Oh how great is Thy goodness

Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Psalm 31:19

He is a great, good God. i often kid with my friends or my clients that i should be a pile of ashes for all the things i think, say and do that the Lord has not judged me on. oh sure, we always reap what we sow. i am so thankful that He gives me time to 'think on what i am thinking' and to repent. if we were judged immediately, well ... as i say all the time ... i would be a pile of ashes from the lightening bolt.

but He is good.

He convicts
He waits
He listens
He forgives.

what a good God we serve.

ah, 'normal' life ..

i know, i've been scarce. after several emails and a phone call or two, i decided to come out of my funk and post something. i really have a good reason ...

i've been struggling for the last few weeks with fatigue and just plain overwork and stress.

having robby back home has been great, but it has been very tiring. he's moved in our back bedroom on the first floor of the house and has taken over the downstairs livingroom. it sounds like a big house, but it's really not ... we put a second floor on a sweet little cottage ten years ago but decided to make half of the upstairs floor another living room. bill and i have a huge bedroom, a large bathroom with a jacuzzi tub and the living room upstairs.

it's worked out quiet well.

robby now has his girlfriend and a few friends over - what a joy to have him around the house - and since we've moved some furniture around, i now have the computer upstairs. that's where i am now.

robby and his girlfriend, milly, have been struggling with some sort of flu the last week and guess who got it next? yup, me. *sigh*

so, i've come up from the couch and my migraine long enough to post this, and now i'm back to the couch and a movie. *sigh* i don't like being sick.

but ... this is my quiet time of year, so i do not have to see another client until tuesday night. i'll rest until then.

thanks friends for calling me out. i'll back back ... sometime ...

such love ...

the Lord has only given us twenty four hours in a day and i often wonder how i manage to overbook myself so much and seem to run short consistently.

today was one of those days. i didn't want it to end. six clients. one accountability partner who wanted to help in ministry. powerful anointing and powerful freedom.

i have the awesome honour of working full time in the Lord's ministry. somedays i end my days so overwhelmed that He would choose to use this cracked pot with which to pour out His love and healing upon others.

how can i ever begin to express how it feels to be so overtaken by the perfect, unconditional love of the Father for His children? we fall so short in our humanity to even begin to understand the height, depth, breadth or width of His love, but yet ... the Scriptures tell us we can!

Ephesians 3:17-21
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.


Christ, dwelling in our hearts by faith ... when we are rooted and grounded in that love, we can comprehend it. the word translated 'comprehend' means to take eagerly, i.e. seize, possess, etc. oh how willing i am to 'take eagerly ... seize ... possess!!!

once we've had a taste of that love, nothing else will do. once i got a taste of that love, i wanted freedom to be able to express it to all i met. if only we all had it in abundance to express to a lost, frightened, lonely, thirsty world. the church buildings wouldn't be able to hold those coming for just a taste.

one of my current 'thankfuls'

Watering the plants ...

This is my precious Granddaughter, almost three. My daughter is such a good mommy, giving her all sorts of experiences ... they have such a good time together playing. The nightgown she is wearing is one that Kelly wore when she was the same age. It makes my heart sing to see Jadzia wearing it. Precious or what???

Kelly sent these to me. the cute thing is Jadzia in all her drama queen glory decided to water mommy!!





Just look at that face.

walking in mama's shoes?

i know i need to update things here. it has been so busy around my house ... bill is still off work, i'm working hard - lots of clients, and i've been spending a lot of time with Robby. as i type, he's crashed out on our pull out couch in the living room because he has agreed to come and do some gardening work for bill today.

so on to walking in mama's shoes ...

sunday night, robby and his girlfriend, milly, asked me to take them to church. robby had been to the lutheran church around the corner with the family he is living with. apparently the sermon had hit him between the eyes. powerful stuff.

Thank You Lord for using Your men and women of God to speak Your words of life to us.

so i pick them up and we try to decide which church to go to. my church does not have a sunday night service because we rent out our facilities to another church on sunday night. we have one on friday night instead. so we decide on a local pentecostal church because that is our background. we drive up ... can't believe it ... huge church, no service.

so we go to another local church ... no service. the kids insist, they must go to church. i remember a little church that a friend goes to. we stand outside the church so they can have a cigarette (old habits die hard) and the two of them are feeling very, very sick to their stomachs. thank You, Jesus, that they know enough not to let it stop them!

we go into the service. the music was great, the Spirit of God was evident. wonderful! i know several people there, it was a great time. the sermon was fantastic. i could see robby studying the pastor ...

as the pastor is closing the service, the Lord gives him a word, just for these two kids. he says

i know, by the Spirit of the Lord, that there are at least two people here who have very deep wounds in their hearts. they're wondering about how to serve the Lord. He wants you to know that He accepts you just the way you are. warts, mistakes, history and all. He only wants your heart.'

need i tell you what happened next? awesome. i cannot tell all of the rest of the story, because it is robby's to tell. but i know he will tell it one day.

what i will tell you is robby told me later ... 'i was studying the pastor because i was thinking there was no way i could ever do what he was doing. he was so good. but after what happened tonight, i know that i know that it is my purpose in life, that i must go to Bible College and be the youth pastor that God called me to several years ago.

Oh Lord. You are so faithful. Father, how can i thank You for allowing me to be present when he made this decision. how can i thank You for the mighty way You have kept him over the last five years?? You are an awesome God. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

Kelly and Robby

butchie, king of the street 


now that i have figured out ... hopefully for good ... how to use Picassa, i must post a picture of our Butchie, king of the street.

he sits under the trees and watches the neighbourhood from this great vantage point. we can see him from our dining room window and have giggled many times over this sight.

two of my favourite people

robby and jadzia, july 1, 2005 


today is Canada Day. it was awesome to pick up Robby and then Kelly and Jadzia and spend the day together. what fun we had! this picture is from us exploring the 'marsh' just south of our house. we live just a few streets north of lake ontario in what used to be Toronto's version of cottage country. now we're just part of the 'burbs.

kelly and robby told me about the paths they used to travel as kids and i was shocked that i had never travelled this area with them. twenty five years in the same neighbourhood and i'd never been there. we had such a great time treking through the trees and the bush. robby first, jadzia second, me and then kelly with the baby carriage.

i am so thankful for the up side of the roller coaster. today was one of those times. we're swinging high and low and fast, and even though it is so difficult, it is awesome to be together as a family again.

i know the Lord will carry us through this time.