Crowder's How He Loves Us

Have you heard the David Crowder Band's new Cd?
Our favorite is, "How He Loves."
If you haven't heard it, please take a few minutes and listen to the powerful words....it is sure to bless.

Trusting and Waiting to See His Glory!

"But You, O LORD, are a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head." Psalm 3:3

Oh, I wanted to stay angry....embarrassingly, I thought it was my right. This is my daughter after all. But even after typing the previous post the Lord had already begun to work on my heart. I still don't understand it all....but I don't have to... because I know the One who does and I can trust Him.

We have said it all along that God may very well be setting the stage to show His glory in this....but last weekend I just couldn't see past the nose on my face. I was broken over the magnitude of it all.

We moms (and dads) feel like we have to fix it when our children are sick, or sad, or hurt, or upset, don't we? When they ache, oh how we ache too. Somehow I got caught up in trying to fix what I know I cannot fix and I lost sight that our Heavenly Father aches when we ache too. I got wrapped up in the enormity of having to make the decision for surgery and when would be the best time (is there ever a best time for surgery?) and so on and so on.

And then I became frustrated and angry, and in the middle of it all, the Lord encouraged me to trust Him once again. I found that child-like faith again. If the timing of the surgery is not His timing, then He will change it. If the procedure is not the right procedure for Rachel, then the Great Physician will see to it that other arrangements are made. If the plans that have been made are right and in Rachel's best interest, then the doors will remain open. There is much relief and peace in handing that all over to Him once again. He knows this heart of mine too well though. It is my nature to jump into action on behalf of my daughters...but I am reminded that He is not slow to action either and His was are always the best. I choose to trust Him.

I have talked about L.B. Cowman's devotional, "Streams in the Desert" so many times before but in my anger I missed a day. My mom lovingly called me the next day and asked if I had read it. She said that it should have been titled, "My Dear Kristi...."

I picked up the Word for September 20th and sobbed. Oh, how timely is the Lord!

I know that it is long, but if you would like to read it too, I will post it below. Thank you for your prayers and encouraging comments and cards. I am so blessed by all of you.

September 20, Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman

"Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:40)

"Mary and Martha could not understand what their Lord was doing. Each of them had said to Him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." (vv.21, 32). And behind their words we seem to read their true thoughts: "Lord, we do not understand why you waited so long to come or how you could allow the man you love so much to die. We do not understand how you could allow such sorrow and suffering to devastate our lives, when Your presence might have stopped it all. Why didn't you come? Now it's too late, because Lazarus has been dead four days!" But Jesus simply had one great truth in answer to all of this. He said, in essence, "You may not understand, but I am telling you that if you believe, you will see."

Abraham could not understand why God would ask him to sacrifice his son, but he trusted Him. Then he saw the Lord's glory when the son he loved was restored to him. Moses could not understand why God would require him to stay forty years in the wilderness, but he also trusted Him. Then he saw when God called him to lead Israel from Egyptian bondage.

Joseph could not understand his brothers' cruelty toward him, the false testimony of a treacherous woman, or the long years of unjust imprisonment, but he trusted God and finally he saw His glory in it all. And Joseph's father, Jacob, could not understand how God's strange providence could allow Joseph to be taken from him. Yet later he saw the Lord's glory when he looked into the face of his son, who had become the governor for a great king and the person used to preserve his own life and the lives of an entire nation.

Perhaps ther is also something in your life causing you to question God. Do you find yourself saying, "I do not understand why God allowed my loved one to be taken. I do not understand why affliction has been permitted to strike me. I do not understand why the Lord has led me down these twisting paths. I do not understand why my own plans, which seemed so good, have been so disappointing. I do not understand why the blessings I so desperately need are so long in coming."

Dear friend, you do not have to understand all of God's ways of dealing with you. He does not expect you to understand them. You do not expect your children to understand everything you do--you simply want them to trust you. And someday you too will see the glory of God in the things you do not understand."

Isn't that an incredible devotion?! Yes, I can trust the One who lifts my head again so that I may watch and see His glory in this.

One more thing before I publish this post, this precious mom is heavy on my heart. I know many of you are praying for Andrew and Melanie. Please, continue to pray for them. She is asking the Lord for 100% healing for her son. Her constant devotion to her family and to her Lord are so evident in every post that she writes. If you haven't stopped by her blog, please do so today.

Taking a Break

Ya'll I'm going to take a little break from blogging. I adore each one of you precious friends and followers more than you know....so much so that I don't want you to have to have to see or experience the depths of my heart right now.

On our Lubbock trip last weekend we also came across a field of sunflowers that had already been sprayed so that the farmers could harvest the seeds and the fields looked so sad~in stark contrast to the beautiful, life-filled sunflower seeds we saw only a few feet before.

As we crossed the 3 month mark before surgery this last week, my heart became more anxious and then angry. I honestly don't understand it all nor do I like it one bit. Why my Rachel? Why now? I have loved the Lord and tried to serve Him faithfully since I was 7 years old so I need you to know that I have loved Him far too long to ever doubt His great and fierce love for me and my family or to ever doubt His great faithfulness....but I'm still hurting and feeling like these sad sunflowers:

Oh, I know He has not forgotten us nor is His arm too short to reach us. I believe in His all-sufficiency and I believe in His awesome sovereignty and He is mighty to save and so worthy of our best praise. I believe all of that whole-heartedly, but He and I have some things to work out in this heart of mine. So, I'll be taking a break from blogging.

