tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84676732850126353882024-03-13T06:13:54.030-07:00Moments, Memories and My MasterDebbie Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18103349690224324432noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8467673285012635388.post-52379216312404398602012-02-22T19:38:00.001-08:002012-02-27T05:49:55.454-08:00Briars, Poison Ivy and Vines Oh My!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What it looked like before</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">I want to take some time to brag on my hard working husband.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> He has been spending the last 3 1/2 months clearing the underbrush small bushes and trees from the frontage of our 9 acres on the road leading up to the 6 acres on which our house resides. It has been such a monumental tasks that he is going to finish the last 200 feet next winter reason being the ticks, snakes and chiggers are beginning to come out.</span><span style="display: none; mso-hide: all;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;">Tom removing honeysuckle vines</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Overgrown is an understatement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pulling up briars, poison ivy, Muscadine vines, and honeysuckle vines by hand is back breaking work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has had some help from Henry, Daniel and their friend Bruno, but for the most part, my husband has accomplished this on his own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our neighbors have spoken encouraging words to him by stopping as they drive by and expressing to him how great it looks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunlight Shining Through </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">I am very proud of my husband and he definitely has not only improved the looks of the property that God has given us to take care of as His stewards, but also he has increased the value of the property and probably the entire neighborhood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="display: none; mso-hide: all;"></span></span><br />
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It is amazing that as I observed my husband over the last months working steadily clearing out all the tangling vines, sticky briars and irritating poison ivy I was reminded that God desires to do the same in our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> He has patiently and lovingly been doing this in my life for more years than I care to admit, and continues that process today. I find these verses particularlly applicable:</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">That so easily entangles us, and let us run with</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Perseverance the race marked out for us.”</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Hebrews 12:1</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">Honeysuckle vines wrapping </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;">around tree trunk</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">WOW!!! Our precious Lord has a unique race specificall marked out for each of us. I personally think it is unique based on the talents He gave us at our first firth and the gifts He gave us at our second birth. God redeems and uses our family history, life experiences, and everything else that makes us unique. Unfortunately all of this is mixed together with our sinful nature and sinful people living in a fallen world. No wonder we can get tangled up and hindered on our journey. God has called us to throw off all that hinders us from running our race. This takes time. It takes patience with ourselves for we can only work on areas that the Holy Spirity reveals. What is our part? Fix our eyes on Jesus and resist growing weary and losing heart. We need to respond appropriately to the Lord's discipline (Hebrews 12:5-7). Some areas of my life are just like those deep rooted briars that my husband had to take a pick ax after in order to get them out. Hard work! Some are just like those vines that cover the ground so thick you can't walk on or see the path on which you are supposed to run. I've also seen vines that have <strong>twisted up the trunks of trees</strong>, and the trees have grown over the vines and have become a distored picture of a tree, not at all what the Creator intended. Hello! I can relate. Fellow traveler, please don't grow weary or lose heart. Consider Jesus during your journey. He focused on the completion of the debt being paid freeing us from the penalty and power of sin because of His great love for us. This was joy for Him. What brings you true joy? I remember the movie Chariots of fire about the life of Olympic runner Eric Liddell. Eric was made to run. Eric found great joy when he ran because he felt God's pleasure. The light of the Son of God shined brightly through his life. When we clear out the underbrush, the Son of God can also shine through us. When all is said and done and we look back at the path on which we have been running, I can't help but believe that we will see God shining His glory along the path. We will see how He redeemed and used it all for His glory. Only God can do that. Isn't that our purpose? My friend, run your race. Experience joy and feel God's pleasure.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thank you my </i></span><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">favorite men</i></span></div>
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Debbie Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18103349690224324432noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8467673285012635388.post-78237200424697312192012-02-07T13:41:00.000-08:002012-02-07T14:13:01.458-08:00My first post...<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Last year a young college student told me that I should start a blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What…was basically my response, not that I didn’t know what a blog was, but I thought, “You’re crazy!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why would anyone want to read my silly ramblings?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to send out a Christmas Letter every year to all my family, friends and others with whom I just wanted to keep in contact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would get positive feedback from many of those people each year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some would say, “Debbie, you need to be a writer”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would think, “Wouldn’t that take discipline?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I was in full time ministry I used to write Bible Studies, camp materials, devotional material and journals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, many would tell me that I should write.