Monday, September 27, 2010

A New Favorite Song

Ok, David Crowder is, how shall I say this politely?, kinda strange looking...but this song ROCKS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJyW55AXJAk

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Struggling...

So Romans 5:3-5 says this: "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love" ...but that doesn't mean we won't have rough days, rough weeks and even rough months where life just stinks!

I am in the midst of just a crappy, busy, hard to deal with week. Some of it is financial, some housework I've fallen behind on due to laziness and being too busy and some of it is dealing with situations that I just don't want to deal with.

I trust in the Lord to provide for me. I know He will. It's not a question of "will I survive?" Of course I will, but I hate being behind on bills, housework, dealing with late paying parents and just being frustrated! Ugh! Weeks like this make me not want to get out of bed, eat nothing but junk and just be fussy in general.

But I am still doing my job, paying what bills I can and trying not to overeat, not being so successful on that last one, but whatcha gonna do???

This isn't a feel good, warm and fuzzy post, but I do want to encourage you (and remind myself) that there will be better days. The Lord has not forgotten me. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so! :)

Monday, September 6, 2010

Thankful, Blessed and Rested... A lesson in Grace

After a wonderful weekend at the campground (www.myrtlebeachtravelpark.com if you're interested) for Labor Day, I am thankful for a few days away, blessed to have been there with wonderful friends and family and to enjoy beautiful weather and company and rested up for the four day work week. Sometimes the simplest of things can put bigger problems into focus. In this case it was a conversation with a friend that probably shouldn't have happened. Okay, for sure shouldn't have happened. Sometimes I can't keep my big, fat mouth shut! I'll probably hear about it again in the form of a snide facebook comment or a conversation with someone at church, but the point is here, I've just gotta learn. I mean I'm 36 years old for Pete's sake (whoever Pete is). This is NOT grown up behavior. Anyway you get the point. I feel like I'm being shaped and molded by all the things going around in my world, one itty bitty teensy weensy bit at a time. The Lord is working in my life, I know He is...I just have to get out of the way and let Him do His job. 'Cause after all, I can't do it for him...duh...not like I really thought I could. In this case, I knew better, and I knew that I knew better. But now I've done it, I can't take it back, and I've just got to deal with the consequences. Obviously my boundaries study hasn't quite kicked in all the way yet. So, here I am, starting over again. Thank goodness for God's grace, He loves me THAT much. And I just wanted to share that, 'cause you know, I really needed to hear it myself. The following is an excerpt from Romans that I want to take to heart. Thought I'd share.

Romans 12 - Place Your Life Before God

1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. 3I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.