Missing People

Wonder who is really missing, us or them? Are they missing us in our true home or are we missing them because they are no longer in our temporary earthly home. More and more I think of heaven as the place where we truly are and will finally be found, and no longer missing. We were lost, now we are found.  We often think and can sometimes make ourselves sick when we think of those missing around the table that we shared for so many years here in this temporary place. We miss their presence physically, but somehow we know, a real knowing that they are in the home where they truly belong and are simply missing us around the table in the heavenly places waiting till we join them in the only place in the universe that one can be absolutely, totally, at home.

There is a verse in the Bible that says we (believers who are in Christ and are indwelt by the Spirit of Jesus Christ) are seated (present tense) in heavenly places. What a wonderful thought! We are now, because our spirits are in Christ and His Spirit is in us, now seated with Him. The part of us that is the “new creature” is not bound by earthly bodies. We can be where He is spiritually speaking or rather not ?can be? but ARE. What a thought!!! Think I’ll just think on that some more.  The transition from one state, Lost, to another glorious state, Found, is simple, so simple some don’t believe.

There is a simple way to be Found. Realize the absolute Holiness of God. Read the 10 commandments and test to see if you have kept them perfectly, throughout your whole life. If the answer is no, then know that God through Christ Jesus has made a way for us, though we have failed to keep His Holy law to live with an absolutely Holy God. Jesus Christ took our sin our imperfection upon Himself and paid the price for that imperfection totally once and for all the Bible says. He only asks that we human beings believe and call upon Him to save us, and be found in Him.

Eph. 2:4-9
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Spring IS HERE!! I love it. Clouds and all.

There really is a silver lining behind every cloud. I have been looking for those silver linings lately. They are really not hard to find with some practice. To me,  it is a tonic to count my blessings. Not what I don’t have but the many blessings I do have.  One of those things we/I do have is a constant indwelling Friend who has promised He will not leave me or forsake me.  There are times I am aware senses wise of that fact, and other times that I know it simply by faith in His Word. Sometimes the Lord gives us opportunity to believe without seeing or even feeling His presence. To me, it is kind of an exercise. Stretching my spirit to know by faith not by sight.

Won’t heaven be wonderful when as the song says, Our faith will be sight? Don’t think it will be long and I pray that people will get ready. Come to the Savior. John3:16

He Hears Us When We Call Him

My first job as a Social Worker (Parent Educator) was with what is now named Mississippi Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital. This job required a great deal of travel. For example, I put 60,000 miles on my then new Subaru the first year I had it. Interstate 55 North from Jackson became home for much of my day. It was common for me to start out traveling at 9:00 AM and not get back to my apartment in Clinton, until 7:00 PM or 8:00PM at night.

I’m a good driver and have had very few accidents in the many years I have been a licensed driver and I have driven in many different kinds of weather and road conditions.

This particular day I was headed North on I-55 to meet with several of my client caseload to work with parents and their child, on the educational, physical therapy and recreational therapy plan that the staff at Mississippi Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital had developed for their child to do at home.

It had just started to rain. I had been told that I should never hit the brakes hard on a road with fresh rain having just fallen, because the water brings what oil is on the surface of the road to the top and mixed with the water can make for a very slick surface. Much more dangerous at first than later after the oil has been rained off of the road.

I was traveling behind a car that looked like a Sheriff’s car. A car came from behind, passed me and pulled back into the right lane too close to the front of my car. Without thinking I put my brakes on to put distance between me and the car and then it happened!

My car began to spin in the middle of the highway; I was completely helpless to do anything to right the car. I just started saying “Jesus, help me”. I experienced that slow motion sensation that I have heard others talk about. After several complete spins my car went off the road, hit some high grass on the right side of the road, and I slid softly to a stop. I was shaken up but unharmed and no one else on the road was involved in the accident.

Within what seemed like a few seconds, I saw that the Sheriff’s car had moved to the shoulder and was backing up to help me. Then I saw a truck with an electric pulley on the front, cross the median. Within 10 minutes my car was pulled back onto the shoulder by the truck with the pulley, I was checked out for any harm by the officer and though shaky, back on my way to my destination.

Events like this (one of many) once again, confirmed that my Lord was truly with me all the time. I don’t recall ever being afraid of being on the road alone whether day or night. I felt that my reason for being on the road was an honorable one. Funny how those incidences stick with you. Had I been just a few miles beyond that point or before that point, the ditches would have been deeper and no high grass to slow my car as it spun off of the highway.

Some say I was lucky. I don’t really believe in luck, though I have used that term before myself. I believe that the Lord knows how He is going to answer before we are aware of the problem.

