The Light No Darkness Can Overcome!

There is a little girl named Kaitlyn.

She lives only a few miles from us.

She is beautiful.

She has captured the heart of so many.

She is sick, very sick.

You can read all about her story if you click the link under her picture.

Kaitlyn's Korner

Tonight her neighborhood had a second candle vigil for her.

I attended the first one with a friend who lives down the street from Kaitlyn and her family.

It was silent, prayerful, tearful.

This time, I took my kids with me since Brian was out of town.

Earlier today I showed Zachary Kaitlyn's website and picture.

I told him about her and asked if he would like to go to the vigil.

He said,"Yes!"

Then he asked, "Will the candles make her feel better?

Can I sing; 'Jesus please help Kaitlyn?'"

I held him tight and said, 

"Yes, Zachary, all those things would be wonderful

and will help Kaitlyn feel better."

So on our way to the vigil, I talked with Zachary about what it would be like.

I talked with him about standing quietly, 

saying prayers and sending Kaitlyn loving thoughts.

And that is what happened,

at first.

Then there was the cat.

Our friend's cat, actually.

All the kids wanted to pet him and chase him.

They started talking and playing with the cat.

Then Kaitlyn's dad came out with her little brother, Cole.

Cole loved seeing the other kids,

and the kids loved Cole. 

Then the laughter started,

and the running,

and the chasing of the cat.

At first, I kept trying to get Zachary to stop and settle.

And then I heard the whisper in my ear.

It told me to let them be,

to let them laugh and play and smile.

It was the most amazing vigil I have ever been to.

Amidst the sadness and heartbreak,

I heard Jesus whispering,

"Don't forget that I am here.

I am holding Kaitlyn in my hands.

I will not let her go.

Allow yourselves to grieve and be sad,

but remember that I am the Light of the world,

The light that no darkness can overcome.

So don't forget to smile and laugh and feel joy.

For I make all things new.

And Kaitlyn will be made new,

she will laugh and play and smile and chase cats.

Find hope, find peace and find joy in me,

for I am here."

I heard it so loud and clear.

The kids were living it right in front of us.

Joy.

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again; Rejoice! 

Let your gentleness be evident to all.  

The Lord is near.

do not be anxious about anything,

but in every situation,

by prayer and petition, 

with thanksgiving,

present your requests to God.

And the peace of God,

which transcends all understanding,

will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

-Philippians 4:1-7

And I can't stop thinking about it.

The vigil was not what I thought it would be tonight,

Instead, it was exactly how it was supposed to be.

Kaitlyn's Candle in her window

Dear Kaitlyn, Deanna, Chip and Cole,

may you know that Jesus is with you,

holding you, grieving with you and promising you

new life.

You are so loved.

My Word

I am in the mountains today.  A short weekend retreat.

My last morning here.  

The sun is peaking out of the rain clouds this morning.

Breathtaking.

This weekend we watched Eat, Pray, Love.

Great movie!

If you haven't seen it, I recommend it.

Finding a "word" for things is a theme throughout the movie.

I threw out a word last night to a friend as "my word".

I did it in he midst of conversation, almost jokingly.

But I have been thinking more about it.

And then this morning as I did devotions, 

I happened to read a blog about this subject.

For the first time ever, the writer had felt God giving her A Word;  "intentional".

Got me thinking more about my word.

"Simplicity"

That is the word I gave my friend last night.

I am not really sure where it came from either.

I hadn't really thought about it before last night.

But as I look back at the few months of my life,

I am seeing that word at work, so to speak, everywhere.

It's as if God has been using that word in my life

and just now decided to reveal it to me.

I am not sure I would have truly gotten it otherwise.

I think I may have a word for my year.

Simplicity.

One definition I read says;

"the quality or condition of being plain, natural or easy to understand"

The other definitions basically say the same in different words.

Then I looked up "complex",

because simple is listed as the opposite of complex.

Complex;

"Not easy to analyze or understand, complicated or intricate."

Interesting isn't it?

Almost wondering what this all means?

For me it's more than just simplifying my life,

although that has been a big pattern in my life lately,

but it's somewhat about how I approach things.

