Bend in the Road

As I travel to town daily to go to work I go around a bend in the road that was nicknamed “Dead man’s corner” many years ago. Over a long period of time it earned that name because of the people who were killed there. This includes the drunk driver that hit my husband, brother, and their best friend. It was on this corner that as I came into it I found my adopted granddaughter and her mom sitting on the side of the hill waiting for a ride to rescue them from the car troubles they were having. I picked them up and took them home, the car was rescued later.

Life is full of bends in the roads. As much as we would like to travel from Point A to Point B with the straightest of all road it doesn’t work that way. Funny thing about a straight road, they can be boring which makes the journey appear to be longer than it really is.

The bends in the roads we encounter can come from situations such as being diagnosed with cancer, told your spouse wants a divorce, troubles with raising kids, problems at work, and so much more. These are all disruptive moments that come up in our lives that we need to be prepared to handle.

Unless you are familiar with the road you don’t know what is around the bend. We trust in the road department that they don’t have some surprise on the other side. We trust that the road is built well enough that we can get through to where we want to go.

With life’s situations that create bends in our roads we need to trust God as our road department that He knows what He’s doing. That the road we are traveling won’t end up in a surprise on the other side.

When traveling in a car we are taught to have some kind of provisions tucked away in case something happens. And trust me things can happen such as flat tires, dead batteries, trees blocking the roads, lost drivers and so much more. In our spiritual journey we need to be prepared to take with us the provisions God supplies through His grace, mercy, strength, and wisdom.

The bends in the roads we encounter don’t have to earn the nickname “dead man’s corner.” How we handle the situations we come up upon will determine whether we will live through them or allow our spirit to die there and go no further.

Years ago with my epilepsy I once had it created a very big bend in my road. I was declared disabled, lost my job, my driver’s license was taken away, I was told to never have kids all in the span of the first month or two of my new marriage. Many times thanks to pity parties and discouraging moments I stopped on the side of the road and wanted to quit. It was there that I wanted to die but God wouldn’t let me. Little did I know at the time he was traveling with me through these bends, he was the one that rounded the corner and found me sitting on the hillside as He asked me if I needed a ride.

Praise the Lord we have God with us during these moments. We should never doubt that. Just because He is there doesn’t guarantee us smooth sailing, what His promise is, is a safe landing on the other side.

As I travel into the next bend in my road with cancer I’m glad God is still with me. The hard times I face are not punishment for bad behavior from yesterday but for blessings in my future to learn what I need to learn in the classroom of hard knocks. My teacher travels with me, on my spiritual car I’m traveling in I hang up a sign on the trunk that says, “Student driver. How’s my driving? Call Jesus.”

Cutting your portions

As my lunch time approached at work I got to thinking about my eating habits. I know as well as anyone that the reason I am overweight is because of bad eating habits. Believe it or not the best way to lose weight is to cut back on your eating and exercise. It took me over 40 years to learn that but how could I portray that my grandkids so they don't have to wait that long to learn. As I stared at the office equipment in front of me the paper cutter caught my attention. Placing my salad on the cutter I took a picture to send to my granddaughters.

"Are you remembering to cut your portions?" I asked. As I thought about it myself I had to first answer that question myself. "Am I cutting my portions?" Honestly and truly I haven't been cutting my portions like I should. I've been able to cut out sugar but those extra portions are still a treasurer I just don't seem to want to give up.

We live our Christian lives that very same way. We gladly give up the things that aren't that precious to us. Its easy to hand over the parts of our lives we really don't care about. Its the things we want to keep that are hard to give up. In order to teach my grandkids the things they need to benefit their lives I need to demonstrate it myself in my own life. The letting go of the things that need to go and keeping only that which truly is needed to survive.

Karen

Prayer

Today is the National day of prayer. If there is one thing our nation and world needs and that is our prayers. Our sincere and honest prayers as we lift before God our nation and the world as a whole. It is said, "the one who advances on their knees in prayer never retrieves". Praise the Lord when we keep in touch with God we have no need to retrieve over anything except from sin itself.

