SAYING GOOD-BYE

Today was a tough day for me. A tough choice had to be made. I had to end a relationship that I have had for many years. It was not going well. She was the kind of person who always told me what I wanted to hear. She would come over whenever I asked. Unfortunately in our relationship, my problems kept growing & hers (well I don't even know what hers were). It was time.


Today I switched from Denise Austin to The Biggest Loser Workout videos.


I know- shocking.
Especially since I commented how good she made me feel. Unfortunately that was counter productive. It was doing me no good. No challenge - no motivation to grow. So now I have Bob & Jillian & some blonde girl (can't think of her name right now- sorry blonde girl). I feel they will be a better fit for me. From what I can tell - Bob is encouraging - Jillian will be a backside kicker, and I don't know about the blonde. I could be wrong but it looks good so far.

Got me to thinking about my other relationships, especially at church. How many of us want those friends that tell us how great we are all the time? Yes, we need to hear it, but we also need to be challenged in our walk with the Lord - both from the pulpit & from the pew. How sad would my walk be if I never was challenged in what I believed, in how I lived. I don't mean confronting everyone & being as the kids say "messy" ( nosey & in everyone's business). But I need those men & women who will gently challenge me, pose questions to me, and I need to be that for them. One it makes me dig deep into the Word to find the answers, a spiritual workout of sorts. A little cardio for my heart. Second, it makes me stronger in the Lord. My spiritual muscles aren't going to get any stronger if I don't put some weight on them. Left up to me, I would use the lightest weights I could. My friends are the ones who pack on the heavier weights. So I thank God for the men & women in my life that push me to be more than I am. That make me dig deep into my relationship with the Lord. They are my personal trainers of sorts.

And in the end, the enemy will be the Biggest Loser!

PLENTY

If you get the chance to jump on the Siesta Fiesta blog, please do so & read Holly's post from yesterday. There you will find a moving story of the hands & feet of Jesus at work. She refers to what they have been going through as a desert of plenty. It brought to mind my own desert of plenty story to share.
A few years ago we had a house fire. It is strictly by the grace of God any of us survived. It was in the middle of the night, we only had 1 smoke alarm in the house, and the door to HH & my bedroom was closed. The men children's room was right next to the room with the fire. We could actually here the fire rolling in the ceiling above their room. Chills even now. I was awakened in the wee hours of the morning by a nagging beeping sound that I actually IGNORED the first couple of times I heard it. When I did finally get up to see what it was, I opened the door to a house filling up with smoke. I can not be any clearer - Jesus Christ SAVED our lives - all of us! No doubt - no arguments- end of story.
After we were all out safely & had called 911, we began to make the calls - to family & friends requesting prayer, letting them know what was going on. (Remind me someday to tell you what happened to make HH really upset with me that morning- funny funny). Anyway, some friends of ours from church (a former student of mine to be exact) had just bought a new house (they had only been it like 3 weeks) that had an extra bedroom. They offered it to us starting that night. We lived with them for 4 months and I can honestly say it was a blast. Now remember, we moved in a family of 4 into one bedroom-everything in ONE bedroom. One bathroom for our family - one bathroom for the two of them. 4 MONTHS! I don't recall a crossword, a fight, a "man they are getting on my nerves, etc". Honestly we were all sad when our house was fixed and ready for us to move back.
We drove by our friends house yesterday just killing time and man child one says
MC 1 - " I wish we could have another fire"
me - "why"
MC 1 - " so we could live with ___________& ________ again. Do you think during the summer we could come sleep over?"

Now my friends, that was living in the desert of plenty. That was only one of many ways the Lord blessed us during that time. Here's the point- He used people to do it. Our friends were the hands & feet of Christ to us. And we in turn get to be His hands & feet to someone else.
So today if you get the opportunity to be that for someone else - do it. You may well become a watering hole for them in their desert of plenty.

VAIN IMAGINATIONS

Anybody else? Or just me. I tell you my mind can go sometimes. My "friend" who went to the OB/GYN had her set of imaginations today. Doctor called and asked her to call him back. She immediately went to something is seriously wrong. All manner of diseases. Totally freaked. I mean TOTALLY. She had not even called him back and she went all over the place. Needless to say it was still run of the mill girly stuff. But how distracted was she for a while. When I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, I went to heart transplant in a hurry and then when they mentioned something about how my meds work on my kidneys- girls I had myself on dialysis before I even got out of the doctor's office.

