Savior, please...

Boy, just when I thought maybe I could come up for air...

My sweet Lulu has been in the emergency veterinary hospital for almost a week now. We just got the definitive diagnosis back the day before yesterday. She has Lyme disease. She is a very sick girl and I am praying, praying, praying. I feel like I'm always requesting your prayers, but if you would be so kind to lift up my sweet Lulu, I would be so grateful. As you know, she is quite special to me.

Here's Lulu today during my visit with her:


Gosh I just love that sweet, sweet face...everyone at the hospital is in love with her! Can't blame them! She is the gentlest soul. But I need her to be home with me, where she belongs.

Friends...I feel like it is just "issue" after "issue." My Sweet Hubby's illness and his Homegoing, my mother's long illness, things I have not shared here on ItTR, my mother's current illness, my father's health status, now Lulu. One thing on the heels of another.

All I know to do is keep clinging to the One Who promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us. He promised.

The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Deuteronomy 31:8 NIV

In the meantime, I'm re-reading the Book of Job and Dr. J. Vernon McGee's corresponding study. And like Job said: Blessed be the name of the Lord!

And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”
Job 1:21 ESV

Hallelujah!

After 33 days in the hospital following a middle-of-the-night fall in which she fractured both her coccyx (tailbone) and her pelvis in two places, my Mom is finally back at home!

She still has some rehabbing to do and the bones still have some mending to do, but all things considered - we are counting our blessings!

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The time has come for me to share my experience at the Extraordinary Women conference that I attended in May. So, I'll be working on that post and you'll be seeing it soon. Very soon. In the meantime, I'll share this with you...just to kind of get your feet wet, so to speak! I'll explain the connection in my next post. ;)

*Please scroll down and pause my player before watching video*

A psalm of David. Honor the LORD, you heavenly beings; honor the LORD for his glory and strength. Honor the LORD for the glory of his name. Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness. The voice of the LORD echoes above the sea. The God of glory thunders. The LORD thunders over the mighty sea. The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic.
Psalm 29:1-4 NLT

I can do all things...

This weekend my life was an example of Philippians 4:13. To God be the Glory! I am so in love with my Creator that I wish I had more words in my vocabulary! All the words I know seem so inadequate to express how I feel...the gratitude in my heart, the desire to be closer-to-Him-every-day! I just pray that when I reach Heaven I find that I earned one crown to lay at His feet in pure adoration...I want to so much to be able to do that...

*Please scroll down and pause player before watching video*

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:13 NLT

Blink of an eye

In the blink of an eye. Ever wondered just how fast that was? I've read that it's been measured between 300-400 milliseconds. Or to put it another way - between 3/10ths and 4/10ths of a second. Anyway - it's fast.

Noun

1.

blink of an eye - a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat); "if I had the chance I'd do it in a flash" instant, jiffy, New York minute, split second, trice, twinkling, wink, heartbeat, flash mo, moment, second, minute, bit - an indefinitely short time; "wait just a moment"; "in a mo"; "it only takes a minute"; "in just a bit

source: The Free Dictionary by Farlex

That is how quickly life changed for my Sweet Hubby and I just two short years ago today. I guess I'm just like the rest of you...I've heard it said my whole life that you never know how fast your world can be turned upside down. Until it happens to you. Well...I know now. It happens in the blink of an eye. One minute everything is normal and the next, it's not. Two years ago today, life as we knew it was about to come to a screeching halt. Only we didn't know it just quite yet...all we knew the morning of July 7, 2008 was that my Sweet Hubby woke up not feeling well. At all. But he proceeded to get ready for work...showered, shaved, dressed. Men! And yes, you may {insert eye roll here}! It was only when he bent over to pet our dog, Snoopy, and had to quickly sit on the floor before he fell down that he agreed that maybe, just maybe he should stay home for the day. We figured he had picked up some "bug" and that a day of rest and TLC would have him feeling better. But as we all know, that was not how it turned out when he was hospitalized the following day.

I have been eying the calendar with some trepidation. A gnawing sense of....something (Not sure exactly what...dread? anxiety?)...has been poking at me at varying times of the day and night. I guess it's only natural and perhaps in time I'll feel it less and less. But not this year. Not yet. Right now I have to admit that it feels pretty overwhelming, the reliving of it all as it plays out in my mind over and over again. Heartbreaking time and time and time again because the ending is always the same.

Still, we have a Savior Who knows our every need long before we do...and provides us with everything we need to weather the storm. He is our fortress! (And right now, I really need a fortress.) For me, many times, I find comfort in music. No surprise, right? I heard this song yesterday and two lines really stood out BIG TIME. I've always been a stargazer. Ask my kids...it's all my Dad's fault. And my Sweet Hubby encouraged it...even bought me a huge telescope for my birthday one year (I think I could have seen into neighboring galaxies with that thing!).

I'm giving my life to the only One Who makes the moon reflect the sun.
Every starry night, that was His design.

Think about that for just a minute! If you're like me, those details get lost in the "day to day." But when you really sit and just meditate on His design...well, I feel very loved by an awesome God. And it is my pleasure and honor to worship Him! And praise Him! And glorify Him! In spite of everything! Because of everything! So Lord, I'll be leaning on you...clinging to You extra tightly over the next week or so...but You already knew that, didn't you?!

*Please scroll down and pause my player before watching video*

In you, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in your righteousness. Bow down your ear to me; deliver me speedily: be you my strong rock, for an house of defense to save me. For you are my rock and my fortress; therefore for your name's sake lead me, and guide me. Pull me out of the net that they have laid privately for me: for you are my strength. Into your hand I commit my spirit: you have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD. I will be glad and rejoice in your mercy: for you have considered my trouble; you have known my soul in adversities; And have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: you have set my feet in a large room. Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: my eye is consumed with grief, yes, my soul and my belly. For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones are consumed. I was a reproach among all my enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and a fear to my acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me. I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life. But I trusted in you, O LORD: I said, You are my God. My times are in your hand: deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from them that persecute me. Make your face to shine on your servant: save me for your mercies' sake. Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called on you: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for them that fear you; which you have worked for them that trust in you before the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret of your presence from the pride of man: you shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the LORD: for he has showed me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before your eyes: nevertheless you heard the voice of my supplications when I cried to you. O love the LORD, all you his saints: for the LORD preserves the faithful, and plentifully rewards the proud doer. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all you that hope in the LORD. Psalm 31

Happy Birthday America!!

May we always remain
"ONE NATION UNDER GOD"

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
John 8:36 NIV

The Terrible Twos!!

It had to happen, I suppose. Tell me - do I run screaming from the building now or just wait and see what happens?!

In the Throne Room turned 2 today!!!!

Little did I know two years ago what the Lord had in store for me. Praise God! He's so good to us that way...

There's a lot of pain and sadness within these pages and I imagine there will be more. Lots of joy too...and God willing, there will be more of that as well.

This blog, the outlet it has offered and the friendships it has provided have truly been heaven sent - so thank you one and all from the bottom of my heart. Now...let's have some cake!