This room holds so many sweet memories. We purchased our little plot of land in the mid 90’s, built our home in 1998 and it would become our forever home after Monty’s retirement from the US Air Force in 1999.
This was our Ashley’s room and a little differently decorated for our busy high schooler. Truth is, it changed very little through the years. High school. College. Purchasing her first home. Securing a career that she was made for. Finding the love of her life. Marriage. The same….. that is until we welcomed our first grandchild Mason Blake into our tribe.
New paint. The daybed with trundle replaced by a crib for our grandson. Every new grand-baby to come Emma Mae, Abbey Glenn, Nolan Edison and William Tyler have slept peacefully beneath our beloved family tree. The room has held such fullness of love for our #tribeoffive Surely, this room filled with toys and a toddler bed became a mainstay of our every day.
To everything there is a season. Monty’s 90 year old mom’s health had been failing over the last couple months. She was in a place where we felt it was time to bring her to our home. She agreed it was time and for the best. So, we needed our 4th bedroom to be with us upstairs, which meant moving the playroom downstairs.
So after the flip-flop of rooms was complete, we moved Bobbie in. She now enjoys a beautiful bedroom fitted with her childhood bedroom set and lovingly says it feels like home. A special thank you to my sister-in-law Dianne for helping me sort through clothing and putting things away.
We have spent many hours making her room feel special. Today, we were finally able to get the curtains up, adjusted her heated throw, managed all of her special things and put the family pictures in the places she wanted them. We would not have it any other way. We will forever cherish the memory of this new and beautiful journey!
Early spring of this year Bobbie battled breast cancer. She has been doing well but we have sadly learned that her cancer has spread. Not the news we wanted to hear but she is so happy, at peace, comfortable, safe, enjoys the porches on warmer days, loves it when friends stop by, family are in and out and we have found a beautiful rhythm for her (our) days over here on Hardin Rd. We will forever be chasing sunsets and tonight the beginnings of this day’s end did not disappoint.
Today, we met with workers who will help us navigate her life and health in the weeks and months to come for as long as the Lord wills. We find rest in knowing that God has ordered the number of her days. And so we are settling in, believing God for peace, His perfect will and comfort over the days that she have been given.
We know that God is with us all in every season of our lives. When we face the unknown, we can trust that He is in control and working out every situation for our good. She has led us well, is at peace with God and it is our joy to walk alongside of God’s beloved. He has been so good to her and she gives thanks daily for His faithfulness.
In Isaiah 46:4, God speaks over His beloved Israel- We know He is the same God. The same yesterday, today and forever. His love and compassions never ceases. What an incredible truth to know as we face the end of our days.
To these words we cling.
“I’ve been carrying you on my back from the day you were born. And I’ll keep on carrying you when you’re old. I’ll be there, bearing you when you’re old and gray. I’ve done it and will keep on doing it, carrying you on my back.” Isaiah 46:4
A few ladies gather each weekend @ a central place and no two the same.
We talk about life things.
The everyday stuff.
The things that we are working through.
The things that we are learning.
The hard things too sometimes.
And we dare not neglect sharing the oh so good that God has done.
We give each other grace.
We give each other courage.
Even though not one of us has ALL of the answers, we know the God who does.
We focus our hearts on truth that builds us up into the spiritual house that God is building. One small step at a time. His Spirit always meets us there.
We laugh, we cry, we share our lives and by the end of our time together our hearts have been filled. We are cared for and we care for each other.
We are the ladies of MRO. Women who are navigating home, travel and all of the crazy in between. We know full well that we are better together.
The heart of this lady lovingly longs to care for your heart.
The heart of this lady lovingly longs to see your heart empowered to live abundantly, to live a life full of hope that knows God’s love fully.
Tonight we gather as one. A community of like-minded ladies in pursuit of community, friendship and grace. A place to belong, all are welcome and we feel loved there.
Oh how I have missed you all!!
It is my joy to come alongside of every beautiful heart, catch up on all of the happenings face to face and hug every neck!
So, if you are attending the January Caution tonight, please stop by my little station and say hello! I will have the MRO Community Center schedules available and much to share about our gatherings for children, ladies and families in 2018!
Through the years, MRO ladies ministry has taken many shapes and forms as we’ve cultivated and nourished friendships around various activities and gatherings.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Paul reminds us how connecting in authentic community was critical for even the early followers of Christ as he pressed them to “encourage one another and build each other up. “ 1 Thessalonians 5:11
This season there is a call to courage as each of us enters into the new that belongs to 2018. It takes great courage to step out of isolating your heart into the world of connectedness that often serves as a line of defense for those hard days ahead. And isn’t building walls around our hearts lonely work?
