Help Me Reflect Your Love

Love Lia's Road Trips

Lia took another trip this weekend, but she had company.  China, a Shar Pei, and Safari, a Dachshund, were along for the ride to New York as we headed to my mom's surprise birthday party.
My mom's best friend and my grandmother started planning this party in December and convenient enough my parents were planning on being in New York for my mom's birthday.  The one malfunction is that when my parents leave town, I watch the dogs, so I knew I was going to miss the party.  I had missed my dad's birthday a couple years before because they were in NY and I was going to miss this one because they were going to be in NY.  I was ok with it.  I get most birthdays, my siblings rarely get to see them.  So I would let them have the big party and I would get the rest.
And then I got a call from my mom's best friend saying you need to come too.  Find another dog sitter.  You are going to be at this party!  Yes, ma'am!  You don't say no to my mom's best friend.  She makes stuff happen, one way or another.  So I did my part.  I made the arrangements so that I could come.
And then Mom started saying that we were going to get hit with a massive snow storm and she was going to cancel the trip.  So I started watching the weather...  Nope, the weather looks good, Mom.  It's ok.  You can go.
Well, the weather in NY doesn't look good.  I don't think we are going.
(She was right about that one....)
I contacted my sister and said you got to help me out...  She is going to cancel if we can't tell her that the weather is going to be fine.  And we totally sugarcoated it!
I woke up the next morning to find wrapped presented for my nieces' birthday and sent messages to my sister and mom's best friend and said I think the trip is a go!!!
After they left, I went into a mad frenzy, getting the dogs ready to go (oh yeah, my dog sitter cancelled on me and I couldn't find a replacement...), packing balloons so that I could make a balloon sculpture for mom's portion of the birthday party, doing one last load of laundry, packing my bags, and dog proofing my van, and headed out the next day to transport my parents dogs across 5 states without their permission and hoped that nothing happened!  There was lots of praying going on!!!
China didn't get car sick at all.  Safari was nice enough to share her bed with China (mostly because Safari spent most of the trip on the back seat.)  And we made it to NY and only drove through an hour of snow.
As I built Mom's surprise balloon sculpture, China and Safari played with my mom's best friends' dogs and had a great time!
Just before the party was to start my mom's best friend came to get me and the completed sculpture and we walked into the party with my grandmother and it was AWESOME!
And then I was asked, "Where are the dogs?"
All in all, it was a fabulous trip.  Lia, China, Safari and I made it home last night safely.
Love is Here, Take it With You!  Lia.  I definitely think that this weekend embodied that definition in every person who knew about the party and helped plan it in any form.  So much love for everyone, friends, family, adopted family, and dogs too!

Love My Box

We all have one. That place where we feel safe. Our box. Being an introvert, I like my box a lot. It's big and comfy and has room for lots of books and movies and trips to the mountains, maybe even a best friend or two. Much more than that and I start feeling crowded, lost, out of my element. I don't like walking into a room of people I don't know and introducing myself. I don't like going to parties full of people I don't know and supposed to 'meet new people.' It's just not my idea of a good time.
Like most people, I assume, I have a mix of introverts and extroverts as friends. Semi-recently I met an extrovert who has become a very dear friend. I'm even willing to have her be one of the people I let in the box....
But she sees something in me.... Something far greater than me sitting in the privacy and solitude of my box can imagine. And she keeps reaching in and tugging on me.
Not hard... Not enough to destroy my box... But she is pulling me out... Out into the sun, into the world, into the land of extroverts.... *gasp*  OK... Maybe not that far!
Do you ever feel God tugging you in a direction that makes you uncomfortable? Are you experiencing some growing pains?
Over the last few months as I slowly feel two different parts of me combine together and a new me emerge, I wonder about His plans for me as He pulls me out of my box using my friend.
Be brave! His plans are greater than anything we can possibly imagine!

Love to be the Turtle

Yesterday I walked 1.36 miles in just under 30 minutes. It's a far cry from 12:30 per mile I recorded at the Monument Ave 10k a couple years ago, my personal best.
You see, yesterday was the first time I walked for exercise since June. I was diagnosed with plantar fasciaitis in late July and was told no more walking or running until my foot healed. Then I decided to get bronchitis (twice) and our fall season and believe me I could come up with more excuses if I wanted... I just haven't been exercising.
But I went for a walk yesterday. A very slow walk yesterday. I'm still kind of sore from a flare up in November and I didn't want to overdo it. By the end of the walk, I was tingling, but no pain, so I am hopeful. I know I need to continue to take it slow and easy, but that is not a speed I function well at, especially when it comes to exercise! Please see long list of previous injuries all from me pushing to hard, too fast...
Do you ever feel like that with God? Like you've been asking for something and He's just not giving it to you? Or you know He's trying to tell you something, but He won't just come out and tell you?
Hurry up already!
That happened to me last year without me realizing it. I received the 'Love is Here, Take it With You' gift in December, but it wasn't until the summer when I figured out that it wasn't just a gift and it was still another month before I started the blog. Even now He is still revealing bits and pieces of the journey as He knows I am ready to handle them, not before.
Patience is a virtue. How I hated that saying as a kid. As an adult, I have learned that without patience I would not be who I am. I would still be a hot headed kid.
So... One step at a time, one mile at a time, as God sees fit to reveal to me, I am prepared to take this journey.

