God's Tahoe Artistry

God's paints each canvas

With brushstrokes that are perfect

I sit and admire his dexterity 

Creating with unsurpassed ability.

Walk along the shore and feed 

your soul   

Appreciate His handiwork as 

you tread

Not just here but everywhere

One way that God shows His care.

His artistry the whole world surrounding

Even on the shore with simple brush strokes

Blue sky, white clouds, pine church spires

Wind blowing through them sound like choirs.

And the best creations He crafts and gives

Are special friends to share His gallery with.

(c) Corinne Mustafa

Living Beyond Yourself

This is a long write for which I apologize but it touches on the pulls of Women's schedules in the many seasons of our lives. 


I think young women will appreciate it that they are not alone in feeling overwhelmed and that in the end you find out that it is the Father leading us through these challenges of living our womanhood bringing us peace in what we do. Those of us who are in a later season of our life will see that this is what a committed and Godly woman does in her life. In reality it is something to be proud of.

Living Beyond Yourself 
  

Did you ever have a time in your life when you felt that you were on maximum input and could not handle another thing? It can be funny on retrospect, but it is not funny when it is actually happening. We all have had those times when, for instance, all three of the children have soccer practice at the same time across town from each other. It is an even more harrowing experience when your car is in the shop, and you are sharing the other car with your husband who needs to be picked up on yet another side of town so that he can attend a work related dinner just as the practices end. 

There was the time when I was running a thriving day care and car pooling all over the Bay Area. Taking some of my children to achool and then moving on to the battered women's shelter to pick up my little charges or driving my oldest with the car filled to the third seat to their Hayward high school were only a couple of my typical daily challenges. I still have a magnet on my refrigerator that says, “Is there life after carpool?”

During that same era I managed to fulfill the role of Den Mother for Cub Scouts, served as the president of the PTG for three years, and attend to the needs of the an elementary youth group as their Coordinator. Add to this taking the children to their music or dance lessons, swimming lessons, and to any other activity they cooked up as being “cool, Mom!” We had their munchkin friends over on a regular basis with all that went with that kind of happening.

In addition to all of that I had a life as well. I sang in the church choir, did crafts and attended a stitchery group, and “played” with my own friends. Oh, and I must not forget my jobs as a wife, hostess, and daughter. My years as the “in between generation” caring for aging parents when they were living in my home is a necessity to remember. In the whirlwind that I lived, and I am not saying my life was any different from any other red blooded American woman of the late twentieth century, I was happy. I worshipped God and felt His blessings. In fact, I seemed to thrive on the cyclone that was my life. I could multi task along with the best of them as my life careened towards the adulthood of my children and my own “golden years of freedom.”

Yes, I was indeed “living beyond myself.” Without the grace of God in my life I would have become immobilized in that harrowing tension filled but happy labyrinth I was negotiating on a daily basis. I always dreamed of and thought I knew I would have days of calm when the awesome and sometimes overwhelming responsibilities of younger womanhood were removed, and I was free to make choices based on just my husband’s and my own needs. What on earth was I thinking of? 

This brings me back to my original question about feelings of having maximum input and not being able to handle another thing. While things ARE different the multitude of tasks that pull on me are still there. Nothing seems to have changed. I am beginning to think it is a case of Murphy’s Law. My involvements and duties seem to be expanding to fill the emptiness of time that I had expected would be the gift of these years. What could of or should have been a time of relaxation and freedom from excessive responsibilities seems to have become more of the same. The fact that I am older and enjoying less energy than I used to have makes the daily skateboard ride difficult at times. Sometimes my life has felt as though even God could not help me dig my way out. 

Then one more activity presented itself to me. It came in the midst of my working on a myriad of health issues. I was attempting to understand and take control of some serious issues. This required going to many doctor’s appointments and classes as well as doing research about my possible choices. The input and the output concerning my health concerns was tremendous. The car issue has not changed either. My son needed to use my car, and we had been a one car couple for about three months. More stress! In addition there were many family issues that suck the joy and life out of a parent.

