i have so been enjoying my time...away from home...dog-sitting for my brother & sis-in-law...helps that they have a pool in this heat...where they live...it is hot..which i love...but once you are living in it...and running around town...doing errands and such...90 to 100 degree weather can be stifling...so the pool at the end of the day...is well...quite nice...
but of course...the main reason i am here...is to take care of their precious puppy...who is just pure joy...and...the most obedient dog that i have ever met...all 49 lbs of her...and yes...did i mention she is a puppy? =) those training classes really did wonders...seriously...
so...as i have been playing mom to this adorable puppy...for 4 days now...not even to the half way mark...i have come to realize how unstructured my life is...all because of this adorable puppy...
now the thing is...i always knew that my life wasn't completely dependant on a set schedule...there were always things that i did the same...for example...church on sunday...etc...but because i live alone...and on top of that...have my own business...where i pretty much work my own hours...i have really gotten used to a life of...well...being able to do things that may spontaneously pop up...
well...not for the last four days...my waking up...my errands...my everything is catered around this puppy that is dependant on me...if i don't eat dinner till 8:30pm...then i don't eat dinner till 8:30...no biggie...but with the puppy...i know that i need to feed her twice a day...and therefore need to be home during those two feeding times to get it done...
she needs her walk...she needs to be let out...so as i have thoroughly enjoyed this time with her...it has really shown a bright beaming light on my very unstructured life...
all this to say...that i love that i have the flexibility to change plans because of last minute circumstances...or able to "not work" because a friend is in from out of town...or be able to dog-sit for 10 days...because my life can allow for that...but i also like that if need be...i can jump right into a structured life...and come out unscathed... =)
Monday, June 13, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
letting go...
i've always had really good relationships with people...including my exes...it wasn't until much later in life...that i experieinced one of the first relationships with someone i dated...and loved...and when it didn't work out...what i struggled most with...was not that he didn't want to be with me...but that he just walked away...and for me...i couldn't understand how a person walks away completely from someone they had as a big part of their life...
the letting go...was difficult...and very new to me...wish i had read this back then...but thought i would share...for those that might be going through it now...the one lesson learned truly...was...if someone doesn't want to be a part of your life...the best thing you can do...is to just let go...and save yourself the grief...
By T. D. Jakes
There are people who can walk away from you. And hear me when I tell you this! When people can walk away from you: let them walk. I don't want you to try to talk another person into staying with you, loving you, calling you, caring about you, coming to see you, staying attached to you. I mean hang up the phone.
When people can walk away from you let them walk. Your destiny is never tied to anybody that left.
The bible said that, they came out from us that it might be made manifest that they were not for us. For had they been of us, no doubt they would have continued with us. [1 John 2:19]
People leave you because they are not joined to you. And if they are not joined to you, you can't make them stay.
Let them go.
And it doesn't mean that they are a bad person it just means that their part in the story is over. And you've got to know when people's part in your story is over so that you don't keep trying to raise the dead.. You've got to know when it's dead.
You've got to know when it's over. Let me tell you something.. I've got the gift of good-bye. It's the tenth spiritual gift, I believe in good-bye.. It's not that I'm hateful, it's that I'm faithful, and I know whatever God means for me to have He'll give it to me. And if it takes too much sweat I don't need it. Stop begging people to stay.
Let them go!!
If you are holding on to something that doesn't belong to you and was never intended for your life, then you need to...
LET IT GO!!!
If you are holding on to past hurts and pains...
LET IT GO!!!
If someone can't treat you right, love you back, and see your worth...
LET IT GO!!!
If someone has angered you...
LET IT GO!!!
If you are holding on to some thoughts of evil and revenge...
LET IT GO!!!
If you are involved in a wrong relationship or addiction...
LET IT GO!!!
If you are holding on to a job that no longer meets your needs or talents...
LET IT GO!!!
If you have a bad attitude...
LET IT GO!!!
If you keep judging others to make yourself feel better...
LET IT GO!!!
If you're stuck in the past and God is trying to take you to a new level in Him...
LET IT GO!!!
If you are struggling with the healing of a broken relationship...
LET IT GO!!!
If you keep trying to help someone who won't even try to help themselves...
LET IT GO!!!
If you're feeling depressed and stressed...
LET IT GO!!!
If there is a particular situation that you are so used to handling yourself and God is saying 'take your hands off of it,' then you need to...
LET IT GO!!!
