And I laughed :)

...from my prayer journal...

I was hurriedly working around the house...trying to get a family of eight out for an earlier session at the huge conference we were attending almost each day that week...

Spraying down and curling up tight,pretty dark curls into a sweet hairdo with a flower, packing out a cooler filled with several meals and snacks to last us through into the last night hours, filling up backpacks with bible studies materials as well as props for our littlest flower as she played at our feet...slipping 6 boy legs into jeans that we had laid out the night before and finding shirts to match...cleaning up the dishes in the sink...shining up the counter as we headed out for the morning...giving Annie our Wonder Dog just ONE more hug and walk and begging her not to leave us "rewards" on the carpet for our absence like she had the previous day...of course glancing in the mirror for a ten minute fix...they are all in the car now and I am still running after last minute items and my forgotten purse...its upstairs...and ....as I run up the stairs...and in to my bedroom...

I see an unmade bed...and...

Some Christmas toys that had not been put back after a night and a morning's play...

Extra dishes have migrated to the sink!

There's a coffee cup from yesterday on my bathroom counter, and dog hair floating on the floor, clean clothing heaped up on the dresser awaiting its turn to be put away...just waiting for me to come home again... and a huge sigh begins to well up within me...

its a familiar one

...There I was weak and hurried and not knowing how to

make sense of time.

And, I spoke something out,

That may not be what I want

...painted all over with words...

but i said it anyway...

"I hate this!!"

"I have SUCH a MESSY Nest!!!"

And of course, what I was meaning was,

"I dislike you, Gillian, for being SUCH a MESS!! ~ How COULD You??!"

And in that moment,

I can feel it as if it were right NOW,



for it is one of those NOW moments in which HE comes

and walks HIS Truth into MY Now...

In that moment, YOU,God, YOU gave me a picture of many

Soft Feathers -- Piled Up in a Colorful Heap

In a nest

I saw them.

And I felt the gentle sound of your laughter and your pleasure all around me.

I REALLY Heard YOU say,

"I love your messy nest."

And, shocked I replied,

I REALLY did!

"But, God, How could you love THIS? It's awful!! It's a wreak!! It's SO out of sorts!!!"

And YOU said back.

"I love your messy nest. This is JUST the place where I want to grow them. Where I am growing you."

"I love you."

And, like my Sarah our "great" of grandmothers,

I laughed!!

And my heart danced back with smiles, now so much lighter, because of the One who smiled down all over me and hugged me in my midst.

I carried this sweet revelation with me down the stairs and out the door as I got in the car...and saw YOUR smile again as I peered in the rear-view window at those crazy, precious chickies in my nesty car...

I hovered closely over this bit of NOW Word woven into my every day.

And, in this, I became ever so much more knitted into "likeness" to YOUR heart and mind...

For, newly, I understood in this moment that,

What I often criticize, YOU LOVE!!

And, I can be MORE Critical and way "OFF" of what is true than THE MOST HIGH!!

I can not see what YOU love until my eyes are opened..

So, also, I can too easily turn to criticizing what is beauty

and ascribing value to the lesser things...

Give me eyes to see...what is real...

And ears to hear YOU when YOU speak...

Love, GG

We love you M and M

Love is the river than flows through
Love is the arms that are holding you
Love is the place you will fly to
Love never fails you




Love is not proud
Love does not boast
Love after all
Matters the most

Love does not run
Love does not hide
Love does not keep
Locked inside

Love is the river that flows through
Love never fails you

Love will sustain
Love will provide
Love will not cease
At the end of time

Love will protect
Love always hopes
Love still believes
When you don’t

Love is the arms that are holding you
Love never fails you

When my heart won’t make a sound
When I can’t turn back around
When the sky is falling down
Nothing is greater than this
Greater than this