You are probably wondering when I am going to get off this detour to reveal the new activity. This was one addition to my weekly schedule that I knew I must make time for. It is a Bible Study entitled “Living Beyond Yourself.” Am I “living beyond myself” I wondered? I silently joked in my mind about the name of the topic. I would be happy to just be “living beside myself” was my cynical self talk. I sardonically pointed out to myself that I am, in fact, “living behind myself.” What does a child do when she falls behind? She runs to catch up. She stumbles and gets tired. She finally sits down and refuses or is unable to move. She remains behind crying with frustration. Inside I was that paralyzed child.

I might have been thinking that not even God could help me. Wrong! Have you ever noticed that our Father God shows up at just the right time, at the time of maximum input in our lives. He adds the additional input which becomes an intervention with greatest relevance to our lives. We have built the issues of our life into giants that crowd our minds just like twenty five college students sardined into a Volkswagen Bug would crowd the driver of the car. It stunts our ability to think or perform. The input of the Father is just the right medicine (speaking of health issues) that brings the giants down to their proper size, midgets relatively, and into control. I love it when that happens. His input is not the straw that broke the camels back or that pushes out the window of that overcrowded Volkswagen.

He speaks into our lives and through His words things start to fall into perspective. Suddenly you have courage and stamina to face health issues or family drama. This is what is happening to me as I am beginning my study of “Living Beyond” myself. The facts and ideas being presented by God, the study plan, and my current co passengers on this road to Him are not entirely new, but the paradigm is. Somewhere along the way I had really taken a detour from the path I had been divinely predestined to travel. I had lost sight of the fact that I am royalty, adopted through Abraham’s belief in the promise that God had given to him about his seed. That seed is Jesus and even me because of my adoption when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. What a wondrous understanding this it! Oh, I had understood it from the beginning, but along the way I has lost track of my own awe of this miracle of love I had received. The sad result was that I had become overwhelmed with my own life and stuff.

There is an old hymn that says, “Only believe. Only believe. All things are possible if you believe.” To believe is to have faith, but faith needs to be put into action in a persons inner thought and prayer life. That is when all things are possible. Mountains of worry, concern and over extendedness can be brought down to mole hills in the process. 

This is where this new intervention from my Father is saving his child from despair. I am seeing my spiritual childhood as the child of the Almighty God with new understanding. The pain and trials I have been going through reflect God who holds me in the palm of His hand. Whatever I am going through at any given time that threatens to paralyze me has also been suffered by my Father. I deal with health problems. He also knows the pain and suffering of sickness and death because of Jesus. He has endured disobedience, disrespect, and disappointment in my behavior and choices that I have also experienced in dealing with my own family issues.

Jesus died on the cross so and now lives in heaven. Because of Him my final destination will be heaven for eternity. His path was to follow the will of His Father. My path to heaven must be to follow my Father’s will even though the route is filled with trials to be endured and errors to be corrected. It has only been a week since I started my Bible study, and already His intervention has brought around a new paradigm as I look at my overly stimulated life. His wonderful intervention at just the right time is enabling me to embrace the scripture found in Galatians 2:20 where Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” There is also comfort in the Word found in James 1:2 that says, “Consider it pure joy , my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” That is a mighty ideal, not an easy one, but one filled with hope and encouragement.

The underlying promise from God that I read in all of this is that my pain is not without reward. I also realize that whenever I get bogged down in my own stuff along will come the Great Psychologist with a new intervention that will shake me out of myself. There used to be a t-shirt that said, “Livermore is not the end of the earth, but you can see if from here.” Well my God will step in with new input that will boost me up to a new level, a higher branch, where, even though I am not yet perfectly mature or completely wise I will be able to see the goal from there.

