God's Word for Today

Saturday, November 15, 2014

A moratorium on maturity!

My glasses are broken, my car is in the shop and my DVR is broken!

So…….for the next 24 hours I have decided that I am declaring an a moratorium on maturity!

 

My DVR in done for. My provider is sending us another one, however until then we are forced to watch television in real time! For real! It probably will not get here until Monday or Tuesday. That means we have to endure the WHOLE WEEKEND watching television in real time! What is this 1970! I’m think’n that a broken DVR rates at least an overnight FEDX delivery, cause this is important, right!

 

And since it went kaput it has not recorded any of my current programming. This in turn has forced me to watch a few shows on the computer. This means that I am forced to watch commercials. It also reminds me how much our internet totally blows as well. Our download speed is akin to something that resembles the speed of a snail. So Now I have to watch commercials, waiting while the show reloads for the millionth time all while holding my glasses out a few inches from my face because I can’t see my computer screen.

 

The mature woman whispers in my ear that I need to be thankful that I have my eyesight. The mature woman points out to me that I have a nice safe warm house to live in and a full pantry.

However since I have embraced the 24 hour moratorium on my maturity I will continue to whine about the fact that I have to get out in the cold and actually drive all the way to Wal Mart to see if they can fix my glasses. Because the Wal-Mart is ALL the way in Hamilton Mill and THAT is like 15 minutes away. I might as well be flying to Outer Mongolia! Going to Wal-Mart also requires that I take a shower, get dressed, brush my teeth, comb my hair and put my shoes on. The horror that is my life y’all! I HAVE TO GET DRESSED!

 

I think I will lay in the floor and kick my feet and pitch a hissy fit at having to actually watch television in real time. I want my pause button! I want my fast forward button. I want to watch what I want to watch when I want to watch it and I DON’T want to watch the commercials!

 

AND the reality that I had several recorded programs that I had yet to watch all gone into the black hole, cause you know they are in there somewhere!

 

Y’all remember the good ol days back in the dark ages when we actually thought cable television was a good thing. We were all so excited about the concept of how great it was going to be. Now, we have all been indoctrinated into the concept of paying for television AND ALL the channels have commercials. That is unless you want to pay extra for a movie channel that can bring R/MA rated content right at your fingertips. I get enough of that on regular television thank you very much! We pay to watch commercials….even at the movie theater! How did that happen! Y’all has the zombie apocalypse occurred!

 

So here I sit holding my glasses away from my face, because without them I am almost legally blind.

So lets recount my misery! I am blind, in need of a shower and whining about having to get out in the cold to drive to Outer Mongolia AND forced to watch television in real time AND being forced to endure stupid commercials.

 

Oh and I almost forget, the repairs are finished on my car, but the insurance company has not sent the body shop the final payment so the repair shop will not release my car until they receive their final payment. So I am stuck driving a shiny new rental car for the weekend…..Oh wait! I lost my head for a second! They can keep my old car and I will drive this new one, but then that kind shoots a hole in my moratorium on maturity for 24 hours. But wait this rental car is wider and longer than my car so I have a hard time getting it in my garage. So how horrible is that! I am spatially challenged so every time I pull into my garage I am traumatized that I will knock off a side mirror or have a spasm and drive the car into my dinning room. There I feel better now that I have shaken off that thankfulness!

 

The mature woman just smacked me upsidethehead and told me to put my big girl panties on, turn the television off, get in the shower, then get in the new rental car go to Wal-Mart and get my glasses fixed, then come back home to my warm dry home fix myself a latte and read a good book.

 

This concludes the whining and complaining portion of the morning….that is until I get back from Wal-Mart!

 

Blessings

R

Thursday, October 23, 2014

“Whatever you are doing keep doing it!”

I had never had a hip injection before so I was a bit apprehensive going into the procedure.

Unless you have nerves of steel, I think most normal folks would experience moments of apprehension at the prospect of any medical procedure that involves long needles. During major surgery you have the benefit of being unconscious, however for this very minor procedure a small local anesthetic was all that was required.

