It is time to leave and head to the airport. We are flying to where our grandson is stationed in the Air Force to spend the last 4 days with him. It has been a rather rude awakening to spend these past 6 days with my sis. Although I have loved being here, the rude part is simply seeing the reality of “old” setting in. I know God is here and taking care of my sis, but the deterioration of life which we must all succumb to is not pleasant. Watching the decline of my sis whom I have loved all of my life is simply sad.
OK, enough of this–life is moving us now into the younger life where we get to enjoy the youthful side. These stages of life are truly a part of living I’ve put little thought into, just lived through them. Now, I see them first hand–WOW!
God is amazing and I’m so glad He is my Heavenly Father and I get to spend each day with His Son and His Holy Spirit!
I feel like I’m living in a different world as I spend this time here. It use to be such a treat to come here and see all of our relatives. Now we come to see the younger ones and we are the older relatives. We did go see our Aunt one more time yesterday early afternoon. She can go home anytime and she will be welcomed in heaven with such celebration.
I need to keep reminding myself that there is purpose for all stages of life. However one just doesn’t know what old age is like until one lives in it and everyone else your age is experiencing the decline of our flesh. There is little if anything to do but accept it as it is and enjoy what one can while these last years work themselves through.
OK, enough of this sadness. Today we will rejoice and be glad we can be together and make the best of it. God is GOOD and one just needs to keep our focus on this rather than eyes on the flesh side of life.
I have never lived where I have to be alone and I have no voice about it. I have always said I enjoy greatly alone time. What I have never experienced is the loneliness that envelopes a person who has no voice in choosing their environment. I write this because this is what my sis is experiencing. She lives in a senior center apartment which is very suitable for her, and she has a friendly, loving cat. One of her sons comes by daily on his way to work and the other comes by once or twice a week. She never gets out unless a niece comes to take her for a haircut.
I’m never sure, when at home, if we ought to come and see her or not. Yet, being here with her for 6 days is the best thing we could have ever done. She just cries with joy to be away from her apartment and seeing the world she no longer gets to enjoy. Life is so centered around oneself that we don’t realize the reality that living in isolation brings. Her stability is not good so she cannot walk alone. She can’t even walk out of her apartment for fear of falling. If she does fall she can’t get up. So, I write all of this this morning just to thank God for having us come. This sis and I have always been extremely close and I never want to not be here for her.
God is GOOD, I know and she does too. Being here reminds us just how precious God is and how much we need relationships to keep our minds healthy. I’m so glad we are here!
Well, this may be the latest made blog I’ve ever written. It happens when the sis you’re visiting gets up shortly after you do and she won’t quit talking! Anyway, all is good here. We went to see Aunt Billie yesterday afternoon and to our surprise she was awake and knew us. She is so weak she could only raise her hand a little bit. We talked a little but mostly sang hymns to her and she even attempted to sing with us. It was a moment of joy for us as well as her kids who were also present.
Yesterday we were to arrive in San Diego at 1:00 pm, get our rental car, check-in to where we’re staying and then get my sis in Escondido and go to my niece’s place for a dinner with several relatives. Well, we didn’t even get to leave Boise Airport until 3 hours late. When we got to Denver we were then delayed another 3+ hours. We were told by our pilot in Boise that Denver was in a terrible snow storm which shut down the airport until they could get runways plowed. When we did arrive in Denver there was only 3″‘s of snow so I really don’t know what the actual problem was. All this to say we finally got checked in to where we’re staying with my sis at 11:00 pm last night. Kathy’s luggage didn’t arrive but they assure us they will deliver it today. Other than needing to get a tooth brush for her, we are good. The dinner with relatives will take place Tuesday night. Anyway, we’re glad to be here! As I got to the rental car place, the gentleman asked what happened? When I told him, he pointed upward and said, “I’m sure He has you in HIs Hands.” I told him that He and I had been talking during the day!
We will be getting together with some cousins and my Aunt this afternoon. I look forward to this. My Aunt is the dear lady I’ve mentioned in times past. Heaven will be a richer place when God decides to bring her home. This earth has truly been blessed for 94 years with her love and care. I like to think I’ve been at the top of this list! God is so GOOD!
Today Kathy and I fly to S. California to spend a week with my sis there and see our cousins, nieces and nephews. We will also see my Aunt who will likely not know us, but she has been one of life’s richest blessings to me personally and to all of our family. She is our only living Aunt and will likely not be with us much longer. She is 94. We will be with her tomorrow. At this time next week we will be in Central California where our oldest grandson is stationed at his Air Force base. We will spend 4 days with him before returning home. How I look forward to this time!
