Karen's Crossing~~~permission to Rise Above The Storm

Recently in a devastating catastrophe an airplane facing a violent storm crashed into the Java sea. AirAsia flight QZ8501 came down on December 28, 2014 after attempting its final option of requesting permission to fly above the storm.

According to the news the request was denied because there were so many others getting permission ahead of them getting the same permission in the same area. From there only the black boxes of the airplane know the true secret of what happened next. The one thing that brought the plane to its final resting place on the ocean's bottom.

Spiritually we need to put in the same request the pilot did that day but to the Lord. Permission to fly above life's storms. Storms in life are inevitable, we can't get around some and others intensity are almost unbearable.

Storms such as relationship issues, money problems, health difficulties, rebellious teenagers, job hunting and so much more. All are storms we find ourselves facing. To one person they may be a devastating event while others see them as some whirlwind of circumstances.


Things that can effect our view of things can be our attitude, our level of trust, our spiritual maturity, and our faith in God. When we have these things it makes going through storms much easier. However, we will hit storms that are much bigger in intensity and we may need to ask God permission if we can rise above the storm.

In my last visit with my doctor he told me my cancer didn't look good. The three measuring sticks he uses to come to that conclusion I flunked each one. For two years my family had gone through these storms over and over again. I could tell this one wasn't going to go by without leaving some kind of damage.

Doing the best I could behind a curtain of tears I asked God permission to rise above the storm. To be strong and not let this recent news get to me nor my family. One by one the grandkids are beginning to show signs of reality and what was going on.

Aubrey one day was at my blood transfusion staring down at the floor. She told me, grandma I didn't think it would happen this fast." What do you mean, I asked her. "The oxygen and the hair loss and the hospital rooms" she replied back. My heart just broke and if it weren't for strong arteries the blood I was receiving would have seeped all out onto the floor. 

Then recently my seventeen year old granddaughter got on a website where you can plug in your picture and your boyfriends picture to see what your kids will look like. They wanted me to see what my great grandkids would look like before I die.  Stopped again in its tracks was my heart overflowing with the pain they were feeling yet with the love I am feeling from them. 

A cake from Brooke and a daily call asking me how my day was going. Anthony's gentlemen gestures to help me thru a door or up a stair and other random acts of love. Each one serving as their cry out to ask God permission to rise above life's storm of grandma's cancer and to say "We love you. " Grandma loves you too my precious ones. 

The beauty of asking God for such permission is knowing we won't be denied because too many people asked first. It's true though sometimes God allows us to go through storms simply to learn how to trust Him and how to survive. We learn from storms a great deal of things. 

For example, the major storm my head injury and epilepsy caused was something I learned a great deal from. If God had allowed me to rise above it and miss it all together I wouldn't have matured as a Christian like I did. The epilepsy storm prepared me for something much bigger and devastating, the storm of my cancer. 

The biggest thing about rising above life's storms is permission to have a better attitude, to be strong and not collapse under the storms pressure. Also to not be effected by it to the point where the storm has beaten us instead of us withstanding it. 

So my, not so little ones anymore, stay strong. Use God as your anchor. You may have weak moments but that is okay Grandma had plenty. Just lean on Jesus. Trust Him as the captain of your ship. You may get the wind in your face, water in your eyes but you will make it through.    Love you, Grandma

Karen's Crossing~~~~~ Finishing Well

The day hadn't  start all that well. My cancer pain had gone beyond the limits of my pain patch. It had been awhile since it had been this bad. I almost forgot what it was like. With the use of my cane and extra pain meds I managed to get around to the finish. 

A good nap was helping for me to cope too. As I started to feel better I decided to go to town and meet my daughter at the bank before going shopping. As my grandson, granddaughter, and myself traveled to town we had a surprise waiting for us on the road. 

As I drove down a hill at sixty miles per hour a car was at the bottom wanting to turn left crossing my line of traffic. With her blinker on she had plenty of time to perform her task. Why she didn't I don't know. Her idea of turning left was to ride in my lane straight at me without a care in the world. 

As I got closer I hit my breaks, honked my horn, and skid along the pavement creating a nice pillar of blue smoke filled with the aroma of burnt rubber. Finally she slowly decide to exit my lane stage left. Scared by the whole incident I pulled over and began to cry. My granddaughter called her mom and told her to come to the canal as soon as possible. 

After a lot of tears I finally was fit to drive the rest of the way to town. As I did I thought about the angels that had to have been riding on my bumper that day. It was the rubber from their sneakers that safely screeched the car to a stop. 

Later at Wal Mart the checkout lady ask me if I was having a nice day. I told her, "well it started out a bad cancer day then I was almost in a head-on collision as I drive to town." As the lady apologize for my day I told her it was ok because I planned to finish it well because I so choose to do so. 

Enough of this bad stuff, I wasn't going to let it all get to me to the point where my whole day was shot because of it. In spite of starting off bad I wanted it to finish well. 

Like my cancer I had always felt like I had angels on my bumper watching over me. Angels used by God to keep me safe emotionally and spiritually in my life in order that I may finish well. 

Finish well the life created in my mother's womb that gave birth to me. Finishing well the task I was assigned as mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend, writer, and so much more. 

Cancer wasn't going to make my task easy but God was going to make it possible. Circumstances in certain situations was slowing me down but it's God's speed that things happen anyway. Emotions were at their worse behavior but the joy I felt in the Lord was so much more effective. 

Finishing well the day that started out so bad was a choice. Just as finishing well my tasks on earth. Even Jesus knew when to say, "It is finished." And oh how he finished well. 

