His Footprints, My Heart...

Check out these opportunities to be a blessing to someone:

Help Shari Kurzrok find a liver donor (this is confirmed true)

Operation Bless Our Troops through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

Fund Free Mammograms through The Breast Cancer Site -- many of you know I lost my mother to breast cancer 3 years ago, this one's high on my list!

Another of my favorites: Help to fight breast cancer through the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Give Free Food to the hungry through The Hunger Site

Help provide basic health services for children around the world through The Child Health Site

I know this is just a "drop in the bucket" -- there are so many ways to be a blessing every day! Check out "The Complimenting Commenter" who enjoys complimenting people. I think the world could stand a few more people looking to make someone's day by giving them a compliment!

What's your favorite "blessing opportunity"? Oh, and hey, check out my newest toy, my "Chatter Box"!

Be blessed, be a blessing!

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The other day in a forum I belong to the question was asked "What religion are you, if any?" One person's response sort of floored me. Their response was "I was raised Catholic, not too religious these days -- God's there when and where I need Him." When I read that, my heart fell. I truly felt pain in my soul. I felt pain and sorrow that this is how this person feels, but I also felt pain and sorrow in my heart for myself. How many times have I have gone through my day not focusing on Him. God brought the song "Worthless" by Point of Grace to mind. The chorus says, "A moment is worthless, no meaning, purpose, every breath is just wasted if You are not the center of my world, I'm just drifting, barely existing, 'cause every minute without You is worthless..." He reminded me how worthless everything is without Him in it, it truly just isn't the same without Him in it. I honestly can't imagine life without Him.

Do you know Him? You can, you know... I'd love to tell you how!

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Found this site today where you can send a message of encouragement to our service members. It only takes a minute, you could really make someone's day!

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I got an email late last night from Christy, a friend of Denise (Austin's mother), with an update on Austin and his family. Here's what she had to say (slightly edited to remove their last name):

Cindy,
Thank you so much for your prayers for Austin and his family! They are precious people whose love for the Lord is infectious! Denise did not have to actually go into the hospital Wed. night, although she did go to the doctor for severe pain. She has been fighting kidney stones and possibly more involved back or kidney problems. She went to the orthopedist today and I haven't heard back from her. I will let you know if she found out anything after I talk with her tomorrow. Besides her pain and being REALLY tired, she is amazing. God is seeing her through every moment of each day and she is constantly praising him. Austin did come home Sunday and he is TOTALLY back to his very active three year old self! (He is not providing much rest for his momma). Her parents are in town and are really helping out and everything is running smooth! Keep lifting them up as Denise tries to figure out the source of her problems and as she tries to keep Austin from too much activity (or from hurting himself (boys will be boys!). I will continue to update you as I hear from them.

Christy

Prayer is so amazing! It's such a powerful tool and probably the
easiest thing we could ever do, but I know that I don't pray nearly
enough. Thank you for the continued prayers for Austin and his
family. I'll keep you posted as I get further information!

I have other exciting things to share, but I'll do that in another post...

In Him,
Cindy

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Hi everyone, I'm trying to get an update on Austin, but I don't know any further information right now. I'll post as soon as I do. As long as your here, though, I wanted to point you to a couple of bloggers' sites and their most recent posts which are both GREAT! Jump on over to Joe's blog, Joe's Jottings, to read his post "With A Song In My Heart" (had to know that one would pull me in, huh?). GREAT post! Then run on over to his wife Bonnie's site, God's Most Wanted, to check out "The Resume of Jesus Christ." It's AWESOME!

Oh, and "Hey!" I just noticed I've crossed the 3000 mark. Wow! That's too cool!
I'll write more later, but I've gotta get back to work so I can get outta here before the traffic get's too bad here in Hotlanta.... and we're livin' up to that name today!

One more thing, remember that "there are two ways of spreading light, to be the candle or to be the mirror that reflects it." (Quote by Edith Wharton) Reflect the light of Christ to someone today!

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I have a short update on Austin: he had his surgery yesterday. It was "very successful and went better than anticipated." It's possible that he may be allowed to go home Sunday.

Short update on my hubby/Paula's brother: he had his MRI this morning and when I spoke to him around 1:00 this afternoon he was going to eat lunch and then would go to the doctor afterwards for them to read the films.

Please continue to pray and I will keep everyone updated as I get information.
Thank you so much, you'll never know how much your thoughts, prayers, and concern mean to me!

***Hubby Update - 3:00 p.m. *** Hubby just called. The doctor's office called him before he could get there, they already had the films. They did not see anything on the MRI (Thank You, Lord!). The radiologist who read the MRI wants to see copies of the x-rays that doctor's office took to see what it is that they saw to be on the safe side, to make sure nothing was missed in the MRI. We should know Monday if he sees anything there. God is good, so very good....

