Of all the species of feathered flyers out there, the one bird that describes me would be the Woodpecker! Why? Well, I read off of the Wikipedia site that these birds have very strong jaw muscles.
Word? Oh, I thought it said Bird. Oh well! It’s too late to go back now…
Anyone who knows much about me, should already be aware that I talk a whole lot! I mean A LOT! I always have… and I highly doubt that I will be slowing down any time soon.
Over the years I have been chided about it, counseled to slow it down, and/or even avoided because of it. For a time, I attempted to back away from my own chatty nature, in hopes of pleasing others. I soon learned that it was more my personality than my chattiness that pushed others away. Their loss!
When I discovered that I like myself just as I am, I stopped trying to be that which I was not, for others sake!
I refer to myself as a Woodpecker, because I wish to be incessantly hammering out the love of Christ, over and over and over again!
For anyone who is bothered by my noise, there are plenty of other trees in the forest! I am sure you’ll find another comfortable place to perch!
God made me this way, so I’ve no intention of changing something if God tells me it’s not broken!
Here, I’ve left you some seeds…
Just kidding, sillies! I wouldn’t feed you bird seed… well, not only…
Honesty is always the best policy, and I’d like to be as forthright in my answer as possible. I cannot actually come up with any compliments, from off the top of my head. I’ve not lived a life that taught me how to recognize this thing we call a compliment. I have not lived a life that offered anyone who cared, an opportunity to offer great words of affirmation toward much, if any, of my behavior or character… it’s actually been quite the opposite!
Oh, I’m sure that I’ve been offered positive comments here and there, but none have ever felt either sincere or useful enough to carry me to any great height… I’m just being completely honest!
Nothing my parents ever said, came with a behavior that backed up the words draining out of their mouths!
I had a great many men drip words of insincerity in my direction, with nothing more than selfish or nefarious purposes in their minds!
There was no one to push me into an academic or career direction, with words that might lead me to believe I was smart, in any form!
My entire life has been a fight. Pushing against adversity from every single direction I looked! I was discouraged from having children, but I did it anyway! I raised three daughters, served in the church til I bled, homeschooled my girls while simultaneously working side jobs housekeeping, and getting a college degree… while also cooking, cleaning, paying bills, and serving in a miserable marriage for 16 years. When I divorced, the only reverberating words offered by friends, family AND church was… “well, you left!”
For anyone who may have offered a compliment to my person, I thank you for your kindness. I apologize if I’ve not shown any gratitude for said compliments, but I stopped expecting or even looking for them when I was eleven!
I don’t wish for you to think me bitter, as I’ve moved away from that place of loneliness and sorrow. In honesty, I’ve only one compliment that would be worth anything and everything, but alas, I’m not home yet!
With whatever time I have left on this earth, I shall strive to live a life worthy of God’s approval, to the best of my ability . My heart yearns to hear the only words that will matter… Well Done My Good and Faithful Servant! Just sayin…
There was a time that I could lose myself in my children, my crafts, my pets, camping, church… and friends.
Times changed, however, bringing circumstances and life interruptus’ that, in one way or another, robbed me of the entire lot!
I will always cherish the memories, treasuring each and every moment of love given and time spent… but life goes on, and as they say, time waits for no man, or woman for that matter!
Admittedly, at no point in all those years did I fully walk with God!
That has changed… thanks be to the grace offered by my heavenly father.
Currently, my days are filled with walks along the river, as I listen to music and fellowship with Him. I lose myself for hours in study of His written word, seeking the lifegiving wisdom within its pages. When I work on any of my literary work, I can easily forget to stop and eat, or even drink a full cup of coffee before it gets cold. It is normal for me to re-heat my coffee or tea repeatedly, before drinking the whole cup. My hubby actually has begun tapping me on the shoulder when I’ve gone too long without eating or drinking.
I believe that though we live day to day with very little, in terms of material things, I feel rather blessed with all the time God spends in molding this vessel. Thankfully, I’m so very lost in HIM, that there is nowhere else that I would rather be found…
I’m not exactly sure where or how to start so I am just gonna roll with it, and yes, I said gonna.
Somehow, putting thoughts or memories down on paper, I always struggled with trying to write in a way that satisfied all the learned Scholars out there. Well, you never know, they might want to read something in the waiting room at the dentist or something. I am at a point in our journey that I can simply write from my heart and let God do the rest. It’s been a bumpy ride, to say the least.
