His Footprints, My Heart...

As I promised, I'm starting a series of posts on my personal testimony. It's taken me a while to get started because I wasn't completely sure how to start. So, I decided to start at the beginning, skip some things, and focus on some of the "bigger" things. My hope is that God gets all the glory in this and that somehow I might help someone else along the way. Without further ado...

I was the first born of two children, one girl and one boy, to my parents, two of the most wonderful people in the entire world! I was raised in a Godly home with great Christian parents and was saved at the age of 12. Long before then I was singing... to everything! TV and radio commercials, and especially country music! Probably where I get my love of Southern Gospel music! My mom always said that she could tell I was going to be a singer when she heard me singing at 4 years old from the back seat of the car. She said I didn't sound like the typical 4 year old singing! I'd venture to say most people say I'm anything BUT typical! Two of the most distinct memories I have growing up are of getting up every morning to find my mother in the rocking chair in the living room praying, the same rocking chair she rocked me in as a baby! There's not a day that I can't remember seeing her in that chair praying, even after I was grown and came visit. The other is my father's dedication to provide for his family both physically and spiritually. I only remember a tiny handful of times when we didn't go to church, I could probably count them on both hands, if I needed both!

In January 1999 my mother came down with cat scratch fever. Not a huge deal, but enough to send my mother to the doctor, which was a RARE occasion except for normal check-ups and such. We didn't think too much of it after she started to feel better until about March when her lymph node was still swollen. She went back to the doctor and it was decided that she needed to have surgery to "fix" it. My mother went in for surgery on April 1, 1999, April's Fools Day. After her surgery, the doctor came back in the room to tell her that they had biopsied the tissue and had found cancer. Now, you'd have to know my mother to get the full effect of this, but in her always happy fashion she said, "Are you joking? No I don't", laughing as she said it. The doctor said, "Sweetie, I wish I was." From that moment, you'd have never known she had anything wrong with her. She went through her CT scans, her chemo, her radiation, all while continuing to work and build her and my father's dream house. You could quite frequently hear her say, "I don't have time for cancer, it's not going to get me down, God's in control!" I remember all too vividly taking her to her first CT scan before any treatments. The tech came out and gave her the first of two barium "shakes" (yummmm, you're mouth's watering as you read, isn't it!!!) and said "I'll be back in about 30 minutes to give you the next one." You see, most people have a hard time downing that wonderful delicacy, lol! My mom said, "No, you go ahead and get it now, I'll be done with this one in just a few minutes. They didn't believe her, of course, but in her true fashion she chugged that thing in about 5 minutes time! Then told me, "Go get them, tell them I want the other one, I have plans for the day, I've got things to work on!" Of course I said "Yes, ma'am and went to find them." They, of course, were quite surprised, but then again, they really didn't know who they were dealing with, but I did. I have never seen such strength and faith in one human being as I saw in my mother. She had always been strong and full of faith, but I had so many people tell me how much my mother had blessed them, that she was the epitome of faith, and that she had helped them to go on. With her strong attitude, she beat the cancer. We celebrated with her last radiation treatment the day before Thanksgiving in 1999. God did so many things in our lives during that time. I think we all came to know Him even more and in a way we had never known Him before....

(to be continued....)

Having been brought up in church and being encouraged to sing all of my life, it came only natural that I began to get that "feeling", that nudging of the Holy Spirit, when I was about 26. I knew that I was supposed to be doing more

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I did it (well, God did it!!!)! I've officially passed 2000 hits on my "The Song In My Heart" blog. Thanks for stopping by my site to read what God puts in my heart. Without Him, nothing in my life would be possible and I'm thankful that He's allows me to share here! One of my favorite verses is this:

"Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live." Psalm 146:1,2

Have a great weekend everyone! More to come next week! Gotta get back to work for now... they're picky like that.......

God bless!

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I'm less than 50 hits away from 2000!!! It's the little things in life, huh? I'll post more later... I'll actually get to my testimony, I promise ;) Gotta get back to work for now, though!

