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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/6/2008 7:55:32 AM
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Tinkerbell_
Posts: 2961
Joined: 1/25/2008
From: NeverNeverLand
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Thing 1 getting an award tonight for an annual GPA of 3.8 or above. Yea!!! 
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Dangerous When Hyper
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/6/2008 9:54:21 AM
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John_O
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Finding enough mushrooms yesterday for a meal today. And the 6 mile walk through the woods was worthy of a smile by itself
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Psalms 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/6/2008 12:50:30 PM
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followtheLeader
Posts: 2020
Joined: 2/11/2008
From: The Hundred Acre Wood
Status: online
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quote:
ORIGINAL: joy2give2u
I had God speak a really cool thing to my heart yesterday which is keeping a huge smile on my face.
Moving into spring has required me to let go of things from the past, including relationships, which has been really hard.
Yesterday as I was driving the long drive to tutor my students, I was flying down a country road ,my eyes blurred with tears, my heart breaking as I cried out to God.........why don't you answer my prayers Lord?
Why Lord, if spring is a season of new beginnings, new dreams, and new hope, why do I feel so hopeless? Why does it have to be so hard Lord?
All of a sudden I hear this huge bang, my car swerves and I see something fly out from under my car.
Thump, thump ...........I knew my tire was flat.
I saw an old driveway, which at least had some old broken pavement, belonging to an old run down barn.
I pulled in to be off the road and what I thought might be more solid ground.
Once outside of my car I could see what had happened.......my tire was not only flat but it was completely torn in two, with each half still attached at the inner and outer rim but the center of the rims exposed. I have never seen anything like it before.
I stood there in shock..........I can't handle this Lord.........
Knowing I was going to be late for tutoring I began to move. Almost as though in a daze I gather my spare tire, jack, and jack wrench. Where was my lug nut wrench?.....I looked everywhere ........it was gone.
I wanted to just sit down in the grass and cry.......
I kept moving forward........
I walked down the road till I came to a farm house where a gentleman was mowing his lawn.
I asked if he had a four prong lug nut wrench.
He smile said yes and asked if I had a flat .
"Yes" I said
"Would you mind if I changed it for you.........it might be faster", he asked.
A flood of relief cascaded through me.........emotionally, physically and mentally I just did not have it in me to deal with changing a flat tire.
The lug nuts were so firmly on it took all of this man's strength to loosen them.........I could never have done it on my own.....and quick he was..........he finished changing the tire in time for me to make it to my student's home for tutoring.
Later as I was sitting by a river talking to God between sessions, God said to my spirit.........Joy I answer your prayers when I know it is something you need.........something you need to continue on the journey I have set forth for you to travel.........The prayers which don't seem to be answered, they are the things which you don't need in your life.
He continued, Joy I know what you need to bring you such joy, excitement and adventure....To make your life the type of life I created you to live...... I know what you need. Trust me to fulfill those needs because I always will.
One of the things which really stands out with the lesson God spoke to me yesterday.........is I didn't pray. When I got out of my cry and saw my tire I didn't get on my knees, fold my hands and offer up a pray. I didn't pray....I cried out to God.......my heart raw, my pain evident, and my thoughts far from please God will you do this for me. It was not a "Dear Lord, pretty please" prayer God was answering but the need he saw in me.
We tend to pray our Dear Lord Prayers hoping God will answer them and give us what we have asked......when he doesn't we pray again.........Yet several times, especially lately God has provided what I needed even when I didn't pray for it.....often not even knowing it was a prayer of my heart until it had been answered
Funny thing about my tire experience. I wasn't prepared for it but God was and he had already put everything in place to meet my needs including having Sid put a tire in my trunk three years ago which all along I have thought was my donut but it isn't. It is a brand new tire on a rim ( my donut is still screwed in under the trunk carpet).....God was so well prepared he even knew I would not have money at this time for a new tire so he gave me one a long time ago.
God saw a need, prepared for it and answered it without me ever uttering a prayer.
Makes me wonder how often I don't hear God's voice because I am too busy "praying" over what I think I need? I wonder how often he has given me what I need and I continue to look for a different answer because what I received is not what I requested.
What is best for me? Do I know?.......he knows the people, relationships, activities, things, and motivations I need in my life.........if he hasn't answered a prayer the way I want it is because he knows I don't need that person, place or thing in my life at this moment..........AND maybe .......Is it possible......the path which he has taken ahead and prepared for me doesn't line up with the thing for which I prayed and asked? Is it possible he knows and meets my needs without me on my knees?
