… About Encouraging Scripture Verses #2

Gems of Truth 2 - God Chose You! 

When I was a teenager, I attended youth camp.  I loved being there and enjoyed many of the activities in which we could get involved.  One such activity  was softball.   Everyone who wanted to play lined up and the captains of the teams started picking their team members.  The captains took one look at me and shook their heads.  I was tall and thin and appeared a bit awkward I guess.  One by one the team members were chosen.  I remained the last and went on my team by default. I was assigned left fielder.  When one of the guys on our opponent’s team got up to bat, he took a good look over the whole field and decided to hit the ball to me.  He must have thought the “scrawny” girl in leftfield wasn’t going to catch his ball. But I proved him wrong!  Little did he or anyone else for that matter know that I had been a topnotch ball player on my school’s team back home!  I caught that ball and he was out!   And when it was my turn to bat, I hit a home run.  Boy was the opposite team’s captain sorry he hadn’t chosen me!  

We read in the Scriptures, For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,  (1 Thessalonians 1:4 NIV) and But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.   He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him (1 Corinthians 1:27-29 NIV)

One evening I was watching a video tape on the life of missionary Jim Elliot who was brutally murdered along with four other missionaries by the Auca tribe in Ecuador.  Jim’s wife, Elisabeth, her daughter Valerie, and Rachel Saint, another missionary’s wife remained in Ecuador. In time they led many of the Auca tribe to the Lord.  As I watched the video, I asked the Lord why He had allowed me to be born and live in the United Sates where I heard about Him and His love and why I had not been born in some other country such as Ecuador where no one had heard about Him.  I heard His Spirit whisper to my spirit, “Because I chose you.”

At a camp meeting many years ago I knelt at the altar and told the Lord He could use me any way He saw fit.  I wanted His love to flow in and through me.  Since then I have been amazed at all the ways he has used me - through my hobby of taking pictures of his awesome creation and making them into encouraging photo cards, through speaking engagements and personal contact.

Unlike the camp softball team captains who did not chose me to play, God chooses each of us for His “team.”  He has a special plan and purpose for our lives that no one else can fill.  He loves us and wants us on His “team.”  If you have never opened your heart to the Lord to be chosen by Him, why don’t you do so.  You will be amazed at what he may chose you to do!



 

… About Encouraging Scripture Verses #1

Lela & Kate

On April 25^th, I had the privilege to share some of my favorite Bible verses as Gems of Truth at the Spring Ladies’ Luncheon at my church. The Scriptures are so encouraging; so I decided to share them as a posts on my blog. I trust that you, the reader, will be encouraged too.

Gems of Truth 1 -God takes Delight in you - “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)

One of the joys I have had as a grandmother was rocking my granddaughters and singing to them. I would sing “Jesus Loves Me”, “Oh, How He Loves You and Me”, and other children songs. Just as I took great delight in my grandbabies, how much more God takes delight in us! (Note: the word “great.”) He is might to save. God saves us from sin, from heartache, from worry, from depression and so much more! He will quiet you with his love – Many times when I rocked those tiny, little ones they would be fussing and sometimes crying. But as I gently rocked them and sang softly to them, they closed their eyes and became quiet. There must be times when God wants to quiet us, for us to rest in him and He does so with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing – When we repent of our sins, there is rejoicing in heaven (Luke15.) This is the only Scripture that I know of where God sings. And He does it by rejoicing over you! Wow!


 

... About Father's Day - 2015

Lela getting a hug from her father
while doing a skit at church

Sunday, June 21, 2015 is Father's Day.  It will be my first Father's Day without my father, Marion Lee Walker, Sr.  Daddy passed on to glory on May 31, 2015 at 3:31 pm.  I had taken Mother to church in the morning as I usually do. We had just arrived home from church,  I had just gotten lunch ready for her and had no more said “Amen” to saying grace, when the phone rang. My father’s nurse was on the phone telling us Daddy had taken a turn for the worse and we should come to the nursing home where he resided. My mother and I called my brother and sisters and we all went to the home. Daddy was unresponsive; but we each took several minutes and had a special heart-to-heart talk with him. We sang wonderful hymns until he went to his final reward. I was so glad we were all able to be with him and to have time to say our goodbyes.
 

Lela with her father
in Colorado Springs, CO

I do not grieve for my father. During the last months of his life he had been suffering a lot. It had been so hard to visit him and see him that way. He had certainly lived up to his name - he was indeed a "walker" and loved to walk. He loved numbers and had calculated he had walked thousands of miles in his life time. But his body had been ravaged by a horrible disease. He was only able to take tiny steps and only with a walker.  He had other health issues as well and I wept as I watched Daddy nearing heaven’s shores.  I prayed with him that it wouldn’t be long until he got there and our prayers were answered.  However, I do miss him and will always cherish the special times we had together.

