Every month, over at Chatting At the Sky, we link up and share what we learned that month. I hope you’ll hop on over there and check out what everyone is learning, or share what you learned this month!

The month of March seemed to disappear in a blink. I still can’t believe it is really April all ready. Looking back at the month, which seems like a blur, I had to really sit and think about what I learned this month. When I took a moment to consider, I realized God had been teaching me more than I realized. So, here is what I learned this month – in no particular order.

1. Sometimes, moving forward – even if it is imperfectly – is better than not moving at all. I have been very frustrated with my inability to move forward in sending out queries. It seems every time I get some momentum, something happens (usually at my newspaper job) that trips me up. I wanted to be sure I sent out quality queries, but I learned this month that sending some out – even if they aren’t as perfect as I wanted – is very important in keeping my momentum going. It is certainly better than coming to the end of another week without any sent out!

2. I have both more time and less time than I realize. I have never been very good with time awareness. I can think I’ve been doing something forever and look up and five minutes have passed, and just as frequently, I can think only 10 minutes have passed when it’s actually an hour – or more! So, when it comes to managing my time well, I seem to swing from either thinking I HAVE NO TIME AT ALL (which isn’t true), or I load my schedule so full, all I do is frustrate myself. This month, I feel like God has been showing me the REALITY of my time – which leads me to the next thing I’ve learned.

3. Even though I am NOT a schedule type person, I probably need one. I kind of balk at a schedule where I have the hours in my day accounted for in some way. It feels a bit restrictive and kind of claustrophobic to me. I want my options open and putting something in the little hourly squares in my calendar feels like I am giving up any possibility of spontaneity. But, this month, I have found the days where I sketch out the hours of my day with what is on my to do list are the days I feel most productive and less frustrated. Since I am a visual person, I think it has a lot to do with seeing the reality of my time – those 24 hours we are all given – with the weight of my to do list. It also gives me a clear picture of whether I really do have time to take on anything else. Using a schedule has taught me something else,

4. Having a schedule gives me enough information so I can be more spontaneous. What? How is that even possible? Well, when I see everything laid out in black and white, I can also see the things that can be put off or delayed. I can decide that lunch with my friend who is down CAN fit into my day rather than being afraid to do anything not on the to do list for fear it will put me irrevocably behind.

5. I’m just responsible for being obedient. The outcome is God’s responsibility. I taught a workshop at a fairly large teen conference the other weekend. I was super nervous – not because I’m afraid to speak in front of people – but because I felt this huge sense of responsibility and I wanted to do a good job. I prayed and sweated over my message on forgiveness. While my prayer was that God would simply speak through me – that they would see Him and not me – part of me wanted to do a good job because, well, to be perfectly frank, I wanted the teens to think I was a good speaker. I wanted to be successful. I had a few pangs of insecurity about this when the workshop down the hall had to bring in extra chairs, but mine was just barely full. That is, until God reminded me that, ahem, this wasn’t really about me at all, and all I needed to really be concerned about was doing what HE told me to do. God would take care of the rest. Ouch! Nothing like letting your ego cloud your vision!

6. Prayer is important. I know, this shouldn’t be a news flash, and it certainly is something God has been showing me in various ways for the last six months or so. But each time I glimpse the huge battle going on around me in the spiritual realm, it sort of awes me. At that teen conference, I was reminded once again, that I need to put in the time, energy and effort into my prayer life, that I am in a battle. Victory depends on me hitting my knees (or writing in my journal in my case since I have a bum knee – but you know what I mean!)

7.God can use my creativity to encourage others. I admit it – I’m a little artsy fartsy sometimes. I enjoy creating things and being creative. I knit. I make word art. I try new crafts and DIY projects with enthusiasm. I like to learn new things. In fact, I wish I had more time to pursue this kind of thing, but I often shove it to the side because it feels a little selfish to indulge myself too much with my hobbies. Like in the grander scheme of a calling, crafting is a bit pointless. God has been showing me though, that He can use anything – no matter how seemingly insignificant – if we let Him. Words fitly spoken are like apples of gold in settings of silver, and word art shared at the right time to the right person, can encourage that person’s heart. I was ridiculously excited to learn my hobbies can have a purpose! Which brings me to the other thing I’ve been learning this month (although I seem to be a bit hard headed when it comes to this!)

