MOVE OVER, PLEASE!

so........we have sold the house we were all living in and moved to a rent house. The move was to take place last Saturday.....and wouldn't you know it, I got sick with the flu and was in bed all day Friday. No opportunity to pack all those "immediate-use" things so you will know where to find your toothbrush the next morning, etc.
Saturday dawned, and feeling better, I arose determined to "lay-low" and not over-do it. Strangers----literally----from our church appeared at the door ready to help....and did so for about 7 hours!
At one point I was feeling so poorly that I melted in tears when I could not find my 'medications' (herbs)....so Chandler just said, "Here, go buy more!" My dear friend, Suzanne, put me in the car and ushered me to the Vitamin Store and then to lunch. (what are good friends for??----praise the Lord for her!)
Late in the afternoon neighbors began to gather outside to meet us and we found out that the former tenant had THREE CATS and a dog! Well, if you know me at all you know that I am highly allergic to cats.....
I had suspicioned this a couple of days before when I would come over to the house to paint...and go home with a runny nose....but nothing could have prepared me for the evening that was ahead. By nightfall I was itching and sneezing and coughing.......and by Sunday I was worse than I had been on Friday. The cat dander had exacerbated the flu and it all returned with a vengeance! Chills, fever, coughing, aching, headache.....and now I can't breathe. I sent Chandler out for Benedril and that proved to be the worst thing ever! Now....not only am I miserable, but I'm drowsy (even though I only took the children's Benedril). "Oh," but you say, "at least you could sleep." -----but sleep was my enemy since my head was now so dried up that that every pain was magnified!
Okay. So I survived Sunday (barely). On Monday I was coughing more and still experiencing that "cat-dander-I-can't-breathe" syndrome.....so I had Chandler take me back to Vitamin Cottage to get "Bio-Allers" for cat dander allergies. Let me insert another note here: Tiffany had been called out Sunday night to do a birth (she's a Doula = birth coach).....and was gone all night and didn't arrive back home until 6:00 am Monday morning.....at which point she went to bed. Josiah left early for work. Chandler left early for work. So when I got up around 8:00, I made my way upstairs to the kitchen and found that a Tornado had ripped thru the place. Picture this: boxes from the move EVERYWHERE. paper plates, cups, pizza boxes, left-over noodle casserole, etc....and the list goes on. I could barely walk from being so weak but I decided that the least I could do was gather the trash. I GATHERED THREE BAGS OF TRASH!!!---just out of the kitchen alone! I scooted boxes to the side and literally made a path where we could walk! We couldn't find the coffee pot, the blender (for my morning protein shake).....still can't find any dish detergent. Josiah's mom came later in the morning and took the boys home with her to give us some relief. I thought I would sleep most of the day but began to sift through some boxes looking for 'treasures'---like coffee pots and blenders1 (I finally found them too!!) When Chandler came home he suddenly needed his office set up so he could do his reports for work.....so we accomplished carving out a small spot in our 'basement apartment' for him. By the time we made that trip to Vitamin Cottage around 6:00 I was so weak I didn't know if I were going to be able to make it through the store! (he said he could carry me---he had carried furniture and boxes that weighed more than me over the weekend!)

It's 4:23 A.M. - Tuesday.
I awoke at 2:00 A.M.-----all stopped-up again. Can't sleep. Can't breathe.....and wondering what today will hold. A new adventure, I'm sure.

Malachi 3:3 says:
'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out theprocess of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'

He smiled at her and answered,'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

...from out family to yours~

Laz - 6 weeks old

Hannah - 11 months old!
(she looks like a teenager!!)

are you in "mid-air" yet?

BROKENNESS.....we don't hear much preaching from the pulpits across our nation about that. "What does that mean?", you may ask......well, let me borrow a definition from a friend's email:

"...learning to live with Christ as life only comes through brokenness. Brokenness is not only an event but a process. It’s an event when we realize that certain events or circumstances is God’s doing to bring us to the end of ourselves. It’s a process when we realize that every disappointment, discouragement, failure, depression is from God. We must get so frustrated with performance based Christianity that we become desperate for only HIM. The real question God is asking us is this: Is Christ and His life in you enough?

Many never get there because they think the secret “is doing more for God”. It never dawns on us that “being firmly planted in mid-air” is the best place we could possibly be. Not until we get out of control can Christ get in control.

