Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Deep Water


Put the boat into deep water, and put your nets in the water to catch some fish.


I’ve worked hard all night to catch some fish. I did my level best. The rowing was hard, and slinging those heavy nets wasn’t easy either, but I cast and cast all night long without success. I moved my boat to different spots that other fishermen recommended and tried again. Nothing. Still, I kept fishing.

The sky grayed and the stars began to fade. So I threw the nets harder, farther, and dragged them in as fast as I could, again and again, ignoring the ache in my back and shoulders. Every single time, they came up empty. The last star winked out.

My miracle never came.

I’ve packed it in. My nets are washed.

Fishing time is over and the sun is high in the sky. If nothing was there when the conditions were prime, how can I have faith of anything being there now? But you say to put the nets in the water, so I will.

When the fishermen did what Jesus told them, they caught so many fish the nets began to break.

Luke 5:1-8

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Blessings

I have been to that place. That hard place, the devastating situation and found myself asking, “Is there any good in this?”

Yesterday my son shared a song with me. The message of the lyrics are that the answers we receive to our prayers don’t always take the form we want them to, but we are blessed even through the hard places. I want the easy solution, the immediate healing, the comfortable way. No one wants to suffer. No mother wants to watch her child suffer.

Hard places make us grow. My flesh resists this concept, but it’s true. It is not an easy thing to stand in faith when faith is all you have.

If we had not traveled the difficult path that was destined, we would not be where we are today. I try to remember that saying, ‘You have to go through some stuff to get to where you are going.’

My son told me that he felt that our trying experiences had been a blessing to him. He said, “It makes me know what’s real, what's important.”

In the evening, when we gather together, my children and I, my sons pray for me. They pray for their father, and their siblings, for each other. I am still and listen to the voices of these men of God. Mighty men of God who live in my house.

My blessing.

Laura Story - Blessings.mp3

Thursday, March 10, 2011

How I Look

I have been fighting a virus for going on two weeks now. I am recovering, but still tired and worn down from a combination of sickness and mom duty, tending everyone else.

It's time to get back on track now. I have a meeting today.

I was getting ready and looked in the mirror. I frowned at my reflection. "I hate to go out looking like this, " I said out loud, then shrugged. "But it's how I look!"

Some days all you can do is accept that it is what it is.