Thursday, October 31, 2024

Think I'm Gonna Make a Rental Agreement With Worry?


"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."   --- Isaiah 41:10


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See that dresser in the center of our kitchen? 




From the red couch, I watch Tom step from the left-hand countertop to the right-hand one, always pausing with his hand upon that dresser, first. No longer can he walk across the kitchen without bracing himself in the middle.

Sometimes, that hurts my heart. (If you're new here, as a baby, Tom had polio which settled in his leg.)

Last week we reminisced how Tom, decades ago, would carry his heavy guitar case into church. Or an amplifier. Out in the woods, he chain-sawed-down huge, towering trees, cut the rounds, loaded them into our truck. At his job, he climbed steep stairs to verify the highest boiler readings or just as exercise. On vacation we'd travel, sight-see, zoom along by train, camp.

Now? When out and about, Tom can carry only what fits into the brown leather 'man bag' around his shoulder. His hands must grip two sporty canes or the car-stored rollator. When descending our three steps to the back door, I stand at the bottom for encouragement. Always.

When home again (after oh-so-slowly climbing those three stairs), he uses a different rollator to walk to each room. It can carry dishes, clothes, water bottles, etc. via the box he installed on top.

Travel: at this date we can't see that happening again.

But where I refuse to allow my mind to wander? To an imagined future world of scary unknowns, one stuffed with hours too tough to handle, days where I must do everything Tom no longer can.

And just so you'll know, I refuse to make peace with fear. I will never grant Worry a rental agreement inside this brain! No way, Honey, will I tolerate fear's lying mouth.

Probably you've heard 365 Bible verses exist telling us not to fear, one for each day of the year. That's lovely to know, of course, but if I choose to worry/fear/dread anyway? That's not lovely at all. That's actually disobedience. 

Yikes.

Besides, I believe it hurts God's feelings when I doubt His continued supernatural care. (One example is that He gave Tom his dream job at age 56. Eleven years later he still has it and our gratitude is huge. I mean, how often does that happen?)

During our hour of reminiscing, we felt so thankful we did the activities of our youthful years while we still could. We respected those early seasons; I like to believe because we followed God's promptings.

Only He could see this far ahead and realize we'd--now--so appreciate our memories of Young Tom and Debra On The Go.

The changes in Tom's body arrived slowly and each time, God provided a way to handle, to overcome each one. And here's the wonderful thing: still, even now, God gives us new dreams, ones we can do at this late date.

Of course, they are simpler and most folks wouldn't understand the delight. But that matters not.

What we know is that consistently shoving away walls of fear will allow us to grow closer to God in love and anticipation of days to come...

... and even with a 100 percent healthy body you cannot top that.






Oh, and I forgot to mention that Naomi goes with Tom to nearly all his appointments, most likely for the same reason I stand at the bottom of the stairs--encouragement that we have his back. We are blessed to have Naomi's help these days.


... and I do want to mention Tom faithfully works out on the treadmill (it has strong arm rails) and with weights and tries to eat right. He's not just sitting around waiting for 'the hammer to drop'. He's doing his part and believing that God will do His.




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What I'm still doing each day? Expecting at least 4 favorable things to happen, then counting them at night.

(Joyce Meyer said she wakes up thinking, "Something good is going to happen today," and I thought I'd up that to four good things will happen. heh.)

At first I expected many positive things would come from other people, but only a small percentage do. Most come when I stop procrastinating and actually make progress on various things. 

I'd show you a typical list, but you'd laugh. シ  But what matters is that always I can count on at least four lovely things happening every single day of my life!

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New England in Autumn  Oh my, this was almost too gorgeous to watch!




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If that spirit of fear does not come from God, why would I want even a tiny piece of it?


Your homework, if you choose to accept it (heh) is to see how quickly you can recall 10 times God gave you something special after you lost an earlier blessing.


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Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

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 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15

Friday, October 25, 2024

Afraid After All These Years?


"We walk by faith, not by sight ... and no one shall take away your joy."   --- 2 Corinthians 5:7, John 16:22b


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The short version of this post? -- 

God created us with the ability to choose adventure and joy, so why would we pick dread and worry, instead?

So.

On October 1st I celebrated my 54th 'spiritual birthday', you know, when I gave Jesus my heart and trust and became a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

And on this past October 1st, I remembered that 11-year-old girl of eons ago and how, ever since, she's never felt alone. Lonely at times, yes, but never alone. And what else? Oh my, did she ever have mega stuff to learn.

Sheesh. What a fearful little gal she was! But now I can gaze backward and understand why God pretty much began yanking me out of jittery, wimpy pits of dread and fear of the silliest things. 

