How my Prayer Walk became my PRAISE!

Since Mothers Day, Arby (my dog) and I have been walking for at least a mile each day.  This has been a great time for me to pray and reconnect with God during the stillness of the morning.  The Lord gave me an assignment to not only cover my family in prayer,  but to extend it to a small group who wanted me to touch and agree with them for something from God.  Each day, even when I don't feel like it, the assignment to pray for others keeps me going.

So this morning was just like all the others....I cooked breakfast, my husband left to take the boys to school and Arby and I began our walk/run.  I always do a slow lap, close to home, just to warm my body up before I begin the jogging portion, which is a little farther from the house.  As we were finishing up the warm-up lap, we were alongside a major street, where cars can travel about 35 mph.  We were walking south, while cars traveled north.  Nothing unusual, right?  NOT!  All of a sudden,  I heard a loud noise.  One of the cars (slightly raggedy) hit a bump in the road and I noticed a cylinder shaped object break loose from under the car.  I thought it was the hubcap coming towards us but it was slightly smaller.   I was trying to decide in this split second, if I should turn around and run, stand still and hope that it would go around me or trudge ahead moving past it.  I FROZE, because I realized that it was traveling diagonally and directly towards us!  As the object hit the curb, it changed trajectory and popped up behind us, finally landed in the grass.  WHAT???!!!!

After my heart left my throat and settled back into my chest, I continued walking and thanking God.  Since I thought that the enemy was trying to discourage me and prevent me from my assignment, I was determined to finish this walk and to pray a little more fervently.  Arby and I entered the jogging phase and before I knew it, the mile was done.  I had completed my mile and I could have gone back to the house, but curiosity was getting the best of me.  I had to go back to the original lap to see if I could find out what that flying object was.  I couldn't see it from the sidewalk, so I had to go up on the next landing to find it.  When I found the object, I took a picture of it but I couldn't stop there.  I had to pick it up and hold it in my hand.  Once I picked it up, I realized that it weighed about 5 lbs.

The 5-lb. disc

My view of the street from where the disc landed. Imagine we're at the cone.

Let's calculate this thing..... a 5-lb disc, traveling at speeds of 35 mph or greater possibly striking me or the dog........where would I be right now?  Not sitting here typing this, that's for sure.  It was at that point that I began shouting out THANKYA  and HALLELUJAH!
My prayers became my praise! 

Now I know what Daddy is talking about when he prays, "Thank you for keeping us from dangers, seen and unseen".  I saw it, but couldn't move out of fear.  But God!  He created a protective shield around Arby and I, preventing any harm from coming to us.  You better believed I skipped back to the house, singing God's praises!!!

What did I learn from this?

1. Don't allow the enemy to take you off of your assignment and course.  (When it happened, my knees were shaking and I could have gone back to the house and just stopped praying.  But I believe that because I stayed and prayed, the names that I called out before God will be blessed today because of MY prayers.)
2. God is a keeper!  (When I don't see Him, He's there! When I don't feel Him, He's there! When it looks like it's the end, God is still right there!  So I must trust and believe that He's going to take care of me.)
3. You can do a praise dance in the middle of the street, with cars passing and a dog on the leash.  ( I don't need an organ, a praise team or a choir....I am the instrument of praise!

Be blessed today and if God places you on assignment, don't be fearful...........walk it out!.............

Mothers....We speak your name and we honor you

As we approach Mother's Day, I am reminded of all the wonderful things that my mother taught me.  I think of how she loved on, fasted for and prayed over me.  I am so grateful!  Though Mommy has been gone 2 years now, I can still hear her words of wisdom.  I can still hear her laugh.  I still see her silly little faces she would make for the camera.  I can still hear her calling out to God to save her family and sometimes just crying when she thought about the goodness of Jesus.  The songs that she wrote are stamped on my heart and I can still see how she would rare back and squal when the song got good to her. And when it got good to her...it was good for everyone else listening. I can still see her shout across the church in her stilettos and leave the choir hanging.  ("Excuse me sister choir director, what are we supposed to sing while you are dancing in the corner?" I'm just sayin'...)  All of that is my Mommy and all of Mommy is in me.  I tell people this often...2 weeks before she transitioned, she was pronouncing the benediction over her own life as she was praying an invocation over mine.  Invoking the spirit of God to rest, rule and reign over my life as I would go forth and do that which He has called me to do.  She was some kind of woman!

So this Mother's day I continue to honor the legacy of a woman who was the bomb.com and I speak her name, Nelda J. Mattison.

I'm reminded of a song performed by Pastor Shirley Caesar, called "No Charge".  As you read the lyrics, I want you to think of that Mother, Grandmother, Step-mother, Auntie, Sister, Godmother, Neighbor, Cousin, or any other mother-figure.  We thank her for not giving up on us, even when we were selfish and self-absorbed. They never charged us for advise, hugs and words of wisdom......all they did was love us...and at no cost.

Here are the lyrics, written by songwriters: Leon Ashley and Margie Singleton.

My sister's little boy came into the kitchen
One evening while she was fixing supper
And he handed her a piece paper
He had been writing on

And after wiping her hands on an apron
She took it in her hands and she read it
And this is what it said

For mowing the yard, five dollars
And for making up my own bed this week, one dollar
For going to the store, fifty cents
And playing with little brother while you went shopping, twenty-five cents

Taking out the trash, one dollar
And for getting a good report card, five dollars
And for raking the yard, two dollars
Total owed, fourteen seventy-five

Well, she looked at him standing there and expecting
And a thousand memories flashed through her mind
So she picked up pen and turned the paper over
And this is what she wrote

For the 9 months I carried you
Growing inside me, no charge

For the nights I sat up with you
Doctored and prayed for you, no charge

For the time and the tears and the costs through the years
There is no charge
When you add it all up the real cost of my love
Is no charge

For the nights filled with dred
And the worries ahead, no charge

For the advice and the knowledge
And the costs of your college, no charge

For the toys, food and clothes
And for wiping your nose there's no charge son
When you add it all up the real cost of my love
Is no charge

When you add it all up the real cost of my love is NO CHARGE! 

NO CHARGE!
NO CHARGE!
NO CHARGE! 

So for every Mother who has sacrificed so that her children could have a different experience and become all that they were purposed to become...

We speak your name and we honor you!
We speak your name and we honor you!

We speak your name and we honor you!

We speak your name and we honor you! 

Now go wish someone a Happy Mommy's Day and walk it out...........