Heavenly Perspective

For He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the Heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6, NLT)

A while back, I read a devotion by Dr. Bill Hanshew entitled, "Standing in the Shadow of a Man of God." You may find the link below.

http://www.billhanshewministries.org/Devotion--079.html

Everyone should read the devotion because it is excellent training. Everyone should keep it close and re-read it to maintain that training. 

There are many great aspects of the devotion; however, the one that I have been meditating on is the overall chord running through the devotion (as well as Dr. Hanshew and this ministry) and that is, Heavenly Perspective.

No matter what storms may rage, above the storm we find, Heavenly perspective. Look through the dark clouds to Heavenly perspective. Every storm that rages in our lives can be fought through Heavenly perspective.

Heavenly Perspective = God's Perspective = God's Word (The Bible)

Offense…Matthew 18:15

Infertility… Deuteronomy 28:4

Marriage…Ephesians 5:22-33

Unruly children…Proverbs 22:6

Unbelief…1 John 5:14

Finances...Luke 6:38

Health...Isaiah 54:5

Battles…Ephesians 6:12

Manipulation...Matthew 24:4, Galatians 5:1, 

Gossip...Proverbs 29:19

"I don't know what to do."...Jeremiah 29:11 so 1 Peter 5:7

'I don't know what to say."…Ephesians 5:1 

"I can't, this is so hard."...Galatians 6:9

We could do this all day!

Our God, our Heavenly Father, the Creator of Heaven and earth, the Owner of everything on earth, the Giver of all good gifts has given us everything we need for life and godliness in and through His Holy...life giving…life changing Word! (Psalm 18:2, 1 John 3:1, Psalm 146:6, Psalm 50:12, James 1:17, 2 Peter 1:3, Hebrews 4:12)

And He is The One who's love will never be separated from us!

(Romans 8:38) 

Does that mean there won't be storms? Absolutely not. But that does mean, we keep our eyes and hearts beyond the dark clouds, above the storm, through to Heavenly Perspective, we rise above the storm and walk in Heavenly Perspective!

For every storm that rages, find your answer in the Bible, and keep Heavenly Perspective!

Father, thank You for teaching us how to find and to keep Your perspective. When the black clouds roll in and the battle rages, we know that we know that we know, we are seated with You. Thank You for uniting us with Christ Jesus! I pray for every reader right now, as well as myself, in the name of Jesus I decree and declare we are not deterred, discouraged, or distracted by dark clouds but we see through the dark clouds to Your perspective. We walk in Your perspective in the name of Jesus! 

I Just Don't Understand.

As most of you know, we have a dog named Bo. Because of Bo, I now understand the saying, "A dog is a man's best friend." I also understand the saying, "I wish I could be the person my dog thinks I am." 

Bo loves to be with me. When I'm working at my desk, Bo is at my feet. Most of the time, he lays on my feet. When I am reading on my lounge chair, he lays beside me. When I leave the house, Bo loves to go with me. 

Bo always wants to go with me but unfortunately, it isn't always safe for him to go with me. For example, today I was going to downtown Honolulu for several appointments and had to be gone until after noon. Bo believes he should always be able to go with me. I can't explain to him why he can't sit in the hot car for four hours while I am at appointments. All he knows is, he wants to go with me. He doesn't understand that I am keeping him safe at times, by refusing to allow him to go with me. He will never understand because my thoughts are higher than his thoughts. 

His face was so sad today when I was leaving and made him go back inside the house. He drooped his eyes, lowered his head, put his tail between his legs, and slowly walked away. His bone in his mouth (looking like a binkie) completed his pitiful look. 

He could not understand that my refusal to allow him to go was actually a decision to keep him safe.

This reminded me of a conversation I recently had with a very close friend. It is the same conversation I've had with numerous other people throughout the years. My friend was going through a very hard time and she asked me, "Is what I'm going through an attack from the enemy…or am I out of the will of God?" I'm sure we've all asked that question.

So many times, we want to go somewhere or do something but it never comes to fruition. And so many times, we just don't understand. 