The energy it takes to avoid others might be best used in building a community of deep and meaningful friendships. Just a thought as I pause for a moment to preach to myself!
You are the bravest ladies that I know. You are smart. You are kind. You do life in fast forward and I love the embrace that I have known on this shared journey!
God. Is. With. Us.
“Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.” Joshua 1:9
If there is only one small thought that I pray that I can impart as I end, it would be that you lay hold of the reality that you are not alone.
If you are new to Nascar, new to traveling, new to having a husband who is gone— a lot or just a little and you are looking for a place to belong, a welcoming face or some of that gathering community stuff—
Please hear me shout from the mountaintops I AM HERE FOR YOU. MRO is here for you. And even though some things have been adjusted or changed, I am, the CC is and those who remain are still there! Available. Committed. Prayerful over your lives.
Hearts poised to love and be loved.
Just shoot me a direct message, send a friend request, give me a call 704-507-2624, email me @ melanieself@go2mro.com and we can all get connected.
If we have never met before, your first time coming to the January Caution, please stop by and introduce yourself! Make sure you fill out your registration card at your table so that we will be able to stay connected!!
Excited about 2018? Concerned about 2018? Change scares you in 2018.
Hear this!!
God is faithful. We are cheering you on and I am cheering you on!!
Enjoy the many beautiful words from ~Ann VosKamp with a little sprinkle here and there from my small view.
So just in case you have had a hard day…. because we all do every now and then, please dive in and give thanks for the timely words to follow.
And for our beloved MRO Ladies…… It brings my heart such joy to watch you quietly and significantly caring for your families in the daily and so often unseen. Yet your story is being written into the hearts and lives of every life you touch. You need to know how amazing those seemingly unimportant parts are and just how BIG things are to our God. #keepshining #keepthefaith
“Have you been wondering, waiting and have doubt that the “Big Dream” you have been dreaming of and have prayed for will happen? Or at least should have by now?
Maybe you await the peace and whole “Big Purpose” for why you are here to manifest itself in real time. That the awkward waiting would be gone and that you’d finally see that your life has made a real difference, you’d made a real mark, and that you really matter.
The real truth is….. You don’t have to worry:
We all get to make one unforgettable mark. And every day, with every word, we get to decide: Do we mar the world, or mark the world?
Why in the world do we seem to disdain the small? It’s always the smallest strokes that add up to the greatest masterpieces.
Because the thing really is: Do we ever really know which mark we make — that will matter the most? The extraordinary things happen nowhere else but in the everyday and today can always be the beginning:
That card you signed and sealed and put in the mail, the way you smiled and nodded to the white-crowned woman bent over the still-green bananas, the way you dug around in the dirt and and left that seed or that gift of the knees and that prayer whispered for a stranger or that glass of water you handed to someone and winked because you just knew —
You’ve got to remember: we don’t know when and how we are leaving the greatest marks on the world. It ALL matters.
Believe it:
Every tremor of kindness might erupt in a miracle on the other side of the world.
And the only way to ever leave beauty marks on the world is with bits of yourself — Things of realest beauty don’t bring us glory — but Him glory.
Just For Today — take these words, words of Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary-General of the United Nations, words that you can take to the bank, take to eternity:
“It is more noble to give yourself completely to one individual than to labor diligently for … the masses.”
Christ left the ninety-nine for the one.
Where you are, with that one child, that one street, that one call, it is a noble, Christ-called thing. It only takes one person to change the world — and one individual, one soul, can be all your world.
Really, beautiful You: The most exquisite marks anyone makes with their life — are the marks done in secret. The mark that no one — but One — will ever see.
And tell yourself this when you feel forgotten and invisible and unimportant:
But the wise are the hidden who hold out for heaven — and the applause that comes from God. This is to choose the far greater.
I know you’re brave … and you’re scared. Because you keep doing big things that seems so small and you wonder where all this is really going and you only get one life here —
And though you may get weary, you do hard things and you keep getting out of bed and this is always the hardest part — and you keep believing that Christ didn’t leave this world until He showed us His scars — and He won’t ever let you leave this world until you leave your most beautiful mark. To show Him.
So Just For Today — listen: you’ve got to keep going.
His Kingdom is Upside Down and in Him your part is large and lovely and needed and art.
