Another Year, Another Chance

It seems like every year I have the same resolutions, to study The Word, spend more time in prayer and keep up with my blog. And every year, I get the chance to start over again. So, here we go with a fitting message for the new year...

I was on my way to a women's leadership meeting Saturday morning when I drove by this house that grabbed my attention. I thought of the irony of the scene and I was thankful I had a few extra minutes because I turned around and went back to take a picture...

Do you see what I saw?

This picture thrills me because of what it represents in my life and perhaps in yours as well. The house is under construction. HOWEVER, they still decorated it for Christmas! It didn't matter that the house wasn't complete and in a more presentable state. They still decorated it and joined in The Celebration.

I want to join in the celebration of what God is doing in my life, even though I am so incomplete. My prayer is that this year I would not focus so much on presenting a perfect, polished temple of the Lord's, but that I would seek to have a pure heart that follows hard after Him and celebrates His grace in my life, and I, in turn, would celebrate the Amazing Grace in those who are walking this journey with me. Oh, won't you join me in this Celebration?

Psalm 24:3-5New International Version (NIV)

³ Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
⁴ The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol
    or swear by a false god.^[a]

⁵ They will receive blessing from the Lord
    and vindication from God their Savior.

The Winding Road to Peace and Serenity

I was recently in charge of a leadership training weekend with our regional PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel). After returning home, I had a chance to read all of the evaluation forms to help us plan for next year's training.
I had to LOL after reading several different responses that all had a common theme...
One of the questions read, "What did you like about the retreat center?" To which many participants replied, "the peaceful surroundings, the beauty, the serenity, the majesty of the mountains and scenery, etc..."
A few questions down, I had asked, "What did not work well for you?" To which these same women replied, "it was too hard to get to, the road wasn't well marked, it was difficult to drive in the mountains, the road was narrow and winding, etc..."
Do you see the irony?
Sure, it may have been long, winding, narrow roads that were sometimes difficult to maneuver, but once you pulled into the retreat center and drove alongside the glass-like lake with the majestic mountains standing proudly behind and the pristine white chapel with its' steeple pointing heavenward, was it not so worth it?
And once we stand before The Throne of Grace, will the difficult roads of life be so worth it?
"For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for his children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And God, in his mighty power, will protect you until you receive this salvation, because you are trusting him. It will be revealed on the last day for all to see. So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while." 1 Peter 1.4-6.

The Mountain is out!

We've talked about this often, especially when I lived in Washington, near "The Mountain". Due to the usually overcast, drizzly rainy, a lot of times blah weather, even though Mt Rainier is just east of us, there are many days you can't see it. I've heard people who have moved there say they live there for months before they finally see "The Mountain".  And when they do, it's breathtaking. It's majestic. It is all of the characteristics of God you read about in Scripture. And it makes the verse where Jesus says if you have the faith of a little mustard seed you can say to the mountain, move, and it will be moved... it makes this analogy of the little faith we need to move a big God become an even more astounding picture in our minds.
When the mountain is visible, we usually exclaim, "Look! The mountain is out today!!"
But we've come to realize that the mountain is always "out". Whether we see it or not, the mountain is still there and is still every bit as majestic and grand as it is when we can see it.
And so is God. Whether we see His majesty around us, or circumstances give us an overcast, drizzly view, He remains.

Oh, Lord, would you help us to remember Your faithfulness and Your presence in our lives, whether we can see You at work or not. Thank you for the many times you grace us with the gift of seeing You... in our lives, in the lives of those we love, in peace despite tough times, in the beauty of creation, in joy that becomes our strength. And help us to trust you, especially when we can't see.

McChord Field Spring Retreat

Amazing weekend, Amazing God, Amazing Grace...
After a few days back in rainy Washington, 20 PWOC ladies headed up 101, traveling beside the Hood Canal, into the Olympic National Forest, to a place so fittingly called The Refuge.
This is the continuation of a vision fulfilled by a retired Army chaplain and his wife, Jim and Robbie Edgren. Absolutely beautiful log cabin made from the logs that were cleared from the land.
I think the beauty of this retreat that really stood out to me was the simplicity of it all. Sharon and I walked through the woods after the retreat and we talked about how the simplicity of many of the elements created an atmosphere where God was free to do kingdom work.

The intimate number of 20 women allowed everyone a chance to share and feel like they were a part.
The simple decorations, the flexible schedule, the simpleness of worship, the simple, yet delicious meals, the simple lodge although it was ornately detailed, all lended themselves to creating more of an awareness of how God was working.

