I learned a new word this week – “sistering” – a beautiful, strong word.  Sistering is not what you may think, it actually has nothing to do with sisters at all, at least not in the technicality of the term. Sistering is the technique used in carpentry when one reinforces a joist (a corner).  When the load on the joist is too heavy causing weakness or a sagging in the structure, the carpenter brings a board to the left of the joist to strengthen and provide support.  If one sister board is not enough, he will add another board to the right side.  This process is called “sistering” and allows for that joist, that corner, to handle any load that is being placed on it.

Sistering gives the support needed to carry the heaviest of loads.

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Yes, yes, yes!!!

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor:img_4192
If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
    But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

img_2956 We need our “sisters” – women to come alongside us and carry the heavy loads.

My propensity when I am hurting, when the world is beating me up, when I feel tired and weary from the wear and tear, my propensity is to withdraw, to isolate, to pull back like a turtle finding refuge in her shell,

but we mustimg_0546

STAYimg_1203

STAND

and

SISTER!

One on the right and one on the left – allowing the “sistering” with our sisters to give us the strength we need to press in and carry the heavy load of a heavy heart.

Galatians 6:2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

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Carpentry tricks to ease a burdened heart, and I am reminded, Jesus was a carpenter…no doubt He thought fondly of us and this wearisome world as strong hands utilized this technique of sistering to reinforce a chair or table leg, He knew we would need each other to come alongside and “sister” each other to our finish lines.

Link arms ladies, we are not each others competition, we are sisters,

and we need each other! img_8473img_1487img_7500

Do you find yourself on crazy cycles?

Do you even notice your own crazy?

Do you feel the insanity of cycling through the same stuff season after season?

I have been paying attention to my cycles, not menstrual, my emotional cycles and I have come the strong conclusion that I am, in fact, crazy!!

I am exhausting and exhausted!

And I am thankful!  Thankful that my eyes are open to see it, thankful for grace towards myself to own it and thankful that I have the choice to heal and change it! Thankful!!

My cycles revolve around the deep heart issue of “belonging” – a deep rooted issue from as early as conception.  I was born in Japan, my mother was excited to be pregnant with her first born, but she was an Air Force wife in a foreign country, far from home, far from family, far from friends, far from familiar language and customs, far away in a place she DID NOT BELONG.  This is the climate I “brewed” in while in utero and her emotions affected me, they imprinted me, they defined and named me on some level.  And I strongly believe the devil had my number long before I was born because he knows what we as humans are just beginning to learn – our parents’ unresolved issues affect and program their babies for certain aspects of life.  My mom had me in a country she did not belong…I have struggled my whole life with belonging!  And there has been an assignment on my life from the moment I breathed my first breath of Earth air to experience rejection and inflame the feeling that I do not belong.

Memory after memory starting at 4 years old with girls in my life that chose to NOT accept me…it wasn’t their fault, they didn’t know they were being used as tools to support a problem I had within me at a cellular level (see the studies on epigenetics for more info).

I did not belong!

And this little lie…4 little words…have ruled my life in so many ways!

It has kept me on this crazy cycle searching for acceptance and a place I fit in.  It has kept me in bondage to the opinions of others.  It has kept me searching for belonging outside of myself.

The truth – I am accepted and already fit in…

I am a daughter of the MOST HIGH KING (Psalm 45:13 All glorious is the princess within her chamber; her gown is interwoven with gold. 2 Corinthians 6:18 And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”) And He has a seat saved for me at His banquet table (Revelations 19:9 “…Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”)

The truth – I am free and God’s opinion is the only opinion that matters…

I have been freed through the blood of Christ and His sacrifice for me (Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.) And I dance for an audience of ONE, I am in service to God and God alone, it is His opinion that matters over the opinions of others (Galatians 1:10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.)

The truth – I belong…

I already belong – I find belonging from within – there is no searching for it, I belong, it is settled and I must live in this truth from the inside out, not searching externally for it but rather finding it resting in my soul as an inheritance (1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.)

The truths we search for are hidden in the heart of God and He shares them in His love letter to us (The Bible).  Whatever your crazy is, He has the answer!  He has it for you – whatever it is you are searching for –

peaceIMG_7557

joy

freedom

love

security

value

significance

affirmation

preference

purpose

belonging

He has it – there is no striving –

He has it and He has given it to you –

hidden treasure to search out –

deep in your soul,

it hides there waiting to be uncovered

Break your crazy cycle, embrace His healing for your heart, let it wash over you!


Psalm 139

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall[a] on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;[b]
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.

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This is our dog Theo. He is an interesting little fellow.                                                                     He’s a mix brIMG_8020eed, a mutt if you will. The story is that his mom a CavaPoo escaped her home and met up with a friendly, very friendly if you know what I mean, Rat Terrier in her neighborhood and the outcome of this chance meeting two or so months later was Theo.  He got all his dad Rat Terrier genes from the look of him but inherited his mom’s long legs so he has an interesting look to match his interesting personality.  He provides much entertainment for my family with all his neurotic little ways.  I like this picture of him because it looks like he is smiling as he dozes in puppy dreamland. A dog’s life…easy, joy-filled! Lots of sleep, attention from people that love you well, a few crumbs that fall off the counter while preparing meals, chasing a ball – over and over again until your heart feels like it may pop out of your chest. Pure joy!

My aunt from Denham Springs, one of the many people in our area who experienced the recent devastation to which us Louisianians are referring to as the “Great Flood of 2016” sent me this picture the other day. Now if you could pan out from this picture you would find it sitting atop a pile of water drenched furniture and items recently gutted from her home. “Gutted” is an appropriate verIMG_8080b for this sentence.  It is a violent act!  Water comes in uninvited and robs of all things familiar and all one can do to make sense of the mess is to purge. Gutted is how it feels – body, soul and spirit.  It’s devastating to see the things you have treasured and loved piled high like trash outside your front door, heaped and broken.

And yet she is looking for the silver lining, something to make sense of all of this!

Find “Joy in the Journey”

That’s the gold we are all looking for in this life, the joy in the journey because life is hard some days, life is unfair some days, life is cruel some days, life is unpredictable and unbearable and hopeless and leaves us questioning and beating our fists, blaming and screaming for answers to all that is unexpected and unexplainable!  Find Joy in the Journey – YES!

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What else are we to do?  There is nothing else!

To breathe, to make sense, to move on we must find what my bestie calls “her instead” – we MUST find our insteadour joy – and take a step forward and another and another!

YOU ARE THE SILVER LINING!

Which brings me back to my dog Theo and all his simple joy – he brings it with him, it’s in him and we are the lucky recipients he shares it with.  Isn’t that how God intended for it all to work…bad things happen to good people and yet we find the strength to move on, we find our joy again and we share it with those around us.

Your joy is infectious, contagious and it affects others.  Your joy lightens the load, makes it less unbearable, makes it feel like this world and things in it are doable!

We must find our instead and share it wth others –

the world needs your silver lining, your instead, your joy!

You are the light of the world, let your light shine!  

Find JOY in the JOURNEY!