Pray

Please pray for sweet Kanyon and family. Many of you prayed for Kanyon 4 years ago when he and his sister were born. You mourned the death of Jayde. You begged for Kanyon, pleaded. You rejoiced!

It's time again.

Kanyon and his family need us. You can click on his name at the top to get to his blog, or here.

GOD speaks

This morning, as I clean up my kitchen from the hurricane that has been left behind from the week, although sweet Aunt Dee did her best to find my kitchen cabinets, I looked up and saw a book on the shelf that I was drawn to. I have started this book about 5 times, and never get far (I don't like to read), but this morning I took it off the shelf and opened it where my bookmark was. The first title that I saw at the top of the page was:

WHY does GOD say no?

So, I will share a few lines from Get Off Your Knees and Pray from Shelia Walsh

WHY LORD?
One of the greatest mysteries- and challenges-of our relationship with God in prayer is knowing he is both loving and powerful. If God were just loving, then when our prayers were unanswered we'd make peace with it- telling ourselves if he were powerful he would have intervened. If he were powerful but not loving, we would assume him indifferent to our pain.

But that is not who God is. Not only does he love us with a passion that exceeds our understanding, but God is also powerful enough to intervene at any moment and change our circumstances. And sometimes he does that. But more often, he does not. The question is why?

How do you continue to love and worship the one who could have saved the life of your child and did not?

Christ also lived through his father saying no.

Our Savior was fully man, and he suffered as a man would (although without sinning).

But Jesus also knew that even when God was telling him no, he was still with him.

Why does God sometimes say no to our prayers? As I'm sure you realize, I don't have the answer to that question. No one does. BUT WHAT WE DO HAVE IS THE KNOWLEDGE THAT WHEN WE KEEP PRAYING---WHEN WE MOVE BEYOND "WHY?" TO "BE WITH ME, LORD"-- we begin to learn more about our faith and our strength in our Father. Confronting God with our why becomes being with God in our need. He is there when we need him. Always. He might not answer our prayers as we would like, but he will be there to HOLD US IN OUR TRIALS!

capitalization by me, not Shelia Walsh.

Thank you Lord for speaking to me this morning, as our husbands, David and Stacey, just finished running a 10k for Jenny that had been on the calendar for over a month. Before any sickness, before any death. "Be with me, Lord" as we start another day without our Jenny and see the bright sun overhead. Be with me, Lord as I strive to be the best mommy and wife today, a day that I would really like to just crawl back into the covers and sleep until I awake from this nightmare. Be with me, Lord, as I learn my new role as a loving friend to a family who is so full of sorrow and hope. Be with me, Lord, as you show me to be BOLD in my walk of faith.

My friend Jenny

Parker's first birthday
a fun photo shoot for Malaya
Emaline's first birthday
Emaline's birth
Bowden's first birthday
Jenny's birthday a few years ago.

Please pray for Jenny. The past 24 hours have been the craziest I can remember. She is a fighter. She is amazing. She is my FRIEND! You can read about her story here.
We met at ACU, then reconnected about 6-7 years ago. Since then, many things have happened in our lives, but none like right now. THE MOST UNSELFISH PERSON I KNOW. She has held babies, held my hand, prayed for me, and most recently, told me how proud she was of me. She is fighting for her life. I don't want to take ONE STEP with out her here on earth, NOT ONE! YOU PRAY that she will continue to fight, that her organs will respond to all of the medicine and dialysis. Her sweet little 9 year old girl needs her mommy. NEEDS HER MOMMY! Satan YOU GET OUT OF THIS! GET OUT!

Prayers

Please pray for my friend Jenny Bizaillion. She is really struggling for her life right now. Pray for her husband and her daughter, her parents, and the doctors and nurses that are caring for her. Jenny is a long life friend. We have walked down many roads together, some hard ones, some fun ones, and just plain roads. She is really sick.

Captivating!