Love to Rest

Just as I was gearing up to start the New Year with a new exercise program, PrayFit challenged their readers to NOT exercise for the first 10 days of 2016. The reason? To spend more time with God and less time focused on yourself.
If you spend any serious amount of time in the gym, the focus while in the gym is undoubtedly about bettering yourself... Whether for health or a race or vanity or... The list goes on... PrayFit's concept is that while you are in the gym or running through the woods, to also be focused on God, because He created this body, my body.
Through everything I do, I want to worship Him! And so, even as I wanted to and needed to start my exercise program with the rest of the world on January 1, I didn't...  I rested...  I submerged myself in God's word.
I started posting again and it has been so amazing. The last 9 days, God filled, His presence surrounding me has been awe-inspiring! But it has not been easy. I've wanted to exercise. I'm trying to get my life back on track and exercise is part of that! I heard a sermon years ago about lent and what you choose to give up during the season. Every time you think of it, think of the suffering of Christ and the reason we are doing this.
So during these 10 days I've treated it as a mix between a fast and lent and every time I thought about exercise, I would then think about Christ and remember why I'm doing this. If I could I would open a devotional and start reading.
And it all... Perfectly led up to this morning...
This morning's sermon was Jesus' baptism, the Holy Spirit anointing Him and God saying He was well pleased. This was followed by my joining the church and a remembrance of our own baptisms.
Could there be a better way to break my fast than with a remembrance of my baptism?
The thought that God is well pleased with me after everything I've been through in my life is a humbling thought, but that's the point. Jesus hadn't performed any miracles yet. He hadn't stood out in the crowd yet. No one was following Him around. And yet... God was well pleased with Him.
I want to remember that tomorrow when I wake up and when life gets difficult and when the world closes in and even when everything is perfect too.
And a secret from me to you..... He is well pleased with you too!

Love for Lyrics: Do Something

"Do Something" by Matthew West

I woke up this morning

Saw a world full of trouble now

Thought, how’d we ever get so far down

How’s it ever gonna turn around

So I turned my eyes to Heaven

I thought, “God, why don’t You do something?”

Well, I just couldn’t bear the thought of

People living in poverty

Children sold into slavery

The thought disgusted me

So, I shook my fist at Heaven

Said, “God, why don’t You do something?”

He said, “I did, I created you”

If not us, then who

If not me and you

Right now, it’s time for us to do something

If not now, then when

Will we see an end

To all this pain

It’s not enough to do nothing

It’s time for us to do something

I’m so tired of talking

About how we are God’s hands and feet

But it’s easier to say than to be

Live like angels of apathy who tell ourselves

It’s alright, “somebody else will do something”

Well, I don’t know about you

But I’m sick and tired of life with no desire

I don’t want a flame, I want a fire

I wanna be the one who stands up and says,

“I’m gonna do something”

If not us, then who

If not me and you

Right now, it’s time for us to do something

If not now, then when

Will we see an end

To all this pain

It’s not enough to do nothing

It’s time for us to do something

We are the salt of the earth

We are a city on a hill (shine shine, shine shine)

But we’re never gonna change the world

By standing still

No we won’t stand still

No we won’t stand still

No we won’t stand still

If not us, then who

If not me and you

Right now, it’s time for us to do something

If not now, then when

Will we see an end

To all this pain

It’s not enough to do nothing

It’s time for us to do something [x3]

Last night I attended a meeting a my church about how we can help refugees adjust to their new lives in our city.  It's something I've been thinking about since the Syrian Refugee Crisis started and one of my friends on Facebook started posting about how to help refugees in Memphis, the city where she lives.  
Sometime later I saw a news piece on a group that had purchased baby carriers and was greeting ferries of refugees and showing them how to wear the baby carriers and helping the mothers and fathers secure their children as they prepared to walk another 40 miles to safety.  My heart broke as I imagined the terror and relief that these parents must be facing on this journey to be met with people holding safety for their children.  I wished then that I had the means to provide even 1 baby carrier for them.
Then my church said they were bringing Restablish Richmond to our church to talk about how we could help refugee in our neighborhood and I knew my prayers had been answered!  I was so excited to attend last night!
Everything from last nights meeting just made me want to DO SOMETHING!  To get involved!  To help these people that are forced to flee their country!  This is what I want to do! To help in any way that I can.  

Love to Take A Pilgrimage

Today is Epiphany, the day when the Wise Men arrive at the manger, marking the end of their journey, their pilgrimage.
This Sunday in church, our pastor talked about what a pilgrimage is. She defined it as a journey to find deeper meaning and asked us to think about kind of pilgrimage we would like to make in 2016.
Now I'm sure that some people were thinking about a physical pilgrimage similar to the one the Wise Men took, but after considering her sermon and my life, I could only come up with one answer.
A journey to deeper meaning in which something changes or shifts inside of you as you go along. Just last week I was struggling to find words to describe exactly what I am doing with my love story but as I sat in church on Sunday, I knew that the journey I've been on, just as the Wise Men were, is a pilgrimage. And just as the Wise Men did, I seek love.
Yes there are differences between the stories, but I feel some similarities as well.
I know you are part of my journey, part of my pilgrimage and without you, I am unable to find the deeper meaning He has planned for me. I am excited to see what He has in store for me next!
What is next for you? Where will your pilgrimage lead you this year?