How "R E A L" can Imaginary Be?

Brethren I do not count myself to have apprehended;   

but one thing I do, 

forgetting those things which are behind 

and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. 

I press toward the goal for the prize 

of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ. 

Philippians 3:13, 14

The verse spoke volumes to me when one of the ladies at the reunion was sharing it, but even more-so once I  returned home and had quiet nights to reflect.  I have a comfort zone that I don’t like to stray too far from.  (Guess that’s why it’s called a comfort zone).  I am finding, however,  holding on to  certain things,  hang-ups, bad memories, excess  baggage, junk, poor choices, wrong choices, can keep me from receiving the full blessings God intends . There is an abundance of joy I know I am missing  while I sit like a happy fat cat in my comfort zone. I could come up with a zillion cutesy quotes right now for emphasis , but all one needs to do is read further to witness the awesome power of God as He does His work. 

One area of comfort is with friendships or rather……lack of them. Other than my two younger sisters, I have had acquaintances most of my life, but never close friends, especially not girl friends. My ability to confide in and trust other women was painfully scarred many many years ago. The few times I have reached out and thought I could take the first step forward,  the reminder of one unfortunate incident would  rear its ugly head and UP  my guard went.  

When I began to write again, back in 2004, I joined a Christian writing group and from there I began to blog. The internet became a powerful tool for me to interact with other Christians in a safe and non-confrontational environment.   My sister often told me that I needed to surround myself with real people and real relationships, the ones where you could talk face to face, hear  someone’s voice, hug them, pray with them face to face. She and my daughters thought I was too consumed with people that might not really exist for me or be there for me when I needed. I reassured her, I was careful with my on line associations and trusted God to walk me through each relationship .  At one point it became a joke whenever she would call and  told her I was emailing or asking for prayer from one of my  imaginary friends. 

When the Sisterhood of the Traveling Scarf began its adventure, I couldn’t wait to tell my sister and to share all of you with my daughters.  When I think back on all that I could have missed out on, it makes my heart truly sing knowing  I took that step of faith, moved out of my comfort zone,  let go of those things behind me and trusted God  to bring me into the relationships that He knew would bless me beyond my wildest imagination.   

There is a lot I haven’t over-come  in my life and I am prayerfully waiting for God to walk me though those obstacles.  I used to feel  sad whenever  others talk about their church family and their involvements and the excellent programs and such, knowing I had tried to extend myself but could never feel God in much of it. It is my own personal walk with God, my own struggle and  I  asked Him to show  me.  I have waited and prayed, looked to my Savior, immersed myself in the Bible, grown in my intimacy with Him and recently found myself  filled to overflowing with the joy of the  One True and Living Christ more than ever before. 

To everything there is a season….. A time for every purpose under heaven.

As I prayed , hoped for, prepared for and experienced the Scarf Sisters Reunion, I found delight. Delight in knowing that my  God is Good, He is Faithful, He is Loving, He is Merciful, He is full of Grace and He is R E A L ….

He made His presence known in a quaint cottage in the woods of Michigan where angel voices praised and worshipped Him, where hearts were touched and tended to, where loving hands prepared meals,  where “I’ve got grapes” meant communion was about to be served, where silliness and creativity meshed,  where tears and laughter, heartache and hope intertwined and wove together hearts of women; all of us different, all of us unique, all of us with one common bond, Jesus Christ.

 Cheryl reading her "Happy Anniversary" Card

 Cathy reading the Scarf Sister Bible

 Pat reading her "get well" card 

for the surgery she hasn't had yet

 Communion

Julie setting the timer on the camera and

making a mad dash to get in the picture

A Recap of the events of the Sister's Reunion

Gathering at Pat's house....
the first day...all of us were together

Diane with "mini me Connie"

Visiting the gravesite of our sister, Arlene....

 Lunch at Frankenmuth

 

 A night of silliness, creativity  and fun...with our Fascinators

A glimpse of all the food Margie prepared for us....

alll the food was good, but the lasagna was exceptionally
D. E. L. I. C. I. O. U. S

Love offering for Margie

Accepting...

saying goodbye to Margie

Dinner in Lewiston, Our last night together

Saying our goodbyes at the motel.....

I will never ever have to ask God again for the friendship of women. For all the years of waiting, I cannot begin to thank Him enough for allowing me what has become an almost unspeakable joy... 

He made REAL my imaginary friends....AND I LOVE MY SISTERS !!!

Happy Anniversary To Sara And Her Sweetie!

dear sister sara...this year i think i have got the right date!..not too early and not too late!...missed you at the reunion but we did celebrate one anniversary for jada gigi..ha!
this song has no beautiful images but it is such a sweet song that you can sing to your hubby and he can sing to you!





happy happy anniversary and we hope that you have a beautiful day of celebrating with your whole family and with the dawg too!
god bless you with many more happy years together...love from all of your scarf sisters.....

