Exceeding Abundantly Times

"Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we dare ask, hope or think, according to the power that works within us."   ... Ephesians 3:20

Amen, like, a katrillion times.

For decades I tried getting and doing things according to my own power/strength/limited brain, but God made certain that didn't work. Why? Because He wants all things to come from Him--His hand, His strength, His wisdom. That's why He must change us--so that it will be His power within us doing all the exceedingly abundantly stuff--not our own bright (what were we thinking?) ideas. 

From beginning to end, it must be all of Him. His light shining through us, drawing people to Him and not ourselves.

Anyway. I've been thinking about that verse because that's what phase Tom and I are currently in--the Exceeding Abundantly Above All Phase.

And yes, it took whole decades to get here because we are stubborn. And even God won't blast through Stubborn Walls until we move over, get out of the way and let Him start demolishing the laughable stuff we built.

But oh, after the demolition. Wow. Exceeding Abundantly City.

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Now, Tom's and my Exceedingly Abundantly might not look like much to you--and that's ok. Yours might appear like something we'd rather not have... but we can still be thrilled that you're there!

I mean here we are inside this tiny-but-paid-for Hobbit Cottage and last week while Tom was home (he got days off!) we again watched all three Lord of the Rings movies, probably for the 8th time. And how did I feel by the end of them? As though I'd just attended a Joyce Meyer Seminar, a Women of Faith Conference and a You, Too, Can Be Courageous Convention.

Yet with none of the exhaustion from traveling, milling around with thousands of people (He, uh, knows I don't like that) and staying in motel rooms. No, instead I felt revitalized, infused with new courage and ready to conquer all the messed-up junk in the world outside our pretty red door. 

(Talk about making a way where there is no way... He truly can bring us what we need when we can't go out and get it.)

Then yesterday I remembered I have over 300 free books (!) on my free Kindle Cloud Reader, so I read from a couple. Then I thought oh! Let's see how much the kindle version of Krazy Coupon Lady's book, Pick Another Check-Out Lane, Honey costs. 

As you know, one of my New Year's goals is to save even more money on groceries.

And well, the kindle version of PACOLH was the cheapest of them all--it cost only $4.24, which is like getting it for .25 cents since Amazon.com always charges $3.99 shipping for 'real' books, anyway (plus, you've got to wait 1 or 2 weeks for those and who has that kind of time?). Well, there was no waiting yesterday and poof! I read tons of it, then felt as though I'd just attended The Coupon Convention to End All Coupon Conventions. And am so majorly coupon inspired I can hardly stay inside my skin.

See? Like I said, my Exceeding Abundantly Phase might look like dusty little peanuts to you. But God knows us better than we know ourselves and no one can customize blessings (or our Life's Pathway) the way He can. No one.

That's why the power that works within us must be from Him. Only He knows the how and when and why of it all. Only He understands how Life--for each of us-- will work best.

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"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me."   ... John 12:32

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts ... and be ye thankful."   ... Colossians 3:15

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Have any doubts or questions about using coupons? Pick Another Check-Out Lane, Honey will blast your doubts into oblivion and answer every single question you ever had about couponing. Every. Single. Question.

I've been using coupons over 30 years, and well--if you're just starting or simply need more hints or inspiration--this book is so complete that you'll never need another. Well, in my humble opinion.  :)

Speaking of coupons, most of this morning's major newspapers have 5 coupon inserts... five! (Though, honestly, I use very few coupons from Sunday inserts. I find the coupons online from manufacturers to be much more valuable.)

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Want your own free Kindle Cloud Reader? Just go to amazon.com, run your cursor over Kindle (on the left) and then go from there. (I helped Tom get his free Kindle Cloud Reader yesterday. That was one of my Christmas gifts to him and he enjoyed finding free ebooks for it at DailyFreeBooks.com)  :)

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Oh! Just discovered that Hulu has six seasons of I Love Lucy to watch instantly. Now, these have been on other websites, but I've found their streaming to be sketchy and problem-proned at best. No problems so far at Hulu, though!


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