Pure In Heart

My Beautiful Girl

You are evidence that life is full of blessings we don't deserve.

My precious daughter, the world may never understand your beauty.

That's okay, I can't begin to understand the world.

So much in it doesn't make sense.

You, beautiful child, you make sense

You are the essence of beauty

You exude joy, purity, peace, endurance

That day you were placed in my arms, I was speechless

It was no different from the night your sister was placed on my chest

You were no less mine and I was fully yours

You weren't created in me, you were created for me

You saved me

The Creator of the Universe made us for each other
You and I are "wonderfully made"


I lost track of how many nights we have spent
with medical equipment as our soundtrack

Do you know how many times we have driven to the children's hospital?
Me neither, I stopped counting years ago
I am grateful that has finally slowed down
(We were all getting tired of it)


I know what the world sees

A little girl whose body doesn't work right
They don't hear you talk or walk
You don't learn the way others do
Your liquid food is pumped through a tube in your stomach
Let's not discuss too much about the diapers
Some people are a afraid of you
They see a broken little girl

They are wrong
So very, very wrong

You are so much more than your body
You have a twinkle in your eye
A contagious laugh that exudes joy
You are brave, strong and smart
and so very innocent

Your soul is pure

You have added depth to my story
My faith is deeper and even stronger
We have met beautiful people because of you
So many lessons we've learned
The lives you have touched
Those are your ministry my darling

You are a minister

You teach grace
You teach mercy
You teach compassion
You know peace

You are a miracle

I am so grateful you're mine

The Current Cover Girl for Chromosome 22 Central

Always,

Hope

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I Need Thee

""I need thee, oh I need thee
Every hour I need thee
O bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee."



This hymn is washing through my soul and it is awakening me to His presence. I don't just need Him in the difficult hours but in the days of triumph, of celebration and accomplishment!


Oh how easy it is to ease away from his existence when the feeling of need is absent. When things begin to cave in we run to Him, wanting His comfort and strength. He is always there.


My heart is full and I still need Him. Every hour, every moment, every day. So in the days of great abundance and the times of great need, I will seek Him.


Always,

Hope

50 Days to 50 - Grace Revisited

Day 18

Grace is such a beautiful concept. It was my Day 7 topic. Favor that is unmerited and unearned. It is offered to us from an all knowing, loving God. We can't earn it. It is a gift. Because it is unmerited, it means that it covers the choices we make that turn out to be mistakes.

This week I learned something new about grace. When I extended it to someone else, it became more alive in me. Extending grace changed something in me. It may or may not have softened the heart of the other person but there is no doubt it strengthened me. It allowed God's love to flow through me. It gave me peace.

As I approach 50, I realize how much more I have to learn, how much of His Holiness I haven't experienced and how He loves me with an unfailing love. I am getting a glimpse (a very small glimpse) of how He must feel when I trust that His grace is sufficient for me. My response is a gift back to Him.

Always,

Hope

(NOTE: This is my Jubilee year. Scripture speaks of this year as a time for restoration and debts to be cancelled. I see it as a time to reflect and to count my blessings. Knowing how precious life is and how miraculous it is, I want to write about His goodness.)

50 Days to 50 - Saturdays

Day 12

Waking up early in the morning seems nicer when you don't have to be anywhere.

The Coffee Guy cracks open the french doors over the balcony facing the trees. Giant green leaves shake with chirping birds and hungry squirrels. The fresh Oregon air is still crisp. I prop myself up on extra pillows, steam swirling out of my bright blue coffee cup filled with sweet creamy french roast.

Before too many thoughts spill into my mind I reach for my iPod, switch from the crashing sounds of waves that lull me to sleep at night and let the sounds of the morning take over. I soak in every second because because I want it to last.

Saturdays are our brunch, bike, extra date, catch up, farmer's market and family day. When the kiddos were little, it was pile on the bed day. Jammied children, storybooks and giggles were the norm. It is a time to catch up before Sunday kicks in and the pace picks up. It is our day of rest.

It is sacred. We find peace. Our hearts are drawn to each other and most weeks, away from the world. It hasn't always been this way but it is now. Now it valuable. Now is worth protecting.

Do you have a set aside day? Everyone should!

Always,

Hope

(NOTE: This is my Jubilee year. Scripture speaks of this year as a time for restoration and debts to be cancelled. I see it as a time to reflect and to count my blessings. Knowing how precious life is and how miraculous it is, I want to write about His goodness.)

50 Days to 50 - Perspective

Day 10

President Bill Clinton

This is an original, untouched photo that Mrs. Ray of Sunshyne took in the Spring of 2008 during the presidential primaries. Our former president was campaigning for his wife and stopped in our little rural town on his way through our state. We opted to sign Ray out of class to attend the rally held at her school in the gymnasium. She snapped this when he reached through the crowd, leaning over her to shake my hand and thank me for coming.

Isn't this a great photo? It tells part of a story and if I didn't put words to it, you could easily guess the story related to your own experience. You might have thought it was cropped. You could have wondered if the crowd was crushing. You might wonder if he said something that changed our mind or strengthened our resolve in who we were voting for. The truth is, it is only a small part of the story.

I have said it before, everybody has a story. Everyone has been shaped by a lifetime of experiences that cause them to face the trials of life the way they do. So often, we only have a snapshot or glimpse of who someone is and through our own experience, we determine how we are going to treat that person. At times it is our own lives we are left wondering about. How did I get here, what is this all about and how am I going to get through. Recently a friend was lamenting about the six plus years of diapers she had faced with her three children. I jokingly mentioned that I was on 14 years with two children and no end in sight. Strangely enough, it encouraged her. She hadn't looked at it from that side of things.

As we focus on the blessings in our lives we regain a clearer vision of who we are. If we see ourselves through the eyes of a loving God, we begin to understand that He has an eternal point of view. Things that don't make sense to us now, even suffering, will look different when we observe it from a different time and place. If we allow ourselves to get stuck, if we refuse to look deeper, we become discouraged and lose hope.

Today I will reset my focus. Where there was betrayal I will choose forgiveness. Where there is loss I will seek what was gained. In place of worthlessness, I will trust the Lord who has placed in me His worth.

Always,

Hope

(NOTE: This is my Jubilee year. Scripture speaks of this year as a time for restoration and debts to be cancelled. I see it as a time to reflect and to count my blessings. Knowing how precious life is and how miraculous it is, I want to write about His goodness.)

50 Days to 50 - A Refuge

Day 5

When darkness casts a shadow on my soul,

when it presses through to the edges of my heart,

I find myself weary, desperate, seeking rest.

Sometimes the ache comes from life's turns

and with those there is a sense of acceptance.

The knowledge that sometimes things "just happen"

can in itself be a form a comfort when human hands

cannot turn the wheels of circumstance, we find resolve.

Then there are those times when the cruelty of others,

selfishness, hate, greed and insecurities rain down

into our lives and threaten to crush us under the weight.

Even in those times, I am found by His goodness,

surrounded by His faithfulness,
saved by His infinite love for me.

The grace He extends for me,
He gives in abundance so I may

extend it to those who He calls my enemies.

The times I feel bombarded and in my weakness

He becomes my refuge and strength.

Psalm 139: 7-12 (NKJV)

"7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning,

And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,

And Your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall[a] on me,”

Even the night shall be light about me;

12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,

But the night shines as the day;

The darkness and the light are both alike to You."

Always,

Hope

(NOTE: This is my Jubilee year. Scripture speaks of this year as a time for restoration and debts to be cancelled. I see it as a time to reflect and to count my blessings. Knowing how precious life is and how miraculous it is, I want to write about His goodness.)