Home

Home. Hopefully it's a safe haven from the world for you. The place you cannot wait to get to at the end of the day.

This summer we had fun going to Charleston with our friends Larry and Tracy. It was sweet, beach by day (every day), pool in the afternoon and some of the best food ever in the evenings. I had my very first blueberry pie and never would have guessed I would love it so much. The best part was getting to spend time with our friends. As much fun as the trip was, it was good to be back home.

Most recently I have traveled back and forth to Raleigh for the birth of my granddaughter Charlotte Ruth, for her heart surgery when she was three days old. The next trip we went so Ray could see Jenn, Tim, Sam and Charlotte. The final trip was to help out when Charlotte was released from the hospital in record time. As much as I loved being with Jenn and her family during this very sweet and sacred time, when I walked into my bedroom on Saturday, it was good to be home.

When we've been away for fun or for difficult and unsure times, coming home usually represents a time back to what we know as normal. Back to a normal work week or routine. Back home because circumstances are well enough for life to resume the normal pace.

When I woke up Sunday morning it was as though I heard "welcome home" in my head. I thought it was funny because I had thought about being glad to be home, but this was welcome home.

I got dressed and headed off to church. As I looked at the bulletin I realized that we were observing The Lord's Supper. I remembered that was what we did our first Sunday at SCC back in January. At the beginning of the service we watched a video about The Lord's Supper and they spoke of being at home.
http://www.sermonspice.com/videos/840/suppertime--short-version-
When I heard the word "home" it literally took my breath. I asked of the Lord... is this my home? It doesn't feel like home, but then, I guess when Abraham followed God and pitched his tent it didn't either. I wondered if we would have to take that step of faith and cross on over before it will feel like home.

Father I trust you because you are a faithful God. You have walked me up many a mountain from the deep valleys below. On those days when it didn't seem like there was any reason to carry on... bless your heart... you carried me and on we went. We have cried, we have laughed and we have danced, oh, we have danced. I thank you for dancing feet, feet that long to be at home, wherever that is.
I love you :)

Insufficient Evidence...

or so it seems.



This morning when I came to my computer to open my daily Harvest devotion I was a little confused when no daily scripture popped up. That's normal for Saturday, but not any other day of the week. In the place of the scripture was a tribute to Greg Laurie's son who was killed yesterday in a car accident.

Not so very long ago we heard of the tragic death of Maria Sue Chapman, daughter of Steven Curtis Chapman.

Just last Friday I was remembering my were abouts a year-ago to the day. Several of us had traveled from Wellford to Charleston to be with our dear friend Susan, Steve and their boys. Many of us had believed with all the faith we had that God was going to do this great healing miracle in Steve Dyar. Even after Steve had passed on over into glory, we were believing he would open those eyes again. After all, who better that Steve Dyar, right?

When all these tragedies are occurring to the most faithful of the faithful... where is God?

Is there sufficient evidence of His presence?

Many would say no. That the evidence of God's presence was insufficient, and thus turn away in anger, depression and for some maybe even hatred.

One of the scriptures that I have come to love is

I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the
LORD in the
land of the living.
Psalm 27:13

I understood what that meant a little better after Steve changed his residence. It seems as God is telling us that the goodness would be for us to get it "our way". But the true goodness comes in when we allow God's graces and truths to penetrate the marrow of our being in those most difficult times.

I knew that there was sufficient evidence as we came to realize that Steve's earthly life had ceased. When Susan Dyar said with a strong confidence to all of us in that room that day, especially to her sons, that we do not grieve as those with no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Then she ever so soundly said "hand me my Bible". I cannot tell you the verses she read. I do know it was one of those incomparable moments that I will forever hold dear in my heart. That room was pretty crowded with friends and family. I don't think one of us would say "where was God?". It was more than evident that He was there.

I imagine it was the same for the Chapman family and is also true of the Laurie family.

It is my prayer for you that no matter what has happened to you that you will allow the presence of God to invade your heart and bring you wholeness and healing. Your enemy has lied and is lying to you now. He is saying that it's not possible in your case.

He is kind of like an attorney who knows his client is guilty of all the crimes he is charged with. He is the one saying that there is insufficient evidence of God's presence in your hard times, knowing all the time that God was there.

Dive into God's Word; listen to those who have experienced His presence in times of trouble. Seek God with your whole heart and do not hold back. Be crazy in love with the one who knows you better than you know yourself.

