House of Hope blessing

Last week I had the honor of speaking at the House of Hope annual fall fundraising banquet, Harvest 06. www.houseofhopecr.org. House of Hope is a faith based organization which conduct classes and offer women the opportunity to learn how to be better equipped, more empowered and experience freedom in Christ. Our belief is that God desires to see His women set free from the past. We are here to support, encourage, challenge, inspire, and direct you on your journey through life. (House of Hope web page)

During my preparation I could see that the Lord was leading me to share some very personal thoughts and hurts. I knew God was calling me to talk about my sister Dana and how she would have benefited greatly from HOH. She faced many life challenges and wasn’t every really in a place physically where she could have been connected to the ministry. Her life ended abruptly on Valentine’s Day this year and it has been such a tremendous loss for our entire family. It was also a loss of future possibilities of her connecting with a ministry like HOH. When someone you love dearly dies so early in life you not only miss them, but you also miss what their future could have been.

God’s consistent faithfulness reminds me that He so wants each of us to fall into His arms and allow our burdens to be carried by Him. The light load I felt as I spoke to over 175 guests last week was not because I’m a seasoned guest speaker, but because He told me that He would speak through me. My responsibility for that evening was to simply show up. God does all of the heavy work if we allow Him. Not once has He asked me to carry a heavy load. It has been just the opposite, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…” Matthew 11:28-30 I am the one He has to remind about His promises.

I believe we are stretched the most during traumatic and emotional events in our lives. It is God reaching into the depths of our hearts insisting we trust Him and not allowing any other options to exist. He transforms our worlds through painful events and brings to our lives new dimensions and reminds us of whom we are in Him. When you are His child there is no escaping the shaping of our lives. He is intentional in all ways. His Love, His forgiveness, His grace, His mercy, His Holiness and His shaping.

Moving on...

Carly Fiorina former CEO of HP, recently commented on her firing from HP. She commented, when the worst thing in life happens to you what do you do? You move on. How difficult it is to “move on” when the absolute worst thing in life has just happened to you. Whether that is being fired from your job, a break in a significant relationship, watching someone very special to you die, sitting with your Mother as they tell her she has cancer or standing before a congregation trying to maintain your composure as you attempt to articulate what your sisters life and death has meant to you.

Moving on takes time, several conversations with God and a lot of cry time. No one can do or say much that makes the painful process move any faster, however, God’s Word seems to bring comfort when no one else can.

· “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you” Heb 13:5

· “I will strengthen you and help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” Is 41:10

· “Cast your care on the LORD and He will sustain you” Ps 55:22

· “He gives strength to the weary” Is 40:29

· “Do not fear; I will help you” Is 41:13

Knowing God is true to His Word is one of the most comforting feelings, especially when the worst things in life happen to you.

Believe God is who He says He is

Believe God does what He says He will do

Believing God

Izaak & Gracie

My new additions as of ten days ago. They are Izaak and Gracie which were born early Aug in my friend Sarah's garage. During a casual conversation with the Ya Ya's, I mentioned wanting to add kitties to my home. They were both so excited about the statement that they could barely hold their composure. Ya Ya Sara said, "you know, Sarah N. has several new babies and is looking for new homes for them." Could it be that she would have two little gray babies just for me? It was so and we were off to take a look. I picked them out of the litter and said I would be back in late Sept to pick them up.

They arrived to their new castle which had been adorned with Ya Ya kitty gifts and this HUGE red dog. I thought it would be best if I not allow Ellie to have complete access to them just yet. For the kitties sake and for mine also. Today, they enjoyed tapping on Ellie's nose waiting for her to respond. She is such a good dog and is anxious to please. She still doesn't get that they aren't toys and they will "squeak" if she tries to play rough with them.

I'm looking forward to the day when the kitties don't need to be watched every minute of the day. They are busy and unpredictable. Pray for their MOM. ha ha

Do we allow God to bless?

I found myself in a challenging position yesterday as Emily arrived at the door asking if she could come in for a visit. Emily lives next door with her brother Mitchell and their grandparents. She is in the second grade and loves to stop by for unexpected visits. Emily’s unexpected visit’s last anywhere from 10 seconds to 1 hour and typically involve a request to play with Ellie (my golden retriever). I looked down to greet her and noticed her honey colored hair covered half of her face and desperately needed a barrette. As I opened the door to allow her skinny little frame access to my very un-kid friendly home the bubble above my head read, you have a huge presentation next week and have very little prepared for it. However, as she began respectfully removing her shoes the Holy Spirit said, “You asked to be blessed today and I’m responding to your request”. Emily ran to the Africa room and jumped behind the couch to find Bob the Builder toys and began talking to Ellie as if she were her playmate. “Ellie, do you like Bob the Builder?”

I finished a phone call and sat at the dinner table watching as she seemed to be in her own world. It didn’t take long for me to realize the opportunity I had just been given. I consistently pray for God to bless me and use me as His conduit for His kingdom. Emily was one of today’s blessings. I walked to the guest bedroom, grabbed the Rubbermaid box filled with crayons, markers, construction paper and finger paints and invited Emily to create something with me. As we sat down at my new dining table Emily said, “Danette, you are the nicest neighbor I’ve ever had. Have you always been this nice to everyone? Thank you for playing with me.”

Emily wasn’t seeing me, she was seeing Jesus. Jesus is never too busy for coloring, playing cut outs or simply listening to our child like conversations as we go through our day. Spending that one hour with Emily reminded me of Phil 1:10a “So that you may surely learn to sense what is vital, and approved and prize what is excellent and of real value” {amplified version}

Baby Jack: My special blessing

Jackson has just turned four and he wanted me to know that I was his special Baby Jack. His official name from Mom and Dad is Jackson. However, Aunt Danette insists on calling him Baby Jack. This has been tolerated my Baby Jack's Mom for four years now. It is simply a good thing that his Mama is my best pal or else she would correct me each time I called him by "his special name".

Not long ago he and Heather came for a weekend visit to bless me for my birthday. The last evening of their visit I sat on Baby Jack's bed and asked him if I could pray with him before he went to sleep. He said that would be "just fine". After I prayed for protection, guidance and for him to come to a complete understanding of Jesus we hugged and said good night. As I got up to leave, Baby Jack said "Aunt Danette I so appreciate you." Ok, now I had to stay and give him one more big squeeze and another kiss. The preciousness of those words melted my heart. I love that Jesus knows how to melt our hearts with the simple words from little ones. What a blessing.

Quality Time

I've been wondering over the past weeks what my definition of quality time is. It is one of my "love languages" so I thought I would spend some time really investigating what quality time really means to me. My life is filled with work, friends, family and duty jobs ie:house work. (don't care for it at all)

Here are my thoughts on quality time. When you actually skip the pleasantries and get right to the heart of conversation with people. I love when you forget about the clock because you are more interested in what your company has to share with you. It isn't the fact that someone remembers to call you back, it is when they call you first. A good cup of java always accompanies quality time. More on this later.

Recently I was able to spend an early morning with the Ya Ya's. (A.K.A. Sara and Mary) What I loved the most about the time was that they didn't seem to be in a rush. We laughed, cried, read the WORD and spent time listening to each others hearts. What a blessing to have close women friends I can feel at home with.

Here is my challenge. How much quality time have I spent with my Savior? It has nothing to do with desire or conviction, however, everything to do with discipline. I miss out when quality time with Jesus is abandoned.

Intention