Granny Is Here!

First of all, thank you for lifting us up in prayer. They are much felt.

Since Friday, we have been busily preparing for Granny to move in to our home. We cleaned out the extra room, that like any extra room, had accumulated all of our extra stuff that we just didn't take the time to deal with. It is a BIG room. It was a BIG job. If you could have only seen my nephew's eyes when he saw the pile of garbage bags that he and Ty had to carry out to the road. I said, "You should have seen what all I carried to the Lighthouse. He just smiled and silently nodded his head as he went to tackle the job.

With the help of Granny's furniture, some of ours, an electric fireplace, new curtains, lamps and a rug, the room is quite homey. We prepared the room so that Granny wouldn't have to leave it to be cared for. We hired men to build ramps up to the back door so that she could be wheeled in to the house. Another ramp was also installed up to my kitchen from her room so that maybe on good days Granny could eat with us at the table. I was a bit concerned that they weren't going to be finished in time. But at least the men would be there to help us get Granny in the house if we had trouble.

Well, Granny arrived to her room on Monday afternoon. She did it by walking down my front sidewalk and up my front steps!! HELLO, Granny!! I was a bit stunned. Aunt Cathy and Mom said that she was doing better but I didn't quite understand how much. Granny was bright and smiling and though she wouldn't make it too far without assistance from someone or a walker, she was walking. She is strong enough to stand on her own most of the time and she just needs help with direction because she doesn't remember what room to go to.

Dinah has taken to the caregiver role. She has to be with Granny if she isn't sleeping. If Granny gets up to go anywhere, Dinah pushes aside whatever she is doing very quickly so that she can walk in front of Granny's walker and say, "Come on, Granny, " in her sweetest voice. (Don't worry, I make sure she moves quickly enough that she doesn't trip Gran.) She also feels in that she has a right to all the privileges of the one being cared FOR. If I tuck blankets around Granny's lap, Dinah sits beside her and curls up, makes herself shiver and says, "I'm cold. I need a blanket too." She also needs to eat whatever Granny is having even if she has already had her meal.

So far things have been going fantastically well. I am so glad to see Granny feeling better. There are issues that I wasn't prepared for because I thought she would be too weak to go about the house, but God knew all that I and I can trust He will take care of them like He has all the rest.

Once when Eric inquired how our day had gone, he asked, "Do you think she knows who you are?' I told him that I really don't know for sure but I know that she seems happy and content. She hasn't asked to go home or when mom was going to come get her even one time. She doesn't call me by name. I don't ask her if she knows who I am or if she knows where she is, you see, because her memory has no rhyme or reason. But I feel she must know that we belong to each other in some way.

I have had to sleep with her because we don't have the hospital bed yet. Last night, when I thought she was asleep already, I went to climb in to bed with her. My back was to her as I was swinging my legs up and I hear her gruff voice (her voice box was damaged from a tracheostomy she had after a horrible car wreck a long time ago) say, "I didn't say you could sleep with me!" It kind of made me jump and I turned quickly toward her. She lay there grinning. I laughed too and asked politely and she said smiling, "Well, I guess so, just this once."She would have teased me like that a long time ago when as a girl I used to spend the night with her at her house and sleep in that same bed.

She is always very cold so I try to make sure the covers are about her shoulders when I wake in the night. She pulls most of the covers anyway so I shouldn't worry. :) I don't sleep much because I don't want her to try and get up without help. I must have been so tired that I drifted off a bit more than usual on Monday night. I woke once to find her pulling the blankets up around my chin. My granny was taking care of me.

Anna Becoming

It's Not A Burden, It's My Granny

For those of you that don't know, my Granny (Momma's momma) hasn't been doing very well as of late. About a year and a half ago, she had to leave her home and go stay with my mom and then my Aunt. Because of dementia and a body that was growing weaker with age, she didn't need to be by herself. Her mind and body have continued to slowly fade. She recently had a fall which has set many other problems and issues in motion. 

After a hospital visit, a week's (if it was that long) stay at a nursing home, and now another hospitalization, it has been decided that Granny will be moving in with we Lancasters. We are busy now readying our home for her. She should be with us early this coming week. The coming days will be an adjustment for us and I would like to ask you all to pray for us. 

I am a very fearful person. The Holy Spirit is constantly on duty driving away doubt and trembling from my soul. I don't watch the news because I can't bear to think about all the evil. My imagination can go a bit wild at times about what might seem to be something harmless to other people. I am very careful with my decisions because of all the possible consequences I see in the future. 

