Blue stained wood with crimson carnations

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Pennies from Heaven...

Today I received an unexpected blessing.

I learned that a friend from BSF has been praying for me- about something that was completely off my radar!

I arrived early to BSF this morning and decided instead of flitting around to sit up front in the sanctuary while I waited to take up my post as a hostess. After all, I was wearing my new boots and I didn't want to overextend my feet before the morning had even begun! When I did stand and take my place my friend and co-hostess offered a warm welcome and apologized for not noticing me earlier. I explained that I was keeping off my feet because of my new boots and after a quick look to the floor she just about jumped up and down right there and then!
I couldn't imagine why she was more excited about my boots then I was!

As it turns out my friend has been praying for my feet.
In the midst of worry over my own prayer requests that I had been lifting to the Lord moments before, and the pinching of my arches this dear woman explained that she has been lifting me before the Lord asking 'that if it it possible for Hannah to walk normally on this earth, without pain and without her brace' that He would do it for me- 'even if I could just wear a nice pair of shoes'!

I could have cried.

Even as the word 'impossible' raced through my mind I found myself being blanketed with an incredible sense of blessing. And I felt shamed for my doubt. Hadn't I just been sitting and praying believing that God would answer my impossible prayer?  Ah me. Well, that's a subject for another post.

But the blessing, the blessing that my friend gave sticks with me still. I explained that I was only 'playing hooky' and in a few hours I'd be geared back up. This fact did not daunt her. The joy that lept from her at my small/huge victory invaded my heart. It was like a special message for me right from God.  "Even when you've forgot- I know your needs, I am taking care of you!"

As I thought about it today it has also been a reminder to me to be God's intercessory tool. To pray when it is unexpected. To pray impossible things. To pray in secret.

And to someday pass along the blessing...


Monday, January 28, 2013

That's What Boots Are For...

Today was a day I've been waiting for- for a really long time! Like four whole months long.

Today the UPS man pulled up outside my house and I just knew that the package he had was for me! I bounced over to the back door shooing mom (who was doing a perfectly legitimate load of laundry) out of the way as I threw open the door and beamed at the delivery guy. He very cooperatively and calmly handed over the long flat box and wished me a great day- "Oh, it is now!" I told him!

In minutes my treasure was opened and proudly and anxiously I wiggled and pulled them on. And guess what?

THEY FIT!!

I actually did a little dance.
Because they were awesome. And they felt great. And they were everything I dreamed them to be!!
I looked down and saw this:

 
 
Yes! Those are MY feet in BOOTS!
Amazing.

So why the boot love you ask? Well if you know anything about me and the condition of my feet then you would know that for me to be able to get them in- much less comfortably in- to anything other than my standard sneakers and brace is a small victory.
Strike that.
This is a huge victory for me!!

Today the poor 15 year old me that literally wept her way through a cowboy boot store is pumping her fist and giggling with glee.

So I just thought I'd share and continue my victory dance online! :)
And of course- show off my totally cool boots!



"Started out just nails and leather
Built to last and made for weather
Can't think of nothin' better,
than what I'm wearin' on my feet
They make me taller than I really am
Ain't nothing they can't withstand
a symbol o the workin' man
and old cowgirls like me..."
-Joey and Rory, "Boots"




Saturday, January 26, 2013

How Sweet the Sound...

This week I have wanted to write a post about a topic important to me. All week I have searched in vain for a way to express my thoughts on this subject, to say in a new way- an impacting way- what so many before me have said again and again, but to no avail.

Then today I read an article on one of my great hero's, William Wilberforce, and his tireless pursuit of the abolition of the slave trade in England. And suddenly inspiration struck. That elusive and random bolt of lightening energized it's mark.

I went and popped in one of my favorite period films "Amazing Grace" which tells Wilberforce's story and became more convinced by the minute that this was a mirror image to the issue I wanted to address.
How could that be you say? Slavery is abolished, both in Britain and in America! Well in one form yes, but in another form, no. 

The slavery I talk about is the slavery of abortion.

This week marked the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court opinion on the Roe v. Wade case. This opinion ushered in a new era of morality. A dark, death focused, and twisted morality. A morality that made permissive the death of unborn children. Since that decision 55 million children have been murdered. The shear number of lives, of souls, is staggering and when I consider it I cannot comprehend them. It is wholly overwhelming.

Over this last year the Lord has been speaking to my heart on the sufferings of His smallest creations and each new instance of this culture of death that I encounter breaks my heart a little bit more. I cannot fathom how one could kill their own child, could choose to make convenient their own lives at the literal expense of their defenceless child. This past year my life has been filled with great joy at again having a child in my life. My niece is the very definition of joy and from her earliest days has herself filled our lives with laughter. The thought that someone mere weeks before birth could end a life like hers brings a sinking illness to the pit of my stomach with such depth that again I cannot begin to comprehend it.

While is seems that it is 'harsh' to call abortion slavery I can think of no other name to mark it by. The devastation that it brings on two lives, that of both child and mother, the extinguishing of life, and the and guilt that a mother experiences over her lifetime is a modern bondage of epic proportions.

I one of his famous addresses Wilberforce says:

   "When we think of eternity, and of the future consequences of all human conduct, what is there in this life that should make any man contradict the dictates of his conscience, the principles of justice, the laws of religion, and of God? Sir, the nature and all the circumstances of this trade are now laid open to us; we can no longer plead ignorance, we can not evade it; it is now an object placed before us, we can not pass it; we may spurn it, we may kick it out of our way, but we can not turn aside so as to avoid seeing it; for it is brought now so directly before our eyes that this House must decide, and must justify to all the world, and to their own consciences, the rectitude of the grounds and principles of their decision." 

This week marked 40 years of a new kind on slavery. The mentality that a child is a burden, a child is not a child, a child is disposable has permeated our culture. That doesn't make it right. Margret Sanger's work truly has left a lasting legacy. But even before technology that allowed us to see a 3D image of the child within it's mother's womb we knew in our own souls and consciences that it was a new human life growing in that mother.
However, with that technology, not one of us have an excuse.

There are some things one wishes to be able to abolish and wipe utterly from the face of the earth.
All to often one's ability to exert such force fails them.

However, there are some that are able to accomplish where others fail- some one who has eternal focus and is able to open the eyes of those around him. I hope that some day, and some day soon, that the cause of life in this modern age finds its William Wilberforce. I hope that there is a man or woman out there has the unrelenting fortitude to do what Wilberforce did.  I would really love to be alive to see the overturning of the courts opinion, to see the overturning of a terrible slavery.

One of Wilberforce's mentors and councilors was John Newton writer of the famed hymn "Amazing Grace" which expresses Newton's feelings on being forgiven and liberated from his past as the captain of a slave ship. 
Perhaps one day, when we see the abolition of abortion the eternal chorus of voices will join together and, across the ages, once again sing out in relief and celebration Newton's words- and how sweet, how sweet that sound will be!

"Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav'd a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see."

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Resolving?

"Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past."   
~Henry Ward Beecher


The last few days I've been thinking about making resolutions and new beginnings and all the sorts of things that go along with a new year. What I'm wondering is what resolutions should I make? There are several things that I want to do this year- and there are several things that I definitely don't want to repeat from last year! But the question is what profit is it to make those resolutions and even worse to make them public?! What if you don't live up to everything you wanted to do or not do and then at the end of the year are stuck and feeling like you - horror of horrors- failed!

Anyway, I'm going to spend another few days ruminating on this subject and trying to figure out what my goals are and what I want to commit to before I share it here. ;) In the mean time tell me what you are up to this year! What are your goals? And are you a person who resolves in the first place? Let me know!