Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Tuesday, March 3, 2020
Let's Celebrate!
If you'll be in the L.A. area on Saturday, March 7th, we'd love for you to celebrate with us!
Join us at VCC's 12th-anniversary luncheon and hear my incredible story
of amazing grace, unfailing love, and undeniable
miracles.
Get your tickets today at http://valenciachristiancenter.org/tickets/
Love Always,
Shy
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
Fruitful Inheritance
Recently, my family
suffered a huge loss. A loss that left
an undeniable hole in the very fabric of our family. My brother, Jim, was such a huge, loving
presence in my family. Everyone was
touched by his life in some way. His
heart was so full of love. His kindness
was so sincere. His encouragement was
certainly motivating. And his laugh was
contagiously joyous. As we grieved over
the loss of our beloved, I couldn’t help but remember the saying “What story do
you want to be told?” It was as if my
brother lived in such a way that would bring honor to God as his story would
later be told. It was as if he
consciously wrote a page each day that would ultimately weave together a story
that was indeed written by a pen in the hand of God.
In John 15:5, Jesus said,
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If
you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” It was obvious to those who knew Jim that he
was connected to the vine, because of the fruit he bore - love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control
(Galatians 5:22-25). To have known Jim,
was to bear witness of the fruit of the spirit.
Although he has
physically left us, we can rejoice over the inheritance we are left with - a
legacy of a fruitful spirit inspired by a beautiful heart wrapped in dignity
and love. The story he told with his
life was a true reflection of Jesus’s commandment to love. With this in mind, we rejoice in knowing that
he is now forever connected to the vine.
And as we remember him, we are reminded to live a life with this
question in mind - “What story do you want to be told?”
James Thurman
Saunders, we celebrate you and give thanks for the fruitful inheritance you
have left us with. What a wonderful
inheritance it is.
Love Always,
Shy
http://lovealwaysshy.blogspot.com/
Instagram: Love
Always, Shy (@lovealwaysshy) • Instagram photos and videos
Thursday, January 9, 2020
We won!
My son, Eman, was such a busy body of a little
boy. Before his arrival in my life, my days were pretty
predictable. My daughter was pretty easy in the sense that she was happy
doing whatever I was doing, yet she also knew how to quietly entertain herself as the only child.
Well, in 2001, all that changed. Eman
arrived and decided to shake things up. In spite of him having chronic
asthma, he was a rough, daredevil, little boy. From jumping off the
top bunk of the bed landing his chin on the dresser on the way down (ouch!) to
running with scissors and barely missing his eye when he fell with them.
We were in the emergency room on a regular basis. My life was never the
same.
One day, in his usual 5-year-old
"superhero" fashion, he snuck up on our dog and pulled his
tail. The dog was startled and turned around and snapped at him causing a long, bloody cut on Eman's cheek. Thank goodness he didn't need stitches (this would
have been the third time he'd had stitches on his face), but it was still a nasty
cut. Eman was quite upset and shocked by Elmo's response. So to
make him feel better, I decided to take him to dinner at a hibachi restaurant
that evening. What was I thinking exposing others at the table to his
face? There was a lady sitting at our table with her three small children
and I happened to notice her little girl snuggling up next to her
mother with a frightened look on her face while pointing and whispering,
"Look at his face." Her mother smiled politely and assured her
daughter that it was okay.
Seeing and hearing this, I decided to change
the atmosphere of the table. So I looked at the daughter with the most
convincing look on my face and said, "He got into a fight with a tiger, and
you should see what the tiger's face looks like." The little girl’s eyes widened as her siblings perked up to listen as I explained how my son had won a fight with a tiger and how the tiger was in much worse shape. And just like that,
Eman became the hero at the table and it was an honor for the other kids to be
sitting with such a victorious warrior.
That story pretty much sums up how I stepped
into the new year - scars, bumps, bruises, aches, and pains, but you should see
the scars of the enemy that I fought to get here! I learned that it's not
about the enemy you're fighting, but about the army that's fighting on your
side. Some battles are tough and some scars are evident, but thank God
for (1) fighting our battles, (2) extending His unfailing grace, and (3) offering us a chance to
begin again!
Thank you Jesus, we won! May your 2020 be filled with
many more victories. Happy New Year!
