Sadie's New BFF

Here are Kobi (left) and Sadie. My husband brought Kobi home from the shelter as a surprise for me a few weeks after our son left for college this August to cheer me up. He later realized that a bouquet of flowers doesn't last as long as a dog does and is not as messy! Oh well, Kobi is here to stay and Sadie, our 11 year old golden retriever just loves her new little friend.

"When I Lay My Isaac Down"

In elementary school, I hated book reports. I loved to read, but I did not like the teachers making me stand up in front of the class and share my personal feelings and opinions of the book. For a shy kid, it was torture. But those teachers must have done something right by me in the reading department, because I went on to become an English major in college. I hesitate to admit that because now you will expect perfect grammar in my blog. Just remember - false expectations lead to bitterness! :-)

I still love to read and now I do enjoy sharing a great book with anyone who will listen. I have even been known to read out loud to my family if there is one I want them to read, but I know they won't read it on their own. I think they secretly like it, but still roll their eyes for my benefit.

Two of my very good friends recently read a book and had been encouraging me to read it, too. At first I didn't want to because I was afraid it would be too painful. But I did eventually read it and "When I Lay My Isaac Down" by Carol Kent is a book I just have to share. It deals with a tragic event involving the Kent's only son who is also their only child. I would call very few books I have read besides the Bible "life changing", but this book will definately change your view of the challenges that come into your life.


Without giving anything away, I will share just a little from the inside cover to give you a better idea of what the book is about,

"Sometimes we make sacrifices to help us get ahead, to allow us more time with family, or because we believe in the cause. And then there are sacrifices in which we have no say --"Isaac experiences" as in Genesis 22 --thrust upon us without warning or survival instructions. This book outlines eight transformational power principles that Gene and Carol Kent learned in the process of facing news that forever changed their lives.....Carol's candid retelling of her emotional and spiritual agony will touch your heart. The principles the Kents learned in the process of surviving such unspeakable circumstances will boster your faith, renew your hope, and challenge you to new levels of personal and spiritual commitment."

I got this book from the library, but if it were mine to keep I would have highlighted every time Carol Kent used the word "choose" or "chose" or "choice". She and her husband Gene chose to use a tremendous family tragedy for God's glory. And by God's grace we have the free will to choose how we handle the challenges that come into our lives as well.

I think everyone on my Christmas list will be getting "When I Lay My Isaac Down" in their stocking this year. That's how important I think the lessons in this book are.

Blessings,

Carol

Two Truths and a Lie

Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God!"

Maybe some of you have played this ice-breaker game. You go around the room and everyone shares two things that are true about themselves and one thing that is a lie. Everyone else has to guess which is which. The idea is to be so convincing that all three things are true, that you stump the crowd. I have played this game several times and it can get hilarious! I never win because whenever I have to tell the "lie" about myself, I burst out laughing. One time my lie was that I went to college with Shania Twain, but I could not keep a straight face for anything! Oh well, I still love trying to guess everyone else's lies.

There is someone else who tries to fool us with his lies and he is an expert at it. Another name for him is actually "father of lies". Satan sticks just enough truth in the story that we swallow the whole thing, hook, line and sinker. And just like a fish who has been fooled by the bait, believing the truth-stuffed lie can, at worst, cause death and destruction in our lives, and, at best, keep us in bondage and away from the freedom in Christ that He paid so dearly for us to have.

I have believed some of the lies Satan has held in front of me disguised as truth. Most of them have to do with worry about my children and their future. Having a child go off to college for the first time gives the deceiver plenty of opportunity to play with a mom's heart and head. What if he leaves his faith? What if he chooses the wrong friends? What if he decides to try drugs or alcohol? What if he fails because I have not prepared him well enough? What if I'm just not a good enough mom or Christian for that matter? And once you get to the point of questioning who you are in Christ, game over, Satan has won that round.

