Beautiful Snowflake

The closer I draw to the Lord, the more I see His amazing work in my life. He is all around me, in every detail of my life. I see Him in the people, situations and single moments in my life. I"m not sure why I didn't notice the magnitude of His work in my life before. I'm certain that He has always been at work around me. Perhaps I have been motivated by my own selfish desires and too wrapped up in my own agenda to notice Him. The more I seek Him, the more I see Him all around me. To be completely honest, He absolutely astonishes me with His goodness and blessings. I see things now that I never noticed before. I would love to share some of these things with you.

A few weeks ago I met a woman that is truly a servant of God. Lets call her Beth. Beth was a complete stranger when the Lord crossed her path with mine for a brief moment. She has been caring for her disabled teenage son for all of his life. Her son is unable to walk. Beth provides all of his care, including lifting him regularly by herself. She also takes care of her 90 year old grandmother. Beth's grandmother has an arm fracture and is also unable to walk. Beth provides all of her grandmother's care, including lifting her regularly by herself. I could see that Beth was overwhelmed with her responsibilities so I discussed with Beth the possibility of placing her grandmother in an extended care facility. Beth said that she would never let that happen. She said that her grandmother raised her because her alcoholic, drug-addicted mother left her and her father when she was an infant. Beth said that she knows that God will help her care for her family. I admire Beth and her selflessness. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it must be for her to care for her family daily. I'm sure she must make regular sacrifices to provide for them in this way. As I reflect on Beth, I know that I probably wouldn't have given her another thought if not for God's prompting. I find that Beth is frequently on my mind and I pray for her and her family often. I feel like I can see God's good in people now. I was once judgemental and critical of others.



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This weekend we went to the grocery store. I know that this doesn't sound very profound. As we were walking through the parking lot, we couldn't help but notice the huge, fluffy clumps of snow falling from the sky. We have had very little snow so far this winter so we marveled at the beauty of the snowfall. My son and I stopped to catch some of the falling snow on our coat sleeves. As we looked at the clumps of snow, we noticed that each clump was made up of several intricately-detailed snowflakes stuck together. Each snowflake was beautiful but different from the other. I couldn't help but wonder how anyone could look at a snowflake and not know for sure that there is an Awesome Creator. The amazing detail of each snowflake is certainly not something that can happen by chance. Isn't God cool that He makes these beautiful little masterpieces fall all around us every time that it snows? And then I thought about how small each individual flake is and how many, many flakes clumped together can create a complete transformation of the world around us. I compared it to each one of God's children. He makes us all beautiful in our own way. However, we can still feel small and insignificant in this vast and sometimes brutal world around us. When we join in His name with His other servants to become His body of Christ, we can accomplish things that would be otherwise insurmountable.

Yesterday I cleaned the house. I hate cleaning the house. Besides having dental work or a medical procedure, cleaning the house is my least favorite thing to do. Well, anyway, I cleaned the house because it really needed to be done. I decided to listen to my Ipod to make the experience more pleasant. I knew that my Ipod wasn't completely charged. When I turned it on, I noticed that it had slightly less than half of the battery. I started playing my "worship songs" playlist and went about the business of cleaning, expecting my Ipod to die within about an hour. Roughly an hour later, I barely heard the phone ringing. I stopped the music and answered the phone. When I hung up, I looked at my Ipod again. The battery bar was red now and showed pretty much no battery left. Well, I decided to keep listening to my worship music since it hadn't died yet. Our cat followed me around the house and looked at me like I was a freak as I belted out all of my favorite worship songs. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I cleaned at least another two and a half hours and my Ipod never died. Such a God thing. :)

As I was dusting the shelves in our living room, I noticed the two small wooden shoes that my grandparents had carved several years ago. I have dusted the same shoes many times before. As I was listening to my worship music and praising God while I cleaned, a new thought popped into my mind. I thought about the tiny wooden shoes and how we obtained them. I remembered that it was back when I was a freshman in high school and I was dating my husband. I took him to our family Christmas at my grandparents' house. My grandmother was a kind and loving woman that would never want anyone to feel uncomfortable or unloved. My husband (boyfriend at the time) was very surprised when he was presented with the small gift to open. My grandmother had given him the small wooden shoe that my grandfather had carved and she had stained. Not more than a month later, Mike and I broke up. I never really thought about the shoe after that. We of course got back together (two years later). Just a few months after Christmas, my grandmother was diagnosed with metastatic cancer. She died that spring. I still miss her so much even now. I had a very close, special relationship with her and my grandfather. When she died, our family fell apart. She was that special ingredient, the glue that held everything together. As I held the shoes I thought about how she is still so much a part of me today. I wouldn't be who I am now without her and the experiences we shared. Then I wondered when I got the other shoe. I thought I could remember getting it as a birthday present when I was a child. My grandparents always gave us hand-carved pieces as gifts. How awesome to now have these two shoes together as a pair, one appropriately smaller and than the other. They remind me of my husband and I being a pair and walking through life together. I am thankful that the Lord brought these things to my mind again. How awesome He is that He brought these two shoes back together. He knew those many years ago that they would be a pair someday. He also knew how special it would be that my grandmother was such a big part of that story.

