Living Out Our Faith - Out Loud!!!!!

Thought you would enjoy Sandyism that happened this afternoon. It is sooooo me and what can I say??? It becomes more clearer as days go by that God keeps me on the earth to crack people up and prove to them that something truly wonderfully big and creative created this silly loosey goosey child of God and set her feet upon this planet for His delight! Sadly, you who know me get to live it out - out loud with me!

Here is the story - truly this is how it happened!

Our church was are having the Seder meal tonight and Steve and I were hosting overnight the representative from Jews for Jesus. I was not expecting him until this evening after the service or at the earliest late this afternoon. Imagine my surprise when Steve and I returned from lunch and there he was wanting to go home and take a nap...at our house!

Not a problem...I can be a willow. (you know...bend...bend...) As we were in front of Cheryl's office (parish secretary) to leave our new friend from JFJ asked me if I had cereal. I thought that to be a strange question but said answered, "yes, we do. " He said he had not had lunch and was hungry. I felt so badly for him that I quickly responded, "Oh, no worries, I'll make you a sandwich" which he jumped at with both Jewish feet!

So...I am in my car with him in my rear view mirror and I am thinking, "Oh, Lord!" We had not planned food for this meal and all I have is ham leftover from the Friday night "wine and cheese." "Oh Lord, will and can he eat ham????" I grumbled, well, probably not, dang!!! So, I stepped my prayer up a level and said, "Oh, Lord, can we please have turkey at home???"

We arrived home and I showed him upstairs so he could get settled in and as it was to be...hunger overrode tiredness! Dang!!!! Dang!!! Dang!!! He found me in the kitchen (thankfully I was praying silently - "Lord, please, please, please let there be turkey." He asked if we had wheat bread, excited to have a yes, praise the Lord, I proudly said, "We do!!!!!! "

Did I mention that I was fussing at myself on the way home in the car because I was being cranky about the sandwich meat?? I had to remind myself, "Self - shame, shame on you! Okay, time out! Go sit in a corner because you are acting like Martha! You know, Sandy Ferguson (now I'm mad at myself) when you entertain him you are entertaining Jesus." To that the Sandy Ferguson who has been sent to the corner responded, "Well, does Jesus eat ham? I'm just asking!!!"

So I open the refrigerator and found a miracle!!! We had turkey and it was still in date!!!! So, he had turkey and cheese and mustard...are they supposed to eat meat and dairy together??? I'm confused about that...but he loved the sandwich, freshly washed grapes and pretzel chips. Life is good...or so I thought!

When our guest woke up from his nap he came downstairs and asked if we had an exercise equipment he could use. I said that we had a treadmill upstairs and he was welcome to use that. He said that he had put on a lot of weight with all the Mexican food since he had been in TX. So I hear the treadmill going and honestly it sounded like he was struggling with every step and every breath. He was on his cell phone and was having difficulty breathing and talking. Thankfully the treadmill event ended.

It was eerily quiet upstairs when Steve said that it was time for he and I to head back to the church. I asked Steve if he would go upstairs to let our guest know that we were leaving and if he knew the way back to the church. Steve said no problem and went upstairs. I hear Steve call, our guest's name? No answer. Steve calls out again his name...Still no answer. By now I am in full panic mode. "Oh Lord, please don't let us have killed our Jews for Jesus on our treadmill!Thankfully he finally answered. No wonder Martha was so cranky! Entertaining Jesus is stressful business!!!!!

The evening was perfect. He did an awesome job presenting the Gospel and explaining to each one of us with holy and anointed words from Jesus as to how we could see Jesus in the Passover. It was moving evening and there was many moments that we knew that God was present and we felt His Holy Spirit speaking through this sweet and tender man.

Would like to say that the drama had ended at lunch/treadmill event...but ohhhhh....noooooo. We finally get to bed after much visiting and sharing after 11 p.m This part could be borrowed from "Twas the night before Christmas"...because there suddenly in the night arose such a clatter!!!" At 4:00ish a.m. Maggie (our dog) and I were awakened by a crash! My first thoughts were, "Oh Lord, now we really killed the Jews for Jesus man! He has fallen down our stairs!"

I sent Steve into the front to see if there was indeed a body at the foot of the stairs. Thankfully there wasn't. Steve looked around (inside) and pronounced the, "All"s clear" announcement and went soundly back to bed and sleep.