As I told my friend about my day's adventure I told her, "honestly Kay I don't try to live life on the edge. It just seems like the edge finds me.  What I truly want to find for me is the task of finishing well for The Lord."  

Years ago I painted a wall hanging that said, " God put me on earth to accomplish a certain number of things!! Right now I am so far behind....I will never die!"

It was funny at the time but now I see more than a touch of humor behind it. Whether we don't finish our tasks on earth will not postpone or speed up our departure from it. We should want to finish well and not leave behind the Lord's work He has given us to do. 

Thirty some years after painting the wall hanging I would like to change it to say, "God has put Karen on earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Because she is so far ahead she was able to depart early to further works of The Lord awaiting for her in Heaven."

She finished well. She finished well. 

A goal for all to meet. 

Copyright January 2015 Karen J Gillett @Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing. 

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Lemonade Anyone?

 

The news at the doctor's office wasn't good. The cancer that had entered my body four years earlier had made its way to my bones, liver and now my lungs. Tears of fear flooded my eyes as I drove home trying my best to be strong for my two grandkids who were with me and for those who were not.

As I began to drive home the silence of the car was interrupted by a message God had for me in between the flows of tears watering my cheeks. He said, "Lemonade anyone?" I knew instantly what God meant. As the old saying goes, "When life hands you a lemon you make lemonade."

Life had just handed me another lemon, the sour thing called cancer, and the only way to get thru it was to make something good from it. Something refreshing and pleasant. A lemon by itself can be very sour but with the right ingredients it can turn into something very delicious such as lemonade. Something that really hits the spot when swallowed bringing a refreshing feeling.

I may had just got my "lemon" but it wasn't too early to set out my lemonade stand.  As I thought about it I thought of the lemonade stand our granddaughter Marissa set up once. With very little customers she finally had someone who wanted some lemonade. The lady had passed by our house once but returned. After getting out of her car she bought her cup of lemonade from the little 7 year old girl on the front porch of Marissa's house. After getting her drink she handed Marissa a silver dollar and a silver dollar for her two younger sisters as well. she explained to us that she had a lemonade stand as a kid and no one would stop and buy any. She vowed as an adult to stop at every lemonade stand and buy a cup with a silver dollar that she would quickly run to the bank for as she did for our granddaughters.

It's important that we learn how to make the right kind of lemonade with our sour lemon or misfortunes that life hands us. There are some situations that are hard to overcome but with Jesus as our main ingredient its possible. It may not get us out of the situation we are in but it will certainly get us through it as a cold glass of lemonade gets us through a hot summer day.

Trust in God mixed with a lot of faith makes a fine cup of lemonade. The praises and thankfulness we give to God for that which is good in our lives outside of what is going on makes for great ice cubes to keep our drink cool and delightful. I may find it hard to be thankful for cancer but I can thank God for my family, my ability to still get around, friends, bright sunny days, warm winter nights in front of a fireplace and so much more.

Whether we want it or not life will hand us a lemon sooner or later. Some could open their own fruit stand with all the lemons they get but its our choice what we are going to do with what we have been handed. I don't know about you but I choose lemonade. Years ago when I had epilepsy I had chose the route of bitterness, anger, self-pity and failure and it got me no where but further into a slump I didn't need to live within. A true picture of, been there done that, wasn't worth it.

Lemonade anyone?

P.S. And another thought is the fact that we need to stop by and visit other people's lemonade stands and support them. With my cancer people have been doing just that for me and my family. The silver dollars of encouragement have poured in from all sides. For example tonight, 20 minutes after talking to his boss my husband got a return phone call. "Don,' his boss said, 'I called some people and its all set up. You will have a job for the next several months and will be immediately transferred to this other one after that." The burden of trying to keep his insurance going to cover my medical needs was lifted off at last from a very heavy heart. With a choking sound in his voice when he got off the phone Don said, "I don't know what to say." I told him, "Let's say thank you Lord  and praise you God." Indeed the Lord of my life had dropped in again to visit a lemonade stand I had set up.  Father God, thank you for the ingredients You've always supplied to make it all possible. Ingredients such as strength, trust, mercy, grace, love, patience, and understanding. Love you Lord, thank you for loving me.



Copyright 2015 Karen Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Karen's Crossing~~~~But As For Me

In the Bible several times in the Psalms they use the phrase "but as for me." In Psalms 71:14,16 it doesn't say that but I am writing in those words to match the ones in my heart. "But 'as for me' I will hope continually, and praise You yet more and more. I will go in the strength of The Lord God."

The psalmist here was telling about how he had made God his trust, hope, refuge, rock, and his youth. He then talks about how he wants God to deliver him from his enemies. From there we hook up with a big BUT to verses 14 and 16 I just wrote about. 

This was a scripture I had picked out the morning of a doctor's appointment. As I tried to get my expectors out of the closet to expect the best this scripture gave me three things to help me with my task. It told me to hope continually, praise God more and more, and to go in the strength of The Lord. 

There I had it balled up in three things I needed to do. All through the morning I thought of these three things. I realized in my heart when you pray it's not only to ask something of God its to get our own instructions and I did. I had my job to do while God did His. 

At last my appointment time had arrived or so I thought. I was off by two hours. Two hours early wasn't going to be easy to kill but my granddaughters and I went to a museum in the area that worked just fine. Little did I know it was God who tampered with my schedule putting the extra one in front of 1:30 to arrange His time to talk with me.  

