Prayers Answered

Thanks to all of you who prayed for my mother and sent me emails of encouragement. Last Friday, my mother had a heart catheter done. She had not experienced any of the typical heart attack symptoms, but her cholesterol was high. Her doctor suggested the heart cath to see if she had any blockage in her heart and to be sure she would not face the same possible heart attack like my brother did in July. We had prayed for the doctor to see whatever he needed to see last Friday and he did. The cardiologist found my mother had one vein that was 75% blocked. It seems the blocked vein was the same one as my brother had AND in the same location! The cardiologist said in his 30 years of medicine, he had never seen a mother and son have the same heart blockage. Early yesterday morning, the doctor put a stint in the vein and my mother came out of it with flying colors. She will be released from the hospital today and now she faces some of the same rehab my brother has already mastered, including losing 40 pounds.

Many of you have emailed asking for an update on my brother Doug. He is doing fabulous. He has lost 40 pounds, exercises everyday and is even farming about 8 hours a day (something the doctor told us he would never do again). Not only has God answered prayers concerning his recovery, but he is a daily witness to people in our community on the power of prayer and more importantly, someone seeking God's will in his life when given a second chance--which many of us don't get a second chance to do.

God woke me up at 4:30am Friday morning urging me to pray for my mother and God did the same thing yesterday morning (talk about missing my beauty sleep!). For some reason, God would not let me go back to sleep. I was reminded of Luke 18:1, "I always pray, I don't faint, quit or give up." Has God told you not to give up on asking for something and seeking His will? There is a reason and He promises He will make our "joy complete" when He answers (John 16:24).

Monday Prayer

Barbie is taking the day off to spend with her family. Please keep Barbie's mother, Brenda Wiggs, in your prayers. She will have a stint put in her heart early Tuesday morning at the hospital in Oxford.

Viewer Emails

I received two emails yesterday concerning my pregnancy; both had something similar to say.
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We're watching you "grow" every week and my husband doesn't think you can make it until April. Signed, Sue

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Are you sure you are going to make to April? Signed, CM
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In my hormonal, sensitive pregnancy state of mind, I read those both to say something like, "Gollllyyyyyy! You are HUGE! You look more like you're 9 months pregnant instead of 4 months!" Ok, so I'm exaggerating a bit here. But isn't it funny how someone can say something and we take it differently than it probably was intended?

I have to remind myself the words in Proverbs 16:23, "I think before I speak because the mind of the wise instructs his mouth." Controlling the mouth (and what comes out of it) isn't easy. The Bible says there is "life and death in the power of the tongue". This means we can easily break someone's spirit simply by what we say.

So today, I'm going to try and not "read" into what people say to me. More importantly, I'm going to think about what I say before I release it in my mouth!

A Splinter in the Flesh

Monday morning Will woke up complaining about his feet. It isn't always easy to understand what a 22 month old is trying to say, but I could tell something was wrong. He was walking on his tippy-toes. He kept saying, "foot hurt". After checking out his foot, I saw he had 3 splinters in the bottom of both feet. Seems he had played outside Sunday afternoon without his shoes on. Trying to be a good mother, I pulled out a needle, tweezers and peroxide to do some minor surgery. Will wouldn't have any of it. He was kicking my belly and wouldn't be still. I loaded the kids in the car and took him to my husband's workplace and handed Will over. After holding him down for what seemed like 30 minutes, my husband fished out the splinters and saved our boy from walking on his tip-toes all day!

In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about his "thorn in the flesh". Some speculate it may have been a spiritual problem or perhaps a physical ailment. Either way, those can get us down. We can become depressed and frustrated because we can't fix the problem ourself. Deuteronomy 31:8 says, "The Lord goes before me; He will march with me. He will not fail me or let me go or forsake me; I will fear not, neither become broken in spirit--depressed, dismayed and unnerved with alarm." Whatever it is that we can't fix, the Bible says God is with us through it all. God even told Paul, "my grace is sufficient for you."

Sometimes the smallest things in our life can cause the most pain. Whether it is a splinter or a thorn, God has not abandoned us and will 'march' with us---even if that means we have to walk on our tippy-toes for a while.

Clogged Drains

I traveled to Gallman Baptist Church Monday night to speak to their WMU group. While I was gone, my husband turned into Mr. Roto-Rooter. When I walked in the door, he met me with a smile. "You know, I must love you alot," he said. Wondering what he was talking about, I walked into the master bathroom and saw what he had done. It seems my vanity sink was draining alittle sluggish and he decided to investigate. He pulled out several 10 inch clumps of dark hair--all mine. Yep, it was pretty nasty to see that my own hair had been clogging up the drain. But after his cleaning job, the sink drained in a matter of seconds.

Our spiritual life has a tendency to get clogged up, too. With all of the activities we have going on, combined with daily life and responsibilities, we neglect our quiet time with God. I fall into this category at times. And unfortunately, we suffer for it. Our spiritual drain needs a cleaning. Revelation 3:15-16 says, "God knows my works and what I am doing. He would rather I were either cold or hot--not lukewarm. For the lukewarm, He will spew out of His mouth!" When we neglect our time alone with God, we are being lukewarm. We are giving attention and care to all other areas of our life, but putting God on hold. God wants us to be either 100% with Him or 100% against Him. There is no straddling the fence.

Does your spiritual drain need to be unclogged so God can flow through you? It will only happen if we are in the Word on a daily basis.

A Gentle Reminder

Going to the grocery store over the weekend was a bad move. My husband had a meeting to go to at 4pm that day and said he would keep Gracie while I took Will to the store with me. I didn't have many things to buy, but I needed to make it a quick trip so I could get back and he could leave. I don't know what it was about that day, but Will was not enjoying the ride in the buggy. Every time I put something in the buggy, he picked it up and threw it out of the buggy. After disciplining him in one of the aisles, he got my point. We proceeded to continue and ran up on two older women chatting in the middle of the aisle. They were oblivious to me behind them and probably didn't know I was in a hurry. I waited a minute or two for them to realize I was waiting behind them, and one of them moved to the side to continue their conversation. While at the check-out counter, Will was restless and I was busy trying to unload the groceries onto the conveyor belt. Not paying any attention to the bag boy, I paid and realized he had put all of my groceries in another buggy and collapsed it so there was no where for me to put Will. Now I had 2 buggies to push outside and down the hill to the parking lot. I was not too thrilled but kept my composure. Then, a friend sent me this email:

Dear God, help me remember that the jerk who cut me off in traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and spend a few precious moments with her children. Help me to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of not getting his student loans for next semester. Remind me, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the same spot every day (who really ought to get a job!) is a slave to addictions that I can only imagine in our worst nightmares. Help me to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through the store aisles and blocking my shopping progress are savoring this moment, knowing that, based on the biopsy report she got back last week, this will be the last year that they go shopping together. Heavenly Father, remind me each day that, of all the gifts you give us, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those that are close to us, but to all humanity. Let me be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and love.

Superhero In Training

Last Friday, I shared the preview of my lycra-laden Super Girl costume for the Halloween blood drive at Mississippi Blood Services. My friend Marshall Ramsey finished the special edition t-shirt he drew for the occasion. In the commercial, you'll see his talent in blank and white (the t-shirt will have his design in color). Thanks, Marshall! Here is the commercial which will start running this week:

Ok, so I admit it. I coveted Linda Carter's svelte figure on the hit 80s show "Wonder Woman" and always wanted to be her when I was a child. After squeezing into this costume, I have changed my mind.