Spot on.

A friend sent me this email... knowing I'm dealing with some battles.... and folks, it is spot on. Thank you friend.


~~~

September 23, 2009
The Contact Lens and the Ant
Mary Southerland

Today's Truth
2 Chronicles 16:9 "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him."

Friend To Friend
Brenda was almost halfway to the top of the enormous granite cliff when she stopped for a well-deserved breather. Standing on a narrow ledge, she measured how far she had come and reveled in the excitement of her first rock climb. As she rested there, the safety rope suddenly snapped against her eye, knocking out her contact lens. "Great!" she thought. "Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry." She looked and looked, hoping that somehow the contact lens had landed on the ledge, but it simply was not there. As panic began to set in, Brenda immediately prayed for peace and help in finding her contact lens. Taking a deep breath, she resumed her climb.

When she got to the top, a friend closely examined Brenda's eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Brenda was now calm because she had reached the top, but was also sad because she could not clearly see the beauty of the mountain range around her. A bible verse suddenly popped into her mind, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." Brenda smiled as she thought, "Lord, You can see all of these mountains. You know every stone and leaf and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me find it."

Later, when Brenda and her group of friends had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff, they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?" Well, that would be startling enough, but do you know why the climber happened to see the lens? He had noticed an ant that was moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying the contact lens.

The story doesn't end there. Brenda's father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy, but if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."

Just this week, I have repeatedly asked God why I have to carry one of the current burdens in my life. As far as I can tell, there is absolutely nothing good in it and the weight of that burden seems to get heavier with each passing day. Then yesterday, I received an email from a friend who thought I might need to hear this story of the ant and the contact lens. God has such a great sense of humor, doesn't He? I got the message and am now praying, "Lord, if you want me to carry this load, I will."

I may never understand the purpose of this particular burden but remember ... human understanding is not necessary for spiritual obedience. That's where faith comes in.

Are you carrying a burden that seems to grow heavier with each step you take? Does the load you carry seem pointless and hard to understand? Trust God. He will supply all the strength and power you need for every burden that comes your way.

Let's Pray
Father, please forgive me when I complain about the burdens and problems that come my way. I want to face each one with joy and peace. Give me the faith to trust You and to daily surrender to Your plan - even when I don't understand it. Help me to stand firm when I want to give up and remind me that You are working all things together in my life for my good and Your glory. Today, I choose faith over fear. I choose Jesus.

In Jesus' name,
Amen.

Now It's Your Turn

• Grab your bible, a piece of paper, a pen or pencil and find a quiet place to get alone with God.
• Make a list of the burdens you are carrying today. Be specific.
• Read the verses listed below and commit them to memory. Pray them and claim them for each burden in your life.
• Beside each burden you listed, write one of the following verses. Surrender that burden to Him and leave it at His feet.

Psalm 68:19 "Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens."

Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest."

Galatians 5:1"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

More From The Girlfriends
It seems like everywhere I turn, I find people who are burdened, facing each day with a sense of hopelessness. God does not want us to be victims of the burdens in our life. He came so we could live in freedom, relying totally on Him for strength and power to live each day. If you are like me, it is easy to get caught up in the trap of trying to "fix" our problems or eliminate our burdens instead of appropriating God's power and promises to sustain us. Pride keeps me from admitting my helplessness and arrogance convinces me that I can handle it on my own. Wrong! I encourage you to celebrate your weaknesses, knowing God delights in transforming each weakness into a vessel through which His power and glory can shine!

More thoughts

Yes... yes I'm still awake. I can't go to bed....

I spent over an hour on the phone with my best friend... wait... was it two hours??? Wow. Anyhow, I did some tidy house work while I was on the phone with her: Started some laundry, swept the kitchen and living room, emptied and reloaded the dishwasher... while we discussed my struggles. Cuz that's what you do after you post a giant message about your heart being heavy--- your best friend tells you in an email that you'd better call her.

We talked about some of the nothings and then some of the bigger ones, and then more than that we talked about the Spiritual. We talked about how if I was focusing on all these negatives then I was letting Satan think he's winning. And we know how the story ends, we know that he is not vicotirous. I will not let Satan reign in my life.

Here's words from her email to me... I thought maybe... someone else might be needing to know these words for themselves....

Are you perfect? No. You know why? You aren't Jesus and that title is His alone for those of us on this side of glory. But, are you precious to Him? Are you striving, every day, to do better in any area you can? Yes. I know you are. I know that your heart yearns to be better, for Him. And you ARE succeeding. Miring yourself in thoughts of "I'm not good enough" and "I can't fix that" and "I can't do this" -- that is from the devil. Pastor said today, and I wrote it down: "The devil is a defeated foe and HE KNOWS IT. He can not take up a weapon against you and succeed. BUT --- what he can do, and does daily, is get in your head and make you THINK he's winning." But you know what? I've read the end of the book, HE IS NOT WINNING. Your life is still yours, and GOD is winning. He wants you to trust in HIM and His ability to keep your family safe. To preserve your friendships and help them flourish in His hand. To see what goes on in your church and know that through you, He can bring about whatever needs to be brought about.

