Tag: Creator

September Signs

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September has been saturated with signs. Season changes, shifting attitudes…signs made by kids and adults. Signs on the street and in nature. My signs all point to my Savior and…surrendering. September signs.

Tears fell in sync with the leaves. My heart and head spun like the wind. Memories of yesterday and dreams of today. Thoughts of family, the reunion, doctor’s appointments, and…surrendering. September has been filled with signs!

While hundreds of thousands gathered yesterday to honor a life taken too soon, I thought of history’s greatest humans. My heart turned to my precious parents who have witnessed so much change in their life. Immediately, I switched my thoughts to my children and grandchildren. “God, may my loved ones find only faith in you.”

A bold shift in the air & season! I want faith LIKE THAT.

Jesus never promised an easy life. If you choose to walk and live for him you WILL have obstacles. It matters not what people think, say, or do, but…Jesus.

Let’s lift one another as the leaves fall! For me, I’ll continue to surrender that which I shouldn’t “hold” (grudges, hate, discontent, etc…). The cross will be the perfect weight to carry as I tarry on the trails this side of glory. May the signs, smells, and sights of autumn swirl with sweetness. Jesus, thank you for being my September song and strength!

Remember HE’S always with you if you choose!
Finding hearts! 💚

Friends, today is the start of my favorite season (last year you left in quite a fashion)! Happy Autumn! May every sign left in September direct you to what matters most–love. Do you know how loved you are?💚

Have hope, dear friends. Find faith. ❣️

Have you heard of NET, yet?🦓

Meet Frank

Last Friday the oncology office was jam-packed. I’ll admit, it started to weigh on me. Until Frank walked in. At the front desk he loudly shared his situation. His appointment for that office had changed, but he knew he needed to be at SOME building in the Cox Health System (friends, there are MANY buildings). He continued to share that he hadn’t a lick of liquor for 2 weeks. He was also scared he was going to lose his dog and his home.

Everyone in the waiting room (but one lady and I) kept looking at their phones (and, to boot, they were all in their 70’s-80’s I’m guessing–what are we going to do with this generation and their phones? tee hee). One of my favorite nurses appeared with a smile. “Frank, what’s going on? How can we help you?” He sat down as if to give up. What was ultimately needed was a phone call on his behalf. But no one offered.

Who will help?

“Laura, let me help.” I sat by Frank and he knew part of the name of the doctor he needed to see. After investigating and searching, we narrowed it down (with a few giggles, too!). Finally, I found the office that he needed! Praise God! It was in the adjacent building! Also, the extremely kind receptionist told me to tell Frank not to hurry, all was well. Frank left and the front desk ladies shared their gratitude.

I wasn’t upset that they didn’t help him. You see, I’ve had years of experience with people. Specifically, experiences with people like Frank. I’ve been Frank. I have felt lost, defeated, at the end of my ropes, …and worried about my beloved pet. The young gals at the front desk haven’t had “Frank” moments…yet. Rest assured, life is going to hit us ALL. No matter the age. When it does, what will you do?

My visit

It was finally time for me to go back. The bloodwork didn’t surprise me, but the high thyroid count did. I just don’t feel…super-de-duper. To see me you’d never know. I was around a lot of kids and people last week. My body is fighting hard for me. Although the strength of the treatment has been lowered, I’m still feeling the side effects. A floater has appeared in my right eye that is SMACK in the middle of my line of sight. It’s like a cobweb. And now, a stringy thing?

My oncologist wanted me to go see the eye doctor. Another doctor again (I had been to the eye doctor three times last month). My kind eye doctor shared this is normal for my age. With my cancer I’m to pay attention to any bright lights or loss or fuzzy vision. Ok, I’ve got this. Faith with floaters! I can do this!

Daily life & upcoming schedule

Rarely do I share the daily struggles. The fatigue, the extreme sweating and lack of sleep, the bone pain, the amount of time it takes for me to do…anything right now. When my body says, “take a rest”, I do. When I go and live life to the fullest, I need much recovery time. BUT I HAVE A LIFE. I’M LIVING. Miracles have happened in my life. They CONTINUE. This week I’ll head to Kansas City to see a new NET cancer expert that has started his own clinic at St. Luke’s. It’s a miracle there’s an expert in Missouri AND only 20 miles from my youngest son and his family. Praise God!

May the light of God’s presence give you hope at your darkest hour. When you feel there’s no hope, may a SIGN appear that points straight back to the one who has it all–our Savior. I love you, my friends. Thank you for your unwavering support and friendship.