I was patient #7. It was like a human cattle call, we were all lined up in a medical assembly line, each partitioned off in our separate little curtained waiting areas with our warmed blankets, hospital gowns, matching disposable shower caps and fuzzy socks with the skid proof tread on the feet.

The doctor actually had to help me put on my fuzzy socks as I could not bend over to put them on myself. She had come in to introduce herself. She took pity on me when she noticed that I had only managed to get one sock on. She bent down retrieved the lone sock and put it on for me. Whipped out a magic marker, asked me which hip was getting the injection and then put her initials on my right hip.

In the course of the hour or so I was there I lost count how many time I was asked to repeat which hip they were going to jab. Trust me when I say, they want to make REAL sure they get the right body part!

Now that I had both feet in my fuzzy socks, and was covered in a nice warm blanket it was time to wait!

Waiting is so fun, NOT!

I began to pray. Praying for myself, asking for all the normal things one asks prior to any type of medical procedure. Be with the doctors, be with the nurses, be with me etc….

 

I watched patient #6 walk by, so I knew I would be next.

 

This very nice young man came in and began to tell me what was about to happen.

 

Then within a few minutes I was laying on the table. The nice young man had an oxygen monitor and blood pressure cuff on me, he was monitoring my heart rate. He was sitting at my head behind me . As I am laying there the other nurses were prepping me for my injection. I was laying down flat craning my head in all directions looking at the various medical devise surrounding me trying not to focus on having a needle inserted into places that should never have needle inserted into. But I digress.

Back to the nice young man was seated down past my head.  

He spoke, I could not see him. 

“Take a few deep breaths for me, try to slow your heart rate down a bit.”  

Apparently it was a bit fast for his liking. I am not sure what they expect of a person laying on a table in an operating room waiting for someone to jab a needled in ones hip, but I was a bit nervous, fearful and even though they had explained the procedure to me fully….does anyone ever want a needle jabbed into ones hip?  

He also reached up and put his hand on my shoulder, something about the touch of another person, letting me know that even though I could not see him he was there watching over me.

 Trying to be obedient I followed his instructions and began to take long slow breaths in and out.

I also began to pray.

The only pray that I could come up with at that moment was “Come Holy Spirit” 

I laid there and recited that three word prayer in my head over and over. 

“Come Holy Spirit.” 

“That’s good!” He said. 

“Whatever you are doing keep doing it!” 

So I did. 

A few minutes later, excluding some minor discomfort, my procedure was over. 

I was up off the table and back in my little cubicle.  

The reality, it’s always worse in your imagination. It’s always worse when you-know-who gets in your head with all kinds of bad thoughts which don’t warrant sharing. 

My lesson of the day, relying on the power given to me by Jesus never fails to calm ones heart. The 24/7 access we have to His Power and Grace is only a breath away. 

This morning I am much improved! I was able to get dressed with very little discomfort. Bending over, getting out of a chair, all the normal day to day activities are almost pain free.  

God is Great! Doctors are good. I am still not prepared to state that insurance companies are good. I am fully convinced that the evil one has a hand in those.

However, as I was thinking about my day yesterday, going over the course of events, I usually recognize almost immediately when I have missed an opportunity.  

“Whatever you are doing, keep doing it” he said. 

I was so focused on my own human condition, that it was not until later that I realized that it would have been so easy to have said “Thanks, I’m praying.” 

In my humanness I was waiting for the needle AND not thinking about anything else but myself! 

In my moment of fear and apprehension Jesus provide the comfort of a human touch and a three word prayer.  

I think when I miss an opportunity, I always feel like I have failed. The reality is that I also learn more from my failures then I do from my success.  

I missed an opportunity to share with those four people in that room yesterday. However this morning, I have to opportunity to write it all down, to share a very small moment in my day when Jesus showed up.

 

“Whatever you are doing, keep doing it” he said.

 

So I did!

 

Blessings

R

 

Romans 8:26

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Re-Thinking some things....


You know that point when it is easier to take a second picture that spend thirty minute looking though all your digital files looking for a photo you know you have already taken....yea that moment right now!