Once at the museum laughter was in the air as my 13 and 11 year old granddaughters tried to push me up and down the hills in a wheelchair. I'm sure it was  more fun for me than them. 

After the museum it was finally time for my real appointment. Thus I returned at my regularly scheduled time. The first thing the doctor asked was do you want your granddaughters to hear your results. My heart fell from my chest just to splatter on the floor. I knew the news was bad. 

My efforts to keep my expectors high started failing fast when I brought out my scripture for the day. With an added "as for me" clause I quickly connected it to the rest. "As for me, I will hope continually, praise Him more and more, and go in His strength." There was no added clause from God nor me that said "if only things are going good."  I still had my job to do it and I did. I had to be strong for the kids and myself and doing as the scripture told me too helped. 

As my granddaughter Brooke struggled and pushed hard to get me up a hill at the museum it was my turn to get behind the chair to struggle hard to get me up the emotional hill I was facing. The hill of finding out my cancer was now officially in my lungs and oral chemo was no longer an option. Suddenly I was out of breath like Brooke and Jayleena in their efforts and I hadn't even started. 

I had come to a hill and I knew that hoping in God continually would do the trick. I couldn't stop hoping now over some bad news. Often that is when we need hope the most. I couldn't break the continue cycle now or I'd roll down backwards the steep slope I just climbed. The end results would be the same as if the girls gave up on pushing me and back down the hills I would go only to crash at the bottom. I don't want to crash at the bottom. 

Next thing to do was to praise God more and more. This was easy. What!? Easy?  Yes easy. I learned with my epileptic seizures the negative results of worrying and getting upset over things. They were uncontrolled stress seizures that dominated my life for twelve years. I also learned good or bad we need to praise God and be thankful. 

We don't have to thank him for our cancer or the car accident or the disease that took a love ones life. Our job is to be thankful to God for who He is and His blessings. No I can't say my cancer is one if His blessings. But what I glean from it and others could be the blessing. 

As my husband and I cried and hugged each other he told me he felt like we were being punished. I told him it does feel that way but God doesn't operate that way. It says so in the Bible when he went to cure a blind man. John 9:1-5. Someone asked Jesus who sinned, him or his parents to cause him to be born blind. Jesus replied "neither. But the works of God should be revealed in him."  

Awesome, that gives me grounds for more and more praise as God's

 work is revealed in my life, possibly my healing. It could happen, I have my hope and trust. If it doesn't happen this is happening to grab hold of my family and revealing in themselves how to love and trust God. Learning to see God as I always have and to draw near to Him walking simultaneous with Him not two or three steps behind or ahead. 

As far as part three of my job that's easy. I often feel I have no strength at all and I have been living off borrowed strength from Jesus all along. Trying to use my own strength years ago would have ended up in a suicide mission in myself both physically and spiritually. 

Our best reliable source of strength is Jesus. It last longer than the candy bar we ate for strength or the beer we guzzled for strength or the food we gorged down for strength. All may be temporary resources but we need lasting results. It is thru Jesus and the reading of his word that we get that. 

Yep, as for me I turn to Jesus. My continual hope, everlasting praise, and supplier of unbeatable strength. 

Whew! I'm out of breath or finger strokes I should say as I rattled on and on. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you had a great read.    Karen

Copyright 2015 Karen J Gillett at Pencil Marks and Publishing 

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Pity Party Invitation has been cancelled

Okay people I have had it!  I give up. I can't take it any more. I am sick of all this. I'm having a pity party and you are all invited. Refreshments will be served such as sorry for me soup, things are terrible tea, and down in the dumps,so I might as well stay there, dessert. 

Being the host of this party it's my duty to go first so let me begin by setting out the refreshments. 

1. I'm sick of taking all these medications. For someone who never "did drugs" I'm living off them now. 

It's those drugs that have extended your life four years and keep you going for whatever time frame God has in store for you ahead.  

2. I can't hike up a mountain trail, climb rocks, or walk any great distance, or sit too long in one place because of my bone cancer. 

Honestly I never did want to climb rocks. Riding a mountain trail on a horse sounds more appealing, although that would hurt too. Just the same the mountains still hold a beauty that sustains me. Everyone needs a balance between sitting too much and walking too far. 

3. I had to quit a job I loved and had for 17 years in order to go off and die because my cancer was getting the best of me making it difficult to work. 

I was blessed to find such a job and given such an opportunity after being out of the work force because of my epilepsy.  The memories and friendships I have picked up over the years will never die but only further blossom. 

4. Every time I've gone into the doctor it seems like my cancer has spread some place new. 

What is spreading more rapidly is your witness for Christ and how His strength, love, mercy and grace works. Modern technology is wonderful as its able to catch things early. 

5. My radiation treatment made me so sick I couldn't eat and lost forty pounds. 

You've never had such a successful diet. You look good and feel great. You learned you could survive without certain foods and you could learn to live on less of others. 

6. My epilepsy 25 years ago and now my cancer has robed me of my independence. I can't be a free woman. 

You're are blessed to be surrounded by such a fantastic support team. It's something you wouldn't give up for the world. In Christ you are free. Cancer can't bind you up or enslave you unless you allow it. You are a free woman thanks to God. 

7. Worry, worry, worry. I am tired of worrying all the time. I worry about my tumor markers going up, my cancer spreading, falling down and breaking my bone cancer stricken pelvis. I worry about my family being ok if I'm called home to Heaven early. 

If you're worrying too much that's your fault not your cancer's. God tells you not to worry for tomorrow has enough of its own. You need to trust God more and lean on His wisdom and strength not your own. Remember to just glance at your troubles yet stare towards Jesus. 

