Keeping Our Heads Above Water - Chapter 20

 February 29, 2016


So there's this song that keeps popping up in my i-Tunes lately....

So when you're on your knees and answers seem so far away
You're not alone, stop holding on and just be held
Your world's not falling apart, it's falling into place
I'm on the throne, stop holding on and just be held
Just be held, just be held

I've been on my knees a lot over the past two months.  And when I open the muddy front door that won't lock anymore and is being held shut by a concrete block.....and I see Dumpster #6 making itself at home in my front driveway.....and I need a ladder to reach the refrigerator in my kitchen......and....and...

Life hits you out of nowhere

And barely leaves you holding on

And when you're tired of fighting

Chained by your control

There's freedom in surrender

Lay it down (Liz) and let it go.

.....and when I lay it all down.....when I read these words inside my wall and believe them....

...right smack in the middle of my living room holding my foundation up, it says "Don't be afraid, Chuck and Liz (yes...it actually names us!)....for I am with YOU ".....I know....I absolutely, completely and without a single ounce of Liz-doubt, KNOW..... that He means it.

And when the song came to this verse,

And not a tear is wasted

In time, you'll understand

I'm painting beauty with the ashes

Your life is in My hands

....I look up and see the fog rolling in on the lake from our temporary home......I grab Mom's old woolly socks she always wore during her last year on this earth....and run to the edge of the dock.  I get there just in time to see the birds in their V-formation telling me Spring is right around the corner.  It's a promise....a guarantee.....Spring WILL come.....and He has made us stronger now because of this winter storm.....

Lift your hands, lift your eyes

In the storm is where you'll find Me

And where you are, I'll hold your heart

I'll hold your heart

Come to Me, find your rest

In the arms of the God who won't let go

And our hearts are held tight by His right hand.

Keeping Our Heads Above Water - Chapter 19

February 24, 2016

"There can be unwavering peace today 

when an uncertain tomorrow is trusted to an unchanging God."

 We felt that unwavering peace as we sat in a church three days before one chapter ended and a new one began in our lives, celebrating Christ's birth with our family.  A family that included a son, a daughter, grandchildren, in-laws, ex's from previous chapters of our lives....FAMILY.  We lit each other's candles as we stood together in unwavering belief in the One who raises the winds and lifts the waves and we broke bread and shared His blood with each other that warm Christmas Eve night.

And we shared a warm Christmas morning, barefoot, with close friends on the very deck that two days later would be underwater....and we broke bread yet again in celebration of a birth.

"When God raises the winds and lifts the waves — 

you can always trust His hand to lift you higher — further up into Himself."

 

 And the clouds darkened....and the waves lifted.  The rains never gave up.....they just kept falling...almost like Heaven sobbing for this wicked world below.

"And we felt the strange silence of the encroaching crisis"

"In every storm — Your Father gives you a life preserver — and it is always His Son."

 The very same Son we had just celebrated three days earlier.....three days....the same amount of time He lay in the tomb.

 "And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, 

but it did not fall, because it had been founded on that Rock." (Matthew 7:25)

"In every great crisis – let it bring out the greatness of Christ in you. Real prayer always has eyes on Christ, not the crisis."
 

Keeping Our Heads Above Water - Chapter 18

February 14, 2016

THIS. WEEK. ROCKED.

PERIOD.

I feel we turned a corner.....maybe more like a U-turn.....and are headed back in the right direction.

The van and the Jeep actually have flood insurance coverage and have been adjusted and will be heading into the shop tomorrow to be repaired.  HALLELUJAH!!!  We finally found something we had insurance for. 

The golf cart is fixed and was returned to us by Last Chance Don on Friday and we now have transportation for Chuck to be able to move around the yard without getting his wheelchair stuck.....and stuck.....and stuck again.  Our friend and neighbor Larry was tired of retrieving him out of the mud with his tractor.....~Heavy Sigh~

The boathouse kitchen's chunk of mold called our cabinets and walls, were taken out this week by a hazmat team (LOL) and is now a shell ready to be cleaned up, bleached and repaired.  YEA!

The lobster, crab, craw fish...whatever the heck that nasty thing I found on my windowsill was....has been removed and is no longer residing in my living room.

A new washing machine was purchased and installed....still Merlot colored.....and ON SALE!

And I'm sitting here on a beautiful Valentines Day with my sweetheart.....chocolate covered strawberries in our mouths that he surprised me with after making them himself.....feeling PEACEFUL.  Yes....Peaceful.

I had forgotten what that felt like.

And I have a favor to ask of you.  