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways. Psalms 91
Love Always,
Shy
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Blessings Unaware
As
the year begins winding down, most of us start reconciling our goals set at
the beginning of the year with how things actually turned out. It’s a time to give thanks for the things
that exceeded our expectations while learning from the things that didn’t quite
pan out like we thought they would.
Sometimes there are things that we had no idea God even did for us
because we were so oblivious to His hand in our lives at those particular
moments.
So
as I was having a reflective moment, I thought of something I’d experienced and
chuckled to myself. It was towards the
end of my third stay in the hospital when the nurse came in to change my linen and my
gown as usual. I’d been wearing a yellow
gown for the past several days, but this time when she changed my gown, she
changed me into a blue gown. The next
day when she came to change my gown again, I very innocently asked, “May I have
another yellow gown? I like the bright
yellow color better.” She replied, “Do
you feel like you’re going to fall when you stand up?” Confused, I replied, “No.” Then she said, “The yellow gown is for
patients who are at risk of falling. It
alerts the nurses to keep a special eye on you if you get out of the bed, and
someone will always walk with you, even though you have a walker.”
Wow! I had no idea the color of my gown signified
if I was at risk of falling or not. I
was also completely oblivious to the fact that God had strengthened me beyond “yellow gown status” to “blue gown status”.
He can be so subtle in walking with us, that we don’t even know when He
changed our status, we just look up one day and realize He did!
This
situation made me examine other areas of my life where God had strengthened my
walk. As I began to look closely, I saw
so many situations in my life where God has moved me from the “yellow gown” to
the ”blue gown” without me even recognizing the moment it happened. He saw the signs in various areas of my life
where I was at risk of falling and He patiently walked with me to keep me safe.
As we reflect on this year alone, consider the countless risks God has walked through with us, keeping us from falling. Consider the many blessings He has given
us while we were completely unaware of the shift along the way. The fact of the matter is, He never leaves
us. So as we come to a close of this year
and enter into a new one, walk with assurance that He is there to keep us in
all our ways.
He
is to able to keep you from stumbling. Jude 1:24(a)
Have
a blessed 2020!
Love
Always,
Thursday, November 14, 2019
My New Birthday!
This morning was not
like any other morning. As I opened my eyes, I was overwhelmed with
gratitude. Not the regular "thank you" gratitude, but the “speechless,
eyes full of tears” gratitude as I reflected on this time last year. This
time last year, I lay in a hospital bed, barely able to move or walk as the
nurses rolled me back and forth to change my clothes, and as I lay there,
I could feel life leaving my body. My son sat next to my bed not knowing
what was happening to his mom. In fact, a few days earlier, he'd sat
quietly on the foot of my bed at home and asked, "Mom, are you
dying?"
Thankfully, he'd driven
me to the emergency room on this particular evening. In that moment, I
didn't have the capacity to have fear or to think any "why me"
thoughts. I was only able to cling to my faith and trust that God was in
control. The only thing I remember was apologizing to the nurses over and
over for having to take care of me with no help from my own strength. They were loving, gracious angels.
Shortly after having a
CT scan, the doctor entered my room and stated very matter-of-factly that she'd
need to do a major surgery NOW. I could sense the urgency in the matter
as I was already in the process of receiving a blood transfusion. But
even at that moment, I asked if she could give me a moment to pray. She
paused and left the room for a few minutes. When she returned, I had
accepted God’s healing by way of this surgery but had one question to really understand the intensity behind her recommendation - "If
I were your sister, what would you tell me to do?" She replied,
"I would tell you to head to O.R. right now." I replied,
"Okay. Let's go." It was
in God’s hands.
Approximately, 6 hours
later I was grateful to awaken in ICU with breath in my body. Lots of tubes and
beeps were happening around me, but gratitude and grace filled the room larger
than anything else. After being in the hospital for a week, I was able to
go home the evening before Thanksgiving and today I am reminded of the first
evening home. It was surreal, like a dream. I remember as I was
sleeping on the sofa (I was unable to climb the stairs to my bedroom, so I
slept on the sofa for a couple of weeks.), I opened my eyes at 2:00 a.m. and
just looked around the room giving thanks to God that I was actually on the other
side of a miracle. I lay there, unable to get up, but feeling so safe in
His arms as He carried me through the days and weeks to come.