I attribute my new found spiritual clarity to being closer to God. He is making me more like Him and therefore I can see Him all around me with renewed clarity. The following scripture says it better than I ever could.

1 Corinthians 2:6-16

God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit

 ⁶ We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷ No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ However, as it is written:

   “What no eye has seen,
   what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”^[a]—
   the things God has prepared for those who love him—

 ¹⁰ these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

   The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³ This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.^{[b] 14} The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. ¹⁵ The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, ¹⁶ for,

   “Who has known the mind of the Lord
   so as to instruct him?”^[c]
   But we have the mind of Christ.

As I was working on this post, which I had already entitled "Beautiful Snowflake," I opened my Dove chocolate to the following message:


another God thing!

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A Miracle Witnessed

I would like to share with you the story of a true miracle. Everything you are about to read is the absolute truth.

I was a 21 year old college student when I noticed a large mass protruding from the right side of my abdomen. You could see the mass with your eyes and feel the mass with your hands. I knew this was obviously not normal so I went to see my doctor. He was perplexed and sent me to a local surgeon. The surgeon was also perplexed. He ordered an ultrasound of my gallbladder. While I was having the ultrasound, the technician said she needed to go get the radiologist. I sensed that this was a bad sign. The radiologist returned to tell me that there appeared to be a large mass in my liver. A CT scan was scheduled for a few days after this. After I had the CT scan, my mother and I were informed that I had multiple inoperable tumors throughout my abdomen. The report indicated that I had tumors in my liver and pancreas as well as a large tumor wrapped around my aorta. I was in shock. INOPERABLE! Translation: you are going to die from these tumors! A biopsy guided by CT scan was scheduled for 2 weeks later. I informed my family and friends of the bad news. Everyone, including me, was in total shock. I was young and healthy. How could I be dying?

I had a good friend at the time who was a minister's daughter and a Christian. Her name is Amy. Amy told me that she and her family as well as her entire church congregation would be praying for me and my health issues. I was grateful and thanked her but I didn't really expect much to result from the prayers. I was not a Christian at the time. To say the least, I was completely clueless about the things of God.

 I went to have the biopsy 2 weeks later. The radiologist was dumbfounded. "Why?" you ask. Because this CT scan only showed one tumor, in my liver. There were no other tumors in my pancreas, around my aorta or in any other part of my abdomen. I asked the radiologist if perhaps the first CT scan showed all of the "tumors" because the contrast that I drank didn't distribute properly to all areas of my abdomen and just made it look like I had tumors. He said that this was not possible and that several physicians from the area had met to look at my previous CT scan. He said that they all had agreed that I had multiple inoperable tumors. The radiologist said that he couldn't explain why the other tumors were gone and that I should consider it a miracle. I proceeded to have the tumor in my liver biopsied. It was benign. I did end up having a liver resection (a large portion of my liver removed) and my gallbladder removed.

Now that I am a Christian, I look back on all that has happened in my life and the ways that God has worked in my life that I didn't recognize then. Certainly, the fact that he saved me from inoperable cancer is nothing other than a miracle. I am so thankful to the Lord for everything in my life, including my health and well-being. I am completely healthy and cancer-free to this day. I'm not saying that having a major surgery was easy, but I can see how God used that time in my life to draw me closer to him. Everything that happens in my life is part of his master plan for me. I feel so blessed that he performed a true miracle in me and that I can use that miracle to touch the lives of others.

I prayed about what words the Lord wanted me to share today. These are the words that he gave me:

     I perform miracles everyday. Some miracles are small and barely noticed, like each breath of air you breathe or the beauty of the sun's rays providing energy and life to plants and trees. Other miracles are huge and unexplainable, like the healing of someone with a terminal illness or the survival of a person involved in a horrific accident.

     There is nothing I cannot do. I created the heavens and the earth. I created every living thing. I formed you when you were in the womb. My power and might is beyond what you are even capable of imagining. I can move mountains if I want to. I heal the smallest cut without you even thinking of how it heals - it is a miracle. All things I have created are miracles in themselves. Think of the conception, development and birth of a child. Is that not a miracle? What about the sacrifice of my son, Jesus so that you can live free of sin and guilt and spend an eternity in my presence? Is this not the greatest miracle of all? My children are so wrapped up in their busy lives that they can't even see all of the miracles around them. Take the time to look around you and see all of the wondrous miracles I've placed in your life. Look at the sun, the stars, the moon and the clouds. Observe the majestic view from a mountain top. Watch the sun sink into the horizon as it sets over the ocean. Examine a single flower or butterfly in all of it's beauty. Look at your own body and all of it's miracles - the very beating of your own heart that circulates oxygen-rich blood to all of your tissues.

