Happy Halloween

Trick or Treat.

Time Stealer

What is with this "time" thing. I know, I know, we all have the same amount of time each day. It's what we do with that time. But I am here to tell you, someone is stealing my time!

I decided this morning that once I no longer have children to get out the door on time for school I will probably always fight to get to work on time. That is not my natural tendency. I am the one that would much rather be 1/2 hour early then risking be late.

The kids are on fall break this week, yea for them no 7:00 am band practices, rushing to get out of the house on time. Yea for me, I don't have to get up with the chickens (or before as it feels) to make sure they get out of the house. In reality, boo for me, lets see....hummmm....how late can I lay in the nice warm bed dozing in and out before I HAVE to get up? 7:02 a.m. in NOT the answer when you have to be at work by 8:00 a.m., and each morning this week it's getting later. I'm already putting my make-up on at work, what's next just going in my pj's and getting dressed there too?

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says:
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heaven:.....

Due to work, cross country, marching band, cheer, family, and church this past week I, along with my husband, have been gone more then 14+ hours a day for 5 out of the 7 days. Don't misunderstand I'm not complaining (ok, during that time I was complaining), but really how does one get their underware cleaned with that schedule. Some of the events were out of our control some were not. I am happy to say with the arrival of fall our schuedle has just slowed down tremendouly. But, what will I do with that time?

I could do all sorts of things, I could blog my heart out, I could read, clean my house and yes laundry is number one on the list. I could even find the time to spend with God, there's a noval idea. As I was laying in bed this morning, dozing on and off, I can't tell you how many times I started my prayers. I didn't even change the prayer, I just kept starting the same way over and over. I guess I was REALLY thankful for the warm comfortable bed that was going to make me late for work.

We can list all sorts of things that steal our time, and come up with all sorts of excuses but the biggest time stealer of all is - Satan. He loves it when we preoccupy ourselves so much that we don't take time to be in prayer as we would like, spend time in the Word, and mediate on what God would like us to do. We are so "busy" that we miss God and Satan is loving that. As I look back on this last week, I am sure I made him very happy and it makes me want to cry. Look at everything God has done for me, the mercy and grace that He has shown, and I repay that with a quick simple prayer. Yes, I meant what I prayed but was it really from the heart or just done in rote?

Well I am DONE making Satan happy. God is a marvelous father who only wants the best for His children. He made the biggest sacrifice anyone could make - His son Jesus Christ. He deserves all our praise, worship, prayers.......

I hate feeling tired and I don't push through it very well and Satan knows that and uses it against me all of the time. This morning was a good example, I never got my morning prayer finished because while in bed I kept falling asleep and once I realized what time it was I was too rushed to pray, big mistake. The enemy actually kept me from my prayers this morning using sleep and time against me....ugggggggg.

It's time I learned to say no more often, to slow down and aim for simplicity in my life. We don't have to be busy to be important or to feel like we are accomplishing something. God just doesn't work that way.

What does "No" look like? I'm not quite sure because we all have responsibilities to God, church, family, children, and other organizations that we enjoy. Maybe the first "No" is to decide if the organizations we are giving our time to really bring us joy.

For me the biggest and most important "No" goes to Satan. I am not going to let him steal my time. I can eat better and exercise which will help take care of the fatigue and sleepiness. I am a born planner through and through but the "busy" has redirected my path in that respect also. It's time to get back on the right path and that path is walking with Jesus.

There will be times when we will be "busy" and no way to get out of it. In those situations we need to go to God first and ask Him for his help to get us through it, don't wait until we are waist deep.

Deuteronomy 6:5
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Who me, would I be up to something?

The Morning Sun

Coming into work today I notice the sun. It was very large, just coming up over the horizon. A magnificent shade of blended oranges and yellows upon a blended blue/white sky. It really didn't look like the sun but a hole in the atmosphere leading to another dimension.

Friends

Yesterday I was blessed with spending the afternoon with good friends, good food, and good times.

Now that's a Sunday.

"The Power of Your Love"

This song just says it all.

Lord I come to You
Let my heart be changed renewed
Flowing from the grace that I found
In You

Lord I've come to know
The weakness I see in me
Will be stripped away
By the power of Your love

Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side

And as I wait
I'll rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with You
Your Spirit leads me on
By the power of Your love

Lord unveil my eyes
Let me see You face to face
The knowledge of Your love as You live
In me

Lord renew my mind
As Your will unfolds my life
In living every day
By the power of Your love

Hold me close
Let Your love surround me
Bring me near
Draw me to Your side

Going through the hard times

We all go through hard times; God never promised us it would easy - and he was right. But it's what we do with those hard times that matters.

