I love it when I feel like God is speaking to me.  Although I have never written about it before, I have shared with my group of Bible study sisters that a few years ago when I had returned to God, and I would hear people say, God spoke to me, or God gave me a word for you and I would just think, how?  How is that even possible?? (Side note: If  I had heard someone say that before then, I definitely would have given an epic eye roll to say the least. ) I felt that I never really had ever heard God speak.  So time marches on and as my faith grew, and I grow in my faith, AND spent time reading God’s word,  I feel like I occasionally hear the Lord speak to me.  It might be a small nudge or whisper. It may have been a prayer answered. It may have been wisdom I had been asking for. It may have been an un-explainable, inexplicable happenstance about my father,  that would happen to me, or (sometimes) both of my sisters and I simultaneously. Many of the times, I found that I just needed to come before him and ask. I needed to slow down and just spend time with him.  Be still and wait…So today when I was learning how to make apple cider vinegar at home during the covid-19 quarantine, somehow (God) I got to a video of a homesteader woman showing how to make it on YouTube. While she wasn’t riveting and it was very hard to watch in normal time, she had good information about the apple cider vinegar.   As I got up from the computer (after a way longer video than I really wanted to watch…patience my child), I was looking for something in the pantry and then I heard…before you go, I want to share a couple of verses with you from Psalm 68, pretty cool verses 5 and 6 that say this:  “He is a father to the fatherless and a defender (protector) of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families* and leads forth the prisoners with singing but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.”  Then she finished up with ‘Now, go live with courage. Seek God’s wisdom and let’s meet around the banquet table and swap adventure stories’.

I just stopped in my tracks.  There is so much happening here that I find it hard to put into words.  When my son moved to Illinois with his wife and my first grandchild, I literally thought my heart would break into… But this verse is what God gave to me,  along with a few more. But as I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to let them go with Joy in my heart, (albeit liquid Joy at times) I have tried my best to obey that prompting.

But this verse I have clung to – and God has done just that for me.  In my bible I have written in the margin (I highly suggest you write in your Bibles folks),

*TLB (Living Bible Translation)*He gives families to the lonely.  And that is what God has done in the 7 years since they moved.  He has provided a way for me to see them several times a year, he ‘prompts’ my son to call me almost each day on his home from work to stay connected, Face Time calls with my granddaughters (yes, now two of them!) at least weekly,  and we have shared vacations together.  I’m not going to say that I don’t miss them tremendously and wish I were 5 miles away instead of 500, but God has made a way in my life to keep us connected. He also has given me some of the most wonderful friends to keep me busy outside my work family and my biological family.  He has blessed me with unbelievable things at this stage in my life. Adventures I couldn’t even have wished for in my wildest dreams 30 years ago. I didn’t mean to write this today, not planned, but I needed to. This was a God spoke to me moment.

I  heard, stay the course Tisa, don’t get discouraged, I know what you are going through, I’m here.  So, as boring as it seems today, my little silly “adventure” of making homemade apple cider vinegar (why I had so many apple peelings is another story), God sent me comfort.

I wish for anyone that may end up reading this, love, peace, and calm in this unsettling and unsure time.  God is there, talk to him, cry out in anger to him if

you need to. He’s a waymaker. You may be surprised what you hear.

I’m here also if you just need to talk.  It’s actually in my blog’s name…Talk to Tisa.

Love to all!  Stay safe.