Suddenly after attempting to set up the refreshment table for my pity party something hit me. I was no longer feeling sorry for myself. Things weren't as terrible as I made them out to be. I may have visited the dumps but I didn't have to stay.

Really I had a lot to be thankful for. A lot to praise God for. God hadn't left me. I was the one who moved away from Him in my attitude and choices.

Therefore my "invitees" I am pleased to announce the pity party has been cancelled. Instead come and bring your own thankful tea, praise God always punch, and don't forget what God is doing and has done for you dessert.

We will celebrate being blessed.

Love

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In Udder Words Tuesday~~~it's Up to You

Make a decision today that you are going to enjoy the living daylights out of the rest of your life, and you're going to let God reward you for everything you've lost, that you're going to have a double-good, extra blessed life because of the pain in your past.  Joyce Meyers 

Every day is a choice. We can choose to be happy or we can choose to be grumpy. We can choose to let the pain of our past knock us down or we can choose to let it pick us up as we live a double-good extra blessed life because of it. The choice is ours, it's up to you. 

In spite of cancer, health issues, marital problems, financial issues or other things we need to make the choice to enjoy the living daylights out of the rest of our lives. It doesn't matter how long or short that time may be. We need to allow God to reward us for everything we have lost and the pain we have suffered.

We must refuse to allow that which hurt us in the past to continue to do damage to our lives. For the biggest reason being what controlled us then doesn't have to control us now. It's up to you believe it or not. 

Its up to us to allow God to reward us for our lost, opening the door to better things to be done with what has hurt us in the past. We can't let Satan win the battle he has us in. It's up to us. Let the living begin not end with the pain of our past. 

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Hanging Up A Hat

Over the years we have all had the pleasure and displeasure of picking up and wearing different types of "hats."  Some of the hats we may have liked but others we didn't care for at all. Such as wearing the hat of being a spouse, sibling, friend, child, employee, employer, caregiver, parent, medical problem, abused, encourager, follower, and many other things. 

Some of these hats may be worn all the time while others are as seasonal as a rain or sun bonnet or ski cap. It doesn't matter if we love our current hat or not there comes a time when some hats have to be hung up. Such as the elder person who at last has to make the decision to give up their "hat" of being a licensed driver. This kind of decision is something we all face sooner or later. 

Today when I was at Bible study the Sunday School director for the kids ministry came up to me to ask a question. It was a question she has asked before over the last three years but today's answer was what was different. "Karen' she said. 'Do you think you can keep on teaching your preschool and kindergarten class?"  It was a question I had been asking myself but one I didn't want to deal with. Without hesitation but with plenty of tears I told her "no."

I couldn't believe I actually said 'no' to her. As we hugged and cried and hugged some more I kept telling her how sorry I was. I had been teaching small kids and some older ones too since I was an 8th grader myself. The only thing that was supposed to stop me from teaching was death itself. Even when I was disabled with epilepsy someone would pick me up and drive me to where I taught a Good News Fellowship Club at a local grade school.  For years I was a director for daily vacation bible school, craft leader, and teacher. 

However, currently with my additional new growth of cancer and increase in pain the tables were suddenly turning on me. It was time to hang up a hat I had worn over fifty years. One of my favorite hats. A hat I held dear. How was I going to be able to go home and walk into my office with all my teaching tools present I had collected over the years and look at them without crying. I had no clue. 

Much to my surprise when I got home what jumped out of my closets were not the stored puppets and drawings I used over the years but memories instead. Such as the memories of the pie a student threw in my face. The broken finger I got praying for another student when I was so heavily involved in the prayer I didn't notice my finger was still in the door jam as I shut the door. Also how could I ever forget the brother and sister team who tied me to my chair and held me captive till their parents arrived. Then there was the middle school child that was dropped off suddenly at the church camp where I was a counselor that was abandoned by her parents and I was the friend she was in need of at the time. Or the student I tried to convince to flunk kindergarten just so he could stay in my class. 

All were great memories to hold on to that was for sure. Truly over the years the kids had an impact on my life and I can only pray I impacted theirs as well. Gone may be the days of pretend tea parties, rocks being shoved up little boys noses, play dough stuck to carpet, sliding in fear down water slides and participating in Christmas plays but what will remain forever is the list of the kids I had taught. 

A list I collected over time of the students who had come across my path over the years. One I used to pray for the kids, to think about them and to enjoy the news of their spiritual progress long after leaving my classroom. Such as the student who was just baptized in his 30s who I had taught so long ago along with his many other teachers that worked so hard to plant a seed towards a harvest yet to be grown. 

Whether it's quick results or time delayed harvests it doesn't matter. The rewards of teaching over the years has been tremendous for me. I only wish I could have done more. If I could I would be more than happy to flunk cancer just to stay in my class but it doesn't work that way. 

Still remains in my heart are the words of the scripture I was given my first time I directed a daily vacation Bible school out of Isaiah 6:8. "I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, here am I, send me."  

"Lord, I sadly but proudly hang up my hat as preschool Sunday school teacher but wherever You can use me I will follow. Here I am and always will be, send me."

In love WITH Jesus,

Karen

Breaking Through

The devil doesn’t want you to break thru because he knows that if you do, you will become a world changer 

Along with that saying there is another that says; “we need to live our lives in such a way that when we wake up in the morning Satan panics and says, “Oh no she’s up again!” With either saying they are both demonstrating the fact that Satan doesn’t want us to accomplish anything in our lives. After all, if we do we just might become a world changer or an effective Christian for God. Well, Satan, this gal is breaking through.

