When God Calls Your Name

Christian, when I was contemplating what verse would be your verse for the year, the word joy came to mind. While the sparkle in your eye show mischief, I think it is a cover-up for joy. Or maybe it’s the pure joy you experience when you’re up to trouble. Either way you enjoy life to the fullest and thrust it upon those around you.

So this year, my you continue to experience and bring joy (along with the mischief) to those in your life and learn that your joy comes from the Lord.

Psalm 95:1

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

Love you. Grandma

Grandma’s. Her house was small. Very small. A  true “tiny house” without all the efficient means to make it more livable.But also in a day when we didn’t have much. She raised 3 children in the house. It was in the heart of the city, off Main Street, one house away from a set of railroad tracks. Where houses were a handshake or narrow driveway apart from each other. All conversation would stop when the trains sped by.

“They lived on the other side of the tracks,” was a common phrase in literature, and school conversation.Grandma was on the “other” side. As I child I just “knew” but I didn’t understand. We were just people, like everyone else, though without as much.  The neighbors for the most part looked out for each other. So what was “wrong” with the other side. When we (my parents and siblings) moved out of the city, we no longer lived on the “other” side. But we still didn’t fit in. Why is that?

Is it really any different for me now? I’m living in a world that I currently call home but I really don’t fit in. I’m still living on the other side of the tracks, for now, for I’m destined for a home on the other side.

John 14:2-3

 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

In the meantime I’m making the most of living on the wrong side of the tracks.

Loving life and longing for what’s waiting, on the Journey, Jackie

It’s hard to believe. We almost didn’t make it. We were young (by today’s standards, not back then), we had no idea what we were doing and we didn’t have positive role models.

I heard often growing up that I would never succeed at anything so I didn’t want to fail at my marriage.

I suggested we try going to church.
So we did.
After a couple of attempts we quit.
Life threw some more curve balls.
It went from bad to worse.

We tried again.
A different church.
This time we kept going.

Things continued in a downward spiral in every area of our life. Church wasn’t the magic pill. God was. Life’s struggles brought us to our knees and that made all the difference in the world. Life’s struggles didn’t end at that point. In fact they continued to get worse, but the healing in our marriage had begun.

The odds were against us, but God was for us. It hasn’t always been easy. Marriage is hard work and it’s not a one-sided effort. It took a lot of work and God’s grace to get here, we still have to work at it, and we still have to seek God, but it is worth it. And it does get easier.

I Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Forty years.
Doesn’t seem possible.
It gets better each year.
I want 40 more.
Loving you Greg.

Celebrating marriage and God’s redeeming love on the journey, Jackie

I’ve had many dreams and desires over the  years. Many did not come to pass as I wanted. Some I am sad about, others I’m glad I didn’t get what I wanted, as I’ve come to realize it wasn’t really what I wanted. Those that I am sad about, I know deep down it was good I didn’t get what I wanted. I wouldn’t be where I am now and I like where I am. But still… there is the longing for the lost dreams.

Why is that? Is it our nature to want what we can’t have, or isn’t good for us, or the best for us? Or is it more of the maturing process?

I’m at a place where I’m again wondering. Do I really want what I think I want? There are still some dreams from long ago that I miss not having. And the longings are still there. But today I’m struggling with the dreams of today and their possibilities.

Psalm 37:4

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

In the past I’ve had to pray, “God bring into alignment your will for me and make them the desires of my heart. Help me focus on you and you alone.”

I don’t think God just gives us everything we think we want.

• Because He knows
• What’s best for us
• And we don’t really know what we are asking for
• Or what we really want
• And our focus is not where it should be

It’s easy to overlook the first part of the verse, “take delight in the Lord” If my focus is on Him, then can my desires be contradictory to His? If I turn my eyes to Him my desires take a back seat. Or are changed.

So here I am again. Praying.

“God I know what I think I want. But what is it that you want for me? Bring my desires in line with yours. Open doors, even if they are unexpected.

Give me the courage.

• To wait
• To hear “no”
• To walk in places I didn’t expect to walk
• To be open to what you have for me
• To be still

Amen.”

What about you? Do you find your desires in line with God’s? Are you in a place of waiting?

Trying not to run ahead of God. On the Journey. Jackie

Even though this photo is many years old, this is one of my favorite pictures of you.

It shows the fun and loving side to your serious, and no-nonsense personality. I can relate to the serious, no-nonsense side of you, and I envy the fun and loving side. Do you remember when this was taken? We will still new to you as “grandparents” and I’m sure getting in step with new extended family filled you with uncertainty. If it did, it didn’t show. You handled it with poise and grace.

While I’ve not had 2 plus decades of watching you grow up, I’m impressed by the hard-working Godly woman you’ve become and I’ve come to know. And now that you are in graduate school and I’m sure you are more than ready to move forward in your life and at the same time wondering what will unfold for you in the next few years.

These next years will bring so many unknowns and you will have many questions, my prayer for you is Proverbs 3:5-6 as you seek God for the answers you need.

Proverbs 3:5-6

 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Heavenly Father, please guide and direct Kynzi in the path you have set out for her. I am grateful that we can ask for the big and little things in life and Kynzi will be asking many big questions. May you fill her with your spirit, peace and wisdom as a guide to what you have planned for her. Help her to enjoy and embrace all the future holds. Amen.

Love you and so proud of you, Jackie

Happy Birthday Camden! You’re twelve! How did that happen? It seems it was barely yesterday when Grandpa and I were impatiently waiting for you to be born while camping near by. Oh, the walks your mom and I took during those long days. While the walks didn’t seem to make your entrance into the world any faster, they certainly gave your mommy and me lots of time to talk.

I was blessed to be able to be in the room when you were born and what a wonderful and marvelous experience that was. And here you are now on the brink of your teenage years on your way to becoming an adult.

As I was praying for you this week and asking God what verse to give you for this year the story of Joshua came to mind. Did you know that the phrase “Be strong and courageous” is stated 5 times in the book of Joshua? Five times! When mom tells you something 5 times you know it’s important. And the same is true with this verse.

Joshua 1:9

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. 

Dear God,

Wow, where has the time gone? That newborn that I got to hold only minutes old is now 12 and becoming a young man. You know what this next year holds for him. You know how much I wish I could live closer and be there for him. I also know that you love him far more than I can and that you will be with him wherever he may go. Lord please help him to remember that it is in you that he can be strong and courageous and face whatever challenges may come his way. Bless him in this next year. Amen

Love you Camden. Grandma

Noah Banner

Happy Birthday Noah, It’s hard to believe that you are going to be 8 in 2 days.  Last week I posted a picture of you as a baby. Where did the 8 years go? I wonder when Mom and Dad named you, they knew you’d be a lover of animals wanting to care for them as Noah in the Bible did? Is your love of animals a result of your name, or reflective of what you would be?

Do you remember when you wanted to make a sleeping bag for your snake? You were 4. I found it incredulous that a 4-year-old would like snakes.

Genesis 6:8-9

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.

Dear God, I know you love my “buddy boy” far more than I do, and that is so hard to imagine. You know that under the “all boy” toughness is a tender spirit like his daddy and his love of animals like his mommy. I pray that as you did with Noah in the Bible that you call him to great and wonderful things. Protect him from the hardness of the world’s mold. Place within Him your heart and call. Even though he is only eight, help him to walk faithfully with you. Amen.

Love you Noah. Happy Birthday. Grandma

Rejoicing in family, on the Journey, Jackie

Go to Why This Story and A New Start for the reason for these writings.