Let's take David for example, he never asked to be king or to have the Spirit of he Lord leave Saul and be replaced with a spirit that tormented him. By no fault of David's Saul became jealous and wanted to destroy him. It appears that David was a victim of circumstance. David feared so much for his life that he was driven to leave his land and move into the land of the Philistines, once an enemy.

Let's look at this;

• Saul, the father of his best friend, is trying to kill him.
• He moves into the land of the Philistines which were once enemies.
• He fights for the Philistines,brings back the plunder to them only to have the Philistine leaders not trust him to go into battle with them against Israel.
  
• They send him home where he finds his home burned to the ground and his wives, children, and all his belongings gone.
  
• And after all this, his men were blaming him for what happened.
  

Can things really get any worse? I can't even begin to imagine what he was feeling or how I would react. Everything he had was gone and the kicker of the whole thing is, the men who did this to him were supposed to be destroyed already by Saul.

When things go wrong my first instinct is to try to take care of it myself, especially if it involves my children. I call it the "Momma lion protecting her cubs." Isn't that what God our Father wants to do for us, protect us?

Even David cried until he had no more strength, but then he turned to God and asked for guidance. He lead David to the Amalekites where he defeated them and recovered everything that was taken by them-nothing was missing.

God will give us the strength to keep going during those hard times and He will let us know what to do next, we just need to pray and truly listen for Him.

How can you quiet your world down so you may hear your Heavenly Father?

Sometimes you just have to laugh

I was just sitting here reflecting on the realities of life:

• Duct tape can fix most things.
• You can hammer in a screw.
• While shoes are very essential part of our wardrobe they don't work will on the screw.
• Dishwasher soap and Dish soap are not interchangeable.
• When applying for a job, don't take your mother.
• Cats don't appreciate flee dips.
• You can always guarantee that your dog will show off his talent by scooting across the floor on his butt when you have company.
• Cell phones do not like toilets, pagers don't either.
• Little kids will see how much they can flush down the toilet.
• Ice cream bars do not travel well in a suit case.
• Your plastic popcorn bowl doesn't fair too well on a hot burner.
• You must look before you turn and run; you may be standing in front of a wall.
• Before scraping the windshield, shut off the wipers.
• Don't laugh at the dog when she slides on the ice, you may go down too.

Taking the time to understand

Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me. Redeem me from the oppression of men, that I may obey your precepts. Psalm 119:134-135

Have you ever read a beautiful Bible passage only to get to the end and only think you know what the word means. You proceed to look at the bottom of the page only to find out that it talks about the verse before and after the one you need some clarity on.

For me this morning it was "precepts". That is not a word that is used in everyday conversation, or at least not mine. So, thanks to Google here it is:

"A commandment, instruction, or order intended as an authoritative rule of action."

God has shown me this morning not to just read the words but to truly take the time to understand what the words mean and then what He saying to me.

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you so much for watching over us through the night. I pray that you will go before us today as we journey through life, and I am thankful to know that should we stumble and fall you will be there to pick us up, brush us off, and set our feet on your path once again. Amen

Thank You God

For those few of you who know I started this blog, I am sorry that up to this point it has been blog-less. I don't even know if that is a real word, but for today it is.

I want to take this time to publicly thank God for everything he has done, is doing, and will do for me, my family, my friends, my church....the list is endless.

Over the last couple weeks I have been trying to step back and look for God in my life on a day to day basis and guess what, He's there. We only have to slow down and look for Him. I have seen many blessings in those couple of weeks. I have made new friends from Africa, spent time with present friends as well as friends from my past, and spent quality time with family. He has help to relieve anxiety, dry tears and help me put events of my life (that I didn't handle so well) into perspective.

God has blessed me with a wonderful, faithful, God fearing husband and two wonderfully healthy children. I have a roof over my head, a warm bed to sleep in and food to eat (at times-too much food to eat).

God is always with us, we are never alone. So when your having a hard time, stop and look for Him. He is there, we just have to look for Him and trust.

My goal is to deepen my relationship with God. I need to slow way down, be quite and listen. Enjoy the simple pleasures He offers us. God is not an on again off again kind of god. We shouldn't be an on again off again follower-just when it fits in our schedule. Our lives are busy, and with the type of schedules we have we can't afford not to start and end our days with the one who gets us through them.

God, I love you and I am dedicating this blog site to YOU to use as you see fit. I pray for inspiration and wisdom that I may reach those YOU want me to reach with the words YOU want me to use.

John 15:1-8