Too often in my life I have wanted to breakdown but never break through. I wanted to give up when the circumstances around me were too hard for me to bear. Bingo, Karen, five in a row you hit it, “too hard for ME to bear.” We weren’t meant to do life alone. We need God to see us through. The choice we have to make in this process is the willingness to be sure we want to break through the walls Satan puts up to slow us down or distract us.

In the Bible look at how many obstacles Satan tried to put up to block Job from being an effective righteous man. One by one they may have slowed Job down for a second or two but he kept on going. He was one of those men that when he woke up in the morning Satan would cry out, “Oh no he’s awake” because Satan knew how effective he was in his faith in God.

That is my goal, my effectiveness with my faith in God. Sunday in my church as the worship team sang the selected songs they finally came to one that has always been guaranteed to make me cry every time. The song by Matt Redman, ‘Blessed be Your name.” One that talks about even if there is pain in the offering, a road marked with suffering I will bless the name of God. It doesn’t matter if God gives or takes away, I will still bless Him.

For years that song sent me out in the hall of the church in tears crying over the hopeless situation I felt I was in with my epilepsy and relationship issues. However, this Sunday I didn’t make it to the hall. Why not? I had breast and bone cancer to add to my list, why wasn’t I out in the hall crying out to God once again?

I wasn’t out there because God has showed me over the years the hope and strength I have in Him. Times may be hard but I had Jesus. Life may get rough but I had God to calm the storms. I may have my wounds but God was my healer.

At last I felt like I was getting closer to the mark where I wanted to be. A place in life where I had Satan on the run not the other way around. I was where God needed to me to be to become one of the ones who were willing to be a world changer instead of a world joiner.

As the song went on and they got to the words again about how God gives and takes away I lifted up my cane I use to prop myself up and waved it high in the air. From the back row in my special chair on the left side of the church the only thing missing was the white flag I wanted to tie to the end of the cane as I waved it. A flag representing not the fact I was giving up but the news I was surrendering all, including the pain of my cancer to be an effective Christian for Christ. 

The pain in the offering doesn’t matter no differently than the pain in my hip, ribs, and feet from my bone cancer. What matters is that I live my life in a manner worthy of God. Someone who makes a difference for God in a world that is fallen. A resource for God to use through the testimony of what He has done in my life and others as we break through life’s obstacles. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

© 2013 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing       In Udder Words Tuesday

A Big Comeback ~~~~In Udder Words Tuesday

Thou hast bathed me once for all in the sin-removing fountain, cleanse me now from this day’s defilement, from its faults, deficiencies of virtue, harmful extremes, that I may exhibit a perfect character in Jesus.

 

As I got up this morning the first thing I did was look down at my spiritual attire from yesterday. Stains from the behavior of days gone past still told their stories as they stared back at me. As I worked my way to my front porch to listen to God via the birds and the sounds of the other farm creatures and through my heart I began to pray for a needed comeback.

 

First order of business was to thank the Lord for bathing me already in the sin-removing fountain of Christ’s blood that cleared a very dirty slate. No matter how hard I try, like Paul in the Bible spoke about I seem to keep on sinning even when I don’t want to. It’s like in the fight between the flesh and the spirit the flesh seems to win a little too much.

 

Oh how I would like to be like the football team that is down 42-6 and the stadium clears out and goes home figuring it was a worthless cause to stay. Yet the team comes back to win 42-48. A victory that would shock the world the next day as the headliners in the paper blared out the results of a great comeback.

 

Thanks to God and the sin-removing fountain of the blood of Christ who died for us the ability to make that big comeback is ours. We can exhibit a perfect character in Jesus. It would be wonderful if this instantly happened the first time we accepted Christ into our lives but it doesn’t work that way. It’s something that we constantly need to be working on. As long as we are alive there will always be the rivalry game between the flesh and the spirit.

 

No matter how far down we get we have to keep on fighting to make that big comeback that shocks the world. With God as our coach and the Bible as our plan of action we are eventually going to win but we will never win without a fight. The choice is ours on whether we want to be the people in the stadium who give up and go home or the ones who are left fighting on the field who refuse to quit.

 

We need to refuse to quit. Instead we must strive for the big response in Christ that can be ours. A victory that is ours not just for a season but forever thanks to our ability to accomplish a big comeback in Christ.

 

© 2013 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing       In Udder Words Tuesday

Karen's Crossings~~~Journey with Epilepsy and Cancer

Howdy,

On Karen's Crossing's I am going to be reviewing more the tools I used for fighting my stress seizures over 20 years. I will be covering them on my other BlogSpot http://COCWF.blogspot.com as they were the topic I spoke about at Women's Retreat this year. In order to complete what I started with the ladies I'm going to finish reviewing them on the Women's Retreat blog.

So join me over there on a topic I have covered on this BlogSpot as well under Karen's Crossings.

As far as the current episode of Karen's Crossings, my tumor markers have gone up again in a jump of 17 points. Last month they had jumped 9 points. Monday I will be having a bone scan test and Wednesday another CT scan looking for signs of new growth. If there is no new growth it could have been stress that made them jump. Go figure, stress is such a tattler. Perhaps that is a good thing then it makes us look a little closer where we need to give something over to the Lord because evidently we can't handle it.