Moving on! 

I am participating in a bible study on Wednesday evening at out church. It's called Experiencing God. I know in my heart that all study of God's Word does not return to us empty, it will return to us with whatever gift, message or direction that God chooses. It is never a waste of time and it is never to be taken lightly. 

I will say that with most bible studies I have taken I usually find myself in a situation where the author and I departed on certain theories or even interpretations. That's ok as well. We all come to the study of God's Word on different levels of need.

The concept of this bible study is not unfamiliar to me.

It starts from a place of recognizing that God in His infinite wisdom is always at work. 

He is the beginning of all things and He is constantly trying to make a connection with us. So if He is always at work, always seeking relationship then that moment when we discover God speaking to us is the moment when action is required. 

When you find out where God is actively working in your life or the lives of others, make the decision to join Him in. 

He is actively at work right now every day! 

For each person, finding their place in God's big plan can be so very daunting.  That is as individual as the DNA unique to each one of us. 

Where God's want me to step out and where God wants you to step out may be totally different. That's the way the body of Christ works. Scripture speaks to all of us having unique and different spiritual gifts that we all must find and begin to utilize.

This brings me to my re-thinking for today.

I may have posted this to my blog before, but the place where in am in my life right now it bears repeating.

I have been keeping a journal since 1974, yes that one, nine, seven and four! 

That is forty years! 

When was the last time you recognized that you have been doing something consistently for over forty years? 

Here they all! 



I have given instructions to my sisters in Christ that upon my death these journals are to be confiscated immediately. Then safely hidden away until such a time when they can be safely distributed in small doses to my remaining loved ones. I think I may be serious about this, but I am still ponding the impact that these journals will have on those who may read them after I have been called home to glory!

I have a point really I do....

In the five weeks of this study what I have begun to recognize is this. 

Even before I was aware or even knew who God was, He was actively trying to make a connection with me. It took me over thirty years to respond to the invitation. I, now think that the desire for me to pick up my pen and record the events of my life was no accident.

Three days ago I started a new private blog, one that I am going to make an entry into each day and see where it all goes. 

My plan, well there is not one beyond making a promise to God that I will try to write something down every day. Whatever I am feeling, whatever is going on in my life, whatever revelation God is showing me for that day.

I am for now not wasting time with punctuation or spelling, all that can be edited out at a later date. 

Now I am just working on obedience. 

Find out where God is working and join Him right there! There may be many points where Mr. Blackabee and I differ, but I am embracing this concept because I think he is hitting the nail right on the head. 

This is something I have been doing all my life, now I am beginning to make the connection that there may have been a greater purpose besides just emptying the garbage of my internal thought life.

Maybe it's all mixed up and not making any sense to me right now. 

But striving to be obedient!

Oh and Dana, I am not sure if it is wishful thinking or if the steroids beginning to kick in. Or that it is still relatively early in the day, but for the moment my pain level is manageable and the hip is a bit better I think.

If your read my post from the other day you know that I am struggling with some arthritis in my hip and awaiting the possibility of short term fix with possible hip replacement in my future. 

So for now, for this moment I feel pretty good!

Blessings
R

Pray for tomorrow and my continued obedience








Friday, October 3, 2014

It's Raining...and a few other morning thoughts.

Does the sound of the rain comfort you?

I was sitting in my chair this morning listening to the rain and wondering. Is there any sound in the world that brings with it a more peaceful feeling? Maybe the train whistle far off in the distance that I just heard comes close.

I am not sure why I opened up blogger this morning.

The daughter just left for school, which means due to our lack of adequate transportation I am under house arrest until she returns. We make due until we can sort out this latest wrinkle, not having a big ol' pile of money for a third car at our disposal is at times a big pain in my you know what. Had the girlchild heeded our warnings several years ago and set about saving the necessary funds then none of this would be necessary, yet again the sacrifices a parent makes for the needs of a child.

The reality, like I was getting out in the rain to drive her to school just so I could have the car.....sooooooo not happening this morning.

