A Love that Matters

This is not a Valentine's post.  Not that I am anti-Valentine's Day...I have a Valentine that has loved me faithfully for 17 years now.  I even have a special Valentine to give to him, and one for each of my children.

But this post is about something bigger.  It's about a love that is deeper, wider, and higher than we can ever imagine.  This morning, as I was worshiping before the Lord, I felt a fresh wave of His love flow over me.  It was as if He was asking me somewhere in the depths of my heart, "Daughter, do you know how much I love you?"  I wondered at His question.  How could there be any doubt about how much He loves me?  Of course I know!  But then it came again..."Do you really know how much I love you?"

Perhaps after this morning I know a little bit more how great His love is for me.  That's why I wanted to post about my experience here.  Maybe one of you needs to hear today how deeply He loves you.  I pray with Paul that you will "know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God."  (Ephesians 3:19)

John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

Now that's a love worth celebrating!


Blessings in Christ,
Melissa

Praying Scripture

I love to read the Psalms.  Especially the ones written by David.  I pray them over my life.  I insert my name to make it more personal.  I don't think God minds.  In fact, I believe that God loves it when we pray the scriptures over our lives.   Here is just one example.

This morning I read Psalm 21:1-2
"O Lord, in Your strength the king will be glad,
And in Your salvation how greatly he will rejoice!
You have given him his heart's desire,
And You have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah."

This is how I pray it to fit me:
"O Lord, in Your strength your daughter will be glad, and in Your salvation how greatly I will rejoice!  You have given me my heart's desire, and You have not withheld the request of my lips."

Beth Moore has a book about praying Scripture called Praying God's Word.  It walks through the scripture, giving examples of prayers that fit just about every season of life.  There is so much power in God's Word.  So this girl is going to read it more, claim it boldly, and pray it over my life every chance I get!

Blessings,
Melissa

Walkie Talkie Prayer

Yesterday my husband brought home some walkie talkies from our store.  They were the hit of the evening, but before the fun began a few kinks had to be worked out.  First we had to explain how you have to be on the same channel in order to hear each other.  Then we had to teach them to press down the button when you want to talk, and let go when you want to hear someone else talking to you.  Once they figured out how to use them, the kids all split up and thoroughly enjoyed the new-found ability to communicate with each other all over the house and outside in the yard.

Later that night, when I was tucking my kids into bed, I joked with the younger two as I spoke into my hands and pretended to have my own walkie talkie.  "Breaker, breaker, is anyone out there?"  (Insert fuzzy noise.)  "Can you hear me God?"  They giggled and said "Nooooooo mommie!  You have to PRAY for God to hear you!"  I laughed too, but that one little comment really got me to thinking.

How do we view our prayer life with God?  Do we see it as a two-way communication time, or do we forget to "let go of the button" and wait for His response?  Do we know that we can reach Him at any time, any place, night or day?  Are we on the same channel as Him, or do we just hear silence at the other end of our prayers?

All good questions.  Here's just a couple of answers from the Bible on the matter:

God listens when we call -  "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you." -Jeremiah 29:12

God speaks to us when we call - "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." -Jeremiah 33:3

I have to admit, sometimes I'm better at the calling part than I am the listening part.

In the introduction to her book He Speaks to Me, Priscilla Shirer says "The Lord doesn't speak in a whisper or in a dark corner somewhere where people can barely hear; nor does He try to trick us because He knows we can't understand what He's saying... God doesn't have a case of cosmic laryngitis, and nothing is wrong with His transmitter.  Our receiving equipment, however, often leaves a lot to be desired."

I don't know about you, but I want to make sure that my receiving equipment is in tip top shape, ready to hear from God!  I will say to the Lord the way that Samuel did when he was a child "Speak, for your servant is listening." (1Samuel 3:10)

Company Girl Coffee 3.26.10

Good morning everyone! It's a chilly, windy March morning here. I don't mind though, because the wind is blowing the clouds away. The patches of sun shining through my windows warm my spirit. :)

Yesterday I went through all of my cook books, (a small shelf full in my kitchen) pulled some for donation, and straightened what was left. In the process, I found a fun "Cooking with Kids in the Kitchen" book. My oldest flipped through it, and asked if we could make one of the recipes for dinner. We put all of the ingredients out on the counter and set to work. As we worked together my daughter exclaimed "The best part about cooking is getting messy!" And messy we got. The outcome? Yummy homemade chicken nuggets.

Next week is Spring break. We don't have any travel plans, because I am still waiting to see if I will need to take a trip out to be with my extended family. The CT Scan showed two more masses, one in each lung, so it appears the cancer has spread. They will know more after the biopsy on Monday. Thank you for your continued coverage in prayer.

Just because we are not traveling doesn't mean we can't have lots of fun, right here at home. :) We will be making homemade playdough in bright, Spring colors, coloring Easter eggs, and pending a little nice weather, spending some time at the park. I'm really excited to be a part of Easter Sunday at church this year. I will be teaching the lesson for third grade (my oldest's class) during one of the three services. Tell me, what are some of your favorite Easter traditions or memories?

Now I'm off to play with the kiddos. It looks like they are having some block building fun on the floor over there and I just can't resist!

Have a great weekend all!
~Melissa~

Company Girl Coffee 3.19.10

Welcome to Company Girl Coffee!