The lack of worldly distractions gave us all more time to enjoy God's creation and each other. The hike to a waterfall, sitting out by a pond, meditating in the library, and walking through the woods together were memorable.

 When we began our time together Friday night, I explained to the ladies that this would not be the typical retreat where I would speak for an hour or so. I didn't want to overload them with so much information that they didn't know what to do with it. I wanted to give them a little information and then give them plenty of time to have "personal ponderings" as well as small group time so they could process the information individually as well as in a small group. I reminded them that this is where learning takes place. We learn best from our peers and in small groups. And it proved true. Several women voiced their appreciation for the time they had to process and make a plan to apply what they were learning. One lady shared that she usually came home from women's retreats with brain overload and totally exhausted. We wanted to come home encouraged and refreshed. Another lady shared that she had never been to a women's retreat and she never would have shared openly had it been a big group. Several talked about how the small groups had to have been "divinely orchestrated" :)

The theme of the retreat was "The Bags We Carry". Friday night we talked about The Gym Bag (which includes The MakeUp Bag)- Embracing our Beauty and Protecting The Temple. Saturday morning we learned about The Diaper Bag- GIFTS we want to give our children. Saturday night was The Garbage Bag- Things We Need to Get Rid of. A beautiful sister, Zeporah, did an interpretive dance while Holly sang, "Heal the Wound but Leave the Scar... a reminder of how merciful you are..." As she shared her story on Sunday morning, she shared that Saturday was the anniversary of her father's death, and she was dancing for him.
 Sunday, we ended with a worship service where we talked about The Book Bag- The Importance of Telling Your Story. Several women felt safe and secure as they shared powerful stories of God's amazing love and grace in their lives.

After listening to several items that we needed to throw in our garbage bags on Saturday night,  we had time to think about specific things God is calling each of us to discard in our lives. Sunday morning proved to be a very powerful picture as we wrote on rocks the things God wanted us to get rid of, and came forward to throw our things in the garbage bag, which was at the foot of the cross. It was interesting to me to watch the ladies as they threw their rocks. Some quickly threw them, some quietly dropped them and one sweet friend held hers in her hand for several seconds before she slowly opened each finger and hesitantly let the rock drop.

Sunday afternoon, about 15 of us were lingering in the sunshine at the pond, and we all stood in a semi-circle and picked the rocks out of the garbage bag, read out loud what was written on each rock, and threw them in the pond. As we threw the last rock, we noticed a rainbow in the middle of the pond where a sprinkler was drizzling water into the pond. Thank you, Lord, for that gentle reminder of your promises.

Of course, there was lots of fun to be had as well.

Thank you, Lord, for such an amazing weekend with beautiful friends, old and new.

Hiding The Ugly

I just got home from a board meeting for a ministry I love. PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) has been my lifeline and my passionate focus for so many years now. I recently accepted a position on the regional board called Regional Training Coordinator, which means I coordinate training for the 20+ military installations within the southeast US. However, that's not what I'm writing about.
This is the second time I've gone to a new place sporting a lovely band aid plastered across my face, hiding the ugly reward of growing up in sunny Florida. Albeit a benign cancerous spot, it is still an eyesore.
I've nursed the spot and continue to cover it when I'm in public. As soon as I reach the safe confines of my home, I am quick to remove the band aid and let the wound breathe. The band aid is aggravating and uncomfortable. It sticks to the sore and to my skin and is painful to put on and take off.

After the second day of being at this board meeting, and discussions about being real and transparent were swimming in my mind, I decided to go to the next session "real and transparent", with no band-aid.
I have to admit there was a sense of freedom in not having to hide my wound. And I have to believe it aided in the healing process as well. I felt accepted and perhaps a little more secure knowing that I didn't have to hide the ugly.
Proverbs 28.13  People who conceal their sins will not prosper, 
      but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.

