"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion — to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair."~from ISAIAH 61 Bible verse for this Blog

APOLOGY to READERS who followed a SEARCH to HERE & didn't find it

On July 18, 2017, I drafted almost 3000 blog posts that I had published since 2008 when I began blogging, rather than edit each one. So if you clicked here from somewhere else and ended up with the post unavailable or error, I am sorry but this is why. It'd be too much work for me to go back and fix them. There's an explanation on 7/19/17 as I'm still learning.
Showing posts with label Walk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Walk. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

WALK On WEDS.

[changed from what I had from faith gateway to my own 
so I could publish this post]

I'm taking a quiet, reflective walk today to a place I don't want to really go to ... but I have been there far too often and I must today because it is the birthday of someone that was part of my life for quite some time, of good and bad times, but no longer this side of eternity to celebrate 45 years ... by choice. I'm a bit torn on this day ... not quite sure which path to take or where to find a place of quiet or rest. 

"I'll try not to linger too long in the negative choice you made and its impact, you probably never thought about. How very sad. I still struggle with some of this with your precious family who did not deserve this like your beloved mom and her heartache. I can only imagine because I won't go there, although I have a few times only, it's much too much painful and sorrowful. I lack what I'd hope to tell her/them ... any reason ... anything. Just skeptical ramblings or untruths. Only God knows ... and only God understands this." 

I recently came across a book (that believe it or not I don't have, nor have I read it, even though I truly like the title, I'm not so sure the contents will help me). However the author went through a similar situation to mine compiled with many other tragic events ... from what I understand reading about her and the book. But even so, I don't think we can compare our pain, our losses, our grief. Each soul grieves differently. 

I was sure since I walked in the Valley last week, I had something special for today (but I lost track of what it was) and when I saw what day this was ... well, I almost did not post ... however, I knew I'd be taking this "walk" anyway alone. OK, not totally alone, alone with God, with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit ... you see I need all 3 for company this day. I'd love to "dance with Jesus" (that's why I love opening to this book's website just so I can see and imagine myself in that place). Round and round I twirl ... yes, that's how to get from "grief to grace".

Somehow, recently, perhaps in anticipation of this heaviness beckoning me once more to revisit "valleys" ... I stumbled upon another place, a faith art community with a course - a Bible-based course on "Good Grief" using art journaling. Such a wonderful idea ... for His Kingdom Come ... as I explored and learned about their site.

To me, this is perfect (although "no, I did not sign up") ... I was reminded by God how I love the Arts ... to me that is art of painting, drawing, photography, etc. but also "arts" includes music and dance for me. I recall that when I was grieving the loss of my youngest brother, who was artistic like my mom, that it was through "art" I found my peace and joy once again. What I liked best about the person whose birthday is today was that artistic ability. Yes, I am drawn to the "art" nature of people and to "those that are artistic" ... a part of me that I never developed but began to explore more and more since the loss of 3 dearly loved, artistic people. I always pushed the academic side of my education, but oh, how I wish I had developed and taken courses in more of the "arts" especially art techniques. I do believe that this would be great therapy. In fact, I'm sure it's used as therapy. 

I remember when I first came here vacationing...more than pursuing my calling, I purchased an art sketch pad and some chalk (cray-pas) and began sitting along the walls at the beach and therapeutically sketching scenes. Many of my most enjoyable teaching times were when I taught Kindergarten and drew characters on the blackboards as I told stories ... I loved craft and art projects, and decorating my classroom for opening day. Yes, art definitely is something I should have pursued more, so I'm sure that this is a good way to work through ones' grief and mourning. I love music and dance too yet for some reason this ole body is not flowing as it once did (or so I thought and loved whether I looked as graceful to others as I felt and imagined or not; I was for me and my audience of One)


So now I am off for the day to do just that ... 

not the
dance part

the
ART
part and the
HEART
{did you see that "heart" has "art" in it? plus He}

that means with
"HE"
Jesus 
as part of
the
ART
from the
HEART
 will bloom
much more 
GRACE in my Garden
today as
"I will bloom where I am planted"
in
God's Word
and
Kingdom


There definitely was a reason that God chose and gave me 
Isaiah 61
and
GRACE
for this blog and me

GOD is so AMAZING!


{Happy Birthday Pajaro!}
well, you got a Tropical Storm out in the Pacific named after you this week - how appropriate (lol)

It does not help that on
July 13, 2015
one of our favorite Mexican singers
known as
Joan Sebastian
"Jose Manuel Figueroa"
departed from this world
preceded by his faithful white horse
5 days ago
REST IN PEACE


I am back home in Minnesota on this SONday 7/15/18 and once again remembering EMT "Pajaro", who would be 48 yrs.old today and I still can't believe, such a young life thrown away, for what? Que lastima! 


