Saturday, September 3, 2011

Stay the course!

Psalm 119:33-40 "God, teach me lessons for living
      so I can stay the course.
   Give me insight so I can do what you tell me—
      my whole life one long, obedient response.
   Guide me down the road of your commandments;
      I love traveling this freeway!
   Give me a bent for your words of wisdom,
      and not for piling up loot.
   Divert my eyes from toys and trinkets,
      invigorate me on the pilgrim way.
   Affirm your promises to me—
      promises made to all who fear you.
   Deflect the harsh words of my critics—
      but what you say is always so good.
   See how hungry I am for your counsel;
      preserve my life through your righteous ways!"  The Message



Teach me...Give me....Guide me...Give me...Divert my eyes...Affirm your promises to me...Deflect my critics...See how hungry I am for your counsel Lord.  I want to be all that you want me to be.  Help me to be who you want me to be.  I want to stay the course....the path that you have laid out for me. Even when that path is bumpy, rocky and just down right hard!  


So thankful that my daddy has big arms to carry me down the path at times.


What about you?  Is he there for you?  Are you letting him carry you down that bumpy path?  He's waiting for you to ask him to help carry you.  Don't put it off!  You will be amazed how easier that bumpy path can get if you just TRUST HIM to carry you down the path.


Still wanting to stay the course,










Thursday, September 1, 2011

I'm on the mountain with HIM!

Psalm 144: 1-4 The Message
1-2 Blessed be God, my mountain, who trains me to fight fair and well. 
   He's the bedrock on which I stand, 
      the castle in which I live, 
      my rescuing knight, 
   The high crag where I run for dear life, 
      while he lays my enemies low. 

 3-4 I wonder why you care, God 
      why do you bother with us at all? 
   All we are is a puff of air; 
      we're like shadows in a campfire. 


I'm standing on my "Jesus" which I stand.  As I read this verse about us being a puff of air to Him, I started thinking about how nice it would be to be able to breathe easily when I go out doors.  I love the outdoors!  I miss the outdoors!  For some reason right now God has me indoors.  I'm in an anonymous season in my life right now, according to author "Alicia Britt Chole".  ~Anonymous~ Our hidden years are God's sacred spaces to be rested in, not rushed through and most definitely never to be regretted."  


So God my mountain, I refuse to feel like I'm in a valley!  I'm on the mountain with you!  You have trained me to fight and I will continue to fight this battle of lung issues I've had for the last year, you are my rescuing knight and I trust that you will continue to lay my enemies low!


Waiting because He is Worthy!  Learning to BE STILL and REST!


How about you?  Are you trying to rush through a sacred space that God has placed you in?  Try to Be Still and Rest and see what it is that God is going to teach you through whatever it is that you are going through.  So glad he cares!  Thank you God for caring for ME!


Resting in HIM,


Cathy

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Proud to be a CHILD of the KING!

I am proud to be an American but most importantly today I'm proud to be a CHILD of the KING!

Ephesians 3:12 In Christ we can come before God with freedom and without fear. We can do this through faith in Christ.13 So I ask you not to become discouraged because of the sufferings I am having for you. My sufferings are for your glory.


Are you PROUD to be a CHILD of the KING! After just celebrating INDEPENDENCE Day I want to talk about our FREEDOM to come to CHRIST and what that FREEDOM can be like.  


I struggled as a child wanting to know where I belonged,  I knew there had to be something I was missing in this thing called life.  I didn't fit in!  My last name was STOVER, so my nickname became ROVER, the dog!  I could have very easily turned to drugs and alcohol to cover up my  hurts because I was hurting!  However, God kept me from all that!  I have no clue as to why he kept me from that because believe me I was tempted.  I  am so thankful that when I was 20 years old I was given the opportunity to accept Christ through faith as my personal savior!  Romans 10:9 "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."


Do I still struggle?  Yes at times, but not everyday like I did before I had this FREEDOM!  Am I still tempted?  Yes, but so thankful I can turn to my DADDY and ask him to help me, and he hears me!  I'm so thankful to be a Child of the KING!  


Do you have FREEDOM today?  If not, take this time to Confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved!  Then your everyday sufferings will be for HIS GLORY!  


If you need to talk, I'm here for you.....just email me!  You can have FREEDOM even in the midst of suffering!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Speak up with what?

I'm BACK after 3 1/2 years!  When I read the last post I have posted on this blog I'm amazed at the words I chose.  When I wrote "Mom and Grandma" I had no idea that just 2 short weeks later my life as Mom and Grandma was going to take a different road from a one night choice.

I just came back from a "SPEAK UP with CONFIDENCE" seminar in Grand Rapids Michigan and it gave me the courage to start blogging on this personal blog again after all this time.  I'm so excited to put into practice everything I learned at SPEAK UP but I'm a little confused about the CONFIDENCE thing!  Is it speak up with Convenience?  Consonants? Continuance? Consequences?  I hope that I figured it out.  I'm so glad that we were SPARKED up with the excitement to share HIS story through OUR story!

So stay tuned if you want to hear HIS amazing story through MY story as wife, MOM, Nana, and Fill in Mom to several hurting boys.

I am so thankful for this woman, the leader of the seminar I just participated in.  She encouraged me as a "far away" mentor and "seasonal" mentor when she didn't even know she was helping me.
Me and Carol Kent!
A week before my life changing day, I signed up for a E-Women Conference out by my friend, Amy, whom lived in North Carolina.  I wanted to do something special for her.  Her birthday was coming up and she had just lost her 25 year old daughter through complications after a surgery on January 1st.  When I signed us up I asked her, "Have you ever heard of Carol Kent?"  She responded with, "No, I haven't but I've heard of all the other speakers!"  I didn't research Carol's testimony at the time, however, the day after my son's arrest someone told me I needed to read a book called "When I lay my Isaac Down" by Carol Kent.  I couldn't sleep that night so I got on the internet was reading every devotion, articles, or Bible verses I could find on Hope and Encouragement.  Then I remembered the book mentioned to me, so I looked it up.  Her picture and name sounded familiar so I pulled up my conference info and sure enough it was that lady I had never heard anything about before.  I started reading everything I could find about Carol, then I was trying to decide if I should buy her book or not that night online.  The thought came into my head do you really think you will have time or want to read her book at this time in your life?  So I didn't order it.  Did I ever tell you that Our God is a BIG GOD?  The next day while in the shower, I decided that I was going to tackle this day with out crying all day and TRUST that HE was going to carry me through this.  I walked out to my kitchen and from far away I could see a book with a bow wrapped around it and a card covering the whole top of the book.  But I knew that MY GOD showed up because I saw the color of the binder on the book.  Here came the tears, but different tears.  If this woman of God can continue on going through what she was going through in life then I could do this too.  She gave me confidence!

Three and a half years later I wrote on her facebook wall thanking her for encouraging me because I finally shared my son's story in front of 100 women at a Mother's Day talk.  She encouraged me to come to "SPEAK UP with CONFIDENCE" seminar and I'm so thankful I listened to God and went!  I'm also thankful that I asked my BEST FRIEND, Brenda, to go with.  We had a GREAT time with other women of God and God HIMSELF!  It was AMAZING!

Hebrews 3:1-6  "Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,”bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future.  But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory."

Climb that "thang!"

I wrote this post back in January of 2007  and I still have those pesky bugs and the enemy is still trying to rob me of my joy on a weekly ...