Here's To You!

WHAT'S WITH THE HUMOR?
Recognizing that this time of the year can be painfully tough
for those who have experienced abortion,
my desire is to offer a beacon of encouragement and laughter
to help uplift the spirit.
My postings for the remainder of the year will be focused on doing this.

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter

and your lips with shouts of joy.

Job 8:21

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! My family and I have so been enjoying our time together. I do truly treasure every moment that I'm given with them.

In the midst of the busyness that most of us have been partakers of, there have been some of you who have continued to leave me well wishes and thoughts of love through your comments here or through e-mail. I want to thank you so much for that. It means a great deal to know you're being thought of! I assure you that I have thought of and prayed for you all just as often.

Whether you're joining a large celebration tonight, or spending a quiet evening alone, I lift up my glass of cider in toast to you all......the new friends, the old friends, the visitors who I'll never know, those who have experienced the healing that this blog is committed to, and those who have yet to experience it.......... I tell you all, "we're in this together!"

2009 represents a freshness of possibilities,

and I'm believing for God's very best in each of your lives!

Here's to You!

I Gotta Be Me!

WHAT'S WITH THE HUMOR?

Recognizing that this time of the year can be painfully tough

for those who have experienced abortion,

my desire is to offer a beacon of encouragement and laughter

to help uplift the spirit.

My postings for the remainder of the year will be focused on doing this.

Laugh!

Laugh!

LET IT OUT

AND

LAUGH!

Thank You, Power Up Love!

Thank you, "Power Up Love" for featuring my testimony on your website today.

Please everyone, give them a visit and leave them some love!

Real Laughter

WHAT'S WITH THE HUMOR?
Recognizing that this time of the year can be painfully tough
for those who have experienced abortion,
my desire is to offer a beacon of encouragement and laughter
to help uplift the spirit.
My postings for the remainder of the year will be focused on doing this.

We can all benefit, don't you agree?

Now, this one is funny! To me it is, anyway. Then again, I often find humor in the oddest and most unlikely things. It's all part of my uniqueness.........smile!

Some may think that it's a big stretch to add the element of laughter to a blog that most commonly focuses on the after math of abortion. But, why? Those who have been through abortion still deserve laughter, don't they? OF COURSE THEY DO!

When we laugh, especially those bust a gut type of laughs, it truly is like a cleansing of the soul!

A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22

I love to laugh, and even more, how laughter is contagious. Get in the presence of someone that can't stop laughing and you're sure to catch some! God knew this about me when He blessed me with three male comedians of my very own. I tell you, between my husband and my two sons, I've got comedy central right at home! I love the humorous characteristic in each of them.

I believe that I'm able to enjoy laughter today like I do, only because of the freeness that God has given to me through His forgiveness and redemption. When He took my sins away, threw them into the sea of forgetfulness, and became the Lord of my life, something freed up in my spirit. Oh yes, I had laughed before finding Jesus, but it was the type of laughter that is described in Proverbs 14:13

"Laughter can conceal a heavy heart,
but when the laughter ends, the grief remains."

There is nothing worse than that kind of laughter. It is a false cover to a darkness that can barely be masked. When the party is over, you're still faced with painful soberness, so it is with temporal laughter.

So, how do you experience the laughter that is like medicine for your soul, and not the laughter that just temporarily conceals a heavy heart? The key lies in your openness and willingness to
allow Jesus into your heart.

Letting Jesus in takes surrender. This is hard for many, especially those who have been violated and hurt in the past. When we've been mistreated, we put up a guard, or protective wall if you will, that may allow others in......but only so far. It can be scary to completely surrender and let down the wall that you feel has protected you. But friends, if you will just let go, and say YES to Jesus, He will overwhelm you with His goodness. A goodness you've not known before, and a goodness that will set you free.

As I slept the other night, God gave me something that I believe He wants me to share with you. I don't know if you've ever heard the story in the Bible about the Samaritan woman at the well, but I will brief it for you just in case (the story in it's entirety can be found in John, Chapter 4).

