Do it anyway...

I don't know why I feel this fear, can't name it although I'm certain of its source. It wants me to stop...
but I'm going to do it anyway.
I'm not sure of the next step, can't see past the bend in the road. Uncertainty tells me to slow down...
but I'm moving ahead anyway.
I wonder if I really have what it takes, if I'll stumble and fall. Insecurity tells me to hold back...
but I'm taking a leap of faith anyway.
Anyway.
I've been fighting that word.
I've been waiting for everything to be safe, perfect, for me to be all I should be.
And then today, God whispers to my heart, "Just go anyway."
It's enough.
He is enough.
We can do it anyway
because we have the One who's the Way right by our side.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. Isaiah 43:2
Let's pray for each other.

We are never alone............

LOVE is with you.
He knows your name.
He numbers the hairs on your head.
He records the cares in your heart.
Every morning, He's by your side.
Every night, He watches over you as you sleep.
There's never a moment you're not in His thoughts...
never a day you're not in His care.
"You're not on your own,"
He whispers to your heart,
"You're forever my own."
No matter what.

Scars............ we all have them.............

Rev. Dorothy-Yorke Alloway, Ph. D. ©1996

“Scars are proof we have lived”,

My friend states through a smile sweet as sugarplums

When I challenged him to a game of ‘you show me yours I’ll show you mine.’

He goes first pointing to a crescent on his chin.

At seven he decided he could fly.

Soaring into the air from his chair

he plummeted to the floor.

Six stitches, crumpled dignity and a burnished behind.

“That all you have?” I teased.

Taking off his kidskin shirt

I saw a long craggy zipper from wrist to elbow.

He said it was for love.

His first sweetheart called it quits.

A window yielded to his grief.

Turning I saw the constellations

between his shoulder blades

Left behind by the meteor showers

His father churned into his flesh

every day for so many years.

He asked for mine.

I have but one.

I keep my hair long to cover it.

My face flushed at the story.

At sixteen I got the measles,

missed the senior dance,

cried for days.

That’s it.

As I raised my hand to expose

The cruel divot on my temple

His hand cradled mine to a halt

Whispering, “that must have really hurt.”

Maybe you can trust a man who feels your wounds.

Has anyone told you lately how amazing you are?

It's about time you heard it again.
I hear you saying, "Who me?"
I'm saying right back, "Yep, you."
You...
the one doing your thing,
making your difference,
being a glorious mess
that God can use.
You...
getting back up
when you fall down,
trying again
when it doesn't work out... 
Yep... YOU!
Wonderful YOU!!

We make a difference!

I've been thinking of you right there in the
middle of the ordinary...
changing diapers, writing reports,
driving, cleaning, selling, changing tires,
sitting in meetings, teaching, smiling through the pain
and always praying and blessing.
Ordinary is hard for me.
Is it ever hard for you?
I like the new.
The exciting.
And yet it seems God has been whispering that
I need to look at the ordinary with new eyes.
Stuff is ordinary... we are not!!
That all that small is really BIG.
And what we do every day
matters more than we know,
more than we see.
We are making a difference.
We deserve to be applauded--
for just digging in, doing what we do,
keeping at it no matter what.
So from the bottom of my heart...
THANK YOU.......... for enduring and for all you do.


(I've a feeling Someone Who Loves You is grateful too.)

In Be Tween....

I'm thinking of you today.

Maybe in a cubicle, a car,
back of a room, middle of a crowd.
I see you in my mind's eye.
And I smile, wave, walk over,
ask how life is going.
Maybe you say...
Fine or Good or Hard.
Or all of the above.
I nod.
Because I know.
I keep waiting for the part
where life is clearer, more straightforward.
But it seems it's always this glorious mess of laughter and tears all wrapped up together.
I read these words this morning...
Her desert will blossom like Eden,
her barren wilderness like the garden of the Lord.
It's God talking about His people.
And I thought of how we're all in that place of dry and blossoming...
we're all in between Edens.
The one that was and the one God is remaking in our lives--
to be completed in eternity.
And all the while He's leading us back to joy.
Let's meet for coffee.


Where?


Somewhere in the middle.


After all, it's the place where we all live.