So here I sit listing to the train whistle and the rain wash things clean, enjoy the peace and quiet in my home.

I had a nice long break from household chores for several weeks as the husband was on an extended business trip for almost a month. However, he is home now so the domestic chores like cooking and cleaning have resumed. Yea for me!

There have been a few life observations that have been placed before me over the course of the last few days.

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly one can be sucked back in time to a painful memory. Neither time or distance are protection from those painful things you have stored up in your heart. The rush of feelings you thought you had dealt with or grown past rush back in like a burst damn. They wash over you and before you know it you are right back where you thought you would never be again.

The other truth of living a life in Christ is that for as great as God is the evil one never take a day off either. He is always looking for a foothold and will pounce at any given second if you let your guard down. Something will happen, you will make a connection with a long past familiar feeling and then within a matter of seconds you are in full freak out mode. Drenched in the certainty that something of equal significance is about to land in your life all over again.

My second truth is that in that moment of weakness I have learned the no matter what the evil one places in my path I know who is stronger. I can at that moment take a deep breath and move past the panic or the circumstance. I can recognize that even thought I may be facing something unforeseen, something that is bringing stress back into my life, the realty is that it is far from disastrous. The evil one just wants me to yield to the temptation to give up.

My next reality, I've got my big girl panties on!

I have been pruned so many time in the past by life's difficulties that I have some well worn prayer callus on my knees. My sisters in Christ are there to talk me down off the ledge and help me see the smoke screen of my internal fears.

I can do all thing though Him who strengthens me and the evil on can go sit on a tack! (Phil 4:13)

So there!

What all this about? Y'all are going to laugh when I tell you!

I have arthritis in my hip. Told ya!

I have been in some pretty extreme pain for several weeks now. I finally broke down and called the doctor. However given our current health insurance situation we have to pay 100% until we reach out gazillion dollar deductible. This means that any treatment not covered by the policy (and the only thing covered by the policy is a yearly physical and preventive diagnostic procedures like mammograms, if we get sick....if is not covered) fall fully in our lap. So this was coming straight out of our pocket 100%. I was over the top frustrated with the inability of any one at the doctors office to be able to give me any assistance in determining what the office visit would cost.

To give you some background history, I received a cancer diagnosis back in 1993, none of which was covered by our insurance we had at the time. So the entirety of the treatment fell in our lap. When all was said and done we ended up with over $25,000.00 worth of hospital and doctor bills. At the time we were basically just over the poverty line so we did not qualify for any government help. My life was a daily exercise in trying to figure out how to pay the bills. Not to mention being humiliated by soulless collection agencies and avoiding trips to the mail box to see what new bill was coming in that we could not pay for.

All this was so overwhelming that is completely overshadowed the most important factor. The surgery had been successful and I was going to be completely fine, yet even this outstanding news was completely overshadowed by the day to day black cloud that hovered over our household for over a decade.

Imagin a decade of being told by unscrupulous bill collectors that you are the worst kind of human being and that you are moments away from having your home and possessions taken away to settle your financial responsibilities. I was screamed at, called names, threatened, belittled and basically made to feel less than human but they weekly sometimes daily calls.

The remnants linger even today as I have an aversion to walking to the mailbox to retrieve the mail. I am still plagued by memories of the endless stream of bills that came in month after month that we could not pay.

So fast forward to yesterday. I was on the phone with the doctors office trying to find out how much the office visit was going to coast.

I think I would have had better luck trying to get my hands on the Dead Sea Scrolls then get a simple dollar amount for how much it was going to cost me to walk through the doors of the doctors office.

It happened so quickly, I was washed over by the familiar feeling.

"How will you be paying for this today?"

I was right back there in that situation in full freak out mode and I had not even left my recliner.

The reality is that our situation is totally different. Our financial situation is totally different. I am totally different, however in that brief moment the evil one stuck his foot in the door and went for a joy ride.

Even as a seasoned Christian, believing for over 25 year, studied the bible for over 20, knowing the truth I am still vulnerable to attack. In truth the evil one works even harder to distract those who are walking in the truth even more diligently.

