Relax

Relax and let Me lead you through this day.  I have everything under control:  My control.  You tend to peer anxiously into the day that is before you, trying to figure out what to do, and when.  Meanwhile, the phone or the doorbell rings, and you have to reshuffle your plans.  All that planning ties you up in knots and distracts you from Me.  Attentiveness to Me is not only for your quiet time, but for all your time.  As you look to Me, I show you what to do now and next.

Vast quantities of time and energy are wasted in obsessive planning.  When you let Me direct your steps, you are set free to enjoy Me and to find what I have prepared for you this day.

From Sarah Young's devotional, Jesus Calling. 

It sounds amazingly simple, doesn't it.  This realizing God is in control and letting Him direct our day.  When the phone or doorbell rings, what if we said "okay God, I guess You have other plans for today" instead of muttering "I hope it is a wrong number" or "I really can't be interrupted now by guests". 

I am a big list maker.  Especially on weekends I have the list of things I'd like to accomplish.  Rarely am I able to cross everything off.   And usually I'm okay with that but there are times I feel anxious over getting side tracked or interrupted. 

Oh to have such a closeness with God that the now and the next activities of my day would be a dance with Him.  That I would allow Him to lead me in the next moves and be fulfilled with that. 

Amazing Father, let's start with this weekend.  You lead.  I'll follow. Let's see what plays out!

Your Face

I am mesmerized by this picture of Baby C.  Her daddy snapped it last week.  Just what was she thinking as she looked outside?  And to have her hands folded like that.  As far as I know, Favorite-Son-In-Law did not pose her hands.

Below is a daily devotion that I think goes along with this picture.  From Max Lucado's Grace For the Moment daily calendar, read this:

         He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.  Psalm 40:3

 

God invites us to see his face so he can change ours.  He uses our uncovered faces to display his glory.  By his fingers, wrinkles of worry are rubbed away.  Shadows of shame and doubt become portraits of grace and trust.  He relaxes clenched jaws and smoothes furrowed brows.  His touch can remove the bags of exhaustion from beneath the eyes and turn tears of despair into tears of peace.  How?  God's plan is [simple].  He changes our faces through worship.

What reflection is on Your Face? 
 
Do you have the peace, contentment and wonder that Baby C has on her face? 

Isn't it amazing that the answer is simple....worship God.  Spend time giving Him thanks and glory and honor.   All things He is worthy of. 
 
The benefit of worshipping God is a cheap face lift!  Our countenance changes and as mentioned in the devotional, bags of exhaustion disappear from beneath our eyes.
 
Give this amazing tip a try.  Let's watch our faces change!

Cancer and Chemo Suck

Suck is like a swear word for me.  When I use that word in a sentence that doesn't have anything to do with Popsicles or Tootsie Pops, I fully intend it to have an impact and intensity.  Tonight I feel great intensity when I say:  cancer and chemo suck.

 

This picture of my dad was taken last weekend.  He is holding his great granddaughter, Baby C (the world's cutest baby).  Dad looks great despite the fact he's had four cycles of chemo.   The first weeks of chemo were uneventful except his gallbladder went on a rampage and he had to have a quick surgery to have it removed.  The past month he has had to skip a chemo cycle because his blood counts were too low.  Now a sense of being cold all the time, extreme fatigue and a loss of appetite are side effects daily.  Today a permanent tooth fell out and a dentist won't see him because of his low immune system.  That tooth held his dentures in place.  It is hard for him to eat now!

Dad has such a great positive outlook.  He really is trying to keep up with his garden and projects in between naps.  Over the weekend he and I fished together and it was a special time for the both of us (I kept him busy taking my fish off the line).

Tonight my emotions have caught up with me and I find myself crying because his tooth fell out.  It sounds silly but it is another sign of that terrible disease and the treatment that have invaded our lives.  After I cry a bit then I get angry that Dad has to go through this.  My mom is such an encourager and helpmate for my Dad and all of this takes a toll on her, too.  Then I feel bad for my mom.  And I cry again. 

