"Set Me In A Large Place"

I love writing out scripture. When I was in high school I started my first journal at the age of 14.  I have been writing ever since. I use to think of the countries that did not allow Bibles. I thought, in my youth, that if I wrote out scriptures in my journal then it would not matter if my Bible was taken.

Clearly that has not happened. Thanking God for that. However I still write out scriptures as I go along in my daily time with God. Today I was chuckling over this passage. It was my favorite for today's reading and I wrote it out. I will typically write out the verses that are my favorite for the day. Today it as Psalm 118: 5-6

" From my distress I called upon the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is for me. I will not fear. What can man do to me."

I do not think God expects us to be deep theologians with deep study into the scriptures for His words to speak to our hearts.  When I read this I immediately thought of where I live. I think of how God knows my heart for nature.  He knows my heart for being in the country. And here I am sitting sipping the mornings coffee on a beautiful farm. It looks more like three mornings of coffee here at my desk. Is this the large place He has set me in?

In reading this passage "set me in a large place." I could not help but think...what is that large place?  Where exactly has God put me?  And how does this passage reflect my heart today? Two years ago I prayed that God would provide some very specific things in my life. It seemed that my prayers were bigger than life. I am a dreamer. God designed me that way and when I look at scripture and how He has answered prayers. It is pretty hard to not sit back, drink coffee, read these passages and just smile.

Living on a beautiful farm is that "large place" for me. I was looking for a place to finish raising my boys. A single mom, wanting to provide space that would bring fun, joy, and work to my boys. I had no clue to even know where to start looking. And I just prayed. I lived on a beautiful farm in The Dalles and my heart yearned for that again. My boys loved the wide open spaces, too. And then to read that "the Lord is for me." I had to write these scriptures out today. Because truly the Lord is for me. And He is for you. I have called upon the Lord ALOT in the past two years. When we call on God, we can expect that he will see that His will is being done as we seek to know His heart. I had no idea what God had planned. One evening of God pressing on my heart to attend a friends event at her house, her farm, her family being raised in this beautiful place that the boys and I always loved to visit. One summer about 12 years ago, we came for a visit. No one was home, so we set up a picnic in their Orchard. Emily brought her violin, Emerson as about 4 months old, the two other boys toddlers playing. I remember praying that someday God would bless me with a property like this. I had no idea that this orchard would be the view from the kitchen window 12 years later. Here we live in this "large place".  Almost two years now. Eric was 2 years old and now a teenager playing in the same orchard.

I have had to overcome some very big fears in the past two years and even in a conversation yesterday, this sweet gal telling, "girl you have got courage, you have it in you."  I laughed and said that it was ALL an act of God. Through Christ Jesus and his promises, we ARE that person. Why?  Because the Bible tells us so.  So now that you have these two passages of Biblical wisdom how are you going to face today?

There is going to sad days, days of pain, days of uncertainty, days of just stress that we have no control over. What is your large place?  Actually another "large place" is my car. No, really my car. It's big and it is still running and it is easy to load up and take the kids on road trips expanding our large places. Even in the little things God has set aside a larger space. Step into that space with confidence that no matter your situation or circumstances "The Lord is for me" which also means you. Love & Cheers

P.S. You can find more fun pictures and comments with this hashtag. Each time I share a picture I try to remember this #farmlifewithcones

 

Today Is A Gift

What is a perfect gift?  The unexpected? Something you have always wanted? Time? Sleep?  I posted on my Facebook today that, "Today is a gift. A perfect and wonderful gift."

I woke to  sunshine beaming in the window. I was certain it was noon. I checked in on the boys still sleeping. Did everyone sleep until noon today? It was around 6am. Wait!!!  I wanted to sleep until noon. Instead I ended up doing the dishes. Unloading a dishwasher, filling it with last night's dishes and hand-washing all the bigger dishes. I sipped on coffee. I looked at what I need to be getting done today and just smiled. Ahhhh what a gift. Today is a gift. A perfect and wonderful gift.

As I cleaned up the dishes I looked out across the apple orchard at all the green. Sprinkled with colors of flowers here and there. The sky blue. I thought that who ever is on dish duty today will get a surprise. A gift to them. The coffee was already made. I poured a cup. A gift to me. The sun beaming down from the heavens. Another gift for me. I stepped outside for a moment in my jammies breathing in the crisp Spring air. Oh the gift of life and the air in my lungs felt like another gift.  Thinking of what I would do today. A gift to have an unplanned day to make plans.

I make lists for the week. Thinks I hope to get done this week. Very few items have day/time limits because I can put next week on this week and be ahead of myself. I found my way back to my desk after dishes, and coffee. And I sat thanking God for today. Today is an unexpected gift. A day off from work. No, really a day off.  Most of my days off are planned vacations, appointments, and errands which involved planning, organization, and then being the leader of my family and seeing that everyone is in the car, and off we go into whatever we have planned. Something I have wanted for almost a year is just one day. A day to sleep in until noon, drink coffee, and stay in my jammies. I had five of those days last January. But it does not count when you have the flu. I have wanted time. Time that is wide open with nothing scheduled. I wanted to sleep in. All would be a gift.

Today is that gift. The unexpected day off. A gift from my boss after a long week last week. Recognizing that I gave my all and yesterday after only two hours of work she instructed me to go home, and take today off, too. She said I had gone above and beyond the call of duty. So the unexpected started yesterday and the boys and I took time together doing things like shopping together, hanging out at a park. That unexpected gift has spilled into today. I was up at 6am ready for the unexpected gift to be opened all day long. I guess in my thoughts I thought sleeping in until noon would be fun and drinking coffee all day, but that is not really me. I love to be moving and doing. It's how I am wired. Today I am moving and grooving here on the farm.


