She Opens Her Mouth with Wisdom

I'm still in Austin -- was planning only a few days, but when I was needed for a project, I stayed a few days longer. Then, I was leaving on Thursday, but my precious son, in a stance that reminded me of him as a little boy, said, "Mommy, would you please stay for Mother's Day? I want to take care of my girls!" Like he was as a little boy, I couldn't resist those eyes or plea. But, then, to my utter surprise last night, in walks my crew from Frisco. Oh, the tears that came. My sweet Ryan and Shawntel surprised me by asking them to join us for Mother's Day weekend! So here I am all wrapped up in love this morning the day before Mother's Day.

One of my greatest joys in life has been to be a mother....to my own children AND to those God put into my life "to mother". Nothing is so dear as the results of a hug or a word of wisdom I shared with someone who needed that hug or word. It is so unique and special how God designed a woman’s heart to love and nurture tenderly and teach wisely.

Leaving home at 17 to marry, I sure needed my mom's wisdom. Besides washing clothes and cooking tips, I needed her wisdom about sharing life with a man. I remember when I wanted to run "back home" to her because of what seemed to be the biggest "spat" EVER. I'm so glad she wouldn't let me. She reminded me that I HAD left "home", and my new home was with the man I loved and "this little spat would pass". And, it did.

Then, one year later, our son was born and I needed her even more. The times he was sick (and, the times I got sick), the times when, as a couple, we hit a rough patch and life seemed so out of control, the times when I needed her voice to comfort me. In God’s sovereign plan for motherhood, He gave me a mother that was my mentor, my best friend and my confidant. And, not only did He give me my mother, but He gave me the dearest mother-in-law EVER. God also gave me other older women in age and in faith (and continues to do so) that have come alongside and loved me “like a mother.”

After these many seasons of my life, watching and learning from my resilient, strong, and determined Mom during the time of my daddy's long illness, and then as a single mom after he graduated to heaven, to my own learning to be Mom to my children and to other young women, I can assure you that God has special plans for women. He gave us life to give life to others. God's plans for us ensure that we are "mothered" and that we "mother".

Do you still have your Mom with you today? Treasure her. If not, treasure her because she gave us YOU! Tomorrow will be a day of celebrating moms, but perhaps we might consider being “like a mother” to those who need a mentor. Just maybe we are the answer to someone's prayers.

I honor all the beautiful and selfless ladies that "mother" those around them with God's love and with His wisdom that encourages and blesses them.

Proverbs 31:26 "She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue."

BFF! What Can I Do to Bring You Joy, Today?

I'm sure God loves when we come to Him in prayer, but usually, when we check in with Him, it is only to give Him our long prayer request and wish list. Can you imagine how He must feel when the only time we go to Him, it is only to present Him with our wants, desires, and needs? Then there are those who never ask anything of Him. They take pride in not having a “wish list”, but a “thanksgiving list”. God is such a good, good Father and He is receptive to each request we make and He loves our hearts of gratitude and thanksgiving. If we know He sees and hears us every time we pray and every time we come to Him with hearts of gratitude, can you imagine how He would feel if we visited with Him as truly our best friend who had wonderful friend-to-friend conversations with each other?

The idea of God as a friend doesn’t diminish the fact that He is our Heavenly Father. He is also our closest, best friend. I would never go to my best friend and just ask her for things and tell her what I need her to do for me. Neither would I incessantly thank her for being my friend. I would tune in to my friend’s heart and we’d mutually share about our families and what’s going on in our world. I’d ask her if there was anything I could do to help her.

God is our Friend Who is ALWAYS loving, caring, guiding and directing us, so maybe our conversations should start with “Lord, what can I do to bring You joy today?” That simple question will lead to answers. Here is how He answered me. I took a friend to lunch to encourage her. I heard His still small voice say: “This brings me joy.” Those words came from deep within. It confirmed that God was delighted by what I was doing. He saw something I didn’t. Perhaps it was the fact that I was encouraging His girl and building confidence in her. I’ll never know for sure, but I like to think I brought God joy and that was enough.

On another day, a friend messaged me. She was having a bad day and having to move out of her home immediately. I went to her, helped her pack and carry loads in my car for her. There it was again, an inner knowing that I brought God joy. It’s easy to assume that it’s the bigger things that bring God joy -- like telling someone about Jesus or changing the world. Certainly, these are beautiful in our Father's eyes, but these small moments matter to God, too.

As we begin our everyday conversations with God asking, “What can I do to bring You joy today?” our spiritual ears will open. We will discover that some of the smallest events of our day are actual miracles as we partner with God to love people.Coming to God as a friend as well as our Heavenly Father draws us into the wonderful relationship Paul talked about in Romans 5:11: “So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.”

