICATE IT. He authored it with a beginning, middle,
and end - and that will be magnificent. Every part. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">We are living a holy conquest. I refuse to see it any other
way. Open your eyes and look up. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>Hope.</u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.
Truly he is my rock and my salvation’ he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust
in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our
refuge.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Psalm 62:5-8</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Diagnosis eats away at a healthy body slowly. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">September 5, 2015, 10:00 p.m.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Kaden, our twelve year old, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>got on our bathroom scale and yelled for me. “I’ve
lost 10lbs since last week.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">No. It couldn’t be. Ten pounds in two weeks? He had to be
wrong. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His appetite <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">was fierce</span>
- was not unusual - but why the
weight loss?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Memories of my oldest
brother’s diagnosis when he was only ten awakened and began to whisper, “Type 1
diabetes.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">We had just been with my oldest brother and his wife
enjoying a beautiful day on their boat. Kaden had been frequently urinating -
like every ten minutes - he HAD to go. I knew then. I just didn’t want to know. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I asked my brother what he thought. He thought reasonably,
too. “It’s summer. He’s drinking a lot. He would be lethargic.” My brother
remembers the lethargy. “He wouldn’t have so much energy.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">True. But - Diagnosis creeps. </span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Try to think reasonably. Isn’t positive thinking reasonable? Think
positively. It can’t be. Go over his days – his health - with a mother’s eye. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Ten pounds lost. He’s been <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">an eating machine</span>. Drinking
relentlessly. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Getting up to go to the bathroom</span> throughout the night and every ten minutes throughout the
day, and what about those painful leg cramps that wake him? What is that about?
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Am I a hypochondriac mom? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">My husband, Kaden, and I went over all of it in our bedroom
together. I rocked in the chair where I had held my son in what I believed were
safest arms so many nights. I was holding him now, but he stood before me
watching my face to know how to feel. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I gave this to you – was all I could think. I never uttered
the words to him. They were too ug<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ly. </span>I just kept repeating them to myself until they buried me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Be strong. Cover fear. He sees my face, and he will inhale
my fear or my faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Choose faith. </span>Faith is life. Faith
is life. </span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>Hope. </u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Who can I call? It was too late for social calls – or so I’d
been taught. My second oldest brother went through diagnosis. His daughter, my
niece, was diagnosed at age eleven. I wonder what my brother would say.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">But it’s late. I kept thinking, “Call your brother.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I dialed. The phone was ringing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Tom, I need to tell you what’s going on with Kaden.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I described the symptoms while he listened attenti<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">vely</span>. My sister-in-law and niece were
there. I could hear them in the background as Tom was repeating our concerns.
My niece yelled out, “Does he have leg cramps?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Diagnosis. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It was then I completely knew.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Kaden was looking at me. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>Hope. </u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Take him to the E.R.,” my brother guided. “We will be
praying.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Praying what? I wanted to know, but I was too afraid to ask. Praying <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">this diagnosis</span> isn’t so? Praying
that we will be spared what others we love are enduring? Praying that we can
endure it, too. Praying that, like you, the faith in our lungs we have breathed
until this very moment won’t be crushed under the weight of Diagnosis. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>Hope. </u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I called our pediatrician. Can you believe she told me to
wait until the morning? Yes. She told me to call the office when it opened at
8a.m. and - make an appointment. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Moms, calling all moms, let me boldly voice one
truth: You are your child’s primary physician. God leads you to care for your
child. When you know something is not right, move heaven and earth and the
pediatrician that is in your way to find out what is wrong. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">We’re so concerned about looking like a hypochondriac mother
sometimes, though, aren’t we? </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I’m so afraid of what you think about me I ignore the truth.
Often. In a thousand circumstances. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Do you do this, too? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">My comfort in the fact that I hold this tinfoil shield
before a judgmental world - or pediatrician <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">in this circumstance -</span> is this: God is my God. He is my
true shield. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>Hope</u>. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Kaden slept soundly in the arms of God that night. Perfect
rest, except for the few times he had to wake up and go to the bathroom, which
was the disease taking its course.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I did not sleep. At 2a.m. I went to listen to him breathing.
Then I went to my learning place (our family room) with God. His Book on my lap and my journal
over it, I wrote exactly this: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghekAMfv6hsgjCfS-1et_7MzzVxXZ3IWXroSu4-MDL_r_4eDjmBF8DOjgyqNqMywNGpj4OhJ1eXd73PIg_OthhXO880mrYEQ8HW9fmf41hENBQgR4V4WMlIVIj5c05pTsAOIqAEa2Wneo/s1600/IMG_9819%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghekAMfv6hsgjCfS-1et_7MzzVxXZ3IWXroSu4-MDL_r_4eDjmBF8DOjgyqNqMywNGpj4OhJ1eXd73PIg_OthhXO880mrYEQ8HW9fmf41hENBQgR4V4WMlIVIj5c05pTsAOIqAEa2Wneo/s320/IMG_9819%255B1%255D.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">9/6 /15</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Fearful of diabetes in Kaden. Speak to me, Jesus. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I then began to read the Bible, as God took me verse to verse.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.” Psalm 25:1</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“…cause me to hear your lovingkindness in the morning, for
in You do I trust; cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift
up my soul to you.” Psalm 143:6-8</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Whatever you ask in my name, that I will do.” John 14:13</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">When I read this verse, I cried out in pen, “Jesus, in your
name, I ask – heal my son.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">As I wrote these words I heard my mother’s voice crying the
very same words forty years <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">before my own</span>. Why must we know this disease, Lord? Why won’t
you bring healing to all of us who call out to you? Why? Why won’t you heal us? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I was mad. Mad and shaking in my anger. For a long time I cried angry tears. I let it out. And then, I read on. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“My soul waits for the Lord – more than those who watch for
the morning; yes, more than those who watch for the morning.” Psalm 130:5-6</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Come, Lord Jesus.” Revelation 22:20</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Rejoicing in hope, patient in affliction…” Romans 12:12</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I had to stop there. Tears were heavy. Rejoice in hope – in the
midst of our suffering. I can rejoice that we have hope. There is always hope,
because God is. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">So, hope in what? Hope that God will do my bidding? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">No. Change your hope. That’s much too small. Hope in what? I
had to think of all the false hopes I had in that moment…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Hope in healing? Hope in a cure? Hope in the end of sorrow?
Hope for a good doctor? Hope it will not be hard? Hope it won’t last long? Hope
in the release of pain and guilt for what we encompass genetically and pass on
to our children ignorantly? God! Answer me! Save me! I’m suffocating in my
ignorance. Hope in what? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained
access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>hope of the glory of God</u></b>. Not
only so, but we also <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>glory in our
sufferings</u></b>, because we know that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>suffering
produces</u></b> perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>hope</u></b>. And hope does not put us
to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the
Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:1-5</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">We hope in the glory of God. And we hope in His glory in the
midst of suffering. And hope given to us by His Spirit will not put us to
shame. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Glory to God comes. Through you. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>Hope in God. </u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I read on. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”
Acts 14:22</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Stop asking why. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Whoever does not bear his cross and come after me – cannot be
my disciple.” Luke 14:27</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Those who are his followers carry crosses. It’s a defining
mark that we all bear something we must die on. Something must kill this flesh
of ours, so that only God’s Spirit lives for us. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“No one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you
yourselves know that we are appointed to this.”</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I Thessalonians 3:3</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">My son has been appointed to this. This is given to him by
God who gave Him life. I didn’t give him life, nor could I give him a purpose.
Only God can determine what is good. My good for my son is pathetic compared to
what God has done. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Jesus, speak more to me,” I prayed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“My ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than
your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans
15:3</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Yes. Pray this. Pray this for me. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">God of hope, I want to abound in hope. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“…A living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ –
yet believing you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.” I Peter
1:3,8</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Oh God that you would teach this to my son. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And there - in my hope -<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I realized. He was. He was teaching his mom.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">At 6a.m. I called my mother. The truths God has taught her,
she has taught her children. She is brimming with truth, full of faith, and she
is a woman of prayer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I wept with her over the battle we were about to face. Understanding
every word that God had said to me, I needed to now – live those words - know
each truth - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in my skin. Knowing is a
hard word. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Do you believe this?” I heard Jesus’ words to Martha at the
tomb of Lazarus in John 11. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">You can hear, and know, and not believe. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Learning hope would not only take God’s voice, it would
require my life, giving my son’s life to God, to believe it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">My husband took our daughter to church, because for my
husband and daughter diagnosis was not happening. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I drove my son to the pediatrician for our 8:15a.m
appointment. Yes. I had to make an appointment. For me the diagnosis and all the frustrations that would be born with it - was here. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>Hope.</u> </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I looked at my son as I drove, and not wanting to scare him,
but rather wanting to prepare him, I said, “Kaden, a tidal wave is coming. We
are going to ride it, and you are going to be okay.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">His breath was so sweet with sugar that had spilled into his
blood all night; I could literally smell his disease. He drank water from a
clear plastic bottle and looked at it in disbelief. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Mom, this totally tastes like lemonade.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The walls of the pediatrician’s room were once painted so
beautifully. When my babes were little we used to make up stories about the
little children laughing and playing in pinks, yellows, purples, and blues. Now
the walls were green, and ugly. I’ll never forget exam room 5. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The diagnosis came. I held tightly to my son while the
realization pressed in on him. He wept, but I refused. “Kaden God has you. We
have Him, and you are going to be okay. You are strong, because God has
prepared you.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">He wept. He was not afraid; he was broken. I held him in
arms made able by God alone, and let him cry.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I remember very little from the point of exam room five to
the emergency entrance at Children’s Hospital. I know I called my husband. I
cannot tell you what he said. I know I called my mother. I cannot tell you what
she said. I know I called my in-laws. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I know, when I pulled up to the esplanade, my husband and
daughter and my mother were standing there waiting to take Kaden into their
arms and walk him in. I know my husband came around to the driver side door and
told me that he would park the car, so that I could do the only thing I wanted to do
– be with my son. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I know that when Kaden was tucked safely into a hospital
room bed, with IV’s running and insulin - not his own - not ever again - was finally pumping into his blood, I walked
down the hall to get ice and water. And I know my husband silently followed me. He
turned me around to face him when we were alone, and held me in arms that only God could
make able, and he let me cry. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I could not look at him. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Guilty tears ran down my face. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“I did this to him. I gave him this disease.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“No,” he said. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> I had to say it. I was drowning in my shame. I
did this to my husband, to our child. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Would you still have married me had you known I would give
you a son with this disease?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“I would marry you a thousand times. I would have no other
son.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>Hope does not put us to shame.</u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I will not leave you
comfortless: I will come to you.” John 14:18</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Who was there for you? I know that I know you were not alone. Who held you
while you cried, while you yelled, while you said everything ugly your skin
needed to ooze, so that you could expel the choking lies and breathe in truth? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Those who love us were there. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXdlgnW_MDXfgc45hG1nTp4Zy2ZzL0Lw5pxpHeOch7Xs6ZoGc6XvGsmum9IoYsAL_x39za3gl-O6LkfhpHgj4kwqj8GTDGgGEUwmS8tURlu2JaRpTRVezjuQ3FyP6PLyiTBHN_yFp5qCI/s1600/IMG_8260%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXdlgnW_MDXfgc45hG1nTp4Zy2ZzL0Lw5pxpHeOch7Xs6ZoGc6XvGsmum9IoYsAL_x39za3gl-O6LkfhpHgj4kwqj8GTDGgGEUwmS8tURlu2JaRpTRVezjuQ3FyP6PLyiTBHN_yFp5qCI/s320/IMG_8260%255B1%255D.JPG" width="240" /></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">"...I will never leave you, nor forsake you." Hebrews 13:5</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>Hope.</u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I have learned, in the midst of Diagnosis, that love shows up. Love climbs into your
diagnosis with you, and will not leave you in the discomfort of your tears. Love
is not easily offended…Love always protects. Always trusts. Always hopes.
Always perseveres. Love never fails. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqR1VGaQU1OjF2jquqpljV0bTEiIq7fBc6UfAMWoxu_SLZJP8lPNyWJGpxm5CtlrXVvADJFkf5WamPTarW3y3rcTuO61HboSeNH6WovKYrDOk1vPe98lIGAfZivPcz5VQDOhsemKkrdQQ/s1600/IMG_8266%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqR1VGaQU1OjF2jquqpljV0bTEiIq7fBc6UfAMWoxu_SLZJP8lPNyWJGpxm5CtlrXVvADJFkf5WamPTarW3y3rcTuO61HboSeNH6WovKYrDOk1vPe98lIGAfZivPcz5VQDOhsemKkrdQQ/s320/IMG_8266%255B1%255D.JPG" width="240" /></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Love is present. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">My husband and I were amazed as we watched our son learn
to master his disease, so that it would never master him. From his very first
shot, he wanted to be in charge. That is entirely a work of God, because independent is not a characteristic of our son. In everything, he prefers to be cared for – except now - in his
disease. Here is where God has given him a sense of power and self-control. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgusDGgI7zZosynnq9cY5EEnQWHVdIiCXPWF4XHRq8wSKXss6Jx_LVYL5fvl3nbf-Xo-YSXV1gfGu6nXP03eLgyZwpUrIwTc7bvxQm6Dm6tjLeNgEs17IYG252Iblgt-Z5W1HCW7rC7q_A/s1600/IMG_8323%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgusDGgI7zZosynnq9cY5EEnQWHVdIiCXPWF4XHRq8wSKXss6Jx_LVYL5fvl3nbf-Xo-YSXV1gfGu6nXP03eLgyZwpUrIwTc7bvxQm6Dm6tjLeNgEs17IYG252Iblgt-Z5W1HCW7rC7q_A/s320/IMG_8323%255B1%255D.JPG" width="240" /></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Only God knows how to shape the heart of a man. He is
growing our son in ways I could not have ever dreamed or imagined. Because only
God knows the purpose for which our son was made. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>Hope.</u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I hate this diagnosis. I am not at the point where I can
thank God for it. I am sure I will one day. But, as for right now, I don’t know if I will ever be able to fully express gratitude this side of
heaven. When you hear me - because you will - it will be the work of God. Only. For those who preach that message, "Praise God in the Storm", I’m still learning, so preach on. I'm listening. I'm teachable. What
I am able to do by the work of God in my mother's heart is thank Him for all He is constantly doing with this disease that is
good, and through this disease that is indeed good. There is always, daily good. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Kaden now says that he wants to be a doctor who will one day <a href="http://donate.jdrf.org/info/jdrf/?s_src=bingAdsPaidDiabetesFoundation">help</a> kids with
diabetes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCG8lLgCfh9jyCpj6QXWBTuJVGQc0P9a7-I5dol1iUuR71vALuSkztCtEequ36mMkXG8aaAbTAuA5JxkajT3yt3Z4QJnFzS-1iY1qo-Z8l_ltU3oHpQp7G8Vm6L9PKIymzIw8LPZ7jhdI/s1600/IMG_9435%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCG8lLgCfh9jyCpj6QXWBTuJVGQc0P9a7-I5dol1iUuR71vALuSkztCtEequ36mMkXG8aaAbTAuA5JxkajT3yt3Z4QJnFzS-1iY1qo-Z8l_ltU3oHpQp7G8Vm6L9PKIymzIw8LPZ7jhdI/s320/IMG_9435%255B1%255D.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>Hope. </u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">My diabetic diva niece is currently in college studying to be a nurse who
will one day help kids with diabetes. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDa6KodD3x9sf4dy-4hD0hHniPOnFV2DvrvnqpMOEPuaJZ9eeXdMsLZmVhXwfpNu9TgFKvvF0bfqGGSZON-jHF1YEa1LZaZjp16g0RD2Jnzt-yQ3ZCAMUFsSe3jfwzWXuWwPRthKhiuKU/s1600/IMG_8722%255B1%255D.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDa6KodD3x9sf4dy-4hD0hHniPOnFV2DvrvnqpMOEPuaJZ9eeXdMsLZmVhXwfpNu9TgFKvvF0bfqGGSZON-jHF1YEa1LZaZjp16g0RD2Jnzt-yQ3ZCAMUFsSe3jfwzWXuWwPRthKhiuKU/s320/IMG_8722%255B1%255D.PNG" width="180" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>Hope. </u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Only God can shape the heart of a man or a woman for His purposes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I don’t think that every diagnosis results in someone
joining the medical field. My son has yet to get through 7<sup>th</sup> grade
science with a B, so we’ll see how this plays out. And my oldest brother - 40 years a diabetic - would
laugh at the thought of ever wanting to be any kind of physician. He works best
with power tools that have nothing to do with blood. (Love you, Brother!) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">A diagnosis results in various mighty works of God.
