tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31722692662445975862024-03-13T09:33:25.187-07:00ann kiemeli'm running to win.kc bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04757315688547991419noreply@blogger.comBlogger558125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-82365191806840579732014-09-22T17:38:00.003-07:002014-09-30T08:49:49.061-07:00Letter from Jan to Ann<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ann, we are 69 years of age today. I can't grasp you are in heaven. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We began as one egg. You pushed yourself out first and you have marched ahead of me again into heaven. You know we never really talked about death and dying except it just couldn't happen. But three months before you died, do you remember saying, "I have to die first. You have Tom. I would be alone." I continue to have these awful mishaps, diarrhea everywhere, falling over the open dishwasher door, breaking more bones - I carry my pain alone. You are in heaven, your suffering is over. Hurray for you! And you were right, I couldn't have made it without Tom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes I wail out your name. So many things I want to say to you. A new makeup I found. A new book. A sad feeling. I've talked to all your children. Brock is sending me a new blender. Mine is broken. I know you would be proud. Honey, you lost touch of all the millions who are changed today because of you. Remember Phillip Russell, your ROTC partner? He called. The only person from school I would even recognize. We graduated 51 years ago. He and I have had really honest talks about being haoles. How ugly and inferior we felt. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ann, we have laughed and snuggled in beds with our magazines, spoken on the same platforms, argued fiercely. <span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Never free for a day to be just ourselves. We had to always wonder what the other one was doing or getting. I don't have to worry about my weight anymore. It's a relief, honey. Why did you need to be so much smaller than me?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">You are brilliant, beautiful, gifted and the most loving person I've ever met. I'm struggling with being overly defensive. I always have been a fighter. Another thing I wish we could talk about. While I feel a big piece pulled a part of me when you died, I carry you with me everywhere I go. Thank you for sharing your world, your great friends, your blessings. God poured great blessings into both of our lives, but I still become someone special, "magical", to people when I say I'm the twin sister of Ann Kiemel Anderson.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I crawled into your hospital bed minutes after you died, honey, and wrapped my arms around you, kissed you, cried, and knew my life would never be the same again. Wait for me, I'm right behind you!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I will always love you, darling. Jan</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-66537717245489322312014-03-11T15:15:00.000-07:002014-03-11T15:15:09.535-07:00Ann's Memorial Service<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/88724293" width="600" height="503" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/88724293">Recorded on March 8, 2014</a> at <a href="http://vimeo.com/bearcreekchurch">Bear Creek Community Church</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-74483652890097591672014-03-09T09:24:00.000-07:002014-03-09T09:24:10.662-07:00Ran across this quote embedded in <a href="http://annkiemel.blogspot.com/2009/03/publisher-sent-some-quotes-from-old.html" target="_blank">one of Ann's first blog posts</a>.<br />
<blockquote>
<i>everything must balance.<br />
if i want to love deeply,<br />
i should expect to suffer deeply.<br />
this means i more or less choose<br />
for myself what i want to put in<br />
and take out of life. nothing great<br />
or noble comes cheaply.</i></blockquote>
We all thank God for Ann and the legacy she left us.<br />
<br />
Please continue to pray for Ann's family as they mourn her loss.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-44755792826705339052014-03-07T13:16:00.000-08:002014-03-07T13:16:10.399-08:00Ann's Memorial Service Streamed Live on Saturday<br />
Wanted to make sure that you all knew that Ann's memorial service will be streamed live tomorrow (Saturday) at 2pm Pacific Time at <a href="http://www.bearcreekchurch.com/">http://www.BearCreekChurch.com</a>.<br />
<br/>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-51697880845130392642014-03-04T16:52:00.001-08:002014-03-04T16:52:50.225-08:00A Focus On The Family Friend Has Gone Home<a href="https://community.focusonthefamily.com/b/jim-daly/archive/2014/03/04/a-focus-on-the-family-friend-has-gone-home.aspx">https://community.focusonthefamily.com/b/jim-daly/archive/2014/03/04/a-focus-on-the-family-friend-has-gone-home.aspx</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-73423195493597302272014-02-26T09:16:00.005-08:002014-02-26T09:16:55.321-08:00Please feel free to visit Ann's Caring Bridge Site to leave words of encouragement and testimony.<br />
Information on Ann will be posted to her FaceBook Site and her Caring Bridge Site.<br />
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/annkiemelandersonUnknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-22151903642649326102014-02-24T03:14:00.000-08:002014-02-24T03:14:11.812-08:00Excerpt: "I'm Out To Change My World" Ann Kiemel, 1974<br />
<br />
<b>June</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
one day a girl came in on her bicycle.<br />
she had another friend with her<br />
and this friend's father was president of the city college.<br />
and she was an agnostic.<br />
but i loved her anyway.<br />
i wrote poetry with her;<br />
i laughed with her.<br />
i arm-wrestled with her on the floor;<br />
i jogged with her;<br />
i rode a ten-speed with her.<br />
i shared Jesus with her everytime i got a chance.<br />
<br />
she would call me some nights<br />
and in the middle of of a conversation<br />
she would slam the phone down in my ear.<br />
i don't know how often the phone slams in your ear<br />
but i didn't exactly appreciate it.<br />
i mean after all,<br />
she was the one who called me.<br />
but i loved her.<br />
although, i really shouldn't say so<br />
because sometimes i really wanted to give up.<br />
and sometimes i really wanted to smack her in the mouth.<br />
but Jesus in me loved her<br />
through thick and thin.<br />
<br />
and then one day seven months later<br />
the phone rang.<br />
she was sobbing and crying,<br />
"ann,<br />
i don't know how to tell you<br />
but today at school,<br />
in an unexpected, obscure moment,<br />
it came to me --<br />
God has to be.<br />
because no one in my life loved me the way you loved me.<br />
if anybody can love me through my moods<br />
and the drugs<br />
and all my mess the way you loved me,<br />
there has to be a God.<br />
ann,<br />
in an obscure moment today<br />
i found Him."<br />
<br />
just about a month ago,<br />
i got a letter from June.<br />
she has Bible clubs everywhere.<br />
Jesus is Lord of her life.<br />
she's out to win her family to Jesus.<br />
she believes.<br />
just because somebody loved her<br />
through thick and thin<br />
and you see, you can't stop love.<br />
love finds a way through.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-88032464127550556212014-02-23T09:24:00.000-08:002014-02-23T09:24:21.680-08:00<i>Ann asks that you would <u>especially</u> remember her in your prayers tomorrow afternoon as she is scheduled for a PET Scan. As you know, she's recently been through a battery of tests and needs God's peace to envelop her as she faces this scan tomorrow. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Ann is so very appreciative of all your love and prayers. They mean so much to her.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>God bless you,</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Team Ann</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>If you haven't checked out Ann's Caring Bridge website, created yesterday, please take a minute to visit. </i><br />
<i>The website address i</i>s: <a href="http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/annkiemelanderson" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><i>http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/annkiemelanderson</i></a>. <br />
<i>This address is also posted on Ann's FB page. </i><br />
<br />
<i><br /></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-56192139774698384782014-02-22T14:36:00.000-08:002014-02-22T14:36:50.253-08:00<i>Thank you for continuing to pray for Ann!</i><br />
<br />
Excerpt from "I'm Out To Change My World" Ann Kiemel, 1974<br />
<br />
The Architect<br />
<br />
i started in long beach with 88 teenagers.<br />
i didn't know anything about being a youth director.<br />
i just prayed one simple prayer,<br />
<br />
"Jesus, You called me.<br />
i am nothing<br />
but You are everything<br />
and i only make one request --<br />
that You do things<br />
so big<br />
so unusual<br />
that people will be able to look on<br />
with such a sense of awe<br />
and say it is too wonderful--<br />
only God could have done it."<br />
<br />
and then i didn't know where to begin<br />
but i told those 88 kids<br />
if they would just learn to love each other,<br />