I have had a stressful month with my father-in-law dying, my best friend's dad dying as well, then my aunt too, plus my granddaughter's 7 baby pit bull puppies. However, that doesn't give me an excuse to not continue to lean on the Lord and trust in His lead to see me through so many tears and sad, sad memories. As I told someone at church today, who just found out he had cancer, that we needed to get together and have us a lemon-aide stand. After all, they say when life throws you a lemon, you need to make lemon-aid. In other words, learn how to make the most of what you are dealing with in life. As tough as it is at times, its possible when we trust God.

Anyway hop on over to WOCWF and follow along.

In love W.I.T.H. Jesus,

Karen

In Udder Words ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No Strings Attached

Frequently when we give out gifts to some people we have the tendency to attach strings to them. ‘I will give you this but you can’t do this or that with what I give you’ becomes our thinking. Quietly or not so quietly we watch from a distance to see if they are going to treat the gift we give them with respect and appreciation.



"No strings attached!" I promise! Yeah right.

 


Instead of a price tag attached to the gift we have our set of rules we think they should follow. We expect the person to react a certain way, be appreciative in an exact manner, and the list of attached strings multiple.



Praise the Lord when God gave us the gift of His son Jesus Christ He didn’t come with strings attached. In fact, if you think about it, Christ came to cut some strings that needed to be done away with. The strings of our failures, our bondage to sin, and our inability to follow the law He gave the people to pursue in the Old Testament.



The fact that we need to believe in Jesus and be obedient to His word doesn’t serve as strings but a ribbon or string cutting ceremony. It's a life line needed to survive for all eternity. In Christ we have been set free from the bondage of sin and its strings that tie us down.



God didn’t attach any strings and neither should we. Find freedom in Christ, have a ribbon cutting ceremony of your own and get away from the bondage our wrong choices, selfish attitudes, and unruly tongues create.

In Udder Words~~~~~~~~~~~Cast or Keep

Learn to cast your care, but not your responsibility. Too often we do just the opposite 1 Pe 5:6-7

At the local outdoor sportsman show casting lessons were being given. It was something that attracted the crowd of people to stand by and watch the one learning how to properly cast. ‘You do it this way, no don’t it that way,’ the instructor said as he held the fishing pole with the person doing the learning.



Several miles from the Sportsman show sits the local church. This also needs to be a place where casting lessons are given. Indeed lessons that include how to properly cast our cares onto the Lord in the most effective manner possible.



Too often we are great at the casting or so we think because we are constantly dumping on the Lord our cares, worries, concerns, fears, and wants. We use God as a dump site instead of the resource place He is. Our casting needs to include letting go long enough to allow God to work in our lives.



If we would only stop long enough to look, we would see God as our Teacher and Instructor standing along side of us giving us the lessons we need. He does it through our spirit; He speaks to us through His word.



Truly our casting lessons like the person at the Sportsman Show should attract large crowds of people equally interested in learning the proper way to do it. Unfortunately it doesn’t. It’s not the fault of the teacher nor the student willing to learn, it’s simply the fact we are too stubborn to stop long enough to really learn from God and the life lessons He has to offer.



We go to God to cast, to get rid of, to give to Him not only our anxieties but our lives. The foot of the cross is not a place to go and exchange instantly the negative things in our lives for all the wonderful things we ever dreamed of. The whole thing is a process we need to endure to get to the blessings and treasures God has in store for us in heaven.



We need to dump our extra load on to God as He tells us in Matthew 11:28 to “come to him all who are burdened and heavy laden.” I don’t know about you but that has been me all the way sometimes. Our journey in life doesn’t have to be as rough and tough as we make it out to be if we would properly learn how to cast our cares on to God and trust Him to take care of them. Our casting does not need to be followed with our Plan A through Z package for God to follow. Our faith needs to be in our Instructor to know what is best.



We have a choice to make with our anxieties, worries, and cares. Cast or keep? I would rather cast my cares upon the Lord and wait patiently for Him to handle them from there. How about you? Cast or keep?

©2013 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing        for In Udder Words

In Udder Words ~~~~~~~~~Never Alone

Live your life expecting the best, not fearing the worst. Remember that you are not alone; God is right there with you (1 Peter 3:12)

 

In 1 Peter 3:12 we are told that the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are open to their prayers…” Wow what a promise! What a great comfort to know in our hearts that we are never alone, God is right there with us. His eyes are on us and His ears attentive to our prayers.

 

When life hits us up alongside the head long enough it becomes easy to live our life expecting the worst instead of the best. In spite of what life gives us to deal with we still need to live in such a way we expect the finest instead of fearing the worse.

 

Some people think if they imagine the worse and it doesn’t happen then they will be happy that it didn’t. In their own way it is their way of preparing themselves for the worse. Although it may prepare us in a way for the, not so good things in life, it still is the worst thing we can do for ourselves. Forever looking for the bad to happen can really drag our spirits down. After a while we almost begin to not only prepare for it but believe it’s actually going to happen.

 

There are better ways to be prepared. One of the best ways is to know in our hearts that we are not alone. Unfortunately for some reason when life happens a common reaction is to immediately think we are all alone in our adventure. We get it in our minds that we must be the only one who has ever gone thru this. We think life has let us down and the people around us have deserted us including God.

 

Wrong! We may not get a good solid promise from those around us to never leave us nor desert us but we have a promise from God that says He won’t. It’s a promise we can hold on to, a promise worth treasuring in our hearts. The strength needed to go, the power needed to fight.

 

God’s eyes are upon us His ears attentive to our prayers. We need to make sure our eyes are Him and that He is receiving those prayers He has promised to hear. When we have God in our lives we are never alone.

