Surgery...AGAIN?

Well, Here we go again. It is official the OR has been booked. Surgery AGAIN.

Jessica is by far the bravest girl I know, I am bias of coarse as her mother but holy wow! This will be number 17 and she is only 15 years old. This time they will be completely removing the shunt from the left side and placing it on the right side. A newer smaller model too! This unfortunately will take place on the 20th of the month and will likely, if there are no complications, get us home on the 24th. Just in time to celebrate Christmas with family. My wonderful sister has offered to have us stay with her on Christmas eve so that my daughter does not have to get up and down to go from our house to hers. It will be nice to spend the extra time with them anyway. This operation requires 2 incisions in the abdomen and both sides of her head shaved and opened. This is one of the more lengthily operation she will have had. I pray that God will guide the surgeons and they will not only be skilled but humble as well, giving credit to the One that makes it all possible, Our Saviour!

Be with us Lord throughout his ordeal and allow us to have contact with other families in the hospital that need you but don't know how to get there. Let us be a positive ambassador for you and Your Kingdom. Your will be done Lord no matter what that may be!

With love and praise,

Leanne

When your good, your blessed!

Well it is no secret that life has been a bit of a challenge for me lately... I own my own business, and if anyone else out there does and you aren't Bill Gates you know how entrepreneurs struggle in the first few years. I wanted to open this business not just so that i could support my family but because i want to reach the teens and young adults in my community that may not know they can be Christians. I wanted them to know that even if you have funky multi-colored hair or wear rock shirts (as long as they aren't of a Satan worshiping band) That God loves you anyway. It is like the song... "Come as you are to worship" I don't think He is so concerned with what you are wearing so much as what you are doing which brings me to my point. Over the last few weeks i have been presented with the opportunity on several occasions to get financial help in a not so legal way. Nothing horrible like robbing someone, just not so honest of a fashion. Well God would not let my morals slip and i have remained firm in my resolve not to get any money in any way that might not glorify God. Since making that affirmation things have been turning around. I have had customers every day where in the week leading to my final decision there was no one. My loan manager told me he was now in a position to approve my loan request, where in the week before my affirmation I was told it could be months before he had the funding to lend. WOW... What a message! If we stand firm in our resolve and stay away from things that do NOT glorify the Lord HE WILL bless us in abundance. Things get hard, trials seem frequent but in the end what is important is that we are faithful to our saviour. Stay firm and don't waive your beliefs or morals and He will provide. It will be hard until He does but maybe, just maybe He is testing to see if we will falter or put all our faith in Him who is our creator.

Praising His glorious name today and forever,

Unexpected Gifts from God!!!

Ever have one of those days, weeks, months.... you know the ones where you aren't sure where the money to feed the family is coming from, there is no gas in the car, no funds in the bank? Well I, (being a single mom and self employed) Have had my fair share of these moments. This week has been no exception. With my daughter falling ill with headaches there have been several trips to Sick Kids to figure out what is wrong. This means lots in gas, paying staff/being closed. And while God has usually provided exactly what i needed when i needed it, this surprise was like no other. All this week God has being showing me His care and without a doubt answer to my prayers. Even though my gas tank had been on empty for a week, MIRACULOUSLY, every time i got in it i had just enough gas left to get me where i was going. In 8th of a tank intervals God was filling my gas tank. I don't know how exactly it kept going but who am i to question a bit of gas from a divine man that can create a waterfall or twinkling star at His mear request. Anyway, by Sunday i have pushed every stitch of everything to the last drop, including my miracle gas. i went to my sisters for Sunday brunch...(thanks by the way) and when i returned home i found an envelope in a bag on my door. I opened it, taking it out of the envelope. It said " Thank-you" on the front. I was thinking who could be thanking me for anything, i have so busy running around i didn't think i had done anything extraordinary enough to warrant a thank-you, let alone a card. When I opened it and read the note that was TYPED inside i fell over and wept. In church earlier that day I had taken my quiet time prior to communion to ask God to please just get me through the next few days, All i needed was enough to get a bit a of gas and some much needed groceries. This is what was typed inside the card...

Leanne,

My beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased.

I've been watching you.

Thank-you for giving of yourself,

when that was almost all you had.

Thank-you for reflecting my love to your friends.

I appreciate you. Keep it up girl.

DAD

Praise the Lord, like the card and encouragment wasn't enough, neatly tucked inside, was exactly enough money to get just what i needed. I am not entirely sure who left it but i do know that God used their extreme generosity to answer my prayers yet again. I am reminded of the scripture Matthew 6:26-27

25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

God is good and so are those He chooses to carry out His answers to prayer. Without them i don't know where i would be right now.

Thank-you who ever you were, for all you have done.

Praising His name,

Leanne

Never more than you can handle...EVER?

As you might remember from earlier posts my daughter has hydrocephalus. In September she underwent a cranio-plasty. When she was 9 she had 2 craniotomies. This is when they remove a section of your skull (about the size of an adults palm) Well one hadn't re attached to the skull. They went in during the cranio-plasty and riveted the skull flap back on. We were only in hospital for about 4 days and sent home. Her poor head by this point looks like a road map.

