Prepping for the week ahead

It is Sunday night and my house is all quiet. Lindsay is spending the night with her sister at my parents' house and Jalen is in bed with his Papa. Not so sure that is the best idea since Papa Bear is sick, but I guess he has been exposed already so we'll see what happens. 

My mind has been on the coming new year a lot. I guess it is the "season"  to do some serious thinking about one's life and one's goals, but in reality, we can set goals for our life anytime we desire to do so. So, when February rolls around and you find yourself already behind in your "goals", you can just take a deep breath and remind yourself that a goal can be set anytime and you can always start fresh anytime.

My goals tend to be the same each year with only a small percentage gained on most of them. As we close out 2009 and look towards 2010, I do realize that there is one area of my life that I have improved upon a lot and that is my spiritual life. Now before you start thinking I am bragging or puffing myself up higher than I ought to, I will also say that no matter how far I have come I still have a very long ways to go and I am very well aware of that fact. However, it is nice to be able to look back and see where you once were and see that you are no longer there, but have in fact moved ahead a bit. It is encouraging to see growth in our lives and it also helps keep us motivated to continue growing.

As I ponder on these thoughts, my hope for the last few days of 2009, is that I can work on getting better organized and setting up a plan to maintain that for the year 2010. For those who think organizing is unnecessary, let me just say that if you want to be an effective person, you have to be organized. No, you don't have to be OCD about it, but general organization is critical to being successful in any area of our lives. It is what I will be working on in the coming year because there are many things I long to be effective in this next year.

So, as I finish up this blog entry, the last Sunday of 2009, I just want to remind you to look back at where you were and see where you are today and use that to motivate you to keep on keeping on.

The Day After

Well, here we are, the day after Christmas. We survived it. This year for us was quite a bit different than usual. For one thing, our youngest daughter, who got married in September, was missing from our typical Christmas morning chaos. Secondly, due to financial hardships encountered this year, there simply was not much funds available for much gifting to be done. Despite the differences, I believe we had a very nice Christmas. Everyone in our family was well and together for the day. And really, isn't that what Christmas should be about the most - sharing and spending time with family?

Now as we get ready to begin a new year and a new decade, my thoughts turn towards what kind of goals I want to set. Every year I set goals and try to achieve them, but most years I fail to accomplish anything. In 2010 I hope to break that trend. I have learned a lot this year through various trials I have encountered that goals can be accomplished as long as one sets their minds/hearts on it and never quits. So maybe for me, the question becomes what "goal" (singular) can I set for myself this year that I can devote my energy to and see accomplished this year?

I know I have stated it often before, but I truly hope to start blogging again on a regular basis. It is a good way to share what is on my heart and in doing so, I think it helps me become a stronger person eventually.

So, Merry Christmas to my blog readers and have a wonderful NEW YEAR!

A New Era??

So, in July I turned 40. I really thought it wouldn't bother me and had always said I couldn't wait to be 40. And it really hasn't bothered me, not the number anyway. It really is just a number. What has bothered me though is realizing that I really don't have that many years left to get in all the living I want to do still. Somehow, all those "I'll do it later" decisions have caught up with me and I am left looking at a lot of things not done that I had wanted to do.

Now I realize that life isn't over at 40 and I do have time left, but it really has been a wake up call to stop procrastinating and continuing to put off things I really want to do and make some decisions to "just do it" as the famous Nike slogan says.

I really do have a LONG list of things I want to accomplish and reality says I do need to prioritize it and really narrow it down to what the most important things are to me and get those set in motion.

I started this blog a long while ago and have never really kept up with it. Life just gets in the way and honestly, many times I just simply don't feel like anything I have to say is worth reading, by me or anyone else. My husband really is the one who has a gift/talent for writing, but I do hope that God will help me develop an ability to share the things that He puts on my heart, not for my glory, but hopefully that it will help inspire and encourage someone else who happens to read it.

One thing I have truly learned in my 40 years of living is that God never intends for us to be islands on our own. He created community and placed us in one to help us grow and thrive. We do ourselves a grave disservice when we try to avoid fellowship with others. Sure, relationships are not easy and community living is challenging many times, but the rewards and the joy that are found there cannot be matched by anything we can do by ourselves. So, God willing, this post will be just the first of many more to come as I share what God is doing in my heart and mind and teaching me as I journey through this life.

Tom's Word From California!

No matter where my husband goes, he has the heart of a teacher and today he sent me a bunch of text messages asking me to please post to my blog and to Facebook. He felt it was urgent for someone to hear today. So below is what he sent me:

Don't allow yourself to lose control of your temper. If you are a Christian and you lose control of your temper, who has control? A Christian with an out of control temper is a devastating tool in the ready hands of a spiteful devil. Keep your temper under the control of the Holy Spirit.

What kind of temper control do you want your kids to use in their homes? They will follow our example and we must be faithful to show them the Godly way.

Be angry and sin not and do not give the devil a foothold. Never allow yourself to lose control because it is then that you will commit sin. And don't let the sun go down while you are still angry. Forgive offenses before bedtime so that bitterness will not take hold and become the stronghold of a grudge which leads to more anger and hurt and may well be a breeding ground for even more sin to be committed.