8. You don’t have to be productive every moment of every day, nor is “productivity” always the obvious thing. It’s so easy for me to get sucked into my to do list, and in the process forget about the people and relationships in my life in my effort to get more done. The thing is though, while there is nothing wrong with using your time wisely, you don’t have to use every moment in every day doing something.  Being productive, being busy, having a long to do list – all these things don’t  necessarily mean you are living out your purpose and calling because at the end of the day, every calling is about people. And guess what? Relationships and people take time. They are messy. While spending an hour listening to a friend’s heart doesn’t feel productive, it can be the most important thing you do all day.

9. I don’t really want to make real sacrifices to step into my Promised Land. I don’t like hard things. I don’t like being uncomfortable, so I have been resisting doing the hard stuff to realize my Promised Land. Like the Israelites, I want to just settle in without fighting any battles. I want to set up house without driving out the enemies and claiming the land. I want things to be easier – not have to do the hard work of claiming the Promised Land. In order to move forward, I’m going to have to probably have to pick up my sword and fight, but I don’t want to because it will be hard and possibly unpleasant. This is not an aspect of my character I like to look at too closely, but the hard truth is, I am by nature a bit on the lazy side. Ironically, I can run myself ragged being pointlessly busy, but when it comes to the real deal, I balk. I’m not sure why, but I do know that in order to fully step into the life God has called me to, I’m going to have to be uncomfortable and do the hard stuff. I guess I need to take a deep breath and pick up my sword.

So what did you learn this month? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!

Blessings, Rosanne

At the end of every month, we all get together over at Chatting at the Sky, and we share what we’ve learned that month. I hope you’ll pop over and read what everyone is learning this month. Who knows, maybe you’ll be inspired to share too!

1. I don’t like winter as much as I thought I did. People always look at me really strangely when I say I LIKE winter. There is something about that hush that falls right after a snow storm that is soothing and peaceful to me. However, I’ve discovered that lots of school delays and cancellations are NOT good for my productivity. Maybe it is a throwback to my own school days, but snow days always equal holiday in my mind, and no matter how many times I tell myself I will get up early even if there is a delay, it has yet to happen. Also, it’s been really, really, really COLD. I like winter, but once it dips into single digits, I find my love is fickle, and I start to long for the warmth of spring.

2. I do, however, still like birthday parties. February is my birthday month, and even though I just turned 42, I really like birthdays. I admit it. I get ridiculously giddy about opening presents and having a party and eating cake. Even if it means I’m getting older – maybe especially then.

3.  Sometimes, it is harder to watch someone you love go through something hard than to go through it yourself. When people I love are hurting, I want to fix it. Often – probably the majority of the time – I can’t. I just have to stand on the sidelines, at the most cheering them on, while God works in their lives. I have a very dear friend who is going through the adoption process. I wish I could hand her a baby today or make the waiting easier – I can’t. My son has had a rough couple weeks on the basketball floor with several very tough losses. I wish I could take away the sting of defeat or will the team a win, but I can’t. What that comes down to is trusting God is harder when the person He is working on is not you.I have found, for me, it takes so much more faith to trust God’s goodness when it pertains to a loved one’s pain than my own.

4. I really don’t want to be Beth Moore when I grow up. For years, I had this secret fantasy of being a speaker like Beth Moore. I would daydream of speaking in front of a huge audience and impacting hundreds of thousands of lives. When I was 5, I stood up in front of a big audience at Word of Life to give my testimony. They had to pry the microphone out of my little fist. I have never had any issues standing up in front of people. Well, I volunteered to do a workshop at Converge – a teen conference at the end of March. I will admit to you – I am SCARED. TO. DEATH. Now that the date is looming, it is all so very real, and it hits home in a very deep way that what I teach that day matters. A lot. It makes me incredibly nervous to have that responsibility. So, I have decided – I really DON’T want to be Beth Moore because I’d probably have a nervous breakdown or something!

5. God can trump what the experts say. Because of a very busy November and December and then being sick for 6 weeks, my freelancing plans have not gone according to, well, plan. I didn’t get out my queries, and I just felt like a big fat failure. I mean, what kind of loser am I that I can’t even finish up a few queries and get them out? So, I was praying about how stuck I felt – as in every time I got any momentum going, life stuck it’s foot out and tripped me up. The very next day I opened my email only to find an editor I had never met, asking me to write an article for a publication I had never heard of, for 8 times as much as I normally make. Yeah, that pretty much never happens. Like never, ever. I can’t begin to explain what a huge encouragement that was, and I couldn’t help smiling that basically what every expert says never happens (an assignment falling into my lap without any marketing whatsoever), God made happen.

