A Calmer Week than Normal - Nice

Ahhhhh...the calm! I choose to believe this is just a gift from God and not the assumed calm before the storm. I choose to enjoy this gift. It has been a crazy busy week, but a good kind of crazy. A lot is getting done. I can see forward progress being made. I am hearing from God, and I am listening and responding! There have been a few things that have been troubling me this week. I have been amazed at the devotions I have been reading each day - they are touching on the exact things that are troubling me. Isn't God so good! Even if I am too lazy to sit down, open my bible and actually read His work, He will still bless me and put His word, direction, and comfort right in front of my face. I love that He want to permeate my very being with HIM! I love that He loves me that much. I am encouraged by it. I feel like I am actually valuable - I am worth His attention. I like feeling this way! I want to just bask in it! You know the world can rob us of this feeling - it can cause us to forget the love and adoration we have from our Heavenly father - but this can only happen if we let the worlds words and such count more than our Father's word. It's our choice. It's hard to consciously shift that choosing, but it can be done. I am getting better and better at it. I encourage you to do the same. God loves you the exact same amount that he loves me. That's just how he is.

I also want to encourage you to find a daily devotion - whether it is a book or online. There are so many available and easily accessible - do it! Then pray! I have this great co-worker christian friend. We decided over a year ago that we needed to cover our office in prayer as the other 3 are not believers. Everyday, after I read a devotion, I get on yahoo chat, connect to her and I pray...she responds and is in agreement with the prayer and we have just covered our office! It's amazing - and we have seen so much that is undeniably God in action. We have told our co-workers that we have been praying over this or that specifically and God answered our prayers...It's so cool!

Anyway! That's all for this week!

D. J.

Happy Anniversary - Praise God!

Well God has just been so evident in my life these days, undeniably evident! I love it! I can't remember if I mentioned in my last post that my husband has finally been switched to a day shift! 3 years of working nights! My little precious daughter has got her appointment with the specialist.

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 20th Wedding Anniversary! Let me tell you, this is by God's love and grace! We have had our bad years, that is for sure. God has brought us through so much and we are such better people, parents, and friends as a result. Our love for each other is unmeasurable! Our relationship isn't perfect but it is truly blessed. Marriage is kinda like our Christian walk - it is always a work in progress, there is always an area that needs improvement.

My husband and I are now beginning to tackling our money woes. Dave Ramsey - Financial Peace University. This is such a scary area - we have never really been in agreement on our finances or even on the same page for that matter - I see this as an opportunity to grow in our relationships with God and our relationship with each other. I know it will be hard to do all we are going to do over the next few months with our finances, but we will be doing it together and in unity. The outcome will be unity in our finances and control of our finances! I am sure there will be more outcomes as well that I can't even imagine as God works through this with us.

I've been prompted to be in prayer for my husband, our finances, and my personal relationship and growth with God. It's an odd prompting - not like one I have had before. The need to have a daily prayer time keeps coming to my mind as well. My best, most available and uninteruptable time is bright an early - like 5 am. This is hard for me. I want to, but my body doesn't like the thought of it too much.

So, that's where I am this week. Lot's of love to all who read this!

D. J.

Still Holding On

Last week my little one broke her leg for the 3rd time in 7 months. Same leg, same spot. We have been attempting to get an approved referral from our Hospital to a specialist as we know there is a health issue prior to this 3rd break. With this break I have struggled greatly in holding on to the promises - but God is so good. Yesterday when I was sure I could not take one more drop to the burden I was bearing He gave me a glimpse of His hand at work. It wasn't the approved referral, it wasn't manifested healing, it was just a small gesture that showed me beyond a shadow of a doubt that God knows how I feel, He knows I am afraid, He knows my specific fears, He is with me. The small gesture relieved A LOT of my anxiety and renewed my faith. I am back to the scripture that got me through so much quite a few years ago, Jeremiah 29:11. Back then it was to save my marriage, today it is to heal my daughter and to help me through each day until healing is complete.

I have a mental picture today - Here I am hanging on this rope, the rope is made up of Gods Word - Jeremiah 29:11 is where my grasp is, and I am looking up and see that God is holding on even tighter to the other end of the rope, let me telling you He is not letting go and He is even pulling me closer to him... while I am hanging onto this rope words of doubt, are flying by me, even hitting me trying to get me to be distracted from holding on and looking to God - I can read them so they are easily distracting me, I have to choose to look at the rope, adjust my grasp and look to God - KNOWING HE IS PULLING ME CLOSER.

