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I recently sent a friend an email.  She lives on the other side of the world.  Due to time differences, I usually send her an email to let her know I am praying for her.  I gave her an update on myself and she responded by saying that I should write a book.  So today I'm doing the next best thing by writing a blog entry.

For years, my female body has battled female hormones.  Too long of a story to write about but in summary, I will simply say I'm on the right track. Finding a hormone balance doctor in my area and getting results from blood work, I have chosen a course of action toward good hormonal health.  The biggest culprit in my list of symptoms is Anemia due to low iron.

After two rounds of iron infusions, a bottle of Chlorophyll, and now a blood tonic enhancer chock full of Chinese herbs, I'm having more good days than bad.  Bad days are defined by extreme fatigue, headache, dizziness, nausea, and occasional difficulty with breathing.  

This is not cancer.  This is treatable.  This is also a pain.

It's been a pain because, like always, my sense of timing is not matching the Creator of my body's sense of timing!  I expected my iron infusion to "heal" me immediately.  Immediate has not come.  Weeks have now passed and I'm just now seeing "better" but not healed.

I took my complaints to the Lord.  He listened - He's good like that - and then offered up a thought.   He asked me how long it takes for a baby to be born.  Easy, 9 months.  Then He told me that 9 months was a prescribed law of pregnancy.  It takes a set amount of time for everything to properly grow and ready itself for birth.  To be pregnant, and ask God to allow the baby to be born in just 2 weeks, goes against the law of pregnancy.  The law is designed for a reason.

I breathed deeply and understood.  This law of iron regeneration is set for a specific time for a reason.  

Understanding this law and submitting to it are two different things.  I have so many things I want to do.  I have so many things I need to do.  I plan for a good day and have no energy.  I make a list of things to do and nothing gets checked off the list.  It's frustrating.  But what I'm trying to do is submit all of it to the One who knows the time frame.  Letting stress build up in my body while I'm trying to rest is stupid.  I fight feeling lazy when I have no energy and tell myself the law of healing is at work in my body.  I try not to wear myself out with battling the lying tales that want to develop into epic stories inside my brain.  I just submit it and rest.
Instead of fighting, I rest.  

As I wait for iron levels to jump through the roof, I begin to understand that God's way often is using set laws that are meant for a specific purpose.  If I've been praying for a breakthrough, and breakthrough hasn't come, it may be that there is a spiritual law that is being lived out.  It's not unanswered prayer but a divine timing issue that I simply need to wait upon and rest in the One who has already set a plan in motion!  

What about you?  I don't believe God wastes anything, especially not our pain.  Is there something you've been waiting for that has not yet been fulfilled?  Perhaps this is a time to rest instead of fret.  Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal or recall scripture to affirm the reason you are in the waiting room.  What we believe while we wait is important.  

So, let me reiterate ... I breathe deeply.  This law of iron regeneration is set for a specif time for a reason.  God is good.  I will wait.  

Breathing,
Christina

Info about Chlorophyll
Info on my special Chinese Blood Tonic





Feet back in an Oklahoman, borrowed bed, boxes stacked and ready to be moved to another temporary location, a suitcase filled with Austrian gifts for American friends, and jet lag saying it's final goodbye, I ponder.

Oklahoma is OK!  Yesterday, the neighbor noticed we were home and asked us if we're sad to be back.  The reply was automatic.  No!  No, we are not sad to be back.  This is where God has put us and we are content and will thrive and continue to make this "home" our "home".  So no, we are not sad to be home.

Yet, having been back for almost a year, my thoughts turn toward what the year brought out in me.  I was convinced that God would provide a house for my birthday ... in August.  I was hopeful that God would surprise me with a house ... for Christmas.  I was sure that a house would be ours before Austrian friends came to visit ... in May.  I was pretty convinced we'd surely have a house by the time we visited Vienna ... in June.  No house.  So what do I do with my timetable?

Joshua led many teams on excursions that looked pretty horrible.  They faced enemies that were really too big for them to fight on their own.  The people of Isreal were small in number compared to the enemies that lived in spaces in the promised land that God said was theirs.  Yet, battle after battle took them closer to obtaining a promise.  For me, little wanderer that I am, it gives me hope and rock-solid confidence that each battle of doubt, each battle of "maybe this time", each battle of "is this the house", each battle of wanting so desperately to put up curtains on windows in a home that bears a title with my name on it ... is coming.

