Gigi's Blog

I shouldn’t be doing this at work.  As you and I both know blogs have come few and far between lately.  It’s not because I don’t have lots I want to say.  It’s because I have an enemy who’s trying to keep me from saying what God wants me to say. 

Was last week a tough one for you too??  Isn’t it funny how the closer we get to prayers being answered, or to what we believe is the perfect will of God every adversity comes pounding our way?? 

I literally stumbled across this song last week.  I haven’t heard it in years.  I fought to control tears, but when I could get home that night and let it out, I did.

 

 

I was reminded yesterday of Dottie Rambo, one of the greats in gospel music.  She battled her health for years, praised God the entire time, and then just as she was returning, she was tragically killed in a bus accident.  So many others.  Vestal Goodman, another Gospel great, died from the flu on a trip to Florida with her family.  Remember Anthony Burger??  He was the pianist on the Gaither Homecoming videos.  He died just after performing at the age of 44.  http://www.baptistcourier.com/277.article

I have really spent the last couple of days thinking about the parable of the talents, what the Bible says about the suddenness of Christ’s return, and a host of other things. 

Sunday church was amazing, and if you weren’t there you need to request a video of the service.  It was Roger being totally transparent, and I don’t know when I’ve been more touched by his preaching than during that service. 

You can’t help but sense Christ return if you know Him.  The Holy Spirit just will not allow us to escape that truth.  We can deny the truth, but we can’t escape it.
 
The things that we pour our lives into, will those things matter when we stand before Christ??  That’s pretty much the bottom line. 

If you see a bear-don’t run.

 

Our trip to Ridgecrest was this past weekend.  This was the first weekend long event for Vision.  It was so exciting.  Well………………..exciting until I realized that preparation is a part of anything you are in charge of.  In defense of me-I just wasn’t able to spend the time up until to get ready like I’d initially envisioned.  So, last week, it was on.  Five lessons to study.  About 2 hr. prep per lesson, plus my other life.  The nervous breakdown moment was Thursday night when I had to attend a PTO meeting.  God helped me, and I did prepare.  Well, we did leave 45 minutes late because of me, but that is normal and wouldn’t have changed probably whether or not I would’ve been more prepared.

 

We stopped at the best little place in Black Mtn.  My Father’s Pizza.  There was a long wait, and now I know why.  The pizza is GOOD!!  We got there, finally.  I think we were all ready for whatever God had in store.

 

When Mark and I went in to check us in, there were sheets of yellow paper with the heading “Bears have been spotted in the area.”   It explained to us the things to do when we encounter bears, such as don’t panic, don’t run, flap your arms like a bird, and make loud noises.  We were all so glad to know that when a bear comes around, it’s not big deal.  Uh, ya right!!!  We stayed in the youth housing, and I love it.  There’s room for eight people to crowd in, and (1) bathroom!!  But that was ok. 

 

We started our Friday night lesson, and even though we were all completely exhausted, I think we all began to embrace the message in our study.  It was called “Jaded.”  Basically, many of us, most of us, probably all of us, begin our lives with a romanticized idea of how we think our lives will be.  By Saturday night, (our fourth lesson) things were getting very deep, and very spiritual.  We all answered questions that were private and painful, and sometimes we talked out loud.  Any time I referenced any person throughout the weekend I would say “A person, that you may or may not know, who may or may not be a boy, or who may or may not be a girl………………….” simply because I tried to protect privacy if I was talking about something I felt key to add to the group time.  The study was based on Hosea http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hosea1-14;&version=65; and it was fascinating.  God tell Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman, and then go and buy her back after unfaithfulness and love her completely.  We all were forced to go places emotionally that maybe we hadn’t gone to in a while, or maybe never gone to.

 

I loved the times when I was involved in conversations that were unplanned, at times the group was just doing there own thing.  God positioned the exact people together who needed to be.  I heard people open up and share in a way that I think was completely new for them.  I heard people say to each other “Wow.  I didn’t know you and I are in the same place.” or “Wow.  You’ve been where I am right now.”  Or “I’m gonna pray for you when we get back.”  My cousin Tiffany and her husband Carson who were recently saved went with us.  Oh I’m so glad they went.  They blew me away with what was an obvious joy of their salvation.  Carson is a total trip.  He’s sort of quiet, and the quiet ones can be the funniest.  During one session Tiffany was talking about the radical change in their lives and how her old desires left her immediately, and then she says something  to Carson like “right honey?” and he says “Transformers man.”  We all cracked up.  But I got it, and so did everyone else. 

 

Our third session was very meaningful.  We hiked to the top of the mountain.  That’s right-I hiked.  Mark was looking at the map, and at some point after we’d been hiking for a long time he said that we should possibly go back.  People were hot, Ashley D. has asthma.  We all said “No” we’d just keep going.  And then……………………..we were there!! We had made it.  I don’t know who was more surprised, me or Ashley D. But it was very poignant.  That mountain felt impossible.  We almost quit.  We were in pain.  We didn’t know exactly where we were going.    It seemed never ending. But then……….out of no where……………………the mountain top.  That’s what this weekend was about.  These struggles, and heartache, and issues, and problems, they all seem so impossible don’t they???  If we would’ve quit, we wouldn’t have reached the mountain top.  We could’ve said “Well, we almost made it to the mountain top.”  Is that what you want to say??  God didn’t create mountain top to never be reached.  He created them so that we could climb them, and get to the top.  It’s not easy, but it’s worth it.  James 1:2-4Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.   

