Gotta Be Flexible... Guest Blogging Day

Rejoice always, pray continually, 

give thanks in all circumstances; 

for this is God’s will for 

you in Christ Jesus. 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV

If there's one thing I've learned about being the parent of a child with special needs, it's that I have to be flexible.  Sure, all parents require a  level of flexibility, but I think, especially when your child has an anxiety disorder, you need to be ready to make your current situation "work" to minimize the impact of stressful situations on your child. 

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Christmas is Ruined!!! - Guest Blogging Day

Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.

Isaiah 53:4 NIV

We have watched the movie Good Luck, Charlie-It's Christmas! well over 30 times in the past four years.  It's no wonder that my husband and I have integrated many of the lines from the movie into our daily conversations.

One of our favorite lines comes after the melodramatic mother, Amy, has discovered that she can't find the star for the top of the Duncan's Christmas tree.  She tearfully declares, "Christmas is ruined!"

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Thank you for SHOUTING!!!

Being her fun, flashy self...

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah  the son of David, the son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,

Perez the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,

Obed the father of Jesse,

 and Jesse the father of King David.

Matthew 1: 1-6 NIV

I could have gone on here and inserted the genealogy of Christ, after all, God did...and quite honestly, I'm not doing the genealogy any justice by eliminating some of it. 

However, my story today isn't about the genealogy of Christ; it's about the importance of a name.

Sunday, we walked into our church in anticipation of having to locate a friend with whom our daughter could go to the Middle School worship service.  We attend a large church, a mega-church, if you will; so this was going to be difficult. 

However, the minute we walked into church I started to hear shouting coming from the loft area above the foyer:  Evie!  Evie!  Evie!!!

I said, "Evie, someone's calling your name." 

Her smile spread as wide as her face and her eyes twinkled.  She has this little happy "shiver" that runs through her body when she sees her friends...she shivered in delight upon hearing her name being shouted out from the loft.

Yes, a friend of hers had sought HER out and had called HER name.

Do you know what that means to the parent of a child with special needs?  Do you know what it means to the child?

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Thankful for the Mystery of God ~ Guest Blogging Day

Can you discover the depths of God?
Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?
Job 11:7 NASB

We moved to Nevada nearly a year and a half ago now, and quickly I adopted Lake Tahoe as my favorite place in the whole wide world. At first I loved the North shore for the ease of access to the water and the picturesque view across to the opposite side. I quickly discovered the beauty of the South shore too. The vast number of restaurants kept us well-fed, and the shallow beaches made it seem like a perfect haven for my daughter to safely swim. I also fell in love with Emerald Bay and it's mysteriously brilliant green waters. We would often have to drive right on through because it was hard to find parking in such a beautiful area, but when we could stop and snap a photo, we always would.

Then, this past weekend, a year and a half later, we finally made our way to Sand Harbor. Oh my goodness. I felt like I was meeting a celebrity. For a year I'd been seeing post cards and photos of Lake Tahoe and many of the images were taken from a shore which had these flat, grayish-tan PERFECT rocks. The blue lake water would compliment the neutral and graceful appearance of the rocky shore. I wondered, "From where is this taken? How have I never found this place?"

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Don't Stop because Tuesday is Over...The Miracles of Giving Happen Everyday

Image Courtesy of pandpstock001/freedigitalphotos.net

But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this?

Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. 

1 Chronicles 29:14 NIV

This past Tuesday was #GivingTuesday which was a day to make a donation to a nonprofit organization, or several organizations--basically, it's a collective effort to encourage end-of-the-year giving at the tail end of a weekend of buy, buy, buy.  I was responsible for a big #GivingTuesday event for a nonprofit organization for which I volunteer; and I'm well aware of the hours I spent trying to prepare our donors and members for our largest collective fundraiser of the year. 

Because I know how much time and energy I put into my own organization's fundraiser, I wanted to highlight another organization which is near and dear to my heart. 

Snappin' Ministries. 

I started connecting with Snappin' about 3 years ago when I came across the blog Comfort in the Midst of Chaos (CITMOC).  It DID indeed bring me such comfort to read scripture, prayer, and testimony of how God works in the lives of other families with special needs.  God has instructed us to encourage one another, and who better to encourage my faith than other parents of children with disabilities and health issues?

