Don't WASTE your SUFFERING

Suffering......You don't have to look far and you will see it EVERYWHERE.  I see it on a weekly basis most clearly at my job because they can't hide.  They come to the hospital b/c they need help, some worse than others but none the less, they are ALL in NEED.  Last week I cried behind our scanning window for the 30 year old filled with cancer.... He had not a clue what he was about to endure or experience b/c it was his first test.....(I cried b/c the Lord convicted me in what I thought I had a bad day, sometimes we think we have it bad!!! here I was stressing about money b/c of vehicle problems....Really Lisa??? But God why? Its so hard to understand why?) Here this nice young married boy with most of his life to go  and he will probably not even make it one year fighting for his life.  WE HAVE NOTHING TO COMPLAIN about people!!!! Get over yourself!!!

Another, a father to a 5 day old, who fell asleep and rolled on top of his child, killing her.  Today, a patient's mother had a stroke yesterday and is in the ICU and at night her moms house also burned down (I even looked it up in the sentinel and it was true!) The boyfriend and girlfriend in surgery b/c of a motorcycle accident that wasn't his fault, the 26 year old that got pushed of the dock at the lake and broke his neck and is now paralysed, the man so disfigured by burns from a chemical spill that you couldn't even tell what he used to look like, the decaying 20ish year old female found in a park after being there dead for a week with an unknown name.... I can look at the list of patients in the ER any single day at any single hour and see that many of them are visiting for overdoses, depression and panic attacks, suicide, miscarriage, abuse, cancer, eating disorders, diseases, accidents, trauma's, and death.  I have seen thousands laying on my table in pain and suffering and it can happen at ANY time and ANY age....The world is FULL of sadness and suffering......

A great friend of mine recently mailed me a CD from a sermon she had heard at church that reminded her of me, and I am so grateful that she listened to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to follow through and send it to me.  It has been by far the best sermon on suffering that I have heard and it has blessed me so much that I can't keep it in.  So I thought I would bring it here.

Sometimes I leave work and ask God, Why?  Why do the things so bad that I see have to happen? Why would a God allow it too?  I have only come to one conclusion and that is that God is Sovereign and sometimes we just "don't know."  I do know this: That God is good, He WANTS us to spend time with Him and know Him, He wants us to allow HIS will to be done and not our own, and He can see a greater plan that we cannot.  I can only speak for myself and say that for me, it was the BEST thing that has ever happened to me.  I want to use the WORST time of my life and turn it into good for Him.  He taught me who He was through it.  He taught me to give up my control.  He taught me such INCREDIBLE life lessons that I could NOT have learned ANY other way.  He KNEW that what I needed when I clearly did not.  I NEEDED Him and I wasn't living that way.  Now, was it punishment as some might say?  Maybe so, sometimes it is.  I also believe that God hates sin and is a JUST God, we live as defiant children trying to run away from our Father, and He will punish His children just like a father and mother have to discipline and punish theirs when we are out of line.  But I also know that it happens for something we can only place our faith in God that He does know.  Maybe it is to make us more like Him.  Christ HIMSELF suffered more than any one of us could ever imagine and He did NOTHING wrong.  God allowed it to happen in my life, to be used for HIM and to praise and worship Him, that is why we were created and for 30 YEARS I was missing out on the greatest peace and joy in my life b/c I was living it without Him.  I want and long to help others through maybe the same type of situation or understand those that suffer in other areas as well.  To bring comfort to them, BY Him and for Him.  I figure even if I can help ONE person, if I can reach and put a smile one ONE of my patients, or bless ONE in any way, I am blessed as well.  Its got nothing to do about me. It is His will to use suffering and I will follow His will, Not mine.

The Lord has taught me so much over the years, that it is absolutely mind blowing to me to see who I am today compared to 2008 just before my trial that brought about the greatest changes that I could ever experience so far.  I learned alot and I could have learned even more if I had known what I know today but isn't that whats great about God's goodness and grace, He loves me and knows, I am a work in progress.

Some of these words are mine, and some of them from the pastor at Calvary Church.  "DON"T WASTE YOUR SUFFERING".

From 2009-2011 I suffered silently and quietly.  I didn't tell even my closest friends or even family, not even my spouse, what suffering I was going through both physically and emotionally.  I put myself in survival mode, hurting secretly, going through each new day with my own strength and my own will, which at times, I hardly had anything left to give to my family.  I didn't want them to see me suffer.  I didn't want them to think that I couldn't do it.  I thought I could do it.  Knowing now what I know, I was completely wrong.  I missed out on some of God's greatest blessings because I didn't allow others know or help.  When Jesus left this earth He left his Holy Spirit in the church, to help comfort those in need.  Others WANT to help.  Others HAVE been there.  You see Satan is the great deceiver and told me: Lisa, no one cares, no one understands, no one has time for you, you can do it on your own, you don't need other people.....And I listened to him.  The truth is that others HAVE been there, others HAVE been in the valley and some of them have made it through to the other side and it gives them no greater joy than to help those currently in the valley.  We ALL have trials and suffering and just b/c your a Christian doesn't mean it won't come. EXPECT it to come.  It will come!!! In different ways, we ALL have seasons of suffering whether thru divorce, affairs, broken homes, difficult spouses, the wayward and difficult child, abuse, bankruptcy, job loss, losing their homes, losing a child, spouse.....The church should be the place we CAN and want to go to for help b/c we are ALL broken in our own way.  We can be there for each other. Please Don't suffer alone!!!!

God doesn't always answer us right away or answer the way that we long for either.  If God had healed me right away, and I have NO DOUBT that God can and promises to answer for if we ask, we will receive....But that doesn't mean in OUR time.  I would have missed out on learning soooo much more about God's character.  I wouldn't have learned what perseverance means....there were days that I swore I would never make it.  There were many days that I almost died and thought "Yup, this is the end."  I am done.  I needed to learn: patient Endurance. God gave me the strength to keep going and get back up again.  He said to me "Lisa....you must wait, I have so much more planned for you in this."  Wait?  But I want to be better now Lord!!!  "Lisa, I want you to KNOW me..... To know the depth of my love for YOU, the power I give you when you are weak, to trust in me just knowing that I am there with you, that I will never leave nor forsake you, to know the joy of resting in me alone when darkness and silence are all that you can see.  To experience My fullness of love and peace, comfort that I give you late into the night, the depth that's beyond getting just what you ask from an infinite God who is making what you have and who you are, last.  He said "Lisa, yes your dreams and prayers could be answered by me instantly but Oh, the Loss, if you missed what I am DOING in YOU!!! God was helping me learn to have the faith in Him to make it through ANYTHING else that may come my way.  He was building me to last....

Isaiah 40:31 Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

2 Corinthians 12:9 

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
2 Corinthians 1

I peter 2:21 "For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps."


 John 16:33, “You will have suffering in this world.”

 Romans 8:18: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope ..." Romans 5:3-4 

John Piper emphasizes that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” But when serious trials hit, we are susceptible to Satan’s temptation to doubt God’s love and goodness towards us.  We ask why God, why me?  We are so focused on the trial and the suffering that we are feeling that we feel like God has left us, alone.  

When we are driving through the storm and our window wipers are flying back and forth trying to see God, to see His purpose in it all, and what He wants from US through it, we easily forget how great He is.  If only we would stop and look in the rear view mirror and see ALL the places that He HAS been.  That He HAS been with us the entire time and that He promises to NEVER leave nor forsake us.  HE is good all the time.  The trial is producing PATIENT endurance to keep fighting and going in this life and finish well b/c God knew I wouldn't do it well in the condition I was in before it!!! Don't take your eyes off God!!