It's times like this that we determine to trust the Creator of the universe and accept that His ways are far beyond anything we can imagine. The next time we want to do something that just doesn't pan out, we cannot droop our eyes, lower our head, and put our tail between our legs. No. We must trust God and His ways, knowing He is working all things together for our good! (Romans 8:28) 

Father, I pray for every reader right now. In the name of Jesus, I pray You illuminate their hearts to Isaiah 55:8-9 so that the next time they are faced with a situation they just don't understand, that they will determine to trust You and rest in knowing You always work all things together for their good. Thank You Father! I also ask that You bless them and keep them, make Your face to shine upon them and be gracious to them! Lord, please lift up Your countenance upon them and give them peace! (Numbers 6:22-27) I thank You for giving me the confidence to know, when I ask anything according to Your will, You hear me. And when You hear me, You answer me! (1 John 5:14-15)

That UnAwesome Moment When…

For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. (Isaiah 43:19, NLT)

Earlier this year, we renovated an apartment that was built in the sixties. When I was a teenager, I always dreamed of moving to a large city, buying an old flat, and renovating it. Since renovating this apartment, I'm good on that dream as I have discovered, old buildings are accompanied by old problems, i.e. plumbing, electrical, etc. And I learned, old problems cannot be covered up by new fixtures…no matter how cute and retro they may be.

During this morning's shower, we inadvertently obtained a water feature…again...in our bathroom when the shower handle broke…again…for the fourth time. About that time, the above scripture was brought to my remembrance, certainly by God and not my flesh as my flesh had other ideas…a lot of other ideas. 

Thank God for teaching us to be led by the Spirt and not the flesh! (Galatians 5:16 & 17) As I meditated on that scripture, "Behold, I make all things new!" (Revelations 21:5) and "I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you" (Ezekiel 36:26) flooded my heart! 

Oh…yes…pun fully intended!

Once again, God's Word came alive as it occurred to me, God knew He would have to do something new, make all things new, and give us a new heart because our "old" would've been accompanied by old problems. God doesn't want us to continuously deal with old leaks!

Once I ran those scriptures through my mind and mouth several times, I heard SpiritFM play, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials." (James 1:2)

I had to laugh…laugh out loud, really loud! Thank you www.SpiritFm.org for answering His call and speaking into our lives over the years, always right on time!

Tell us, how do you handle leaks?

Thank You-Thank You-Thank You, most gracious and loving Father, for doing something new in our lives, thank You for making all things new, and thank You for giving us a new heart! Thank You for protecting us from ourselves! Thank You for teaching us to be led by Your precious Holy Spirit instead of falling into the traps of the flesh. Thank You for knowing the end from the beginning and making our path straight! And thank You for making Your Word come alive to us…even during leaks…especially, during leaks. I pray for every reader right now, in the name of Jesus, they will know the breadth, length, height, and depth, of Your amazing unfailing love! And Your Word will come alive to them…especially during leaks. 

Isaiah 46:10

Proverbs 3:6

Ephesians 3:18

Full Return: Paradise!

Full return is no longer a dream but a reality. Thank you for joining us on this phenomenal journey of a lifetime! Mahalo nui loa for all your emails, comments, likes, shares, and retweets. We truly appreciate your encouragement and support! As promised, we have teamed up with Totally Totes and will be having our free drawing on June 15th! Details are on the blog post entitled, Happy 2nd Anniversary FREE Drawing is Coming Soon!

To update you on our trip, our intention was to spend one night in Kenai to catch up with close friends but we were having such a great time with them, we stayed three nights…we just couldn't tear ourselves away!

Riding alongside the Princess and Queen!

Hurry Gracie, save her!

Our friends took Mike halibut fishing and we had a huge fish fry!

Once we left Kenai, we made a quick trip to Seward.

Then we were off to Alyeska Ski Resort (sounds like Ally-s-ska) to celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary! 

We took the tram up to the 7 Glaciers Restaurant. 

It feels like the top of the world. The view is...yes, I'm gonna say it again, indescribable!

Before final take off to Anchorage to drop the RV and fly home, two members of my family "pulled a David Johnson", while we still had snow available. Please note: That is not my toes!

As you know, we started in Honolulu, and have seen Oklahoma City, Ada Oklahoma, back to Oklahoma City, Wichita Kansas, Kansas City Missouri, Des Moines Iowa, Minneapolis Minnesota, Forrest City Iowa, Sioux City South Dakota, Cheyenne Wyoming, Billings Montana, crossed over the U.S./Canadian Border at Sweet Grass Montana, Hinton Canada in Alberta, Jasper National Park, Dawson Creek, Yellow Knife, Tok Alaska, North Pole, Fairbanks, Denali, Kenai, Homer, Seward, Anchorage and are now back home in Hawaii.