Thousands of people have turned their ear to listen to faith in Christ expressing itself
in the midst of terminal diagnosis. Many have given their lives to Christ as a
result of a life-changing disease. Because of diagnosis, communities have come
together to pray, to raise money for research, to bring help and comfort to
those who are in great need. Because of diagnosis<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, the </span>grace of God ha<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">s</span>
kind faces and strong hands. Thousands of people have given their lives to God,
because of the awesome glory of our Savior in one’s diagnosis. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Diagnosis may be a weapon in the hand of the
enemy, but the power of God through His people turns that weapon against him,
and will continue to do until this story of disease on the earth comes to its
everlasting end. Diagnosis cannot limit life in hand of the One who authors it. Life is Christ, not our flesh. Life is Christ. I am learning this. A <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">new word</span> - Life. The flesh is not life. Christ is life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u> Hope.</u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Every diagnosis is a story of the grace of God in this life
we were blessed to live - temporarily - in flesh. I do believe God is in your
diagnosis, and I do hope that you will tell others what He has done in the
midst of it. Your story is not insignificant. That’s a lie. I needed to tell you that, because I believed it, too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Someone else shares the same diagnosis letters with you - the very same black letters that shape a word - that brought them to a moment of life change, and that someone needs to hear and know - HOPE. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">We were then, on 9/6/15, and we are now, grateful for every diagnosis
story. No story was, nor is, too great or too small. Every story of God’s grace
teaches, encourages, and brings hope. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Daily we face new challenges, very real struggles for our
son. Diagnosis gets that, right? We move past the exam room into life and death
stuff. So, we are desperate for what we have always been desperate for - the Word
of God – one word every day, to pierce our unknowing and become our well-known. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">We pray, “Lord, teach us one word; teach us one word you
know we need to realize; one word that through all things we realize great
truth about you. Let one word penetrate our hearts and mind and life. Thank you
that you will always teach us with perfect intention and that we can know with
certainty that you do.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Every day one verse from God's Book saves my life. Every day one Word from God awakens the warrior in my son. Every day one verse grows our family together toward God. Every day one verse brings hope. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">In the midst of Diagnosis, what I am <u>secure in</u> daily
is this: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Word of God is living and
active. I will never turn my ear from listening for God. By His Word we live
forever…with hope. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and
secure.” Hebrews 6:19</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><u>HOPE.</u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I will never read this word the same way again. Just like diagnosis. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It's not just a word. We live it to know God well. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans
15:3</span></div>
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Yes. Pray this. Pray this <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">for <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">those we love who Hope in<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> the midst of</span> diagnosis. Joy. Peace. The Power of the Holy Spirit. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Hope. </span></span></span><br />
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Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-25631765313031719302015-06-23T17:07:00.002-04:002015-06-23T17:07:34.164-04:00Dear Moms of Little Girls<div style="color: #797979; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNbVyfE04mQwqBXWs176-8GAdvHmWZTVliQSdTUptCIRS2PxKHVqHAQldjjYkO-h8QSgQFisgDgczR6Px06mVbrWRChV_UAkOPfMyM1GifjMPB38DtudxVRyx16USPgpFdt1shSqygU5M/s1600/08.13.LLiPhone+756.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNbVyfE04mQwqBXWs176-8GAdvHmWZTVliQSdTUptCIRS2PxKHVqHAQldjjYkO-h8QSgQFisgDgczR6Px06mVbrWRChV_UAkOPfMyM1GifjMPB38DtudxVRyx16USPgpFdt1shSqygU5M/s320/08.13.LLiPhone+756.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.thrivewomen.com/spiritual-health/dear-moms-of-little-girls-by-laura-lewis/">Dear moms of little girls</a>,</span></div>
<div style="color: #797979; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The only one who knows how to shape a woman’s heart is God. He is my only hope – my only advice. Anyone or anything apart from Him – war against. Our daughter is not the enemy. She needs to know we know that. And she needs to know she is worth the fiery battle that ensues daily. She needs to know you will never let her go no matter what strikes – even her. She needs to know that we are grateful for our gift of strength to hold her in the journey, to pray for her, to tell her truth, to guide her in Truth and Him alone. She needs to know we will never resent the lessons her questions of life and her identity present. We have no greater joy than to learn from God with her. She needs to know we are watchful, prayerful, and steadfast, so she can rest. She needs to know we see the enemy in every form, not because we are so smart, but because we were so stupid to believe him. She needs to know our story – when we say that Jesus saved us – she needs to know just what from and what that means daily. She needs to know that in our salvation – she is rescued from what we could be apart from the God who loves her. God saved her mom – for her. She needs to know that we are in the battle together and the armor of God can handle the chinks and mudslinging – That the shield of faith covers us both. She needs to know we believe big enough until she can. She needs us to show her there are lilies in the valley of war. And we will gather them all on the way to victory. And can I tell you this…when you feel like you aren’t able or worthy to go with that little girl one more step – consider your mom. She felt that way once, too.</span></div>
<div style="color: #797979; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I Corinthians 13 is a chapter about missional love. Read it with Jesus’ name in the place of love, and read it with this understanding. The Spirit of our Savior who is love – indwells you (John 17:20-23). His love is what we have been gifted to live in (John 15), and His love is what we have been created in Him to exude so that our babes will see and know Him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Remain in love.</span></div>
<div style="color: #797979; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“Love suffers long and is kind…” (I Corinthians 13:4a)</span></div>
<div style="color: #797979; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I stood beside my mom one afternoon admiring her peaceful garden. I had retreated to her side when the struggle with a strong will had exhausted me. With tears rolling down my cheeks, I said to her “Mom, I’m going to bring my children to you. Can you finish raising them?” I was joking – of course – but I wanted to let her know I was beside myself, and I wanted to let her know I NOW understood so much more where she had been as a mom.</span></div>
<div style="color: #797979; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She laughed and simply looked at me with eyes that spoke of our 45 years together as mother and daughter. I knew she relied on God for me and for my brothers. I knew she did not have a manual for any of us, but daily read her Bible and prayed on her knees for our lives and her impact on each one of us. I knew that my brothers and I had brought her joy as well as grief. I knew that the journey and the end result was nothing she would take credit for, nor would she dare to try to script for me the way that I should go. My mother is a good mentor. She leads me to God time after time.</span></div>
<div style="color: #797979; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wisely she said in a warm embrace and tears of her own, “God gave them to you. They’re your gift from Him. He will accomplish what He has begun in you.”</span></div>
<div style="color: #797979; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“The Lord will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness is everlasting; Do not forsake the work of your hands.” Psalm 138:8</span></div>
<div style="color: #797979; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Love never fails. Oh how we need to hear this again and again. Hear it with me, will you? Hear it, and say it, and pray it, and share it, and rest in this Truth. And by the power of Christ that resides in us, WE will – We WILL – WE WILL … let love accomplish what Love alone can do. He is faithful.</span></div>
Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-2926287886238806122015-01-09T14:26:00.003-05:002015-01-11T13:10:08.886-05:00The Gift of Hope<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A new year has begun. Is there a dream tucked in
the pocket of your heart, a dream so fragile that you refrain from taking it
out to share, even with the dearest of friends, because – what if the dream crashes?
It’s easier if it falls apart inside, isn’t it? Keeping hope hidden protects
our pride, doesn’t it? The public mess of a dream deferred is spirit crushing,
yes, but isn’t it also demoralizing? When the dream dies we must take ownership
of what we believed would be, and accept the emotional, foolish mess we made
boldly hoping. Shovel in hand we bend low over dirt and dig a grave. Do we dare
ever hope again?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the early 1950’s, America was still racially segregated.
Black Americans were considered second class citizens, and not only in the eyes
of white Americans, but also according to the current written laws. During this
time Langston Hughes wrote a poem entitled “Harlem” in which the author posed
this question. “What happens to a dream deferred?” This poem expressed the burden
of the black American dream. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Harlem</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What happens to a dream deferred?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Does it dry up<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like a raisin in the sun?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Or fester like a sore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then run?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Does it stink like rotten
meat?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Or crust and sugar over<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">like a syrupy sweet?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maybe it just sags<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">like a heavy load.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or does it explode?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To this very real and pervading human ache, Martin
Luther King, Jr. replied on August 28, 1963. “…We cannot walk alone…I am not
unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations….
We cannot turn back…Let us not wallow in the valley of despair…<a href="http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm">I have a dream</a>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr. King anchored his hope and secured his message to the Word
of God. He referred to Scripture in Amos and also from the book of Isaiah,
because Israel’s history, like American history, was also fouled by injustice
and slavery. The prophet Amos called out for social justice, and the prophet
Isaiah proclaimed God would rescue the oppressed and restore His divided nation.
Some two thousand years later into the bleak circumstances of American history
Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed this same message of God to those who needed
to hear, needed to see, needed to believe: “…Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the
rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all
people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He may have been called a fool for dreaming then, but he is
most certainly respected and even honored for that powerful dream that changed
the world then and is still changing the world today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">God, by His Word, will make all wrongs right. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So are you holding a dream close to your heart for 2015? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is your dream anchored in the Word of God? Because if it is,
there is good news for you and for me: “…no word of God will ever fail” (Luke
1:37). If you have a dream, and it is not born from God’s word, bury it with
the other things of this life that fade away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“For, all people are like grass, and their glory is like the
flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of
the Lord endures forever.” 1 Peter 1:24-25<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is your God-given dream being derailed time and time again
by circumstances beyond your control? There is still good news: your hope will
not put you to shame. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we
have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus, Christ, through whom we have
gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in
the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character;
and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has
been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to
us.” Romans 5:1-5<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The prophets and saints of God most certainly grew
discouraged. Their trials are recorded throughout the Bible. Was God reluctant
to fulfill the dream that He had given? No. This is his reply to those who long
and have longed, who wait and have waited for what He has said that He would
accomplish:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the
glory of God?” John 11:40<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What God has said already is, and will one day be seen
(Hebrews 11). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hope in God does not disappoint; let nothing defer hope’s
purpose and power within you, and let nothing defer its purpose and power
through you. After all, that hope is a gift of God (Jeremiah 29:11), for such a
time as this. Trust Him with it completely, and change the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose
confidence is in him.” Jeremiah 17:7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For further study to encourage you concerning the
faithfulness of God: </span></div>
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<a href="http://www.bible.ca/b-prophecy-60.htm">http://www.bible.ca/b-prophecy-60.htm</a><o:p></o:p></div>
Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-80760264649507018952014-12-10T13:14:00.001-05:002014-12-10T13:34:45.713-05:00To Santa or Not To Santa<br />
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" /></a></div>
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A good friend of mine posted this <a href="http://gospelcenteredmom.blogspot.com/2014/12/what-to-do-about-santa.html">article</a> on Facebook. It's a controversial topic no matter what. You can't make it controversial. It already is. Like this issue of breast or bottle, t.v or no t.v., inoculate or not, and do I dare mention discipline - yeah, probably not. Loving our children will always strike passionate chords. By God's grace we choose for them, and so they grow, and so do we. <br />
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I am grateful for social media in that it does pave a way for us to process together (I love processing with women!), and in the processing we learn from each other. Don't we? Thank you mom friends, for what you bring to the world with your heart and your computer and your moments between work, dinner plans, and loads of laundry. Humbly I pause with you a moment to join the Santa Clause conversation.<br />
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I love this blogger's heart for God (and my friend's heart with her), but I wonder about the impact her words have had on Gospel centered moms who did not withhold the wonder of Santa from their babes. I also wonder the impact her words have had on moms who are peering in our Christian Christmas windows and wondering about our perspective in light of their own. Do they feel condemned by us? Do they wonder if there are some secret beliefs held by the Church, scripted in some hidden book, possibly written by moms, that Santa Clause is wrong practice? And so, if they believe in Christ at all, would they come away from this blog feeling as if no matter what - when it comes to church mamas, they aren't fitting in the Christmas cookie cutter, because they're platter includes Santa and a reindeer or two.<br />
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While this blogger beautifully expresses her heart for God, and does not object to Santa entirely, she left out one part that I would like to add. I hope she would not object, but agree with me. I'm sure I would enjoy her company, especially if she enjoys coffee and cookies while she blogs.<br />
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So here is my response to Sarah Wallace's article: (Thank you, Sarah Wallace, for this thought provoking post! And thank you for Katie for loving God so beautifully as a mom, a wife, a friend that you would care to encourage all of us to do the same.)<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I feel for the moms who read this article and think - "I failed". If your kids believe in Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny - because you encouraged this belief, you did not fail them. You created a world of fantasy, one in which you hoped their innocence would thrive; one that can be easily distinguished from the Truth of the Word of God as they grow and understand the world, what is factual and what is fantasy. Santa Mama, you did not fail your babes! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Teach them to seek God in His Word with you as they grow. You do not seek Santa's saving grace, his wisdom, nor his instruction in a book that he wrote. You seek the Living God. Teach them to pray with you - thanking God for all you have, making every petition to Him with thanksgiving. You do not pray to Santa. Teach them to emulate those who live for God and love as Jesus did. You are their very first role model. And with you - St. Nicholas was one of those people. No matter what - if you encourage Santa fantasy or not - God is faithful to shape the hearts of his people - our growing babes, and you and I with them. So Gospel Mamas, don't fret about what should you do now if you have already fostered the belief in Santa. Your kids will not worship Santa or forsake the truth God teaches them through you as they learn The Bible. They will do just what the rest of us did - they'll figure out the line in that song that says, "I saw Mommy kissing Santa Clause underneath the mistletoe last night", and they'll laugh about what that really means. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, when they ask you if Santa is real or not, you can tell them - he is. He lived, gave gifts to others, died, and we believe he is in heaven with God, because he loved Him very much - enough to spend his life giving to others with all that he had. And that kind of wonderful, secretive, mysterious, selfless giving is exactly what you wanted them to experience so that they could do the same thing for others. Give them ideas for how to do this kind of gift giving, so they can experience the wonder of Christmas - a selfless, humble kind of giving. Does this compete with The Gospel? No way!! It reflects The Gospel. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Merry Christmas!!!</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">#thegospel</span><br />
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<br />Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-37711986917257202812014-09-11T16:50:00.001-04:002014-09-11T17:01:22.493-04:00To my baby girl on 9/11/01 A Day of Terror<br />
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To my daughter: you are not quite seven months. Oh, sweet girl, such horror has occurred in the United States today. Two commercial airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center Twin Towers. Moments later they collapsed. Two other planes crashed - one into The Pentagon - the other in Pittsburgh. This is an act of terrorism - by whom we do not know.<br />