"Don't waste your suffering"
1. DON'T SUFFER ALONE
2. DON'T MISS OUT ON BEING COMFORTED BY THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN THERE
3. COMFORT OTHERS IF YOU HAVE MADE IT THROUGH THE VALLEY AND THE OTHER SIDE
4. THERE IS NO POINTLESS SUFFERING
5. DON'T PUSH GOD AND HIS PEOPLE AWAY AND TRY TO DO IT ON YOUR OWN.
6. WHEN IT HAPPENS AGAIN, REMEMBER THE PROMISES AND TRUTH YOU LEARNED FROM GOD TO MAKE IT THROUGH AGAIN. WE ARE NEVER PERFECT, WE ARE ALL WORKS IN PROGRESS AND IT WILL KEEP REDEFINING YOU

Back to Henry Ford

It has officially been 3 years since my bypass surgery at Henry Ford!!!  I cannot believe it has been that long!!!  It seriously seems like yesterday to me in my mind.  Praise be to God that all looks well on the inside, for the most part.  I think that is the thing the blows me away the most, I look totally fine and maybe no different than I ever did before on the outside but on the inside I am completely new, in my heart and in my belly.... A new highway of vessels and now a new little buddy that was glowing on my most recent CT scan (my artificial bypass connecting 2 main vessels to open up the flow)....I truly am an amazing vessel inside :)  I found a new favorite song which I LOVE!!!!!

These scars- by Mandisa
How the Lord reached down and healed me and remind me of Gods amazing faithfulness and all that He has brought me through.  How He reached down and made me new, and thanks be to God for His amazing hand in it all.  The pain, the reflections in the mirror of my scared body are a reminder of Gods faithfulness and I can always look at them and thank God for so many things!!  Christ took scars for me too!

One thing didn't look so good and that is my incisional hernia that has resulted for my surgery.  They cut my belly with a 10 inch sideways incision and it never came together very good from the very beginning.  I kept going to the Dr and telling them that it wasn't healing and they said to give it time.  Well, 3 years later it is definitely getting worse.  The muscles on the whole left side of my belly have completely died.  The Dr thought they would come back together but they never have and he is surprised at this.  By the end of the night I can measure my stomach and it is 3-4 inches bigger than in the morning.  Basically my guts are falling out.  I need an internal mesh/girdle :)  The only problem is, how are we going to attach it and to what when all the muscles on one side have died.  Grafting of muscles from another body source?  (don't like that)....

Can we leave it?  The dr. said that it is getting worse and if I want to remain active, I need it fixed.  He said that it could lead to getting colon entrapment (colon falling into the hernia pocket) and then we would be in a MUCH bigger and complicated position.

My surgeon told me that he would look into finding me a Dr. here locally to get it fixed.  A month later he called me and said that the more he thought about my situation and my history, he wants me to come to Henry Ford.  I am completely ok with that!  I told the nurses that right from the beginning that if it meant coming that way I would.  The last thing I want to do it have complications here in a local hospital and they will not know what to do.  I have been there.....Remember I laid at metro for 4 days before being asked to send me away by ambulance to U of M....I just don't want to go down that road again.  My surgeon said that he will be there to assist the new surgeon if needed and they need the Henry Ford Hematology group involved to pull me OFF blood thinner, long enough to have the surgery safely, but yet NOT long enough to clot my bypass.....very critical timing with keeping my blood flowing safely, and the LAST thing we want to jeopardize is my bypass.  I trust Henry ford and I am comfortable there.

Soooo, Off we go!!!  Friday May 5 we will be headed back to Henry ford in detroit for a CONSULT only.  we do NOT know what this surgeon will say, HOW he will fix me, and this surgery will be MUCH less scary to me than the first.... the length or depth of surgery involved or recovery and who knows, he may even say" no way" we are leaving it alone and why rock the boat if the boat isn't broke".

At first I cried for a few days....Flashbacks, thinking what if this, what if that, what about my kids, why did this happen, didn't I suffer enough, will my suffering ever end, why me....BUT then I got a grip on myself and my thoughts and took them captive and reflected on the promises of God. I CAN do this!  Through Christ ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.  He gave me the most amazing strength I have EVER felt in my entire life.  I could have never made it without Him. He will never leave nor forsake me, He has my life in his almighty hands, Not a hair falls from my head without Him knowing, and He loves me far beyond anything I could ever imagine.  Trust in the Lord for there is NO other way.  I allowed my kids to see my fear but then used it as a great teaching opportunity b/c this time they ARE old enough to understand what mom is going though. They do understand.  I tell them all the time that mommy was very very sick and almost died several times but that it was the best thing that ever happened in mommies life b/c I found Jesus and Jesus kept me here today with them to help show them the way!!  I want them to know that we have a great God and to not be in fear.  That mommy is going to be ok and that God's Will, will be done and we can be CONFIDENT that He will be with me and carrying me through this all the way.  Honestly, if its my time to go, I am ok with that now, the first time I couldn't say that because I didn't have Christ in my life or KNOW Him and have a relationship with Him like I do today.  I have a new trust, hope and confidence in Christ that I never had the first time.

Prayers would be great!!! Wisdom and knowledge for the surgeons involved on how to fix me "again"....

My Testimony: What God has done in my life, I am new.....

Yes, I grew up in a Christian home, a married mom and dad, went to church every Sunday attended bible studies and Calvinettes, lived by the rules for the most part (I assumed drinking, smoking and tattoos were something every young adult did and it was ok).  I got straight A’s, had a lot of friends, and I called myself the run-away bride b/c I did that 3 times.  YUP, I am THAT kind of girl, as someone once told me in shock.  How the Lord brought my husband to the nerve to ask me to marry him, is only by the grace and power of Him b/c God had a plan for my life, God picked him for me, even if I gave no regard to the power or control of God in it at that time.  I was searching for happiness, and I thought I had life all figured out.

I got married, had 2 kids, a brand new home and I didn’t ever ask for help because I claimed I didn’t need any, after all, doesn’t the world and everyone else teach you that what is important is perfection?  HA! I had everything I needed according to the worldly checklist, I could do all things and if something didn’t make me happy, I would move on to the next thing….Searching.  What I didn’t have was real love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self control.  I couldn’t find what made Lisa happy. I even did this with my marriage, and traveled close to a dangerous path where if Steve couldn’t make me happy,  maybe I deserved someone else, Lord, maybe I made a mistake.  If He loved me he would do ____, if he loved me he wouldn’t do ______, why is marriage so hard, why is being a mom so hard, why are friendships so hard…. Buying into Satan’s lies he was telling me to make me believe that I deserved more, I deserved better, I deserved happiness. Satan knows the games to deceive and longs for us to live a life of deception and lies.  I was RIDICULOUSLY self-righteous and self-focused.  Thank the Lord I never traveled down the road that ever destroyed my marriage, it could have easily.  Life just didn’t add up and that is when I pulled off the side of the road in 2008 with tears streaming down my face and prayed “Lord, if You are real I need to know, If you are there and if there is something I am missing, I NEED you to show me"

I knew all the rules, I knew about God, but I didn’t KNOW God, I didn’t seek Him b/c I didn’t think I needed Him.  God wasn’t a distant ruler in my life EVER, I just chose not to acknowledge Him. God let me keep on praying because He wasn’t going to bend to MY WILL.  It wasn’t like He was gone, He just let me be.  I would go to church and feel nothing.  I would pray and heard only silence.  To be honest, God’s silence never bothered me because in this world, we live with options, lots of options and self gratifying tools, you can fill the silence up with other things or people…..

And THEN God decided to answer…..

