Tia

Have to get this sweet little story down. So simple but I keep thinking of it and know eventually I would just forget it and would be lost.

One evening last week I was just feeling a little blah. Jason wasn't home and I felt like getting out of the house. I'd already eaten but Gianna hadn't so I asked her if she wanted to go to Taco Bell. She said yes of course. But when we go to leave I realized I didn't have a carseat in my car, had left it at work after someone borrowed it.

She was so bummed and crying and whining. I called my Mom but no answer, thinking she'd come take us. I did NOT feel like riding my bike but I did. On the way there I prayed for God's Holy Spirit to be upon us and lift our own spirits and give us joy. And I said a couple verses like "this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it" and "the joy of the Lord is my strength".

As we were sitting there in Taco Bell and I was watching Gianna eat this little girl comes up to our table. She was maybe two and very tiny. She just stands there her face upturned smiling the biggest smile at us. I asked what her name was but she just kept smiling. She puts her hand on Gianna's arm and smiles up into her face and Gianna said 'awww I love her.'

Her mom was in line and said Tia get over here. Tia ran to her mom but then flitted back to our table. She was like a little butterfly. Just kind of moving around our table, huge smile and shining eyes looking at us. Gianna and I were giggling and talking to her and she never talked back but just danced around us and smiled. Seemed like it was for 5 minutes or so.

Her Mom finally came and got her and we said bye and God bless you and as they are almost out the door Tia runs back to our table and hangs out again. Her mom patiently for at least a minute stood in the doorway waiting while she delightfully lifted our spirits. : )

As they finally left we said a prayer for them that they would have the same joy in their hearts she had brought into ours. Her smile left smiles on our faces too.

And then we left and got slurpees and as we drove home had the most beautiful sunset, where it had been grey on the way there.

I am just so grateful that whenever I am down and pray to God and ask Him to be present and lift me up He answers. He did the same on Saturday afternoon when I got into a bit of a funk.

Psalm 37:23 ~ The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. (NLT)

He cares and He hears us!

Steven

There's a guy near my house with what I'm guessing may be cerebral palsy. I wrote about him once but was quite a while ago.

For years I've occasionally seen him, going alone in his wheelchair, black wide brim hat, head down, kind of folded up in his wheelchair. Going at a snails pace down Farmington Rd. I wonder where on earth could he be going, because there are no houses for blocks and he goes sooooo slow.

A few years ago I felt God prompting me to stop and talk to him. Just that feeling I get when I know I'm supposed to do something. Hot feeling in my chest and can think of nothing but what I'm supposed to do. I stopped and talked to him with my heart beating wildly. Was hugely difficult for me to do. Every step like going against a strong current. Found out his name was Steven, could see was delighted to be spoken to, but felt bad I couldn't understand him very well.

I've stopped to talk to him probably 3 or 4 times since. Each time gets more comfortable. One day I blogged about him because God used him to lift me up when I was really down. And that day a couple stupid little frustrating mishaps happened to even get me on a different route home which caused me to end my day talking to him.

Last night on the way home from my Grandma's I saw him, haven't seen him since last fall. Gianna and I got out to talk to him. I wondered how she'd react, she's never met him. He looks different than most people she's used to. And his teeth look pretty bad, and his hands are kind of deformed and he's all doubled over and talks funny and his eyes kind of go different ways.

She was fine! And he was so happy to meet her. He laughed and told her she was cute and she laughed. He asked her how old she was and told us how old he is, 51. We prayed with Steven and I told him that some day we will be in heaven and he will be free from his struggles and we are going to dance together and I can't wait!!!! And he and Gianna laughed and giggled.

When we got in the car Gianna said someday his legs are gonna work good and his arms are gonna work good and he's gonna talk good and he's gonna get up out of that wheelchair!!!

And I said isn't it nice that God uses us to help make other people happy? How Stephen was laughing and so happy to meet Gianna and it made him happy? And she says 'he made us happy Mama! We were laughing!' Amazing. :o)

So tonight Gianna had a pretty bad nightmare. She said she saw a monster and was crying pretty hard for quite a while. We sang Jesus loves me like 5 times and then I said lets think of things that are pretty, things that make you happy. And we were saying sunsets and flowers and lakes and trees and sandcastles and up north and Aunt Cheryl's house and lots of good stuff and then Gianna says what was his name? And I said who? And she said by Grandma's house. And I say Steven? And she says 'yes! Thank you God for Steven. He makes me laugh. Make his legs work good.'

