Yesterday I read that it was 'World Juggling Day' and that got me to thinking about what I've been juggling lately. It's allot. And it's been completely overwhelming at times.
There are many reasons why and I won't list them all, because there is nothing worse then hearing someone whine. And, also one of my best girlfriends is serving right now in Africa and let's just say that puts a little perspective on things.
Not, that my feelings aren't valid -or yours!
But, as I was having that sinking feeling-you know the one, where you are treading water but feel like you are sinking at the same time- I began to shift my focus on the things around me that God was overwhelming me with His grace.
I cannot begin to tell you how that changed my attitude and my perspective!
I began, not just seeing what needed to be accomplished, but what already had been accomplished on my behalf. Not what just needed to spent on bills, but how we'd been so graciously provided for. Not just children who needed discipline and correction, but children with amazing gifts and talents that are directly from the Lord-because they surely didn't get them from us!
So, my prayer for you today is that you won't be overwhelmed with all you have to juggle-from fiances to medical issues. From children and laundry. To marriage's hanging on by a thread to the mundanes that life can sometimes be.
But, instead that you will be overwhelmed by the pure Grace of God! Look around, it's bigger than anything else you have going on in your life right now. And once you start looking, you'll find you can see Him everywhere!
Blessings to you today as we journey together! And feel free to let me know what Grace has overwhelmed you lately!
I just read that today is World Juggling Day. (Who knew?)
Got me to thinking about the things I am juggling and really got me to wandering what are YOU juggling?
So, let me know what you're juggling in your life and then I'll share some more.
Ok, let's hear it -feel free to vent (a little :) )
Got me to thinking about the things I am juggling and really got me to wandering what are YOU juggling?
So, let me know what you're juggling in your life and then I'll share some more.
Ok, let's hear it -feel free to vent (a little :) )
I'm the girl who used to guess every single Christmas present-and if I couldn't guess would snoop until I found them all.
List maker extraordinaire.
And I can't tell you the joy I have in crossing things off my lists. Something about seeing the line through the item that gives me a sense of accomplishment. (I'm a nerd, I know)
I like to plan.
With both our boys, the Lord showed us he was in charge by years of waiting and countless infertility treatments. Years of anticipation and anxious waiting and our prayers were answered by two beautiful boys.
Our list had been made and filled. We were thankful and ready to move on from having babies to rearing them.
Then it happened. The surprise of a lifetime.
A baby was coming to us. One we hadn't spent years trying to have. One we hadn't prayed and cried for. One that was so unexpected I didn't even realize I was preggo and was convinced I had an ulcer until my girlfriend convinced me to get a home pregnancy test.
And here we are four years later, celebrating our little surprise who changed everything. Changed it all for the better.
I still make the lists and plan the trips, but I have learned that not every surprise is a bad one!
Happy Birthday, Precious One, always know that you are loved and wanted -even if you weren't part of the plan!
You'll always be Mommy's best surprise!
List maker extraordinaire.
And I can't tell you the joy I have in crossing things off my lists. Something about seeing the line through the item that gives me a sense of accomplishment. (I'm a nerd, I know)
I like to plan.
With both our boys, the Lord showed us he was in charge by years of waiting and countless infertility treatments. Years of anticipation and anxious waiting and our prayers were answered by two beautiful boys.
Our list had been made and filled. We were thankful and ready to move on from having babies to rearing them.
Then it happened. The surprise of a lifetime.
A baby was coming to us. One we hadn't spent years trying to have. One we hadn't prayed and cried for. One that was so unexpected I didn't even realize I was preggo and was convinced I had an ulcer until my girlfriend convinced me to get a home pregnancy test.
And here we are four years later, celebrating our little surprise who changed everything. Changed it all for the better.
I still make the lists and plan the trips, but I have learned that not every surprise is a bad one!
Happy Birthday, Precious One, always know that you are loved and wanted -even if you weren't part of the plan!
You'll always be Mommy's best surprise!
Whoever came up with the saying 'the lazy days of summer' was obviously not a mother!
We've had graduations, weddings, end of the year parties and soccer soccer soccer going on here at our house.
Sometimes, in the midst of all the craziness, I sometimes forget to stop and enjoy the moment.
So, in the hustle and bustle of life at our house right now, here are a few random things that are making me happy.