In 2009 I became sick one year after giving birth to my son.  It took me scanning myself (by the hand of God again, through my job as a CT tech.) because no one else would listen to me.   The next day I was admitted to the hospital for 5 days and in the Dr’s office I was told with my husband “if you don’t do anything within one year, you WILL die.”  We left with instructions to move within 5 minutes of the local hospital and to cancel vacation plans because if I started hemorrhaging from my mouth NO ONE would know what to do with me and I would die quickly.  I had developed blood clots in my abdomen and to this day, no one knows why.  By the time we discovered the blood clots ½ of my liver was destroyed and my body developed a whole new blood vessel system to get the blood from another source wrapping like branches around my throat.  Think about a plant, if a branch is killed, (in my case with a blood clot) its going to start growing new branches to get to the stream. This lead to 30+ hospitalizations, and wouldn't you know it, we sold our house while laying in one hospital after trying to sell it for a year and left it to the Lords will to carry us through the process without having any other home in mind.  Our church stepped in and moved our house contents and someone had a rental we could use.  I had my first ambulance ride which was 2 hours long after laying in a hospital for 5 days with no one knowing what to do with my situation, a blood transfusions with a rare allergic reaction to the blood in which blood pooled into my lungs and I could feel myself drowning and my life almost ended, hundreds of procedures to clean out the clots, liver biopsies, wrapping of the veins in my throat to reinforce them from hemorrhaging, testing and more testing, knocking on deaths door 2 times in different ICUs, visits to U of M several times, Cleveland clinic, and Henry Ford hospital in Detroit. I inject myself daily with 2 shots of blood thinner and am currently at 3,000+.  Finally, after being left with 3 different choices from 3 different hospital organizations we were left alone to decide....How would we "fix" me?  The Lord lead us in the decision to a 7 hour abdomen bypass surgery in 2011.  Cut wide open from top to bottom the doctors discovered a new highway system inside and my veins were as thick as ropes from all the blood pressure going through them over the years....How long had they been there?  No one knows.  I give thanks to God for bringing me through my deliveries and for the precious two bundles that I have because instructions were to NEVER get pregnant again.  During those 3 years I was also trying to be a wife and mother to a 1 and 3 year old.  For 3 years I traveled a very dark, lonely, and scary, path.  I wept in anguish.  I cannot describe to you the pain and anguish of my heart..... no one understood and no one seemed to care, but the whole time I knew that Jesus was also there with me, weeping with me, and holding my hand.

You see God does LISTEN, God does ANSWER....Is it always the way that we would have chosen, absolutely not but He will reveal who HE is, if we ask Him too.  He proved to me during that time that I am NEVER alone, that He loves me more than I could ever imagine, that His ways are amazing and not a detail left untouched by His hand.  Do I believe this just b/c I was "fixed"....NO!  I believe this b/c I have and seen God.

My life has and always will be forever changed in so many ways.  God saved me both physically and spiritually through this valley of my life and had greater plans for me.  Today I am doing things I would have NEVER imagined doing before b/c I have something new, true love, joy, and peace in ALL things. I am new in Christ and live for Christ and want to tell everyone what He has done for me.  I was once lost, but now am found.  I can look back on the events in my life and it is absolutely amazing to me to see that God loved me the whole time and never let me go….He was leading Lisa into true life today with Him.  I never had a personal relationship with the Lord and now I can’t wait to keep learning more and more about Him.

Let me leave off saying to you this:

Testimonies don’t require an interesting story, nor is it necessary to make Christianity look good by living a perfect life.  Life is Hard.  We ALL will have trials and valleys, and struggles on this side of eternity. Perfect people don’t exist so quit trying to be, you will be forever unhappy if you keep trying!  Its just about telling others about Jesus, about what God has done in your life. Testimonies don’t win someone to Jesus, only He can and I have learned that God doesn’t pull us from the muck and mire to sit us on the sidelines, He wants me to Dance and shine! Marriage is going to be hard b/c you are doing it with 2 very imperfect people, including yourself. I look back now and see myself asking God “what are you thinking Lord?” the question should have been, what was I thinking!!!  People will love me, surprise me, fail me, and amaze me and I will do the same for them. Things are not on this earth to make YOU happy all the time, everything on this side of eternity promises ONE thing, to disappoint or fail.  Life is NOT about me, its about God. Hang tight to the TRUE promises and something that never fails, God. His promises are found in the Bible.  Start reading it, before I knew the Lord, I read it, but it meant nothing to me b/c I was reading it on MY understanding, MY time was precious and I had things to do…

I used to believe that God won’t give you anything you can’t handle….(that’s just bad theology) Of coarse God gives us things we can’t handle b/c that is His way of telling us to get the heck out of the driver seat!!!

I needed a wake up, to recognize my need of HIM, His Holy Spirit, not the power of Lisa.  Life is to make us holy and more like Christ, and be a shining light for Him to give him the glory in all we do and say.  Trials, journeys, being alone, depression, marriage struggles, friendships that have you confused, children and kids, whatever you are struggling with…It might just be the greatest blessing in disguise b/c God always has a plan.  Leave the details of that plan to Him.  It is MUCH greater than the plans you have.  He brings good out of the mess in ways we could have NEVER imagined!!  The plan He had for my life looked NOTHING like what I had planned, but EVERY single day I give thanks to Him for saving my life, both physically and spiritually, b/c it has now affected my life in more ways than I could ever explain and it has had tremendous impact on my marriage, relationships, friendships, family, my ability as a mother and increased my passion for my kids spirituality to understand the WHY they Need Christ.  There is only ONE thing on this earth that can ever give you pure joy and peace and that comes from knowing and having a relationship with the only perfect one, CHRIST!!!

Start looking at yourself, your life, your marriage, your kids, friends, and family the way God does.  My belly is a disaster on the outside, covered with bruises and scars and yet I can look at them confidently in the mirror and say “I am His masterpiece, every detail of my life was filtered thru His hands of AMAZING GRACE AND LOVE, I am beautiful and made in His image!  He doesn’t care what we look like on the “outside” He sees inside and trust me, you can’t fake Him, I tried! God alone saves, God is enough and just alittle FYI, people aren’t attracted to perfect people anyways.  Be real, Be you, be transparent and allow God to shine in areas of weakness.  I wish I would have learned that a LONG time ago.  God wants us to know our testimonies, and He wants us to know that He’s not done writing them.

Psalm 40:5

Many, LORD my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future

2 Corinthians 12: 8-10

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Isaiah 55:8-9

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

John 3:30

He must become greater; I must become less

Go and Make Disciples (Matthew 28)

I am not sure why, I really think it all happened because of the TV series that came out: THE BIBLE.  Did you watch it?  A series about the Bible made into picture, by the guy that developed Survivor!  Its a pretty brave move to do in todays society and I was so excited b/c it brought ALOT of attention....To me, it was fabulous.  I LOVED it and I still put them on and watch them over to pick up parts that I missed and things that I never knew before!!  I really learned alot and now when reading my bible (not that I want to picture it how this guy portrays it, but it does help relate to me better with that visual) How sad is it that the man that wrote the majority of the New testimate I knew so little about!! I got to get movin!!!  I can't seem to get enough lately!!! So much to learn....

Lately the Lord has definitely been putting it on my heart to "Go and make disciples of all nations"  Its one of His greatest commands and VERY FEW left behind actually believed, Many disowned his teachings and they saw Him and were with him!! He left His Disciples to do the rest of His work, leaving them with all He had taught them in his very short 3 years!  So I thought I would pray to the Lord to help me be more bold in my faith, to talk MORE about Jesus and not hide, tell about who Jesus is to me and what he has done for me not because I am so much better than everyone else, but because I am now alive and made new in Christ.  I have changed, I am so free now, I was living a life in bondage.  I was not living a life for the Lord nor did I SEEK Him in return.  I have no doubt He had my life in His hands, but that doesn't mean I gave any account or recognition to Him like I should have!!  No one knows what it is going to take to believe in Him or what He has planned for our lives, I am just saying that for me, I am forever grateful to my Lord and savior for sparing my life when Satan would have rejoiced if I died when I was sick between 2009-2011 when I came to Christ.  I didn't claim Jesus.  I didn't know Him.  I didn't have a relationship with Him. I didn't go to biblestudy, if I did, I had a hard time understanding it and didn't REALLY believe....can't it just be a story?  No, it is Not.  I know this to be true by Faith alone.  Can I prove it to you, Nope.  Can I make you believe? Nope.  Can I make my kids and husband, family saved and believe? Nope.  It is all about Me and My relationship with God and I didn't have one. 

Little did I know that God would test me with that whole "go and make disciples" idea sooner than I thought. Within a month I had 2 huge encounters.  One, a great friend of mine whom I LOVE dearly and pray for often that she will come to know the Lord.  I just opened my mouth one day when it felt "right" and asked her if she knew about the bible, what it said, what she believed, if she believed in God, if she was afraid of being wrong, that God sent His son to die for our sins b/c of love...Let me tell ya, she is smart and she had alot of defense and alot of questions that left me standing there with a big old "DUH......". I had no clue!!!

