Saying that spirituality is important in one’s life seems uncomfortably broad to me, personally. Nowadays, referring to spirituality can go in many different directions. I’ll answer the question from the perspective of a child of God.
In honesty, I live a spirit-filled life every single day! It’s a very deep and intimate relationship with my maker, God himself! He is my comfort when I am sorrowful, my strength when I am weak, and eternally faithful to sustain me, in all things.
It’s kind of like traveling through a desolate and parched land. Know where your water sources are, if you wish to survive the sands! I’m fairly certain that water flows throughout the desert, deep underground. It’s there, but the traveler must know where to find it. After you’ve traveled to to those sources enough times, their location becomes embedded in your muscle memory… you just remember.
As far as my actual spirit-filled life, the bible is one of my water sources. That muscle memory I just mentioned? In this instance, I’m referring to my brain’s ability to recall a thing I’ve read and/or learned… you know, use it or lose it! Then there’s my prayer life, which is my source of sustenance, peace, grace, forgiveness, and so much love… I’m in the presence of my creator!
As for that spirituality part of the prompt, I am filled with the Holy Spirit, which is part of God’s spirit, sent to dwell within this vessel. It says so in the bible,
“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, 14 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
Anyways, that should answer the prompt in an honest and honorable manner without dragging things out for hours. I could, you know!
Because I love you, I’ll settle for handing out cookies instead…
I think we’re all grown up enough to admit that our answer could and would change, depending on the one asking this kind of question. Say for instance that you’re in the middle of a job interview when this question pops up… maybe not the moment to share the love of Jesus. Or maybe it is!
Why can’t I say what’s in my heart, whether I’m at church, in an interview, or at a gathering of complete strangers? My desire is to have the boldness of Christ, no matter what my circumstance! No fear, no shame, nor arrogance. I wish to bear only truth and love, which are THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS NEEDED TO LIVE A GOOD LIFE!
I’ve a quick little story to tell you that is both funny, and a great example of both the truth/love part, and the boldness of Christ that I mentioned…
I’ve been having a bit of issue with my health, of late, probably due to the environment we’d been surviving in for so long. Unfortunately, I’m not bouncing back as quickly as I’d hoped. Anyway, I went in for some tests and things the other day. My dutiful and doting husband was by my side, as per usual. The wait wasn’t very long before they called my name and we followed the nurse down the hallway toward the exam room. As they normally do at the beginning of a visit, the nurse asked me to stand on the weigh scale. When I stepped onto the scale it climbed all the way up to 203lbs… no joke! I stood there for a second, just staring at the number… how could that be right? Retaining my peaceful, child of God attitude, I acted as if I’d always weighed that much… but I was totally shocked, and rather dismayed! Had I really gotten that far without realizing it?
Just as I stepped backward off the scale, I hear my husband say to the nurse, “Please don’t write that number down… I had my foot on the scale while you weighed her.” No Joke!
Now, I suppose that I could have gotten angry, but as I’m fully aware of my partners shenanigan’s, I know that he loves me to the moon and back… and, I was so grateful that I wasn’t that heavy, allowed me to burst out laughing at his antics! There are no lies between us, we both have heartaches, hurts, and both share bad memories filled with the lies of others. This is the part to explain my answer about Truth and Love, but the next part brought about my thoughts on the boldness of Christ.
Once my doctor had completed the exam, asked all of her questions, and discussed what we needed to do going forward, she did something quite unexpected. She looked me straight in the face and asked, “Can I pray for you? You may say no, if you aren’t comfortable.”
Oh, My, Goodness! What are the odds of little ole me getting a physician that prays to the Ultimate Healer… Praise God! Hallelujah! Having someone actually take my hand in a doctor’s office, of all places, and pray for my needs?
Wow! I want that sort of boldness, day and night, winter spring summer or fall, and in good times or bad. I’m fairly certain that it was that woman’s faith in God and His love working through her, enabling her to speak out with such boldness. This is all just my impression about things, of course.
Now, maybe this story will help you understand my answer for the prompt, maybe not. But, I do still think it was worth the telling… just sayin!
Now, I know you might think that I’m going to say ‘the bible’ for my first choice, here… but you’d be wrong! Ok, not entirely wrong.
When I saw this mornings prompt, I did plan to give that as my first answer, at first! But, here’s the problem I encountered when I sat down to write out my response to the above question… the why part!