What trips me up is Time.  Time leaves me doubting that God's word is only true measured by an estimated time table.  Time leaves me wondering if God is really with me.  Time makes me doubt His goodness.  Time leaves me questioning that He will do what I heard Him say.  I don't want Time to have this effect on me, but there is a tiny thread of wrong believing that creeps into my mind the longer Time does not produce what I know God has promised.

You see, long before we moved across the ocean, we were sure.  We were sure God had called us to move to Oklahoma.  We were sure that God would provide for our needs.  We were sure God would also provide a house.  How do we know?  Our Spirits knew.  We were at peace.  Others confirmed.  He gave us scripture to affirm what we sensed in our hearts.  Just like Isreal walking in borrowed territory to claim their own possession we knew God was giving us a "home".

This morning, a year after moving, I am at peace.  What God has taught my heart is that He keeps His Word.  He gives me new mercies every morning.  For me, the mercy of reminding me I've heard Him and He will deliver ... on His timetable ... keeps me going another day.  Hope is cumulative.  One day builds on another.  Each day I see God's faithfulness, His kindness to remind me He is near, gives me spiritual fuel to keep going ... to keep believing.

Today I'm all fueled up.  My house awaits in His time.  So ... O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A, Oklahoma, OK!




This morning I walked.  It's become a sacred activity in my life - this walking.  Without fail, I see images.  I bring along my handy dandy "handy" (what we call cell phones in my country) to document these images.  Lately, I've noticed that most images settle on a theme.  Today's theme:  Ways to Get from Here to There.  (Because I lack the technical intelligence to know how to download what I've captured on my phone onto my iPad and then to this blog, you must go to my Facebook page to get the actual images.)

As I started snapping these images of mine, first a bridge, then a row of bikes, then Strassenbahn (street car) tracks, I stumbled upon an adult bike with an infant seat attached to the back.  Hmm.  Then I saw some people sitting on a bench, waiting for the bus.  Instantly, I had the impression that these, too, were forms of getting from where you are to where you want to go.

I've told you recently that I feel as if we are in transition.  I'm not sure to what end transition will lead.  However, I do know the feelings that stir inside me while I'm going through it:

  • I get stressed when I try to diagnose the end result.  
  • I get impatient with the uncomfortable feelings that uncertainty bring down deep inside me. 
  • I find myself lacking the faith to be still and desiring the need to produce activity to launch me forward into - something - anything.
And yet, this morning, the revelation came:  Two ways to get from where I am to a place I am uncertain of comes in 1) being carried and 2) in waiting.

The image of the infant seat on the posterior side of the adult bike is great - yet disturbing.  It denotes a position of vulnerability.  The infant has no say in the direction the adult is peddling.  The way may be obstructed by the physical body of the rider.  It requires total dependantcy on the adult.  He picks you up, plops you in the seat, does the activity to get you to where it is you are going, takes you out when the journey is at its end.  

I'll be honest, when I was much younger, I was a rebellious infant.  I wanted to climb into the seat, see where I was going, often yell directions at the one leading, and jump out of the seat when I arrived in anticipation of doing the next thing.  What has happened to me over the years is simple.  Intimacy.  As I've become more intimately acquainted with my Father, I've chilled out.  I know He can be trusted to take good care of me.  Really good care.  In fact, I've learned to enjoy the times that He leads me and I rest.  Resting then becomes faith.  Faith tells my Father I know Him and I trust His ways - even when I don't know the outcome.  

As I snapped my images of humans waiting on benches, I had to sigh.  Waiting is not passive.  Waiting is an act of faith.  Waiting takes more courage than actively rushing into that in which you are waiting for.   Right now, this feeling of transition of mine makes me want to DO something.  Trouble is - I have no idea of what to do!  I've learned that as I wait, I see things that activity kept me from noticing.  When I wait, I see His face.  When I wait, I see what's going on around me.  When I wait, I notice - myself.  And when I wait, I've grown keenly aware that it's not about me.  There are activities that are happening in order for the things I am waiting for to arrive.  There is a plan and order and it all takes place while I - wait.  