Jesus would trust us with the whole world.<br />
but love is hard work<br />
and it took a lot of months<br />
for the big, tough football players to learn to love<br />
but they learned.<br />
<br />
and in a year and a half<br />
we had sunday school in three sessions on sunday.<br />
and we had sunday school on tuesday afternoons<br />
for the neighborhood guys who couldn't get in on sundays,<br />
and three more sessions on wednesdays,<br />
and a club on thursdays.<br />
from sunday to sunday<br />
in a year and a half<br />
we had four hundred teenagers<br />
just because 88 kids learned to love each other.<br />
<br />
you tell me love doesn't work--<br />
and i don't believe you.<br />
every time i went on a trip to speak<br />
those kids prayed for me--<br />
twenty four hours a day<br />
around the clock--<br />
because they were out to change the world.<br />
they'd say,<br />
"ann, we can't fly with you<br />
but we'll stay here and pray."<br />
<br />
an architect in our church walked up to me<br />
and he was crying<br />
and he said, "i want to tell you something.<br />
a couple of weeks ago i got up early--<br />
at 4:30 a.m.--<br />
to fly to Panama<br />
and i saw the light on under the door of my son's room.<br />
now, rick's a sharp kid<br />
but we can't get him up<br />
even at 7:30 a.m.<br />
and here it was 4:30<br />
and the light was on in his room.<br />
i bounded across the hall and threw open the door<br />
and i couldn't believe it--<br />
there was rick kneeling beside his bed with his Bible open--<br />
praying.<br />
<br />
'rick, what is the matter?<br />
it's only 4:30<br />
are you having some special problem?'<br />
<br />
'it's ann,' rick said.<br />
'she's in detroit this weekend<br />
and i pledged to pray every morning<br />
between four and five while she's gone.<br />
you know dad, we're out to change the world<br />
and when you change the world<br />
you've got mountains.'<br />
<br />
and the architect said,<br />
"i walked out of his room<br />
and closed the door<br />
and forgot my trip.<br />
i went into my room<br />
and fell on my knees by my bed<br />
and buried my face in the shieets<br />
and wept--<br />
'oh, Jesus,<br />
i don't love you enough.<br />
i don't care enough."<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-67391580091605504322014-02-21T16:32:00.000-08:002014-02-21T16:32:07.271-08:00<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Dear Friends of Ann,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Ann is in great need of God's healing power right now. All prayers for her are greatly appreciated. She has recently had a battery of tests performed on her to seek to determine the causes of her weaknesses and suffering. The tests indicate that blood clots have formed in her lungs, and preliminary results test positive for cancer of the liver.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>These are both life-threatening, and we can't overemphasize Ann's need for God's healing touch, unless it is His plan and timing to take her home. Please lift her up before God, and we will trust the outcome to him.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>All of this has taken a severe toll on her physically, emotionally, and financially. If you want to help her with a gift of love or note of love or both, they are a huge encouragement during a very difficult period. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Thanks so much,</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Team Ann</i></span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-29773738941998302682014-02-18T17:12:00.003-08:002014-02-18T17:12:59.691-08:00<i>Ann wanted to share this beautiful message sent to her from her dear friend, Steve Forster, while she's been ill.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<span style="color: black;"><a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=100000462244046&extragetparams=%7B%22directed_target_id%22%3A0%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/ann.kiemel.7" style="background-color: white; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">Ann Kiemel</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">you sang so many little songs so just for today, if I could sit by your bed, I would hold your hand, look in your eyes with care and concern and sing a song to Jesus for us both: You are my hiding place........you always fill my heart with songs of deliverance whenever I am afraid....I will trust in You...I will trust in You...Let the weak say I am strong in the strength of he Lord.....I will trust in you....are my Hiding Place. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Love you dear.</span><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<i>Excerpt from "I'm Out To Change My World" Ann Kiemel, 1974</i><br />
<br />
<b>Mrs. Grissom</b><br />
<br />
it was saturday night and i ran across the street<br />
to get the vacuum cleaner.<br />
it was late and i was tired and in a hurry<br />
and mrs. grissom handed me the<br />
vacuum cleaner and i looked into her<br />
tired, old wrinkled face,<br />
<br />
and i don't know why<br />
but as i took the cleaner and started to go<br />
i said to her, "oh, mrs. grissom,<br />
God loves you a lot."<br />
<br />
and the tears just began to spill down her face<br />
and she said,<br />
"could you wait just a minute?"<br />
she went back into her house<br />
and got a plaque off her wall<br />
and brought it out.<br />
it was a picture of weeds---<br />
just ugly old weeds smeared all over the picture<br />
and underneath all those ugly weeds were these words:<br />
<br />
weeds<br />
nobody likes weeds.<br />
nobody carries them in a bouquet<br />
or wears them in a corsage.<br />
but God waters the weeds.<br />
<br />
and she looked up,<br />
"you know, ann, all my life i have<br />
felt like a weed."<br />
"mrs. grissom, could i pray with you?<br />
i didn't know anyone went all through<br />
life feeling like a weed.<br />
there are times when i feel like a weed.<br />
but i didn't know anybody<br />
felt like a weed all their life.<br />
really, i just came to get the vacuum cleaner<br />
but i was wondering<br />
could we just stop for prayer?"<br />
<br />
she said she'd like that and we went into her<br />
little apartment<br />
and i said,<br />
"would you like to hear a little song<br />
that i sing a lot in a big lonely world?"<br />
<br />
<b>i will serve thee because i love thee...</b><br />
<b>You have given life to me.</b><br />
<i>"so i'm not just a weed and neither are you</i><br />
<i>because He gives us life."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>heartaches, broken pieces</b><br />
<b>ruined lives are why you died on Calv'ry.</b><br />
<i>"that's why He came, mrs. grissom."</i><br />
<b>Your touch was what i longed for.</b><br />
<i>"you see, He makes flowers out of weeds."</i><br />
<b>You have given life to me.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
and i prayed with her.<br />
when i finished praying with her<br />
i looked her in the eye,<br />
"oh, mrs. grissom, i love you.<br />
you are a very special lady to me."<br />
and the tears began spilling down her face.<br />
"i've never been special to anyone before."<br />
<br />
i picked up the vacuum and i ran across the street<br />
to my little apartment<br />
and threw myself across the bed,<br />
"oh, God, it's so ironic!<br />
the people who live the closest to us<br />
are the ones we overlook,<br />
the ones we fail to reach out to.<br />
Jesus, use me in the neighborhood.<br />
if i am out to change the world,<br />
i'll have to start in my own neighborhood."<br />
<br />
the next morning was Sunday<br />
and i called the florist at 7:30<br />
and asked him to put together the<br />
most beautiful bouquet he had ever fixed.<br />
i wanted the flowers that looked the prettiest<br />
and smelled the best.<br />
i mean the loveliest bouquet he had ever made!<br />
<br />
"well, look lady, it's Sunday morning.<br />
i barely have my houseslippers on and..."<br />
<br />
"but sir, you don't understand.<br />
it's for a very special lady<br />
and i want her to know she's not a weed---<br />
but that she's beautiful."<br />
<br />
"yes, ma'am, i'll see what i can do."<br />
<br />
"just write on the card ---<br />
'bright hope' - 'love, ann' "<br />
<b><br /></b>
the very next day she knocked on my door<br />
with tears running down her wrinkled face.<br />
"i've never had a bouquet in my house before,<br />
and ann,<br />
for the first time in my life<br />
i really knew God loved me."<br />
<br />
i'm out to change the world---<br />
in love---<br />
<br />
that's my hope. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-78981478047411470792014-02-17T16:43:00.000-08:002014-02-17T16:43:13.756-08:00Below is one of the earlier stories from Ann's books. Enjoy!<br />
<br />
<i>Excerpt from "I'm Out To Change My World" Ann Kiemel, 1974</i><br />
<br />
<b>Taxi Driver</b><br />
<br />
it was in the summer and i got up into a<br />
beat up old cab in miami beach<br />
and asked the old cab driver to take me<br />
to another hotel.<br />
it was hot and every window was rolled down.<br />
<br />
and i asked him,<br />
"what is the one word that describes your life?"<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
"can i give you two?" </div>
he said.<br />
<br />
he was old and gnarled<br />
about as beat up as his cab.<br />
"yes," i said.<br />
"what are they?"<br />
