water after the drought

this last year has been rough. very rough. to say the least. it's best to not talk about it here because some things are best left to therapy and prayer. the result of all the hard was a hardening of hearts in our family; wedges between people. we are all working on softening our hearts, asking for forgiveness and forgiving each other. it will take time, but with God's help, it'll happen.

yesterday was the first time i've seen some serious progress. we spent the entire day re-seeding our lawn. winter lawn in arizona requires a lot of work. a lot of team work. thankfully, everyone worked well together all day long. all of our children are good workers once they've figured out how to lay their attitudes aside. some are great workers even with nasty attitude, but it's always better and more enjoyable with good attitudes and, of course, good music.

at any rate, not much else to say except i had a moment while throwing out manuer in the back yard where i looked up and saw all of my beautiful children and devan working together. each person had their own bag of dirt they were throwing out or shoveling out -- each in his or her own manner, but all working towards the same goal. and this thought -- not my own -- came into my mind..."this is the joy of family. notice this moment. you are feeling the joy of family." and it felt sooooo good and refreshing after such a long drought.

i saw God in my backyard on saturday. thanks be to Him for giving me that brief, but real moment to know and feel that family can bring and eventually will bring a fullness of joy.

God can kill multiple birds with one stone or, how God's love is amazingly huge and effective

One morning while running I passed a mother who was waiting with her severely disabled son in his wheelchair for his bus to go to school. I had just been going over in my mind all the challenges my family had been facing and I was feeling overwhelmed. As I passed her and thought about the challenges she is facing, I felt this incredible surge of hope and strength. She seemed so strong and yet I could tell she was tired. Somehow just seeing her show up for her son and love him and care for him I was lifted and didn't feel so overwhelmed anymore. I can't explain it, but it was such a strong feeling and it really helped me.

I turned the corner without saying anything to her and then had the thought come to my mind that I needed to tell her what she had just done for me. This feeling was also very strong and as I kept running it grew. So much so that I turned around and went to her. I had to.

The bus had pulled up by that point and the bus driver was preparing the bus to lift the child's chair. I just put my hand on the woman's shoulder and told her what a great mom she was and how much her example of love and sacrifice helped me that morning. I told her she was doing a great job and to just keep at it; she was inspiring me to do the same. She was surprised and thanked me. I took off running and continued with my day -- feeling so much better.

Five minutes later, while I was standing in my driveway down the street a ways, the bus driver pulled over and yelled to me out the window, "Thank you so much for stopping to tell her she is a good mom. I have been picking her son up for a while now and she often says isn't sure she is doing a good job. She doesn't believe me when I tell her she's doing a good job. But you just really made her feel so good. She couldn't believe you took the time to turn around and come tell her she was inspiring you."

It never ceases to amaze me how God can kill two birds with one stone; how he can lift many hearts at one time when we yield to the enticings of the Spirit and follow His promptings. My heart was lifted. Her heart was lifted. Heck, even the bus driver's heart was lifted. Where God is, there love is also.

I totally saw God today.