Halls created for Free Souls to run down, through, and around.

Everybody knows this.

Regretably, many GrownUps make Rules to the Contrary.

sigh.

To be Fair,
there are Good Reasons,
such as Too Much Stuff or
Too Slippery.

Sad, but True.

The other day,
I saw a Little Girl running in the Store the other way...
Both she and her Daddy were trying to Entertain themselves while Mommy shopped.

Unfortunately, it was one of the Halls That Was Slippery.

Very Sad, but Painfully True.

WHOOOOOOOOP! The Little Girl was flat on the floor with a Bruised Knee as a Bonus.

"That's ok. Just cry it all out. Daddy is here. Go ahead and cry."

Sometimes, I think of my Heavenly Father as that... Maybe I made a decision I regret, maybe I wish things are different, maybe I hurt because Life is Hard.

"It's ok, baby. I'm here. I've got you."

I like to imagine that He holds me... and lets me cry.

We get up and keep walking.

And I know He'll carry me if I can't walk.

I walked in the door,

weary, tired, burdened.

The Golden Lady was sitting at the Kitchen Table with the Fairy Girl.

"Come sit down... This is a Healing Table."

We shared, we confessed, we laughed, we cried, we prayed.

"Faith is not in itself a meritorious act; the merit is in the One to Whom it is directed. Faith is a redirecting of our sight, a getting out of the focus of our own vision and getting God into focus. Sin has twisted our vision inward and made it self-regarding. Unbelief has put self where God should be, and is perilously close to the sin of Lucifer who said “I will set my throne above the throne of God.” Faith looks out instead of in, and the whole life falls into line." ~A. W. Tozer

Times were Hard.

Pennies were pinched.

The Golden Lady somehow got by taking care of her daughter, paying the bills, always tithing.

There was this necklace in the shop window that she just LOVED. Absolutely LOVED. Fine gold chain with a dainty little heart. AND earrings. It was $35. She didn't have that kind of extra money! But she scrimped and saved for several months... and she had that little envelope with that precious money, tucked away in her purse. After church, she was going to buy that necklace!!

But as she sat in church, she remembered that she had TOTALLY forgotten to TITHE that month. How she forgot is impossible to know, but she knew how much it was to be... $35.

But no! That was her money!! She has scraped and sacrificed... He wouldn't mind if she didn't tithe.

Right?

"Do you really trust Me? Will you put Me first?"

She knew she had to put it in the offering plate.

It was an Act of Obedience.

After the service, an old friend came up to her, "This is really strange, but I feel like I'm supposed to give you $15. Would that be offensive to you?"

The Golden Lady laughed. "Oh, not at all!"

Then the Pastor hurried after her, "God told me to give this to you... God bless you," as he pressed $20 into her hand.

Again, the Golden Lady laughed.

Her Father had given it all back to her.

She went and bought the necklace AND the earrings, right after church.

And thus the Healing Journey continued...

He finds them -- that's what He does.

Salvation. Deliverance. Redemption.

The Healing comes.

We're all on that Journey. It's happening...

The Golden Lady is always talking about the Healing Journey... And how everything is one step at a time.

We're all on a Healing Journey as He takes our fractured souls and makes them whole.

Lately, I feel like I've seeing it every where, every day.

Was this always happening? Did I just never notice?

Maybe it's over a plate of leftovers.

Maybe it's in the middle making of a million trillion wedding favors.

Maybe it's in the hotel lobby or on the floor, surrounded by moving boxes.

Hard questions are being asked, old pains are being faced, old wounds are being cleaned out...

It's not always fun, it's not always nice, it's usually scary and it is NEVER easy.

But it's happening, folks.

It's happening.

 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
Save me, and I shall be saved,
For You are my praise.
 Indeed they say to me,
“Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it come now!”

Jeremiah 17:14-15

Oh, so you thought I forgot about you?

And about the stories from the Golden Lady?

puuuuulease.

Don't be impertinent.

There has been so much going on... so many new stories... updates... barely time to catch my breath sometimes.

It's good. It's more than good, actually.

“In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.”

― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Relationships grow only in the soil of humility, selflessness, open-handedness. Relationships are inherently risky: for all that, you can’t control the outcome."
Ann Voskamp

http://www.incourage.me/2013/06/how-to-live-your-best-life.html

"Why do we worry?

"It's so stupid.

"He's got it. And He is good."

thoughts with the Shepherd's Daughter.

"Sometimes when we get overwhelmed, we forget how BIG God is." [A.W. Tozer]

Me: (thinking aloud, so weary, with a touch of bitterness?): Right now, I am just waiting for this to completely fall apart. **pause** That's how my stories always seem to end.

A Girl who has Heard It from Me Many Times: (bravely) As someone likes to tell me, He writes Beautiful Stories.

oh snap. 

"He is stripping me of idols I didn't even know I had..."

"I'm learning to be a human BEing -- not a human DOing."

"He didn't live amongst the tombs -- Even when he was dead."

"I want His presence to be the first thing people notice when I walk into a room."

Met up with the Shepherd's Daughter the other day.

The job/season transition continues, but she's never missed a rent payment, even if she's not bought new shoes or purses in a while.

"The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become - because He made us." [C.S. Lewis]

most of the stories that I share with you

have already happened.

but, as is the case with most tales, many of the stories continue to unfold.

another Moment of Decision has come to the Fairy Girl.

I know that if not even a Sparrow can fall to the ground without His notice,

then He can take care of Fairies.

pray for her, please? and for those of us walking alongside.