<br />
"bored and unhappy."<br />
<br />
"sir, why are those the two words that<br />
describe your life?"<br />
<br />
"i don't know. i guess 'cause i got<br />
nobody in the world."<br />
<br />
"nobody, sir?<br />
no wife, no children, no family?<br />
no one in the whole world for you?"<br />
<br />
"no."<br />
<br />
"tell me, sir,<br />
how did you get to be an old man and<br />
have nobody?"<br />
<br />
"cause i never got a good job and<br />
no woman wanted me."<br />
<br />
"sir, can i sing you a song?"<br />
<br />
"sing?"<br />
<br />
"i don't have a very good voice,<br />
but i know you'd like my song."<br />
<br />
"just a minute, please."<br />
he rolled up his window. then he nodded at me.<br />
<br />
and i began to sing:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b>something beautiful,</b></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b>something good,</b></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b>all my confusion,</b></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b>He understood.</b></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b>all i had to offer Him</b></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b>was brokenness and and strife.</b></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b>but He's making something beautiful</b></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><b>out of my life.</b></i></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"sir, do you know who i'm </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
singing about?</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Jesus Christ, He's the Lord of my life.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
he laughs with me and cries with me..."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"i'm a Jew."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"sir, He'll walk with you.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
He'll laugh with you.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
He'll be your friend."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
and just then we pulled under the portico of the next hotel</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
and i was fumbling in my purse for my money</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
when i saw this old hand reach out</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
and i let loose of the money in my purse.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
i reached out and took his hand</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
almost afraid to look him in the eye</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
because i didn't know what he would say.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
i lifted my eyes to his and he was crying.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"lady, when i got in this old cab tonight</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
i was the loneliest person in the whole world.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
i never heard anyone talk like you talked tonight</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
and i want your God.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
He and i could ride together."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
and i crawled out of that old cab</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
knowing that somewhere in miami beach</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
an old, gnarled, wrinkled man</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
drives a beat up cab.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
but he doesn't drive alone.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
and i can hardly help but sing</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
when i know that the eternal God</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
is willing to invade an old cabbie's life</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
and love him.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-745981830062782062014-02-15T22:44:00.000-08:002014-02-15T22:44:54.392-08:00<i>In speaking with Ann tonight, she wanted everyone to know that she feels your prayers.</i> <br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">after heading to rehab last month, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">God used this time to reveal the multiple blood clots </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">in my lungs and infection in my body. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">i've been leaning hard on Jesus </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">and on my fellow warriors' prayers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">please stay with me in prayer as </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">i continue to fight this illness. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">would you keep my sons in your prayers, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">as this has been a difficult time for them </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">while i've been so ill. love, ann</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">"Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Lead me through this barren land.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">I am weak, but Thou art mighty;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Hold me with Thy powerful hand.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Feed me till I want no more;</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">Feed me till I want no more."</span><br />
<br />
<i>Ann enjoyed hearing the following story that was posted on her FB page and wanted to share with all of you.</i><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 14.079999923706055px; text-align: left;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">G<a aria-haspopup="true" aria-owns="js_29" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/hovercard.php?id=1485495505" href="https://www.facebook.com/gracedwyer" id="js_30" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">race Dwyer</a></span></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 14.079999923706055px; text-align: left;">
<ul class="uiList body contentListWidth _4kg" style="list-style-type: none; margin: 2px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><div class="content noh direction_ltr" id="mid.1392360683550:5ee53fb65e5efe4a74" style="direction: ltr; line-height: 14px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 0px 1px; width: 350px; word-wrap: break-word;">
<div style="display: inline;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Some of you have heard our story...some of you were there...others may not know...<br />
<br />
GOD Did It!</span><br />
</div>
</div>
</li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">I was the typical single girl living in Dallas in the '80's, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">working in downtown Dallas at an oil company by day, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">going to the numerous bars and dance clubs by night. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">I remember several people asking me during these years: </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">"Grace, when are you going to start living for God? </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">When are you going to stop looking in all the wrong places to meet men?"</span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">My reply was always, "I am having too much fun right now, I will one day…</span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">Don't worry about me!" God was working on me, though. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">He used heartbreaks and other disappointments that always left me feeling alone and empty. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">I see now how He kept calling me to Himself. He even used a sweet lady at my job. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">She came to me one day and said, "Grace, they need people </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">to sing in the choir at First Baptist down the street.” </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">I replied: “And your point is?" "Well,” she said, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">“I know you like to sing and I just thought you might like to go to the practice. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">It's Thursday."</span><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">“Fine,” I thought, “I will go.” I don't know why, but I did. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">It was pretty funny after the practice when some of the friendly members said, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">“See you Sunday morning, Grace!" "What? Why?” </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">I stuttered. “Sunday,” they replied, “you know,</span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;"> the day we sing in church all the songs we just practiced!"</span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">So I joined the choir and began attending the church, where the beloved pastor, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">W. A. Criswell, would often shout, “And GOD did it!” </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">after recounting remarkable deeds of the Lord. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">Months went by and I started going to a Singles Sunday School class. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">I remember seeing the tall, funny seminary student teaching. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">“He seems nice, cute, and has a great personality,” </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">I thought, “but...he could never be interested in a girl like me.” </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">Through a small group Bible Study, lead by another great seminary guy, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">and the choir's amazing Easter play, I finally understood what Christ did, for me, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">for MY sin. I truly became repentant and sorry for my life, for my sin—</span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">I finally got it. He wanted ALL of me.</span><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">Slowly the "fun" at the clubs became less and less appealing. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">My heart was focused on God. Oh, and that tall, funny seminary guy! </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">But that guy was not interested. I tried everything…making him dinner, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">hosting the Bible Study, showing up on the visitation nights to church </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">visitors that he would always go out on, and conveniently needing a ride home </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">from downtown back to my car. Almost two years went by and…nothing. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">A good friend knew my frustration and suggested I tack a Scripture verse, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">Psalm 37:4, to the wall in front of me at work to read when I was down, which I did.</span><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">FBC had great speakers and one of them, Ann Kiemel-Anderson, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">came and told us how when she was 35 years old, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">God had put together her—an independent Boston marathon runner-author—</span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">and an Idaho potato farmer in marriage. “Hmmm,” I thought, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">looking I across the room at tall seminary guy, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">who was fiercely taking notes as she spoke. I closed my eyes at that moment and prayed. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">"Lord, please find ME a husband, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">OR, please make me content with being single. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">Surely, it must not be ‘him,’ but if you can find that lady a husband in Idaho, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">surely you can find me one Dallas!" </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">FINALLY I let go of it and started resting, trusting in His will for me.</span><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">Not long after this, tall seminary guy and I were at a Wednesday night service.</span><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">He turned to me and asked, "Do you eat lunch after Church on Sunday?" </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">"Eat lunch?” I said, “yes, why?" "Well would you like to go?” he said.</span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;"> "You mean, like a DATE?" I said, clarifying the offer! </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">"Yes,” he said. I remember going to the ladies room with a friend, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">and literally screaming, "John Dwyer just asked me out on a date!"</span><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">He took me to lunch on May 8, 1988 and we spent as much time together </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">as we could during days and evenings from then until June 24th. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">That night, he asked me to go to the top of Reunion Tower for dinner. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">All the time we spent together, he had never kissed me. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">We had both done relationships the wrong way in the past </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">and he said he wanted to do this one different. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">As the sun was setting that beautiful June evening, </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">I asked how he started "having feelings" for me. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">"It was that day when that lady Ann Kiemel-Anderson spoke,” he said.</span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;"> “I just looked across the room </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">at you and started ‘liking’ you.”</span><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">He then told me for the first time that he LOVED me and recited First Corinthians 13 to me—</span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">the whole chapter. Right then the waiter delivered a dozen yellow roses to the table </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">and John asked me to marry him! I replied, "Only if I get to KISS you first!"—</span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">which I did, outside on the Reunion breezeway 560 feet over Dallas. </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">We were married on August 13, 1988 in the beautiful sanctuary of </span></span></li>
<li style="border-width: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">First Baptist Church of Dallas. Happy Valentine’s Day, tall, funny seminary guy!</span><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”</span><br style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;" /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; line-height: 14px;">—Psalm 37:4</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>If any of you would like to share a story/memory of how Ann's ministry has touched your life, please post on Ann's FB page and we will use in some of her blogs while she is fighting this battle with her health. Ann would love to read your stories. </i></span></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-33472479077441982842014-02-14T14:36:00.000-08:002014-02-15T07:41:54.426-08:00<i>We continue to bring you excerpts from Ann's books through the years. She cares so much about staying connected even when she is not personally able to blog at this time. Thank you for your prayers for Ann.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b><i>Excerpts from "YES" Ann Kiemel 1978</i></b><br />
<br />
when things i once thought were gain,<br />
i now count as loss.<br />
i have put aside all else, counting it worth<br />
less than nothing, in order that<br />
i can have Christ. . .<br />
and become one with Him. . .<br />
<br />
i don't mean to say i am perfect. i haven't<br />
learned all i should even yet,<br />
but i keep working toward that day<br />
when i will be all that Christ saved me for<br />
and wants me to be.<br />
<br />
no. . . i am still not all i should be<br />
but i am bringing all my energies to bear<br />
on this one thing:<br />
forgetting the past<br />
looking forward to what lies ahead,<br />
i strain to reach the end of the race<br />
and receive the prize. . .<br />
<i> philippians 3:7, 12, 13</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
this is my spiritual autobiography. i want to allow<br />
myself to be vulnerable. i want to be brave. i want<br />
to say to you, in specific, genuine illustrations:<br />
i am human.<br />
i fail. struggle. get scared. have hurts. am lonely.<br />
but. . .<br />
i am standing with my face to the sunrise. my back<br />
against the wind. my head high. my heart<br />
sturdy and strong. i am committed. i am<br />
truly whole. Jesus Christ is the highest<br />
Fulfillment and Joy in life. <br />
<br />
i want this book to be, to the glory of Jesus Christ,<br />
my "will and testament," my statement<br />
of the power of Christ in one, everyday,<br />
ordinary young life<br />
<br />
<b>YES</b><br />
to tomorrow.<br />
fresh dreams.<br />
higher mountains.<br />
greater impossibilities.<br />
wider sunrises.<br />
stouter courage.<br />
braver risks.<br />
<br />
<b>YES</b><br />
i'm human.<br />
i fail. . . feel insecure. . .cry.<br />
i hurt, struggle.<br />
get scared.<br />
know inadequacy.<br />
i'm single. a woman.<br />
i long for a man.<br />
i am tempted.<br />
<br />
<b>YES</b><br />
sometimes, i forget Who has led me<br />
to where i am.<br />
forget that i am a servant and<br />
not a hero.<br />
forget that "if we lose our life, we will find it."<br />
that those who seek will find.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>YES</b><br />
to the Cross.<br />
to obedience. . .honesty. . .<br />
reality. . .earnest heart.<br />
to joy and sorrow.<br />
ease and difficulty.<br />
success and failure.<br />
to forgiving.<br />
to saying things that edify.<br />
<br />
<b>YES</b><br />
because Jesus is the divine Yes.<br />