Now, just because I keep mentioning the bumpy ride doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. It means you were wide awake as we zigged and zagged like some of the best cats out there.
God and God alone could ever manage us because we might have been small in stature, but within our vessel is a raging river of emotions, strengths, weaknesses and a love so powerful it’s a bit off putting at times. We spent way too many years of our life trying to satisfy every other person’s requirement of us to be what they wanted, and the enemy used that to nearly destroy us.
It is nearly the end of March 2023, and the last 4 years have brought us to what I refer to as our base line. God met us at our lowest and has begun building up a soul capable of seeing ourself and others in a loving and truthful way. We learned to see ourself and others through the Fathers eyes.
You exhausted yourself trying to be enough for everyone around you, while often feeling empty inside. God taught you to love You, with all your flaws and failures, and the truths of yourself that made you the way God intended. The Father used our truths to show us how beautiful we are.
The only way for this to make sense is to tell you what brought you to that place where you could finally get up and walk on. Just so that you know, you didn’t get there with any form of wisdom quickly, rather, it took you all of your 100 years to try to really let God hold you. That is the truth of it!
He brought you this far, for just his purpose… when you see it, I’ll be there waiting.
My thoughts are all over the page this morning, what with all the miracles flying around my little office! Well, maybe not miracles to most, but they are ticking all the boxes on my list.
God has been ever faithful in slowing my weight loss, but let’s face it, I can’t keep this up forever. I didn’t want to ever seek medical care again, but God has other purposes. He desires that I participate in my own care, however he decides… not how I think it should go.
If this week hasn’t been a confirmation of that, I don’t know what is!
It began with a message to my new primary doctor, seeking an appointment for bloodwork and a weight check. I was dreading it! Honestly, I haven’t wanted to go back for medical care. My faith and trust in doctors has been flatlined, of late. But, if I don’t want to starve to death, it needs doing.
Not only did she message me back rather quickly, but before I could even ask anything she suggested we make a video apt for this Thursday, to discuss disability paperwork. What? Where did that come from?
That was Monday. Tuesday morning rolls around and I receive a phone call from the DSHS appeals administrator assigned to my case. She called to say that she’d gone through all our records and found a partial error, in regards to my benefits. While I still would be required to get a form from my doctor, stating I am unable to work, the denial of benefits was being immediately reversed and all benefits restored… as well as, removing all overpayment penalty charges… Hallelujah!
As of yesterday, which was Wednesday, three months of back benefits had been restored to my Snap card… I cried! For over six years we have fallen through every crack, in every system, one might call a helpful service to the public. Never in all that time have I ever had somebody call ME and say they’d made an error, nor have I ever seen such a complete and rapid response to a problem that might fall in my favor! That is, unless you count that time I was nearly crushed by that car, or that night on the highway in the Colorado mountains. Oh, yeah… there was that security guard just inside the building where I was being assaulted, or that night I nearly bled to death in that emergency room.
Oh, heavenly father, how many times have You been the hand that saves me… there are so many memories to recall, it would be far too long a list for just this day!
Now I’m crying again, doggone it!
Ok… let’s finish this out!
It’s now Thursday, and apparently, God’s not done!
We now come to this mornings doctor visit… remember that message?
My new doctor is a lovely young woman, with a wonderful bedside manner, as they say. She spent the time to ask pointed questions, making notes and referring to a number of notes in my medical chart, so I knew she’d previously read them. Long story short… I do indeed have Gastroparesis, on top of my IBS and hernia.
The good part in all this is that she’s attempting to restore my Pantaprazole with the insurance company, based on this new diagnosis. She also thoroughly discussed the new medication that will be needed to improve the delayed digestive issue, which also counters as an anti-nausea reliever… thank you Lord!
Not only did she fill out the disability form, which should reach DSHS by the end of the day, I’m being put into a program that will offer transportation to my visits… and, home delivery for my medications, if I need it. They also have a really good therapist, apparently, and she recommends I meet with them to discuss possible PTSD symptoms that are causing my IBS to rocket off the charts so often.
When all I ever do under pressure is buckle, God steps in every single time! And, he doesn’t just stop by, or pass through. I believe that He stays to complete his own work within my life.