http://vision.chapelgrove.com/Ridgecrest-Oct-2008.htm

http://www.intouch.org/site/c.dhKHIXPKIuE/b.2287421/k.944D/This_Week_on_TV.htm

Last night was my nephew Caleb’s 14^th b-day celebration at my in-laws.  I’ve shared before that it’s always a good and relaxing escape to go over and be with them and Mark’s brother and sister and their families.  You know it’s really funny, my father-in-law is quite the jokester and you’d never know from the outside looking in.  But he always thinks of funny things to do, and actually does them in order to preserve a memory for his kids and grandkids. Like making funny videos, and building canjos.   Gretel does lots of things to build memories too.  They’ve made movies, scrapbooks for each grandchild of their lives, Gretel makes a quilt for each child when they graduate, that is patterned for whatever they’re interests and color preferences are.  When Mark and I got married Meagan was 7.  They went right to work to do anything to blend Meagan in as a grafted in grandchild so that now she feels like she was planted there. 

Well Debbie brought over a video that Ray had made of the grandkids in 1998. He comes out and says his little funny opener and then interviews each grandchild.  It was hilarious.  It’s so funny how similar their mannerisms are today compared to ten years ago.  It was really sweet when Ray said “We’re missing one of our grandkids today.  Meagan’s not here.  So we’re gonna let Adam tell you about her.”  Then Adam proceeded to describe her.  It was so funny when he said “Oh, she LOVES to watch me play video games.”  It’s funny because the truth is that Adam loved Meagan to sit and watch him play video games, but she only did it when she bargained for him to do whatever she wanted in return. 

As I think back to those 10 years ago, so much has happened.  There was no Chloe in that video, and I’m not sure anyone thought there would ever be a Chloe.  Three of those kids have graduated high school.  One’s in his final year of college, but in the video he said he was just going to be a car mechanic.  We’ve all had extreme ups and extreme downs and  been through things we didn’t expect, and weren’t sure we could endure.  I bet Ray and Gretel at times thought it was tough to endure having some days of baby-sitting all 8 of the grandkids in the summer.  Just when the 7^th was almost ready to start school, Mark and I said “Guess what!” putting 5 more years on them to be the day care.  Somehow, I don’t think they’d have it any other way.  I look back on times when Chloe was a baby, and the ear infections.  The entire night after night after night of crying.  Living with 5 people in an 1100 square foot house, with Chloe in the room with us until she was 2.  The stomach problems with Chloe.  The times when Adam was young and would be scared at night.  The times when Meagan’s Asthma would require breathing treatments, and trip after trip to the Dr.  The time when Mark had a bleeding ulcer and almost died.  The time one year ago when we didn’t know if I was going to have major reconstructive kidney surgery or not.  Kids getting speeding tickets.  Kids having car problems.  On and on and on and on the list could go and still continues to go. My sister-in-law told me years ago “that which does not kill me, makes me stronger” and it’s true

I don’t about you today, but I am really needing the hope of tomorrow.  I think back to the times Chloe was little or sick, and I thought she would never sleep for an eight hour stretch in her entire life, but now she does.  I know that many of us look at our country, or our churches, or our finances, or our kids, or our marriages, and a host of other things in our every day lives and think “This is it.  It will never get better.”  I understand.  I’m right there with you questioning what I should give up on, what I should keep hoping and praying for, what direction I should take.

 Matthew 7:7-11"Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn't a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing. You're at least decent to your own children. So don't you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?

Why is it that we so often think that those words mean anything other than exactly what it says?  God hasn’t changed, at all.  His promises remain.  For some reason we (including Christians) are in panic mode.  I’m not blind.  Things around us are terrible.  The Bible has told us this will happen.  Why are we so utterly shocked???  

2 Timothy 3:1-5Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They'll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they're animals. Stay clear of these people.

But we are not doomed.  God will rescue us.  Over and over He rescues us.  We realize how dependant we are on Him when things are terrible, but we are equally as dependant on Him when things are wonderful. 

2 Corinthians 1:8-11We don't want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn't think we were going to make it. We felt like we'd been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since he's the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he'll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing. You and your prayers are part of the rescue operation—I don't want you in the dark about that either. I can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God's deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played such a crucial part.

---

Speaking of terrible times……………my morning.

I got up late and had to take a shower, which I always shower at night, but didn’t last night.  Chloe’s alarm wasn’t set, so she sleeps late.  Everything’s sort of ok time-wise ‘cause I’ve already decided I’m just going to leave the house in it’s super tornadic state.  Then at about 7:32 or so………………….the phone rings.  (My hair is still damp, I’m not dressed.)  I run upstairs to find the phone.  When I find it, it stops ringing.  My cell phone rings and Chloe gives it to me, it’s Meagan.  Meagan is telling me some long drawn out story about how she’s going to come home with a friend, come to my work and interview Marvin for a school project, and then have Cole take her back to school.  In the meantime the house phone rings again.  Mark’s on one ear, Meagan the other.  It’s 7:38, I’m still not dressed.  I’m in the bathroom, and I hear, “Mommy, Mommy, where are you.”  Chloe runs in, semi crying.  “I lost my other tooth, it hurts so bad.  7:40,  not dressed.   You can figure out the rest.

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=264421e8e43eb04839f9

 

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