Kim Stanley

Jordan fights every day. Her body doesn’t do what she tells it to; yet she keeps talking to it. Her speech is slow and labored, but she speaks. We lean in to listen. To understand her words and to hear her heart in the spoken expression. She wakes up telling me what’s on the agenda for the day, making sure her phone is close by. Today is bath day and the bath aide will be calling to make sure it’s ok to come over this morning. She starts another round of chemo tonight. 5 days of pills before bedtime.
Platelet counts have come up to normal so she can begin the monthly chemo regimen. Again.
And all this she does with much grace. I see it every day. Strength and dignity are her clothing in this suffering.

What would be mundane to you and I is holy here.  Numbering-our-days living. Teach me O Lord.  Kids, grand for sure, get up for school, have morning snuggles with their mama and walk around the corner to their daytime adventure. Our dear son in law, (who came up with that term?) wakes early for a morning run or workout before sweetly kissing his wife goodbye for the day. He actually lingers there a good while. I take notice.

During the day, when it’s just Jordan and I at home, we keep the atmosphere fueled with worship. We enjoy being together; even when I may be annoying her with too many mama questions. I’m learning; learning to be ok in the quiet with her. I lie awake at night sometimes wondering if I’ve done enough for her that day. Not just tasks, but being there for her emotionally. Gut wrenching thoughts. But I’m reminded in the silence that God alone has already done and is enough for her. And for me. He has put His love in my heart so that I can serve her. He is good to give me what I need in the moment as I trust and abide.

Yesterday we made the hour-plus drive to the closest Target, after getting Parker out of school early, to spend a girls’ afternoon together.  I had déjà vu to when Jordan and her siblings were mere littles and I had limited patience when shopping with them. It seemed like a big deal to me this day that I couldn’t figure out how to push Jordan in the wheelchair, hold a shopping basket, watch a five-year-old, and carry our popcorn and drinks. Some things are a priority – and popcorn and drinks while shopping at Target are 2 of them.  Did you know they have caramel popcorn at this Portland Target? It’s the little things. But seriously, I had to ask for forgiveness for Mommie Dearest making an appearance.  And during the drive home it was grace again to the rescue.

That’s what I see so much of around here. Grace for this journey of one thing:  To see God big in our moments. To believe He is here. Like that mountain I can’t and never want to get over. There have been many days when it so clear you can see its jagged shape breathtakingly well. And on the days when smoky clouds envelop it, keeping it hidden, it’s as if it was never there.  But prior knowledge and experience of its majesty have established it as sure and true.  I read this morning in “The Gospel According to Job” devotional, by Mike Mason, “Real faith is not so much seeing God, as knowing that one is seen. Only this kind of faith is resilient enough to embrace ‘trouble from God.’ So the grace is really in knowing we are seen by God. Jordan and Brack and their children, you and your family, Joe and I and ours, we’re all seen by God. And it’s not just a flippant nod of recognition, but it’s in the infinitude of God’s all encompassing knowing; personal and intimate.

To those who are following along and praying for Jordan and her family, Joe and I are forever grateful for you. Her next MRI is on February 22, where they will tell her if the tumor is responding to treatment. You’re welcome to put that date on your calendar to pray if so led. We are praying and expecting God to move, Thank you for praying for our entire family too. So much going on. Like you.

I’m grateful to be here. I get to have lunch with my daughter;
my sweet Jordan who fights like a girl – a girl full of grace and strength and beauty.

Kim

www.joeandkimstanley.com     

www.brackandjordan.blogspot.com

 

 

 

A Journey To One Thing

Hello Friends!

Since we’ve talked last, our family has grown by one! Ellis Faith Taylor was born November 5 to our daughter Brooke and her husband, JB! She weighed in at 8 pounds and 13 ounces. Of course she’s beautiful!! Older sister Emma Grace is very proud too! We are just over the moon in love with her already and waiting expectantly to hold her close in a couple of weeks!
See pictures below!!

Joe and I wake up every morning reminding ourselves we’re in Oregon. Of course it becomes very real when we look out our window and see Mt. Hood on a clear morning. Then we drive the short 5 or 6 minute drive to our daughter and son’s house to wake up our 2 grandkids for school. These new routines are so much fun. Brack teaches PE at the kids’ school so he goes over a little early. So Papa and I take turns walking them to and from school, literally around the corner. We have gotten to know some of the amazing teachers at their school. They even make house calls for the kids’ conferences and stop by often to say “hi” to Jordan and the family. They usually plan some type of weekly “rally around Jordan” get together, at her house or a local restaurant. Our hearts are full of love and gratitude for this community of loving people who have invaded our kids lives with such kindness. Parker’s kindergarten teacher has planned a Carols and Cocoa night for Jordan so next time I will have pics to share of that!
Jordan had her last Avastin infusion yesterday and handled it like a pro. She started her second round of 5 day chemo last night, taking pills at bedtime. This is the strongest dose yet, and I’m very thankful to say she did not experience any nausea during the night.
Her speech is pretty slurred, but we are learning to understand her better. It gets rather funny sometimes; another lesson I lean into, that listening is an art.
Reality hit hard this week as we signed papers for Advanced Directives, (quality and end of life choices), and heard Jordan talk about writing letters to her children. Emotions can change on a whim; one minute we’re laughing and playing with the kids and the next we’re tucking our daughter in and saying goodnight, and she’s crying because she can’t imagine not being here for her children. I could barely whisper “Jesus.” Joe and I cried the whole way home that night.
But what if I couldn’t whisper “Jesus?” Who else’s Name means anything in these times? I mean, really.
I may not live up to Abraham who “never wavered in his faith as he gave glory to God,” as much as I want to. But I do know the One who never wavers in His love for me and those I love. I have questioned a lot lately.
I realize I don’t really know anything.
And in being still, and being content in the not knowing, He comes.
And that is Life to me. He is Life to me.
And breath comes just in time.