I've seen Snappin' provide support for families with gift baskets, gift cards, gas cards, weekend retreats, organized family outings, side by side Bible study groups, on-line Bible Study groups, and on-line church (which is really critical to a lot of families who find attending church difficult due to disabilities and health issues).

So, why am I writing all of this?  Well...simple...I know that Snappin' Ministries is a miracle to me...and I hope that it can be a miracle for you.

Did you know that GIVING can open you up to so many of God's miracles?

• It draws you closer to him as it's an act of worship!  (For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21 NIV) 
• It helps you battle your own materialism. (Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. 1 Timothy 6:17-19 NIV) I personally have found that when I'm in the "I want, I want, I want" mode, a simple donation to a worthy organization (like packing shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child) satisfies my "shopping" need.
• God blesses those who GIVE!  (Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 NIV)
• It opens doors for a miracle.  (Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.  Malachi 3:10 NIV) Our family has seen God make money appear out of no where for us...one time it was in a oil-meter that had run high for years and we had a credit on our heating bill for a few months while our daughter was on chemotherapy.  Did we win the lottery?  NO!  But, did God show us how He is faithful and can do ANYTHING when we are faithful to HIS cause?  YES.
• It is rewarded in Heaven.  (But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6:20 NIV) Every time you give to the cause of Christ, you are preparing part of your treasure in Heaven.

So, today I ask you to consider making a donation, whatever feels comfortable in your heat, to help an organization that ministers to families of those with disabilities and health issues.  If you would like to read about some of the things they did in 2015, you can find their most recent newsletter here: Snap Shots Newsletter

And, if you'd like to make a secure, tax-deductible donation to Snappin', you may do so Here:

http://www.snappin.org/#!give/c1jxp

Pray:  Heavenly Father, I pray that you continue to bless your ministries around the world.  I pray that you continue to raise up leaders to volunteer their time and that you provide abundantly for their finances.  Thank you for all the ways that you bless us when we give.  Amen

What is YOUR Quest? ~ Guest Blogging Day

What is more, I consider everything a loss 

because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.   

I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, 

but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.  

 Phil 3: 8-9 NIV

I'm not sure if you've ever watched the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but one of my favorite parts is when they are trying to cross a bridge and there is a man drilling them with questions before they are allowed to pass.  The man standing guard always asks the person who is attempting to cross the bridge, "What is your quest?"

As parents of children with special needs, we may find ourselves engaged in a daily battle to determine our QUEST, or our PURPOSE in life.  I know that I do!  

I look at ALL there is to do around me…all of the “causes” for which I need to fight; the IEP meetings to attend, the support groups to connect with, the doctors appointments to schedule AND keep, the family and friends who need me and I them!  

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The Audacity of Grace ~ Guest Blogging Day

Image Courtesy of sakhorn38/freedigitalphotos.net

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.  Ephesians 1:13-14 NIV

We are just closing in on the end of Mental Health Awareness Week, and I think this topic is very near and dear to the hearts of those who struggle with mental illness or who are the parent or relative or even close friend of someone who does.  

Can you be saved at one point...having received the Holy Spirit through accepting Christ as your Lord and Savior, but then, (perhaps while suffering from a mental illness), you commit some act which would be judged as a reason to LOSE your salvation? 

Let's face it...we all sin...repeatedly...even after being born again.

Let's face it...we CANNOT, while in these earthly bodies, do ENOUGH good to get into Heaven on our own.

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Don't You Dare Have Fun!!! ~ Guest Blogging Day

Image Courtesy of Photostock/freedigitalphotos.net

Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous;
    it is fitting for the upright to praise him.

Praise the Lord with the harp;
    make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.

Sing to him a new song;
    play skillfully, and shout for joy.

For the word of the Lord is right and true;
    he is faithful in all he does.

The Lord loves righteousness and justice;
    the earth is full of his unfailing love.

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
    their starry host by the breath of his mouth.

He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;
    he puts the deep into storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the Lord;
    let all the people of the world revere him.

For he spoke, and it came to be;
    he commanded, and it stood firm.

Psalm 33: 1-9 NIV

Sometimes, as parents of children with disabilities and health concerns, we feel like we shouldn't have fun.  As much as we WANT to have fun, we feel as though we would look selfish or calloused if the world saw us having fun when the world knows the condition of our children.