There was a woman from Samaria that had lived quite a life. She had been married five times, and was living in sin with a man who wasn't her husband. Because of her bruised reputation, she chose to carry heavy jars to the well to retrieve water from, during the hottest point in the day. Anything was better than facing the wagging tongues of her fellow townspeople. It was there and then she discovered Jesus! She discovered that this man Jesus knew everything about her..........yet, He still spoke kindly to her. This in itself was hard for her to comprehend. In her process of retreiving water, Jesus used an analogy that would forever change her life.
His words to her:

"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.
Indeed, the water I give him will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
John 4:13-14

She couldn't get back to town quick enough to tell everyone about this man Jesus! BUT NOTICE when she did, she left her jars of heaviness behind!

This is the freedom I've been referring to. God wants to free you the same profound way, so that you can leave your jars of heaviness behind forevermore. Let Him fill you with His living water, and you will never thirst again.

It's only in this freedom, that you will find the laughter that's not just a temporary cover.

This is my prayer for you all!

You Don't Say ?!?

You don't say?!?

Have a happy, laughter filled day.........no matter what!

Learn to Laugh Again!

In my post entitled "Not So Happy Times", I wrote about how it is that this time of year can be very difficult for many who have experienced abortion. As families everywhere parade around in the love of the season, a great sadness can certainly be felt for the children that are not here to be a part of it.

In this state of intensified sadness, you may find yourself feeling REALLY READY to begin the healing NOW! And if this is where you're at, I commend you for recognizing your need. I do however, lovingly suggest that you would wait to begin the process until the holidays have passed. This will allow you to not be distracted, and to have the focus you deserve. I have found that most pregnancy resource centers will agree.

So, how do you cope until then? Good question........read on.

I've noticed that many bloggers out there are gradually slowing their pace of blogging in response to the busyness of the season. Many are changing the course of their normal blogging as they choose to rest and gird themselves up for the new year that quickly approaches.

With all of this in mind, and in recognizing that I CAN do something to help lift your gloom, I have determined that I will spend the remainder of the year writing completely off subject and in a way that helps you to laugh! We all need laughter -- it's just down right good medicine for the soul!

A cheerful heart is good medicine,

but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

I've known of many circumstances where laughter made all the difference in the state of someone's physical being. Laughter along with faith, are an unstoppable force. Laughter can help make your life happier. Start thinking of joyful things, and you will soon see the difference. Our moods can either raise us up or break us down. We do not have to feed every painful reminder of our past.

Learn to laugh again!

It really is okay to enjoy life.......

.......and yes, God really does want you to!

"Tell Them That I love Them"

I had planned to write a post this morning, but got a little stuck as to what to write. There were many subjects that did enter my mind, but none that I sensed God's leading on. Have you had those days? I sat in front of my computer perplexed for awhile. I love to write, but my desire is to write what God inspires me to write, and not just for the sake of writing. It's important to me to write in a way that will bring God glory and in a way that will point others to Him.

I began to walk around my home slowly. Praying for God's leading, I said, "God, help me to know what to write. What would you like for me to say?" His quick response was, "Tell them that I love them!"

I like that out of all the things He could have said this morning, He chose to tell you that He loves you! God is really something! In a world where nothing is for certain, He wants you to know His love for you is!

He has a way of tying things together so cleverly. During the days that surrounded Thanksgiving, there were some things that happened that were of real disappointment to me. Have you ever been disappointed by someone you expected more from? It hurts when others let you down, and my heart was heavy because of it.

During that heaviness, I began to wonder why it is that we expect so much sometimes from imperfect people? After nearly 20 years of following Jesus, He's still teaching me that He's the only perfect One! People will let us down -- sometimes intentionally and other times unintentionally, but God's faithfulness will never cease!

He's our firm foundation! He's never changing! He's the same yesterday, today, and forevermore! His love for you is forevermore! It will not change based on what you do right or you don't do right. He loves you like no one else ever could. Each of you are the very prize of His heart. His love is immeasurable!

Today, God said,

"Tell them that I love them!"

Receive every bit of it!