No Room for Discouragement

Tonight I went with my friend Michelle to listen to this wonderful woman speak.

Her name is Stephanie Nielsen...and she is incredible. She, like all of the other woman in the world, has had trials that have been hard to bear. Yet she continues to turn to God and thank Him for her blessings. She is a loving mother and wife, despite the times when she was not able to be even that.

You see, Stephanie and her husband were in a plane crash. He broke his back and she received burns over 80% of her body. They spent months in the hospital, and had so many surgeries. Stephanie knows that she has been given a gift: The gift of life. But it has not come without a struggle. One of the difficulties she has had is accepting who she has become because of the accident, especially how she looks. She has skin grafts all over her face and looks so different from before the accident. Yet she has been able to see past the outside beauty to her divine worth, and her beauty inside. I think that she is one of the most beautiful women I know. It is because her heart is good.

I listened again to her incredible story and marveled at her positive attitude, her faith and love for God, whom she completely trusts.

Here are a few things that she said tonight that touched me:

• Be women of Christ!
  
• There must be a base[of beauty] on the inside to steady the outside.
• Our beauty is a gift given us of God..and it is our spirit that makes us beautiful.
• I have no more room in my life for discouragement.
  

I love that last part. I have no room in my life for discouragement. At that moment I realized the same thing is true for my life. I have so much on my plate, so much to deal with that I must push discouragement out, because I have no time for it! I only have time to do my best, to work hard and keep progressing. I'm grateful that God sent me NieNie tonight to help me understand this.

The Flow'r of Scotland

Missing beloved Scotland again this week. Someday I want to go back there. Maybe even stay there for a time. What an incredible place!

This is an unofficial anthem of Soctland:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ5fLBEpKo8

O Flow'r of Scotland,
When will we see
Yer like again,
That fought and died for,
Yer wee bit Hill and Glen,
And stood against him,
Proud Edward's Army,
And sent him homeward,
Tae think again.

The Hills are bare now,
And Autumn leaves
lie thick and still,
O'er land that is lost now,
Which those so dearly held,
That stood against him,
Proud Edward's Army,
And sent him homeward,
Tae think again.

Those days are past now,
And in the past
they must remain,
But we can still rise now,
And be the nation again,
That stood against him,
Proud Edward's Army,
And sent him homeward,
Tae think again.

O Flow'r of Scotland,
When will we see
yer like again,
That fought and died for,
Yer wee bit Hill and Glen,
And stood against him,
Proud Edward's Army,
And sent him homeward,
Tae think again.

Clay in His Hands

A couple of weekends ago I went to a community "Heritage Days" here in the Valley. One of my friends was with me and we wandered around the different tents, admiring the jewelry, homemade soap, the musicians and the beautiful fall air.

We stopped by one booth, a soapmaker's, and two little girls greeted us. They made us smell each bar of homemade soap that their mother had made. There were lavender bars, coconut, pineapple...as well as one that smelled like apple pie!

We wandered down a few booths and found ourselves watching a potter as he shaped a piece of clay into a bowl. I felt rooted to the spot. I watched his gentle, yet firm, hands as that little lump of clay turned into something amazing.

As I watched him, a scripture came to my mind:

O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as the potter?
saith the Lord. Behold as the clay is in the potter's hand,
so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
Jeremiah 18:6

Clay in the potter's hand. I have thought of this before, but never had it entered my soul with so much force! We are clay in his hands. He is the Potter! He will mold and shape us to fit His idea of what we need to be. Sometimes the Potter needs a bowl, sometimes a vase. Sometimes He needs a pitcher and others he needs plates. Each have their separate uses, yet each is useful.

My friend and I continued to watch the potter while we wandered through his tent of pottery. There were vases, pitchers, plates, bowls, cake platters and jewelry. Every piece was completely different from the others No two plates were alike. Yet each had it's own unique beauty that set it apart from all of the rest. We returned to watch the potter.

"You see," he said, "this piece here will be a base for this bowl, and together they will make a candy dish."

Two beautiful unfinished pieces. Combine them to make something even more beautiful.

"But this base has been drying in the sun too long. It has gotten a little hard. But that's okay, I can still work with it."

He dipped his fingers into a bucket of water and proceeded to wet down the edges in preparation for his fingers to shape the edges. He started his wheel and began to push his fingers into the hardened clay.

"I have to dig down into it to get it to move." He said. I saw that his hands were dirty and covered in clay as he shaped the piece.

How like my heart this is! When I have been out in the sun too long drying, or in the world too long, or I have turned from the straight and narrow path just enough...I have become hardened. I have become dry. Do I want to be able to change? Do I want to become the beautiful piece that the Master Potter has intended? Or do I want to remain as I am? His hands are gentle...why can't I trust them?

I felt like I needed to share this. And so I am writing about it now. I can still remember how powerful a testimony it was to me:

The Lord cares about each of us. He wants us to succeed! He wants us to become everything we have imagined, and that He has imagined! Can you imagine becoming what God wants you to become? Incredible!

He is in our lives. His hands are molding our experiences, tailoring them so that we can grow, learn and become everything He has in store for us. His hands are so far in our lives that, just like the potter, they are covered in clay. He loves us so much!

Before I left the potter's tent, I bought a memento to remember the important lesson that the Lord had taught me that day. It is a small thing, but enough for me to remember His love and care for me:

May we be mold-able clay every time He has a new design for us.

Change in the air

Summer is starting to come to a close. There are leaves crunching under my feet and I can feel the change in the air. The rain is lightly tapping on the roof of my classroom. I love the change. I embrace the change! It is so easy to love the cool of fall after the heat of summer.

I used to be afraid of change.

I used to be afraid TO change.

I used to think that it wasn't possible to continually change, that I never had enough time, or that I wasn't smart enough to continue the changes I wanted.

Now, I want to change.

I'm not afraid anymore.

I'm excited to embrace the change. It will still be hard...there is no doubt about that. But I've recently(thanks to several experiences over the past two weeks) realized:

That change is worth the fight.

So, it's time to change. I will embrace it like the desert ground embraces the long awaited rain, the way a bird embraces the wind of the storm. Fly with, not against, the change.