So go get the milk and take out the trash and throw in the laundry and wave giddy to the neighbors because there is a plan and there is a purpose and there is a God in heaven who didn’t just ink you onto the palm of His hands but etched your name right into Himself with nails and He’s hasn’t just got your number, He’s got your heart.
He sees you, hidden in Him, and you aren’t ever forgotten because God can’t forget those right in Him. Keep doing, keep reaching, keep loving, keeping living fully in the moments we get to small things with great love as we hold onto the Cross.
So really — you’ve got to believe it for your 16 year-old-self and 56 year-old-self and for yourself right now: really, it’s all working out okay.
Because God’s writing your story and He never leaves you alone in your story, and His perfect love absorbs all your fear and His perfect grace carries all your burdens, and your story is a happily ever after because Christ bought your happily ever after so you always know how this story ends.
You’re going to be okay.
Dear beloved- tuck these truths away to read again whenever you need to know it again — and promise me, you’ll laugh and sing and dance a bit today?” Ann VosKamp
Love you Madi Vincent. Your mom will forever be alive in my heart and the lives of so many others. It feels like yesterday when Mason and your mom stopped by the motor home to tell us the news. We were stunned and my heart ached, our hearts beat together and we cried but still found hope.
I lost another dear friend the very year that cancer brought our family back to North Carolina. Monty’s dad battled Renal Cell cancer for three very short months. My beautiful friend Liz took her last breath on an unassuming Easter morning the same year. From death to life on the day we remember the resurrection.
These things I know:
Our Romans 8 road led us “home” and that had not been our plan. Life was significantly empty for a time and different but as we endured the pain our hearts found new life in relationships rekindled and the immeasurable wealth of God’s lavished love.
The road paved with so many hard things, hard firsts, that life could even go on as if nothing had happened was always awakened by the Spirit of God alive in us. The days grew more bearable where we did not cry with the same fervor but the relinquishing and surrender that came in the beautiful memories and stories sustained our family.
If there had been no cancer, there would have likely been no Motor Racing Outreach connection and our lives would have never been so entwined with such a pure love for each other. Mason and Vicki Vincent would become our greatest support, encouragers and friends. Our sweet Madi-girl and siblings are loved today as if we have shared a lifetime.
Madi, I feel her in your words, I remember her with great fondness for every time she spoke life into this old girls weary bones! Your mom and dad loved us for real and we loved and love them right back. A life of ministry can often isolate you from people and they refused to allow us to give in to such disengagement because their heart was to serve US. Amazing.
Thanks for keeping her passions alive because every seed that she planted in you is the fruit of her labor and that beloved of God remains her gift to us all. Your beautiful heart and words continue to carefully paint the Rembrandt that she remains as her legacy of faith in every life that she touched.
Be blessed today Vincent family. Vicki would be one praoud mama and I would give almost anything for one more conversation to let her know how very grateful I am for her inconditional love and friendship!
Vicki, you are with me always…….. You are loved! Mel
We all have stories of how life can challenge us, the valley of the shadow of death moments and the need to cling to something sure, true & trustworthy. The reminder that on life’s path, we are not alone!
That difficult journey you walked today: divorce, lost job, job searching, financial despair, separation, trust is broken, daily responsibilities, physical needs, cancer, emotional needs, sickness, infertility, brokenness, infidelity, spiritual needs, loneliness, anger, disease, fear…. That answer you received along that hard road that has washed over your life like a tidal wave…… “when sorrow like sea billows roll” Horatio Spafford
Life has messy places……filled with valley’s that challenge us to find the courage and a strength that is greater to hold on to and believe in.
And God is there. Oh, so very there……and I know it is true…….how??? Because I KNOW!
The platitudes about running to God in time of need diminishes the value of being held in complete surrender; to be fully loved and comforted by a gracious God.
God IS good. His love endures forever. God is trustworthy and sure and a place where grace is more than abundant and so very real. For every heart that aches this night with the guilt of overwhelm when your feet, though firmly planted, have caved in response to unexpected news……your are numbed and you will yourself to breathe…….
I stand with you tonight as my family faces a giant fight for life and prays hard and fast for supernatural answers, the miraculous, best case scenarios and a good path that will teach us about enduring love. We will look back and know more surely how to stand strong in HIS power and might.
I stood alongside of my mom this afternoon…..the words stung! Cancer, surgeon, treatment, serendipitous, benign, cancer found early, small, not much more we can say…. Yes? Words formed in my mind that I struggled to get my mouth to understand what to do next much less speak. Sure. We will make an appointment. Next Thursday. Perfect. Thank you? I think?
