Under Construction!

I went the the women's conference this weekend and was totally blessed to be there. We studied Colossians, in the 3rd chapter it talks about what we need to take off and what we need to put on. we are Under Construction and in my opinion we always will be. We need to have the habit of trusting God by being rooted in our faith....when we develop this habit and an OH NO situation arises it will be easier to just give it to God and let Him deal with it. I believe the path to trusting God starts when we seek the things of God and set our minds on them and not the things of this very ungodly BA-BALONY world. It gives a not so nice list of what we need to put to death for instance and only to name a few impurity, evil desire, covetousness and a few others. Wow sinner nature sure is a doozy but, there is more we must also put away from us the things we practice such as....anger, wrath, malice, slander and cussing (paraphrasing here). Putting on our new self will take practice as well but, it will also take us making the choice to allow God to do His work in us. The new "clothes" are compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience (do not forget DO NOT ask for those.) we must also forgive each other as God forgives us 70x7 everyday, above everything else we need to LOVE. Love is a choice we do not always feel it, when we love whether we want to or not it will bind us together in perfect harmony. The conference was called Decisions Decisions and we need to make some, God is calling us to Him and with that call is the need to heed His word. When we do yes, the enemy will rise up against us and throw EVERYTHING he has at us, he will try to discourage us and hurt us. Even with all of that, with God and the love of our brothers and sisters in Christ, standing united we will fight against the devil and he will flee. Habits are hard to break because, we have practiced them for so long. The new habits must be practiced with the same diligence the old ones were, we will fall there is no doubt about that therefore that is why we will always be Under Construction (again just my opinion).

That's my thought for the day,

Crazy for Christmas

Simplicity is bliss.....

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, Brown paper packages tied up with string, These are a few of my favorite things.......these may have been Maria's favorite things but, not so much mine...I LOVE the movie and all of the music in it but, if I had to list my favorite things it might go something like this.....Snowflakes on holly and sleigh bells on reindeer, Lots of good wishes that fills you with good cheer, opening the door for carolers to sing these are a few of my favorite things....there are 72 days 16 hours and 30 minutes until the greatest Birthday ever I can not wait...what memories do you have of  the Holidays? Do you stress or enjoy them? I know I have mentioned this before but when ever I say how many days until Christmas I get groans at least from the adults the kids go YAY!!! People stress out so much it makes them not enjoy anything about the Holidays, and that just is not right. God wants joy in our lives and stress flat out TAKES IT AWAY!!! We should celebrate celebrate dance to the music as we are rocking around the Christmas tree, and we dream of a White Christmas as we go over the river and through the woods. Let us not forget to listen to sleigh bells ring and we as parents are wishing for a silent night.....but, I am telling you to have yourself a Merry little Christmas. Breathe let the stress go and take time for yourself once in a while to decompress have an eggnog or pumpkin spice latte re-evaluate what you want to accomplish and make changes. Nothing has to be elaborate Jesus was born in a barn not the Hilton simplicity is bliss. Go all out if you want just remember it can be fun and simple and still be beautiful. God is not complicated we make things complicated therefore we stress and worry so much and it affects the whole season. Take time to stop and smell the evergreen and breathe in life and let go of stress.

That's my thought for the day,

Crazy for Christmas

God has a sense of humor.....