Our trip totals consist of:

• 9 States
• 3 Canadian Providences
• 2 Countries
• Approximately 10,000 miles
• Black bear
• Grizzlies
• Beaver
• Stone sheep
• Mountain goat
• Moose
• Swans
• Eagles
• Elk
• Buffalo
• Porcupine
• Wild horses
• Wolf
• Fox
• Coyote

We have eaten bear, moose, buffalo, halibut, caribou, red salmon…well, in other words, every Alaskan food known to mankind! 

The coolest aspects of the trip beyond the indescribable scenery and wildlife was spending time with family and friends. Another great aspect was loosing all track of time. Instead of gauging things by time and date, instead of operating on a 24 hour time span, we operated on morning, noonish, and night.

Mike and I were so peaceful on this trip. There was a deep calmness about us that I don't ever remember having. At about the 8,000 mile mark (in less than 30 days), I wondered what is different in our relationship now than 17 years ago. Seventeen years ago he was the priority, prior to this trip, I was struggling with the pressures of life vying to be top priority. This trip gave me time to understand, there will always be life's pressures but perspective is key when prioritizing and family and friends are to always be top priority.  

When we started this trip, many people made negative comments about how we were going to "be sick of each other", "be in each other's space too much", "Would be really glad to get out of the rv", etc. We found quite the opposite to be true. Covering up to 600 miles per day gives a couple plenty opportunities to talk…a lot! Mike and I are in agreement, trips like this remove us from the daily schedules and daily stresses of work. It was also helpful to be so far out in the middle of nowhere that we had no internet service! This trip has offered us quiet time to reconnect with one another, and with our girls. We slowed down and literally took in every sight, sound, even smell…we stopped and took in every moment. 

We've planned this trip for over 16 years. Start planning your trip today. Start a "trip" fund and follow through, you will be so thankful you did!

I want to extend a special mahalo nui loa to Kristina Webb at Totally Totes. I could not have done this without her!

Words...I Have None...

Except to proclaim: O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth! 

(Psalm 8:9, GWT)

This is not a crooked horizon, the slant is a road :)

 

Jasper National Park, Alberta Canada

One of the most spectacular places on earth!

White River Rafting, Major Miscommunications, and do not forget the Squall

So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. (James 1:4, NLT)

We started our morning out with a nice gentle run alongside stunning snowcapped mountains in Canmore Canada (Alberta) and our day quickly escalated from there. 

Mike has been wanting to go white river rafting for years. I've wanted to go as well, as long as we could go somewhere tropical. It's no secret, I like warm temperatures. I've been known to go stand up paddle boarding in Hawaii, wearing my hoodie. By the grace of God, I am what I am.

As much as I attempted to avoid the issue, Mike was adamant to make reservations to go on a white river rafting trip…today. I finally relented once he explained the process. We would suit up in dry suits and raft down Bow River for several hours. We had near perfect conditions. The sun was shining. Although the temperatures were in the fifties, there was no wind. I can do this. It's a dry suit. The only parts of my body getting wet would be my hands and possible a few splashes on my face…now and again.

While we were waiting on our reservation, we had enough time to hike up Grassi Lake Trail to take pictures of the waterfall. The trail is labeled moderate, we made the hike with an eight and nine year old with no difficulty. It is one of the most spectacular waterfalls I've ever seen and has a beautiful lake nearby. If you are ever in the area, it is a must see. Living in Hawaii, I've seen many waterfalls, but this one is very unique.

   

After our hike, we were underway for our rafting trip. When we went to suit up, imagine my dismay when I learned we would not be wearing dry suits, we would be wearing wet suits. WHAT!? As you can imagine, there is a huge difference between a dry suit and a wetsuit. Just in case you don't know the difference in the two, a dry suit keeps the body dry except for the head and hands. In a dry suit, there is a layer of air between the suit and the body...DRY air. While a wet suit…in theory, holds a warm layer of water in between the wet suit and the body that is warmed by the body. I would argue, that all depends on the body! Frigid plus frozen equals...well, I have no words.

