I have to say, this has been a very roller coaster"ish" week. Thankfully, there have been lots more ups than downs.
I am going to share something only a handful of people know and those of you who follow me on facebook are going to be a little shocked that I haven't shared it there. 4 years ago last May, I was in Springfield. I had went to a gym on the edge of town and on my way back to my hotel, I stopped at a Starbucks. Two cars ahead of me in line was a Chrysler Sebring hardtop convertible. I had never seen one before, but fell in love. After some research, I found out that the Sebring was being replaced by the Chrysler 200, but there was still a hardtop convertible. I wanted one. I started looking for a different car a year ago. I had decided to replace my van with a Ford Edge. I wasn't excited, but I needed a vehicle, and here was one. Then I started realizing that for the same money, I could get a Chrysler 200 Convertible. I have been searching for one since my birthday in August. I had it narrowed down to Black, Charcoal, or Red. I really wanted Red but historically, "resale red" was about $2,000 higher than the other two. I was looking within a 500 mile radius and two weeks ago tonight, one showed up in Columbia, MO. It was priced right, and beautiful. I had just found out Amy's dad had died and I knew I wanted Robert to checkout anything I bought before I bought it. I knew it would be the 20th before I could see about it. I called the dealership who wanted me to put a deposit on it, I decided if it were meant to be, it would be and said no. It was meant to be. My very own hardtop convertible pulled in the drive at 12:15 Tuesday morning. I kinda hated that I bought it on the anniversary of my dad's death. But a very dear friend pointed out that it was a good thing, and that my dad would be proud of the things happening in my life. I chose to think my friend is right.
Anyway, I have been on vacation this week, kind of. I was at the office from 6:30 Tuesday morning until 6:30 Tuesday night, trying to get a special project done. Wednesday I spent the whole day with my mom, with only a few things work-related involved. Then came Thanksgiving. I stayed home, Mom and Robert came down. but I stayed home. and then I did it again yesterday. Anyone gasping yet? I have not stepped foot off my property since 8:00 Wednesday evening. I got two phone calls yesterday morning, the first one from Robert, at 6:50, on his way to work. I had vowed I wasn't doing the Black Friday thing this year, I really had nothing to go for. I did most of my bargain shopping Thursday morning online. So, he says, "where are you?" I laughed and said, "in bed". He couldn't believe it. (my normal alarm is at 4:00) He really thought I would cave and go shopping--or go to work. At 9:30, my friend and IT Guy, Mike called, and his first words were, "Are you at work?", he too was shocked when I said no, even though I had told him I wasn't going to step foot in the building these 4 days. I might have done a tiny bit of work Wednesday night at 10:00, but thanks to Mike, it was done sitting at my house, and took 10 minutes, instead of 20 minutes to drive to Greenup, 10 minutes of work, and 20 minutes to drive home. Anyway, I haven't been resting so much as regrouping. I have had friends going through some things this week and wanting to ever be the "fixer", it is hard when you can't fix some things. Being there to listen and just being present, and praying for them, as they work through things is the best you can do in situations like that, and I hope they have felt all of that.
I often think of the passage in the Bible where Jesus "regrouped", He had just heard John the Baptist had been beheaded. He got on the boat and He and the disciples left, going to someplace private. The people followed, walking around the giant lake though and when He got off the boat, and saw them there, He knew it was time to get to work. Yes, he fed multitudes that day, but after that, he sent the others on to the boat, and He went to pray. Very clear to me again, regrouping. You know He was grieving the loss of John the Baptist, He knew better than anyone that John was put on this earth to be the forerunner for Him. We read these stories all of our lives, but do we every really just contemplate how Jesus felt about John's beheading? He was family, he was a friend, and he was beheaded because of the Christian standards he possessed. I love the example Jesus gives us here though, take your time to regroup, but when you see people in need, get to work. Oh, the whole scripture passage I am referring to is in Matthew 14, feel free to read it here.
