Are We Adults Or What?!

This has been a very busy week at work! July 1 seems to be one day in the year when it seems like each of the medical practitioner’s licenses’ expire and the time when Residents are finishing their training and becoming full-fledged docs and new docs are asking for privileges at the hospital – all at the same time! This week I have been making calls, sending emails, requesting and almost begging for the documents needed for practitioners to continue their privileges at our facility!

I have been on the phone almost constantly for the past two days talking with the docs’ staff, letting them know what we need from the practitioner and letting them know that we are on a strict deadline! It’s not that they are uncooperative; I think they are just so busy that we end up very low on the priority list! Most thanked me for the reminders and worked very hard to get the documents to us before the deadline!

As I made call after call after call and sent email after email, I thought this must be a very small inkling of what our Lord must feel when he sees us putting him lower and lower on our list of priorities! We all seem to be so busy that we allow things like work, shopping, TV, or any number of other “fun” activities to become more important than time spent in worship, Bible study, prayer and true fellowship with other Christians.

Today, at times, I would be a little frustrated thinking that these are all adults, intelligent adults who make “life and death” decisions each and every day, but they can’t remember to take care of necessary paperwork? I would find myself thinking, they know that they have certain licenses required in their profession and that each of those licenses has an expiration date and each license has to be renewed and kept current in order to legally continue in their chosen profession. That seems, to me, to be an easy concept to grasp! Don’t get me wrong, I still love my job but this has been a more difficult week than I have experienced since beginning my job.

I am reminded that God laid out the plan for our lives and made it so that we have a “guidebook” to keep us on track. I think of the sacrifice He made allowing His son to die upon the cross to bear our sins and our diseases for us. I think of what Jesus went through even before he was put on the cross, bruised, beaten, tortured – denied by one of his own apostles and betrayed by another!

Can you imagine having 12 close friends and out of those 12, two that you loved would betray you the way Peter and Judas betrayed Jesus! At a time in your life when you needed your closest friends to be with you, to pray with you and for you, even just to stay awake while you prayed over one of the most horrific events that could ever happen to mortal man and yet you knew it was going to happen to you.

Now, can you even imagine that someone would love you as much as God loves us that you could allow your own child to be treated like a common criminal and put to death!

Frankly, that’s a love that is so huge, so magnificent that I truly have a hard time wrapping myself around the fact that God loved me that much! That God loves me even though I am not perfect, or even close to perfect! Just knowing that He loves me that much makes me wake up each day praising Him and with a burning desire in my heart and soul to make Him proud to call me His child! What an awesome privilege it is for me to serve Him and live each day as He has commanded!

Obedience to my Heavenly Father is not a chore, but is instead an incredible honor and a blessing! I am thankful that my God is a loving and merciful God. I am thankful that I know God and am not just “coasting” through this life without a purpose and without a plan.

I’m thankful every day for the gift of a new day and the opportunity to begin over again and live better than I did the day before!

I Love Being Grandma

I found out yesterday that I am going to be Grandma again! I am, of course, very excited! It was a bit of a surprise, but surprises are nice and this one is especially nice! My youngest daughter just found out that she is expecting and called me to let me know - before she told anyone else (except her husband, of course). She and her husband have two boys, ages 3 and 4 and believe me, they are all boy! It would be nice if this one was a girl, but either way I know this baby will be loved!

Wordless Wednesday 06/27

Grains of Gratitude 06/24

Hosted by Christine at Brady's Bunch!

This week I"m grateful for many things (as usual). God has so richly blessed me and there's no way I could even begin to count the blessings He has given me!

This week I'm grateful for . . . .

. . . . . Pastor Craig, who preaches straight from the scriptures and is not afraid of stepping on toes. This morning as he was preaching from the book of Jonah and speaking about the evil that was going on in Nineveh, he talked about the moral decay of today's people - even in the Church! He talked about repenting before God because he has not been able to teach his congregations so that they understand the importance of living a life of obedience to God! He is an awesome preacher and he presents a lesson every week that touches me and many others and the fact that he feels like he is failing God in some way because there are still people in the Church who choose a life contrary to the teachings of Our Lord speaks volumes about the Godly man that he is!

. . . . . I'm grateful for my husband and the life that we share together. He is a good man, willing to make changes in his life and in our marriage that will draw us closer in our relationship to God. He has shown me this past week that he is willing to make changes, even though they draw him out of his comfort zone. This week has been one of the best weeks in our 18-year marriage.