     Do not take all of these miracles for granted. Notice them and breathe them in. I did not create the earth and all of it's miracles for me, I created them for you. That's how much I love you. When you notice one of the many miracles around you, take the time to acknowledge me in it and spend some time with me.

Psalm 77:10-15
¹⁰ Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
   the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.
¹¹ I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
   yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
¹² I will consider all your works
   and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”
 ¹³ Your ways, God, are holy.
   What god is as great as our God?
¹⁴ You are the God who performs miracles;
   you display your power among the peoples.
¹⁵ With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
   the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

Being healed from cancer isn't the only miracle I have experienced. The Lord has healed me physically as well as spiritually. My Heavenly Father has healed my body and my soul. If you want to read about how the Lord saved me from certain death and an eternity without him, please read Salvation in my November 2011 blog archive. If you want to read more about how to have your soul saved from certain death, please read A Fresh Perspective in my December 2011 blog archive. 

Have you witnessed a miracle, big or small? If you have, I would love to hear about it. Have a great day.
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God's Difficult Will

God's will is sometimes very difficult. He never said His will would be easy. I think we just assume that once we become believers and accept Christ that our lives will be smooth-sailing. This is so not the case.

I admit that I have had a difficult week. My father-in-law had a major surgery yesterday. We waited for hours to hear the outcome and prognosis of his situation. He was facing cancer. We prayed for him together as family and friends. We prayed from the very intimate and tender places of our hearts. It was a truly spiritual experience that I will never forget. I could feel the love of Jesus surrounding us and him. At the end of the day, the news was good. Preliminary testing indicates that the tumor was benign. It was a very sweet ending to a long, exhausting day. Thank you, Lord!

The other issue I have been facing this week is a new job opportunity. I have been pretty excited about this potential new job. I have been praying about it for about a week with no real sense of what God wanted me to do in this situation. I had already convinced myself that I would be perfect for the job and that it must be God's will for me to make the change. The new position would have meant working less hours per week and having way less job stress. I would be doing a lot more paperwork and having virtually no life or death situations to deal with. It would also mean that I could sleep much later. My current job requires me to be at work at 5 a.m.. The new job would start at 8 a.m. I could practically envision myself with my head on my pillow enjoying all of the extra sleep I would be getting. The other beautiful benefit of the new job was that I would not have to work any weekends or holidays. I was so convinced that God would want all of these wonderful things for me that I even talked to my boss about applying for the other position.

Well, yesterday as Mike (my husband) and I were on our way to the hospital, the Lord made it abundantly clear what He wanted me to do. Mike and I were talking about this new job and how it would change our routine and home life. As I was talking to Mike, I got this overwhelming sense of what God wanted from me. He told me that I was focusing on all of the wrong things. He said that He loved me but it was not about my comfort. He needed me to stay in my current job. He knew it was stressful, difficult and exhausting. He needed me there to continue to do His work.

I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I got this message. I wanted to cry and almost did. Why? Why could I not have comfort and ease? Why? I pictured myself standing in front of God, pounding on His chest while I threw a tantrum like a two-year-old asking over and over, "Why?" The whole time I ranted and raved, the Lord held me in His arms while enduring my fists against his chest. He loves me no matter how disobedient I am.

This morning as I spent time with the Lord, he gave me these words:

I am well pleased with you, my child. You have been obedient to Me and I am pleased. Continue to seek Me with your whole heart in all of your decisions. You are right to consult Me about a new job. You know what I want from you and where I want you to be. My will is not always easy or comfortable. My will can be exhausting and taxing. No one ever said being a follower of Me would be easy or without hardship. It will be very rewarding, though. Continue to seek My will and not your own. Remember that I will be with you every step of the way. I will never leave your side. I will give you strength and rest. Cast your burdens onto Me. I will give you peace in your soul in the midst of My will.

The scripture He gave me is Philippians 2:12-18.

Do Everything Without Grumbling

 ¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

 ¹⁴ Do everything without grumbling or arguing, ¹⁵ so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”^[a] Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky ¹⁶ as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. ¹⁷ But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. ¹⁸ So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

It is difficult to do what God wants us to do, especially when every inch of our being wants something different. As His children, God calls us to do this and to do it without complaining. We are so blessed that He is with us at all times to help us accomplish His purpose.
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