Hiking will always make me feel close to God.  You can see God’s love for beauty.  From rivers, rocks, trees and animals. Being out on a trail brings serenity- it is my escape when life gets overwhelming,. Being outdoors anywhere in Colorado fills me with peace.

I am so blessed to share this passion with special people, friends who feel that same joy from being under the clouds and vulnerable before God.

This week was a bit overwhelming to me for many reasons. I was able to get out twice this week and soak up some sun and walk among the trees. The days were warm, boarding on hot, but filled with life.   On Thursday of this week, I met up with a precious friend for a spur of the moment hike. We both needed girl time and we both love being outside. We hiked mid-day, so not my favorite time to hike.  I am a morning or evening hiker as I do not function at my best in the heat. We had already hiked about 3 miles and were headed back.  While I was talking my friend grabbed my hand and started praying and calmly her disposition changed dramatically.  I looked over my shoulder and my heart stopped.

We had just rounded a corner at the bottom of a hill and right beside us, no more than 20 feet away was a large brown bear.  It is not uncommon to have bear sightings in our neck of the woods, it is however, truly the first time I have ever encountered one face to face. Words cannot even describe it.

Clearly we did not go unnoticed. It was ever so clear that he saw us, he did not retreat as we thought he would.  He watched us closely for good while,  we kept hiking as we tried to keep an eye on him but not lock eyes with him.   My friend was singing a song for protection as I was praying for God to protect us.

Unfortunately the rest of our hike was uphill, literally all uphill.   It was hot, my heart was racing, my mouth was cracking from the dryness, I tasted blood in my throat from the dryness.  While both fairly calm on the outside, inside I think we were both not really sure how the rest of this hike was going to turn out.   At one point in our hike we rounded another corner and headed uphill,  this hill was now parallel to where the bear ascended to keep an eye on us.  Were we going to run into him again at the top?  What would or could we do?  It is truly a pretty helpless feeling.  The only thing we could do is keep calm, continue walking and PRAY!   God was there, he was so there with us.  He protected us and got us out of there physicaly unscathed.   This hike tested me in so many area’s,  it is such a blessing to be on this side of it all, it tested my faith, my endurance and strenghtened me in many ways.  I am so thankful that God was there with us.

I must start this post by thanking God, who lovingly answered our prayers years ago on what school we should send our kids to.  Of all the wonderful places our children could have gone to school, I am so thankful that God guided us to TCA.

We feel so blessed with the quality and character that we see from the top down in their school.  Principal, teachers, staff, parents, children.  The 13 years that our children are in school will have a large impact on the character our children will develop.  I am thankful to have so many quality families to raise my children with.

Recently Hayden and several of his friends went to Winter Camp together for a weekend of worship and fellowship.  It was a weekend to unite the boys not only as a close knit group of buddies but of young men who can lean on each other and be accountable to their faith with one another.   I pray for these boys and hope that God will always be the center for their friendship and that they will all be there for each other in the good times and the tough times.  That they will lead each other down the right & true path and that they will be the strong leaders of our future.

God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

A Psalm of Asaph.

73 Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as ja garment.
7 Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
8 They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.1
11 And they say, n“How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
16 But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their wend.
18 Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed yin a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
20 Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength2 of my heart and my portion forever.
27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

Unfortunately, the answer is no. Yet another test of my Faith.

I must trust that God knows and loves my children far more than I do.  He knows every detail about them and their lives and desires the same thing that I do.  But, unlike me HE is in control.

For a couple of years now, Kip and I have felt Hayden (and even Gillian) were ready to accept Jesus into their hearts as their personal savior.  But, we did not want to push it or influence the timing, we wanted it to be their experience.  Apparently today was Hayden’s day.   I am a bit sad I was not there to witness it, but so thrilled for my son.  What a blessing and a gift.

After several months of Christianity 101, Hayden along with four of his really good friends (dads by their sides) dedicated their lives to God.  I am so happy and proud of you sweet boy.

Glory to God in the Most High

When life just gets to busy and full of things we cannot control, we must find things that can either distract us or attract us, right?  I have been thinking about this a lot lately.  I have to say I have a lot of distractions, but they really seem to just add to the insanity.  God is my ultimate attraction. I have found that focusing on God and the positives in my life really help.  It doesn’t make the burdens go away by any means, but it helps me to get through these seemingly rough patches.

