Really, I have. Or perhaps, blessed would be a better word. I’ve often wondered what I’ve done to deserve so many good things, heaped on top of each other. I have great parents. I have pleasant memories of my childhood. I had fun in college and got to be class favorite and homecoming queen and all that other hoopla. I married the man of my dreams. And two of the coolest kids on the planet call me mom.

Now, I’m not telling you this because I think I deserved any of it. I didn’t. I have no idea why God has chosen to show me His favor in so many ways. I’m grateful. But I’m not special.

Sometimes, I’ve felt a little like Joseph, in the old Bible story. You remember him, don’t you? He was the youngest of many sons. (For a while, anyway. He did eventually have a younger brother.) Though Jacob had many fine, strong, handsome sons, Joseph was the favorite.

This special status didn’t really have anything to do with Joseph. Nope, he didn’t do anything to earn or deserve such a favored place in his father’s heart. Instead, it had everything to do with who his mother was.

You see, in those days, men got to have more than one wife. (Now don’t be jealous, fellas. I’m sure that was more of a curse than a blessing on most days.) Rachel was Joseph’s mother, and the love of his father’s life. And she had a really hard time having children. So when she finally delivered Joseph, Jacob rejoiced.

And he blessed Joseph with special favors, every chance he got. One of those special gifts was a beautiful, royal-looking robe, spun of fine fabric and with many brilliant colors. Usually, such finery was reserved for very important people. So you can see why Joseph’s brothers weren’t too thrilled that their baby brother got to stay home and wear fancy clothes while they worked in the fields. They grew to resent Joseph.

To make a long story short, one day, they took his robe, threw him in a pit, and sold him as a slave to the first person who came along. In a moment, Joseph went from favored to cursed.

Didn’t he?

Well, that’s what I used to think. But I’ve recently been reminded of the fact that Joseph was still the favorite. Even in the pit.

Which puts a whole new spin on things in my life, because I’ve found myself in pits of my own from time to time.

You see, Joseph’s father loved him with all his heart when things were good. And His father didn’t stop loving him when he disappeared. For thirteen years, Joseph lived in slavery. He was thrown in jail, set up for a crime he didn’t commit. He didn’t see or hear from his family. Life wasn’t so great, anymore.

But he was still the favorite. He was still loved.

Friends, God loves you even more than Joseph’s father loved him. It doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not you deserve that kind of love. It has everything to do with who your Father is. You belong to Him. You are special to Him. And He loves you every bit as much when you’re going through the pits of life as He does when you’re walking around with a robe of blessings. His love never changes, even when our circumstances do.

So what are we gonna do? Sink down, hang our heads, and feel sorry for ourselves? That’s not what Joseph did. Joseph made the most of his “pit”-iful situation. He chose to trust that God knew what He was doing. He held his head high, worked hard, and lived with integrity. He eventually rose right up out of that pit and into a station of honor and authority. Because he proved himself in the pit, God placed him in a position to help his family when they were in danger of starving. In other words, the pits made him stronger, and put him in a much better place than he’d have been if things had always been easy. And through it all, though Joseph’s earthly father was far away, God never left him.

Friends, are you in a pit? Hang in there. The same God who loved you when life was good still loves you with all his heart. The same God who walked with you through green pastures is still there, right in the middle of your darkness. And when we trust God, hold our heads high, work hard, and live in a way that honors Him, He’ll bring us through those pits. Only when we emerge, we’ll be stronger, and the blessings will be greater than we can imagine.

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives,” Genesis 50:20.

Adoption? Now that’s a beautiful word.

I should know. I’ve experienced all three. We now have two beautiful children: one biological, one adopted. Only, most days I can’t remember which is which.

If you or someone you know has experienced any of the above, I’d love to share my story. It’s a great story of God’s goodness. If you’ll look over to the right side of this post, on the blog’s sidebar, it’s right there. Just click on it, and it’s yours.

I hope you enjoy it. Most of all, I hope you’ll see that God is so, so good, even when our circumstances aren’t.

May God bless you richly, and grant you all the desires of your heart.

Love,

Renae

I still love this time of year . . . but it’s different somehow. Maybe I’m just getting older. Hopefully, I’m getting wiser. But for some reason, I’m no longer the first person on the block to adorn my Christmas tree. I don’t feel I have to display every single Christmas decoration I own. And I don’t worry nearly as much about having every gift perfectly wrapped for December 25.

I don’t know when or why my blazing Christmas spirit began to fade to a more gentle, quiet variety. I suppose it has something to do with the fact that for the past four Christmases, my family has dealt with another C-word. A word not nearly so pleasant as Christmas. A six-letter word that has the power to stop us in our tracks. A word that has brought even the most stubborn unbeliever to his knees in prayer.

Yes, that’s right.

Cancer.

It’s a bully if I ever met one. It picks on the weak, and preys on the innocent. It threatens and claws and kicks and punches, trying its best to suck the life out of its victims. Cancer is unfair. It’s a mean disease, and it knows no limits, shows no mercy.

Right now, it’s picking on my dad.

But this vile disease has unknowingly brought some special blessings into our lives, as well. Somehow, when cancer shows up, things just change. Priorities shift. Big events seem less significant, and the mundane, ordinary things take on a new, cherished status.

You see, before cancer came into our lives, I took Christmas for granted. I always assumed there’d be another Christmas, another New Year, another time to celebrate. But now, I’ve wised up. I’m smart enough to slow down and cherish this season. I no longer stress my schedule with so much holiday cheer, I can’t possibly enjoy it. Instead, I leave big, fat empty boxes on my calendar to just be. To just live.

