Golden Mare

This past week I was very excited to participate in an art exhibit.  Everyone worked really hard and the event was a success for most part.  But I have to tell you, by the end of the day, I was so beat from standing on my feet all day, that all I could think about was getting home, taking my shoes off and putting my feet up.  As they say, 

“I was like a horse heading to the barn!”

Towards the end of the event, I was sitting on a barstool giving my weary feet a rest, when I happened to look at this particular painting and the way the light was shining on it.  It was as if God had put his glorious spotlight on it just perfectly.  I couldn’t help but be drawn to the light.  It just made me smile.  It was what I like to call a “God wink.”  He took an ordinary painting that I had created, and made it extraordinary with His own creation and ray of light.  It was as if He put the finishing touch on it to remind me of what is important. 

I don’t know about you, but often I have felt like there is no hope, life has me so weary and I feel like I am surrounded by darkness and uncertainty.  I thought of that “Golden Mare” and the way her face was turned towards the light.  The psalmist asked God to send His light and truth to guide him to the holy mountain where he would meet God.  God’s light provides the clear vision to follow; we just need to take the attitude of that Golden Mare and turn our face toward it, and head toward the barn.  Remember that in the face of discouragement, our only hope is in God.  

 Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me.

Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live.

There I will go to the altar of God, to God - the source of all my joy!

Psalm 43: 3-4

God's Baby Book

For years I have fretted over the clouded and tainted lineage of who I am. As a child, I grew up with the shame of being born an illegitimate child growing up in the fifties along with all the inferior feelings associated with that.  Perhaps the absence of either parent might have contributed to my issues with abandonment as well.  Don’t get me wrong, I did have a nurturing and loving grandmother, several aunts and uncles all willing to be there for me.   They were my rock.

As I grew and had children of my own, I realized I wanted to record every little detail about their lives, so that they would not have a blank record of their lives.  I wanted to record every minuet detail so that they would know how much they were loved, and that they would know that their little lives mattered to me and others that loved them.  I wanted to make sure they had a foundational security and felt safe and would know exactly when they got their first hair cut, lost their first tooth, when they rolled over, when they took their first step, and what their first words were.   In the case of my son, when his first stitches were…and there have been many!

But somewhere along the way, as I matured in my faith I began to understand who I really was. What I thought was important, really wasn’t.  In the big picture, what I figured out was that I was a child of God and my life had been recorded all along, and I had a baby book.  Because of His love, I began to understand the complexities of who my birth parents were, and how special they are, and how much He loves them.  As I came to a clear understanding of that, I have been able to forgive them and I have been able to love them as God has, unconditionally.  I don’t have a baby book of sorts, but I have a heavenly father who has recorded every detail of my life.  He even loved me before I was born.  How awesome is that? 

Just recently it was a real treat to find those baby books of my kids and reflect with my son who is now has four kids of his own, and my daughter, who just had her first baby.  It is just the best to go through the pages of their little recorded books, and see pictures! I laugh because the task of motherhood must have been a handful for me, there are a lot of empty blanks in their books, but I can tell you they are filled with pages of tears, memories and love.  Those beautiful babies, that God so blessed me with, have been a part of my own healing and now I love to share their stories with my little grandkids.  And yes…I am still keeping records of my little granddaughters and their little lives…but the best part is sharing with them how wonderfully and complex they are in God’s baby book. His workmanship is so marvelous, and how well I know it! 

 

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion. 

You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. 

Psalm 139: 15-16

Come...and Behold Him!

Though I am not sure where the idea of a Christmas tree came from, I love it when we gather around ours with comfort and joy.  The comfort is the hope that is upon us and the gift of eternal life given us because of Jesus’ death on the tree.  The beautiful twinkling lights on our tree gleam a testimony of His Glory!

The ornaments remind me of the decorative splendor with which His kindness and forgiveness adorns my life.  The star on top of the tree beams hope with a heavenward ray, reminding me that from there He shall come again. 

I do tend to go over board at Christmas “decking the halls”, but why not?  It is truly the greatest reason to celebrate, the birth of our Lord and Savior. Sometimes the burden of the season locks us in anxiety, distress, grief and depression.  But when we call upon Him, He moves right into our situation and offers His unfailing love bringing us healing and deliverance from any despair and anxiety, bringing us comfort and joy. 

The season is upon us, and in celebrating…make it His!

I GOT FROGGED!

The weather has been absolutely beautiful here in the Ozarks.  As I often do, I went outside to enjoy my morning coffee and take advantage of God’s magnificent canvas full of brilliant fall foliage and the unusual 70 degree temperatures we’ve been having in November.  It was early and I was still in my PJ’s.  Usually nobody is out that early in the morning, so I wasn’t too worried about neighbors.  My cat who is always a willing participant whenever I go out the door, eagerly trotted outside with me.

I set my left hand down on the patio seat as I went to sit down. I could feel something moving under my hand, but I ignored it as I took a sip of my coffee which was in my right hand.  The movement under my hand was persistent.  I couldn’t figure out what my cat was nudging at my hand for, so without looking, as I often do, I just gave her a little pat, but kept my hand on her so she would know I was there.

All of a sudden, I thought… “Wait! That’s my cat walking across the deck!”

