Mothers day...........

 On mother's day this is what awaits me as I glide in to turn the coffee on before church...............it was only from husband...........I smiled and thought how amazingly blessed my life is....... me the wife who is actually a mess.......

 After returning from church this is what I found from the 16 year old.....flowers that she bought with her own money........I stood there stunned...........

 As I stood there in silence letting my thoughts go up in praises..........there were two more cards.......the hand written kind..........that were from my two other daughters.............

 how the tears began to fall...........as I read the words of what the woman child wrote..........
Dear mommy,
All that I am and all that I hope to be I owe to you!
I love you with my everything inside of me!
You inspire me so much! And I am jealous of your strong faith!
Your so pretty and I am proud to say your my mom!
No one works as hard as you do,
I love you,
Gracie
I have never felt so small in all my years........I could only mumble the thanks be to God for this........that somewhere deep in that wild heart of a woman-child the prayers had seeped in.............my only heart's cry for all three of these girls is that I should have given more...............more time..........more prayers........more love........

the second card was from my youngest child;
Mommy,
your the best mom I could ever ask for.
your nice and sweet and only MEAN when you are trying to protect me!
Other-wise your nice and I love you soooooo much!
Ellie

I kept tracing over and over again the words on paper............the gifts from this messy life.............I stand in awe of a God who truly answers prayers........

 The middle child insisted on lunch out after church...........we laughed and cried the hard and remembered even though we are raising teenagers in Babylon, God is at the gate cheering us on encouraging us to move forward.......to quit standing still when he has opened a door for us to walk through..........

 All the tears and pain seem so worth it today...........the smile on my heart is singing praises to the King....
      Saying thank you seems so small........when I want to do more.............to live the life He has given us with joy!

The ending to the most beautiful mother's day ................
I murmur the thanks again and again.......
my heart swells with gratefulness.......
all of grace,
Robbie

Heavy on my heart..........

Pressed heavy on my heart this week...............everyone in Alabama...the place I am from..........the memories of my childhood.............oh how my heart aches..........as the world keeps spinning and the people keep aching...
     Me with my me-ism stopping long enough this week to complain about the laundry that is never done.........when there are the ones that have no laundry to pile..........their everything is gone...........me the one who craves the easy with the tight clenched hands..........at the mess in my house when there are those that have no home. Asking myself  today what is wrong with me? Hanging my head low and
praying for them to take Christ's courage........to sing the full..........the fullness of joy...........
embrace the darkness...........sometimes in the darkness we find the light...............Christ's light that will turn our weeping into joy..............pure joy
May your weekend be one of finding the light................God's light...where He can turn darkness into light.




Jeremiah 31:13 (NIV) Then maidens will dance and be glad, young
men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I
will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

all of grace,
Robbie


 

Seeking......

Jeremiah 29:13

 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart

Jeremiah 45:5;
Do you seek great things for yourself?
Asking my-self this hard question today....Do I really want to get to know God? Or am I only seeking for the things I can get?   As the world keeps spinning and the world keeps aching.....what is it that I am seeking?  
     I long to be a writer? For what? For the praise and attention of others? My tongue evades me....down to the core....of who I am.... I am living the sad today.....because I am the one who can't seem to see...blinded by my own me.....
     Writing helps me with my seeking.....the seeking of him....writing is the way that I find my way....my way to who I really am....down deep to the core.
Started the something new tonight with the family....scared what their reaction would be......wondered how these women-children would handle it?.....I know it seems funny that I would worry? But they have been raised in Babylon which has captivated them.....feels like I am fighting.....fighting a battle that I may never win....
I think about the people.......the people everywhere.....the living and the dying...........what do we all see?
Knowing that we see only what we want to see.......isn't it time to change our focus?
       Like a river that runs through..................the water everywhere................that comes.........glistening through...........little momemts........in life that glisten God's grace like sunlight on the water.
We come thirsty....and whisper more please..........more.........change us....change our focus.........make us see like you with your eyes.............
       and maybe all we need to do is to slow down.................slow our walk to really seek him.....and that's when we will truly see. 
all of grace,
Robbie

Psalm 63:1; You, God, are my God,

earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.

Weekends.......are for drawing yourself into His presence......

Exodus 25:8;  And let them make me a sanctuary, that "I may dwell in their midst."

God's most intimate desire is to reveal himself to you, and before doing that, he gives you abundant grace.

May your weekend wanderings be one of drawing yourself into His presence.

May it be one of Faith. By faith believe, and set your mind inwardly on Christ.

Let God catch you in the arms of His grace.......

All of grace,
Robbie

" The apple of his eye"

Picture taken from a museum in Normandy. The shirt above is from a Jewish person that was a prisoner in a concentration camp.

An American cemetery in Normandy. There were Jewish and Gentile soldiers killed in World War ll. Some families chose to bring their family member's home to the US, but others chose to keep them in the country they died in.

Pointe- Du- Hoc

U.S. Rangers climbed this 100 meter cliff on D-Day in order to knock out the deadly 155mm cannons.

Just some random pictures from a trip my husband and I took two years ago. While in Normandy, we took a "World War ll " tour. My husband loves history, and I love the Jewish culture and their people.  So both of us enjoyed this trip. Since my trip to Israel, I have a deeper love for their country and the Jewish people.

Robbie and I left Israel about 4 1/2 months ago, and I think we truly left a part of ourselves there.