We had her follow up last week and seemed well. no CT or visits to neurosurgery for about 2 years unless there is an issue. Well after 15 years and 16 brain surgeries i am pretty sure her head just knows that if things are well and she is given the clean bill of health it is time to shake things up again. For 3 days now she has had major headaches and it would seem to me (although i am no neurosurgeon) that the flap they attached is sunk in a bit again. I am not sure how this is possible as it is riveted in place with titanium screws and plates. but i am praying earnestly that it is nothing more than the virus that is going around which does cause headaches. I am not sure, even after all this time how to differentiate between the normal ailments and the life threatening shunt malfunction because the symptoms are the same. I can only pray that God will give us a year or two of normality. He will not give you more than you can handle and i am pretty sure we have both handled more than enough. It is incredibly hard on my son as well as we are away from home and he is made to stay with family... Not really a big deal but there is the worry of your sibling lingering over head it can be difficult. SO lessons in life...
As i was reading In my email study of 2 Corinthians 6 3-10. 3

3We put no stumbling block in anyone's path, so that our ministry will not be
discredited. 4Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in
great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5in beatings,
imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6in purity,
understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love;
7in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in
the right hand and in the left; 8through glory and dishonor, bad report and good
report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9known, yet regarded as unknown;
dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10sorrowful, yet always
rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing
everything.

So while i have my fair share of troubles it is a huge comfort to know that even though these men faced certain death, torture and imprisonment they made it, They are with our Lord and Saviour as i type and I am ever grateful to God for the Word. Stories like theirs make mine seem insignificant. Everything i s possible through Him. I will survive, Life will go on, I will continue to thank God for everyday we are able to be here and are able to praise Him openly. God is Good no matter the circumstance.

Praising His name,

1st LOVE

This past weekend was my second trip to the first love conference in Niagara Falls. It is a women only event (with the exception of a few band members and wait staff.) Glorious praise and worship music, Ann Mainse from 100 Huntley street is the hostess and this year Liz Curtis Higgs (author of Bad girls of the bible) SHE WAS HILARIOUS! she was open about her tumultuous past giving everyone hope for the future. The message was FORGIVENESS and GODS UNFAILING GRACE... What a powerful message she gave. 600 women were in attendance and all were laughing and crying in the same instance, it was almost overwhelming. Imagine if you will 600 voices, strong and diligent, praising the name of our Lord in unison. It was moving and rejuvenating. Talk about a revival! If you think that is fabulous what is even better... Women were saved! one of my dearest friends gave her life to Christ one evening and i was blessed enough to bear witness to it. She collapsed into her own hands, sobbing! one of the ladies at our table came and knelt in front of her and prayed... I fell to my knees and prayed with them! She was saved! Praise the Lord for working through women like Liz and Lori Dortano (the praise and worship leader) If you ever get the chance go to this event you should...It will change your life. you can find out information about the first love conferences here. To find a list of Liz's books including Embrace Grace, follow this link. you won't regret it. There is information here about how to get the live video of her Embrace Grace talk that she gave at the conference... what a truly gifted servant she is!

God Bless you and yours,

Leanne

Fishing, doesn't that involve worms?

I was thinking today about this letter from an atheist I read at way of the master. (you should check it out the site is full of wonderful things... http://www.wayofthemaster.com) this is the letter:

Do you consider yourself to be compassionate of other humans? If you're right, as you say you are, and believe that, then how can you sleep at night? When you speak with me you are speaking with someone who you believe is walking directly into eternal damnation into an endless onslaught of horrendous pain which your 'loving' god created, yet you stand by and do nothing.If you believe one bit that thousands every day were falling into an eternal and unreachable fate, you should be running the streets mad with rage at their blindness. That's equivalent to standing on a street corner and watching every person that passes you walk blindly directly into the path of a bus and die, yet you stand idly by and do nothing. You're just twiddling your thumbs, happy in the knowledge that one day that 'walk' signal will shine your way across the road.Think about it. Imagine the horrors Hell must have in store if the bible is true. You're just going to allow that to happen and not care about saving anyone but yourself? If you're right then you're an uncaring, unemotional and purely selfish person that has no right to talk about subjects such as love and caring.

Now I have been keen on the fishing for souls since becoming "saved" myself. In fact my friends often, in humor, refer to me as the reacher of the un-reachable because I have a passion for those who most would figure are beyond help. But this letter stirred some questions in me. Am I doing enough? Am I really trying to reach everyone I can before it is to late? If the end came tomorrow would I be satisfied with my attempts to save those around me or even still would HE be satisfied with me? What could I be doing differently? What is the best way to "FISH"? I don't have all the answers but I do know that you and me alike are called to be fishers! Jesus Himself said "Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers for men." Not Hey you, if you want to further my kingdom go ahead, if not...whatever! He cares and so should we. Not trying to reach the un-saved is the same as saying a big fat NO to God. A great friend of mine says all the time that late obedience is disobedience. So... what are you doing? What bait do you use? Do you reach out to those who need Christs message the most? Are you putting off talking about salvation with others? God said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" I know I am not doing everything I could. That letter disturbed me. I am watching as people I know in my own community are marching into the abyss. they are dying and I am not trying to reach them before they fall! I am reminded of something I read on ex-atheist.com, Our best witness is a life lived for Christ!

