Bring On the Rain

Hello, my beloved friends and family. 

Where do I start....hmmm. 

I want to start out all smiles, and butterflies of goodness.  I truly have a joy and peace today that is beyond understanding.  I will not let the rocks cry out for me so here it is, "Praise the Lord!"  But.....
I must start with catching you up on my life in this new year.  It has been ugly and "warty".

Last post filled you in on my son having an accident.   Well, since then we have replaced his BMW with another BMW.  It is beautiful and was bought for less than his first one, and it's paid in full!  On the very day we bought it he got a speeding ticket with his dad sitting right next to him.  Yuck!  It gets worse.  The officer took his license on the spot saying it had been suspended based on his last ticket.  Well, twenty four hours later and a few hundred dollars later Tim had his car and license back.  We now get to wait and hear if this last ticket will also suspend his license and cost major money.  If so, well he is on his own.  GRRR!

We had finally got the check for Tim's car on Wednesday.  The next day we bought Tim's new BMW and that very same morning I totalled my Cadillac.  I hit a deer going 55 mph at 4:30am on the way to the gym.  We have finalized the accident and soon the car will be paid off and I will have to buy another one. WAH!

My Behcet's Disease keeps rearing it's ugly self about every other week.  Threatening a total outbreak of blisters and crippling pain.  It's due to stress.  Predinsone is being popped in my mouth like Peanut M&Ms.  I can't lose weight for the water retention and viracious appetite but still try to exercise during the week.  FRUSTRATION!

Last Monday my husband called the office and said it was very important that I come home immediately after our last patient.  I got home and he said get back in the car because he was taking me out to dinner in Asheville because he wanted to talk Cory and us.  We sat at the table and out came a notebook he entitled "The Rest of My Life".  Hmmm.   He announced to us that he lost his job and will be unemployed as of March 31, 2010.  STUNNED. 

The first quarter of the year has been interesting.  Money trials are our fiery darts.  Yet, we are committed to being faithful in our giving.  We are strangely and surprisingly ok.  Details aren't written here but overall there is a strange peace.  We are challenged to keep the faith, and to use incredible wisdom in our spending and planning.  These situations this year have proven to be a means to lean on Jesus even more and more.  So, this is why I started my blog with smiles and butterflies of goodness and expressions of genuine joy.

We have family who love us.  Friends who hug us and support us.  A church family to pray and encourage us spiritually.  We are not alone.  I have had my tears of hurt over these situations but I still have hope.  I have an incredible husband of 23 years.  He took me out the weekend before we got the news of his employment.  It was our wedding anniversary.  We had a great time being real with each other and have since then committed to more laughter and appreciation of each other.  Life truly is good now... even in the midst of most uncertainty.  I am not a PollyAnna but I am a woman of faith.  A Jesus girl who continues to climb up in the lap of an incredible, Holy God who loves me enough to teach me and bring me closer to him, even through pain of loss. 

I want to encourage you today to take a look at your life and see how God is working in it.  What are your challenges.  He truly wants us to be involved in His work.  Is His refinement in process?

We aren't here to drive fancy cars, earn big paychecks, and have a life of leisure.  We are here to do His work.  We have talents and assignments to bring Him glory and bring others to know Him. We are not here to entertain the masses nor to  provide companionship to God.  We need to live our lives out loud in a way that attracts others to God.  If God just wanted us for companionship and for worship only, He would bring us all to heaven with Him where we could be with Him face to face.   We have a great commission.

My life is one big HUGE distraction from God right now.  I would normally be so focused on "what ifs" and "what to dos" during this time.  I have chosen to pull away from my distraction.  I will run the race and remember "It's not about me."  It's about taking these "fiery darts" and continuing on --going forward in faith.  Albeit....through some tears at times and wrapped in the hugs from loved ones. 

By the way, "Who said life is a bowl of cherries?"  I personally have a mouth full of pits. My "Praise the Lord sounds like another language....I am glad He knows my heart!

Sometimes I just want to laugh until I cry.    Pray for me!

My latest anthem: Bring on the Rain. Click on Title.