Monty Self and I are her caregivers…… My sister, Claudia does all she can to support us in caring for our mom. My flesh and heart shout in my spirit, we will just fix this. Let’s “get ‘er done”. Tonight my emotions have gone from there to…..oh sweet Lord, how am I, are we going to do this? I weep. Monty and I hold on tight to each other and we cry out to to the Lord.
“We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing Him directly just as He knows us!
But for right now, until completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:11-12
These things I know……
Trusting steadily in God…..Hoping unswervingly and walking held close by the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit! We will all together find the good path…..and God has already sprinkled moments Of grace…..
~”the smallest cancer I have ever seen.” Radiologist
~”we just happened upon the cancer behind the benign” “Serendipitous” No. A sovereign and providential God!!!
~”treatable according to her positive markers” I have no idea what that means,! #trusting #blindfaith
~”the best bad news that I can share with you”
~”Do you have a surgeon? Yes. Dr._________ ” Amazing, he is one of the three we use at the Women’s Cancer Center. Go God. He has performed all of my mom’s surgical procedures through the years
~ He can meet with you and an entire care team next Thursday. Your surgeon just “happens” to be available. Thank you Lord.
~”An answer to a long and fervent prayer answered. #thevalley The reminder that God sees, He knows, He hears the fervent prayer of His beloved and His perfect love is beyond any sliver of our ability to understand.
I will not belabor any more small and perfectly timed gifts of grace. Thanks for listening. Really.
Tonight, we come, all hearts encircled in prayer and with thanksgiving before the throne of God in prayer. We rest in the shelter of His wing.
#goodpath
Monday night, I literally cleared a path through the chaos of my office for the annual termite inspector to come, check and treat. I do not like disorder and this room is the arch nemesis of the chaos of traveling 24 weeks out of the year, dumping, retrieving, repeat……all in the name of Jesus and serving the NASCAR community.
This room haunts me as I prepare for the next season but I continue to learn about truly resting fully in today and responding to every day as it needs to be prioritized and this crazy space will be ignored and likely conquered before we leave for Daytona. #itwillnotbeatme
We rallied late to create a way for access to the entry to the crawl space under one portion of our house. I dreaded this moment. Yet Monty affirmed in my heart, that even in the chaos around me, the things that drive me crazy, frustrate and distract me were not a problem. He looked beyond this momentary, light affliction to say, “You have made a good path.”
Friend, tonight your messy place is very real. My heart longs to help carry your burden. And I will surely cherish your heart alongside of mine. Today, the Lord challenged me to remember and “as a way of reminder” to encourage you to find in each new day’s offering, the “good path” in the midst of life’s random and often unforeseen, unexpected pain, heartbreak, messy chaos and craziness.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Making my way, focused on the ‘good path’ today. Will you join me?
The waves and wind still know His name! It is well with my soul.
I pray that you will be encouraged and as a way of reminder, find a place for thanksgiving today as we enter into a time of remembering. Affirmed and grateful for how timely God always is when we need a “word in due season”. God continues to stretch & shape my heart as I bend and surrender my will, to each committed new mercy-filled day to give thanks in ALL things. The last few years have been filled with some challenging, fear-full, one step at a time, God-Sized and yet “hard” eucharisteos–the giving of thanks for my family and I. This joy journey, the purposeful pursuit of grateful living, where “thanks-giving” rewrites the habits of ingratitude into “thanks-living” has caught me off-guard, captured my thoughts, and is continuing to transform my heart. As a way of transparent confession, this truth-teaching that transforms hearts at the same time has opened the door for warfare unlike anything that I have ever experienced. Yet. Will. I. Praise. Him.
It is easy to say, I give thanks in ALL things. It is another to give thanks as you walk THROUGH the “hard eucharisteo’s” and come out of life’s most difficult “opportunities” to learn that giving thanks is the only way to fullness of joy. Sigh. You see for me it has settled deep, opened, exposed and removed dark places closed off to the Lord and recreated a beautiful place for God to fully live. Emptied. To. Fill.
The Lord dwells there. His presence makes known to us the path that leads to life according to Psalms 16:11 Apart from HIM there is no joy-filled life, rest for my soul, nor surrender to His sovereignty. He is working ALL things together for good, from His view of ALL that is going on. And on the days when thanksgiving has truly transformed my life, we meet there. Without the giving of thanks, I am left empty with nothing of the Who He is in His fullness to spill out one drop of thanksgiving. Lord. Help. Us.
