God and treasure hunts

Hello friends at Imperfect Prose! It has been FOREVER since I have written anything (on here) and linked up. I certainly miss the fellowship created. 

This week we had one of those rainy-do-everything-inside days.  Usually I find them quite tiring and mundane. I mean, what really is there to do inside? Having two little boys (and a husband) who get pretty stir crazy, I decided to start our rainy day off with some fun and commenced operation treasure hunt! I made maps, red X’s, and planted fun stops on their journey through the house where they had to battle the Mommy Monster, do a quick change (out of their pajamas into regular cloths) an epic daddy battle, and end by sneaking across the living room to the treasure box that held their morning snack.  

It didn’t go exactly as I had hoped.

When my husband read the instructions to the boys, our youngest burst into tears.

What is this Mommy Monster he was talking about? And why did the 80’s rock music we were listening to stop?  As my husband convinced the boys to start the hunt, I sat listening quietly on the stairs.  I was surprised at two things.  The first being that he actually had to convince them to go on a treasure hunt!!  The second being that they were actually scared of the Mommy monster, a game they are entirely familiar with!

I realized that throwing two things that should cause laughter and excitement together in a completely different format created a game with an unknown outcome. If I had just shown them a treasure, they would have been so excited!  If I had just played Mommy Monster, there would have been fits of giggles.  And yet here we were with two familiar things in a different setting which was met with apprehension and tears.  

It got me thinking about God.  When we experience Him and see His treasure, it’s exciting! When a challenge (from Him) comes, we’ve learned that He’s no monster and we who are willing rise to it and our faith and character grow. Yet there are times when God doesn’t simply hand us the treasure and we have to get into His map and seek it out, and those challenges that rise up seem bigger and scarier then they actually are.  It’s the same God, doing the same things, just in different circumstances.

So my thought it this, when God asks you to seek out His treasure, will you? Or do you feel like it’s too overwhelming.  Are you willing to look deeper into His map and recognize that He’s the same in this as He is when he makes things obvious?

In the last few years, I’ve been in the place of the unknown where I’ve not only had to dive into the His word, but actively seek Him out. And I’ll tell you from experience…it’s worth it!

Linking with Imperfect Prose at http://networkedblogs.com/C3OkL

light

In the beginning was the WORD

the WORD was with God....was God...was with God in the beginning.

that WORD -God- created everything.

Life in it's truest form was in Him.

Was Him.

This life, life that existed purely in Him

gave light.

To everyone.

Everyone.

This light, which is Life, which is Him,

shines thru darkness.

Pierces it.

Darkness can't get rid of it.

Which means darkness can't exist when Light is present.

This Light, this Life, is Christ.

Where Christ is, darkness isn't.

Simple truth.

profound reality.

When Tragedy Hits Home

You never know how your reaction will be

to this loss of life.

Truck and man meeting for the first and last time,

and this, this meeting on impact taking

Life.

Life cut short. On purpose.

the sucker punch to us who loved deeply.

Thoughts spinning of coulda.shoulda.woulda

grasping at hope lost

for Soul is gone to location unknown.

a little bit of Crazy

Some days I feel crazy.

I know some days I look crazy.

I have been told over the last 7 years that I am crazy.

I do crazy things.

I have crazy ideas

I make crazy irrational and illogical decisions based on nothing but what I'm told.

I trust one voice and try my best to listen to it.

I am ridiculously horrible at being a "good steward" and saving my money,

Because I am crazy, and have this uncontrollable urge to give it all away.

I cry like a crazy woman over things that make no sense, and suffer from heart ache for people I don't even know.

I uprooted my family and we've been on a crazy journey that placed us 4 hours from everything we've ever known

I only ever read one book....over and over and over and over and over and over again

Music is food to me. I eat it all the time. and it fills me up!

I take a stand against things that other people don't have a problem with.

I am crazy enough to think that we are no alone here on Planet Earth.

It makes me sad when crazy people start to get un-crazy. I think its called complacent...

