The Infamous Vests...

I was trying to share this picture with a friend who loves to crochet...MattsCraftyWife...but being technologically challenged in most every way, I could not get this whole "taking a picture and putting it up where it can be seen" formula down.

First I scanned it...great...but couldn't get it from the scanned place to be able to say, convo it to her.

Then I laid it out and took a picture of the picture...surely I could do that right! Well, I got the picture, loaded it on the PC...then had to get it from the camera program to the computer brain...then to the right place in MY brain and WAAA LAAA! Only now the whole world gets to see what I made my boys wear in 1984!

But I will say, hey I CROCHETED these! The "road" goes completely around their tummies and there are four "cars" then sewn atop the crocheted vest. I loved them... my boys...well, I think they liked them... I used their favorite color choices for the cars...

Ok...and I STILL have them! I couldn't part with them, and now that the boys are grown and each have a boy of their own, they wouldn't put them on their kids if I paid them...so I have both vests in a drawer tucked away nicely. There's a lot of LOVE in those vests...even if they are way out of style!!! Perhaps a great grand in the future will like them just fine....

Thanks for looking at my crocheting expertise, and Anastasia, there you go, FINALLY!!!

God's Grace...

God's grace. It's so big. So huge. So mind blowing. God's grace. I've begun the "Breaking Free" study, and I am becoming even more aware of God's grace. As I grow through this study, I'm sure many a post on this blog will come from my freed heart, but today I just wanted to share the lyrics of a song that is my theme song at the moment.

If you want to actually hear it, please scroll to the bottom of my blog page, to the playlist. It's listed there. Click on it and sit and listen. God's grace and the removal of the enemy's bonds. FREEDOM. I pray freedom for you today.

Shackles

by Warryn Campbell, Erica Atkins-Campbell and Trecina Atkins-Campbell

Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance
I just wanna praise You I just wanna praise You
You broke the chains now I can lift my hands
And I'm gonna praise You I'm gonna praise, praise you
In the corners of my mind
I just can't seem to find
A reason to believe That I can break free
Cause you see I have been bound for so long
Felt like all hope was gone
But as I lift my hands I understand
That I should praise You through my circumstance
Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance
I just wanna praise You I just wanna praise You Y
ou broke the chains now I can lift my hands
And I'm gonna praise You I'm gonna praise, praise you
Everything that could go wrong All went wrong at one time
See so much pressure fell on me I thought I was gonna lose my mind
Lord I know You wanna see If I will hold on through these trials
But I need You to lift this load Cause I can't take it no more
Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance
I just wanna praise You I just wanna praise You
You broke the chains now I can lift my hands
And I'm gonna praise You I'm gonna praise, praise you
Been through the fire and the rain
Bound in every kind of way
But God has broken every chain
So let me go right now
Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance
I just wanna praise You I just wanna praise You
You broke the chains now I can lift my hands
And I'm gonna praise You I'm gonna praise, praise you

The enemy wants to keep us bound. Let Jesus free each of us from our past. He's much for us to do with our future!

Love,
Jeanette

HEART-y Party Girls!

Hey, I just figured out how to do pictures in a post!!!! Here are all who attended the HEART-y Party.

I love these girls!!!

HEART-y Party

Today was the long awaited HEART-y Party here at my house. God blows my mind.

Most of you know that I belong to a great group of women who all have special needs children. We meet weekly to laugh, cry, and support one another on our rocky journeys, and talk about God.

Anyway, my heart gets overwhelmed sometimes with the selflessness of each of these women. The disabilities of our children covers a wide range and for forever and a day we are pouring ourselves out for our kids and their specialness. Each one of these women speaks profoundly to my heart and are living breathing examples of Jesus with skin on in their care and nurture of their children.

And God moved me to have a celebration...to do for THEM for a change. To say "thank you" for their kids that can't and to say "thank you" from God for their continual giving of themselves. A time to sit and feel pretty. To feel cared for. To feel like the little girl they each are. And it was lovely. Watching them as they opened their gifts...you know what little girls look like when they open presents! That look...spoke volumes to my heart...teaching me that this is what GOD does when we open a present from Him...unwrapping His truths while reading and studying his word, or actually noticing a blessing that He's put right in front of our face that we've taken for granted for days.

They left FULL...full of chocolates, quiche, bruschetta, cookies and yummy dark chocolate covered strawberries...(thanks Berta!). Full of friendship and kinship. Full of joy. I said good bye as the last mom left, shut the door and I feel....Full of gratitude for knowing them. Full of awe at God's grace in bringing us together four years ago. Full of contentment, love and joy. FULL.

