Cocooning

Community means strength that joins our strength to do the work that needs to be done. Arms to hold us when we falter. A circle of healing. A circle of friends. Someplace where we can be free. --Starhawk

I'm not sure I have much to say, but I don't want to leave the "dragon" post as my most recent for much longer. So, a quick update:

We had a rough week as a family, fighting another virus. I'm happy to say we're all on the mend. I probably have a lingering sinus infection, and so does Rich, but at least we're past the fever, aches, chills portion of this sickness. It wasn't fun. My friend Bonnie stopped over on Friday with two bags full of groceries to help my kids survive having a sick, I'm-so-not-making-dinner mom. (She brought Teddy Grahams, Goldfish, popsicles, fresh grapes, roasted chicken, Kleenex and even Gummy Worms!) Her timing couldn't have been better, and it made me think about an excerpt from the MotherKindness piece Sally wrote in Play With Me: "When mothering gets hard and lonely, I'm glad to be part of a community of mothers with all of my friends." Amen to that. Bonnie's gesture brought healing tears to my eyes.

I submitted a resume and letter of interest to my church for a part time job, working in an administrative capacity. My biggest concern about whether the job is feasible or not is child care. We'll have to see how flexible the position is with working from home, etc, and what the actual pay would be. Please keep this in your prayers! We need to increase our income, and this position feels like a good fit. I also think it could be a pathway or a gate to greater ministry opportunities down the road.

I have been on the receiving end of so many kind thoughts, gestures, and prayers as of late. Thank you to everyone for being Christ to me. . . .

If those who owe us nothing gave us nothing, how poor we would be. --Antonio Porchia

I think beginnings are fragile. Full of possibility, yes, full of promise, yes, but also very fragile. My guess is that Satan hates beginnings and tries to confound and cloud the vision of a new start.
I had a dream the other night that a huge, spitting serpent with legs was standing on my neck, pinning me face down. The serpent was dragon-like, the same one I've imagined when reading the book of Revelations:

"A great and wondrous sign apppeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment he was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. And there was war in heaven." (Revelations 12)

Such a dramatic excerpt to be thinking about these days. . . . but I think there is real battle going on in our lives (all of our lives). And a lot of it has to do with new life, new beginnings, spiritual birth.

I write this not to focus on Satan, or to give him a foothold, but to renew trust in God's ability to prepare a place for me and my family--a place of respite from the accuser.

"The great dragon was hurled down -- that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

"Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore REJOICE! . . (Revelations 12). "

Lord, thank you that this new beginning for my family is protected and set apart, covered in the blood of the Lamb. Amen.

We can all be angels to one another. We can choose to obey the still small stirring within, the little whisper that says, Go. Ask. Reach out. Be an answer to someone's plea. You have a part to play. Have faith. --Joan Wester Anderson

The morning of our hearing, I woke up, still feeling edgy, nervous, out of control. The kids were home from school, sick, and I had already called the doctor to take Ryker in. My blood pressure was rising, but since Rich had taken the day off work, I was able to steal a few minutes alone in my bedroom before the day's remaining pressure-filled events truly got rolling.

Lying on my bed, with Bible in lap, I prayed "Lord, why all these last minute reoccuring problems with health? Why today? Didn't you know this would push me over the edge? Where are your provisions?"

I was anxious. I didn't even open my bible, because I doubted God's ability to truly have something specific to "say" about this new turn of events. Then, surprisingly, like a warm furnace fan on a freezing cold day, I heard God whisper. . .

"Today, my provision has a name, SUSAN."

Tears welled up as I pondered this truth. Susan is the neighbor friend who had agreed to watch my boys for the day. I let down and bawled as I allowed Susan's generous gift of time and availability to truly sink in and settle my fears. Susan (a doc by profession) was unflinchingly willing to deal with my little "sickos." She even went out of her way to drive over to our house and check up on feverish Jennifer--who stayed at home while we were at court. Truly recognizing and receiving Susan's gift opened my heart, allowing me to let go of all my unneeded angst. And lying there on my bed, PEACE fluttered in.

Now that I'm through the bankruptcy hearing--a ring of fire--I can look back and thank God for the Lord's MANY-NAMED provisions:

JULIE, SALLY, HEATHER, BETH, MARGIE, my dear college friends who prayed.

TERRI, who stopped by our home with: supportive words, a thoughtful Caribou card, and a get-well card and birthday gift for Ryker from RACHEL (Rachel is Terri's daughter, one of Ryker's good friends).

ALL my BIBLESTUDY FRIENDS who emailed, called, and interceded on my family's behalf!

My PARENTS who checked in from Florida.

And all the FRIENDS who continually hold me up in prayer in a myriad of ways!

God's divine provisions can wear many faces, each beautiful in their own way! Thank you Lord for my GO-TO Girls!

FOUR MINUTES before our scheduled hearing, and no attorney in sight. . .


FOUR MINUTES of just sitting at a long table, in a small hushed room, before the "so-serious" trustee. . .


FOUR MINUTES more, and a whole week of worrying--FINALLY OVER.


I feel light hearted. Glad it's all over.

Thanks to everyone who lifted us up in prayer! We're ready to start a new leg of our journey -- with a slate wiped CLEAN!