So, you would think that going to India or Africa on a medical mission would be out of the question. You would think that I wouldn't quit my job when I thought God wanted me to. You would think that the prospect of taking care of my Granny here at home without the help of monitors, aides, and supervision would scare me to death. 

Strangely, when it is something big that I know, that I know, that I know God wants me to to do, I become fearless. I guess it is when it gets SO big that I have no way of handling the situation myself, I quit worrying about how it will get done. I just trust He'll take care of it. I know that I need to know that with the everyday things too, and I'm working on that. But for now I'll just be glad that this right now doesn't scare me. 

This even kind of makes some things make sense that didn't before. Like I told you, I know that God wanted me to quit my part-time job in December. I did. I kept waiting for another job to open up for me but it never did. I tried my best to make it happen for me, thinking He probably needed my help. :)

But I am now in a position to care for Gran when I wouldn't have been before. He brought me to where I needed to be before I needed to be there. Isn't He good? Isn't it wonderful that He surprised me and called me to be a nurse 10 years ago when it had never crossed my mind before?

I realize that what we are about to do is going to be difficult. The longer I live though, the more I'm convinced that nothing worth doing is going to be easy. This will probably try my faith and character more than anything has yet. I can not promise that I will not fail miserably at times. But I am willing to try and be as good of a care giver to her as she was to us.

My children love their Granny and I am glad that they will be able to spend a lot of time with her. They are great kids and I am so proud of them for being so unselfish as to want me to be able to take care of Gran. Eric is being very brave and will be sacrificing much as well. My mom and my aunts will be anxious for us and will have some adjusting to do trusting me with their mom. Would you especially remember and pray for each of them? We will all need courage, strength, patience, kindness, selflessness, and a great deal of love to make this work the way God intended. 

I've been reading The King's Speech by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi. It is about how Lionel Logue, a speech therapist, helped King George with his speech impediment and fear of public speaking throughout the King's adulthood and reign. There are several excerpts of the king's speeches in the book. I enjoy reading them and several of them have portions that touch me greatly. 

One is from King George VI's Christmas broadcast of 1942 when England and the world were at war. He states that President Abraham Lincoln used to tell of a boy who was carrying an even smaller boy up a hill. Asked whether the heavy burden was not too much for him, the boy answered: ''It's not a burden, it's my brother!''

It stuck with me especially this last week or so when I tell people that we are going to be caring for Granny here at home. I know it is in kindness that people gasp and say, "Isn't that going to be hard?"or "How are you going to do that?" But I'd like you not to be afraid for us either. I know you care about me and might want to gently tell me that what is ahead of me will be hard. I know it will be and I know that God will take care of it. He is already working on my support system: my mom, my aunts, my sisters, their husbands, my brother and sister-in-law, a friend to help me with house work, my precious praying friends like you, and on and on. So, when I get discouraged later or am having a bad day, I'd like for you to remind me of what I KNOW. (Only of course after you have listened long and petted me a bit. :))

The best way I know to explain my fearlessness and even excitement about what God is doing and about to do in our lives is that "it's not a burden, it's my Granny".

A picture so you can see Granny in your mind's eye when you pray for her. Oh, and some folks used to call her Nellie, but she's always been Granny to me. God knows wither way. :)

Anna Becoming

Baby Boy Birthdays in Heaven

Tomorrow my baby boy, Jack, would have celebrated his 5th birthday if he had lived on here on this earth. I have always been careful not to think about what might have been. But tonight, I can't help wondering what it would be like if he was here. We would be excited about tomorrow and he would probably be telling everyone with a whole handful of fingers that he would be the all important "5". I really think that he would have looked a lot like Ty (because all my kids look so much alike at each age), so I can imagine his beautiful face and a sweet smile. 

But thinking about what might have been doesn't get us anywhere but a heart full of hurt, does it? I can think about what is though. 

Today, God brought to mind a song that Mandisa wrote about another baby boy that was taken to heaven just when he was about to begin his life on earth, when she penned "You Wouldn't Cry (Andrew's Song)". Although Andrew was her 1st child and Jack was my 4th, our birth situations were so similar. And after researching a bit, I found out that she had her Andrew just a few months after our Jack. 

