Celia The Great!

I can't imagine my life without a few key characters!  God has blessed me with a few, select heart buddies!  Pulling out the Lord of the Rings symbolism, I have a Sam!!  Not everyone has a "Sam" in their life but it seems that everyone needs one.  Sam is a faithful & true friend.  He watches where you step when you are climbing to the top.  He speaks truth when no one else will or can.  Sam goes with you where ever and cries when he "can't go where I can't follow"!  Thinking of that scene and line in the movie makes me want to cry!! Not only do I have a Sam but I have a Legolas, Gandolf, Merry, Pippin and many others.  For the last few months I have been trying to identify more with other characters than with Frodo....but for now the Frodo analogy is helping make my point!  I am not a professional writer, professional anything really!  So grace is much needed and appreciated when reading my blog.  I misspell, (soo funny, I just spell checked and I mispelled misspell!2 s's not 1 I guess), I use incorrect grammar and have also been known to change subjects at anytime- sometimes I do that intentionally and with purpose to get the attention off of me and sometimes I do it because my head starts to spin and completing a thought or sentence seems almost impossible!!
OK here comes the point of the title- "Celia the Great".  Celia has been a constant, stable and Godly woman in my life for 17 years now.  In May of 1998 she gave me my first copy of "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers.  When I first tried to read this book I thought very little of it.  To be honest, it went way over my head.  It ended on my book shelf and sat for years and years......8 to be exact!  It was in 2006, when the bottom was falling out in my life and I was desperately searching for wisdom, answers and help by searching my books (including my Bible) that I returned to my dusty bookshelf.  The bookshelf wasn't as dusty as you might imagine because by then I had moved 5 times but this book always made it into a box!! So today, January 4, 2012 I woke to read my now 4 morning books.  I underline and mark different parts each day of each year as I feel led.  I do this with my Bibles as well.  I highly recommend it because it is a great way to journal without journaling.  Sometimes when I am reading I will see how I marked a certain verse with a certain date and quickly my mind will reflect back to that time in my life and not only can I usually recall external things but internal as well. Here is an excerpt from today's reading...."There are times when you can't understand why you cannot do what you want to do.  When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don't fill it with busyness, just WAIT.  The time of waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification- to be set apart from sin and made holy- or it may come after the process of sanctification has begun to teach you what service means.  Never run before God gives you His direction.  If you have the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding.  Whenever there is doubt- wait."  Someone asked me last week if I had heard from Cabella's.  I interviewed for a job there about a month ago as they are opening a new store here in spring.  No, I haven't heard from them and yes, I could call them and check in but I have doubt.  Is that where I should work?  Is that where I want to work?  Why aren't they and all the other jobs I applied for, calling me?  Why???  I don't know... I have doubt so I will wait.  That was my answer to the second question they asked.  "What is God saying to you?"  With all the wonders that verbal processing provides... I said "to wait!!!".  I'm not a waiter, but a doer!! Yet this is a season of waiting for me.  I now know that but 3 months ago that was not so obvious to me.  I was confused, hurt and sometimes even bitter that jobs, relationships, & LIFE were not working out at all! There were times when there was absolutly nothing to "do" but wait & pray.  Those two go hand and hand!
This is getting really long and I still have so much to process:-)  Another selfish reason I am blogging other than to process is for prayer.  I have some wonderfully faithful women of prayer in my life.  Women that I know have been consistently praying for me for years and years.  There is tremendous power in prayer and indeed the prayer of a righteous man(or woman) is powerful and effective, referring to James 5:16.  Women that I know are reading this and therefore have more insight into how to be praying for me and for my boys! I need all the prayer I can get!! So back to Celia... love her!  She is a prayer warrior!  She is my friend.  She is a gift from God.  She is a blessing.  She has influenced my life and walk with Jesus in unspeakable ways.  Celia the Great has provided a much needed place to rest and recharge in the beautiful mountains of Colorado!!  Celia has been an agent of change in my life by giving me this wonderful book.  Celia took the time to write in and date this book when she gave it to me, May 29,1998 saying "This book has meant alot to me through the years, bringing me ever closer to Jesus.  I hope it blesses you. Love, Celia"  I LOVE you Celia!!  Thank you for caring for me and the wellfare of my soul!  Thank you for being a faithful follower of Jesus!!!
Last week, a friend sent me an email and signed it, "trying not to be to insane"!  I LOVED that!  I thought I was the only one who signed off on letters (emails now a days) by some personal senitment of where I was spiritually or personally.  Like "in the valley" or "in the desert"- that's how I used to end emails but stopped doing that cause sometimes I, like he said, try not to be too insane!  But 2 Corinthians 5:13 reminds me that others may think I am crazy or insane but my purpose is to bring glory to God so sometimes what others think is of no importance!! Last week at CR, Celebrate Recovery, I led on the topic of sanity/insanity so I have been thinking and feeling much on this topic for weeks!  More on this subject some other time.... I am off to meet a new friend for lunch!!  Thanks for listening (reading) & praying, if you so choose!  I haven't spoken with anyone today except my boys and Jesus and life is really not LIFE without relationships, LOVE and community!!
I just remembered that I forgot to add the very insighful observation my 12 year old, whom my dr. just told me yesterday was statisically the tallest 12 year old boy (he is 5'8 now-I think grew 2 inches in 2 months)!  Evan "River" said we are all Frodo!  We are all the main character in our own lives but that doesn't mean we don't play a supporting role in the lives of others.  I have a "Sam" but that doesn't mean I can't be a Sam or Legolas in someone else's movie of a life!  That thought encouraged me to really think outside myself.  This life isn't all about me!!  And I don't really live in the shire but sometimes I can pretend!!