Soaring

A Peregrine falcon fearlessly attacks an eagle who is threatening her nest.

I read Diana's blog today and it conjured up a recurring dream I have had. Not recently, although I wish for it.

I am soaring above the earth, holding on to Jesus's hand. I can feel the air on my face and through my hair. The air smells pure and sweet. The air is that perfect temperature and humidity. Warm, yet cool as I glide through it. Sometimes, in the dream, it is daytime, other times it is night, with a moon. I am completely at peace and comfortable with being high in the sky. Just recalling the dream gives me a sense of serenity.

Jesus lets go of my hand and I start to drop, ever so slowly. I look toward Him and I am assured that I will not fall, I just have to rest assured. I do and I fly and fly and fly.

I usually wake from this dream smiling. I hope a little part of heaven is that we will be able to soar about and to work and not grow tired.

"Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:30

Often these days, as we work on the house and yard, I wish I could work and not grow tired or get sore muscles. I am digging a flower garden under our bedroom windows. The soil here is clay-y. It is moon dusty when dry, when you wet it, it becomes runny and sticky, then when that dries, it's hard as rock. In fact, the dirt does form rock and it's called caleachie. So digging is very difficult and you have to amend the soil before you can plant anything. I am moving the plants from the side of the house to the front because we are going to put a concrete sidewalk from the garage to the side door. I was told there shouldn't be plantings right next to the house because it will undermine the soil next to the greenboard that skirts the crawlspace under the house. We can end up with pools of water under the house and grow mosquitos. Don't want that with the West Nile Virus present in the Phoenix area.

On that note, I'll get back to digging.

5 Thought Provoking Questions

This is a picture of the landscaping that we put in. You can't see the 4 bouganvillas next to the carport cause they are in the shade.

1) What is your life verse?
2) Give a bit of your testimony
3) Do you have a favorite preacher?
4) What's the best Bible Study you've ever done?
5) What do you feel God's calling is on your life?

These questions are not original with me. Saw these questions on Carol's She Lives Blog http://she-lives.typepad.com/she_lives/

It's good to have your thoughts provoked.

1) What is your life verse? Romans 5 v1-5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
2) Give a bit of your testimony Raised Catholic, including Catholic school through High School. Walked away, at 17, at 19, married, had my son at 23, accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior 2 years after that. My walk used to be affected by the church or bible study I was attending, getting too involved with people and gossip. I remarried at 35 (to a non-believer, thinking I could save him--he is a good man, just won't let go and accept Christ) I pray for his salvation daily. If I had to do it again, even after 24 years of marriage, I wouldn't marry a non-believer. He doesn't interfere with my faith, we just don't share spiritual belief like we share everything else. I found a wonderful small church to attend and communicate online, by phone and thru blogs daily to strengthen my walk with Jesus. I pray every morning at the same time of day with a friend who is 500 miles from me.
3) Do you have a favorite preacher? I love to listen to Billy Graham and am reading his new book, The Journey.
4) What's the best Bible Study you've ever done? I'm still doing it. My Women's Devotional Bible. It has writings by respected Christian women and verses to read each day. I also like my One Minute Bible that I read before going to bed.
5) What do you feel God's calling is on your life? Perserverence. Don't quit, don't give up or give in. To pray without ceasing, to find out His Will for me for that day and be open to walking that direction regardless of fear.

I'm Glad That God Is My Co-pilot

One of the blogs I read is Crickl's Nest at http://www.angelfire.com/art2/crickl/view/
She wrote last week about driving in Phoenix being scary. I have said that ever since we moved here(to the far West Valley, not to Phoenix) a year ago. We came from Orange County where the freeways are packed all the time. But the driving style is completely different, somehow. For one thing, in Arizona big trucks, pickups with trailers of all sort can drive in any lane and go as fast as the cars. THAT scares me. How would you like to have all the traffic up ahead come to a screeching halt and see an 18-wheeler in your rear view mirror barrelling down on you? When I lived in the OC and drove 19 miles to work on 3 freeways--which took 45 min. each morning and up to 2 hrs. each evening, I only had one minor accident in all my 40 driving years there. I was a fast driver--keeping up with the cars in the fast lane--but a safe driver.

Since we moved, I have slowed down for one reason only--to save on gas. There have been many trips to Phoenix, but mostly we go to Goodyear and Avondale to do most of our shopping. Yesterday, I had 2 near misses, which made me glad that I am a saved believer in Jesus. I know where I'm going when I die!

First incident: A pickup, towing a trailer with a new Eclipse on it whizzed by me then got caught in traffic and proceeded to jump lanes to get around traffic. He got caught behind a slow line of traffic. I was going by him in the fast lane(there are only 2 lanes on each side on the 10 Fwy out where we live), when he swung into my lane. If I hadn't been able to stand hard on my brakes, the trailer he was towing would have sideswiped me. That was scary!