Posted by Cindy-Lou at 10:54 AM ~

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I was going to start a series of posts on my testimony of recent years, but felt led to post this instead. I'm still going to post on my testimony, just not today. Instead, there have been a few verses that have really been speaking to me this week. We had a guest speaker at church this past Sunday morning and he talked about the heart.

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life," Proverbs
4:23.

"If you say, "But we knew nothing about this," does not
he who weighs the heart perceive it?", Proverbs 24:12a.

"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his
heart, and the
evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his
heart. For out of
the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks," Luke
6:45.

All of these verses have been tumbling around in my mind this past week and making me ask "what's in my heart?" One's true character is best displayed in two instances:

1. how they react when no one else is around
2. how they react under pressure

Have you ever screamed and thrown your hands up in the air on the freeway when someone cut you off? Have you ever snapped at your spouse (or friend or mother or father or... you get the picture) because of something they said or did? Sure you have. You're human, arent' you? Why did you do it? There are tons of reasons why you could have done that, but most likely, when you get down to the "nitty-gritty" of it, it's because it pricked something in your heart. Face it, a huge amount of what we do or say (if not all of it) is related to the heart, what's in our heart. After all, God says it's the "wellspring of life" and out of it's overflow is what we speak. I'd venture to say that "speaking" doesn't necessarily mean just our verbal words. I think it means our attitudes, our demeaner, our actions.

One of my biggest obstacles is insecurity. I have a hard time believing in myself, and if someone criticizes me or puts me down it chips away at my security, my feelings of self-worth. Kind of funny, but have you ever thought about the fact that our hearts communicate with one another? You know, someone's upset about something, there's hurt in their heart. They don't see you struggling in that same area of your life in the same way they are. They say something hurtful, not even stopping to think about how that would make you feel or even stopping to think about the fact that, just because you don't struggle in the way they do, you still have to struggle in a different way. It's what I call the "greener grass syndrome."

The grass is always greener on the other side. Beautiful green grass needs water and fertilizer, and as far as the "grass" of life is concerned, we too often automatically assume that it's been gentle rains and dew in the morning and beautiful sunshine that's grown the grass. Many times it's been torential rains and manure *grin* that's fertilized that grass. We let satan convince us that things are unfair, and that builds up hurt in our hearts. Then we react in ways that we usually regret later on.

So, what's the "cure" cleaning our hearts up? God.

“ But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then
peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit,
impartial
and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of
righteousness. ”
James 3:17,18

If we let God clean our hearts, what is "spoken" out of our hearts will be pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. I'm not much of a fighter, I hate conflict and I'm more likely to let someone say something to me or about me and just keep my feelings inside about it. Not necessarily good, especially when I harbor the hurt and resentment in my heart. Eventually it will boil over. But I'm learning (not very quickly, but I'm learning...) that if I give it to God and let Him take care of it, if I sow in peace, I'll "raise a harvest of righteousness."

So now you know one of the things I've been struggling with lately. How about you? What song is in your heart these days? Is it "I Know the Peace Speaker" or is it "Gloom, Despair, and Agony On Me?"

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Here are some great "one-liners" that a very sweet Christian lady I work with sent me. I think I'm going to use #13 as my personal little "slogan", if you will. I like #26 as well.

Just a heads-up (ok, more like a pathetic little ploy to draw you back to my blog sometime...*grin*), I'm going to start a series of blog posts of my testimony over the last 5 or 6 years or so about God's timing and patience in my life. Divinely inspired by my sister-in-law Paula's most recent post on her "Believe In God" blog. Check her blog out, she's a treasure! Have a blessed day!


