HE WILL CARRY ME: THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME!

Today is Sunday in the SON.

Today is a day to focus on our SAVIOR and our GOD, meeting together to remember Him...to consider His love for us...to consider that He wants us to be family!

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It's also a Sunday during a time of the year when many people battle the changes of the seasons. I'm not sure everything that GOD wants us to learn from the seasons of our lives but I know He does. He has at least one lesson in everything in His creation. Maybe you are one of those people who easily move from spring to summer to fall to winter with the grace of a ballerina. Be thankful, sister! I believe that is not the norm.
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I've been taken to motherhood boot camp in this area. I'm still asking GOD what He wants me to do with it all, if anything. Three of our four children are affected by seasonal changes: one has headaches 24/7 but during the changes of the seasons they become excruciating...another child battles depression and mood swings during seasonal changes-the worst in April and October....a third child has a heart rhythm irregularity that can go for months unnoticed but will raise it's ugly head during rainy seasons...
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I know they get weary of dealing with it. As their mother and father, we do too. Sometimes, it's so overwhelming, the only desire is to be carried!
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Today, if he was still alive, it would have been my father's 87th birthday. A chef in the military who was sent for training at the Waldorf Astoria. He cooked for generals, yet was called a "mess sergeant". My dad lived through, endured, and persevered through "mess" after "mess" in his life:

• the great depression in a christian family with eight children



• as a child, he saw his dad die in a fire



• while growing up, he witnessed the suffering and deaths of three sisters and one brother to meningitis and TB



• while growing up, he experienced his little brother sent off to a TB sanitarium for a long period of time



• as a child and an adult, he experienced living with a sister who survived meningitis, only to be rendered deaf



• as a child and an adult, he experienced an older brother who became fragile mentally because of all the trauma



• as a teenager, dad benefited from Franklin Roosevelts "New Deal" work program and walked miles to worksites for jobs to help his family put food on the table



• at the age of 17, Hitler invaded Poland and the 6 years of World War II began...dad lived the horror on the ships and in the trenches...but also had reprieve while cooking in Austria for some generals. They were in the part of Austria that you and I have seen in the Sound of Music.



• sometime during this time, his mother passed away, he had become very close to her and it left him feeling alone and very "responsible" for 3 living siblings



• in April of 1950, at the age of 28, dad married my mom...they had met and courted at the St. Louis Bible readings...she was the next best thing to ever happen to him besides JESUS. Dad and Mom are pictured below on their wedding day with siblings and cousins attending. The brother on the far right is the little brother who eventually recovered from being sent away to a TB Sanitarium and one day became one of the Vice Presidents of Hallmark.



• I was born in 1952 and was an only child until 1958. I spent alot of time with my Dad and Mom individually and together. Today, I have many of those "only child" characteristics that we're learning about in our Wednesday night class.




• Dad loved and looked up to my mom's dad, my Grandpa, since he had lost his own dad at a young age. The picture below is taken at one of my favorite places of memory - next to Granny's piano (which remained in the same place for 50 of the 55 years of my life). In this Christmas picture, I am age two, our little family of three would be living in France by the next Christmas with a three year assignment.

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• as an adult, dad suffered from many allergies, chronic bouts of depression (especially seasonal), and what I believe was post traumatic stress disorder from all his early years of trauma. He was a very gifted man who had a great deal of trouble reading; he could not keep his eyes following a line without his finger or a paper under the words. He left school early and it wasn't until I was a child that I watched him diligently prepare for and pass the GED. Today, Dad's reading problems would have been helped by what we know about vision development.

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• Here are two pictures that I treasure of our time together. The first one, at age 3 on Table Rock Lake (Missouri) in my Grandpa's boat with Dad. Dad loved to just get out in nature, especially to garden or fish. The second picture is in 1958 about the time I was to give up the role of "only child" and my brother Steve was to be born. (Actually, I found becoming of the older sister of Steve and, the next year, Pam to be a good thing!)

• one song ministered to Dad on an almost daily basis for as long as I can remember - I would hear him singing or whistling it while he fished, worked in his garden or cooked a meal. His song: THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME, I'M JUST A PASSING THROUGH...

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• In 1998. Dad passed through and moved on to eternal life after a 10 year battle with alzheimers. Although, I could not find his song for the playlist, I do have it here in a video link with Jim Reeves singing :


• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ndMZqT6i4I
  

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Some of you have shared with me that you are really in a battle right now. Please let this week's theme minister to you: HE WILL CARRY ME! There were many times in my Dad's life that JESUS carried him. He knew this earth was not his eternal home! He did not know this song, but I believe it describes many days in his life journey. You can go and click this song on the playlist on the right and follow along with these lyrics below as you listen. Be blessed!
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HE WILL CARRY ME by Mark Shultz




1.

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I call, You hear me.
I've lost it all
And it's more then I can bear.
I feel so empty.
You're strong.
I'm weary.
I'm holding on
But I feel like giving in...
But still You're with me.

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Chorus:
And even though I'm walking Through the valley of the shadow,
I will hold tight to the hand of Him Whose love will comfort me.
And when all hope is gone And I've been wounded in the battle,
He is all the strength that I will ever need.
He will carry me!
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2.
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I know I'm broken.
But You alone
Can mend this heart of mine.
You're always with me.
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Chorus:
And even though I'm walking Through the valley of the shadow,
I will hold tight to the hand of Him Whose love will comfort me.
And when all hope is gone And I've been wounded in the battle,
He is all the strength that I will ever need.
He will carry me!
He will carry me!
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3.

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And even though I feel so lonely,
Like I have never been before.
You never said it would be easy.
But You said You'd see me through the storm.
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Chorus:
And even though I'm walking Through the valley of the shadow,
I will hold tight to the hand of Him Whose love will comfort me.
And when all hope is gone And I've been wounded in the battle,
He is all the strength that I will ever need.
He will carry me!
He will carry me!
He will carry me!

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I posted on this subject back in August on a Sunday in the SON. I believe it will minister to you today or sometime this week. If you are interested, please link to: http://momstransformed.blogspot.com/2008/08/he-will-carry-me.html
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