I had a blow yesterday......it looks like God is in the mood to test my faith. The other day I wanted to write about being specific in praying because God has a sense of humor but I didn't. Today I am...I am going to take you back in time to what seems a long time ago but in reality it has only been about 5 years. We lived in a house that we thought we were buying in fact the people did not own the house at all and stopped making payments and the real owner took over possession of the house. Bottom line we had to get out no choice about it. We wanted to buy so we tried and almost did but, that is when the economy took a dive and we couldn't all of our money had gone to inspections, appraisals and getting ready to move into this house we were told was ours only to have it take so long that it got taken away we were looking at seriously being homeless not a good place to be. I prayed to God I told him what our need was and I thought I was being specific I said my dream  home is a home that has walls facing North South East and West with a roof that does not leak NEVER in my wildest dreams did I expect what happened next. My husband said...........what about a travel trailer? I said WHAT??? NO WAY!!! He then said it is better than nothing. so we tried and succeeded in getting the trailer. God provided a home with walls that face North, South, East and West and the roof did not leak, and an added bonus it had WHEELS!!!! I seriously said HAHA God very funny. Less than 300 square feet for 4 people and 2 cats...everyone tripping over everyone else...all of our belongings in storage (which 95% got ruined there and had to be tossed). We lived in the Dreaded Dream house for almost 4 years during that time I struggled and fought and was depressed gained a ton of weight and was down right miserable. A year and a half ago God presented a house for us, one we could afford, the Landlady is super nice and we could have our cats. so we moved in, I was in the accident and today a year and a half later we are looking at having to move again due to a situation beyond our control. I lost my job we do not have any "moving" money and I am looking at having to live in the dream house on wheels.....Honestly I DON'T WANT TO! God has a plan I know He does I have to trust Him and Pray and keep my faith strong. God will lead us where we are to go and provide what needs to be provided....I have had what I feel is more than my fair share of stress and tears and and and I could keep going but, I won't....I read a quote today that I am at this time going to make my motto it says "Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He's going to be up all night anyway" ~Mary C. Crowley
So with God's great sense of humor and unique way of teaching us lessons we move forward and a piece of advice for you and myself too.....Be very SPECIFIC when praying because God will answer just maybe not quite the way we expect Him to.....God loves us very much and He knows what He is doing, I am glad He does because I am clueless....how we respond to situations will determine how we learn our lessons (just my opinion here) God just wants to teach us He does not want to hurt us. That's what satan does he comes to steal, kill and destroy and try to get us to turn from God and we can't let that happen.

That's my thought for the day,

Crazy for Christmas

Will you accept the challenge?

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains; You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas; I am strong, when I am on Your shoulders; You raise me up... to more then I can be. (Brendan Graham) I have these lyrics playing in my head today. I love this song and when I hear it being sung it sends goosebumps down my spine. When we are weary God is strong and I am so thankful to Him for it. I get the feeling that believers all over are weary and down trodden. I want to issue a challenge to everyone...Get on your knees and pray. Pray for your friends, family, co-workers, the homeless, the un-saved, pray for EVERYONE even if you do not know them, you just may be the only one that does. The world we live in is in such a desperate state these days and I believe prayer, intercession on our knees, faces how ever to God will be the only way to save it. We have so many other things coming against us but, it is just one common enemy that causes all of the mayhem, malice, and hate....satan. Matthew 18:18-20 says Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 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. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. (NKJ) I believe if we stand united in prayer no matter where we live we will see things start to move. My heart breaks to see the oppression that is rampant all over and we need to break it and take our Countries back for God. We need a REVIVAL in our land...the only way that will happen is if we stand up and join in together and PRAY!!!!!

That's my thought for the day,

Crazy for Christmas

Life is one wild ride....

Before I begin there are 74 days 17 hours and 9 minutes until Christmas....and today I am kinda just rambling enjoy....
I love the earliness of the day when everyone is still sleeping and I am wishing I was too....the time to be in reflection of  my life, year, month, week and day....it is a time to have one on one time with the cats that seem to think, oh she is up it is time to monopolize her time and not let her get anything done.....it is my time to chat with God, even if I can not get the words to come out right because, my brain has not kicked it into full gear yet due to lack of coffee. My Life......is Gods so, lets start with my year....welllll maybe a bit farther back than that. In March of last year something happened that changed the whole direction of my life....I was in a car accident, not a real bad one but, it was enough to completely overhaul and do an extreme makeover Life edition. As a school bus driver we always think of safety first (at least the good ones do) even in our own cars. So why any person driving a BIG truck would think it was safe to stop on rail road tracks is way beyond me.....Then think oh I should not be on here and start backing up.....WITHOUT knowing whats behind you!!! A professional faux pas most definitely but, even though it is what started this whole thing I forgave him...people make mistakes. So fast forward a bit after months of Dr's and tests and all sorts of uncomfortable things I am put on a leave of absence from my job because, I can not lift more than 15 pounds and could not chain my bus so my days as a bus driver are over. I have done volunteering, I co-captained a relay for life team that was fun and, I lost a friend because, I was trying to comfort another friend and she did not like the songs I was posting......my year....accident, permanent injury, unemployment, volunteering and losing a friend .....In the last tad over a month School started and so did Fall. My son started High School which he was dreading and discovered he likes it...I would love to say love but, I am not sure that is exactly accurate. My daughter is in 4th grade and she thinks life is so hard because the days seem longer I made new friends that I am so blessed to have....in the last week I have spent it with Hubby under my feet (if you want the future he has another week) I tried new recipes and started a Beth Moore Bible study...In the last day I have said to my son I am grateful for the opportunity to be irritated with your teenage attitude, taken the kids to the Dentist, threatened my sons Christmas if he does not pull those last 3 teeth out, went to my Dr. and was told almost the same thing all the other Dr's told me over the last tad over a year ok it has been 1 year 7 months and 2 days exactly.....but who is counting??? So I almost feel like I am in a vicious cycle but, all along God has walked with me through my pain, struggles, lack of sleep, kids attitudes, and frustrations I know He has a plan for my life. I also know that my life is not the worst, there are people out there that have far more serious things going on, I know I am blessed. This has started the ball rolling I am a rainbow of emotions when I look to the future but, God is running this roller coaster of my life and I know He will make it one wild and colorful ride.

