Giving Thanks for Unusual Happenings

Thanksgiving Day had some interesting twists this year. We had friends over and enjoyed eating together--not unusual. Then I got to show my friend how to make applesauce from scratch so both her family and Brian will get to enjoy the benefit of our labors--also, not particularly unusual.

Company gone home, Brian gone to the golf course, one dishwasher load clean and put away. As I was rinsing dishes and filling the dishwasher a second time, I heard a thump—and the water stopped coming out of the sink faucet. Puzzled, I walked to the laundry room where the hot water heater is located and saw water gushing all over the floor. I couldn't remember how turn off the heater, so I called Brian in a panic and he rushed home. 

 By his arrival time, the  laundry room floor was covered with 1-2 inches  of water and flowing on to the wood laminate hallway. He discovered that the water intake valve had broken so he attached a garden hose to the pipe so the water would be directed outside onto the concrete patio. The next step was turning off the water to the house which is located in the driveway. After all that adrenalin rush came the clean-up. Thank you, Dean, for the Shop-Vac. Fans ran all night and today the flooring apppears to be dry. 

I write all that in order to list the things I realized were blessings. First of all, Brian was here to help with the problem. Secondly, the weather was downright temperate, even in late afternoon so dealing with hoses and turning off water to the house in the hole of our driveway didn’t mean contending with icy surfaces and frigid temperatures. Next, we had clean dishes to eat from (and I had clean clothes to wear the next day because I had done my laundryJ. And of course, we were grateful this happened after we had had dinner. Additional thank you’s for water given by a next door neighbor and offers of a place to shower if that became necessary. The blessed end of the story was that Mr. Fielder, the plumber, had not gone out of town for the holidays and was able to fix the problem Friday morning.

We had begun our day with, among other activities, reading from Jesus Calling, a wonderful book of one-page devotional thoughts straight from our Lord, paraphrased by Sarah Young. Thursday's “phone call from Jesus” as Brian puts it, was talking about letting thankfulness rule in our hearts. As our eyes are opened to the blessings around us, Jesus just keeps making more blessings apparent.

“Each time you receive one of My (Jesus’) golden gifts, let your thankfulness sing out praises to My Name. ‘Hallelujahs’ are the language of heaven, and they can become the language of your heart.”

One of the Scripture passages that accompanied this paraphrase was Revelation:19:6. “Then a voice came from the throne (of God), saying: ‘Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great!’ Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah'  for the Lord God Almighty reigns.”

As I came to the end of that verse, it was like I’d been zapped with electricity, for I realized that Dean was part of that multitude, doing exactly what that verse said—praising God, shouting “Hallelujah.”

At that instant I so much wanted to be with him, joining that huge group of people shouting, “Hallelujah.” Then I realized I can do that while I’m still earth –shackled--I can't hear the sound of the multitude, but I can praise Him. So I was shouting hallelujah at that point, not realizing how many more opportunities I was going to be given in the next few hours:)

“Thank You, Lord! Hallelujah!!"

Is Cloning the Answer?

No, this is not an opinion piece on cloning or anything scientific at all. This past week I nearly managed to schedule myself at two places at the same time—more than once! I realized what I had done ahead of time so that gave me more than enough time to stew about my predicament because if the times didn’t dovetail correctly, I would be double-booked. Mind you, these were all “good, helpful activities. Nothing frivolous, nor especially for me.

First of all, the Lord reminded me “to be anxious in nothing…” and that He was marching along with me through this morass of activity. Day one went fine but I had two more to go. It’s so awesome to see how God can get His message/assurance across. He used my friend, Allison, who shared with me her own story of time stress for the week, to encourage and bolster my trust in the Lord to navigate smoothly through this flurry of appointments.

The story in the Old Testament of Elisha and his servant in 2 Kings­­­­­­­ 6:15-17 shows the servant absolutely terrified at the number of Syrian raiders coming against Israel (it was a divided kingdom by this time).

Elijah told his servant not to fear. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” When Elijah asked God to open his servant’s eyes, he saw “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around.”  The story had a miraculous, favorable ending for Israel--and I had three days of busy-ness that dovetailed together beautifully.

I use that story to say, I don’t know how the Lord does it, seemingly stretching my time in a day or showing me little nooks and crannies of time to use, but I praise Him for however He does it. He IS after all, the Creator of time and space, which makes Him the ultimate time management Teacher.

We have been using Ann Voskamp’s book, The Greatest Gift for our Discipleship class on Sunday mornings. This week one of the devotionals was about Jonah, God’s prophet who didn’t want to give his murderous enemies, the people of Nineveh, a chance to repent and turn to God.

 Jonah decided he would run from God (he had a lot to learn, huh), so he boarded a ship for Tarshish, traveling the exact opposite direction. In the ensuing storm which Jonah came to realize was for his “benefit”, he also realized he needed to vacate the ship to save his innocent shipmates. Here comes the part I love.