To sum all this up. I am waiting on a call back to find out how much it will cost to stick a giant needle in my hip under local anesthesia. Yea for me.

If that does not work then there is hip replacement in my future.Double yea for me!

The difference is that even if I do have my moments of freaking out I also know that which is in the world is not stronger than that which is in me. (1 John 4:4)

Hip replacement is not Cancer?

I can do this!

Getting older is not for sissies, this is a true and reliable statement!

Blessings
R




Friday, August 29, 2014

Never get a haircut from a blind woman with hello kitty tattoo

Ever since I was a little girl I have had a significant fear of conflict. I once witnessed an argument between my parents and my dad left afterwards. I translated that to mean that if you fight with your husband then they walk out on you and never come back. In reality my dad actually did walk out on us. However I feel certain it was not a result of that one argument that I witnessed as a child.
It took me many years to make the connection between what I had witnessed as a child and my fear of conflict in all areas of my life. As a grown woman who has successfully maneuvered over thirty plus years of marriage I can state that I still shy away from conflict, but I no longer feel that a marital spat will end my marriage.
Regretfully the scars of my experience have translated to a hesitation to enter into situations where I think there may be some conflict involved. My stomach begins to hurt and I have an automatic flight response. I want to avoid any forms of conflict.
The other truth in life is that there will always be some kind of conflict. That is just a hard and true fact of life.
Some conflict is easy to overcome, some conflict is is necessary and then some conflict is just silly and unnecessary.
I had to put on my big girl panties this morning and bite the bullet and deal with the silly and unnecessary.
I am an easy going kind of girl, I don’t go in for all the latest styles or fashion. I am in to comfort, into easy, I may run a brush through my hair and on occasion a flat iron. So the state of my hair has never been a major concern for me. However as I was gazing upon the result of this latest haircut I was NOT happy. Now this in itself is saying a lot, like I said I am very easy going. But I was looking at my hair wondering if the young woman with the hello kitty tattoo on her wrist was actually looking at my hair as she was hacking away at it. Was she using scissors or a chainsaw? Then I began to wonder about the wisdom of actually allowing someone with a hello kitty tattoo to cut ones hair!
What to do next I thought. I needed a bit of reinforcement. You see I had never had a situation like this before. How does one deal with a bad haircut? I sought comfort and a resolution from my facebook peep’s, they would know what to do!
Thank you facebook for bolstering my position. Yes, I did have a right to not to look like I had been hacked away at with a chainsaw by a blind woman with a hello kitty tattoo! But now what?
You see I know what to do! The grown up portion of my brain realizes that I will not crumble into a puddle if I ask for someone else to fix my hair. It’s my hair right!
I don’t want this person to loose their job, but this is just not work’n for me!
So I now enter the putting on of my grown up panties portion of the morning. I had to call the salon and ask who was working today. Alas the blind woman with the tattoo will be there as I have the manager fix my hair. This revelation is causing me a huge source of discomfort. But I am going to be re-reminding me that I did put on my big girl panties this morning and it is my hair and I paid good money to have it cut and….and…..and……
So in the grand scheme of things the state of my hair is non-existent when placed in it’s proper context of World Peace, Ebola and Beheadings.
But I am hoping for acceptable results this afternoon and that the blind woman with the hello kitty tattoo won’t come after me with her chainsaw!
Blessings
R

Friday, August 15, 2014

Dryer Lint, Broken Dishes and the Promise of Peace

Some days my brain and thought process works just fine, like today. I was able to follow through with several projects and actually get them completed. 

Other days, if feels like my brain is stuffed with an enormous wad of hormonally soaked cotton. I teeter on bursting into tears over not being able to remember to remove the dryer lint from the lint trap or resisting the urge to break all my dinner plates by smashing them against the kitchen floor. 

Toss into the mix a mouthy teenage daughter and by the end of the day the administration of a medicinal cocktail is a requirement not a luxury!

The other side effect of all of this is that my tolerance for complications is almost non existent. Case in point, now that the girlchild had gradated high school the next logical step is collage. However, almost everything about the process of getting her enrolled into college has been an exercise complications, errors and a big fat waste of time and energy. None of which we had anything to do with. 

