Be Still Sunday

Bloggy Break

I'm taking a bit of a bloggy break. I'll be back on Monday. It's been a hard week.

Blessings to you all,

Be

Over the past couple of weeks in my weekly depression support group, we have been talking about being still. Our leader took the scripture Psalm 46:10 and gave us a new perspective.


"Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

He sent His son to die for our sins, only God is strong enough to make that sacrifice.

"Be still and know that I am."


God is mighty and all powerful. He created the heavens and the earth and knew us in the womb.

"Be still and know."

Slow down and listen. Listen to the things around you that only our mighty Father could bless you with…happiness, children, family, trials, tribulations.

"Be still."

We don't have to run from one thing to the next. Stop and be still for a moment. Listen for His voice.

"Be."

We often are too scared to stop running and just be. Are you running from something or someone? Just be and let God intervene.



Today I Am Thankful For:

1. Candle warmers
2. Old pens
3. Fun tennis shoes
4. Toys to pick up
5. Possibilities

Be Still Sunday

Faith Friday's

My husband is in his last year of seminary. He flies from El Paso to Denver once a week. It's a rought schedule, but the Lord has provided in so many ways for all of us through his schooling. The winds are pretty intense in this part of the country during the Spring so flying can be pretty turbulent.

During one particularly rough flight, a flight attendant started up a conversation with my husband. She told him that he shouldn't stress out about the turbulence. The pilot was following the flight plan. When changes are needed, he would adjust the route.

It's like our relationship with God. We want to follow the plan He has laid out for us and get to the ultimate, a deep personal relationship with Him knowing we have done His will, but there are bumps in the road. Bumps that get us off the track to that relationship. Bumps that steer us into other directions. Bumps that test our faith.

If we focus on God, we get through the storms and always go directly to Him.

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. hot tea
2. a dripping faucet
3. magnets
4. paper flowers
5. handmade cards

Practice Makes Perfect

In my "former life" I was a a middle school band director. I worked with students who were just starting to learn how to play their instruments (my favorite part) and with students who had a year or two of experience. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed my years of teaching.

One thing I was insistent on was practicing. How in the world could you improve if you didn't practice? I even taught my students how to practice so that they would get the most out of their time.

Some people believe in the saying "Practice Makes Perfect." I don't know if it makes perfect, but it will indeed bring you closer to your goal.

I believe it's the same with the time we spend with God. We have to practice being in His presence. Have you slipped away from God? Are your days not filled with as much peace as you would like? Then cry out to God and let Him know that you want to be more involved with Him. You want to be in His presence.

We have to practice being in His presence and make it a daily commitment.

Maybe the best time for you is when you wake up and are lying in bed before your feet even touch the floor. It could be after you get the kids off to school and you sit and have your cup of coffee with Him. If you work full time, it may be during your lunch break, or try setting an alarm that will go off every hour on the hour so that you spend a minute with God each hour throughout your workday.

There are many ways to practice the presence of God. The important thing is, to just do it. It will change your life.

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. new craft projects
2. the ladies in my support group
3. coasters
4. big, plastic tumblers
5. old photographs

Impressions

I work for a home health care company and am very fortunate to work from my "home office." Actually, my office is located in the choir room of our church where my husband is the Music Minister. I moved in a couple of years ago when my depression was starting to eat my lunch. Our pastor did not hesitate and invited me in so that I would be part of the staff family during the workday.

As I go about doing my work, (I have two laptops running daily) people come and go as well as the children who come back a couple of days a week for reherasals. One day, the pastor's daughter asked me, "Cazandra, what exactly is your job?" I gave her a scaled down answer that a 5th grader would understand and she replied, "Oh, I thought you were a wedding planner."

Isn't it funny, the impressions we make on people? The things that run through other people's minds of what we do, what we illustrate on a daily basis. That is why I am so passionate about "oozing." I want people to know that Christ is in my heart. That there is something special that fuels me. That I live my life to exemplify love in all things.

Are you an "oozer?" Have you been one in the past and perhaps let the world take over and diminsh what you believe?

Recommit to Christ. All you have to do is open the line of communication.

Reconnect with Christ. There is no "right" way. Just start talking to Him. He knows the desires of your heart.

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. plastic tubs
2. unexpected phone calls
3. green fabric
4. ribbon
5. Diet Cherry Cokes

Be Still Sunday

Faith Friday's

A life filled with fear has little room left for faith.

One of my favorite stories is found in Luke 7:36-50, where the sinful woman who took huge steps of faith when she walked up to Jesus in a room full of Pharisees and anointed His feet with tears and perfume. She wasn't afraid of what it would cost her, although it was a big risk and a huge sacrifice.

She knew what she hoped for and was uncertain of what she could not see. Her faith saved her with each step she took toward Jesus.

I used to live a life filled with fear. Fear of death, fear of a relative, fear of the phone ringing, fear of the future. It was miserable.

It wasn't until God made His way back into my heart and I professed my faith that things got better.

What steps are you taking towards Jesus?

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. kleenex
2. my new inspiration board
3. pretty notecards
4. article clippings
5. Celebration

Circumstances

My mind is a dangerous neighborhood to walk alone. We can get in our heads and start thinking really negative thoughts. As Mothers' Day has come and gone, I start to evaluate my being a mother. Am I doing the right things for my children, am I saying the right things to my tween during this difficult year he has had. Am I being attentive enough to my three year old?

Oh, the questions and doubts go on and on and on. But something happened Monday afternoon.

