H- Hilarity in my life

My daughter, the gardener, begged her Daddy to make her three more raised beds.  He happily obliged and then...his morbid sense of humor and lack of sleep got the better of him.  He and my son thought it'd be fun to take these coffin pictures.  Sigh...

 The little things that tickle me about these pics...his superman shirt...and how he's hugging the drill...lol!

Then, my son, has taken to balancing his Bai drinks on his forehead....I'm tempting to start calling him flat head, but I'm not sure others would appreciate the joke.  To be fair, he says it's nice and cool and relaxing.  So, there's that...

Hoping this day brings you love and laughter too.

G- Growing

Lately, I've been mentoring young moms and college students.  Many, including myself, want to grow in their "daily walk" with God.  This means I get the delightful privilege of spending extra time in God's Word and researching/reviewing some really great resources with them.  Since this was something I needed to work on today...I thought I'd share some good resources on the subject of Growing in Godliness/ God's Promises.

I first came across a series by Tim Challies entitled 8 Rules for Growing in Godliness.  He writes 9 blogs...(one is the intro)...to flesh out the teachings of Thomas Watson.  I had never heard of these before: Trust the Means of Grace, Guard Against Worldliness, Think Holy Thoughts, Watch for Temptation, Ponder the Brevity of Life, Redeem Your Time, Fellowship with Godly People, and Purpose To Be Godly.  I am excited to read these with one dear girl in particular and work to put them  into action.

I also came across a great post on Desiring God...God's Great and Precious Promises.  It's one of those neat Look at the Book posts where Piper talks and marks up the Bible passages on the screen while he teaches it to you.  Makes me want to go out and get colored pencils and mark up my Bible.  

This article made me cry.  I read it after a really long week.  Resting Upon the Pillow of God's Promises.  An exercise that I should be more faithful to complete (and have encouraged many friends to do also)...especially when life is busy...is writing out how I've seen God's hand of goodness in my day.  

 Which Promises Are For Me?  I've been asked this question and I'm so grateful I came across this resource.  "Not many things are more comforting than a promise made and kept. And not many things are more hurtful than a promise broken. Knowing we worship a God who keeps his promises is a source of deep joy. But misapplied, this knowledge can also lead us to treasure-hunt Scripture for promises in problematic ways."  I love that this article ends with HOPE..."We are not promised certainty in our circumstances, but we are promised certainty in the God of our circumstances. And that is an anchor for the soul."

F- Flowers

"Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert." IS 43:19

E- Eyes that shine in the darkest storm...

People are like stained-glass windows. 

They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, 

but when the darkness sets in, 

their true beauty is revealed 

only if there is a light from within. 

~Elizabeth Kübler-Ross

I really love the quote above. I found this picture of St. Mary's Cathedral...and the boat seemed appropriate with the glowing glass. I've been organizing paper and computer files...and came across a bunch of quotes I'd collected under "inspirational and comforting" and remembered different trials we were dealing with at the time. I'm generally hesitant to agree with things that aren't straight scripture (not necessarily a bad habit)...it's burned me before...but this I like. 

It makes me think of Matthew 6:22,23 where it says "The lamp of the body is the eye. If, then, your eye is simple, your whole body will be bright; but if your eye is wicked, your whole body will be dark. If in reality the light that is in you is darkness, how great that darkness is!"

OR

Deuteronomy 4:9 "Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them."

OR

"Don't tell God how Big your storm is, tell the Storm how Big your God is." ~Author Unknown

I've been reading in Isaiah lately...and this also comes to mind...

Isaiah 25:4 "For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm..."

D- Dog on Drugs...

Our darling dog, Scruffy, is nine years old and beginning to experience her age.  She has been a wonderful pet...great with the kids...fun loving...cuddly...ewok like!  She seems to have had some kind of reaction to a tape worm med (we were concerned she had tape worm cuz she loves the bunnies and their doodoo...sigh).  So, after lots of another D word on my carpeted stairs in the middle of the night....Doggone it!