This song was inspired by a pregnant woman named Rebecca, who Mandisa met at one of her shows in 2008. As they talked, Mandisa prayed for God's protection over the baby. The following week the little boy, who Rebecca had called Andrew, was stillborn. When Mandisa heard the tragic news she wrote the grieving mom a letter, along with a CD of songs she had compiled, to encourage Rebecca. Mandisa told Christian Music Today: "I remember thinking there was no song that was going to be from Andrew's perspective." The following week the singer got together with Cindy Morgan to pen some songs. Mandisa told her songwriting partner Rebecca's story, and after contemplating what Andrew would say to his mom, they wrote this moving number about the wonders the little boy is experiencing in heaven with God. Later Mandisa had the privilege of singing the song for Rebecca. She told Christian Music Today: "It brought her so much comfort to think that when she sees her son again he's going to be able to show her around heaven and show her all the things he's been experiencing. It's my prayer, and I know it's Rebecca's prayer, that Andrew's song would encourage others who are going through similar loss."




I know that this song did encourage others who were going through a similar loss. I remember hearing the song and the story behind it one day on KLOVE as I was driving down the road. It helped me so much to hear it that day. 


It reminded me that even though I was missing him and that I felt so heartbroken, that if I could get past the limits of my feeble human brain and have a glimpse of the paradise he now lived in, I wouldn't cry anymore. Our God is faithful and His word is true. Jack is where "blue has never been bluer, true has never been truer". He hears the "song in the breeze, a million voices in praise" He is where "a rose has never smelled redder, the sun has never been brighter".

Tomorrow, instead of birthday candles and cake, my boy will spend his day with the Light of the World and know the Bread of Life. Instead of a birthday song, he'll hear angels singing praises to the King all day long.

What momma could be sad about that?


If you have a chance, listen to the song but the lyrics are pasted here below for you to read.

"You Wouldn't Cry (Andrew's Song)"

All you saw was pain
All you saw was rain
But you should see me now
Moments filled with tears
Lasted all those years
Disappeared somehow
You never said goodbye
On your knees you cry
You're still asking why, but

Blue has never been bluer
True has never been truer
Honey never tasted so sweet
There's a song in the breeze
A million voices in praise
A rose has never smelled redder
The sun has never been brighter
If I could find the right words to say
If you could look at my face
If you could just see this place
You wouldn't cry for me today

What you think you see
Isn't really me
I'm already home
You've got to lay it down
'Cause Jesus holds me now
And I am not alone
Your faith is wearing thin
But I am watching Him
And He's holding you too, and

[Chorus]

What may seem like years will just be a moment
Oh, the day will come when I'll show you where you're going
I can't wait to show you that

[Chorus]

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/mandisa/youwouldntcryandrewssong.html

I Know Who You Are

Lately, life just doesn't seem to be going my way. For months now, it just seems like there has been one problem after another. Physical, emotional, financial, and relational problems have come in waves, each overlapping the other with some yet to recede.

At times I feel my world may never be right again. Frustration, anger, disappointment, and fear seem to have brought their luggage with them to unload on me and stay a while. I try throwing their garments back at them, and asking them to leave. But sometimes my strength fails and it is easier to succumb to their weight than to fight.

But then He whispers, "I care for you", in some way or another. No matter what time of day I am in the car, that song comes on the radio. I know He is the one that did that.  He is the one who made that one  daffodil bloom before all the others just along my sidewalk at home so that I would see it looking up at me every time I passed it by. I've told you before about daffodils and His promise that Spring will always come no matter how hard the winter.

When I tell Him that I can't see and that I am frightened, He brings to mind His faithfulness to me in the past. He reminds me of scriptures that hold His promises to prosper me and to make all things work together for good. When I am weary and worn, He reminds me that when I am weak, He is strong. When the hurt threatens to choke me, He tells me that He is The Healer.

I am there. That place where I am nothing. I can't fix this. I can't even bear it on my own. I am helpless, totally dependent on You. I can't see the end. I don't know the outcome.

You are Love. You are Truth. You are Faithful. You are God. You are King. You are Gentle. You are Kind. You are Grace. You are Beginning. You are End. You are Forever. You are Father. You are Provider. You are Healer. You are Constant. You are Keeper of my Soul. You are Just. You are my heart's Home. You are More than Enough.

So, even though I do ask "why?" at times, in the end it is enough, Lord, that even though I don't know what You are doing right now, I know Who You are. Help me to be found faithful as You are.


