Sooo let's catch up on life over the past several months shall we. MY plans were to continue working on the Agape Ministry, prepare the kids for a new school year, & try to plan some fun as a family around summer school, therapy, & military. "MY" plans were rearranged a good bit... Gavyn's Autism program was transferred to a different school & we weren't notified until summer (talk about last minute & time-consuming), unexpected extensions in Adam's military training schedule (as in no Daddy all summer), we decided to transfer our oldest & youngest from private to public schools, & my Nan became terribly ill… alot of challenges to say the least. I had to learn a hard lesson, WAITING!! Can you see a little cartoon face turning red, inflating with anger, & steam bursting out of it's ears? I hit that place on more than one occasion :/ God's timing isn't our timing or what we would expect, even though we often think we know better than God what needs to happen. Is.55:8-9 reminds us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." I'm gonna be flat out honest with you… I don't want to wait!!
Throughout this year, I've had a couple life-changing opportunities that have given me some tools I've needed to face challenges that have come along. One big one was a four-day adventure to Georgia for the Orange Conference!! BEST TRIP EVER!!!! (seriously, if you don't know what this is, you need to check it out …AWESOME!!) I will never look at a marble the same way again …lol, just ask me sometime. They provide training & enrichment workshops, & serious FUN/recoop/jam time for church staff & volunteers. We went specifically to learn how to start a special needs ministry!
I love short, profound phrases… "nuggets"; there is no shortage of that with Orange, & orange just happens to be my favorite color… so it's no wonder it exudes awesomeness ;) like my shoes!!
My top two nuggets, "words over time: can dramatically impact the direction in someone's life, they will either build up or tear down." Number two, "time over time: when you see how much time you have left, you tend to value & do more with the time you have now- Ps. 90:12." It soaks in so much better with their multi-sensory presentation so take a couple seconds to digest those, I promise you they are profound.
The other BIG event was renewing my drivers license. Yes, that's what I just said… who cares right? It just so happens that five years ago when it was time to get a new license, our twin boys were just diagnosed with the severest form of Autism. Let's just say my photo literally looked like death. I am not known for taking a good drivers license photo lol, but the problem with this picture was I had unknowingly placed all of my hope in my expectations & the world's definition of success for my kids. It was a defining moment captured on a little plastic card that displayed the deepest pain I have ever known. Every time I had to pull out that card to show it, it never failed that I was asked…"why the long face?" After a year though, it opened the door for conversation about the amazing transformation God had done in my life! So this past August I was pumped to get a retake!! It was surreal sitting in the same spot 5yrs later waiting to have my photo taken, remembering how hard it was just to breathe back then. This time around, I was all geared up to flash the cheesiest smile humanly possible because most days, I am ridiculously happy… there is only One reason why & I've experienced it for real! (Side-note, due to an unforeseen hair accessory malfunction… my streak of unflattering drivers license pictures will be carrying on for another 5yrs… ugh!)
A devotional by Dennis Fisher from Our Daily Bread, says it well… "Jeremiah was an eyewitness to the invasion of Jerusalem. He wrote his observations in his "diary"- the book of Lamentations. Despite the distressing times, he found hope: 'Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!'-(3:22-23). At various times, we may experience or witness disasters that feel like hostile forces entering our lives. But these times of trouble do not last forever."
When things are really rough at home, I find that looking outside of my situation into the lives of others renews my sense of hope. Another devotional from the Daily Bread by Bill Crowder reminds us, "Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others- Phil 2:4." He then shared, "on the first night of family camp, the camp director asked if anyone had anything to add. A young girl stood up & made a passionate appeal for help. She shared about her little brother, a boy with special needs, & the challenges of his care. Her appeal was a gentle reminder of how easily we can all get wrapped up in our own world, life, and problems- to the point that we fail to see the needs of others."
All of this takes me back to an earlier post on this blog explaining Agape love described in
1Cor 13. "The Bible reminds us that love is patient & kind. It is not self-seeking or easily angered. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." Even though the photo retake for my drivers license didn't turn out how I envisioned lol, at least now when I look at it I see a freedom in "knowing that I am learning so much about what real love is, and even though I probably wouldn't have asked for this journey and the heartache that goes with it, I wouldn't trade it for anything."(-Cindy Hess Kasper, Daily Bread)
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