6. If I want to get up earlier, I’m going to have to go to bed earlier.  I know – duh right? The thing is, I’m a night owl. I LIKE staying up late, but I have found if I get a late start to my day, then I just don’t get much done. And honestly, no matter how many times I tell myself I can always take a nap later, I still can’t seem to drag myself out of bed until the last minute. So, in the month of March I am committing to turning off my light at 10:30 p.m. and getting up at 6:30 a.m.. Yes, even with the time change (yuck!). Good thing I like coffee!

7. I became a big believer in essential oils. Even though I have believed essential oils work for a while now, that was mostly in theory. During the month of February, essential oils have proven to be worth their weight in gold. Inhaling tea tree oil steam got rid of my sore throat. Rubbing an immune blend on my feet has kept me from getting sick and rubbing on lavender has made me chilled out. I am excited to add this to my medicine cabinet.

So, what has the month of February taught you? I’d love to hear about it!

Blessings, Rosanne

(This picture appeared on Melinda Doolittle’s Facebook page)

This picture haunts me. Twenty-one men kneeling in a line. Waiting. My mind can’t help wondering what they are thinking as they kneel on the hard earth, waiting for the slice of a knife to end their lives.

Their faces are stoic. They look serious, but not scared or terrified.

I look at pictures like this. I read stories like the one about the girls in Nigeria – 200+ – that were stolen in the night and still have not been returned to their families, and I am tempted to feel helpless. To feel overwhelmed by the nightly news.

I was getting ready to start a series on taming the tongue – goodness knows that’s a lesson I need to learn! 🙂 But this picture, recent events – I had to share what God placed on my heart. Not because what I say is all that important, but because sometimes I forget the power I have residing IN me and I bet you do too.

See, I’m not helpless, and neither are you and neither were these men, martyred for their faith. in fact, all 21 of these men are now in presence of their Savior right now, not victims but overcomers.

But for those of us left with this last earthly image of them, it is easy to let the horror overwhelm you, to feel like there is nothing you can do but watch, powerless, as these events unfold.

We are NOT powerless though – far from it!

In 2 Timothy 3:4b-5a, it says, “Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.” (emphasis mine)

When did Christians get to the point where they felt helpless?

When did Christians forget that “greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world”?

When did we forget that we can influence the hearts, minds and actions of people around the world?

When did Christians become wimpy – or at least the ones in the U.S. anyway?

I can tell you when – when we started viewing prayer as a last resort and a long shot one at that. When we started letting busyness rule our lives and crowd out time for prayer. When we started viewing prayer as a weak alternative to action. How many times have I said or you said, “Well, all we can do now is pray”?

Recently, God has been opening my eyes to the immense power that is in prayer. I mean, I believed prayer was important. I had seen its power in my own life, but I never thought of it as influencing events across the globe. For those things, I felt helpless and powerless – not a great feeling.

I have been reading a book called The Hour that Changes the World, and in it, the author introduced the novel – to me at least – idea that I could contribute to the evangelizing of the world, without every leaving my house just through the power of prayer.

But this call to prayer, it’s not easy. Just because prayer is simple doesn’t mean it is easy. See, the enemy, he is VERY aware of the power of God’s people praying and he doesn’t want you to do it. He will do everything he can to keep you from it.

Ever notice how when you set aside time to pray, something interrupts you or your mind wanders or you fall asleep?

Yep, that’s the enemy keeping you from praying. It’s why there is a whole passage on putting on your armor BEFORE you ever get to the praying part.

Of course, this isn’t a new problem really. There is this great story in Acts 12. In the story, Peter is arrested. Since James had just been put to death and Herod saw that that was popular, he arrested Peter next. The believers knew Peter was terminal at this point, so they all gathered together to pray fervently for his release. In fact, they had been praying All NIGHT for Peter.

Meanwhile, an angel delivers Peter miraculously from the prison, and Peter makes his way to this house where everyone is praying for him. When he knocks on the door, the little servant girl, Rhoda, opens it. (I wrote about Rhoda as part of my Women in the Bible series) She is so excited to see Peter, she basically slams the door in his face and runs back in to tell everyone.

