Music Monday ~ God is Good, All the Time!

November 23, 20159 Comments

I’m not sure how it happened… I blinked and somehow 2 weeks flew right by and somehow I totally missed last weeks Music Monday post and almost forgot to do one for today.

I’ve had a lot going on in my life lately. Some of its been really really good and some of its been not so good.

I also had some news last week that wasn’t so good and at the moment I have a whole lot of thoughts whirling around in my head that I could write about but for some reason feel like I’ve got nothing that wants to come out on paper… or make that the keyboard. I think maybe it’s the fact that I’m still trying to process and wrap my head around a lot of this newly found knowledge.

Maybe once I get it all my thoughts processed I will have words to write but for now I just want to say that no matter what bad stuff life throws at me there is so much more that shows me that God is still good.

That leads me to today’s Music Monday song which is “Good Good Father” by Casting Crowns

We sang this song in church yesterday and they play it on the radio in my town all the time by another artist. Actually I have heard it sang by 3 different artists but my favorite is this one by Casting Crowns.

Oh, I’ve heard a thousand stories
Of what they think You’re like.
But I’ve heard the tender whisper
Of love in the dead of night.
And You tell me that You’re pleased
And that I’m never alone.

You’re a good, good Father.
It’s who You are, it’s who You are, it’s who You are.
And I’m loved by You.
It’s who I am, it’s who I am, it’s who I am. (words by Anthony Brown, Pat Barrett)

God is really so so GOOD… ALL the time… and He loves each one of us…. don’t ever forget that ❤

Have a wonderful week,

Today we are doing a link up, If you would like to join in just WRITE about a song that moved you this week and come back and leave your link in the inLinkz below.

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From Trash to Treasure, Marietta’s New Shoes

September 16, 2013September 17, 20135 Comments

My name is Marietta and today I have new pair of shoes. Though not brand new from the store they are brand new to me. I found my new shoes in a rubbish pile at the city dump. I really can not understand why someone would throw such a good pair of shoes in the trash. They fit my perfectly and they are so beautiful!

Nine years ago I was found in this same dump.

I was born to a woman who really did not plan to throw me away but she felt like she had no choice. At the age of 12 she was sold by her father to a man who had promises that her life could be so much better. The man told her father that he could give her a nice home. He told him that he would even pay him to let her live with him. He told her father that by living with him she would be able to attend school and receive an education. Her father wanted so much more for his daughter than he felt he could give her and the man seemed sincere. He believed the things the man told him. Though he would miss her her, her father wanted his daughter to have a better life. He let her go with the man all the while thinking that he was protecting his daughter by sending her to live with the man. He didn’t know that the man was bad man and that the man was using his desperate situation to take advantage.

A few days later his daughter did arrive at nice home but soon found out the man had lied to her father. Instead of going to school she was forced to work without pay and she was also physically and sexually abused for the next several years. At age 15 she found herself hiding a pregnancy and eventually alone, giving birth in the city dump behind a pile of rubbish. She was afraid that if the man ever found out about her baby he would hurt it by turning its life into a life of slavery too. So that day she made a desperate decision to do the hardest thing she ever had to do in her life. She kissed her baby and then she turned and ran away leaving her baby there at the dump, tossed away with trash.

That baby was me, Marietta. A few hours later I was found by a woman who came to the dump to find things to sell. The woman was poor, barely having enough money to feed her own self but she still took me home anyway. She began the task of nursing me to heath and she began raising me as her own child.

Nine years have passed and the woman who found me is my mother now. I love my mom so much. We laugh and have fun together. She always tells me stories and gives me the best hugs. Every day my mother and I walk 3 miles to the dump where we pick through the rubbish looking for things we can sell in the market; this is how we make our money. Today while we were searching I found a pair of shoes! These shoes are the most beautiful shoes in the world! I have never had a pair of shoes before I am so excited about this! I just have to try them on!

