Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Menopause - the final frontier?


Space Menopause – to boldly go where no man has gone before…or ever will go! Frankly, it is a place that scares men; especially when it's their women who are going there!

 
I recently went and saw “Menopause the Musical” with my mother at a theater near us. We both laughed until we were crying, it was hilarious. Yet dealing with menopause really isn’t much fun at all. It’s like going through puberty in reverse.


Just like puberty, some go through it with hardly a scratch (or pimple) and others go through it like an elephant being pulled through a knot hole in a fence –squeezed through to the other side, beat up and unrecognizable. Some have more of the physical symptoms while others are on an emotional roller coaster with ups and downs around every turn. Some women claim they have "found themselves" while others seem to have lost themselves. And of course there are those special ones who go through it all!


It can be less like a trip through outer space and more like a voyage across a vast ocean where the wind blows wild and the waves crash overhead. With calm waters coming in between the storms giving one time to catch their breath and brush their hair, and almost feel normal. The shoreline can almost be seen, somewhere up ahead... just past the rocks.

 
It's a time in a woman’s life when she desperately needs stability. A place to drop her anchor and hold on tight as the unpredictable changes in mood and body toss her to and fro on a sea of dried up hormones. A time when sweet dreams are replaced with night sweats, and memory lapses meet blank stares from loved ones who are not sure what to say and wisely say nothing.


For me, it has been a time of holding on to God. He is my anchor. The One who made us knows us...better than we know ourselves. There have been days when I have been a stranger to myself and my family – but not to God. I hold on to Him as He holds on to me. When I feel lost in a run-away-from-home mood, He finds me and brings me back, most often before I even leave. My body may be changing, but His Spirit in me will never change. He wants to be Lord over every area - the physical, emotional, and spiritual realms of our lives.


He is the “God of Hope!” And He will fill us with His joy and peace as we place our trust in Him. He is our anchor in the stormy seasons of life as well as the calm ones. Our faith and trust in Him are the chain that holds us to that anchor. We can boldly go anywhere with Him…even through Menopause!
 
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
as you trust in Him.
Romans 15:13

Monday, January 13, 2014

The Month After Christmas



Tis the month after Christmas
And all through the town,
People look tired
They seem really down.

 
Christmas is over
It’s all packed away,
No lights, no more sparkle
Just a regular day.

 
The holiday feeling
Has faded and went,
Their pockets are empty
The money all spent.


They look rather hopeless
With heads hanging low,
The parties are over
They’ve nowhere to go.

 
Forgetting the good news-
The Holy One’s birth,
Can’t change with our actions
Or seasons on earth.

 
Remind them that Christmas
Can never depart,
If Jesus – the Christ Child
Is born in their heart.


Celebrating Him (with you) throughout 2014 ~ Charlotte

Thanking Him for the beauty in every day...
 
 
His mercies are new every morning!
 


Great is His faithfulness!

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Peace?

      Today the shopping comes to a halt. The gifts sit wrapped under the tree. Stockings are filled. Baking is finished. All the busy preparations for this one day cease. Today I sit amongst the tinsel and wrappings, and try hard to see through it all…to celebrate and focus on the One who made this day famous – Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
The hustle and bustle that leads up to this day can sometimes leave me asking, “Where is His peace?”
He said, “Peace I leave with you…”
      Do we know His peace in our lives? It seems like a radical idea, the concept of peace in a world filled with turmoil, and in lives filled with so much noise and busyness. The media reminds us daily that this world is unstable; governments are overthrown, wars break out, and closer to home - families fight, marriages split, and children rebel. The television commercials scream at us to fill our lives with “things” instead of Him. But our hearts cry out for peace…His peace. What did Jesus mean when He said He would give us His peace?
“My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.”
      He made a point to tell us it is His own peace that He gives us, not the kind the world offers. The world’s peace is dependent on circumstances, the ups and downs of daily life or the things we have (or don’t have). His peace doesn’t come from without, it comes from within; the place within our souls where His Spirit dwells. It is His own peace because it comes from Him, inside us, His followers.
      When all the wrappings of life fall away, He is so much easier to see. His peace is known when we spend time seeking Him and being still in His presence…not rushing past Him to do the next thing or get the next thing.
“Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
      Worry, upset, fear, leave when we trust Him and rest in His peace. There will always be much to do, but He will never ask so much of us that we don’t have time for Him – the Prince of Peace.
 
      On this Christmas day may we celebrate Him, as the baby who arrived in the manger bed and began His journey to the cross. He was born to die, so that in Him we could fully live and know His peace.
 
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” ~ Jesus
 John 14:27