Thank you again for being here with us. In our hearts. We are humbled to realize so many of you have walked or are walking similar roads. I hope I will have more compassion as I trust the God of all comfort to be that in me.

With love and grateful hearts,

Kim and Joe

Ellis Faith Taylor born November 5, 2017

Jordan, Brack, Benton and Parker on our weekend
at the Oregon coast.

Copyright © 2017 Joe and Kim Stanley Ministries, Inc, All rights reserved.

 

 

One thing I’ve noticed lately is that creativity needs to be fanned and reawakened regularly.  Wait, you may be saying right now “I don’t consider myself very creative,” or “I don’t write or sing or paint or sew or do anything in the least creative.”  But there is so much more to creativity than those obvious genres.

Creativity is born and reborn into each of us by our Creator. He is Consummate Creativity, Author of Life and all things seen and unseen; Beauty breathed from Spoken Word and sustained by sheer thought.

Lest you start looking for ways that you are not creative, ask for new sight to see His Creative Life already in you; begging for more freedom to be expressed.

 

Do you plan meals for your family? Are you making lists (never mind if all things on said list get finished)? Do you look for and try new recipes? Do you like to search for and give gifts to your family and friends? Are you coming up with ways to keep your toddler busy and learning? Do you go to your closet and put that shirt with that skirt for the first time? Do you move your furniture around? Do you sometimes just sit and bask in the silence?

 

Creativity is lurking around every crevice of our being, if we recognize it.

But our eyes become dull and glazed over with the day to day.

And that’s why we need the Spirit to awaken us to His creative work all around us and in us.

He never meant for us to get on the fast track and go… go …go…. for the sheer sake of going.

We can lose our way.

 

Let me encourage you to create a new space for yourself. There are times it takes new space to see with new eyes.

 

My son gave me a hammock for Mother’s Day.

We have some woods behind our house. After looking at the Youtube video 3 times on how to tie hammock straps to trees, I eased my backside ever so cautiously into the parachute material and waited for it all to come tumbling down. What faith?!?

Turns out physics and gravity are a good thing.

And the view…from that new space…did something to me. In me. Just looking up at trees instead of being eye level with them. Hearing the birds on their home turf sounded amazingly different and louder than even on my deck.

 

I’d passed through this place, but never sat in it before.

 

I sat their and read a book.

 

Glorious.

 

Nothing special about a hammock. But it was a new space for me.

 

Find your new space. It may be looking out a different window.

It might be walking a new path.

 

Ask the One who created you in your mother’s womb what He wants to show you today.

 

It may bring a smile to your eyes. It will be Life to your soul.

 

With Love and Appreciation for you,

Kim

A Journey for One Thing

Hey Y’all! Thanks for tuning in. Some of you I’ve known for a long, long time and some of you are recent new friends. Welcome! I believe we all have this “one thing” in common. We desire to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and live in abundance through His Life.

Recently I asked a group of ministry wives this question: “Do you find it difficult to carve out time in your schedule to be still before the Lord and listen for His voice? If so, what would you say is one of the main distractions to this?”

These are some responses from these amazing women in the trenches of daily ministry:

“Sometimes I find we are too busy doing God’s work that we forget to take the time to be still and listen to God.”

“It is something different and sometimes the same thing. Whether it be your job, family (young children or older children),… I have been in a place in my life over the last 15 months when I have had been pushed to the point where I am desperate for my time with Him…I have learned that the more time I spend with God, the more I crave my time with Him.”

Can you relate?

The thought behind this newsletter is to encourage you in your own journey with the Lord. I want to offer you hope as a fellow sister in Christ, that the “King is enthralled by your beauty” and He desires you to be in His Presence more than you know.

As David prayed “one thing have I asked of the Lord.” in Psalm 27, so I am asking for you and I that our own desire would be for His Presence, to still ourselves before Him, to gaze upon His beauty, and to hear His voice.

And we can depend upon His Presence within us to help.

And we can help and encourage one another.

Here is just one of suggestion for your own personal time with the Lord. We offer this and many others in our “One Thing Worship Retreats” that have been so special.

Make it a Date!
~ having a consistent time and place is helpful in your quiet time with the Lord; same room, same chair, same time of day. This is by no means “law,” just suggestions for you if you’re struggling. Also, extended times away, like “One Thing Worship Retreat,” are great for extra time to be with Him.
“ONE THING” is a gathering of women in an intimate setting, to pause and pull away from the rush of life with the intentional purpose of being with Jesus. With focused time to worship God, study and pray His Word, and listen for His voice, “ONE THING” gives time and place both for individual and shared times of devotion.

If you are looking for a great women’s retreat idea for refreshment and renewal, consider a “One Thing Worship Retreat.”

Special thanks to the women who shared their hearts and took time to respond!

Enjoy His Presence today!

Kim