Living

Living “beyond” myself

An interesting thought

Still trying to discover myself

Living “behind” myself actually

Trying, scrambling to catch up

A miracle approaches

And my Abbah, Daddy comes to me

Shows me more than I had seen

Gives fresh ways to look at things

Lifts me up and together we soar

To perch on a higher branch

Closer to the sky.

Closer to HIM

Almost there.

Moving on!

Corinne Mustafa

Beach Revelations

Pacific Grove, California 

Him to me:

“My child…

Why are you looking down at the ground

To find earthly treasured

Bits of broken glass

Broken glass

That is all that the treasures of this world are.

Tiny shells

Discarded home of long dead animals

They don’t need them anymore

Neither do you 

Why do you look

Towards other faces than Mine

Those faces are a gift from me to you

But I am the Prize

Look to Me, my child

I am all you need

I am everything you need.”

Me to Him:

“ My Lord…

I want to be cherished and adored

I want someone to look at me

And see all they want

I want to know

That someone is looking out for me

I want to know

That someone wonders

Where I am and what I am doing

I want to know

Someone is looking for me to see if I am safe

I want someone to do for me

And care about me

The way I try to do for others

It hurts to always be second best

To be never quite enough

To never be quite the perfect one

That someone has hoped for

Always second best

Good friend

Lovable person

But never quite enough.

Lord, can you find me someone

who will do all these things.

Him to me:

“Oh, my darling child

You stand on the rocks here

And watch my creation

I know you love it

But you are looking through Me

To see my beautiful sea

Don’t you see my darling child

That all you want

You already have in Me

I always am those things to you

But you seem to miss Me

In your search for first place

I talk to you in the chirping of a gull

When I look down at you and shine My sun on you

I see all I want

I look out for you and wherever you are I am too

I always know what you are doing

I surround you in my love to keep you safe

You need to understand this

When you care about others

And try to do for them

As I see you do in so many ways

The reason is this and it is My constant joy

For I have created you in my image

And you have chosen to follow

Whats built inside.

So don’t miss the boat

That I send into the harbor for you

It is filled with all you say you need

Do not look for what you need

In the shops on the dock

Climb aboard and come to Me

I am waiting to give you all you need.

Here is My word in an invitation I already sent to you...

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,

and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Matthew 11:28-30 

And when you come you will finally find

All that you’ve been looking for.”

©Corinne H. Mustafa

Stumbling Stones or......building blocks?

Who has not been in the woods and become aware of the babbling music coming from a brook as it bubbles over the rocks making little currents. Added to the song of birds, the buzzing of bees, and the wind blowing through the trees you have a beautiful melody to listen to.  Sometimes the harmony is broken by a torrential rain storm that is punctuated by thunder, lightening, and winds that are no longer friendly.  We run for cover thinking that this is an abuse to our right to a peaceful day in the woods.

Life is like this. When our stream of living seems to be without any impediments such as boulders to scale or rocks to climb we feel happy. We think that no challenge is a good thing. Then we tend to forget that it is in the valleys and in the storms that God blesses us with new understandings and personal growth.

The result is that we emerge and our life song is closer to the harmony that God planned for us from all eternity.  If our personal rocks are removed the strean of our lives would not have a melody that is as sweet as it could be.

Think of this when your life seems fraught with pebbles. Remember to listen for the song of your brook as it flows over what you think to be stumbling stones.  They just might turn out to be the building blocks of your life.

Our Incredible Worth

And hope does not put us to shame, 

because God's love has been poured out into our hearts 

through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. 

                                                                      Romans 5:5

I have been going through a big challenge in my life. It is something that I began working on last November. It was hard work, and in the beginning I asked God to help.
I pointed out to Him what He already knows…that I needed His help…that I was not strong…that I could not do it by myself. I was right and so was He. He helped me, and I did the work. The road was long and steep, but I began to feel some hope.

Today I “officially” came to the end of it. God has been good, and I am feeling empowered and blessed. People who were aware of what I had been going through said
incredible things to me about me. It was amazing to hear what they said about me and my path. I received respect, compliments and love.