So, I have started my Christmas decorating, and my Christmas shopping. I am making my lists for Christmas gifts, and cards, and things I want to do. I have so many things coming up this week. I have a study group for CCAP Thursday (which WILL be a blog topic one of these days) and then we have Friday. Next week's blog will be coming from our anniversary trip to St. Louis. There is such a story behind us getting to take this trip, and I will tell it next week.
As we enter into this Christmas season, takes some time to regroup, refocus and be ready for the days ahead.
I am leaving you with Chris Tomlin's A Christmas Alleluia. I love this song to just sit back, breathe deep and take it in.
Have an awesome week!
Saturday, November 25, 2017
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Thoughts and Prayers
Last Saturday morning, I pretty well thought I knew what today's blog was about. I was wrong. After the events of last Sunday morning in Texas, I still hadn't changed my mind. I did shutter at the fact that the little Texas town being described was so much like Newton, or Greenup, or Hidalgo, where I attend church every Sunday. I remember back to the day our church was burned to the ground. I was in 6th grade. The person who did it was mentally ill. He spent the rest of his life institutionalized for the crime, but for mental illness as well.
And oddly enough, nobody thought of outlawing matches. I understand nobody was hurt in the fire. I also know that the doors blew off the church with such force, they were across the street at the neighbors house. Had anyone been around, or that house closer, someone could have very easily been hurt. I just feel like there should be more emphasis placed on the mental health issue, and we need to take care of people. Desperate people do desperate things. I think we see a lot of mental illness is due to abuse and bullying. That might be a better place to start looking for answers- in my opinion.
I am not making light of the gun situation, Let me get this out there right now. There are guns in my house, I have shot them, I know how to use them. I don't particularly like them but I know what their purpose is, and I can tell you, nobody has ever thought about using them as self defense in this house. Too many dangers of not really knowing who is walking in the door. On the other side of that, I have never seen any of my hunter friends or family who wanted to hunt with a semi automatic, or an automatic weapon. Most of them like to eat the meat, and so they are wanting to see how little damage they can do, not how much. I see no reason for these weapons in our civilian lives. I wish there were not a reason for them in times of military conflict, but having one of my "other" sons in the army, and stationed in two very volatile spots in the world, if people on the other side had this same weapon and wants to use it to kill my kid, I want my kid to have the same chance. That all being said, I have to wonder if part of the reason there is so much more post-military mental illness is because of the amount of destruction these weapons really do on a body, I cannot imagine that sight.
But what I am trying to say, I think we should really focus on people instead of things.
So, I feel like I have made my disclaimers and now on to the REAL topic of today's blog. After the shooting last Sunday, there were many, many, MANY facebook posts about sending thoughts and prayers for the families of those in the shooting. A friend of mine, (who is also notorious for being a "doer"--very important here) made the statement that they were going to come up with a "thoughts and prayers" emoji to make it even quicker. Ouch. But how true is it. It is so easy to say, I will pray for you", and hopefully you really do, but...
Do you ever think part of the reason the world is in the mess it is in is because too many of us think praying for God to take care of it is enough? I am sure I miss opportunities every day to do something to change the world, and I really do try to take advantage of anytime I can do something. And I am going to let you in on a little secret. When I do something to at least try to help someone, it feels like Christmas-everyday.
I have had the opportunity to give a little extra help to some of our customers at work this week, giving them some "extras" outside of our regular help that they weren't expecting. I love that feeling.
I have a friend who was needing to make a connection with someone he didn't know. He mentioned it in passing and I just happened to have a connection to this person myself. I love when those things happen.
It wasn't much, it wasn't hard, but it was something. And yes, I prayed for them, and continue to pray for them. I truly do believe in the power of prayer, don't mistake that. I believe I got an extra year with my dad because the night they told us he was dying, people got up in the middle of the night and gathered around their kitchen tables and prayed. I believe prayer is that powerful and that it does change things.
