Inner Rose

45 minutes it took! 45 minutes to snarl and lambast and take each petty annoyance and "grievious" offense and spread them like slather all over the face of my darling beloved with words like spit upon his face. 5 years into the marriage it was!  And 45 minutes.  I could see the clock. We stood in front of the stove.  Bob, carefully listening, saying not a word. I, steam before my eyes and a flush to my face - letting him HAVE IT! Finally, I wound down and stopped speaking. Arms still not crossed, face not flushed, Bob related calmly to me as he asked, "Are you done?" I said I was.  Embarrassed, chagrined that it was now his time to talk and mine--to listen. "Well, there are things that I don't like about you as well. However, God has shown me that he is not working on those things. So I have chosen not to focus on them. And I would appreciate it if you would do the same thing for me as well." You could have heard a pin drop. And now, y...

Mom Lois used to say, "We are of the Kingston Russells."  To which I would respond, "do you mean the Russell family lived in Kingston (Ontario)?"  "Yes.  We had relatives there.  Grandma (Leda) used to visit them and stayed with them when she was going to music school in Toronto (around the turn of the 20th century). I looked at the map.  Did Grandma take the train?  And, if so, why didn't she just take the train from London to Toronto?  Ah well...  Maybe it was true.  And then I found this..  http   en   wikipedia dot org   wiki  Kingston  Russell.  Is that what they meant by the particular phrasing that she often repeated? We are still at a time in which, "WHO" and "WHAT" you are, to some, means so much. ? who knows ? Friends would say to me, "Oh I WISH I could see Benny Hinn (and others) before I die!" On one hand, I know they were speaking from a point of great emotional poverty of...

It is incredibly harder to walk in integrity than to grab for what isn't yours. (my quote) Talons like claws had climbed up my back and shredded, defrauded and defiled. In great anger and duress I cried out to God. VENGEANCE! "I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy."  And then: "I've had to forgive you of more than you need to forgive him."  (ouch!) gulp It was not what I wanted to hear. In the end I finally learned to bless those who curse and pray for those who despitefully use me. It was a hard won fight but worth the battle.  I am glad I have changed.  It was worth the time.

A prophet spoke one time early in our marriage "a harness race horse and a steady Clydesdale and the Lord is going to cause your steps to be in tandem." It has been done. Thanks be to God!

Many years ago I worked at a place where helicopters landed on the roof. When the wind was just right, the room would fill with vapors or smoke. Asthma was exacerbated and stress and alarm skyrocketed when this continued again and again. I felt powerless. It was hard to stay work focused when health was at risk. Though many of us wrote to request change...months went by...air meters were placed and found nothing...They were even considering moving the fuel to the building top. Karen called... "I had a nightmare and you were being chased by a white helicopter." "Karen, the helicopter that lands on the roof is white!" She prayed. We prayed. "It would take hundreds of thousands of dollars to move the helicopter pad," they said. "If this is being a health consideration, perhaps you should find a different job," they said. The helicopter was moved and I did not lose my job. Alleluia! God works in mysterious ways!

Oh indeed! Yes! I need you to just come right here and set by the fire... you know I ALWAYS tell my stories best by the fire... with popcorn... and hot chocolate... and fireflies and juuuuune bugs landing on the screen... Story One...on "GRACE!" by Susan Lois Metler Henry Eleven years younger than me, my cousin, Mary, had come to us from England for a visit. GAP clothes and LEVI jeans were on her agenda. What to do what to do? We were trying to show her a good time but she was so much younger than us. What was she interested in? Finally, after trying many things, we sought to show her a good time by taking her to Jackson, MI (an hours drive) to see the light show on water which synchronized with music. Arriving early at my insistence so that we could get good seats, we sat on these blocks of cement set out especially for seating. What did I expect? I didn't know! All I knew is it was almost time and it might have started and these women seated right in front of u...

How limited we are. Sometimes our short-sightedness causes us to short-circuit or side-step our long-range vision. But our God is limitless and all-seeing. He is an all-knowing, all-seeing, all-hearing and all-hearted God. 7/9/10