One of the best parts of my life whether in good times or bad is my prayer group. We started out calling ourselves "The Women at the Well" because we were so desperate to see God move. We have changed faces and places as the years have come and gone. We saw our beloved sister Denise pass over into glory. We have grown from one prayer group to many. The thing we have carried with us is our belief in God's ability to be who He says He is and that H can and will do what He has said He will do. It doesn't always look like we think it will. But His Glory takes our breath each and every day.

We hope to always be found guilty of believing Him to be our everything.

Who knows... you may end wearing crazy homemade jewelry out in public just like us!

Stop and smell the roses

Today we are taking a field trip away from the normal blog entry. Pretty much every post prior to today's has had a Wellspring theme or connection. Maybe before this one is complete God will have tied it together too.

But for today, I'd like to invite you into my recent trip to the "Rose Garden". Not that it was a formal garden of any kind, and there weren't really any roses, but just glorious displays from God's hand over the past week of our lives.

Most of you probably know that my daughter Jenn was pregnant with our little Charlotte Ruth. Dr.'s had seen some problems with Charlotte's heart months ago. So we were all prepared for a heart surgery after her birth. Jenn was scheduled to be induced on 7-13-08, But GOD had a different plan. Instead He sent her a week early on 7-7-08. We were thrilled that He had a say so and had relieved the Dr's of that little duty.

All the days ordained for me were written in
your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16

Then they told Jenn the maternity floor had no spaces and she would have to move to the 7700 hallway. 7730 to be exact. Hmmmm... sevens and threes.

Charlotte made her debut looking all pink and beautiful, that was great because Dr's had warned there was a chance that she might be blue. But there was none of that for her.

Then came the day before her surgery - Jenn told me that Charlotte had a surprise for me. I couldn't figure out what kind of surprise it could be. Then when I walked into her little p-icu room I saw it for myself... a beautiful LIME GREEN ribbon in her hair. Many have accused me of pulling that one off, but i have to confess that it must have been a gift from God, because He surely knows what LIME GREEN means around this part of the country!

Like the bow wasn't enough for us to know that God had Charlotte tucked securely away in the palm of His hand. There was a horrible storm in the area with wild winds, thunder and lightening. Jennifer and Tim were on their way home that night and called me when they were almost there. I was instructed to run outside and see what was hovering over their house.

You might have guessed a rainbow, and if you did you were close. It was a brilliant double rainbow that you had to see from the front door as well as the back door to see the entire thing. Just like God had purposely hung it right over their house. Who knows, maybe He did!

There were no worries, just sweet and peaceful sleep until the morning.

Surgery day started just like the night before ended. The trip to the hospital was as peaceful as it could be. Jenn and Tim got to spend some precious time with their baby girl before they took her to surgery. The hospital staff could not have been any better to Charlotte or her mom and dad. This part was really sweet to me. After they took Charlotte to surgery and we had gotten a bite to eat we made our way to the Children's wing of the Hospital. As Jenn sat down I noticed the quilt she was sitting under...

As Jenn sat under that picture i was reminded that this time last year she was heading to Botswana and all God's provisions in getting her there, her time there and her trip home. Especially of a dream, a prayer and a belief of Jenn and many black feet.

Then there was this whole song thing going on from the day Charlotte's diagnosis came until this past Sunday morning after her arrival. To put it in a nut shell worship service to worship service came full circle with the playing of this song then and now, with scripture from the song and the words on a quilt sandwiched in between.

This was the song He used ... Made Me Glad by Hillsong

So, that was a lot to follow for an untrained soul. You know I have to go around a block several times to get my point across. There are tons more I could have shared, but I have about tuckered myself out!

I would like to ask a personal question. Have you noticed all the little "roses" that God has planted along your journey? Have you been so bothered by your circumstances that along the way you have forgotten that you have the best ever tour guide who really knows His way around the garden? You know that was the first place He ever had a relationship, a friendship with His prize creation. Slow down, trust Him in all things big and small. Notice the things that are personal to you like lime green ribbons and rainbows or whatever that He has placed along your path to let you know you are not alone! I love whoever you are that may be reading this! I hope and pray that through the crazy ramblings of this Jesus girl you appreciate His love for YOU!

I know it's not Tuesday...

It's really Wednesday, but there are two things I want to share today.
So it's a "Two for Tuesday" sort of thing.

I'll start with Immeasurably More because God certainly outdid Himself on Monday Night! I think it may have been immeasurably more than more if that's possible. Life Song Church had their "This Night" and had asked me to come and share about Wellspring. Amy Hickman who heads up their Aroma ministry had asked the women who were coming to bring a gift off of the Wellspring registry at Target. So, the ladies paid for a ticket to come, bought gifts and took up a love offering to top off the night!

