With Arms Wide Open

I spent a few hours today carefully               (yes.  I can be careful.)                        taking picture frames down from my best friend's walls. A favored daughter's ballet photos.                   A prized son's personality caught in a moment on film. My friend has a decorator's heart and true  talent.  I love visiting her home.  Her modest walls are covered in beautiful family photos.  But  God answers big dreams , and my friend is packing up her starter home of fifteen years and moving to a bigger home with her family. What a privilege it was to examine each picture as I took it down and carefully wrapped it... to wonder at the memories trapped behind the glass and the parts of their life that happened way before I came along.   As each picture came down, my eyes were captivated more and more- not by the pictures themselves, but by the bare wall left behind. My mind wandered out of their tiny town and to the apartment I share with

I have that heavy heart feeling.      You know the one I mean? The one that feels like someone kicked a hole in you... and the pieces of what's left are settling on the floor. It's been one of those days... Mama said they were coming. The dark kind. The kind that leaves a cold ache.  And a need for something to fill that hole right back up. So I turned to those things. You know... those things. First, I went shopping.  I wandered.  I tried on.  I wandered.  I tried on.  There was a new find every other aisle!  It was a great trip. Then, the chocolate.  Chocolate chip cookies for dinner!  Oh boy!  (When the hubby is away it's anything goes!)  Yummy. Last, I went for the TV.  If I bury myself in my favorite drama series, nothing about my life can possibly be that bad .  Right? Except here I am. With a hole. Feeling like you're full of holes?  Join me in the Word tonight. Music for Life: Fill My Cup, Lord

A friend who delights my heart spoke to me last week about how God was stretching her...    stretching her... in ways she could never have anticipated. And those words struck hard. A sensation I could remember feeling... a work I knew the Lord had done in my life.  But He is faithful to only give us what we're ready for. And I wasn't ready to know. I wasn't ready to know how BIG He is.  Or how wide.  Or how deep.  Or how vast.  Or how holy.  Or how perfect.  Or how beautiful.  Or how terrifying.  Or how just.  Or how true.  Or how merciful. Or how small i was in comparison. Sometimes He has to make us bigger so that He can fill us up.  I only have the capacity to hold as much of Him as He allows.  Sometimes He has to make more room.  Because He knows me. He knows I live a life less thankful.  My small mind is focused on my small problems.  I lose sight of HOW BIG HE IS.  I lose sight of how good and true and constant He is.  Sometimes He has to take