1)Mercy Me's newest CD The Generous Mr. Lovewell. So fun and funky! There are a couple of songs on there that sound like standard Mercy Me (don't get me wrong they are so good) but there are several that fresh and funky. It's a great CD
2)Never would I have thought that watching my kiddos teams would be more fun than going to a professional game. OH BUT IT SO IS!! I don't have the star of the team, but love watching my boy play with the same boys he's been with since 2nd grade. And having a godly Coach-icing on the cake!
3)80 degrees and sunshine -blesses my soul!
4) Eagerly awaiting my friends return after being in Thailand for two years. I can't wait to get my arms around her neck!
5)garage sales-Let me just say that if you would have told me in 20's the fun I would have finding treasures at garage sales I would have told you that you were CRAZY!! But, in my 30's I've so come to enjoy them!
6)Flip flops and Capri pants. Oh the happy!
7) Re arranging my furniture!
8)The sassy green color I painted our family room. Fun Fresh and Funky!
So, in the craziness of your days, what's making you happy right now?
We've had graduations, weddings, end of the year parties and soccer soccer soccer going on here at our house.
Sometimes, in the midst of all the craziness, I sometimes forget to stop and enjoy the moment.
So, in the hustle and bustle of life at our house right now, here are a few random things that are making me happy.
1)Mercy Me's newest CD The Generous Mr. Lovewell. So fun and funky! There are a couple of songs on there that sound like standard Mercy Me (don't get me wrong they are so good) but there are several that fresh and funky. It's a great CD
2)Never would I have thought that watching my kiddos teams would be more fun than going to a professional game. OH BUT IT SO IS!! I don't have the star of the team, but love watching my boy play with the same boys he's been with since 2nd grade. And having a godly Coach-icing on the cake!
3)80 degrees and sunshine -blesses my soul!
4) Eagerly awaiting my friends return after being in Thailand for two years. I can't wait to get my arms around her neck!
5)garage sales-Let me just say that if you would have told me in 20's the fun I would have finding treasures at garage sales I would have told you that you were CRAZY!! But, in my 30's I've so come to enjoy them!
6)Flip flops and Capri pants. Oh the happy!
7) Re arranging my furniture!
8)The sassy green color I painted our family room. Fun Fresh and Funky!
So, in the craziness of your days, what's making you happy right now?
I was in Walmart Saturday (which I think there should be some kind of award for that!)
when I overheard two ladies chatting, who apparently hadn't seen each in awhile. ( I am a major people watcher so I can't help but take these sights in . . .) And as women do one of the ladies asked the other 'what do you do'.
Her answer may or may not surprise you.
She said 'Oh you know, I'm just a Mom'.
I tried to hide my smile and fight the urge to go and hug her!
I've described myself like that-recently in fact.
Just a Mom.
Well on my drive home I began thinking of all the reasons why we do describe ourselves that way, which lead me to thinking about all the women who were 'just' something.
Eve was just first.
Mrs.Noah was just a wife standing by her man.
Jochobed(Moses mother) was just a mother trying to save a baby.
Sarah was just an old lady.
Rachel was just weeping for her son.
Rahab was just a prostitute.
Hannah was just a lady praying for a baby.
Bathsheba was just used.
Ruth was just a widow.
Naomi was just a mother in law.
Esther was just an orphan.
Mary was just a girl.
Anna was just waiting for her Messiah.
Martha was just busy.
Mary Magdalen just a women who knew what she'd been delivered from.
Priscilla was just a faithful follower.
Maybe your 'just' is something you don't think can be used.
Just divorced, just lost a child, just lost a job, just a single person, just a women with a career, just uneducated, just a mom.
I'm so glad the Lord looks at my 'justs' and sees what only He can do with them.
when I overheard two ladies chatting, who apparently hadn't seen each in awhile. ( I am a major people watcher so I can't help but take these sights in . . .) And as women do one of the ladies asked the other 'what do you do'.
Her answer may or may not surprise you.
She said 'Oh you know, I'm just a Mom'.
I tried to hide my smile and fight the urge to go and hug her!
I've described myself like that-recently in fact.
Just a Mom.
Well on my drive home I began thinking of all the reasons why we do describe ourselves that way, which lead me to thinking about all the women who were 'just' something.
Eve was just first.
Mrs.Noah was just a wife standing by her man.
Jochobed(Moses mother) was just a mother trying to save a baby.
Sarah was just an old lady.
Rachel was just weeping for her son.
Rahab was just a prostitute.