Did I say love offering? Those sweet ladies gave over one thousand dollars to Wellspring! That's where the more than more comes in. The gifts were unbelievable, but the love offering was truly over the top. It is such affirmation that we are moving God Speed into this, following where He leads. It was evident that He showed up and showed out. I'm ever so thankful that He allows me to hang out with Him in all of this! It is an amazing journey.

Part two probably deserves it's own post. If I had done that I would title it

because that seems to be the theme of things lately. Monday night that was the title of the song that we ended the evening on. But more than that, God gave me a true revelation about a week ago. I was driving down the same old road I travel everyday that I work at Middle Tyger Community Center. As I came up to my final turn before getting to the main highway, is when it happened. For the first time in my life God revealed to me what it meant to have a new day before me. Many of you are probably thinking I have lost it, but stay with me! I know that every day is a new day, but for the first time ever it dawned on me that it feels the same because everything I see and everything I do most days are repeated over and over again. All of a sudden there was such an excitement in my soul to actually realize this new day was unfolding moment by moment before me. The lie had always been "same old... same old" - no more!

Same old... same old has given way to brand new, brand new! It is so amazing to wake up every morning and realize that it's a new start. This day has never been before, so I have a new day with new possibilities that maybe I didn't have yesterday! A chance to believe like I have never believed before. A chance to forgive, a chance to love, a chance to trust! I have savored knowing that even this moment right here has never been! Now that has changed my world. I don't know if I could translate to you what God did for me that morning. It was like looking at a whole new world.

It's coming up on July Fourth... it's my prayer for you that you walk in all the freedoms that you have not only as an American (if you are) but more so that you walk in the freedoms granted you by Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living GOD!

It's All About YOU!

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Ten years ago this September I had the opportunity of a lifetime to travel with some of my dearest friends and partners in ministry to General Santos City in the Philippines. It was one of those Immeasurably More times in my life, in all our lives.

The last night we were there, we were in the backyard of one of the friends we had made during our stay. Larry and I had been having this ongoing conversation all week long. You see, with all God was doing in my life I was certain the trip was all about me. But with all I had seen God do in Larry's life (and everyone elses too) I could see that Larry had a very good argument to why he thought the trip was all about him. So here we are in the middle of the party trying to make sense of it all, when there out of nowhere stepped Pastor Rodney Moore from Beaumont, Texas and handed me his Walkman. He said there is a song that I feel like you should hear. Well guess what? As soon as I finished listening, I passed it on to Larry and said "you are not going to believe this!" That Rodney, wow, that Jesus... there are no words.

When we got back on American soil Larry made it a priority to make sure we each had a copy of it. The original was by Dave Fellingham, but I could not find his version on the Internet.

I say all that to say that I love how God works things and people and places in our lives and 99.9% of the time I think we are oblivious to it. But then, every now and again He lets us have a tiny little glimpse into what He is doing.

One of those times happened to be June the 12, 2008 at six thirty in the evening, a small group of eight met at LifeSong Church in Lyman for the first official board meeting of Wellspring Living SC. To most people we would have looked like a group of misfits with not a lot in common with each other. But as I looked around at the group God was assembling, I knew that they each realized it is all about Him, and His plan of grace, mercy, redemption and restoration. The sweet thing is, it will not just be for the Wellspring Women who will live in our Wellspring Home, it will be for all of us too. I realized as I sat there that each of them possess a great gift of hearing from the Lord and moving in what they hear. As thoughts of the meeting and the faces continued on in my head, what I also realized about our little group is they all love to worship the Lord out loud. They are not silent, nor ashamed of their love nor their convictions.

As the meeting came to a close we had our to-do-list. Was it filled with business agendas and people to call and decisions to toil over? No, it was a simple prayer list of specific prayers we need to be praying.

Father, we acknowledge that this ministry reflects your heart beat and we submit ourselves to you, your wisdom and your way, after all... it is all about You....

We, your servants love and adore you...

Immeasurably More

A month or so ago I was challenged by my friend Martha to pray "Immeasurably more Lord" to see what God would do. Part of the challenge was to move something out of its ordinary place so when I went to reach for it in the old place I would speak the words... Immeasurably More.