'The Battle is the Lord's!'
the letting go...was difficult...and very new to me...wish i had read this back then...but thought i would share...for those that might be going through it now...the one lesson learned truly...was...if someone doesn't want to be a part of your life...the best thing you can do...is to just let go...and save yourself the grief...
There are people who can walk away from you. And hear me when I tell you this! When people can walk away from you: let them walk. I don't want you to try to talk another person into staying with you, loving you, calling you, caring about you, coming to see you, staying attached to you. I mean hang up the phone.
When people can walk away from you let them walk. Your destiny is never tied to anybody that left.
The bible said that, they came out from us that it might be made manifest that they were not for us. For had they been of us, no doubt they would have continued with us. [1 John 2:19]
People leave you because they are not joined to you. And if they are not joined to you, you can't make them stay.
Let them go.
And it doesn't mean that they are a bad person it just means that their part in the story is over. And you've got to know when people's part in your story is over so that you don't keep trying to raise the dead.. You've got to know when it's dead.
You've got to know when it's over. Let me tell you something.. I've got the gift of good-bye. It's the tenth spiritual gift, I believe in good-bye.. It's not that I'm hateful, it's that I'm faithful, and I know whatever God means for me to have He'll give it to me. And if it takes too much sweat I don't need it. Stop begging people to stay.
Let them go!!
If you are holding on to something that doesn't belong to you and was never intended for your life, then you need to...
LET IT GO!!!
If you are holding on to past hurts and pains...
LET IT GO!!!
If someone can't treat you right, love you back, and see your worth...
LET IT GO!!!
If someone has angered you...
LET IT GO!!!
If you are holding on to some thoughts of evil and revenge...
LET IT GO!!!
If you are involved in a wrong relationship or addiction...
LET IT GO!!!
If you are holding on to a job that no longer meets your needs or talents...
LET IT GO!!!
If you have a bad attitude...
LET IT GO!!!
If you keep judging others to make yourself feel better...
LET IT GO!!!
If you're stuck in the past and God is trying to take you to a new level in Him...
LET IT GO!!!
If you are struggling with the healing of a broken relationship...
LET IT GO!!!
If you keep trying to help someone who won't even try to help themselves...
LET IT GO!!!
If you're feeling depressed and stressed...
LET IT GO!!!
If there is a particular situation that you are so used to handling yourself and God is saying 'take your hands off of it,' then you need to...
LET IT GO!!!
'The Battle is the Lord's!'
Thursday, June 9, 2011
mom's empty chair...
A woman's daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with her mother.
When the minister arrived, he found the woman lying in bed with her head propped upon two pillows. An empty chair sat beside her bed. The minister assumed that the woman had been informed of his visit...
'I guess you were expecting me' he said.
'No, who are you?' said the mother.
The minister told her his name and then remarked, 'I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew I was going to show up..'
'Oh yeah, the chair,' said the bedridden woman 'Would you mind closing the door?'
Puzzled, the minister shut the door.
'I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter,' said the woman. 'But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head...' I abandoned any attempt at prayer,' the old woman continued, 'until one day four years ago, my best friend said to me, 'Prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Here is what I suggest.. 'Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair. It's not spooky because he promised, 'I will be with you always'.. 'Then just speak to him in the same way you're doing with me right now...' 'So, I tried it and I've liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I'm careful though.If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she'd either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm.'
The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old woman to continue on the journey. Then he prayed with her, anointed her with oil, and returned to the church. Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her mama
had died that afternoon.
Did she die in peace?' he asked.
Yes, when I left the house about two o'clock, she called me over to her bedside,
told me she loved me and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found her. But there was something strange about her death. Apparently, just before Mom died, she leaned over and rested her head on the chair
beside the bed. What do you make of that?'
The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, 'I wish we could all go like that.'
Prayer is one of the best free gifts we receive.
I asked God for water, He gave me an ocean.*
I asked God for a flower, He gave me a garden.*
I asked God for a friend, He gave me all of YOU...
If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
Happy moments, praise God.
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God
Painful moments, trust God.
