SEEKING 'I AM'

Searching in His Word...

My life verse, Jeremiah 33:3, "Call to Me and I will answer you; and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know", guides me to THE 'hands on' way to find His answers, Hear His Voice, Immersing into Scripture away from the evil one..'HeWhoMustNotBeNamed'...who rules over the world.

This is a time I DO NOT want the world's perspective.

I yearn for Heavenly perspective.  A perfection given from "I AM", who created the universe.

Life is throwing INOBVIOUS ANSWERS, and I continue asking WHY while trying to comfort also-hurting younger adults.

Today anger creeps from usually happy corners of my mind and shock splashes back and forth, crunching my stomach.   There is no place for normal hunger while these pangs are rolling back, forth and around inside the core of my being.

Heartbrokenness isn't a comfortable pondering and it has become a close companion while poking and grabbing me; yes, shock's boots intermittently stomp said heart each time memories flash in and out of mind's eye.

Overwhelming sorrow has overtaken. Too many questions...fewer answers...and LOTS of sorrow among all who loved and still love.

 

Dear Jesus, Our Risen and Living Lord,

We are but human, You are Creator

Please guide us to Your Word, Your eternally living Words...

Fill our empty spaces...in, during and after this shock. 

 

Continue emblazing Your Word of Truth into our numbness. 

 

In Your crying over Lazarus, Your compassion for Your people was shared; 

so I believe You are crying with us

Continue interceding to Our Holy, Loving Father on our behalf.

 

Amen & Amen

Let It Be So & Let It Be So

John 8:31

"If you continue in my word, then you are truly Disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
Blessings,

TAKE ME BACK TUESDAY...4EVER, Thomas ; )

You can participate and/or check out other Take Me Back Tuesday posts at A Giveaway Addicted Mommy.



Sunday evening was one of those "monumental moments" for our youth, and for us "old people"...the counselors.

We were blessed to attend our yearly senior banquet which honors our graduating seniors--this year's theme was a "cruise" down memory lane...hats, streamers, noise makers, confetti, mouse ears, stand-up cutout props, balloons, and food, food, food.

The longer I sat...watching the juniors host the event, taking in all the festivities, it was the pictures that took me back:

...remembering the little ones I had diapered

...clapping hands as we sang "Here is the church, here is the steeple..."

...picking up Easter eggs in the tall, green grass at campground

...gathering tons of cans for our local co-operative ministry

...carrying 5-gallon thermos coolers filled with lemonade

...working on the clients' homes (painting, raking, repairing) each summer

...standing on the pews in the arbor as we sang praise songs

...hugging one another as tears of conviction were wept at the altar

...smiling for the cameras during fun, lessons, service projects, anytime!

These soon-to-be adults have been wrestling with life's realities for the last two years...since one of their classmates, Thomas, was killed in an inter-state highway accident.

As we sat viewing slides, letters from their parents were being read, and the graduating seniors were whispering their reactions to one another. That's when I got this shot...I LOVE the silhouette effect, and I love the kids more.

Each memory declaring itself a treasured piece of their past--we saw Thomas in many of the slides and our hearts were tugged with the preciousness of those memories...he was back with us--never to be forgotten.

He had lived, loved and laughed with us for 17 years, seventeen "oh-so-short" years.

The kids reminisced and savored each picture while celebrating this crossroad into newness--the unknown waiting for them the other side of graduation.

We loved you Thomas...We will FOREVER love you, Thomas!
We love you Seniors...we will FOREVER love you, seniors!

Dear Lord,

Bless them daily,

remind them of all the lessons they've been taught

throughout the many years of Sunday School,

worship and UMYF.

Protect their hearts from becoming hardened or lukewarm,

we so want them to continue being in Your presence daily and

have a PASSION for YOU.

May we continue to hold them in our prayers.

Amen

SEEING HIS LIGHT...IN THE LAUGHS

CHRISTMAS EVE WAS...

Singing "Silent Night" as we lit candles...love, love, love it...we welcome His arrival in PEACE...the world so needs His PEACE. 

The darkness becomes light as more and more RECEIVE His Light...

we can now truly see each other in HIS light! "I am the Truth and the Life", is what He said.

Sharing time with family and friends...we think of those we cannot be with at this time and our hearts are sad; yet we know the love we share, and He settles the separation.

Christmas morning brings opening the presents (and I think of His PRESENCE)...HE gave it ALL for us...to have relation with each one of us...

Jesus would have celebrated Hanukkah as a boy...so, I know he would have loved lighting the candles with his mother and enjoying time with family. She would have laughed and taught him about the legacy of his family and their traditions. 

One of our traditions...we always give something funny...this year, my DD 

received a crochet cap with ear warmers....all the teens are wearing them yet they seem to me to take them back to their earlier childhoods...they pull on the fringe and pull the caps down tightly over their heads and it just makes you laugh! Reminders of a childhood not so long ago, yet on some days they want to be so grown up and ready to leave home.

One of my fun gifts is a "ceramic single-cup tea set of penguins sitting on a plate shaped like an igloo" (By the way, she didn't know I had started a penguin collection this year in my dining room...somehow, she always reads my mind).

...DH received 5 bottles of "1905 honey mustard"...which is his favorite for ham and turkey sandwiches.  Sometimes, looking back at Christmases of old, the presents remembered the most are the funny, cute ones...how soon we forget the big-dollar items.

WHAT LAUGHS DID YOU HAVE THIS HOLIDAY?  

PLEASE LEAVE A NOTE, POST A PIC ON YOUR SITE...I'D ENJOYING HEARING AND SEEING HOW YOU LAUGH DURING THIS SPECIAL TIME.

Deuteronomy 6:2

So that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.

ONE BODY

Each stood,adored
One church body,clapping,singing
United excitement

Praising Christ's divine growing
Celebrating,healing in our midst
Adoring in union

Standing in His presence
Knowing angels all around
Holy Spirit, Holy Ground

Zephaniah proclaimed
"The Lord, thy God, in the midst of thee is mighty."
His Prophesy revived

Praising,celebrating
Two pastors, new opportunities
Excited, leaving soon

Adoring Him, Senior pastor,
doctorate pursued
Achievement with honors

Praising, thanking Him
Healing two women, endured suffering
returned from sickness

Each stood, adored
One church body clapping,singing
United excitement

FROM THE BEGINNING...

If you weren't at church tonight...you missed a BIG BLESSING!

The John presentation was very powerful…energetic, multiple changes in voice inflection, unbelievable memorization, movement to and fro, up high,down low, sharing his water with the poor choking woman in the front row. I couldn't imagine what his perspective from on top of that table standing in the chair must have been like...too scary.

At moments I was lost in the monologue and truly felt I was there in the moment, in Jerusalem, in the Garden, seeing each of the characters, coming alive in sight, sound and touch...He certainly made it into a personal experience for me. When he came and leaned in to my face, holding my forearm with his right hand as he leaned down looking deep into my eyes…I thought he was going to go nose to nose…intentional and very focused…and he said,

John 15:27

“And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning."

… and then he was gone.

Since the beginning He knew me…it’s like what I wrote yesterday about CK’s birthday…He determined the time…He will not leave me…and He wants me testifying about Him…sharing His spirit…loving...not centering in but reaching out...loving, sharing...not complaining...loving, lifting someone else up that is down.

A few minutes after pondering his words to me, ..."Oh no, I was confirmed as an old woman, again!…you know, the part where he said,"with Him since the beginning"...it made me think of Eve...do I look THAT OLD, for some reason now 49 doesn't sound so bad!

God's GLORY...His GLORY... with us tonight...

\o/ \o/ \o/

...and since the BEGINNING!