Lookin’ to the Hills

Posted: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: 2k6 | Tags: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Psalms 121

1.  I lift up my eyes up to the hills – where does my help come from?

2.  My help comes from the Lord.

The kids were attending church with me on a regular basis.  More and more kids became part of my life.  We had sleepovers, watched football games, pick-up street games, etc.  The youth group had officially started at Commonwealth…with Sunday night gatherings, retreats and lock-ins.  Neighbors were starting to call the house “Miss Marti’s House”….and it has stuck.

A women’s small group from my church was meeting at my house several times a month.  I was still regularly meeting with the Lord through reading and studying the Word and prayer….or at least I started off that way.

Not all was great.  I was accepted…by most, but not all.  In some cases, it was clear that I was not welcomed, as a professional white single woman.  The adults didn’t trust me.  Many didn’t understand why I moved in and why I was letting the kids run in and out of the house.  Some didn’t understand WHY in the world would the kids WANT to hang out.  It wasn’t me…it was the “God in Me”… the LOVE and PEACE they felt when they were in my home.  In the presence of the Lord.

Side note:  When I was younger, I used to DREAM of having a houseful of kids….and that we would have the “cool house” where all the kids would want to hang out.  What little did I know…that God would bring that dream true!  What I didn’t expect was that the kids wouldn’t be mine nor…would they be black!

My success at work and my sphere of influence had increased.  I often wondered why God called me to work among some of the wealthiest, and live among what some would call the ‘least of these’.  There was diversity in skin color, but also in education and socioeconomic status.  My two worlds were as divergent as you could get.  I began to wonder what God was up to.  At what point would these 2 paths cross?

Challenges were not just in the community, but they also came at work, where I faced an employee relations situation alleging that I created a hostile work environment based on race…because I talked about my kids.  It was unfounded.

As I reflect on this situation, I realize that Satan will go ALL out, when you ‘sell out’ totally to the Lord.  Satan will only mess with those who he sees as a threat…..because they are in the will of God.  This was simply a distraction.

I also have come to realize….in retrospect…that I must not have been reading and praying like I had done previously.  Let’s just say that my journals are a bit light.  But…I finally figured it out…

I knew where to go.  I went to the Lord.  My help….my strength….it cometh from the Lord.

This little light of mine…

Posted: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: 2k6 | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

I’m gonna let it shine!

2006 starts off to be a good year.  I became more and more engrossed in my community. It was a time of building relationships…and just living. My neighbors were now my friends…having cook-outs, walking, community civic meetings, etc.  I was now officially ‘Miss Marti’ and the neighborhood kids were now ‘Miss Marti’s Kids’.  It became quite normal to have a bunch of middle and high school boys coming in and out of the house. God had called me to this community…to live…and to love.  Nothing more.

I was encouraged.  The Wall of Crosses have been used more than once.  Shortly after Kevin’s visit, I moved the crosses (begrudgingly) from the front room in the house to my den at the back of the house.  All because I hung a candelabra that would block the view.  On the day of our joint cookout Memorial Day 2006, Nichelle, my next door neighbor, shared with me that her friend wanted to meet me.  I was like “Why does he want to meet me?  He wants to meet the crazy white woman on the corner?”

Come to find out, he had driven down Barton Avenue one evening…in need of a lift, when he looked in my breakfast nook windows and saw my Wall of Crosses in my den….on the other side of the house.  The corner lot has been such a blessing!!!  He stated that the crosses brought him peace and comfort in a time of need.  Now, some would be totally freaked that someone was looking in their house.  Me?  I was thrilled!!  I was wowed at God’s goodness.

I had begrudgingly moved the crosses…grumbling as I put each nail in the wall…due to a stupid candelabra…only to find out that God had something else in store.  Before, you had to come IN my house to see the Crosses.  Now, you could see them OUTside while walking or driving down the road.  That very day, I set my light timer in my den to come on at sunset and to cut off at sunrise, allowing the crosses to be seen 24 hours a day, every day.

It reminds me….how people look at me on the OUTside…they don’t need to look at the INside.  I have some family, friends, neighbors, colleagues who don’t know me up close and personal.  Who don’t necessarily know my heart, because they only see me on the outside.  But…does my outside shine brightly?  Doesn’t that sometimes speak louder than any words?  Is my timer set to shine in the darkness and light the way to the cross?

I pray that my Wall of Crosses…and my life…my home…bring Peace to Southern Barton Heights.  That my life shines BRIGHTLY and points to the Cross.

The Chair

Posted: Sunday, February 21, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: 2k5 and before, Louis and Me! | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Chair

Psalms 119

1.  Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Hold on?  What does ‘hold on’ mean in your spiritual life?  For your safety….hold on means…reading the Bible, praying, and surrounding yourself with people who are going to love, support and hold you accountable.  I knew I was going to need to ‘hold on’ when the neighborhood kids descended on my new home the FIRST weekend that I moved in.

Anthony (who quickly elevated me to ‘white mama’ status) was the first kid I met.  From the middle of the intersection……at my ELEVATED CORNER LOT…Anthony and some of his friends (all boys!) were riding their bikes.  Anthony’s first words were ’Howdy Neighbor!  Welcome to the Neighborhood!’  Then….he wanted to know if I had any kids that could come out and play.  He looked completely dejected when I told him that I didn’t.  But, the disappointment didn’t last long, when I shared with him that I could make a ‘mean’ cookie!  When the kids came a’ knockin’ 30 minutes later, I was forced into baking some that night.  It was awesome!  Since that time, many of the neighborhood kids hang at “Miss Marti’s House” causing me to ‘hold on’ more than ever before!  You will hear much more about Miss Marti’s Kids in future posts.  They all totally ROCK!!!

As part of moving into the house where I had so much more room, I wanted a chair…a space….dedicated to reading the Word and spending quiet time with the Lord.  I moved in mid-August and had that space by mid September.  As I began to take my quiet time with the Lord more and more seriously, the Lord was revealing more and more to me…about Him…and about me.  I spent every morning in that chair…sometimes it was just a minute or 2, sometimes it was 30!  Regardless, I knew it had to become a discipline…a habit.  Not just a ‘crash course’ to prepare for my Tuesday Night Bible study.

In December of 2005, I was reading John.  It’s awesome how God works.  We got an early snow.  I went outside to start the car…’to let it warm up’ and was too lazy to go back upstairs to ‘the chair’.  So, I sat downstairs and flipped through another Bible to find where I left off and read John… where Jesus speaks about praying in His name.  The next day…I am pulled to that same verse again.  For the first time…I prayed about my singleness in Jesus name.  I told the Lord…”just throw me a bone…give me a sign.  If you plan on me getting married one day…just throw me a bone.  Let me know you haven’t forgotten about me.”

My friend Riste said….after hearing the rest of this short story… “imagine what He would have done if you had asked for the man…instead of the bone?!??!?”

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