To just love.

I no longer worry over decorations and presents and wrapping paper and parties and recipes. Instead, I’ve learned that the real gifts of Christmas are the people God has given me to love.

After all, on that first Christmas, there was no light-festooned tree. There were no parties or cheese balls or ugly sweaters. And the only music was the sound of angels, celebrating a life. Celebrating love, for God is love.

This Christmas, I’ll eventually get around to decorating my tree. And more than likely, my husband will hang lights around our house, and our lighted nativity set will get set up in the yard. We may or may not attend every party, every event. And on Christmas morning, there will be presents to unwrap.

But this year, those things don’t signify the meaning of Christmas. My Christmas gift—the only one I want—is time with the people I love. I want to love them as much as I can, in every possible way, until the stockings of their hearts spill over.

I want to love them the way God loves me. And truly, if I can do that, I’ll have Christmas every day of my life.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God,” 1 John 4:7. 

So with Veteran’s Day approaching, I’ve had one particular question on my mind. How do I say thanks for such a gift? I mean, really. What is an appropriate thank-you gift for laying one’s life on the line, so I wouldn’t have to?

A nice floral arrangement, perhaps? Or a cookie bouquet? How about lifetime gym membership?

Hmmmm . . . all those things sound nice enough. But they just don’t quite measure up to the level of sacrifice offered by our men and women in uniform. I’ve racked my brain for a more appropriate gesture, but the truth is, there really is no way to adequately thank our veterans. There’s no way to thank their families. Their commitment is too great; it simply can’t be matched.

But as I thought about this issue, something occurred to me. Though we can’t possibly match a thank-you sentiment with their sacrifice, there is one thing we can do, to show our appreciation.

We can live.

Let me explain. Of course, if you are reading this, you’re alive. But so many of us experience life without really living it. We get up each day and lock ourselves into robot mode. We go to work. We do our jobs. We come home and watch the news. Then we go to bed, only to wake up the next morning and do it all again. And that, my friends, isn’t really living.

I’ll bet there’s not a single veteran out there who’d tell you he put his life on the line for a bunch of robots. No sir, not a one of them. Our veterans put themselves in harm’s way so people like you and me could live life to the fullest. These men and women gave up peace of mind and the comforts of home. Many of them gave up their health. And some . . . yes, some gave their lives.

And the reason they did was so we could sleep soundly at night, without worries of bombs or guns or war right outside our windows. They did it so we could have parties and laugh and talk about whatever we want to talk about.

They did it so we could vote.

They did it so we could go to church, wherever we want.

They did it so we’d have the freedom to experience the gamut of life’s highs and lows and in-betweens.

So, how can we say thanks?

By living, my friends. By loving and showing kindness and compassion and grace and mercy to our fellow man. By making it a point to bring a smile to the face of everyone we meet. By taking advantage of the fact that we live in the greatest nation on the face of God’s green earth, in spite of our problems, in spite of our disagreements. By remembering that we are blessed.

We celebrate those blessings every time we choose to let a car cut into a line of traffic, every time we run around in the yard with our kids, every time we call a friend, or cheer at a football game or go fishing or enjoy a manicure or pedicure or simply invite our neighbors over for Bar-B-Que.

We celebrate our freedom every time we pray, every time we enjoy a heated political debate, every time we do so many of the things that have become commonplace in this country. Yes, every single time we exercise our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, we thank a veteran.

After all, my friends, they offered their lives so we could do those things.

So to my daddy and my brother and my uncles and my nephew and my father-in-law and all my dear, dear friends in the military, I want to say, Life is good.

Thanks.

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends,” John 15:13.

I wrote/compiled this little stand-up book of prayers and quotes a year ago, and was delighted to finally see the finished product! Barbour did a beautiful job with the artwork. This book of simple, light-hearted prayers makes a great, inexpensive gift.

For me, 2010 was a good year. A hard one, a humbling one in many ways . . . yet good nonetheless. Lots of lessons learned, lots of growing and stretching and changing. So, it’s good to have that behind me, and it’s good to be where I am today. God is good, yes?

Anyway, one of my new year’s resolutions is to reacquaint myself with one of my loves – writing. Not that I’ve given up writing completely, but as many of you have figured out from my absence here – I’ve taken a little break from that part of my life. Needed to make room for all that growing and stretching and changing and humbling. Ahem.

Anyway, I am back. At least, I hope I’m back, and I hope I’m more of the person God created me to be than I was last year at this time.

I didn’t write a new New-Year’s article this year, but I thought you might enjoy reading last year’s New Year’s post. May God bless you and bless you, in 2011 and always!

With the amazing, overwhelming love of our Father,

<3 <3 <3 Renae

–R

Sorry I haven’t been around for a while. But I had to stop in and share this great news! Last week, I was on a mission trip in South Texas. I checked my Facebook page while I was there, and had all these “Congratulations” messages! I wasn’t really sure what they were talking about, until I followed my friend, Janice Thompson’s link:

ECPA Kids Best Sellers, July, 2010

I am now officially a best-selling author! The first Camp Club Girls book made it to the ECPA Best Sellers list for July.

God is so good. I didn’t do anything to deserve this. But I wanted to let you all know how good God is.

Be blessed, my friends!

–Renae

Hope you are all well and blessed. Talk to you soon!

–Renae