Cancer and chemo suck.

But that isn't what I want you to remember from this post.  There is a sure foundation that isn't moving or crumbling through all of this.  Our relationship with God is our sure foundation.  God has been very faithful to my parents over their entire lives and He has been so present for them these past three months.  God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow so the promise of His faithfulness for tomorrow is a sure thing.  Praise God. 

Should you feel The Nudge to pray for my dad, thank you!  Please also thank God for His hand of healing and wisdom for my dad. 

And please forgive me if I've offended you with my I-Really-Want-To-Swear-When-I-Say Cancer and Chemo Suck. 

In all this, I do remain, So Amazed at what God is doing in and through our lives.

Mini Muffin Smores

***Warning***

The food item described below is dangerous.  You will not be able to eat just one of these mini muffin smores.

This evening we arrived home from a multi-day vacation.  Within an hour of our arrival home, Kidlet Three needed to leave for hockey practice.  Thankfully I had shredded barbecue chicken in the freezer that I could thaw for a quick supper. 

After supper, my sweet tooth was not satisfied and I started craving something chocolate.  One of the recipes floating through Facebook came into my mind and I just knew that was what I needed to make tonight.  The recipe is called Smore Cups aka Mini Muffin Smores.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

7 whole graham crackers, finely crushed
1/4 cup powdered sugar
6 T. butter, melted

Combine the above ingredients.

Drop a spoonful of graham-cracker mixture into each cup of a mini muffin pan.  Gently press the mixture down.

Bake 4-5 minutes.

Remove from oven. 

I used chocolate chips instead of Hershey bars.  Into each cup I dropped four chocolate chips.

Cut large marshmallows in half.   Place marshmallow cut side down in each cup.

Bake an additional 1 to 2 minutes.
Remove from oven and set aside for 15 minutes.
Remove the smores from the pan. 
As I 'snacked' on them, I decided to not add the additional chocolate to the top. 

Bet you can't eat just one of these amazing treats!

Wait for Peace

I took this picture on a Way-Up-North lake on land my parents purchased.

There is such peace that falls over me when I look at it.  Maybe because I know the lake is so small and protected.  There are no boats zipping around the water.  As we fished with the motor off, the sounds of nature were all we heard.

Peace.

There was such peace on the lake the day I grabbed my camera to snap the photo.

My daily devotion for yesterday from Joyce Meyer's book, Starting Your Day Right, was entitled Wait for Peace.  Let me share it with you:

**********
A man's mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure.  Proverbs 16:9

You may have to step out to find out the right thing to do.  If you don't hear clearly from God, just step in the direction you think you should go, and then wait for peace.  If you lose your peace, back out of wherever you were headed.

Dave and I almost bought two different buildings to house our ministry.  We were in negotiations until, one morning after praying, Dave said  "Joyce, I don't have peace about buying that building.  I feel like God is saying, 'If you buy that building, you are going to be sorry later.'" So we waited for peace, and now we have a building that is completely paid for with room to grow.  Pray until you find peace.
*********

Friend, are you looking for peace in your life, in a decision or situation?  I love that God says through Joyce...just step out.  Sometimes we have to make a step before the peace comes.  Don't be afraid to take a step before the peace comes.  

Or perhaps you need to stop and be silent for a bit.  Like the flower and the lily pads.  Just float in silence with God.  Let His peace wash over you.

Amazing peace.  It keeps me...so amazed...

Baseball and The Booster

Kidlet Three's summer baseball league

played in a tournament

this past weekend.

 

After five breath-taking games,

they made it to the championship game.

The grounds crew chalked the school's

initials into the batter's circle before

the Big Game.

The Husband is the self-appointed

Booster Club for each team that the

Kidlets have been involved with.

For baseball, check out this video of

a common Booster scene.  Kidlet Three

is in the video warming up to bat (#12).