First of all, do you realize how many books I’ve read over the last 56 years? I wouldn’t be able to answer that question, myself. Goodness! I’ve read and re-read so many books over the years, whether they be fiction or non-fiction. The sheer number of adventurous stories I collected and filed into my memory banks must be staggering! Where do you think my love of writing was born? Dreaming! What filled my dreams? Those fictional adventures brought my imagination to life, I think.
Unfortunately, life has a tendency to suck all the fun and adventure out of things, so survival called for moving beyond fantasy toward the pursuit of the truth. Endless hours were spent pouring through all manner of Christian and/or Secular volumes of self-help, self-improvement, and self-validation books. Some helped and some didn’t. One particular book did, in fact, help. Yes, this is the place where you can say, “see, we knew you were going to say the Bible.”
But did I? Can we even do that? Well, I suppose we could, but the real question here might be… should we?
Did you know that the Bible, itself, is not really just one single book? Technically, it’s a collection of 66 different books, some quite small and others quite lengthy… but still!
Of all the differing books I’ve read over these many years, those 66 books have been invaluable to me at one time, or another. I’m fairly certain that if you were to ask me this same prompt question at a different time, my answer would be different. Well, ok, I confess that the Psalms will always be in my heart, so I guess that one will always be on the list, though I cannot say whether it would be number 1, 2, or 3. As I said, it would probably depend on when you asked me the question.
Since we know that one of the three books has already been set in stone, so to speak, now what? How can I not go straight to the gospels? But, how am I to decide which of those books impacted me the most? Matthew, Mark, Luke or John… can one actually decide between the four? Well, I couldn’t… I can’t… in truth, I don’t want to!
It didn’t even help trying to pick the Old Testament or the New Testament… way too much valuable stuff in both!
Personally, I look to the entirety of the old testament for our history, as it’s important to remember. We all want to know who we are and where we came from, don’t we? Aren’t there currently a number of DNA mail in organizations out there that make a ton of profit from those wanting to know their family’s genealogy? My point here is that we all find our history important! The old testament has 39 books to choose from, and I’ve already said that Psalms is on my list of three, so there’s still 38 more books to pick and we haven’t even begun to talk about the books in the New Testament. What about Paul’s writings, or Timothy’s, or James, or John? See my problem?
If I were to actually take even one of these books and write an explanation of how it impacted my life, we’d need a lot more time and a lot more cookies!
Have you ever wanted something so much that you can’t stop thinking about it? It consumes your thoughts, your dreams, and gives you a motivation that you didn’t know you had. You scrimp and save, make numerous sacrifices to afford the time, money, and anything else required to prepare for said thing. It might be anything from a vacation, a new car, or even a baby!
Unless you are very wealthy and/or were born with a big ENTITLED badge sewn on the left cheek your bum… there’s usually a vast distance from start to finish! I think sometimes we watch too much television, where they make it look like a walk in the park to become ALL THAT!
The last time I checked, there weren’t any badges on my bum nor do I carry a purse full of cash, so I’m looking across a vast canyon that’s deep and wide. In our particular situation, it’s somewhat like looking up from a very deep well. There’s a sensation of being slowly pulled upward, while sitting in a bucket that’s still half full of murky water.
Discovering such a great distance between that first rescue bucket and the really solid dry land needed has been a bit of a shock. Truly, it was ignorant of me to assume that we could get from homeless to successful overnight, just because we have keys to an apartment. When they hand you that so-called GOLDEN TICKET… you’re on your own!
When we were circling the drain, all I could think about was getting my books published and quickly leaving all the bad memories behind. Pipe dreams, I know, but it helped. Not only is it NOT so easy, but now that I’m here in this moment, I’m not even sure if it’s in God’s purpose… at least, not right now!
The program we are in does NOT allow for my husband or I to make any money while he is going to school. If any money is made, we stand to lose much or all of our housing money. No one tells you what to do for any actual dollars needed for things, outside of food stamps that only cover food. It makes me wonder how many people fail to ever recover, due to this little flaw in the system. We’ve actually found just about every flaw, crack, or hole in the system to fall into, which is why it took us nearly two years to get housing (the last six months was the homeless, homeless part.
In the end, I don’t care what president holds office… the system just needs to be fixed… for the people! That’s us, the feet on the ground, the workers, the farmers, the builders, the caregivers… the human souls that keep this country afloat with our hard work, our bloody and dirty hands, and our truly beautiful hearts!
This is the very reason that I rely on GOD alone, above any and all government! The only reason we are here, in this very apartment, had God stamped all over it! No government policy or case worker made that one person change their heart and allow us in… that was GOD!
