Choosing Contentment

This week I signed up for the Contentment Challenge. This should be a piece of cake! However, I had a difficult time, I couldn't even make it through one day. LOL! I discovered the grimy state of my heart. I was determined not to grumble and complain to anyone, not even myself or God. Then my plate was heaped with a pile of things--easy fodder to complain about! I tried my best to keep it to myself, but it kept leaking out.

Praise God, there was change though: 1) I became aware of this ugly habit that I have, 2) I asked for forgiveness and relied on God's mercies that are new every morning. 3) I am daily begging Him to change--and He is.

An interesting thing happened...although I still grumbled in the moment (in my heart and sometimes to my husband), God removed the details from my memory so it was impossible for me to grumble today about what happened yesterday! Or is that old age? No, I'm not that old...it's a God thing. And so I'm thankful for my selective memory and that HE is merciful to me. I pledge to make this a life-long challenge!

Today I read the challenger's post on how she did and discovered that I am not alone in my discoveries. Will you join us as we continue to cultivate a thankful heart?

The LORD's voice

Do you ever ask, "are You there God?", "Can You see me?", "Can You please tell me what to do?"

I ask these questions on a regular basis. I'm like the poster child of neediness--constantly asking, "Do You love me? No really, do You love me? How about now? And now? Still? Do You love me?" and sometimes, "Why do You love me? How can You love me?"

This morning, despite the fact that I skipped my prayers, the LORD spoke to me through this blog post, and this devotion--Discerning the Call of God.

God is good and I will always praise Him!!!

My First Hero

My Dad

He claimed me as his own
He gave me his name
He loved me
He challenged me
He rescued me
My Dad, My first hero

My Dad, non-filter Lucky Strikes and strong black coffee
Painted himself into the corner of the shed -- the only mistake I ever saw him make
My Dad, fisher, hunter, ford lover, quiet, strong, big loving heart, electrician, builder
My Dad, I miss you
I miss what I threw away, I miss what we never had a chance to have
I miss You!!! I've missed you for years and now I'll never have a chance to rebuild all that was missed

My Dad

♥ R.I.P. ♥

some thoughts from my heart today...

The enemy knows that he needs to come in and destroy us when we are kids so that we won’t trust and we will have a hard time in relationships as we get older, thus separating ourselves from others because relationships are hard. We are alone in a world full of people and we are afraid to reach out to each other. What will they think of me? What will they want from me? What will they need of me? I don’t have enough strength in me for me, how can I give any of myself away to others? What will *they* think of me if I really put myself out there?

We need to let go of the fear and love each other. This saying is so over used--"what would Jesus do?"

But seriously, How would Jesus love? If He saw a lonely, a sad, a hurting heart would He turn away? Or, would He reach out and connect and share His great love with them despite the consequences, despite their *worthiness.*

Let's love as Jesus loves...everyone...so much that He gave of Himself to death to love us and save us.....I want to be known for my great love....what about YOU?

He Hears and He Answers

A couple of days before Christmas I got a phone call from Christina. A couple of days after Christmas I got to see her and my granddaughter, Amara. They are now staying with us again and my sorrow has been turned to joy! The Lord is good, he knows just when the cookies are done to perfection!

That's an analogy that my friend Sam gave me when I asked him for counsel and my only question was, "How Long?!"

He asked me, "when do you take the cookies out of the oven?" Duh! when the timer goes off...when they are done!

That's when God will take the cookies out of the oven. He knows what He is doing. I can interfere and try to enforce my will on the cookies. But that could mean underdone cookies or burnt cookies. That is not what I want. So I sit back, pray and wait for Him to tell me when the cookies are done.

I'm so glad I did that. God's a better baker than me.