In the midst of these busy days I am drawn to spend more & more precious time with my Lord meditating on scripture, praying, and listening for His voice. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I had an old song ( One Pure & Holy Passion) going through my mind? The same thing has happened again.
I was spending time memorizing Psalm 19 when I got stuck on the very first beautiful verse: "The Heavens Declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands!" As I read that over and over again a song from the time that I was a teenager came back to mind. I have been recently spending more & more time in worship songs of old and they have truly blessed my heart and soul! As I share here today some pictures from a beautiful sunset in August (from NY) I hope and pray that the lyrics and the words bless you and encourage you as they have blessed me these past few days.
"All Heaven Declares"I was spending time memorizing Psalm 19 when I got stuck on the very first beautiful verse: "The Heavens Declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands!" As I read that over and over again a song from the time that I was a teenager came back to mind. I have been recently spending more & more time in worship songs of old and they have truly blessed my heart and soul! As I share here today some pictures from a beautiful sunset in August (from NY) I hope and pray that the lyrics and the words bless you and encourage you as they have blessed me these past few days.
All Heaven Declares the glory of the risen Lord
Who can compare with the beauty of the Lord?
Forever He will be
The Lamb upon the throne
I gladly bow the knee
And worship Him alone.
I will proclaim the glory of the risen Lord
Who once was slain to reconcile man to God
Forever He will be
The Lamb upon the throne
I gladly bow my knee
And worship Him alone.
Last night I received the sweetest email from Tarole and was so humbled and encouraged that she had nominated for the Sunshine Award. This little email was such an encouragement and the other ladies that she picked are AWESOME bloggers! If you want to see who else she nominated click HERE!
SO what is the Sunshine Award?
- It is an award given to a blogger who brings sunshine to the blogging world. I love this! Life can be so hard and some blogs bring so much sunshine into my life!
Here are the Rules:
1. Acknowledge the nominating blogger
2. Answer 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you
3. List 11 bloggers that deserve the recognition and love
4. Post 11 questions for the nominated bloggers to answer. (They cannot nominate the blogger who nominated them)
How delightfully fun!! Here are my questions from Tarole:
1. What is your favorite post you have written and why?
My favorite post that I have ever written is ironically one of my earliest posts: The Single Journey. At the time when I first started blogging I couldn't find any other single bloggers and was overwhelmed by the incredible mama bloggers and the sweet wifey bloggers. I still love ALL of those bloggers but for me stepping out and acknowledging that I was different in a "couples world" was very freeing to me. Due to that post I still receive countless emails from ladies all over the world who feel in different ways that they don't fit "the norm". It reminded me how important it is to embrace who you are and be you!
2. If you could have lunch with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
This is a toss up between three women- (1) Darlene Diebler Rose who survived a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp for four years (you can read a post I did about here HERE!)Her faith amazes me every single time I read the book. She passed away in 2004 but remains one of my heroes. (2) Queen Rania of Jordan. This woman, who was never supposed to be queen, has truly influenced the Middle East with her concepts of freedom from the Western world and yet has stayed true to her beliefs and her Middle Eastern upbringing. She is brilliant and she would be fascinating to speak to. (3) Kate Middleton- I mean y'all knew I was going to say that of course from "Get Inspired" Link Up that I always participate in! *smiles*
3. If you could be on the cover of any magazine, which one would it be and why?
Time Magazine. Sharing how I finally beat Lymes & Cancer to give hope to the thousands and thousands of others who are struggling!
4. What is your go to song?
Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas Is You". I think the picture says everything! My sister and I will "air sing" anytime to this! (Even our mom gets into it! *smiles*)
5. What do you think your spirit animal is?
??? I don't know???
6. If you could visit any place in the world, that you haven't visited yet, where would it be and why?
It was hard to just pick one (because there are so many places that I want to see!), but definitely New Zealand! The beauty of that country inspires me in my art and I would love to see and spend time there.
7. If you were born in a different time period, which one would it be and why?
Victorian Era. I know, I know, y'all know how I love England! *Smiles*
8. What is one quote that speaks to your heart?
It is no secret that I have expressed how much I miss teaching. A quote that has brought me to tears more than once in these past two years is:
Want to know some of my other favorite teacher quotes? Click HERE!
9. Where do you get blogging inspiration?
Absolutely everywhere. Being sick has reminded me again how beautiful and wonderful life and the world is. Look outside yourself and you will definitely find inspiration.
10. What are you looking forward to most this Fall?
Everything. Life is a beautiful gift and fall reminds us in the ever faithful presence of God who is always faithful. I wrote a post Welcome Sweet Autumn because this season is definitely one of my favorites!
11. What is your go to nail polish color and why?
I love a french manicure. I am not really talented at doing this myself so recently I have been playing with different colors (because I don't have any money to get my nails done!)! No matter what though I love the classic colors!
Who am I nominating for the Sunshine Award?? Here ya go:
(p.s.- there are so many lovely bloggers that I love and who spread so much sunshine! Y'all are wonderful! If you haven't already checked these ladies out - check them out now y'all!)
