Wake up my Heart!

Well, this may be a creepy post! At small group tonight all of a sudden this pressing thought just imposed on my brain and it won't get out. What if I died tomorrow? Would my son know the things that I pray for him? Does anyone? Would those who know, tell him? I don't know! And he's only 8 and 8 is too young for some things to penetrate! Hopefully, I won't really kick the bucket tomorrow, but if I do then, or even years from now, somebody out there -- guide my son to this page when he can understand it. I do presume the Internet will be around for quite a while and words will live on! :) From here on out, this is for my baby and I'm just touching on the important things, otherwise I would never stop typing! Last year, shortly after your dad and I separated, I came across this verse in Jeremiah: "I will give them singleness of heart and action so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them (32:3...

Warning: cheesy post. Like the kind of story you hear on the radio and it annoys you a little bit? But sometimes God uses the cheese to teach you a point! :) (Note - I wrote this post - like actually WROTE on paper while I was on vacation with no computer access and I'm not changing my timing words!) This morning I got up at 5am to watch the sunrise and find shells along the ocean closer to low tide. We got there and 1) it was cloudy. 2) I couldn't find what I was looking for - a large shell, preferably with purple on/in it and 3) it was too bloody early! And then all of a sudden, I felt like God said, "Betsy, stop and look down." And do you know what I saw? Tiny, perfect, immaculate, beautiful - WHOLE shells - and tiny stones. Tons of them. Somehow, to me, their amazingness (that's not a word, but it should be!) in their tininess was more miraculous than if I had found a huge shell that met my purple requirement :) tiny shells as far as the eye could ...

Well...what a glorious life this is :) I had written a post a few months ago about a miracle that took place on a 10 minute drive...well, here's a post about another one. That happened not so quickly. I'd guess over the course of a couple of years, but it happened so gradually that I got a snippet of it a few months ago and really grasped it only last week. Confession: I was a pessimist. It was much easier to expect the bad and be pleasantly surprised when it didn't happen than to expect the good and be disappointed and sad. However. I realized that anytime anyone says something now that is negative, my brain ALWAYS flips it to the positive. I think my baby pointed it out a while back, telling me I was one of the most positive people he knew...(WHA??!) and then it hit me hard last week. I'm an optimist. Holy schnikes. With other people and even with myself and my future. That is bananas! Or perhaps not so bananas, because God is good and does indeed grant us the des...

By now, you should know I like songs. I like Christian songs because their words don't put any "yuck" in my head and I don't have to worry about what little ears are taking in when they are on! Some touch me deep and here are the lyrics to part of a new favorite: Reckless Love by Cory Asbury There's no shadow you won't light up, Mountain you won't climb up Coming after me... There's no wall you won't kick down, Lie you won't tear down, Coming after me... Friends. Focus on that last point: There's no lie God won't tear down. What is your lie? What lie, or even lies, do you believe about yourself? What lies run over and over in your head until they don't feel like lies anymore? What hurts have you told yourself you deserve? What unkindness have you accepted as your due? What actions have you justified for others? What fault have you accepted that really isn't yours? What forgiveness have you felt unworthy of? I'm...