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Daddy is in Pittsburgh, and I did not know of the crash there until Nana called and told me. I scooped you up and held you tightly trying to hold myself together - so as not to frighten you. I called Daddy's hotel and was relieved to get through. I left Daddy a message and waited with a prayerful heart to hear his voice. He did call, and he is on his way home. Baby, baby - for all I fear, for all I wish to protect you from - this tragedy is beyond a mother's reach. Only God can hold you- protect you.<br />
<br />
I think of the lives lost. Precious life so easily disregarded. The children - somebody's mommy - somebody's daddy. The world is at war, baby. The United States has received a mighty blow. Peace and freedom here has been disrupted beyond all of our comprehension. Not since Pearl Harbor, which happened even before I was born, has our country known this kind of tragedy. Oklahoma City bombing was horrific, and the past bombing of the World Trade Center was horrific - but this - this is a devastation our home has never known.<br />
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Schools and businesses are closing. The military is on alert. The National Guard has been called to NYC - our next door neighbor is going to have to go. Uncle Tom's base is on high security alert. I am beside myself trying to comprehend all of this even to pen it for you.<br />
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You, little one, nap peacefully on the bed beside me. How blessed I am - our family is okay. We are safe. We have each other. Daddy will be home soon. My heart breaks for the little ones whose daddy - whose mommy - won't come home tonight.<br />
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The news coverage is unbelievable. It seems as if we are living a nightmare. But it's true, and I wish I could protect you from the ugliness of what is unraveling before us. I wonder about the nuclear arms that sit perched - waiting for an order. Will there ever be a world for you to grow up in - to play freely? Is it going to all end soon? Will the Lord return? Only God knows.<br />
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We wait on Him and as Christians we trust Him. I did not sleep well last night. Resorted to praying for family. How many other Christians were called to prayer in the wee hours of the morning? The new threat of the 21st century - terrorism. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.<br />
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Little, little girl, I am so sorry that the world can be so ugly. This is not our final home. I can assure you of this promise: Heaven awaits us - and for that I praise our Holy God who cradles us all. I pray the families of those victims can be comforted by God's faithfulness in the midst of evil, and His provision of eternity with Him. I pray if you are reading this when you are older, that you have given your life to Christ and are completely surrendered to Him. Never let go, never forsake. Believe. Believe.<br />
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"I (Jesus) have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have tribulation, but take heart. I have overcome the world." John 16:33<br />
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Jesus wins.<br />
I love you. Always.Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-73904056423028017492014-04-24T15:51:00.002-04:002014-04-25T10:19:43.830-04:00Who Told You That You Were Naked<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN1IZ2DTP0GdVR2mYVxlcy2YgyfVd5ni8_EcPP8y83e3ipu3Noq9k9vPVvRtAwxl8r3n3IO_jlBgOimP2c0W6t_TjVh5Kt-fSCbZSCeD0J3Us3FEVH5TsjlM54w068ZkqmdzwErbRJxNA/s1600/08.13.LLiPhone+831.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN1IZ2DTP0GdVR2mYVxlcy2YgyfVd5ni8_EcPP8y83e3ipu3Noq9k9vPVvRtAwxl8r3n3IO_jlBgOimP2c0W6t_TjVh5Kt-fSCbZSCeD0J3Us3FEVH5TsjlM54w068ZkqmdzwErbRJxNA/s1600/08.13.LLiPhone+831.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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When Eve rocked the Garden of Eden in the image of God do
you think she ever worried about the way she looked? Did she fix her hair,
check her complexion, or try to hide her tummy? Was self-concern even a
thought?</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Could it be that confidence was once natural to the image of
God in woman, because self-absorption was not?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Wasn't the lure of the original sin in Genesis 3 to consider
self? All the enemy had to do was make the woman contemplate herself and feel
inadequate. “…you will be like God…” Genesis 3:4b. Don’t you think she
wondered, “You mean, I’m not? What am I like then?” Eve doubted her created image, and in her
doubt she reached for worth apart from God, and in so doing fell. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m glad there are no visuals for what the first woman
looked like. In spite of her sin legacy, she would have become an idol of the
flawless woman. However, while Eve cannot be imitated, idols of external beauty
reign. Don’t they? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We are obsessed with the outward appearance. God-like is
always reaching for the external. Our hair, skin, nails, clothes, careers, our children,
and our homes: these are the things that matter most when we estimate a woman
in our neighborhood or in the mirror. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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We are no less guilty than Eve. We have bought into the lie
that we are inadequate, and because we believe The Liar, we reach for the stuff
of this world to make us feel complete. Nothing that we reach for apart from God will ever complete
the image of God in woman, because God’s image in us is Spirit.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I will never forget my idol of beauty. I never knew her name
or her life, I only knew her image, and to me it was perfection. The longer I
stared at her the more I hated myself. While I lamented to my husband, “Why
didn’t God make me like her,” I knew it was to God I had to go with my broken
heart. So when I was alone I cried to my Creator, “God, why did you let me see
that I am ugly?” And over my sobs and through the ancient garden blew a tender
whisper meant just for me, “Who told you that you were naked?” <o:p></o:p></div>
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I was silenced. Consider the source of doubt. </div>
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Doubt in my created image is always because of my sin, and
there could be nothing uglier or more pathetic. Strength in my created image
only grows as I discipline myself to look away from what I doubt in me to
simply love someone else. Is that hard to do? Absolutely. Forgetting about my
own insecurities requires the power of God in me to turn my head toward the one
He has placed before me. Changing my mind about what I’m not and who He is in
me demands strong intention. And opening my eyes to see the heart that is in
front of me, without comparing her to myself, requires the healing touch that
comes through the Word of God. Again, and again I pray, “God help me see her
and not me.” And you know what? He does. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Our self-perception, like Eve’s, has been broken. We see
inadequacy and perfection through a distorted lens. Only by looking at
ourselves and others through His grace will true beauty be evident. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your
hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set
your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life
is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then
you also will appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3:1-4<o:p></o:p></div>
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We long for the image of God on the earth. If it truly is
beauty that we long for, will not find it – past lipstick and shoes - to the
soul of a woman created by God to be His image on the earth? <o:p></o:p></div>
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“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not
appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when he appears, we shall be
like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.” I John 3:2<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
We are children of God. Tell me something. Where is the flaw
in that? <o:p></o:p></div>
Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-56342239324151232422014-01-30T15:14:00.002-05:002014-01-30T15:14:48.355-05:00listenIt's not so much the opinion that I'm interested in. Although I am interested, so don't get me wrong. It's the passion that infuses the opinion that inspires me. <br />
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Opinions do not offend me, throw me off guard, insult me, confuse me, infuriate me, threaten me, or make me in anyway uncomfortable. I love the opportunity to hear what someone else feels and thinks. Even greater than listening to the opinion behind skin, and teeth, and eyes, is to be invited below the subfloor of thought and feeling to the heart.<br />
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Asking a question shows interest, and the opinionated beg to be heard. <br />
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Ideas are hearts beating toward a destination. <br />
Questions illuminate every choice step. <br />
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Equally fascinating is the person who, when asked his/her opinion, hands it over freely with literally no conviction whatsoever. The sky is simply blue, and the grass green; barely a blink - simply an utterance, loosely attached - if at all. Attached to what? Life with no constraints begs a question. But who is brave enough to ask - to listen? <br />
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Indifference is encouraged while passion is chided - even before little hands can grasp at shapes to hold. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
"Turning and turning in the widening gyre </div>
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The falcon cannot hear the falconer;</div>
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Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;</div>
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Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,</div>
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The blood-dimmed tide is loosed and everywhere</div>
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The ceremony of innocence is drowned;</div>
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The best lack all conviction, while the worst </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Are full of passionate intensity."</div>
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The Second Coming - William Butler Yeats </div>
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Passion is fading while apathy swells. Can you hear it? <br />
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<br />Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-62217611822572702682013-04-16T06:33:00.001-04:002013-04-16T08:20:12.078-04:00Boston MarathonI woke with Boston on my mind; people whose lives are changed forever because of hate. <b><i>What has our world become </i></b>keeps repeating over and over in my heart. But why do I think it has become anything that it hasn't always been? The world has been broken and ruled by hate for a long, long time. The difference is now I am living in it. What will I do with my fear?<br />
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I fear easily. Circumstances shake me to the core. I panic -and react to situations before they even fully erupt because I can vividly imagine the depths of horror before they even unfold.<br />
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How do people continue today? How can we joyfully bring babies into this world of war, confidently rear our children in unpredictable surroundings; send them off to school where security is a false hope, board our destination planes with sobering uncertainty, and drive to our office buildings as if they stand indestructible. We are a people who must run into danger and not from it; people who must continue to publicly assemble where danger is not supposed to hover, and yet how? How can we live this way? Who can deny that indeed evil does lurk, scheme, and premeditate wicked acts upon humanity? It always has! <br />
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This inner conflict is a churning, tearing reaction of my flesh. I cannot live there. Life cannot be <i>there</i>. This grip of fear is cold and ugly, and dark, and it suffocates me. Life's breath is choked by fear. People were meant to know full life - eternal life - life that cannot be threatened by anyone or anything. My soul aches to touch this reality, but I am wrapped in flesh. <br />
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Fear is a reaction of the flesh to which faith in Jesus Christ has an answer. Jesus is the only answer. I look to Him, by faith, and I ask.<br />
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What could you possibly say to this God? And I felt as if He asked me, "Are you ready to listen, you of little faith?" <br />
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I began to read:<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">I said in my haste, "I am cut off from before Your eyes"; nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried out to You. Psalm 31:22 </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">I sit in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. Psalm 69:2</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">The waters flowed over my head; I said, "I am cut off!" I called on Your name, O Lord from the lowest pit. You have heard my voice: "Do not hide your ear from my sighing, from my cry for help." You drew near on the day I call on You, and said, "Do not fear!" Lamentations 3:54-57</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies?...And I said, "This is my anguish; but I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember Your wonders of old. Psalm 77:7-11</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Psalm 27:13</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him. </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;">Psalm 91:1</span>5<br />
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Today will continue as every day always has - with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is with us, and for us, and the only One who can deliver us from our enemies and from our fear. What can man do to us? No evil can touch the soul that belongs to God - by faith. <br />
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"Fear not for I am with you, do not be dismayed; I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10<br />
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Praying - with you - for those who have been affected by this act of terror - for the glory of our God in every one. The battle isn't over yet. He will be victorious.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">The Redeemer is strong</span>. Jeremiah 50:34<br />
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<br />Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-57204541890542346702013-04-11T06:47:00.000-04:002013-04-11T21:10:04.524-04:00Here Comes the Bride<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHDRbugVANhXuvtgJuhUpoc1Bn60F3PeG8Lgtnw30xlWAQgcVrApJ7qMUptXc3QkjPRiFTpeJOKPzu_bNIKlNQh4yqDuS_gt5LWU79CtJgo-hlCYRVX9VN35iFJbyu9kiSF80LUL_CZIA/s1600/The+Lewises+(50+of+70).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHDRbugVANhXuvtgJuhUpoc1Bn60F3PeG8Lgtnw30xlWAQgcVrApJ7qMUptXc3QkjPRiFTpeJOKPzu_bNIKlNQh4yqDuS_gt5LWU79CtJgo-hlCYRVX9VN35iFJbyu9kiSF80LUL_CZIA/s320/The+Lewises+(50+of+70).jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
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Do you cry at weddings? I always do. When I was single I would cry selfishly because I was watching someone else's dream coming true. Now I cry because I realize how very much we willing brides and daring grooms do not understand at the alter, and yet in those sacred spoken vows I realize how bold the grace of God who seals and accomplishes our covenant in spite of our blissful ignorance. God alone makes a marriage.<br />
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I joke to the single women in my life that I made a better girlfriend than I do a wife. It is true if you consider the focus of that statement: <b>I</b>. I made me what I wanted to be. I could be exactly the kind of girlfriend I wanted to be. It was all about me, and what I believed I was supposed to be in that role - what I wanted to be in that role. That idea - being what I believed I was supposed to be in the role of leading lady - imploded when I became a wife. Why? Because <b><i>God makes a marriage</i></b>. Any other image of that design will self destruct. And we are seeing that happen in so many marriages, aren't we? Be it in the daily conflict that our friends commiserate about or the divorce that eventually results in unresolved selfishness - marriages are suffocated by our grandiose dream of happily ever after.<br />
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Unless we seek God - the covenant designer and sealer - we will not succeed. The pictures of bride and groom all looped in love and lace will corrode in mildew ridden boxes of cardboard, and hearts will break under the weight of them. The bride's heart - the groom's - the children of the marriage bed who innately long for security in mom and dad - the fathers' who gave their daughters away - the mothers' who longed for their baby to be loved - scarred hearts forever. Does anyone consider that before they say, "I do"? If we did consider the weight of our commitment would we make such a vow? Because truly - how are we ever capable of such dear responsibility? That's just it: we are not.<br />
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Only when we surrender our script for this love life to God - only then - are we able to not only live out our marriage covenant completely - but ALSO - oh dear, dear, dreamer's heart - only then will we know true joy. Because JOY is only ever the work of the Spirit of God. <br />
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If you are married, love your spouse not by yourself but by every word that comes from the Word of God. You will be blessed. His Word cannot fail. <br />
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If you are single, delight in the gift that you are given today - to be yoked to God alone as you live for Him. <br />
You will be blessed. His Word cannot fail. <br />
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~ The wife I envisioned is not the wife I am becoming. Because the one that I pictured through a dreamer's eyes moved in purposes of self. God has undone that design one gentle stroke at a time by His living Word, and He has trained my steps to dance to the tune of Follow Me. As a wife, I have no idea what I am doing. He does. Self not required.<br />
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<i>Teach me your way, Lord.</i> Psalm 27:11<br />
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<i>I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my eye</i>. Psalm 32:8<br />
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<i>Good and upright is the Lord, therefore He teaches sinners in the way. The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way.</i> Psalm 25:8-9 <br />
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Grateful to learn with you! Grateful He is faithful to us all. <br />