When we ask "What can I do to bring You joy today, Lord?" We just might be surprised at the answer.

John 15:15, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

Where Can I Go From Your Presence?

Constants: a situation or state of affairs that do not change; remaining the same in all circumstances

I am on the go and where I stop, nobody knows, including me sometimes. How many times have I awakened in the night and run into a wall that I thought was a doorway, or opened a closet door and thought it was the bathroom door? Too many to count!

Thanks be to God that though my surroundings are often in a state of flux, my best friend, companion and guide – isn’t. My
Father is ALWAYS with me. Everywhere I go – He is there.

Psalm 139:7-10 says "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast."

The little boy in this photo is playing a game of hide and seek. He thinks he's hidden. And isn't that like us? We think we can hide from God, and we often think He's hiding from us, but I love how Jeremiah 23:24 proves otherwise. "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord."

After a whirlwind week, I’m back home in Frisco and into my normal routines and familiar surroundings.

I think about the CONSTANTS in my life no matter where I am or where I go. Me (I can't get away from me -- I'm always with me) and Father God. I think about how blessed I am to acknowledge the real fact that I will never be without Him and His presence. I see Him everywhere -- in the magnificent beauties of His creation -- the hills, the valleys, the marvelous trees in bloom and the beautiful, fragrant flowers. I see Him in His children -- big and small, tall and thin, old and young. I hear Him in the laughter of others. I sense Him when I open my eyes and heart to Him when I meditate on Him as I start to write my morning FB post. "When you seek me, you will find me." Jeremiah 29:13

I think about a story my husband loved to tell. This was back in the days before bucket seats in cars and you could cozy up to our sweetheart when he drove the car. A wife said, "Sweetheart, why don't we sit close together anymore?" The husband said, "You tell me. You're the one that moved next to the door. I'm still in the same seat I've always been in!" And, I think that's what God must say when we declare "I just don't feel God in my life anymore!" He says, "I'm right here with you as I always have been. I didn't move. Snuggle in closer to Me and you'll find me right here where I've always been."

My 2018......and Beyond -- Resolutions

My Word of the Day is Resolution: a firm determination to do something, and not change it. Doesn’t that make sense? Maybe that’s why so many fail at "resolutions". We want a short term fix. A goal has an end date. A resolution is unending.

One of my "goals" with an end date of on or before December 31, 2018, was inspired by a book given to me by my grandson and his wife, “My Grandma: In Her Own Words”. It is a “fill-in-the-blanks" book that asks questions like “What was your home like growing up?” “What was it like to become a mother?” That book inspired me to write my autobiography this year – not for publishing, but to pass on to my family as legacy.

Typical new year's resolutions are actually goals. “Lose 20 pounds”. We get there and we check it off the list – “I made it!” We run that marathon. Check. We get our real estate license. Check. We attend that 6-week Bible Study. Check.

Resolutions are supposed to be a FIRM determination to do something – not with a set end-date, but a lifetime in mind. I've made resolutions that I expect will take me the distance beyond 2018 and for the rest of my life. Here’s a list I’ve started, but I expect to add to it as I press daily to be my best for God.

#1. I RESOLVE to worry less and pray more. I will give my concerns to God. I will pray I become so infused with God's Word that I have the fuel to be a woman of “true grit” – rather, true faith in God’s “keeping power” and trust in His timing, His love for me and His desire for my success.

#2. I RESOLVE to disconnect my mind from my mouth. At this mature age, I’ve amassed a great deal of wisdom. My brain is packed full of firsthand experience of doing the wrong thing at the wrong time and I want to save my children, grandchildren and others -- time and energy. But, I RESOLVE to hold my mouth from unsolicited advice, opinions and/or judgments.

#3. I RESOLVE to give 100% focus and attention to my family and friends when I’m in their presence. That means putting away my phone and computer and look in their eyes and listen, full on, like they are the single most valuable and treasured, important persons in my world….because THEY ARE!

#4. I RESOLVE to introduce others to my best friend. Of course my best friend is Jesus. A best friend is someone we talk about a lot. We imitate our best friend. We tell stories about our best friend. I want my best friend to be their best friend. I'll share Him with them every chance I get. I'll teach them a lot about "What would Jesus do? (WWJD).

#5. I RESOLVE to be a “HOPE” dealer by encouraging others with “Nothing is impossible with God!” I RESOLVE to spreading sunshine instead of dark clouds. Hope is great expectation that something GOOD is about to happen. “Let us hold fast to the HOPE we profess, for He who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23

These are RESOLUTIONS that will not only set the course for my day, and year….but my entire life. What about you? Did you make New Year’s Resolutions, or LIFETIME Resolutions?

A Valentine's Day on Earth as it was in Heaven!