Wednesday, June 24, 2015

WALK On WEDS. (WOW) ~ PROJECT ANYTHING

As I kinda mentioned in last FRIDAY FOCUS that I should change my PROJECT H.O.P.E. to my 'new' Project "ANYTHING" {since HOPE was My One Word in 2014, not 2015, I named it that last Lent} but it certainly is "ANYTHING" and ties up so well all my "anythings" here in Mexico. since coming here in 1996 to step out in faith and my calling since 6th grade {I waited} ... this one "Project" among so many others of a different nature ... is one that more or less puts all of my HOPE and all of my ANYTHINGS together ... so let's take a different kind of WALK On {thisWEDS. looking at the partial completion (which means - so far, but not yet finished) of my PROJECT ANYTHING


Unlisted Video

{PREFACE: I can't believe that I came back and am adding to this already "way too long" blog post but I just had to preface all of what is written here with I am not sharing this to say what I've done because it's not what I have done at all or alone, it takes many ... and this is just one of ever so many in need of much: HOPE or an ANYTHING project in this vast needy world in which we live ... this is what God laid on my heart, but it took more than me to accomplish this, to God be the Glory. I am not submitting this story to the ANYTHING PROJECT although this is exactly what it is. And it can be duplicated many times over and over to reach others and make a difference in His Story for His Glory and theirs in the Kingdom of God. I submit this here humbly as ...

"My Long "ANYTHING" Story: Testimony to God for His Glory"


When I came to Mexico in 1996 finally, I wanted to work with the kids (after all I'm a double major in Elementary  Ed. (K-6) and Spanish, so that only makes sense, right?) and have been waiting and preparing for this mission adventure since 6th grade with all my educational goals headed south of the border in this direction. So, of course, I was meant to seek out the "orphans" and ministries of this nature with kids because this is exactly what moves my heart. And that's exactly what I did do when I first came. After God spoke to me on the beach the year before I first came through Susana (my 108 year old inspiration), God altered my heart just a little to include "women" with the "children" --- those that may not have as many opportunities for education and learning about Jesus. Soon I readjusted once again to include teaching "English" through God's Word and Christian songs and began putting together lessons in English to go with this, which soon became just teaching English. (sigh) Little did I know that God had something totally different in mind for me. Something that I knew very little about but He spoke with an almost audible voice in one of my trips back to Mexico from Minnesota in 2007. I was certain I had heard Him wrong, after all, I knew absolutely nothing about "trafficked victims" of tourism or worldwide exploitation, but He was sure to confirm and show me. For many reasons, I will not go into the details of this course, but God began to open my eyes to so much more as I began to learn about this, the ministries and all that is involved; calling this my "Project A" ... {who knows, some day I may be able to share more on this "A" of Anything and who would have known when I labeled it Project "A" that the Anything Project would come along, starting with 'A'}.

God began putting together pieces of my own life, pieces of my life here since 1996-2007 and then 'outta the blue' something new showed up with the construction project on the house that I was renting ... or actually someone new. The workers that came to do the construction for the "Architect" were from an "albergue" {sorry, I realize that this a Spanish word and the closest that comes to that is a "Shelter for the Homeless"- the forgotten}. God had yet another plan that He would reveal through these workers, many of whom were new Christians, because their "shelter" was administered through one of the first churches I knew from here, "Espiritu y Verdad" which I had lost touch with because they had moved and moved and finally acquired land and began building a church in the "colonia" known as Villa Verde. {colonia/ colony is another word for just a specific section of the city; it is broken into many}. 

All of this previous explanation, is in part to show you when you step out in obedience, thinking you are ready for God's ANYTHING, He may have something entirely different from what you thought or had planned as meeting His will and following His way - your way, He will definitely pull out all stops to show you HIS way and then go about putting the pieces altogether, or running a silver thread from the beginning to the finale, for you to see how HE really was in this from the beginning and kept trying to get you to see it from His perspective. In the meanwhile, He allows you to "mess" up but He'll keep bringing you back to the ANYTHING He had planned. 

Introduce one of the workers that stands out from the others and faithfully stays with the construction project from the beginning to the end. The short of this individual's complicated life story up to the age of almost 50 ... is he is one of those "forgotten" (abandoned child, left in the care of his grandma until she dies; parents never took care of him as they parted ways and moved on with others starting over with new families, which become his "step" family, half brothers and sisters; yet (until recently by some) he is never acknowledged as family ... in fact, his life went clearly off the deep end in the wrong direction and he was thought dead, so all that was his from his "abuelita" was sold by his mother and sister. He had nothing and no one and really no reason to live, until Christ came into his life on Dec. 20th, 2011 changing everything) ... he was one of those sent to work on this construction project. 