So I moved things in my office, living room, and shower. I even used my lime green fingernail polish and put a green dot on the face of my watch. As I would reach for Kleenexes, shampoo or look for the time I would whisper those words...Immeasurably More. One morning as I reached for the shampoo I added "how much longer will I have to wait to see Immeasurably More?"
Well let me tell you - I didn't have to wait long at all.
Jesus was about to show me Ephesians 3:20 close up, personal and WAY MORE than I would have ever hoped for!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us...

to the greater power! That was on a Sunday morning as I was getting ready for church. That afternoon I noticed I had a voice mail. As I listened to the message I was blown away by what I heard, but more so by who was calling to leave the message.

Please understand that with all God has done to bring Wellspring here, my greatest fear was that it would be here and we would be so unprepared. We would have the house, we would have the women coming in for help and they would have me! After all I had the Wellspring manual of what they do. I have their curriculum of how they do it. I had all I need to make it happen. You see, I can read a manual all day long, bit what works best for me is to see it.
I did get to spend one night in the Atlanta home. But one night wasn't going to do it!

So my voice mail went something like this...

Susan, this is _ __ _ from Atlanta, and I was wondering if there was
anything I could do to help you get started in SC.

Anything she could help us do? ? ? As the message settled into my heart, I realized this was an immediate answer to my morning Immeasurably More prayer. She had been a counselor for about a year and was looking to do more.
I had met her briefly at the Demand Conference that I attended in April.
Mary Frances had spoken so highly of her.

Could we use her? Wow!

God had done Immeasurably More - - way more than I would have ever thought or dreamed!

The monkey was off my back!

God never intended for me to do what He has fashioned her heart to do!

Don't you love it when God makes it so clear?

When He calls us to do something - we usually have a small part in a very large picture!

Now that's a reason to DANCE!

All the more proof that indeed - His yoke is light! I don't have to do it all or be it all!
I can just be me and that's enough as long as I am operating where He has gifted me and placed me.

It is my prayer for each of you that you too have discovered that His yoke is easy, and if you are too burdened by the yoke you are carrying, you might want to be sure the yoke is from Him!
Would you take the challenge and pray Immeasurably More for yourself?

I love each of you and thank you for what you are doing for the kingdom of God. As the song says... we are all in this together...

Dance for Me

This has absolutely nothing to do with anything that I am aware of. But over the past few weeks God keeps taking me back and I think perhaps He wants me to share the story with you! Who knows, maybe He has done the same thing for you. If He has be sure to let us know.

I don't even know how many years ago this was. I do know it was during the time that John Moore was at WBC for chapter II! Rick Warren from Saddleback Church was coming to Myrtle Beach for a Celebrate Recovery Conference. It seemed really logical to get some info since we try to know and be and do as much as we can for our community at MTCC. So Wanda sent (agreed) for Donna Dawkins and me to go. We were so grateful that Lisa Foster also went with us. She may not be. It was the first time she had ever traveled with us (me)!

The conference was great and as it turns out Celebrate Recovery is part of the Wellspring restoration plan. Who would have ever guessed way back then that God was already preparing my head and my heart for what He had in store.

I cannot tell you what hotel we stayed in other than to say it had lots of floors and surely we must have been near the very top.

I cannot tell you how many nights we were there.

But what I can tell you is that one night when we got to our room, we went out onto the balcony and looked down. There in the biggest letters you have ever seen were the words

"DANCE FOR ME"

They were so big that we went out on the beach to see them at ground level. There were huge. If you think I am exaggerating, please ask Donna or Lisa to confirm what I have said. They were so big, so perfectly straight, so equal in size from the first letter to the last.

I just have to say... I think God Himself reached down and decided He, Himself wanted to write a love letter in the sand.

Many people ask me why I have my dancer magnet on my Forerunner.

That's why. If He loved me enough to ask me, me of all people to dance for Him... count me in! I might not be the prettiest or most graceful dancer you'll ever see. But hopefully if you see me or have seen me acting a fool in the middle of my driveway, backyard, office, church, beach or mountain top now you know why. He is the best dancin' partner a girl could ever hope for. He has yet to complain that I haven't an ounce of rhythm or two left feet. Maybe it's because when I'm dancing with Him, He sweeps me off my feet as we dance to our favorite songs. It is like strolling down memory lane remembering how each song is a reminder of His love and faithfulness as well as the hope of what He has yet to do! Lead on King Jesus... lead on in the dance of life. It is my honor and pleasure to be your dance partner.

I guess He had heard me sing and thought I should try dancing instead!

Now I'm not proud enough to think I was the only one that received the invitation to dance from Him. It's my prayer for every person who saw those letters in the sand that you too said "YES!"