good stuff!

... today was filled with "good stuff".  By "good stuff", I'm meaning that GOD put SO MANY good thoughts in front of me that there are really TOO MANY to write about in one sitting - really they were THAT good!!

It started with "Jesus Calling" . . . "I am your Strength and Shield.  I plan out each day and have it ready for you, long before you arise from bed.  I also provide the strength you need each step of the way . . . I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go."  I PLAN OUT EACH DAY AND HAVE IT READY FOR YOU . . . long before you arise from bed!  That is amazing and comforting.  I have NOTHING to fear in the future because, as I've said before - HE is already there!  Of course, "where" He has gone before may not be where I'd CHOOSE to go, but if I'm following HIM, I will trust HIS choosing!

When the girls were little and I was an "at home mom", I faithfully attended "MOM's" group which was led by my Aunt Peggy.  There I forged friendships with moms who are still my friends today (I met my "sister" Donna there - when our "babies" were less than two months old!)!  She often talked of the "masks" we as women wear . . . there are many for many reasons . . . one I could always relate to was the "Sunday Morning Mask".  That mask you put on as you walk into church, so you look like that "nice little Christian family" as you enter the church doors.  Never mind that Sunday mornings at home were usually filled with tension (at least at our house!).  You have 5 days in a week to "perfect" your morning routine, but only 1 day a week to work on the Sunday morning routine . . . and usually (especially when the girls were little), that wasn't a good or "perfected" routine!  Anyway, a blog post I read today contained in part:  "...when suffering hits, when pain strikes, when tragedy comes, who you really are - what makes you YOU - the stuff about you that is down deep inevitably comes out . . . whatever masks you have been wearing go away . . . there you are standing showing the world what you are really made of."  This comment didn't speak to me because of what I'm made of, but because in this suffering, pain and tragedy, what WAS DEEP DOWN inevitably has come out.  I have realized how DEEPLY I love the LORD.  I have realized how much I TRUST Him, even in the darkest of days.  I have realized that what I have professed with my mouth, I DO believe in my heart.  And TO GOD BE THE GLORY for that!  I am glad that in that moment in the hospital on November 5, I CHOSE to continue to TRUST - even when it MADE NO SENSE!

I got another great devotional today and a friend had an awesome Facebook post, but those, I'll save for another night - my bed is calling my name tonight!

:The Lord is my strength and my shield;  my heart trusts in Him and I am helped.  My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song." (even if I CAN'T sing!)  Psalm 28:7