Wednesday, October 16, 2019
5:10 AM
Do you ever wonder, as a Born-Again,
Spirit-Filled, Christian woman, if what you are hearing is the voice of God
speaking? If so, do you have doubts?
I am going to honestly tell you, I
did. I still do at times. I will also
tell you my husband did, my family did, my friends did. Pretty much everyone who knew me did. But as you will read, the Lord did not have
any doubts and set me on a path I never knew would happen to me. At least not at 64 years of age and in a
tiny, little, rural, Oregon town. I will also warn you ahead of time that my
mind is kind of like Tigger from the Winnie the Pooh stories. I bounce.
I bounce here. I bounce
there. I bounce everywhere. So I hope you will be able to bounce through
my story with me.
I am a book reader and not a book
writer. I love to write. I love to read. I never thought I would actually be writing a
book, but here it is. I truly admire an
author who can find that spark to start a story and continue from beginning to
end to give the reader the entire story.
My book is not like that. My
story only has the beginning of me and end of me has not come yet. In between are the stories of my life and my
walk with Jesus as my friend and
Lord. These are the lessons I have
learned and am sharing with you. These
are the events that led me to start a women's encouragement group called the
Power of Twelve.
I was born in this tiny, little, rural
Oregon town back in 1954. I have lived here all but a few years of my
life. I love it here in my
hometown. It is a quiet, peaceful place
to live and raise a family. We have the
Pacific Ocean just a few miles away. We
have the beautiful, rugged Coast Range of mountains on the other side. We are tucked in a pretty valley with green
fields and five rivers flowing into it.
Doesn't it sound like heaven? Oh,
I should tell you. It rains. It rains a lot. We get about 80 to 90 inches of rain a year
so there are grey clouds hanging around six to nine months of the year. But hey, the good days are just like I
imagine heaven will be like! By the way,
it is green here! Green grass. Green
trees. Green waters. Lots of green. No desert.
No cactus. Water, water, everywhere.
My life have been uneventful for the
most part. Nothing exceptional on the
good end of the spectrum. Nothing
exceptional on the bad end of the spectrum.
Just a normal, unremarkable life, like many of the millions and millions
of people across the globe. But then one
day, something happened. I couldn't get
out of bed because the room was spinning and then only to find a tumor inside
of my head. Life changed. I
changed. My life as a Jesus Follower
changed.
I like to say that when the tumor was
removed, God placed the voice of the Holy Spirit into the hole and that it is
He who is whispering into my ear as the days pass by now. I will let each reader decide on that
one. I have doubts that every word I
write is coming from God because some of what I write is just me pouring my
heart and thoughts onto the page. I do
know that some of what I write are love letters from the Lord to those reading
this book. The Lord has asked me to put
this out there for you to decide which parts of this book are speaking to you
and which parts are telling my story for you to relate to. We all have a story. Some of us are called out to write it down
for others. Some of us speak it out in words to comfort and encourage others. Some of us tell stories to lift the spirits
of others. To show God's love for people
in this world today. We are all a work,
a book in progress. Mine is here for you
to read if you so choose. It is a simple
book of faith. Stories of the wisdom I
have learned in 6 decades of life. I hope you enjoy my life as much as I have,
so far. I hope there are some times as
you are reading through this book that the voice of God whispers in your
ear! It's a wonderful life, tumors and
all!
