As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. —PSALM 18:30
“For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” —ISAIAH 41:13
Just the bread I needed today: His way, His life-giving and transforming Word, His protection, His hand holding mine, His comfort and assurance, His help. What a relationship, what love, joy, peace, hope, inheritance, grace, mercy, power, advancement, blessings, favor - - so #thankful! You can have it all, Lord, every part of my world; take this life and breath on this heart that is now yours!
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The scoop is that I decided to join the members site at TrimHealthyMama.com; I chose the three month membership, because I want to see if I will visit there enough and utilize the resources there enough for me to feel like I have spent that money wisely. As of this day, about 12 days in, I can say it has been well worth the money.
So far I have found answers to some of my recent questions, along with the Stubborn Losers Menus and some delicious recipes. The Chocolate Milk, and the Eggs and Hash recipes are repeaters, and the FP Peanut Butter Cookie Muffin will be. I enjoyed the muffin this morning, completely surprised at how delicious it was and how much I enjoyed the texture as well. I do so love it when I follow a recipe as written, taste it tentatively, and then blissfully inhale the end product. Thanks so much, Pearl and Serene!
While out running this morning, I was reminded that I should start thinking about blog posts for the week. I remember promising updates about some things, one of which I covered above.
I am still school planning, although I added in a major writing project to this month, which is requiring lots of my discretionary time. Alongside of that I have had some wonderful, amazing ministry opportunities open up to which I have said yes and run after. Nonetheless, albeit slowly, I have been working my way through a library book by Cathy Duffy and feeling inspired and motivated. That in itself is worth the investment of time reading the book and doing the exercises.
On the employment front, I have not heard back a second time about an interview, at least not as of yet. I am praying about following up somehow. HE knows how much I would love that job, as well as all of the other details that would be affected by me working part-time.
And that's the scoop as of today.
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I have missed you and longed to spend time with you. Dashing off "Theme Song Thursday" posts as a way to stay connected, though somewhat lame, has ministered to my heart and given me hope that indeed I will once again be regularly posting here. Thanks for your grace, patience and understanding.
Because He is always with me and always at work, for me it isn't really an issue of God showing up or not. He always shows up for me (He is in me and promises to never leave nor forsake me). The challenge is to have eyes to see Him at work and ears to hear what He is saying as He is working. And so I cry "show off, God, for Your Name and Renown that everyone will see Your glory and will know Your lovingkindness." Graham Cooke suggests asking a question that is something like: "who are you for me right now, God?" I understand that to mean "what part of who You are is it that You are putting on display and revealing to me right now in this situation?"
Of course, you wouldn't know about that here, because I have taken a writing challenge outside of this realm. I believe it will help me to post more consistently here, just not during November.
That being said, I will encourage you to check out a fabulous THM friendly recipe, which I made this afternoon, and which you can find at alldayidreamaboutfood.com .
Here's what mine looked like; I made a 1/2 recipe and baked it in an 8" round cake pan for 25 minutes:
On the topic of THM, I am gearing up for my next Fuel Cycle, which will start immediately after Thanksgiving Day. My first one was incredibly hard initially, and incredibly beneficial finally. Otherwise I would not be planning another one! Planning ahead to have the right items on hand will be a key.
What new THM recipes have you tried lately?
What feedback or questions do you have about a THM Fuel Cycle?
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Breaking one of my unwritten rules here, I am posting this article on both blogs.
For the sake of context, though, I will tell you here that I have been shopping for a bookend or bookends for weeks now; I have a collection of writing-related books stacked on my desk, which I want organized bookshelf-style instead. The price of $10 or more prevents me from buying a set of bookends, because I'd rather spend that $10 on food or clothes.
This morning I spent approximately 30 seconds from the time I Google searched "diy bookends" until I found the following brilliant idea at Lifehacker.com:
It works incredibly well, and I am at least $9.00 richer because of this hack.
What hacks are you employing lately?
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05 March 2015
More than once of late (duh!) I have been told that this is a new creative season for me.
It has been some time since I wrote an actual post. Awhile ago, I gave myself the nod to plant Theme Songs on Thursdays for growing seed. Time to tend the shoots.
So what do my eyes see in the natural world? Impossibility. Where do the hours go? And then when I have some discretionary minutes -- energy and motivation have evaporated.
My faith eyes counsel me to believe and to walk. Off we go. . .
I have resisted mentioning our kiddos directly in blog posts for a number of reasons, which I will not enumerate here. Just chalk it up to my desire for privacy for them and for me. From now on I may or may not be more direct in my references to them. But I won't default to never referencing them.
That being said, they do inspire and teach me things often. Many of them write constantly and consistently. I want to be like them.
Then there are my friends who inspire and teach me, also. One such woman made a comment about all of us having "perceived obstacles."
Recently a saw a meme that said something about when we see obstacles we have taken our focus off of Him.
Kris Vallotton shared that God is looking for one person to stand for Him and to step out and do what He has called him/her to do. With God on my side, what can man do to me? He is the majority!
My heart also sings to this tune:
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again,
because there is no effort without error or shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, is he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. . ." (Theodore Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic")
After years of shying away from the arena all too often, I am daring to step in and strive valiantly. Will you join me?