Love is right here
Love is alive
Love is the way
The truth the life

Love is the river than flows through
Love is the arms that are holding you
Love is the place you will fly to
Love never fails you


~~~~~~~~~
Glory to God!
THE God of Love.
We have seen His Mighty, Searching Love
Here
Among Us
Salvation is SOOOO Real
and NEAR
Salvation IS a personal God
We can know HIM
and touch Him
and see Him.
He is Jesus.
He IS the way
He is the only solution
He is what all Life is about
THE Truth
OF Abundant,Real Life.
We praise His name
New members to the family!
It IS harvest time
Glory to God!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I took you from the ends of the earth,

from its farthest corners I called you.

I said, ‘You are my servant’;

I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

So do not fear, for I am with you;

do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

“All who rage against you

will surely be ashamed and disgraced;

those who oppose you

will be as nothing and perish.

Though you search for your enemies,

you will not find them.

Those who wage war against you

will be as nothing at all.

For I am the Lord, your God,

who takes hold of your right hand

and says to you, Do not fear;

I will help you.

Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob,

O little Israel,

for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

“See, I will make you into a threshing sledge,

new and sharp, with many teeth.

You will thresh the mountains and crush them,

and reduce the hills to chaff.

You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up,

and a gale will blow them away.

But you will rejoice in the Lord

and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

“The poor and needy search for water,

but there is none;

their tongues are parched with thirst.

But I the Lord will answer them;

I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

I will make rivers flow on barren heights,

and springs within the valleys.

I will turn the desert into pools of water,

and the parched ground into springs.

I will put in the desert

the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.

I will set pines in the wasteland,

the fir and the cypress together,

so that people may see and know,

may consider and understand,

that the hand of the Lord has done this,

that the Holy One of Israel has created it."

(Isaiah 41:9-20)

We KNOW who holds you
He holds us too

Love for ALWAYS,

Mama GG and Daddy Richard

Heart Ensurance--in the Storm

Remarkable outpouring of love and manpower still in our neighborhood. This photo was taken as the water was receding from being up at mailbox level.

As we gathered items--mainly clothing to give to a four year old girl who's family has lost their home in a sudden house fire the night of the flooding, Ava said,
"Mommy!! Now L--- is just like me! I didna have a home in Etopia. There were no toys. I lived on the ground. Mommy, does L--- live on the ground now? Mommy, does L--- still have a Mommy and a family?--oh,oh,oh, cause when I didna have a Mommy and a family and a house and a family God saw me. He told you to come get me."

Suddenly a third world location and my Western suburb were not so different--in the heart of a time of trouble--the first place a little girl's heart goes is to "Where is my Mommy? Where is my Daddy? Where is my family? Is what is priceless still in place?"

And me as well...the only place to run in recent storms was into my Heavenly Father's lap. He says He is "very near" in trouble. I stand here. I bank my very life on this. "In Him we live and breathe and have our being."

As I stand here, I know that everything in our lives has to go through my Father's hands. Look in the book of Job to find this--even the lightning has to report to Him. And, in the book of Revelation, it shows that it is Christ that who has to open the seals before any new time season begins -- all of Heaven and Earth has to wait for this--He's in charge--has all the authority.

Trouble--"labor pains" as the Bible calls them, on the Earth,here in our daily lives, draw more of the power of, more of the glory of God out of His child's life--confirming His love and provision and salvation for them in a VERY REAL,NEAR way.

I believe we have not seen the end of them. Times like what have come to our local community and many other examples in our national and global news bulletins are examples that like storm warnings pointing to a greater storm--