As I put the shoes on my feet they I notice they are a perfect fit. I feel like dancing… I leap and spin and twirl. As I joyously spin around I notice a tear in my mother’s eye. I run over and wrap my arms around my mother’s neck and I ask her why she is crying. I love her so much and I do not do not want her to ever be sad. My mother smiles at me and she tells me that she is not sad at all. She tells me that that her tears are tears of joy and that my dancing makes her happy. My mother then tells me that she wants me to keep the shoes. Wow! I am so happy I have new shoes! This is the best day ever!

Later as we are walking home I ask my mother why someone would throw away something that was so beautiful and perfect.

She told me that these beautiful shoes were just like me, she said they were beautiful and perfect and though we found them here at the dump looking as if they were tossed in the rubbish that they were NOT thrown away, but left right here where they were supposed to be. That the shoes had been put here by God for me because he knew I needed them. She said that they were a beautiful treasure and a gift from God to me, just as I was a beautiful treasure and I was a gift from God to her.

Dear Readers, As you know this is blog month at Compassion. Today we were given a picture to write a story about. Though the picture I wrote about shows a pair of worn shoes that to some may look like trash, I believe they are on the feet of a beautiful child. Though this story may be fiction the things written about in it are all too real and are happening in our world.

I have heard that we do not know someone until we have walked a mile in their shoes. Today I tried to take you on a small journey in the shoes of a child in poverty (or no shoes). The children pictured below live in areas that experience high incidents of child right violations. Things like child prostitution, child trafficking, physical, emotional and sexual abuse, neglect, child labor, early marriages and harmful cultural practices. Your sponsorship of an At-Risk Child will help provide child-protection, education, action planning and an immediate response to abuse if needed. You can click each child’s picture and find out more information on how you can help by sponsoring one of them. Once you sponsor a child you can write them letters and tell them they are special, let them know they are beautiful and that they are loved.

You can also click the picture of the beautiful shoes above or below and visit Compassion’s At Risk Child page

Please consider sponsoring a child today.

Stepping Into The Boat

April 30, 2013December 13, 201319 Comments

A stormy day, riding through the streets of a busy crowded city, racing to our boat, we are late.

As we pull up to the dock, dark clouds are looming hanging low over the ocean, large waves crashing at the shore.

I see two boats tied to the dock bouncing on the waves. I look for our boat, it’s not here… have we missed it? We are told that the larger of the two is our ride. Though our boat is the larger one it looks way to small to hold all of us and our luggage.

I had imagined a big boat crossing a small body of calm water, instead I see this tiny, not very sea worthy looking ride, have they made a mistake? This boat is not big or strong enough to carry us all to the island in this stormy water, and by the way… where is the island? I gaze across the violent water and think I may see a shadow off in the distance. It’s to far away! Not one person voices what is inside my brain, though I know we are all thinking the same thing. I hear someone say, “I think this would be a good time for a prayer”. Some of us wrap our arms around each other’s shoulders, we stand together in a circle and we begin to talk to God…

Dear Lord, We are here to do what you have called us to do. We ask you to place your hand upon us, upon our boat and keep us safe as you guide us through these treacherous waters.

Get into the boat is a must if we are to do the task he has laid before us. We have came this far, there is no way we can turn back now, children are waiting for us across those waves. God is counting on us to go. We have given it to Him and now is the moment we must trust, we swallow our fear and put on our faith as we step into the boat…

The crew pulls up anchor and our boat starts moving across the waves. In front of us a dim shadow of an island is far off in the distance and the shore behind us disappearing into the foggy grey day. As the boat begins riding the swelling waves they come crashing over the edge of the boat drenching us from head to toe. We begin to laugh as our fear is forgotten. Feeling as if I am on some sort of amusement park ride, I laugh so hard my stomach hurts, salt water in my mouth and eyes. Still laughing now trying to not open my mouth but not being able to control the laughter that is forcing it to stay open. I see Marti spitting out the salt water managing to douse my leg, the look on her face when she realizes what she has done causes more laughter, our fearless leader Sean wipes his face with the sleeve of my dripping sweater and I catch a glimpse of Mark in his baby life vest, We are trying to duck under our already drenched jackets, water is by now pouring down the front windshield pouring down our backsides… We just keep laughing because there is so much to laugh about and this is so much fun!