We are commanded to love one another and it is the Lord who says this.

The time is now to obey the Word of God, no matter how we feel, and be true disciples of Christ so that we can stand in the presence of God unashamedly. A Christian who truly follows after the law of God with his life on the altar sacrificed in the service of a Holy God.

Lesson in Faith

As you may know, we have a grandson who was born to our middle child when she was just 16. The father of our grandson chose to not be a part of the pregnancy, then reappeared just before the birth of Jalen. He was around a few weeks after that, then dropped all contact. Amazingly enough, a couple of months after hearing nothing at all, our daughter was served papers which stated she was being sued for joint custody.

We have never had any situations in the past requiring a lawyer, and had no idea who would be a good lawyer for a case such as this one. My sister had been talking to someone she worked with who had been through a similar situation and recommended her lawyer to us, so I called and got the appointment made. It was for 2 weeks out. On the day of the appointment, just as we were getting ready to leave, we got a call from that lawyer's office saying we could not keep that appointment because the dad of our grandson had already made contact with them and had paid the retainer fee so we would have to find another lawyer.

I remember feeling just overwhelmed with devastation.My sister's friend had said this lawyer was good at getting his clients everything they wanted and that is just what we wanted. I actually started crying on the phone and was telling her this was all new to us and we just didn't know who we needed to find for a lawyer and that this one had been recommended to us, and I was just at a loss as to how to find someone else that would be good. And then, in a whispery voice, the receptionist of that law office said to me, "Mom to mom, call ______ office". I said thank you and hung up and called the office she recommended.

They were able to get us in the very next day and we paid the retainer fee and got the process started. During the next several months, we were stunned at all the good feedback we started hearing about this lawyer. One person told us that the DFS workers all know this lawyer well and know that when he is put on a case the saying from the opposing side is always, "Well, we have lost this case." Then we heard from someone else that he is the most expensive lawyer in our area but he gets the job done.

Slowly, but surely, I started to realize that God had shut the door in our face to the other lawyer for a reason - he had someone better for us - and he used the opposing lawyer's receptionist to point us in the way God wanted us to go. Isn't that just amazing?! And isn't that so like the God we serve?

If we can just learn to trust that God truly is in control and that no matter how bleak the picture may be, He has a plan for us and we just need to rest in that and follow Him.

Next Monday, I will share more of what God has done in this situation and another story that will hopefully build your faith!

Donna

Already Behind

Well, the new year is here and I am already behind. But that's okay - it will get better.

Just after I published my last post on here, I got the news from my husband that he was losing his job. Somehow that news didn't rock my world as much as I thought it would. Maybe I was in shock, but then I realized that what was holding me steady in the face of such news was my faith.

Many times we wonder, "How much faith do I really have"? My husband has taught that faith is one of those things we measure by what we have been through before. Whatever we go through and come out on the other side of successfully we can say, "I have that much faith".

In the Word we read that faith comes by hearing and I know that my faith has been encouraged many times by the stories I have read of people such as George Mueller and others who have faced great obstacles, but their faith held them steady and God met their needs. As I thought on that, I realized that I too had stories to share of my faith that could possibly encourage others who were struggling with their faith walk and in doing so I could remind myself of all God had seen us through in the past and encourage myself as we face this new challenge of finding Tom another job.

So, starting on Monday, I will begin sharing stories from our lives of situations that looked bleak, but in hindsight we could see God at work, meeting our needs.

And about our current situation, well we are encouraged by our faith and how God has met our needs in the past so for the most part we are at peace as we search for a new job. Tom has been putting in applications with various companies and with much prayer we feel like we are starting to see a direction God may be leading, but we are still waiting on Him to open the door. We know God has a plan and we are excited to see where He will lead us next!

Donna

Almost The End of 2008

Well, amazingly enough, here we are almost at the end of another year. When I was a young girl, my granny always told me that the older you get the faster time flies. Well, at 10 years of age, you can't really comprehend such a statement, but now that I am older, I comprehend it all too well and have to agree that she was definitely right.



The year 2008 has gone by rather quickly and as we near the beginning of 2009, I find myself doing what I always do at this time of the year - reflecting on what the past year has held and making goals for the new one to come.



One of the goals I have for this new year is to become a more active and organized blogger. I know God has filled my heart with a lot of things He wants me to share and I believe blogging is one of those doors through which I can share. It has been quite the challenge to get my blog designed the way I want. I see so many cool blogs when surfing through blog land, and there are so many neat things I want to put on my blog, but I am completely HTML illiterate. Trying to learn the basics over the past few months has been grueling and I honestly just don't have the time to devote to learning how to design one, so I have tweaked it the best I can for now and plan to tweak it more in the new year as funds allow.



My goal is to blog daily and the topics will be varied. Most of what you find on here will pertain to being a wife, mom, homemaker, etc., as that is the kind of clay I am. I hope it will be a place where those who visit will be encouraged and inspired to keep pressing on in their daily walk with the Lord and for those who may not know the Lord, that they will get to know the wonderful Savior I serve and wish to become one of His kids as well.



Thank you Lord for allowing me to be your child and for the opportunity to share with others what you have so wonderfully shared with me.


Donna