<br />Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-77071941775055991272013-01-22T10:16:00.000-05:002013-01-22T10:30:06.331-05:00Love in vivid color<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Pictures represent who we are by what we love, invest in, and surround our lives with. Pictures also represent who we are NOT by the simple exclusion of what we have chosen not to love, invest in, and surround our lives with. The WHO and WHAT in our pictures - as well as the who or what that IS NOT - tell a very poignant story. Just like a crayon box with so many colors to choose from...you live in images and <span style="font-size: large;">color </span>choices that infuse and shape your story. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Aren't you grateful for the people in your life who consider you, not themselves, page after <i>gift of life</i> page?<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to pursue.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to retreat.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to abstain.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to imbibe.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to toil.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to rest.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to fast.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to dine.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to give.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to withhold.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to sit out.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to join in.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to speak up.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to <span style="font-size: large;">remain</span> silent.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to sing.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to listen.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to laugh.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to refrain from laughing.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to protect.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to set free.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to be comfortable </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to bring comfort.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to battle.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to surrender.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to be bold.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to be humble.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to serve.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to be served.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to tell.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to keep secrets.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to yell.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to whisper.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to be right.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">the choice to absorb wrong.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">freedom of choice. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Our life in pictures says it all. One image at a time. No camera necessary.<span style="color: black;">We see others<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"> clearly, don't we... - </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">or perhaps we see ourselves</span> - in vivid color. </span></span></span></span><br />
<br />Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-15625411528768847212012-11-21T09:45:00.002-05:002012-11-28T10:36:50.577-05:00Light November 20th, 2012 would have been my father's 73rd birthday. He died 22 years ago in a car accident. I never stop missing him in my life, but I never stop celebrating him either. Usually his birthday is hard for me. I wish I could tell him what a gift he was to me as a dad. I wish I could tell him what a gift he is to me now as I consider the wisdom that he gave me - through God - for this life. <br />
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My Father in heaven is gracious to connect me to my dad even to this day. He doesn't have to - He just does. And I don't look for these connections. I don't ask Him to show me my dad in some way or give me a sign that he is okay. I know my dad is okay, and I have a sense that he is not at all concerned about me. He is with the God who holds my life, so why would he worry anymore about anything, right? There are just some days - some times - when something is said, or done, and a connection to my dad is brought to my mind like an instant message. God knows my heart. He knows my mind, and He knows that I will think of my father in those moments. And in the midst of remembering Daddy, I thank my God for the gift of my memories of him, and for the gift of the moment that God tenderly gave to bring my dad close to me once again. <br />
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November 20th has another significant meaning for me. I wasn't feeling very well on November 20th ten years ago, and considered the hope of having a second baby may have come true. I took a pregnancy test early that morning, and it was glaringly, gloriously, positive. On my father's birthday, my Heavenly Father sealed a date in my heart to connect to my dad though he is far from me now. My son's heart was beating beneath mine, and I knew it on my father's birthday. I love to wake on on November 20th and think about the sweetness of that day for me because of three men I get to love in this lifetime: my husband, my son, and my father. Only God can make a connection like that. How I love my God!<br />
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I don't know if my father is aware of me, my children and this life he used to know; I often think he is still in his first glimpse of glory because time there is most certainly not time here... What is most significant to me with this life I live in missing my dad is that my heavenly Father is well aware of me, and He has taken such tender measures to demonstrate His love is complete. <br />
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I read my Bible first thing in the morning. This has been a daily discipline for some time now, one that I have had to grow to love, and in the process one that has changed my heart, my mind, and strength - and also my desire for time with God in His Word. When I woke on November 20th, (yesterday) this is what I read. I hope it is an encouragement to you, too. We will have trials in this life, but God will always lead us through them continuously in the Light of who HE is.AND in that - there is much joy. <br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">"When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me." Micah 7:8</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." Isaiah 43:2-3</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">"I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not know. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them." Isaiah 42:16</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." Psalm 23:4 </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">"Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. IN God (I will praise His Word), in God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? Psalm 56:3-4</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1</span></b><br />
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It is so good to hear from God. It is so good to know Him and SEE Him in this life. It is so good to know that HE knows us and SEES us. Where would we be without the gift of His love - without the gift of His wonderful LIGHT? He knows where we would be - and most certainly - has not left us in the darkness that is there. <br />
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Stepping forward with you in LIT UP faith. Stepping forward with much joy. <br />
<br />
"Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-85619682068222161962012-10-27T08:21:00.003-04:002012-10-27T11:34:48.249-04:00Give Me Something. Those moments come...Moments when we feel like we're holding onto hope by our fingernails...Do you pray or even cry to God out loud, "Just give me something...Give me something - ANY -THING - to assure my hope...right. now," ? Uh-huh... I know that prayer. I know that ache. I hate it. But in those moments - in that prayer - God has been so faithful. He can't not be faithful.<br />
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Our God keeps giving me some. thing. - a powerful truth - that I could not imagine or conjure up - in the midst of my circumstances - A truth to believe in - to secure me - to stand on. Check this out if you have time. I hope this truth will encourage you and fortify you in your faith journey today as it has encouraged me.<br />
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Love this Jesus Life we share!<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT</b><b><br />
THE WHEREABOUTS OF THE FOURTH MAN</b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">One of the most famous
events in the entire Old Testament is recorded in Daniel, chapter 3. It
all began when three courageous Hebrew men refused to bow down and give
homage to a golden idol as commanded by
the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar himself. The penalty for disobeying
was serious indeed. All not doing this would be instantly thrown into a
red-hot furnace of fire! Thus the command was to bow down, or burn
up! It was quite a persuasive altar call,
to say the least. Upon learning of their refusal, the king experienced
conflicting emotions—both anger and sorrow. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Anger, over the gross
insubordination, and sorrow, for the three offenders were actually
rising stars in his administrative government. True, they worshipped
that weird and invisible God known as Jehovah, but
they were honest, faithful, talented, and hardworking young assistants.
What to do? So then, before the terrible sentence could be imposed,
they were summoned to a private meeting during which he offered them a
second chance. The advice: “Just obey and you’ll
be okay.” The answer: “No way, O king, no way!”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no
need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we
serve is able to deliver us from the burning
fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if
not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor
will we worship the gold image which you have set up,’” (Dan. 3:16-18).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Enter now the fourth man: “Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He
ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded
some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie
up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing
furnace. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes,
were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. The king’s command was
so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the
soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing
furnace. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his
advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the
fire”? They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.” He said, “Look! I see
four men walking around in the fire, unbound and
unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and
shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High
God, come out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out
of the fire,” (Dan. 3:19-26).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Wow! At this point can you entertain some theological math? </span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Question: How many men did the king order into the furnace? Answer: Three. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Question: How many men did the king see in the furnace? Answer: Four. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Question: How many men came out of the furnace? Answer: Three. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Question: What happened to the fourth man? Answer: He’s still in the furnace waiting for you! </span></li>
</ul>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">One of the most beloved songs always sung at Easter time is entitled, <i>In the Garden</i>. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Note the lyrics:</span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I come to the garden alone</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">While the dew is still on the roses</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">And the voice I hear falling on my ear</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The Son of God discloses.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">And He walks with me, and He talks with me,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">And He tells me I am His own;</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">And the joy we share as we tarry there,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">None other has ever known.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">He speaks, and the sound of His voice,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">And the melody that He gave to me</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Within my heart is ringing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I’d stay in the garden with Him</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Though the night around me be falling,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">But He bids me go; through the voice of woe</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">His voice to me is calling.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">What a glorious scene is described for us:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;">We are transported to a beautiful park-like garden, similar to the one Adam and Eve had enjoyed during their days of innocence. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">The morning sun has just risen, its golden beams dispelling the darkness. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">The sky is blue. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">The birds are singing. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">The flowers are blooming. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">A heavenly hush seems to permeate the entire landscape. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Not a trace of trouble, not a hint of heartache. </span></li>
</ul>
<div style="margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Question: What’s wrong
with this picture? Answer: Actually, nothing at all — except for the
fact it is rarely the case! The brutal truth is for every trouble-free
day there seems to be three troubled-filled
days. Because of this, the fourth man spends far more of His time in
the furnace than among the flowers. Also, it’s where He does His most
productive work. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">By the way, most evangelical theologians believe this mysterious man was
actually a Christophany – that is, a pre-Bethlehem appearance of Jesus
Christ Himself. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">There are several of these Christophanies in the Old Testament. Miracle
of miracles, in the opening pages of the New Testament, the fourth man
takes upon Himself a human, flesh and blood body. Now He is able to
fulfill the three new and final offices assigned
to him by the Father. The Old Testament fourth man will now function as a
(1) prophet, (2) priest, and (3) king.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">So to recap the ministry of the fourth man:</span></div>
<ul style="margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;">In the past He once came speaking to us. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">At the present He now is seen praying for us. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">In the future He will eventually be ruling over us. </span></li>
</ul>
<div style="margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Great, grand, and
glorious works indeed! But in my mind, it would seem the most blessed
of all is the very first where the fourth man is seen fellowshipping
with us in the furnace.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Furthermore, this furnace ministry transcends time, having been in play
since the days of Adam and will continue in full force until the last of
God’s blood-washed sons and daughters have been safely gathered in that
shining city among the stars, the New Jerusalem!
Then, and only then, will the fourth man depart from the furnace to
ascend His everlasting throne!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">I close with a personal question: Are you – right now – in the furnace
of affliction? If this be the case, please carefully read the
following, for each word here has been written especially for you! They
came from the pens of a king, a prophet, and a song
writer:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;">“The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts,” (Prov. 17:3).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">“Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction,” (Isa. 48:10).</span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">How Firm a Foundation</span></div>
<div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 14pt; margin-top: 14pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">What more can He say than to you He hath said,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Fear not, I am with thee; O be not dismayed,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The flames shall not hurt thee; I only design</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I will not, I will not desert to its foes;</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">I’ll never, no, never, no, never forsake!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #000044; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 11px;"><b>Dr. H. L. Willmington</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #000044; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 11px;"><i>Founder & Dean</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #000044; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 11px;"><b>Willmington School of the Bible</b></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #000044; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: 11px;">
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</span></span>Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-51947193694372805802012-10-23T09:59:00.001-04:002012-10-23T20:30:30.222-04:00The weight of HATE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Just to see the word <b>HATE</b> in bold like that gives me a knot in my gut. You, too? Makes me think of the faces to whom I spit that word like venom, and makes me think of my own tears because of when <b><i>that word</i></b> was forced upon my heart like a dagger. "I hate you!' It is the voice of pride - raising it's ugly head to strike at someone who is opposed to you, isn't it? YOU anger me. YOU defy me. YOU embarrass me. YOU belittle me. YOU ignore me. YOU hurt me. YOU are not my idea. YOU don't belong. YOU are not my choice. YOU are opposite me in every way, and because of that - HATE - is how I feel toward you.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">YUK! I need a little nasty face emoji here. Insert blecky face. Or go ahead - make your own. That's always fun. Here...I'm doin' it with you. Feelin' the yuk face crunch up with my dry skin this morning...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You wanna know why you feel so gross about that? You ~ who know the Living God, you wanna know why hate bothers you so mcuh? We were not only created in the image of the God who is LOVE(I John 4:8), but now are restored to that image through Christ - and are able to reflect that image I John 4:19)...YOU cringe at the though of hating someone because HATE, as we understand it - is opposed to God. GOD is love - and what He is opposed to is sin, but even...EVEN in our sin - there was no hate...there - in the midst of what God had every right to hate in us and about us - was JESUS! the love Gift of God - our rescue FROM sin. Romans 5:8."While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." God did not hate us, but LOVED us so much that He made a way for us to be united with HIM in love - <b><i>to love</i></b>. WHAT LOVE!!! Oh my soul!!! our God! He is too wonderful to fully imagine! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I was grocery shopping yesterday, and I overheard a very loud talking woman spewing her anger into her phone which was not visible...she was wearing earplugs. So Star Trekish we are these days, aren't we?!?! Star Trek..I totally dated myself, I'm sure. Google it if you're not sure what I'm talking about. ANYWAY - This woman shamelessly bellowed out in the soup aisle..."I hate her! She is a liar! She lied to you! She lied to me! She makes me sick."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.She didn't say that, I did...well - not out loud...but I should have. Maybe. Anyway... My heart hurt. I literally ached. Whatever this other woman has done, and I do mean whatever -<b> HATE</b> is not <b><i>her</i></b> cure, NOR.NOR.NOR. will it be the cure for the one who is overflowing with <b>hate</b> onto the Campbell soup selections. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">BIBLE study in aisle 7 everybody! Can you just see me? I just wanted to offer the only thing I had brewing in my own heart - MERCY! oh please have MERCY for this lying woman, and save yourself from what you're doing to your boiling blood pressure - brow lines - and soul. I didn't say anything. Not one word. Honestly, I don't think at that moment this woman would have appreciated my interference, and quite honestly I was rather concerned what she might be capable of with a can of soup at that moment. Not a teachable moment fo' sho. And then of course ... who am I, right? I can just hear her now...loud talker style and all - "Just who the heck (possibly, could be worse) do you think you are, lady?"</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Who me? Well...I just want to give peace a chance." NO - that wouldn't work. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">How about..."I work for Oprah, and we were interested in interviewing women who are victims of liars and how they cope peacefully with it." No. That would be a lie. She'd smell it, I'm sure.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I guess I could have started whistling, "What the world needs now, is love - sweet love." But maybe she wouldn't have known that song so prolly a better choice would have been Michael Jackson's - "I'm looking at the man in the mirror. I'm asking him to change his ways."... But, then again I would have had to sing that one - loudly over her talking - cuz, that's a hard tune to whistle even softly right?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Well, I wrestled with the dilemma of my heart and this lady - and the liar she hates - all day, and now into this morning. I can't let it go, and she is far away from me, probably on to some other issue in her life...that will require great love and great mercy...something I fell short of offering...but something Jesus did not.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As I prayed for this lady and liar woman this morning (I'm sorry - I don't know what else to call her, but she needs prayer, right?) ... I listened to God whisper to me through His Word over and over again Once it's in my head, I can't let it go. "You can't love God and hate your brother," AGAIN - "You can't love God and hate your brother". Again...and again. What do I do with this God? It's just me, and I know this one. Silence. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">God is MY teacher. I am the one who hears His Word in my head right now, and as much as I would like to press this lesson into this other woman's heart - and through her phone to the friend that was being fed the venom <i>to hate</i> liar woman as well... - THIS lesson in the grocery aisle was actually for me. Really God? Me. I love. Don't I? I curdle inside at the sound of hate... toward anyone...Silence.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I decided to search for the passage that kept repeating in my head...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I John 4:7-21. Wow. Can I even just encourage you to go there with me? Oh my soul. Pour some tea. And sit with Jesus. And slowly think through every word and repeated word that John penned through the inspiration from the Spirit. Just underline the word love every time you see it. <span style="color: red;">LOVE!</span> Then ask Him... ask our Teacher:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Show me how I love well, please. What does that look like in my life.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And, Lord, show me how I fall short of love...not just in my words out loud, but in the quiet of my own headset that is just between me and you...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wow. Everyone may not hear the sludge we're spewing about somebody, but uh-huh, God sure enough does. AND that sludge we're steppin' over and ignoring does not go unnoticed by the God who calls us His temple. I have to clean house, girlfriend. OH WOW! OH WOW! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I can't help but wonder... What is just between me, myself and I? HA! That's a joke! nuthin'! nuthin! nuthin!!! Because first of all, God know everything about us - Psalm 139, and secondly - everyone knows it, too... "Out of the overflow of the heart...the mouth speaks" Luke 6:45. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Somehow, some way, that little hate pool is going to spew. Mop it up and wring it out. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hate. Do I really hate... Think about it. Hate: aversion. hostility. Ask God to show you that IN YOU... and ask Him to show you to whom you have directed it - and not just outwardly, but in your own head...God WILL ANSWER YOU. He will. And when he does - cover that person that you feel this AVERSION/HATE for with prayers for blessing and grace - and ask for any way you can demonstrate grace and love. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yes, my friend, I'm with you! Of course I am - or I wouldn't be blogging my face off right now! I'm with you!!! I'm not alone, am I? If so - pray for me! I need LOVE goin' on in my heart so that it speaks for my thoughts. I need "what the world needs now - is love sweet love" and "I'm lookin' at the man in the mirror - I'm asking him to change his ways..." in my own personal head set right now. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">When I feel aversion toward someone, I'm praying for love and for God to show me what that love is supposed to look like EXACTLY as He would love - to paint it clearly for me on the inside of my eyeballs so I can see it - and do it...Cuz, wow - sometimes, I know I don't have a clue. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">No, I'm not happy about this lesson. It bugs me. This too, God? Then He reminds me of Colossians 3 - and putting to death my earthly nature, and I think, great! I get to take out my frustration on something then! One day - there will be no more struggle with who I am without Christ. One day - we will be like Him - effortlessly! "When Christ, who is our life appears, THEN you also will appear with him in glory." Colossians 3:4 </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">WHAT A DAY! Oh my exhaling soul! What a day!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> We are as AMBASSADORS of God. Can you imagine that? Crazy! Let's <span style="color: red;">Love</span> that lady in our life who is a liar. I have a feeling she doesn't have many friends right now. <span style="color: red;">Love</span> that neighbor who has mouthy kids that break your stuff. She probably could use a cup of coffee. Ya know? (If my neighbor is reading this, no Jackie - your kids are wonderful when they're here, and they don't break my stuff...I'm being broad here - not local. Glad you're my neighbor!) <span style="color: red;">Love</span> that woman at work who gossips about everybody. Tell her what you're learning from God at lunch. Let her talk about that!<span style="color: red;"> Love</span> that person who you know is talking about you behind your back.Give her a card and write in it - "Just had to tell you, YOU ARE LOVED!" ..oh and wait - <span style="color: red;">Love</span> your brother. <span style="color: red;">Love</span> your sister. <span style="color: red;">Love</span> your husband. <span style="color: red;">Love</span> your son. <span style="color: red;">Love</span> your daughter. <span style="color: red;">Love</span> your mom. <span style="color: red;">Love </span>your dad. I could go on and on with family...right? <span style="color: red;">Love</span> those people - SPECIFICALLY- who are most difficult to love when they stand so close and are so capable of being opposed to you from one moment to the next - because!!! because!!! this...oh my heart! <b>THIS is the image of God to the world.</b> Can you hear me preachin' sista? I'm a' prechin' it!! Tears in my eyes and coffee drippin' down my chin cuz I'm typing and sipping and spilling as I rock the desk!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">THIS love, that reaches out to those who are opposed to us with <span style="color: red;">grace </span>- is the image of God to the World. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This passage in I John - refers to those who share our faith - but settle into every context that God speaks to for love. John was writing to the family of God in I John 4, but God - <i>in the entirety of His book</i> - teaches us that our love must extend beyond family as well...JUST AS HE DID - to the world. From Israel - to the Gentiles - to the ends of the earth...<span style="color: red;">LOVE</span>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wish I could hug you right now! It's so, so good! - And we are so, so able. THIS is what we were created for...LOVE - not hate. Lovin' with you today. Oh yeah, I know it's hard! Get down dirty on my knees hard. Some people just don't want to be loved, right? Jesus gets that, too. He died trying anyway.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"We love, because He first loved us." I John 4:19 </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">LOVE!</span></span>Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-68868215243543234912012-10-12T09:59:00.001-04:002012-10-12T09:59:12.080-04:00Advice to a Bride<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We're going to a wedding this weekend. I can't wait. I love weddings. I love the romance, the attention to detail that has been invested, the joy, the friends we get to spend time with, the music, the laughter, the dancing that makes me feel old and yet so young in love, the couple that I cannot stop taking my eyes off of. I see them, I see their hope, I see the challenges and adventures they have yet to share. I see the Gospel. Yeah - I do. We - the church - get to be the bride of Christ! And I can't wait to celebrate my face off because then - THEN - OH YES! YES! THEN! I'm drinking a full cup of whatever Jesus is pouring! Was I a little to enthusiastic there? Sorry. I am ALWAYS and forever a party girl, just a redeemed one. Long story - another day. WEDDINGS! Best date night for a thousand reminiscent reasons.<br />
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SO - here's my advice, beautiful bride!!! All that Victoria Secret, sexy, swanky, gorgeous stuff that you get to wear for your prince...Girlfriend - that is for YOU! Yes! That stuff - so for us. We need to feel...desirable. But I have great news for you...YOU ARE DESIRED! He can't wait to get his arms around you, and that gorgeous silky, lacy, wrapping around the glory that is ALL of you - heart, soul, and mind - THAT is going to wind up on the floor. HE already desires you...Hear me out on this because I need this reminder, so I wanna share it with you...We can't let that "feeling" of being desirable - stymie us in our marriage. You may not know what I am saying right now - but you so will. You won't feel desirable so you won't want to be desired. You may push him away because of your big - fat - lie of a feeling that is grippin' your heart. You don't have to put on - dress up - perfume - light candles - all that jazzy jazz we do - to be desired by your husband. YOU SO SO SO ARE! Test me on this one. Baseball hat - t-shirt - lounge pants - and no makeup. Ask him - when you're married of course - if he wants you - right there and right then. Watch his response! Do it! So fun!<br />
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We - our ideas about what makes us wanted and desired - can stifle that HOT love that our husbands have brewing ALL. THE. TIME. I pray DAILY! God - let me stir his desires and not stifle them. Broken perspectives harmed my heart - but God has poured wisdom over all of it...And so, I just had to share it with you...<br />
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You know I have to go back to Jesus on this thought - cuz I don't ever want to share anything with you that is not grounded in our God. Did you do anything - ANY ONE LITTLE THING - to deserve the love, mercy, salvation, and grace of our God? LOUD RESOUNDING - NO! WE did nothing to be swept up in the arms of our God. His love was poured out for us - while we were YET sinners - rejecting, rebelling, mocking and spitting in His face. Romans 5:8.Can you even believe it? Yeah - I'm with you! Tears! How great is our God?!?!? We didn't clean up and then come to Christ, right? We might have tried...What a joke! But then we realized - only HE can fix our heart. Only He can change us. Only He can make us clean. AND in that realization - we loved Him...for the first time, we loved Him. GOSPEL!!! oh the GOSPEL!!!<br />
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Back to you and your hubby...Remember you are HOT, little mama. YOU are desired by the man God has blessed you to do this life with... WALK daily in that "comin' at him down the aisle - can't get the grin off his face or the tear out of his eye" - DESIRE!!!! Walk in it, bride. YOU are spectacular! You truly are.<br />
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Now - if you want his attention... Walk around the house with a hammer and nails...That's what I do! I was going to hang a picture right now...and all I could hear was the sound of my husband's voice..."Hey, where you going?" I love when he says that!<br />
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LOVE!!!<br />
<br />Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-16359888933344456192012-10-11T07:42:00.001-04:002012-10-11T12:44:57.216-04:00Devotions<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="height: 133px; width: 742px;"><tbody>
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Have you had your "devotions" today? How do you like that question? It either puts a twist in your gut or it gets you all excited for a great conversation. Right?<br />
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Devotions. We, as believers define our time with God in His Word as our "Devotions". But - as you may or may not know - our religion is not the only religion honking the Devo horn. Other religions have their devotional time to align their hearts with what they believe and want to live by. Uh huh. What does that do in your gut?<br />
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What are they reading? What are they thinking? But even more than that - how is their study time affecting them, and the world around them...not just today - for every day...for eternity.<br />
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I WOULD LOVE to sit down and chat with these people about their devotions. I would. Not in a heated discussion. YUK! I hate confrontation. What I do love is to hear someone's heart. What makes you tick? What makes you ok in the midst of heartache, in the midst of uncertainty? What gives you joy?<br />
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Here's the thing though...devotionally - you ready for this? Devotionally - regardless of what they are reading - they are being inspired, re-wired, and charged for the day. Sure they are! These people are not being left without a surge of "feel good" from their devotions. They read and study and focus on something that will empower them. We can ALL find a source of "feel good" when we want it, right? I see these religious power statements on facebook often. Don't you? We may even quote them ourselves...<br />
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So what then is the difference between our devotions and the devotions of another religion? Is it in fact our source of study? Is that what you were thinking? The Bible? - sure. Ok - I'll give us that. We have the Bible. We go to The Word of God for the way, the truth and the life. And we believe - unwaveringly - that it is The BREATHED Word of God that He has protected and dispersed over time and distances -.... But can I tell you what has my gears turning this morning? The BOOK of all books - that is our focus and foundation for devotions - is not meant to be a "feel good" book. Please don't get me wrong...I know it brings us deep soul gratification. I'm with you. I feel good in having spent time with God and being fed by Him, but consider this with me...Our devotions - time we spend with our Almighty God - if this time is always about reading until we feel good...we are missing the depth and power of our SOURCE of truth - that no other religion has.<br />
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Any religion offers a feel good source to their followers. Do you and I know - realize - study - equip our minds and hearts with the ROCK SOLID foundational truths that is the BIBLE - that defines our faith - that is the reason we pick it up at all? DO WE KNOW - why that verse we read actually...ACTUALLY...makes us feel good - or makes us rewire - reboot our lives??? Cause there is SO MUCH DEPTH to it - more than just our own soul stirring depth. It is the Word of The LIVING one true GOD.<br />
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AND in 2012 He has not left us without resources to study - and know it - to dig deep into it - and be grounded in why THE WORD of GOD is worth living by - and dying by.<br />
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Do you know why that verse you read changed your life? It is different than any other feel good saying you can repeat, or post, or tattoo, tweet, talk about, sing about - think about - and 180 your life to. We NEED to know. We do - we sooooo so do. For those we love, for the God who has given us grace to live this undeserved love life with Him - for those we have yet to love in this life - and in our eternity...we need to know why we believe - WHAT - we believe. THAT - will set apart your mind and heart in your devotional time - from every religion in the world. AND God willing, He will give us the opportunity to share that difference - with love - with boldness - and with great certainty.<br />
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I Peter 2:15 " But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear...."<br />
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One study resource I have benefited from as a learner, and one that I keep on my shelf close by as a reference is<a href="http://www.christianbook.com/know-why-you-believe-new-edition/paul-little/9780830834228/pd/834228?product_redirect=1&Ntt=834228&item_code=&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCP"> <b><i>Know Why You Believe</i></b></a> by Paul E. Little. It's a small book - easy to devour, but it must be devoured slowly. Lots of meat. Lots of rock. <br />
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The other book - that change my LIFE! - oh my soul changed my life! - <a href="http://www.christianbook.com/new-how-study-your-bible-workbook/kay-arthur/9780736930567/pd/930567?en=google-pla&kw=bible-studies-0-20&p=1167941&gclid=CKL1jYbw-LICFc2d4AodJhoAvw"><b><i>How to Study Your Bible</i></b></a> by Kay Arthur<br />
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I love this Jesus lovin -' followin' - studyin' - life with you. I so do. You spur me on. So, THANK YOU! I hope I do the same for you.<br />
LOVE!<br />
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<br />Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-62145616852604354952012-10-01T10:50:00.003-04:002012-10-01T15:51:51.403-04:00So why do you think that way? Did you grow up being told <b>this</b> is what you should believe, and so that's why you hold the beliefs you do? Or, did you grow up being told<b> this</b> is what you should believe and so NOW you are going to determine the beliefs you hold <b>apart </b>from your upbringing?<br />
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Your beliefs - or World View - influences everything about you. Everything. From where you live, to how you treat others, your decision making, your friends, your enemies, your loves, the things you hate, the places you go, what determines right and wrong for you, if there even is right and wrong<i> at all</i> for you or others, the things you invest in, the things you teach your children, or the things you won't teach your children, your identity, the way you view your worth, others' worth, your eternity..<u>.the very manner </u>by which you determine what is true and what is not - is influenced by your World View.<br />
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So, with so much WEIGHT, on the filter of your life - have you ever considered WHY you believe what you believe? I mean, most people will tell you quite passionately what they believe, myself included. Passion about our beliefs is easy - but the reasoning behind that passion...well, truthfully - many will fumble for articulate words that define exactly why they hold to the beliefs that shape life as they live it. Try it. Ask someone - anyone - about something like...."How do you determine what is right and what is wrong for you - for your family?" Then ask - "Why do you believe that?" or ask it another way - ask.. "Why do you think that is right?" I bet they will pause and have to pull their thoughts together very carefully. We don't press one another for reasons behind who we are - and what we believe...it's too uncomfortable, isn't it? - or it's just not fun, right? Can't we just talk about the Bills game (yeah, I'm not good at that topic), the weather, work, the kids, our husband's, a sale at the grocery store, our personal junk, or someone else's personal junk? It's too hard to get specific - for a lot of reasons. But I'm goin' there with you... I mean - it's just you and I, right? And you don't even have to answer me...You can even just shut down this ranting I'm in the midst of right now... I hope you don't, though. I hope you'll stay with me. Stay with me for a minute - even if it's just to see if I'm more wacked then you originally thought. You look great today, by the way. Love your hair! Please, stay with me for this...<br />