 I had no clue how to "defend" God, how to convince her, I drove home feeling like a complete failure and beating myself up b/c "I blew it". THAT my friends is where satan will plan his attack and play with my emotions.  THAT was step one in realizing that 1. I can't make her believe 2. I don't need to defend and prove that I am right 3. Its NOT about me, its about God and God must choose her and move her with His Holy Spirit on His timing, not mine, no matter how much I love and care for her.  It brought up topics of study for me about (the holy spirit, elect, O.T believers vs N.T, faith...) I realized that its good to question my faith b/c it helps me grow.....It DID show me that if I want to claim Jesus and talk about Him like I know him, How can I if I am not daily in His word and read what He has told me.  It DID give me questions in my own faith and show me that I needed to go back to the bible and find my answers and there is nothing wrong with that.  I will NEVER have all the answers nor will I try to believe or act like I do b/c I don't.  I am an infant in this whole relationship with God but I am willing to grow, I am willing to try, I want to try, I want to be a better person b/c of Him.

2nd one: An alcholic at the park.  YUP....Me and Luke, by ourselves and one other person (elderly lady walking around the lake).  I pass her, she stops me to ask if I saw the guy.  Yes, I did.  She told me that he fell backwards while sitting at the table.  I asked if she checked on him? No. Well, I will.  I go to him, laying on the floor, legs still up on the seat, hes breathing...."sir?" Eyes open. "are you ok, do you need help, do you want me to call someone for you?" He says, You must believe in Jesus. I look at him in a shocked stare... and said, "well, yes I do love Jesus and I care about you and want to make sure you are ok." Thats when he asked me to pray for him. I have NEVER prayed for a stranger.  Never.  I don't even like praying out loud and I used to get nervous...I just let God take over. I kneeled down and held his hand and prayed for him. I have no idea what I said, I was praying on top of praying that God would fill me with his Spirit and his words :) When finished he said, will you tell me some scripture? There it was again a bid old "DUH.......". I couldn't think of ANYTHING!!!!!  Whats wrong with me!! I talked to him for a good 1/2 hr, and yes, I called the cops but that was only to give him a ride b/c I didn't want to take him home myself like he asked and he would have never made it there alone.  The cop swore to me that he would bring him home, he was doing no harm, I just wanted him to get home.  Jeff, if you read this someday, I hope you now know the Lord loves you, alcohol and all, we all have our sins and He can help you be redeemed.  I hope I see you someday on "the voice". (Yup, the tv show...took me awhile to figure that out, I don't watch it but steve does and I told him to watch out for Jeff) :)

Again, I went home thinking, what an idiot....I blew it! I had the chance, I couldn't think of ONE verse and now a million are popping into my head!!!  Again, I had to sit back and reflect....Satan wants me to feel bad, He wants me to think that I can't witness, but I can.  I can love others, I can be who I am, where I am and still witness thru the actions of my life.  Its not always about doing but being.  I want to "do" b/c I love God so much and want others to learn from what mistakes I have gone through and hopefully show them that life with Christ is so much greater and life on earth is so short....

My list of books on my shelf has grown in the past few months to so many, seriously.... I will never get to them all over the summer but I can't wait to jump in.  This is coming from someone who HATES TO READ!!!!

1. Confessions of a raging perfectionist (so far, I am in LOVE with this book...trying to find worth in lists/to-dos/image/things, total type A. I think if most women would admit, we all have a part of us that wants everything to be perfect and under OUR control.  The problem is, nothing will ever be perfect and we are never in control as hard as you try.  There will ALWAYS be a bigger, better, more organized, beautiful home.  There will ALWAYS be a prettier woman than you.  There will ALWAYS be someone who runs faster than you, kids better than you.....Quit working towards an unattainable goal.  Life will NEVER be perfect.  Learn to let go!!!)

2. Who do you think you are? (Until you know WHO's you are, you will never know WHO you are....you will continue to pursue and chase after a life full of things and people to make you happy....guess what? ALL will fail....All but One.) What a great series!!! Check out Marshill.com and Mark Driscoll and find awesome videos, sermons... 

3. No more perfect moms (Believe it or not but yes I am leading a bible study this summer every friday at different parks with any mom that wants too) This book is easy and fun and real and true.  I was that mom that wanted the perfect family, the perfect kids, the perfect body....SUPRISE they are all un attainable!!! No one is perfect and I don't want to act like I am, I am who I am, the way God made me and I find incredible freedom from it.  God loves me mistakes, wrinkles and rolls, problems, and all.  There is nothing that drives me more crazy than FAKE people.  DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!! Who do you think you are kidding?  Hypocrits. You want Money? Go ahead, have it.  You work out 2 hrs a day, Great!  Your kids have straight A's and go to Christian school? Great!  You see a beautiful woman, skinnier than you, prettier hair than you, Great!! Why get so bent out of shape about it?  Does that mean you have to hate them?  Its about the heart people....Its about God, and you.  No one else.  Do you really think that in the end you are going to care?
Do you ever find people on their death bed saying...."can you go see how much money I have in the bank? Are you sure my car is parked in the back row where no one will ding the doors and everyone can see it?  Do you think this outfit makes my butt look big?" 

4. Grace walk (being shipped right now, sister says "must read")

5. Unglued (just entered...My favorite all time author Lysa b/c again she is real!! We have problems, we all do, embrace them and claim freedom b/c God wants so much more and planned our lives for so much more, Who knows what He has planned for us!  Does the mommy monster come out in my house? Yup. Do I yell at my kids and then feel bad about it? Yup. But I am not alone...God knows and understands and most of the time I have something to learn thru the whole situation if I am willing to admit it.

6. God empowered wife- Haven't started....Think this is going to be a good one...Came across it who knows where.  I read the line "The problem is not that I expect too much from my husband but that I expect too little, therefore not giving him the respect and appreciate he deserves". Ooouch!!! That one hurt.  Because its true!!  At least for me. I don't know anyone out there that wouldn't like to improve your marriage or be a better wife, its the 2nd most important relationship, do I treat him that way?  I love the book Sacred marriage b/c like this book, its not just about being a better wife, Its about becoming a servant and living a life for Christ THRU my marriage.

7. David Platts- Radical and videos/sermons on YouTube.  Man this guy has passion and I love it!! Will I be a radical? Probably not going out all over the world and selling all I have and living in a box....could I live with much less, absolutely.  We are spoiled americans.  We don't know what sacrifice is or means b/c we don't have too!  Pride, Humility, and selfishness...Root of all sin for me.  I want to constantly deny Self and claim Him.
There are a MILLION ways to grow if you really want too....The internet can be a beautiful thing!

So much to do, so much to see, so much life to live...maybe....You know, I like lists. But like I just read in one of my books :) the problem is not my lists.  The problem is the significance I put on those lists.  If I do them, I feel good, I feel worth something, I feel loved....If I don't do them, I feel bad, say I am no good, unworthy....I do NOT want to be that way and I want to continue to grow and let go. I am learning to let go of the lists.  I am praying that God slows me down so that I enjoy my little bundles at home b/c I am going to blink and they will be gone.  I am learning that my list doesn't bring me my worth....what I get done or don't get done doesn't make me any better of a person.  Someone said to me once "Say you have a chart of "chores" at home and Karlie does them all, and Luke doesn't.  One day Luke is in the yard and a dog attacks him, what are you going to do and why? your going to run and save him right?  Your gonna do it b/c you love him right?  But he didn't do anything....so?  Does that make my love for him less? No. Does that make me love Karlie more? No. So it is with our awesome father....I am his kid! God loves me, God knows my heart and I am so glad that I can do all things Thru Christ, but also according to His will, not mine. :) Thank the Lord for that!!!

Our Family Georgia Trip 2013

So we decided to go to Savannah GA to see Aunt Angie, Devon and Carson, and Uncle Mark too :)  They have been stationed there for 2 years and we still haven't gone there to see them!!!  I had surgery, we bought our new house, just didn't have any money to go....But they got their next location to ALASKA and will only be in GA for 3 more months.  We packed up the van and went the week of Spring Break.