 On Sunday, the Rockets team played

three baseball games in HOT weather.

The games were played one right after the

other.  Between two of the games. Booster

 and I went into the dugout with the tunes to get

the boys jazzed up for their next game.  They all

got a little camera shy when I stepped in....

 Out of 16 teams, Kidlet Three's team WON first place!

Here is Kidlet getting his trophy from the coach. 

A great group of guys that play some amazing baseball.

So proud of them!

The Mouse

I must be having fun because time is flying by.  Isn't there a saying that time flies when you are having fun?  It has been a few weeks since I have posted and I guess it is because time flew by.

Before I post about The Mouse, you just have to see this picture of Grandbaby C.  Kidlet One went back to work last Friday.  Favorite-Son-In-Law and Baby C drove Kidlet One to work on that first morning.  Baby C decided to bless her momma by smiling this big smile as she left the car and walked into work.  Baby C...you did good!

There is so much happening in my life.  And I feel bad that this post is about The Mouse, when there are much more important things to write about.

But there are just some stories that need to be told and I guess I feel this is one of them.

I work in an old building.  There are delivery trucks that come and go into the building and apparently mice like to run in and out when the garage doors are up for the delivery trucks (or at least that is how I like to think mice get in the building).

Several years ago I stored a beautiful Ghirardelli chocolate candy bar in my desk for that special day when I was going to need it.  Well, a mouse got in my desk drawer and nibbled on the corner of my foil-wrapped piece of heaven.  Others in the office checked their desk drawers and, they too, found evidence of that PMSing mouse.  All of us with chocolate stashes had been vandalized.  After a call to the maintenance people, sticky traps were delivered (those sticky traps are horrible).  We never caught the sneaky-chocoloate-loving-creature and I forgot about the sticky traps under my desk.

Until this morning.

I have a foot rest under my desk to keep my feet up for some-reason-that-I-can't-remember.  As I sat down at my desk, I saw a piece of white, maybe paper, sticking out from under the foot rest.  So with my foot I tried to grab the corner of that paper and slide it toward me. It is not unusual for me to have papers flying around as my desk is stacked with paper.  Anyway, as I slid the paper there was something wrong with what I was seeing.  My brain and my eyes were not synching and I think it was because of shock.  Finally my brain registered that this was no ordinary piece of paper but a sticky trap with a dead mouse on it and it was now stuck to my shoe.

Oh yes....it was stuck to my shoe.

I shook my foot and shook my foot.  The same leg with my brand-new-knee-of-which-I-am-thankful-I-did-my-therapy-so-I-could-shake-and bend-very-quickly.

Are you shuttering?  I am just typing the whole thing out again.  Remind me, why did I feel this was important for you to know about my day?

The thing finally let loose of my shoe and I backed up to fast.  I didn't scream but I was making some sort of utterances because Mr. Reece in my office stopped working and stared at me. 

Turning to Mr. Reece the begging and pleading started...."oh please...please...please...get that mouse out from under my desk"!  Mr. Reece looked at me like "you've got to be kidding...just because I'm a man you expect me to want to pick up a dead mouse"?  



But he did it.  And I am so grateful.

Looking through my desk drawers, I was grateful to find that The Mouse does not like applesauce or Maple & Brown Sugar oatmeal packets because that is the only food I had in my drawer.  The maintenance people were quickly called and two more sticky traps were brought and placed under my desk.

All afternoon I've wanted to keep my feet UP ON THE DESK instead of using the foot rest.

So again I ask myself the question:  why was this important to post today?  I think it is because we all need to laugh.  If you can picture me with a sticky mouse trap (mouse included) stuck to my shoe and the dance that I was doing to get it off...I know you will laugh.

Our gracious Lord reminds us that "a cheery heart is like a good medicine". 

Being able to laugh is a gracious gift.  I hope I brought a laugh to you with this true story.  And if not, scroll back up to the top of the page and look at Baby C.  She is sure to make you smile.