Lela with her father
on Grand Cayman



My first memories of Daddy were when our family lived on the Island of Grand Cayman. As a father, Daddy had to apply disciplinary measures at times. His favorite for “the twins” was to have Lena and I sit facing each other and not say a word. (He loved the hymn Blessed Quietness!) And for the two of us, who loved to run and play and what one didn’t think of doing the other did, having to sit and not talk was a tough order. But not all was negative. I loved going on hikes with Daddy and picking berries. But my all time favorite memory is our hot dog roasts over a campfire. To this day, we still get together as a family – children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, spouses and friends, and enjoy roasting hot dogs. I never eat a roasted hot dog without thinking of Daddy. 

Lela enjoying a hot dog roast with her parents,
her twin sister, Lena and her brother, Lee 

Somewhere along the way, Daddy became my friend. During the past few years, as I took on the role of one of Daddy’s  caregivers, I became very close to Daddy. Daddy and I both love to read and my favorite times with him were when I took him to bookstores. He could browse for hours and I would just sit and read waiting for him. We would go to the Country Buffet to eat. I was very sad when the day came and Daddy could no longer go to the bookstores.  Other times we would go out for supper after a doctor visit.  His favorite meal he ordered was crab cakes.  From now on I'll always think of him when I eat a crab cake. 

Walker Family - 1962 - Salisbury, MD

When I starting my speaking ministry, Daddy was my "biggest fan."  He would come and hear me whenever he could and would say his loud, "Amen!"  He told my sister, Elda that a dream of his had come true, that one of his children was a preacher. He also told her that one of my messages was the best he had ever heard. I was so humbled by his remarks. The last time I spoke at church on June 10th, I missed seeing Daddy there. I believe he is now part of that great cloud of witnesses we are surrounded by that we read about in Hebrews 12.



Lela with her
father - 1970

Lela with her father
 repeating her marriage vows
at Wilbur and Lela's 10th
Wedding Anniversary

I am grateful I had opportunities to thank Daddy for teaching me about God and His love. Daddy had a lot to do in shaping and molding me and I am the person I am today because of the impact Daddy had on my life and for that I am so thankful!



One of Daddy's favorite expressions was, "I find this fascinating..." and then he would share what it was.  The Scriptures tell us, No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.  1 Corinthians 2:9.  I can just picture Daddy walking through heaven and discovering all those things and saying, “I find this fascinating..."



Lela with her father - 1985
20th Reunion on Deal Island

Daddy loved to tell everyone he met, "You are someone special, Jesus loves you!"  Some years ago Daddy had asked my twin sister and I to speak at his Memorial Service.  I said I would; but wondered how I would be able to.  I knew it would be a very emotional time.  I decided to use You are someone special, Jesus loves you as my theme.  Loving the Lord, Jesus as I do, I did not find it difficult at all to share on the day of Daddy's Memorial Service how much Jesus loves everyone.  It is truly a message we need to be sharing with everyone we meet.  Perhaps Daddy has now met someone in heaven with whom he had shared that awesome news.  I find that most fascinating!

Lela with her father at
Lela's College Graduation

The day Daddy passed on the glory, as I said good-bye to my father, my friend, I was his little girl once again.
 
Daddy, I remember the first time we had to be a part.  We had just arrived in the United States from Grand Cayman where we had lived for four years.  I was six years old at the time.  You went to Kentucky to see your family and the rest of us went to Pennsylvania to see Mother's family.  I missed you so much and I cried and cried.  I feel the same right now.  I know I shall see you again some day and we will never be a part again.  I love you!

 

… About Resting



The other day my husband, Wilbur and I were outside working in the yard.  All at once, I heard the chirping of a flock of hundreds of birds.  Looking skyward, I saw the birds descending upon the limbs of the trees surrounding our property.  The birds were flying in unison and landing on the trees in unison.  If there was a leader among them, I could not tell.  But it was obvious that the whole flock was in agreement. It was time to rest.  So rest they did.

“Go get your camera,” Wilbur told me.  "They will be gone shortly!"

So I ran into the house and grabbed my camera.  Once I was outside, I aimed my camera toward the trees and starting shooting.  Wilbur was correct.  Just as quickly as they had landed they were taking off flying north.  I just kept on shooting.  And then they were gone!  The whole event had taken only a few minutes.

A lover of nature, I found this incident most amazing.  Where the birds had come from,   I did not know and where they were going I did not know as well.  But they knew.  They were migrating north now that the long, hard difficult winter was over.  During their trip north, they knew they needed to rest.  As they flew over the trees in our woods, the branches were most inviting; so they took a short break.  But they had not reached their destination. So they were off and on their way in no time at all. 