With that being said, I still find myself wondering what now? Why did God put us here, and what is the next step? What if I step out in faith and start throwing manuscripts out there, only to find that I was the only one who believed in their value, you know? Yep! This loudmouthed frog, Chatty Cathy, Wiwohka Wonka, and redeemed woman of faith has doubt, just like everybody else. My journey toward eternity is just that… a journey! It’s how I intend to get there that will count. Maybe that’s why it’s so easy to see God as our father. He faithfully carries us through our entire life, teaching and loving us through good, bad, right, wrong, darkness, and light.
It doesn’t matter if my steps go off track, if my faith is weak, or if I simply feel unsure about my next choice…
GOD IS WITH US!
GOD IS ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, FAITHFUL!
GOD WILL ALWAYS LIGHT THE WAY FOR US!
It’s not about whether our choices are the right ones, the wrong ones, or even the refusal to decide… it’s about looking up, getting up, and continuing forward in faith, hope and love!
If I’m to be fully honest about why any of this is even being written down and shared with others, it’s to remind myself!
While I realize that it’s only Friday, it’s not just any Friday, is it? This happens to be Easter weekend, as I’m sure you already knew. I can’t help but get excited, bursting with unashamed words of praise, honor, and worship for my King, my God and Creator. Why? Because I know that Sunday’s coming!
Not just any Sunday, as you well know. It’s Easter Sunday!
*Disclaimer* I will proclaim my belief in a single God, One Son, and an act of such utter love and sacrifice that cannot be denied! Whether you believe in God or not, does not diminish His belief in you, nor lessen His love for you!
Praise be to the King of Kings!
Promises were fulfilled!
Death was defeated!
The temple veil has forever been torn!
We are free to come before God, himself, the very creator of the world, without fear or shame… Because God made it so, by sending Jesus Christ to walk this earth, without a single stain or blemish of sin… utterly perfect! Yet, he willingly sacrificed his own life on the cross, for doing absolutely nothing wrong… nothing! That sacrifice fulfilled prophesy of a covenant, a promise given us, by God.
This sacrifice defeated Satan, broke through all judgement of sin, and opened a bridge between us and our creator… a doorway, if you will.
Now, when I come before the throne of God, I’m washed in the blood of His one and only son, Jesus Christ! All the stain of my sin and shame are erased, and not just erased… replaced! Replaced with God’s very own Holy Spirit, which dwells in me now, today.
I plan on celebrating all weekend, and I pray God’s blessings on each and every soul that visits this lobby. May you also have a truly blessed Easter!
Again, I know that it’s only Friday… but Sunday is coming!
If ever this were to be considered a mountain… well, God moved it!
We do not know why, but for whatever their reason, the owners of the property chose to come back to the table and change their first decision. Basically, they completely changed their mind and lowered the cost of the apartment in order to get us approved… not kidding!
It’s small, but absolutely adorable… and clean!
Everything is new, and bright, and warm, and just perfect perfect perfect!!!
Sure, it’s empty now, but let me tell you… when the bible says that God will restore all that the enemy has stolen, I am watching such miracles unfold right before my eyes!
Some very generous donations have already arrived from God, through the many different organizations that have been with us throughout all this… I swear, I think they’re more excited than we are about things finally coming together. They’ve already ordered us a new bed, a vacuum cleaner, and a boatload of bathroom and cleaning supplies, so that should arrive at the new address within another day or so…
I’m in love with the whole color scheme that was chosen for this layout. Now we just have to wait for the mail to catch up with is… lol.
Oh, and we have to go to the V.A. this afternoon to pick up a furniture voucher, gift cards for things like dishes and cooking supplies. Honestly, I am still a bit numb about all this, as if I expect I might wake from such a dream, you know…
Oh, by the way, right in the middle of all of this going on, I got a phone call from my middle daughter… I’m gonna be a Meemaw again… AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!
Don’t babies just make everything better… oh, and cookies.. cookies make everything better, too. I have to tell you something funny in all this. After loosing pretty much all that we owned, down to the point of wearing the same outfit for the last three and a half weeks, I managed to save two items… my KitchenAid mixer and my Cuisinart, no joke! I have a mountain of cookies to bake, lol! My hubby tested the oven straight away… it’s like he knows me, or something…
And, guess what? Both my little plants have survived, thus far. I promised them both that they’d be getting new pots and soil when we get them moved in… they’ve earned them!
