Lethergo!! Part 2

A lot of people email me or post on my facebook about my blog post instead of posting a comment here. And I had several request for more info on the "lethergo" post and the drawing.
First the drawing. My daughter Jordan drew that picture not long after Kennedy came home. It is a picture of Kennedy and Amiya our granddaughter which makes her Kennedy's niece. Both their birthdays are in June and they are one year apart. They are best buddies and have so much fun together! One night Jordan was watching them and she saw how they obviously looked very different but acted so much alike it was like they were the same person. So Jordan drew this "silly" picture as she calls it of them playing and dancing. So that is the story about the picture.
So on to "Lethergo." When we first become believers we are like babies who need milk. We are growing and developing our Christian walk. The word is our milk. We watch other Christians and see how they act and listen to what they say. As we grow up we need more substance. We read our bible, attend church and Sunday school. As time goes by we learn how to listen to His beautiful calm still voice.
So we have learned what God expects of us. He wants us to love one another, help others, He wants us to lead others to Him, He wants us to do good and He also wants us to trust Him.
Oohhhhh that is a hard one. Seriously, humans love to have control of things. To trust God and "lethergo" is hard. Very hard. To say "here is my son God, He is going to fight a war...., Here is my daughter Lord, she is only 15 but I am going to send her half way across the world to do mission work and Yes Lord I am going to start this foundation and leave my job and the pay that goes with it and yes I will fly to Ethiopia and anywhere else you want to go" and yes we will adopt again" isn't easy. But here is the deal and for most of us, including myself it is not fun to hear, If you are a born again believer you know that He wants us to trust Him completely. If we profess to be believers and we are past the "milk" stage then we have no excuse. It is what it is.
When you come to that point, that crossroad where you know, that you know, that you know well quite honestly there is no turning back. You trust or you don't. Besides accepting Jesus into your heart this is not one of the biggest steps of faith you will every take.
I am blessed to have come to that point in my walk. I can't sit here and tell everyone to trust and "lethergo" and not practice it. And yes, I still struggle and question situations at times and His answers are not always going to be the answer I would like to hear but here is the great thing about trusting Him completely, His timing and His answers are never, ever wrong. Ever.
You know how it feels when you want to go for a swim but you put your feet in first to check the water out? Even when you totally trust God you will at times "put your feet in" to check things out but the question is will you trust Him and take the plunge?



And those who know your name put their trust in you for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Psalm 9:10

Crashing waves

This morning I got up early and took a walk on the beach. I am a beach person. I love body surfing and helping my girls dig for shells. But my favorite thing about the beach is when you look out at the ocean it seems to never end and it holds so much life in it! Fish, sharks, whales, dolphins, little sea creatures. How amazing is that? One of my favorite things to do is get up early and walk the beach. The tide is high and the waves are just crashing in. At times they almost seem angry, yet the sound of those same angry crashing waves can be soothing.
I am dealing with a lot of things right now.It seems I take two steps forward in areas and then bam! 10 steps back. So I went for a walk this morning to be alone with God. Like most on vacation I left my bible at home. When I am gone for a long time I will bring it but since this was just a few days I "chose" to leave it at home because I wouldn't need it. hmm..
I am walking along the beach and watching those beautiful waves with their angry force crash the shore and all of the sudden I see this jellyfish...thank goodness I saw it because I had my flip flops in my hand and they hurt when they sting!
I watched as each wave that came in either took the jellyfish with it or pushed it back on the shore leaving it to struggle. Each time as the waves left it further and further inland and it was getting harder and harder for the waves to reach it. The poor thing was struggling. When possible I will do everything in my power to save anyone or anything from suffering, but this time something stopped me. It was God. There was a lesson to be learned here. As I watched this poor thing struggle and was getting ready to find a big stick and push him back towards the water, just when I thought there was no hope hear comes a huge wave and it carries the jellyfish safely back home.
This morning God chose to speak to me through the waves and a jellyfish. He does that a lot you know. It is up to you to be tuned in! We may choose to leave our bibles for a few days but He will find a way to reach us.
Today He showed me that even though I am struggling right now and will off and on during my life, we all will. And I would love to "help" everyone I love because I don't want to see them suffer, He is there...always. Sometimes He needs to sound like a loud crashing wave to get our attention but when we think we can't take it anymore, when we have been pushed as far as "we" think we can go, He will gently talk to us and let us know He is carrying us and our burdens and that He will never leaves us alone....ever. This doesn't mean we will never struggle, that the ones we love will never hurt. It means that God for those of us who believe will always take care of us...always. His grace is sufficient
We are all kind of like that jellyfish. We are trying to make it in a world that seems to fight us on everything. And when the world has pushed us to the point of what we think is no return. Our true God the one who made the jellyfish of the world will come and show everyone else like a loud crashing wave who is in charge.

Rom 8:37............ "Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

Bummed

Cody and his fiance Jordan

For a few months now my family has been planning a trip to South Padre. All of us chipped in to rent a house on the beach. My whole family! All 6 kids! Dustin is home on leave before he deploys next month and my sister and her husband are meeting us there.
Then my son Cody lost his job and after much thought decided he just couldn't go. :( My heart broke. I want him there. He was going to bring his fiance and her son and now none of them will be there. He is so disappointed.
I am still praying for a miracle that somehow they will be able to go even though financially it doesn't look good. But you never know!!

Lethergo!!

Today my 15 year old daughter left for Korea on a mission trip...without her momma! My son who is a Marine will be deployed again next month. In October I will travel to Ethiopia to visit the children who are sponsored through Hug Aways Ethiopia Sponsorship program. My point? A few years ago not one of these things would have happened on my watch!! No way!
But along the way on this journey we call life I found something that gave me the faith, the strength, the joy, the peace to (in the words of Van Montgomery) "lethergo!" He claims it is one word:)And that something was Jesus Christ.
Being raised in an unstable home my trust factor was well, non-existent. I was angry,I drank, did drugs in my teens and early 20's. I suffered from nightmares and severe migraines well into my 30's. I was fearful and anxious. But then I began to go to church and I was born again. It didn't happen overnight but over the past 18 years I have studied His word, grown in my faith and learned to trust Him. Oh, what a difference!
I can "lethergo" and it is such a freedom! My daughter is in Korea doing mission work. My son is fighting for our freedom and I am blessed to travel to Ethiopia and look into the beautiful faces of children who God wants our foundation to help.
How blessed am I?!
So if you have not asked Jesus in your heart please do. It is the most important thing you will ever do.

Happy Birthday Kennedy!

Six years ago today a beautiful little girl was born in Vietnam. Two and half years later Oanh who we named Kennedy came home to her forever family in America. She is loved more than she can ever imagine and has blessed our lives so much!
Today she was able to spend her birthday with Jynger the sweet lady who referred Kennedy to her family, Thomas the lawyer in Vietnam who took very good care of Kennedy,her momma and grandma while they were in Vietnam. And Kein, Kennedy's buddy from the orphanage in Ninh Thuan. They now live a few miles apart.
You are a blessing sweet girl! Happy Birthday! You are loved!




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