Throw off everything that hinders…

Will I ever stop being nervous before I’m asked to say a few words to a room full of people? Sorry if I sound like a broken record, but…

Will I ever stop second guessing the words written with tears, and an open, raw heart, just hours after I’ve sent them off on wings…? Hoping they’ll land, finding a home?

Will I ever be able to throw off everything that so easily entangles…?

Someone once said that we are never carried so far forward as when we travel on the wings of happiness. When did I begin believing that happiness was manmade and at best, fleeting? Who’s really happy? Are you?

Just to be clear, I’m not some sad sack, moping through my days. Far from it. Joy is a different story. I can honestly say, I’ve experienced joy in the midst of the deepest grief. That is not something I can manifest on my own. It lands with wings from above, and can turn a broken heart into a grateful heart. 

Will I ever really grab hold of the strength available when I am weak—trust the power that pours in and provides just what we need at the right moment?

Because I’ve learned, time and again, it’s there for the asking…

So, that’s a long way of telling you, I was asked to share a few words to a room full of women yesterday, and I was ridiculously nervous as I prepared to leave the house with a boxful of books in my arms. Even though, every time over the last 25 years, as soon as the mic landed in my hands, I was lifted into another space, where doubt flees, where happiness exists, delight and gratitude, too. 

Am I ever surprised?

No. 

So why, still, do I doubt and despair? Why?

Will I never learn that happiness, like joy, is supernatural, and real, when God takes the wheel?

That’s a long way of saying, God always shows up. God is faithful— from generation to generation. 

And that’s a theme in the book I was talking to the women about yesterday. That, and how much God just loves people. And how two people show us this through their everyday lives, time and again, chapter after chapter. They show us that God is alive and still using the ordinary to accomplish His extraordinary, and still turning mourning to dancing, ashes to beauty, empty to full.

With whispers He comes into the stillness of our hearts and lives.

And if He can use a doubter like me…

The talk went great. It was Nancy’s Birthday last week so everyone sang Happy Birthday. I gave her a big ol’ kiss on the side of her head like my big brother used to always do. Ed never seemed to doubt. I suppose he did though. But he knew when to be still and know, God is God, and extraordinary!

After the singing, we talked to the women. Nancy shared how a friend who’d been grappling with the faith thing and alcohol for decades had been by for a recent visit. He came saying he’d read the book: “I understand now,” he said. “You said, ‘Yes.’” To God. And now so had he. I got my goosebumps when I heard that. My spirit’s sensing God’s Spirit. “Holy goosebumps,” my mother would call them. 

And then we sold a lot of books! 📚 ❤️🙏

“And awe suddenly passing beyond itself. Becomes a form of comfort.” —Denise Levertov

It was an elderly believer who once said… “We are never moved ahead so swiftly in our spiritual calling as when we are carried on the wings of happiness.” Maybe another way of saying that, to tie it in here: doubt causes the wheel to fall off. We drag along when we are meant to soar…

“Therefore, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily  entangles…” these doubts and the discouragement, choosing happiness, cheerfulness, gratitude… “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2

Bye for now. ❤️

______________

Photos: From our walks to the park. That’s Rocky (or Roxie) in the tree. The raccoon couple moved in early summer. And, at some point, two became five! (Extraordinary.)

Ok, fine, one more picture of the extra-ordinary couple:

❤️❤️