Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Not Like God

Faults. I have many and today I am going to confess one of my many faults to all of you.

I say this like a little girl, face buried in Momma's belly from embarrassment. Here goes:

I am a quitter.
MmmHmm. I am.

And I am not proud of it.

I am terr - i - ble about attempting something and not finishing it. I always have these grand ideas about things like organizing cabinets, decorating, parenting, cleaing out closets, cooking, crafts,diets, exercise videos, and so on... I always have good intentions, but...something happens.

If I start cleaning out a closet and get interrupted, it is not a good thing. The plan never gets executed quite like I had envisioned in my mind. It's like I get bored with the whole idea and just do what it takes to "finish" it, but usually not finished like I had planned.

Crafts.

Then there's crafts.

I have done just about all of it. At least attempted it once, anyway.

Then that's it. I've accomplished the "how", and I'm ready to move on to something else. I think this must have driven my husband C.R.A.Z.Y. when we were newly married, but for the most part he has always been a good sport and supported whatever I wanted to try.

I have never understood how people that have booths at craft fairs don't just pluck out their eyebrows one by one after making 500 of the exact same Christmas ornaments.....Painful.

Please tell me that at least one person out there can identify with my "conquer it and then I'm done tendencies". Surely ONE of you understands me;)

This is an area where I'm not like God.

Not at all.

And I'm so glad He's different than me.

He never leaves a project unfinished. He never gets bored with cleaning out my closets or organizing my heart.
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:6


Isn't that wonderful news, my sweet friends?

It is so comforting to know that He doesn't put you or me on a shelf simply to move on to a new project.  Don't you agree?  

Did you notice in that verse that He doesn't just "finish" what He is doing, He perfects it.

He won't stop until the day of Christ Jesus and that is truth you can stand upon. So, even if you don't feel like He's making any progress, you can believe that truth instead of your feelings.

And, next time you get discouraged at yourself because you didn't finish something, let that unfinished projcet be a reminder to you that He is not like us. You may not have finished that project, but you are one project that will be perfectly completed by the Master Crafter.

So, please do tell...are you a unfinished project kinda girl like me? Really, it's ok if you are. I promise my list maker friends won't bite if you admit it, they're too busy being driven crazy by me;)


Biggest Blessings,
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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Satisfied

We've all felt that feeling that something's missing.

That feeling that there must be something more.

Surely this will make me happy, or maybe that, or just maybe it's both.

A better job.

A nicer car.

A bigger home.

A better husband.

A baby, or even a second child.

A new church home.

Maybe it's something sweet, like chocolate that's missing.

Or maybe it's something salty.

Let's change paint color in the living room.

A new dress.

And those new high heels would look so good with the new dress while I'm driving my new car from my bigger house to my new church......Ok, I know, I'm being a bit dramatic here! And I bet you think I'm going to talk about "filling that void with God", don't you? But that's not where I'm going this time. It's not that He's not capable of filling our void, because He completely is.

What I want to tell you is that even spiritually, I have found that I am never satisified. It's like there is this constant unsettling to know more, to grow more, to go deeper.

It won't go away.

Have you ever found yourself wondering things like:
"Am I ever going to get this?"
"Will I ever not feel like a spiritual infant?"
"I just got this concept down, is there always going to be more for Him to uncover in my heart?"

If you have thought things like that and felt unsatisfied spiritually like I described, I'm glad.

Glad for two reasons
1-It's evidence of the Holy Spirit at work with in you, calling you deeper. It's evidence that you ARE HIS and that is great news!
2-It's evidence that I'm not in this boat alone!

If you have ever found yourself unsatisfied, read this:
.
Because I am righteous, I will see you.
When I awake, I will see you face to face and be satisfied.

Psalms 17:15

Isn't that a fantastic verse? We have never known true satisfaction on this side of Heaven, I don't think we completely understand what it really is, but we know there is more. We know that we long for something.

It's Him.

It's looking at Him face to face.

We will long no more.

We will be satisfied simply by seeing Him face to face.

Oh, I can't wait.