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I just want to go somewhere deep with you today, ok? I want you and I to take a moment to think...Do we know why we believe what we believe? I get we're passionate about our beliefs. Ask a vegetarian about the whole meat processing deal...woooweee - passion! Ask a homosexual about why she is the way she is....yup. Passion. Ask a mom about how she disciplines her babes...PASSION! Passion is a huge window into who we are - our ticking mechanism, but passion for our "issues" does not get to the core of why we believe the things we do.<br />
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SO I gotta ask you - just for a second - will you think with me about...why do you believe what you believe? Did some religious fanatic convince you that religion is weird? Did a family member tell you that if you reject what you have been told, you will in turn be rejected? Did you have some moment of "enlightenment", or did you read some text recommended by Oprah's Book Club that made you feel better about your circumstances? Maybe you did what I did at the age of 20, and out of some devastating moment determined - "I will believe what works for me..."<br />
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WHATEVER your reasons for embracing the beliefs you hold...can I just challenge you to consider your <b>source of truth</b> very critically. Because if it is TRUTH, it will indeed stand the test of fire. If your belief system cannot handle scrutiny - then you have just learned something very important about the source by which you base your life and your eternity.<br />
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Ask yourself these questions...come on! It will be interesting for you! Just think about these things...Certainty is nothing to be afraid of...right? If you're certain you're source of truth is right - ASK some hard questions.<br />
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1. What actually is your source of truth? You? A book? Is this book or your ideas based on one person's "enlightenment", or experience? Your own perhaps? How do you know this enlightenment is true? Why do you believe the book/ idea you have chosen to believe as <b>true</b>? What do you know about it's author(s) - it's validity? Here's a hard one...how do you actually define TRUE? what works? what is it that "works" about your belief? Will it always work? How can you be sure? <br />
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2. Is your belief system limited to only those who "get it"? Can anyone "get it" - or is your belief system only for those who are "enlightened". How do you treat those who don't believe what you believe? For example, is there just a community for "believers" that you get along with - or do your beliefs welcome everyone? Would I - a Christian - be welcome among you? <br />
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3.How is justice determined? How is right or wrong determined according to your belief system? What protects you - society - from evil? Do you even acknowledge evil, and if not - why not? Is it not prevalent? How do you explain the "bad things" that happen in this world? If you do acknowledge evil, how according to your belief system should it be dealt with? If you don't acknowledge evil, what do you do with the bad things that threaten you - your family - society - the world...including disease? <br />
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4. How do you view eternity? Is God distant or personal? Does your God have any concern for where you are - who you are - and where you will be one day? What makes you think so? WhoWhat shaped this view of God for you? A book? Who wrote it? An experience? How is it that your experience/idea is correct about God?<br />
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5. Let's talk eternity...According to your beliefs, is there hope for your peace? For the world's peace? Is there a circular reasoning that keeps people coming and going in a loop of pass/fail until we get it right? Or is there a final destination for all souls? What is that destination and how does one get there? Is it seemingly possible, or is it a never ending effort of trying to achieve it?<br />
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6. What is the purpose for "good deeds" in your belief system? What defines a selfless act toward humanity verses a selfish deed that determines your "good standing"? If your belief system is all about earning favor, or good standing with God and humanity - or even possibly earning heaven - how does your belief system determine what is actually an unselfish deed? Wouldn't all deeds be selfish? What is your motivation apart from self?<br />
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7. What does your belief system do with Jesus - the Biblical God, the self proclaimed Savior of the World - the self proclaimed "way, truth, and life? He is a pivotal point in ALL belief systems. Either your belief system acknowledges Him -as a prophet, or a teacher - who provides sign posts toward "good living", or you believe He is who He claimed to be and you follow Him, or you believe He is who He claimed to be, but you don't think He knows you, or maybe - you think He was a lunatic, or you are just not sure what to make of Him.What does your belief system say of Jesus and who- WHAT PERSON- determined this opinion of the God of the Bible that you now hold? What do you know about the person who has influenced your thinking, their credibility? Who is telling you who God is? <br />
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Have you thought about these things? Maybe not at all...Too much work when you have too much else to think about...Or maybe you think only about the things you are passionate about that fall under the umbrella of your world view, because that's all that really matters???... Things like:<br />
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1. Homosexuality. - God is a God of love. It can't be wrong to love whomever you choose.<br />
2. Abortion - It is a woman's choice to do what she wants with her body.<br />
3. Creation - However the world was created - the source of the universe was not a personal God. <br />
4. Humanity - People are messed up, and religion has never fixed the issues of the world.<br />
5. Eternity - No one can determine where a soul ends up or even if there is a soul.<br />
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All of these statements are rooted in passion, not in Truth. Follow any of your beliefs on any of these issues and you will only wander around a hoola-hoop of reasoning - a hoola-hoop that is around you. I'm not being mean - I'm just stating something you probably already know, right? What you believe, quite possibly, is for you - your benefit.<br />
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I just want you to know one thing before I let you go...Thank you for enduring my questions. I love deep stuff with you!!!<br />
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<b>Man cannot disprove the God of The Bible</b>. We can postulate, argue, and disagree on thousands upon thousands of issues....we can brainstorm and calculate as to what we believe is the cause of this life,what we believe is the source of life, and the hope for humanity, what we believe is right for us today, where we go, what we do, whom we love or don't, but while we draw these defining lines with passion, we cannot escape one FACT...man has never been able to disprove the God of the Bible.<br />
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Any statement we make apart from God is rooted in one thing...SELF.<br />
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If you consider why you believe these things, at the very core of each issue you will find the <i>pride of life</i> that each of us are guilty of. "I believe it for me." This is not truth. This is passion. <br />
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Every belief that is rooted in The God of The Bible - HIS BOOK - is not rooted in self. NOT ONE.Think about it - Go ahead. Spend some time rummaging through what you know about the Bible, and then go and read it...I promise! Because it is true! not even our personal salvation, according to the Bible, is for "self" - but for the love of God - and the love of others. ANY situation of self that is told of in the Bible - is an example of self-destruction. <br />
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Every world view - but Christianity - is works based and geared toward self. ONLY the God of The Bible - gave His Son so that we wouldn't have to work our way to Him for ourselves - ONLY THE GOD OF THE BIBLE - gave His Son - so that we could be in relationship to Him and so that we could but could live life through Him - not for our sakes - but for the world He loves....wow.<br />
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"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." I John 4:9-11<br />
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I'm fired up today. Fired up with passion based on TRUTH...truth that does not depend on my passion - but rather TRUTH that can hold the weight of reality.<br />
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<br />Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-22353414461002359772012-09-20T10:46:00.001-04:002012-09-21T17:11:38.738-04:00grace to be grace.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"The God of all grace." I Peter 5:10<br />
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That verse gives me comfort this morning. Grace. God is a God of grace. ALLLLL grace given. Undeserved - unmerited favor: that's grace. Our God...our God is a God of grace. Not the Hindu gods. No grace found there. Not the God of Islam. Yeah...no. No grace there. Buddah? How about grace from Buddah? No. Check him out. NO grace found there. Really. Check those gods - any gods for that matter. No god but THE GOD of The Bible offers grace. AND here's the kicker...we did nothing to deserve it. ALL other religions focus on deeds - what we must do to earn favor.<br />
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Not THE GOD - the author of grace: "By grace you have been save through faith, and that NOT OF YOURSELVES, it is the gift of GOD." Ephesians 2:8-9. And this grace that comes through Christ (John 1:17) is given to everybody. EVERY single body in the world is being extended this incredible favor from God right now. NO other god is as INCLUSIVE as THE GOD of grace. This God is the God of the Abraham, Isaac, to whom the promise was extended, to Jacob, his 12 sons who became the nation of Israel - through whom came King David, King Solomon, and King Jesus.The Son of God was given so that we might know the grace of God that did not demand we WORK to reach heaven, but that GRACE would come to us - even if we could care less. Through Jesus,- his life, death, and resurrection, we can know that our Creator has always been personally invested in us. He is not distant from us - nor has he ever been. He has always loved us, and will not ever relent in His love. He lets us choose Him, and He lets us reject Him - and in both decisions His love pervades. No other god is like our God. <br />
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I am so caught up in grace this morning, caught up with the blazing realization that our God is living and active and that HE ALONE is God. There is none like Him. ALL roads do not lead to Him. Any other road but Jesus - the way, the truth the life" is a dead end. John 14:6-7<br />
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And you know what? This truth claim is not exclusive - THIS WAY is for the ENTIRE world. "For God so loved THE WORLD that WHOSOEVER believes in Him - not about Him, cuz He is historical fact - but IN HIM - which means your will and heart believe and live accordingly - SHALL NOT DIE - but have everlasting life. That's not reincarnation. Our everlasting life is not cyclical - but linear...we go on, and on, and on - with our God. Jesus said, "My Father's house has plenty of room; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?" We don't have to be relegated to the body of a bug for bad karma. We won't become apart of some <i>essence of a god</i>. We get to be with Jesus - in a personal, loving, intimate eye to eye relationship with Him and others who love Him - RIGHT where HE IS - with GOD. He is there RIGHT NOW!!!! AND one day...we get to be there too! I know...unbelievable, right? Yeah - but not by faith. It's not unbelievable when you put your faith in Christ and His Spirit comes in and opens your eyes to truth that is indeed BELIEVABLE! I Corinthians 1:27-31<br />
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I have never seen anything more exclusive than the religions and ideologies of our world. My eyes have been flooded with tears at the realization of what some believe is truth. How exhausting. Heart wrenching. Dark. Hopeless. Powerless. Impersonal. EMPTY. Just the thought that someone would say "All Roads Lead to One" is heartbreaking. How completely ignorant of who God has shown us that He is through His Word - through Jesus of Nazareth - His only Son. One idea planted by that Ancient Liar long ago keeps growing and spreading like a virus. "Did God really say...?" Genesis 3. All truth is realized in one fact. We can trust our God - THE GOD of grace. <br />
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God loves the world. And He has paid for our rejection of Him. We are desperate for Him. We just need to realize who He is. <br />
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Confucianism, Shinto, Hindu, Sikhism, Kabbalah, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Zen Buddhism...the list goes on and is quite long; all gods but our GOD require deeds to achieve an end result. ONLY the God of The Bible requires nothing of us - but to receive the free gift of Jesus, and HIM ALONE, as payment for our sin debt, and hope for our eternity. ANY OTHER god - offers no assurance of salvation apart from deeds - our gift to them...and! And! AND!!! even those deeds <u>do not</u> assure that could we have done enough...well - unless of course you become a guru - or maybe a suicide bomber.<br />
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HOW I ache for the truth of God to pervade this city - and every city. Your city and my city need Jesus. We are not filled with the passion to proclaim him from our own efforts. Remember? We can do nothing apart from Him? John 15. He makes us able, because He knows we can't. No other god makes people able to live for him. THE GOD does. We have the power of God in us to pursue Him, and to be ambassadors for Him. You feel that excitement? That urgency? That is the Spirit of God in you! HUG ME! I love that about you!<br />
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So where do we begin? How do we accomplish so GREAT a task? I'm with you! I'm thinkin' it out and praying about it with you. Indeed - how do you? Begin with asking our GOD - THE GOD - who has positioned us here in 2012 to know HIM - and live this life for Him...(and again - that's not a list of to do's...that's the Spirit of God in us that makes us cry out to Him - I LOVE YOU SO MUCH I WANT TO LIVE FOR YOU!!!...you don't get that with other gods...This is a free benefit with THE GOD) Check out ..<br />
Hebrews 10:16 " I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds. Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." We don't need a list of laws - a ritual, a mantra, a bracelet, an outfit ...we are indwelt by the Spirit of God, and daily He will teach us what we need for our good that brings Him glory. CRAZY! It's just so good and beautiful - it's crazy! How can people not be drawn to Jesus? Oh...yeah - that's right...other people.<br />
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Grace. We must learn grace and what it looks like to extend it as our Father has extended it to us. Grace is not extending a rule book, jamming a cross in someone's face, judging, forcing; it's Jesus. Grace is the undeserved, unmerited favor that is our Savior and King. What can you do to extend THAT? Ask God. He's good at it. He didn't shove Himself down your throat, boldly proclaim your sins to the world, shun you, shame you, reject you... He loved you and waited for you to realize just how very much He does...allllll the while extending to you - GRACE.<br />
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Wow. Enjoy that thought today as you look back at your life and where God has brought you - apart from Him - or with Him. He has been loving you. Waiting for you. And hoping for your very best...which will always be His Son, Jesus. <br />
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I'm so thankful for grace. Thanks for grace through you, my friend! Thank you for being the touch of God in my life as He THRIVES in you!!! GRATEFUL!!! Spread that goodness to everyone!!! It's so INCDREDIBLE! And we aLLLLL need grace. Don't we? Yeah. We surely do. We surely, surely do. <br />
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"Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen." 2 Peter 3:18<br />
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What a GOD!<br />
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<br />Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-80147545765375083372012-09-12T14:27:00.001-04:002012-09-14T11:57:10.773-04:00The unbearable Lightness of a burden<br />
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My heart has been aching for a friend - who is hurting...You know that feeling? Jesus called us to bare one another's burdens. That's hard, isn't it? Quite honestly - if it were not for His Spirit indwelling me - (yeah, that's a hard concept for me to understand, too - but I know He's in there!)...If the Spirit of God did not get inside this head and heart of mine, I know I would not give one hoot about my friend's heartache. Oh sure - I'd casually be concerned, and offer kindness when I could - but this is different. This is a BURDEN that wakes me up in the night. This is a BURDEN that is on my heart from the moment I wake up and it remains with me throughout the day. This burden has me ready - on the alert - and willing. This burden makes me pray and hope and look for what I can do to bring JOY and PEACE and HELP to my friend.<br />
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You know what I'm talking about, right? A burden is an urgency that makes you just cry out to God, "Tell me what to do - and I'll do it." AND you're praying this even EVEN though you know what God may call you to do could be really hard, really humiliating, really inconvenient, uncomfortable - or even seemingly COMPLETELY impossible. Regardless - you're praying and willing to be used. And we didn't even ask for this burden, did we? <br />
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Is it not incredible that we who follow Christ are moved from the comfort of self - to the discomfort of someone else's heart - another person's life struggle...a dark place where we are not at home, often not welcome, not at ease, not reassured, not respected, not strong, not wise, not able ... just completely dependent on God. We are stirred in our hearts, with our minds, and with our lives - to act on the behalf of someone else. Why?<br />
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Why indeed.<br />
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I read something today that brought me to a soft place of quiet understanding. I'm not saying I completely understand why we WILL and why we MUST - carry the burden of others. What I am saying is that I have laid down my question of<i> why</i> - and I have begun to thank God for this burden and trust Him with it.<br />
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I wanted to invite you to read this story as well. It is a short piece written by a Hindu convert to Jesus - who became a missionary. That alone intrigued me..So you ready for this? It's not that long. I promise it will be worth your while.<br />