My heart is full of thanksgiving this morning. It is so much easier to see God’s blessings when one reflects. Living through life I can easily get caught in the grip of events which Satan wants to influence and does if I give into fear. However, God’s Hand always shows up and He has never let fear win. The outcome always points back to God’s loving Grace and Mercy and His endless power over any of Satan’s attacks. How I love Him for this!
Last night at Celebrate Recovery I gave my testimony to our group. This is always a very emotional time for me reliving those days of childhood coupled with the years of recovery therapy. It is even more painful today to relive the old beliefs that I had about God, Jesus and The Holy Spirit. Celebrate Recovery calls these character defects and hang-ups. These are things life teaches us by our experiences more than by sheer lessons and they become false truths.
This morning as I arose I simply felt exhausted. I sat down with my coffee to start my devotional time. I opened my journal and wrote to Jesus just how emotionally spent I felt. I went on to attach this to the fact that I’m open today to my emotions and the very truth of life’s damages and also the truth that God our Father has a plan to take us through it with Him by our side holding us as we find Him in all aspects of our past. All of this is emotional energy spent. What I wasn’t expecting when I asked Jesus what He wanted me to know from Him for today, was His response. He said in part, “I want you to take a moment right now and rejoice. The JOY of the Lord awaits for you if you will just stop and rejoice in My Spirit.”
As this moment unfolded He reminded me of those in attendance who needed to hear His redemptive work and that He has this same opportunity for them. Taking the time to rejoice this morning brought humbling Light to the obedience of last night. “The Joy of the Lord is our STRENGTH,” (Nehemiah 8:10). Today this Joy became my strength replacing the emotional exhaustion. God just never stops being AMAZING!
My devotional time this morning has been, once again, filled with the presence of God’s Holy Spirit. How I’m loving having worship songs softly playing in the background reminding me to let my spirit be surrendered to God’s Holy Spirit. There is something miraculous that takes place as my anxious thoughts turn into opportunities for me to surrender them into the Hands of the Almighty.
In the midst of asking Jesus what He wanted me to know for today, I was told a message about a loved one that caught me off guard. This is the loved one I mentioned in last Monday’s post. Jesus was assuring me He had this person in the palm of His hand and I could trust Him. My immediate thought was, “this must be the voice of another spirit,” yet the voice was the voice I hear each morning as Christ talks to me. After a couple moments of struggling to believe, I simply told Jesus that this message is amazing and I will TRUST Him in this. I sure don’t want to be a doubting Thomas. I want to be a believing Earnie!
God never stops amazing me. I want my life to honor Him each and every day. Believing Him and Trusting His messages is a huge step in this direction. One day at a time, this is the one and only way to truly live for our Father.
The tenderness of God and His mercy is ever before us if we step aside just for a moment. The day can get so consumed with what’s on our mind we lose all sight of God’s ever present mercy and love. There is a man who comes for counsel and is facing a divorce. He wants so much for his wife to turn things around that he loses all sight of God being with him. This is not difficult for me to understand, I’ve lived through those days and did just what he is doing.
Yesterday, as we met, I asked him to step away from his present state and look at what is stable in his life. For what is stable we can anchor into. These stable items are ones like: God never leaves us; I have Jesus and The Holy Spirit always within me; I can and will model Jesus in me for my two little girls; I will stay committed to the job God gave me and thank Him for it. There can be more but this got him started. He asked that I send these to him by text so they’d be in his phone for reminders as often as needed.
The faithfulness of God is incredible once one can take a step away from flesh’s momentary reality. We can’t see this faithfulness at times on our own, so it is extremely important for the hurting one to admit it to someone they trust. We all need Godly companionship to help us see what Satan doesn’t want us to see. In spite of this world of hurt we live in, there is our God of Mercy and Grace right there with us to anchor us in the day. If you are hurting, tell a Godly friend. Let The Holy Spirit help them help you. God so wants to do this!
As I have the counseling sessions during each week I often remind the client how important it is to live in today. If we allow our minds to wonder/worry into the tomorrows we will be quickly consumed with the “what ifs” the tomorrows carry. Then I sit down this morning and begin my worship music playing in the background and start my journaling. I can’t connect to the worship because my mind is consumed with the tomorrows for me. I even listed them so God “would know what they were”. It was then I was reminded of my own words of advice–stay focused on today for God will take care of tomorrow when tomorrow is today. It was at this point the worship music began to enlighten my own spirit so I then worshipped.
God is so worthy of my worship–our worship. How much I have neglected this critical ingredient in my spiritual walk. I have lived in my recent past thanking God when He and I had a genuine worship moment. Never did I expect that this would become a daily time when God’s goodness would spill over me as I recognize Him in humble worship!
Earnie Lewis 