I have this crazy desire to make more people crazy

I trust in something that is so BIG it surrounds me, yet so small, it fits in my heart,

So old it has all the answers, yet so new that I can forever keep learning,

Something that can both precede me AND follow me.

I am crazy enough to let love control me.

I hope your Crazy too.

"If it seems that we are crazy, it is to bring Glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Whatever we do, it is because Christ's love controls us."

-2 corinthians 5:13 and 14-

Linking with Imperfect Prose

Broken

I was Broken.

Ripped in half it seemed.

Months of life giving words spilt on the floor like sour milk, creating mess and stink and boy is it hard to clean up.

A mess I never knew existed until asking why. Why Silence. Why the change.

Faced with Answers.

Answers that wouldn't have existed, but for stubbornness and miss understanding, leading to unforgiving and then Silence.

And now I wait. I can do nothing but ask again and again for forgiveness.

For something I never knew about.

Friends, I urge you, If you have an issue with someone dear to you, talk to them. Don't let the sun go down again without working it out. Ruined relationship happen because no one says anything. And well, its just not worth it.

Linking with Imperfect Prose

Honesty

Friends, just so you know, I am not depressed like this sounds. This piece is merely a collection of thoughts and battles that I have faced over a lifetime and am still facing today. For some reason, God is bringing it all up again...and so I write because that seems the only outlet right now...

Heartache comes so easy.

The more I've given, the more it seems there is ripped away.

Or is it?

Could it be that I have over analyzed everything, read everything wrong, perhaps placed too much expectation where it didn't belong. I don't think so, yet I can't help believing the result is my fault and I am not worth the investment I was once given.

Why do I have such a low opinion of myself, not placing worth where is belongs?

Why do I believe lies spoon fed to me?

Why does this matter to me?

How can I grow beyond?

So much going on in my head but no answers to the questions tumbling to and fro.

With every lack, the reminder of what used to be stings. And with no rhyme or reason to why, the unknown lingers like a heavy blanket on my mind, tormenting my thoughts, suffocating life in places I did not know exist till darkness crept in to smother it.

Darkness....in desperate need of light. Light to shine in, shine on and birth Joy.

(and for my mind to stop over exaggerating an outcome that hasn't even happened.)

Linking with Imperfect Prose

life and questions

Life.

So many questions

What happened to it, the normal-ness that I had depended on?

When did it become spun out, wrung out, filled up and dumped out, washed up, spread out, stacked up and rebuilt?

All that seems bad, but really, its not.

Because as life has been turned around for me, I have turned with it. When I stopped clinging and released what I thought I wanted, God started to weave a fantastic story, one that I could never have written myself!

He is Good that way, isn't he.

We left our home on June 13th to go live in one bedroom with another family of 4. 8 people in small house, and in this house God has created unity of the biblical kind. In breaking bread together, in sharing our belongings, in caring for each other and for our kids, we see what the body of Christ is meant to be....together. We see what love is meant to be....open.

Other equally good things have come from this shifted life.

My oldest son, the timid one, is not so timid anymore. Our step in faith jump started a daring adventureful spirit in him. And I Praise God for that!

The vehicle we drive that was bought for us with specific conditions has been given to us as a permanent gift.

That peace that surpasses all understanding, that guards and protects your soul? Ya, we have that.

The ministry that both my husband and I are involved in is evolving beyond our expectations

God has used our story to encourage and challenge others to step out in faith, into what God is calling them to do.

We are able to bless another couple just starting on their journey of life together by loaning them our house until it sells.

And as we have been living this crazy life, I am reminded every day of God's faithfulness, for He does not forget us. As we have lived in this one bedroom home of ours, we have continued to pray that God sells our house in our old town.

He hasn't

Instead he has now provided a new place for us, one we can afford while we are still paying for our old house. So as of September 1st, we step out yet again.

There have been so many questions as to why our place hasn't sold, and what's going to happen next, but honestly

I've stopped asking them.

Because I don't really need the answers.

Linking with Imperfect Prose