At that moment, God took “hold of Jonah’s wet, disoriented face and flat out startles him with the gift of utter dependence. Jonah-days chase your for tender reason. The Hound of Heaven storms after you till you have the gift you need.”

This is merely one life lesson we can extract from Jonah’s story, but it’s one for which I’m grateful to be reminded. Jesus is interested in my moment by moment focus on Him, rather than my worry about details. Not that the details are unimportant, but dependence on Him smooths the way for all the details to fail into place, seamlessly. 

Leaky Gut—What???

This past week I have spent my unscheduled time listening to a free webinar called The Autoimmune Summit. What an eye-opener and what a wealth of information!

The medical experts giving presentations at this Summit are active caregivers intent on finding the cause of the diseases their patients are suffering from rather than treating the symptoms as so many doctors do, hoping the disease might go away or at least stabilize with drug therapies.

I listened to several presentations about “Leaky Gut” and still can’t give a summary meaning of it other than I don’t want to have it. The great crux of the matter is that if your intestines aren’t healthy, you are not going to be healthy either. A general “fix” is dietary changes, adequate rest, and lessening stress factors. Sounds so easy. Not.

However, the most awesome thing I came away with from these presentations is how wondrously God has made these bodies we walk around in—as one friend describes it—our earth suits. Hearing about the cellular make-up of our bodies, the chemical and electrical actions that take place and the natural protection which is prepared to ward off dangerous intruders (if we are healthy) is almost too much to fathom.

I remember when I first discovered I had macular holes in my retinas, I did a lot of research on the structure of the eye to try to understand what was happening to mine. In the course of all my studies, it was soon apparent to me how wonderfully intricate just this one organ of the body is. Then to think of all our other body parts and how they work together—wow. What an awesome God we have!

In addition to all this information about our physical make-up and how inflammation can start these possible deathly spirals of autoimmune disease, was information about the foods, and herbs that can help heal our bodies. This information came with more fantastic descriptions of the marvelous structure of the plants God made for us to eat. That would include their cleansing properties as well as a vast array of vitamins and minerals plus a lot more scientific informational wonders that I’m not smart enough to regurgitate.

Is it any wonder that the Genesis account of creation states that God looked upon what He had made and “saw that it was good?” Humanly speaking, the description of His handiwork was vastly understated.

Tucson Trek

I would wish for all who attend family reunions the joy that we receive when our family(s) get together. Every Fall we migrate to Tucson from Nevada, Illinois, Wyoming, Texas and sometimes Colorado. The magnet is our family treasure, Dorothy, her husband J and their daughter and her family.

Our personal trip was broken into two easy sections as we stayed with our friends in Las Vegas. We had to hurry on to Tucson the next morning as son Jeff’s plane landed there about 1 PM and we would do well to get there by 2 PM.

Jeff picked up, we ate lunch, got a room at Motel 6 (since Linus was with us) and then put in a surprise call to Aunt Dorothy. We were soon on their doorstep and had great fun visiting with them as well as eating pizza. 

Sunday morning we ate at the Waffle House and got ready to go to cousin Brenda and Rick’s church so I could get my annual pipe organ and handbell “fix”. (I know that I will always enjoy glorious music at their church.) We ate together at Beyond Bread for lunch and soon it was time to go to our rental vacation house which would be our home for almost a week.

This is the 3^rd year we have stayed at this house and after trying various houses in previous years (some of which are former blog posts), this house fits our “family” best. In fact, at Dean’s request last year, the manager installed a pool table in the living room (which didn’t crowd it a bit). The house is close to Dorothy and J’s and even closer to an Albertson’s grocery store, so we feel we’ve found the best place for us.

Sunday was a hot day for Elkoans so Brian was first in the pool and I was close behind. Jeff’s allergies were bothersome so he just “basked” in the shade. 

Cousin Brenda brought a delicious meal as we had all arrived by dinner time except for the Chicago crew. By bedtime everyone had arrived and were situated, ready for Monday which was a trolley ride and shopping downtime. Cousin Brenda fed us sumptuously once again that evening as Jeff had to leave Tudesday afternoon.

Wednesday was shopping in Oro Valley for most of the ladies and lunch at a Greek restaurant. Brian played golf and Todd did his best to bike up a mountain. He discovered that running the Chicago Marathon just doesn’t prepare your lungs for mountain biking at a higher altitude with greatly diminished oxygen level.

Ryder, who was our center of attraction, and definitely the smartest, cutest 2 year old in history went to the Pumpkin Patch with assorted relatives and then went trick or treating in his fox costume on Friday night.  

Besides great meals, part of the time was spent making candy/cookie witches hats and turkeys. Needless to say, we all returned home heavier than when we arrived.

 All too soon it was time to leave, the TX contingent having already left on Tuesday, followed by the Chicago Crew early Saturday morning, with WY, MT and NV straightening up the house  for a final walk through by the manager.

What a blessing to have family and friends with whom to share stories and food. Our Tucson Trek was actually an early Thanksgiving celebration. And for that we are all grateful.