So Amazing...

As many of you know I just came home from a vacation to Florida.  I love visiting FL for so many reasons.  I lived there from the age of 8 to 18 and I have so many happy wonderful childhood memories there. Whenever I visit it feels like home.  One of my most favorite memories from my childhood is Space Shuttle launches.  I grew up on the Space Coast close to Cape Canaveral and whenever the Space Shuttle was going to launch it was always a big deal.  My parents would load us up in our VW van and we would head for the beach.  We would pack a lunch and all our beach toys and make a day of it.  We would listen to the radio when the launch got close and always count it down….10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….Space shuttle Discovery has liftoff…..   We would hoot and holler and watch as the space shuttle would blast into space. It was always an amazing day full of fun and love for our country and community.  The day wasn’t over till you heard the sonic boom.  Mission accomplished!  J

Well last year for my sons 18^th B-day I took him to FL to witness the 2^nd to last space shuttle launch.  It was to be the space shuttle Discovery.  I was so excited to share this childhood memory with him.  He was going to write an article for his school newspaper and they even gave him an amazing camera for the week to get some good shots of it.  But one of the downsides to a launch is, it might get delayed. Anything from the weather to mechanical difficulties can delay or postpone a launch indefinitely.  So much to my dismay (but not all that surprising) the Discovery launch was postponed for 3 months and we never got to see it while we were there.  We still had a great time in FL but I was disappointed not to be able to see one last launch and share it with my son. 

So let’s fast forward to my trip last week.  There I was in FL staying with my childhood best friend and I decide I want to see a sunrise.  I am ashamed to say all those years living on the east coast I never got up early enough to watch a sunrise properly on the beach.  So we very randomly pick a day…How about Tuesday?  Ok sure sounds good.  And then we very randomly pick a beach….How about Eau Gallie Beach?  This is a beach neither of us had ever been to before but we thought…ah why not?  It was closer to where she lived and it didn’t really matter what beach we were on to see a sunrise.  So we get up at 5:45 am and head to Starbucks for our coffee and then we head off to Eau Gallie Beach with our beach chairs, coffee, and cameras in hand.

   There we sat in the sand for about 20 minutes before the sunrise.  I happened to notice quite a few other people at the beach and thought…WOW…good for them.  They are here for the sunrise too.  But then a group of guys was walking by and they walked up to us and asked….So what time is the flight?  And I love this part, My dear Shannon says back to them quite seriously….What flight?  You mean the sunrise??  They laugh and say no there is a flight from the cape today.  So we act like we know nothing about it(cause we actually knew nothing about it.)  And they walk away shaking their heads at the silly girls. (This was quite a common theme when we were younger!  Ha!) We get on our phones….Google search….”Oh my” is what Shannon says.  The Space Shuttle Discovery is doing a fly by down the coast on a Boeing 747 for its final farewell to the Space Coast and afterwards it is on its way to Washington DC to the Smithsonian.  The flight path is unsure.  I instantly start crying.  WHAT??  The space shuttle discovery is flying on a 747 BOEING aircraft down the coast?!?  I can’t even believe what I am hearing.  Not only am I going to see the Space Shuttle Discovery but it is on a Boeing 747???  My Grandfather retired from Boeing management.   He died about a year and a half ago and he was always so proud to work for Boeing.  My two worlds, the place I grew up and the place I now live were colliding in a BIG way and I could not believe it!  SO I stood on the beach and watched an amazing beautiful sunrise and then I saw it.  There was a plane in the distance and I think I literally held my breath.  I heard someone say next to me….I think it is turning around(remember no one knew the exact flight path)  and I said….No it’s not….it’s coming here.  And here it came…straight to us….UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!!!!!!  The plane was flying very low and it was such an incredible sight!  It flew right to us and then when it got exactly to our location on the beach it started to turn around.  I still can’t believe it.  It was like it flew exactly to us.  I could just hear the pilots in the cockpit….We have a visual of Tiersa and Shannon on the beach, let’s turn around now and head for D.C.  ha! 

I had tears streaming down my face.  When it turned around and flew off  Shannon yelled…..Come on! and she took off running after it.  So I took off running too and we chased a 747 and the Space Shuttle Discovery down the boardwalk until it was no longer was in sight. 

Afterwards we walked back to our beach chairs in the sand and I sat there in such awe.  I seriously could not stop crying.  I could not of planned that better if I had tried and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that God had orchestrated that for me. 

It still is so humbling to think that God loves us and knows us that well that he would do something like that for us.  I mean think about it…I had NO knowledge it was even happening.  We picked a random day to see the sunrise.  We picked a random beach we had never been to.  The Shuttle flew exactly to us….and turned around.  The beach we would of normally gone to was Melbourne Beach.  We would of never seen it!  It still BLOWS my mind.  And I know what God was telling me.  I’ve got your back.  I know you.  I love you.  Trust me.  I will take you places you can’t even fathom.  This is just the beginning.  Even typing this now I can’t help but smile and shake my head.  It just blows my mind.    