Today, I stopped and with a burdened heart, gave thanks. He IS the mighty warrior, supreme and powerful ruler…the God of the universe; yet in His mercy, His presence sees. Knows. Leads. Comforts. Provides. His presence fills every emptied out place with peace in this life when ALL things seem to be shaking in this world and the spiritual realm. We will never understand the ways of God, nor comprehend how His unfailing love is working in ALL the days of our lives for our good and His glory. Lord, Your ways are higher, stronger, greater and every moment of thanksgiving back to You is a small gift from this veiled view. The mystery. We. See. Dimly.
Such love…..so pure, rich and deep. Oh, the JOY that floods my soul.
“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” 1 Corinthians 13:12
Tonight we give thanks. WE. GIVE. THANKS. Tomorrow’s mercies will be there for every bent and spilled-out surrendered heart to what seems so very simple. It will likely challenge every programmed response we have ever learned to date. Yet, His promises are trustworthy, sure and steadfast. He is God and HIS character, nature and attributes remain the same ALL-ways! Sure as the sun will rise to greet each new day, if the Lord wills. New. Every. Morning.
“Eucharisteo…always, always precedes the miracle.”Ann Voskamp
“Eucharisteo, always, always precedes the miracle.” Ann Voskamp
Thanks Ann Voskamp for validating my heart’s journey towards fullness of joy! God has taught me so much in 2013. I am grateful that He does not give up or abandon His creation but continues to long for a relationship with His beloved! The privilege that I have had of leading women, children and families along the same path that this simple life traveled has been beautiful to watch from my view. My heart leans in to their stories of their journey fills my emptied heart with such deepened love and joy around the living Word received and applied so powerfully in their lives. God’s message and directed course for this season has led surrendered hearts through the “hard eucharisteos” into the places where THEIR messy story began. Their pathway still meandering, as does mine, around the field of mines that vie for the lies and affections of our life. Hearts rewritten with gratitude and Thanks-Living are among the best in this season of remembering.
Thanks-Giving. Miracles. Thanks-Living. Fullness of joy.
“They were simple people, but they knew it because they had lived it:
No matter what the headlines shout, the world only has two stories: bless God or curse God.
No matter what the world tries to sell, we all only get to choose from two shelves: Give God thanks or Give God the door.
No matter what we’re facing, there are always only two roads: thanksgiving to God or dismissing of God.
“They were simple people but they had decided that they….
…..would not let hard times steal their thanksgiving.
…..if you let something steal your thanksgiving, you let something steal your joy, and if you let something steal your joy, you let something steal your strength.
…..would let nothing steal their thanksgiving to God – so that in everything they could stand strong in God.
Simple people – keeping it simple……. we will give thanks to God not because of how we feel, but because of who He is.
No disaster, no storm, no cancellation, no termination, no catastrophe would stop them from giving thanks. Because…….they knew it:
No matter where they were, every thanksgiving always brought them home —- giving thanks always brings you home to the heart of God.” ~Ann Voskamp
My children, grandson and family will be together around the inherited family table, the gathering place of so many great memories. It represents a lifetime filled with so many blessings. Countable gifts. The measure of a gracious God. We. Give. Thanks.
Home. “Thanksgiving” is bringing them home. Around the table, our collective hearts will pause and find peace above ALL circumstances through Thanks-Living EVERY DAY IN ALL THINGS.”
Yes, and this I know……Thanks-Living will lead us directly to the heart of God. “In His presence IS fullness of joy….” Psalm 16:11
So proud of my husband, U. S. Air Force Retired Monty Self. Our service together as a family has taught us so many wonderful things and blessed us with amazing friendships all around the world.
It is a choice that is not for the faint of heart. There were challenges all along the way but our lives are richer for it and I would not change one moment of our military lifestyle. We’re all blessed by the men and women who have sacrificed their lives to grant us the freedoms that we enjoy today!
May the Lord continue to honor and bless every service member past and present. We pray earnestly for the family member(s) related to a veteran or active duty service member for YOUR sacrifice as well!! You are the unsung heroes who keep the home front strong while the person serving does what they believe in….protecting and defending the constitution of the United States of America at all costs.
We are still One nation under God! A huge thank you to ALL veterans for your service! We honor YOU!!!
Love these ladies, Morgan and Jamie Grace. They lead us to a place deep inside the “old souls” they know so very well. I’ve had the privilege of serving alongside of them on several occasions. I love watching them “make music” and somehow the “old” HAS become “new” again. Grateful! I pray that you are blessed by their spirit as much as I am!