Now, Maggie and I are not in full agreement with the "All's clear" announcement as both of us clearly heard SOMETHING! So, Maggie and I emerge carefully from the bedroom to face whatever calamity has befallen us inside the house. We looked carefully through the front of the house and found nothing. No sounds from upstairs and the front lawn was fine.

At that point Maggie determines that she needs to potty in the back yard so I flip on the light on the back porch and open the backdoor. Strangely there was no back yard in sight. In fact, there was nothing insight but the our awning which was precariously draped and wrapped hap-hazard on the patio. Maggie took one look at that and you could almost hear her saying, "Uh, no! not doing it there!" So, we retreated to the clear and safe front yard.

Returning to the bedroom, I awoke a soundly sleeping husband to inform him that "Houston does have a problem." He quickly arose (just like in the "Night before Christmas") and saw what was the matter!

The picture above reflects the awning in the daylight hours. Thankfully our overnight guest slept through the rainstorm and the awning and...does this have a familiar ring like sleeping through a storm in a boat...just asking...

There is always a chance to see Jesus in our circumstances if we stop panicking and be still. The trouble with us is that we are so busy being "Henny Penny" that we don't stop. Would that we like our soundly sleeping overnight guest and sleep through the storm or better yet stand up and say, "Peace, be still!"

It is a choice we make to live our faith out loud. What do we say when we are shouting when calamity crashes in uninvited into our world? "Woe is us??" Are do we loudly proclaim, "Our God Reigns!" Let us be still and know that He is God! His peace is like no other.

Live your faith - but live it out loud - so the world will see...Our God truly reigns!!!

Celebrating Five Years!

To say the day began and progressed as a hectic one would have been a major understatement. That evening my husband and I were to host one of our diocesan bishops overnight in our home. He had graciously agreed to be one of the speakers of a series of talks in our church. Hoping to put finishing touches on obligations at work, my day came to an abrupt and heart-stopping halt. Our expectant daughter who was not due for a couple of months telephoned me to say that she was on her way to the hospital. She had just been diagnosed with preeclampsia. With this life-threatening development for both her and her baby, her doctor immediately admitted her to the hospital for an emergency c-section delivery.

It is amazing what adrenaline can do to help in packing. Within (what seemed minutes) I was packed, car filled with gas and headed westward for the long drive to the hospital and our daughter, in hopes of arriving before she was taken into surgery.

Have you ever noticed that things move quickly in a hospital when a life is threatened? Everything around our daughter appeared to move at “warp speed.” It seemed that our daughter’s hospital room filled and emptied in a matter of seconds. What suddenly appeared in her room, abruptly departed at one time. All of a sudden I found myself seated in the one and only piece of furniture left in the room – a straight back chair.

Seated for the first time since I arrived, the weight of the day's events seem to push me further into the chair. Minutes moved to hours. The room, like me, was silent except for the prayers being offered with every breath I drew. What had once been a room filled with a frantic pace, now moved in slow motion.

Voices in the hallway drew my attention upward to the sound of two nurses talking at the nurses’ station located just outside our daughter’s room. “She didn’t make it,” came from one of the nurses. What was spoken after that, I do not know. I only know that my world suddenly appeared terribly wrong. My first response was, “Please Lord, let this cup pass by me, I beg you.” Then, settling into the peace that is my mainstay, I released my daughter and her new baby girl to the hands that created them both. My prayer then moved to, “Peace, Lord, give us all peace but please let them both be okay.”

The movement of a body rushing into the room brought my face up and to the eyes of my son-in-law. He was dressed in scrubs. He had come down to the room to tell me, “She is okay, but the baby is not doing well. They need me to stay with the baby and accompany her to NICU.” I hugged and kissed him hello and goodbye and sent him on his way.

Soon after my son-in-law’s departure, my daughter returned to her room to find waiting a very thankful mother. Sometime later my son-in-law returned to the room spent. Since the hospital was filled to capacity, it had no other accommodations available, so the nurse offered our son-in-law a mattress on which he could sleep. Our son-in-law gratefully accepted the mattress, and was soon sleeping soundly on the floor in the corner of the room.

