Transforming Water to Wine, A Battered Heart to Wholeness

"Transformation" Lisa Moreland, Oil on canvas, 2009

I inserted a new element to the still-life that we were painting. As the instructor came by my easel she asked, “Why would you want to add a cross?”. “It represents miracles.”, was my audible response. “So many.”, was my soul’s gratitude-filled response. 


Certainly the original one, Jesus’ first, to the delight of wedding guests in Cana that day. Jars of water transformed to the highest quality wine. And certainly all the other recorded miracles that transformed disease to health, repugnant living to second chances, hunger to feasting, and persecution to freedom. A singularly holy gift of transformation was offered that day. A gift that would reach across centuries and into human souls world wide. A wine-red redemption offered by the sacrifice of Christ.

My gratitude-filled soul knows well the work of this holy transformation. Adversity after sin, sin followed by vengence reigned down year after year, loss upon loss. An beaten and battered heart barely crawled across the living that still had to be done.  The Holy Spirit remained true. Our Lord remained vigilant. Angels were sent. Face to the floor prayers were heard and worked out by our Lord across across the years, bearing miracles. Miracles of restoration, a return to wholeness, and gifts unexpected.  

Today the listing of gifts includes these, the transformed water, saved soul variety of holy blessings. Amen

846 ~ deep gratefulness for being transformed by daily encounters with Christ

847 ~ gratitude Lord that you could make something beautiful out of all this suffering

848 ~ thanksgiving Lord for being more than the sum of my past mistakes

849 ~ gratitude Lord for your power within me that enabled me to endure and overcome more than I could ever imagine ~ Eph. 3:20

850 ~ gratitude for the spiritual nourishment offered as adversity is overcome ~ Rev. 2:17

Seek Radiance

Become 

Radiant

in the

presence of 

God!

Moses was not aware that his face became radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. 

Exodus 34:29-35
~

Whether one's habit is to bend the knee, raise the palms, lower the head, lift the eyes heavenward, or keep them closed; 

Whether one's habit is to seek a dark enclosure or a sunlit landscape,

light wicks of flame or lift notes of music;

It matters less than the the habit of bringing yourself 

prayerfully to the Lord 

in anticipation of the the radiance that 

the He may place in your heart and on your face.

With much admiration, I link here with faith filled others with a photo and a story to share at SUNDAY , Snapshot and Scripture, and God-Incidences

God-Incidences...When He's Been There All Along

"I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land, I will never leave you until I have done what I promised you."           Genesis 28:15

There are three of us on the couch. Me in bifocals, them in diapers.  Me spattered with the remnants of the day's meals, sneezes, and floor play. Beside me my daughter's two precious bundles; hoped for, prayed for, for years. They are entrusted to my care from time to time. Two fraternal gifts carried heavy for 30 some weeks; mothered tenderly now for almost 15 months.


It is dusk. We are cozy. They are glistening with the sheen of infant beauty after baths and pajamas. Settled against one another on the nursery couch we watch Baby's Praise Collection DVD to wind down after a toddler's marathon energy day. It is a precious moment, sweet with with all that is important to childhood.


It happens in a blink. I briefly turn to the side table. Peripheral vision reveals a pajama-ed, toppling twin, overboard somersault fashion. Landing face up crying in ... what? Startled scare? Internal injury?

[My heart leaps to prayer.

Dear Lord, be present here! Dear Lord, this treasure here!]

I place quiet twin on the floor. Hoover over the toppled one who reaches for Grandma. Scooping him into arms and onto lap, I scan breathing rate, posture, limbs.

[Dear Lord, is all well?]

Beyond the holding I notice the long, over sized, floor pillow at my feet. A new one added to the room just today. Casually placed at the base of the couch. The one that cushioned the child's head-long fall. The one that oh so coincidentally is stitched with this toppled child's name on it. I stare. I dare, to wonder were these incidents divinely lead?

 [Were you here Lord all along? For this child? For the purpose he yet needs to fulfill? For this grandma who prayed for these care-giving hours to be blessed with safety?]

Little one calms, sniffles in the curve of head, arms, and lap that encircles him. He breathes easy, sits comfortably, quiets. No undo harm appears to be present.

[I close eyes to whisper...

Thanksgiving Lord for the gifts of this moment. For the good fortune of lithe little bodies that withstand toddler tumbles. For unexpected circumstances that intercede against harm. I choose to see your hand on this moment Lord. I linger here amidst these [now] clamoring toddlers, to raise my heart in thanksgiving Lord.]