Shannon and I stayed on the beach for quite awhile afterwards and a song we sing in church just popped into my head and I just kept singing over and over. 

It goes like this….It’s so amazing, how you love me….It’s so amazing…. Jesus, my God.

And I have to say…It is so amazing how God loves me.  I feel blessed beyond measure and I just had to share this story of God’s goodness and mercy in my life!    

I know some could say it was all a big coincidence but I know in my heart it was not.  As I’ve said before I don’t believe in coincidences any more…Only God-incidences.  J

Progress

So last week I was talking with a friend who is going through a divorce and recently had heard some statistics about people getting remarried.  According to her there was a study and 80% of men remarried within 4 years of getting a divorce and 70% of women remarried 4 years after a divorce.  (Or something like that….For the record she couldn’t exactly remember the percentages and neither can I….and for the record, I looked all over the internet for these statistics and couldn’t find them.  But the exact statistics are not the point.) J
As she told me these statistics…I could feel myself stiffen up….and the 1^st words out of my mouth were….Well I guess I am way below average then. 
(I also told her how 2^nd marriages have an even higher divorce rate then 1^st marriages and don’t last near as long.  This I could find the statistics for all over the internet….but that is not the point either!)  J 

The point is….My first reaction was not the most positive I know, BUT…. in the past this information would of REALLY devastated me.  In fact it probably would of ruined my day. (Or week, or month, or year)   It would have been like a poison dart to my heart.  I continually have battled with negative thoughts about myself and this would of fed those thoughts big time.  I can just hear the self talk….I’m such a loser….I’m not loveable…..There is someone for everyone but me.  It would go on and on. 

But this time I can honestly say, it mildly disturbed me.  I mean, I did mention it to friends later in the day and I did think about it…but not obsessively and it certainly did not ruin my day.   And then I had a break through…..because as I was thinking about it……A thought popped into my head…and this is what it said….You are not average.  You never wanted to be average.  And I instantly thought…Yes of course!  I don’t want to be status quo.  I don’t want to marry for the wrong reasons.  Just because so many people remarry so quickly doesn’t make it right for me!  And it felt like this HUGE breakthrough and the clouds parted and the sun shined down and I thought….I am making PROGRESS!!!!!!!  Woo-Hoo! 

This may sound silly to you…but I don’t think I am alone in my journey… married or not.  We all have poisonous self talk.  My dearest friend came for a visit last month and she struggles with not feeling good enough.  She is beautiful, so fun, so talented, so smart, has the voice of an angel, is an amazing mom and wife……and she struggles with…I’m not good enough.  This blows my mind.  How can this be?  But let’s face it …we all have an enemy and he loves to make us feel unworthy and not good enough.     

As I have mentioned before I have a singles life group that meets once a week at my home.  It is men and women and I can say the core group of us have gotten quite close.  A few weeks back after being prompted by a sermon by our pastor at church, we decided to write down all the counterfeit names Satan tries to give us.  Such as….Unworthy…unlovable….not good enough….Stupid….Loser….etc…these are the negative thoughts that can run through our heads.  (Like my 1^st response to my friends statistics….I guess I’m way below average then.)  Then we took a challenge to go to God’s word and wrote down what God tells us we are.  It was an interesting night to say the least.  We burned our counterfeit names in my fireplace and shared the scripture passages that told of our true identity.  I can’t tell you how freeing and amazing this night felt. 

Here are a few that we came up with that night….

I am chosen.  1 Peter 2:9 & 2 Thessalonians 2:13

I am a beloved child of God  1 John 3:1

I am complete in Christ  Colossians 2:10

I can do All things through Christ  Philippians 4:13

I am never alone   Hebrews 13:5
 
Nothing can separate me from God’s love  Romans 8: 38 & 39

Let me tell you nothing is more powerful then combating Satan’s lies with God’s Holy Word.  I am learning more and more each day that Satan in a counterfeit.  He loves to pose as someone in authority.  He is not!  If he can get us to buy into one of his lies….He thinks he has mastered us.  But the word of God is powerful.  Use your sword!  Get into the word.  It stops him dead in his tracks.  Those of us in Christ have the authority! 
One verse that I found was extremely special to me.  As you know my name is Tiersa.  It is in fact, Hebrew and comes from the name Tirzah.  It means Pleasant and Delightful.   As I was searching the Bible for my true identity in Christ I came across this verse. 
Zephaniah 3:17  The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save.  He will take great Delight in you, He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing. 
Think about this and let it sink in……My God delights in me.  He quiets me with his love.  He sings over me.  He is mighty to save.  He is with me.  What a blessing and a honor! 

I think my parents picked a pretty cool name for me with a pretty cool meaning ..…but even better than being called delightful is knowing ……My God is delighted with me.  WOW!   Let us all remember that!  God is Delighted in you.  You are worthy of His love.  You are precious.  You are NOT average.  You are not status quo.  Please don’t forget!  And if you do….go to His Word.  Let Him tell you exactly who you are. 

And Burn those counterfeit names.  They are SO not you!