When you have knowledge of Christ as life – even though it may not be a full understanding – and you pray a prayer of “Lord I want you to be my life” then that starts a process of brokenness in your life. The more you understand about knowing Christ the more God responds with little brokennesses in our life. God want the life of Christ in us to be manifested throughout every area of our life. Picture a pie sliced into 8 slices. That is a picture of our life. There may be eight areas of our life that is inconsistent with who we are in Christ. So the Lord in his mercy and love sends brokenness in that area of our life until we surrender, let go or confess our inability to handle that area on our own. When brokenness has yielded its fruit in that area then He moves to the next slice and sends a little brokenness. He continues till every slice of inconsistency is abandoned to Him. That’s the reason I said that brokenness is an event and then a process. The brokenness event is usually a dramatic struggle and the brokenness process are little struggles that you surrender.

You see, brokenness is the vehicle that God uses to bring us to the real goal which is abandonment. His ultimate goal for us is total abandonment. Brokenness is not an “Oh no not again” event but rather a “OK Lord show me where I am not surrendered” .

Madam Guyon writes about brokenness and abandonment:

Become abandoned by simply resigning yourself to what the Lord wants, in all things, no matter what they are, where they come from, or how they affect your life. Remember you must never blame man for anything. No matter what happens, it was neither man nor circumstances that brought it. You must accept everything (except of course your own sinfulness) as having come from the Lord. Surrender not only what the Lord does to you, but surrender your reaction to what he does.”

An illustration I heard long ago went something like this:

Picture yourself as an ancient piece of pottery....a vase, if you will. God puts the light (a candle) of Jesus inside but as a lamp, it is very dim. It's not until the vase is broken that the light begins to shine for the world to see.

Are you in mid-air yet?

Thanks to those of your who have sent sweet notes in response to the below prayer requests! One dear friend wrote about the difficulties of life "at our age"-----which for some reason we didn't expect! My sweet sister-in-law always says, "This isn't the cruise I signed up for!!"....but Joyce put it this way and I couldn't have said it better myself!!!

Didn’t you think by now, we would just sit around piously, in our own paid-for homes helping those struggling younger Christians? Or that we would be mentors to them? Or, …. that we would be so “established” in a ministry that we could just sprinkle our ‘fairy dust’ over it, and miracles would happen?

I personally think those type of 'feelings' are the result of the "health and wealth" preaching that permeates our society....even if we don't go to churches that preach that!!! It's everywhere! Just do this or just have enough faith or just b-e-l-i-e-v-e .....or maybe worse, "this is happening to you because you were negative or you didn't have enough faith or you don't 'believe' strongly enough." Where are the preachers who are preaching what Jesus said in scripture: you will be hated, you will be persecuted, you will have trials, you will have tribulation??...but don't be surprised! don't faint! don't despair!....He is faithful and will carry us through! (or meet us on the other side!!!)

A great many people do not pray because they do not feel any sense of need. THE SIGN THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS IN US IS THAT WE REALIZE THAT WE ARE EMPTY, NOT THAT WE ARE FULL. We have a sense of absolute need. We come across people who try us, circumstances that are difficult, conditions that are perplexing, and all these things awaken a dumb sense of need, which is a sign that the Holy spirit is there. If we are ever free from the sense of need, it is not because the Holy Spirit has satisfied us, but because we have been satisfied with as much as we have. "A man's reach should exceed his grasp." A sense of need is one of the greatest benedictions because it keeps our life rightly related to Jesus Christ.---Oswald Chambers

In the infancy of this new year, we are experiencing stresses on many fronts that has awakened in us a greater need for prayer. Chandler's job has become almost non-existant....and we are NOT prepared to retire yet! I am working at the Castle part-time...which provides some support but doesn't pay the bills! Tiffany & Josiah have just recently sold the house we are all living in....therefore we will soon be sending out our new mailing address (which is still in the Highlands Ranch area of Denver). The house we found to rent is a 4 bedroom over a full, finished basement. They will be in the top half and we will occupy the basement. I hope you are not picturing an "efficiency" type apartment in this basement because it's far from that! There is a bedroom "area" (no doors), bath with shower, and storage...fully carpeted. That's what is called a "finished" basement here! We will begin moving around the 15th of this month.

If you wish to join us in prayer, here are some of our needs:
> work for Chandler (new job? more work in his present inspection job?)
> the sale of a couple of properties here: our lot, the Larkspur house (spec house), the Talons Reach lot.
> my mother's health (she has Leukemia and has recently been diagnosed with Lymphoma)
>>> wisdom in all these areas.

The Lord has been abundantly gracious and faithful to us and we are assured of His hand in all these areas of trial. We are also reminded of the admonitions in James that we should not be at all surprised "at the firey trials" which we experience.

We would love to hear from you.....your verses of encouragement, prayer requests for your families, etc. May the Lord greatly bless you~