I received a call from my little one's daycare because he started to limp...a sure sign he is having a bleed (both of my boys have Severe Hemophilia). I rushed over to daycare and talked to him, watched him walk and realized he was definitely having a bleed. I scooped him up and off we went to the house to infuse.

We get to the house and start the process, a fast bath (because he has critters under his neck), then we infuse. It all happens at lightning speed with no doubt...no confusion.

I have come to the belief that God blesses us with different circumstances. Circumstances that may deal with health issues, family, work. Circumstances that are designed for each of us to weather. Hemophilia just happens to be ours and the Lord has blessed us tremendously with Hemophilia.

The circumstances God has laid at our feet are not to be thought of as a curse but a blessing. The old adage, "God never gives us more than we can handle" is true! Remember God created beauty out of chaos. Be blessed by your difficulties, because with God, all things are possible.

"We are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago." Ephesians 2:10

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. factor replacement
2. new glasses
3. new projects at work
4. hairclips
5. fresh starts

A Little Sign

Mother's Day is a difficult day for me. I lost my mother in 1996, five weeks after my oldest son was born. That is when he was diagnosed with Severe Hemophilia.

I was lost without my mother in those early days of being a new mom. Even though I had a wonderful husband helping to understand our son's illness and my dad and sister around me, it's never the same without your Mama.

When I woke up yesterday and was getting ready for church I looked over and saw the first bloom of the season on my violet. It warmed my heart. It's almost as if my Mom was telling me "Hello, Cazandra, I love you."




I believe God sends us those moments in our lives. Little glimpses of Him and the angels that surround Him. I'll take those moments, they warm my heart.

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. violets
2. a day of rest
3. loose fitting pants
4. being organized
5. Mork & Mindy

Be Still Sunday

Empty

I have nothing today. I am a bit empty. I am struggling with a concept of "Is God enough?"

I will be in prayer about this and be back on Monday.

Blessings to you all.

Daddy

I've been missing my Dad an awful lot lately. He passed away on my 39th birthday, October 7, 2007. It was a hard day but I was excited to know he was no longer in pain and was reunited with my mom, the love of his life, and better yet, in the presence of God.

I always called my Dad "Dude." "Hey, Dude, what's up?" I would say. I still can't remember why I called him that but it was my term of endearment for him. I adored my Daddy...my "Dude."

I've been studying a book Praying the Names of God, by Ann Spangler, and she goes through and focuses on a particular names of God each week. It has been eye opening.

At first I thought, why are there so many names of God, why not just God? But I have come to realize that for people in the ancient world names carried a great deal more significance than in our modern world. Names didn't only identify you as a person but they identified your character.

So far, my favorite is El Roi (El raw-EE) The God Who Sees Me. God made himself known to Hagar when she was in the desert and she is the one who named him El Roi. He saw her like no one else. He saw the fear and difficulties she was going through but He stood by her and told her to "Go back to your mistress and submit to her."

What did El Roi do? He blessed her with numerous descendants, too many to count. He never left her.

I have a strong faith in "El Roi". He sees the person I am when no one else is looking. He sees who I am when I struggle with overeating, with saying the right things, with being prouductive at work, even when I want to slip into my pit of depression because it feels like the safest place to be.

My God, my El Roi knows me better than any person on earth. Do I bless Him with my time in prayer and thanksgiving? Do I truly honor Him in all that I am?

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. frozen dinners
2. 3 lbs gone!
3. spots on the carpet
4. barking dogs
5. a semi clean garage

A Wonderful Message

I had the wonderful blessing of hearing Liz Curtis Higgs speak this past Saturday. She is the author of the Bad Girls of the Bible series, along with numerous other works. She is a hoot! I heard her a year ago in Houston so to have heard this amazing woman of God speak twice is a tremendous blessing to me.

She presented on three women of the Bible, Hagar, Sarah and Leah. It was wonderful teaching. But more than anything what I appreciated the most was hearing Liz's testimony interwoven throughout her presentation. I'd heard it before, but it really touched me this second time around. She is a self proclaimed "FBG", Former Bad Girl.

What did I bring back from God speaking through her Saturday? That God loves us exactly the way we are, right now. Liz reminded me that we, as women, are always in a state of apology. Have you been there? Apologizing for letting our bodies go, apologizing for not nurturing relationships, apologizing for not "being the best" all of the time.

We have to stop apologizing and give God the glory. In all things, in all circumstances. He has a plan for us (Jeremiah 29:11) and we have to go through many things to receive what He has in store for us.

Stop apologizing...give Him the glory!

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. safe travels for my husband
2. baskets
3. an old, unfinished trunk
4. bubbles
5. being remembered

Be Still Sunday

A Mustard Seed

I meet with a group of ladies once a week. It is a depression support group. We are a tight knit bunch from all walks of life and we meet to help keep each other in check. It's a really good thing.

So many issues came out of our meeting yesterday. Issues that didn't necessarily pertain to each of us but issues about the ones we love. Talk about having faith come in.

Faith that tests at the hospital will come out with positive results, faith that traveling constantly will bring a husband home safely each week, faith that we won't let the negative side of things (aka Satan) get hold of us and move us down the path of depression. Faith that we will get over our physical ailments and enjoy life to the fullest.

Isn't that the hardest thing to do? To have faith when things look grim. Sometimes all we have is faith as small as a mustard seed and that is what must get us through to the next moment.

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20

Today I Am Thankful For:

1. shampoo from the salon
2. eating well
3. ribbons
4. flip flops
5. events to look forward to