This song takes me back to a special place, so very long ago…..
My family: Godly men and women who lived a heritage of faith in service as pastors, teachers, musicians, people of conviction and the example of service that I hold dear in my heart to this day. My great-grandmother was the organist at church. My grandmother, her daughter, was a gifted pianist. The old, upright piano she purchased used so long ago, now has a treasured place in my home. Often asked when someone visits, “Why two pianos?” My reply, The newer piano has provided opportunities to grow musically and meet the financial needs of my family. The old one…The black giant? A reminder to myself and my family that the work of God continues through His faithfulness and should be passed on to the next generation. Three generations of us have either learned to play on the black giant or continue to lovingly play her today.
Fond memories of life and lessons learned while spending time on my great-grandparent’s 200 acre farm down a long and winding dirt road with only two other neighbors. Family joy. Simple people. Simply Living…..in the boondocks!
Pictured memories flash through my mind:
A dozen folks eager to eat at the simple wooden table in the kitchen. The children were seated on a long wooden bench made out of a rescued, fallen tree. I would fondly run my hand down the grain of the well-worn “provision”. We prayed. Not just at meals or bedtime. We PRAYED!! We thanked God for His goodness throughout our day, for the abundance of the good food we ate, for the rains that came just when they were needed, for the Lord to hold back the rain at the precise moment necessary for a successful harvest, etc… The farmer truly knows what it is to live by faith!! And the meals that were made from scratch in that kitchen, were amazing and meant for royalty. Well, that’s the way I saw it anyway. Stacks of biscuits, gravy, fried chicken, fresh vegetables, tomatoes, collard and turnip greens, numerous pies for dessert and all that your mind can dream…Manna, cherished nourishment that comes because “Our faithful God rewards faithful hands.” A surrender to work hard. A quote worth remembering and spoken often by both Larry and Emma Fisher, my great-grandparents, as a reminder when someone may lack gratitude in any of life’s important moments and especially around the dinner table. :-)They knew how to trust God for everything. And I mean EVERY THING!!!
The days were filled with…..
playing and rolling around on the ground with my great-grandfather’s Coonhounds, watching the guys head off to hunt, quietly listening as the ‘coon dogs got farther and farther away, standing under the Muscadine and Scuppernong grape vines~eating the fat grapes sweetened by the rain and sun until we had a tummy ache, family reunions, tobacco barns, tractors, busting watermelons in the field to make sure that the crop was ripe. And when we did get a break from work, on a hot day, running down the road to the neighbor’s house to cut a bamboo pole, and head over to the pond to go fishing. For the children, we hoped we didn’t get “caught” swimming more than being concerned about “catching” fish to eat.
A distant place and simpler time….
My great-grandparents were likely considered “poor”. They worked hard but I more remember the good times after dinner at the last shades of light led to the day’s end. We would sit quietly on the porch, in the cool of the evening and I never remember things being anything other than good. Life was good. We hoped for a breeze, as we fanned ourselves. I can always remember moments in the quiet, when out of nowhere, someone would start singing. We made up songs. They were simple songs, silly songs, old hymns in harmony. It was music. Strings, improvised percussion with hands and feet and a quiet hum would fill the air as someone made melody from their soul. The stories were intense and remember when. So much so, that the children including myself sat intently hanging on every word. We laughed at each others jokes, hoped someone might drop by for a visit and the fun we kids would have dancing, singing and playing until it was almost dark. The days would always end in togetherness. We were truly grateful when we lay our heads down at night to say our prayers.
Some days I wonder why my heart and soul has been filled with so many words? Could those quiet moments in the boondocks have given me a bent for speaking and writing words that build hope, encourage, lead others to trust, to dream, to believe, to know His love by hearing, gathering words, telling a story and faithful living and working hard at it? There are days when I care, share, teach, love, give, serve and reach for someone to love like Jesus would and at day’s end, I am out of words. Then the Lord lovingly and quietly reminds me that He, the author of love, life and promise sent His only Son to this earth with the mission of loving, teaching, leading, inspiring and empowering us with the message of hope and to go, to serve, to tell. Our individual relationships with God have been restored and reconciled with God through the life, death and resurrection of His promise of a Savior. Tell others the good news!! And just as Jesus exampled for us; He spoke of His life, His Heavenly Father, His living, His coming, His dying, His resurrection, ascension and the gift of the Holy Spirit, our Helper. We are here to continue the message of hope to all.