And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear

Isaiah 65:24

Have you had a similar experience?

The Power of a Good Word

In my early 20’s fresh out of college with degree in tow, I had a difficult time finding a job in my chosen field of work in the rural area in or near Carroll County. Also at that time in my life, I did not want to live here, but that is another story. My degree was a BS in Social Work. From the May in 1976 that I received my diploma in the mail (since I elected not to go through the official graduation ceremony at Mississippi College) to March of the following year, I took part time work that paid very little in the interim. I finally landed my first job as a professional Social Worker in March of 1977.

Needless to say the Christmas of 1976 there was no money to buy any presents and like most people, I enjoy the giving part better than the receiving part. That Christmas we went to Colorado to spend Christmas with my oldest brother and his young family. What little I had in money helped pay for the trip there.

I had read something that said that most people never take the time to sit down and write a note or a letter to people who you love and respect. Letters letting them know the good things that you remember and appreciate about them. So with that in mind a letter to each was my gift to my parents and my oldest brother that year. The letters told them things that I remembered that they had done that brought me joy, or things they had said that encouraged me or just anything that I could think of that was a good thing or things that made a good difference in my life.

I thought everyone would be politely appreciative, knowing my state of joblessness, but didn’t expect the reaction that I got. First, my oldest brother started wiping tears from his eyes as he read, then my Dad, then my Mom and so of course then I found myself struggling to hold back tears watching all of this emotion unfold. It felt strangely overwhelming to see their reaction. I felt as if I let myself start crying then I would be crying for a while.

My Dad carried that piece of paper folded up in his wallet from that time until the day he died at age 87. Over 30 years. My Mom told me about it later. She said that she had seen him take it out and read it on several occasions when he didn’t think anyone was around.

I think we so seldom tell each other what we really feel and assume that the people we love know how much we love and appreciate so many things about them.

I carried an approximately 4×4 piece of note paper around in my wallet for many years probably about 25 to 28 years that my niece, Stacy wrote to me when she was about 7 or 8 years old. It said simply ” I love you Aunt Ginny”. I carried it and transferred it from purse to purse, wallet to wallet all those years. I am sad to say that I have temporarily misplaced it, in switching purses in the last year or so. Those words written in the hand of a 7 year old touched my heart every time I saw it again, usually when I cleaned out my wallet. I could never throw it away, as tattered as it became after all those years and I never wanted to put it in a scrap book, there was something about it being with me, that made me feel good, I suppose.

I think that for the most part, we learn to live without appreciation, and forget what a gift it is to give and to get, especially when it is sincere and when we know there is no ulterior motive.

I have been reading the book”The Power of the Blessing” by Kerry Kirkland and it has again put me in mind of how important it is to believe the best of and see the good things in people, as much as God gives us grace to do. Below are some parts of “the love chapter” that really stand out to me at the moment. I want to grow as a bless-er. I want to find it less and less easy to curse (meaning to accuse, not cussing but cursing). I don’t want to agree with the Enemy of our souls, who the Bible calls the accuser. With as much sincerity as God gives by His grace. I want to say be blessed with every good blessing.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (Holman Christian Version)

4 Love is patient; love is kind. Love does not envy; is not boastful; is not conceited; 5 does not act improperly; is not selfish; is not provoked; does not keep a record of wrongs; 6 finds no joy in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for languages, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

Then verse 13 – Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

The Power of Blessing

Jaycee Lee Dugard – A Woman I Admire

I watched the full interview with Diane Sawyer on the ABCnews.com site and was so amazed and impressed at the way this young woman who has been through so much (an understatement) for the last 18 years could smile, laugh, and have such a positive attitude toward her life.
It was an amazement to me that she could survive and actually thrive after her kidnapping, and virtual imprisonment for 18 years of her life.  Even though  she was raped, subjected to  having two girls without benefit of a doctor and controlled in the most horrible ways one could imagine, still she refuses to let it steal more of her present life. Teaching her young children, and finding ways to mentally and physically survive what could have traumatized her for the rest of her life is an admirable feat.
My utmost admiration goes to Jaycee Lee and  to her parents who must have instilled not a small amount of  self- esteem in their daughter at a young age.
I thought it was an interesting side note that she has the skin of a much younger woman, maybe because she was not allowed to be in the sun as much as she might have been normally. Now she appears to be just out of her teens. What a testament to what God put into the human spirit.
I am so glad to see that the previous 18 years will not keep her from living the rest of her life to the fullest and with joy.