Just as many of us in Tennessee looked up in the sky the other day and sought shelter when we saw the lighting and felt the cascade of rain and saw the circular tornadic activity on our radar images -- knew what kind of weather was out there--there are "weather patterns"--hints and warnings that God has clearly given us that we can understand and take shelter in Him --to get ready for the greater trials that will come before Jesus returns to the Earth. Now's the time to ready our hearts. To ask for more of God's Presence, to ask the Holy Spirit to fill us up with His oil so we will be burning brightly now and during times to come (Read Billy Graham's new book, Storm Warning about this or Matthew 24 or 2 Timothy 3:1-5, or Thessalonians to discern the times that we are in.)

Trouble can also be highly effective to shepherd hearts who may have been distant from God back into His arms.

OR into His Salvation for the very first time!--One man in our neighborhood was saved by Jesus on the night of the floods--as he prayed to Christ for the first time-

-the presence of the Lord came upon him and he was literally "flooded" in another way!!--

This precious man is now telling everyone he speaks to that God saved him on that night-- in every way--he's on fire!! His whole persona is saturated with the beauty of Jesus--its utterly beautiful and strikes my heart with Awe. May trouble be well used, may it bring many to lasting treasure--relationship with a very real God and Savior who desires us near to Him--who considers us great treasure--who put Himself in trauma and trouble to ensure our safety in Him forever--He'll do ANYTHING to search us out and draw us close at times.

I know and declare that this is true:

"The Lord is good, a strong place in the day of trouble; and he has knowledge of those who take him for their safe cover."

Deep down inside,
We are safe.
We are covered.
And NOTHING in ALL of CREATION,
Can separate us,
From the love of God,
In Christ Jesus
Toward us.
A Home is not my ultimate shelter,
For my shelter resides with me always.
And,I can take shelter at ANY moment,
Be it in storms,
or in pressure,
or trial,
or tribulation,

In what is

Precious,
Unshakeable,
Right,
Beautiful,
Peaceful,
Ever- lasting,
REAL,
and very True.

Christ IS my home.
He is ALL that I need.
Since He is in me,
And I am in Him,
I am always
"HOME"

Love to you,

Gillian

Happy Easter!

I find my Lord in the Bible
Wherever I chance to look,
He is the theme of the Bible
the center and heart of the Book;
He is the Rose of Sharon,
He is the Lily fair,
Wherever, I open my Bible
The Lord of the Book is there.

He, at the Book's beginning,
Gave to the earth its form,
He is the Ark of shelter,
Bearing the brunt of the storm,
The Burning Bush of the desert,
The budding of Aaron's Rod,
Wherever I look in the Bible
I see the Son of God.

The Ram upon Mt. Moriah,
The Ladder from earth to sky,
The Scarlet Cord in the window,
And the Serpent lifted high,
The Smitten Rock in the desert,
The Shepherd with staff and crook,
The face of my Lord I discover
Whenever I open the Book.

He is the Seed of the Woman,
The Savior Virgin-born;
He is the Son of David,
Whom men reflected with scorn,
His garments of grace and beauty
The stately Aaoron deck,
Yet He is a Priest forever,
For He is Melchizedek.

Lord of eternal glory
Whom John, the Apostle, saw;
Light of the Golden City,
Lamb without spot or flaw,
Bridegroom coming at midnight,
For whom the Virgins look.
Wherever I open my Bible,
I find my Lord in the Book.

~Unknown author

What I'm Singing Today

This is the song of my heart. How beautiful our Jesus is.
Jesus is real.
Jesus is a King.
and He's coming Back Soon.
Make time to soak Him in today...



Be Blessed,
Love, Gillian

"Whoosh, Whoosh" Jacko and the Dandelions

Sweet, Jack. He has his own special way of playing with dandelion puffs. :)

"At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" And calling to him a child, He put him in the midst of them, and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me;" Matthew 18:1-5b

Funny lips
Blowing puffs of little boy breath
on Dandelion's "heads".
Whoosh, Whoosh, Whoosh, Whoosh!
And I laugh with my little boy as we
Fall back into the tender green grass.
To watch, to enjoy, to soak it in --
This invitation from the King of Spring and Flowers and Little Boys.
The King of Heaven, reaching,
for me...

Seeds float on Springtime air
And cling onto his bright green shirt.

Seeds, children.
Blown so quickly across our lives.
All the finery of the Kingdom,
Surfing on the Breath of the "one who rides on the clouds".

Blow on us, again, King,
Lift us back on the winds of your Kingdom,
Where funny lips, seeds,
Lives lived with purest abandon,
Take us to your knee...

Love, GG