The Journey Continues:The Splendor of our King

Wednesday Richard and I were heading to Oklahoma City for Richard's three appointments and I knew it was going to be a long day.  I wasn't really grumbling(well maybe in my head) but was tired from having to leave at such an early hour when I looked up and saw the Splendor of my King!  It was in the sunrise!  It was in the clouds!  It was in the grass and the trees.  It was in the air that I was breathing!  It was in the cross!!

God reminded me that He is in control.  He reminded me that He made the world and that He made me.  He reminded me that no matter what happens that He is in control.  He reminded me that in the scheme of things one day with many appointments could mean being a witness to someone about the splendor of my God!

Richard's appointments went well.  He has two more chemo treatments of this particular kind.  He will have a pet scan in nine weeks and at that point it will determined what the next step will be.  His counts were good  and he is now off of the steroids, except the bag he takes with each chemo.  He is actually down to one medicine that he takes by mouth.  Hopefully he will be able to be off of that one in the near future.

Thanks again to all the prayers warriors that are praying for us during this journey!!  Richard and I appreciate you so much!!!  :)

1 Chronicles 29:11

New International Version (NIV)

11 Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
    and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
    for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;
    you are exalted as head over all.

The Journey Continues:Update

Thank-you to everyone that has been praying for Richard, I and the rest of the family during this almost four year and counting journey.  Several have been asking again how Richard is doing so I thought I would write a quick post!!

He is very tired and annoyed this past few days and this morning.  He is ready to feel well, have some energy and be able to take a vacation that is not spent in a hospital.  He wants to pour over those maps and plan out a vacation.  He wants to feel well enough to enjoy it though.

His blood counts have continued to be good but he is having some pancreatic problems.  The Doctors are going to do an ultra-sound to see if it could be his gall bladder.  His pancreatic enzymes have been high but that also could be caused by gall bladder problems.  He will see the Doctor on Wednesday, after his chemo.

Thanks again for all the prayers and concern!!  We do appreciate it so much!!

1 Thessalonians 5:18

New International Version (NIV)

18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

The Spider Killer

I have killed at least three spiders in the last week.  I saw the spiders and then I killed them!  I knocked those ugly, hairy creatures into another world.  I don't care what world, just not my world!!  One of the spiders I killed and at the same time saved my daughter from a untimely death.  She owes me!!

I must confess that the spiders I killed were on the small side.  Now the one that I killed for my screaming, jumping up and down daughter was big.  I heard her tell a friend on the phone that it was at least as big as her head!!  : ) One of those spiders had the nerve to run toward me but I struck with a swiftness that probably has not been seen since my ball playing days!

I am really not sure what will happen if I have to kill a giant spider or a fast one. Even worse would be if there are multiple spiders.  I might be a spider killer and I wear that name proudly but if a spider is as big as a human head or even the size of my big toe or can outrun me I will probably revert back to the spider dance.  The one were I scream and yell and jump up and down.  The one that my daughter has learned so well!  I might need help with the big or fast ones!

I think all spiders are evil and just like sin!  Whether sin is big or small it needs to be struck down the instant it is recognized.  The longer sin stays the bigger it grows.  Sin that grows and is let to stay around becomes normal.  It needs to be killed.

I need to treat sin just as I have been treating those spiders that I killed.  The minute sin arrives I need to strike swift and kill it!! I need to be as scared of sin as I am of spiders,especially if sin is in multiples.  I need to have a sin dance.  One where I start dancing as soon as I smell sin!  One similar to the spider dance where I jump up and down, yell and scream.  One where I end up on my knees.  I need to be as afraid of sin as I am of spiders!  Sins bite is far worse than that of a spider.

I  do have a Sin Killer!  I don't have to deal with sin alone.  His name is Jesus and He knocks my sin into another world!!  He takes my sin and cleanses me!  Jesus is my Sin Killer, Lord and Savior! He has given me life now and after death.

Do you know my Sin Killer?

Philippians 3:19-21

New International Version (NIV)

19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

John 3:16-17

New International Version (NIV)

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him

The Bowling Churchwomen

1990 was the year that I moved to Enid, Oklahoma.   I had thought that I was okay with the move but once I got to Enid I missed my hometown so much that I wanted to take my family and head back home.  Wellston was where my friends were.  Wellston was where my family was.  My group was there.

I did join a church and made friends but something was missing.  It was my group!  The people in that group were people that I had grown up with and went to church with.  They knew my secrets, they laughed and cried with me.  I also knew their secrets, laughed and cried with them.  I missed them, the intimacy and the silliness.  