Beth Moore talked about a "spewing mind" being a sign of distrust. OUCH- that hurts. The thought that I would distrust Jesus scares me. It saddens me. Breaks my heart. Yet if I am honest with myself, that is exactly what it is. This is why the word of God is so IMPORTANT. To be honest, at times, it is hard work for me to believe God. My flesh screams out all sorts of insecurities & mess ups. To believe that He loves me unconditionally does not go with my natural man. Praise God for my spirit man. Because when I get in the Word, my spirit man gets a little bolder. Sometimes even a lot bolder. It looks through the pages at David, Rahab, Esther, Paul & Peter. My inner princess warrior gets armored up and ready to fight another day- knowing the host of heaven is ready to go at her Father's orders. Be encouraged today in the Word of God. Encourage yourself in the Word, don't wait on someone else to do it. You dig deep into text and plant yourself firmly on what He has done, is doing & will continue to do.

Isaiah 26:3
" You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."

Our choice.

** even though my emotions may not evoke it, the Word proclaims it - You are good! You are God!

POP

Quick note for today. HH is a great BBQ man. Loves to do it & is good at it. The other night we had some friends over & we chowing down on some ribs. Man child 2 was tearing them up. Country style or regular style, he did not care. I jokingly told him if he did not stop he was going to pop. All was okay until our friend also told him he was going to pop if he did not stop. Well that brought on the tears and 1 1/2 hours of "mommy- I don't want to pop". Kid spent the rest of the night laid up by me on the couch holding his tummy lamenting the possibility of "popping". And we think what we say does not matter.

TEACHERS & KIDS

Just ran into a former student at the store. Not just any former student, hands down my all time favorite. I love this kid like he is my own. The kid has turned into one of the neatest young men,and I have gotten to witness the transformation. For that I am grateful. Teaching has many challenges. I get tired of the politics, both inside the school system and out. I get tired of having to play the role of mama for kids whose moms are 1) either working so much just to provide for the kids or 2) just want to be their kids best friend. I get tired of caring more about their grades than they do. Frankly, I just get tired. BUT when you get those opportunities to really see the impact. You get that ONE kid you really connect with - the one who you can really speak Christ into his or her life.And your heart is forever theirs. You want for them like you want for your own. You pray for them & their parents. You encourage them that they are more than what they think they can be. You remember WHY you love to teach & became a teacher. Its not to fill out paperwork, or go to meetings, or to get summers "off". You did it because you want kids to be more than they think they can. You want them to know that the God of Heaven loves them and wants them to go out into the world for Him. I am grateful for those moments. You can have those moments, too. I guarantee there are kids in your church, your neighborhood, your community who need someone, anyone to believe in them. Someone who will speak to them Jeremiah 33:3. If you get the chance to invest in one - DO IT. Will they disappoint - maybe- but who of us doesn't? But I wouldn't trade my handwritten notes of appreciation & love from these kids for anything. I cherish them - from year one till now. So to my favorite kiddo I say thank you. As I told you in the store - I love & pray for you like you were my own. Thanks for letting me into your life- even if just for a season. I am proud of you.

To you all - Happy Valentine's Day. You are loved.

MOTIVATION

Now I have told you about my conspirators. Today was day 2 of defeating them (him). So the conspirators decided a new attack. As I was exercising away with Denise Austin circa 1995 ( cause that's all I can DVR & honestly she does make me feel better about myself), man child 2 awoke and found a tape measure. Next thing I knew while I was doing bicep curls he was measuring my backside FROM SIDE TO SIDE with the tape measure. Yeah - real encouraging. Guess I should have written the number down for motivation!

I walked through a door today I believe God has opened. Very scary, but very exciting. More details when all is official. (Probably won't seem a big deal to anyone else but HUGE for me).

Happy Friday!

GROUNDED

Man child 1 has become alarmingly adept at faking my signature (in cursive no doubt), which is a tad scary at his age & does not bode well for things to come. Anyway, today, after I saw his craftsmanship again, I informed him that I would talk with HH (that's Hunter hubs new name) and he would probably be grounded for tonight. Conversation went like this (or close enough)
From the back seat

Man child 1 - what does grounded mean?
me - Means we don't let you do something you like to do.
MC1 - (very quietly) I don't like playing outside.
me - you don't?
MC1 - No & I don't like watching tv either. It is boring.
me- so it would do no good to ground you from that because you don't like to do it anyway?
MC1 - yea. Do I get to eat?

We learn early don't we.