It's Raining Tulips!
A bouquet of pink has been delivered to my heart.
My heart is full....it's time to pour out.
Monday, October 6, 2014 God crushed my spirit. That same day He slowly started putting me back together. All I could do day and night was cry out to Him. He used so many ways to help me on my journey. As I write these words, tears stream down my face of the greatness and faithfulness of God towards me. These tears remind me of the "HEALING RAIN" 'that has come to this town' as the lyrics go, but that first came to this heart. I have another post about all that and how it transpired, but I feel God prompting me to write about what He's shown me this week through my daughter's heart.
It's been four years and four months of living without Clark David. We are still in the beginnings of this new year of 2019. I mention the new year because God put on my heart years ago to send New Year cards instead of Christmas cards. The theme originated from Revelation 21:5 in the Bible that talks about God making everything new. So, it's in this, I'm seeing the theme of my life spring forth before my eyes. This broken road has prepared His will for me. I continue to WALK BY FAITH even when I cannot see."
I had the privilege of spending the day with my daughter, Tess, this week. She's been the
Monday, February 11 was a full day. After Tess and I enjoyed our day together, I dropped her off at the high school with the track team to run. I went to visit a friend battling cancer. While I was there I noticed some pretty, pink tulips in a vase of water. The flowers reminded me of some pink tulips that were delivered by my mom and my sister February 22, 2000, the day my second son, Tucker was born. On discharge day, Clark David was riding with my mother-in-law home, and she needed him to hold the tulips because there was nowhere for them to safely ride without falling over. He did not want to hold them! He wasn't happy at all about it, but he had to hold them. When they got home a relative was there and a comment was made about the flowers and Clark David said, "I had to hold those dern tulips." :) To this day that's what we think of and laugh about. Unbeknownst to me, my mother-in-law was coming to visit the same friend that day. I mentioned the flowers and asked her what that reminded her of? So, she shared the story as we reminisced. As I left to head to my vehicle, my mother-in-law was already outside and handed me an early Valentine gift, none other than a bouquet of silk tulips. Pink. My favorite color and favorite flower.
A bouquet of pink has been delivered to my heart.
My heart is full....it's time to pour out.
Monday, October 6, 2014 God crushed my spirit. That same day He slowly started putting me back together. All I could do day and night was cry out to Him. He used so many ways to help me on my journey. As I write these words, tears stream down my face of the greatness and faithfulness of God towards me. These tears remind me of the "HEALING RAIN" 'that has come to this town' as the lyrics go, but that first came to this heart. I have another post about all that and how it transpired, but I feel God prompting me to write about what He's shown me this week through my daughter's heart.
It's been four years and four months of living without Clark David. We are still in the beginnings of this new year of 2019. I mention the new year because God put on my heart years ago to send New Year cards instead of Christmas cards. The theme originated from Revelation 21:5 in the Bible that talks about God making everything new. So, it's in this, I'm seeing the theme of my life spring forth before my eyes. This broken road has prepared His will for me. I continue to WALK BY FAITH even when I cannot see."
I had the privilege of spending the day with my daughter, Tess, this week. She's been the
courageous one of the "bunch" living in the aftermath of the death of her brother. We all live in some kind of brokenness and experience many losses and heartaches, but are we profiting from those losses? Are we seeking the right thing to help us on our journey in life? It's hard for any of us to process all the hurt and pain that God allows to come into our lives. But oh, how grateful I am when I CRY OUT TO JESUS He comes to my rescue. He sends just the right people at just the right time to help me on my way, when I'm seeking Him. He knows just when to withhold or deliver; His timing is always perfect. He hears all my cries and answered one of my prayers by leading me to a therapist to help Tess process what God allowed into her life at the age of 11. Tess was a little hesitant to go at first. Actually, she shook her head "no" to the initial question. But when God's timing was right and Tess was willing to surrender, trust, and step out in faith, I knew this was the door, at this time, to walk through. Trust and obedience led us together to a place of blessing and more healing.
Monday, February 11 was a full day. After Tess and I enjoyed our day together, I dropped her off at the high school with the track team to run. I went to visit a friend battling cancer. While I was there I noticed some pretty, pink tulips in a vase of water. The flowers reminded me of some pink tulips that were delivered by my mom and my sister February 22, 2000, the day my second son, Tucker was born. On discharge day, Clark David was riding with my mother-in-law home, and she needed him to hold the tulips because there was nowhere for them to safely ride without falling over. He did not want to hold them! He wasn't happy at all about it, but he had to hold them. When they got home a relative was there and a comment was made about the flowers and Clark David said, "I had to hold those dern tulips." :) To this day that's what we think of and laugh about. Unbeknownst to me, my mother-in-law was coming to visit the same friend that day. I mentioned the flowers and asked her what that reminded her of? So, she shared the story as we reminisced. As I left to head to my vehicle, my mother-in-law was already outside and handed me an early Valentine gift, none other than a bouquet of silk tulips. Pink. My favorite color and favorite flower.