Learning to Walk..."Come on, you can do it!!!"

Almost two years ago, my life changed drastically. Poor decisions, mostly on my part, almost ended a marriage of 28 years. At that time, crying out to God, utterly poured out before Him, I heard him tenderly say, "Two years. Two years of healing." He would repeat that many times over the next months.

I pulled out of every ministry I was in. I bowed out of everything. It was about my healing. My survival as a person. My husband and family's healing and survival. Everything else was distant and unimportant. All God wanted was all of me! To heal me, correct wrong thinking, and most importantly to build me up from that completely broken and shattered place. To once and for all get across to me who I am in HIM.

At times during this journey I thought I would die. The pain was so great. But God, is so GOOD. So CARING. So LOVING yet FIRM. And out of this journey, this searing pain and healing process, He birthed Wordz of Life. "There is healing in the stitching," I would hear numerous times a day. And so, I stitched. I stitch. He creates the idea, I draw the design, I stitch, He markets. I can't tell you want a privilege it is that He has entrusted me with this purpose in life.

Now the two years of intensive healing are almost finished. I am NOT saying I have nothing else to heal from, simply that those two years He specifically called out are almost done. Like a toddler learning to walk, getting stronger, and more able to do more steps, more sure and secure steps, that's what this time has been.

And He is restoring outside ministries now. I know that being a table leader in a Breaking Free study is where I am to be. I also know that I'm gonna be breaking free of chains and shackles still rattling in my soul myself as I progress through that study.

I share this with you to say, God is good ALL THE TIME. ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD. And at times when you think you cannot go on...I KNOW you can. I've been there. Lean into Him. Feel His touch. His breath. Get THAT close. You get to you know...you are his CHILD! What loving Daddy holds their child at a distance???? This is Daddy is the perfect one...and He loves to talk with, and hug you!

I just had to share this today. Because being a LEADER in any capacity has always been terrifying to me. Out of my norm. But God has lead me there, has said, LEAD. And so I take another wobbly step down that path for Him. Just like a shaky toddler, one step at first tentative. Then another, and another.... I can hear Him saying, "Come on......YOU can do it!!!"

What step is God whispering to you to take? ....With Him by your side, YOU CAN DO IT!

O PRAISE HIM....

Today I am feeling PRAISE-FULL. Full of praise. He is holy. He is just. He is truth. He is light. He is joy. He is God. He is I AM. He is precious. He is mighty. He is again, HOLY.

O PRAISE HIM...for if you do not...the rocks will. They do. PRAISE HIM.

Defragmenting our spirit...

For some reason as I sat with God yesterday, asking Him to cleanse my heart and mind, the word "defragging" came to mind. You know how we "defrag" or defragment our computers occasionally to put all the computer's "knowledge" back in order to make best use of the space? Well, that's what God showed me only it was my spirit that He was busily defragging...

Strange to picture and think about, but that's what He does with each of us! We give Him all our knowledge...the good, the bad, the ugly, the excellent and praiseworthy knowledge...all of it, and when we really turn it all loose into His quite capable hands, He defragments US!

Ever feel like you are wandering aimlessly through your day? As though you are accomplishing NOTHING? Going from project to project not completing any of them??? It's time to sit down and let God defrag your spirit!

W. O. W. Moments...

I've been thinking about this... W. O. W. Moments.... I call them this because they are "Works of Wonder" Moments. Those moments where you SEE the face of God as He is accomplishing something in your life.

I have been witness to thousands of W.O.W. moments... sadly, most of them have fallen by the wayside because of my life's busyness. Taken for granted. I want to get better at writing, blogging, whatever it takes to REMEMBER those W.O.W. Moments God provides.

I think this blog could be a tool to use for WOW preservation! A permanent reminder of God and His glory. Like the twelve stones taken from the dry riverbed to remember God's deliverance. Same thing. We, each of us... have been, are, and still will be delivered of much as we lean into God's heart.

And so, the first stone of hundreds is placed down for all to see. The decision to consciously REMEMBER God's goodness.

"Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day." - Joshua 4:9

I did it!!!

I did it!! I have a blog!!! Not sure what all to do with this thing, but I know it's a GOOD thing!! I'm sure my friends at the Christian Artisans Street Team (CAST) on Etsy will help! Guess we'll see where this all goes!!! Check back...I'll have figured out more I'm sure!

Blessings,
Jeanette