The next few weeks were
filled with family coming into town to take turns taking care of me, along with
home nurses and physical therapists. And, as you can imagine, the
gratitude on that Thanksgiving was immeasurable. I was surrounded by loving angels.
So today, as I awoke,
the regular gratitude was superseded by gratitude that can't even be
described. I have named November 14th as my new birthday and every day
Thanksgiving. Yes, I was born on February 3rd, but on November 14, 2018,
God rewrote my ending and gave me a new beginning. It was hard to imagine
the girl laying in the hospital being able to live the life I'm gifted with
today, but I can hear the voice of the Lord saying, "Daughter, your faith
has healed you." (Mark 5:34)
As a result of my past,
I now see and hear everything so differently in my new life. I take
everything that Jesus did personally. His body was broken just for
me. His blood was shed just for me. His amazing grace was extended directly
to me. His unfailing love was given just for me. I am grateful for
all that He's done for me. Today, I celebrate life...more abundantly!
Love Always,
Shy
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovealwaysshy/
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Runaway Spirit
I
used to have a dog with a “runaway spirit”.
In fact, he came into my life because he’d run away from someone
else. I found him roaming the streets
one day, and after posting signs about a lost dog, I took him to the vet to be
scanned to see if he had an electronic chip which would identify him and his
owner. No such luck, so we adopted him
into our family and named him Elmo; however, no matter how much love he was
receiving from our family, he took the opportunity to run whenever the gate
opened.
After
having him for a couple of years, I decided to relocate from Los Angeles to
Atlanta. And what do you think happened
the week of the move? You guessed it,
Elmo ran away. I was devastated! I left his kennel and travel papers with my
sister and prayed that Elmo would be found by the time my sister was scheduled
to visit me in Atlanta. Sure enough,
about a week after we’d moved, I got a call.
“Hi! This is Emily’s mom. We have Elmo, again.” Emily was a high school girl in the
neighborhood who Elmo had followed home during previous runaways, so they were
familiar with my little runaway baby. Oh, how
I rejoiced at knowing Elmo had been found.
My sister went and got him and brought him to Atlanta with her. Hallelujah!
Knowing
I had a runner on my hands (and I loved him too much to see him get lost again), I scheduled to have an invisible fence
installed. If you’re not familiar with
an invisible fence, it’s an electrical wire installed under-ground around the
perimeter of the yard. The dog wears a
collar that beeps when he gets too close to the wire alerting him to back-up,
otherwise, he’ll experience a shock. The
dog eventually learns the boundaries and stays within the invisible fence.
Well,
what do you think happened the day the guy came to install the fence? You guessed it again. Elmo ran away! Both the children and I, along with the fence
guy, ran through the neighborhood chasing Elmo.
Completely out of breath, we finally caught him. After getting back to the house, I will never
forget the fence installer’s words as he trained Elmo on how the fence worked -
“I see that Elmo has a runaway spirit, so I’m going to need to let him
experience a shock so he understands the boundaries. You might want to look away.” Oh, how my heart ached as he took Elmo to the
edge of the yard and I heard him howl at the feeling of the shock. After that experience, Elmo stayed on the
porch for several days uncertain about what was out in that evil yard waiting
for him. Eventually, he learned the system
and began to run and play and enjoyed life within the safe boundaries set for
him. And to my great joy, he never left
the yard again.
Elmo
and I have so much in common. He was
brought into my life to teach me what safe boundaries look like. I’ve learned that God has a shield of
protection around me; however, when I run away on my own will, He sometimes
allows me to experience a shock to teach me boundaries. Ouch!
It doesn’t always feel good, but like the fence installer, I can hear the
Lord saying, “This might hurt a bit, but I’m going to have to allow this shock to
keep you safe in My will.” For some of
us (and by “us” I mean “me”), it takes a lot of running away before we
understand that God’s boundaries are set in place for our lives because He
loves us too much to allow us to get lost.
It’s not always easy when you have a “runaway spirit”, but I am constantly
reminded that the safe boundaries He’s set for me is just a reflection of His great
love for me.
“Trust
in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”
Proverbs 3:5
Love
Always,
Shy
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovealwaysshy/
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