New Kid on the Block

I started going to a new Bible study last fall when we first moved here. I'm not sure why it was different than today, but for some reason today was a more daunting attempt at yet again, being new and trying to figure out where I fit in and what I'm supposed to be doing.
Never mind the humbling experience of wearing a band-aid across my face hiding an ugly skin cancer spot as I meet these women for the first time.
I'm at the 6 month mark, which means, typically, that I only have a year and a half left here so I need to be finding my niche by now.
I haven't found my place yet. I told my dear friend, Cynthia, on the phone the other day that not only have I not found where I belong, but I don't really have any friends here either. There is the occasional lunch date with a friend from elementary school (for which I'm very thankful!~ another story altogether) but no one to share life with on a deeper level.
I have discovered through the years of moving about and developing friendships that I need depth in my life. I need a few girlfriends who want to know more about me than how my day went in general. I've attempted to reach out to a few women here, but to no avail. And that's ok for now. I have depth elsewhere, as in Vancouver, Valdosta and Denver. But it's nice to have local depth at some point, too.
I was pleasantly pleased with the ladies at this Bible study I visited this morning. I think there might be hope for me there.
It's a small group but I had many things in common with several of the women. A mutual friend with one of them, and the joys and challenges of college kids with a few others. And the fact that they, too, are all Beth Moore junkies, brings about common ground.
Time will tell if this is where I belong.

Plan C

It wasn't supposed to happen like it did. But, it did.
My husband said it just seems too good to be true. And it was.
We were cautiously optimistic about getting out on a space A flight to Hawaii for mid-winter break. There was a flight going out Saturday morning, showtime was 11am. It seemed perfect.
We called several times throughout the night to be sure the flight wasn't suddenly cancelled or showtime moved back. As of 7am, it was still on. We took our time with our final packing, played around a bit, ran an errand, and Mike called again at 10am, just to reconfirm. That's when we were told, "Oh, that flight left about 15 minutes ago." Shocked doesn't begin to tell you how we felt. Flights are canceled, delayed, broken down, but they don't leave 3 1/2 hours EARLIER than scheduled!
The kids cried, I wanted to cry but figured I was too old to cry, and we packed the car and headed to California. Mike called a few friends who checked the schedule of flights leaving out of Travis AFB, which is a 12 hour drive from our house. At the time, there were 3 flights leaving for Hawaii on Sunday.
We drove through the night (totally naive to the fact that we would drive through several mountain passes with potential for great driving hazards this time of year). We arrived at apx 1am; checked in at the terminal, helped a very distraught military wife (she had come home from Alaska for her grandmother's funeral, driven 1,000 miles roundtrip to the funeral and back to Travis, and had been trying to get a flight back to Alaska for a week now. She showed up for the flight at 1am, only to be told the flight had removed all seats to add more cargo. She folded her official documents, sobbed while she phoned her husband and told him about the flight, wheeled her huge suitcase over to a seat, held her two small children and cried and cried.
We finished checking in and Mike and I loaded her, her luggage, and her children into the van and drove them back to the hotel, where, thankfully, she was able to get back into her room. Her next chance to get a flight would be in two days.
We slept in the terminal, too afraid that if we went to a hotel, the flight would leave us again. At 7.40am the first flight, which had only 10 seats, filled up. The next flight had 22 seats. We couldn't believe that when they got to our names on the list, they had 3 seats left. We needed 5.
More tears, plan B hadn't worked, onto plan C.
Mallory wanted to go home. Lydia wanted to go to Palm Springs. I still wanted to go cry.
We got the map out and ended up heading towards Palm Springs. We decided to make a fun day of it. We drove to the Golden Gate Bridge, stopped by Golden Gate Seminary, had lunch at In N Out, and made it to Bakersfield, where we fell into bed, having now been awake for almost 36 hours.
The next day we hiked up to the Hollywood sign, met a family from Puyallup! (just up the road from us here in Washington:) got yelled at from a loud speaker telling us to "GET OFF THE MOUNTAIN. YOU ARE TRESPASSING. GET OFF THE MOUNTAIN NOW!"
We quickly got off the mountain, took a few pictures, and headed to Beverly Hills and Rodeo Dr. After a quick tour there, we GPS'd Chick Fil A, followed the directions east and grabbed our favorite food on our way to Palm Springs.
We really did have a great time. The resort was beautiful. The weather was perfect. The first night there, the girls made friends at the hot tub that they hung out with the whole week. We swam, laid out, read, slept in, floated in the lazy river, shopped and enjoyed the warmth of the sun.
We enjoyed the drive home and made great memories along the way. Our poor van thought she was driving us to the terminal two miles from our house and instead, 2,900 miles later, brought us safely back to Washington!
We don't understand why God didn't allow us to make it to Hawaii. Someday we may find out. Perhaps we will never know. Disappointment still creeps in occasionally when we think of how things should have worked out.
We have much to be grateful for, even with Plan C.

We have much to be grateful for, even with Plan C.