The day the Lord has made!

"This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 119:24

Today is September 11, 2012

Almost all of us, over about the age of 16 remember where we were, what we were doing and who we were  with when we heard about the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.

I was a flight attendant with America West Airlines and I happened to have the day off.  Less than 2 weeks earlier I had moved and was living with a new roommate, in the townhouse she owned.  My roommate (Kristina) was also a flight attendant and we were both accustomed to working red-eye flights and going to bed at odd hours, even on our days off so when the phone rang very early (probably around 6:30) I didn't get out of bed to answer it.  Because I knew by the distinctive ring that the call was from one of my roommate's friends or family I stayed in bed wondering who would call her on our home phone this early, knowing we were day sleepers and rolled back over to get more sleep before having to start my day.

I don't know how long it was after the phone rang, but at some point afterwards Kristina opened my bedroom door and woke me up by saying, "There's been a terrorist attack on U.S. soil".   "Huh?" Her words registered, but it sounded so foreign and so far out of anything I'd ever considered that it took me a few minutes, plus I had just woken up after only having a couple of hours sleep so I spent a moment trying to shake off the sleep and attempt to comprehend what she'd just told me.

The phone call I'd ignored was Kristina's dad telling her to turn on the news.  We didn't have cable, and the only TV in our house was upstairs in her loft bedroom so we spent the next several hours watching TV while fielding phone calls from concerned friends and family wanting to find out if we were home or if we were working.  While we fielded phone calls on our cell phones and our home phone we also were making outgoing phone calls to check on our friends who also worked in the industry.  At one point I looked at the date on my phone and saw it was 9-11.  Weird.

Kristina had a guy friend (who is now her husband and theirs was the wedding I'd attended the night I met my husband) who landed at Boston's Logan airport just as American Flight 11 was taxiing down the runway for it's doomed flight.

As Kristina and I sat on her bed while news reporters tried to make sense of the attacks Kristina and I knew  what nobody else was saying: We KNEW the pilots were dead, and were not in control of their aircraft, when those planes hit their targets.   Having worked in the airline industry for 3 years we knew that there was NO WAY the pilots would've crashed the planes into those buildings while they were alive.   We knew, even with a gun to their head, the pilots would've crashed their aircraft into the Hudson before killing innocents on the ground.

As the reports came in about United 93 our first reaction was that the pilots had taken it down in an effort to save lives on the ground because we'd learned a few things about pilots in our day and we KNEW there wasn't a pilot out there who would commit these heinous acts, even under duress.

As the day progressed we knew our loved ones were on the ground and we had to continue living in the real world. (As an aside, I remember going to Wal-Mart at 9:30 that night to buy a toothbrush and feeling guilty for doing something so routine on such a horrific day when so many people had lost their lives.)

If I remember correctly Kristina had a dentist appointment.  I was scheduled to work at my part-time job at a Christian bookstore.   Two things from my afternoon shift stand out to me.  I remember talking with people about how the world changed that day for all of us and I remember saying, "No.  The world didn't change.  Our perception of the world has changed.  The world has always been an evil, fallen place.  The only thing that's changed is we thought we were immune to these problems that happen in other places"

I also remember ringing up a lady's purchases and as I placed her items in the bag I noticed one of the things she had bought was a plaque with Psalm 118: 24 on it "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."  In that moment I felt God speaking to me and reminding me that even on a day as dark as that one He is still God and He is still in control.  Regardless of my circumstances He is still God, He is still in control and every day is a day He has made.   Evil may seem to take over, but God is still God.

For the past 11 years every time I see that verse I am reminded of that moment and God's message to me.  No matter what circumstances you're facing right now remember that today is the day the LORD has made and we are to rejoice and be glad in it.

When Life Gives You Lemons . . .

You  make lemonade.  Right?  Wrong.

Friday night a friend was blindsided by the devastating news that, after 14 years of marriage, her husband has been having an affair and wants a divorce.  Ironically Thursday this same friend had written a blog post about handling life's rough situations.  Saturday morning, before her news was known to all of her friends, her Facebook post started by saying, "Figures I'd post about rolling with the punches and life decided to hand me lemons the next day."

Saturday afternoon I received a message from her in my Facebook messages explaining the situation and my heart broke for her.  I spent most of yesterday in shock and in prayer for this family.

As I was falling asleep last night, my friend and her family heavy on my heart, I started thinking about life and getting an entire lemon tree dumped on you.   I started thinking of the lemon tree in my backyard that exploded last year leaving us over 100lbs of lemons.