She is a living testimony that people do not have to stay stuck in the traumas of childhood. We have all had to varying degrees, things that can seem like baggage or a weight we carry around. But I dare say few of us have anything even near this kind of trauma.  She is proving that we can let go of those things and focus on today and living life free in our tomorrows. I do wonder if her faith is somehow behind this ability.
I wish her well and many blessings for the rest of her life and the life of her family who suffered much as well.
God bless you Jaycee!
A Stolen Life: A Memoir

An Angel Encounter Story

I am one of those people who do believe that angels are involved in protecting us during our lifetime. Truthfully, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking just about angels, because according to the Bible they are messengers of God, they do His bidding and each person has a guardian angel so it is God’s doing, the angels just carry it out.

Due to what some would call tragic circumstances in my life, I have wondered if my guardian angels were distracted at certain times and not doing their job, however, I won’t go into that in this post.  One of those questions that doesn’t have an answer.  And pat answers don’t really help.

There have been many times in my life when I have felt something beyond this earth had interceded or nudged me in one direction or another. This incident is one that stands out in my mind and I can’t help but believe that the man in this story could have well been an angel in disguise.

This happened a few years back when my Dad was very ill and a patient in St. Dominics Hospital in Jackson, MS. I drove my Mom, and younger brother, who has Downs, to visit my Dad and we had stayed rather late in the evening.  We were hoping that we would be able to talk to the doctor when he came by on his rounds.  My Dad wanted us to leave well before dark as it is a 2 hour drive back to the town where we live and my Dad didn’t want us on the interstate alone after dark. This day though,  because we were waiting to catch the doctor on his rounds we ended up staying later than usual. It was dusk when we left the hospital for home.

We walked to the underground parking lot of St. Dominics hospital, found our car and drove toward the parking lot exit to head back to our hometown.  The line of cars in front of us came to a stop and we couldn’t see the holdup at first.  A man walking  back  past our car  said that the gate had been closed and that they would have to call security to get the exit gate open again.  Because we were sitting there  waiting, there was time for one of the people who walked past our car to notice that the air in one of our tires was low and nearly flat. This was the first blessing.

Had we left directly from the hospital for the interstate we would have been driving on interstate 55 with a tire almost flat and no one in the car who could change the tire.

We began to be very thankful  for that  delay in the parking lot and to get the tires aired up, we drove up Lakeland Drive to a service station that I knew of at the intersection of Lakeland Dr. and Old Canton Road.  As we drove up into the busy service station area, I was praying that we could find a man who might be willing to put the air in the tire for us.  As we looked around, a very tall, athletically built man with a shock of  white hair, dark eyebrows and a sort of piercing gaze was just finishing up filling his own gas tank and looked in our direction.  He walked over to our car and asked if we needed help. The man wore a name tag on the lab coat he was wearing.  I guessed that he was a professional in the health care field who was just getting off work or about to go to work in one of the many medical facilities in that area.

He was very calm, confident  and re-assuring. He  asked us to pull over to the air machine and he began to check and fill our low tire with air.  He came up to the window on my side of the car and squatted  down even with the window.  He asked where we were heading and we told him  about my Dad being in the hospital and that we were trying to get home.  He had a very serious look and asked how my Dad was doing.  We told him a little about his condition and he listened patiently with interest, it seemed.  He then said that he really felt we should have the tire fixed before getting on the interstate and suggested a service station that could fix the tire quickly. I told him that I  knew the service station that he described as it had been the service station, I had used often when I lived and worked in Jackson back in the 70’s. We thanked him and drove to the other service station and while the man was repairing the tire I noticed that the same man had followed us to the second service station.  I looked in my  rear view mirror and noticed him talking with the man who was repairing our tire.  I looked in the rear view mirror again  and he was gone and no where to be seen.

My Mom and I both had a sense  that this man was not or might not be just an ordinary man. His very calm manner, the way he looked directly at us when he asked about my Dad, the way he showed up at the second  station that was 3 or 4 blocks away from the first one, the way he was seen in my rear view mirror then moments later I couldn’t see him when I looked in my rear view mirror again.  I had a really peaceful feeling that this could actually be a guardian angel that God had placed in just the right spot, to help three of his children in a large city at night.  I really believe we got to experience one of those angels encounters.  We believe that we  may have seen one of our “angels unaware” that the Bible speaks of.

Thursday Again

Perception is a funny thing. My friends and I have talked a lot about it lately. For example, how many times have I said and my friends agreed or vice versa that it seems like time flies by the older we get. For those of us who are believers we know that time for us will cease to be when we pass from this veil of tears into eternity. But we all have times that we slip back into thinking like unbelievers.

I put the question to the search engine and got all sorts of answers. Some said this phenomenon is because children live in the moment, (Sounds plausible) or because the older we get the more we know time on this earth is running out.