This treasured photo of my beaming Mom is from my daughter's wedding day. My precious Mom was my role model, best friend and even helped me raise my kids as she lived with us for many years. She was loved so deeply by all of us.

On Valentine's Day, 2004, my husband, took Mom his "usual" -- a single rose in a vase and her favorite box of chocolates. Mom had been living at the Grace Living Center in Jenks, OK for 4-1/2 months because of a serious fall.

When we arrived at her room, Mom was still in bed. Patsy, the South Wing Nurse on duty for this day, looked up as she was taking Mom's blood pressure and said, "Edna’s not feeling too good today." I could tell she wasn’t -- she didn’t respond heartily to our greetings as she usually did, and only gave a “little” smile at Ron as he reached down and kissed her, held out the rose and said, “Happy Valentine’s Day, to my Sweetheart!" I leaned in close to her, caressed her beautiful face, and soothed her with words of comfort. I hadn’t seen “my smile” from her yet, so I did my usual coaxing, "Where’s my smile?" She gave a half-hearted little smile and mouthed the words, “I’m okay!” She had on her red plaid pajamas. I said, "I see you’ve got on your Valentine’s PJs on!” Kiddingly, Ron said, “Hey, Mom! Come on. Get up. Let’s go to the mall. We'll take your silver Cadillac (her wheel-chair!)” She always knew when Ron was jesting with her and today was no exception. She responded back by her typical sticking-out-her-tongue at him.

Everyone who knew her, knew how she loved to “kid” and “be kidded” by Ron. She and Ron had an unusually close relationship for the 40 years we had been married and five years before that. Ron would tell anyone, “Mom and I have never had a cross word with one another – well, except when I'd have to get after her because she would be doing the kids' chores for them.

Ron’s Mom, Lydia, always came by to see Mother every Saturday. This morning was no exception. She came in and greeted her dearest friend of over 45 years. It was these two women who diligently arranged, prayed, and continued to bless the relationship of Ron and I since I was twelve, and he was thirteen, How befitting for all us to be together on this special day. While all of us were together this morning, Mom kept trying to tell me something, but I just couldn’t make out the words.

Since I had been through many physical “ups and downs” with Mom over the years, I assumed this morning would be like those from before when I would see her feeling very low, but then she'd bounce right back in just a matter of time. We all were convinced that Mom had nine lives -- she’d been so close to death several times in the last few years, but would recover and be back to her full-of-life self, spreading her love and joy to everyone around her once again.

efore leaving her this morning, Ron reached out to Mom in his customary way, joined our hands and prayed a beautiful prayer of faith for her healing, comfort and peace. We said our good-byes, gave her lots of hugs and kisses and headed out for our own Valentine's Day breakfast celebration.

After only about an hour and a half, I received a call from Patsy saying, “Donna, I’m so sorry. Your mother just passed away.” Oh, the heartbreak I felt. The questioning ensued -- “Why wasn’t I there? Why did we leave her?” We immediately went to her and she was still in the same position as when we left. Nadia, one of the dear Aides from Russia, shared that she had gone in to see if Mom wanted lunch. Being Russian Orthodox in her religious beliefs, Nadia asked Mom if she could pray with her. Mom would always accept an offer for prayer. Nadia recounted her last moments with her. She had prayed a simple prayer. She said that Mom's eyes followed her gesture of signing her with the cross. Nadia left for just a short while and came back to check on Mom and she had passed away.

After pondering the events of Mom's final moments of life, I came to believe that with Nadia's gesture of signing Mom with the cross, that Mom was able to make her grand escape. I like to think, like Jesus Christ said in His final moments, “It is finished”, so did Mom.

After someone so close to us departs for their heavenly home, God brings comfort to us by giving us thoughts and images of what heaven must be doing to welcome them. Ron said, “Papa got his Valentine Sweetheart back today!” (Papa, my Dad and Mother’s husband of 34 years, had preceded Mom in death forty years ago.) My dear Mother-in-Law, Lydia, said, “Donna, remember when Edna was trying to tell you something before we left? I know she was saying, “He’s coming for me.” For me, having been privileged to call this beautiful, precious saint my Mom (I deemed her Saint Edna Pearl long ago), who, because of her prayers, steadfastness, strength, true unconditional love for me in all of my “growing-up” years, inspired me to be a the woman I am today.

I dreamed a few nights ago that she was with me and I was making cornbread for her. When I woke up from that sweet dream, I made myself some cornbread. I like to think she was enjoying it, too, from heaven's grandstands. On that Valentine's Day in 2004, I expect that God AND my dad had a mutual agreement “Let’s bring our “Best Girl and Sweetheart” home!” And they did. They both knew how much she wanted to be with them, so they gave her the BEST Valentine's Day that would last forever and EVER!

Psalm 116:15 "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His faithful servants."