I leave you with a beautiful passage from scripture, found in the book of Philippians chapter 1:5-6…
“because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
While one may consider it failure, God calls it an opportunity! Our failures are His perfect moments of teaching, bringing good for His purposes. God does that with all of our choices, you know… the good and the bad.
God sent his only son to earth for us, where we promptly crucified him, so one might assume that this was a big epic failure!
What did God do?
He resurrected Jesus and rolled that stone away, leaving an empty tomb behind!
God has been righting our wrongs, healing our wounds and miraculously turning our failures into successes from the beginning of time! The Bible says that God is faithful, so logic dictates that only success will follow, from both our triumphs and mistakes.
I am a work in progress, and as God is not done with me yet, failure is just a means for Him to continually show me how He can do anything… the sky’s the limit, as they say.
My future is very bright, as the bible confirms…
“For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. Jeremiah 29:11
While I COULD wile away the hours here, for your sake I won’t. Why? Because I actually DO have a brain!
But, the prompt did ask what three objects I couldn’t live without. Well, the first thing that came to mind was my brain. Without a brain, which is the central nervous system for this flesh mech, I, just like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, would simply hang limp on a pole in a corn field.
The second object that’s a must-have for survival, again, can be answered by one of the characters from that old movie, The Wizard of Oz. Remember the Tin Man? Without a heart to pump blood throughout the body, nourishing all of the precious organs that make us flux an flow, we would simply break down, shrivel up and cease to exist!
While I realize you were expecting me to call up the cowardly Lion for my third object needed, I think his courage actually came from his heart, so those two sort of go hand in hand, in my humble opinion. I’m going to call upon our beloved Dorothy… and her little dog too!
What is this thing that I am eluding too? Lungs! How on earth would Dorothy, or Toto for that matter, be a proper example of lungs, you may be asking? Judy Garland, who played the role of Dorothy, had an amazing singing voice, did she not? And, Toto had the ability to bark, which he did a great amount of, in order to protect and save the group of adventurers on several occasions. I am pretty confident in thinking that they both had a decent set of pipes!
Don’t ask me why The Wizard of Oz was the first thing that popped into my head when I read this mornings Daily Prompt question… I’ve no earthly idea.
But, you do have to admit that it worked pretty well. And, I’m being fully honest in choosing a brain, a heart and lungs as the three objects I couldn’t live without. I’m fairly certain that none of us would get along without them, don’t you agree?
In truth, I can get along without every other earthly object if it came down to brass tacks, as they say.
Here, have an apple. I promise, the trees won’t throw them at you…
There’s nothing more jarring and/or disconcerting than when your car tire hits a pothole, when you’re driving down the road at full speed!
You’re lucky to keep the car on the road, not to mention, trying to hold onto your coffee without wearing it… am I right?!
I suppose it’s nearly as jarring to hit a speed bump, but at least you get vaulted into the air, so you can keep going. Not a pothole, no no! Those will either stop you in your tracks, trying to catapult you through the windshield… or worse yet, you might just find yourself trying to stay out of oncoming traffic. If you’re lucky, the car’s tires will only rub the curb. I think we’ve all been there at one time, or another.
That’s kind of how life experiences tend to make us grow… by sheer force! Sink or swim, life or death! You have to think fast, choose wisely, and definitely know how to put out fires, stop the bleeding, as well as, knowing where the Band-Aids are hiding!
At least my car (life) comes with a stellar manufacturers warranty. My agent always fixes the damages, putting me back on the road, quickly. I will admit that my car usually ends up facing a new direction, but with a full tank of gas and new driving instructions.
Pothole experiences are where God does his best work, I think. He makes the best corrections, top notch repairs to all damages, and he even provides the most beautiful band-aids.
When will we learn that words, just like guns, can be use for both good and evil alike?
You can remove all weapons from the hands of a man, but if his heart is still filled with wickedness, he will find a different weapon to replace the one taken!
If you’ve unsuccessfully changed the heart of a man, it won’t matter what words, weapons, or any other tools you give or remove from him… the heart is what determines how the tool is used!
Last I checked, only God can change the heart of a man. So, there simply aren’t any words worth removing, in my humble opinion. There are, however, a couple nefarious characters I’d like to permanently ban, but that’s not what the prompt was asking. We must stick to the prompt, right?!
Here, have a cookie, but you might want to pick off the cartridges first…
Journey With Me! 