Cara from Marvelous Cara
Katie from Always Katie
Caroline from In Due Time
Amanda from Marshalls Abroad
Melissa from Fawn Over Baby
Chelsea from Anchors Aweigh
Shannon from Smile and Write
Kate from Teal Vogue
Here are my eleven questions for y'all:
(1) What is a dream that you hope will come true for your life?
(2) Do you have a nickname? If so, what is the story behind it?
(3)If you had to change your first name what would you change it to?
(4) What is the strangest thing that you believed when you were a child?
(5) What is the most recent compliment that you have received and treasured? Why?
(6) What do you think about more than anything else?
(7) Where is your favorite place to go in your hometown?
(8) What is your favorite word?
(9) Who is your hero and why?
(10) What has been the most terrifying moment in your life and why?
(11) What has been your best/favorite vacation and why?
Thank you again Tarole for the lovely award! I am so honored!
I do want to say that this has not just been something that has occurred over a couple of days. Some of you have been walking this journey with me for the past five and half years as I have been in and out of the hospital with a variety of "strange" illnesses or surgeries, have faithfully covered me in prayer through the THOUSANDS of doctors office visits, have patiently given me love while many friends walked away, and have faithfully loved me during so many aspects of this health journey decline. As I returned home in June 2012 for what was supposed to be a brief time of healing no one (myself included) could have guessed what lay in store of this past year. What we know now is that Lymes was slowly killing my body and that I was also fighting Cancer.
For many of you that have walked this journey with me you know that these past several years have been a time of heart-wrenching tears and cries of the psalmist: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"(psalm 22) There were/are so many times that I would think back to my journey with endometriosis and would think of how it had been filled with so many miraculous moments. I questioned why this journey was not that way. There were so many nights that my bed was filled with tears. There were so many days that I questioned what the Lord could possibly be up to. To be truthful the Lord didn't answer those prayers. Instead He promised me, as I have shared before, that He would never leave me and that He was always with me. And as always the Lord has been faithful.
His love endures forever.
This past year and half has been filled with days of miraculous moments and days where there are also long stretches and moments of tears, sadness, loneliness, and lots of frustration. But in those moments there is always the quiet reality of the Lord never abandoning me. Truly... "wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And HOPE. And LIGHT. And... even beauty." (Joni Erickson Tada) Each day if you look for it shouts with the Lord's love.
To ALL of you that have generously donated financially, those that have whispered fervent prayers for healing on my behalf, and those who have taken the time to utter once again a kind word to my hurting heart, I am so incredibly thankful. Due to your generous financial donations I have been able to raise 43% of the necessary cost to head back to California in a few short weeks. Thank you for this portion. Truly the Lord has provided and truly the Lord will continue to provide. THANK YOU so much. Thank you for each of you who spread the word and donated your status' for 8 hours on the 8th. Your generosity and kind words truly spread the word to allow more financial donations to come in. Thank you!
I can not begin to express my gratitude to so many of you that have been so incredibly kind in this journey. While this season is far from over... I am so grateful for all of you. As I continue on this journey my heart is full with the humble knowledge that the Lord has shown Himself in so many ways... specifically through your love.
Thank you so much. Truly thank you.
I love y'all!
Love, Rebecca
p.s.- I have received some emails asking if you can still donate and the answer is yes you can. The "Go fund Me page" will be up until my trip to California in November. Just click on the link to the left! Thank you again!
p.s.- I have received some emails asking if you can still donate and the answer is yes you can. The "Go fund Me page" will be up until my trip to California in November. Just click on the link to the left! Thank you again!
Happy Monday y'all! I hope that you had a lovely weekend!
Two weeks ago I shared about the Fellowship Church College Fall Retreat Boards that I made and today I am excited to share another project that I completed for The Paper Sonnet! My sister, Emily, wanted to write the girls in her group a little note so that they could remember the retreat and asked me to create some cards for her. I loved the idea of a postcard so that they could keep them easily in their Bibles if they wanted to! These were so much fun to create!
I love how the front of cards turned out! By keeping the colors more simple I loved how they developed a vintage and chic feel!
The front of the cards I kept very open without any direction because I wanted to give Emily room to write her special notes to each of the girls!
Are you looking for homemade cards or special order creations? Check out The Paper Sonnet! In the next few weeks I will be showing Christmas cards that are available! All of the proceeds will be going to help pay for my Lymes & Cancer treatment in November!
A sweet friend of mine has come up with a WONDERFUL idea! Will you please consider helping me with this?? As I have shared here on the blog my family has set up a fundraiser page on “Go Fund Me.org” to raise money to cover my treatment expenses and medical bills while I receives treatment in November at the Whitaker Wellness Institute. Without this help this necessary treatment and trip would not be possible. On OCTOBER 8th, 2013 we are holding a “Help Rebecca Day” on Facebook to raise money and awareness for her. Starting at 11am and lasting until 7pm we’re asking everyone to donate their Facebook status’ for eight hours and to update their status message to say:
“HELP Rebecca @ http://www.gofundme.com/
IMPORTANT: We need as many people updating their status messages as possible to make this work, so PLEASE invite your friends to join this event! Even if your friends might not know me personally, please encourage them to “donate” their status message for those 8 hours on October 8th!