. . . . . I'm grateful for the beauty God has given us on this earth. We have had so much rain here - breaking a record that was set back in 1947! The rain has done amazing things to my flowers and I'm enjoying the beautiful colors so much! I dug up some of the flowers from my bed for my daughter to plant in her yard because my flowerbeds are too full now after the amount of rain we've had the past month!

. . . . . I'm grateful for the relationships I have with my children! This morning Jody and I took our two youngest grandsons to church with us and I'm going to try to get my oldest grandson to go with us next week. Even though our oldest daughter and our youngest daughter don't attend church anymore, I know that they want their children to have a foundation in God and they are very willing for us to take the kids with us.

. . . . . I'm so grateful for my job and the women I work with on the job! I think I must list this same one each time, but I truly am grateful. It's wonderful to wake up in the morning ready to go to work, knowing that it will be a good day because of the atmosphere created by the friendships we have with each other.

. . . . . God has blessed me so richly and I never forget the greatest blessing He has given - His son who died on the cross and carried with Him our sins and our sickness. I will never be worthy of such a gift, but I thank God for His grace and mercy and for the greatest gift ever given!

. . . . . I'm grateful for Christine - hosting the Grains of Gratitude, reminding me always to be thankful for each day and it's blessings.

Weekend Reflection

This has been an awesome week! I can't even count the blessings I've received from God this past week! Father's Day was a turning point for me, after a lot of prayer and a lot of study in The Word! I posted last week on the gift I would be giving my husband for Father's Day and that gift turned out to be, probably the best gift I could have given him - but also a gift to me!

I have a great husband and even though I have always known that, I have not always shown him that I knew it. In asking his forgiveness for my attitude and behavior during our marriage and committing to him that I now, with God's guidance, will be transforming myself into the wife God intended me to be, I have been blessed beyond measure!

We have talked more together, we have spent time together, good time together and we have prayed together. We have always been committed to our marriage knowing that we would be together until death, but being committed and "walking in a love relationship" are very different. I believe this week (after 18 years) is a turning point for both of us and I know we are on track with God's plan for us.

Chance has been gone a week, on vacation with his best friend and family. We have talked to him several times and he's having a good time. This is an awesome family and I know that he is in the care of a family who takes him in just like he belonged to them, loving him and sharing with him the characteristics that are also important to Jody and me. I never worry about him when he's with them.

My job continues to be a place that I really enjoy! The women I work with are caring, positive women and my boss is a blessing from God! She genuinely cares about all of us and shows us that each and every day. Our job is very demanding with deadlines on everything! Our job is critical to the work done at the hospital by the medical practitioners, and because of that D knows that we work hard each day to accomplish the tasks set before us and rewards us for work well done. It may be nothing more than a "thank you" or it may be allowing us to leave a few minutes early on Friday afternoon. Whatever it is, it's always appreciated.

I had been invited to lunch on Thursday with a good friend of mine, but had to postpone our meeting until Monday because of a project I was working on that, of course, had to be completed that same day! We will now be meeting for lunch on Monday and I'm really looking forward to it. I haven't seen her in a couple of months, so it will be fun to catch up on all the news of her family!

Jody and I went to together (another "new" activity) the other night and stopped at Mardel - my favorite store - and I found one of the Daily Dieter's Devotional book that Annie has been posting on her site. I thought we weren't going to find it, but just as we got ready to leave the store, I found it! I was so excited! I have been enjoying each day's devotional on Annie's site, but I really wanted one of my own to carry with me to read at times of temptation. Annie had said she would get one for me, but this way she can save it and give it to someone else who may not have access to one. Thank you, Annie, for posting and for the offer of the book.

Well, that's pretty much my week in review! It was a great week and I'm ready for the new week to begin tomorrow! Visit Judi, who hosts the Weekend Reflection for details on posting you own reflection.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

My Dad has been gone now for 12 years but I think about him a lot. He was such a good man - a Godly man who worked all his life to take care of his family. My Dad never had much - at least in worldly goods - while he was living, but what he did have, he worked hard for and was grateful. I miss my Dad, and now my Mom - but I believe they're together again. And happy and peaceful together!