Second incident: Just when I thought I was "home free", a crazy thing happened. To get to my house, I leave the freeway at an exit that has a really big truckstop. I am often stuck behind big rigs turning into the truckstop before I can proceed down the street. I was slowed down to almost a stop while a truck was turning in. He finished his turn and I pressed on the gas. Just then, on my left, came a PT Cruiser passing me as I was accellerating. When the truck finished his turn, I could see 4 cars coming head-on toward that PT. I, once again, slammed on my brakes, trying to stay back as far from the impending crash as I could. I was preparing to turn my wheels and get off the road completely. Somehow, the fellow in the PT managed to get back into the right side of the road before anyone hit him. I'll bet his life flashed before his eyes!

These are merely 2 of many crazy incidents my husband and I have witnessed while travelling the roads of the great Phoenix metro area. Whatza matter with these people? There are always a few that are in a huge hurry and have no regard for anyone else. I heard on the news tonight that a woman was clocked at 103 mph on the 101 Loop(not really a freeway, but goes between 2 major freeways) by the traffic ticket camera--not in the middle of the night, but in the middle of the afternoon! Yikes!

Storing Up in Heaven

This was last night's sunset there were some high clouds, so I kept watching for the sunset because I knew it would be a really good one. I waited too long and it got too dark for a picture. It was a lot prettier than the picture came out.

We had our landscape plants put in this morning and found out at about 4:00pm a big storm is coming. The winds are blowing the young trees so hard it seems like the leaves will all strip off. I hesitate to go out and look at the 4 bouganvilleas. The plants were expensive and I am distressed that they are all being ruined by the dust storm that is preceeding the big storm front.

We have never had a dust storm here in the year that we have lived here. Then it happens on the same day we put in the plants. The nursery guarantees the plants, but I bet they have a clause for "Acts of God", so probably won't replace any of them.

Oh well, this life is as the grass of the field, too bad that we put so much effort into it. This just shows me how impermanent life is. My concern should be the Kingdom of God, not how my front yard looks. I was concerned about the heat, which today, got up to 103 degrees. I hadn't heard any news about a big storm coming until we turned on the news at 4:30 today.

That's the one thing that I have such trouble with. If I only think on the things of God, how do I balance it with the earthly things? Should I have taken in 3 dogs or sponsored a child in a 3rd world country? Should I have bought 2 trees and some plants for the front yard or donated that money to the missions? Should I go to the movies to see X-Men III on Saturday night, or put that much additional into the collection plate on Sunday? My husband is a non-believer and would prefer that I not give any money at all to church, since I still have not found a job and am not bringing any money into the household. So he feels that any money I donate is his money......sort of.

I pray about these questions frequently, have not received an answer from God and don't have any peace about them. They nag at me every time I spend any money. I pray to the Lord to give me the answers.

Deep Roots

I thought I would have those plants moved by now. Nope! Those desert plants have very deep roots. I'm still watering and digging.

All this work to move the plants serves to remind me of the deep roots I need to have in my faith. And how it takes a lot of work to put down those roots. I want to be strong and sturdy, upright and sure. The way to do that is to read, pray and put the Lord first in my life.

My friend is keeping me company on this journey, as she had decided to do the same. It is wonderful to be praying each morning at 7:00 am, knowing that at the same time, she is praying with me. Today we check in by phone with each other on our progress. We have also made a committment to exercise and eat right so that we are caring for our earthly bodies as good servants should.

It's funny, too how things fall into place. I rarely watch the Oprah show, but yesterday, it was so hot, that I sat down, turned on t.v. and watched it. Dr. Mehmet Oz (renowned heart surgeon) was on talking about food and exercise. The show gave me some new insights about processed food and renewed my resolve in healthy cooking. It also gave me a boost that my mere 30 minutes 5 days a week on the treadmill was doing me good. And all that digging--that's my strength training! Processed foods are literally killing us. High fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils and sodium are in practically every processed food and fast food that we consume. Saturated fats--fat from all 4-legged animals clog our arteries, but those hydrogenated oils are the worst. They turn to stone (plaque) in our veins. And they are in everything from crackers and popcorn to Lean Cuisines and ice cream. What can we eat?? Anything that comes the way God made it. That means we have to plan meals and cook. Get some food discipline.

I saw a lady on the show whose only complaint was that she was tired all the time, in spite of drinking 3 6-packs of diet cola a day. She was 35 pounds overweight(she said) but was really concerned that she was sleeping 12 hours a day and still tired. They looked through her kitchen and found that she was eating 95% processed foods. She didn't go on a diet(food depravation) but rather ate as much as she wanted of the healthy foods. She walked on the treadmill 30 minutes a day and did yoga for 30 minutes too. She lost 43 pounds in 90 days! And she looked fabulous and felt like a new person. Look on the Oprah website at Monday, May 1 for details.

That was inspiring to me. Some processed foods have snuck back into our food. I have sugar-free cookies and sugar-free ice cream. I have whole grain crackers, but usually the CheezIts win out over them. I have protien bars that are sugar-free, but guess what? They have hydrognated oils in them. I am going to talk to Phil today about clearing out the fridge and cupboards and trying this new food plan for the sake of not just our health, but our energy level.

Well, on that note, I'm going to hop in the treadmill!