I had been at the Enid church about two years when I let the piano player talk me into joining a bowling league.  That was the start of the group! A group that I was a part of and that accepted me just as I was!  By the second year of bowling there were two teams.  The women were all from church.  We were the Bowling Churchwomen!!

Some of the women's husband's would be there cheering us on.  There was also a brother to one of the bowlers that would fill in if one of us could not be there.  It was not a big deal.  We just called him by the name of the woman who was absent.  He fit right in.

This group not only put up with me and my silliness, they kept me sane.  They put up with my jokes(including a fake wedding), Dr. Pepper flying out of my nose from laughter, sadness from divorce and death and  bragging about my children.  In turn I happily did the  same for them.  We were not just a group, we were best friends!

Then change happened.  One member had a job transfer, another's work hours changed, one had grandbabies and before we knew it the group was no longer bowling.  The women of the Bowling Churchwomen may not be together anymore but they are engraved in my heart forever!

God will supply the needs of His children!  God knew that when He gave me that desire of my heart that He also filled a need. 

Philippians 4:19

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Come Just As You Are!

Have you ever been involved in a come as you are party?  It is a party where someone will come and get you and you go to the party just as you are.  The choir at the church that I am a member of had something very similar to this the other day.  They went to different people and serenaded them and than brought them to choir if the people decided to come.  After choir there was an ice cream party.  There were 13 visitors in choir Wednesday!!   I am assuming that they came just as they were.

This concept really made me think.  What if somebody showed up at my house to take me to a come as you are party.  What would I look like?  Would I be ready to go join a party just as I am or would I have to say wait I have to change, I can't go like this?  On certain days or even certain times of the day I would be ready to come just as I am but other times I am not so sure!  It might even depend on who the person showing up is.

Jesus has a come just as you are party daily. His party is every minute of every day!  His party forgives of all sin!  His party is a  cleansing party.  He does not care what you look like or what you have done!  Some go to this party but don't get the message.  Some don't realize that coming just as you are could result in a new garment!  Some will leave the party still in their old garments but some are clothed in new life!

Are you ready to come just as you are??

Romans 5:8-10

New International Version (NIV)

8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Psalm 51:7

New International Version (NIV)

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Come Just As You Are 

by Crystal Lewis

Chorus
Come just as you are
Hear the spirit call
Come just as you are
Come and see
Come receive
Come and live forever

Come just as you are
Hear the spirit call
Come just as you are
Come and see
Come receive
Come and live forever


Life Everlasting
Strength for today
Taste the living water
And never thirst again

Come and see
Come receive
Come and live forever

Life Everlasting
Strength for today
Taste the living water
And never thirst again

Life Everlasting
Strength for today
Taste the living water
And never thirst again

Come just as you are
Don't you hear the spirit call?
Come just as you are
Come and see
Christ My King
Come and live forever more 

How beautiful are your feet?

                                     How beautiful are your feet?  I think mine are pretty ugly!!

After many years of walking on my feet, stepping on nails, splinters and gravel, breaking and stubbing toes, suffering a very painful avulsion fracture and then arthritis settling in several toes my feet could be worse.  I think they are ugly though!  My feet can still be used though!! My feet can take me to spread the good news!  

The Good News is that Jesus is Lord and Savior!  He came to earth for you and for me!! He died and rose again because of our sin.  What Christ suffered is beyond my comprehension!   When He knocks will you open your heart and let Him in!!  

Revelation 3:19-20

New International Version (NIV)

19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me

John 14:6

New International Version (NIV)

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

If God calls me to tell the good news, even if it is walking to the computer and posting about the Good News, going on Mission trips or telling my next door neighbor I should do it!!  

What about you?  Has God ask you to spread the good news?  How beautiful are your feet?

Romans 10:15

New Living Translation (NLT)

15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

Another bout of nothing in the mind

The last few weeks I have had a very blank mind.  I have had a few brilliant(of course brilliant) thoughts on the very edge of becoming something written that would cause you to sit back and say wow!  Instead my thoughts turned to mush and a thick blanket of nothing!

My thoughts turned to the last time that my mind was so very blank and I thought of how God had used that time to fill my mind with thoughts of him.  He used that time to remind me that when my mind is blank that maybe He is trying to fill it with the pure, holy sweetness of my Lord.  He used that time to remind me that I need to cleanse my mind daily and fill it with His strength and might!

I tried this again.  I felt nothing.  I cleansed my mind daily but still felt nothing.  I sent up prayers and still felt nothing.  I poured over my Bible but still felt nothing.  Yesterday, though, when reading scripture I was reminded of something.

NOTHING, NO, NOTHING will separate me from God!!! NOT even a mind full of nothing!!

Romans 8:38-39

New International Version (NIV)

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.