Sweet, loving Jesus, how I dream of looking into your face. I dream of your soft countenance and the gleam in your eye. I envision your gentle smile as you reach your hand, still nail scarred, to touch my face. Oh how satisfied I just know I will be when our eyes meet for the first time. I know that I will be captivated by You and there will no longer be a longing within me for absolutely anything else......What a day that really will be.

Biggest Blessings,
 
 
If you've got a second, please hop over to my new page I'm working on and let me know what you think.  You can click here or go to www.beyondsundaymornings.weebly.com
 
 
 
 
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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

And It Isn't Make Believe

It's a phrase Mom told us many times, and I find myself repeating it to my children often, especially when I'm busy. I'm quite sure, other than, "Stop that!", it's going to be one of the most repeated phrases by moms everywhere over the coming summer break. What phrase is that?

I don't know, honey, just use your imagination.

I was chatting with two of my lunch buddies today about our kids. One of them has a elementary aged son, and I have two girls. We were commenting to each other how creative they are, how astonishing their young minds are. Her son amazes her with the things he constructs with Legos and my oldest shocks me with the accessories she designs and creates for her dolls. My other daughter is just plain goofy and creative with the things she says. Sometimes she keeps us in stitches, leaving me asking, "Where did you come up with that?".

She and I both agreed that we used to be able to use our imaginations like they do, but now, it just seems like we can't. We both used to play Barbies for hours, dreaming up all kinds of story lines, but now, the stories and escapes from reality allude us.

I agreed with her and reminding myself that those days of using our imaginations were before we had to live in the "real world" where everything has to make sense to our logical minds. It seems, as moms, that everything has to be practical, and that dreaming - imagining, is pushed aside.

No, we may not be able to sit and play Barbies everyday as the rest of life screams for our attention, since Barbie's world isn't real, but we can use our imaginations and dream about our God.

My life seems so void of hope when I fail to imagine and dream about Him. If I don't reflect on His goodness, marvel at His power, read of His unending love, I feel so empty.

Like a bored child on a summer day with no one to play with.

Blah.

Indifferent.

I have to remember to use my imagination.

My world IS God's world.

He is real.
And, no, He doesn't have to make sense to my logical mind.

I can escape in the vastness of the I AM.

Imagining all that He has planned for us to do together when we meet face to face. Imagining His face. His smile. His laugh.

My, the tears are welling up as I sit typing. I could go on and on, but I'll let you use your imagination and take it from here.

That's my challenge to you my sisters, don't forget to use your imagination, you can trust it will certainly provide a healing escape from the chaos and ho hums of this life.

And it isn't make believe.

Biggest Blessings,

P.S.  As I mentioned last week, I am tinkering around with a new page, so I have added this post there too as a trial run. The page is still in its infant stages, so keep that in mind, but if you have a second, would you hop over there and take a look?  Let me know what you think.  It will help me decide what to do!
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Monday, May 7, 2012

Be Is A Verb

Not so long ago I wrote a post entitled Life Is A Highway. I wrote that post after I felt the Holy Spirit teaching me something very important through something very ordinary and practical. You see, I am a visual learner, and He knows that. Afterall, He made me this way, why wouldn't He know that?

Anyhow.

He knows I am a visual learner and He knows that I "get" things and tend to retain the lesson He is trying to teach me if He shows me from a scene in my life. A scene amongst what I see as very ordinary.

I mentioned in that post that waiting is very hard.

It's really hard when it seems as if nothing is happening.

It's even harder if you are a "do-er".

I. am. a. do-er.

If something needs to happen, I want to do whatever it takes to make it happen. I guess that means I'm not very patient, huh? Patience is one fruit of the Spirit that is a little sparse on my tree sometimes, if you get what I mean.

And when I am in a season of waiting, stuck in life's traffic, I often wonder why God just doesn't do something. I mean, we all know He can, right? Often, it's in the midst of my impatience, my tendency to want to do something, that it appears to me that He is doing absolutely nothing.

I can't stand to do absolutely nothing.

If something depends on me, or if I even think I can make a difference, I can't stand to do nothing.

Woven within my wonderings of late, woven within my traffic jam, so to speak, He's been teaching me another lesson. A great, but hard to learn lesson for someone like me. A profound lesson wrapped up in only four little words.

Be is a verb.

All you have to do right now, Amy, is just be.