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Here it is:<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Shortly after coming to Christ, Sadhu felt called to become a missionary to India. Late one afternoon Sadhu was traveling on foot through the Himalayas with a Buddhist monk. It was bitter cold and the wind felt like a cold blade slicing into Sadhu's skin. Night was fast approaching when the monk warned Sadhu that they were in danger of freezing to death if they did not reach the monastery before the darkness fell. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Just as they were traversing a narrow path above a steep precipice, they heard a cry of help. Down the cliff lay a man, fallen and badly hurt. The monk looked at Sadhu and said, "Do not stop. God has brought this man to his fate. He must work it out for himself." Then he quickly added while walking on, "Let us hurry on before we, too, perish." </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But Sadhu replied, "God has sent me here to help my brother, I cannot abandon him." </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The monk continued trudging off through the whirling snow, while the missionary clambered down the steep embankment. The man's leg was broken and he could not walk. So Sadhu took his blanket, made a sling of it, and tied the man on his back. then, bending under his burden, he began a body-torturing climb. By the time he reached the narrow path again, he was drenched with perspiration.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Doggedly, he made his way on through the deepening snow. It was dark now and it was all he could do to follow the path. But he persevered, though faint with fatigue and overheated from the exertion. Finally, he saw ahead the lights of the monastery.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Then, for the first time, Sadhu stumbled and nearly fell - but not from weakness. He had stumbled over some object lying in the snow-covered road. Slowly he bent down on one knee and brushed the snow off the object. It was the body of the monk, frozen to death.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Years later a disciple of Sadhu's asked him, "What is life's most difficult task?"</span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Without hesitation, Sadhu replied: "To have no burden to carry."</span></span><br />
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You and I have been given an immeasurable blessing. It is grace to us and grace to those we have been blessed to love.<br />
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"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends" John 15:13<br />
"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it." Matthew 16:25<br />
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I think of so many people I know who are burdened for others. Some are even burdened for people they haven't even met - locally and around the world. They seek to bring them healing, joy, peace, help in any way possible. They are doing whatever they believe God has called them to do, and their efforts are gargantuan and not without struggle. I also think of you. Which is why I am writing. I hope to encourage you this very day. What God has called you to, dear reader - in bearing someone else's burden - is a gift that He will help you endure...and not only ENDURE..but! THE God of the Universe will help you accomplish what He has put before you to do on His behalf...HOW amazing is that?!?! God will bless you with this burden you carry! It will literally be a blessing. A burden is grace we often do not realize. Isn't that incredible? I'm amazed with you - to the point of humble, grateful tears.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><b><i>Looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for
the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of
the throne of God.—Hebrews 12:2</i></b></span><br />
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Picking it up, and moving on, and stumbling forward - with JOY.Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-12401769206425266292012-09-06T09:36:00.004-04:002012-09-06T09:40:41.034-04:00Hey Jealousy<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_866" style="width: 358px;">
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Hey - you know that woman in your life - we all have one.. THE ONE that you think is SO spectacular....(She is sumpthin', isn't she? I know - she totally is!) - the one that makes you think every now and then that annoying little irritant of a thought "What must it be like to be you?" Don't you just <i>hate</i> that feeling - ugh! and no matter what, you can't keep it from coming to a boil. Double ugh! Well -hold on - I'm getting to the BETTER feeling for you and I... you ready?...The next time you see her - (and I'm with you - I've been doing it and it's WORKING!) WHY don't you tell her why you think she is so incredible? Don't laugh! I'm serious! But, listen - hear me out...You're not going to tell her just because she might need to hear it from <i>your lips</i> (because really, she might - you never know what she thinks about herself or how she feels the moment you are there with her -) ... you aren't telling her so much for her - as you are for your heart need to tell her - YOU are going to tell her because YOU need to hear YOU telling her just why you think <i>the fancy out of her! </i>And can I tell ya... the funny thing is - you CAN tell her with sincerity and sweetness from your heart - because you already believe it! Right!?! uh-huh - yeah we do! we believe she is amazing! <br />
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Woman!!! let me tell ya....<br />
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FREEEEEDOM! Freeedom! FREEEEEE DOMM!<br />
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Try it. I know you'll like it. You so will! Curl your toes kinda good feeling happy!!!<br />
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"I run the way of your commands for you have set my heart free." Psalm 119:32<br />
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Love is kind. It does not envy. Run light. <br />
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LOVE!Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-85734968096219059022012-09-01T08:57:00.001-04:002012-09-02T07:24:45.282-04:00when you wish upon a star. stupid star.<div class="pic-container">
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Have you been to Cinderella's castle? It's quite spectacular at a distance. Maybe you've never actually stood before it - looking up at all it's magnificence - but maybe you've been to it in your mind. It actually - is much better there, really. I'm not trying to be a party pooper, But it's true.Nothing - no reality - can compare to what we have made of that castle in our mind.<br />
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I remember the first time I saw Cinderella's majestic, fairy tale home. I was eight. Remember the world at eight? I could not wait to get to see inside of it with my own eyes and wander through its rooms and hallways and dungeons and towers. I wanted to see her bed, her kitchen, and fireplace. I had pictured it all a thousand times, and so the thought of seeing it for real made my heart race.<br />
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We climbed up the bride hill - that overlooks water - you know the one? And then stood in the golden painted archway with so many other people - who snapped pictures and talked loudly. What were they doing there? This was my moment! Not expected...right?<br />
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"Can we go in?" I asked.<br />
"No - you don't GO in," my mother replied. She had tears streaming down her cheeks.<br />
"Why? Why can't we go in? And why are you crying?"<br />
"It's a restaurant in there. You have to have reservations to go in there." She wiped her tears from her cheeks. My father was taking her picture. She finished answering me. "It's Cinderella's castle. I have always wanted to be in Cinderella's castle. That's why I'm crying."<br />
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Yeah. I wanted to cry, too! THIS was it!?! And what was the deal with the reservations? Why couldn't we have reservations? I didn't ask anymore questions. I was sorely disappointed, and my mom seemed to be somewhere else in tears and a far-away look toward the paintings and bricks that had now really ticked me off.<br />
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THAT WAS IT!?!<br />
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How many times is the idea of something better to you than the reality? For instance - how 'bout motherhood? Are you laughing or gasping that I would even say such a thing? Laura Lewis! Don't you love being a mother? Of course I do! I love life with my God-given babes!!! But - BUT- BUT!!! THIS - is not how I imagined it. At all! Especially when they were newborns. Remember that? Or maybe you're in it...Praying for you, new Mama. Praying for you!!! Cuz..who tells you you're going to be up at 2 a.m. feeding a baby for months on end? NO ONE! Who tells you that they cry and you can't figure it out? ummm... NO ONE! Who tells you that they will have sickness - and pain - and needs beyond your touch or ability to repair them? Aren't moms supposed to be able to fix everything? Yeah. No. Who prepares you for the heartache of their blatant "NO"? Right in your face - "NO"...I guess that's more the toddler days - but still! No one tells you that tiny thing you could step on is going to rip your heart out and challenge you like nothing else in this world! AND THEN! who tells you that you can become this vile, nasty person that you have never seen or heard or realized in alllll your ever livin' days on this earth! AND you saw <i>Mommy Dearest</i>, right? Who told you that could be YOU? Did ANYONE ever tell you that you would look in the mirror and ask - WHO AM I? ... Who is this person I am becoming in the midst of motherhood, because you have no idea. Yeah - no one.<br />
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I remember one friend - ONE - who said to me in my 9th month of pregnancy - while she held her 9 month old on her hip..."Keep that baby inside of you." But she didn't tell me why. And you know what - I was afraid to ask. <br />
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I guess - to everyone's defense - the truth is - HOW can anyone prepare you to come to grips with your own fantasy crashing around at your feet. It's not going to be what you think it is - and no one else knows just REALLY what you have imagined THAT picture to be... EXCEPT - our God. He knows our thoughts - He alone searches the heart - and He alone is the one who will speak love, and truth, and grace - into the reality that is our life. Jeremiah 17:10, "I alone search the heart and examine the mind to give everyman according to his ways, And according to the fruit of his doings." I do not see this truth of God in a negative light - anymore that is...As I learn the love that is our God...I see a Father - who knows what lessons He must bring to His child to shape a life - a heart - that is a reflection of His own image. Romans 8:27-28 makes that even more clear as I ponder it this morning... Hoping in God - who is our life - is where we will find an image to embrace and walk into. <br />
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"Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mid of the Spirit is, because He makes intersession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."<br />
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Are you standing under the archway of Cinderella's castle? With tears streaming down your face - are you realizing, "THIS IS NOT WHAT I HOPED FOR." Does it feel like you have been sold a lie for what should have been a dream come true?<br />
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What are you going to do with those tears streaming down your face? Are you going to wipe them away and shove that pain deep down in your heart, so that you can chalk this up to another disappointment - another reason someone else has a better deal than you do... STOP IT! Stop right now...and I'm saying this in love - YOU ARE IN THE MIDST OF A POWERFUL LESSON. One that you best not ignore. How do I know? I'm with you!!! I'm standing right there with you! See me? Hey - how ya doin'? Here's a Kleenex. WE MUST pay close attention to our tears, and go to God's Word with them. That is the best cure for that heartache. We have incorrectly placed our hope in something that is not reality. Misappropriated HOPE is the reason for those tears - and we affect others with our sorrow... ( you know that little one lookin' at you saying, "Why are you crying, Mommy?") LOVE for them makes a choice to fully examine our broken thinking - and seek God, our Daddy, to make it right. In the archway of Cinderella's castle - <i>whatever</i> that is for you - our God is standing - waiting for us to go to HIM - His Word - that is <b>timeless</b> - and <b>exact </b>- and <b>healing</b> - and precisely what He knew we would need to embrace our broken dream - and HIM - in the reality that is our day - today. <br />
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Remember that verse? I just shared it up a few paragraphs...IT ALLLL works together for our good. We don't have to be afraid that the dream just shattered. The dream cannot compare to what is going to be...because YES! GOD is just that good.<br />
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So stop reading this stupid blog - and go get your Bible...Read Psalm 27:14, Isaiah 40:28-29, Isaiah 41:10, Isaiah 25:4, James 1:3-4, and Hebrews 10:35-36...<br />
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Take hold of the TRUTH of God...and move into today knowing full well - your dream that you have cherished and protected and lived for - was not for nothing. It wasn't. Don't get all poo-poo about the fact you had this dream and it just popped! This dream of yours - that God knew you had - it ...-LISTEN...and don't just listen - examine it - see if I'm right - IT was for a powerful lesson of LIFE - that GOD has been patiently waiting to show you - from the time your dreaming heart began to beat. <br />
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LOVE this Jesus life with you! Love it! Wish you'd tell me what you're learning, too. I always look to hear from you. LOVE!<br />
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Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-57923515563414104052012-08-23T12:40:00.006-04:002012-08-23T15:26:39.161-04:00running without growing weary?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So do you run?<br />
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I do. And that "I do" is definitely because of the "I do" that locked me into a covenant love with my triathlete husband. Long ago and far away I was one unhealthy dame. With smoke stained lungs I embraced running about 16 years ago. I never thought I would heal let alone enjoy a long run. I did heal - and I do love running. However - AND i do mean HOWEVER - when I have not run for awhile - even a few days - it is amazing how quickly what I had already accomplished in stamina and distance - diminishes. When I do not maintain - DAILY - stride and pace and distance - I quickly plummet in my running ability...which is not THAT great to begin with - but still - every little bit helps, right?<br />
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So where am I goin' with this? Let me tell ya...Tear jerker with our amazing God that I have to share with you - or I'll BURST! He is so so so so great, THIS GOD of ours! He is the one who heals, sustains, - and who is the banner under which we run!<br />
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I have begun to pursue a Master's degree in Theological studies. My husband and I have prayed long and hard over this pursuit. It's life changing. I had thought I would return to the English teaching realm. I even considered going for a PhD. in English Education - I met with my ol' professor and everything - but God continued to impress upon my heart that the desire He that has given me - is for His Word. MY HEART LONGING is for women to embrace His Word. The English classroom could never satisfy that God given ache. And no amount of money could either. So - we're investing in this degree and this call that God confirmed in some very cool ways - (another blog another day) - and we are trusting Him to flip the bill and sustain us along the way. (Our God owns the cattle on a thousand hills Psalm 50:10 - and He owns the hills too!)<br />
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I went for a run Tuesday morning, after spending some time with Jesus in His Word...I was processing all I was taking on with this degree- and all that I hoped to accomplish - and being wife, mom, our home, <a href="http://www.vintagetruth.com/">Vintage</a>, Mom2Mom, working on our book (publisher waiting on ME!)... My greatest concern: can I do it?<br />
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Now mind you - in the midst of so much life goin' on this summer, I have not run a great deal. My distance and speed have suffered. Trying to increase both, I have felt like I was lumbering - but I continued to do intervals and press toward what I knew I had once been able to accomplish in my Asics. (If you're a runner - you know that you always wonder is the point of struggle is the graveyard gate for your running days. Ya know? I hate that thought!) So this run was going to be about maintaing speed ...not an interval run. I just wanted to see if I could pace consistently and feel stronger while doing it.<br />
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I started out and was initially pleased. I didn't feel so slow. I wasn't breathing as hard...NOTHING hurt. I pressed on. My mind left the road and went to the work that I would have to do that day. Reading. Paper. Cooking. Laundry. How would I write this paper? Thought upon thought. However as I ran, and noticed I wasn't lumbering - I kept interrupting my list of "to do's" with the realization of "I'm doing it! I'm running faster!" - and my heart was pumping steadily, not hard. I'm was not winded. I could go faster! I was amazed! I didn't want to think about it too much in case it would stop. You know that feeling? But I couldn't help it! I was actually smiling when I was running! I was almost giddy.<br />
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I thought to myself about how I was actually afraid to keep going because it might start to hurt. I thought -maybe I should slow down and baby myself so I don't find out I really can't do it. That thought was quickly pummeled by my former hard core running partner/mentor - whispering in my memory "You'll be amazed by what your body really can do." So I kept it up...and as I was running at this pace, and in the midst of this distance and speed I heard a verse...over my breathing - over my own thoughts.<br />
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"They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31. Immediately my mind went from the run to the issue that God knows is on my heart. He was directing my thoughts and I was listening. I can accomplish what He has trained me to do. It may scare me. I may hurt. But I can do it - running without growing weary, and walking when I can slow down - without passing out from the heart pounding pace I have just been at, and without going the distance ALONE. Everything that I had just considered about my physical run - was redefined spiritually for me in light of Isaiah 40:31.<br />
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I have not been in school for awhile. I will get the hang of it again. The reading and writing amounts - (distance) and the speed at which I do it - will improve as I continue in it - training and disciplining myself to keep at it daily. I will be able to accomplish what I have set my heart and mind to do - not because I love it, - even though I do! - but because this is the reason for the Healing, Provision and Banner over my life. <br />
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Tears. God teaches us so beautifully, doesn't He? He uses everything and anything in our day to speak to us. The beauty of it is that HIS WORD is attached to it. His truth pervades everything when we have hidden it in our hearts.<br />
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I won't be afraid of the work. I won't be afraid of the pace. I will be confident in my Coach - my Running Partner's Word to my soul.<br />
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We're going to make it. Hold on. We're going to make it. You are not alone. <br />
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How 'bout you? You clippin' at a pace that seems too hard, too fast. Talk to our Daddy. He will show you not only the path, and the direction to take on it - Psalm 119 -He'll give you the strength to finish the journey.<br />
GAME ON!<br />
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LOVIN' this Jesus life with you! Lovin' it!!!<br />
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ahhh...manit'sgood!...<br />
and now...you guessed it. I'm off to....rrrr...read.Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-15383149468317688282012-08-03T10:48:00.001-04:002012-08-05T06:51:10.396-04:00Arrival TimeThe Olympics fascinate me. Absolutely incredulous when I see the moment of triumph for these athletes who have endured so much and come so far! How 'bout the US women's gymnastic team? Come on with that! Spectacular!<br />
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Have you seen the Proctor and Gamble Olympic moms <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NScs_qX2Okk&feature=relmfu">commercial</a>? (click here!) Such a tear jerker for me! <br />
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Olympian mothers, having endure the years of training trials, alight upon the most significant athletic precipice her child will ever know. The Olympic dream is what they have longed for and fought for. And as we watch these athletes, in awe and with great respect, we are welcomed into their dream come true. They have <b>arrived</b> at the 2012 Olympics.<br />
