The Divine Frying Pan

Do you remember cartoon characters chasing each other with frying pans? The idea of needing to hit someone over the head with something to get it to stick always reminds me of them.

Sometimes I think I am in need of God's Divine Frying Pan to smack the sense into me!
This surrender issue, is the heart of most of my issues in life. I once again have visited the anxious part of myself and had a revelation.

There I was in Walmart...(where all great thinking is done) catching up with some friends who are trying to leave for the mission field soon, when out of my mouth come anxious words I didn't know were in my heart until then.
"Under the current administration, we may be out of a job at some point soon." :O There was a meeting at work that day.... I was thinking somewhere inside of me that it may be lay offs (which the company had just announced 700 layoffs in another area) and I was unaware that it was even there until I suddenly said it to them!
Thankfully we have recently memorized Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the Peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Please forgive the punctuation...I didn't memorize that! (0; ) The Spirit spoke that out of my mouth directly after the above confession. I'd almost say regurgitated is the best description. LOL. So after all that, I keep going..."God knows we will feel anxious at times, but gives us the instructions, go to God in prayer and He will help you not to be anxious." It seems so simple, and yet for me it was so profound! I'm still thanking Him for bringing that to me!

There have been lots of those moments, of needing to remember not to be anxious. It's tough to learn a new trait.
Psalm 116
5The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.

⁶ The LORD protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me.

⁷ Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.

¹⁶ O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant, you have freed me from my chains.

¹⁷ I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the LORD.

¹⁸ I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,

¹⁹ in the courts of the house of the LORD— in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD.

To catch a Pumpkin

Today the "bigs" have been playing hide and seek with Aliyah being "it"

Tonight, as I relax on the sofa nursing Brianna; Aliyah sits beside me "reading" a book. I notice on the other side of the room a very strange occurrence. A baby doll, attached by a shoelace to a hanger is bobbing up and down repeatedly in the doorway.
**Imagine the carrot on the end of a stick.**
It continues a while as I hear muffled laughs and snorts from the culprits.

Apparently, they were "baiting" her to come and play again! Unfortunately, it did not manage to get her attention. Maybe they should've made crying sounds to go with it?

I found it hilarious, but you may have had to be there.

Lessons from the Seasons : Spring

As I attempt to do all the Spring cleaning and chores that I need to get done, I've been feeling a lesson building up, that I thought I'd share.

We have 15 fruit trees, 13 other trees, several Yucca and roses, and plans for a veggie garden.
The trees have needed some proper pruning for about a decade, so it is a lot of work. The first one I did took 2 days with an hour to two hours invested each day! just on the cutting.

As I am out there in God's beautiful handiwork, watching the bees pollinate the plum tree as I decide which branch to cut and which to leave, my heart thought of the different work of the different seasons.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
^"1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."

Spring is a time of new growth, and lots of it... which is about where I've been feeling I am in life, right now. The trees are putting out new buds and branches in every direction, and where they are good things to have, not all of them are growing in a good direction. And too many aren't good either. So I cut away unnecessary growth, and choose the best ones in the right directions to leave to grow.
I've been praying as I do for God's direction in how things should be; and then the thought came that God's wisdom is needed for the direction of my new growth too. Maybe there's too much going on and I need to thin out, or maybe some things are growing in a direction that wont be best. He knows and will help me to thin and grow in the ways He sees best.

The other seasons aren't as developed in my head as spring is since it has been shown to me recently, but here is a brief idea. I'll continue searching.
Summer is a time for maturing and bearing fruit.
Fall is the season of harvesting and reaping what you've sown.
Winter is the time to "Be still and know."

I think I happen to be in a spring time in my life during spring this year, but that you can be in any of the spiritual seasons regardless of the climate. ;0)

Everyone wants to go to Heaven

Ok I know I haven't blogged for awhile, then crank out 3 in one sitting. Kinda goofy, but what else would you expect from me? :-P
I've had several thoughts I've wanted to share here, then by the time I get here, it's all gone! Gotta work while I can remember. :-D

So Heaven. Everyone wants to go there right. Well I've started to wonder.... why?
You hear people who want to go there because they don't want to go to hell.
Because Dad, Grandma, my kitten, whoever is there.
Because they don't believe there's anywhere else to go.
Because it's supposed to be a really great place where the list of adverse things I don't like are gone....forever.

But I wonder, isn't there really only one reason to truly want to go?
To be with God.

As I thought of this an analogy came to my mind.
Suppose someone said they want to come to your house, but only because they really don't want to go to jail. or because someone else is going to be there that they want to see. or because you have really great food and your house is amazing.
Do you really want that person, who obviously doesn't care about you, to come to your house?

What is our attitude about it? Are we in it to avoid negative consequences? To see someone we knew here on earth and loved? Do we love God for "His stuff?"
Let that not be true!
Let us love God who loved us so much to leave His heavenly throne to die to bring us to Himself!!! And let us desire to be in His presence eternally.

When my kids talk about going to heaven and seeing each other there, I tell them. "You know, when we are there in the very presence of God, I don't think we'll care about much else. Yes, I'll be there, you'll be there, but the most important of all God is there!"

Mine Ebenezer

"Ebenezer" is the name Samuel gave a memorial stone, saying "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us" (1 Sam. 7:1-12)

Like Much Afraid in Hind's Feet on High Places, I have my memorial stones; though unlike Samuel I haven't named any... yet.
I've been feeling the need to "raise mine Ebenezer" lately. I have been moving forward toward the prize at a faster pace for a few months, and I feel that "hither by Thy help I'm come." Everything truly does seem to be "working together," which I know it always has and yet seems so much more really happening. Everything pointing in the same direction, in all areas of my life, to bring me closer and closer to Him.

So Here I raise mine Ebenezer. My memorial blog, carved out somewhere (lost) in cyberspace.
For Hitherto hath the Lord helped me overcome myself.

Amusing (to me)

Last night Ysa decided to repeat everything I say. This is a new game.... one I don't care much for.
So she hears me tell hubby that I will "show her what it's like on the receiving end" and she thinks that will be cool.
So tonight she asks to "play" the game again.

I repeat what she says. When she starts to ask me questions she really wanted an answer to, I simply repeat her question. I repeat her laughs, snorts and chortles. I'm thinking that I'm pretty annoying, but that doesn't quell her fun.
She starts replying to her questions for me.
Ysa: "Mommy is this fun?" I: repeat
Ysa: "Yes Ysa. This is fun. We should do it every night" I: repeat

So after we do that a few times she really thinks she's got it...
Ysa: "Hey Ysa. We should go eat all the candy canes in the candy cane holder!"

That's about where I tackled her with tickles until she couldn't talk any more.
This may be the best option for stopping the parrot game.