Immediately after the first round of picking

 After I looked at this bounty I knew there was no way I was going to be able to use all of those lemons before they went bad.   My 5 year old son and I took his wagon and went door to door asking neighbors if they wanted lemons and giving them away. 

After more picking + going door to door  giving them away

As I was praying for my friend and thinking about our lemon tree explosion I started thinking that, instead of making lemonade, God wants us to cast all our burdens on Him and have others come beside us in prayer when we're going through difficult seasons in life.   In other words . . . when life gives us lemons we need to give them away :)



By the way, by the looks of our tree, we're going to have another bountiful harvest this winter so I'll be more than happy to share my lemons with you :)

What I'm Reading

Hello again!  If this just popped up in your reader you're probably wondering, "Heidi still HAS a blog?"  Yeah, it's been ignored lately. Life happens and writing gets pushed aside . . .

I'm an avid reader.  Always have been.  My husband bought me a Kindle for Christmas and I'm in love.  I was a Kindle hold out for years, thinking that I just love books too much to switch to an e-reader.  I love reading, but I also love holding a book, seeing the words on paper and having a full bookshelf to show off how well read I am :)  I'm out of bookshelf space since my kids feel the need to sleep in beds (crazy kids) and space for beds trumped space for Mom's books :(

The unexpected blessing of having a Kindle is FREE BOOKS! Two of my favorite words combined!  It's heaven on earth!

We've been laying low at home for the past week and I've had more time to read than I have in quite awhile so I took advantage of it.   In the past week I've finished 2 very powerful books that I can't stop thinking about and am in the middle of the 3rd.  All 3 are biographies of those who have survived some of the worst experiences a human can inflict on another.  While one deals with current affairs, two tackle periods of human history that cannot not (SHOULD not) be forgotten.  After I finish my current book I think I'm going to need some mindless fiction to take a break from the heavy subjects I've been tackling.

I "bought" all three books for free for my Kindle from Inspired Reads.

I stopped writing book reviews when my professors stopped requiring them ("book review" tries to sound more sophisticated than a 4th grade book report, doesn't it? Yeah, it's the same thing.  Hi, Dr. Helfers!) so all I'll say is all 3 books were great and I'd give them 5 stars if I were rating them on Amazon.  I'm listing them in the order in which I read them:


My Father, Maker of the Trees: How I Survived the Rwandan Genocide
Official Book Description:
My Father, Maker of the Trees is a story not only of surviving the Rwandan genocide--it is also a story of spiritual rebirth, healing, and redemption of a land and a people. This incredible true account shows readers the reality of evil in the world as well as the power of hope. Eric's message of God's relentless love through our darkest circumstances will encourage and inspire. Now available in trade paper.

Passport through Darkness: A True Story of Danger and Second Chances
Official Book Description: 

As she shares her extraordinary stories of fighting human trafficking as an ordinary mom, Kimberly Smith offers hope for readers who wonder if God is calling them to greater things.

Passport Through Darkness takes readers on Smith’s journey from normal family life and business, to Europe, to the deserts of Africa and ultimately, to the deserts of her own soul as she tries to live well as an imperfect American mom, crusade for justice for orphans around the world, and embrace God’s extraordinary dreams for her. When Kimberly and her husband risk everything to answer God’s call, they see God change and restore them—even amid exhaustion, marital struggles, and physical limitations.

This heartbreaking, heartlifting book is for anyone who longs to see God move their life from normal to one that matters. It is a call to readers to take one more step on their journey to know God’s heart

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While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement
Official Book Description:
On September 15, 1963, a Klan-planted bomb went off in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Fourteen-year-old Carolyn Maull was just a few feet away when the bomb exploded, killing four of her friends in the girl’s rest room she had just exited. It was one of the seminal moments in the Civil Rights movement, a sad day in American history . . . and the turning point in a young girl’s life. While the World Watched is a poignant and gripping eyewitness account of life in the Jim Crow South—from the bombings, riots and assassinations to the historic marches and triumphs that characterized the Civil Rights movement. A uniquely moving exploration of how racial relations have evolved over the past 5 decades, While the World Watched is an incredible testament to how far we’ve come and how far we have yet to go.



As an interesting side note . . . when I was describing While the World Watched to my husband the other night he asked me about another woman from Birmingham, Alabama who was growing up in the 60's: Condoleezza Rice.  My husband said he thought he had heard something about her and the church bombing that Carolyn Maull McKinstry survived.  After doing some research I found out Dr. Rice was a childhood playmate of victim Denise McNair.