You’d think they’d all be rejoicing and jubilant that God answered their prayers. But they aren’t. Instead, they tell her, “You are out of your mind!” When she insists, they tell her, it must be Peter’s angel.

Meanwhile, Peter continues to knock and when they finally open the door – who knows how much later – it says they are amazed.

Amazed that their prayers had actually been answered.

Maybe, like us, they had prayed before and didn’t get the answer they wanted.

Maybe, like us, they had gone out on a limb with this whole prayer thing and felt like someone had sawed it out from under them.

Whatever the reason, they were AMAZED God had delivered Peter.

The thing is, God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The same God that heard those early Christians’ prayers is the same God that hears our prayers.

We don’t have to have the perfect words, or to intone “Thee” and “Thou” for God to hear us. We just have to put in the time on our knees.

So, when you see pictures that haunt you or read stories that make you cry and wonder at the state of the human race – remember that we have the power to make a difference.

Don’t let it make you feel powerless. Let it make you hit your knees and do something about it.

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” James 5:16

Blessings, Rosanne

#1 I am a terrible patient.

See, the week after Christmas I caught either Influenza A or B – not sure since each child had a different strain (lucky us!). After a couple weeks battling that, I had three days where I felt GREAT! Then I caught a different virus that my husband had – because I accidentally USED HIS TOOTHBRUSH! Yes, you read that right – I used his toothbrush on accident and caught the virus he had. I’m not sure if it was worse than Influenza (either A or B), but it was certainly a close runner up.

I did try to be a patient patient, but my forbearance ran out when I came down with the second illness. All the plans I had made – you know that THIS year I wasn’t going to procrastinate but actually accomplish my goals – had to be put on hold. It did not make me happy. Which leads me to the second thing I learned.

#2 Rest is NOT a four letter word.

Maybe it’s because I was SO ready to stop procrastinating, but I chafed against my need for rest. I felt a combination of guilt and irritation, but I couldn’t get around it. I either had to lay down for an hour or so every afternoon OR I’d both feel worse AND find myself nodding off at inopportune times.

I came across these verses on a day I was really upset by the whole “get the year off with a bang” debacle. “For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did  from His. Therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest so that no one will fall.” Hebrews 4:10, 11a. (emphasis mine).

I finally cried “Uncle,” and gave in to the fact that, for whatever reason, January was supposed to be a month of rest for me. Which led me to the third thing I learned this month.

#3 I am fortunate to be able to work from home.

There are sometimes when weekly deadlines kind of get to me, but honestly, I’m not sure what I would have done if I had to drag myself to a workplace on a daily basis for a set number of hours. Because I work from home as a freelance writer, I get to set my hours. I made all my interviews phone interviews, and I really didn’t even need to leave the house (well, except to go to the grocery and those times I had to get out or go crazy!). There is something to be said for being self-employed. Despite the challenges that it sometimes presents, I really can’t imagine having to go work for someone else!

#4 Quiet times don’t always have to include a commentary to be meaningful.

I am a big believer in studying God’s Word, but over the past month, mornings have not been stellar for me in regards to my brain functioning. So, I have spent a lot more time just reading a Scripture and meditating on it and then journaling out my prayers (for fear if I bowed my head and closed my eyes, I might nod off). While it is a bit different than what I normally do, I have found a sense of peace and quietness in allowing myself to just BE with God. In fact, He didn’t even mind when I did nod off a few times.

 #5 Down time isn’t wasted.

I spent a lot of time on my couch this month instead of the usually running around. It made me realize that down time doesn’t have to be wasted. Stilling my body so I could rest, did something kind of interesting – it gave me time for my creative juices to start flowing. It gave me some white space in which to dream. Sure, there were days when I felt a sense of panic over all I WASN’T getting done, but there is something very peaceful about not having much of a choice. Even if I WANTED to go full speed, I just couldn’t (and I’m still not up to 100%). By late afternoon, I was pretty much done. Instead of trying to do one more project or one more chore, I would sit and read or hang out with my family (the weather helped that out by canceling some things so we HAD to stay in). And guess what? The world did not come to a stop. Everything didn’t crumble or spin into chaos (well, mostly). One of my goals for this New Year was to make more time for family, friends and fun. This month sort of forced me to slow down enough to even make that possible. Which leads me to the other thing I learned this month.