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Those of you who have been around here for a while will notice that I changed the title of my blog from "The Song In My Heart" to the current "His Footprints, My Heart". I loved "The Song In My Heart" because God's always got a song for me or a lesson and I wear my heart on my sleeve in person and on my blog, but I decided to change it to "His Footprints, My Heart" for a couple of reasons. It reminds me of the "Footprints" poem and that was my mothers favorite poem. It also describes me.... God places His footprints in my life and on my heart and I want to share what He's done and what's in my heart.

Today is a little bit of both, His footprints and my heart. You may have read over at Paula's "Believe N God" about my husband, Paula's brother a.k.a. "Uncle". I have the most wonderful husband in the world and I love him with all of my heart. God certainly knew what He was doing when He put the two of us together. I told you recently of hubby's kidney stone surgery and his bout with the flu this week. We got a phone call from the doctor yesterday to tell us that they have found a "soft tissue mass" on his neck on the x-rays they took and will be having an MRI Friday, July 15th (tomorrow). Please pray for him as he goes to have this test, pray that they will not find a mass and that my adoring husband will be given a clean bill of health. Also pray for him to find another job. He's looking as I write this. Pray for me, I'm a worrier and I'm so stressed. I hate to see my husband hurting and stressed. Medical bills are coming in and, although they are not huge in comparison to what they could be or to what others are faced with, they're big to us. I think a good bit of my stress comes from everything coming all at one time and being tired. I know that God is good and that He's taking care of us, He always has and He always will, I don't doubt that for one minute. We still praise Him and give Him the glory and as hard as it is to do I thank Him for all of this because He knows "what I need even before I ask" and that the Holy Spirit intercedes for me when I can't pray. Pray for His peace that passes all understanding.

Secondly, the most recent information I have on Austin: His mother, who has been fighting a very bad bacterial infection for some time now, was admitted to the hospital yesterday because of the infection. I don't have any details, but I can only imagine how she feels being in the hospital while her 3 year old son, Austin, is in open heart surgery. They started the surgery at 8:00 or 8:30 this morning and I'll update you all when I hear something. Thank you all for your prayers for this family.
You continually amaze me. "Thank you" isn't nearly enough, but "Thank You."

Under His Wings,
Cindy

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I have a big prayer request! Please send everyone here that you can to read about little Austin and forward this to anyone you know who will lift little Austin and his family up on prayer.
A little background:
Austin is a 3 year old little boy (he just turned 3...) whom I don't know personally, but I know him through a friend of mine, Debra. She's been keeping me and many others up to date on his progress. Here's how his mother describes him:

Austin is like every other 2 year old boy. He is smart as a whip, loves his cowboy boots and likes for you to call him "Cowboy", asks daily if he can go to Home Depot and go camping. He has a jeep that he loves to drive around the back yard and can drive better than any 2 year old I know. He tells me daily now out of no where "I love Jesus" which brings a smile to my heart. He is my comedian and fills our life with laughter. His nick name is Little Man from the song "Godspeed-Sweet Dreams".

He will be having heart surgery this Thursday, July 14th. Please pray for him and his family. Here is the most recent email from his mother:

Austin's Open Heart Surgery is scheduled for next week, Thursday, July 14 pending the results of 1 remaining test. Praise God everything has come back normal thus far. We are on the schedule at Egleston so it looks like it is most likely a go for next Thursday.As I have said before, I deeply appreciate your prayers. I have been wanting to share a story with you for those of you that have not heard it yet. I wanted to wait to share it in written word until I felt I could get it across clearly so all of God's glory could shine through my simple words. Here is our story of what I referred to in a letter sent a while ago that stated "God has worked powerfully in his life already".On Mother's Day we went to the front of our church to request prayer for Austin. The outpouring of love and support was a great comfort. Now to back up a little. When Austin was in the hospital the two things he asked for the whole time were to go to Home Depot and to go camping. So that Mother's Day weekend, we went camping. That afternoon after we left church we went back up to our campsite. That evening as we lay down to sleep, Austin popped his head up in the quietness and announced..."I love Jesus". Since this was not a subject he had brought up in the past, it warmed our hearts.Over the next several nights, Austin had trouble sleeping. He would toss and turn and moan. As only a mother of a sick child can understand, your heart aches. I would wake up night after night several times a night and pray over him. Finally, one evening at dinner, Austin once again announced, I love Jesus. That evening several more times he shared this. Finally when I was getting him ready for bed he put his hands on my cheeks and pulled my face close, look me directly in the eyes and said, Momma, I Love Jesus. I pushed a little further this time and said, Austin, why do you love Jesus? He said, Jesus takes care of me. I said, he does? Jesus hugs me, and he wrapped his arms around himself. Jesus gives me a kiss like this, and he kissed me on the forehead. The conversation continued, and then he said, Jesus does this, and put his hands on his heart and pushed up and down. I realized at that instant God was saying to me, I am taking care of your little one. You can rest now. That night and every night since for a month or so now, Austin has slept like a baby. God is Awesome!Another part of our little story is Danny. He had struggled with this surgery. One night he had tossed and turned so much that he ended up on the couch downstairs. As he was tossing once again, the TV was on. It was on a channel that we do not ever have on-the medical channel. As he lay there they started talking about a little girl having the same surgery Austin was having. It showed the procedure and showed her up and about just days after the surgery. Danny was relieved afterwards and felt a weight lift from his own heart. Please continue to send up those prayers. God is an awesome God and has made his presence known in our circumstances. We want to share his glory in all he has done and is yet to do.Someone sent this verse this week, and I don't even think they truly knew how much I needed it-God is Awesome.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10