 She was given the cone of shame and a doggie diaper...and lots of doggie drugs...

And, I'm happy to report that all except her tail (which she chewed out of pain or nerves) she's doing much, much better.  I'm hoping tomorrow we can begin to wean her off some of her doggie drugs...and that it goes successfully.  Whenever her tail isn't bandaged with this bitter tape she really wants to lick it...and back into the cone of shame she goes.  She actually had to get an old-fashioned, unpadded cone....which she doesn't drive well...She keeps bonking into furniture and getting stuck.  Do dogs not know how to back up??

So, I know that's kinda random but this post subject had "D-Drawing a blank" before I decided to write this one!  Ha!

 

C- Caffeinated Randomness

I do love the caffeinated delight of living in a college town and being a college mentor.  I get to go to all sorts of fabulous coffee shops...and sip coffee and chat!  The above is a picture of my coffee from last week.  Dr. Strangelove...orange, cinnamon and clove infused syrup...subtly sweet with a savory, spiced taste.  It was goooood!  

I've also wandered into the wonderful world of bubble tea.  Also caffeinated!  So.much.fun!  I think you either love or hate it.  Tapioca pearls have a texture that is not appreciated by some Americans!  Squishy, bouncy, cartilaginist...not for everyone but this chica loves it!  I even have a special friend that meets me for bubble tea dates about once a month.  Reminds me...I need to set up another time soon.

Random Admission: I have noted that my age has finally caught up with me in the caffeine department...This is sad.  I always thought it was funny when ladies at church would say "What time is it?  Nope, too late...better drink decaf."  In fact, I used to scoff at the existence of decaf.  But, alas, I have learned...the hard way...that drinking coffee past 2PM is a no no.  I wake up about 2AM...WIDE AWAKE.  It's a bummer.  

I do think the art in most coffee shops is odd.  The one I frequent most often has the insides of old pianos hung on the walls.  Random musing: It's like the skeletons of song makers.  Occasionally, a student will swipe one with a backpack and it will buzz the silent strings to life...and all the students sitting on the bench opposite will jump as the vibration buzzes their buns and shakes them outta their screen comas!  

I wish that coffee cleared my head the way it used to.  I have a lot of reading to do for some of the groups that I lead...and I find myself reading and re reading a lot lately.  Partially, it is distraction of having many things to do...so I keep post its close by to write down things for later and move on.  But, I also wonder if it's plaque on the brain...

Whoa, now that's some random unexpectedness for ya...Yeah, I read a medical journal blurb the other day on how processed foods/sugars, poor diet actually create plaque on the brain and that certain studies are showing that cutting those things out in dementia patient diets is showing positive changes in memory after 6-12 months of clean eating.  There seems to be a correlation between the elderly poor care/diet and memory loss.  I have a friend who's been caring for her mother who has dementia and she decided to change her own diet.  She tells me that she's started to notice clarity during what used to be the hardest parts of her day.  She said she remembers better overall...and even her dreams...at least for a tiny bit...not just a black hole but better rest.  

Which leads me to my last random subject switch of the morning...mattresses.  How often are you really supposed to switch them?  I am not resting well lately...and I wake stiff and sore.  I don't want to blame my new exercise class or my age so I'm thinking it's the mattress.  We have a queen...but I'm really liking the idea of a King.  But, then again maybe not...I don't want to give up having the quilt my mother made me on the bed.    

Time to go make my second cup of coffee. 

May many happy random thoughts be yours in the day ahead.

B- Breaking the Tape

A long while back, I read how Jen from Finding Heaven sent an invitation...She was vulnerable about those 'bad tapes' we all play on repeat in our heads.  Here are her words...

What about you?  Is there a word that flashes in your mind that you know is a not an adequate descriptor of you or your life and yet you imbibe it like there is nothing else left to drink?

So here lies the invitation:  Will you play your new song for us, the one which you have recorded on top of that ugly word that tries to sear and pierce your heart so that we might know a new song, too?