Just as those birds were making their journey north, so you and I are on a journery though life.  If we have invited Jesus into our heart and life, He is making the journey with us and are destination is heaven.  There may be times when the way becomes hard and difficult and so Jesus says to us - "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

If your journey is not easy, accept Jesus invitation.  Just as that huge flock of birds, rested in our trees; so we can rest in Jesus.  And just as the birds took to flight after they had rested, we too can continue our journey with Christ after we have rested.  I am sure the birds reached their final destination.  They knew where they were going and how to get there.  As we journey with Christ, we are sure to reach our destination of heaven for Jesus knows where we are going and how to get there.

So take a rest every so often along your journey and make haven your final destination! 

... About Retirement

Wilbur and Lela - 2014 - 45th Anniversary

“So Lela, how is your retirement going?” I have heard the question dozens of time since February 2013. At the end of this month, it will be two years since I retired. So far, I would say my retirement years have been the best years of my life! My mother says I am like the Energized Bunny – I just keep right on going and going. I am really enjoying everything I am doing. I know I am truly blessed!

After going through some challenging times as well as some crises, I have been able to develop somewhat of a schedule as to how I spend my time. I look at the schedule as if I were working several part-time jobs devoting much of my time to those “jobs” as follows:

1. Helping Wilbur with his projects has been a lot of fun. I help him mostly with detail work on his wood projects. I have learned to use a lot of his tools – band saw, table saw, miter saw, reciprocating saw, sabre saw, jig saw, blade runner, electric nail gun, electric stapler, drill press, router, roofing nailer, power screw driver, to name just a few. When I see some of this tools, I wonder what I can make. I’m hoping now that I am retired, I’ll be able to make a few wood projects myself. We shall see.

2. Helping Wilburwith some health issues is just part of being his wife. I try to help him all I can. In the spring of 2014 both Wilbur and my father became critically ill and spend time in the hospital. Thanks to God’s intervention, Wilbur made a full recovery and came home. I take him to doctor appointments and keep tabs on his medications. He biggest issue right now is his vision. I try to help him cope with a lot of things we take for granted such as using the telephone and not being able to see the numbers.

3. Helping to care for my parents has given me the opportunity to get to know them better. Shortly into my retirement, it was apparent that they needed help. Mother had not been driving for years and just before I retired Daddy stopped driving. Mother fell in June of 2013 and needed care 24/7. When Daddy had been so sick in 2014, he did recover; but did not get to come home. He now resides in a personal care home. So I am involved in providing transportation to doctor’s offices, etc. After doctor appointments, we usually take them out to eat. Family members take Mother to see Daddy almost every day. Occasionally, I will take him to his favorite bookstores. My twin sister helped care for our parents until health issues prevented her from helping. My older sister and a friend of Mother’s help me with Mother's care. Since I love to cook, I do most of the cooking. Mother and I have had lots of good conversations as I drive her to and from Daddy’s personal care home. It has been fun hearing Mother and Daddy reminisce about years gone by and when they were dating. I just might write some of that in another post!

4. Helping to take care of our home is just part of being a homemaker. I was helping a lot around the house before I retied. Maintaining the house is just something that needs to be done and using Wilbur’s tool make it easy. I love to cook as well as bake; so I’ve been trying lots of new recipes. Of course there’s always cleaning and laundry to be done.

5. Helping out at my church and working in other areas of ministry is my true passion! Right now I am able to dedicate some time each day (more time on some days than others) to these interest - I still continue to make photo greeting cards for the card ministry at my church, for my mother and for myself. I am still on a rotation bases for leading the Wednesday evening prayer meetings at my church. I have also become involved in the Women’s Ministry at my church and am working on a new project that I am very excited about. However, the project has not been finalized. I also help my mother with nursing home services two Saturdays each month.

6. And when there is time left, I pursue some of my other interests. Since I love to write, when someone suggested I should write a journey, I decided to start my blog. I have also had more time to read. To encourage others, I mail my photo greeting cards to lots of folks with a note included.

Eight years ago (is it really that long?) I decided to start a countdown to my sixty-second birthday when according to IRS guidelines, I could take early retirement and start collecting Social Security. Photography is one of my hobbies; so I decided to take a photo each month, print an 8x10 copy of the photo, and somewhere on it print the number of months left until I reached age sixty-two (see photo right.) I would hang the photo where I could see it. I started with seventy-two months. After a while I stopped the countdown. It seemed a bit futile. Six years was off into the future and if all went well, I would work until I was at least sixty-six.  The last year that I worked before I retired, I worked from home fulltime. I worked the afternoon shift and helped my mother and father during the mornings a couple of days a week. As my sixty-second birthday approached it was obvious that they needed a lot more help than I was able to provide. My husband also needed help. I was working as a Customer Service Rep and having been a programmer/analyst for over twenty-five years, I was out of my “comfort zone.” Every day was a challenge for me. All was not going well; so I decided to take early retirement at age sixty-two and not wait until I was sixty-six. I chose the end of February 2013 to be my retirement date. Little did I know what the future held at the point. I had made the best decision possible! When my twin sister’s husband passed away in February 2013, I was able to be with her. Later, I spend a couple of weeks helping her pack and move to Pennsylvania.