Later I was thinking about the whole morning, and I remembered what I had heard earlier on the Christian radio station, K-Love. One of the morning DJ s said that it would be wonderful if we could only see ourselves as God sees us. That brought to mind what I had figured out when I worked in the Recovery Program at our church. A big part of the problem is what drives us not to receive a compliment. We become embarrassed. Someone says, “You did a great job putting that meeting together.” We say, “Well, it did not turn out so well. I wish I had done (such and such).” We invalidate whatever the person has said to us for many reasons.

I defined the reason to others in the groups I worked with as a result of our knowing our own underbelly. We know our hidden shortcomings and shame. We carry guilt around, and sometimes it is hard to let it go…to accept that Jesus died for us. We allow things to eat away at our sense of being God’s child. So we undermine the earnest words of those who see something praiseworthy in us.

I am trying to latch on to what I know in my head but need to make a part of my every belief. God loves me. I know that. He sees every shortcoming. He knows who and how I am. He loves me anyway. He sees who He knows I can be and is leading me toward it. In the meantime He loves me even though
I am a work in progress.





Yes, we have incredible worth! I have incredible worth. You have incredible worth.
Embrace this, and never say, "Yes, but....."

Courage in Action Shared

Recently I heard a friend speak at a meeting. It was amazing. She was amazing. God has made her amazing. She shared a story about something that happened to her that is something that is a universal fear and nightmare people have while awake. It is a fear of something that,  when it happens, changes their life forever. 

We all sat and listened to our nightmare played out in our friend's life. She told her story and did not hold anything back. We sat there stunned and captivated by her story and her courage at living through it and also also at her courage in telling it.

The loss is personal to her and her family. Still I was sitting there applying her story to the damage and hurts I had experienced. I talked to people after the meeting, and many said that they had had losses in life...different losses, but still painful ones. 

After her testimonial, my friend went on to talk about where God was during that time. She shared the growth and wisdom she had gained during the time she was talking about.

Here are some of the things that my friend said she received from God to help her during her nightmare and in the years since then...

courage

• read the Psalms
• Look for a word from God in the hard times.
• Keep your eyes on Jesus. He will get you through it. 
• I asked Jesus to help me get out of the way and to speak through me.
• Remember Isaiah 40:31
  
  "But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength                                            They will soar high on wings like eagles.                     
   They will run and not grow weary                                       
                 They will walk and not faint."
• Send words to people that you know who are hurting.

As a closing thought our moderator reminded us that all people go through serious things in their  lives. She thought that there were even people in our group who had experienced similar things. She advised us to remember our friend's talk and the lessons in it.

I mentioned the courageousness of my friend at the beginning of this conversation. She is one of my heroes. The fact that at one point she was unable to talk due to tears of emotion does mean her bravery was not what I had perceived it to be. It tells me that her hurt was still below the surface and could bring up deep feelings. She cried, and I knew that she had never been same. She had courage that left her unafraid to be real.

Think about this!

Imagine that you had won the following prize in a contest:

Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400.00 in your private account for your use. However, this prize had rules, just as any game has certain rules.

• The first set of rules would be:

Everything that you didn't spend during each day would be taken away from you. You may not simply transfer money into some other account. You may only spend it.Each morning upon awakening, the bank opens your account with another $86,400.00 for that day.

• The second set of rules:

The bank can end the game without warning; at any time it can say, It's over, the game is over! It can close the account and you will not receive a new one.

What would you personally do?
You would buy anything and everything you wanted, right?
Not only for yourself, but for all the people you love, right? Even for people you don't know, because you couldn't possibly spend it all on yourself, right?


You would try to spend every cent, and use it all, right?

ACTUALLY, this GAME is REALITY!
Each of us is in possession of such a magical bank.We just can't seem to see it.

The MAGICAL BANK is TIME!
Each morning we awaken to receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life, and when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is NOT credited to us. What we haven't used up that day is forever lost.Yesterday is forever gone. Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve your account at any time....WITHOUT WARNING.