And we prayed for Steven and for God to keep his heart happy. And I was SOOOO touched, that lying in the dark, trying to shake off visions of a monster, it comforted Gianna to think of Steven! With his outward appearance I wouldn't imagine such a thing, but she saw his heart, his sweetness, his spirit.

Precious : )

Friends

Yesterday I was feeling bad for Gianna not having many friends. She doesn't go to daycare or preschool yet and 90% of the time she's around adults.

We were on a bouncy castle at a little church down the street and she kept yelling these are my friends mama!! And when they left she looked all sad.

Then we came home and my mom said she found Gianna a friend down the street, but when we went down there she couldn't play.

I tried calling our friends around the block but don't think they were home.

Gianna cried on the porch that she wanted a friend to play with and when other people walked by would say maybe they play with me?

I felt sad for her and we walked to the park. As we walked across the field the sky was gorgeous and I said lets pray Gianna. I prayed out loud for God to be with us and give us joy in our hearts. And for him to give us friends for Gianna. And even specifically said some Christian friends who love Jesus too.

We get to the playground and there was a young couple about my age with 4 kids there. And girls Gianna's age. They seemed really nice and their kids were so sweet and played so well together. The couple was sitting on the park bench talking and you could tell genuinely liked each other. I told them how beautiful their family was and was chatting with them a little while Gianna played. Strangely I felt like I just knew they had to be Christians and wanted to ask if they were but felt weird.

Then I thought one of the womans tattoos looked like it might have been a Jesus fish, but she moved, and then I saw Phillipians 4:13 tattooed on her other arm and was like you guys are Christians! She said when I told them how beautiful her family was she almost was going to say that's because we put God first!

I asked them if they go to a church in the area, and they go to my church!!! To the same service Jason and I go to when he's available. And they eat at the same place after lol.

And her name is Jennifer. And she loves taking pics of sunsets and posts them on Facebook. Sound familiar? lol!

I told them my prayer walking across the field and they couldn't believe it. Gianna played while we talked and the sun went down and Jennifer took pics of it with her husbands phone. We exchanged numbers and hugged and she said her best friend just moved to Syria and she feels like God just brought a new person into her life. And her oldest daughter walked up to us at one point and said you guys kinda look alike.

They said Gianna can come play whenever we want, they live on the other side of the park, and as we left her children were all calling out "Bye Gianna!!!"

As we walked away I said wow Gianna, we prayed for God to give us friends and He did!!!!!

And then I am attaching the coloring sheet they did this morning at church! Amazing!!!!!

And one other funny thing, yesterday morning I told Jason I keep thinking I might want to get a tattoo related to my faith, maybe one of my favorite verses. And then seeing her tattoo of her fav verse is what really connected us.

God is so cool! : )

Real Love in the Strip Club

Last night Citadel of Faith Covenant church in Detroit teamed up with Eve's Angels, a ministry dedicated to women in the sex industry, and they shared the love and hope of the gospel at a strip club.

I asked my friend Barb this morning how it went.

She said:

Hi! It went extremely well :) Pastor only took a small group in the club while Mark had a group outside in the neighborhood [praying]. The club let them in with no hassle and they had a lot of favor! The rest of us stayed at the church and prayed. The biggest praise report was this: One of the strippers had just prayed THAT day that God would send someone to "get her out". Imagine her surprise when He did just that! Also, some of our own members got free of some things and experienced healing. It was pretty darn awesome!! The other cool thing was while we were all praying we prayed and prophesied some specific things and when the groups came back, they reported a lot of the exact things we prayed-in the exact words!! 

How awesome is that? God is good.  He blows me away. Blown away that the club even let them in, and super amazed that someone asked God to send someone to them that day. 

Psalm 18:6 In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

Delighted

Last summer I prayed for God to give me a wide open beautiful space where I could watch the sunset. Was looking all over and couldn't find one. And He did. A place I have all to myself. Big open green grass and gigantic sky.

Last week when people were posting spectacular pics of the sky at the tigers game I asked God to bless me with a sky as beautiful. I so feel His presence looking at such gloriousness.

Tonight I was blessed with this. It was way more spectacular than this. My phone was dead and I was missing the moment trying to plug it in and take pics from the car. I snapped these as I was leaving after it had charged a while. The clouds were gigantic and look so small here.

And the little white flower was sitting there in the grass where I sat down. :o)

Zephaniah 3:17
For the Lord your God is with you, He is a mighty savior
He will delight over you with gladness.
With his love He will calm all your fears,
He will rejoice over you with singing.

I felt like I was being sung to sitting in that giant field with the warm breeze and swaying grass and  spectacular view.

Love!