We were also issued a fleece (I seriously considered asking for three), and a splash jacket. I compare a splash jacket to a plastic trash bag…with arm holes and a head hole.

In other words, no insulation…but at all.

While our guide Ian, was giving our safety briefing and explaining what to do in the event we fell overboard, I thought to myself, "OH Bruddah, I am NOT falling overboard if I have to hold on so tight I rip the paint off this raft!" Then he went on to explain, we would not be sitting inside the raft (as I had assumed) but on the side of the raft…on the side of the raft…closer to the water?! How does that even make any sense?! Who does that?!

Then Ian said something that REALLY caught my attention. He said, "When you fall in the river…" I interrupted and said, "Ho ho ho, what do you mean…WHEN…we fall in the river?" He chuckled and said, "Oh I said, if…not when." I argued, "No…I DISTINCTLY heard you say when." He chuckled and continued with our safety briefing…of which, I didn't really hear as I was busy perfecting my plan of how NOT to fall in the river. I had intended on asking the temperature of the river; however, knowing the air temperature was in the fifties and the river is fed by glaciers put me in information overload!

After our briefing, I pulled Mike aside and said, "You are in SO much trouble right now, you said, dry suits…NOT wetsuits." He argued, "No, I said wet suits." I countered, "Noooo, I distinctly heard you say DRY SUITS!" He belly laughed. Oh everyone is cracking up today…well, not EVERYONE.

I somehow gathered myself enough to get on the bus. Mike said, "Oh c'on woman…you jumped out of an airplane…how bad can white river rafting be?" My response, "That was in HAWAII where the air temperature is in the eighties…like all good air temperatures should be!"

We were with a really great group of people and our guide was very cool, so the on the short ten minute bus ride up the river I decided:

• I'm here
• It is what it is
• I will be warm again…eventually…eventually I will be warm again
• I'm on the bus
• On the way to the river
• And...I will be warm again...eventually!
• I've paid…AND signed a waiver…may as well make the best of it

After all, the day was absolutely beautiful. And we're on vacation. And I want my girls to be adventurous. 

As the bus came to a stop, our guide mentioned something about this part of the river being named, "The Widow Maker"…I smiled, thinking…ha ha ha, very funny Mr. Funny Guide Man. As we walked to the river, I saw a sign, "The Widow Maker"…gulp.

As we were being issued our floatation device (Paddle...excuse me? Who does stuff like this?!), I was shocked when I heard our guide ever so gently tell Gracie, "Hey Honey, since you are so small, you don't have to take a paddle if you don't want to." What?! No slackers on this trip, I've gotta stay out of the river! And "so little"...she's almost as tall as me! We need working people on this raft!

She. Didn't. Take. A. Paddle.

I (in my MOTHER voice) said, "Dude, get back there and get a paddle."
She said (in her tiny little girl...nananana boo boo voice), "Ian said I didn't have to and I want to hang on with both hands." I said, "Oh no you don't…YOUR only job today is to make sure Mommy doesn't fall in that river. Did Ian birth you? I think not!"

Can you believe…that little kid ran from me?!
Drats the day she was able to outrun me...

Our group was large enough to need two rafts so I explained…ok, I whispered...to our guide, "Pssst…listen…put me with your strongest men…even if you have to put those two red headed kids in a different raft...because I REALLY need to stay out of that river!" He chuckled. What IS it with this man and all his chuckling?! I (very seriously) said, "No…really."

He did place me in the raft with the most men…well, and that slacking non paddler! I sized up the men…ok, they look healthy and strong…I think they can pick up that little kid's slack!

Once we got to the river, it looked quite a bit "harrier" than I had expected with all it's white water, steep embankments, rolling swirls, and what our guide so loving referred to as, "mini falls". Our guide had us help him push the raft down a steep slope, then one by one…we did the "slip and slide" in the mud (who KNEW there was gonna be mud?!) and loaded the Titantic…oh, I mean…raft.

We immediately went over our first "mini falls"…needless to say…the only dry spot on me at that point was the top of my head…under my helmet. That spot was dry…because of the helmet. Thank God for dry spots. Thank God for helmets. By the way, are you aware that rafts have HOLES in the bottom on BOTH sides, where people's feet are?! "Ian" (sarcasm alert) said it was so water could escape but I personally witnessed a lot of water rushing into the raft!

