Walking in Love

How else do I say it? Walking in love isn't all that easy!!!

For the past year now, I feel that God has been teaching me the impotance of "Walking in Love". Most of the time when I am conscious about this particular subject, it is right when I am in the middle of a conversation where I am running off at the mouth saying exactly what I shouldn't be... am I ringing any bells?
Roll with me for a minute... I am not saying that I am a gossip or even a back stabber. I try very hard not to get involved in conversations that rally around those sort of things. I am just saying that sometimes I wrap my mouth around a thought that goes too far. In the end, there are names mentioned and opinions stated that maybe shouldn't have been.
I think it's fair to say that girls can get a little out of hand where chatting is concerned and although I consider myself to be a little less chatty than most, I do have my fair share of regrets in this department. I am reminded of what Paul writes in Romans 7:15 " I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do it." I so understand what he is saying here. After I over do things in conversation, I usually go through a time of beating myself up and then make determined statements that I will never open my mouth in public again. It's never very long before I find myself in another conversation, saying things I shouldn't be saying... AGAIN & AGAIN & AGAIN! It's a vicious cycle, and I don't know if it ever ends.
There is a part of the love walk that I tend to over look. When I think about all the things I shouldn't be saying, I am overwhelmed because I know that I can never not say everything. And although I am not giving myself carte blanche to just say whatever I want to say, I am suggesting that maybe I'm going about it all wrong. Instead of focusing all my efforts on what not to do and say, I will choose to walk in love toward others when they say what they shouldn't say and there is plenty of opportunity for me to do that. hehe
Recently, I was made aware of a series of things that were said about me by people who obviously got caught up in their feelings and said some things they probably shouldn't have. On any normal day, I wouldn't think twice about being angry toward them and holding a grudge. However, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I chose to forgive them and found it to be quite liberating. I was able to be friendly with them instead of being tormented by a feeling of betrayal. I have to be honest and say that it wasn't the easiest thing to do...at first, but after a while, I really saw that forgiving them was the best thing I could have done. Besides, how selfish of me to think that I could hold anything against someone else when I too need a little grace every now and then.

NT in a Year

I want to inspire you to read the Word with me this year. I know that there are several plans to read your Bible in a year and if that works for you... great! But for me, it was always too time consuming and I found myself just skimming through the daily readings so I could hit my quota before the day was over. If I missed a day or two, I was so pressed to "catch up" that I would eventually stop trying. So, I found a way to read only The New Testament in a year. I pray and ask God to feed my spirit with His Word and then, since I only read 1 chapter a day, I can take my time and let the words "sink in" as I read them. My husband and I have even been reading to Belle after dinner. It's a wonderful thing to see her asking questions as she learns scripture. I am very excited about it and I hope you will be too.

Here is how it works:
Every week if you read 5 chapters (starting in Matthew), you will have completed the entire New Testament in a year's time. I love it because you only read 5 nights out of the week, so if you miss 1 night, it's easy to catch up. Today I am on Matthew 10. I wake up and almost can't wait to read my chapter. I believe that as I put the Word in... daily, it will produce results in my life as well as your own if you make the commitment to read your Bible too.

Happy Reading!!!

Cake for Me?

Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too? Today, I sure did. It was my birthday and I had a blast. I woke up with soft little fingers gripping my hand and a kiss on my cheek from the sweetest girl in the whole wide world. My husband brought me my present before I even opened my eyes. It was the watch that I saw before Christmas that I absolutely loved. I knew we couldn't get it with all the Holiday expenses. I was a little disappointed then, but my hubby made up for it today. The phone started ringing... and kept on ringing throughout the day. I did manage to stop everyone before they attempted to sing me the "Happy Birthday" song, thank goodness. My brother ands sister-in-law brought me a beautiful present and a hysterical card that sings "Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer (super funny). I got several cards in the mail (which was a first) and I loved them all. I spent an hour at the mall and then headed off to a wonderful dinner that my beautiful mom and Bob prepared for me and my family. I spent the rest of my evening at the Scrapbook store with a few of my good friends. It was so much fun. I got lots of gifts and I EVEN GOT TO HAVE MY BIRTHDAY CAKE... and we all ate it too. I am so BLESSED!