SO, what will YOU do with your 86,400 seconds? 
Aren't they worth so much more than the same amount in dollars?

Think about that, and always think of this:
Enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you think.

  12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice 

and to do good in one’s lifetime;13moreover, that every man 

who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—it is the gift of God.

14I know that everything God does will remain forever; 

there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, 

for God has so worked that men should fear Him.

15That which is has been already and that which will be 

has already been, for God seeks what has passed by.

Ecclesiastes 3:12-15

So take care of yourself, use your time well, and enjoy life!

Here's wishing you a wonderfully beautiful day!!!

Philadelphia...Sibling like love

Cream Cheese

No, this is not an advertisement for Philadelphia Cream Cheese in spite of the wonder food that it is. It is good on bagels. It is good in a salsa dip. It is good as a dollop in soup. Let us not forget the wonder of cheesecake be it plain, topped with strawberries or another fruit, chocolate or marble…it is the ultimate elegant dessert. It is cool and smooth and slides down easily with a sure sense of gourmet enjoyment.

What I am talking about here is the word Philadelphia. You know, the same as the famous Pennsylvania city…also known as the “City of Brotherly Love.” However, because this is a website for women perhaps we should discuss “Sisterly Love” instead.

What would cream cheese and sisterly love have in common? Well that is a stretch at best. It only came to my mind because of the name of the Philadelphia brand and the meaning of the word. And since we are women at the least we could call it “siblingly” love…to love as a sibling would whether that sibling be a male or a female. So let’s follow the idea of the blessings of cream cheese.

It is a smooth ingredient that enhances enjoyment of so many different foods. Just as love in our interactions helps the medicine go down so to speak. When we love we act differently and medicine is more palatable. Though it may be necessary the brunt of it is dulled by the creamy ingredient of love. 

The Bible gives a lovely description of love and what it could be in 1Corinthians 13…the love chapter.

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. 

Love never gives up. 
Love cares more for others than for self. 
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut, 
Doesn't have a swelled head, 
Doesn't force itself on others, 
Isn't always "me first," 
Doesn't fly off the handle, 
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, 
Doesn't revel when others grovel, 
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, 
Puts up with anything, 
Trusts God always, 
Always looks for the best, 
Never looks back, 
But keeps going to the end. 

8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. 

11 When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. 

12We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! 

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hopes unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. (The Message)

So here we have it on "sisterly" love…Philadelphia… 

Love cares more for others than for self.

When a sister is in need share some cream cheese and jelly

 on a bagel…and some coming alongside

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Your sister only needs what you are able to give

Love doesn't strut, 

Your sister needs a shoulder not someone 

who boasts about their own accomplishments.

Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others

Again there is no need to hold yourself up as a role model 

when all she needs is a sympathetic ear. 

Isn't always "me first," 

A true practitioner of love will never try to put herself 

before her sister at a time of need.

Doesn't fly off the handle,

There will be no loss of patience no matter how unreasonable 

a needy sister is when she is going through a difficult time.

Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, 

There will be no reminders to your sister of past failures.

Doesn't revel when others grovel, zzzzz

Obvious!

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

As your love manifests to your hurting sister you will be glad 

when she sees the truth about her situation and starts to improve.

Puts up with anything, 

In coming alongside there may be annoyances 

but a true sister is willing to put up with any inconvenience

Trusts God always, 

Who else can we really, truly trust?

Always looks for the best, 

This is totally needed so that love can triumph

Never looks back, 

But keeps going to the end.

Once the course is set it is forward to the end.

Sisterly love is the cheese cake of relationships. It is the thing that enhances the interaction of our relationships with everyone but especially with other women. As we come alongside we should be the ingredient in the troubled heat of a hot salsa dip that blends and dims the fire of a problem time to something that is tasty and easily handled.

Written by 

Corinne Mustafa