In plain English:  Will you tell us the word or the lie that you so often have repeated to yourself and then tell us how God has replaced that word with new words, full of truth?

We were challenged to BREAK THE TAPE!  So, what does mine play...

EXTROVERT...

What? You didn't know that was a bad thing?  I love to talk...and chat...and have felt repeatedly slapped with, "In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise." Prov. 10:19  Um, what about cheerfulness, encouragement, happiness...nope...BE QUIET!  And that's not to say that my mouth doesn't get me into trouble.  It certainly does.  But at some point this bad tape started singing lies about how Introvert means you are naturally more Godly...meek and mild...gentle and wise.  I'm aware that Introverts have issues they struggle with too.  I'm just not one.  And so often, we long to be what we aren't.

This Tape plays in my head...a downward spiral of thoughts...It has a lot to do with comparing myself to others.  Others that I'm nothing like!  So, I think, I should look instead at solid Bible characters and imitate their lives...

Peter is my favorite Bible Character.  God took his impulsivity and turned it into power for the gospel. My other favorite Bible character that's a woman?  Martha...but oh, most don't even understand how wonderful she was...They only value her sister Mary. *Gripe Gripe

ACK!  How do I break this tape?

For starters...realizing that God made me this way.  Telling Him that I hate that He made me an EXTROVERT...is like telling Him He made a mistake when he created me.  I need to stop feeling bad about what he loves...His outgoing, overtly expressive daughter.
As Jerry Bridges says in Trusting God, "If I have difficulty accepting myself the way God made me, then I have a controversy with God.  Obviously you and I need to change insofar as our sinful nature distorts that which God made.  Therefore, I do not say that we need to accept ourselves as we are, but as God made us in our basic physical, mental, and emotional makeup."

It's true...my sinful nature has created some great distortions on God's perfect plan.  I do need to make sure that I'm being shaped and molded into Christ's image.  Peter didn't continue to be ridiculously impulsive... chopping off ears (Jn. 18:10), correcting Christ (Mk. 8:32), or denying Him when pressed (Jn. 18:27).  With the Holy Spirit's strength he channeled those traits to best serve the Lord.  He became bold for the gospel message, indeed like the Rock that Jesus predicted (Mt. 16:18).

Martha...didn't keep being the bossy, pushy woman in the kitchen.  She stopped blazing the trail at home and abroad.  She saw not only Jesus' authority but also began to put her values into what was "the better things"  How do I know this?  Because, she was right there with Peter in being among the first to declare him as LORD..."Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." Jn. 11:27  "Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."" Mt. 16:16  They were changed and their nastiest faults became their greatest strengths for God's glory.

Don't worry...I will never be meek and quiet in the doormat like sense.  I don't really think anyone is called to that; meekness shouldn't mean weakness.  My energy will always come from the many groups of women and children I work with each day.  It is a strength and gift from God.  I have a great ability to encourage and love other people.  Forcing myself to be silent would only create bitterness and angst inside.  And, I wouldn't be doing the work that God has prepared just for me to do...to bring Him glory.

However, I need to learn to curb my comments...not say everything I think, right when I think it.  Sarcasm is not a problem solving tool.  Although, generally it's considered hilarious...and I like to think I'm fun to be around...there are still too many nights that I come home thinking, "I shouldn't have said such and so"...then, I start fretting...wishing I wasn't me...wasn't a woman...wasn't an EXTROVERT...and that darn tape starts playing again.

But then...I get out my Bible...and start playing my new song LOUD....It starts with repentance....low and long...and He's always faithful to forgive.  Then, it comes in with reminders of His love for me... 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, 

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Jn 3:16

 ..and His great plans for me...

"O LORD my God, you have performed many wonders for us. 

Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. 

If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, 

I would never come to the end of them." Ps 40:5

...It drowns out Satan's sorry song of defeat...My new melody ends with absolutely sure VICTORY! 

"Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory 

through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 15:57

"I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."  Psalm 139:14