Life Goes On...for Some of Us...

Even though I haven't been to blogspot in a while life continues as usual here. There have been some changes in the last few months (pain, death, sickness). My kids are growing like weeds. My ten year old daughter is sitting next to me reading over my shoulder and she laughed and said, "We are weeds? I'm not a weed, I'm a flower!" Okay they are all flowers then... Hmmm maybe my son should be a tree, since if I don't know where he is I just need to look up and I'll probably find him in a tree.

I went in to a horrible time of back pain on March 14th and was hardly able to walk for a week. I couldn't get up by myself or even lift my feet. A friend from church brought me a walker to use. It took me five excruciating minutes to move from my living room to my kitchen (in a townhouse). Then on March 21st my mother unexpectedly died. She was only 59 and we were planning her annual trip to visit my family for Easter. I'm actually thankful for the bout with severe pain right before she died because I was able to tell her that I had a better understanding of what she deals with on a daily basis. I'm not unfamiliar with pain, but this pain was debilitating and I was actually afraid that I could end up paralyzed. I've been told that is a possibility.

When I told my children that Grandma died, my seven year old son fell to the floor weeping and my ten year old daughter sat on the couch with tears pouring down her face. My fifteen month old obviously didn't comprehend the loss, but she knew something was wrong. She walked over to my son and wrapped her little arms around his neck and just hugged him. Then she walked across the room and picked up a tissue and went to my daughter and began wiping her face. The sweet baby was like an angel as she ministered to her siblings.

While the me and the kids were in Ohio, my husband fell and got a blood clot in his leg (DVT). I was so worried about him, but unable to get home because I was stranded in Ohio. Since I was having back pain, I knew I couldn't drive to Ohio, so some wonderful friends helped transport us to Ohio. Then I was baffled as to how to return. I didn't have to be confused long because before I began looking at my options to return home, a friend called and told me that she and her husband wanted to come and get us. Talk about Jesus in action - those friends are definitely walking the walk and talking the talk.

I'm still not used to the fact that my mother is dead. When I returned home from my two weeks in Ohio for her funeral, I picked up the phone to call and let her know I made it home safely. I've actually started to call her quite a bit. There are some things in life you don't "get" until you experience them and I believe losing a mother - the woman who gave you life is one of them.

Keep my family in your prayers!




My mother 16 years old.

My mother on our horse, Angel.


Me and my mother (she was visiting me at college).

Me and my mother at my wedding.

My mother and my daughter at one of our annual trips to the National Zoo.


My mom and Aunt Rebbie last summer.

Life or Death

This evening I read a great post regarding life and death on Randy Alcorn's blog as I held my precious daughter, a miracle of life. Randy posted a video of an incredibly, articulate, 12 year old young lady who shared her beliefs in her seventh grade class. Wow! Check out this post for more...

The Healing Controversy

For some reason discussion of healing brings controversy. There are some who believe we aren't healed because we don't believe, others because we don't ask and still others because there is sin in our lives. I BELIEVE in healing! But I also believe that God doesn't always choose to act in the way we think best. Our understanding is beneath HIS.

A few years ago in a discussion about healing someone quoted the Scripture from Isaiah 53:5 "by His stripes we are healed" and I believe we may have been taking that verse out of God's context for a long time because God has never healed every person that was sick. HIS WILL and HIS Plan are far above anything we can fathom. God can do amazing things through a person's life and even through a person's death and through a person's attitude as they approach death. The one thing I think that God wants each and every person to be healed of is sin because sin leads to DEATH - eternal death and by HIS stripes and HIS death we can avoid the second death. We are all destined to die - the Bible says that in Hebrews 9:27, but by Jesus death and our acceptance of HIS free gift of salvation we can avoid the second death. We all most likely will face death in a variety of ways, some because of old age, some because of illness, or accident and some because of the sin of another, but we can all rest assured that eternal life and wholeness are our reward if we choose to be healed of spiritual illness/sin and accept Jesus free gift.