The truth of the matter is that some of these fears are real possibilities. The lie is that I have control over this stuff anyway. Once I caught on to the lies that I had been believing for years, the scales fell away from my eyes (why do I have a fish theme going on?) and I have enjoyed a freedom in Christ that had been lacking. Not that I don't slip back into my old ways now and then, but now I know whose ideas I am listening to and Who I need to turn to for the truth.

Gal 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

When I believe Satan's lies, I am picking up my yoke of slavery and putting it back on my neck. I have experienced freedom by letting God be in control of my life and acknowledging that He is in control of my children's lives.

The TRUTH is: My son is a young adult. He is a Christian who desires to walk with God. He is God's child and He loves my son so much more than I do. I have done all I know to do to be the best mom possible for him. I pray for him everyday. Now my job is found in Psalm 46:10. I need to "be still and KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt (my words) that He is God!" That verse was explained to me once this way, "To 'be still' means to rest, recline, and relax in the arms of the almighty Creator of the universe". Wow! I think He can take care of things without my help!

Blessings,
Carol

Grateful Journal

Since I have committed to begin my "Grateful Journal" again, I thought that from time to time, I would post it here. So here is my Journal of Gratitude entry from Monday:

1. My 15 year old daughter confided in me about something.
2. The "something" is a direct and very specific answer to prayer! (Thank you, Jesus!)
3. I can't look at my puppy, Kobi, without smiling even when he's naughty.
4. Met the sweet friend who told me to start writing for coffee early this morning.
5. After my coffee date, I met another friend for breakfast. (One of my "hobbies" is spending time with friends!)

So that's it. Some are "big" things, some are just simple joys of life in the middle of our our crazy days.
I Thes. 5:18 "In everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

Blessings,
Carol

Hugs from Jesus - Part 2

Psalm 147:3 "He heals the broken-hearted, and binds up their wounds".

This summer was not the greatest summer for me for several different reasons. The first reason is that our son graduated from high school at the end of June and was getting ready to go off to a college over 1000 miles away from home. His graduation was something that I selfishly had not been looking forward to. Even mentioning it at all anytime last year was enough to make me cry (probably anytime since he was in 9th grade to be honest). I tried to be strong and not let him see me upset. I didn't want to ruin what is supposed to be a happy milestone in his life. But, unfortunately, he is such a wonderful person and I enjoy having him around so much that the thought of him going off to college made me feel a great loss. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, I felt like someone was dying. We did have a big party for him and lots of friends and relatives came to celebrate with him and his two best friends who also graduated, so not to worry, Mom was able to suck it up and be happy for him!

The next event that made my summer less than stellar was that I broke my wrist early in July. It was one of my "I Love Lucy" moments when my own klutzy-ness did me in. To make a long story short, I fell off a bike that wasn't even moving while sitting on it in the bike shop. Go ahead and laugh, all my friends did! I got a cool purple cast on my left arm and tried to make the best of it. Yet, having a cast on any time is a bummer, but over 6 weeks of a beautiful summer is just not fair!

Two weeks later, we went on a week-long vacation to Lake George, NY. We went with two other families. The guys were two of my husband's biking buddies. The wives were best friends with each other. They are very nice women, but did you ever feel like the odd girl out? Lots of boating, swimming, water skiing, and other water activities were planned. Since I had a cast on, that really limited my options on this vacation. The icing on the cake was the fact that our son, who was going to be leaving for college in just one week after we got back from the lake, could not come with us on our trip because of a class he was taking over the summer. Needless to say, my heart was just not in this vacation and I was quietly counting the days until we would be going home.