Let Me.

He's been reminding me to just "be". He's been teaching me that when it seems I am doing nothing,in fact, I AM doing something. When I am willing to just be, I am doing something.

I am trusting.

Trusting Him.

I may be doing nothing, but the I AM is doing something

And for those of you who were a little nerdy in English class like me, just think about the other word forms of "be", two of those forms are IS and AM.

I can BE because He IS the I AM.

Biggest Blessings,


P.S.  I am tinkering around with a new page, so I have posted this post there too as a trial run. The page is still in its infant stages, so keep that in mind, but if you have a second, would you hop over there and take a look?  Let me know what you think.  It will help me decide what to do!
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Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Wrinkles...Grey...They're Ok

Let's just say my nine-year-old has been a little traumatized a couple of times this week.  Well, maybe not quite traumatized, perhaps a better description would be deeply disturbed.  She was deeply disturbed by something that I had no idea mattered to her.

....these children of mine...they never cease to amaze me..

Sunday morning after attempting to make something presentable out of my hair and then moving on to hers, I had my "I am hurrying and concentrating at the same time" face on, and unbeknownst to me, she was watching that face in the bathroom mirror.

Suddenly Brenna spins around and spews emphatically,  "Mommy!  You're getting wrinkles by your mouth! AND I DON'T LIKE IT!"

I'll just tell you, that does wonders for your self confidence.  I mean, I know I'm not as young as I used to be, but I do use moisturizer people.

She went on to point out the specific trouble spots she had noticed, as I tried to pick up what was left of my severely-damaged-by-a-nine-year-old dignity.  I tried to explain to her that the wrinkles she noticed were from laughing and smiling, so I smiled just to prove it to her and she was satisfied.

For about 10 hours.

Then we had deeply disturbed situation #2.

We are sitting in Sunday evening services, I am digesting a sermon on Nehemiah and she begins forcefully tapping my left hand.  I turned to look at her with my this-better-be-important-bugged-out eyes only for her to point out wrinkles she had just discovered on my hand.

"Mommy, your hand, it has wrinkles too!" she whispered in desperation.  I reassured her that these had been there for a long time and were not new.

I thought she had recovered until we stumbled upon deeply disturbed situation #3 on Tuesday evening.   You see, I was totally living on the edge Tuesday morning when beating this hair o mine into submission, and decided to - -prepare yourselves- - part my hair on the opposite side.  The problem with this is, I have more grey on that side for some reason.  I have reluctantly come to accept this strip of wisdom on my scalp, at least until my next highlights anyway, and thought nothing else of it. 

You guessed it.  Tuesday evening when she was talking to me she noticed the grey.  She stopped mid- sentence.
MOMMY!  YOUR HAIR! as she grabs a chunk of my bangs. IT'S TURNING GREY!
Friends, I had not quite recovered from the wrinkle situations yet, and was feeling really good about myself as I removed my grey strands from her hands.  Seriously, I thought the child was going to cry!

She explained to me that this all upset her because she doesn't think I'm old and doesn't want that stuff to happen to me.  I know where she's coming from.  I don't like to like to think about my parents growing old either.  To think of my daddy, who personally went to deal with school bus bullies face to face, to think of my daddy who could do anything or fix anything, growing old and unable to fight my battles, saddens my heart. Even all grown up, the first place I want to go when I'm hurting is to Mom who loves unconditionally, no matter the situation. To think of my mom who could whip up an outfit on the sewing machine in no time flat, my mom who taught me everything I know about cooking and mothering not being there brings tears to my eyes at the slightest thought. 

I understand Brenna.

But I also understand this -  The God who created me, who knit me together in my mother's womb, is no older today than He was yesterday.  He is always strong.  He is always available. He will always be able to defend me against the bullies.  He will always be right there to listen when I am hurting. 


He will never wrinkle.  He will never grey.

Just think, He is completely unaffected by time.  He will continue just as He is right this moment forever.

Never changing.

That, my friends, is a wonderful place to find comfort.

Wrinkles...

Grey...

They're ok.  Just evidence that I am closer now than ever before to meeting Him face to face.


Skin cream recommendations anyone?



Royal Princess Daughter Of The King


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