But I believe there are a lot of people who like the comfort zone of saying a prayer more than stepping outside of it and moving on to realizing, "I am the person God created to DO SOMETHING". I know God made me a doer, and I absolutely love that He put me in a position to get to DO in my job. Knowing that I have fervently prayed for someone is also great, I have three people that almost 2 years ago, I picked their names out of a basket and pray for them everyday. Only one of them knows that I am their prayer person. One of them, I only saw on facebook and they have dropped out of sight, and the third one, I have gotten to watch do some absolutely remarkable things, and I will never tell them, but I get to know that I pray for them. I found out who the person was who drew my name about a year ago, and I LOVE that this person got me because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, she DOES pray for me daily, and I feel it, and I love that feeling, and it does bring me comfort when I am having a bad day.
I have decided that James 2 is my favorite chapter of the Bible, for right now anyway. It is pretty much what I want to be doing with my life. The more I read it though, the more I find it ironic, or maybe prophetic, that the first half talks about how to treat people. and the last half talks about how to live your faith. Do you see it? I stated earlier, I think a lot of mental health issues today is from people being bullied, or abused....basically mistreated. Look:
My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” 4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? 7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”[a] you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,”[b] also said, “Do not murder.”[c] Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
I think the root of most bullying is thinking you are better than someone else. Here's your sign. You aren't. I think working with low-income families, the one thing that continues to amaze me is the amount of people who don't have enough to make it through the month themselves but are helping others around them because it is the right thing to do. I have one friend who is constantly taking in others, I love her dearly, she gets trampled on because she loves so unconditionally and I get aggravated with her because I know at times, she is being taken advantage of. Thing is, she knows it too, and her doing something right means more to her than the possibility of who she is helping not reciprocating.
Then we get to the last half of James 2:
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your[d] works, and I will show you my faith by my[e] works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?[f] 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”[g] And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
I think this pretty well says, if all you can do is give lip service, you might have a problem. We are to be DOERS. Action words here, when you see something that needs done, instead of saying, "Somebody needs to....." or ""I'll pray about that", how about praying that God will open the doors for it to be YOU? And then start looking for ways to change things.
I have a lot of friends who have done things based on crazy faith and I believe they are living a more rewarding life because of it. So, on top of what your actions might do for your neighbor, your community, or your world, there is always a possibility you will start seeing things in your own life that are unbelievable as well.
So, I am giving you an assignment today, find a way to be a doer. You know the friend that I mentioned earlier that I said is a doer--one of the smallest things I know she does is randomly pays for someone's pop at the gas station. I think that is God-led. She basically could be lighting a candle that creates something bigger, and will never know it. Does she care? I doubt it. She cares that she tried to make someone else's life a little better. If we all did that, ALL of us, can you imagine what this world would be? I would so love to find out.
I am leaving you with yet another song that I have used before. Matthew West's Do Something. He sang this to me two years ago last month, at my request. At the time, it was "my song", and is still forever a constant reminder that when we ask why God doesn't do something, we better be looking in the mirror because He did.
And oddly enough, nobody thought of outlawing matches. I understand nobody was hurt in the fire. I also know that the doors blew off the church with such force, they were across the street at the neighbors house. Had anyone been around, or that house closer, someone could have very easily been hurt. I just feel like there should be more emphasis placed on the mental health issue, and we need to take care of people. Desperate people do desperate things. I think we see a lot of mental illness is due to abuse and bullying. That might be a better place to start looking for answers- in my opinion.
I am not making light of the gun situation, Let me get this out there right now. There are guns in my house, I have shot them, I know how to use them. I don't particularly like them but I know what their purpose is, and I can tell you, nobody has ever thought about using them as self defense in this house. Too many dangers of not really knowing who is walking in the door. On the other side of that, I have never seen any of my hunter friends or family who wanted to hunt with a semi automatic, or an automatic weapon. Most of them like to eat the meat, and so they are wanting to see how little damage they can do, not how much. I see no reason for these weapons in our civilian lives. I wish there were not a reason for them in times of military conflict, but having one of my "other" sons in the army, and stationed in two very volatile spots in the world, if people on the other side had this same weapon and wants to use it to kill my kid, I want my kid to have the same chance. That all being said, I have to wonder if part of the reason there is so much more post-military mental illness is because of the amount of destruction these weapons really do on a body, I cannot imagine that sight.