Jody is a father to our four children - a father who loves his children and always wants the best for them. He worked, and still works hard to provide a good life for them. It doesn't matter how old they are, or how far away they are, he will always be their father and will always be there for them! He's a great Dad and I know the kids him and I love him, too.

My gift to Jody will be different this year - it cost me nothing. It did have a price, but our Lord and Savior paid it - on the cross! My gift to Jody is my re-dedication to the Lord and to his teachings. It may not be the gift that Jody was expecting - but I pray it will be a gift that will be well received!

Jody and I have been married 18 years and in all of those years I have not been the wife to him that God wanted - that He commanded me to be to my husband! I have always loved God and I have always believed in His Word and believed that I was living my life in a way that pleased God, but I wasn't . . . . . and my eyes have been opened and I have asked God's forgiveness. And when Jody and I are alone later today I will ask his forgiveness as well.

22) Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23) For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24) Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Ephesians 5

Annie has shared with me the name of a very powerful evangelist that she and Matt met after Izzy's accident and also gave me a cd of a sermon taught by another pastor who teaches alongside this powerful minister of The Lord's Word. Thurman Scrivner is a man of God and someone I wish I had met, through his teachings, many years ago.

I ordered more teachings, on cd, by Thurman and have been listening to them in the car, as I drive back and forth to work each day, and at home as I work around the house or spend time on the computer:) and am learning so much that, even though I have studied and attended church my entire life, I truly never learned before in my studies! As I said, my eyes have been opened to many things in my life that are in direct opposition to His teachings, either because I have not taken God's Word to heart as literal teaching or because I never knew that these teachings were so powerful, so important and so attainable as they are and as they apply to my life today!

I know that I have not been the submissive wife that God commanded me to be during my marriage to Jody. Oh, I always consulted Jody on the big things - the things that I thought God would want me to let Jody exhort his authority over in our household. And in so doing, thought I was putting forth enough effort towards submission that God would still be pleased with me. I wasn't . . . . and I, in all honesty, knew it then and I know it now!

I never allowed Jody to be the head of our household, not really. In the discipline of our children, I also took over in that area early on, because I thought Jody was too harsh with the kids - that he didn't allow them to express any individuality! As you know when Jody and I married, I brought into the marriage an 8-year-old daughter and he brought into the marriage a 9-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old daughter. Jody's usual method of discipline when correcting the behavior of his two girls was to spank them. My method of discipline with my daughter was much different and, honestly, I never wanted him to spank my daughter. Not because I thought he would hurt her, but just because - even though I believe there are times that spanking is necessary - it was not something I used as the usual discipline on my daughter.

The first time Jody wanted to spank one of his girls after we married, I was upset and told him that I didn't want him to spank his girls anymore. I asked him to try other means of discipline - the same things I used for my daughter. He agreed that we would try it, but then when he tried to discipline, he would yell at the girls, which of course I didn't like either! My first marriage was a life of being yelled at, cursed at, hit, kicked, choked and even threats of being killed - all by a man who had promised to love me for the rest of my life! That life taught me that anger and yelling were two things I never wanted in my life . . . ever again!

I wanted our children to have peace and for our home to be a place they could be themselves, happy and calm and never being afraid that they would be hurt in any way - not physically and not emotionally. Well, in deciding all of that - by myself - and just telling Jody that is how it was going to be, I took from him one of the duties the Lord gave him as husband and father in our family. I was wrong!

I have rededicated my life to God and today I will rededicate myself to Jody - as a new and believing, faithful, Godly wife to my husband. I pray that this gift will be, to Jody, the best gift he has received to this point other than the gift given by God - the sacrifice of His Son for all of us who in no way deserve such a gift!

I love the Lord and pray that each day will now be a gift not only to me, but to my husband! That he will awaken each morning glad that I am his wife and go to bed each night happy that I am beside him.

4) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5) It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. I Corinthians 13

Happy Father's Day, Jody. I love you.

Sunday Grains of Gratitude 07/10

Hosted by Christine at Brady's Bunch!

Today I'm grateful for many things, but today some of those things mean more to me than some of the others! I am so thankful for the church that I am now attending. I always leave the assembly enriched by both the praise and the worship services!