Delightedly pleased to join others at the Gratitude Community, God-Incidences, and SUNDAY links. Grateful for the telling over there of God's hand on every life.

Sundays: Winter Hues

 Expecting only quiet taupe, dark espresso, and soft whites blanketed under winter's sky veils ones seeing. Winter's monotone hues can be surprisingly interrupted. Creation occasionally offers the vibrancy and boldness of bursting color. An offering of provisions during this leaner time. A reminder of the fruit filled seasons ahead. Color rich encouragement that can brighten a winter-dark heart.  Fold the image into your soul as God's gift of loving care.   

Linking with the faithful SUNDAY community at

http://www.jumptandem.net/

God-Incidences

Linking with a community of bloggers who recognize our Lord in the day to day moments and people of our lives.

{Reposting from July 2011, because the moment, the Holy Spirit in this moment, deserves to be shared over and over again.}

Old Dog sprints stiffly to the water’s edge; darting, nose skimming, reading the news of critterdom left on scented surfaces. A banquet of scents hangs in the air to inhale and savor. Bird song, rabbit skittering, and turtle sightings entice Old Dog from branch to brush and then back to the water’s banks.

The beleaguered, burdened human trails behind, mentally distant, unheeding, unseeing. A heavy heart and weighty concerns veil the senses. Dappled light dances across shaded lawn but eyes don’t really see. A canopy of green foliage rustles overhead as breezes shift and sway; but ears don’t really hear.

In time the Old Dog, satiated with the frenzied hunt for smells; settles and revels in the shade, nose attentive to buffeting scents carried on the wind.

A glance toward my Old Dog turns into a full measured pause. It’s clear his aging self has troubles of his own: sight has dimmed, hearing and muscles are much diminished. And yet, I hear the interior Spirit suggest; Notice, your Old Dog knows well enough to be here. He knows well enough to sense the cool of shaded grass on fur free skin, to lift the nose and savor the smells in the breeze, to feel the wind in his fur, and glory in the luxury of that, the divine restoration of that!

I feel my eyes widen, mind stumbling to be alert. I settle in the shade and strive to suspend worry and wrestling to attend. Water rushing over the rocky falls fills the ears.

Wind buffets warm across skin and lifts hair. The essence of wood, wind, and water, the marvel of it all, fills the breath, slows the heart, and quiets thought. Listen for that which one can hear only in spiritual stillness. To see what can only be seen with the soul, to sense the holy in the moment.

                      

 The Spirit of the LORD will be with you to give you understanding, wisdom, and insight.     

   You will be powerful, and you will know and honor the LORD.  

Isaiah 11:2 (CEV)

Human fears lift...

and shift...

reframed by deeper awareness and divine meaning that transforms into peace filled strength.

… to be renewed in the spirit of your minds…  

Ephesians 4:23 (ESV)

Smiling now...,

grateful for the gift received. Old dog and human head home renewed by divine nudging.

About the quiet here this past month...

The quiet here began unintended. I refer to an absence of blog postings for the past many weeks.
I had notes on the edges of bulletins, several in fact, for the postings I was planning for the weeks ahead. Photos earmarked just for the holy season upon us.
And then this. There were joyous preparations for the holidays [all of them, November thru January 1] at home; the first time for me in several years. Think of using my own turkey platter [an antique pattern just like mama's]. Think of the anxiousness of replicating my mother-in-law's to-die-for cornbread dressing for the sweetheart who LOVES that dressing. Think of one year old twin grandsons, here for their first package-opening Christmas.

So it began like that. Just several days or so, away, distracted by this dither of excitement.

Intruding upon this course of a brief blogging reprieve there came 'Dasher'. Not the reindeer variety, the computer crashing variety. Truly. Dashed, I was told, to irretrievable bits. Now my husband is superb in this arena. So new replacement 'stuff' was secured in a timely manner. But, dear reader, it's not a PC. The MAC is not in a computer 'language' that I have honed for two decades. Photo albums, editing, document access, ----you must know what I mean.

This is where my blogging pace met it's match and was thus silenced for yet an even-more-unintended bit of time. Some weeks have passed. I write tonight using the new MAC.

Now, hoping to continue to move forward across the new computer learning curve, but posting thoughts all the same.

Finally, a heart-full statement of gratitude for the Holy moments of three holidays serving my precious family, turkey platter and all;
hushed, holy moments that were gratefully experienced even if not written about here. My ever open Gratitude Journal lists two dozen or so additional blessings from those oh so wondrous days.

So pleased to place print on this page once again.