Wiping away the

cobwebs of summer

Summer …. Thankfully it is officially over. Now it needs to finally end here in the southwest desert.

Significance and imagination

I want to talk to you today about significance and the imagination.

Little things can impact an individual in a significant way. Who here has felt a significant impact from a book? Who here has felt a significant impact from a song? Not just a feeling, but true life-changing significance of some kind? It is amazing when you let it happen that Jesus will tell you things and guide you through songs and books. Within a five-day period, the Lord spoke to me loud and clear through a book and a song. He speaks through His Bible every day, but if you let Him, He will speak to you through many other ways as well.

I went to New Jersey in September for my cousin Gregory’s wedding. He married Marie. It was wonderful and beautiful. I had absolutely the best time. I love, love, love weddings. They are the best parties of all. I become in my element. I never stop taking pictures and I never stop talking to people.

I was very much hoping that a glaring opportunity would show itself while in New Jersey so I could come back home and start moving. That did not happen so my good mood of the wedding wore off quickly. I was not real happy when I got home. “God … how much patience must I show here,” I cried out. I did not speak to another person except for my friend Lisa for three days. Yes, I texted others here or there but I was in no mood to talk.

Much-Afraid

It was during that time I started reading a book my cousin Michele had sent to me a month or so earlier. It is called Hinds Feet on High Places and it stars a girl with a crooked smile and a limp named Much-Afraid and she lived among people with names such as Craven Fear. I felt for Much-Afraid immediately because I had known my own Craven Fear.

I identified with Much-Afraid within words of the beginning of the book, and why not, it was written in 1955 for every woman, because, yeah, we are all afraid and, yeah, we all have met, embraced and shrieked from our own Craven Fear.

I will not tell you much more about what’s in this book because it is a book I suggest to every girl or guy reading this blog, so I do not want to ruin it for you. It is not expensive and it is a total easy read. That said, I think if you want to read it you need to have a relationship with Christ and if you read it, take advantage and use it as a work/study book.

There were so many times when the Good Shephard would ask Much-Afraid a question I did not like, thinking about how I would react to the same question from God. My first reaction to the question would be that I would be giving up yet one more thing in my life. I would stop, be mad and not pick the book back up until I reconciled the question and I saw what my reaction should have been, which was not of loss but of gain. It just takes an open heart to push for the right answer.

I finished the book Sunday (Oct. 15) afternoon, just before an amazing live-streaming hurricane Harvey relief concert at Lakewood Church. When I finished the book, I knew that Jesus was not waiting for my patience. He was waiting for my peace. And at that moment of fully understanding patience, I began to feel a peace and joy I had not felt for more years than I care to remember. And it would not have happened without that book, because the message had to come from somewhere. You too can learn what your message is and get a new name at the end … which is what happens for Much-Afraid.

Faith Publicity / Faith Gourmet

I had already determined my new name in August, not knowing I would be reading about Much-Afraid. It happened after watching 15 Marvel movies within two months and having a total blast doing so. I met some awesome characters along the way. Tony Stark (Iron Man), can he please be mine, lol. Captain America, an old-school man after my own heart, and Groot/Baby Groot, a tree of wisdom and sheer joy. I realized watching these movies that I was indeed my own infinity energy, but that energy needed a name. I prayed on it. And then it hit me, it was Faith. And that is the name I am now using for any of my companies. I have retired all my old companies and I am legal in two states, going on three, with Faith Publicity and Faith Gourmet.

For those who do not understand the infinity energy thing, except for my mother and her friends, you have it figure that out on your own … sorry 😊

Okay, so I kind of intertwined time here. Back to finishing the book. Reading that book was like the meal you eat when you are a kid. Some of it is really yummy and some you can’t stomach, but without eating it there would be no dessert. So, the book was the meal and then I got my dessert.

Fleetwood Mac … Where do I even begin

First, let me say that I attach songs to people. I am sure many of you do the same thing. It is funny because a song that is a major source of your joy may have zero meaning to the person who wrote it but for you it is an incredible experience, where the words are so significant. I have attached a number of Fleetwood Mac songs to others over my lifetime, and especially those by Stevie Nicks. I love an adore Stevie Nicks but I equally love and adore the entire Fleetwood Mac crew. I guess the Stevie songs had more meaning during a certain time of my life.

Fast forward to yesterday. I was looking at my playlists and I clicked on Fleetwood Mac. Now, Fleetwood Mac is not a worship band but Fleetwood Mac still feeds the soul, is a true gift from God and has spoken to me since 1977. When I inline skated 10,000 miles in seven years while living at the Torrance Beach, I listened to one of Fleetwood Mac’s CDs hundreds of times while skating. It is called Tango in the Night. There are a number of songs on that CD that are dedicated to others.

There was this one song that I could never reconcile. I knew there was something behind it but I could not get it straight in my head. It was kind of the cart before the horse theory, and at that time I saw it like I saw many of the future questions to Much-Afraid from the Good Shephard … with only answers that would lead to some kind of loss in my life.

The song is called You and I, Part II. It is the final song on the CD. I had not listened to it for a long time. So, I listened to it yesterday and wow … there it was and the dedication was finally placed. As with reconciling the questions from the Good Shephard, I finally reconciled that song. Not every song I hear has a meaning, in fact, most do not but those that do stand out and I always knew there was something about that song.

Is there a Part 1?

So, I again asked myself the question, “Where the heck is Part 1?” I always wondered about that and years ago reconciled myself to the idea that this was just one of Lindsey Buckingham’s unique creative pranks.

Well, the search engines of yesterday were nothing compared to those of today’s. I went looking and oh my gosh, I found a You and I, Part 1 that had apparently only been recorded on one of those 45 singles but it was recently remastered and the two were placed together as a deluxe, full version of You and I, Part II.

Put the two together and they are the past meet the present and wow … To see a song that I struggled to reconcile that has present day meaning and then add this new gem of a song in Part 1, and it is nothing short of a miracle… as it comes from God and it’s amazing.

First of all, just the discovery of something new of old from Fleetwood Mac is a gift from God in itself and God needs to be praised for giving us this gift so thank you Lord, YOU ARE AWESOME. And to have this kind of personal meaning is an even greater gift from God.

Don’t even ask

And for those who are going to text me or call me and ask who the song is dedicated to, don’t bother asking because I am not telling you, not even those who think I will tell you. I am pulling a Carly Simon, lol, you know, the mystery behind the writing of You’re So Vain. The only other persons besides Jesus and me who know who this song belongs to is the person it belongs to. And if I have not told you these words, no need to wonder … it is not you. I am sorry.

So, the point of this entire blog post is that yes, there are people who criticize my imaginative mind, but it is this mind that allows me to learn life’s lessons and be more one with Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Some people compliment my imaginative mind … those are the ones who will benefit from what comes of my imagination. Thank you for that. Having my back is what you do and who you are!

Have a blessed day everyone. Love the Lord with all your heart and I promise you he will never fail you.

You and I, Part II Full Version

 

This is just one of many covers for this wonderful book Hinds Feet on High Places

Beautiful Marie and always playful Gregory

Me with a group of brand new friends I had never met before, with the exception of the bride Marie

Me before the start of the wedding ceremony