My amazing brother-in-law, Doug, texted me this morning with a wonderful thought......He said as he drove to church this morning, it came to him that we had the unique opportunity to write our favorite scriptures on the studs and foundation beams of our re-established house. I was blown away by this thought.....and the vision in my mind of favorite protective Bible verses surrounding us for the rest of our lives in this house.....well, it just made the hairs on my arm stand up (of which I have too many!)

So.......this is where YOU come in.  In addition to our own favorites, I would love to include YOUR favorite scripture....you know, that "go-to" scripture that provides peace and protection to you when you need it most, on the studs of this great house of ours.  If you'd like to drive over, pick a stud, and write it yourself, that's even better!  But give great thought to this if you're willing to do it.....and I'll put your name next to it so we'll always know it was yours.  I want this house to have a hedge of protection with scripture surrounding it on all four corners....and every time I look at that soon-to-be  sheet rocked wall, I will remember the blessing you selected especially for us.   What a brilliant idea, Doug!

Open that Bible up, friends, and find me that scripture.  I'm dying to see what you come up with and can't wait to start writing it on the studs and beams of our home......

Keeping Our Heads Above Water - Chapter 17

 February 9, 2016

Last. Week. Sucked. 

Period.

And if you were one of the many who unfortunately asked me how things were going with the Flood.. ...well.....I apologize for being only too eager to tell you.

~ I told you how our handicap van's electric ramp door hasn't worked since the flood waters entered it over a month ago......

~ I told you how the Workhorse Golf Cart hasn't worked since flood waters covered its engine and rendered it useless and is currently in the repair shop of a dude called "Last Chance Don"....

~ I told you how our boathouse kitchen, where we fix pancakes on summer Saturday mornings for family and neighbors, is one great big chunk of mold and has to be totally ripped out....

~ I told you how the two feet of water in the garage caused metal signs to fall over and damage the side of my Jeep.......

~ I told you how our contractors found what looked like a petrified monster lobster (actually, a crab) under our house while working and drew straws to see who got to eat him....

But the last straw.....the very last straw...was Friday when the washing machine repairman made his way around the dumpster, through the garage doors (that also aren't working, BTW), into my laundry room where my beautiful merlot colored washer sat lifeless.  The diagnosis:  $998.00. 

And then I got MAD.

Mad that everything we owned was either broke, drowned, wet or molded.  Everything.  So I headed to the boathouse to slam a few doors.  After the 5th slam of the boathouse door, I tripped and fell....rolled....and stopped just short of falling into the lake.

And as I lay there on the dirt covered, mold infested boat dock, hanging on for dear life, I started laughing.  Like....REALLY laughing.  Like...."You're-an-idiot-Liz" type laughing.

And that's when I knew God had a very warped sense of humor.......

GROWING SEEDS: "Perseverence"

 A few years ago, Chuck and I were at our weekly appointment at the Wound Care Center in Mt. Pleasant eating hospital popcorn waiting on the doctor.  I was passing time lookingi through olod photos on myh phone when I came across a quote I had saved years before:

"By PERSEVERENCE, the snail reached the ark."

C.H. Spurgeon

I read it to Chuck as he was laying on the examining table....and, between chomps on popcorn, asked him what this meant to him.  This was his reply:

"No matter how he (snail) is feeling or how slow he's moving, 

he was constantly moing towards the Ark.  

Imagine how he must have felt as the antelope ran by and he was left in the dust.....

but he kept on keeping on....the way we all must do....No-Matter-What."  

Chuck Etheridge

I leaned down and kissed this man....who most days, feels like the snail.  The world racing all around him at break-neck speed, where he was often left behind, unable to move as fast as the rest of the world.

Chuck had found God in the hardships....in the pain....in the FLOODS....in the wheelchairs of this life he lived because of his amazing Perseverence.

Websters defines Perseverance as:

"steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success."

It's Perseverence that picks us up off the ground when we have been knocked down by the dark times on our journey through this world.  

Not only was it by perseverance that the snail made it to the Ark in time, but he had a Cheerleader on the sidelines telling him,

"Don't be afraid; for I am with you.

Don't be discouraged, for I am YOUR God.

I will STRENGTHEN you and HELP you.

I will hold you up with my victorious right hand."

Isaiah 41:10

.....and the snail made it.....just before they closed the door.

Keeping Our Heads Above Water - Chapter 16

 February 1, 2016

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen.......but on what is unseen."

When your house floods from a 350-year flood after you've only been there 14 years, you discover a lot of things.

You discover that without a soundly built foundation....you know....that part of your house that is "unseen"....you have to refocus where you look.  It's funny....you walk into our home right this very second...and everything two feet up to the 12' ceiling, looks perfectly normal.  Curtains still hang on the windows....pictures are still on the walls.....the kitchen is still as it was that dark night and I "think" there's still dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

But when you let your eyes drift downward, you see DIRT.  The underside of our home that no one, including me, ever sees.  You see the thing that is the most important.