1. Give God what's right -- not what's left.
2. Man's way leads to a hopeless end -- God's way leads to an endless hope.
3. A lot of kneeling will keep you in good standing.
4. He who kneels before God can stand before anyone.
5. In the sentence of life, the devil may be a comma--but never let him be the period.
6. Don't put a question mark where God puts a period.
7. Are you wrinkled with burden? Come to the church for a face-lift.
8. When praying, don't give God instructions - just report for duty.
9. Don't wait for six strong men to take you to church.
10. We don't change God's message -- His message changes us.
11. The church is prayer-conditioned.
12. When God ordains, He sustains.
13. WARNING: Exposure to the Son may prevent burning.
14. Plan ahead -- It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.
15. Most people want to serve God! But only in an advisory position.
16. Suffering from truth decay? Brush up on your Bible.
17. Exercise daily -- walk with the Lord.
18. Never give the devil a ride -- he will always want to drive.
19. Nothing else ruins the truth like stretching it.
20. Compassion is difficult to give away because it keeps coming back.
21. He who angers you controls you.
22. Worry is the darkroom in which negatives can develop.
23. Give Satan an inch & he'll be a ruler.
24. Be ye fishers of men -- you catch them & He'll clean them.
25. God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called...
26. Read the Bible -- It will scare the hell out of you.

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A friend sent this to me... I absolutely love it!





Have a great weekend! Thanks for all your encouragement this week, bloggin' buddies!

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Today would have been my mom's 58th birthday. This and mother's day coming up this Sunday (which also happens to be my dad's 59th birthday... happy birthday daddy!) has had me thinking about her alot lately, missing her so very much. There's a song by MercyMe entitled "Homesick" that I've heard alot recently and it always reminds me of my mom, my best friend. I put the lyrics here for you.

Mom, this is dedicated to you... Happy Birthday! I love you and miss you so much. You will always be my very best friend. See you when I get home!



Homesick - MercyMe


You're in a better place, I've heard a thousand times
And at least a thousand times I've rejoiced for you
But the reason why I'm broken, the reason why I cry
Is how long must I wait to be with you

I close my eyes and I see your face
If home's where my heart is then I'm out of place
Lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
I've never been more homesick than now

Help me Lord cause I don't understand your ways
The reason why I wonder if I'll ever know
But, even if you showed me, the hurt would be the same
Cause I'm still here so far away from home

I close my eyes and I see your face
If home's where my heart is then I'm out of place
Lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
I've never been more homesick than now

In Christ, there are no goodbye
And in Christ, there is no end
So I'll hold onto Jesus with all that I have
To see you again
To see you again

And I close my eyes and I see your face

If home's where my heart is then I'm out of place Lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
Won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
Won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
I've never been more homesick than now

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I'm frustrated. Frustrated with myself. I know that everyone has a hard time with this, but I want some "tips", if you will, from my bloggin' buddies. I have such a difficult time being consistent with my quiet time, my time alone with God. There have been times in my life where I was completely absorbed in Him, if you know what I mean. There have also been times when I've been completely away from Him. I'm not in either of those places right now. It's not that I don't want to be, absorbed in Him, that is. It's sort of like life just gets in the way sometimes.

Does that make any sense? I'm sure it does, at least on some level. I have a very long commute to and from work and I try to focus on God during that time praying and praising Him, but I can't really spend time in His word or in a devotional while I'm driving. Unfortunately, the books on tape/CD (or Bible on tape/CD) don't work for me because my mind wanders. If it were set to music, well that would be different, and my mind wouldn't wander as much.... that's how I'm wired. I love praising Him. I sang "Everything To Me" in church yesterday, the words are awesome, exactly how I feel about Him. When I'm singing to or about Him, that's when I feel closest to Him. After all, He inhabits the praise of His people. But there has to be more, at least more of a balance.

Here's my question to you: How do YOU balance everything in life? How do you maintain that consistency in your walk with the Lord? My husband and I are still newlyweds of sorts. August 23rd will be our 2nd anniversary (woo-hoo!!!). He's wonderful, he's the most amazing man. But I'm still learning how to be a wife, and trying to be a good one at that!

My mother passed away almost 3 years ago, which has drawn my father and I closer, which is awesome. But I'm still on the learning curve with that season of my life as well.

What advice can you give me from your personal life on how to balance my time alone with God in prayer and praise, my time in His word, being a wife, daughter, sister, aunt, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, employee, co-worker, choir member, church member, neighbor, servant of God... ? Honestly, I want to hear your real life, day-to-day practical "tips".... how do YOU do it?

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