But what I am trying to say, I think we should really focus on people instead of things.
So, I feel like I have made my disclaimers and now on to the REAL topic of today's blog. After the shooting last Sunday, there were many, many, MANY facebook posts about sending thoughts and prayers for the families of those in the shooting. A friend of mine, (who is also notorious for being a "doer"--very important here) made the statement that they were going to come up with a "thoughts and prayers" emoji to make it even quicker. Ouch. But how true is it. It is so easy to say, I will pray for you", and hopefully you really do, but...
Do you ever think part of the reason the world is in the mess it is in is because too many of us think praying for God to take care of it is enough? I am sure I miss opportunities every day to do something to change the world, and I really do try to take advantage of anytime I can do something. And I am going to let you in on a little secret. When I do something to at least try to help someone, it feels like Christmas-everyday.
I have had the opportunity to give a little extra help to some of our customers at work this week, giving them some "extras" outside of our regular help that they weren't expecting. I love that feeling.
I have a friend who was needing to make a connection with someone he didn't know. He mentioned it in passing and I just happened to have a connection to this person myself. I love when those things happen.
It wasn't much, it wasn't hard, but it was something. And yes, I prayed for them, and continue to pray for them. I truly do believe in the power of prayer, don't mistake that. I believe I got an extra year with my dad because the night they told us he was dying, people got up in the middle of the night and gathered around their kitchen tables and prayed. I believe prayer is that powerful and that it does change things.
But I believe there are a lot of people who like the comfort zone of saying a prayer more than stepping outside of it and moving on to realizing, "I am the person God created to DO SOMETHING". I know God made me a doer, and I absolutely love that He put me in a position to get to DO in my job. Knowing that I have fervently prayed for someone is also great, I have three people that almost 2 years ago, I picked their names out of a basket and pray for them everyday. Only one of them knows that I am their prayer person. One of them, I only saw on facebook and they have dropped out of sight, and the third one, I have gotten to watch do some absolutely remarkable things, and I will never tell them, but I get to know that I pray for them. I found out who the person was who drew my name about a year ago, and I LOVE that this person got me because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, she DOES pray for me daily, and I feel it, and I love that feeling, and it does bring me comfort when I am having a bad day.
I have decided that James 2 is my favorite chapter of the Bible, for right now anyway. It is pretty much what I want to be doing with my life. The more I read it though, the more I find it ironic, or maybe prophetic, that the first half talks about how to treat people. and the last half talks about how to live your faith. Do you see it? I stated earlier, I think a lot of mental health issues today is from people being bullied, or abused....basically mistreated. Look:
My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” 4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? 7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,”[a] you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,”[b] also said, “Do not murder.”[c] Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
I think the root of most bullying is thinking you are better than someone else. Here's your sign. You aren't. I think working with low-income families, the one thing that continues to amaze me is the amount of people who don't have enough to make it through the month themselves but are helping others around them because it is the right thing to do. I have one friend who is constantly taking in others, I love her dearly, she gets trampled on because she loves so unconditionally and I get aggravated with her because I know at times, she is being taken advantage of. Thing is, she knows it too, and her doing something right means more to her than the possibility of who she is helping not reciprocating.
Then we get to the last half of James 2:
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your[d] works, and I will show you my faith by my[e] works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?[f] 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”[g] And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
I think this pretty well says, if all you can do is give lip service, you might have a problem. We are to be DOERS. Action words here, when you see something that needs done, instead of saying, "Somebody needs to....." or ""I'll pray about that", how about praying that God will open the doors for it to be YOU? And then start looking for ways to change things.
I have a lot of friends who have done things based on crazy faith and I believe they are living a more rewarding life because of it. So, on top of what your actions might do for your neighbor, your community, or your world, there is always a possibility you will start seeing things in your own life that are unbelievable as well.