I jumped so fast to my feet, spilling my coffee all over me, wondering what the heck was under my hand.  YUCK!  I yelped out loud and stepped away …it was a FROG!  It quickly moved to the corner and tried to hide by the arm of the chair hoping I didn’t see him!   He was panting so hard, his eyes were huge!  That poor little thing had such a fright, and no doubt he was more scared than I was.  I looked up and realized the neighbors were outside having their coffee out on their deck also, and I could hear them laughing at me.

Later that day, when I was sharing with my husband my eventful morning, he asked me where it happened, so I told him the details and told him to come out and see where it happened.  What?  That little frog was still there! His little legs were tucked in and he was sacked out in the same little corner of the patio chair. 

 

I couldn’t help but wonder how often we’ve been so frightened by events in our lives, hurts, and betrayals that we would rather quickly hide our face or camouflage our emotions so that they are unrecognizable.  Just like that frightened little frog, these events sometimes leave us paralyzed.   

Has life ever frightened you and become so burdensome or weary that you would just rather sleep than take another step?  Jesus understands weariness and can free you from these burdens.  The rest Jesus promises is love, healing, purpose and peace of mind with God.  He is the One who not only knows your weariness but who says, “I’ll walk the next step with you because I’ve been where you are”. 

Come to Me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

~ Matthew 11:28 

Just Trust Me

This week I was reminded that God’s timing is amazing!  How He manages to orchestrate the intricate details in the manuscript of life is so awesome!  He knows exactly what both precedes and follows.  I have always heard He will not give you more than you can handle, but once again I was at a stand still, with no where to go but to...

Trust In Him

You see my daughter who was expecting her first child was just beginning her labor, when she went into a seizure and the doctor had to perform an emergency cesarean delivery to stabilize my daughter.  Cesarean births have been happening for a long time, but without warning, what happened to her is extremely rare and usually the results are fatal.   What seemed like an eternity, was only minutes when she came out and said to my son in law, your wife is fine come see your son, he is fine too. 

Today, I lift my hands in praise and thanksgiving for the miracle in my daughter’s life.  Yesterday she met her son and held him for the first time, today I give thanks for His unfailing love and faithfulness.  I prayed and He answered.

Don’t be afraid. Just Trust Me

~ Mark 5:36

(PS)  The little girl in this photo is our great-granddaughter, and the photograph was taken by our granddaughter…How awesome is that!?!

Trinie's Tune

Every year as fall approaches I am reminded of the loss of my beloved grandmother who raised me as a child.  

Immediately following her passing, I returned home from the Land of Enchantment and was inspired to paint this quirky abstract that has baffled most of my family why I would have painted this on the passing of someone so dear to me. 

Let me share a little story. Like most artist, I was obsessed to put this down on canvas while my heart was full of emotion and passion.  It’s not one of my best, but what this painting means to me is priceless. In this abstract is a personal reminder of my grandmother who was a perfect example of someone who learned to discover the rhythm of her heart and soul and be in perfect harmony with her Creator.  She had a spiritual melody that was always in rhythm with God and that rhythm kept her going in her routine of life. I don’t think she ever had the opportunity to play music, or sing, but she was the queen of whistling.  When family gets together, I begin sharing some of the same stories, how as a little girl I would stray and wander off, but I could always find my grandmother, because all I had to do was be still and listen for my grandmother whistling a tune, usually her favorite hymn. We all laugh and share each others stories. The colors are bold and vibrant just like my grandmother was, she was never afraid or hesitant to share her eternal melodies with strangers or straying family members for that matter. 

I always keep this painting I call, “Trinie’s Tune” close to me…it doesn’t really go with my décor. But it’s a strong reminder when I find myself straying or wandering, to be still and discover the melody in my heart that harmonizes with God…it makes beautiful music.

~ Be still, and know that I am God!

Psalms 46:10

What Were You Like As A Little Girl?

Last night I shared some great conversation over a cup of coffee with some lovely ladies. Some of us met for the first time, some were casual acquaintances.  The first question that got us started was ...

“What Were You Like As A Little Girl?  

What Similarities Do You See In Who You Are Now?”  

As the evening hour progressed we explored what true beauty is and how it points to God. We learned that beauty isn’t in the feeling, it is in the action.  Boy…did we have some good laughs on that one. 

Obviously, we all primped and poofed our hair, and looked in the mirror before we left the house and said… “Girl, I look good tonight.” We each individually and candidly dove into which specific character quality we would like to cultivate, why and what step of action we need to take to bring more of it out.  Our choices were a) vulnerability; b) stillness; c) loyalty; d) risk taking; and e) resilience.  We enjoyed reading Psalms 139:1-17 and sharing what parts of this scripture makes us secure in Christ.  We concluded that Christ is truly our only security and everything beautiful is of God.  Appearance is important to us, and we spend a lot of time and money improving it.  But how much effort do we put into developing our inner beauty?  

  

After I got home, I was reminded of the story of a lovely lady named Rebekah.  She not only was a knock out, but what made her truly beautiful was that she was a woman with an attitude of service who went beyond the expected.  Staying focused on things that are eternal and demonstrating patience, kindness and joy are also beauty treatments that help us become truly lovely on the inside.  I just want to say thank you to all the beautiful women that I met with last night…what an honor! We ended the night with this verse as our prayer. 

Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart;

Test Me and Know My Thoughts.

 ~ Psalms 139:23