I saw this movie for the first time a few days ago, watching while trying to avoid concentrating on the treadmill I was walking on. This movie captured my attention. Not everyone will appreciate it as I have. I came from a family of hardworking people, you worked for what you wanted. Frank Goode is a hardworking father of four, a widow, who heads out across the country to see and surprise his children one by one with a visit. His journey allows him to see the landscape, take pictures, and tell people about his life as a lineman, coating telephone wires in plastic. He visits his children, and realizes something alarming, yet significant about each one. The story ends with a touch a sadness, but closure......take a look.
How far away I have been, at least that is what I have realized about myself these past few weeks. Far away in thought, about God, my marriage, my children, and my life. My stronghold or anchor has been my growing faith, ever growing, always. As I look over my shoulders backward at the past, and then turn around into the present, I realize today how much closer my relationship to Jesus has become, how close I feel to Him. I see myself stretching and changing, things that were fuzzy before are now clear. Daily I ask for wisdom, and so it is to this I give credit where credit is due. I remember the veil, that thin piece of life that shrouded me before I accepted the Lord as my Saviour, and I remember the moment it lifted. Another veil has lifted, a layer of judgement and lack of information. Being married and having children has caused me to reflect on my own upbringing. I can not imagine my life, marriage or bringing up my children without a spiritual focus, I do not know how my parents did it. I was fortunate to have everything a child/teenager, could ask for or need. I was disciplined sharply, and was raised with morals and values, and mac and cheese, but Jesus was missing. I now see how vital that key ingredient of faith is to home and family. The focus of holidays was never on the true meaning, but rather the glorified worlds view. Meals were never opened in prayer and thanksgiving. Our home at times was filled with worry and fear. So now I focus on my home, and I look at how different my life is, and am thankful that though Jesus was never invited in when I was a child, He always stood at the door knocking.......welcome home!
So I went to a women's conference this past weekend, and since then have been both burdened and uplifted by many new thoughts and feelings. The speaker was Lysa Terkeurst from Proverbs31.org. An amazing woman of full of beauty and grace, with a southern drawl to draw you in. Her life stories and testimonies flowed one into another, bringing mixtures of both tears and laughter from her captive audience. I sat memorized, trying to soak every word and emotion in during those two days. She shared from 2 Chronicles 20, the story about King Jehoshaphat and the worrisome situation facing his kingdom. Instead of sending a military show of force during such a critical time, the king send ahead of the army a group of men to sing and praise the Lord. As their songs reached the heights of heaven, the Lord set ambushes against the the opposing armies, and they were defeated. In relation to the current situations of life we all find ourselves a part of, the small armies of worry that surround us, we would do well to send out to the Lord's ears, prayers and praises. What better people, believers we would be. Our problems, worries and concerns would become small in comparison to the greatness of the God we serve. It all comes together when we realize that parts of the Bible we often find insignificant, hold huge examples of God's provision and grace. I am inspired from King Jehoshaphat to trust and leave the result up to God, in spite of the armies of circumstance and worry around me....
