What a Friend

Someone posted on Facebook, "God doesn't have a blackberry or an iPhone, but He is my favorite contact. He doesn't have Facebook, but He is my best friend. He doesn't have Twitter, but I follow Him, and He doesn't have internet, but I am connected to Him. " 

Not everyone notices it, but God actually is the easiest friend to contact.  In spite of all the wonderful new worship music being sung these days, I still cling to a few old hymns.  One of my favorites is "What a Friend We Have in Jesus".  However, rather than just taking it for granted, I keep thinking of these words from the song: "O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer".
That's my problem; I keep forgetting that I don't need to handle situations on my own. 
I do believe God is even closer than a telephone call away, but He waits for our call.

Time Flash

Husband & I decided this was a "not too busy" week, thus a good week for a garage sale.  I had threatened to try to sell the whole garage, or just all its contents "as is" (Husband is rather a collector), but he decided it was a good time to get it cleaned up.  This has been the busiest "not too busy week" I can remember for a very long time.  Now, the sale is just 6 hours away, and I am sleepless.  If a woman can get that excited about having a garage sale, I wonder what would happen if she went to someone else's sale--or just went shopping in a regular store!  Lightheartedness aside, it just comes as a reminder that our plans are not always God's plans, and left to plan our own time, we can get really messed up.  Asking God to bless my plans seems to happen much more often than asking what His plan for me is on any particular day.  I'm so glad that my Creator has not stopped creating me; I definitely know there's room for improvement.

I had a doctor appointment this week, and I was apologizing to my doc for my lack of "doing" what I am already "knowing to do".  He kindly said that sometimes we just need another reminder, another person telling us what we need to do, or someone saying it in just a different way.  I think that's the way it is in talking to God; He's gentle, yet persistent with His reminders, and seems to always have another new way to teach me what I need to learn.  Sometimes I feel that I am a very slow learner regarding these Heavenly lessons, but The Comforter has come, and He's also a very good teacher/tutor.  Yes, I will learn what I need to know for the next step in life, but maybe not a moment too soon.

Be Ready

Never do I have nothing to write about; it's always a difficult decision to know what NOT to write.  Some thoughts are worth sharing, some are not.  Permit me to share where my mind was today.

This morning during our church service, we were reading the familiar Psalm 23.  The words "When I walk through the valley of shadow & death" brought me back instantly to the hospital room of Karine, the daughter I still miss so much.  In her last few days, it was a deep valley, full of shadows, yet she knew where she was going.  "Am I still here?" she asked several times. She was ready.  As tears kept escaping my eyes this morning, I had a clear-as-a-bell thought, "I'm ready too; I want to go".  It startled me with its clarity.  The church service changed its emphasis, and my thoughts were drawn to other things. 

Once at home, my mind went back, and then I remembered this: I have many things to do; God's not ready to have me come yet; I had better get busy!  I believe that Heaven has many great experiences for us, joys that will never end.  Yet, God has promised His blessings on what we do here, if we're living in obedience to Him.  My wandering thoughts brought me to Heaven and back; I think I'm ready for a Monday morning and a fresh new week!

Just Let Go

Inspiration comes from many places, but I have found that music speaks to me more often than anything else.  When I was on my own, living alone for the first time in my life, many times I was so fearful, and felt so broken, yet music could soothe my spirit and renew my strength.  It's not just the tune, though I appreciate many styles, but it's the lyrics that reach through to grab my attention.

I've recently become familiar with a musical trio going by the name of "Barlow Girl".  They reached me today with the following lyrics:

What is this doubt in me
Convincing me to fear the unknown,
When all along You've shown
Your plans are better than my own?

This week has been a whirlwind of making plans, having those plans change, trying to adjust, and then having those plans change again.  This morning I was in the middle of a very challenging dilemma, and I actually prayed.  (I do that far less than I know I should.)

In just a few hours, God answered in a way that I would not have expected, so there's peace in my household, and in my heart, once again.  Why, oh why, should I be surprised!  Way too often, I try to figure things out on my own, until I get to the point where I just can't do it, at which point, I ask God for help.  Such foolishness! Why not let go much sooner, to even out all those bumps in my life?  In the same song, Barlow Girl says, "And I know I won't make it if I do this all alone".  That's my reminder for today, that I don't need to do it all alone.  The Creator of the universe, the Creator of me, is eagerly waiting for me to call.

Dead End

Today my husband and I took the afternoon off; we headed north to Cornucopia, the home of the northernmost post office in the state of Wisconsin, and also the home of awesome sand beaches on Lake Superior.  We went off the paved highways part of the time, and sometimes found we were going in circles.  Several times we decided not to go down particular roads because there was a sign posted saying "Dead End".  After some time spent on the beach and some time investigating various areas with the car, we finally went back to the highways that connected to others that would take us home again.

After seeing about a half-dozen "Dead End" signs, I started thinking.  Car trips are good for that!  So often, if you are at all like me, we go on life excursions that really get us nowhere; they are just dead ended.  Other times we spend time going in circles and getting nowhere.  It's good to remember that we have a road map for life in the Bible, and we have the perfect guide in the Holy Spirit.  I'm happy to be able to avoid some of the dead ends in my life.

Balance

I don't walk a tightrope, or even try walking on a fence or a log, but my word for today is "balance".  Specifically, right now, I've been trying to balance my checkbook.  All the numbers in my records are supposed to match the ones that my bank says represent the money that has come in and gone out of my account.

I'm tired.  Of course, that may be because I was up last night until about 2 a.m. and I still got up this morning about 7:30.  That seems a foolish thing to do without a very good reason, and that good reason I did not have.  I just felt like doing it.  Oh, how many things I "feel like" doing, and have to pay the conseqences later!  Eating too much and exercising too much are the things that come to mind right now. 

If I actually was going to walk a tightrope, I suppose an important requirement would be to pay close attention to what I was doing.  For balance in any part of life, do you think a requirement might be the same?  If we pay close attention to every action and/or decision, balance wouldn't be so difficult to achieve!

Pruning

I'm going outside soon to prune my tomato plants.  The tomato garden resembles a jungle right now, and I know I planted too many, too close together.  However, I have learned that the actual tomato fruit will do better if I prune (cut out) some of those lush leaves and branches.


I'm thinking, too, of pruning my possessions.  It seems that I am finally realizing that my house is not too small, but that I have too many things in it.  A garage sale is in the works before the summer is over!  I just have to make sure that my husband doesn't have his way with what I consider "my" stuff.

Did you know that God is in the pruning business too? I'm not sure if I'm ready to have Him prune things out of my life even though it's probably necessary in order for me to bear better fruit.  It might hurt. Just as I don't want my husband to have his way with "my" stuff, I don't want God to have His way with "my" stuff either.  This attitude is something I'll have to work on.  As a visiting missionary once told me, if you are not willing to have God do something in your life, ask Him to make you willing.  If you're not willing to ask Him to make you willing, then ask Him to make you willing to be willing--or willing to be willing to be willing to be willing.  You get the idea.  I guess I'll have to start where I am.  How many "willings" do you have to ask for?