Cathy's Heart

Today I had the privilege to speak to the MOPS group (Mothers of Preschoolers) that meets at our church. Each year I challenge myself to put together a message based on   the MOPS theme . This year's theme is:   "Developing a Mothering Strategy is somewhat like playing a game ---and this year's theme is appropriately game related.  Have fun being a mom!  Playing games involves being  bold  and taking risks,  loving  those in the game with us and being  sensible  while figuring out what works and what doesn't." I must admit the description made me cringe.  GAMES,  I thought!  Why games?  Those who know me well, know I am not a big game player. But then  I remembered the games I loved to play when I was a little girl.  The game  SORRY  was my all time favorite!  I think it had something to do with having permission to wipe someone off the game board, all the while yelling, ''SORRY!" (See my post...

On Sunday afternoon, May 24, 2010, my family received one of those life-altering phone calls. Our niece, a fun-loving, bright and talented teenager was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The benign tumor was successfully removed the following day. But complications, set backs and a mysterious new inflammatory process in her brain have since taken her down a path much different than she ever dreamed of. This summer, after one of our many visits, I realized her journey has also impacted my life and has allowed me to see the GRACE OF GOD in a whole new light.   Before this summer, I understood the grace of God to mean something undeserved, precious and powerful that God gave to someone in an obscure, intangible and supernatural way. It was something a person could not taste, touch, see or smell. Instead, I believed it was simply a knowing, a sense or an awareness that God's favor rested upon you. I could best identify God's grace with the lyrics of John Newton's precious hymn, Amaz...

Last week, I received an email from an "old" friend. Something she wrote triggered painful memories of the seasons of loneliness I have experienced in my life. Part of her message read:   Hi Cathy, I so much enjoyed watching your slide shows that you sent me!!! I must admit I cried!  It has been a really lonely season here for me recently, and I am praying God will send a friend and some encouragers my way.   My dear friend is a missionary overseas. She and her husband left for the mission field the same week of my wedding nearly thirty years ago. We have stayed in touch via letters, during their visits to the states and, more recently, with email. As our families grew and our schedules filled we connected less and less. But even after all these years, the distance between us and the changes in our lives we still try to keep in touch. And when we do, we always find that the bonds of our friendship remain strong and intact.   After I answered her email,  I though...

" Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations  and settle in their desolate cities. " For years, this passage in Isaiah 54 has spoken to my heart. And, on a small scale, I have witnessed it come to pass in my own life. I went from a frightened twenty-year-old girl told by doctors that I might never have children to becoming the mother of four, to a spiritual mom to dozens, to a mother-in-law to two and a Grammy to five. But this past year,  I found its fulfillment in an unlikely way  after my husband and I downsized and moved into a much smaller house but one that put us into a neighborhood  which has expanded my vision, stretched my heart, and increased my love.   It all began three years ago, after my hubby and I sold our family home because it felt huge and empty as one by one our ch...