At church today it seemed like Pastor Craig could have been speaking to me alone! I always get a lot out of his sermons and this morning was no exception. We are doing a study on Jonah and how he tried to run from God rather than choosing to obey Him. Craig pointed out that many of us are the same way - that sometimes we decide that we know best rather than allowing ourselves to be led by God! Craig also said that even though we may not be running from God and his commandments, we may be "drifters" - discovering one day that we have drifted far from God and his teachings and wonder how we got so far away from Him!

I'm thankful that Jody and Chance are going to church with me. For quite some time, even when I attended Sunday morning worship, they chose not to attend with me - I would go alone. I feel blessed that they are attending with me and that we have been going together as a family for about two months! I know that we've needed to worship together for a long time, but we had not made it a priority. I pray that we can grow in our spiritual lives together and in, everything we do, may we glorify God!

I'm thankful for my family. Michael, Elizabeth and Addy came and spent the weekend with us, which always makes me happy. I talked to Candace on the phone this weekend and I enjoy talking to her and Toni and getting updates on their lives and on their children! I enjoy the time we spend together and am a little sad when it ends. Before I went back to work, it was fun to see Candace and the boys or to have Blake and the other grandkids over to the house to play together or to spend the day at Elizabeth's - spending time with her and Addy, but also spending time with her daycare kids! They are all so sweet and I love seeing them.

I'm thankful for the rain we've been getting. It has really done a job on our driveway (very rough and washed out), but it's also done a job on my flower beds and they are beautiful with all the flowers blooming and growing like crazy! I also have some tomato plants and they are covered with little green tomatoes - Yum!

I'm blessed and very thankful for my job and the group of women I work with each day! They are all so kind and caring and I believe any one of them would give anything to anyone in need and never think twice about it! I knew when I met them the day I was interviewed for the position, that they would be good to work with and I was certainly right!

I'm thankful for each day the Lord gives me - another opportunity to share His love with others and hopefully to make a difference in my corner of the world!

This is the day which the Lord hath made;
we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24

I love it when Christine asks each week
"What are you thankful for today?"

Weekend Reflection June 9

This week has been a long week for me! It has been a week full of surprises and somewhat of an emotional roller coaster! Last weekend seemed to begin the rise in my anxiety level and I didn’t hit the peak and begin my way down until yesterday!

As you know, I lost my mom in February this year. My mom had one sister – she had seven brothers, but my mom and my aunt were the only girls in the family. Mother loved her sister a lot and the last few months of her life, she talked about her sister and memories of long ago. My aunt would talk to Mother on the phone any time she needed to talk – even those times when Mother thought she was talking to her own mother instead of talking to her sister! My aunt visited with my mom as much as she was able to and my mom loved those visits!

Well, last weekend my cousins hosted a birthday party for my aunt on Saturday and I had planned, ever since they first told me about the “surprise” party, to go and was really excited about sharing that day with family! Unfortunately I ended up not going and feeling bad that I missed it!

There have been some family issues that I have been dealing with for a couple of months and some medical tests Chance had that had to be repeated because of the results from the first tests showed some "issues" that the doctor wanted to look at again. I have also been dealing with some other issues that I haven't shared and choose not to share because they are very personal to me. It seemed like as the weekend – and the birthday party – got closer and closer, I became more anxious about everything that was going on in my life at this time. Sometimes, when I get anxious, I suffer from migraines or other illness - that I know is caused from stress!

Anyway, I say all of that to say that I woke up Saturday morning really sick! I was extremely nauseous and dizzy each time I tried to move around. Candace had called Friday evening and asked me to watch the boys because she and Nick both had to work and I had agreed to watch them, so I was concerned about how I was going to that as well. Thankfully Candace called Saturday morning and said Nick wasn’t working after all, so I wouldn’t have the boys. That was a huge relief! I ended up not going to the birthday party and felt bad about missing it, but knew there was no way I could've made it through the day. My aunt – and her children – are very special to me and I really wanted to share the day with them. They were good to my Mom and we were close all the years growing up together!

Sunday morning Jody, Chance and I went to church and then we dropped Chance off at Frontier City for the day. LifeChurch was having a big celebration, baptism and concert there, so they had reserved the park for the day. The church was able to sell tickets for the day (including parking) for $11.00 each, so we bought four tickets for Chance and three of his friend to be able to go. I think they had a good time. After leaving the park, they went to see a movie and then Chance was home around 10:00.