God makes me smile...........
What a blessing it was for me to read this.
I totally get what you are saying about God giving you something you did not pray for. I have often wondered if God gets as much pleasure as I do from blessing my children and giving them something they don't ask for. It's so much more fun to say, "lets go for ice cream" out of the clear blue then to have your kids beg for it. KWIM
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~Blessings~
Nadine
You are beyond hilarious!....... WhiteRoseBlessings
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/6/2008 5:30:59 PM
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FunBetty
Posts: 3103
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: Dr Pepper Country
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I'm just smiling. It's been a beautiful day!!!
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/9/2008 10:13:57 AM
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SPORTSmom_4_life
Posts: 433
Joined: 6/14/2007
From: the state of confusion
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I am smiling because it is FRIDAY again........
Empty office, work is done already. Just gotta sit here and look pretty for anyone who may come in ( just kidding.....about the pretty part, I do have to sit here in case someone stops by).
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Jeannie
"Shoot for the moon. Even if you fail, you still land among stars!!"--Les Brown
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/9/2008 10:48:34 AM
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FunBetty
Posts: 3103
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: Dr Pepper Country
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I am smiling because I just can't help it! 
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/9/2008 11:11:33 AM
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joy2give2u
Posts: 3823
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Me either FunBetty...........I am listening to praise music and reading old post I wrote......do you ever read something you wrote later and think.........wow I wrote that???? LOL
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It is better to communicate the Spirit of what the Word says then the actual words read
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/9/2008 11:14:04 AM
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FunBetty
Posts: 3103
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From: Dr Pepper Country
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quote:
ORIGINAL: joy2give2u
Me either FunBetty...........I am listening to praise music and reading old post I wrote......do you ever read something you wrote later and think.........wow I wrote that???? LOL
Oh yeah...sometimes good and sometimes not as good! lol.... the other day I was reading through my blog over the past couple of years and thought... wow, I'm just a weird girl!!!!
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/9/2008 11:16:29 AM
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joy2give2u
Posts: 3823
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quote:
wow, I'm just a weird girl!!!! LOL I think that all the time........well not so much that I am weird as different......Very few people get me.........I think differently then most.........or at least that is the way it seems to me.........it could be just that I have yet to meet the ones who think as I do.
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It is better to communicate the Spirit of what the Word says then the actual words read
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/9/2008 11:19:41 AM
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FunBetty
Posts: 3103
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: Dr Pepper Country
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quote:
ORIGINAL: joy2give2u
quote:
wow, I'm just a weird girl!!!! LOL I think that all the time........well not so much that I am weird as different......Very few people get me.........I think differently then most.........or at least that is the way it seems to me.........it could be just that I have yet to meet the ones who think as I do.
I once had semi-casual friend/acquaintances tell me that they looked forward to reading my blogs because it cracked them up. I was like, wow, I've got fans! haha
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/9/2008 11:45:38 AM
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joy2give2u
Posts: 3823
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I started a blog once.....posted one thing and never visited again. LOL
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It is better to communicate the Spirit of what the Word says then the actual words read
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/9/2008 9:43:48 PM
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wfisaac
Posts: 2262
Joined: 3/18/2007
From: Tip of the Mitt
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Wow Sam! That's great about the $$ that was raised for the shelters.
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Veronica
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/9/2008 9:47:38 PM
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humbleinspirit
Posts: 12517
Joined: 4/13/2005
From: By The Airport
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Interesting, AC too, eh?
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I may not know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.
I may listen to a thousand tongues but I only hear one whisper. -- First Call
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/10/2008 1:47:49 PM
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AngelInWaiting1983
Posts: 3065
Joined: 6/8/2007
From: South Carolina
Status: online
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I'm smiling because I have such wonderful friends here in the forums!
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/10/2008 2:57:32 PM
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Tinkerbell_
Posts: 2961
Joined: 1/25/2008
From: NeverNeverLand
Status: offline
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I'm smiling because I have great girlfriends who are willing to lift me up in prayer at a moments notice. *huggles*
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Dangerous When Hyper
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/16/2008 10:28:16 AM
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joy2give2u
Posts: 3823
Status: offline
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Wiping of the Tears
While spending time on the Rosebud Indian Reservation I was honored with an invitation to attend a very personal and private ceremony (never open to public).The Wiping of the Tears Ceremony.
In the Lakota tradition after the death of a loved one the family has a period of one to two years where they grieve. During this time they depend heavily on friends and the community for support. After the grieving period is over the host a wiping of the tears ceremony and invites the whole community.
The ceremony I attended was for a gentleman who had lost two of his boys a year and a half previously.
The ceremony starts by everyone joining in a large circle around a tepee, the circle opens at one end and the family makes one last journey to the grieving tepee. I am not sure what they do inside the tepee but it is a time for them to gather together, remember the loved ones lost and prepare to face life without them.
When they are ready they leave the tent and form a reception circle. You know like we have at the viewing, where the family stands by the casket, while the guest walk down the line to pay their last respects. Only it is made in the shape of a circle with the family sitting facing outwards After the family is arranged in the inner circle, the outer circle which has been providing protection as they grieve, begins to circle around the inner circle, hugging, crying, and grieving together.
Tears flow freely, deep anguish and almost wailing is heard and felt. It was the strangest thing I had ever experienced.
I remember not wanting to circle around the inner circle. Here I was, obviously not Lakota, and I was intruding on a very personal sacred time yet getting out the line somehow seemed disrespectful. So I walked the long walk around the outer circle making my way to the inner circle.
I will never forget the hugs, tears and grief I felt as I hugged each member of the family. It was different then what I was use too.....hugging them I didn't just see their grief but felt it....not as a feeling but as a presence.......if that makes sense.
The last person in the outer circle is a close family friend. After everyone has spent time crying with the family the family friend makes his way around the inner circle of family.......His job is to wipe the tears from their cheeks........and after he is done no more tears will be cried. The circle of grief is complete and tears have been wiped away for the last time.
Once the tears have been wiped for the last time the family begins to give gifts to those who have given so much to them through out their time of grief. Four horses, representing the four corners (north, south, east and west) along with the four colors is given to the four people who did the most for the family as they grieved.
Tomorrow is one year since my father passed away. My family and I will cry, remember, grieve and wipe our tears. Then we will move forward trying to put back together the pieces or our lives without the glue which held us all together.
Through this past year the people here have tolerated my many, many post about my father without complaint. You have allowed me to give voice to my grief. For that I will always be thankful.
This post is my last tear shed with you. The circle is complete and the tears must be wiped away.
Two of the people here would receive horses if I had any to give. You have gone above and beyond in reaching out to me in my grief. You gave of yourself and listened even when you didn't really want too........Thank you.
To the rest I have no gifts to give but I do have my prayers. Today I will spend time praying for each individual here who has read my silly post about my father and the many who have offered prayers when I thought I would not make it through the pain.
Thank you for walking this walk with me. Thank you for being a place I could share thoughts and feelings I didn't feel free sharing in real life.
Thank you for your smiles and the laughter you brought me during this time.
Thank you for being an escape when the burdens of life were too much for me to deal with.
Thank you for often being Christ when I needed comfort.
Thank you for allowing me to be a part of community which cares for one another.
I am crying as I write this....but that is ok. Today I cry.......tomorrow I wipe my tears and begin anew.
May God bless each of you and may your days be full of joy and smiles.
Joy
< Message edited by joy2give2u -- 5/16/2008 11:03:39 AM >
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It is better to communicate the Spirit of what the Word says then the actual words read
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/16/2008 11:08:39 AM
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Focusing
Posts: 4924
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God bless you Joy.
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Sam
Though the sound overpowers, sing again, with your dear voice revealing a tone
Of some world far from ours, where music and moonlight and feeling are oneIJ
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RE: Smile, smile, smile - 5/16/2008 11:52:37 AM
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AlwaysR8chel
Posts: 3969
Joined: 4/11/2005
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........ Joy... I remember you telling me about this experience.
I wish people here could here the emotion in your voice and see the expression in your eyes as you told it....
You are on a wonderful journey.... so very wonderful.
LORD,
We praise Your Holy Name... and are so thankful for Joy and her wonderful spirit.
I ask that you hold her close as she chooses to walk down a new trail on the pathways of her journey. Please fill it with excitement, laughter, tears, and maybe even a little fear which will draw her more closely to You.
Bless You, LORD, for all you are doing in all our lives.
In Your precious Name,
Amen
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Sadly Sweet.
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