Even in the pain of my heart He lovingly keeps reminding me that His mercies are new every morning and that He longs to show us great and mighty things that we don't know. My morning devotion was Psalm 121 that says, "I will lift up my eyes to the hills--from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord...." Even in our deepest sorrows, our pain, and our questions He still speaks, and He still cares, and He still loves, and He comes to our rescue.

Oh, He will lift my anxious heart and I will continue to praise Him....even in the sorrow....even in the midst of my daughter's pain....in the midst of my questions....in the midst of my anger... and I will rejoice again!

Standing in Awe of Him

"Let all the earth fear the LORD;

Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him." Psalm 33:8.

Many of you know that I was born in Kansas. So, this Kansas girl adores sunflowers.

Last weekend was Hannah's first cross country meet and Mr. Incredible and I got up at the crack of dawn to make our way to her meet in Lubbock. On our way there, we came across the most glorious sunflower patches. Since it was still too dark outside, we decided that we would stop on the way home. I could hardly wait.

We did get a chance to stop and take pictures. As I snapped pictures to my heart's content, I noticed this lone sunflower stretching above the others (can you see it?) and I said, "Delight!" I knew this would perfect for my Word Filled Wednesday post.

I don't know about you, but I want to be like that sunflower, rising above it all to stand in awe of my Savior! Oh, He is so worthy of our best praise! Go ahead, stand up, you know you want to....stand in awe of Him today.

Please visit Critty Joy for more Word Filled Wednesdays.

Mom's Taco Casserole

I hadn't made Mom's Taco Casserole in years. So last month when I was re-organizing my recipes, I came across this one and resolved to make it soon.

It had been so long since I made this for my family, that they responded by asking me to make this new recipe again soon. Oiy!

I thought I would share the recipe with you. You need a 13x9 dish, 1 pound of ground beef, cream of chicken soup, rotel, Ranch style beans, cheddar cheese, and taco Doritos.

Start by cooking the ground beef:

Layer crushed taco Doritos in the bottom of your sprayed dish:


Layer the ground beef:

Add the drained beans:

Add the can of Rotel:

Layer on the cream of chicken soup:

Add a top layer of crushed taco Doritos:

Cover it with cheese:

and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until it is bubbly and all the cheese has melted:

I served mine with a doll up of sour cream and a wedge of iceberg lettuce:

It was quick and delicious....thanks Mom!

Hannah's 1st Cross Country Meet

My baby girl is running cross country...and liking it!

Did you hear that "liking it!" She most certainly did not get that from me.

I did not enjoy running. I played volleyball and basketball in high school and all of the athletes (I use that word loosely) were required to be in track too. What's a girl to do? I threw the little disc thing...not very far, because it might mess up my hair, and I was really only there to meet the cute boys anyway. Maybe if they had posted the cute boys around the track I might have enjoyed running better.

Since I am not so much a fan of running, I wasn't a very encouraging mom when Hannah started working out with the basketball team. They all have to do the cross country workout in order to play basketball. Every day she would tell me who she out ran and how much her time was improving...and then I said something that I have regretted ever since, yes I became that mother when I casually said, "Baby, if you keep improving you just might make the cross country team and you know that you don't want to do that."

Yes, I did and shame on me!!!! I knew the minute my words rolled off my tongue that I should never have said that. Instantly the Holy Spirit convicted my heart.

The next morning, I woke up early like I normally do to have my quiet time with the Lord before hitting the ground running. The Holy Spirit once again convicted me that I needed to give Hannah my blessing on cross country because even though she acted like she didn't want to be on the team, she really did want to be on the team.

I woke her up early to ask her forgiveness and to tell her that her daddy and I would support her 100% if she wanted to be on the cross country team and she just beamed. Her face blushed a little and she gave me a big hug and told me that she was going to be a runner, "just like Grandpa" and my heart melted. Thank you, Father, for speaking to this momma's heart!

So last Friday night, we did our duty chaperoning the high school band, we got to ride the yellow bus, and corral the skittle throwing monsters, I mean blessings (Mrs. C. if you are reading this~ they picked up every skittle so we were fine), and then early Saturday morning we were Hannah's biggest cheerleaders at her first ever cross country meet.

I thought you might enjoy a few pictures of my favorite runner:

There must have been over 130 girls running:



And she is off:

Go Hannah go! We are so proud of you! You can do it!

The finish line is just around the corner!

She made it and she enjoyed it...and we did too. From the back seat, my little darling said, "I wonder how Grandpa finished in his first meet? Do you think I will be fast like him one day?"

Yes, baby I think you just might be. Keep running; we are so proud of you!

Praying for Andrew

There is an urgent prayer request for this young man, who is in surgery as we speak. Please, pray for this precious family who too is believing God to do what only He can do!

You can read his story by clicking on the prayer button above or to read the current request, click here.