I'm learning that "without faith it is impossible to please God" is really about being carried and waiting.  

Feeling the need to "do" and you have no clue what you are to"do", chances are God is teaching you to be carried or to wait.  My advice - be carried and wait.  It's the hardest most sacred thing you will ever learn to do.

Looking around while I wait,
Christina
This morning as I was getting ready for my day, I heard this song called "Hello, Lord".   I've been in a Sara Groves kick.  I love her melancholy voice, heart piercing lyrics and raw honesty.  I had never heard this song and it reflected what I've experienced before in my walk with Jesus - times of silence.

Too many times, we equate the inability to hear God's voice with sin or failure on our part.  That's so like us - mankind - to shame ourselves. The enemy of our souls has done a darn good job of creating and helping us develop a strong sense of works within the "church".  If I pray harder, work harder, serve harder, hear harder, listen harder ... then.  Then?  Really?

It's an old adage that says "Silence is golden."  However, modern Christianity says quite the contrary.  Silence usually spells trouble.  We are praised and admired when we are able to hear clear direction and act upon it.  When there is nothing, we measure our value against our inactivity and come up with inferiority.

After spending and emerging from many months in a "waiting" room, I have learned that silence can be freedom.  When we crave answers to help our crisis the very answers we are asking for ... if answered int eh way we would desire them to be ... would be catastrophe.  In silence, new things are being worked out for our good that are so usually disproportionally opposite to what our tiny little minds can think of or imagine.  I am a testimony to this crazy process of silence that brings you to new places.


This is process of learned behavior.  When we choose to learn the lessons of silence ... and rest of the abundant adequacy of a God and Savior to work out that which we cannot see on our behalf ... be it nerve racking and scary ... it's called rest.  An in it's simplest form, rest if faith.  Choose faith, friend who may be walking in silence.  Silence is still golden.  Silence offers the opportunity for rest ... for faith ... for new beginnings and extravagant new things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd2nAWoS_j0&index=5&list=RD3ozpb6R8YSw
As we wait on the details to be worked out for our return to Vienna, we … wait.  Sounds a little obvious but waiting is something we humans have a hard time doing.  I’ve spent a lot of my life waiting.  It makes sense that when a season of waiting arrives I should embrace it.  The longer God allows me to breath on planet earth, I’ve learned a thing or two about this season of waiting:  it seems that waiting is more about something being worked out in me than a set of circumstances being worked out for me.

When I read in the Old Testament about waiting periods, I’m struck by the activity that was required on the part of the “waiter”.  God told Joshua, for example, in his waiting, to concecrate himself and the people of Israel.  They waited intentionally.

As we wait, both my Chris and I have a sense to intentionally wait (pay attention) to the things God is teaching us about His Holy Spirit.  Intentionally pay attention to the words of wisdom others are speaking into our lives.  Intentionally invest in relationships that mutually build. 

On my own strength, waiting is laborious.  In the strength of the Holy Spirit, waiting is rest.  I tend to want to jump into something … make something happen … stir the pot … act.  I know that about myself and so does God.  I love that He even has this tendency in me covered in His Word and by His Grace: 
  • The Lord gives strength to His people and blesses them with peace. (Ps. 29)
  • God is a tender and compassionate Father and He knows how weak I am. (Ps 103)
  • When the Holy Spirit guides my life, I desire what is opposite of my sinful nature (my need to jump, make, stir and/or act). (Galatians 5).


So we wait … intentionally … and choose to live by the Spirit.