Keeping in touch with God on a daily if not a moment by moment basis is the anchor needed to stay strong. It was a door that was opened for us through the shed blood of Jesus Christ when he died for us on the cross. Prayer will advance us in our lives and develope in us the ability to stand strong. Our focus as a nation and as a worldwide body needs to be on God, our dependence on Him needs to be voiced. Too often we have tried to go out on our own and it only gets us further lost in the wilderness of the world.

Prayer is the beginning of every jouney and the fuel that keeps us going down every path. There is never a moment in life that we don't need it, never a second that God grows tired of hearing from us. One day a year set aside to pray for our nation is far from enough but its a start to something that is as long lasting and precious as we make it.


Karen

**Our picture today features Tacey a little girl that is one year old, prayer knows no age or no limit. We can all do it and the sooner we start the better the journey.

Journey to be skinny AGAIN

As my granddaughter and I set out on our journey we stopped to collect pictures of ourselves to show we weren't always over weight. We were skinny once and we can be again is our motto.

This is what we found and we made a copy of it to carry with us. Shortly afterwards another granddaughter asked to join. Now we need to update out picture of encouragement.

It's amazing how we need to be reminded once in awhile that we weren't always flawed in some way or another. Even if it takes going back to our baby pictures we need to remind ourselves we were there once and can be again.

The only difference is the fact that the second time or third or fourth time will have to be done with greater effort. That's our problem these days we are not willing to put that effort into it. We've gotten lazy and callus in our desires to do what needs to be done. It's too easy to let things slide and accept what we have to avoid doing something about it.

Cry out to Jesus

One day as I prayed earnestly for my granddaughter I decided to take my picture. Deep into the words flooded with tears I snapped my camera phone. I wanted her to see what it's like sometimes when you cry out to the Lord. The reaction I got out of a couple of people when they went thru the pictures on my phone was, "Oh Karen, Oh Grandma you're so funny."

I wasn't trying to be funny, I was honestly and truly praying and crying out to Jesus on behalf of my granddaughter. Doing this is all a part of the journey on our knees, the turning to God in prayer to help us through life and to keep in communication with our Lord and Savior. There is nothing funny about it but pure joy and happiness knowing we have a Savior who listens and cares.

Too often because of the things that go on in life we might think, "God doesn't care about me. If He did care then why did grandma get cancer, why did grammy have a stroke, why did......and the list goes on." When we call on the name of the Lord its not a safety plan that makes us go through life with no incidents to deal with. No, what it is, is our path through life's difficulties. Honestly I couldn't have found my way out of my 12 years of epileptic seizures if it wasn't for Jesus. I never would have survived the difficulties of dealing with alcohol in the family. My cancer would have taken me down both physically as well as spiritually if it wasn't for the fact that I have Jesus on my side. That's not a peaceful path of tranquility and no worries but a powerful guide and companion to walk me through life. The time of tranquility and peace comes when we reach Heaven, until then we have this life to journey thru. What's nice is the fact that this life is temporary, the life in Heaven is for all eternity. Amen! Cry out, talk out, speak softly it doesn't matter as long as you stay in communication with the Lord.

Saying no

Recently in our quest to lose weight and eat healthy my granddaughters and I have joined forces. One day as I said no to this lovely muffin I sent a picture of it to them and told them what I did. Or better yet what I didn't do. I didn't eat this. Some of life's journeys are hard and it helps to have the encouragement of others to get through them.

There are journey's that are not always fun but having a cheering section around you helps. Our plan is to go without sugar until July when we go on vacation. We may mess up once in awhile on our journey, so far so good, but that's okay as we learn to pick ourselves up and keep on going. Moving forward in life in spite of the obstacles that may come our way. The best thing our cheering section can do for us is to holler "jump" when those obstacles appear as an encouragement to keep on going and don't let life stop you.