I know that this must have been awful for you all, having to watch helplessly as we went through this desert, but I could NOT have done this without your love, your faithful prayers, and your constant encouragement!
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!
I am so very richly blessed!
This chapter in my journey has closed, so let us move forward to see what God has in store four the future…
If I were to say anything of value, regarding what we just endured, I would say this… God has profoundly changed this wild and angry child, carefully molding her into that which is beautiful in His eyes.
It is indescribably here, resting beneath the shadow of my Father. From here, I can see for endless miles into the future… no, I haven’t reached some weird plane of visions, so don’t start freaking out on me. What I mean is that it’s not dark any longer, as it had been for so much of this process. Oh, I still can’t see the specifics of what will come… but it’s bright here, wherever I look… I might be wrong, but I think that it’s joy, or maybe hope, but it could also be the source of all those prayers everyone has been shouting to the heavens, on my behalf.
The question isn’t why… it isn’t when, who or even where. I’ve been thinking on this, of late. Whenever a person goes through troubled waters, so to speak, a great many of those questions occupy their mind. Unfortunately, those questions don’t often see a viable answer.
Sometimes, maybe the real useful question to ask is “How?” I realize that it’s a rather unusual one word question, but if you think about it, all the other questions were also one word queries.
Since I tend to spend most of my time on the water, with a good many stretches of rough rapids and storms, I finally got sick of all the other questions, as they never really do me any good until after the fact.
This time… I’m finding a breakthrough!
This time… How?
How will I hold?
How will I rest?
How will I stand?
How will I exercise my faith?
How will I use all that truth I’ve been reading about?
How will I reflect my trust in God?
How will I express all the peace, hope, love, faith, forgiveness and generosity of heart that he has been creating within me?
How will I bend the knee?
How will I lay before the throne?
The One I believe in has been working on my behalf from the beginning, so it’s not a question of when, where, who, or why for me any longer, but how…
To answer the how,
I will hold with grace…
I will rest in complete peace…
I will stand tall…
I will share my faith with you, by speaking of all my journey, whether it is calm, harsh, beautiful, or painfully ugly…
That’s the only way that I can reflect my trust in Him…
My stories and journal entries are how I express all the good fruits that He produces within my heart for you…
I will bend the knee to the God of ages, surrendering to His rule and authority over my life, no matter where I must go, what I must endure for however long I must endure it, and regardless of why!
How?
How can I think this way, say these things, and actually stand in the face of this overwhelming mountain? I’ll tell you how…
The power of surrender, that’s how!
All that my Creator asks of me is surrender to his will, plan and purpose… and I show my obedience and complete surrender in all those HOWS… just sayin!
When you are in the darkest moments of your journey, remember…
Hold, have peace, stand tall, speak only that which is good, edifying and hopeful, trust in the one who gave you life, and no matter what, always remember that your stories are important to others… you are important! Life’s gonna do what it’s gonna do, so we have to choose who we want to be as we get through it… or better yet, how we want to get through it!
I may not be meant for friendship, I may not be meant for family, but when I pass by, I will leave my mark on you
For some it will be good, for some bad… but you WILL know that I have been there
If God is for me… I don’t care what you think of me
When I said that I would stand on my faith in God all the way to the end… I meant it! It’s easy to spout scripture from a pulpit, claim God’s miraculous power from your armchair, and wax poetic about a spirit filled life from a hot tub, but try doin it from the gates of hell… I dare you!
When you finally pass beyond the words shooting out of your mouth, the singing of heavenly hymns, and dancing for Jesus in front of the masses, you get to the plane of daily existence in the presence of the almighty God of ages… yeah, Him! You wait for your daily bread from meal to meal, you listen for his voice in the utter silence of abandonment. When you can look only to Him for each and every breath that you need to live, it is oddly peaceful.
Jesus sits with me through the endless hours of waiting, the closed doors and dead ends… its rather ugly right now, with no joyful or praiseworthy news to regale you with, or pretty cookies to hand out. These waters are pretty rough and roaring just now, so it has taken all I have to write anything at all. Boy, it’s harder than I thought it would be to write down my feelings without saying some rather nasty and lethal remarks about things… sheesh!
Yes, it’s really bad right now, and no, I’m not going to speak on it… at least not til we’re beyond this part of the journey. The actual fight for survival puts one in a compromised emotional state, bringing out responses that you never knew you were capable of… so it’s best not to say anything if you can’t say something nice, trust me! You know why? Not so much to be nice to the folks hurting you, but to act honorably before God… to please Him and Him alone!