Right before our second "mini falls", I told Ian…quietly told Ian…"Ok, I am NOT down with falling in this river! And I am especially not on board…pun fully intended...with river water going inside my ears." Our guide yelled, "No worries, I placed you nearest me…I don't get "very" wet…since you are thermally challenged." Oh…ha ha ha….thanks for pointing that out to everyone, Mr. Funny Guide Man. And just for kicks...define "very wet".

As we were quickly approaching another…uh hum…mini falls, Mr. Funny Guide Man had a great idea. Since Mikea was having the best time of anyone in our whole group…with all her yehaws and yahoos and "Isn't this fun Mom?!?", she should sit on the front of the raft, hang her legs off, and hang onto the rope like riding a bull…it's called, "The Rodeo". Ohhhhh yeaaaaaah, put that kid up there….I wanna see THIS! This excursion finally got interesting!

She took her seat and rode that river the "Full 8 Seconds"…yep, that's MY GIRL!

All of the sudden, we heard whoops and hollers from behind us…the woman riding, "The Rodeo" behind us was a 69 year old great grandmother! And, I must say…I give her a 10! 

After many twists, turns, rapids…etc, etc, etc…I noticed the sky wasn't as sun shiny (*yet another...sarcasm alert*) as it had been. Up ahead, in the distance…I saw something very…well, cloudy and...stormy. But it wasn't like a cloud I had ever seen before and the sky was overcast…all of the sudden. True story.

Our guide casually said (lovingly…as if he were talking about his firstborn), "Oh look, there's a squall up ahead." I've read about squalls, I've been told about squalls, but I had never been caught in a squall while white river rafting in fifty degree weather…with temperatures quickly falling…until now.

Now I can fully describe a squall, in detail, because of first hand experience. Our calm, sunshiny day, with no wind, almost immediately had turned into overcast. OVERCAST?! 

And. It. Started. To. Rain. 

And. Then. It. Started. To. Sleet.

My handy dandy method of keeping my fingers from fully freezing so they don't fall off!

I haven't seen sleet in over 6 years. Sleet hasn't hit my body in over twenty years. There's a reason for that! A really good reason!

And...why yes, that IS snow behind my head!





















*Sigh*…I could no longer feel my feet. Well, I could no longer feel my feet up to my knees. Or my other extremities, again…true story.

I didn't see much after that…except for the patches of snow still on the ground. The reason I didn't see much was because my head was down, on my knees…I was using my helmet to protect my face from the sleet. I asked our guide if he "had any ski goggles in his handy dandy little dry compartment along with his safety gear"…alas...he did not. How COULD that be?! What kind of safety gear guide man is he anyways?! Every woman would pack ski goggles for a trip like this knowing eye piercing sleet is a distinct possibility!  

Thankfully, after 72 hours of floating down that white river being slammed by sleet and rapids…and mini falls…and no sun…ok, ok…it was only about 45 minutes…but whatever…we SAW THE BUS!!! What a BBBBB-eautiful sight, a big yellow bus…the most amazing bus I've ever seen...the bus…with a heater…set on high!

We pulled the raft out of the river and loaded it…ok, ok…I watched the men pull the raft out of the river and load it, as I was 1/2 frozen solid, then I screamed, "Every man for himself!!!" and I charged that bus. Like. A. Boss.

Our 69 year old "Rodeo Rider" was in between me and the bus. You better move it over Honey…that bus has a HEATER…and it better be set to high! Hey, she did the "Rodeo"…she's tough. I…however…whatever.

On the bus ride back to our RV, our guide said, "I LOVE trips like this…trips like this are character builders."

Oh…ha ha ha…is THAT what that was?!

So, try as hard as you can to make it to Canmore Canada at least once in your life and go white river rafting...with Ian…in May…through a squall! According to Ian, it'll build character!

The slacking non paddler!

Yes...my sentiments exactly!

The sleet accumulating outside our RV upon our return!

Canadian Rockies Rafting Company

www.rafting.ca

*Dislaimer*

All jokes aside, Ian was the best guide we've ever had.
Canadian Rockies Rafting Company is a first class operation.
And from what Ian told me...
my character has been upped by at least 20%.

Oh just look at Mr. Happy Man the Mikester...wife is frozen...mission fully accomplished.