Because tulips were on my mind, when I got home, I thought of mine and Melonie's trip to Arab for my birthday lunch back in November. We stopped at a shop in Arab and I bought a little, silver vase and some silk tulips; three white ones and three pink tulips. I thought, I need to go get those out of the closet, which were still in the bag they came in, and find a place to put them because things are starting to bloom here in Alabama. Later that evening, I received a text from another friend, Pam, (who knew nothing about any of this). She texted me a picture of, yep, pink tulips. I thought well my goodness, it's the day for tulips! How did she know? I thought, God, You are just amazing how You orchestrate life and weave it all together (nothing is wasted with You). She said, "I was getting these for my neighbor whose relative passed away and I knew you liked pink too, aren't these pretty?" She had no idea they are my favorite flowers. Then, it resonated with me! What happened with my time with Tess is what I call a "Steel Magnolia moment." If you've never seen the movie and/or aren't sentimental, you wouldn't understand. But every time I watch it, in a certain scene, I cry and laugh at the same time. Tess and I experienced that Monday. She shared some things with me that took place in her session and she gave me the privilege of letting me read two letters she wrote. I started crying, she started crying and then, we both just started laughing; just laughing and laughing.
As these things started to unfold and what I saw in the tulips was absolutely amazing to me. God started revealing to me healing and redemption in our pain. He was watering the garden of my heart and allowing me to pick a beautiful bouquet of flowers (blessings) that day that just so happened to be my favorite flower, pink tulips. We have received many blessings and healing that has strengthened our relationship and it's only the fourth visit! Thank you, Tess, for sharing your heart with me. It's a beautiful heart, being filled with Jesus. JESUS IS THE ANSWER for everything. Turning to Him turns us away from ourselves and then He can mold us into who we are supposed to be. Thank You, Lord, YOU REDEEM (You restore what's been stolen from me).
Thanks to my sister-in-law and God's grace, I know God was answering her prayers as well as mine that day. Tears flood my eyes again because of God's amazing, amazing grace. Sorrow can be intermingled with joy and it is so sweet. It feels good to see life coming from death. Slowly, as we take baby steps through this journey, He opens our eyes to see more of Him and His ways. I praise the Lord and thank Him for His goodness and love to me. I'm so undeserving to receive it. But because God is filled with love for His children, He sends down rain, the storms of life, and then in time He sends blessings in those rain clouds. He waits for us to pick each one.
As these things started to unfold and what I saw in the tulips was absolutely amazing to me. God started revealing to me healing and redemption in our pain. He was watering the garden of my heart and allowing me to pick a beautiful bouquet of flowers (blessings) that day that just so happened to be my favorite flower, pink tulips. We have received many blessings and healing that has strengthened our relationship and it's only the fourth visit! Thank you, Tess, for sharing your heart with me. It's a beautiful heart, being filled with Jesus. JESUS IS THE ANSWER for everything. Turning to Him turns us away from ourselves and then He can mold us into who we are supposed to be. Thank You, Lord, YOU REDEEM (You restore what's been stolen from me).
Thanks to my sister-in-law and God's grace, I know God was answering her prayers as well as mine that day. Tears flood my eyes again because of God's amazing, amazing grace. Sorrow can be intermingled with joy and it is so sweet. It feels good to see life coming from death. Slowly, as we take baby steps through this journey, He opens our eyes to see more of Him and His ways. I praise the Lord and thank Him for His goodness and love to me. I'm so undeserving to receive it. But because God is filled with love for His children, He sends down rain, the storms of life, and then in time He sends blessings in those rain clouds. He waits for us to pick each one.
As I started to write this post and ask the Lord for His guidance, what He revealed to me touched my heart. It has been four years and four months since my storm came. God chose this special day to deliver me four different bouquets of pink tulips in different ways. A memory bouquet, a hand-delivered bouquet, a belated birthday bouquet from me to me, and a digital bouquet. It started with just a memory, but not just any memory. A memory of Clark David, whom God started using in my life to change me and my relationship with my heavenly Father. God used that memory many years ago to bring to my mind how He is working all things together for my good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. He is conforming me to Jesus' image by revealing my sinful nature that needs to be filled with more of Him in order to love like Him. (Romans 8:28-29). To my heart, it's like God delivered pink tulips from Heaven to me by way of Clark David to show me that God uses EVERYTHING. Every little, tiny detail. We just have to look for Him and we will see and hear Him speak to us. God uses each person He brings into our life to potentially change us. I see more clearly why my children are gifts from the Lord. He uses them to change me. And all that started with the husband God hand-picked for me. All because of His great love!
Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him (Psalm 127:3 NLT).
Our family has experienced (still experiencing) the devastating ripple effects of what sin can do in a heart unchecked. But because of God's mercy and lovingkindness, He has picked me back up and I'm starting to see beauty rise up from the ashes. He continues to show me many things, but the events leading up to Monday has shown me that He hand-picked my husband and each of my children (everyone in my life) to change me and make me into the person He designed me to be. Tess no doubt has her own story to tell. She is an excellent writer and may write a book one day who knows, but I wanted to tell her and whomever reads this how God can take an obedient heart and write a different, BEAUTIFUL story. As we aim to please Him with our lives and do life together, that will have a lasting impact on others, and we will be blessed and in turn bless others in the process.