Our first problem was traffic.  Lots of traffic.  I have NEVER traveled during spring break, maybe when in high school but not with children.  BIG difference. I probably will never travel on spring break again, does everyone in the upper states leave?  I didn't think it was gonna be a big deal, guess I was wrong.  I was playing in the back with the kids and pulled up my map on my phone and noticed Steve was going a completely different way than I had planned.  COMMUNICATION would be good here.  You would think I would know that now after 10 years. Guess the map I had made that was BIG with highlighted roads didn't get seen by him....  So we are now over 2 hours off track heading in a different direction.  We travel for over 10 hours on day one and make it 1/2 way. Booked a hotel on priceline, found out it has no pool...Kids are devastated.  Thankfully I got out of it, but it took a long call and was a fight. Kids were doing great and thought it was the best thing ever!  They were sooooo excited to see mountains and springs come out of them.  I had surprise gift bags they got to open ever 2 hours to help with the trip and make it exciting, each filled with markers,crayons, books, crafts, candy, cars..... PEFECT and I will definitely do that again if we ever drive again, they looked forward to it.

I got sick the day we left.  Sore throat, ears plugged, TIRED, cough.  Then Karlie got sick 1/2 into the week, temp 103, lasted 2 days, then Steve got stung by a bug and his ear swelled up and he didn't feel good and was down and out for an entire day, then on the day we leave, Luke got the flu.  I say flu b/c it was coming out BOTH ends and we were trying to yes...drive home.  4 hours into the trip he throws up all over the van, all over the sleeping bags, pillows, blankets, windows, carseats....Steve and I are yelling at each other, hes telling me to get a bucket (where, my butt? we are in the van!) I wanted him to pull over a long time ago but NOoooooo, we need to keep going.  I thought he wanted to "take his time" traveling and sight see, no rush, no travel agenda.....This also changed, he was petal to the metal and his only one mission was to get from A to B as fast as possible.  So we had to stop at the laundry mat and wash and dry all, clean the van...yup, another 2 hours gone.

The day we decided to do the trolley tour was raining.  Aunt Angie gives us the directions to the trolley spot to go...we pull up in the hood, its the garage for STORING the trolleys, no tickets, no boarding.  we finally find the spot and I (trying to save money and be $ conscious, I swear I don't know why I try b/c I am TERRIBLE at it.) ask if it is cheaper to buy the tickets on line? Yup....so, I go on my phone and buy the tickets.  Go to the desk, he starts laughing...sorry lady but that isn't for this place, its down the road.  Oh my! I got the look of DEATH from my husband.  So we get back in the van and find the place I did buy the tickets from.  Then we are off.  Can't see anything out the windows b/c they are steamed from the rain and people.  Get off at a stop, THIS is where they trick ya....telling you that every 20 minutes a trolley will come.  What they don't tell you is that if its full, you have to wait another 20, and if that ones full you wait another 20....And then when mom goes to get her tickets, they are gone.  They fell out of my bag.  Can't get on....Go back and re-route my steps and ask the guy in the store, he thinks I am crazy, keep looking and I FIND them on the floor!!! Thank you LORD!!!!!  Get on the trolley...If this one is full, I am going to turn into the mommy monster and they are gonna hear it b/c I am losing it!!! We paid how much for this?  Kids are whining, they want to go home, this "isn't that much fun" says Karlie.  Go to the van and don't see much.

Head for home, get to first hotel, again, this is at 10 pm, our goal was 6pm, b/c we spent 2 hours in a laundry mat washing puke...we sleep, and head for the van.  Then there is Karlies hermit crab on the seat....DEAD....She starts crying.  We forgot hermie in the car, he can't get under 65 degrees, it was 40 that night.  It was just as much steves fault b/c I can't remember everything!!!!!!!!!!!! 

We had to drug Luke to get him to sleep b/c he was moaning and crying with his stomach, we didn't know how we were EVER going to get home.  Needless to say, SOMEDAY Lord, I said, I will laugh about this and think of this disaster and miss the memories, but NOT right now.  I still feel sick, still have a cough, still can't hear....everyone got sick, whatever could go wrong did.....This is making me crazy!!!! :)  We have a saying that goes "IF it can happen to the Jongsma's it WILL". 

BUT over all I have to say, there were ways to look to the good in every situation.  I got to be with my sister and i have no idea when I will again....I got to spend time with the boys, play cards and games with family, the kids had a great time playing and had a ball, went in pools swimming, to the beach,...No we didn't get to see alot of stuff but that wasn't my plan, I just wanted to be with family and I was.  We had a great ride down there, the kids kept saying "this is awesome, this is amazing, this is so much fun!!!"  When you are little, the little things mean soooooo much more to you and you can find complete joy in anything, they reminded me of that.  We got to see God's beauty, we witnessed 13 baptisms by submersion at angie and marks awesome church service EASTER morning and feel the amazing power of the holy spirit.  We got to feel the warmth and the sun.  Trust me, I am glad to be home, but I am also glad that we had the many experiences....

Leads me with this thought, my mom gave it to me on my bible bookmark:

IF YOU WANT RAINBOWS, YOU GOTTA HAVE RAIN
In a perfect world, everything would always go right ,and life would be filled with sweet, warm and fuzzy feelings.  But how would we know if things were good if we had no comparison?  Without darkness and trials would we appreciate the light?  Seems to me if we want rainbows and blessings we gotta have rain.  The trick is to look for the good in every situation.  So go on, find some puddles and play in the rain!!!

The Planner

Ya I will admit that I am pretty ADD, I have moments of ADHD, or OCD whatever you want to call it, type-A, planner.....you know the type.  But I really honestly think that it is starting to change....and I am LOVING it!!!! Call it growth, getting old, maturity, as my walk with the Lord gets stronger, as I cling to Him more and more, and say goodbye to self, life seems to be changing greatly, in more ways than I can even recall over the past few months....I really wish that I would have started a list, (there's my OCD showing again) ;) or journal the ways that the Lord has been working b/c I just love sitting back and looking with awe at the hand of the Lord in visible and tangible ways.  So often I think that I know what is best for our lives, the way I want things to go, and yet God's ways have ALWAYS proven to me that His ways are sooooo much better.  I don't want to plan anymore.  I haven't been planning anything!  Don't tell my husband, he would probably fall off his chair dead.

I guess b/c the more I realize, who cares, the less I care....maybe thats a bad thing?  BUT I see the good in it too in many more ways.  Started with bible study....Will I be a leader again?  I couldn't say.  I can say yes, no....I don't know what lies ahead for my life.  I am starting to just live one day at a time.  Steve and I decided to keep Luke home next year (not homeschooling!!!) but 3 full days of kindergarten rather than every day.  Karlie did every day all day, but with Luke its different.  He's my last little one, he doesn't like school as much as Karlie, and he wants to stay home too.  What are my priorities?  I am allowing God to run them now instead of me and I am just loving it!!! Its been soooooo freeing, I greatly encourage you to do the same, and let GOD steer my life and not yourself.  When I try, it only makes things worse.  When I give the reigns to Him, it makes it better.  Hello???  Why wouldn't I do this.  B/c I am type A, ADD, OCD, and stubborn, trying to steer my own life, I have to be in control, women have to do it all, I have to be the everything for everyone else.  But I don't want too anymore.  I tried steering my own life 5 years ago and thought I was doing it fine, but I was miserable....God led me thru situations that I was brought to the bottom of all life, and I lifted my hands and said "ok Lord, take this from me, I give my all to you, I can't do life without You.  I have been trying and I am miserable."  That was the first step....I said all.  I didn't let go of all....It is an every day, process, every single minute surrender.

Maybe you can relate.  I make lists, plan my week, plan my day....I got this and that to do....BAM, Luke gets sick, Karlie, Steve needs me to do something else, I get a flat tire (ok, so this has never happened) but the whole point is, I would get mad, frustrated, that I didn't get to do what I wanted to do, and then I would take it out on everyone else.  Selfishness it what it comes down too.  Instead, I am now choosing to make "general" agenda's but if something comes up, my sister calls for coffee or a great friend, someone needs a meal or my son gets sick for 5 days, I don't care, I choose to say "thank you Lord" for slowing my life down, for interrupting my schedule, my plan to take an opportunity to see you and see what YOU have planned for my life.  It goes so much better!!!  Problems will always arise, kids will always get sick, there will always be laundry to do, groceries to get, but instead of getting upset that they don't get done on Lisa's schedule and timeline, its ok.  Let go and let God....Its just that simple.  :)

pics of Dads hospital stay

                                                       "Great is the Lords faithfulness"

                         I love my family and thank God for blessing me with them!!! Each and every one!