because He changes everything.<br />
He is my highest Fulfillment.<br />
He's made me whole. . .<br />
takes the bad and turns it to good.<br />
He is my Song. . .<br />
my Reason to live.<br />
<br />
<i>for to me, to live is Christ.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-72162628315966567082014-02-13T03:34:00.000-08:002014-02-13T03:34:40.987-08:00<i style="font-family: arial;">Excerpts from "I'm Running To Win" Ann Kiemel, 1980</i><br />
<i style="font-family: arial;"><br /></i>
<i style="font-family: arial;">in a race, everyone runs but only one person</i><span style="font-family: arial;"></span><br />
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<i>gets first prize. so run your race to win.</i></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<i>to win the contest you must deny yourselves</i></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<i>many things that would keep you from </i></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<i>doing your best. an athlete goes to all</i></div>
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<i>this trouble just to win a blue ribbon or a sliver cup.</i></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<i>but we do it for a heavenly reward that never</i></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<i>disappears. so i run straight to the goal with</i></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<i>purpose in every step. 1 corinthians 9:24-26</i></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
every morning, i wake up with a prayer:</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
"Jesus, i am just ann. my city is so big.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
make me creative. give me ideas for my </div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
corner of the world."</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
shortly after the 1979 boston marathon, and</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
meeting bev wenshau, a young mother from</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
minneapolis and a five-time marathoner, i </div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
woke up one morning and thought,</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
"i know, Jesus...i could become a runner</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
and meet all the runners in my city...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
and sing them songs and touch them where</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
they hurt, be a friend, maybe, <i>someday</i>, i can run</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
the boston marathon."</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
(well, You and i, Jesus)</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
i did realize at the start that i came from a totally</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
nonathletic family. that i had never been a runner.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
that i was thirty-four years old.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
inherent in that tiny seed dream was the definite</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
possibility of failure. of never making it into</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<i>any </i>marathon, especially the olympics of</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
marathons: boston.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
of suffering and being vulnerable before the world,</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
and probably misunderstood...and falling short</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
of the goal.</div>
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<br /></div>
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that is the way it is with dreams.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
with being faithful.</div>
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giving one's best every day.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
it is not:</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
"Jesus, i will be deeply committed to You if You'll</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
heal my brother...or increase my salary...or give me</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
that new house...or make me famous."</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
it is, rather:</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
"Jesus, i will follow You to the end.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
no guarantees asked.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
no special rewards except that You will be at the end</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
of the road to meet me when i get there...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
and i will know that i have lived my life out in truth.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
whatever is along the road...during the race...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
"yes" to it. to anything You bring into my life.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="text-align: center;"> * * * * * * * * * * * * </span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
running is like finding Jesus</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
you start out with so much enthusiasm...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
so excited and exhilarated.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
so much momentum.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
ready to become a great runner.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
what you don't know then is that it</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
doesn't happen overnight.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
it takes hours of courage and pain and hard work.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
standing alone.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
putting more into the effort than anyone else</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
understands.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
it is one thing to find Jesus and another to commit</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
one's life to Him and follow Him day in and day out</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
without demanding any promises or guarantees.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
just following Him because you love Him.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
it is hard to drag my body out</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
morning after morning...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
especially on mornings like this</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
when it is gray and cloudy outside</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
and so cozy inside.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
it is hard to be disciplined and keep my eye on</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
the mark instead of on how i feel.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
Jesus, i do this in Your strength.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<span style="text-align: center;"> * * * * * * * * * * * * </span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
i like faithfulness</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
i like being disciplined in running</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
because it helps me to be disciplined</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
in the other areas of my life.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
i really believe that if we discipline ourselves</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
in one area, it spills over</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
and affects all the other areas.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
the more i'm disciplined in my running</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
the more i'm disciplined in my eating...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
in my Bible study...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
in my exercise habits...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
in my love for others.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
it all falls together.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
the more i look to God for obedience</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
to follow Him...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
not my physical desires...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
or my ego needs...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
the more He is the fulfillment.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
last night someone asked me again about</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
loneliness and what i do with it.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
i think there is only one answer to loneliness:</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
give your life away....</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
be a servant.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
it's true...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
if we lose our lives, we find them.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
