Mae Allen and Julie

Today, I stop all things to share a bit about from my sister, Julie Mad-Bondo and her mom, Mae Allen. Today, we are all pause to celebrate Mae Allen and her going. I met this family a few years ago and was thrilled and awed at the story of how they came to be. You see, Mae Allen shared how as a young woman she went to Africa as a missionary nurse. Now, what many people did not know was that she turned down a proposal by a young man because she would not let anything hinder her calling. She went to Africa and during her time there; adopted a beautiful baby girl, Julie.

Who would know what was in store for them? Well many years pass and many lives saved for Christ. We come to a few years back. Mom, fell and was in hospital. Julie was in Africa helping another sister in Christ with the unexpected passing of her husband a true man of God. Can I tell you how the troops rallied to be in mom's hospital room to take care of her and to support Julie and Cyrus and they ministered to others. When Julie returned I watched her care for her mother with such loving kindness. The gift that she had been given by her mother was being returned to her mom in spades. The bible tells us to "honor thy mother and father," Boy, did she do just that. The love and dedication that Julie gave to mom during this time was beautiful to watch.

If you know this family, you would know how much Mom loved Julie. Her eyes always lit up when Julie entered the room and she would have a soft smile on her face when she talked to her. Julie, struggled with whether she was always doing the right thing for mom or not, whether she was doing enough, she struggled with the balance of her taking care of her family and mom also but she was diligent to a fault. Mom's mantra has been to take care of others, to bring others to Christ. I believe it lives on in Julie, I have seen this mantle taken on by her and know that it will continue on.

One single woman, missionary nurse and one little baby girl have changed so many lives. What is God asking you to do in your life to change others and bring them to Christ? I have been fortunate to know and be a part of this family and even to ask mom to share with some young women. May we look at each day carefully and choose to change someone's life for the better.

In Honor of Mae Allen......Julie's mom!

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times".........when Charles Dickens wrote these words in the Tale of two cities, he did not realize how many time they would be repeated over the years. After celebrating eighteen years of marriage I can truly say these words about Jeff's and I's time together. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Today I look back over those years and I know that I am truly living a fairy tales. Does that mean that it is all flowers. It has required lots of hard work and dedication. We also give thanks to our Heavenly Father who has been the center of our life together. As we set up our little one bedroom apartment in Miami, I am reminded of our early days to together. We have left our family home, and are on our own. We have started this new journey and God is and has already been moving. He is showing off and we able to boast about Him in all things.

Next Chapter

On Friday morning, sitting in the school's yard praying; after dropping Jeff off at work. I am looking at the students arrive and parents leave for the day and begin to reflect on the days we were also dropping off our kids to school and leaving for the day, or all of us arriving together and beginning the school day together because we were also teachers at that specific school. Those days have changed, we are now in another city than our kids. We are what has been deemed empty nesters and like I have told Audra, our daughter on a number of occasions recently we are all learning to grow up and be adults.
This next chapter, is one of excitement, trepidation, longing, fulfillment, anxious thoughts, proud moments, too many feelings to begin to articulate. We, officially began this leg of bobbing weaving 33 days ago and we trekked 920 miles from Virginia to Florida. Now, as I sat in that school yard, so much has changed we are no longer dropping our daughter to school. She is now entering a school, to work along with a seasoned teacher, as part of her degree program. She and her father both are in the process of instilling truth into young minds.

One can never fully imagine the day, that you leave them to their own devices and pray that all that you have tried to instill takes effect. She is noticing things about the house now. For instance, last week, she called and said; "Mommy, I can't believe it, someone has put another satellite dish in our yard. Can you believe the audacity of people."  I said, "really, are you sure?" She said, "yes, there are two in the yard, DirecTV and Wildblue." I begin laughing inside and then I said, " Audra, those are ours and they have been there for three years." And then it hits me, how good children have it, and the realization that they really don't take notice of things around them. She said, "It was never any concern of mine, aren't you glad I am noticing now?" I said, "Yes, my darling......"

How many times, have we not taken notice of what the Father has done or is doing for us. We take it for granted that it will be done. Let's not ever forget,  "God sent his Son into the world. God did not send his Son to judge the world guilty. God sent his Son so that the world could be saved through his Son."
As we move to this next chapter, we are ready and prepared to partner with God to save the world........what does your net chapter hold?

Bobbing and Weaving!

As I talked with my father today and recall previous conversations to others my mind thinks about bobbing and weaving. Many people have been looking in on our lives; that is my husband's and I life and believed that we have been bobbing and weaving. What does this mean exactly? Well, it means wandering aimlessly, changing courses without a specific destination in mind; it could also look like someone going and going and just unsure.

The beautiful thing, is that once someone sits down and really looks or takes the time to connect they become fully aware of our destination. That what looks like bobbing weaving to them is really a following after what God has ordained in our lives. It is a time of preparation for the tasks that are to come. It's a recovery time after completing an assignment. I characterized our lives after trusting Christ as a couple as a roller coaster ride. Why? Because we gave god the reigns, we said to Him, "Your will be done" and we did not consider this place our home.

Our journey has been one of learning to trust God, implicitly. When we choose to follow his leading and go to University, leaving our jobs to study the scriptures; we had to believe that he would take care of our family. That He would provide, care for us. And He Did! His word tells us that He can and will do "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us," this blew me away because I always thought that my thoughts were always abundant. My sister, Yvette, says that I have the robin Leach's dreams, "champagne wishes and caviar dreams."

I smile, because she is right but also wrong! My thoughts and dreams are abundant because I know who my Father who is!! I know what He has done and is doing in my life. That, He is Creator God! I am convinced that "I AM' has and is ordaining our steps........We are in Miami now and looking forward to the work He has for us here!!

From the land of the lost.........

It has been a while since I have posted to this blog. My life has been busy and crazy and filled with so many things. Since I was last here my daughter has graduated from high school, she is now a sophomore in college, my son is in the Bahamas and my beloved husband has finished Seminary and he and I have moved to Florida. He has began a Bible teaching job at a school and I am following a dream to pursue my writing and speaking calling! Changes! we have had so many of them over the years and we have allowed God to lead us to places and paths we would not have taken on our own. I intend to share some of those times and also the present happenings here. I pray that as you follow these musings that you will be moved to follow after Christ, to seek his face, to take his hand and to trust his heart. As a wife and mother, I have sought to put my family first and to follow after God's heart. For a strong woman that looked extremely difficult especially when it came to submitting to my husband. I had no true picture of what this looked like and, the messages I was receiving were not appealing. I had to return to the scriptures and I found what I needed in 1 Peter 2 and 3; where we learned that Christ was our example. Each day I choose to commit to the truths of these scriptures believing that Jesus Christ took so much for me. I will say that my husband's heart enabled me to do the right thing because he also honored the scriptures by loving me as Christ loved the church. Although, there were times where this did not seem so and then I had to look to God and ultimately submit to Him as my head. I encourage each of you wives to follow after God with all your heart and mind....He will care for you!