What are you being challenged to do differently?
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Nationwide Insurance's commercial captured my attention the very first time that I remember seeing it; without the benefit of the audio, it pricked my heart. [We often mute the commercials.]
"This is Kingdom," my Knower shouted!
It's a vivid picture of how I feel when I experience being powerless: small, without options, extremely frustrated.
So, how is this commercial like the Kingdom?
This is one of those times when the natural world is crying out for Kingdom without understanding it's that for which they are crying out.
Feeling powerless for me usually means that I cannot remember who I am, which means that I believe that I have no options.
When I seek outside input from someone else, God especially, I begin to remember who I am and to see other options. [Sometimes the option is to trust God to work it all out, kinda like the girl trusting the insurance agent.]
Life and hope begin to infuse me, and I feel power returning.
As powerful as the video portion is, the audio speaks more Kingdom truth:
"We know how it feels when you aren't a priority."
Messages from all around me reinforce the negative narrative that I am just a number, that I am nothing special and that I deserve to be treated like less than a human being.
These lies also contribute to feeling powerless and its subsequent feelings. If left to marinate in this slough, I become paralyzed and fearful. Without help to breakout I will remain in this destructive cycle that feeds upon itself.
God and followers of Jesus know the truth about you and me. Made in His image and likeness means that we are the exact opposite of what is pictured in this commercial. We are powerful and valuable.
We can fight the lies by speaking the truth to each other as often as we are together and especially in those times when powerless feelings are present. [This requires vulnerability and courage to find someone to help us.]
Fighting can also take the form of action (first in the natural, then in the supernatural). I can look for someone to encourage by seeing the gold in them and celebrating it with them.
Find people to help and serve with a heart filled with compassion.
Give what resources you have to others, and if you can possibly give from limited resources, do it! On whatever front that you are feeling less than, find a way to serve or give from that place of personal weakness or lack. The mathematics of Heaven work distinctly differently than earthly math.
On other way to fight powerlessness is to practice thankfulness for what is happening/has happened, for what we do have and for the things God has promised to us.
We are powerful. We are valuable.
How do you combat the feelings of powerlessness in your life?
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Most of my kiddos write as a hobby alongside of writing required for school; journaling, blogging, participating in NaNoWriMo, creative writing for fun and probably in other ways of which I am unaware -- they write and write and write. I admire them. They make me long to write more consistently. Generally I do journal every day in some form, which is a good thing. Then there's this forsaken blog. I also bought some books about writing to fuel my passion and have read some of the chapters, feeling excited and inspired while reading them -- then running out of time to immediately write from the inspiration of the reading. And then I sleep, and I forget.
One question I have often been asked by other home school parents in regard to home schooling is something similar to: "What do you use to teach writing to your students?"
That's what I'm "hearing" today, or at the least what I am imagining is happening in the unseen realm. Why would a solid person like me be imagining such things? Tee-hee, if that's what you thought, then you don't know me. Imagining is a way of life for me, and the more I attend to my imagination the more I realize it is a part of who I am.
Some things are falling away and diminishing, while I feel strengthened and supported. In my wrestle with fear, I am learning that what I need is boldness and courage to move forward when fear shows up. Fearlessness is not the desired quality I once thought it was. I like that Papa has been adjusting my perspective.
I'm alive! I'm on fire! And my spirit burns with desire. You set me alight, bright eyed and with no way to hold it inside!
I am so very thankful.
Minding the Minutia
This week is to be a week of overnight guests, shopping for summer camp needs and tying up of loose ends before the summer camping season kicks into high gear. Son #2 and I arrived home minutes ago from procuring another work permit, picking up some much needed breakfast groceries and dropping off paperwork & empty egg cartons to camp. {I must say that I love Camp Tecumseh and very much miss my life there -- the one I had and the one I should have lived. A friend and long-time camp director commented to me recently that hubbie and I needed to get back into camping where we belonged. At the time, I heard him, but wasn't sure that I agreed. Today, I feel like I would absolutely LOVE being back at Camp Tecumseh, (said with starry-eyed-adoration-colored glasses on my face). Perhaps this is to be a season of truly mourning that loss, but perhaps it's the beginning of something new and the remaking of something old.}
Two other thoughts are rumbling around in me today:
1) Without hope you cannot have faith because faith is the substance of things hoped for, (Kris Vallotton and not a direct quote).
2) You must have time to think, to dream, to pray and to write if you are going to discover you passion in life, (read it on a blog post). This I have been saying to myself for some time now!
What's rumbling around inside of you today? What are you finding time to dream about?
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A Mary Poppins-umbrella, not as a source of protection, but as the means of transport which will result in a safe, peaceful and successful journey to the intended destination -- pondering this picture today and looking forward to watching "Mary Poppins" again very soon. Being the bibliophile, I will also read the book.
Today I will begin the Pre-Calculus refresher course to which I have been looking ahead for some time. It will be exciting to see how that works out for me.
I can't resist posting this theme song of mine again:
Finally, something about this statement caught me:
"a single dandelion may produce 2000 seeds per year, indiscriminately firing them off into the sky at the slightest breeze."
What or who is capturing your attention these days?
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