The Road of Life

My mom gave me this after I had my first miscarriage. I was thinking about my first child, today was the due date that I was given. I wanted to pass this along in hopes that it will be something you can look at and smile and cry and nod to like I did. There are times when I go back to it, since this ride seems so long. I do know however that it will seem short compared to eternity, and that is where we should put our hope.

The Road of Life

At first, I saw God as my observer, my judge, keeping track of the things I did wrong, so as to know whether I merited heaven or hell when I die. He was out there sort of like a president. I recognized His picture when I saw it, but I didn't really know Him.

But later on when I met Christ, it seems as though life were rather like a bike ride, but it was a tandem bike, and I noticed that Christ was in the back helping me pedal.

I don't know just when it was that He suggested we change places, but life has not been the same since.

When I had control, I knew the way, it was rather boring, but predictable.....it was the shortest distance between two points.

But when He took the lead, He knew delightful long cuts, up mountains, and through rocky places at breakneck speeds, it was all I could do to hang on! Even though it looked like madness, He said, "Pedal!"

I worried and was anxious and asked, "Where are you taking me?" He laughed and didn't answer and I started to learn to trust.

I forgot my boring life and entered into the adventure. And when I'd say, "I'm scared," He'd lean back and touch my hand.

He took me to people with gifts that I needed, gifts of healing, acceptance and joy. They gave me gifts to take on my journey, my Lord's and mine, And we were off again, He said, "Give the gifts away; they're extra baggage, too much weight." So I did, to the people we met, and I found that in giving I received, and still our burden was light.

I did not trust Him, at first, in control of my life. I thought He'd wreck it; but He knows bike secrets, knows ow to make it bend to take sharp corners, knows how to jump to clear high rocks, know how to fly to shorten scary passages.

And I am learning to shut up and pedal in the strangest places, and I'm beginning to enjoy the view and the cool breeze on my face with my delightful constant companion, Jesus Christ.

And when I'm sure I just can't do anymore, He just smiles and says......."Pedal."

Author unknown

With this little story my mom gave me a little figure of a bike. I set it up on an end table as a memory. One night my sister and brother in-law came over with their kids. One of their kids picked it up and broke it. I was very sad but tried not to make it a big deal at the time, not wanting the parents to feel terrible. When they left Scott said, "You are really upset about that aren't you?" I told him I was. To my surprise, about a week later the tiny pieces of the figure were all hot glued back together. After Scott fixed it he set it up high where it couldn't be touched.

Grace for the Moment

I realize now, more than ever how important it is to spend time with the Lord everyday. It is so easy to get side tracked in my thinking, in my purpose, in my worries. I need the direction to look toward Christ and to trust Him. When you are in a difficult situation in life, there are so many people that have, what they think, great advise. Some of it is good and some of it is so off the wall, at times I can't believe my ears. I do have to admit there are times when I think I don't have time in my day for a devotion, but I know I need to make it. At times when I feel like I don't have time, (which is really no excuse for me, since I work for the school district and have my entire summer off.) I always read from my Grace for the Moment devotional. It is a devotional written by Max Lucado. This was my devotion from the other day and I wanted to share it with you. I hope this is just a snip-it of your time with the Lord today:)

The Cure for Disappointment

I am the Lord, the God of every person on earth. Nothing is impossible for me.
Jeremiah 32:27

We need to hear that God is still in control. We need to hear that it's not over until he says so. We need to hear that life's mishaps and tragedies are not a reason to bail out. They are simply a reason to sit tight.
Corrie ten Boom used to say, "When the train goes through a tunnel and the world gets dark, do you jump out? Of course not. You sit still and trust the engineer to get you through."...
The way to deal with discouragement? The cure for disappointment? Go back and read the story of God. Read it again and again. Be reminded that you aren't the first person to weep. And you aren't the first person to be helped.
Read the story and remember, {the} story is yours!

He Still Moves Stones

I hope this devotion encourages you how it has encouraged me:)

I'm still trying to figure out how to get a playlist on this blog. I guess you could say I am not a very computer savy person, but I'm trying. Anyway, my favorite cd right now is While I'm Waiting by John Waller. While I'm waiting is one very good song, but the entire cd is awesome and relates so much to my life right now to my life right now.

Learning through Job

About two weeks ago I started reading the book of Job. I couldn't believe how relevant it was to my life right now. I was excited to read and learn more. If you are going through struggle right now, I highly recommend reading the book of Job. Job had a perfect life. First of all he was a christian and was obedient. He was also blessed with a big herd and a large family. Job never had any major struggles until the devil wanted to challenge God. The devil thought that Job was only strong in his faith because he never had any struggles. So, Job's children die and Job gets a terrible skin disease. After friends try to counsel him with wrong counsel and Job calling out to God, God speaks to Job. Eventually Job becomes healthy, has more children and gets a herd back double the size of what he had before. This is just a quick summary of the book of Job. After reading for a couple days, I started reading something else and set Job aside for a bit.
Today was an unexpectedly difficult day for me. It was my last day of work before the summer. Normally this day is so exciting and it was, until the very end of the day. I realized that if I would still be pregnant from the first time I would be due in a couple weeks. If I would still be pregnant the second time I would be thinking just the summer is left. I realized what this day would have been if I would have been pregnant. I also started thinking about the school year and everything that happened from September until now. So, I ended up crying at work, (which I hate to do.) Luckily I was with some of my friends that understood. I didn't go to the end of the year staff party instead I came home to finish the book of Job. That is exactly what I needed. I was at the part in Job were God speaks. I felt as if he was speaking to me. Here is one thing I learned while reading.

How Suffering Affects Us

Suffering is helpful when:

We turn to God for understanding, endurance, and deliverance

We ask important questions we might not take time to think about in our normal routine

We are prepared by it to identify with and comfort others who suffer

We are open to being helped by others who are obeying God

We are ready to learn from a trustworthy God

We realize we can identify with what Christ suffered on the cross for us

We are sensitized to the amount of suffering in the world

It felt really good to know that I have been doing these things. I know that this suffering has forced my relationship with Christ to grow so much deeper than it had been.

Suffering is harmful when:

We become hardened and reject God

We refuse to ask any questions and miss any lessons that might be good for us

We allow it to make us self-centered and selfish

We withdraw from the help others can give

We reject the fact that God can bring good out of calamity

We accuse God of being unjust perhaps lead other to reject Him

We refuse to be open to any changes in our lives

*That was all in my Bible. I have a New International Version, Life Application Study Bible and I love it.

Lord,
Thank you for speaking to me through Job. I pray that I will just allow you to work and praise you while I am patiently waiting for what you have for me. You are the one that made the stars in the sky and the one that makes it rain. You are the creator of many wonders. I pray to you not because I know you will do what I want but because I know you can. I also know that your plan is way greater than I could even imagine.
I love you,
Ellen

You one know, another thing I am facing right now is trying to get pregnant again. For some people they are able to say we are going to try again and they know they will get pregnant right away. That is not the case for Scott and I, we tried for over a year before we got pregnant the first time, (during that time I thought that was going to be our biggest struggle.) I need to give this worry to God. Please pray that Scott and I are able to be patient and not get frustrated during this time.