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve thought about it for years, and have jotted down some things, but I never could come up with a single message that I could base my first book on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You see, I’ve had lots of experiences, good and not so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never could find a good starting point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well today I woke up thinking about one of my favorite “people” and felt the need to write.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">I have a precious companion of over 16 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You will never find a more loyal friend, more loving, more faithful, or more excited to see me when I have been away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well my friend is almost deaf and blind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This just breaks my heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The doctors say that she is pretty healthy otherwise of which I am very thankful because I am very attached to my friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I was waking up this morning I was thinking about my friend Mattie and the sweet memories started flowing through my mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Memories of the day I first saw her sweet bedraggled face popping up out of the box when my husband brought her home in October of the first year we were married.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, she was a mess, wiry haired, covered with fleas!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We washed her over and over with flea shampoo and hundreds of fleas were dropping on the white towel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was malnourished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pitiful!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My husband was correct in his assessment of the first time he saw her hours earlier, when he said, “Who could resist a face like that?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So our adventure with Mattie began.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We learned fairly quickly that Mattie had a phobia for thunderstorms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wondered if she had learned that earlier that year because of a terrible tornado going through the area where my husband found her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The vet told us that she was probably 6-8 months old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>I imagined that she was born around February, so we gave her the birthday of February 14, our Valentine Dog!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She must have belonged to a good family who loved her for who could resist her sweet face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then tragedy struck!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A tornado went through and destroyed her family’s home and she wandered away, and her terror of storms was born.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was forced into reality that bad, terrifying things happen, and she became a stray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For months she lived as a scavenger for food and for safety until that blessed day that she looked up at my husband’s compassionate face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I say all this, to report to you that I have noticed lately that Mattie does not seem to be afraid of storms anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the first crack of thunder is heard she no longer comes running to me seeking to hide next to me in our favorite chair with her head tucked under my arm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In her deafness lies a blessing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isn’t this a Truth in life?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can usually find blessings attached to the losses we experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As for her near blindness, I have found that she seems to follow me, her master, much closer, than she did when she was younger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh to be like Mattie…be deaf to the fears around me and run to My Master staying so close to Him that my “nose touches His leg” continually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Well, that was my morning contemplation when I woke up at 5:45 a.m. I have written it all down and that urgency to write inside has left me for now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That in itself may be the answer to the questions that have plagued me for years wondering why I couldn’t get started on that first book that everyone seemed to be urging me to write.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You see, I have looked at writing a book as a big project!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have organized and executed many big projects in my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could never get started on that silly book because I couldn’t get a handle on how to organize it, and if you know me or not, I need to have big projects organized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My need for organization was stifling my creative juices and keeping me from starting The Book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you, my dear college friend, for planting the seed in my heart by suggesting that I start a blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isn’t this like our Lord also?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Giving me encouragement and a desire to do something, yet making me wait for His timing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Never in my mind could I have ever imagined a media such as blogging over 30 years ago when the first seed of desire to write was planted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just needed to wait until it was invented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All my frustration and self criticism was not needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God knew the gift he had given me to lead and to organize, and He uses them at times, but with this blog thing, I don’t have to fulfill my need to organize before I start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can just write about the “moments” of the day that jump out at me as special or not so special, if you know what I mean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to be real here!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I think I know that in those moments, there will flood in my mind some “memories” from past experiences, and I will be reminded of “My Master” and His precious Words to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hence, the Moments, Memories and My Master Blog is born today, February 7, 2012.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I look forward to our journey together.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i></span></div>Debbie Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18103349690224324432noreply@blogger.com10