On Tuesday of that week, our son called to tell me that my good friend Cindy was trying to reach me and that I needed to call her. She had said something to my son about coming up to Lake George with my other good friend, Julie, but he wasn't exactly sure. Like I said, he's a great kid, but not very good at taking messages. I quickly called Cindy back and sure enough, she and Julie were planning on coming up to Lake George for a couple of days with their daughters. Cindy's son was at a soccer camp nearby and she was coming up to watch him in his final tournament and then take him home. Julie was coming along just because she could. They wanted to meet me for dinner on Wednesday evening and were hoping I wouldn't mind taking a little time away from our vacation to see them. Can you see where I'm going with this? Jesus knew my heart was heavy with my son not there on vacation with us and the fact that he would be leaving home soon. He knew I needed some good friends to cheer me up and remind me that I am loved. Seeing those two get out of the car to meet me for dinner felt like two great big hugs from Jesus. When I told them how I felt, Cindy said, "Well now you can get a hug from us, too!"

I know there are much worse things in life than broken wrists, vacations to Lake George with no swimming allowed, and sons going off to college. I know there are greater burdens in life, but sometimes it is the little things, the "stubbed toes" and "paper cuts" (as one of my friends puts it) of life that get us bogged down. We need to open our spiritual eyes and see the hugs that Jesus sends to us along the way.
1Peter 5:7 says "casting all your cares onto Him, for He cares for you". That means the little cares as well as the big ones. That experience this summer reminded me of a habit I had when my kids were little, but I have not done in a long time. I used to have a "grateful journal" that I would write in every night before I went to bed. I would write at least five things that I was grateful for that day. Sometimes they were big things, but most of the time, they were little things. When we keep our eyes open for the things we are thankful for during the day, we are actually counting our hugs from Jesus. We just need to try to be a little more aware of them. I think I'll pick up that "grateful journal" again and begin where I left off.

Hugs from Jesus

Tonight is our monthly women's ministry team meeting and it's my turn to lead devotions at the beginning of the meeting. As I was thinking and praying about what God would want me to share with the group, He reminded me of a time this summer when I especially felt His love and care for me. He sent me some "hugs" in the form of two of my closest friends.

I will share the devotion with you in my next post because, first, I want to tell you how my day has gone so far! My husband had already left for work when I woke up at 6:00 am to a dark rainy day - the kind of day that makes you want to pull the covers up over your head and sleep in. But it's not Saturday, it's Thursday. Thursdays are especially busy mornings at my house. Not only does my daughter have to leave for school by 7:00, but I have a 7:00 meeting to attend which means I have to leave at 6:45. As I groggily made my way downstairs to let our 7 month old puppy, Kobi, out of his crate to go outside to do his "business", I discovered that the poor pup had been sick in the night and he and his crate were quite a mess. I will spare you the details! Believe me, you don't want to know! I put him and our older dog, Sadie, outside, and ran upstairs to wake my daughter. Guess who else said she felt sick. Remember, I had to leave at 6:45 for a meeting of a business group I am in. Attendance is almost mandatory, however, at this point I was seriously debating being a "no show". My sweet 15 year old daughter assured me she could take care of herself, so I thankfully (not sure that's the right word!) went back downstairs to deal with the puppy and his mess. After I got everyone, including myself, all cleaned up, I ran back upstairs, threw my clothes on, brushed my teeth, slapped some make-up on, ran a brush through my hair, applied some hairspray (so as not to lose my "lovely" hairstyle in the rain) and got to my meeting on time! Whew! I could really use a hug! Don't you just love the way God reminds us of our need for Him in the middle of our crazy days (and mornings)!

Love, Hugs, & Prayers from Carol

Welcome to my blog! I am taking the challenge of a dear friend to start writing and this seems like a logical place to begin. I will do my best not to ramble, not to be boring and not to share too much information-"TMI" as my kids say! This is not a diary, so I will not be posting my most private deep dark secrets, but what I will be posting will be thoughts, prayers, lessons learned from God's Word, and what I hope and pray will be encouragement to you.

The name of the blog comes from the way I close my letters and emails to my friends and family because I do want to send my love & hugs, and to let them know I am praying for them. I will be praying for you, too, even though I may never meet most of you. I pray that all I write here will bring glory to God and bring those who read the posts a little closer to Him.

So let me close for today with my life's verse. (It's also posted by the title of this blog).
I Samuel 12:24."Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you!"

Blessings,
Carol