October 14 2013

October 19 2013 Greetings My Friend, As I write it is Monday and for me the start of a new work week at home. We went to church yesterday and I grew as we studied our lesson in Sunday school and as I heard the message in church. Later we went back to church and I learned yet again. I am amazed at the teachings I am being blessed by. Right now we are in between ministers and a new one has not come yet. We are taught by lay people in our church and I marvel at their depth of knowledge. Forever reading about King David I would find that he was ruddy. What did that mean, was he rugged looking? I learned that ruddy meant that he had red hair. It is a tidbit piece of knowledge at best but it really helped clarifying the meaning for me. It is like the time I learned more about what our Lord Jesus endured as He went through the horror of His death. I always thought that the whip was awful enough to deal with and then to find out that they tied bone and ----- to the cross, well that turned my stomach even more. I also began to grow in my faith because I saw how much our Savior endured just to save us. I learned how awful sin is to God and how much God loves us just because our Savior was willing to die the awful death He died. I must admit that I love learning new things in general but learning more details of my faith and what various things mean, well that truly moves me these days. A few years ago I learned about yeast. I could not understand until I got the deeper meaning and now it makes perfect sense when I read about yeast. Yeast makes the dough rise. Not bad really but in the dough the yeast will keep rising until it is baked. If left to keep rising the dough becomes way too big and does not taste as good. So we don’t want the yeast in our lives to overtake us. A little bit is good and too much is exactly that too much. To me this lesson is valuable. As I read the 23rd Psalm I see pictures that bring peace to my mind. “The Lord is my Shepherd,” reminds me I am not alone and God is truly watching after me. That brings me comfort when I feel all alone and unwanted in life. The thought that God wants me and cares for me helps me to face the hardest of days in life. In my older years and in this faith journey I find myself not looking to others for the confirmation I need in life. I am content with myself and frankly that is a first for me. I like “me.” If others don’t get me, I am good with that. God loves me and frankly that is enough. God also gives me all I need. I have Junior and he loves me to no end. That is about as awesome as life gets for me. For so long I felt unwanted and now I have what I need in life. As I struggle with falls, with surgeries and in general I know that God and Junior will stand by me and help me reach the other side of my struggles. That is awesome. Praying has been so wonderful as well. I learned the ACTS prayer format and still start off with it most days. As I give God accolades, confess my sins, thank God for all I have and ask Him to put me to His use each day I begin to move out of my self-centeredness and into “others” thinking. The more I learn to live outside of myself the more content with life I am. God does not want me to let others abuse me. That was a hard lesson to learn. I tended to think that if someone needed to abuse me then I was doing what God wanted me to do. Nope, not so God does not want me to be abused. When I began looking at our Lord Jesus’ life I noticed that He did not let people abuse Him just to abuse Him. He walked away from abuse, told the religious leaders exactly what He thought. I even “see” Jesus in the temple overturning tables and using a whip because the people were not using God’s house the way He thought they should. I also learn as I read the Bible of the other people who lived before me and their faith journey and what a lack of faith looked like. This helps me to make better choices in life and I see that I am not the deeply troubled women I once was. I believe I am wanted and that makes me want to get up, face each day and even give of myself. My giving these days looks different as well. I can’t do the things I once did. I am turning into a prayer warrior, I reach out to God in my blog, on Twitter and I try to be silly which to me is blessing others as I go out and about. I can’t give the way I’d like to and Miss Janet is a volunteer addict. So I start to see my mission field, to work in my mission field as I sense God leading me. As I do this I find life very pleasant. So others think I am daffy. That is their right. I am no longer going to try to change a view someone insists on me having, I can’t. I wake up each day, do what I can and enjoy it really. I watch Junior move at a snail’s pace as he gets our home in order and I love the progress. I have learned to accept his pace even if I am used to a faster pace. I learn to love my man even though his ways are foreign to me and frankly it feels wonderful. So each day I pray, read my Bible go into each day serving God as best as I can and the best part is God is pleased with what I can give Him. May God bless you and keep you make His face to shine upon you. Love Janet