Your love and support is such a blessing! Thanks so much in advance! This will make a HUGE difference for me and my family during this very difficult time!
Thank you so much y’all!!
It is hard to believe that we are only ELEVEN days away from Rebecca's Run! Thank you so much for ALL of the support that y'all have given towards this adventure! Earlier today I posted a picture to instagram showing Emily as she continues to train for the 1/2 marathon!
If you missed it here is the picture! Isn't she AMAZING??
Thank you so much for your prayers for my second iron treatment yesterday! I received so many lovely notes, emails, text messages, and phone calls and the love and support was SUCH a blessing to me. The nurse had a little bit of a difficult time getting the IV started so it took a few sticks (sometimes I just want to grab the needle and say: "let me do it for you"! *smiles*) but once she got it in we were good to go! While I felt extremely ill there were NO severe reactions and I am so grateful for ALL of your prayers for that! This was definitely an answer to prayer!! Today is a little bit better than the day after the last treatment so hopefully this is a sign that my body is slowly recognizing what iron is (*smiles*) and that it is needed for the body! I will have my blood drawn and meet with the hematologist at the end of October to see how many more infusions that I need or if this needs to be a weekly thing. A prayer request is for my heart and lungs as the treatments make my heart race (more than normal) and I am also extremely out of breath. While both of these are considered normal side effects I would covet prayers for both of these to stop.
I have an appointment on Thursday to meet with a general practitioner and am hoping that this will be a productive meeting. I am looking for a doctor who is a aware of Lymes but more than anything will be a doctor who could treat me if I develop strep throat or something "normal". Hahaha! You would think if you have approximately 23 doctors you wouldn't need another one! *smiles*
As Emily continues to train and I attend different doctors appointments and treatments that are necessary to continue before I head out to California our hearts our so thankful for all of your prayers, love, and financial support. This is an extremely difficult time financially and your support is truly a blessing from God. I read an article earlier today regarding the serious and realistic issues, worries, concerns, and heartbreak those with long-term and critically ill patients deal with due to the pressures and demands from money. I will be honest and say that I cried and nodded my head while I read the article. {If you are interested in the article you can click HERE.) Despite having excellent health insurance, a sweet savings account (at one point), and lovely close family members and friends who have given and given and given many of those resources ran dry as we traveled across the country last year (and some the year before that) looking for doctors and for all of the treatment expenses, health bills, needed supplements, necessary medications, etc. Today, between a co-pay at a doctors office, two prescriptions, two natural supplements, and another necessary alternative treatment I have spent approximately $200.00. And then just an hour ago I went to purchase just one of the necessary medications for the Cancer and Lymes and with insurance it "only" cost $130.00. Yes, you read that correctly. So I have spent a little over $300 in one day. Unfortunately this is not unusual. Every single penny that we have goes to help me get better. I recently heard someone say- "don't get sick unless you are rich" and it is a sad reality that many ill patients deal with. These are realistic issues that I encounter on a day to day basis and this doesn't touch the money that is needed for California.
As I contemplate that and also contemplate the necessity of what lies before me each day and I think to the coming weeks and months ahead I can get overwhelmed with fear. How will the Lord provide this time my mind wonders. What if the Lord forgets that I need Him to provide? What if He doesn't realize that there is not any money for the treatment I need? What if the money is not there? What if, what if, what if....
What if God provides like He ALWAYS does?
What if like those that have gone before us He shows up again like He ALWAYS does?
These thoughts crowded my mind as I was praying this morning. I was struck by the verse from Psalm 137:4: "How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?" Wow. A foreign land. This is exactly how I feel sometimes when I look at my life. I have mentioned this before but sometimes this world of Lymes, Cancer, doctor appointments, pain, and loss is a world that is foreign to me. This is a whole different language than I ever wanted to learn or know. How can I sing songs to the Lord in this land? Because the Lord NEVER leaves us. He ALWAYS answers when we cry to Him:
"The Lord appeared to us in a faraway place" (Jeremiah 31:3)
"The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty . He will take great delight in you; in His love He will ...rejoice over you with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)
The Lord is in the midst of Lymes. He is in the midst of Cancer. He is in the midst of all of my financial concerns and fears. He has always provided and He will always continue to provide today. The Lord promises us that He will watch over our journey and He will always continue to provide for us so that we will never lack anything. (Deuteronomy 2:7)
Are you wondering if God will answer your "what if" question? Don't fear sweet friends. He will answer. He always does!
I am confident that the Lord is answering the prayer of financial need and concern through the different people who have donated during this process. Thank you so much for continuing to see the needs that I have right now and all of your support. We did want to let you know that we have had people experience some difficulties with Paypal so we have shut down the option to register for the race through Paypal and you can now only use the Go Fund Me Page. In addition to this you may have noticed that the treatment month has been switched from October till November. This is due to some financial reasons and also working around my doctors vacation schedule!
Thank you again for all of your support and love! Words can't express how grateful that I am!!Want to donate or register ($15) for Rebecca's Run? Simply click on the link on below!
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