I know that God is working in my life and the lives of each person in my family.  I know he is right by my side and will never leave me in the midst of all of our trials, I hold that close to my heart with both hands.   I just have to say that I pray that we will be coming through some of these trials with flying colors very soon.  It is true, that with the difficult times blessings do flow, we have experienced that with several of the trials in our lives right now, I would never trade the experiences and what we ‘got’ as a result.  It has made us stronger in our faith and brought us closer as a family.

I do see the end to a couple of the big burdens in our lives, however, I am most concerned with the ones completely out of our control:  health.

We are dealing with several health issues and they can be so draining and time consuming (doctor appointments).    I pray we get some good news soon once all of our scans and pathology reports come in.  Please pray for us.  I am officially passing the burden on to God and my precious praying friends.

]]> https://www.csrussells.com/2012/02/07/therapy-for-my-soul/feed 3 https://www.csrussells.com/2012/02/07/random-blessings?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=random-blessings https://www.csrussells.com/2012/02/07/random-blessings#comments Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:41:05 +0000 http://www.csrussells.com/?p=1658

I am blessed by the people in my life, I am thankful for the love, friendship, encouragement, guidance and most of all grace.  Grace for me when I veer off that path that I want so much to be on.  For knowing my heart and knowing that I am human and make mistakes.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God  Ephesians 2:8

What an amazing gift isn’t it?  If God can extend it to us, we should also be willing to extend it to others.  If you are like me, I love to be able to give to others – I used to be much better at it.  I love that I can freely give grace to those around me.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Corinthians 1:2

The words in John 15: 7-8 have been playing in my mind for several days. ABIDE in ME.

As I kept reading this verse over and over, God was with me, just He and I. My Rock, my encourager.  “Believe in yourself, you CAN do it.”

I knew that He was encouraging me in regards to the new Bible study I am starting.  As excited as I am about studying the Book of James, I was not sure I could take on the challenge of memorizing the Book of James.  However, after listening to a short ‘tutorial’ on how to take on this challenge there again John 15 came up.  Again “Believe you can do it”.   Never did I think I would even take on this challenge, heck I can’t remember what I did the day before, how am I going to memorize an entire book?   Well, I am asking God for that ability and I am not going to leave any room for negative thoughts or talk.  I have to believe I can do this.  I may not do it as fast as others or I may just get through the first few chapters, but I am going to give it my all and I am going to enjoy it.

The second time this week that I felt God’s encouragement was while I was trying to decide if I should join the Ava Anderson team.   I was feeling uncertain about it all and after meeting with my team leader and others in my group I went home and just asked God for clarity.  Why was I considering this?  What was my ultimate goal?  Could I really make this work?  How would this time be different?  Again, I kept hearing, believe in yourself.  I took God’s advice, I am going to believe I can do it!!!

Ultimately I would love the chance to make Ava work to bless our family financially, but the bottom line is that for several year,  I have been passionate about the same things that this company is.  I want to make a difference.  More importantly, I feel that it will bring glory to God in many different ways.  To share these products  with a family who will see a remarkable change because of them is like sharing The Gospel, on a much smaller scale of course!   I didn’t just feel a spark of excitement, it is an explosion.   I have had the pleasure of sharing this with many friends and I am astounded by the encouragement and support.  How blessed am I?   Who knows where this journey will take me, but I am excited to find out.  I would love to share what I know with you.  I will be posting two opportunities if you are interested.

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Along with the amazing musical talent, the articulate sermons, we were given the weekly gift of a talented carpenter.  Each week he created something new out of the same pieces of wood.  Simply beautiful.

Week 4 -  Joy

How much does Christmas cost me?  Nothing! ?  The real cost is given to us by GRACE.

Isaiah 55  1. “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

2. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in that which is good for you.

3. Incline your ear, and come to me;  hear that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

These gifts are free to us, but they did not come without a cost.  It is because of the gifts of Hope,Peace, Love that we may have JOY.

Star was transformed into the Manger

Loving the Gift Series that we are going through this Advent season.  

When we are adopted into God’s family, we are privileged to enter a new realm, eternal life.  This privilege is not something we have to wait until heaven to enjoy, we get to enjoy some of God’s gifts immediately.  Gifts like Hope, Peace, Love and Joy.   

This week’s gift was Peace. 

Where does Peace come from?

It is a gift from God, it is free to us but it did not come cheap or without cost.  It is only through Christ’s sacrifice that we may have Peace.