Journal Note Coping Skills, trusting God

I promised I would share with you my “coping skills” I used over the years. Tricks pulled out of my hat that worked temporarily but soon failed. As with any trick, they may work for the person down the street but that doesn’t mean they will for us. What is important is we work on finding what does work for us one ingredient at a time; one recipe at a time.

Samples of things I did to endure were: 1) I recorded scriptures on a tape to listen to at night using earphones to help me fall asleep and give me peace. 2) Frequently I used solitary bathrooms as my crying room as I struggled to regain the strength needed to endure the outside world. 3) Sitting on the baptistery stairs at the church and praying and talking to God helped a great deal. 4) Frequently going into the sanctuary of the church dropping to my knees crying out loud to God was a must. I remember once doing it in my bib overalls, another time in a dress that I lost a button on as I fell to my knees. I never did find the lost button but I found God. One time when I was praying I felt the tremble of the earth below me. Later I went back to that same spot and tried again to see if the tremble was still there but it wasn’t.

5) I anointed my house once, the door jams and the front door as I prayed to God.  6) I painted the walls of my house with songs of praise each morning before leaving for work to cover the anger from the fighting the evening before. 7) I would daily leave all my cares and anxieties on the rock pile at the edge of our property so I wouldn’t take them to work with me. 8) I built a set of stairs out of wood and put a cross on the top of my four inch creation to give me a place to focus. 9) I even tried the running away trick and the trick of anger and revenge.

 At times it seemed like the only friend I had was the smiley face on a deck of cards that would pop up randomly as I played solitaire on the computer. It was a face I looked forward to as it was a reminder to me that someone still cared. Someone was still smiling at me. On top of all the other tricks I listed I had one I thought was the answer. It seemed like a good approach to my problems. It was logical and what appeared to be fool proof. Wrong! Little did I know my effort to deal with life turned into a trap that I would later get caught in? It would be a trap that took years to remove.  

 Over the years it got to the point that I told God I had no more tricks to pull out of my hat. Everything I tried to do to cope wasn’t working or lasting very long. God spoke to my heart and told me the problem was “I” was trying to do these things; “I” needed to stop and allow God to help me.

 Giving up the notion that I needed to get my husband to change was the beginning of better progress for myself and my marriage.   It was time to stop believing the lies that Satan had me feeding from. Lies such as the fact that my only friend was a smiley face on a deck of cards, the lie that getting angry was showing I was dealing with life. The lie also that I was the only one going through such terrible times. The lie also that no one cared.

 Satan is good at getting us down and then he has his ways of holding our heads under as we drown in our own self pity. Way back when I didn’t lean on the promises of God, I leaned on my tricks. Later I learned the best defense is that which God provides. The promises He gives us in His word such as “I will never leave you nor forsake you. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

 Those are the things we need to throw in Satan’s face and tell him what Christ told him, “Get ye behind me Satan.” It’s a statement that will need repeating over and over again but that’s okay. The important thing is that we don’t quit or give up on ourselves or God. We need to use our hard times to learn from and to draw closer to God.

 Honestly if my walk in life had been smooth and easy I probably never would have prayed to God as much as I have. I would never have drawn as close as I am to His side. As the song says, “If that’s what it takes then Jesus let it rain,” Amen! We definitely need to stay close to God when life circumstances are raining down on us. Leaning on Him and doing all we can to stand strong in Him.

 
It’s important to remember that Satan can make us stumble but he can’t make us fall. We are the ones that allow that because we aren’t focused on the things above, the eternal stuff that needs to be in our hearts. Praising the Lord thru it all is the best way to cope anything. Praise Him for His love, his mercy, grace, forgiveness, comfort, companionship, wisdom, understanding, and so much more. Claim His promises in His word and stand on them. Satan will try to knock you off your newly found platform of promises but don’t allow it. Stand firm, stand strong.