P.S. this is only part of it...God Bless you today and always!

That's my thought for the day,

Crazy for Christmas

What do your dreams say?

I had a rather disturbing dream last night. It was a mixture of so many unlikely things that it could have been funny yet it was very much.......shuttering just thinking about it. In my dream there seemed to be a million different things going on but, what was the focus is the situation that had me in a very vulnerable and embarrassing place. I seriously felt stuck and could not move I could have but, it was something I was not willing to do and it got worse and worse and I just woke up. I do not remember many of my dreams I can wake up feeling wow that was weird but, not actually remember anything about it so this was a rare for me. I believe God can speak to us through dreams being sinners sometimes that is the ONLY way God can talk to us. I do not interpret dreams but, I feel like God is impressing this on my heart and maybe it is what I am supposed to hear. I am not sure the people in my dream are key it was the feeling stuck and unwilling to move that stood out. I have many different directions in my life right now sometimes I seriously feel like a multi-directional round about. In some areas of my life I have felt stuck, overwhelmed, unsure of my footing unwilling to move for fear of causing an avalanche of nuclear proportions so, I stay put in a "safe" place. God does not want me in a safe zone He wants me on that high wire trusting Him to be my safety net. In my willingness to grow and learn and trust in God I have to step out and move, in order to have Him work through me I have to work for Him. I can not let what others may think of me stop me from doing what needs to be done, it is what God thinks of me that counts. What I feel it means is this....No matter what situation I am in I have to be willing to move, speak and do what needs to be done in my life and my walk with God. I need to step out on the high wire (afraid of heights and all) and trust that God WILL catch me when (not if) I fall and there will be a time that God will catch me He always does. The intention is not there to fall but, fear, anxiety, doubt, anger and other things can make us lose our step along the way and to have God as our safety net is one wonderful thing...The key here is to be willing and unafraid to do what God wants me to do.....there I said it in a round about way :-)

That's my thought for the day,

Crazy for Christmas

What are you waiting for?

Today I seem to be at a loss for words. I wanted to write about prayer and being specific in what we pray for because, God has a sense of humor but, that does not feel right if you know what I mean. I prayed for guidance and for God to speak through my words and I seem to have stalled. Life seems to be like that sometimes, we stall and are in a time of waiting, we ask for what? I can not answer that I just know we wait. It is in those times we need to pray and seek God and worship Him. We can have some of our most precious moments when we are on our knees. When my life stalls it tends to make me feel unsure, impatient and sometimes I get down right angry. I really dislike feeling that way so, I pray and when I do it is a beautiful thing. Getting angry will not solve anything it just prolongs everything. Gods time is His time and we need to set our watches to it, if only.....we knew what His time was. Psalm 27:14 (NKJ) says...Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord. Waiting is not a strength of mine I have a hard time with it but, as I have said before, these times are lessons learned in our lives to build that strength, courage, patience, compassion and the character of God in us. Instead of struggling and flailing around just relax and go with the flow right in to Gods plan. It took Joseph 13 years of waiting that is a long time. I pray that I do not have to wait that long but, I will if I have to.

That's my thought for the day,

Crazy for Christmas