JJ Heller's "Who You Are"

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 

        2 Corinthians 12:9

       But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made      

        perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my     

       weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me

        Psalm 147:3

       He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Anna Becoming

Never Gives Up

I have given up at least 28 times in the last four days. I tell myself that I can't stand it anymore. I don't want to live this way. It isn't my fault. I don't want to keep paying. This isn't fair. I can't bear this pain. I want it to stop. I can't do it. I don't want to. I won't.

But then, when I stop talking long enough to hear, the words are there,


Love:

is patient
is kind
is not jealous
is not boastful
is not proud
is not rude
does not demand its own way
is not irritable
does not keep record of being wronged
does not rejoice about injustice
rejoices whenever truth wins out
never gives up
never loses faith
is always hopeful
endures through every circumstance

I Corinthians 13:4-7

True love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance. 

Even though these words say things that I already know in my head, my heart needs to hear them again and again. 

Yes, I'm tired. I can't do this. I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

But He can. 

He will help me be patient. 
He will help me to not keep a record of wrongs.
He will help me to be hopeful.
He will help me endure all things.
He will give me hope.
He will help me not give up.


Lysa Terkeurst just shared this prayer on her Facebook page for others who might need to pray this for a friend in their lives. 

Dear Lord, please bless her with Your peace. Give her strength to hand over the worries, cares, and loneliness. Take the pain and squelch the doubt. Remind her You are her God: the Great I AM. Nothing is impossible with You. And You do turn all things for good. Be with her tonight and grant her sweet, safe, sound sleep. Thank You for Your presence. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

In 26 minutes it got 493 likes, 51 comments and 220 shares. Apparently, there are a lot of women who might want to give up tonight. Thank you, Jesus, for never giving up on us. Help us to hang in there holding onto Your promises. 

Reminding myself that God is good all the time and that all the time, God is good.

The Good Part

I have been reading Ephesians to get ready for a season of study there. I get excited about all the verses now-a-days and often find it difficult not to post entire chapters at a time, as you have noticed. But this afternoon this verse wowed me:

Ephesians 1:7-10

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. ⁹ And he^[a] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

Sometimes (well, a lot), I need to go to some other versions and look at all of them so that it helps me understand what I just read. I know that there are some arguments about which translation is best. I probably only use 5. I don't know which is the one that you use or how you feel about them, but I am so glad that there are some simpler versions to help this simple girl hear what God is saying through the Holy Spirit. 

I read this version before going back to the first:

Ephesians 1:7-10

The Message (MSG)

^7-10 Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

I don't know about you but that is worth shoutin' about! I love the part, "And not just barely free, either. ABUNDANTLY free"! 

"...everything would be brought together and summed up in HIM..." 

Thank you, Jesus!!

I love that I can go to biblegateway.com and get the Bible versions in parallel. 

Anyway, the whole chapter is a humdinger. Give it a gander.

Isn't it really neat to read a book (the Bible) and know that all of it is the "good part"? 

-----Falling deeper in love with God's word everyday------

Anna Becoming

Bringing Tidings of Great Joy

If I was the totally organized, on-top-of-things wife and mother that I want to be, everyone of you would have received a version of this picture for your Christmas card.

Aren't they precious?

But because I'm not even half "totally organized" and only seldom "on-top-of-things", that isn't what happened. I didn't order enough cards. :( And because I ordered them so late, I couldn't order more in time. :(

So, it is my hope that for those of you that I dearly love, and didn't receive a Merry Christmas greeting from the Lancasters by mail, would accept this virtual one. They are both sent with the same amount of care and thought. 

Last year, our card pic was professional. Brandy Jaggers did such a good job with those pictures. They were taken in August and it was so convenient to use one of those lovely shots for our Christmas bit o' cheer. I had no trouble clicking on that image and creating the perfect card and sending it your way. 

This year was a bit more difficult. Ty doesn't like his picture to be taken. At least by me and beside his sisters. Getting all  4 of them much less all 6 of us together in decent clothing and smiling all at the right time is almost impossible for casual photography. I searched through our most recent pictures to try to find at least 4 separate shots of the kids to put on those cards with lots of pictures. NO success. 

I had almost given up on the prospect of a Lancaster 2012 Christmas Card. Maybe next year.