 

 

 

Shake it Off

We need to shake off our bad attitudes, thoughts and negative garbage in our minds by sending some Holy Spirit fire to drive out these sucker demons. God would never say, “Ok give up you gave it your best shot.”  No we instantly know that God wouldn’t say that so then why do we so easily believe Satan when he says the same thing.   Joyce Meyers

 

“We” as in “ourselves” do indeed need to shake off our own bad attitudes, thoughts and negative garbage. It’s not up to those around us to deal with these things. It’s our job to shake them off the instant they arrive. Recently at the Easter egg hunt at the White House a young child was crying. President Obama tried to console him by telling him to, “Shake it off. Shake it off.” The last thing anyone would have heard said to the child would have been, “Oh its okay to cry, throw your fit, you deserve to be heard.” That’s preposterous.

 

As I have told my grandchildren, we shouldn’t have to pay the price because they want to use whatever excuse they can come up with to justify wrong attitudes, thoughts, and thinking. Often people will use such excuses as, “I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, had a bad day at work, not feeling well and others” as their reasons for having attitude issues.

 

Our job is not to excuse our behavior but to fight against it by sending the fire of the Holy Spirit in to drive it out. We know good and well God would never say to us, “Ok give up you gave it your best shot.” No, He expects us to fight against those desires that go in opposition to what He rather we would do.

 

Isn’t it funny though, ‘well no not really,’ that when Satan says to us ‘we gave it our best shot’ we instantly believe him. It doesn’t take us but a few seconds to quit. However, when God tells us we are doing well and to keep going and our best is yet to come we don’t believe Him and we instantly quit.

 

Do I detect a pattern here? Yes, it doesn’t matter what it is we seem to quit a little too easy now-a-days. We have lost our diligence to give it our best shot and to keep on going.

We don’t think “we” can “shake off” those bad attitudes, choices, and wrongful decisions so we don’t even try.

 

I have to say we are right about one thing, ‘we’ can’t do it alone. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to come in and do the job for us. However, we have to step aside and grant God the permission to do so. We have to really want to shake off the bad and replace it with the good. Ouch, did I just hear an action word use there? We have to replace the bad with the good? Yes it doesn’t do any good to shake off the things that don’t belong if we don’t repent and change our ways and replace them with good attitudes, habits, thinking, and choices.

 

Now not later is the time to get to shaking to stir that which is in us to improve in order to shake off instead of slack off. Together with the help of the Holy Spirit it can be done!

 

© 2013 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing       In Udder Words Tuesday

Karen's Crossings~~~~~~ An Upward Climb

“Be there at noon!” was the orders from Wayne, our chauffeur. The pastor from our church who had preached there for 27 years before he retired had finally graduated to heaven. A two hour trip over a mountain pass to his funeral was our way of saying “Goodbye and thanks.”

 

Coming fully supplied for the trip I had my crochet project I was working on, my Bible to read, and my cane. I didn’t know if I would need the crochet project or Bible for entertainment purposes but I knew for sure I would need the cane. The trip over and back in one afternoon wasn’t going to set well with my body and I was right. It was a good thing Wayne thought of bringing along a step ladder to help those who needed it into the van.

 

As we made our first pit stop in Mill City the task of getting out of the van was difficult. After sitting for over an hour my legs and hips just didn’t seem to want to move. With the help of Wayne and Toni, one of the passengers I managed to get out.

While walking to the restroom I felt a touch of self-pity start to zoom in on my spirit. The memories of long ago when I hated to be babysat when I had seizures flooded in as I found myself in that position again with my cancer. As I attempted to shake the feelings it was creating within me I began to wonder where in the world is the hole to the funnel.

Hole to what funnel? The funnel that seems to suck you in so quickly and unexpectedly into that pity me, I’m worthless, I’m no good, I’m a nuisance to those around me, I ‘m a bother to have to babysit, and the list goes on. There I was sucked in and hanging on the edge peeking out. In an attempt to keep these negative thoughts from making a nest in my head and staying longer than they should I fought against them till they were shaken lose.

Yes I had more important things to concentrate on, like my walking. To step up into the van I always had to hesitate and decide which leg I wanted to use to make that first step. A couple of times people had to push me gently in my back to help in the boost upward. As the journey went on and the pain got worse I found myself concentrating on each step I took as if it required every brain cell I had to get me to move one leg at least two inches forward.

 

Finally while sitting at the funeral I had what I call my “pain ball” in one hand I use to squeeze whenever the sharp pains hit where my bone cancer is and my cane in the other I was on my way to surviving this ordeal. One of the ladies traveling on the van with me asked me at the funeral if I was having trouble with my knee. I told her “No” I have bone cancer throughout my entire skeletal system. “Oh, I didn’t know,” she said.

Sometimes I wish it was only my knee that was giving me trouble, or a backache that was going to resolve itself after a good massage. As much as I would like to wake up from my cancer only to find it was just a dream I know better. For the rest of my life, each step I take will have to be measured with caution. Some will be good and some will be hard to do like the one inch decline in the sidewalk at the funeral site that was difficult to do after hurting so much.

 

I could choose to lock myself up and never go out due to the pain but I don’t want to do that. I want to go on living the best I can. Doing so will no doubt create more pain than I already feel constantly but that’s okay because eventually it settles down. I may be thinking more on the negative side but I wonder sometimes if I will someday wind up in a wheelchair unable to walk at all and if that’s the case I’d like to get in what I can now while I can.

