{"id":12236,"date":"2020-04-16T05:35:18","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T10:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=12236"},"modified":"2020-04-16T05:35:26","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T10:35:26","slug":"because-i-can-because-we-can","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=12236","title":{"rendered":"Because I Can &#8212; Because We Can"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It was cold enough for gloves and warm jacket, but I went for an early morning long walk, with earbuds in my ears and praise and worship music kicked up in high gear. I was flailing my arms and high-stepping it. Why would I do that? Because I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was listening to the song \u201cWhere the Spirit of the Lord is\u201d and I couldn\u2019t help myself. His Spirit lives in me. Wherever I am, He is. Why wouldn\u2019t I go outdoors and move and groove and celebrate\u00a0life? Quite frankly, outdoors seems to be the closest place to be near God. After all, everywhere we look \u2013 the skies, the trees, the birds, the sun \u2013 AND people walking by \u2013 and I think to myself what a wonderful world!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Michelle-Nivens-Red-Car-Dogs.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12238\" width=\"502\" height=\"328\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Michelle-Nivens-Red-Car-Dogs.jpg 956w, https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Michelle-Nivens-Red-Car-Dogs-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Michelle-Nivens-Red-Car-Dogs-768x502.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 502px) 100vw, 502px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Why wouldn\u2019t I dance? What wouldn\u2019t I walk or run or jog? Why wouldn\u2019t I stretch out my arms to the heavens in praise and worship to my Lord? Why wouldn\u2019t I \u2013 when there are others on ventilators and they can\u2019t, who are confined in bed and they can\u2019t, who are isolated in a prison cell and they can\u2019t, who are in a third world country and they are too afraid leave their shelter, so they can\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because YOU can. We have seen you. You\u2019re the ones holding up signs and balloons out of car windows, honking your car horn to celebrate someone\u2019s birthday \u2013 apart, but together in spirit! We have seen you. You are the one who stands on your porch or balcony and you sing or play an instrument to brighten the world. You are the family that gets all together outside an elderly parent\u2019s nursing home window to cheer them up. We have seen you. You are the devoted followers of Christ who are not missing a beat of your time to worship and praise Him in online services from home. We have seen you. You are the ones collecting food for the those who lost their jobs and they need help. We have seen you. You are the ever-faithful medical, emergency, and essential services warriors that have been relentless in life better for us. We have seen you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Michelle-Nivens-2020-Isolation-Gift.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12239\" width=\"398\" height=\"530\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Michelle-Nivens-2020-Isolation-Gift.jpg 720w, https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Michelle-Nivens-2020-Isolation-Gift-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 398px) 100vw, 398px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>And, what you see here is a most precious gift from a dear friend who is so multi-talented and uses her gifts to bless others. Because she can. She\u2019s not one that likes to be on stage or to be the grandiose out-loud-pray-er \u2013 but, oh, the blessing she is to many. Because she can. On Tuesday, with her son as her chauffeur and her dogs as her body guards \u2013 she brought me this lovely encouragement. She blessed me so much. She handcrafted and painted half of the heart with these words:<br>\u201c2020 started strong and tall. Who\u2019d have thought that we\u2019d end up with social distancing for all?<br>For now, my heart is hurting and broken right in two,<br>So, here\u2019s a piece for me and here\u2019s a piece for you.<br>But when this crazy time is through,<br>And we won\u2019t have to be apart,<br>We\u2019ll get together, have some fun<br>And mend this broken heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Precious brothers and sisters-in-Christ \u2013 get out and do something that you can do, explore and do more for each other AND lift your praises to God \u2013 BECAUSE YOU CAN!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was cold enough for gloves and warm jacket, but I went for an early morning long walk, with earbuds in my ears and praise and worship music kicked up in high gear. I was flailing my arms and high-stepping it. Why would I do that? Because I can. I was listening to the song&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17069,16646,17070,17071],"tags":[17065,17066,1210,9274,1769,17063,1190,1720,40,17067,859,13351,6969,17068,17064,140],"class_list":["post-12236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-because-you-can","category-dance","category-get-moving","category-outdoors","tag-because-i-can","tag-because-you-can","tag-blog","tag-celebrate-life","tag-christian","tag-confined-to-bed","tag-dancing","tag-encourage","tag-inspiration","tag-outdoors","tag-praise","tag-prison","tag-signs","tag-ventilators","tag-where-the-spirit-of-the-lord-is","tag-worship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12236"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12250,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12236\/revisions\/12250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}