So, I am giving you an assignment today, find a way to be a doer. You know the friend that I mentioned earlier that I said is a doer--one of the smallest things I know she does is randomly pays for someone's pop at the gas station. I think that is God-led. She basically could be lighting a candle that creates something bigger, and will never know it. Does she care? I doubt it. She cares that she tried to make someone else's life a little better. If we all did that, ALL of us, can you imagine what this world would be? I would so love to find out.
I am leaving you with yet another song that I have used before. Matthew West's Do Something. He sang this to me two years ago last month, at my request. At the time, it was "my song", and is still forever a constant reminder that when we ask why God doesn't do something, we better be looking in the mirror because He did.
Saturday, November 4, 2017
Falling Down
So, last Saturday morning, not even an hour after finishing my blog post, my whole day changed. I was getting ready for a great day away with friends and was hurrying to get ready. It had turned a bit cooler and I wanted a sweater that was stored downstairs. I started be-bopping down the stairs like I normally do and my foot came out from under me. I fell for what felt like forever; and the more I think about it, the more I realized, I was sitting where my feet were, so I really didn't fall down the stairs. I hit my head in the process though and the gash I had was deep. There was no way around the fact that my plans just changed. I was crushed.
This didn't get lost on me though, I knew there was a lesson in it, there were many lessons in it. Of course, as soon as I told what happened, I was met with several comments, those that know me the best wanted to know if it would slow me down, or maybe knock some sense into me. Well, as far as going down the stairs, I will have to tell you, yes, I have slowed down and been more careful. The knocking some sense into me? That's is probably still up for debate?
I do think about the fact that as Christians, we seem to get ahead of God sometimes though, and sometimes, He will try everything He can to get us to do things His way without causing us a major event, like a fall. He gave us free will though, and that makes it hard--on both of us. I know it surely pains God when He knows what we should be doing, He TELLS us what we should be doing, and we don't listen. I often think of Luke 11: 11-12.
11 If a son asks for bread[d] from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
And though this passage talks about asking God for what we want, I think the thing is, God has a greater life for us than we can even imagine. He already KNOWS our life here on earth, every second of it, We get so busy doing our thing that sometimes He has to just stop us in our tracks, and say, LISTEN TO ME!!! I wonder how awesome my life would really be, if I had done what He had led me to every time He lead me there.
So, when I fell down the stairs; , as badly as I wanted to be in Bloomington, I spent the morning in the ER and the afternoon taking 45 minute naps on the couch. I was instructed by the doctors to rest. I doubt if the doctor knew how badly I needed that rest, but obviously, God did.
And that is not the ONLY lesson I learned from my fall. The two I was supposed to be spending my day with, Dani and Tammy, texted me throughout the day. Last Saturday was Tammy's birthday, we are all officially 50 now. So, in the course of the day, Dani sends a picture of a life alert necklace. Yeah, uh, no. She told me she wasn't slamming me, but she had fell recently too. But here's the deal. We were all able to get back up. That's the important thing. GET BACK UP.
Somebody said something about getting old this week, I am not convinced I am going to do it. My mom turns 78 in 11 days, and I do not think she sees herself as old, the older I get, the more I get it. My mom can outwork me any day of the week, so I truly believe old is a state of mind, and I am not going to get there easily. If nothing else, thinking about this has inspired me to once again, try harder to take care of myself. So that I can keep getting up when I fall.
I knew this was in the Bible, but the events of the week caused me to look it up.
For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity. Proverbs 24:16.
We aren't perfect, NONE OF US, if even one of us were perfect, Christ's death would have been in vain. He was the perfect one.
But what I am getting at, is don't ever beat yourself up for falling, we all do it; the Bible says we are going to do it. But it also says we will Rise again. I kinda like that, Rising feels so much more a big deal than just getting back up. :-) So, whatever your latest fall has been, walking into a temptation you didn't plan to (mine the last two days has been eating, I had been doing so good. :( ) or not giving something your all, or simply not listening to what HE wants you to do. You can rise again. He wants you too, He will help you.
Today is the day......