Cause or Allow? It doesn't matter, IT is finished.

Oh the question that has been weighing on my heart for years, cause or allow....Does God cause bad things to happen or allow them?  I know can see that it really doesn't matter what the answer is to that question b/c ultimately GOD has a meticulous plan that only He has designed and His ways are not mine, His thought are not mine, and as long as He knows the end, it doesn't matter to Lisa, I must simply follow and grow. 

We are studying Ruth in Bible Study right now and what an amazing book in the bible, the short 4 chapters have SOOOOO much detail that it is absolutely mind boggling.  How on earth a person can not see how the bible relates to "real life/today situations" is beyond me b/c at any time, certain pieces of the bible can become alive and speak to me, my situation, my life, Gods will for me.  Like someone said, How can I know what God's will for me is and live a life for Christ if I never read the bible?  His amazing plan of bringing Ruth and Naomi widowed, back to their homeland, to meet Boaz, who in turn marries Ruth which ultimately leads to the line of Jesus....By chance?  There is NO way anyone but God could think of a plan and have the events happen like they did, to all point us to the life of Christ that wasn't even going to take place for many years and lifetimes to come!!!  Do you think Ruth could have ever imagined that her lineage would lead to the Birth of a Lord?  I just love the saying "God loves to make a somebody out of a no body''  He used her and he can use us according to His ultimate will and plan.

Have you ever looked back on your life and shook your head in disbelief at the circumstances and events that lead you to the life you are living today and see Gods hand all along the way?  I sure have and can!!! Its so important to take time to reflect and see Gods hand and give Him the praise that even tho we like Ruth, couldn't see all that the future had in store for her life, He was always there and she simply obeyed and followed and He lead her to such a beautiful place and promise.  God can and will do that for us too!!  Like my proverbs 31 devotion today, he uses events and trials to come into our lives to refine us to make us into what HE wants us to be, to teach us things that we never may have known before.  I have NO doubt that God had a plan for me and still does....Even when I struggle to understand what it is, I know He loves me and He wants me to become all He wants Lisa to be.  Not someone else.  Lisa.  I can't wait to teach that to my kids and have them trust the events in their own little lives b/c God always knows and He is always there with a great plan.  I always tell them, Mom loves you soooooo much.  Luke says, Yup, but someone else loves me more.  I have to say: who? He smiles and says, God.  You got it Luke!!!  Always, always remember that.  Sometimes the path is hard, sometimes easy, but we must always stay in His will and Not Lisa's.  Oh man, that only leads to disaster!!!

For the past 6 weeks my family has been sent thru a deep valley and great trial....Wednesday January 23 I got a call from my mom while at work, and she said that dad was very bad that he was brought by ambulance to Spectrum with severe back pain.  He has been having struggles ALL year long so this didn't surprise me, but it made me very worried.  I finished work (even tho I wanted to leave sooo bad) and came home to find out that dad had gone home too, ER said it was a kidney stone.  Few!  Thats not so bad, so I watched tv and when nothing was on Steve suggested that we turn on Charles Stanley to see what he had to say (no this is NOT a normal occurrence in our home and I almost hit the floor when he asked.  I was so happy!!!) Sure I will!!! (I record all his sermons b/c I love him, he is a pastor on tv, ya, but he is real!) subject "Jesus our prince of PEACE" and how we can always come to Him and that He is the only answer we will ever find in life that can offer that "PEACE".  (remember I am writing the book finding your missing "Peace".  Anyways, it was such a God thing that He lead us to watch it that night b/c only He knew what was about to be coming our way.....

it lead to the morning with a phone call saying that dad had gone back to the hospital and this time they said he did NOT have a kidney stone but that it was a severe case of alcohol withdrawl....Dad had decided to quit drinking which I thank God for, but little did I or anyone in our family know what that would mean or lead into.  20 days later he left the hospital.  20 LONG and hard, scary, life clinging days......He experienced shaking, vomiting, aspiration of his vomit into his lungs which lead to pneumonia, which landed him in the ICU 2xs, which elevated his blood pressure at one point to 245/115 which caused a bleed in his spinal canal and also a bleed in his brain.....I have NEVER in my life seen him in such agony and suffering.  We spent every single day there, taking rounds of the clock, even sleeping with him there so that someone knew what was going on and what to do.  we were left with so many questions and unmet answers....The only thing we could do is pray.  And pray.....And pray....and that is when it dawned on me that I was praying selfish prayers (take this pain away, Lord heal my dad, please stop this Lord, please help us, Stop his pain....) I should have been praying instead: Despite this pain and suffering Lord, please reveal to us YOUR will, Your ultimate plan, What are you trying to teach all of us and where do we need to grow?  This has happened for a reason but I am still wondering what it is?  Was it to teach us trust?  Bond us together as a family? We had many laughs, many tears, many stories and quality time spent one on one with our dad hearing stories about his life, army, cars, mom, his brothers and sisters...stories we have NEVER heard and made dad who he is today.  Was it to unite us as a team and shower him with Love? Teach us unconditional love?  Yes we ALL have sin but I can say it doesn't matter b/c i am a sinner too and I love him anyways b/c he is my dad.  Shouldn't I have that unconditional love for everyone even if they are not my dad?  Some people think "sins" are to be ignored or covered up and run from, never talk about them b/c that means you have problems!!! oh my!!! but shouldn't we embrace each other b/c trust me, I have many too and in Gods word, NONE is greater than another.  I am not ashamed and I know that Dad wants to use this to help someone else if it can.  We are still struggling today but we know and have the assurance of Gods love and that He has a plan for all of us....even if we never see why.  I kept clinging to the promises we can find in Him and only in Him.  That missing peace that can only come from Christ.  It seemed that every time the radio would be on, it was a song that spoke right to me, right to our situation.  One of my favorite songs during this time and a song that I could picture my dad singing when he got out was:

"I am redeemed"
Seems like all I could see was the struggle
Haunted by ghosts that lived in my past
Bound up in shackles of all my failures
Wondering how long is this gonna last
Then You look at this prisoner and say to me "son
Stop fighting a fight it's already been won"

I am redeemed, You set me free
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe away every stain, now I'm not who I used to be
I am redeemed, I'm redeemed

All my life I have been called unworthy
Named by the voice of my shame and regret
But when I hear You whisper, "Child lift up your head"
I remember, oh God, You're not done with me yet

I am redeemed, You set me free
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe away every stain, now I'm not who I used to be

Because I don't have to be the old man inside of me
'Cause his day is long dead and gone
Because I've got a new name, a new life, I'm not the same
And a hope that will carry me home

I am redeemed, You set me free
So I'll shake off these heavy chains
Wipe away every stain, 'cause I'm not who I used to be

Another one "Hold on to the promises"

Sometimes it's hard to keep believing
In what you can't see
That everything happens for a reason
Even the worst life brings
If you're reaching for an answer
And you don't know what to pray
Just open up the pages
Let His word be your strength

And hold on to the promises (Hold tight)
Hold on to the promises (Alright)
Jesus is alive so hold tight
Hold on to the promises

All things work for the good
Of those who love God
He holds back nothing that will heal you
Not even His own Son
His love is everlasting
His faithfulness unending
Oh, if God is for us who can be against us
So if you feel weak

Neither life, nor death
Could separate us
From the eternal love
Of our God who saves us

Aren't those just GREAT songs!!! I love them!!!  They (songs) like the word of God can speak to you differently at every stage of life you are in.  You never know when it is going to be applying to you and the words on the page just jump right out at you and say "Lisa, this is the Lord speaking to you, wake up!!! Listen up!!! Believe and trust in me, I got this." Love God

Thank you so much Lord.  Thank you beyond words could ever say.  Mercy: NOT getting what we deserve and Grace: getting what we DONT deserve!!!  Amen and thank you Jesus!!!

