New pictures of Tanner Michael

My heart leaps every time I go out back :)

He multiplies and divides spreading his beauty.

At the end of the day he wilts slightly...tired

Thank you God for Your Beauty for ashes!

This is my favorite picture right now.  Roses (along with cardinals) remind me of Jesus.  The bright red symbolizing Jesus' blood shed for me, the thorns representing the crown of thorns that was mine to wear, but He chose to wear it instead in order to save me.  The way the rose is behind Tanner, I picture him sitting in Jesus lap, in the palm of His Hand, closer than I could ever imagine.  Thank You Jesus for your restoration in my heart and in my life. 

It's so cool to hear my oldest daughter Kinsey, as she told me just the other day that when she gets married, that she wants the Black Eyed Susan to be a part of her bouquet and that all the family will somehow have one, in honor of her brother Tanner.  Can I just tell you that there is immense freedom in sharing our deepest hurts?  To know that I don't have to look over my shoulder because I'm fully KNOWN?  Hallelujah!

How do you prepare for HEAT?

In Middle Tennessee over the past few days, we've been under a heat advisory.  As temperatures have peaked close to 100, people are clamoring for a cool place, and others are on the lookout for people who are in need of shelter and water.  For me, I have two choices: either be in a pool, which is like bath water, or be inside.  Even walks to get in and out of the car make me break out in a sweat.  

I don't have much luck with ferns, because by July, they are half dead because I've gotten tired of watering them.  This year has been different as I made a pact with myself that they live and look good!    I have impatiens that colorfully decorate the front of my house, but they NEED water.


So, during these 100 degree days, I tell myself, "I need to water my flowers every day, or the heat will kill 'em".  I've even changed my timer on my backyard flowers to water twice a day.


As I watered I began to think of my walk with Christ.  When I'm in a season of "heat", and things are coming at me from all sides, is my tendency to intensify my dose of "Living Water" so that the heat won't consume me, or do I whine and complain and neglect the very One who will sustain me through the heat?  If I'm honest, there are times where I live in that place where I try to rely on myself instead of my Jesus, who I know will give me all that I need to get me through the heat.


Something I've also seen from my flowers and also my own life is that when I am giving them extra drinks during heated times, they actually flourish and grow instead of wilt and fade!  The past 6 months for me has been an intense time of "heat", but also probably some of the greatest growth in Him that I can remember.  The heat can be very damaging, but it can also, if you allow it to, be the greatest drink of "Living Water".  


Don't resist the heat.  Embrace it.  But always make sure you prepare for it with extra drinks of Living Water.  He will never leave you thirsty.


John 7:38
Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”


John 4:10
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”


Revelation 7:17
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’ ”

Bloom Big!

People have certain expectations of how they want flowers to bloom.  If you go to the flower shop, most of the flowers look a certain way, with long slender stems and blooms bursting at the the top.  Not many people would be willing to buy flowers from a bush, because they just don't look like we expect.

You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. (Jeremiah 12:2)


I saw this tree with these blooms on it this Spring, and my heart just screamed with excitement!  Of all the blooms I saw this Spring, this one was my favorite, because it's not your ordinary bloom, it just bloomed wherever it could.  It's like this tree was screaming, "I can't bloom quick enough so I'm going to pour out of every orifice of my being!"  


Lord, let me be this kind of tree that blooms for You.  That every crack and crevice of my being blooms with the sweet aroma of Christ.  Lord, I may look different, but what is seen and felt and 
experienced through me, may it be beautiful like
You.  May I look and bloom so different in the world,
that it will stop, take notice, and be drawn to You.  
Amen


"For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing". (2 Corinthians 2:15)