Jesus would come in an unassuming way, live simply among ordinary people, not as a king but a servant to all. His story, God’s Word, His message to us still lives on through His children, long after His Ascension and return to His rightful place, at the right hand of God the Father.
Jesus told stories. Parables, short tales that illustrate universal truths, one of the simplest of narratives. Sketching a setting, describing an action and showing the results. It often involved a character facing a moral dilemma or making a questionable decision and then suffering the consequences. Though the meaning of a parable was often not explicitly stated, the meaning was not usually intended be hidden or secret but on the contrary quite straightforward and obvious.
We all have a story. We share our lives with every relationship we build. Words that tell our life’s journey paint a picture of the where we have come from. In our relationship with Jesus Christ, His story becomes ours and we spread the joy of our beginnings while He is still writing, loving, leading, honoring our days and endings until our days on earth are done. Will our children become followers of Jesus Christ as modeled by our example? Will their lives tell of His goodness, shout praises, pray always, word hard, laugh, love others, serve everyone and live a loving, surrendered life in service to the Lord?
I am grateful for words. For the author and finisher of my faith and the privilege to serve Him with all of my days. Lord find me faithful. May I be first and foremost about the things of God, wherever I am, serving with all of my heart the story that You have written for me and made my heart to do……
Lord, leave our families, those we love and serve the LIFE’S legacy and the WORDS to keep painting our world with YOUR story.
“…the details of our days do make a difference in our lives… no experience is ever just for drill…
everything can be a springboard for inspiration if we are willing to be open to the goodness of life.”
Sarah Ban Breathnach
Simple Abundance
“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out…………The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And He will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord…………..And the Lord will make you abound in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you His good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands.” Deuteronomy 28:1-12a
So, I may as well warn you that this is the LONG version……a week early!!
I promise to condense my wandering sentences as I find the “short” answer to the seemingly “simple” question!!
“Share a small step you took toward your dream.” Holley Gerth
Have you ever had that moment in your journey of faith when the Holy Spirit crashes into your understanding? Shakes your soul’s core? Stirs your heart to pause for reflection? While flawed and imperfect, you have prayed and been faithful in every little faith-filled step. Yet there are some days when it almost feels like you have really not done or been enough. There should have been more to it, there is more to it and its simplicity makes you wonder, Lord, did I miss anything of the more that You would have me do?
You know that God is near. You cannot escape the capture of the Holy Spirits moment. You feel the spirit of God’s touch and you are drawn to its fullness. You have followed Him knowing that every conversation, dream, thought and desire sent before the throne of God was heard with the heart and arms. of your loving Father. And once again, you purpose to listen….REALLY listen. Heart intent on hearing His Spirit’s heart voice as He whispers, “I am here.” Before your mind can comprehend His presence, your heart responds as your soul man screams……YES, this is it!!!That is what it all means in the reflection of every Kingdom of God movement that you have ever made in your life in serving your Lord and Savior and every little thing you have done matters. Wow!!
God-sized Dream = A desire in your heart for more of what God has for you.
When challenged with the upcoming weeks question, I slowed my pace, and with that pause, smiled deep, leaned my head back and closed my eyes. In my heart, I journeyed back to where the first baby steps of this earnest God seekers life began. Singing Mary’s song at the age of five and realizing the message and power of the words as hearts responded. At the age of ten, sitting in a liturgical swirl of words with greater meaning than my age could absorb. All the while, the stirring movement of the Holy Spirit drawing my heart, tears streaming down my face so rapidly that my hands could not contain them. At sixteen surrendering my heart to Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of my sin, eternal life and surrendered my life to His Lordship. I understood then the heart of a servant and longed to be one that served well.
I remember the 2013 God-Sized Dreams Team application explanation of God-Sized Dreams:
“A God-sized dream is not about size–It’s about the desires God has placed within you that perfectly fit YOUR heart”
As I am living……my soul murmured……
Desires, heart, spiritual gifts, abilities, personality, life experience….Dare I dream?
Dreams dreamed. Dreams realized. Failed dreams that lacked faith on my part. Dreams growing. Dreams changing. Challenging Dreams Bigger Than My ability to believe and here I stand the hope-filled dreamer…..still dreaming. His faithfulness the sure thing. Still doubting that God can use any part of my lack for His good and glory. I make an analysis of each “opportunity” that God speaks to my heart brings the discovery that each dream hoped for started with one little baby step at a time!!I knew upon coming into relationship with Jesus that I was created for the more than what I could even comprehend. The dream giver seeking out my heart and soul for His own.