God has given me peace and has taken away my fear. He is in control of our boat and we have nothing to worry about, all we have to do is experience the ride, experience the joy, experience the laughter. We laugh like children, because we are His children. Today we laugh because today he has taken our grownup selves away allowing us to be children again, trusting that our father has everything under control. Today as our Father is guiding our boat across a stormy sea to an island off the coast of Haiti.

I look ahead realizing we are closer now. The grey sky begins to part before us, the sun seems to only be shining on top of the island. Right here, right now, before my eyes is God’s magnificent art work of beautiful pink and white flowers flowing down the sides of the rocks. Palm trees sway in the breeze and it is all spotlighted by a sunbeam. God is saying to us here I am! I brought you through the storm! Here is your gift! Take it all in and let the beauty I have put before you fill you up! I remember the scripture from Psalm that says – Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. I know this is that moment, my moment of delight.

After drying off we set sail to the other side of the island to meet the children who are waiting for us riding a dingy to the shore, another boat ride…

we exit the boat and walk up a winding path through the trees,

we see goats, chickens and more spectacular views from atop of the hill.

As we walk we know we must be getting close because I our ears are treated to the sound of beautiful voices of children. We hear them singing songs of welcome, leading us to their little church on the hill, hidden in the trees at the end of this path.

We enter the church seeing a sea of smiling faces greeting us, as they sing with the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. I feel so unworthy and humbled by this gift of song. God is so good, He is just way too good, my heart is so full I’m not sure it can hold any more. I fear it may burst.

The children have a show of music and dancing planned for us. They give to us everything they have to give in their performance. If only I could love half this much. They do not have any material things, but yet they have so much to give in their gift of God’s love that they are giving to us today. Do I know how to love like they do? They share their love without holding anything back.

After the show we go outside to play. Though they live in this very primitive place they still behave the same as children do everywhere. They play jump rope, tag and ring around the rosy but they do it in a play yard of dirt. No swing sets or safety rubber just dirt and trees a few balls and large imaginations.

They love making silly faces and to have their pictures taken. They line up to pose for my camera excited to see the pictures of themselves

I peak into a beat up classroom to find a couple of teenage girls just hanging out like teenagers do.

I watch my husband playing soccer. His team barely touches the ball yet joy and laughter fill his face. His eyes seem to have a new light in them today.

Looking across the yard and see a few children in the corner of the yard with Lori. These are children in need of sponsors and she is trying to decide which one she will sponsor. I take their picture….

A little girl in a lime green dress reaches up and takes hold of my hand. Shyly she looks up at me and smiles. She never speaks a word with her mouth yet says everything with her eyes. I know that I have made a new friend. Her name is Rose. Rose never lets go of my hand the rest of the afternoon. She is quiet and seems very shy, can she talk? Rose pulls on my hand, leading me through the mud to a woman in front of a worn looking shack, a tired looking woman with kind eyes and a baby. Suddenly I realize this is Rose’s mother, Rose has brought me to meet her mother. She stands looking at her mother as if I am a lost puppy she has brought home, waiting for her approval to keep me. Though she never says a word somehow little Rose has climbed her way right into my heart and I know she has been waiting for me to get into that boat to come here to be her friend and her new sponsor. I know God has guided me to be right here today. This is exactly the place he wants me to be today in the moment in time, right here on an island named Ile a Vache, right here in Haiti.

Today I am so thankful I came to Haiti, I am so thankful I got in the boat, many blessings were received, I would have missed them had I not gotten in.