For those of you who stopped by last week for coffee and have been praying with me, I want to say thank you, again, for your prayers. I found out late Friday that the diagnosis for my family member is Colon Cancer. I have been indirectly touched hundreds of times by cancer, but never so up close and personal. This past week I have been through a wide spectrum of emotions. I am still spinning with unanswered questions but God is good. The next step is a Cat Scan to see if the cancer has spread. That will be at 11:00am West Coast time today. (That is, Friday...I'm writing this Thursday night.)

At first when all of this started I felt guilty for not being there with my family. But then something deep inside of me told me that I needed to stay here. Not just physically, but REALLY here...all of me. I still have a husband and children to love on, laundry to do, meals to make. I just needed to realize that I am not letting my extended family down by continuing to take care of my loved ones here. I don't love my other family member any less if I stay put until I know more.

My husband has been very supportive since I found out, and one way or another, we will make plans for me to go out for surgery when the time comes. Until then, I am lifting my own prayers with yours to the One who hears our cries.

Psalm 28:6-7

Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

Still singing,
~Melissa~

Company Girl Coffee 3.12.10

Good morning! I'm glad you stopped by today. I'm afraid I don't feel much like talking this morning, but won't you please join me in prayer? I received some news yesterday about a family member that has laid pretty heavy on my heart since then. I don't feel like I can give specifics here because this family member is pretty private, and kept to themself, but I ask for your prayers because they are close to my heart. I can tell you that it is not one of the seven of us though.

At first, I wasn't sure what to do when I heard the news. I was kind of numb. Then I began to pray. I prayed the Word mostly. Scriptures on trust filled my thoughts. Psalm 9:9-11 is one that particularly comforted me.

⁹ The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.

¹⁰ Those who know your name will trust in you,
for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

¹¹ Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.

Then, I began to sing. Yes, when I feel burdened or sad about something, I sing. There is a song that's been playing on our Christian radio station a lot lately and the words of the chorus keep playing over and over in my mind.

"All of creation, sing with me now, lift up your voices lay your burdens down..."

Sing and pray, trust in God and His Word. I lift up my voice and lay my burden down. And I feel better. The life of my loved one is in His hands. I believe that. I should know more today, or at the latest, Monday. For now though, thanks for praying with me.

What do you do when you are feeling sad? Do you have a favorite scripture that you refer to? I'd love to hear what comforts you when you're down.

Many blessings and have a great weekend!

~Melissa~

Company Girl Coffee 10.9.09

Good morning! Coffee's on, or if you would like, I also keep a variety of hot teas around this time of year. Our weather turned VERY cold overnight here! I should be used to it by now. We pretty much have Indian Summers and early Winters.

We've had quite a week here emotionally. It started off normal with a pretty boring Monday, but then things picked up on Tuesday. I finally took my daughter to be tested for Growth Hormone Deficiency. It's one of many tests that she's been going through to test for Hypoglycemia. It all started back in July. You can read that story here.

The test was only supposed to take 4 hours. We went to check in and that was the first delay. The check in was all the way across the hospital from the fusion center. Then, the pharmacy had a problem sending up her meds for the procedure. I am still not sure what the mix up was there. So a test that was supposed to start at 9:30am was now starting at 11:30am. Of course, there was a problem putting the IV in. I have yet to see anyone get an IV in my daughter on the first try.

For the next three hours, they drew blood every 15 minutes while I read to my daughter, and waited. I watched her go from perfectly healthy, to pale, tired, and very upset. I know all the signs. At one point in the test they almost had to stop because her blood sugar dropped below the designated "stop test" level. A second test showed it was still ok. My daughter was anything but ok. Don't get me wrong. We were at a children's hospital, so she was being cared for well. But I knew that when the test was done, we were going to be there for at least the afternoon, possibly admitted overnight.

My concerns were confirmed when the test was finished and she was given a cracker and some Gatorade. She began to throw up and the attending nurse called her doctor. He told her to change her IV to a sugar water solution to bring her blood sugar levels back up and he'd be in to see her at 4:15pm. Eventually, I got her to keep some ice chips down. By the time the doctor stopped in she was looking a little better, but still didn't want to try food. He said that if she wouldn't eat and drink on her own by 8:00pm, they would have to admit her. Thankfully, I finally got her to eat some of the mashed potatoes that were with my dinner and then she had a dinner plate of her own around 7:00pm.

We made it home by 8:30pm with instructions to feed her a snack before bed and wake her up for another snack at 1:00am. I kept her home on Wednesday just to restore her energy level before sending her back to school. We should have our test results back at the beginning of next week. Hopefully we'll know once and for all what the problem is and what we can do to help her.

Over all, I am a very lucky mom. I have five pretty healthy kids. We have our little problems here and there but nothing serious. I am thankful for that. I am also aware that there are parents and children out there that are not as fortunate as we are. So my friends, if you are one of those parents, or if you know someone close to you that is experiencing some tough times with a child of their own, please share with me. I will add them to my prayers. I am not one of those people that says "I'll be praying for you" and then forgets. I consider it a privilege to pray to our awesome Lord on your behalf.

Thanks for sharing coffee with me today....and for sharing your lives with me.

From my heart to yours,
~Melissa~

Please Pray

I'm praying for this little guy this morning. He is weary and so is his mom. He suffers from Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT), which keeps him in the hospital on 24 hour watch. The strength of this family amazes me for what they have been through, but they sure could use all the prayers they can get right now! The little guy miraculously got to spend some time at home with his family and I am praying that will happen again!

Won't you pray with me?

Ephesians 6:18 "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."