# 6 I can say no and the world doesn’t end. 

I don’t like to tell people no. My husband is always saying – “Do you REALLY want to do that? You are already busy so how is that going to work?” In 2014, my inability to say no often led to me being overwhelmed and frustrated because by saying yes to too many things, I was missing out on what God actually wanted me to do. Being sick, it made saying no pretty easy – especially as most people didn’t really want me or my germs anywhere near them.

Being forced to slow down, to not take on anything but the absolutely necessary gave me some margin in my hectic life I think that realization might just have been worth all the kleenex I’ve been through!

What did you learn in January? Was it what you thought it would be?

I’d love to hear about it!

Blessings, Rosanne

p.s. Today I’m linking up over at Chatting at the Sky. Why don’t you hop on over to see what other people have learned in the month of January!

When Michael Brown, Jr. was killed, there were a lot of opinions. A lot of voices. All of them shouting to be heard above the other. I even wrote a post about it myself. You can read it here.

When the verdict came down not to indict Darren Wilson, there were also a lot of opinions. A lot of voices The shouts to be heard were drowned out by the violence that erupted in the streets of Ferguson.

Businesses looted, burned. People hurt, arrested.

Ferguson, a smoldering ruin, a burning symbol of racial unrest in this country.

As I have prayed about this, as I have wept over the divide between people just because of skin color, as I have begged God to bring a solution to all of this tragedy and violence, the one thing I keep hearing is, “Be quiet and listen.”

I didn’t really want to be quiet, to be honest. I had read everything I could get my hands on about the case. I had read testimonials and eyewitness accounts. I wanted all the facts before I made a judgment call on either Darren Wilson or Michael Brown, Jr. And then I wanted to talk about it, to write about it, to hash it all out.

While I wanted to be informed and right when I addressed this topic, what I missed at first is it really wasn’t about the facts of the case. I know, if you are sitting on the white side of the bleachers that’s a little hard to swallow. I mean, what does it mean it’s not about the facts?

The case of Michael Brown, Jr., was a symbol of a much bigger picture. A bigger picture that included a different set of facts, ones that I, as someone who is white, need to really see.

See, no matter what happened or didn’t happen between Michael Brown, Jr. and Darren Wilson, it doesn’t change the indisputable fact that a mother buried her son.

It doesn’t change the fact that a family will go through the holidays with a glaringly empty space around the table. That a stocking will hang empty.

It doesn’t negate the fact that women I call friends are afraid for their sons’ lives. They fear that a misunderstanding could escalate into a tragedy, and in the blink of an eye they too will have an empty space at the table. It doesn’t change the fact that they feel like their sons, their lives are expendable because their skin is dark, and nobody cares because of the perception that all black youth are criminals so they must deserve what they get. That fear haunts them every time their sons walk out the door.

I can’t imagine living with that kind of fear because I’ve never had to. But just because I have never experienced it, doesn’t mean that it isn’t very real for a whole lot of people every single day.

A couple of years ago, I heard Jill Briscoe speak at a women’s breakfast. She said a lot of great things, but the one thing that stuck with me was that others won’t listen to you unless they know you care about them, and they won’t know you care until you take the time to listen to them.

I am not disputing there are issues on both sides of this racial divide in our country. I’m not saying honest dialogue doesn’t need to happen, and there are some hard truths we ALL need to look at.

But, as I’ve said before, I feel strongly that as believers we need to lead in racial harmony. After all, as Paul said, there is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free, when it comes to the Gospel. The Gospel was all about being multicultural before it was cool.

That isn’t going to happen though, until we are willing to be still and listen to our brothers and sisters in Christ, to acknowledge their pain and their fear and their frustrations. Until that happens, there will be no peace.

Peace doesn’t come by proving our point or shouting out our opinions louder than someone else. It doesn’t even come by winning a debate. Sure, you may get some facts out. You might even “win” your case, but facts never made anyone feel loved.

So, before honest dialogue begins, we have to start with honest listening and true empathy and compassion. My African American friends should know I care more about them than about winning a point in the ongoing debate of what is the root cause of the racial problems and how to solve them.

Until they know I truly care, they won’t care what I think.

We will never get to the point of honest discussion and move toward a solution unless we are willing to lay aside our opinions, our facts, and our debate points and come alongside those who are hurting, who are afraid, who feel as if nobody hears them at all.

Because that is what Ferguson is really all about – years of not truly being heard. Years of the white community being defensive or telling the black community why they shouldn’t feel that way, that they shouldn’t fear when their experiences have taught them differently.