For the remainder of the night, I sat or stood next to our daughter’s bed, feeding her ice chips, speaking peace, love and thankfulness for her and our new granddaughter’s safe delivery.

The morning dawn slipped silently into a new day. Seeing the time for me to go, I reach down to retrieve my purse to do a quick touch up of my makeup and hair before leaving the hospital. My services were now required to take the older sibling to preschool. And as you would expect, that day was the school’s class pictures, and a picnic complete with a pony ride! My hands were needed to transform a sleepy little princess into a budding southern belle with pigtails and a bandana. As I bent over to gather my things to leave, my son-in-law stirred on his pallet. Pulling himself to a sitting position he appeared visibly surprised. He wiped his eyes with both hands, looked straight at me and said, “Wow, Nani, you look great! You don’t look like you have been awake all night.” To that pronouncement of a “touch-up” of hair and make-up gone well, I replied with a smile and a wink, “Well, Angel Man, that’s what a Steel Magnolia looks like!”

I know that it is not by my own strength that I have survived the night’s events seemingly unruffled. I know without a doubt that it is solely due to a strong faith that was taught at the knee and on the knee. And that this faith is in a God who not only guides and protects me through the storm but has taught me to dance in the rain.

Now, five years later, the same bishop visited our church on the anniversary of the night this budding Steel Magnolia arrived. Thought it fitting to write this as testimony to God's faithfulness in our lives. Sorry I missed you again, Rayford!

Monday's Letters

As an anniversary gift to S, last year I began writing him a letter in a journal every Monday. Sometimes, life got in the way, i.e. hospitalization, out of town trips, etc. but I always tried to make sure that some time that week that I wrote him a letter.

Sometimes the letters were about the week we had shared, things that had happened, ways he had blessed my heart (just to name a few). Always, always, the letter included what made him so special to me and how God had used him to bless me and others.

As I readied for bed last night I put my glass of water on my nightstand and saw the journal that I had forgotten to wrap and give him as part of his anniversary gift. I rushed (okay, truth be known, I hobbled) into the den and handed him the journal. He looked at me and immediately asked, "What's this?" I explained to him what it was and why I was giving it it him. He was so touched that for a few moments he didn't speak. I offered to continue to write my Monday letters if he wanted me to do so. He did. So, kids of ours, long after we are gone and you find this lavendar journal with a shadow-box framed "S" on the cover, you are invited to read what I've written.

And, know this...love is not something that is borrowed, bought or even traded...it is a gift - freely given. Your dad has blessed me, loved me and cared for me for 40 years. Isn't that something!

A long time ago I gave your dad an ID bracelet. Inscribed on the inside is a scripture that still holds today..."The mountains may pass away but my love will never die."

Yes, All Over Again

Today is not just Sunday. It is S & my 40th anniversary. Today was my first day back to church after an absence due to surgery. Before S began his sermon he said that he was going to take a moment of personal priviledge. It was then he began to tell of his love of me and how he loved me more today that he did the day he married me. People began to turn and look at me (yes, I was blushing) and then at the end of his comments, the church broke out in applaude. How I love this man!!!!

Would I not only pledge but freely give my heart and life to him again? Absolutely!!!! Today as we bowed our heads at lunch S thanked God for the wonderful 40 years we had shared together and asked God for 40 more. To that, I gave a resounding, "Amen!"

My Hero

I love this pic of my man! This is who he really is...he is fun loving, tender...all the things that make my heart swell when he enters the room.

And...he is steadfast...

The steadfastness of his love and care as been my lifeline since the beginning of year. First my mom was ill and diagnosed with altzheimer's disease. Thankfully, we learned that it was not altzheimer's but a problem with her medication. We give thanks to God for this awesome discovery and so glad that Mother is all right and will be with us for a very long time!!

Within 2 months of Mother's incorrect diagnosis, my sister, C, became seriously ill. For a while we were not sure she would live and if so, not sure how fully restored she would be.

And now, after all these months, we are still waiting for my sister, C., to be restored. Since the very beginning of all this, my man has, every day and every night, been there...not only for me and our children, but for my sister's family as well. He continues to pour out the love that fills his heart as though it has no end. I know that it is his love of Jesus that enables him to do this with seemingly ease and grace. I know that God's Holy Spirit rests upon his shoulders and gives him the strength to minister and love God's people.