It's just so easy for me to allow things to consume me,

Trying to understand why things are happen the way they do, 

trying to figure them out and solve them.

I worry about me, others, what I am doing, how I am doing, 

and how others perceive how/what I am doing.

I worry about how things will play out, what will happen 

and how I play a part in it all.

That was a big part of 2011 for me.

I sit here this morning, watching the sun break through the winter barren trees,

 hearing the words that I have heard in my prayers

over and over in the past year;

Let Go.

I think it's truly time I do that.

Let go of trying to figure it all out.

Let go of worrying about it all.

And trust that God can do it.

And so I walk into today, into this week

with my word;

Simplicity.

It doesn't mean 2012 will be all easy.

I know that.

But I know God is here.

He is at work.

And he can handle the complex a lot better than I can.

So I will give it all to him.

I will let go and let God

and enjoy the simple beauty he shows in the every day.

Motherhood

Motherhood.

Is it not the biggest roller coaster ride?

The most thrilling, exciting, scary and emotionally draining ride 

we have ever been on?

Of course, I would not trade it for the world,

even on the days when I wonder how in the world I will make it 

to the end of the day's ride.

But I am learning, every day.

I know it will be a forever learning process.

But I am learning,

that without the strength, hope and grace I find In Jesus,

this ride will make my head spin.

Joy, from Grace Full Momma spoke truth into my heart today;

"It isn’t so that we can be a great mom,

 it isn’t so that we can raise great kids, 

it isn’t even so that we can have strong, happy families.  

These things are all good, 

but the real reason we learn and study and grow in these areas [motherhood] is so that 

we can know Christ and display His Gospel in our lives for HIS glory."

Truth that is sometimes hard to swallow.

I want to be a great mom and have great kids and have a strong, happy family!

The truth is that I do.

I just tag on perfection to those areas,

standards that only make me feel like a failure.

I have not been focusing on what my heart really desires,

for my kids and my family to be rooted in the hope, joy and grace that Jesus gives.

This is the desire of my heart.

And I am learning,

that if I want this for my family, if I really want it,

it must start with me.

I need to know Christ.  I need to display His Gospel in my life.

But I can not do that if I am not abiding in Him, every day.

I must be in prayer, in His Word, in His presence.

And so I recommit, like I must do every morning,

I recommit my self to Jesus,

asking for forgiveness, grace, strength and courage

to get on the roller coaster today with joy and anticipation

for the climbs and the falls and the curves.

Here we go!

Grace Full Momma.com

Body, Mind and Spirit

Since Thanksgiving I have been feeling yucky;

mostly from weakness and fatigue to more recently, stuffiness and soar throat.

Many days I wished I could hang a sign on my door like this one

and go back to bed.

Not something that is easily done as a stay at home mom

with two young kiddos.

Finally I am feeling better.

Only 2 trips to the doctor,

and a lot (too much!) of worrying.

Over the past two months I have allowed my rhythm to get off.

It naturally happens when you are sick, sure.

But I allowed everything to get off track;

my devotions, my prayers, my atitude, my joy, my hope...

everything.

So much so that it brought my spirit way down.

I'm actually ashamed of it, really.

I allowed satan to walk right into my sickness and pretty much take over.

Now understand, I am talking about my whole person, 

body, heart, soul, mind.

I convinced myself that something was indeed very wrong with me

and that the doctors were just missing something.

I felt this way mostly when I was weak, fatigued and had swollen nodes in my neck,

no other symptoms. 

It was strange and worrisome.  

Surely if I had just a virus, something else would be going on!!

The truth was that I had let my guard down.

I had let go of the hand that was guiding me.

I took my eyes of the prize and began to run my own race of survival.

Might sound ridiculous, but it was true.

I have good friends who are struggling with issues that far outweigh anything I could ever experience.  

A few of those friends were ones who walked with me through my yuckiness

and listened to my fears and anxieties,

while they stumbled through their own life. 

How humbled I am.

How thankful for family, for friendship,

for the gift of grace,

for forgiveness

and for unconditional love.

I am fine.

My energy is back. I can breathe through my nose.

My lymph nodes are no longer swollen, my throat is back to normal.