If you know me, you know I don't like to read(except Junie B. Jones). Reading puts me to sleep. However, I know that I need to read, since I was a reading teacher and so I bought a book back in September. The title is CAPTIVATING,Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul by John and Stasi Eldredge. I bought the book while we were in Colorado at Focus on the Family. I knew my Stacey had read Wild at Heart and loved it, so I thought it was a pretty safe bet. I haven't spent the time to really read the book, a little here and a little there, I love the book...and then there was this morning. Parker is sleeping a little later due to his medication, so I took the opportunity to read a little before I needed to start getting ready, and can't wait to share what I learned. Hang with me, I may jump around.

The part I read this morning is called A SPECIAL HATRED. It is about the assault on Femininity and that it cannot be understood apart from the spiritual forces of evil we are warned against in scripture. The mean old Prince of Darkness. Who did Satan go after...EVE!

In Ezek. 28:12-14,
"you were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you:
ruby, topaz and emerald,
chrysolite, onyx and jasper,
sapphire, turquoise and beryl.
Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.
You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones."

Lucifer was gorgeous, and it was his ruin. Pride entered his heart. He craved the worship that was being given to God for himself.
"Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor." Ezek 28:17.
Satan fell because of his beauty. Now his heart for revenge is to assault beauty. He destroys it in the natural world wherever he can. Strip mines, oil spills, fires, Chernobyl. He wreaks destruction on the glory of God in the earth like a psychopath committed to destroying great works of art.
But most especially he hates Eve.
Because she is captivating, uniquely glorious, and he cannot be. She is the incarnation of the Beauty of God. More than anything else in all creation, she embodies the glory of God.

The Evil One also hates Eve because she gives life. Women give birth, not men. Women nourish life. And they also bring life in to the world soulfully, relationally, spiritually- in everything they touch. Satan was a murderer from the beginning (john 8:44). He brings death. His is a kingdom of death. Ritual sacrifices, denocide, the Holocaust, abortion- those are his ideas. And thus Eve is his greatest human threat, for she brings life. She is a lifesaver anda life giver. Eve means "life" or "Life Producer."

Okay WOW! I haven't ever heard this part! The part that touched me the most is about Eve being the "LIFE PRODUCER" and that he singled her out, not Adam, but Eve. He destroys all things beautiful. In our bible study, we have been talking about being intentional. Satan is intentional. I can't wait to share more as I make time to read (I know this doesn't sound like me) and hear more about what the Eldredges' have to say about the woman's soul. As women, we need to pray for our hearts, and our beauty. Satan is attacking us daily, he is seeking us out. He uses men to break our beauty, oh, that was another part of the chapter. You guys should really read the book! Don't wait on me to give you a summary!

We had a great Thanksgiving Feast tonight at church. I love my church family and am very thankful for my friends there!

Parker's Prayer

When we all sit down to eat at the table, Parker extends his arms across his high chair to grasp our hands and then bows his head for prayer. It is the cutest thing. When we have said our prayer Parker applauds, or he doesn't. If he doesn't, that means we must try again, our first prayer wasn't good enough. This has gone on before 3-4 prayers long before we get some claps. Now Parker says AMEN at the end, which is so cute. Last night I was putting the dinner on serving dishes and hear Parker talking in his high chair. I look over and he has his head bowed and is mumbling up a storm, then announces AMEN. He said a little prayer all by himself. When Stacey and I sat down, he reached for our hands and Stacey began to pray, only to have Parker say his prayer again while Stacey was still talking. Parker was just talking away, and then announced AMEN. Stacey thinks we may have a preacher on our hands. Watch out Joel!

Hurting Heart

You know when your heart just hurts? Things happen in your world that you have no control over, but you know God does. That is where I am. I don't understand it. I am trying not to. I am praying for the situation, and I am praying for me. Does that sound selfish? I find myself all to often praying for others, and forgetting to pray for myself. How can God use me in this situation, or don't let Satan work on my heart, or how will this mold us in the future, these are some of the prayers I am praying. I am kind of tired of being clay, but know the mature way to think of it is that it is who I am. I am being worked on by the Master. I just don't like my heart to hurt.