I don’t know about you, but nothing makes me feel less heard, less known than for someone to tell me how I shouldn’t feel.

At the risk of sounding cheesy and cliched, love really is the only way to make our way through this maze of racial tensions because fear is at the root of a lot of these issues.

As it says in I John 4:8, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.”

It’s time our brothers and sisters of every color know we love them – enough to shut up and listen.

Blessings, Rosanne

When the phone rang this morning, I was sitting at my computer ready to start my day. It was a bit later than usual due to the school cancellation. It was just a normal Monday morning, if you discounted the amazing amount of snow for mid-November around here.

It’s funny how a simple phone call can rock your world.

At about 10:30 this morning, I found out my friend Carla Dysert had been killed in a car accident earlier that morning. The news washed over me in a tide of disbelief.

It felt like all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room.

I knew Carla very peripherally for years as she went to my church, but I started to know her better a few years ago when she began to periodically attend my Sunday school class. Then this summer, when I started volunteering at Guiding Light where she volunteered too, our friendship grew, as I got to know her more deeply.

(Carla is in the pink shirt)

Even hours after I learned of her death, I still am having a hard time believing she is really gone. I think it’s because she was one of those people who were so very alive.

I’ve spent most of today thinking about Carla and what she has meant in my life. I’ve shed a lot of tears – and I’m not much of a crier – as the reality of her loss has settled over me.

As I’ve thought about her though, one thing came clear to me – Carla challenged me. She challenged me by the way she lived. Carla didn’t read God’s Word and think it meant someone else. She believed it was directed at her, and unlike so many of us, she acted on it.

Carla was someone who did what God asked her to do, even if other people thought she was a little, well, odd. I remember her telling me about a time she felt God asking her to claim a college football field. She went down and walked every yard of that field, praying over it. Never mind that everyone thought she might be a little crazy. 🙂

Carla was a big believer in the power of prayer. Her prayer journals were an artistic wonder – notes, small drawings, glued on pictures of those she was praying for papered its pages. She wrote down what she learned from her Bible study times and what she felt God was telling her. She wrote down prayer requests and how God answered and came through. She felt so strongly about journaling, that she was always giving people journals of their own.

Many time, you could find her walking around buildings in downtown Lima, praying over that particular ministry. It didn’t matter to her that people driving by might wonder what in the world she was doing.

When Carla said she’d pray for you, she did. When Carla said she’d do something, she followed through. When Carla thought you were wrong, she told you.

As I cried off and on today, immeasurably sad that my friend was gone and thought about how crushed the many people she touched probably felt, it occurred to me that Carla would probably wonder why I was upset. I can envision her, her blonde head cocked to the side saying in her perpetually upbeat voice, “But Rosanne, why are you upset? God knew I was going to die today. God allowed that so it’s okay.”

And then she’d smile.

The thing that made Carla unique was that she was always listening for God’s voice and she didn’t just listen. She went out and did what He asked, too. She was always looking for the opportunities He put in her path and acting on them.

One of those ways was at her job. Carla worked a lot of hours at Primrose where she was the director, but the reason she spent long hours there wasn’t because she was a workaholic. It was because she spent her days meeting the Primrose residents’ needs, and waiting to do her work until later in the evening.

Carla was also a big believer in God’s Word. She wasn’t about denominations. She’d tell you it’s about God and what the Bible says. She wasn’t about physical church walls. You could find her at our Baptist church as soon as you’d find her attending a street church in the south side of Lima or joining a charismatic church on a mission trip. Carla was about loving people because Jesus loved people.

I’ll be honest and say I wish I understood why God took Carla home today. But I can’t. I wish I could tell you there was some greater purpose, but all I can think is, “It was too soon.”

But I want Carla’s death to mean something. I don’t want her death to just be a tragedy. I want it to call us all to action and to continue her legacy. So, I came up with an idea. I’m calling it the Carla Challenge, and I hope she would get a kick out of this.

The challenge is this – whatever it is you feel God telling you to do, just do it. Put it at the very top of your to do list. Don’t let busyness or fear or doubt or just feeling silly keep you from it. Whatever opportunity God places in your path, take the time to act on it.

Because if anything summed up Carla’s life, it was her ability to listen to what God was telling her, look for the opportunities He placed in her path and act in obedience. No questions. No hesitations. Just do it.

Will you take the Carla Challenge today and keep her legacy alive?

