Monday, January 25, 2010

Update 1/25/10 Day 78

Dear friends,

Thought old Noah was going to pay us a how do you do today. What a deluge! If all that liquid was snow... Yikes! I was soaked after our errands this morning. I believe the technical term for all of this is "January thaw". Soon January will be over. February is a big month for the Smith's. If all goes according to plan (ha!), Stephen's bones in his right leg should be ready to bear weight. Most likely later in February, but that's the target month.

Corn muffins just came out of the oven. An asiago parmesan bagel is thawing on the counter. Somehow, I must get my teenagers to eat breakfast tomorrow morning. Joseph loves corn muffins, and Miss Rejoice is a big asiago parmesan bagel fan. They both have midterms on Tuesday, and I hear breakfast gives the brain a healthy shot of glucose to get those synapses firing. They'll be testing all week long, and studying too, so you can imagine the mood upstairs in the man cave is not jolly. I tried to explain to my firstborn that perseverance is required for all the testing times in life. He got that glazed over,"mom is philosophizing again" look on his face. So I shut up. I think I need to do that more often.

The Great One continues to uphold us on the road. David came home from school very overwhelmed today. We put our arms around him and asked why he was so stressed. He broke down and sobbed "Dad is still in a wheelchair". I'm so glad he told us how he was feeling. It all feels very long to us, but to a 12 year old it must seem like an eternity. We reassured him that Dad will indeed walk again (praise God!), and that the Lord will help all of us to persevere until the wonderful moment when walking commences. Even then, there will be a long process of getting strong enough to walk unassisted. This adversity in the life of my baby boy is heartbreaking, but I know it will produce something excellent. Nobody in history with any kind of gumption had an easy road. I love gumption. Judging by the characters and their stories in the Book, God loves gumption too.

Take Daniel for example. Teenager, exiled from his home, separated from all the familiar people and comforts, and by a series of events, becomes a prophet to the king himself. When said king demands Daniel bow down to him, the plucky youth refuses. No dice. So, miserable king throws Daniel into a pit with lions. Not an easy experience. Not a pleasant, lovely stretch on the pilgrim road. But in the end brother Daniel survives the night, and the pagan king sees the power of God and the beautiful character of Daniel. Gumption.

Look at Teddy Roosevelt. Amazing man of character. But he spent much of his youth deprived of the joys of a normal, active boy. He was sick much of the time, with asthma attacks and a weak constitution. But Teddy's father wrapped him up, took him out in the fresh air, and encouraged him that he had a duty to do his best to be a contributor to his world. Adversity was the platform T.R. built on. He trusted God, and served his fellow man. Is there a better legacy than that? Gumption.

As for all of you, whatever your adversity, work it! Or better said, let it work you. Don't go looking for trouble. Without a doubt, in some form or other, it will find you. (Not trying to sound pessimistic. Lovely things find us too)! Sometimes I think living gracefully with the small aggravations is more packed with character development that the big earthquakes in life. But feel free to take all I'm saying with a grain of salt. If it helps you, use it. If not, throw it out. I think I write it to remind myself of the benefit of climbing this mountain. Eee Gads! (Music Man quote), I'm glad to climb with all of you. Pray I'll gain some gumption!

See you tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel. (If that makes no sense to you, you are young.) God Bless all of you, my friends, young and old.

Your friend on the pilgrim road,

Loriann

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ever wonder what Daniel did in that pit all night with those lions?
Do you think that maybe he sang about the greatness of His God?
Do you think he took off his belt and ran around dragging it on the ground behind him and let those cats chase that "string" around and around?
Did he pet them and rub their bellies?
Did he use their body for a pillow?
Did he give them a kiss goodnight before he fell asleep?
Was a lion snuggled up on each side of Daniel?
Was God sitting up there in heaven watching the show and laughing His head off?

I think I'll ask them when I get to heaven.

Lorraine

Anonymous said...

My dear friends,
We keep going. We keep going because there are those who love and need us. We keep going because God created us for His Glory and His pleasure, and He is not done with us until He is done with us here. So until then, until that day when earth dissolves in Glory's light, we keep going.
It is an act of the will to keep going in joy. It is a command. Pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, Think about those things that are perfect, lovely, worthy of praise.
Be joyful always. An act of the will sometimes.
The commands, the imperatives in the Word - Do, Be, Think, Pray.

And yet "feel" comes rushing in.
So for me the act of will is to take the "feel," pick it up, move it over where I can see it, and find a name for it. Maybe discouragement. Or sadness, or a sense of injustice, or fear, or anger, or so many swirling together the name is obscure.
Yet to look at it - over there - permits the act of the will.
"I can see that I am ...fearful ..."
Then the choice.
Then the imperative....
What will I DO with this thing that would consume me if left to its own devices?

I choose. I choose to permit and make the feeling be okay for a minute. Yes, I am feeling, ..fearful.

Okay long enough.
Now, What do I Know to be God's truth about this?

God does not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and of a sound mind.

Okay, so this feeling is not from God.

SO, I will choose, CHOOSE, to not act on that, but claim the truth, then STAND on the imperative, the command. BE joyful always.

I had my gallbladder out the other day. The healing goes well. The slowdown of my normal breakneck speed opens the door for the enemy to come in and mess with my head.

But Truth does have power. And it will and does triumph.
It is 8:42am and it is time for me to take a nap. I will take to bed with me prayers for your beloved family. Prayers for healing, for endurance, and for a soaking in the blessed Truths of the Word.

Be well in your souls, my friends.
Love
Anne Robbins

Anonymous said...

Tell Hannah and Joseph that if they don't start eating breakfast on a regular basis, I'll get Mr. Barker to come over there and give them the 'talk' - which usually last over an hour. I got the short version the first day of our lives together after our honeymoon. I was leaving for work without eating breakfast, as was my custom, and he said, "Where are you going?" I said, "To work." He said, "But you haven't eaten breakfast." "I never do." "You do NOW (sternly)." I've never gone without breakfast since. 23 years. Gotta love that man. He likes his women with three meals a day - at least.

David - what a sensitive soul. Poor babe - too young for the days to go as quickly as us old folk. This must be taking an eternity in his mind. Will pray for supernatural understanding in his mind and heart so that he will have peace. When you're hugging and kissing him, give him an extra squeeze for me (he'd think I'm weird if I did it myself!).

BTW, spoke to Stefania the other day - we're thinking about just a fellowship morning on Feb. 13 - about 9am - no book - just fellowship - hoping that might be something you could make. Let me know if that works for you. Or would an evening be better or a later time on Saturday. I kind of want to build this around you since you have the craziest schedule right now. We could all use the time together, I'm sure. I will call the others after I hear from you. XXOOOOXXXOOO!!!!!!
Mary Ann

Cindi said...

Great post Loriann!! (they all are) I couldn't agree more with you in regards to the strengthening of our character. Regardless of what we face, "we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." But that doesn't come without the hard work of trusting and obeying. You are an inspiration my friend! God is truly using your gift of writing.