Today as I prepared to share the small step that I have taken to follow the dreams that God is currently writing on my heart, I was overwhelmed. My chest rose with a swell of deep breath, and I clearly see in my minds-eye that every purposeful step of faith has led to moments of searching for the more of God and what He might do with my small, yet sincere handful of faith. I am still on a journey towards the desires that God has placed within me that perfectly fit my heart. And I can only pray that the fullness of all that He has done in my life will be an offering that is filled with a sweet fragrance that is acceptable, pleasing and honoring. That in some small corner of His world this offering will matter to Him as He sees the gift as eternal.
Overall, my little life’s dream journey has brought me into and prepared me for this one moment in time. The same little girl who came into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ continues to wonder how God can use my small handful of faith lifted unto Him as an offering for His glory. I am living mid-dream, and He continues to woo me into the next place of dreaming His dreams. His desires to use His creation for His glory and good! Each new day is an exercise of listening to the Holy Spirit as it grips our hearts.
I am almost sure that I am not alone. Maybe you are standing where I was. Wondering if in some small way this dream that is gripping you is worthy and that you are capable. It is almost embarrassing to say it out loud for fear that someone would think it strange. No one is capable or worthy apart from Him but in Him ALL things are possible.
“The way of the Dreamer is difficult, but anything less is hardly living at all.” The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson
Does God have dreams for YOUR heart? The truth is: The hardest thing to do is to take the first step. In faith, believing that God brings your smallhandful of faith to bring honor and glory to Him. It is a beautiful thing to experience the moment that He enlarges our hearts with His dreams and builds our faith. Without a doubt, the same God that placed dreams in my heart will give to you the dreams that perfectly fit YOUR heart!!
I am praying for you. If there are dreams you need to share, if your heart and mind are in conflict and if you need a friend to share the journey……from one dreamer to another…..allow me the joy of joining your dream journey. I promise…..you can believe that your small world matters to God AND to me!!
To His beloved……..Take one simple step at a time…..and find new life in His dreams for you.
You’ll find me Living Simply and Simply Living His dream for my life…….. Mel
What a joy to begin 2013 in communication with the Lord as it relates to the mission in life that I am on. I am humbled to have been chosen to be a part of the Holley Gerth~God-Sized Dream Team. I find it challenging to stand before a Holy God and believe that I bring anything worthy to His work in this world. I am for sure a less-than-perfect reflection of Him on most days. Yet, in my heart I genuinely desire to be on mission before Him as I love and serve those I have been called to care for.
I faced a blank page as I read the challenge at hand: write one sentence that describes your life’s mission. Gulp. I am 50 years old and have never stopped serving long enough to consider what description should be written. I confess my greatest mission in life to date has been loving, serving and raising my family alongside of caring for my husband and our 31 year marriage. I feel like I am in kindergarten all over again. Writing and scratching out words, reviewing my strengths and skills, wondering if a sentence could contain all that is written in my heart.
The words begin to come together and I thought I might be embarrassed to even share the picture being painted by my words. Humbled even more than before, I knew this was the beginning of something new. Living in this moment in a dream fulfilled, looking forward to how God might expand the dream to open the door for even more opportunity in 2013 and the days to come.
In this moment, my heart is…..
grateful……
filled with a heart and desire to bring a new level of relationship with the Lord to the community of women and families that I am currently serving…..to lead their hearts into grace-filled and grateful living through our Joy Journey……
stirring…….
expectant….
hope-filled…
broken before my Lord…..
longing……to do more……to be more……to dream more…….to see Him miraculously move in hearts…..
believing God….
resting in His faithfulness for each day….
rejoicing in His provision, leadership and direction…….
beginning to dream new dreams…..
looking forward to Jesus moments……more living and growing…..loving and learning…….
trusting in His dream for me….He is the perfect and completeness of that……
So, I end where I began. I bring nothing of value to the Kingdom of God apart from Him…..so I lift my 2013 life mission statement back up to you Lord. I pray that You seed it, nurture it, bless it by sending Your Spirit through it and speak to my heart and affirm Your plan, Your will and Your dream for me!! May You be pleased!!
What statement will my life make in 2013?
I believe God has created and called me to graciously support, inspire, lead and encourage women and families by sharing my simple journey of faith as I write, relate and teach from God’s Word.
I am Your servant. You are my Lord……be it unto me according to Your perfect will!
I will obey.
And continue to love, serve and honor You with all my heart………..May my surrendered life bring honor and glory to You!!!!
Simple Life Heartenings 
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