I took a short break from it all, when Wilbur and I enjoyed an awesome dinner cruise on the Spirit of Philadelphia for our forty-fifth wedding anniversary last year (see photo above left) I do not know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future! No matter what our family will face in the future, God will be there with us!

 

... About Birthdays - Look Who Turned 64!

In my post “... About My Grandmother - Part 1” I wrote “…because I was given a second chance at life, so to speak, I decided I would really celebrate my birthdays.”  My last birthday was no exception.  I turned 64 on December 18, 2014.  On a rotating schedule with other caregivers for my mother,  one of my days was on my birthday.  Since Mother had a doctor’s appointment late in the afternoon and since my father is now in a personal care home, I decided I would have lunch on my birthday with my father at the home.   The home has a beautiful dining room that can be reserved for private meals for the residents.  I reserved the room and invited my mother and her pastor, Marvin Mosley and his family to join Daddy and I for lunch.   I invited Pastor Mosley because, outside of family members, he has visited my father in the home more often than anyone else.  Much to my disappointment, when I arrived at the home for lunch, I learned we would be eating lunch in the activities room instead of the dining room.   Despite my disappointment, we enjoyed a very delicious lunch.  The Mosley’s have three young children and to help out, I held the baby for a while.  With my youngest granddaughter now four years old, it was a real joy to be holding a baby again.  I chit-chatted with him a bit and cooed to him.  My reward was the big smiles he gave me. 

After about an hour, the residents of the home were finishing their lunch in their dining room and several came into the activities room.  So much for private dining!  Once again, I was a bit disappointed.  And then I had an idea.  The children were done eating and so I decided we would sing to the residents.  Michael, the oldest is three and so he and I sang some Christmas carols he knew.  Then we sang some “Sunday School” songs he knew. The residents loved hearing Michael sing and clapped for him.  The whole episode brought tears to my eyes.  It was so wonderful!  What had started out as a bit of a disappointment turned into pure joy!  I could not think of a better way to celebrate my birthday than to bring a bit of joy into the lives of others.

I actually celebrated my 64th birthday three times.  Since I am a twin and my twin sister now lives close to me, she and her fiancé treated my husband and I to a fantastic meal at a nearby  restaurant the Monday before our birthday.  And then Wilbur treated me to an awesome meal out a few days after my birthday.  “Thank you, Lord, for letting me live for more than 64 years and allowing me to experience all the wonderful things of life.  I am glad to be alive!”

... About My Grandmother - Part 1

Lelah Jewell Brown Walker

What follows is a letter to my grandmother (if it were possible)

Dear Grandma,

You have been my inspiration for many years.  Daddy, your son, talked about you a lot.  I wish I could have known you; but based on what he has told me, you must have been a wonderful mother.  My heart was sadden to know that you passed away in your early forties when Daddy was about twelve years old.  It seems almost like a coincident that when I was in my early forties, I was at death’s door.  I was experiencing the worse pain ever and had to have emergency surgery.  I was told without the surgery, I would die a slow painful death. 

I had the surgery and just celebrated my sixty-fourth birthday. 

Daddy told me you had a  lot of surgeries.  I wonder if you had as much pain as I did.  I sure hope not!  Anyway, because I was given a second chance at life, so to speak, I decided I would really celebrate my birthdays.  It would be my way to say, “Thank you Lord for letting me live another year!”  I am amazed at all the things I have experienced and seen since the day of my surgery twenty years ago. I know you never got to experience those things and because of that I feel I am truly blessed.  I wonder why God would take you home to heaven to be with Him at such an early age and let me continue to live.  I suppose there are some things we are not to know. "’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD.   ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” Isaiah 55:8-9

When I had the surgery, Melissa was around twenty years old and had started college.  I would see her graduate, get married to John Kraynanski, and have a career that took her around the world.  I’ve been blessed to be the grandmother to her beautiful daughters, Emily now ten, Kate now eight, and Kourtney now four.  Melissa is an awesome Mom.  John is a wonderful husband and Dad.  Wow, you are Emily, Kate, and Kourtney’s great-great-grandmother!

Melissa's sister, Amy was in high school when I had the surgery. So I got to see her graduate from high school and college, get married to Richard Reimers, have a career in graphic design and run her own business.  Amy does not have any children; but is a true doting aunt to Melissa’s girls.  Amy and Rich have a dog named Bug.  And Rich is a wonderful husband to Amy.  So many, many blessings!