Another year to celebrate

Today I am 36. I cannot believe that. Wow, I really don't like getting old.  I like it b/c I am so much more confident and stable b/c of my growth, and the Lord in my life, but I don't like getting physically old :)  I don't understand why, the older you get, the faster life goes, and its just when you are really starting to figure life out!!! At least for me it is. 

Mark Driscoll has a new series out, Ephesians and its about Who am I?  I have really reflected, studied, and realized what it is that Lisa is today.  First and foremost, a servant of Christ.  I love the Lord with all my heart, mind and soul.  I haven't been a true christian long, and people come to know Christ at all different stages and ages of life, It took me alittle while, but I am learning and growing with Him each and every day.  There is always opportunity to learn and grow in your relationship with Christ and He is my most important relationship b/c without Him I am nothing.

2nd, a Wife to my wonderful husband.  Like any marriage, we have our struggles and we have had some rough moments, but a providential blessing from God when I really didn't take God into consideration, He blessed me with a partner right for Lisa.  I truly believe that God blessed me with my husband and that Steve is exactly the person that I am to be with.  Not only does he make me a better person, He helps me become a better person in Christ.

3rd, a mom to my beautiful kids who teach ME more than I teach them. Isn't that funny? Here parents think that its all about them and about us teaching our kids, but time and time again, my kids have taught me amazing life lessons and again, help me become a better person thru Christ and keep me looking UP and not in. I wish that I could keep them little, I just treasure them so much.  But I realize that this is where my identity cannot be found and that they too will be here just a short while and then off on their own to create a path God has planned for them.  Mom wants to be in control and protect...But I can't.  They are God's and I am only helping Him turn them into the people He has designed.

4th, a servant for my patients. I love my job. This job again is a total blessing from the Lord and again I held NO regard to God when making those decisions 15years ago when I was about to enter the "adult" world.  I did what sounded good to Lisa, what did I think would be good? I had NO CLUE!!!!  Xray program? Sure sounds good.  Check. Thank the Lord and praise Him that He had a plan, He had my life in His hands, and that not a detail was ignored thanks be to God.  Little did I know how providential that decision would be in soooo many ways.  I found great friends for life, we are like family and love and support each other and when you work closely, that is huge.  I also found my 1/2 brother who I had been searching for for 20 years thru Gods ultimate and Divine plan, a patient laying on my table, on a day that I was working, and that God lead me to open up a conversation with only to discover that His brother was also mine....My mom had the great reward and he also of meeting the one that brought him into this world 44 years ago.  I also received the medical knowledge to prepare the path that God would bring me down with my own health. Being such a complicated case and rare disease, I don't know what I would have done without my background and knowledge, the Dr's I know, the nurses to help me, even being allowed to scan myself to get Dr's to finally listen!!! What a blessing!!!  Then to being able to help my patients and love them and serve Christ by serving them.  Going down a struggle with disease and affliction has brought the gap between patient and myself narrower...I can relate, and spread the word of God and how He helped me and can also help them, maybe give them hope when hope doesn't seem possible.

I have realized that its ok to ask God why, its ok to have emotions, feel like you have been forgotten about by God....But that I need to cling to the truths that I now have in Christ.  I have a choice, I can either turn away from God and try to do things on my own which in the past, only leads to disaster and aimless wandering, or I can follow Him and continue to Trust HIS plan and see His faithfulness that He has ALWAYS shown to me even when I didn't see it.  Gods power is made perfect in my weakness.  Life is hard.  I have had a hard life.  I know struggle, sickness, disease, I have clung to deaths door, I have wanted to walk away from a husband I "thought" was the one always wrong and placing him as my savior, I have been afflicted, bruised and lead thru dark valleys, but GOD revealed to me who He was thru this and He was faithful in the past and He will be faithful to come whatever comes my way.  I just LOVE the joy and peace and purpose for Lisa that gives me.  My life has and always will be in His hands.....I can honestly shake my head when I look at the divine plan He had for me when I had no clue who steering.  I thought Lisa was....ha....ya right.  Thank the Lord I wasn't!!!!

Karlie turns 7, Dad turns 40!!!

Celebrating Dad and Karlie's birthday with the Griffins and SanChez. Karlie turning 7 :(

Dad's the big 4-0!!!

Visiting dad for dads birthday and lunch, Luke was sooo excited, I think he thought it was His birthday.

I was selfishly HURT.....by God

Have you ever had a desire to do something in life but never really dared to do it?  Why?  Have you had a dream but thought you weren't good enough, strong enough, brave enough....worried about succeeding or even making it a reality, said maybe tomorrow?  Maybe next year?

I can remember sitting in my counselors office, (yes, I have done the counseling thing and I love it IF IF IF you have the right one it can be incredibly valuable!) at the time I was struggling with my marriage and Steve, I was a second time mom, rather new at the whole thing again, stressed out, trying to figure this whole "life" thing out, and my counselor asked me the question: What is ONE thing that Lisa has really wanted to do but never did? The only thing that I could come up with at the time was run a marathon.  Well, to run a 5k first.  Why hasn't Lisa done that before? hmmmm.....  I had to think about that one back then and I came up with, afraid of failure.  I won't be good enough or be able to do it.

This came up and pressed on my heart with the new year 2013 as I reflected on my life... I am going to fail at being a mom, I am going to fail at being a wife, a friend, everything.  BUT I wasn't always this way. 

I did what my counselor told me to do and started to run.  I LOVED it.  I found a new passion I have never had.  I got sick in 2009 and was given a clean slate of health in 2010.  THIS was going to be the year!!  2010 I am going to run.  I am going to sign up for a 5k and "just do it" as they say.  I told the Lord as I was training that I was going to do it for Him.  I ran miles and miles, felt empowered, close to the Lord, and felt Him in me as I ran.  The day came for me to run my first ever 5k.  I remember like yesterday the feeling that I would NEVER make it.  I thought I was going to die!!!  The whole time I just focused straight ahead and repeated the words "I CAN DO ALL THINGS THRU CHRIST".  I was praying with 1/2 a mile to go, Lord, I cannot do this without you....PLEASE fill me with your strength and power to finish this race, just finish was my goal!  I ran across the finish line.  I made it.  I had bronchitis on top of it and began coughing so much everyone thought there was something wrong with me. :) (yes I was crazy looking back I should have NEVER done it at that time but I made a commitment, and when I do, I am going to do it and I do NOT back down.)  I lingered around the statistics, looked at the board, and there was my name at the top, Lisa Jongsma 2nd place.  Noone was even there from my family, no close friends, but I drove home with tears pouring down my face....Lord, YOU WON!!!!  I felt this amazing rush come over me and I knew that God was with me, HE helped me run that race, HE gave me the power and strength....I went on to run 4 more races for Him and took 1st place every time.  It was awesome.  Not awesome b/c I was #1 and oh look at me, but awesome b/c I knew HE did it.  I knew that I was doing it for Him and loved it.  I loved the closeness and empowerment I felt come in me from Him. 

Then I got sick again, everything was back....I was told I could never run again.  I was hurt b/c I finally found something that I loved and was good at, that God gave to me, and He took it away!  I thought to myself, haven't I suffered enough Lord?  This disease will affect me for the REST of my life, I have to inject my stomach 2xs a day for the rest of my life, I have to worry about my safety and injury b/c I could die taking bloodthinners for over 50+ years....Now you take away the ONE thing I love to do?  I was devastated and realized that I still am.  I need to get over it. How dare I feel sorry for myself and feel like God is always going to punish me....  He saved me and showed me thru everything who He really is and then I have the nerve to doubt Him?  Ask Him why?  Why should I get to do anything, I could be dead!  I deserve nothing and yet He gives me everything!!!Selfishly, I felt sorry for myself and had an attitude that well, if I can't run, then I guess I can't do anything.  My butt has been getting bigger b/c of that belief :)
But then I thought to myself, I GOT to run.  I had the blessing to run and do well and God allowed me to run my races and do what I had always wanted to do.  Its all about your attitude and how you look at it.  Just b/c I can't run anymore doesn't mean that I can't do anything.  Get over yourself Lisa Marie!!!  Yes I will fail at being a mom, a wife, a friend, sister....BUT each day is new and each day is a day that I can worship and praise Him for what He has done in my life.  I can talk about the Lord and what He has done in and through me.  Do I miss running? absolutely!!! It was my favorite thing to do with Him.  It was time to enjoy the world, nature, breathing, being alive when I was almost dead....It doesn't mean I can't still do all those things, I just cant' do it running.  I have to find my new thing that I am good at....But what?