if we serve, we live.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
people go to parties...drink...beat their </div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
brains out in an office...try to look beautiful...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
just trying not to be lonely.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
what they don't know is if they give</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
their lives away</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
and spend their lives touching over people...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
meeting needs...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
healing hurts...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
they are sustained and comforted and filled</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
with excitement and adventure...</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
and the loneliness dissipates...is gone...lost.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial;">
today, Jesus, make me a servant.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-18426666895784203062014-02-11T03:40:00.000-08:002014-02-11T03:40:42.823-08:00<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;"><i>Excerpt from "It's Incredible" Ann Kiemel, 1977</i></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<b>gardens</b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
you would love this little lady.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
ninety-seven years old!</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
when i met her, she was "out back" lifting</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
heavy rock, trying to landscape one little</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
piece of her yard that she thought looked</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
imperfect.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
i noticed her hands,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
creased and worn, but perfectly</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
steady. she never used glasses to read</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
ANYTHING. her hearing was perfect.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
well-dressed and groomed, she lived alone,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
and did all her own housecleaning.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
at ninety-seven, she is still painting large canvases</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
with bright, vivid colors</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
and selling them.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
she makes beautiful rugs,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
designed by herself, a marvelous garden flourishes</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
in the back yard. a couple of years ago, only because</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
of her age, they took her driver's license away.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
"eloise...</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
you've been a performer--pianist and singer,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
you're an established artist. . . and have traveled</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
abroad.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
out of all your experiences in life, what has given</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
you the greatest satisfaction?"</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
"my garden..."</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
colors and perfumed petals and little buds sprouting</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
and fresh tomatoes and small, red beets and</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
spring onions...</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
"what do you dislike?"</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
"DISLIKE?" her face in a deep frown and her voice snapping.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
"well, you know . . . washing dishes or ironing or</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
scrubbing or cleaning up your yard..."</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
"whatever there is to be done, I LIKE IT!"</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
her two favorite things are wood and manure.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
"things grow so well in manure...and just about</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
anything wonderful can be created with wood..."</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
what an extraordinary human being.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
she believes she was born to be creative with every day</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
in her life. . . . that God believes in hard work, </div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
and a positive spirit, there should be much wonder</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
and joy over watching things grow,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
in the out-of-doors.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
faithfulness to create the MOST with all the talents<br />
He has given brings responsibility and a sense of</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
well-being...</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
even when it's down-home hard work.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
often i've read the story in the new testament</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
about Jesus and the talents. suddenly, i think i</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
understand exactly what He meant. He will judge us</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
not by how good someone else is,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
or by how spectacularly we measure out one day.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
He will watch our lifelong endeavor to take</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
EVERY day and every hour and put whatever</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
our best is into it.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
maybe no one around will pat us on the back,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
or praise us, but HE KNOWS.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-7958683294158748962014-02-10T03:56:00.000-08:002014-02-10T03:58:36.511-08:00<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">Excerpts from: "I'm Celebrating" Ann Kiemel</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">i am going to change my world.</span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
you watch.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
you'll see.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
because i have a giant of a Lord</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
inside of me,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
and He and i, with love,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
will push through the barriers.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
i'm not afraid.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
i am Jesus to the world around me.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
you are.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
His heart and hands and eyes and voice</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
and spirit of honesty and care.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
you and God and i . . . a team.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
we can love the world to joy, and meaningful and</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
brand new tomorrows.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
Jesus dreamed we would.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
i stand before Christ and the world. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
my heart shouts an affirmation:</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
"Jesus, i am a humble, lowly servant woman.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
take me . . . all of me.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
add anything. take away anything.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
at any cost. with any price.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
make me Yours. completely. . . wholly.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
may i not be remembered for</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
how i wear my hair</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
or the shape of my face</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
or the people i know</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
or the crowds i've addressed.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
may i be known for loving You. . . </div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
for carrying a dream. . .</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
for building bridges</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
to the hurt and broken and lost in the world.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