Thank you all so much...

"Icky Days"

Today was one of those "icky days". I woke up this morning and like every other morning, I headed off to the bathroom for my daily 1 hour makeover. I didn't give it much thought since I've been at this routine now for most of my life. I took my shower, blowdryed my hair, put my make up on and when it came time to see the finished product, the mirror wasn't being too nice to me. So... I tried again. I plugged the flat iron back in and re-did a few strands of hair... that didn't work. I got my eye liner back out and darkened the lines around my eyes with hopes to soften the puffyness... that didn't work. I needed a change of scenery, so off to the closet I went to see what I would wear today... YIKES!!! I looked in the mirror in the closet and it was just as rude. By this time, I was pulling for my husband's approval who so honestly confirmed my feelings of insecurity. He told me my outfit wasn't doing it for him and then suggested that I change. I couldn't agree more. I threw my shirt on the floor and tried again... icky, icky, icky! I flew out the door (running a little late) and when I got to work, I couldn't wait to get home so I could put on my sweat pants and call it a day... and you know what..? That's exactly what I did. I figure if I am going to have an "icky day", I may as well make the most of it with my slipper socks, a hair tie and a blanket. Can I get a witness?

New Mercies

Last year at this time, we were gearing up for a hum dinger of a storm which ended up dumping several inches of ice on our area. It kept us stuck in our houses for three days. It just so happened that my birthday was the day of the big storm... both literally and figuratively. As I think about what to write next, I am able to give detail after detail explaining the prelude to a very depressing and turbulent time in our lives, but, I will spare you (and myself) by not reliving those horrible memories. I am thankful for the words in the Bible that say "don't look back". As I approach my next birthday, I am determined to celebrate the new mercies promised to me today. I thank God that He loves me so much. He makes the sun to shine on me every day. I won't take that for granted.
I will say that one of the results of the crisis of 2007 was a determining of quality friends. It seems like some people came out of the woodwork to help me while others, who I thought were good friends, did nothing. Although I can't expect anyone else to go through tough times for me, it sure did help having good people "hold my hand" along the way. One thing is for sure, I do try to make a concious effort to help my friends when they are in a rough spot. Even though it's not convenient for me all the time, I make the effort to be there. When I get to the end of my life, I do not want to be known for being so self absorbed that I didn't take time out of my busy schedule for what mattered most.
So, A BIG THANK YOU to those of you who know what I am talking about and you WERE THERE! What an impact you made on my life. As I come up to my 32nd birthday, I expect to have a great year and I know that you all will be there with me through it all.

What exactly is quality time anyway?

Where do all our days off go? Today is Saturday and my husband and I get this one day off a week together. Ideally this would mean we would spend quality time together with our daughter, but, it never quite seems to work out like that. So far today we had to go to a meeting at work, which wasn't a bad thing at all, but still, it took up a little bit of our time. Then we came home and it dawned on us that the chores aren't going to do themselves... so we thought we would spend just an hour or so in the yard and maybe wash the car. Here we are some 3 hours later and still up to our noses in chores. As I look to the evening, there are several more tasks to be done so I say, bah on the whole "day off" thing. I've always said my husband works harder on his days off than he does when he's working. Atleast we are all together and in a sense, that makes our time spent together to be our own family quality time.

Evening Quandry

So when I sat down tonight I decided that watching tv is a big waste of time. Besides, I always have tons of things to do and now seems like just as good of a time as any. For instance, there are lots of birthdays in January and there are presents to wrap, I wanted to get started on this blog thing, I have phone calls to make etc. By the time I get done here, it will be late and I will be ready to be done with today. So off I go...