And...

My eyes are back on Jesus.

My mind is back in the Word.

My heart is back to living each day as a gift,

no matter if it is a sunny day 

or a stormy one.

And today I finally begin the New Year.

Ready, awake and willing to go and do whatever the Lord is calling me to do.

For I am a child of God.

I am a daughter of the King.

And satan has no hold on me.

I know he will try again, but I will be ready!

I pray today for the health of the world,

 and for you, my brothers and sisters; for your body, mind and spirit.

In the sunny days and in the storms,

hold Fast to Jesus!

Hold Fast!

Truth in the Tinsel - Day 24 - THE LORD IS COME!!!

The day was here!

Our final clue.

The arrival of baby Jesus!

Christmas Eve.

What a perfect clue for this day!

How easily it is to forget what Jesus came to do.

Not that Christmas should be filled with sadness or grief!

But to rejoice that he came as a babe for us specifically,

with a purpose to redeem us and save us.

The beauty and power of his birth

was so present to us this year.

Jesus came to die,

and to conquer death!

Jesus came that we might have life!

He came to show us how to love and live abundantly

and to give us new life.

It brought me great joy to bring our Advent journey to an end

with such a conversation with my son.

And so on this day,

Christmas Eve,

we made a cross and gave thanks for our Savior.

With joy, we took baby Jesus from our Advent Calendar

and put him in the manger.

It was very exciting indeed!

What a beautiful journey it has been this Advent season.

There really are no words, even though I have written many in these posts,

to truly describe what we experienced through this journey.

Focusing on the story like we have this year brought us to a special place 

come Christmas Eve and Christmas Day,

in our hearts and in our minds.

And with further anticipation,

we walk into a New Year,

ready to see all that Jesus will do in our lives,

continuing to learn from him and walking with him

 towards the cross and his resurrection.

Let's go!

Truth in the Tinsel

Truth in the Tinsel - Day 21, 22 & 23 - Following a sign

Again, another trio of days that I loved.

The way they tied together and allowed us to step into the story in detail

was fantastic!

This part of the story begins with the star.

This marvelous, beautiful sight that shone in the sky

was one way God chose to announce the birth of his son.

Very cool!

Our ornament was this beautiful star we designed together.

Our Advent Calendar brought us this book.

It's a great one too!

Day 22 was about the wise men who followed the star.

The ornament was super cool - 3 Kings connected together,

but Zachary did not feel much like decorating them,

so we simply hung them on the tree.

Our Advent Calendar brought us 3 kings.

The gifts next to them were actually brought to us the next day,

but this was the only picture I had of them.

Day 23 - The Gifts

The ornament was actually supposed to be cinnamon ornaments

that you bake and give as gifts to others,

but being that it was Christmas week and we had guests,

we just did not have the time.

Instead, I filled the day's red bag with 3 little gift ornaments.

The kids actually really enjoyed playing with them and 

giving them to baby Jesus in the manger.

Talking about the 3 gifts gave us a chance to talk about what they might mean.

Gold - a great gift for a King!

Frankincense - was known to be burned like incense, believed to carry prayers to heaven,

a gift that could have reference to a Priest

Myrrh - a more mysterious gift, but known to have been used as a perfume and embalming ointment used with Egyptian mummies.  Perhaps a gift to reference Jesus being born to die?

Who really knows why these three gifts, but it provided great conversation.

It allowed us to really focus on who Jesus was, 

this beautiful babe born in a stable,

laid in a manger.

Our Advent clue tree is almost complete...

Truth in the Tinsel - Day 20

Today's lesson took us to the Temple

where we meet Simeon and Anna.

It was a neat peak at how Jesus touches the lives of others.

Both Simeon and Anna were so overjoyed

to be meeting, holding, blessing, kissing...

the Messiah, it gave me goosebumps.

It was a really neat day,

to catch a glimpse of the life of Jesus

as we awaited his arrival.

I thought I took a picture of the finished product,

but could not find it anywhere.

We simply drew two stick people on either end of the Temple

to represent Simeon and Anna.

Our Advent Calendar brought us three camels.

Hmmm, wonder what the next few days will be about?!