make me what You would be be if You lived</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
in Person where i do.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
may everything accomplished through my simple</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
life bring honor and glory to You.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
take my human failures and flaws,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
and use them to remind these who know me</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
that only You are God,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
and i will always just be ann.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
amen.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
amen.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
i'm going where He goes . . .</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
out into the world of lonely people.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
"sir, can i take your hand?</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
or yours, ma'am?</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
can i walk with you?</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
can i laugh with you and cry with you</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
and love you to Jesus?"</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
you just can't stop love.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
it crushes barriers.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
it breaks and builds bridges.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
it finds a way through.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
it never gives up.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
it's hard work.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
it listens.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
it walks ten extra miles.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
it's something you do.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
Jesus did it for me.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
He died to set me free.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
He lives to share my life with me</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
and i go to His and my people</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
and love wins.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
today,</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
i celebrate you.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
my friends.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
fellow dreamers.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
determined, faithful followers of Jesus Christ.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
people who believe. who are not ashamed to say so.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
who will not quit. who remain pure and uncontaminated</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
even when others beg you to compromise. who follow</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
your dreams and fight for them and die with them</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
so deeply enrooted in you that they spring up in</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
other voices and other hearts for centuries to come.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
i celebrate because we stand together.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
without being united, dreams cannot live.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
and</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
as long as i breathe and move, and even in the </div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
darkness when i cannot move, </div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
i will celebrate most of all</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
the power, grace, patience and forgiveness of </div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
my loving Savior, Jesus Christ.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
He is the author of all my dreams, of every song.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
"surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
days of my life..."<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: small;">
<i>excerpt from "I'm Celebrating", 1979</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-14157827497371647532014-02-09T04:39:00.002-08:002014-02-09T04:39:35.831-08:00<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">While Ann is in the hospital and unable to write her blogs, she so wanted to continue sharing with you. We thought you might </span><span style="background-color: white;">enjoy reading excerpts from Ann's books. She thanks you so much for your prayers!</span></i></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
i love the word impossible...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
it is like joy after sorrow.</div>
<div>
people being friends after being enemies.</div>
<div>
rainbows after drenching rain.</div>
<div>
a wound healed.</div>
<div>
sunsets on quiet evenings after hot, noisy days.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
paralyzed, injured limbs, learning to grow strong and useful again.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
forgiveness after wrong.</div>
<div>
truth after fog.</div>
<div>
new love-made babies.</div>
<div>
birds learning to fly and own the sky.</div>
<div>
bitterness turned to mellowness.</div>
<div>
fresh, genuine hope ... once abandoned.</div>
<div>
people finding each other at right moments,</div>
<div>
in unexplained, obscure places...</div>
<div>
for God-ordained reasons.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
i love the word impossible because my God</div>
<div>
believes in adventure</div>
<div>
and extraordinary mountains, and He dares to</div>
<div>
be alive in a world crawling <span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">with terrible situations.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">He promises to be bigger than any impossibility</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">because He is love...and love always finds a way</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">through, in time.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">love isn't scared.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">it builds bridges instead of walls.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">it never gives up.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">it always hangs on.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">it waits with stubborn, strong hope.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">sometimes even years.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">love makes God alive in far more than human souls.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">like sun and clear sky and drooping branches</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">and dark birds and color and design and music...</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">and the sound of water on a shore.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">IMPOSSIBLE means that i,</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">an ordinary young woman,</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">can be something special and significant</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">in an enormous, hurting world.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">i can be love where i live,</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">and that is Christ...</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">and HE really does make ALL</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">the difference!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><i>excerpt from: I Love The Word Impossible - Ann Kiemel</i></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-43155989674379380862014-02-08T14:16:00.001-08:002014-02-08T14:18:35.662-08:00<p dir="ltr"><u><b>Update on Ann</b></u></p>
<p dir="ltr">Since our last update, Ann was sent home from rehab with blood thinners to continue the process of dissolving the clots in her lungs.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Ann was home a short time and had to go back to the hospital as she is still very ill.</p>
<p dir="ltr">She wants you to know she loves you all so much and requests continued prayers. </p>
<p dir="ltr"><i>"YES, to anything.</i></p>
<p dir="ltr"><i>to God's ultimate will being done in my life.</i></p>
<p dir="ltr"><i>to anything, because Jesus can turn it all to good."</i></p>