Now today while I waited on my Mom (she wanted me to drive her to the grocery store) the probably 10 minutes tops that I waited in the car seemed like an hour. She was inside catching a phone call while I wondered if she was in trouble in the house. Once we got off to the store, time sped by again and here it is 8:30 PM and I am thinking, “What did I accomplish today?”. Sometimes that is just a self defeating question because some of the things accomplished might not be readily measurable.

One thing is that I was blessed to be able to help my Mom. I say blessed because, truthfully, I could never do enough to really equal what she has poured into my life and given to me over a lifetime and not only me but my siblings, their families as well as extended family. Is she perfect outwardly, no, she is like me there, neither of us has arrived but even though we muddle through and work on our personality clashes, I don’t think that when one or the other of us dies, we will have regrets.

One thing accomplished was that I was able by God’s grace to put His truth into my heart and mind today, through reading His Word. The Bible says of itself, that it is quick and powerful and sharper than a two edged sword, that in the Word, I find life, and Jesus who is also called the Word, is the Way, the Truth and the Life. I have to admit that even though I have listened daily to some biblical teaching/ preaching, nothing can take the place of Bible study and seeking one to one communion with the Lord Jesus.

I asked God, a few weeks ago, to create a hunger in me for His Word. A hunger that would supersede the distraction of TV watching, magazine reading, even headlines on yahoo. I feel that hunger growing and I am thankful for a beginning in seeing that prayer answered. God’s Word is so incredibly rich. One verse meditated upon can yield insights that would not have occurred in any other way. The world around me is for the most part a very negative and faithless place. I feel surrounded oftentimes by people who are Christians by profession but their having asked the Spirit of Christ Jesus in as Savior has not made a lot of difference in their lifestyle. This does puzzle me exceedingly.

As we race towards the coming of Christ Jesus, we seem to be more and more distracted by headlines, by the fight to be recognized, or liked or accepted by people who many times are in the same mindset. This can make for a very stressful and confusing life. I know that it is true, that if we as Christians sow to the flesh (which is not us) we reap to the flesh. On counter though, if we sow to the Spirit we reap the peace and contentment that sowing to the spirit brings. This is my desire. And I feel that little by little more and more of us are coming to the end of our fleshly tries and turning back to the Only Person in the universe who will not disappoint us.

So perhaps as I sow to the spirit, I will move back into spirit time, which may move me into the perception of time like children perceive it. Living in the spirit is living in the moment.

That is all for today.

Amazon.com Widgets

Better To Be Thankful!

Last night in a split second, so fast I am not really sure the exact details of what actually happened to make me end up with a black eye as I slipped and hit my head against a wall with quite a bit of force. I “saw stars” as they say, it hurt, it really hurt and shook me up. My first words were ” Lord what else are you going to do to me?” Then later I rethought my first reaction. First of all, I don’t really believe God is the one who causes accidents; second I had much to be thankful for.

At 56, I have the fact that I didn’t break anything as a major thing to be thankful for. I do forget that I am not 19 physically. Second, I am thankful that it reminded me to be a bit more careful. And third, I was thankful to be reminded that we all have accidents, trials and hurtful things that happen whether physical, mental or emotional, but in them we have Jesus right in it with us, never leaving us, and comforting us.

While I am well aware that my little mishap which resulted in a black eye (kind of interesting looking) and a swollen cheek, both will heal in a couple of weeks and since God created our bodies to heal up from injury, mine will do just that. I do hope that it is not longer as I hate to go to my college class reunion with a black eye. :-\

I was reminded of the women who get black eyes on a regular basis, but in a much more violent, cruel way. Women who don’t know from day to day when the next fit of anger from boyfriend, husband or even son may result in yet another broken bone, or another black eye. Lord, let these women find a way out of abusive relationships, let them know that life is meant to be at the least, safe in your own home. Help them find the help they need.

So I am thankful, thankful that my fall didn’t result in a worse injury. Thankful that the Lord was right there with me. Thankful for friends who care enough to call and check on me now and then. Thankful for loving family. Thankful that I am safe from violence in my own home.

Lord, help me remember the women and children who never feel safe, who have been not accidentally, but purposely hurt and cruelly used by others. Lord, remind me to help when I see some way that I can help others. Remind me that you know what pain is, what hurt is, remind me that you paid a painful price willingly so that we could have life and that life, abundantly, even in the midst of trials.

Lord, you are good, so very, very good. I am thankful.

“Aunt” Nina

First of all, to all of those folks from Carroll County who know who is kin to who, Aunt Nina was not technically my aunt, but in the ways that count, she definitely was.

