Praise and Glory from my home to yours! God has blessed us with an extension on summer. Melting ice cream, hot football games, grilling our suppers into mid-October and children playing outdoors without coats. We have so much to be thankful for.
I pray often that my blog will only glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not of my talent, and my prayer is that this typing of words is just a channel of information from the Holy Spirit that I can compliment with my life experiences, along with Scripture, so that you might come along in your Christian journey another step (with me!) I try to read over my previous entries for appropriateness. I have made corrections and please privately contact me if you feel I stepped over a line that would hinder someone from moving forward with their faith. If I made you uncomfortable, it may also mean that you may need to reflect on exactly why that sentence or phrase touched you that way. Growth is painful. I experience those growing pains often since being born again. And as Paul states, we should welcome them.
I will warn you that I will soon be writing more about fathers and men. And it is not a stab at anyone in particular out there. My earthly father is deceased. I feel to share some crucial information about my upbringing may be a future blog that will likely help someone else. Also in regards to men, my future blogs about them will be an exact picture of how, in the past, I put men before God, and how sinful and destructive that was. And yes, in marriage, no man comes before God. Most humans cannot sustain a grand level of power or wealth. We are not God, and because of that, we fall very far and hard when we are given the reigns, as to say. Many, many women are doing this in marriage, in living together situations and dating situations. I am alarmed at what I am now uncovering about myself and am finding many women around me in "stressful" relationships. I see what is happening. They are putting the love of the man before their love for God. They are allowing mental and physical abuse to continue to occur, neglect, and even more common, the partner is constantly throwing a bucket of water on their dreams. And I see a direct link. They missed an intimate relationship with their earthly "daddy", so they didn't start an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, and now an earthly sexual partner is the road block. Over and over and over again I see this. Please consider this. And please check back for these future blogs. I feel compelled to type this information because it is critical for me to be genuine to you, to risk doing that so that someone else can make that faith leap that I finally did this last year. It feels so much better.
On to God In and God Out!! Some things are very clear to me. Some of these things have always been clear to me, but I was in denial and wanted to ignore and put off being healthy spiritually and physically. I decided to be a healthy eater in 1994. And I have actually improved my eating habits since then. It is a choice. I also decided in around 1993 that I needed to do more exercise. I bought a bike. I had always pushed the stroller around town with the kids after work, to get them fresh air, to give me some outside time, to just get rid of the stress from sitting in an office all day. I pushed strollers many years and when the kids could walk, we would go on walks. I now throw football and baseball with my 12 year old Ross. He laughs because he can't believe I can throw a spiral at age 43. He loves when I throw the baseball hard and it "smacks" his mitt just right. He just shakes his head and laughs. He has said to me that he knows that many moms won't do that.
We actually don't have a big yard, so we throw in the street. It is perfect. And I put myself out there, making mistakes for the neighbors, but I don't care. They can decide that this single mom cares and is and always has put alot of time being home with her children, and doing the things that many two parent homes don't do. They sit and watch TV and grumble about their jobs to their kids. How healthy is that? Let's put some God into those children instead by praising after work that we even have a job.
I sat at Long John Silver's last week, alone with a great Christian book. I had some quiet time and also had a great coupon for supper (No, that is not healthy, but I don't do that every day). I was reading and then an adult couple sat near me with an 8 year old boy. The father or male adult said the F word three times. One time was directly in yelling at the boy. Just over drinking his root beer too fast. They were talking about inappropriate things in front of the boy. I almost left the restaurant. But, I decided to eat quick and leave. In our society, in is very difficult to confront these parents making grave mistakes. I really, really wanted to calmly ask him to not swear in the restaurant. To have the boy see me or someone correct the dad would have been beneficial. That would have left an imprint on the boy for future reference. I weighed it out and decided that the dad was acting a little too stressed and he could be on some type of drug, so my safety was more important. As most of us wonder: When parents scream at their kids at stores and restaurants comfortably, what is going on in the house behind four walls? I cringe. People, get a handle on your emotions. Your kids are watching you.
I bought poster board many months ago and decided to use it to show the different things that seem to be the elements to success in life. I had not at the time read a specific book on this, but was aiming to get reading The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. I wanted to FIRST see if I was on track with this.
I took sticky notes and wrote on them the elements that successful Christian people that I know, seem to possess. (Yes, I really do these things at home. I want to tap into what so many people seem to be gleaming over and missing)
You can imagine that regular exercise and general movement of the body are one. Healthy eating choices is one. Christian worship with a church home and activeness in that is another. Interest in growth in their career by reading, attending workshops, networking or attending classes. Healthy hobbies is another. Who you hang around with is another. Positive attitude and making a conscience decision to have a positive attitude is another. Staying away from addictive habits another: alcohol, cigarettes and gambling.
These came to mind for me after really observing certain people in society. I think you would agree that these are pretty basic truths. They make sense. But, people say "Who has time?". That is a crock!
I have found ways to at least walk, most of my life. Now, I put my work out days on my calendar. I look ahead at my week, many times during the month and plan my life. I write my work out in the planner to be as important as a meeting or church service. I work out at home. This does not require drive time, daycare or a membership fee. That simple!!
My hobbies I enjoy in my home. On purpose! It's cheap to read books or the Bible (on purpose). My piano is here. My kitchen loves me to cook in it. And food is healthier when you know how much salt is going into it, and using fresh items.
I find the television to be a very, very unhealthy hobby. The commercials alone are too sexual and commercialism is saturating us and we don't even feel alarmed by it anymore. I sit to watch about one hour of TV a week. I put the local news on when I get ready for work, and that is another 1/2 to 1 hour a day. But, I don't sit. I am making the bed and brushing my teeth.
There is such an addictive trait to the TV shows now. You have to keep tuning in to see who won the dance show or who "survived". That is fine and good if you DECIDE to control how much TV you will watch a week. Turn it off and listen to the sounds of your home. It is so wonderful! I like to hear the crunch of the carpet when my cat is entering a room. Is your home that quiet? How about having the TV off when the kids are in bed. I love to hear them breathing and snoring. It is so great! They are safe, they are sleeping and they don't need anything from me.
And then God In God Out in very obvious ways. This one is getting more and more popular. The demonic tattoos. Let's all put the mark of the beast in some artful way on our body! That one Satan LOVES! He is laughing at all of these 20-30 year olds. I shiver. I wish they knew the portal they are opening for him to keep enticing them, ever so quietly into his eternal web. It's people like me that he is really bugging, loudly. He is wanting to make me into a complete hypocrite as a born again and will try every way to make me doubt what I am doing with my life now. He wants me to drink. He wants me to gossip. He wants me to get distracted and get in front of the TV, find all kinds of idols, give up on the joy of life, be negative.
He is wrong. I am a Warrior for Christ. I am making plans to get my Bible read. I am doing my daily devotion. I am keeping my body healthy and strong (as much as I can control). I am spending as much time as I can with family. I am making a plan to get baptized (again). I am praying for my church home, but enjoying two local churches just wonderfully in the mean time. I am talking to God frequently through the day. Praising him for all the little and big things. I am keeping the Holy Spirit very near me. I am praying, praying for strength, for endurance. Praying for others more than myself.
I am putting tons of God In. And I hope you notice I am putting tons of God Out. Have a great Sunday night!
2 Corinthians 7: 1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
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