May God Richly Bless,

Danny and Denise (Austin's parents)

We serve a GREAT BIG, AWESOME God! Please, please, please pray for this family and ask everyone you know to pray for them, too. I appreciate it, Debra appreciates it, and I know Austin and his family appreciate it, too...
Under His Wings,
Cindy-Lou

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God is good all the time and all the time God is good. You've probably heard that before and, just like me, you've probably even said it many times. It just sort of rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? My wonderful hubby was unfortuntate enough (or maybe fortunate, we can't really see the "big" picture of what God's doing, can we?) to come down with the flu, and I mean the THE flu. Poor thing, he's had a rough month with surgery and now the flu. We were staying with my MIL and FIL this weekend. In their guest bathroom my MIL has a "perpetual calendar" with quotes and scriptures. The page for July 9th read, "In His graciousness, God gives us many luxuries; we make a mistake when we consider them necessities." The quote was taken from Love Comes Softly. Along with this quote was one of my favorite scriptures, taken from matthew 6:26, "The fowls...do...not gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them."

Needless to say, this spoke to me...

My husband and I have been so blessed, God has always provided what we needed and more, so much more. Even recently, with the stress we've had with so many issues, God has never left us, never forsaken us, not even really made us "suffer" at all. We've never gone hungry, not even had a lack of choices of what to eat. He's always provided jobs for both of us -- in fact, He's opened doors that could have never been opened to us without His hand doing all the work. I could go on for hours listing the blessings, and trust me, I don't say any of this to boast. I truly don't deserve any of it. But, I really think God was speaking to me today in that little calendar. There are so many things, so many luxuries, that I take for granted. They certainly aren't necessities. So much of what we have are truly luxuries that God has allowed us to have, but in reality, it's all just "stuff". One of my favorite chain-type "emails" (for lack of a better term...) is the one that says something like this....

Want to know the value of 10 years? Ask a recently divorced
person.
Want to know the value of a year? Ask a new graduate.
Want to know the value of one month? Ask a mother whose child is
still-born.
Want to know the value of one day? Ask someone whose just been
diagnosed with cancer.
Want to know the value of one second? Ask someone who "just missed" a
terrible car accident.

I've learned in recent years that the value we place on something can change drastically in a moment's time. I think about those who lost in 9-11, and now 7-7. I hear the thunder rumbling as I type this and I think about those boarding up their houses in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, not knowing when and if they will be hit and if so, how badly? I think about the mother and father of a newborn in NICU fighting to live while my husband and I are battling the flu (ok, so he's the one battling, but I think I'm doing a pretty good job of taking care of him... certainly not by myself... I learn alot from my MIL and how she takes care of him...).

I've really been thinking, what's truly a necessity? A luxury? Is a luxury "just stuff" if we don't use it to honor and glorify God? I'm coming to the conclusion that my only true necessity is Him. After all, He said He'd provide for all of my needs and that He knows what I need even before I do.

You may get absolutely nothing from this post, or you just might hear God speaking to you as well. It's not my job to judge you or your life. It is my job to honor and glorify Him for all that He's done... Thank you, Lord, for your blessings on me...

"There's a roof up above me, I've a good place to sleep. There's food on my table and shoes on my feet. You gave me Your love, Lord, and a fine family...Thank You Lord for your blessings on me."

In Him,
Cindy-Lou

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... Don't Worry, God Has A Plan!

That was the title of the sermon at church Sunday morning, and was it ever timely. But, then again, isn't that just like God??