Dear friend, you are completely mistaken. God is not raining rain on you--He is raining blessings. If you will only believe your Father's Word, you will realize that springing up beneath the pounding rain are spiritual flowers. And they are more beautiful and fragrant than those that ever grew before in your stormless and suffering-free life.
Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him (Psalm 127:3 NLT).
Our family has experienced (still experiencing) the devastating ripple effects of what sin can do in a heart unchecked. But because of God's mercy and lovingkindness, He has picked me back up and I'm starting to see beauty rise up from the ashes. He continues to show me many things, but the events leading up to Monday has shown me that He hand-picked my husband and each of my children (everyone in my life) to change me and make me into the person He designed me to be. Tess no doubt has her own story to tell. She is an excellent writer and may write a book one day who knows, but I wanted to tell her and whomever reads this how God can take an obedient heart and write a different, BEAUTIFUL story. As we aim to please Him with our lives and do life together, that will have a lasting impact on others, and we will be blessed and in turn bless others in the process.
He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us (2 Corinthians 1:4).
Suffering and the sweet flowers of faith...
God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering (Genesis 41:52).
A poet stands by the window watching a summer shower. It is a fierce downpour, beating and pounding the Earth. But the poet, in his mind's eye, sees more than a rain shower falling. He sees a myriad of lovely flowers raining down, soon breaking forth from the freshly watered Earth and filling it with their matchless beauty and fragrance. And so he sings:
It isn't raining rain to me--it's raining daffodils; In every dripping drop I see wildflowers upon the hills. A cloud of gray engulfs the day, and overwhelms the town; It isn't raining rain to me--it's raining roses down.Perhaps you are undergoing some trial as God's child, and you are saying to Him, "O God, it is raining very hard on me tonight, and this test seems beyond my power to endure. Disappointments are pouring in, washing away and utterly defeating my chosen plans. My trembling heart is grieved and is cowering at the intensity of my suffering. Surely the rains of affliction are beating down upon my soul."
Dear friend, you are completely mistaken. God is not raining rain on you--He is raining blessings. If you will only believe your Father's Word, you will realize that springing up beneath the pounding rain are spiritual flowers. And they are more beautiful and fragrant than those that ever grew before in your stormless and suffering-free life.
You can see the rain, but can you also see the flowers? You are suffering through these tests but know that God sees sweet flowers of faith springing up in your life and beneath these very trials. You try to escape the pain, yet God sees tender compassion for other sufferers finding birth in your soul. Your heart winces at the pain of heavy grief, but God sees the sorrow deepening and enriching your life.
No, my friend, it is not raining afflictions on you. It is raining tenderness, love, compassion, patience, and a thousand other flowers and fruits of the blessed Holy Spirit. And they are bringing to your life spiritual enrichment that all the prosperity and ease of this world could never produce in your innermost being.
J. M. M., Streams in the Desert
God will send all kinds of blessings. And all His blessings go together like links in a golden chain. If He gives you saving grace, He will also give you comforting grace. God will send "showers of blessings." Look up today, you who are dried and withered plants. Open your leaves and flowers and receive God's heavenly watering.
--Charles H. Spurgeon
As I drive by this church almost daily, God used this sign this week to affirm to me what He put in my heart over four years ago and is still using to teach me. I should not be comfortable where I am. I should be a life-long learner, growing, and changing and not repeating old mistakes (sanctified by Him). He sees each heart and each one answers to Him. He knows my heart and my heart's motives. I will fail many times. We all will because our hearts are deceitful above all things and beyond cure (Jeremiah 17:9). As my very first post stated in the title, each day we're given "a second chance." Just as each year is a new beginning, each day is filled with new mercies (Lamentations 3:22-23). Each day God gives me is an opportunity to make a difference for the better.
When God gives you a new beginning, do not repeat old mistakes.
It's THE GOSPEL that makes a way!
He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then He said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." Revelation 21:5
God still stirs my affections towards Him with music. The capitalized words are links to messages through song that continue to comfort me.
Thank You, Lord that MY LIFE IS IN YOUR HANDS.
Lord, God, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come and Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Thank You that You are the I Am and You hold everything together. In Your perfect time and Your perfect way, You will make everything right. Thank You for Your love, grace and mercy. Forgive us Lord, for thinking we know better than You and help us Lord to trust and obey You, all for Your glory. We love you and thank You on this Valentine's Day (and everyday) for sending Your Son to die on the cross for our sins. Thank you that while we were still sinners You died for us and made a way for us to be with You forever in Your Kingdom. We love because You first loved us (1 John 4:19). EVERY PRAISE belongs to You.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
If you are battling with depression, addiction, or suicidal thoughts, please know YOU ARE NOT ALONE! You are not weak for admitting your need for help! You are not a burden to anyone! Don't believe the lies in your head! YOU ARE LOVED, but more importantly, you are loved by God, your Maker. Help IS available. Choose to talk to someone, share your feelings and get help!