Blessings, Rosanne

I heard about it on Facebook – not in the newspaper or CNN or the nightly news. On Facebook. It happened three weeks ago – over 200 Nigerian girls were kidnapped in the middle of the night from their school dormitory by men linked to a terrorist group.

They are still missing. Nobody who is anybody is doing anything about it.

Three weeks. Gone.

Three weeks of mothers, brothers, fathers – worried, wondering, waiting.

( photo with Youtube video at the end of this post)

I look into the eyes of this girl and my own brim with tears.
I look into this young girl’s solemn face and I can’t imagine being in her mother’s place.
I can’t imagine wondering what is happening to my daughter right now.

Because these aren’t empty worries. These aren’t the worries I have – if my son will catch up on his homework after a long illness or if my older son is a bit late coming home and I’m wondering if I should call the hospital. These mothers’ worries are based on bitter reality, on devastating daily life.

My heart breaks to know that a father, a brother or an uncle road into a forested area where the terrorists are supposed to be – unarmed. So he could bring his girl back.

Today in Ann Voskamp’s blog I read, “Women aged fifteen through forty-four are more likely to be maimed or die from male violence than from cancer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war combined.”

These girls were just trying to get an education. Instead they were abducted, probably sold as brides to violent men who do not care about their intellect or emotions or soul.

I sit here in my little house in a corner of Ohio. Kids are playing outside, riding their bikes, laughing. The sun is shining after a long winter.

A world away, despite a blazing sun, a winter of the heart sets in for hundreds of mothers and fathers.

No, I can’t enjoy Mother’s Day this year. Not when 200+ mothers weep for daughters that may never return.

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted; He saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers them out of them all.” Psalms 34: 17, 18

Blessings, Rosanne

p.s. You can watch a video that gives a bit more info on individual girls here.

Today is 5 Minute Friday. It’s when women from all over, take 5 unedited minutes to write about a word provided by Lisa Jo Baker. Today’s word, very aptly, was mess! You can check out other posts or join in here.

There are piles of papers and books spread across on the kitchen table.
Dishes are stacked in the sink.
A baseball uniform is still in the washing machine (remind me to switch that to the dryer, would you?)
Shoes are piled by the doorway and coats are slung over the chair by the front door.
My school bag is lying on it’s side, the contents spilling out onto the floor and my purse is propped drunkenly against the television stand.

A wastebasket overflows with tissues and a TV tray holds a hug plastic bottle of water, a box of tissues, a thermometer and a discarded hospital band.

This has been a messy week after another chaotic week. My youngest son, Brody, spent Tuesday and part of Wednesday in the hospital because of double pneumonia. I didn’t see that one coming even though he has been home sick since last Wednesday.

Of course, I stayed with him, so the things that clamored at home had no audience in me. Deadlines got pushed back and to do lists were forgotten as I sat by a hospital bed that made my almost 13 year old son looks small and frail. Eight pounds – the size of a healthy newborn – was a lot to lose.

The only thing on my mind, in the midst of the mess, was my son getting better and stronger.

It was April. I thought the season of illness was over. I didn’t plan on life getting turned upside down and everything falling into a mess. I had things planned out and scheduled so I could handle a long term sub job, my weekly newspaper articles and almost non-stop baseball.

I planned on being so disciplined in holding to my schedule so I could get it all done. I was fearful of “something happening” and messing up my plan.

I didn’t plan for something like this. I didn’t planon extra laundry and pill schedules and keeping up fluids and no time to straighten or organize or get ahead. I had no other option but to dwell in the mess.

So, I let it go. (and no I’m not going to start singing the song from Frozen) I let the expectations of others and my own even heavier expectations all go.

And God met me in the mess. Instead of freaking out which is my normal response to any kind of crisis. I was calm, peaceful. I shrugged my shoulders when I thought maybe I wouldn’t meet deadline this week for my articles. It wasn’t the end of the world – in fact, the world would keep spinning just fine and dandy without me. My focus sharpened on y priorities rather than a list of should dos.

I discovered that joy and peace is found in surrendering to the mess rather than always trying to fix it.
Blessings, Rosanne

Today, I’m joining Lisa Jo Baker for Five Minute Friday. This is when women from all over the world link up after writing for five minutes (no editing allowed!) on a specific word. This week’s word is “Glue.”

This week has been one of those types of weeks – you know, where nothing has gone as planned and every word that comes out of my mouth just seems wrong.