You are His vessel. You are precious, you are capable and you are exactly what He wants. But if you are allowing yourself to get distracted from that, then your faith is weakened. And the Bible says the only thing... THE ONLY THING... that is impossible, is for God to work where there is no faith. Faith is how He gets things done. So renew your focus on HIM. Get back in the bible. Talk to Him, every day. Rebuke the devil when he's in your head, filling you with fears and telling you that you aren't good enough. Talk to him, tell him he's not winning and you aren't buying his line of bull anymore. Get your faith strengthened again and then just let God handle it. Whatever "it" is. Because He will.

~~

And so, sitting here with her on my phone telling me these truths, with her words on the screen repeating these truths, I found myself thinking of my own entry just this past week. I said this:
I can say that I'm so moved lately. I know God is working. I know HE is alive and HE is powerful.

What happened in the time I posted those words and in the next days to follow that made me start doubting that? Why is it when you start to feel in control that you're going the right direction, you get all turned around? What is it that made me feel insecure about what grounds me? What is it that made me start doubting...and start accepting the doubts as truth?...... SATAN. AND. HE. WONT. HAVE. ME.

I need to put my FAITH back on my SAVIOUR and let the devil take the back seat!

and with that. I'll be off to bed.

two happy things

On a more positive side of things, I should have mentioned in the rant prior... two things:

1. Jamie and I took our annual get-a-way this weekend and we had a blast. Lazy river, swimming pool, beach time, just being with one another, watching movies late at night, sleeping the whole night away, staying in bed with no kids to tend to, calling maintenance this morning because we thought a rat was in our closet--- very happy it was only a squirrel in the ceiling vent...

2. I should have posted this last week and didn't... A good (new) friend of mine, we'll call A does NOT have to have surgery as was expected and even scheduled on her ankle. She was scheduled to be laid up for 6 weeks with three small kiddos underfoot. I'm praising GOD that her MRI stumped the doctors. She's been given a new brace and a check back follow up date instead of the previously scheduled surgery date! God is so good. I pray that He'll continue to heal her further and stump the doctors more!

Struggling...

ugh...

I dont' know where my thoughts are going to go here so bare with me. ... I've been struggling lately. I can't seem to do anything right lately, and there are a few things that have been effecting me all over. I seem to be having conflicts that I can't resolve. Instaed of finding my feet and getting out of the storm, I'm just sinking deeper into more and more and more... I'm struggling with some very private and personal things, and for the first time I am not sure where to go. A year ago, I would have just posted them on here not caring who read them, now though... I don't know. I feel like a failure in so many places... friendships, weigh loss efforts, parenting... I just feel like I'm struggling. I don't know what I want from this post... please dont' flood me with "oh, what's wrong" comment after comment. I don't know. I just feel, well like I'm struggling. I feel like I'm flailing my arms, screaming for help and no one is listening.
A friend lost a baby recently and I've been shaken by that, for my own personal obvious reasons ...
I can't seem to get back on track with my weight loss efforts, I had a great streak of being on plan going and I've squashed it, now starting a new streak of days off plan. Ugh. To that end, I have not been updating my weight loss blog. :(
I feel like I'm drifitng from one of my best friends,and that scares me to no end.
A book I was reading and enjoying, about 300 pages into it, the main character finds out she has ovarian cancer. So... needless to say I put that book down and can't pick it up. I don't want her to die, I don't want her daughter to be left alone, I don't want to visualize things that could be happening in my mom's future. I hate cancer. I will say it again... I HATE CANCER.
My dad told me yesterday that on fox news there is aa family who have been separated from their kids for a month because the walmart idiot develpoping their family pictures called the police he suspected foul play and child abuse when he saw the children naked in the tub. I'm so sorry but who DOESN'T have nakey pictures of their kids in tub? Shoot, I have my friends' kids' nakey tub pictures! come on. Dad made me promise I wouldn't take our pictures to walmart to develop if we have nakey pics on them of the boys, but my God, even doing them online with kodak gallery or shutterfly, wouldn't stop someone for calling the cops on you. I feel so defeated in that area. I have had several dreams in a row that someone either steals or kills my boys and I do nothing to stop it. I don't want to sleep because my dreams are haunting me.
The girl, Abby, on The Biggest Loser show has been on my mind all week... I seriously think someone would have to commit me to a mental hospital if something happened to my boys and Jamie in one swoop... I'd lose my mind. I don't know if I could get out of bed in the morning. I don't know how she has the strength to continue living. I am amazed by God's greatness to give her that strength. I'm amazed by God's love for her that He obviously has plans for her. Jer 29:11 keeps popping into mind. His plans are not to harm her, he has a future for her... and a hope... .... and that's another thing...