I am thankful for good health, truly a gift. To take walks in the country, work in the garden, and even working in the barn today. What is your idea of a gift?  Whatever it is, look for it in your day today. It's waiting for you.

The Generous Heart of One Family

In this post I want to share the generous heart of one family. A family I do not know. Yet God prompted to write a check on the precise day I cried out to God.

It was October 15th when my three boys were removed from my daily care. It was a law that a judge had to abide by. Even in his own words stating, "this is NOT in the best interest of the children I have to abide by the letter of this law." And my kids moved an hour and a half away from. The events took it toll on me. It was hard on all of us. It was breaking my heart in half. My work had suffered during the months leading up to court cases and representing myself over and over with no means to hire an attorney.

The very next day after the boys were removed from my daily care I cried out to God for even more help. The kind of crying of, "Dear God how I am going to see my boys. I can not even buy gas to drive into town let alone an hour and a half away."  God has always provided just enough. AND in my desperation my heart breaking over not being able to go and visit my boys.

Have you had prayers and cries of desperation?  I know we have all been there. It is hard and we know is having walked with God that there will, no doubt, be hard times. And in those hard times we are called to  "consider it all joy" and well joy, tears, and heartbreak get all mixed up.

I made myself get up and go to church that next morning. I could not imagine being around people. I sat where the boys and I always sit, the front row. Worship poured and cleansed my broken heart. I took notes on a message that could help. I made myself stand up. I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. I felt that if I stayed in bed and cried then the enemy had won. I asked God to get me up and out the door.  The enemy will not have my family. And I WILL stand in church praising and worshiping God. There was a call to come forward and be prayed over and I have no idea how my legs took me those few steps forward but I went and prayer came that morning. God penetrated my heart with hope.

Later that evening one of the young men in the Cone home, Tyler, handed me a piece of paper. It was a check. A member of his church wanted to do something. Wanted to help.  It was enough money to pay for gas for the next 3 months to go and visit my boys. They could not have known the timing of this check or the prayers of my heart. They felt God's leading and generously gave to our family Not one dollar was wasted. God provided in way that came from a stranger. My heart completely humbled.

What is challenging your faith? What are you not seeing? God is working on your behalf. It may not be as tangible as a check. But the check was yet another way God answered prayer. God answered prayer that day by helping me to have the courage to get out of bed and take my broken heart to the cross. God answered prayer  that day by blessing my broken heart through worship and praise. God answered prayer by bringing people to pray over me. All not easy AT ALL when less than 23 hours earlier your children have been taken from you.

The generous heart of this family was really the ending of a day filled with God's care and blessings. Look for God's care for you. It's there and HE is there to carry you.

One Simple Move of Obedience #FarmLifeWithCones

It was just a summer bbq invite. I was tired. I was emotionally spent. I had nothing left to give. I was embarrassed. I was humiliated. I had no extra money for fuel that week. As a matter of fact I was past counting how many gas tanks I had left on my credit card. I was out of money and this invite was at least an hours' drive.

I felt God's prompting. I argued with God about not going. These were dear friends. They would see past my fake smile and surface conversation. They would ask questions and I was not ready to start answering questions. Why go? It's not something I had planned on doing. My boys, now that is a different story. They have nothing but joy and happy memories in this home we've been invited to. I should have never mentioned the invitation because they were begging to go. I told them I was way to tired and we can plan another time. Yet still God's prompting on my heart to go and so we loaded up my gas guzzling SUV and we went.

There was lots of food and lots of people and the boys were outside playing with all the kids. I knew this was where I was suppose to be. God's prompting was a prompting of renewal to my heart. It was just as simple move of obedience.  I had no idea what God had in store for my heart. It was as if God was saying, "Elizabeth I have my angels waiting to love and care for you here on earth. Just listen you silly." And later that evening I sat with these beautiful ladies who asked me questions. Who allowed me to share. Who embraced my heart and the heart of our family. I shared what I was embarrassed to share. I shared the situation. A situation that for some reason I thought I could have avoided. And the love the poured over my heart was just what I needed.

Later that evening my dear friend Ann, the home we were in, invited our family to come and live with them. Invited the weight of the events to not be weighted down by trying to find a home to live in. At first I said, "no". I mean friends really should not live with each other, should they?  I have known this family for well over 22 years. I have watched their kids grow up. Our lives have had seasons where months went by without seeing each other but our friendship never wavered. Now an invitation to move three busy boys onto their little farm in the country. Kind of a dream invitation for boys who love the outdoors. And I said, "no thank you." And then I said, "I will think about it." Again God pressing on my heart. God pressed for about a week. Then another simple move of obedience.

I said yes. More importantly I said yes to God's prompting of my heart. Another simple move of obedience.  I had no idea I needed a family to love on all of us. I have three boys, and here in this home three of their own boys living at home. Grown children and their youngest son the age of my boys. What a blessing to our family.

Obedience to God is hard. Not just sometimes but all the time. Why?  We may think we have a plan. That plan may be well laid out and make perfect sense. But then along the way there is a change and we think, "no that can't be right."  And when the plan to move to this farm was presented I had to laugh. I had to remind myself that God keeps putting me where I am most able to grow closer to him. Nature, views, animals and a farm. Always somewhere in the midst one or the other.

It has now been six months living in his home.   This is just the beginning of how God has provided and prepared our family through life changing events that would unfold. He moved us into a home that HE could be glorified and honored in. . For His plans are always better than our plans. One simple move of obedience provided more blessings in the midst of heart break than I could have imagined.

What is God prompting in your heart?  How could one simple act of obedience move the course and direction of our your life?

There are many moments I have shared through Facebook with the hashtag #farmlifewithcones check in on that for little adventures here and there.