LEAN on HIM!

When I was reading scripture today I stumbled upon this scripture:  Habakkuk 3:17-19 NLT
"Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields,
and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord!  I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!  The Sovereign Lord is my strength!  He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights." 

Then I went to this plant and took a picture.  Why would I take a picture of this plant with blossoms when this verse talks about no blossoms?  Because I choose to believe in HOPE and rejoice in the Lord! 

Crown of Thorns (plant)

This Plant is called a crown of thorns and when I looked at this while taking this picture, so many things started running through my head. 

*  This plant is leaning, sometimes in my christian walk I really have to lean on Him.

*  This plant is dirty with dust, sometimes in my walk I look dirty with sin.  But he is right there to clean me up and forgive me.

*  This plant has beautiful blooms, God tells me I'm beautiful in his eyes.

*  This plant is planted in a pot of HOPE.  God gives me that hope when I'm planted in his word.

*  This plant has thorns that hurt when touched, sometime in this walk there are thorns that hurt but we have to remember that Jesus wore those thorns so we can too.

This plant is one of very few indoor plants that I have ever kept alive.  This gives me hope that no matter how much I have to lean on Him, how dirty I get, or how hard the thorns of life hurt He is right there for me.  He will forgive me, continue to give me hope and continue to tell me I am beautiful in his eyes.  I am so thankful that he wore those crown of thorns so many years ago and took on my sins so that I could have hope and be joyful in the God of my salvation!

How are you doing in life?  Are you blooming?  If so keep on doing what you are doing.  Do you feel empty and barren?  If so you need to really consider to LEAN on HIM and ask him to give you HOPE.  He is my strength and I don't know where I would be today if I didn't have him to lean on in some really sharp thorns throughout my life. 

Leaning on HIM,

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,

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

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!

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."

Mom and Grandma!

As I wrote when I first started this blog it is not easy being a parent. After the joy of having my little grandbaby, I had to watch my good friend say good bye to her beautiful daughter after complications from a surgery. Then a couple days after they left, our daughter ended up in the hospital with an infection and had to be on IV for 4 days with 3 different antibiotics. I was having a hard time, knowing what my role was suppose to be. I wanted to be with my baby girl at the hospital, all the time, but she has a husband to be there with her, and I was needed as a Nana most the time here at home.

We got through that, and Colton is doing well, he is growing like a weed. Here is a picture of him from last night. He will be 3 weeks old already Friday. Wow, where does the time go?

Cassie is doing better, she has a nasty virus right now, can't hardly talk but doing much better than she was.
My son, Cory is going to come home for a late Christmas, the 1st of February so looking forward to seeing him and his wife Charly. It will be the first time we have seen them since last August for me, and last April for Jim.
My son, Curtis, could use some prayer about a relationship he is just starting. I just ask you to pray for God's will to be in this relationship. He made me proud with something he told me today. Then I wanted to turn around and tell him what he should do, but I didn't. He is an adult and I just need to trust God to finish raising him, but did I ever tell you that this part of parenting is the hardest.
I love being a mom though, I would never want to change the fact that I am a mom, because I love my children with all my heart, I just wish I could still tell them not to do that or this, because it might hurt them down the road. The best part of being a mom now though is being a NANA, I love being NANA it is so much fun.

Discipline

As I was looking at pictures to show off our new little grandson, I couldn't help but laugh thinking about how this little guy



wanted to hold his little brother right away but when we put him in his arms it was 30 seconds and he was ready to get down. Then it was please..... baby...... back up on the chair or bed..... with his arms held out. He couldn't get enough of him but he can't sit still because he might fall asleep. Dylan is so jealous of our new little grandson; Colton Bryce who weighed in at 7 lbs 11 oz and was 21 in. long on January 4th. But even though he is jealous you can still see the love he has already for him in this picture here:
It is so tiring chasing after Dylan and watching him act out because this new little guy has taken away some of his thunder. It seems like we are constantly having to discipline him because he is so jealous. When I think of this and how tired Cassie, my daughter, must get when no one is home to help her it makes me think of this; God looking down "thinking, that is nothing, what do you think I go through looking out after all my children?" Our God is so awesome, he is so loving, so forgiving, so powerful, that he can love us all unconditionally at the sametime. He sometimes has to Discipline us also. Deuteronomy 8:5-6 "Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you. Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him." Lord help me to walk in your way and revere you so my walk will be an example to these little grandchildren you have blessed me with. Isn't he precious?
Oh, I forgot to add something about this grandma posting this is having a hard time fitting her head through the door these days. While visiting this precious bundle of joy at the hospital, I was ask if I was my daughter's sister, then when I told them no I'm her mom, they came back with you can't be you are too young to be a grandma.