Over decades and by peeling back layers, He used vibrant, outgoing friends to help me lighten-up and desire a smile-worthy freedom. Other times, He used teachings from books or pastors or He taught me by lots of trial and error. 

Or He just silently tweaked me on the inside like a person standing, head bent, at a workbench with tools. God has abundant ways of setting us free, you know.

Well, I'm meandering, so let's get to today's point:

With all the thousands of hours and (literally) blood, sweat and tears Jesus has poured into me? What type of an example of His work would I be if I was all bug-eyed anxious and tense about the upcoming presidential election?

I mean, really. After 54 years of walking beside Him everywhere, should I still be apprehensive after all I've spied God do during my decades' long, incredible journey?

I think you know the answer.

These days, these past four years, especially, God reminds me that He's expecting me to--more than ever--walk by faith and certainly not by sight.

With great godly workings comes great responsibility. The more He pours into us, the more He expects us to know what we believe. To find peace in not wavering. To grow strong in Him and the power of His might. Stronger in joy. In gratitude. 

And in knowing with all our heart, that all will be well in Time because never will He leave us alone. Never.





"But we have the mind of Christ."   --- 1 Corinthians 2:16


Is the Holy Spirit within us worried about the future? Uh, no. So it would benefit us greatly to ask Him to show us His mind and thoughts in all matters. To crave His ways a million times more than our own.


If I'm a nervous wreck while waiting for God to answer a certain prayer, then I'm certainly not waiting in faith. And without faith? It's impossible to please God.


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Small Yellow Vintage Cottage Home Tour (although Honey, some of those yellows are mighty intense, indeed. heh.)



Here's a book I'm reading during my quiet times:

It's like a workbook (old school word) and is filled with marvelous quotes about overcoming those daily fears which can hold us back from our best life.









What's incredible? God can give us the wisdom and boldness to handle anything dark standing in our path. And remember: He's brought you through 100 percent of everything you've ever experienced. You're still here!



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Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

 *** 

 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

October This and That





1.) You've noticed some celebrities coming to Christ, right? To me, that's exciting and such an answer to prayer!

But it comes with a warning: 

Please, give them time to grow. Do not expect them to obey in months what God gave us years to learn (and do). Normally time, Bible study and experience with God are required to become the examples He created us to be.

And although I believe in these last days, we'll witness many accelerated things--still--may we:

Be kind. 
Stay patient. 
Pray for folks with joyful expectation.
And zip our lips of criticism.

I'm thinking doing the opposite just might grieve the Holy Spirit.


2.)  When the temptation's strong to stay stuck, may we choose to move forward with God, instead.





3.)  Does anyone else feel your head begin to hurt when you're watching a tv show or movie and suddenly a camerman waves a hand-held camera back and forth like it's some cool new way to film a scene?

Eegads. Sometimes we've even 'turned the channel' (old school term, I know), but yeah. I guess we could've tried fast-forwarding to see if he eventually knocked it off.  (Perhaps while on the verge of a full blown headache I can't think straight.) シ

4.)  Movies we've enjoyed lately:




Tornado Valley  --if you're in the mood for a not-too-cheesy disaster film.  heh.


5.)  I placed a miniature rose bush outside in a hanging basket and soon-ish the poor thing looked anemic-as-unto-death. 

Somewhere I'd read roses like tea so I seeped four bags of tea in two cups of water, let it cool, then watered the roses. The next week I repeated that and wow! Ever since, the rose bush has rallied and given me sweet yellow roses galore.

                                           (Just a stock photo.)


6.)  Here's something to remember: Politics is no longer 'just politics' when it affects our daily life.

May we choose wisely and do whatever God asks so to keep our life (and our childrens' future) as free and godly-inspired as possible.


7.) And as I added at Facebook:

Succinct things like these are a good place to start searching for answers. So often just making simple changes will fix our health--



8.) If you enjoyed Meg Ryan's apartment in You've Got Mail, you may like this recreated tour of it here.




9.) Truly, when I began my own Autumn season in July, it changed everything for me. Helped me focus on beautiful things rather than the hot, muggy and miserable ones. And now? It feels as though Autumn is a huge, peaceful, beautiful part of my year. It goes on and on and --

Really, the Bible even tells us to think about right, pure, lovely and of a good report things and if that's not Autumn, what is?  ツ






10.) At Youtube someone titled their video, "The American Dream is Dead. There is Only Survival."

Good grief! Please don't let that be your attitude, ok? 

Instead, I hope you'll speak what you'd like to see happen rather than the bad times of your present or future as though they're stuck in dried concrete forever.

Seriously, I'd rather be struck voiceless than ruin another person's hope for their future. 

Always may I be careful with my words and choose to believe God has wonderful things ahead for me and all who long to follow His ways.






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Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

 *** 

 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15