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Arrival - A MOMENT of MOMENTS is something we long for as we journey - whatever our course, and yet <i>truly </i>- we don't REALLY ever arrive. Did I just hear a bubble pop? Nah. I'm not telling you anything you don't already realize. Sure we reach a point on our destination, but once we get there, don't we have to move once again? Right? I mean, ARRIVING, as some of us speak of ARRIVING... does not insure <i style="color: blue;">rest</i>. We never fully rest, no matter what place we reach. We must continue forward, or determine our downward climb, if that is our choice. The "I have arrived" idea casts a vision for the end to struggle.. And it's wrong. Struggle will continue; it will just be a different one. <br />
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So - where am I goin' with all this???.I'm learning about patience. We who believe in THE PATIENT GOD are called to imitate Him, and frankly (love that word...I'll say it again) FRANKLY, I am not patient. If you are a momma like me, then maybe you have repeated a lesson on "love one another" this summer more often than you would have liked to. And if you are like me, your love and patience glow is not being reflected as brilliantly as it was the first day of vacation.<br />
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I was tenderly reminded as I studied patience this week , that God is patient with my babes, and He has been patient with me <i>much longer</i> than He has been patient with them. I have not arrived at who God knows I am able to be, and as much as I think I have learned or completed in crushing my old ways - I am still far from the image of Christ. Why do I expect my children to be more than I am capable of being?<br />
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The amazing idea for me, is that God is patient - in part - because He sees the end result with as much clarity and familiarity as the starting point. He knows - actually sees - AND - even better than that - IS - the beginning and the end. Revelation 22:12. He endures the training highs and lows with us and always sees the end result. He does not have to worry or wonder if we'll get there; cross his fingers, hope and pray, - HE SEES the moment of arrival! He authored it! IT WILL HAPPEN! <br />
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If our GOD can be patient then, for what He has purposed <i>to be</i> in us - in our children - then shouldn't we be able to fully trust Him, and RELAX a bit in the learning? And I just don't mean relax in our own learning - I mean be patient in our children's learning, and be patient in our friend's learning!<br />
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Consider with me.Hebrews 12:2 - "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of God." Jesus is the author and perfecter of faith. When we are frustrated with our babes, with our friends, with others in general - isn't our impatience then directed toward Christ? I mean, really? Who is the one who opens the eyes of the blind? Who is the one who gives us understanding? I know for certain it was not me - it is not EVER me - who brings to my mind and heart the understanding of God's Word.<br />
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As desperate as I am for my children to understand what it means to love one another well - to be patient with one another throughout the day, they are also desperate <u>for me</u> <i>to get it</i> <u>with them</u>. Are they not? Absolutely - they just don't realize it - <i>yet</i>.(Patience, Babes. Momma's learning.) But God - our Faith Author does - and I am trusting Him to teach us all in such a way to endear our hearts to Him and to one another. Grateful to see His story unfolding! Grateful to know it will have a beautiful ending that will blow my mind.<br />
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So for today - I will look to Jesus - who endured so much more than I will EVER endure in today's sibling battles for the comfy chair, the remote, to go first...etc. etc. etc. JOY is assured. Our Patient God sees the moment of completion for all of us - and when I look to Him... I will see it too.<br />
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"LOOK <i style="color: blue;">I am coming soon</i>! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the <b>First </b>and the <b>Last</b>, the <b>Beginning</b> and the <b>End</b>." Revelation 22:12<br />
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And <i>REAAALLY</i>, when you think about this verse, - the impatience we experience is born out of the expectation for <i>arrival</i> that NO ONE will never know in this lifetime. <span style="color: blue;">Jesus is the only one</span> who will <span style="color: blue;">ARRIVE</span>, and in so doing - <b style="color: red;">HE</b> will bring all of us to completion. I can't wait to witness this with you! Can you even imagine? We can make it. See it with me - today - and every day. Remind me. The day is coming, and because it is we can live in patience for it - trusting our Patient God who promised it. <br />
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"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Romans 12:12 - for us all.<br />
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<br />Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-3131140917828628182012-07-24T11:15:00.002-04:002012-07-29T06:31:06.920-04:00HindSight<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I wonder. If someone would have shown me this picture when I was 18, would I have lived differently?<br />
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I am teaching my children that their choices will follow them. Their choices not only affect them, but their choices will ultimately affect everyone who loves them - everyone they love. This power can bring beauty or this power can bring destruction. I know, ultimately, they will see the magnificence of God's Word in their lives. We all will. I just pray this realization will come through their obedience to His Word, and not their rejection of it. <br />
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Love protects others from sin. Now, I see that truth so clearly - even in this black and white image of my daughter in my arms - I see a thousand <a href="http://thechapel.com/onlineviewing/?p=1929">choices</a> I made in my long ago yesterday that did not protect her, I see the redemption of God that secures her in spite of me, and I see the choices ahead of me tomorrow that will protect my child - and her children after her.<br />
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In a time when marriage is a joke - when people are a <i>toss away</i> based on a fleeting emotion such as happiness - my heart ACHES for the truth of happily ever after in our God. Oh please, oh please, with me - place your family picture before you daily. See deeply into the outlines of your faces, the scenery surrounding you - the smiles. BEYOND the image we behold is the security, the peace, THE LOVE, and the blessings of God through His Word. He alone holds life together. He alone is our bond, and He alone teaches us what it is to love and be loved. THIS understanding is our only hope. <br />
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With you, my friend, I choose God, and in doing so we choose AMAZING good for those in our lives that we love now - AND those we have yet to love. Can you imagine that? Is that not incredible, or what?!?!<br />
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What a gift! What a gift that God breathes insight into our limited understanding through the power of His living Word!<br />
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I read Proverbs 3 with my babes yesterday morning. I have their names written above it - and it's dated March 16th, 2009. I am not sure what was going on then, but that Proverb crossed my path and I chose to pray it and hope in it. My son was 6 then; my daughter 8. Today - in 2012, they are well equipped with nouns and verbs and images that help them grasp on their own - to some degree - the RICH truth this Proverb holds.<br />
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For our marriages, for our children, for their children if God should be so willing to endure -<br />
"Let love and faithfulness never leave you; Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man." Proverbs 3:3-4<br />
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What will this look like in your life today?<br />
In my life - I will correct my children with a smile on my face and truth from God on my tongue. Even though I could look at them with dagger eyes in a second and spew words they have never heard or want to hear.<br />
His Word - His Way and not my impatience. FOR GOODNESS SAKE! I have kids! Ya know what I'm saying? God let me have kids! You too!! Congratulations, by the way! Look at those babes of yours!!! They're fabulous!!! I will not forget today - no matter how they fight, or argue with me about what I am asking them to eat - or do, OR what they ask me <i>to do for them</i> in the middle of what I consider important...(like right now they are in the bathtub in their swimsuits and they called me upstairs to ask for gummy vitamins. Puddle on the floor, jets blowing loudly, toys surrounding them... REALLY? YES! Really! TODAY I will not forget the image of my life beautifully, messily, crazily, miraculously intertwined in theirs! I GET TO BE A MOM to these two amazingly unique babes - whom I have dreamed of from the time I could hold a dolly and call it a name...I think I liked the name Joey and Annabelle. Hmmm. How I went to Kamryn and Kaden - I don't know. ANYWAY...<br />
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TODAY I will greet my husband with love and not exasperation. September is coming! I'm going to make it!I will listen more than I talk (adult conversation wanted!), and I will seek to serve and not be served even though I am really, really sick of cooking. <a href="http://pinterest.com/">Pinterest</a> to the rescue with ideas!<br />
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I will fight for the love that is my life now. I lack no good thing, and I will stay out of books, communications (facebook,email,texting) and images that communicate otherwise. I get to be in love with Kemper Lewis today! And if I should die today I want him to say, "Laura was the love of my life!" Who wouldn't want that for their husband? WHO wouldn't want that for their own love life? We want THE LOVE OF A LIFETIME kind of love - and how is that possible without the power of a LOVING GOD? I mean seriously - a workout video and perfume only go so far - ya know what I'm sayin'? I love this man God blessed me to do life with. I never want to cause him pain. Not ever. I will bring him good all the days of his life - and so today - that will be a hug around the neck, a smile just for him, frosted brownies and tacos! And yeah - I'll work out tomorrow. Today -...didn't get that done. It's okay, though... TOMORROW!!!You're with me, right?<br />
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We are so stinkin' rich, aren't we? Indeed. Praying we don't miss it - not one. tiny. glistening. toes, and fingers, curls, and tiny teeth, strong arms and loud footsteps down the hall - not one ounce. <br />
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"Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding. For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold." Proverbs 3:13-14<br />
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Hindsight. <br />
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And now - I'm going to clean the tub that my children so kindly have invited our dog to bathe in with them. Nice. I'll be sure to take pictures. And laugh.Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-59941155624387627472012-07-16T06:14:00.001-04:002012-07-18T10:16:13.016-04:00I can if I want to.<br />
<img align="right" alt="Split Road" height="225" src="http://www.marinrose.org/road2.jpg" width="300" /><br />
The question is - why do I want to?<br />
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Ya know what I'm saying? The MOTIVE of my heart! Ugh!!! so not good so many times! And in that knee jerk frustration REACTION of my skin, and bone, and muscle I want to scream, "OK! BUT I CAN IF I REALLY WANT TO!"<br />
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Indeed. I can. But I don't. Not that I don't want to...I SO DO! But there's a part of me that would never fully enjoy that choice.<br />
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'"I have the right to do anything", you say - but not everything is beneficial.' I Corinthians 6:12<br />
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How amazing to me that you and I - who love Jesus - are indwelt by His Spirit that leads us! There's no law that is scripted out that says, "THOU SHALT NOT..." for every little thing that crosses my path or yours. And even if there were, we'd talk ourselves around the issue any way, wouldn't we? Sure we would! So then, there's no law list - there's the Spirit of the Living God thriving in our soul! Our Father - who whispers to us lovingly what is for our good - and what is not. Which freaks me out entirely! How can I type that without going, "What did I just say?" I couldn't type it, read it, believe it - were it not for a thousand countless moments of realizing it were true. Waking up to the voice of our God in my heart, directing me to live for Him, and not for my "I CAN IF I WANT TO" ideas, is incredulous - and yet the greatest reality I have ever known. <br />
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You know what I'm saying, right? And it's not even that the "I CAN IF I WANT TO" stuff is sin, so much as it is not for our - intimate relationship with God - good. I have these kind of directions for my own children, and so I relate to them with my God. <br />
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My children are mine. I love them, speak to them, guide them, instruct them, correct them, specifically and individually according to who they are as my own; how I know them, see them, hear them, understand them, protect them, provide for them, and hope for them. My relationship to them is unique - set apart - from other children...because they are mine, and because I know them. I do not speak to other children as I do my own - nor do I have the same expectations of other children. My children know what I have said to them, how I love them, and that we have a bond that cannot be broken. They respond to me because of that.<br />
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And in the same light - my relationship to my son - is different than my relation ship to my daughter. They are unique to me - and so is my love to them. Same momma - same heart - different expression of that heart to each child; - not in everything, but in some things... One likes to be hugged. The other likes to have a back scratch. One likes to spend time talking doing very little. The other likes to spend time with me doing lots, talking little. One likes to play. The other likes to do crafts. One has a physical aversion to dairy. The other does not. Both like ice cream. Yeah! I know! Different children - same momma seeking to love them well, so that they KNOW they are loved. <br />
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This is just a fumbling of words to express the intimacy of God's Spirit in us. Morning by morning we seek His Word - His guidance - His voice - His heart - His plans. He speaks to all of us, and although there are many directions that are consistent for each of us, by His instruction - some directions are not. The hand has different instructions from the foot, the heart has different instruction from the brain, and the eye has different instruction from the ear. The same head is over all, but the instructions, guidance, provision, and the relationship to each is completely unique.<br />
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I wrap my heart around this picture to understand then what it means when I read, "You shall be named the priests of the Lord, (men) shall call you the servants of our God." Isaiah 61:1<br />
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I have to question? Me ,God? Is this a direction to me, to all of us who follow you? Or is this something specific to the tribe of Levi, per say - or to Jesus? WHO is this instruction given to? And what does that look like if it is to me?<br />
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The word "priest" takes me on a journey with God through His Word. And I land, most comfortably, with peace, and yet still - at full attention...on this verse "As you come to Him, the LIVING STONE, rejected by humand beings but chosen by God and precious to Him - you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."<br />
I Peter 2:4<br />
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We are called to be a royal priesthood. I am stirred and yet I need to be still. What is that to look like in me? I can't look to you for that answer, nor can you look to me. We must look to our God who is the One who calls some to build arks, others to move to a place they do not know; some to missions across the ocean, others to serve the widow next door. Each of us is directed by ONE God, so that together with One voice we can bring Him glory. <br />
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"I can if I want to" sounds very small and arrogant, doesn't it? There is more to us than what <i>we can do if we want to</i>. There is the Living God in us - Who, although He CAN if He wants to a million times over - He did not - and still does not - and never will - so that we can know a new and better and living Way. <br />
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"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10 "The temple of God is holy, which temple you are." I Cor. 3:17<br />
<br />Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5155931632847434784.post-40180202703551569492012-07-08T07:14:00.003-04:002012-07-10T07:18:14.350-04:00Get over IT.<br />
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I hate that phrase."GET OVER IT" opposes the reason why I love my God so passionately. I cannot get over my past - even my present mistakes. I seek my God IN the midst of my mistakes. He speaks to me from His Word concerning every issue - every thought - every deed, and I hear Him. This is my eye to eye - heart to heart - one on one - with Jesus that endears me to my Savior. I do not get over that. <br />
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I get Luke 7:36-50, where a woman - who is described simply as a woman "who lived a sinful life", comes before Jesus crying. She is in the home of a Pharisee - a teacher of the Law - who would have condemned her without blinking, and yet she humbly moves past him to the feet of Jesus. There she cries and kisses his feet, washing them with her tears and drying them with her hair.<br />
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The Pharisee is disgusted. But Jesus rebukes him, lovingly. Jesus, instead of identifying her sin - he focuses on her adoration. He said to the indignant Pharisee - <span style="color: red;">"Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I Entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell, you, her many sins have been forgiven - as her great love has shown."</span><br />
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">Then Jesus said to her</span>, "Your sins are forgiven...Your faith has saved you; go in peace." </span><br />
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">Jesus did not say, "Get over it." What he told her was she had been forgiven because of her faith in Him - and that she could have peace; - no more heartache.</span></span><br />
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Do you think she ever "got over" this encounter with her Savior? Yeahhhh - I'm thinkin' NO. You don't get over grace. You move - forward- in it with much love. I do not dwell on the past - but live intentionally for Jesus because of my past. My past does not leave me stymied - but rather catapults my understanding of God's love and favor each day. Pitfalls are avoided because of light and understanding. Are they not?<br />
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I woke with much JOY over God's truth that filled my heart on July 8th, 2012. Can I share it with you? My hope is that you will know this joy, too.<br />
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"Forget the former things: do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!" <span style="color: black;">(CATAPULT!!)</span>...I, even I am HE who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more."<br />
Isaiah 43:18, 25</div>
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My heart to heart, eye to eye, one on one - with my God today - of all days; He speaks to me.He speaks to you. Do you hear Him? Oh please hear Him. <br />
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<br />Laura Lombardo Lewishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671484807184441918noreply@blogger.com0