I have to see myself as loved just the way that I am in the eyes of Christ.  He loves me.  He saved me.  Period. Shouldn't that be enough?  Why am I so hard on myself.....Afraid of failure, afraid of letting others down, never finding anything else I will be good at.....

Thanking God for the gift of Friendship

Today it is 2 days before Christmas and I just felt the need and desire to sit down and spend some time with the Lord in prayer and thank Him for friendship.  I have to say that over the past few years that word has become even more important to me, and in many ways the list has changed…. Just like seasons in life, God brings certain ones into my path and YOU have been one of them in this year, some of you have been at my side for years and some have just entered. Today I thank God for you, for you have touched my life and been sent into it from God, however long our journey may be together.

 I want to say thank you to those that have been praying for me since the year of 2009, the year in which my life changed dramatically forever.  It was a path the Lord sent me on, and for a long time I was devastated….I didn’t understand why, I suffered and was crushed, I was alone… I don’t say that to make you feel bad, or make you feel guilty for not being there for me, b/c it is what I needed to go through, God knew what I had to endure to change the heart of Lisa, this was ALL a part of His plan.  When I got sick in 2009 I was told that I MUST do something or I would die.  The problem was, no one knew what!  I didn’t see God’s plan, I didn’t understand why I had to suffer so much, I didn’t understand why I was alone and why no one knew how to “fix” me.  What was I to do?  What about my babies?  Sometimes we enter seasons of struggle and trials and it is hard to see the hand of God in it….If we can just get through to the other side.  And thanks be to God, He helped me through to the end, without Him and His love, faithfulness and grace, I wouldn’t be here today.  I could have and should have died many times in the past few years, and yet God was there, holding my hand, giving me hope and a peace that I have NEVER felt before. I have learned to embrace that season, to treasure it as a gift from God, yes, I tell many that it was the best and worst thing that has ever happened in my life.  God “fixed” me in more ways than I could have ever imagined, I found and began a relationship with God, and my life will never be the same again. 

 Some of you may not even realize that I am writing my own book, “Finding your missing Peace”….Ya, it may never be finished, but like this letter I am writing to you, I haven’t even told some of YOU my very own friends my testimony….Not to make you think that I have it all together now b/c trust me I don’t, but to show you that YOU too can find that missing peace, its not to show you how much I suffered but to show and reveal God’s faithfulness and grace that HE gave and showed to me.  It is about what HE has done in and through me, nothing of this could have happened on my own.  This life isn’t about me, or us, its about God and I was pushing Him away…I wasn’t where He wanted me to be.  He allowed it to happen to change me, to show me the peace I was searching for in all the wrong places!! It can’t be found in Steve, a new house, the “stuff” of this world but only in Christ!!!  This year I have read the bible the most I have ever done in my whole life and its awesome b/c I finally understand!!!, I am co-leading a bible study, I am active in my church and have made so many wonderful friends, and no, I am not saying this again to say “look at me and what I do” but to show you look at what Christ has done!!!  I would have never imagined my life looking like it does today just five years ago, but its way better!!!

 I was broken, crushed and in pieces….yes I called myself a Christian but my relationship with Christ was dead, and therefore I was as good as dead.  Now I am alive in Him and it is such a Joy and peace!!!  I hope you have it too!  If you don’t, PLEASE, don’t ever hesitate to call.  I will be there for you, I AM here for you and  will help you, pray for you, encourage you…Because that is what friends are for, Lets allow our walls to come down, to admit when we are weak when we are in need, I want to be a better friend and I want you to hold me accountable if I myself am struggling.  I am not perfect, I have a TON to learn, I am just beginning to understand the bible and I have plenty of faults and failures but I also have a new hope in Christ that I can do all things through Him!!!  I am just in need of Jesus today as I was 2 years ago laying in Detroit left for dead…. I am now prepared for the next trial that WILL come, suffering WILL come again, and I will cling to the truths of God from His word to help me through whatever path the Lord leads me on next.

 Thank you for your friendship.  Thank you for being my friend and for helping me on this journey of life.  I know I am not the greatest friend, and I am sure that I have disappointed, failed you ALL in some way and I am sorry. I will fail again and I am far from perfect….It has been wonderful to get to know you better, and I pray the Lord blesses you greatly this Christmas as we prepare for His birth.  Please know that I think and pray for you often as I reflect on God’s blessings of friendship in my life.

 

Merry Christmas!!!

Lisa

Goodbye and till we see you again

 December 2, 2012 Great Grandma and Grandma Siereveld died at the age of 78 years old.  She was an amazing woman and had a strong faith in the Lord.  These 2, (Rol and Marilyn) were excellent examples of Christ's love and the love that they had for each other.  We got the call on Sunday afternoon and Karlie cried.  Luke asked me if I was sad.  I said yes, and I said that I was happy too b/c now she is in Heaven with Jesus and she has a new body and doesn't have to suffer anymore!!!  She fought long and hard!  Last year at this same time I remember visiting her in the ICU at Spectrum and I never thought I would see her again after that.  She made it one more year of pain, fighting, and treatments.  Talk about the Love for each other!!!  Grandpa never left her side.  He was always there always taking care of her, always helping her, taking her to all of her appointments, changing her dressings, giving her all her meds, and always doing it as best as he could.  I am so thankful for their faith and showing it to me.

 

Pastor Don gave the funeral and it was a good one.  We don't know if we will make it to live 78, that is a good long life.  We could be dead at 20, 30, 50....Do we truly grasp that there is a heavenly amazing father looking down and watching us as we live our life and how are we living it?  Would we be ready to do and to enter the golden gates?  We are all accountable for ourselves, no one else, just us.  One of my favorite songs is by Natalie Grant, "I wanna leave a legacy, how will they remember me?" Most of that emphasis is on my family....I want to leave a legacy to my children so that they can too pass it on to their children and see that their mom lived and served for the Lord.  The Lord of her life.  I want to be a servant and live the "uncomfortable" life, one that resembles that of how Christ lived.  He was just a normal guy, a carpenter, he had his mom and dad, and died at the age of 33!!  He fulfilled His purpose in life in that time.  What is our purpose are we achieving it?  Is it to be successful, have a lot of money, make sure that others KNOW who we are and have an arrogant head about it?  To show the world that we made it in life, we have alot of "stuff" and the best stuff.  Do you really think that other people care?  This makes me so angry.  No one gives a crap what you have, how much you spent, what the kids are getting for Christmas, what you are doing and the vacations that you are going on, and if they DO care, then they are not that impressive themselves b/c they are too just living in a worldly state of comparison and judgement.

 

This past year I think that I have had the most knowledge and gained wisdom in regards to the Holy Spirit.  Do you really think of Him and recognize that part of the trinity?  Or does Jesus, God and the knowledge just come to you naturally?  I don't think so....Before you pray, before you read your bible, before I go to church, before I start my day, I NOW recognize and start it asking the Lord to fill me with His Holy Spirit b/c if I am not, I could easily miss out on some of the most important parts of life.  Breathe new life in me, fill me with your Holy Spirit so that others may see you when they look at me and my life.  Not in a braggin form, trust me, it isn't about me.  Life isn't about us!!!  Its about Christ, the Lord Jesus who died on a cross to save us.  What are we doing to say thanks?  Are we praising and worshiping Him or complaining about life and all the things we don't have.  To be thankful and joyful in ALL situations, even in death.

 

I have had this passion to do more, to be more, to get uncomfortable, to be on fire, I just want to do something!!! For the Lord each and every day, not because I feel that I have too but b/c I want too!!!  I want to do it for Him b/c I just can't thank Him enough for all that He has done for me and the providence He has shown to me in my life.  I keep on praying for the Lords will to be done on this earth, not mine, not Lisas, this life isn't about Lisa, its about God.