Answered prayers, Going down the rabbit hole!

This week has been something of a walk in Alice's Wonderland. God has richly given me a bouquet of my dreams all at once! and I had absolutely nothing to do with how He accomplished how they came about, but God is good and has answered my prayers to follow my passions about educating and facilitating for the needs of two of my areas of desire: advocating for the families who are raising children as step or blended families to help churches and organizations understand their complexities, and to work with families and children who have specialized learning needs whether home, private, or publically schooled. I simply love facilitating change....helping people have those "aha" moments by sharing the stories and encouraging change.
On the homefront, my two high school boys have been fishing up a storm. Chaser and his best friend eat breakfast and dinner with us every day, do school, then rush home to fish until dark. After football spring practice they come home and wipe out whatever we have baked,and then head to the local creek for brim and catfish. I've loved hearing them call from cell phones to tell me of the ones on the line, and I intend to sneak out there and enjoy fishing with them today later.

My girlie girl is turning into a tween. I love this child's heart and her giving spirit. When you are a fly by the seat of your pants mama like me, you need all the grace a child can offer. Madison is my continual source of comfort and joy....and we have the best of times together no matter whether it is attacking the chores together or skipping in the Huntsville Botanical Gardens...This week while working straight for 23 hours one day for a new friend's emergency problem, she lovingly brought me fresh coffee, yogurt snacks, and grilled cheese, because I could not stop the processes long enough to eat and leave the area.

Hearing author and gardner Harvey Cotten's personal tour of the garden.

Our oldest child is simply three weeks away from her marriage. The phone calls are exciting and the details overwhelming, but she's done it almost all herself and I am so proud of her for wading through it! We will be driving to the wedding some 800 miles away and then returning the night of the wedding for work/school the following Monday....can.not.wait. to see her!

Our son in college is working away and learning to be a Video Production person. His goals involve making Christian and commercial video's for a living and he's out there doing it as we speak! He got to make a commercial for John Deere lately, so exciting for him! We're just so proud of our older two children's first strikes at independence! Its tough to be out there on your own and they are doing it!

Honey, our wild child labrador and Dixie Mae are finally old enough to play together outside. Oh the shenanigan's they pull....and the humor they provide out my office window. It refreshes me and draws me outside to enjoy the playfulness with them. Meanwhile the boys, our black and white fluffs, sit on the lounger and supervise....


God has simply overwhelmed me the past few weeks, closing doors to some things in my life, and releasing entirely new french doors wide open in others. It is like not recognizing that that plain old dented door life is not as good as God has in mind for you, and you are crying about the silly old door being shut when are our Father turns you around to see the glorious garden he's planted outside the new French doors. We are like that are we not? So busy getting attached to what we know and worrying about its going away when God has another plan entirely to build something beautiful in our lives....but we're so busy being self centered on our present and past, we don't step through the doors He has for our future.

God is good, and He has a plan for your future too!

May God grant your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans. Proverbs 20:4 (NLT)

P.S. You can find an article I've written here for Blissfully Blended, how fun is that?

What God doesn't mention....

Many times in our lives, we get discouraged or frustrated that God didn't answer our prayers in timing allowed by us for the job to be completed. Y'all's spiritual gifts are probably more developed than mine, but this girl's got some growing still to do in say ALL areas. That contented spirit (patience) is one of my sorer spots. I pray and pray and pray and ask God to do this and that, open opportunities for others.....and sometimes just get so frustrated that I cannot show the Lord God my dayplanner and get Him to commit and tell me when my prayer requests will happen! (did I mention I have an issue with authority?)

The truth is though that God has a time and a purpose and a season for everything in our life. The things I often ask for, I am not prepared for yet, and if He gave them to me, well I'd be up the creek without a paddle, unprepared for what the dream or prayer required of me.....and facing an upcoming waterfall with rocks below!
God is gracious. He doesn't spend time talking to us about our immaturity. Like any smart parent He sometimes just gets quiet and lets us think on it for a while. He knows which battles to pick with each of us. Occasionally God has to get out the 2 x 4 board and get my attention again. You see I ride the short bus when it comes to obeying God and often have to have the re-teach....you know the one...1:1 tutoring, extra practice....not.fun.stuff.
This week was one of those moments. As big dreams began coming true, moving our long awaited prayers from the prayed to the answered board, God quietly yet firmly showed me how only in His timing was I really ready for things I wanted sooner. ...and I assure you right this minute I am overwhelmed with His goodness...and the new things coming to my life!
There is an order to creation. There is an order to obedience. There is an order for God to hear and answer your prayers. It begins with faith that God is God. You see me often refer to that simple statement as I remind myself that God is indeed the Creator, Healer, Wonderful Counselor, Omnipotent, Friend, Rescuer, Protector...and all the hundreds of everything He is. That faith in God put into action becomes listening, asking, hearing, reading what God's path for your life is....a virtual swirling in my life of returning time and time again to understand that I have to be submissive and release my hands off my tightly held life so that God can mold it on His potter's wheel of creation....learning to obey God's whispers and urgings as he begins to shape me into something new in my own life or in someone else's life.

The wheel has been flying this week.....God's apron is dirty as my shaping caused spewing of the elements of Sweetie that don't fit in God's plan.... I suspect somewhere there is alot of yuck I had covered up the real me God had created in me to be all over heaven's floor in an effort to feel "safe" from allowing God to take the potter's wheel with my life. Those lifeless masks had held me back: fear, control, past pains held on, choosing to continue to focus on me, not God but God keeps using His gentle hands to shape and mold me ....and its not over yet. ...nor will it be until I am perfected in heaven!

So the next time you think God isn't listening.....look yourself in the mirror and stop lying to yourself.....its just time to pray differently, believe differently, leave the party of self pity you're hostessing and ask for God's forgiveness for trying to play God! God is good....ALL the time.....and there truly IS a purpose for everything in your life....I can see it in my own right about now looking up the rabbit hole of the whole new world God has created for my life some seven years after I thought all my dreams were gone.

God is good...and He loves you too!