Hannah was just a lady praying for a baby.
Bathsheba was just used.
Ruth was just a widow.
Naomi was just a mother in law.
Esther was just an orphan.
Mary was just a girl.
Anna was just waiting for her Messiah.
Martha was just busy.
Mary Magdalen just a women who knew what she'd been delivered from.
Priscilla was just a faithful follower.
Maybe your 'just' is something you don't think can be used.
Just divorced, just lost a child, just lost a job, just a single person, just a women with a career, just uneducated, just a mom.
I'm so glad the Lord looks at my 'justs' and sees what only He can do with them.
On May 15th I'm speaking at a ladies event at our church. The theme is on Intimacy.
As, I have been preparing, I've discovered that means lots of different things to different people.
So, this is where you come in . . .
What does Intimacy with Christ, your family and your friends look like to you?
I would love to hear your thoughts!
As, I have been preparing, I've discovered that means lots of different things to different people.
So, this is where you come in . . .
What does Intimacy with Christ, your family and your friends look like to you?
I would love to hear your thoughts!
OH my I've had so much over the past week and a half I've been wanting share with the bloggy world, but I either didn't have the time to sit and write a complete thought, I was passing out medicine to one of the littles or my heart was just too full and I couldn't express what I was feeling.
On April 19th we had the five year anniversary of C's heart surgery. Unbelievable really. Five years. Short and long both at the same time.
It's a long complicated story and I'll just share some highlights with you, because
1) It's my blog and I want too
2) It's so good to remember when God moves in a mighty big way
3) Maybe you need to be reminded that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob hasn't changed and He's still in the miracle business!
C has asthma and allergies and as an infant was S I C K A L L the time. That is no exaggeration either, my friend. The kid was sick. Odd sick. Like his blood work would come back with no white cells or elevated white cells or it looked like he'd never had his baby shots. Finally, when he was about 6 months old the doctors told us to pull him out of the church nursery and basically keep him isolated so he could just get well.
Anyway, years went by, he was growing and we were learning how to treat the allergies and asthma and basically a non existent immune system.
He'd gotten pretty sick the end of February his Kindergarten year and they sent us for a chest x-ray to see if he had pneumonia -nothing new, he'd had it before, a routine Doctor visit for us.
The night when I got the call from the Doctor, everything changed.
I was expecting to hear if C had pneumonia or not instead I got 'Mrs. Wilkinson has anyone ever said that C has a misshapen heart?' I could hardly speak. 'No, no one has ever said that.' A few minutes later I was given the name of a children's cardiologist and told to call them ASAP.
So, I called and scheduled our appointment, all the while not really able to form many actual prayers, just bursts of thoughts. 'Lord, please help my baby. I don't know what to say, just please heal my boy.'
When we saw the cardiologist, he laughed at the radiologist and called him zealous -I was feeling good at that point. He said, let's do the tests just to be sure, but he couldn't hear anything, no one had ever heard any kind of murmur and he thought everything was fine.
After he ran the test and we were WAITING for him to come back in the room, as soon as he stepped in -I knew. Knew something was wrong, very wrong.
He apologized for laughing at the radiologist and proceeded to tell us what he thought was wrong. They could see the misshapen part of the heart and there were several leaks. At least 5-6 leaks and they couldn't tell how bad they were. One needed a coil, but the others might need something more drastic to be done. They wouldn't know without going in and looking. So we were scheduled for a coil placement and exploratory scope to see what would need to be done about the rest of the valves. For the next two weeks I was in shock.
The day of the surgery we went in prepared to hear when our open heart surgery would be taking place.
But, a miraculous thing happened that day.
The surgeon called us back to a room where they showed a video of Cam's heart during the coil placement. They showed us that side by side with the video of the original dye test they had done on him earlier to show all the leaks.
With pointer in hand, he said 'Mr and Mrs. Wilkinson, I don't know what or how this happened but the leaks in this original test are not there. We placed a coil in one but the rest are gone.' As we held each other and tried to hold back the tears, we told him we could tell him how it happened! I have never felt so prayed and cared for by the Holy Spirit in all of my life. God knows what it is like to lose a son, He was there holding us up when we couldn't stand. He healed our boy.
A year later, C was no longer considered a cardiac patient.
The hump on his heart -nothing. Nothing except, God trying to show anyone who would pay attention that something was wrong. All the unexplainable sickness? Again, trying to get the right person to figure out that something was wrong with this kiddo. See, he would have been the 16 year old that drops dead on the basketball court that no one knows why, if the leak had never been found.