Perfect Ending

A few weeks ago my friend Joanne asked me to paint Pastor Carey and Jesus together for his 25th anniversary in ministry. In a recent service he had mentioned loving those paintings you see of Jesus welcoming someone home, and she thought of me, and prayed and felt led to ask me to paint it.

We didn't know exactly when the celebration would be, and then a few days later found out it was that weekend.

I told her I didn't think I could do it that quick, but with God all things are possible, and to pray. And we had had other people praying. I started it weds. morning, and by Sunday morning I was not completely finished, but enough to take and present to him. And one of the biggest things I'd been praying for came true, it looked like him!

The background ended up changing and was inspired by my memory of being on Mt. Carmel looking out in Israel. And Mt. Carmel makes me think of Elijah calling down fire from heaven, and Elijah makes me think of Pastor Carey, I can remember him preaching on Elijah and I think he'd have the faith to call down fire from heaven.

Then I decided regular clothes seemed odd in contrast to Jesus' robe, but a robe seemed weird. And the African garments he used to wear during black history month came to mind.

Earlier in the week when I finished the painting I was elated, with this beautiful feeling like God had created this thing through me as a special gift. This morning as I drove I was glancing over at it feeling doubtful, wondering if the whole thing was just ridiculous.

Then, as I'm sitting there in service, the painting next to me, here comes Pastor Carey dressed in an outfit just like my painting. He was even wearing leather sandals!!!!! And he is speaking to God as if in the character of Elijah!

Elijah who called down fire from heaven by the power of God and then days later was running in fear of people who wanted to kill him, doubting God.

And he talked about how tests always follow great victories with God. And when we come to that moment afterward where we are doubting, to think back to the victory just days before and know who God is and have faith.

Was such a blessing to give the painting to him afterward and share all this. And have been blessed spending these days at Citadel too.

Was absolutely amazed sitting there. So neat. God tied the ending up to this little story with a perfectly neat little bow!

A promise kept. A prayer answered.

A few months ago Jason's Aunt Gay commissioned me to do a painting for her husband, Jason's Uncle Randy, who was being ordained as a minister.

She said she didn't know what she wanted me to paint, just whatever God led me to do. I didn't know for weeks and was going back and forth, and then it was getting to the time I needed to start it and I put my prayer request in at bible study to clearly know what to paint.

That Sunday night there was a pink sunset, and everything outside felt like it was glowing and heavenly. I knew I somehow wanted to convey that heavenly feeling. I thought I wonder if they have a cute little white country church? And turns out they do. And then chatting with my friend Jill, we came up with the idea of them walking to the church, bible in hand. All of their kids and grandkids represented hanging around the church.

Last night was the night. My mom and Gianna and I went and took the painting. (I teared up when we pulled in the lot after having stared so many hours at this painting.) Even Gay didn't know what Randy was going to preach on last night, and to our delight, he shared his testimony, which is exactly what Gay had shared with me and what had inspired the painting.

Here's my quick summary of their story:

Over five years ago Gay started praying for Randy to start going to church and to love the Lord. They have 2 grown children and had just adopted a newborn baby and she wanted to raise their son in a Christian home.

Around the same time Gay's Uncle Gannon, who Randy was very close to, was dying of Cancer. Randy visited with him regularly after work. One day someone called Randy and said Gannon really wanted to see him. Randy went to him and Gannon said he needed him to promise him something. He shared that someone had prayed with him to receive Jesus and he felt like a lead blanket had been lifted off him, that he knew it was all of his sins being taken away.

He made Randy promise him to follow the Lord and go to church with his family. He didn't want Randy, his niece and their children leaving this world with their sins attached to them. Randy agreed to the promise, but didn't really intend to keep it, he didn't feel a need for God or church in his life. He was fine with the way things were.

After Gannon died, Gay reminded Randy of his promise and he went to church with her. To his surprise he felt God filling him and drawing him through his word. Found himself longing to go back. Something happened one week and a service was cancelled and he said by the time the next service rolled around he was about dying to get back in that church. And when he did he accepted Jesus and has been changed from the inside out ever since.

He said he could have never imagined himself like this. Attending church, loving the Lord, or especially becoming a pastor. Twice last night, once just him without music, he sang about his love for the Lord in a deep Johnny Cash voice and it was beautiful. Was beautiful to see him ordained as he kneeled next to his wife who prayed for this day. (Today is their 35th wedding anniversary!) She named this painting: "A promise kept. A prayer answered."

I had the awesome privledge of presenting this painting to him. And pointing out Gannon's initials carved on the tree on the right above the heart!

What a special day. So blessed to have been a part of it. : )