When my man stands before our congretation and brings the message God's has laid on his heart, there is no doubt that he was listening to God. This man, of almost 40 years of marriage, is the love of my life and the prince of my dreams.

I am so blessed that he is mine and I am his...amazing!!!!!!

Sisters

No telling when this picture was taken, only know that the picture was taken at my dad's home at Christmas. It seems so long ago and so miles and memories have come and gone since then.

This week my sister, C, called me. Not literally picked up the phone and dialed my number, but her son, J, dialed for her. This happened because J asked my sister, C, if she could identify who was in a picture that he showed her. She said that she could and said it was, "it is my sister." Then J asked her if she knew my name and she said, "Yes, it's S." J then asked if she wanted to call me and she did, so he did! The sound of her voice immediately brought tears to my eyes. How I had longed her hear her voice. We visited for a little while and then she grew tired and needed to go. Just a week previously, I had called her cell phone and her husband was unable to get the call so her voice mail picked up. I immedately began to cry but through it all, thanked my brother-in-law for not answering the phone so that I could hear her voice once again. We both wept at that!

So, this week has been a good week. Not only could she remember my name, she remembered that we are sisters!!!

Thanks so much for your prayers! God is most definitely responding to them!!!! C continues to improve each day!

A Good Day in the Kingdom!

It has been a good day in the Kingdom. Can't help but smile! Want to thank you all for your prayers. Please know that they are working!!!

Received a call from J (my sister's oldest son) late yesterday afternoon. J had just spent time with C (my sister) and wanted to give me the latest update. It was good news!!! R (Joey's wife) had cut out my family's picture from a Christmas card they had received. She also has other pictures on C's cork board to help remind C who we are. C is learning to distinguish family from hospital staff.

J said that every time he is with C, he plays the DVD he made for C years ago. It is a slide presentation set to music and so well done. A+ J!!! As the slides past in front of C, J would ask, "Mom, who is that?" Some were of C when she was quite young and she would respond, "That's me." There was one from when they were in Homer, LA, and when Joey asked if she knew who that was, C responded, "C A." For those of you know that was C's Louisiana name when she lived in Homer. No one in Kansas or Wyoming knew Carol by that name. She did get confused a couple of times with photos of her son and with her husband, but overall she did well. Then J showed my sister the picture of my family. He asked her to point to Aunt S. She did!!!!! He then asked her to point to Uncle S...she did~!!!! Then he asked her to point out my three grown children and she was able to do so. He went back to me and asked if she knew who I was. She said, "Yes, she is my blood!"

J went on to say that it is hard to understand how the mind works...meaning that when shown a picture of someone and given a name, that she can point to you but not be able to say...who you are or what relation you are. Although it sounds like it isn't much, trust me, this is progress and we celebrate every milestone C makes.

One thing in talking with C's speech therapist was about Christian music. As I told J, Colorado is not known for its' Bible belt beliefs. However, her therapist was intrigued when I told her about how I had given some friends and C (who were all teachers) instrumental cd's that were Christian music set to symphony music. L, you remember how it impacted your class. C, when she played the music in her reading class, found it worked there, too. The children were not only calmer, more centered and focused. They also not only read better but retained and comprehended what they read. When I told the therapist about this, she was really interested and wanted me to send the cd's right away. They are going to use these in C's therapy sessions. Is God good or what???

I reminded J yesterday that C knows who Jesus is and that she is there NOT by accident. That God has a plan and that people will learn more about Him just by their family being there and seeing how they work through this crisis with the help of prayer of a healing God!

Will keep you posted. I have been sending J pictures, cards, etc. even a prayer shawl from our church for C. J is always thrilled to get the pictures and other treasures. When he was telling me about my family's picture, he said, "Aunt S, there are a lot of people in that picture!" I laughed and said I know! It was just our immediate family but that's what happens when you pray the prayer of Jabez!

Recovery from this viral encephalitis is very slow and the doctors still are not able to say how much or to how long it will take for C to fully recover. Due to the rareness of this occurrence in people, the doctors are not able to gauge what is "normal" or to what extent C will recover. Each person recovers at his/her own pace and in totally individual as to what to long term or permanent recovery looks like. But...we do know that prayer works. C is improving each day and that is due to your prayers. Keep them coming! Be encouraged!!!