<p dir="ltr">... <i>excerpt from Ann's book, YES </i></p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-30671762291458763532014-01-28T05:13:00.000-08:002014-01-28T06:07:07.989-08:00<b>Update on Ann</b><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwrdSbgoxLWXoNsIQQy6lvL8TO0cvPKLsTcgMScJE0kheam2qUN-XlgB9nkTsu3kN_xH3pyAKAmoxY0QOplkyDDvclGHZF-sSMD-pc3x5tOnXwMQ4VQ570ZR-jI1XKGwfUo7WsKt06cfU/s1600/AnnK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwrdSbgoxLWXoNsIQQy6lvL8TO0cvPKLsTcgMScJE0kheam2qUN-XlgB9nkTsu3kN_xH3pyAKAmoxY0QOplkyDDvclGHZF-sSMD-pc3x5tOnXwMQ4VQ570ZR-jI1XKGwfUo7WsKt06cfU/s1600/AnnK.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">before the dusty road of the Cross</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Ann will be leaving to go home in a few days so she can rest and continue to recover. She will be taking blood thinners to try to dissolve the multiple blood clots in both lungs. It is so incredibly painful, her doctor, also a recovering addict, said she needed to be on pain meds to get through this. The doctor commented that he didn't realize she was going through more than withdrawal until she kept complaining of the pain she was in and they took a cat scan. That is when they discovered the multiple blood clots in her lungs. After Ann has had time to recover, she will be back to blog. She would appreciate continued prayers as she says she has never been this ill. Thank you so much for all your prayers for Ann.<br />
<br />
<b>Message from Ann</b><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW-GGg7uM1YLEEq2m5FZWVrxM06hSQT5TyTW9nKD89GK2-p1zrVbvku9FIzZrKNl0FverjG778Oqn7IolREYHMHvQ_1mwsDsHMU6cdBA8pBwlxOTOLmsjBrWlmDAIhROJQZnf4i3o83eE/s1600/AnnsUggs.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW-GGg7uM1YLEEq2m5FZWVrxM06hSQT5TyTW9nKD89GK2-p1zrVbvku9FIzZrKNl0FverjG778Oqn7IolREYHMHvQ_1mwsDsHMU6cdBA8pBwlxOTOLmsjBrWlmDAIhROJQZnf4i3o83eE/s1600/AnnsUggs.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the uggs taylor brought to rehab. <br />a piece of one of my children.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
i am so sorry i haven't been able to blog. <br />
i have been and am still so ill. <br />
there are no words to thank you for all your prayers. <br />
because of your prayers, i am truly making it.<br />
<br />
i've had the most wonderful nurses and some<br />
of the best doctors.<br />
<br />
jan is steady and holding her own.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-62285844073626653012014-01-23T20:23:00.002-08:002014-09-30T09:14:26.870-07:00<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ann is very ill and is not able to write new blogs right now.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
She has asked for continued prayers as she undergoes treatment for multiple blood clots in her lungs, as well as heart and kidney concerns. She would especially appreciate prayers that God would send her wonderful nurses, like Nataline, who are kind and understanding of what she is going through. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ann loves you and thanks you for all your love and prayers! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
<i>“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven." (<a class="lbsBibleRef" data-reference="Mat 18.19" data-version="nkjv" href="http://biblia.com/bible/nkjv/Mat%2018.19" target="_blank">Mat 18:19 NKJV</a>)</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-53522285526272390412014-01-23T19:14:00.002-08:002014-01-23T19:14:30.644-08:00<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">12:09 a.m.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">to all you beautiful friends</span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
and fellow warriors....</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
thank you for your posts. all</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
the prayers mean the world to</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
me.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
i'm so ill i can barely write, but i</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
love you. and Jesus is the lover</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
and warrior of my life. freedom</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
and delivery from enslavement</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
come with a cost. i'm running</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
to win...! never give up in the</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
middle of your battles. forever</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
with gratitude and love..ann<br />
<br />
<br />
6:30 p.m.<br />
<br />
keep running the race.<br />
the race is sometimes<br />
extremely rugged<br />
and, at times, we think impossible.<br />
so, be strong and join me as we<br />
run for the goal of arriving at the celestial city<br />
where there will be no suffering and pain.<br />
<br />
i love you. your prayers mean everything.<br />
God is with me.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-82207542581115599612014-01-23T03:39:00.000-08:002014-01-23T03:39:15.017-08:00<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
wednesday.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
suffering.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
detox is hell.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
you have to really want it.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
have to believe it's your</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
only option. long for freedom</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
and deliverance</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
my blood tests taken...</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
in any detox situation..</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
revealed some concerns of</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
the hospitalist. not the detox</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
doctor. after a cat scan, they</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
discovered i have multiple blood</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
clots in my lungs, and something</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
attached to my heart.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
i had developed terrible pain behind my ribs.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
now i have been moved to</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
heart floor. please understand</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
i'm too ill to say more.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
i know you are praying.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
a miracle i was here...and</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
found this. God's faithful care.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
very hard to be in detox</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
and so ill in my body.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
Jesus keeps leading me all</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
the way. and you. this</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
Race is His to lead us on.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-37284853074590481412014-01-22T18:11:00.000-08:002014-01-22T18:11:28.615-08:00<div>
this is ann.</div>
<div>
coming from the front lines</div>
<div>
of drug rehab .</div>
<div>
9:11p.m.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
nothing since i came.</div>
<div>
finally drew my blood.</div>
<div>
said i am severely dehydrated.</div>
<div>
could give me ibuprofen.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
i refuse to panic.</div>
<div>
to have terror shoot from my</div>
<div>
eyes. to succumb to all the</div>
<div>
what ifs.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
every time i open my eyes,</div>
<div>
there's a nurse peeking around</div>
<div>
the corner. staring. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"your hair..the braid around</div>
<div>
your face...it's beautiful."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
lovely words are like</div>
<div>
medicine. i smile. but the doctor</div>
<div>
hasn't been here yet. there is</div>
<div>
utterly excruciating pain behind</div>
<div>
my rib cage. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
and the nurses smile.</div>
<div>
and the patients holler.</div>
<div>
and the doctor arrived.</div>
<div>
an i.v. in place. my bladder</div>
<div>
packed with fluid. but....</div>
<div>
my heart is quiet. i won't</div>
<div>
be afraid.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
fresh potted flowers.</div>
<div>
and i expect Jesus to see</div>
<div>
me through to the end.</div>
<div>
no more enslavement.</div>
<div>
only deliverance and freedom.</div>
<div>
sweet, sweet journey.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
tomorrow will be continued.</div>
<div>
thank you for your prayers.</div>
<div>
oh..beautiful comrades.</div>
<div>
thanks!!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
happy birthday to my</div>
<div>
nephew, tre.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
tomorrow,</div>
<div>
we will meet again.</div>
<div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3172269266244597586.post-38200693155648341982014-01-22T17:24:00.000-08:002014-01-22T17:24:49.785-08:00<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica;">
4:30 a.m.</div>
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my skin is crawling.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica;">
horribly. why did i do</div>
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this?!!!! i want to unhook</div>
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the i.v....no...tear it out...and</div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica;">
run for my life.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica;">
"Jesus! save me.</div>
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make me tough." </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3