Meeting The Goldens

I will be sharing one more post before I send the Scarf Sister Bible on to the next sister; am putting the final touches on it and hope to post it tonight. I will be sharing a few pictures of the Scarf Sister Reunion with you also...but until then....

I will share a sweet picture I took at the very beginning of my trip...my friend Terry is someone I met through blogging a few years before the Scarf Sister's joined forces....and her beloved Bernie and sweet Dad and Mom Golden became household names to me...through the years God has been faithful to answer the many prayers that I have whispered to Him in the late of sleepless night, the early of restless morning for the Golden family ....I had met Mom Golden a few years back on a trip to Niagara on the Lake when I first met  Terry and her sister Betty. I knew I would treasure the moment I saw all of them again. But like all firsts, there was an excitement about meeting Bernie and Dad Golden to give hugs  and to witness first hand the "wall of pictures" that graces the Golden home....there was a tender moment when Dad Golden looked at the wall and looked at me and said "I am a blessed man."  Yes, Dad Golden and like so many of us who can't, won't or don't believe it or acknowledge Him in our lives, through all the days of your life....God has kept His hand upon you and and you are indeed a blessed man....may your heart's cry be to our Lord and Savior....

The Joy of the Lord

I was raised Catholic and for the most part loved it. I loved going to church, loved singing in the choir,  enjoyed the once a week afternoon walks to catechism class, which meant being dismissed early from school. To me, The Church, the building, the establishment  was a holy, sacred place where God lived….I never ever had any second thoughts about what I was being taught, what I believed…I learned all the prayers, knew how to say the rosary, went to confession and received communion, I obeyed the rules, wore the veils, went without breakfast because the rule was no eating before receiving  communion, I could sing the songs in Latin, I was agreeable when the rules changed because I thought that meant pleasing God.  I  believed God was good,  loving, and that He reigned  over everyone and everything. My idea of who God was, was  simple, innocent, unwavering,  honest.  

I grew up in a very small town ; there was one grocery store, one small department store, one Catholic Church, one United Church, one other church, (I think Protestant), one clothing store, one restaurant, one soda fountain shop, one greasy spoon, one post office, one school, several bar-rooms, one policeman, a couple motels, no red lights; it was a tightly knit community where the streets came alive in the summer months  when fishing, boating and swimming attracted people from everywhere including Canada. It was a place where, living in the good ole summertime meant you were truly living in the good ole summertime. It was also a town where  generation after generation dwelled and prospered in farming, mostly dairy farming . In the winter time, the streets were rolled up at 8:00 and it was rare anyone was seen unless there was an activity at church or school.  When  my  father moved the family there, I was  entering  the fifth grade.  I am the sixth of eight children.  The life I lived there and the memories I collected, I still hold dear to this day.

I’ve traveled many roads in my lifetime.  I’ve held an array of interesting jobs; waitress, administrative secretary with the stock exchange, architectural/engineering consultant company, commercial real estate company.   I’ve been a collections clerk, receptionist, bookkeeper, title clerk, day care provider, aide to the elderly. My life mission was to be a daughter, a wife, a mother, a sister, a friend. I’ve loved a lot of children, spoken encouraging words to many who are downcast, sad or hurt.  I’ve shared my  happenings and experiences with others so  they might find a ray of sunshine in their own lives . I held on to promises that were broken, dreams that became distant, and hope that seemed lost in the day to day survival to realize my life mission. 

Until twelve years ago I never knew fulfillment or self worth or exactly what it meant to be cherished,  treasured, loved or accepted . I spent a good deal of time wanting to create happiness for others, to be or do what was required of me. I  tried to find/make peace  when  expectations, mine or those  of others, could not be met and fell to the wayside.   I tried to find direction by depending on and following a truth that was skewed from the very beginning of my life and left me wandering in the darkness for many years.  I have not wanted to do wrong; I did not want wrongs done to others; I wanted to live a life that I thought was pleasing to me and might bring happiness and purpose to others. 

Within my own turmoil, I was still able to find comfort.  But that comfort became skewed  too and all the exuberant joy that filled my heart, the years of pouring myself into a life the included  marriage and  children,  was all but a stepping stone to a life more fulfilling……the truth is I found God and He was about to show me the ugliness of my inability to reach beyond my own self, beyond my own comfort zone…

He was going to show me the joy of the Lord….  

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely 

and may your whole spirit, soul and body 

be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

He who calls you is faithful , who also will do it. 

1 Thessalonians 5: 23,24

good morning sisters.
I am finding my self flusterated as I cannot post on some of your blogs. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong... It asks me to choose a profile, i pick google and then it says i don't have access to view. bummer! please know i do read them and enjoy them.
I'm here, just can't post. Have a wonderful and blessed day.
Becky

Seeds (Bulbs) of Love

Thank you for all your kind and caring comments. It has been wonderful to be able to pick up my pen again and write....it seems a very long and dry season and one God is bringing me through one day at a time...I am preparing another post and while I do so, I want to share another of my favorite hymns sung by my favorite country artists.