We have really been soaking up Christmas with the kids and on the nights that there are no ballgames or Christmas programs to attend, we have been trying to do something "Christmas special". Well, on this night a couple of weeks ago, after I woke from my Monday nap after working, we ate supper together, bathed the children and then decided that we all needed to load up in the car and go look at Christmas lights. The pajama-clad, blanket-wrapped children were SO on board for this one. 

Our first drive was through our neighborhood and it naturally took us to the beautiful Collins' yard. We have seen it many times this season already, but usually as we semi-slowed down and sailed past. This time we hopped out of the car to get a closer look and enjoy the music more. (Yes, MUSIC!) The Collins' weren't home so we did't venture up too far. The kids were busy saying, "OOooo! Look at that one!", "Oh my, Momma! Did you see that one!". 

Isn't it beautiful?

Well, thankfully, I had my camera. I cried out to the kids, "Let's take a picture of you by the JOY sign!"  The girls immediately shrieked and ran toward the sign. Ty immediately sighed and said, "Oh no. Please, no." I ignored him and shrieked and ran with the girls. Ty warmed up to the idea eventually and wasn't it a beautiful picture. He even took this picture of Eric and I.

After we finished trespassing, we drove around for another 45 minutes or so enjoying the beauty of all the pretty lights in town, thanking God for them and their owners, and happy that we didn't have to do any of the work or store the figures year-round. We had great fun but I couldn't get them to get out of the car again. Not even for the Trojan reindeer on Hickory.

When we arrived home, I downloaded the pictures to my computer and knew that I wanted one of those pictures to be our Christmas card. Those moments in the Collins' yard captured where we are right now. 

We were in our pajamas. (Not Eric but the rest of us.) I wasn't wearing any make-up. My sweats didn't even match. All I heard after I told Tess that we were going to use that picture was, "Oh, Momma! But I have my braids in!" She or I braid her hair for her to sleep in at night. I was glad that the picture showed the REAL us. The US that we are most of the time. We aren't put together. Our blemishes are exposed. There is no veneer to hide behind. 

These past few months have been hard. My illness was only the brink of the iceberg. Someday, I may be able to share with you about the heartbreak, confusion, devastation, and pain that they held; about the struggles we are still experiencing. But for now, just know that they were enough to put us under, to break us, to scar us beyond recognition.  

But that night, as on many nights, when the world would have expected to see defeat, despair, and ugliness, this is what the world would see:

Were we hurting? Yes

Were we disappointed in our humanness? Yes

Were we a long way from fixed? Yes

BUT GOD GAVE US JOY.


Would you bear with me and read this next long passage courtesy of biblegateway.com?

Romans 8:12-39

The Message (MSG)

^12-14 So don’t you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There’s nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

^15-17 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!

^18-21 That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.

^22-25 All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

^26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

^29-30 God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.

^31-39 So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

I shared this on a post long ago but it puts into words in a small way what I get from the above scripture:

I am a sinner.
I deserve to die for my sin.
I can't do anything by myself to save myself from that death.
God is a loving God.
He doesn't want to see me punished.
But God is a just God.
He must punish sin.
God sent His Son to earth to live a perfect life, die on a cross, rise from
the dead to pay the price for my sin.
By trusting in God and by believing in Jesus Christ alone for
eternal life I was saved from this death.
By faith, I transferred my trust from myself to Jesus Christ.
I will go to heaven when I die and live eternally with Him.

Even though I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior,
it doesn't mean that I don't sin. Sadly, I still do. But because
of my relationship with Him, I can ask forgiveness for that
sin and He forgives and forgets and I try to do better.
But because I am His, I can never be separated from Him.

Because of these things, I can have joy despite my circumstance, despite how I feel, and despite what the world might see.

My future is bright in His hands. Because my hope is in Him, I can cry, "What's next, Papa?", instead of saying that all is lost.

This doesn't come easy all the time. Most days it is really hard. But, oh, what we learn in the hard places!

So, this Christmas, the picture of your life may not be perfect. It may be the worst picture you have ever taken. But God sees the real you, and loves you anyway. His is a love that isn't just enough, but greater than your imaginings. His is a love that doesn't quit, walk away, and won't allow anything to tear it from you.

So will you sing with me today, especially if it is for the first time:

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, [though] the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls,

¹⁸ Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the [victorious] God of my salvation!

¹⁹ The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]!

For the Chief Musician; with my stringed instruments.

Merry Christmas, my friends,

with love from the Lancaster's