Bills, Bills, Bills!

Mar13

I’ve spent most of the day entering receipts into my finance program and catching up on my budgeting. What a fun way to spend the day.

I say that with some sarcasm, but really, when I look at all we were able to do and buy, I am thankful for the ever present provision of my loving God and Father.

–we never went hungry

–we were able to give gifts to people for special celebrations

–we got to go on an anniversary trip

–we bought new shoes for Nathan

–we sent Morgan to horseback riding lessons every other week

–we sent Nathan to archery and fencing lessons

–we sent Justin to Tae Kwon Do classes

–we had weekly date nights with our kids

–we had our annual physicals

–we bought dog food and cat food and two hermit crabs

–we fixed our sprinkler system and paid for our lawn chemical applications

–we have a roof over our heads

–we have electricity and running water in our house

–we have working vehicles that have gas in them

–we sent our kids to private school every day (albeit the best bargain on the planet–Trace Academy)

Shall I go on?

We are very rich indeed.

Thankful today for:

105. God’s provision

106. technology

107. crockpots

Would You Be Your Friend?

Mar12

Are you someone you like to hang out with? If you had a choice, would you be your own friend? Do you like who you are? Do you enjoy your own company?

Have you ever looked at yourself from someone else’s eyes? Do they see someone who displays the fruit of the Spirit?

Love: unselfish, putting others first, not jealous, keeping no record of wrong

Joy: not grouchy and discontent: radiating happiness that transcends circumstances

Peace: unflustered, unfazed by what’s going on around you, trusting in God beyond what the circumstances might seem to dictate

Patience: peacefully waiting for God to move, knowing that He’s got things under control

Kindness: caring deeply about others and expressing that to them

Goodness: displaying the character of Christ, godliness; striving to always do the right thing

Faithfulness: displaying an unwavering faith in God and not straying from your walk with Him

Gentleness: not harsh, having a soft hand and voice when it comes to dealing with others, no matter their attitude

Self-control: not reacting to or following along with other’s bad behavior; not being erratic so that people don’t know what to expect from you

Doesn’t that just seem like a person you want to hang out with? I know I’d sure like to have that friend.

Guess that means I should work on being that friend.

Thankful today for:

102. brownies baking in the oven

103. 80 degree weather with only 31 percent humidty

104. a change in plans

God is Not a GPS

Mar11

Recently, on a marquee outside a church, I saw written, “Let God be your GPS.”

Let’s break that down: With the GPS app on my iPhone, I tell it where I want to go, and it tells me how to get there. Or I ask it to tell me where I might find a certain type of business, and it gives me suggestions. I then can choose to which one I want to go. It will give me a suggested route, tell me how far it is and how long it will take me to get there, and then give me step by step vocal guidance of how to get where we’re going.

That doesn’t sound anything like God to me.

I would liken Him more to a magical treasure map that only reveals your next step when you have taken the one before. You hold it firmly, making sure the winds of doubt don’t blow it away. You keep your eye constantly on it so as to not lose your way.

This magical treasure map also shows you beauty unimaginable, gives you relationships inconceivable without it, and constantly sings you a love song in the most incredible voice you have ever heard.

And the treasure you find at the end of your road has, in large part, been the journey it took you to get there.

Thankful today for:
99. More light at the end of the day
100. A chance to help lead our congregation in worship
101. One more day of the weekend

Sisters From Other Mothers

Mar10

I didn’t want to miss a day, but it’s late (and even later with the approaching time change), so this will be brief. We just got in from enjoying a birthday dinner at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse for my wonderful friend Alyson. The food was really, really good, but I would have gone to McDonald’s (and I hate McDonald’s) to celebrate her.

I live far away from my two sisters, so the daily blessing of being in their lives is missing (although better after the advent of Facebook). But with my friend Alyson, and a couple of others in my life, I have sister-like relationships that I depend on for that emotional connection.

We take care of each other’s kids, we plan vacations together, we text, we chat, we have fun, we share our hearts. We are sisters from other mothers. And they, along with my blood sisters, mean the world to me.

Thankful today for:

96. birthday celebrations

97. Alyson

98. my sisters

If God is For Us

Mar9

If God is for us, who can be against us? And conversely, if God is against us, who can be for us?

When a problem comes up, do you pick up the phone first and call the experts, or do you pray?

When you’re making a decision, do you list the pros and cons first, or do you pray?

When you’re having a meeting, do you just have it, or do you pray first and throughout that meeting?

Let me tell you a story of a time when we dramatically saw God work after we prayed.

Our school, Trace Academy, rents space from my church. At the beginning of this school year, our facility underwent a fire inspection. This is a regular occurrence. When I was the one in charge of the facility, I had the same inspector every year and we never had any problems. This year, a different inspector came. And apparently, this inspector thought very highly of her authority. She gave the usual laundry list of things to move, fix or improve for fire safety, but then she fixated on the fact that we had four or five preschoolers being cared for in the nursery while their moms were working on campus.

What she determined could have shut us down.

So after panicking for a few moments, we were called to pray. I specifically prayed that God would either change this woman’s heart, or that He would remove her from her position.

Long story short, several weeks later–we had a 30-day deadline–the person now responsible for the facility for our school tried to call this inspector. Time after time she was unable to get in touch with her. Finally, someone else in the fire inspector’s office told us that she was no longer with the department. (!)

Is that a God story or what? They sent a new inspector who gave us a clean bill of health, and we were able to Imagecontinue business as usual, only with a more clear sense that God is on our side, and that we are doing what He wants us to do. I believe as a direct result of prayer, that fire that could have devastated us was extinguished.

Honestly, no authority on earth could have shut us down if God wanted us to keep going. We believe what we’re doing is from Him, and a power-hungry bureaucrat is not going to be able to shut that down.

David and Goliath

Paul and the Roman guards

Jesus and the grave

What God wants to accomplish and whomever He wants to use can never be defeated.

Thankful today for:

93. glasses

94. the sound of someone else doing the vacuuming

95. date night with my younger boy