When I moved to the apartment, I obviously couldn't bring with me all my gardens, but I did purchase a few plants just for the deck...it doesn't seem like much compared to the flourishing gardens I once had, but God is showing me every day how one tiny seed planted brings forth one petal, one blossom, one flower, one flourishing plant...just as in the spiritual realm it is one seed that brings forth the majesty and beauty of His love, His faithfulness, His grace and mercy into our lives...

Although it was with many tears, it blessed me in ways you will never know to share a piece of my garden with those of you at the reunion....that the seeds (bulbs)of love God planted in my life now reach across distant land to each of you, to your gardens. I will post more tomorrow....

Understanding Suffering

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, 

thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 
Jeremiah 29:11

My mother shared Jeremiah 29:11-14 with me before her death in 1980.I spent several weekends traveling in between my home and the extended care facility where she would eventually meet up with her Lord and Savior in the heavens. I remember our long talks and the many questions and issues of life that I was able to bring to a close with her. Many other life Issues never came up, for I was too young to have knowledge of them or too fickle to find them of substance. I was twenty five when she lost her battle to cancer. There are many times throughout my life I wish I had had her here to help me through a situation. A few sisters of the sisterhood have lost their mothers since I first met them through blogging. I remember clearly when Pat’s mother went to be with the Lord. And it seems as though it was only yesterday that Connie’s mother lost her battle with cancer. Arlene, our dear sister that graces our memory, whom we remember and pay tribute to so often, she was a mother, a grandmother. There truly are no words of comfort that I ever felt adequately conveyed the ache in my heart for the pain of losing a loved one. Each time a precious mother‘s time here on earth comes to its end, my thoughts turn to my own, to my precious time with her and how I reacted and responded to her death. For me, It was a time when life changed dramatically and drastically. I became angry with God and for the most part He became an imaginary someone to me, because no one “Real” could ever do what He did, fill her body with poison and rob her of the joy she so deserved. I lived in that anger, that hatred, that agony, in that place for a very long time. I was twenty-five when she died and never felt so all alone as I did then. It wasn’t until I was fifteen years into my second marriage with two children did I find myself on my knees asking Jesus to come into my life. And come He did. I was forty-six.

Then you will call upon Me 

and go and pray to Me and I will listen to you. 

And you will seek Me and find Me, 

when you search for Me with all your heart. 

I will be found by you, says the Lord 

and I will bring you back from your captivity;
Jeremiah 29:12-14a

I never thought too long and hard about the word captivity until this verse came alive in my heart. Captive means being owned or controlled by another concern; kept within bounds; restrained. If ever I was to ask someone for a word that might describe my persona, captive would not be one. While I was not, per se, rebellious as a teen, I was more or less my “own woman”, a free spirit so to speak, loved to be challenged, traveling, living new experiences. I could still be considered feisty in my old age I suppose, but never did I feel I was being restrained or held captive when I was young. But then again, doesn’t that describe the ways of the world? A place where there are no limits, no boundaries, no restraints…free to do whatever seems fitting and right in whatever social setting exists . It is what I began to discover as I surrendered everything over to Jesus and let Him uncover the many masks I’d been wearing all my life. As each one came off, I was shown exactly how strange and unsettling a prisoner I had become. A prisoner in my own body. I saw all the rules of the church, all the rote repetitive prayers, all the things I was continually trying to change, make better, amend or dismiss all together…Jesus was showing me the errors of my ways, the distortions of my attitude, opinion and mostly my thinking…I was living under the influence of some mighty powerful wrong thinking. I was being held captive by a world I loved, trusted and lived within…until God in all His glory brought me face to face with a Savior who had come to set me free.

I will gather you from all the nations 

and from all the places where I have driven you, 

say the Lord and I will bring you to the place 

from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

Jeremiah 29:14b

If I were to begin writing down all the masks, all the situtions, all the cirumstances God brought me through to where I am today, it would take a book. So I decided to write a book. For purposes of this post, however, I will only say that there are times in my life when I have felt like a “Job” , a doubtful Thomas, a fearful Peter, the woman at the well., the woman being stoned, How often have I read about Hannah or Abigail of the Bible and prayed to God for the strength to endure through the suffering. Learning that whatever suffering I go through does not abort God’s plan for me, but rather is intended to fulfill me in every way, draw me closer to Him. Believing He will never take me beyond what I can bear and gives me the ability to either endure or to escape. Trusting and here today to testify that to some degree the suffering does end and it can be a source of God’s blessing to others…….

However, there were many times when I couldn’t pray and I felt alienated from God…...and that is where the next post comes into being….that is where the Sisterhood of the Traveling Scarf comes alive in my life….

But may the God of all grace,

who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,

after you have suffered a while,

perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

To Him be the glory

and the dominion forever and ever.  

1 Peter 5:10,11