Picket Fences

The very first thing I did this morning was pray about my daughter’s doctor appointment. As I was praying for her a thought went through my mind…how many other mom’s are praying for their children? How many are broken-hearted watching their children suffer because they are hungry, sick, and so on and so on. The last couple of nights I’ve been reading the book Prisoners of Hope by Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer with Stacy Mattingly, it’s about two missionary girls who were imprisoned by the Taliban in Afghanistan back in 2001. Before their arrest they interacted with many women who suffered in a war zone, widowed and trying to find a way to feed their children, or deal with their illnesses. I stopped my prayer. The room was dark and the darkness seemed to come between me and God causing my prayer to be blocked. I really wanted to be able to go to God with my daughter’s plight, but I wondered why would He answer when there were so many other moms desperately seeking Him?

Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything,   but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.   7  And the peace of God,   which transcends all understanding,   will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Yesterday, I woke up feeling anxious. My husband having minor surgery during the morning, to take some cancer out of his leg, may have had something to do with that anxiety. On top of that it was my second day at a new part-time job. And a few of my friends had called with some bad news in their life. It all added to stress I was already feeling. I went for a walk to get some endorphins going and of course, to strengthen my heart, and to make sure my jeans didn’t shrink when I put them on in the morning. At first I just felt anxious, and the annoying crows that are around the neighborhood were getting on my nerves making it hard to enjoy the walk I normally enjoyed. As I walked and prayed, I starte

I closed the front door behind me, leaving the stacks of papers on my desk and unopened emails in my computer behind. I stuck my ear-buds in and turned on the music in my phone. I started walking down the hill toward my favorite neighborhood to walk through. I love looking at the houses, the yards, and I love all of the hills. I finally started to relax after I walked for a few minutes, and focused on the music that played in my ear, instead of on the unending demands that filled my day.  The pressures of unfinished work suddenly didn’t feel so heavy on my shoulders. I struggled to refrain from singing out loud to one of my favorite songs while I strolled through the neighborhood. Instead, I tried to hum, but then decided, I better not… with the ear buds in, even humming might be pretty loud. Now, I’m not a bird lover as those close to me know, but on this walk I actually enjoyed watching the birds flitting from tree to tree. They kept my attention as they tweeted and