Prayer & Praise:

 Join me in celebrating a young lady who has decided to give birth and keep her baby.
 Pray for me as I travel the several hours to go get her. She is only about 8 weeks pregnant, scared and confused but determined to provide for her baby.

A Peace of Heaven on Earth

I am just over 3 months into my new life here at the "Inn".  I am still in awe of the beauty,  the peace and the solitude this place exudes. Words cannot express how humbled and honored I am to be a part of this ministry   This is undoubtedly the most amazing endeavor that God has assigned me thus far. 

 I know, escorting Joe into eternity was a big one and helping Mom while she was dying of cancer was huge too, but this is bigger still. I don't know the magnitude and will probably only understand it when looking in hindsight from the other side, but I know for sure this IS my destiny.

The years of preparation have been both exciting and painful.  Allowing the power of the Holy Spirit to purge me of my negative destructive thinking about myself, others and of him. Renewing me with the truth of Gods word.and moving into a real  relationship with Jesus. Seeing his  loving and ever faithful nature. Becoming the person, the Connie, that God created me to be..  This is a season of life I am truly happy to be in.   

So here I am, House Mother at a maternity  home for unwed mothers.  In the old days the maternity homes were for good girls who made a bad choice.  Today, I believe they are still good girl, but our world has deteriorated to such a degree that our  good girls are being abuse, neglected, trafficked and destroyed in ways that just 2 or 3  generations ago they would never have believed.

It is absolutely heartbreaking to see the underbelly of a nation that once stood for integrity, had morals and valued a human life devour it's offspring.  We have replaced relationship with technology and values with greed. The woes of our world goes on and on, which I won't do. I'm just glad that in the midst of the chaos God has provided a safe place for  women to come to find peace, comfort, love, restoration and  hope. For some it is  the first time they have ever considered the possibility of  a future for themselves and their precious babies.  

Again, I am honored to have been chosen for such a time as this and I ask for serious prayer, for myself, for this ministry, but mostly for the ladies who have come through here and for those whom God will send.

Be Blessed ,
Connie

"The experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do." - Corrie ten Boom

First Assignments

I met with the volunteer coordinator yesterday and she gave me my first assignments. 2 elderly people at a nursing home. Although I had told her that I didn't want to work at nursing homes, I felt pretty good about accepting these two. She described them as lovely people who really just needed a little companionship and an advocate. I waited until after lunch so hopefully my people would have finished eating and be ready for a visitor.

I went straight to the nursing station upon my arrival introduced myself and asked where I could find my lady and gentleman. They were less than helpful. When I ask for where I might find Ms Lucy, she asked ;" is that the one with the walker?" I told her I did not know, I haven't meet her yet. The nurse told me the lady would be in the sitting room, just call out her name she will answer you and the gentleman was in his room sleeping to go on in. I went into the sitting room called out Ms Lucy's name and no one answered me. I found her sleeping soundly in a chair and didn't feel comfortable waking her up so I went on down the hall to Mr K's room. He is a stroke victim and I was told that he has a hard time communicating. That information was an understatement. I found Mr k in his bed with his sheets pulled down pointing to his diaper. It was obviously in need of changing, his lungs were rattling as though he needed to cough and have a breathing treatment and his the whites of his eyes were very red. Perhaps from crying,. He seemed in distress and scared.

I went to find someone to tell that he needed assistance and found no one who cared or had time to listen to me. I left poor Mr K and Ms Lucy and will go see the hospice coordinator tomorrow. I don't think she understands what my purpose is of volunteering with them.

I cannot stand the depravity and cruelty that mankind is capable of inflicting upon one another and these horrors are so very evident in nursing homes.

Hospice volunteer: I've been accepted

I just got a call from the Hospice program I applied with , my background check came back clear (whew,haha). I go Monday to pick up my name badge and get my patients.

Given the date and time of year. I dedicate my hospice service to my beloved husband, Joseph Leslie Danford. Whom on 12/12/1981 @ 12:12pm we exchanged wedding vows and I am proud to say we fulfilled our vow. Through sickness and in health, until death we did part, but only in the physical. The two became one and part of me is already there. I look forward to our reunion, but until then I hope to discover and complete my purpose with as much grace and dignity as he did. It was through our battle with cancer and his ensuing death that I learned more about Faith, Family, God, Love, Life, Purpose, sickness, commitment and the true meaning of death and eternity in 14 month than many learn in a lifetime. We have it backwards, our time on earth is death and decay. At what we call death is in actuality the life we so desperately seek while we are on this side of heaven.

I truly do look forward to standing on this side of eternity, pointing towards Jesus and ushering others through the doorway. I consider it an honor and a great privilege to be allowed to be part of the intimate death experience. To have the opportunity to talk, listen, pray and really get to know my patients and their families. This is where the rubber meets the road, all games aside. Good, bad or indifferent it is the kind of reality that is honest and true. I anticipate my experience with reverence and trepidation, peace and sense of knowing that this is my calling. No matter what I encounter my God goes before me, preparing the way. All I really have to do is stay in his presence. Be His hands and feet, His heart and compassion. Remembering always Proverbs 3:5 .

Hospice Volunteer

After years of contemplating, the time has finally come for me to accept God's prompting to become a hospice volunteer. The seed was planted during my husbands illness. It has been watered and nurtured for 6 years. Friday of last week (Dec 3rd) I picked up an application, got a TB test and training videos. Monday morning I went back, dropped off the application, had the TB test read and today I finished watching the videos. I should hear something next week when they get my background check finished. This will be a place for me to record my life and experiences or more importantly the amazing miracles I will see and experience as I walk this path of hospice.

Keep me in your prayers.....

I am a new creation

I am no longer living in today carrying along yesterdays' woes. Tomorrow has troubles of it's own and so DID yesterday. I have carried them with me to learn, exam and grow, but that has gone on long enough. Now it is time to take all of the introspection and put it to use in todays world. A world that is so void of hope and encouragement. A world that is so afraid of death that they are afraid to live. Part of me died that day & part of me is already in Heaven, but the part of me that is still alive and still on this earth needs to LIVE.

I recently said to someone that I feel like I am living someone else's life... just going through the motions living a life that is far removed from the one I had. The one that I was familiar with, comfortable with. That life that I knew and understood is gone.

Today I am not married, not in a relationship, not dependent upon any one. Today I must live as though I were alive because I am. It is a new life that I have to learn. Like a child exploring the world for the first time. New rules, new parameters, new experiences, new everything...and it's not all a bad thing.

When Jesus Returns

What would you like to be doing the very moment Jesus returns?

I would like to be with a dying person,as a spiritual midwife.
Encouraging, escorting and celebrating their arrival into eternity.

Real "life" begins when we realize that we are dying. Until then we are just existing. When we understand how fragile and temporary this life on earth is, then we can start to envision the eternal life that God has prepared for us.
The "forever and ever", Amen.

When we begin to see that at any moment we are in danger of losing this comfortable lifestyle we have created for ourselves, then we begin find a strong desire to make a difference, make an impact, change a life. To live like there is no tomorrow and not sweat the small stuff.

The secret of LIFE is to find that 'thing' we would like to be doing, before His return. While we are still strong and healthy. When it appears that we have years ahead of us and DO it.

Start now, while there is still time to enjoy the blessings and satisfaction of pouring into another soul the Love and Peace and Grace that has been poured into our own lives.

"For I am crucified in Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I,but Christ who lives in me" ~ Galatians 2:20

My dear friends, "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~Philippians 1:21
What can man do to me that my Father in Heaven does not allow?

...so, again I ask, "what would you like to be doing the MOMENT Jesus Christ returns?