WELCOME HOME

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--WHILE

Five minutes to free write about it

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Livestream opened up so many new doors at the beginning of the pandemic that I didn't miss going to church. Being able to attend a service in the comfort of my home was very appealing, and since distance and location were no longer issues, I was also able to visit other churches that I could never have done before the advent of this techology.

Eventually, lockdowns were lifted and people started drifting back, but I wasn't one of them. I had many excuses. Our old pastor had gone off to pastor a different church shortly before Covid, and many of my friends in the congregation had moved on to different churches as well; my home group had disbanded; so much had changed I no longer felt connected. Every now and then I did feel a tiny stirring to go back, but it never lasted long

While I rationalized, the Lord was patient; while I questioned what difference it made if I attended in person or virtually, the Lord was longsuffering; and even though I kept dilly-dallying, the Lord never gave up on me. 

This morning I was awakened by a text from a friend. I tried to go back to sleep, but no sooner had I rolled over when there was another text. This one from a prayer partner who no longer regularly attends our church. He said he was going to visit the prayer room during the first service should I care to join him. 

As I quickly threw on some clothes, I thought of how before Covid and before our old pastor left, there was always a group of prayer team members who would gather in the prayer room to pray during the services. Apparently that is no longer the case.  Still, I decided to go.

When I got there, I was surprised by the new look of the room. Someone did a great job of redecorating. It had a very warm, inviting look. The old furniture was all gone--all of it except for the one chair I used to sit on and that had become known as "Sandy's chair." It looked so out of character now in the midst of the rest of the decor and, given its condition, I wondered what it was still doing there. Did the Lord know I would eventually be back and this was His way of giving me a personal welcome home and letting me know that He was not done with me yet?

You see, that chair had become much more to me than just a chair when I had a near death experience and it was found lying on its side with a broken leg and a crack in its back shortly after I was admitted to the hospital. Someone had put it in a corner to be discarded with the trash. However, before that happened, it was rescued and restored by one of the maintenance guys. My friend told me about it when he came to visit, and said he strongly believed it was symbolic of my total healing as well.

Today felt like old times even though it was just the two of us. After reminiscing about the chair for a while and examining the scars it still bears, we prayed for the pastors and the congregation, for revival, and for the Spirit of the Lord to fill this house. We also prayed for the prayer room to be filled once again with prayer warriors praying, and with people coming in for prayer.

TESTIMONY

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--TESTIMONY

Five minutes to free write about it

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Picking a testimony to write about felt a little overwhelming. There have been so many over the years. Just the fact that I am still here and have lived to see three generations is quite a major one. There was a time when my two children were young that I didn't think I would live long enough to see them grow up and had plans legalized for who would take care of them if/when I was gone. By the grace of God, however, not only have I seen them grow up, but He has allowed me to enjoy seven grandchldren and five great-grands (soon to be six) as well. Who would have thought.

My most important testimony, though, is about my salvation experience, because it was so improbable. God went to great lengths to rescue me out of a very dark place that I thought was full of light. That is all documented in my memoir--Sincerely Wrong--but some time before that, I had written a four part testimony on one of my old blogs, At the Foot of the Cross. I thought it was on this blog too, but it isn't, so I had to go looking for it. 

If you are interested in reading that original testimony, here is the link to Part 1. Each part links to the next one at the bottom of the post.

I miss that old blog, and when I was looking through it, I thought of last week's challenge, COMPROMISE, which I did not participate in, and felt as though that's what I did when I redirected everything to this blog. And yet, not everythig I post here seems appropriate to post there.  It's a dilemma.

Ideally, I would like to be able to combine instead of redirect, but I am really techno challenged. If any of you have any suggestions, please share, and I thank you in advance.

EAT LOCAL READ LOCAL 2022

 

Thanks to the help of my amazing daughter (who also took this picture), and to some heavy-duty prayer the night before when it felt as though I might have to cancel, I was able to attend my first book fair since before the pandemic. 

Not only did the Lord bless us with perfect weather for this outdoor event, but he enabled me to enjoy it pain-free, which was a miracle I was very grateful for.