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Embracing imperfection with faith, flannel, & fresh air

K.L. Hale

5-Star Support

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Support in that way was unexpected.

“I’ll meet you at the nature center, Karla, and we can have our visit there.” Did she know I was unable to go the day before? As this amazing young soccer-playing, wisdom-giving, soon-to-be social worker and I trekked through the woods, our commonalities became clear. In the refuge, we conversed of cancer, Christ, and communion. We shared about family, faith, and finding hope. She didn’t HAVE to hike with me. “This will make your family feel better,” she stated. With peace, tears, and a tired body, I drove away with a satisfied soul.

Fire of Faith

Some of us met as strangers. Several of us sisters/friends. The fire of faith glowed between us. We talked of tough times. We all shared how vulnerable we feel; our past, present, and futures. Women in our second through sixth decades of life-kinship kindled around our fire of faith. We commit monthly to our safe space in nature– to share and grow our sisterhood.

My faith must be protected. How do you protect your heart, soul, mind, and peace? How do you linger with our Creator?

How can we wait in wonderment?

John Eldridge, in his new book, Experience Jesus. Really., shares, “For one thing, the Internet has discipled your soul to expect immediate answers. You inquire and you are answered–immediately. The saints of ages past would be aghast at that. Waiting was considered formation for the soul. They planted crops in the spring and harvested in the fall; there was no rushing things. If you wanted something from the market, you walked there and then you walk back, moving a pace of about three miles an hour. But now, when you turn to Jesus and you are not answered in the way the Internet answers, you feel he isn’t listening or that you can’t hear from him. You sadly believe the two of you are distant from one another, because your soul has been programmed for immediate responses. The notion of lingering before God doesn’t fit with the pace we’ve come to expect” (Eldridge, 2025, p. 2).

“Information feels like our salvation, but information is seductive and capricious, friends; it offers refuge, then takes it away the very next morning” (Eldridge, 2025, p. 4).

“The eradication of mystery would also be shocking to our spiritual forebears. Do you understand that to make Jesus and his Kingdom practical is to strip it of all wonder, mystery, and power? It’s like asking for the mechanics of falling in love, enjoying sunlight on the ocean, comforting a frightened child. It’s like refusing to trust laughter until someone explains the neuroscience. Honestly asking, “How do I love God?” is like asking, “How do I love my son, my daughter?” The heart knows how to love without being told the latest research, for heaven’s sake” (Eldridge, 2025, p. 6).

John Eldrige (2025) shares, “Weary Disciple of the Internet, your soul has also been conditioned to take in massive amount of content every day–far beyond the soul’s ability to absorb. You think it’s normal, but it is not” (p.11).

As the author explains, in quoting G.K. Chesterton, “the world of wonder and mystery children accept as real, and which Christians understand to be the beautiful unseen realm, the rest of the Kingdom of God. One foot on earth and one in the realm the scriptures call the “heavens”. As Apostle John shared with his disciples, the experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ” (Eldridge, 2025 pp 8-9).

Ah, daily encounters with Jesus

The ratings and research can’t change my real. My 5-Star Support is experienced through …transformation of the heart.

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Embracing imperfection with faith, flannel, & fresh air

K.L. Hale

Pics of Creation by K.L. Hale. Pic of aurora borealis by my son, Jarrod, Fairbanks, AK.

Keep the faith, my friends 💚

Reference
Eldridge, J. (2025). Experience Jesus. Really. Nashville: Nelson Books.

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So long September

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September, you’re leaving in a surprising and surreal fashion.

Record storms and floods devastated lives and livelihoods. A September to remember. As crunchy leaves fall in summer-like regions, swirling waters and destruction flood the hearts of victims. How can they enjoy the beauty of the fall foliage?

September, you swirled. Are you surprised I’m still here?

Sometimes, it’s all surreal.

What’s the meaning of life? What’s the point? I’m repeatedly reminded that it’s not about wealth, possessions, or position. In a blink of an eye, it can all be gone.

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. All things are wearisome, more than one can say.” Ecclesiastes 1:2-8 (NIV)

“Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, the more knowledge, the more grief.

Ecclesiastes 1:17-18 (NIV)

“What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:9-11 (NIV)

“Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these? For it is not wise to ask such questions. Wisdom, like inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun. Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves those who have it. When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.” Ecclesiastes 7:10-11 (NIV)

“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.” Ecclesiastes 11:5

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NIV)

So long September! October, I welcome you with open arms and a praying heart. Will you create a colorful and crisp comeback for those who need it? Friends, may hope and faith find you. You are loved.