So with all of that said- the reason for this blog tonight is to tell you of an amazing book-  The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boon. I have spent the last week at the beach with my family. And everyone that knows me, knows that I cant sit still. I love being busy, maybe I have ADHD- adult version. But anyway- I had time to kill. I have been caring this book with me for about two weeks now. At the beach we went into Books A Million. Just the smell of new books makes me smile- so I had to have another book- a newer than 2 week old book. The new book was an easy read, so I started with that one. I have to say that book was one of the worst books I have ever read. Not because a young mother of three died, but that her family did not know Jesus. The only reason that I even finished the book, was that I was hoping to read that through all of this heartache, they found Jesus. Nope they didn't, but what I read was that there were several times that someone told them about Jesus and that with Jesus comes a peace beyond all understanding. But they did not find that peace, and for that I am sad.

So after that depressing book, I started, " The Hiding Place". What I know will be so sad, but so far what I am reading is about God's grace, his mercy, and that his plan for us takes us through a obstacle course called life. Some courses are harder than others. Corrie Ten Boon was an amazing person, but it was her and her family that God used. Each one had a part to play, and what you read in the beginning, the events of their lives- are all apart of the plan.
Some key points that stood out to me in the early chapters of the book-
Corrie was a young girl traveling with her father one day- she asked him what sex-in was. He didn't yell as I would have, but said the following- " He turned to look at me, as he always did when answering a question, but to my surprise he said nothing. At last he stood up, lifted his traveling case from the rack and set it on the floor. Will you carry this for me, Corrie. I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning. It is too heavy I said. Yes, her father explained. And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It's the same way with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you."  Wow- why cant I have that patience and knowledge. But what he did was wait- probably pray for the right words, instead of acting in haste.


Wow this statement blew me away, everyone I know should hear this truth. This statement is from Corrie's mom. They were a very poor family, but always made it, and had extra to share with those in need.  " Happiness isn't something that depends on our surroundings, It is something that we make inside ourselves."


I'm only on chapter 8- I will share more later. But in the seventh chapter, Corrie's father is feeling sorry for a group of people. Corrie thinks it is the Jews they are rounding up in town. No it is the German soldiers. He states that he feels sorry for them, for they have touched the apple of God's eye. And from reading the bible and my Israel trip- I know the Jewish people are God's chosen people- the apple of his eye.
Amy

Words...................................

 Wretched mama that I am................the words........oh how the words change everything

Romans 7: 19-20
 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.


What should I do? Me the one with the unclean lips? I speak the words the kind that pierce their hearts....the kind that changes them, destroys them tears them down....
     Where are the gracious words that edify? Eph. 4:29
I keep revisiting of the old words the ones where I hurt others.......
After the words fly off the tongue that whips it out quick.......it's then that the head lowers and I realize what I have done............the tears start the sting.........the sting that pierces me the deep..........
it all started out so good.......so godly and then there it was the report card of the sixteen year old.........
I keep saying under my breath, speak the words of life..........the words of grace..........the words of love.........the words that heal...........the words of peace....
then I see it the grades all in a row..............the begs and pleas of the empty promises of  "I will do better next time," it is then that I lose it...........the tongue whips and spins out of control and that woman-child of mine hangs the head low.............where is my gratitude?

 Proverbs 12:18; tells us to think before we speak...........

But what I really need is a new heart.........a transplant........the kind that only the great physician can give..
the one that makes the heart pump you pure full of grace...........
Luke 6:45; "out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.....
Word problems are heart problems.....the need for God's saving grace is so evident...... He can create in us a new heart that produce words that honor him and comfort those who hear.....
Our words have been entrusted to us by the father........so why is it I do what I don't want to do?
God has holy standards for how we are to speak....
God's redeeming love is what saves us.........saves us from ourselves......when we start to worship Him with gratitude no matter what our circumstances are then and only then do we break the chains of bondage....bondage that has the words that ensare us so deeply to the pit...........the pit of ingratitude..........
and later that night when I calm down it is then that I take this woman-child into my arms and whisper the sorry over and over again............place her precious face into my hands and kiss her cheek as if I can take back the everything................confessing so humbly that I am my greatest communication problem.....I am my own worst enemy...........turning on myself with my tongue..............
the woman-child looks up at me with blood shot eyes from tears............and smiles the smile of forgiveness
all of grace,
Robbie



humbly thanking God today for forgiveness
for the shoes on the front porch
for the dog slobber on my glass doors
for the flowers that are blooming
for the toothpaste on the bathroom mirrors
for the teenagers unmade beds
for a husband who loves me

The POWER of his Name

 We stood at his bedside as he was dying.

An old man with an old body. He lay there very still and somewhat peaceful. We knew of his life and of the poor choices that he had made. But this was the end. His family was on the way, but right now we - the  hospital staff- was all he had. His heart beat was slowing- 40- 35-30-20. He was dying. We stood at his bedside- two nurses and one doctor. We held his hand and prayed silently that he would hang on for just a few more minutes. I glanced up at his monitor and saw his heart rate slow to nothing. The nurse standing with me starting praying out loud- In Jesus name- please bring him back for just a little while- to let him see his family one last time. Please Father- we ask this in Jesus name. Suddenly- not slowly, but suddenly his heart starting beating and his heart rate- then was 0- now was 100ish. He opened his eyes and looked right at us. I have faith that with God all things are possible, but I was shocked. We then thanked God. The doctor standing at the bedside is a believer and the three of us just stood there. His family arrived soon after this miracle. To our surprise his brother was a pastor and prayed with his brother- the patient. He was able to carry a conversation with his family and most important- ask God's forgiveness and asked Jesus into his heart. He died shortly after he asked Jesus into his heart. I know that today he is with Jesus. I am thankful today to be apart of that miracle- one that we still talk about today.

Amy