Maggie Phalen and her team at Cascades Library did a wonderful job coordinating the event--setting up the tents and providing tables, chairs, tablecloths, clips to hold the cloths down in case of wind, signs, water, coffee, and breakfast. All we had to do was show up with our books.

Unfortunately, I did not think to take pictures, but some of the highlights (other than meeting interesting people and selling books), were the two enterprising young girls who were making the rounds collecting signatures in case any of us became famous authors down the road, and a very distinguished looking Indian family with two beautiful young daughters dressed in colorful, festive, traditional attire complete with head adornments, who decided to stop by to check us out after a special event they were coming home from.

The biggest hit at my table was The Old Gray Dog, a book I wrote for my daughter about her beloved Benji shortly before he crossed the rainbow bridge. His face on the cover drew even people who weren't buying, to stop and check it out. That and the basket of lollipops, haha.

It was a very delightful afternoon, and I'm so glad I chose to pray instead of cancel the night before.

ADAM'S BIKE PARK

 A couple of weeks ago I wrote an FMF post on the word BECOME, in which I posted pictures of a bike park in progress that I thought had been left uncompleted. Well, I was wrong.

All that remained to be done was to add some mini ramps(?) at each end of the big wooden ramps and bridges, and some chairs for spectators to sit on.

So let the fun begin!

A BELATED BIRTHDAY UPDATE

Two FMF posts ago I posted about my birthday that had started out most inauspiciously (The Road Ahead). 

That Sunday, however, I was feeling a little better, so two of my granddaughters organized a birthday lunch with all the trimmings and brought it over to my apartment for a belated celebration. My daughter came as well, and we enjoyed a fun afternoon of pizza and games. 

In addition to the birthday balloons that the granddaughters brought with them, we had a backdrop of colorful cards sent by friends and family, and a beautiful bouquet of flowers from one of my neighbors.

The two youngest great-grands loved playing with the contents of this large box I had filled with packages of a Dollar Tree  construction toy similar to Tinkertoy many years ago when my grandchildren were little. It was one of their favorite things to play with every time they came to visit. Oh my heart, to now watch their children (my great-grands) enjoying it as much as their moms had. 

Then we played with a board game my oldest great-granddaughter had made. She had even written out instructions on how to play it. 

By then it was time for everyone to go home, but before leaving, my granddaughter (who has the two girls) had one more gift for me. This cute little carton of eggs their chickens had laid.  

BECOME

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--BECOME

Five minutes to free write about it

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From my window I've been watching the transformation of a small grassy field into a bike park. Who would have thought that's what it would become?

So far it's been a very slow, tedious process carried out by a few young men who come at odd hours such as weekends, holidays, or late in the day. No fancy equipment. Mostly just a shovel and a wheelbarrow, although they did use a dump truck and a small loader the first couple of days.

This is as far as they've gotten. Not sure why work stopped at this point. We did have some rainy days, but it's been almost two weeks now.

Today a group of five or six people showed up. They did not do any work. Just looked things over and left.

I wonder what's up and what will become of the park. Hoping it's only a temporary delay. 

THE ROAD AHEAD

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--ROAD 

Five minutes to free write about it

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Yesterday was my birthday. It was not a day of celebration. Plans to go out for dinner with my family to one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants had to be canceled at the last minute in favor of alternating heating pad and ice packs to relieve the spasms in my shoulder and back. 

I almost started writing this post last night, focusing on what an inauspicious start this new year had gotten off to, but instead, I chose to be grateful that I had made it through another year and to be thankful for my many blessings--including all of you you have been praying for me. I truly appreciate those prayers and believe they are in the process of being answered. 

As a little update, in the week since my last FMF post, REPRESENT, the Lord has done some amazingly WOW!!! things that only He could do, and although the aches and pains are not gone, they are decreasing some, and I'm starting to feel stronger and more optimistic that this too shall pass. 

My steps may still falter, and I may not know what lies ahead on this abrupt bend in the road that took me so by surprise, but I know who holds tomorrow in His hands and continue to keep my trust in Him as I set out on one more lap around the sun.