I just told my sister in law the other day that I think we all have seasons of tears. I am in a tearful season again, and it's okay, I know the seasons change.

I pray your rope is the Word of God today.

Holding on to His promises

I have no doubt God plans big things for 2010. I felt God promising me a breakthrough year for 2010 towards the end of 2009. By the time January rolled around, I just could not deny God speaking this to me. I am reminded of Jeremiah 29:11 (my favorite verse) I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, but to give you a hope and a future. In the whirlwinds (see previous post) and bumps of the new year - Satan is trying to get me to doubt God or to doubt what I heard. Well, I am not going to do it. I am going to hold on to what I KNOW I heard. I am going to praise God each day, each bump of the way for the wonderful things he is bringing to pass this year. I have a big imagination, I mean big, and I have been imagining about what all God is working on - and I get so excited to remember that God does exceeding and abundantly more than we can ask for or imagine! I can already see glimpses of what he is working on - just glimpses. I praise God for those glimpses. As I think about these things I find myself more diligent to be disciplined in my actions and in my thoughts. I am trying and exciting to operate in God's will for every little thing I do each day. It's exciting and calming at the same time!

God works in Whirlwinds!

The past week or so has been quite unexpected crazy. Daily it was just a whirlwind. My routine was disrupted, I wasn't getting spend much time at home with my husband and kids, I had minimal downtown - yet I was right where God wanted me to be - with my sister who was in the hospital. It was certainly a whirlwind of a time. I could have become very grumpy, even selfish, but even more importantly I could have become mad at God. You see, I am confident God is going to work mightily this year in my life and my family's life. I feel God is telling me - it's going to be good! But, when all this happened I could have got mad, I mean, what kind of start to the year is this - day in day out, my sister in pain, trying to juggle family, work and being at the hospital. My sister even said something to the effect that this was an awful way to start the new year. When she did, it was like the hairs on my neck standing up, something was not right with that thinking. Quickly the words were given to me - It's a great start to the new year sis! The doctors are going to find out what has been bothering you for a while now, fix it, and you get to spend the rest of the year free of pain! God took care of everything around me. My husband didn't get cranky from having to handle the household for over a week. My work was very understanding and let me come and go as needed. I did not stress out about it! I was where I was suppose to be and God kept putting confirmations of this all around me. My sister is doing much better, great even, she is spending a couple of week recouperating at our oldest sisters house. I am back into my routine. I got to spend time with my mom that was enlightening. I can't help but to think much more happened during that time than I can imagine or see. I praise God for using whirlwind situations to work good.

Knowing who you are and being happy

Just recently I was in a situation that normally I would walk away from feeling inadequate, less than those who I was with, down, and lacking. For the first time, when I walked away, I felt good about myself. Things haven't necessarily changed. The people I was with were the same that they have always been, same social status, same financial status, same, same, same. So, why did I feel good about myself? For the first time I realized that I AM doing my best to hear God and to be the person God wants me to be. It no longer mattered what these other people thought, how they acted or how they treated me. This was a HUGE thing for me. Out of all the things we could be in this world and in our lives, what better call to heed than the call of God on our lives?!? This call is a good call, a true call, a call from our creator - this call could not be any more right for us! It is freeing really. Just awesome.

Well, it's a brief post, but I challenge you to ponder it and how you view yourself in light of how you think others view you.

Lots of love,

D. J.

Are your eyes open?

Thanksgiving is upon us. I am so excited. I love the holidays. As I am sure many of you are doing the same, I have been pondering my blessings. I am abundantly blessed. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty in my life that could be improved, but there is a lot more in my life that I honestly can't imagine having any better because it is so near perfect. As I have been thinking about my blessing I have become my mindful of my thoughts and attitudes towards my blessings. For example; My husband is off work right now due to an injury. I am frustrated that he hurts and so I tend to get mad - it's much easier for me to be mad than worried or hurt. That is some seriously wrong thinking. I have a two year old. A beautiful two year old. But, she is a two year old - terrible twos - but why am I allowing myself to get short with her when I do. Wrong thinking again. My house does not clean itself - I complain -I must have forgot how thankful I am to have a house to clean, how thankful and blessed I am to have a family to clean up after. So, I am having several self talks as I am counting my blessings and choosing my attitudes and responses. I encourage you to do the same. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

D. J.