I am doing a long term subbing job and had to start a week earlier than I had planned. On Tuesday, I found a cyber friend had lost her battle with cancer. 🙁 On Wednesday, my oldest son woke up throwing up. On Thursday, I spent my day running all over the place in some kind of Laurel and Hardy type farce over my car. No lie – I had not even gotten home from picking up the rental car the dealership gave me because they forgot to align my car and missed a bent strut from an accident, when the body shop called to tell me my car was ready. It would have been funny – if it hadn’t been.

Add to this, that somehow, all week long, I felt like I had been putting my foot wrong with everyone. Do you ever feel like that? I really hate to upset people or hurt their feelings. I’m not a huge fan of confrontation or conflict. Over the years, I’ve gotten better at this, but at my worst, I can dissect something I’d said over and over and tie myself up in knots over how my words might have been taken or perceived. I can get caught up in this even if I have no clues from the other person that there is even a problem. Instead, I torture myself over how I could have said it differently or if the person might be upset and just not telling me. I wonder if perhaps I should contact that person again and try to clarify or explain myself better (ever hear of digging yourself a hole – I would be the Queen Digger).

So, to say I felt unglued would be an understatement. It was an unglued type of week.

When I read the word for today in my email this morning, I thought how ironic it was that during a week when I felt everything was unglued, the word was glued.

As I sat and spent time with Jesus this morning, I realized just WHY I felt so unglued. With all the crisis happening this week and having to get up extra early, my hour with Jesus hadn’t happened. At all. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t shooting up prayers. But I certainly wasn’t doing any quiet, settled time with God. The result was a very unglued woman – me!

I also realized as I continued my Bible study on spiritual warfare, that that horrible feeling of saying the wrong thing to everyone was just another tactic from the enemy. He loves to isolate us, to separate us from the body because a solitary person is so much easier to take down than one in a group.

Because I had not been spending time with Jesus, soaking in His Truth, I had not even realized the sneak attack that was going on.

For me, the glue that holds it all together is Jesus. When I don’t spend that time sitting at His feet, I am just setting myself up to become unglued.

What things does the enemy use to make you feel unglued?

Blessings, Rosanne

I knew her as MommaK. I met her probably 8 or 9 years ago on an online mom’s board. Even though we never met in real life, I counted Kim as a friend.

Early Tuesday morning, after a long, courageous battle with cancer, Kim stepped from this life into the presence of Jesus.

Kim was not just my friend. She touched many lives on the mom’s board through her gentle, sweet ways. If you had a prayer request or a concern, you could always count on MommaK to post she was praying.

She went out of her way to post on the “lonely” threads that hadn’t gotten much traffic. She didn’t often say a lot, but when she did say something, it was always like an arrow that hit the mark. You know the type of person I mean – they don’t talk a ton but what they do say seems meaningful and important.

Kim left behind not just her husband Jeff, but seven children ages 11 up to 23.

I know Kim didn’t want to leave her family, and her husband and children were what worried her the most when it became apparent that her battle with cancer wasn’t going to be won here on earth.

When I read the news yesterday morning, I couldn’t help the tears that spilled over. It’s hard to wrap my mind around the fact that MommaK won’t have any more posts – that she is truly gone.

While I knew that Kim was nearing her final days, I didn’t expect to lose her so very quickly. When she posted that doctors said they could do nothing else for her, she was told she had several months to maybe a year. She wanted to make a family cruise scheduled for June.

Instead, she was gone in two weeks. Two weeks is too short a time to say all that needs to be said, but I don’t believe Kim died with regret on her heart.

I wish I could explain why God chose to take Kim when she seemed so needed here on earth.

I wish I could explain why her family has to go through this pain

I wish I could explain why she will miss all those important milestones and special days with her children.

All I do know is that God is good. Even in death and grief and pain, He has a plan and a purpose. I know that while her body let her down on this earth, Kim is dancing in the presence of Jesus now – no pain, no worry, no sickness.

I know that Kim is finally healed and whole and without pain.

I’ll miss her, but I cling to the promise that one day I will see her in person – that we’ll finally meet in real life and it will be a much more joyful reunion than any here on earth.

Yes, Kim’s passing has left a gap in my life, but it has also taught me something too – living a full life isn’t dependent on the number of days here on earth but what you do with those days. Even if your days are short, you can still leave a legacy that will be remembered long after you are gone.

Godspeed, Kim.