With every tick and tock ... choosing to wait ... and rest,
christina


For anyone who knows me well, having time to myself ... to think, write, read, study, ponder, daydream, be still ... is priceless.  I have a loose ritual that I go through to settle my mind and heart.  I usually grab my coffee cup (I have two favorites) and a little notebook that is a bit tattered.  I grab a colored pen (another favorite) and I jot down things that come to my mind that I can truly be thankful for ... a goodnight kiss from my 14 year-old, an irritating email that caused me to trust God more than myself, a surprise phone call and invitation to lunch.  Then, I wander over to a book a dear friend gave me years ago (see above).  It's rare that I want to copy other people's work in my blog, because this forum is all about me ... my work (Sarcastic tone can be inserted here.)  However, this morning, I find the words of author Sarah Young too good to be passed by.  Therefore, feast your eyes ... and if you dare ... your heart on her words from today's entry:
Worship ME only.  Whatever occupies your mind the most becomes your god.  Worries, if indulged, develop into idols.  Anxiety gains a life of its own,parasitically infesting your mind.  Break free from this bondage by affirming your trust in ME and refreshing yourself in MY Presence.  What goes on in your mind is invisible, undetectable to other people.  But I read your thoughts continually, searching for evidence o ftrust in ME.  I rejoice when your mind turns toward ME.  Guard your thoughts diligently; good thought choices will keep you close to ME.
What I adore about the aging process is not the saggy chin - and other body parts - but the wisdom that seems to settle nice and cozy in my brain like a good cup of Java.  I've spent too many years saying I love and worship God ... Creator ... Almighty ... while my behavior said otherwise.  My behavior said I have to plot, plan, worry and research options in my life, run them by God, then move forward hoping for the best.

In this phase of my life, I am trying to assume a position of quietness.  I'm learning to worship - perhaps for the first time - GOD.  God says to trust.  When I do any action based on  my own fear, worry, stress, knowledge ... I am worshipping ... me.  And can I say, it's so easy to worship me?!  I often make more sense!  I often have a plan that can be checked off the list.  I often have something to show for my actions, making me and others impressed.

When I choose to worship God, things get sticky.  He tells me to trust ... to wait ... to be silent ... to not retaliate ... to listen ... to allow Him to work ... to most often do things that make no sense to any other being on planet earth.  It's hard to swallow, this kind of worship.  It often doesn't make me feel good.  It often doesn't make me look good.  And then, that's it ... isn't it.  It doesn't become about me ... it becomes about the object of my worship.

it's not about me ...
christina
I love structure.  I love a good plan.  I love having routine.  Yet, there are times I just a need a break from the expected.  I know God knows that about me ... and I love it when my "normal" gets crashed and something new and fresh is allowed to break through the mundane that often is my life.

This morning was one of those moments.

I really felt that instead of sitting with my coffee, my open Bible and reading I needed to just be still, be quiet and ... be.  That's what I did.

As I listened to the following song ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqr-Q1U87fY&feature=BFa&list=AL94UKMTqg-9CpGqh9v-aprPQil7WrHVLL

... I began to write the first things that came into my head:
Joy
Life
Favor
Prosperity
Hope
Light
Truth
Way
Sweet
Name
Known
Bear you up on eagles wings
Restore your soul
Rest in me and be made whole

I wait a lot of my life away.  I wait in line.  I wait for a good hair day.  I wait for children to grow up.  I wait for people to come.  I wait for people to go.  I wait for a good mood.  I wait for a feeling.  I wait for hot water to cook.  I wait for dishes to dry.

In the waiting, it dawned on me there is a process in the middle of waiting that gets lost.  It's in the "zwischen" time (in between time) that a lot of "stuff" can happen ... "stuff" that if we let it do it's work in us could really change who we are and how we think.

If, in the waiting, I can experience the words that lodged in my head this morning ... joy, life, favor, prosperity, hope, light ... I think I come out of the "zwischen" time a better person.  Not better because I've done some miraculous thing.  Better because I've rested in the grey of wait ... walked through it ... waited ... and been changed by the process.

Just some thoughts this morning ... as I wait on a friend (insert big smile)!

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I love to write. I love to tell stories. I've been writing since I was a kid; it's just something I do. With a cup of coffee in one hand, I attempt to show our ordinary life in an up close, personal, and authentic way. I make no apologies for my belief in a Life Author, God, who desires to show us who He is. Thus, I see our journeys as purposeful adventures. I am a wife. My Chris and I have been married since 1991. Everyday I wake up and find him in my bed, looking at me with no makeup on and dark circles under my eyes, I thank GOD he is a man of faithful endurance! I am Mom to 3 girls: Addison, Parker and Libby. They challenge me to be all I was created to be. I hope you come away with something useful, inspiring, humorous, or helpful. That's my goal ... and why I scribble words on a page. Enjoy!
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Fahrenheit Mentoring is a mentoring agency designed to help peole along the journey of life. My husband and I founded Fahrenheit in 2014 out of an expression of what we've done for over 25 years: mentor. To learn more, check out our website.

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