Indeed to do so may require a helping hand from a love one, a shove in the back to boost me up, an extra step stool, a hug or a smile to put a little light on a darken path but that’s okay. The important thing is that I go thru it all with the right attitude. Just because I require the use of a cane once in a while to walk physically I shouldn’t need a cane to walk spiritually and emotionally if I keep my attitude healthy.

 

Long ago with my epilepsy I learned that “pity me” is a shovel that will only dig us in further to the pit in life we find ourselves fallen in to. The right attitude is the ladder needed to climb out of the places that would like to swallow us alive. Therefore, we need to put away our canes and climb the ladder upward toward God with the attitude needed to get us there and the faith in Him required to succeed. Succeed in anything, even cancer.

Thanks everyone who helped me the other day and every day of my life. I appreciate it so much. It’s people like you that helps in the upward climb in a task that seems to want to go anywhere but up. As far as my spiritual life goes, my cane is gone, I’ve been set free thanks to Jesus, I will succeed.

 

© 2013 Karen J. Gillett at Pencil Marks and Recipe Publishing for Karen’s Crossing

Udder Words~~~~~~~~~~~~~Live It Out

Hebrews 4:3a For we who have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on God) do enter that rest, in accordance with His declaration that those (who did not believe) should not enter…..v11 Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest (of God, to know and experience it for ourselves), that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience (into which those in the wilderness fell).

They say it’s not the anniversary of your baptism you should be remembering or celebrating but the actual day you “repented” and turned your life around unto the Lord as you live out your new life in Christ. Same thing with believing, if you’re anything like me I’ve believed in God and Jesus all my life but just recently at the age of 54 I told myself it was time I really started to believe. In others words, it was time to live out what I had believed all my life.

I needed to start to strive for that zeal talked about in Hebrews 4 in all areas of my life not just parts of it. A good place to start was to take the definition of believing found in Hebrews 4 and then toss in the meaning of faith and trust. After stirring well I came up with this guideline to live my life by. It goes like this:

“As a Christian I need to adhere to, follow and obey, and rely on God trusting in Him by the leaning of my entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness. Committing my all to Him and confidently looking to Him with my whole being. Believing in who He is and having the faith to know He will carry out His promises as I trust Him to guide me thru all things.”

Indeed recently through my actions, my worries, my feelings of defeat I wasn’t doing what I needed to be doing as someone who believes in God. I was shortening my “all things” list by not trusting that God could see me thru certain areas. All things such as my cancer, the salvation of my love ones, marital obstacles, the true and honest repentance of myself and those around me, caregiving for my parents, my writing skills and enduring life itself one day at a time.

Truly there was no time like the present to start to follow and obey God and rely on Him to walk us through it all. We need to lean our entire personality on God not just the part that goes to church on Sunday. The evidence against us often shows us holding back parts of our lives and it’s time we give to God our absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness.  

 

Daily we need to make the choice to approach every situation believing and trusting in God as we zealously exert ourselves and strive diligently for the rest found in God. The rest received in His grace, mercy and forgiveness. The rest Heaven has to offer. After a long journey on earth that rest in Heaven is going to be simply divine. It will all be well worth the effort we were willing to put in to living out our belief in God, walking out our faith in Him. Striving to make sure our actions speak louder than words all from the day we truly first believed enough to show it zealously, in our choices and attitudes in life.

Live it out, walk it through. There’s a rest stop just ahead! Praise the Lord.

© 2013 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing       In Udder Words Tuesday

Sticky Notes from God~~~~~~ Full Service Deal

“Lord wash us with the water of your word”

Too often when we get into the Bible we go for a quick snack, a sponge bath, a first aid kit, and touch of partial truths to suit itching ears. In other words we get out of it exactly what efforts we put in to it. The dust that settled on our Bibles from lack of use will only fly off to settle in our hearts if that’s all we are willing to do.

 

If we go for a snack it’s exactly what we’ll get as we will never get the benefit of a full meal deal because we chose to grab something on the run. A bite here and there will never give us the nourishment we need as opposed to really feeding off and digesting what God has to say.

 

Stopping by to put a Band-Aid over our wounds may help for a little while but it will never give us the healing we require for deeply infected wounds. We don’t need something to hide our wounds. We need the Great Physician and Lord to heal us from within. Someone who knows about wound care that will heal us to where we need to be.

 

Dipping into God’s word for a quick sponge bath is like splashing water over our hands without the soap in our rush to move on. It doesn’t do the job. In order to be cleansed we need to get into God’s word like a full service bath and soak in it long enough to wash away the dirt of sin.

 

Digging out partial truths wanting to hear strictly the things our ears are willing to listen to will only get us further into the pits we are digging for ourselves. Indeed we like to read in God’s word that we are loved and that whoever believes will have everlasting life but we ignore the warnings of those doomed for the lake of fire, the consequences of disobedience, and the importance of being like Christ. We think it’s good enough to read where we are forgiven but we don’t want to hear about the part that tells us we are to forgive others first.

 

It’s time to stop playing around and start to go for the full service deal and get serious about getting our spiritual lives into shape. Standing before the Lord on judgment day with our spiritual pretend mommy at our side licking her finger so she can rub off the dirt on our face so we can pass inspection isn’t going to work. It will never pass the scrutiny of God’s judgment when He looks into our motives, actions, attitudes, laziness, and choices of our life on earth.

 

No, what we need now is the full service deal of the benefit of getting into God’s word in order to be cleansed, fed, guided, and restored.

 

© 2013 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing