So I just finished reading a good Christian fiction book. In it, the heroine finds these white feathers that show up on her desk, the floor, and a few other places when she's had a moment with God. The author uses those feathers as a symbol for the heroine to know that heaven is with her.
Now, it's definitely a fiction ploy to use the feathers throughout the book. It ties the book together nicely, plus the picture of feathers ties in to another crucial part of the story. People certainly don't get feathers sent from heaven on a regularly basis, but I do think the feathers are a great representation of the fact that God gives us natural signs of His presence all the time in unique ways. We each have "feathers" sent from heaven. The question is, are you sensitive enough to see them?
A great example happened to me a few weeks ago. I woke up in the morning and thought to myself, "Goodness, I deserve a lunch out. I think I'll go to Panera and eat some of my favorite soup." So I did. I got to the register, ordered my soup, pulled out my Panera rewards card and my credit card to pay. The cashier swiped my rewards card and said, "Oh, you have a free soup on here." I said, "Really? That's great!" I stuck my credit card back in my wallet, and went to enjoy my free lunch.
I'm sure some will read that and think, "Oh, that was just a coincidence." Yeah, I guess you could think that, but for me, it was a feather from heaven--a blessing direct from the Lord just to say He loves me and is watching over me.
This morning I found a story about people who didn't recognize God's blessing from heaven. In Matthew 8:28-34, Jesus goes to this region and heals two men who were possessed by demons.
28 When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29 “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” 30 Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”
32 He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. 33
Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all
this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.
What fascinates me about this story is that the people went to meet Jesus and instead of bringing the sick and lame and asking for healing just as He healed the two crazy men, they asked Jesus to leave the region. They didn't appreciate the way Jesus acted, so they despised and ignored the gift in their midst. A mini-revival could have taken place because of the healings that Jesus had just done, but because of their attitude, it couldn't happen.
The Pharisees are another example of people who shunned Jesus. They couldn't see the gift of God in their midst, and as a result, they were stuck with their lives as they were and couldn't experience the freedom and potential healing that Jesus could have brought into their lives.
All this to say, I think God is showing up in our lives time and again. He brings us people who encourage us, sales to help our finances, doctors who help us, smiles from friends, cookies when we need them (heh heh... I do think that's true!). He's constantly moving on our behalf. The question is, are we noticing His touch in our lives or just chalking it up to coincidence?
So yeah, that's my thought for today. :-)
Monday, September 12, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
My two sons... Brody and Brayden
Hi everyone!
This past Wednesday was the day I've been waiting for! My pregnancy has officially gone longer than when my water broke last time. Thank you, Lord! Secondly, we had our 20-week ultrasound and saw baby and everything is looking very healthy for him and for me! Yep, it's a boy! :-)
It's true, both Erik and I wanted another boy. Erik is a big brother with a younger sister and I have a big brother and am the younger sister. We both love our family situations, and really wanted to start out the same way. So Brody Mark Wegener, our firstborn, officially has a little brother named Brayden Allen Wegener. Yippee!
I'm a little behind on posting baby bump pics so here are a couple. This was the beginning of the bump, week 13.
The second is me at 19 weeks. I'm almost 21 weeks, so I'll try to get another pic up soon. I'm starting to be amazed at what will happen to my tummy over the next four months... can it really get that big? Obviously, I've seen it happen over and over to others, but to have your tummy stretch this way is completely different!
Brayden is a mover and shaker - flipping and turning and being active in there. That makes it extra fun. Erik got to feel him move a few weeks ago, so that was a huge blessing for both of us!
I definitely still have some mental battles to deal with when these random pregnancy aches come and go... I'm learning to trust my God-given motherly intuition, which I'm sure includes His direct leading as well, about what I feel so I don't fear what I'm going through, but I also am not foolish if something should be a concern. I trust God that everything will go smoothly from now until weeks 36-40, which is when baby can officially come. Yay!
Oh and at my family birthday party (which included birthday celebrations for me, Erik, my cousin, and my aunt!) Erik and I really wanted my aunt to taste our white amaretto cake and frosting that we did for his grandma's birthday so we decided to make our own birthday cake! Since we had four birthday people, we went a different route for decorations, thanks to an idea from Food Network magazine.
Here's our "hamburger" cake!
The "tomatoes," "lettuce," and "onion rings" are spice drops that I rolled out and reformed. The cheese is fondant. The sesame seeds are rice puffy cereal. The bun and burger are cake and the burger has chopped up chocolate and small chocolate chips around it for color.
:-) It was a huge hit.
By the way, today I remember along with our country 9/11/01. God, please surround our country. Wrap your arms around every family directly affected by that horrific day and protect our country continually. In Jesus' name, Amen.
This past Wednesday was the day I've been waiting for! My pregnancy has officially gone longer than when my water broke last time. Thank you, Lord! Secondly, we had our 20-week ultrasound and saw baby and everything is looking very healthy for him and for me! Yep, it's a boy! :-)
It's true, both Erik and I wanted another boy. Erik is a big brother with a younger sister and I have a big brother and am the younger sister. We both love our family situations, and really wanted to start out the same way. So Brody Mark Wegener, our firstborn, officially has a little brother named Brayden Allen Wegener. Yippee!
I'm a little behind on posting baby bump pics so here are a couple. This was the beginning of the bump, week 13.
Brayden is a mover and shaker - flipping and turning and being active in there. That makes it extra fun. Erik got to feel him move a few weeks ago, so that was a huge blessing for both of us!
I definitely still have some mental battles to deal with when these random pregnancy aches come and go... I'm learning to trust my God-given motherly intuition, which I'm sure includes His direct leading as well, about what I feel so I don't fear what I'm going through, but I also am not foolish if something should be a concern. I trust God that everything will go smoothly from now until weeks 36-40, which is when baby can officially come. Yay!
Oh and at my family birthday party (which included birthday celebrations for me, Erik, my cousin, and my aunt!) Erik and I really wanted my aunt to taste our white amaretto cake and frosting that we did for his grandma's birthday so we decided to make our own birthday cake! Since we had four birthday people, we went a different route for decorations, thanks to an idea from Food Network magazine.
Here's our "hamburger" cake!
The "tomatoes," "lettuce," and "onion rings" are spice drops that I rolled out and reformed. The cheese is fondant. The sesame seeds are rice puffy cereal. The bun and burger are cake and the burger has chopped up chocolate and small chocolate chips around it for color.
:-) It was a huge hit.
By the way, today I remember along with our country 9/11/01. God, please surround our country. Wrap your arms around every family directly affected by that horrific day and protect our country continually. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
right now... time=molasses
I can't tell you how crazy slow this time of waiting is going. Yes, parts of it are going quickly; I know I'll already be 20 weeks along on Monday, but especially over the past three weeks or so, the days seem to drip by like the molasses I pour into my dad's favorite gingerless ginger cookies. I'm counting the moments until Wednesday: our ultrasound and the day I'll officially be farther in my pregnancy than last time.
I'm not sure if you've ever experienced something like that, but I thought I'd write about it in case you did. The only other time I can think that time went this slow was in my sophomore year of high school. For some reason, that year poked along like none other--and I still remember how slow it went to this day!
The good news is that time does and will keep going. And in the future, I guarantee I'll be thinking, wow, can you believe time has flown this fast?
That's all. Just wanted to say that.
Oh and I'm super excited to write my post on Wednesday or Thursday and let you know!!
I'm not sure if you've ever experienced something like that, but I thought I'd write about it in case you did. The only other time I can think that time went this slow was in my sophomore year of high school. For some reason, that year poked along like none other--and I still remember how slow it went to this day!
The good news is that time does and will keep going. And in the future, I guarantee I'll be thinking, wow, can you believe time has flown this fast?
That's all. Just wanted to say that.
Oh and I'm super excited to write my post on Wednesday or Thursday and let you know!!
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