Lord, Please strengthen my resolve and give me the courage to talk boldly with others about your precious gift of salvation. When I am unable to speak please let my actions speak for themselves. I pray I will always live a life where others can see your light shine in me!

I found some websites on witnessing, if you need help in deciding when and how to witness to others feel free to check them out, and remember to pray... God is the one with all the answers!

http://www.allaboutgod.com/christian-witnessing.htm

http://www.victorious.org/lifedeat.htm

http://www.wayofthemaster.com/watchwitnessing.shtml#

http://www.ex-atheist.com/challenge-atheism.html

Praising His Name,

Ever just want to say NO?

Do all things with a joyful heart! This is a ruff one for me. I was, up until about 3 years ago
(when God gave me a big old slap in the head), A huge grumbling, chronic complaining, pain in every ones derriere feminist. If the "man" wanted it done he could do it himself and do my bidding at the same time. Oh how naive I was!!! My relationships were not formed on respect or even love but on convenience. I hated doing what I was told and even lashed out at the reverend who married my EX and I for even thinking of using the word "obey" any where near me. I thought of it as slavery and there was no way i was having anything to do with it! In my daily bible study, which i do via email with my sister, We were reading 1 John 5 and the verse was this:

when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

It occurred to me then, that when you love God keeping His commands is easy, because we love Him so much we would do anything he asks of us with a joyful heart. This must then be true for all other loves. If I truly love my family, I will do all the moving and packing and storing they ask of me and I will do it gladly without complaint because I love them, If I truly love my husband (hypothetical, God hasn't reveled that to me yet) I would want to do all the things he needed me to because I loved him. What an epiphany! If I could just Love my neighbour as God REQUIRES me too, man... I could be helping so many people. instead of saying, I just want to say NO for a change, why can't they get someone else to do it. I could be feeling fulfilled and joyful because I was doing something for someone I loved instead of feeling resentful and tired. Not to mention I will be doing what God asks me to do and that is the most important by far. Do all things through love and feel great about it. So the next time you are wishing you could just say NO do it yourself, remember to be thankful you have people who love you enough to ask for your help, and love them enough in return to do it with a glad heart!
A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

With love in Christ,

hard times and help...

~ If there is one thing I have learned over the last few years since having become a Christian, it is that being "saved" does not in any way,shape or form mean that your life will be nothing but lollipops and roses. Bad things still happen. in some cases horrible things still happen. There is one key difference however. Once you are saved and have the understanding and love of our Saviour and God the big stuff seems smaller. Take today for example. My bills are piling up, I have to find a home for my puppy because we can't keep her, my parents are about to leave for their new home out west, I am having trouble with a friend who is trying to lead me astray and my children have decided that I am unfair and they hate me (which is an every other day occurrence when you have teens, well my teens anyway) but you know what? God loves me, He has always provided and helped me keep my sanity and if I keep myself focused on Him and not me and my issues the issues get smaller and smaller until they are gone. That is the miracle of having a personal relationship with God. He doesn't say come to me and I will make sure you never suffer again. He says come to me and you won't have to go it alone. He has my back and I have His. What an awesome God we have! It is a misconception that God will take everything that is bad or wrong or hurtful and you will never struggle again but boy oh boy i can't imagine having to have a day like today without God by my side. How did i ever live with out the knowledge of Him i will never know!

Hope your day is as blessed by His presence as mine!

The Black Sheep! Oh how times have changed!

~ Unless you were raised under a rock most of us at one time or another have felt like a black sheep in society. Not quite like the others, or maybe a little on the baaaaad side. (pardon the pun) If you are anything like me you would have gone through the wild and crazy stereo-typical teen years. I was most definitely the black sheep. Life was not good, I did not feel blessed, I was alone (aside that is from the many friends I had that were also going down the big wide path to a fiery demise) I felt like life hated me, like God hated me. I wasn't a believer and most definitely wasn't saved, however (in hind sight) I realize now that even when I was the worst of sinners God had a plan for me, He was watching out for me even when I denied Him. Once God starts a work in you He will finish! What a blessing that is. All those times when I could have been killed, when my daughter had major brain surgery and should have died but lived, when I narrowly escaped really bad situation after bad situation... All of this was God's work. He new me before I was formed and His plan all along has been for me to be His. One of the flock, once lost, found and saved by grace! Because of my devious past I really feel strongly about witnessing to teens and young adults who are traipsing down the road to ruin. I was fortunate enough to have someone in my life who was relentless in her attempts to pluck me from the fire, I only pray that God will use me in the same way. So, times have really changed and so has my life. God has miraculously changed me from an out of control addict to a self controlled believer, from a rebellious feminist to an obedient follower, from a scared and cowardly atheist to a strong and faithful witness. All things are possible through Him, our Redeemer and Saviour! Praise the Lord for His unfailing, unwavering love for the lost and broken black sheep.

God Bless you and yours,