Have faith 💚

Music Monday

Many weeks ago a fellow blogger and I were listening to this song at the same time! Serendipitous? I told her I would record it for her. C, here it is, my friend. It’s not serendipity or coincidence that water songs have been on my heart (I just recorded a voice over of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” for a 2nd time). One of my favorite Kris Kristofferson’s songs has been in my heart, too. The water has overwhelmed and destroyed so much. It’s unfathomable. With faith and trust, I bet my life on the man who walked on water. Have you?

One of my favorites. R.I.P.

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Rivers of Resilience

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Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy;

Psalm 98:8

He was criticized for abandoning his party. He was fierce competition for the Democrats. Progressive? A bull moose. He was my age when he gave his speech that night in 1912.  Theodore Roosevelt spoke of morality, responsibility, and compassion—not of his other opponents. Some say if he couldn’t rule, he would ruin. Injured pride and greed? Was he crazy? 

He defied hardships and lost himself in danger. Theodore wasn’t a stranger to loss. On Valentine’s Day, at the age of 25, his mom, Martha, died of typhoid fever. Eleven hours later, his wife, Alice Lee Roosevelt (two days after giving birth to his daughter) died of a kidney disorder.
He faced his fears and the frontier. Inconvenience and hard places kept his body and mind free from aches.

Defeats, tragedies, obstacles, and weaknesses only grew his grit. Adventures in the outdoors and willpower quenched Theodore Roosevelt’s thirst for greatness.
It wasn’t any surprise to his 2nd wife he would break away again…to a punishing adventure. Punishment through physical challenges or punishment to himself for the pain and loneliness?

“On the banks of the River of Doubt, the same unyielding will and thirst for achievement brought him face to face with the absolute limits of his strength.” (Millard 2005)

“After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil’s most famous explorer Candido Mariano da silva Rondon, Roosevelt faced an unbelievable series of hardships: they lost their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and endured starvation, attacks, disease, drowning, and a murder with their own ranks. In the end, three men would die, and Roosevelt would be brought to the brink of suicide, but the expedition accomplished a seemingly impossible feat, and changed the map of the Western Hemisphere forever.” (Millard 2005)

“Who hears the rippling of rivers will not utterly despair of anything.”

Henry David Thoreau

For those of you familiar with President Roosevelt’s life, you might know of the tragic death of his son, Kermit (who accompanied him on this river trip). I was once in despair. It’s not that I didn’t want to be HERE. Just not in pain. Mental Health is not a disease. It is part of all of us. What flows through us and gives us hope? How do we face challenges and ride the rapids? How can we recognize the need for utter relief and build resiliency?

Resilience is the residency of Christ in my heart. The rapids we face are the battles for our hearts.💛

Days of floating the Ozarks’ rivers flow through my soul. Tranquil tributaries turned to raging rapids at times. The gushes and torrents were tough teachers. My resolve to rally runs like rivers. Droughts will deplete. Rainfall replenishes. Floods forge with my faith. Rivers rally my resilience. There’s healing in hard times-continued creek crossing despite crisis.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you…Isaiah 43:2

“The life of God is described in scripture as a river–a powerful, gorgeous, unceasing, everrenewing, ever-flowing river.” (Eldridge 13).

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you. A joy.” Rumi

Our Creator can calm currents. His love and grace will flow freely through the tributaries of your heart. 🩷

May the river of life from God flow in and through us and take residency of our hearts.

K.L. Hale

I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. Isaiah 41:18

“Love is the river of life in the world.” Henry Ward Beecher

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.”

Norman Maclean, American author, from “A River Runs Through It” (1976).

“You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.” – Paulo Coelho, Brazilian author, from “The Alchemist” (1988).

Pics by K.L. Hale–rivers in the U.S.A.

‘”The river has great wisdom and whispers its secrets to the hearts of men.”

Mark Twain, “Life on the Mississippi” (1883).

Works Cited

Eldridge, J. (2022). Resilient-Restoring Your Weary Soul in These Turbulent Times. Nashville: Nelson Books.

Millard, C. (2005). The River of Doubt. New York: Anchor Books (a division of Random House, Inc.).

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©2020-2024 Flannel with Faith. All rights reserved.

Thank you for taking a leap of faith to follow!