The significance in all this, is I was ready to go home to MN, call it quits (for now) when God showed me that this precious new Christian needed a 'Shelter' of his own that indeed God is Our Shelter and Our Refuge but He does have a plan for each one of His children. This individual needed to get away from other individuals in the "albergue"- the influence that could have pulled him back to his former old self (like me or you) and given a chance to grow in Jesus Christ with his own place to live. God tugged on my heart last year to begin in Lent, a Project to give him this H.O.P.E. thus began Project H.O.P.E. ... land was finally acquired, construction of his own house began in 2015. And the above video (a documentation of God's work) is where and what he has accomplished with God on his own (mostly) through the blessings of a few donations and months of saving and looking [for another version of this story, you can go to the original blog when I got this in my spirit HERE]

He and another Christian friend (brother in Christ) found this land and divided it to have their own place to live ... so already the HOPE was spread to more. His home is built in the colony of "San Antonio"  here ... {"San Antonio"/St. Anthony is the Catholic patron saint of "lost things" ... or lost causes, or patron of the poor} ... I don't believe it was just a coincidence that they found their land here, it was most definitely a GOD-incidence, and God put all of what I had hoped together in this one person, this one soul, who needed His Heavenly Father to provide and care for him, and I pray that God still will, because he will and has many needs yet to come. He is one child among many that somehow in society (whether it's in Mexico or right in our own community) slips through the crack ... never finishes their education, lives on the street, never is able to find acceptance in a family, never draws near to God or a church, for fear and lack of knowing that there is one God, who cares and is willing to go that extra mile to WALK with us to show us His Love ... His ANYTHING -  to make us SOMETHING outta NOTHING. After all, He's God of the Miracles and this one is just getting started. 
We have excellent programs to sponsor many children throughout the world, by supporting them each month, which I totally recommend and am all for ... it's easy to love a "child"; however, on the other spectrum of life, those of us that have reached beyond mid-life ... have been forgotten and quite often need support also. Many, even if they wanted to continue working to go on living, can no longer find employment and in third world countries, economics just don't take care of the aging ones without families to care for them. More and more, families cannot take care of their own, much less their aging parents and sadly too many have forgotten them. Much of what I admired in the Mexican culture of extended families, caring for sometimes 3 generations under one roof is fading and not much of a reality any longer, at least not for the poorest among them. {well, this is another dilemma and topic for another time and journey but meanwhile there are many that are being left "forgotten"  living on the streets, homeless} God forgive us. So many needs ... so much to do ... so many left by the road side

Luke 12:48b

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

Matthew 7:24-27

Matthew 9:35-38; Luke 10:2

"We instinctively tend to limit for whom we exert ourselves. We do it for people like us, and for people whom we like. Jesus will have none of that. By depicting a Samaritan helping a Jew, Jesus could not have found a more forceful way to say that anyone at all in need - regardless of race, politics, class, and religion - is your neighbor. Not everyone is your brother or sister in faith, but everyone is your neighbor, and you must love your neighbor."― Timothy KellerGenerous Justice: How God's Grace Makes Us Just "


Some more quotes to think about


"I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love. ~Mother Teresa

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. ~Mother Teresa

Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you. ~Mother Teresa


How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. ~Anne Frank

GOD

will use

ANYONE

to do

ANYTHING

if we are open and begin

our

ANYTHING

by handing God our

EVERYTHING

and

making

SOMETHING

from

NOTHING

for

SOMEONE

who has

NO ONE

but

YOU

as their first

BIBLE

to show

JESUS

to them


TO BE JESUS 

ALIVE

THROUGH HIS SPIRIT

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

REACHING ONE MORE FOR

JESUS CHRIST

in Jesus' Name


Thank you for giving your ANYTHING!

In His Grace

Peggy


*additional part to "This is My Story" 7 part series +
giving testimony to the many tests of my mission
a message from my messes; a triumph from my trials



"God Cares About Every Detail" should be the title of this WALK on WEDS. and was my intent until God moved me to "detail" this part or this much of my "ANYTHING". As you can see, I had much bottled up to share and pour out as I put together this video of our progress update to God's Glory that I just had to show how very much God cares, I care and we should care for others - one by one, WON by One ... please take the time to pop over to "Meet Me in the Meadow" to read the "Someone Cares" #4 for this week ... I'm sure it will bless you as it motivated me! 

To my faithful visitors;
all of you who spend your valuable time here with me
I do appreciate you so much!

Thank you for taking your time to visit!

Love, Sweet blessings & Hugs!

DIOS TE BENDIGA
GOD BLESS YOU

always

Peggy