Aunt Nina and Uncle J.C. were another couple from this area who moved to Florida, when many of the young couples who had employment with Graham Air Base in Greenville, MS (back in the 50’s) moved with the base. Graham Air Base was moved to Marianna, Florida or rather an area outside of Marianna, and young, adventurous (by Carroll County standards) couples with young children loaded up their families and moved to Florida with the Air Base.

My Dad was an airplane mechanic and I believe that Uncle J.C. did the same. I was born in Marianna only a few months after my parents moved to Florida.  Aunt Nina was at the hospital with my parents when I was born and so she was as close to a Godmother as any Baptist is likely to have. (Aunt Nina would always say, “Girl, I was there when you was BORN!” with emphasis on born.) I can hear it as I write it and tears well up in my eyes.

My family lived in Florida until I was 6, Uncle J.C and Aunt Nina had left several years before we did. Being country people, they missed Carroll County and their only son who moved back and in with his grandparents in Carroll County until his parents moved back.

We moved back to Carroll County after a year of following Graham Air Base once again to Valdosta, Georgia.
We finally moved back to the place my parent’s always referred to as “home” while we were living in Florida.  They partly moved back because both sets of grandparents were elderly and needed them.

I remember being out at Aunt Nina’s (I called her Aunt Banina then). Her friendly smile and loving ways and endless number of “sayings” and stories made her a favorite throughout my life up until she passed over to glory in her 90’s. She had outlived Uncle J.C. who was also beloved by our family, by many years. She lived most of that time in the same country home, where she had grown up as a girl.

Aunt Nina in her 80’s would still get out and mow her own lawn on her riding mower and would hang out clothes on the line rather than use a dryer. She loved to cook, and loved to sit on the front porch and talk. She had such a fine memory that I would often ask her about my Dad when he was young and other people we both knew and she would tell some fun stories about them.

She was one of the best story tellers I ever knew and she would often sprinkle in adjective phrases like “well, garden seed!” or “bless my soul and body!” and many other “sayings” that I loved to hear and wish I had written down.

Aunt Nina had worked in our one small town drug store for years, so like me all of the local young people where drawn to her.  They knew she genuinely cared about them. She knew all of their names, and as they grew into adulthood, their children’s names and a good bit about them.  She loved people and people loved her.  Near the last 20 or 30 years of her life, most people just called her Mama Nina.  I never could quite switch over to that and she never seemed to care that I didn’t.

In the years that her poor eyesight prevented her from driving herself, my Mom and I would go pick her up (in the car) and take her to Grenada with us or to Sonic in Winona when she got to where she couldn’t stand for long periods of time, she just loved it. She always said her middle name was “GO” and we both loved being with her. The privilege of calling her my aunt is something I’ll always cherish. I have a poem framed on my kitchen wall that she copied in her own handwriting.

Can’t wait to see Aunt Banina again. I can just see my Dad, Uncle J.C. and Aunt Nina, sitting on a mansion porch in heaven just enjoying a good talk, at least once in a while.  She is probably spending a lot of time in the gardens too. Those porch talks probably aren’t too long though.  Remember Aunt Nina’s middle name is GO!  Now she has no limitations  of any kind. She would want to see everything there is to see. I bet she has visited a lot of people by now.

I hope Aunt Nina is in my welcoming party. I sure do miss her, bless my soul and body!

Obama’s Czars

Why. in America, does a sitting President appoint Anthony “Van” Jones as “Green Czar”? Anthony “Van” Jones freely admits he’s a proud San Francisco Communist with an arrest record? Just asking.

It gets more bizarre and sinister the more informed I become. Marxists, Communists, radicals of every ilk. I suppose Obama told us when he was running for office, but none of the cross over voters apparently “heard” what he was saying. Change was all most heard. But the change he wants is not the change most Americans want, now that they understand what change is Obama’s goal. Larger government intrusion into every area of our lives. It looks good now to some but 15 years down the road, it would be a massive runaway train on a downhill rail, if not completely in shambles long before then.

Up until the last week, I have largely ignored everything Obama has said, since his pro-abortion, pro-embryonic stem cell research, pro-gay marriage, pro-socialist, anti-Israel stances are enough that I could not trust his leadership on anything else. But now, thankfully through the valiant efforts of faithful American watchdogs, the information is getting out and we are waking up. CNN, and and other major news networks (except Fox News) has largely and strangely ignored or under reported the more radical aspects of this administration.

We don’t need to ignore his policies, we need to oppose them, strongly, so we don’t lose the best of America and move it further down the path to a totally socialist country. Remember Russia during the cold war, they had to put up an iron curtain to keep people in. America has to put up boundaries to keep people out. HMM. makes you think!
Very scary to people who love freedom and independence.