You see, last Wednesday night on my way home from church I was so beaten down and I just prayed all the way home. Remember some time back when I was quite troubled by knowing I was supposed to be doing something more but didn't know what yet? Well, a couple of months ago God showed me something... my church choir has the opportunity go to Moscow, Russia to minister with 2 other churches being led by our minister of music along with some others and Camp Kirkland. I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that I was supposed to go. You know, that feeling you get when you KNOW God is telling you to do something. That uneasiness in my soul I had been having went away. The cost: $2500. The approximate amount that the IRS requested from us this year because in our first full "fiscal" year or marriage, our first full year of having two incomes and only one home, we were hit pretty hard. But I knew that God would provide, we still had money in savings and we were going to do fund raisers through church. No problem! I've had bigger trials than needing money for a mission trip and God has ALWAYS been faithful!

When we start to rely totally on God and have complete faith in Him, satan can't stand it! He's not about to let you forget that he can't stand it, either! My wonderful hubby, my precious gift from God, has been having some trials with work (please pray for him!), and to top it off, he started having problems with his kidney stones again. He's had them for a while, off and on, maybe a stone or two a year and that's about it..... until recently. Poor thing, he'd been having stones about every week and a half or 2 weeks for the past couple of months. This stresses him out because of the pain but even moreso because of his boss who is, shall we say, less than flexible. They don't offer any sick time where he works and he works 12 hour shifts for three days and then a half day. Then I'm stressed out because I know there's nothing I can do to help him... one of my spiritual gifts is mercy and I can't stand not being able to help someone. Long story short, hubby had to have several tests and finally surgery to find and break up the stones that had become lodged. Hubby's doing MUCH better, but to say the least all of this costs $$$. How much? Well, with his insurance and deductables, probably $2000 or more.

Now, if your anything like me, which some of you either are or just read my blog because your so glad your not *grin*..... Well, I started thinking about the money that it was going to cost to go on this mission trip.... worrying. Seems like a common theme over here, doesn't it? Now we're back at the beginning of this post where I was worried and praying all the way home last Wednesday. I couldn't understand. I just kept saying, "God, I really don't understand! We didn't really have the extra money for the mission trip to begin with, then we owed money for taxes and medical bills, and now we find out that we can have only one fund raiser per year at the church... how will we ever raise enough money for everyone to go like we had wanted?" "God, I know you want me to go... there have been a handful of things in life that I knew without a doubt that you were telling me, commanding me, to do and this is one of them! Abba, Daddy-God, I'm scared..." He calmed my spirit, but I still didn't have the answer I wanted. I wanted to know how and when I was going to get the money. Not to mention the extra money I was going to have to have to get my passport and my travel visa. Still not the answer I wanted, just "be still, trust in Me."

So, Sunday we had a guest speaker, Dennis Mitchell from the North American Mission Board, who preached from II Chronicles 20:1-25. I can't even begin to convey what God showed me, but I'll give you the outline and let you read for yourselves.

The uncertainties of life often catch us "off-guard" and unprepared. As children of God, we respond to life's uncertainties by:
I. Recognizing that:
a. God has "always" had a plan
b. God is always "working" His plan - John 5:17
c. God's plan is "personal" - Jeremiah 29:11 (This was a kicker for me!!!)
When the unexpected "curve balls of life" come my way, I will:
II. Remember to:
a. Seek God's Face - II Chronicles 20:3-4 & II Chronicles 7:14
b. Acknowledge God's Power - II Chronicles 20:5
c. Wait on God - II Chronicles 20:13 (This is the hardest one for me!!)
d. Claim God's Promises - II Chronicles 20:22 (Follow His will and commands and praise Him for what He's going to do BEFORE He does it! He's a faithful God!)

God broke my will that day and restored my spirit. I still have no idea how He's going to provide, but "I've never seen the righteous forsaken or His seed begging for bread."
God is so good...

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Yep, got tired of the green "cookie cutter" template and went scavenging (legally!) to find a new one. Like it??? Oh, by the way, I'm not cranky anymore! Lol! See:

Ok, that one's a couple of years old or so, but I just found it so, there it is!

Sorry for my cranky rant, guys.... I think stress had gotten the best of me, when truly the best of me should be reserved for God. Got some interesting advice to say the least, and I think we can all take heed to "Just say 'no' to drugs." Lol!
But Jen had some great advice, and I'm putting some of that into use: trying the passive approach of wearing headphones with my little radio ;-) Thanks, Jen!

Now all of you who've been losing sleep for the last couple of weeks worrying about me can finally get some rest.... hehe..
BUT.... I DO have an awesome post to put out there later... not that my post is awesome, but that God is awesome and I can't wait to share with you what He shared with me this weekend! But, we're both going to have to wait because my lunch hour is only so long, an hour as a matter of fact, so I'll get the post out there when I can... and the rest of my testimony, or at least the next installment ;)

Much love, and isn't God awesome? I think so... and He thinks YOU'RE pretty awesome, too! He told me so...

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