These last couple of paragraph's has Danny Gokey's Rise going through my head, so I am almost positive I have used it here before, but someone someplace needs it today. It may just be me, or it may be you.
I am asking for a very special prayer request, and I am sorry I can't tell you any specifics, but if you would just pray that God's will be done in the situation Mindy is talking about, I know God knows. I have a friend who needs lots of prayer right now, and may not have a tremendous amount of praying friends, but I do. I wanted to help and didn't know exactly how. God told me to ask this, so I am asking. If you could just put this little unspoken prayer request on your daily list for a while, I will let you know when we have an answer Thanks in advance!!!
This didn't get lost on me though, I knew there was a lesson in it, there were many lessons in it. Of course, as soon as I told what happened, I was met with several comments, those that know me the best wanted to know if it would slow me down, or maybe knock some sense into me. Well, as far as going down the stairs, I will have to tell you, yes, I have slowed down and been more careful. The knocking some sense into me? That's is probably still up for debate?
I do think about the fact that as Christians, we seem to get ahead of God sometimes though, and sometimes, He will try everything He can to get us to do things His way without causing us a major event, like a fall. He gave us free will though, and that makes it hard--on both of us. I know it surely pains God when He knows what we should be doing, He TELLS us what we should be doing, and we don't listen. I often think of Luke 11: 11-12.
11 If a son asks for bread[d] from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
And though this passage talks about asking God for what we want, I think the thing is, God has a greater life for us than we can even imagine. He already KNOWS our life here on earth, every second of it, We get so busy doing our thing that sometimes He has to just stop us in our tracks, and say, LISTEN TO ME!!! I wonder how awesome my life would really be, if I had done what He had led me to every time He lead me there.
So, when I fell down the stairs; , as badly as I wanted to be in Bloomington, I spent the morning in the ER and the afternoon taking 45 minute naps on the couch. I was instructed by the doctors to rest. I doubt if the doctor knew how badly I needed that rest, but obviously, God did.
And that is not the ONLY lesson I learned from my fall. The two I was supposed to be spending my day with, Dani and Tammy, texted me throughout the day. Last Saturday was Tammy's birthday, we are all officially 50 now. So, in the course of the day, Dani sends a picture of a life alert necklace. Yeah, uh, no. She told me she wasn't slamming me, but she had fell recently too. But here's the deal. We were all able to get back up. That's the important thing. GET BACK UP.
Somebody said something about getting old this week, I am not convinced I am going to do it. My mom turns 78 in 11 days, and I do not think she sees herself as old, the older I get, the more I get it. My mom can outwork me any day of the week, so I truly believe old is a state of mind, and I am not going to get there easily. If nothing else, thinking about this has inspired me to once again, try harder to take care of myself. So that I can keep getting up when I fall.
I knew this was in the Bible, but the events of the week caused me to look it up.
For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity. Proverbs 24:16.
We aren't perfect, NONE OF US, if even one of us were perfect, Christ's death would have been in vain. He was the perfect one.
But what I am getting at, is don't ever beat yourself up for falling, we all do it; the Bible says we are going to do it. But it also says we will Rise again. I kinda like that, Rising feels so much more a big deal than just getting back up. :-) So, whatever your latest fall has been, walking into a temptation you didn't plan to (mine the last two days has been eating, I had been doing so good. :( ) or not giving something your all, or simply not listening to what HE wants you to do. You can rise again. He wants you too, He will help you.
Today is the day......
These last couple of paragraph's has Danny Gokey's Rise going through my head, so I am almost positive I have used it here before, but someone someplace needs it today. It may just be me, or it may be you.
I am asking for a very special prayer request, and I am sorry I can't tell you any specifics, but if you would just pray that God's will be done in the situation Mindy is talking about, I know God knows. I have a friend who needs lots of prayer right now, and may not have a tremendous amount of praying friends, but I do. I wanted to help and didn't know exactly how. God told me to ask this, so I am asking. If you could just put this little unspoken prayer request on your daily list for a while, I will let you know when we have an answer Thanks in advance!!!
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