When my daughter had cancer,  we stopped going to church and we stopped getting together with a lot of people, and we stopped traveling to visit my family who lived 4 hours away.  We did all of those things because of the risk of germs that could have dramatically impacted our daughter's health while she was on chemotherapy.

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Self-Diagnosed Panicky Woman with SPD ~ Guest Blogging Day

Waiting for Skillet to perform at Lifest 2015

So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.

 So, friends, confirm God’s invitation to you, his choice of you. Don’t put it off; do it now. Do this, and you’ll have your life on a firm footing, the streets paved and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1: 5-11 MSG 

A few weeks back we were at Lifest in Oshkosh, WI.  Lifest is an annual four-day Christian music festival; it's what makes summer "summer," as far as our family is concerned.  We started going 5 years ago, and, despite moving to Nevada last year, we STILL return to Lifest in WI.

Ironically, I tend to have to fight off panic attacks whenever I attend loud concerts.

Weird, right? Why do I keep going if it causes me distress?

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Stray...

Sunset on Lake Tahoe by Tammie Hefty

And though I may stray,

My faithful God, you are still

Where last I met you.

Inspired by Sunday Scribblings 2 Prompt 85: Stray

www.sundayscribblings2.blogspot.com 

Wanting to be Well ~ Guest Blogging Day

Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”  At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

John 5:3-8 NIV

Do you want to get well?

It sounds like such a harsh question with an obvious answer; but really, it isn't.  We know a lot of people who actually seem more comfortable wallowing in what they DON'T have rather than looking forward and working toward happiness.

Do you want to get well?

We moved to Nevada over a year ago and immediately I fell in love with Lake Tahoe.

But, during the course of this summer, I have decided that Lake Tahoe is not just my FAVORITE PLACE, it is my HAPPY PLACE.  Lake Tahoe is the place where I GET WELL.

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The Look on His Face ~ Guest Blogging Day

Image courtesy of ImageryMajestic at freedigitalphotos.net

 

 

 

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account 

for every careless word they speak, 

for by your words you will be justified, 

and by your words you will be condemned.  

Matthew 12:36-37 ESV 

As parents, as friends, as humans, we will have to answer questions concerning sin and forgiveness.  Questions like:  If we are covered in the grace given to us through Jesus Christ on the cross, then what is the point of "following the law?"  Why should we even bother to avoid the "seven deadly sins?"  Why should we feel bad about doing ANYTHING that we do? 

The answer is quite simple...

One day, we WILL have to give an account for our actions, and that will be a day we never forget.  I'd like to keep my list as short as possible so that I don't have to look God in the eyes and admit to all the times I've wallowed in sin.

Once, when I was in elementary school, there was a thing called a SLAM BOOK being passed around.  For those who don't know, a SLAM BOOK was a notebook in which each page had numbered lines which corresponded to the same line on the pages that followed.  A person would put her name on the first page; whichever line was the next available, and then, on the pages that followed, she would answer the questions on that page on the same numbered line each time.  For example, I might sign my name on line number 9 and then I would put my answers on the corresponding line on each page; number 9.

The questions varied and were anything from:  "What's the worst thing you've ever done", to "What's your favorite color?".

I, unfortunately, made the poor decision to fill out a SLAM BOOK.

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#LoveWins ~ Guest Blogging Day

Photo "Silhouette of Bride and Groom" Courtesy of /freedigitalphotos.net

Love is patient, love is kind.  

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  

It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, 

it is not easily angered, 

it keeps no record of wrongs.  
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 

 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, 
always perseveres.  

1Corinthians 13: 4-7 NIV

I was on Facebook a lot this past weekend because it was my daughter's birthday and I was posting pictures and relaying messages to her from friends and family.

Much to my dismay, I was unable to completely "miss" the overwhelming amount of posts regarding the US Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage.  According to Reuters, "The court ruled 5-4 that the Constitution's guarantees of due process and equal protection under the law mean that states cannot ban same-sex marriages. With the landmark ruling, gay marriage becomes legal in all 50 states." *

I'm not here to debate the topic of same-sex marriage.  

I'm here to talk about the irony of the "hashtag" that accompanied rants from both Christians and non-Christians alike.  

Now, take into consideration that non-Christians will not have to recognize the "scripture" that I quoted above; but CERTAINLY Christians do.  So, I guess I'm addressing the Christians who were bashing the other Christians who weren't celebrating this "landmark decision."

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