The Foundation.

And I've discovered that a large part of my life has been focused on the stuff ABOVE the foundation.....the nicknack's, the sofa's, the TV's, the memories on the wall....replaceable stuff.

It's all useless clutter....and ultimately.....means nothing. 

I've learned that my house....and my life...will crumble without a solid foundation.  Our home is getting a brand new foundation built right now....the way it should have been built the first time.  And this girl talking to you right now....well, she hasn't always had a solid foundation in her life....her foundation had a lot of rot going on in it for years.  But she will tell you without-a-single-doubt.....that her Foundation is now God....and He is secure, solidly built and will never crumble and fail.

AND.....He offers a lifetime warranty.

Keeping Our Heads Above Water - Chapter 15

January 26, 2016


Someone asked me a few days ago if I was angry at the lake for turning our lives upside down these past four weeks.

I found it such an odd question....of all the places to be angry, the lake is not one of them.  How could you be angry at something that looks like this each morning at sunrise?

It's been a month.  A long month.  Like a 4-year month.

And we most likely have many more 4-year months to go before life becomes normal again.  But like I've said a hundred times, I feel God working GOOD through it all.  I'm dead serious folks.....these are not just words to make me feel better.

Sometimes, I fear I sound like Pollyanna to you....."Life is GOOOOD"...."I NEVER melt down"....."I'm LOVIN' this experience"...when in reality, this experience sucks and is one of the hardest things Chuck and I have had to go through in all the years of our marriage. 

Yes.  Life is HARD.....I DO melt down and I am HOMESICK.  I'd much prefer you see me as Lara Croft....shooting out bad and fear and evil around each corner....reloading....and then having a good cry.  Yep...that's what Lara would do!

But in the middle of ugly.......I see this.....

......the top of a precious baby's head while we sing in church on Sunday....

......my ROCK STAR friend Jewell who has reached the ripe young age of 109 who talked my ear off yesterday about how cool her Uncle Cliff was when she was 8......

......and our new friend Kelly from Majors Medical who drove two hours yesterday to fix Chuck's wheelchair that shorted out from the rising water in our bedroom that Monday 4 long weeks ago.

....and all I can see is BEAUTY in this STORM we are in the eye of.  Beauty everywhere.

I just have to look UP.

Keeping Our Heads Above Water - Chapter 14

 January 21, 2016

Ugly Beautiful.

I heard this phrase from one of my favorite writers, Ann Voskamp, several years ago.  "Ugly Beautiful".  I've never forgotten that. It's all about us not changing WHAT we see....only the WAY we see.

A week ago today, FEMA showed up at whats left of our house.  The Water District manager had given me wonderful news earlier in the week that it looked VERY good that FEMA was going to help everyone on the lake financially with their flood repairs.  He sounded so sure when he stood next to the FEMA dude and said it once again in my kitchen this day last week.  The help would have covered almost 1/2 of our out-of-pocket repair costs.

I tried not to get my hopes up......I know how these things can go.

And in a crowded Water District Meeting room on Tuesday night, this same man said, "Sorry, no FEMA help is coming." I felt immediately ill as I sat in this filled-to-capacity room of upset homeowners.  Had I been able to weave through the standing room only people, I would have gone outside and thrown up.  It was like reliving the flood all over again.  Every nerve-ending in my body was standing up electrocuting my insides.

I had gotten my hopes up.

Life Goes On.......Ugly Beautiful.

And so for today, I CHOOSE to focus on the beautiful.  The beautiful friends who dressed up in crazy PJ Onesies and pigtails and wigs and Mardi Gras beads for an elegant candlelight dinner they had prepared for us cause they knew we needed beautiful among our ugly right now.

And the Beautiful they showered on us...

And the Beautiful man God entrusted in my care as he struggles with infection, weakness and weight- loss smack in the middle of all the ugly.

 And dumpster man named Raymond who let me run the dumpster controls on his truck just to add a little "beauty" into my life.....

 And the Beauty I see here, at the Dump, cause the ugly part of our house is now HERE and not THERE and someday will be beautiful once again....

The beauty of the Wonder Woman bracelet my friend "loaned" me for such a time as this.....cause it helps to repel the ugly of this chapter in our lives.....

And the Beauty of our church......which is more than a building....it is a place where Ugly isn't allowed....a "safe" place of peace to come and be thankful...grateful.....and filled full.

 Ugly Beautiful.  It's all about us not changing WHAT we see....only the WAY we see.