Happy Birthday!!!!!

This post was actually supposed to be yesterday's but I was too busy celebrating. I just wanted to let the world know that I am so grateful for my 34 years of just getting started. I am so grateful for the opportunity to live and grow and be. I just want to take this moment to re-dedicate myself to my Savior and thank Him for His mercy on me. Everyday is a gift. Let us never take our "present" for granted.

I AIN'T NO CHICKEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had to get my shout on yesterday because of my best friend of 13 years. Lord, you know I love her to death. She's the one whom I've written a couple of posts about on my blog. She called me yesterday to share what God was doing in her life. Through the course of the conversation I happened to mention the word 'anointing' in reference to a choir whose ministry I appreciate. What did I say that for? Oh. My. Goodness!What transpired next is what I can only call yet another paradigm shift in my young existence. My dear sister compared the anointing or the special setting apart by God to a little egg that a boy found. He being a little boy thought to take the egg and put the egg where it made the most sense to him: his chicken coop. He took the egg and placed it in one of the nests of the chickens and left. My, my, that egg caused quite a stirring in the coop! The chickens had never seen such an ugly and misshapen egg before. It wasn't white, it wasn't brown or speckled, it wasn't even small, yet the chicken whose nest it was in did what she knew to do: sit on the egg and keep it warm. Eventually as with all eggs that are good and incubated, the funny little chicken egg hatched. Have mercy! This chicken was the clumsiest, strangest looking chicken in the whole world. It had a funny shaped beak, it's feathers weren't like a chickens, it couldn't cluck or peep correctly and all the chickens determined that there was something wrong and off about this chicken. All the other chickens gave advice about this new chicken. "Send him to a special chicken school. Maybe you should consider medication", some said. Mama chicken would take the poor thing to chicken psychologists that wanted to prescribe chicken antidepressants and chicken behavioral modification medication, but nothing would help this chicken. No matter what they said or did they could not get this chicken to just do and behave like the rest of the chickens! So eventually they treated this abnormal chicken abnormally. They teased him and ostracized him and this chicken felt like he had absolutely no place in this world. Well, eventually the little boy came back and befriended the awkward chicken. He introduced himself and told the chicken that his name was Michael. Michael was very kind to the chicken and that little bird appreciated and enjoyed this little boy's attention. One day as they were walking around, Michael was holding the chicken and went to nearby cliff. They were having such a great time together but suddenly Michael threw the chicken over the cliff! As a result, the chicken fell and landed hard on the ground down below. The chicken was stunned! How could Michael do such a thing? Were they not friends? Michael had been so kind to him but now he started to wonder. The chicken went back to the coop to recuperate (no pun intended). The other regular chickens knew what had happened and teased him mercilessly. "See, you're such an awkward chicken, they said, even Michael doesn't want you!" The strange little chicken was discouraged but continued trying to be a chicken to the best of its abilities. But one day, Michael came again and began to play and talk with the chicken and the chicken rationalized that maybe Michael didn't mean to hurt him so he trusted him again. Well as time progressed Michael took the chicken to another high place and threw the chicken off the cliff again! How could this be? What is going on? Well this time the chicken decided to find out why Michael kept doing such a mean thing to him. Michael gathered the 'chicken' in his arms and began to explain what was happening. "Little bird, he said. There's something about yourself that you need to know. When I found you, you were just a little egg and I thought you might have been a chicken egg so I put you in the chicken coop. When you hatched, however, my Daddy told me that you were not a chicken and that I needed to start throwing you over the cliff so that you could learn to fly. You are an eagle and all the eagles I know are meant to fly. So I'm going to keep throwing you over the cliff and keep trying until you decide to fly." So as he promised, Michael kept taking that bird to different heights and throwing him over and the bird continued to fall but the difference this time is that the bird knew that he was supposed to fly. He kept trying until one day as the bird was falling he figured it out. He saw what he was supposed to do and instead of crashing into the ground, this bird started flying. In fact, it started to do more than fly. This bird began to go higher and higher until is was far above the earth and the chicken coop. This bird kept flying even higher until soon it came across a sight: There were other eagles flying high with him and soaring all through the air. Instantly the eagle knew everything that Michael had done was to get him to this point. He flew even higher when he realized that he wasn't a chicken. Michael released him from the chicken coop and set him where he belonged. The chickens saw what had happened to that "chicken" and some admired how high the eagle would fly in the air but most began to mock. "Aw, see that crazy bird? I would never fly that high! He's going to get himself killed!" The things those chickens had to say didn't bother the eagle anymore, because he realized that chickens are who they are and will only do what chickens do. They cluck, they peck and cannot fly but so high. He is an eagle and has to do what eagles do. And for him the sky is the limit. The moral, children, of the story is: I ain't no chicken, ya'll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ain't no chicken!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glory to God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God has placed an anointing and a special calling on my life and I must fulfill it. I must walk in it. I must fly!

Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

Ye have heard that it hath been said, THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOR, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you , and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute yo; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. MATTHEW 5:43-48

Looking Up

We have moved. It's official, but I still feel that high pressure to go, go, go! I am exhausted and trying to get my life back. It was hard work moving all that stuff from there to here but it was so worth the effort. The house is beautiful to me. Old and nostalgic screened in front porch, hardwood floors, chipmunks, confused woodpeckers (one tapped on my baby's head because it thought he was a tree), no insulation in the walls, two fireplaces, fruit trees in the front, back and sides of the house, a walking trail and lake just one block away, and so much more! The children are in heaven with the ability to play in the front and back yard. I can't wait to plant my gardens! Yeah, I believe this was a kiss from my Father and an early birthday present. It will require a lot of TLC to get "my vision" in order, but I believe that we are right where God wants us to be and where we need to be. I'll keep you updated on everything. . .