I could disappear today without a trace, leaving you to wonder where I went for a day or so, but you’d move on soon, as I’m nothing more than an entry in an online journal that anyone can read…
… but to God, I am someone specific, like no other on this planet, someone very special and sought after… He foreknew of my birth, my life, my failures, my successes, my wrongs, my rights… I am perfect in my imperfection, beautiful in my brokenness, wanted, cherished, and never ever forgotten or rejected for being who I am…
I am Wiwohka, with a heart that rushes, rages, and powerfully flows toward the home that awaits me… this world is NOT my home, but I will walk through it with as much grace as I can muster… to put a smile on my heavenly father’s face… to make my Creator proud of the work that He has, and is doing in my life… that is enough!
This site is most likely going to go down, as things are financially at the end for this leg of my journey, but don’t lose hope because God is leading me somewhere so that’s not a bad thing. There are a number of books still to be written… even if God is the only one to ever read them.
If one were to ask me how I might describe my thoughts and emotions right now, I can only say that it’s very dark and strangely unfamiliar. We’ve been wandering from motel to motel with all that’s left of our life packed into the back of our car. Feeling like you’ve been completely forgotten and overlooked by those promising to provide a resource, quite honestly, feels gut wrenching!
We were given our voucher, but then informed that it still had to be ported back to another county before we could use it. Within a day of getting the voucher, our paperwork simply vanished into the system. By the grace of God, and my husbands quick thinking, we drove two cities away from where we started to find an apartment that already passed the required inspections, which takes up to 45 days, normally. Doing things this way avoids having to wait up to 3 weeks for the portal process.
All the papers are in, application filled out… and now we wait! It could be a day… or up to several weeks for the apartment to accept our application. Though this has been a nightmare, and I will most likely never speak of it in any detail, at no time have I felt abandoned by my God! Let’s just say that this part of our journey has called for all of my faith, fully in action! And, as it says in the bible, I shall count it all joy!
God chooses my path, and in scripture it tells us that He knows our going out and our lying down. It also says that he is familiar with all our ways. If God allows me to experience these things, then there’s learning that needs to be done, and that’s growth! Of this I’m certain…growth is good, even though it can sometimes be difficult or painful.
It’s true, you know, that saying about what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. There’s only one thing I might add to that phrase, and it’s this:… it’s our choice as to whether that strength will be fueled by faith, hope, and love, or just anger, bitterness and hatred. Each path will leave you changed, but you do have a choice in which way to climb your mountains. Personally, I desire to grow stronger on the way up, through, or around these mountains. When God calls my name… I’m going to be on my feet!
It sure has been a journey these last few years, to say the least!
We’ve gone from, losing our home and all we owned during the COVID Shutdown, to living in an RV for three years (the last year had no working toilet or shower, nor any hot water). And here we are now, spending the last four months in a motel room, awaiting a housing voucher. So, ya… it’s been a journey!
Well, guess what?
We’ve been approved!!!
I know this is only the first part of the actual process, but it’s a start!
Now, we must attend a special orientation class, before we can actually be presented with the needed voucher. The class is on the 18th and our last approved night in this motel is the 17th, so it’ll be a little dicey between the time of getting said voucher and getting into an appropriate housing situation. But hey, God’s the one driving this bus, right?!
My job is to simply wait until the bus stops, gather myself together when the door opens, and step out in faith! Why do some folks think that the hard part is walking through the door, or stepping out in faith when you can’t see what’s there? Personally, I’ve learned that the hardest part is the waiting…
Tick tock, tick tock…
The silence of waiting can be deafening, at times.
The thing that I’m learning is, mountains take time to move over, under, around, or through… depending on what God wants you to see, learn, and/or do along the journey.
Anyways, if you are curious how we got here from the top of this post, I’ve brought you thus far, so that I might say thank you! Thank you for loving me, for praying for me, and for sticking with me through the thick of things, if you will. You’ve made this whole excruciating difficult process, a great deal easier! Your comments, laughter, and visits to the lobby have been so vitally instrumental in the encouragement department, if that makes any sense.
It’s funny, the prompt this morning was asking what I’d do with good news? Well, I already did my praying and praising God for his faithful provision. Now’s the part where I share said good news, celebrate, and have a grateful heart!
The first place I wanted to bring my joyful news was here, in this very lobby! I thought to share it with all of you… my family!
Journey With Me! 