What a great God we serve! I am so thankful He hasn't stopped doing miracles!
You know, when C was little I would pray all the time for God to heal him and take away all the sickness he was going through. Just think, He could have done that. . .and if He would have I might not have my son even now.
When you are walking through the pain and trial it is hard to see the benefit. But, we know that we never have pain just so God can hurt us, often it's to give us life -just like he did for C!
I know this post was long and not as funny as some others, but we can never forget the day we saw God's hand move. I pray you see Him move for you too!
On April 19th we had the five year anniversary of C's heart surgery. Unbelievable really. Five years. Short and long both at the same time.
It's a long complicated story and I'll just share some highlights with you, because
1) It's my blog and I want too
2) It's so good to remember when God moves in a mighty big way
3) Maybe you need to be reminded that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob hasn't changed and He's still in the miracle business!
C has asthma and allergies and as an infant was S I C K A L L the time. That is no exaggeration either, my friend. The kid was sick. Odd sick. Like his blood work would come back with no white cells or elevated white cells or it looked like he'd never had his baby shots. Finally, when he was about 6 months old the doctors told us to pull him out of the church nursery and basically keep him isolated so he could just get well.
Anyway, years went by, he was growing and we were learning how to treat the allergies and asthma and basically a non existent immune system.
He'd gotten pretty sick the end of February his Kindergarten year and they sent us for a chest x-ray to see if he had pneumonia -nothing new, he'd had it before, a routine Doctor visit for us.
The night when I got the call from the Doctor, everything changed.
I was expecting to hear if C had pneumonia or not instead I got 'Mrs. Wilkinson has anyone ever said that C has a misshapen heart?' I could hardly speak. 'No, no one has ever said that.' A few minutes later I was given the name of a children's cardiologist and told to call them ASAP.
So, I called and scheduled our appointment, all the while not really able to form many actual prayers, just bursts of thoughts. 'Lord, please help my baby. I don't know what to say, just please heal my boy.'
When we saw the cardiologist, he laughed at the radiologist and called him zealous -I was feeling good at that point. He said, let's do the tests just to be sure, but he couldn't hear anything, no one had ever heard any kind of murmur and he thought everything was fine.
After he ran the test and we were WAITING for him to come back in the room, as soon as he stepped in -I knew. Knew something was wrong, very wrong.
He apologized for laughing at the radiologist and proceeded to tell us what he thought was wrong. They could see the misshapen part of the heart and there were several leaks. At least 5-6 leaks and they couldn't tell how bad they were. One needed a coil, but the others might need something more drastic to be done. They wouldn't know without going in and looking. So we were scheduled for a coil placement and exploratory scope to see what would need to be done about the rest of the valves. For the next two weeks I was in shock.
The day of the surgery we went in prepared to hear when our open heart surgery would be taking place.
But, a miraculous thing happened that day.
The surgeon called us back to a room where they showed a video of Cam's heart during the coil placement. They showed us that side by side with the video of the original dye test they had done on him earlier to show all the leaks.
With pointer in hand, he said 'Mr and Mrs. Wilkinson, I don't know what or how this happened but the leaks in this original test are not there. We placed a coil in one but the rest are gone.' As we held each other and tried to hold back the tears, we told him we could tell him how it happened! I have never felt so prayed and cared for by the Holy Spirit in all of my life. God knows what it is like to lose a son, He was there holding us up when we couldn't stand. He healed our boy.
A year later, C was no longer considered a cardiac patient.
The hump on his heart -nothing. Nothing except, God trying to show anyone who would pay attention that something was wrong. All the unexplainable sickness? Again, trying to get the right person to figure out that something was wrong with this kiddo. See, he would have been the 16 year old that drops dead on the basketball court that no one knows why, if the leak had never been found.
What a great God we serve! I am so thankful He hasn't stopped doing miracles!
You know, when C was little I would pray all the time for God to heal him and take away all the sickness he was going through. Just think, He could have done that. . .and if He would have I might not have my son even now.
When you are walking through the pain and trial it is hard to see the benefit. But, we know that we never have pain just so God can hurt us, often it's to give us life -just like he did for C!
I know this post was long and not as funny as some others, but we can never forget the day we saw God's hand move. I pray you see Him move for you too!
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