To start with the IRS lost our tax returns, this mean that all of the financial aid hoops we had to jump though are null and void. Secondly, given the fact that it was the IRS's fault that they lost our returns, it is completely up to us to solve the problem. I mean why would one expect the agency to actually fix a problem they caused and resolve it to our satisfaction. Funny, they had no problem cashing out check! Next in line to get derailed was the girl child's HOPE scholarship. She worked her tiny little behind off to make the honer role so she is totally eligible, but the high school made an error and she was listed as ineligible for the scholarship. This is HUGE! So now we have two strikes against the process and classes have not even started.

My divining rod for complications is nearly bent to the breaking point. We are working with the powers that be at both the collage, the IRS and her High School to try and get this all resolved to our satisfaction.

During all these complications I find that I cling to the very small things that I can control. I feel fairly certain that on most days I can successfully manage to get a few rows added to a prayer shawl project. I can successfully feed my family a tasty dinner, I can enjoy the hummingbirds that visit my garden. 

I think the best example, all this CRAP, the moments of testing are moments where my life is like my cast iron skillet. Seasoning comes from daily use, from simmering and searing off and massaging more  and more seasoning into the molecules of the cooking surface. After many years of being tested by fire the result is a beautiful shinny black cooking surface. That surface did not happen over night. It took years of use and years of testing by fire.

All of these trials have another byproduct, difficulties draw me closer to God and His word.

In this life I will have trouble, that's a reality as well as a biblical truth. How I maneuver through it is up to me!


John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Each day my dryer lint trap gets cleaned out and my kitchen 
dishes make through another day is a good day in my book!

So, for today I am just wading through the trouble waiting for the peace.
Prayers that I don't bean someone in the head with said 
seasoned cast iron skillet are greatly appreciated as well!

Blessings
R






Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Almost a year since....

I’ve been thinking about updating my blog for about forever, however the desire, the energy, the actually words to share seemed to disappear.

It’s only August and it feels like about ten years has passed. Sometimes things pile up on ya, when life tosses a whole pile of stuff at your door and you sit back and wonder why does life have  to be so hard at times.
The reality, my life is no more or less difficult than anyone else's.

My mom died in January. It was very unexpected and it was defiantly not the way we expected to begin the new year.

My daughter graduated from high school in May, again, I’m not the only mom dealing with shifting roles, growing pains and learning how to parent a child that wants to be a grown-up, but in reality is still a child in my mind.

Hormonally, I am on the downward spiral and find that the ebbing of my natural female function to be difficult. The emotional ups and downs are at times very difficult to maneuver through. Focusing on the reality that this too shall pass in no great comfort for me.

I know this all sound like a great whopping mess of debbie downer theology. But for now it’s my reality.
Being the mature woman I am, coming at this from the perspective Paul, I can’t truthfully say I am rejoicing in my suffering, but I can say that I am at least taking stock of certain aspects of my life. I know that life is full of mountain top experiences. I also know that the real fruit is grown in the valleys of life. I know this to be true in my own life. All the really true and valuable lessons I have learned have been hard won and awarded through great pain and suffering.

The other unchangeable fact, I know what to do when life turns ugly….God’s word is the beauty!

When grief comes, I know that Joy comes in the morning.

When children grow up I focus on the blessings of Ecclesiastes and know that for everything thing there is a time and a place. We want our children to grow up. That's our goal from the time they are born, however the reality of all that hard work seems cold comfort at the prospect of her one day leaving my home and going out on her own. I want her to stay safely under the protection of my wings.

So it’s a mixed bag of emotional bits and pieces. Some days they all fall into place, other days I am whacking away with a sledge hammer trying to get a round peg to fit in a square whole and find no logic or wisdom in the process. 

My accountability sisters hold me together, my husband is a rock and God’s Word is the truth!
So we shall see if takes me another year to make an appearance on the blog-o-sphere.

I hope not!

Blessings to whom ever reads this!

R

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