she's alive!!! :D

Check out the latest update from Bekah!!!

http://adventuressouthamerica.blogspot.com/

teaching me rest

Sounds. Sounds take me places instantly.  I am immediately transported from the present to another place and time.  I hear the crows and I am 12 years old camping at Kings Mountain State Park with my family for the first time.   I hear rain on a tin roof and I am dancing in the rain with my sister in our backyard.  I hear that silly bird that only sings at 1:30 am and I am a junior in college when staying up until 1:30 am was the norm.  I hear crickets outside my window and I am reminded to slow down.  I hear the frogs singing and they remind me that there is more to life than school.  They are giving glory to God in their croaking.  Sounds remind of restful times in life.  Sounds remind me to rest. 

God created an entire day to rest in Genesis.  We are commanded to rest all throughout the Old Testament.  My body was created for rest.  Psalms 23 talks about true rest: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.  2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.  3 He restores my soul…..” True rest is coming.  He will lead me to it.  He provides ultimate rest.

So, dear birds chirping keep chirping I love listening to your morning song.  You remind me to acknowledge your Creator. You remind me to rest.

One of those days....

If I was honest, yesterday was one of those days when you wake up and make a choice to dwell on the truths or the lies.  Yesterday was one of those days you choose to survive or thrive through.  It’s your choice, your choice to dwell on the things of the Spirit or to just pray you survive, bad attitude and all. If I was honest, there have been a few of those days this semester.  Many of them I have sought to survive through.  Yesterday things changed.  Yesterday was a choice to thrive through. 

Yesterday morning on my way back to the car after class, I told myself over and over again, “I choose joy today.  I choose joy today.  I will think on peace, joy and love because this is Truth.  This is the life God wants for me.”  The Lord knew I needed to be prepared because the next few hours would only get crazier: I got almost to the Center, forgot my therapy materials, drove all the way home, prepared for sessions at the last minute and the list goes on.... but His Grace was enough.

Over the past few weeks I’ve begun to realize that through this craziness affectionately called the “grad school life,” the Lord doesn’t want me to just make it through so I can enter into a new season of life.  No, he has my best interest in mind right now.  He doesn’t want me to just survive this chaos and madness; He has a plan.  As Paul tells the church at Thessalonica “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  Do not quench the Spirit.  Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.  Abstain from every form of evil.  Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-24). 

Grad school is an edifying experience.  Am I going to survive through or thrive through?  I can take it or leave it.  I’ll take it. I’ll continue to pray, give thanks and hold fast to what is good through it all.  

He who calls me is faithful! Now that's Good News :D

Bekah's latest update

Last week Bekah updated her blog and posted some awesome pictures!! Super excited for her and the mission the Lord has her on.  Keep up with her at: http://adventuressouthamerica.blogspot.com/

my prayer for you....

Dearest sister,

Just as you sign every email with Habakkuk 3: 18-19, my prayer for you today is this: that you would "rejoice in the LORD," that you would be "joyful in God [your] Savior," that the Sovereign LORD would be your strength and that he would make your "feet like the feet of a deer" and enable you "to go on the heights."

 

 

Praying that your mission comes to completion and that you see some rewards, no matter how small, for your labor. 

Your loving sister,

Carolyn



What did you say???

"Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear..." (Matthew 11:4-5).  Excuse me, what did you say???  I don't think I heard you. The deaf will hear??  My babies with hearing loss don't have to go through life without hearing?  They can receive sound?  They can hear their mommies and daddies voices for the first time?   They can hear crickets singing and birds chirping? They can become regular teenagers and adults functioning in mainstream society?  Elderly adults can still hear at 85? WOW!! Are you serious??

In my world of modern medicine where children and adults are frequently referred for Cochlear Implants (a modern device that allows many people who have lost most or all of their hearing to hear) and where "learning to hear" is a daily occurrence, I often forget hearing is a miracle.  In my world of checklists, Auditory Verbal techniques and Learning to Listen sounds, the miracle gets lost.   Working in a place where we teach and train children and adults to listen, the phrase “did you hear that?” is repeated many times a day.  I forget the fact that my babies hear their mommies say "hello, beautiful girl" for the first time, is a precious thing.  The deaf hearing is a gift.

When all of the parts of our ears work like they should, we experience sound to its fullest, we get to experience this amazing world we live in various dimensions and sound adds to it. It is a miracle to praise the Lord for.

This video of Isaac reminds me how special hearing is.  Here Isaac receives hearing aids for the first time.  Take a peak, you might cry :D

grandfathers

Growing up there are a few times when I remember kneeling beside the bed to pray, most of those memories include my Poppop. When Bekah and I would visit Granny and Poppop, it was Poppop who tucked us into bed every night and Poppop who would pray with us.

I vividly remember the night Poppop taught Bekah and I to pray The Lord's Prayer (found in Matthew 6:5-15 and Luke 11:2-4). Poppop, being the strong Episcopalian that he is, was shocked Bekah and I didn't know it.  In his best effort to impart wise values to his granddaughters, he proceeded to say a line and we repeated a line back. This tradition continued throughout childhood.  Each night we would kneel beside the bed and would pray The Lord's Prayer.

Reading through Matthew this summer, I remembered those times.  I remember spending many weeks each summer with my grandparents and I am thankful for their loving kindness. I am blessed to have grandparents who prayed with me and who wanted good things for their granddaughters.

Happy Father's Day Poppop!!!