I haven't been in the Word since mid week, and I KNOW I need to open my Bible and get back in it. Why is it we can do so well and then we stop?

.... Sorry to continue rambling but since that's all I am doing, I'll just stop...

John 8:31-36

My best friend Nic has been sharing her thoughts in "blog world" with her scripture learning, studying... I use my blog to update on most every level of my life, except this often is the part I keep to myself. Well after sharing last week's women's devotional, I thought I will probably use this more and more to share the things in the WORD that God is speaking to about me...

So, our new pastor has started preaching two separate messages on Sunday mornings. A "series" in the second service. But the first service seems to be just whatever God has laid on his heart...

I can say that I'm so moved lately. I know God is working. I know HE is alive and HE is powerful. Here is just a recap from Sunday, I took a full page of notes at each service. Here are the notes from the first service, about being Free.

John 8:31-36 (New King James Version)

The Truth Shall Make You Free

³¹ Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. ³² And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
³³ They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free’?”
³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. ³⁵ And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. ³⁶ Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.


*most of this is paraphrased or direct quote from Pastor Joe Davis*
click here to go to our church website to learn more about Summit and Pastor Joe's messages

"Authentic Freedom"
Freedom is a great Christian word.
1. What are we free from? ... because Christ CAN liberate us, from the forces that enslave us.
-- From Guilt. . Ps 130 There is forgiveness with God
--Freedom from yourself, from sin. -- Sin is really, at it's root, at it's essence is just self-centeredness. think about the words that start with S E L F - .... over 50! Self-image, self-worth, self-help, self-esteem, self-, self-, self-, self... We are so obsessed with ourselves!
--Freedom from Fears-- fear is like a like a fungus, it grows in the dark. So by all means, why don't we drag it all out into the LIGHT OF JESUS CHRIST! Let Him deal with it!

~We are free from Guilt, as Guilt is taken away by the DEATH of Christ.
~We are free from sin, as Sin is take care of by His SALVATION
~We are free from fear, as Fear is taken care of by his EXHORTATION

2. What are we free for?
True, authentic freedom is simply to be what God created us to be-- ourselves. God created us in His image. He wants us to be like Him. 1st John 4:8 says 'God is love'. Therefore, we are not ourseves if we are not love... loving, giving, dying to our self to start living in Christ's love. Jesus says to come and be free in Him, "For if the Son has set you free, then you are free indeed"

pictures from summer vacation

long time coming, but here you go...

a thought for you today

Tuesday night was our big Women's/Men's ministry kickoffs with the new pastor and his wife in charge. I must say I love them! I'm anxious to see where they lead us. Anyhow, the woman who gave the devotional shared with us her life verse, and I thought I'd pass it on.


Phil 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

Some versions say"dwell on these things"

Meaning to STAY, to Linger, to focus on these things, to rest...

One in particular, "whatever is of good report" she said basically means 'if it is worth talking about'...

Makes you think..

Where does your mind's focus linger?
Do we spend all our time on negative and unpleasing thoughts, or are we thinking on things that are lovely and honorable?

-- Just something I've been thinking on for the past couple days, thought I'd share.

real quick

(dude, I took this one with the auto timer thing!)

Okay (Marsha!) here you go... these are not from the trip, I'll try to upload a few of those soon, but we took these on Sunday, Jamie's birthday. We sported our Tech Pride for the start of Football season. I think this is the 2nd or 3rd time I've had us ALLLLL matching/coordinating, and I have to say, I love it! I've had all the guys matching before, or Jamie and Matthew matching and Mark and I similar colors, but not really... anyhow, it's kind of sweet to match. I'm curious without a team theme, if I can do it again this Sunday. I'll have to see what Mark has available and work our way up the closets from there. LOL

HOORAY!

I found my camera earlier today. All is well with the world again!!

That's all !

Where does the time go?

Seriously... It's 3:38... I put Mark down at 3:10, Matthew down a little bit before then. (YES! That means they are both napping currently). But gracious I can't believe it's nearing the end of the day already. Matthew's preschool hours F.L.Y. by. Oh, they are gone before I've even sat down it seems like. Today Mark and I went to the store, came home, put up the groceries, Mark played for a little bit and then laid down to nap. I did laundry and my quiet time and then needed to wake him up to leave to go get Matthew. Ack. We come home, sort through lunch time and "chill" time. Matthew needs to unwind some, then it's books and nap and bam it's 3:30 already. Good thing dinner is in the crock pot (thanks JILL!) or I'd be fretting about getting the chicken thawed in time to cook it. Whew. I love my crock pot...

Nic sent me a link to a woman who cooked her way through a crockpot challenge in 2008. I'm very tempted. I bet I use my crock pot at least two or three nights a week at times. Every day using the crock pot... what must it be like to not have pots and pans to wash every night?



... oh yah, and my camera is still lost. Shoot me. Shoot me now please. Jamie's birthday is Sunday, a milestone birthday... and I have no camera. Groan.