Tuesday, I had scheduled the day off because of the appointments I had scheduled, so Chance and I went to the Dr about 9:00 and had his tests done. We then decided to surprise Elizabeth and went to Norman to see her and the daycare kids, but we were surprised instead! When we got there, no one was home! I called her on her cell phone and she was at the store and then they were headed to the SplashPad – a water play park!

We met them at the park and stayed until we had to leave for the next appointment. Chance and I had a good day together and talked about things that we needed to talk about with each other! Once we got home, he asked to go to his best friends for the night, so he was off again!

Wednesday at work, one of the girls, L received a called from her husband saying that her stepfather had died suddenly and she needed to get home. She broke down and wasn’t able to drive so the boss, had one of the girls drive her while someone else followed with L’s car. This was the first time in L’s life that she has ever lost anyone close to her and she was taking it really hard!

The rest of us in the office decided to pool our resources and bring in some supplies and food items on Wednesday morning, then got some money together for the boss and a couple of the other women to go shopping at Sams. They were able to get quite a bit of stuff including sandwiches, meats, cheeses and other items that the family would be able to use without having to cook a full meal. We had each brought in, for the family, other items like napkins, paper plates, plastic ware, cups, toilet tissue, cookies, etc. The girls delivered them to L’s mom’s house around noon on Wednesday, but L had not made it to her mom’s house yet when the girls had to come back to work.

L called later that day to thank us and to tell us how much it meant to her that we would do that for them. She said they had a real need and we had met that need in a way that thrilled her and her family. Since her stepfather died suddenly and unexpectedly they were finding it difficult to pay for the funeral. Her mother had not worked in many years and even though the step dad received a retirement fund, it wasn’t a lot – no extra. L and her husband had bought a vehicle from her mom to help her pay for the funeral and have some money to put back until she can find a job, as well as helping out L with a much-needed additional vehicle for their family.

Seeing the pain L was going through when she received the call on Wednesday really brought back all the emotions from my mom’s death and it was hard for me to deal with. The women in my department are so loving and care so deeply for each other that everyone was in tears, so me being in tears was right on target with the rest. My boss, such a sweet lady – came into my office and hugged me saying she knew that this must be hard for me having lost my mom such a short time ago. She gave me a hug and told me if I needed anything to let her know. She is such an amazing woman and I thank God that I was led to this job and to these co-workers!

The rest of the week was easier. Thursday morning I got a call from Dr L’s office letting me know that the second round of tests on Chance came out “normal”, so at least that worry is gone! Praise God!

Our wonderful boss, D let us leave a little early on Friday afternoon, which was really a blessing. We all agreed that this had been an especially long week caused in part by the emotions caused by L and the loss she has experienced! It’s always hard to see someone you care about in pain.

I got good mail on Thursday evening from my sister-in-law, Annie! (I don’t really get the “Good Mail” that everyone in “BlogLand” talks about, but this was good mail nonetheless!) I am very interested in “Fasting” which Matt and Annie are learning a lot about – especially, I understand, through the teachings of Thurman Scrivner. Annie sent me one of the lessons on fasting and I listened to it in the car as I drove back and forth to work on Friday. The lesson was good – although the speaker was not one that really presented the lesson in a way that laid it out very well – at least for me! I will continue studying about fasting and am interested in doing a fast on my own, soon.

I would like to ask each of you to pray for my husband – as I also pray for him – that God would give him the “desire” to feed on God’s Word and to enjoy worshiping and praising the LORD. I AM struggling right now with feelings that relate directly to my husband’s, as well as my own, approach to our spiritual lives. My husband is a good man and I love him and I know that he loves the Lord. The fact that he is a christian was one of the main reasons I dated him and then married him! I know that he and I both need some “tweaking” that can only come from gaining a greater knowledge of God's plan for us and from growing in our relationship with God and with each other!

Ephesians 5;
25) Husbands, love your wives,

just as Christ loved the church

and gave himself up for her
26) to make her holy,

cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
27) and to present her to himself as a radiant church,

without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish,

but holy and blameless.
28) In this same way,

husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.

He who loves his wife loves himself.
29) After all,

no one ever hated his own body,

but he feeds and cares for it,

just as Christ does the church—
30) for we are members of his body.
31) "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother

and be united to his wife,

and the two will become one flesh."
32) This is a profound mystery—

but I am talking about Christ and the church.
33) However,

each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself,

and the wife must respect her husband