Every moment, thank God.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
relationship prayer...
of all the spiritual disciplines...by far the easiest and the most complicated...is prayer...
how many times i have cried to God in my distress only to feel that my requests fell short of being communicated to Him...at times i have felt foolish and powerless and wondered where i went wrong...where was God? and how could i get to Him?
what i have learned...prayer is a process...and learning to pray is something that grows and deepens with practice...we can look at various aspects of prayer...but in no way can we explore the fullness of the subject...in a few short sentences...communicating with the Father is an awesome and holy event...something to be studied very seriously and without ceasing...
when i am reflecting on prayer...i like to read the psalm prayers and see how God's close friends communicated with Him...one of these examples is psalm 86...take a moment to read it...all the verses in this psalm are equally enriching...but to me...the key verse is verse 11...
teach me Your way...o Lord...
and i will walk in Your truth...
give me an undivided heart...
that i may fear Your name...
the concept of this verse changed the entire way i looked at prayer...david asked for God's help in a time of great need...but he asked for God's help on God's terms...in God's truth...based on God's wisdom...
how different that is from many prayers i had offered...i frequently presented God with a long list of things i wanted done and how i wanted those things accomplished...i used a laundry-list approach to prayer...i had figured out what i needed and wanted...and i even included lists for the people around me...and many times i included a time schedule for God to use...
and then i wondered why my "prayers" weren't answered... =)
those weren't prayers...those were wish lists to make my life better...or my party bigger...so to speak...there is a vast difference between wishful thinking and prayer...even though we sometimes use then interchangeably...
when we go to God to talk...we go as friend to friend...to praise...to determine His will and His way for our life circumstances...david asked God to walk with him in truth and to give him an undivided heart so that they could be in close communion...
what a difference in motive...i don't tell God what to do...instead i talk to God in an effort to understand His way and His plan...keeping in mind that God's timetable differs from mine...He doesn't use a watch to determine the hour...He uses eternity to tell time...prayer is about establishing and maintaining a relationship...not about getting what i want...
i also note that God is all-knowing...about me...my needs...my wants...and my requests...He sees the whole picture and has the long-range plan...my perspective...on the other hand...is limited...my thinking is self-focused and short-sighted in scope...
in this period of my life...i can look back now and see clearly that if God had taken my many wish lists and answered even most of them according to my instructions...my life would be a tangled mess of desires...
how many times i have cried to God in my distress only to feel that my requests fell short of being communicated to Him...at times i have felt foolish and powerless and wondered where i went wrong...where was God? and how could i get to Him?
what i have learned...prayer is a process...and learning to pray is something that grows and deepens with practice...we can look at various aspects of prayer...but in no way can we explore the fullness of the subject...in a few short sentences...communicating with the Father is an awesome and holy event...something to be studied very seriously and without ceasing...
when i am reflecting on prayer...i like to read the psalm prayers and see how God's close friends communicated with Him...one of these examples is psalm 86...take a moment to read it...all the verses in this psalm are equally enriching...but to me...the key verse is verse 11...
and i will walk in Your truth...
give me an undivided heart...
that i may fear Your name...
the concept of this verse changed the entire way i looked at prayer...david asked for God's help in a time of great need...but he asked for God's help on God's terms...in God's truth...based on God's wisdom...
how different that is from many prayers i had offered...i frequently presented God with a long list of things i wanted done and how i wanted those things accomplished...i used a laundry-list approach to prayer...i had figured out what i needed and wanted...and i even included lists for the people around me...and many times i included a time schedule for God to use...
and then i wondered why my "prayers" weren't answered... =)
those weren't prayers...those were wish lists to make my life better...or my party bigger...so to speak...there is a vast difference between wishful thinking and prayer...even though we sometimes use then interchangeably...
when we go to God to talk...we go as friend to friend...to praise...to determine His will and His way for our life circumstances...david asked God to walk with him in truth and to give him an undivided heart so that they could be in close communion...
what a difference in motive...i don't tell God what to do...instead i talk to God in an effort to understand His way and His plan...keeping in mind that God's timetable differs from mine...He doesn't use a watch to determine the hour...He uses eternity to tell time...prayer is about establishing and maintaining a relationship...not about getting what i want...
i also note that God is all-knowing...about me...my needs...my wants...and my requests...He sees the whole picture and has the long-range plan...my perspective...on the other hand...is limited...my thinking is self-focused and short-sighted in scope...
in this period of my life...i can look back now and see clearly that if God had taken my many wish lists and answered even most of them according to my instructions...my life would be a tangled mess of desires...
Monday, June 6, 2011
how to praise...
so since friday i wrote about praise...i thought i would take it one step further...and write about...how to praise...or more exact...ways that i praise...the thing is...there is no right or wrong way...the point is...to praise the Father...for all He's done...right?
so here are some of the ways i praise...or that you can praise...
keep a journal of praise...every day write down what God has done for you that day...sometimes...if we are out of the habit of praising God...it takes awhile to recognize God's goodness...
read a praise psalm every day...sometimes...the best medicine is reading the psalms out loud...
think about God...think of His care...His love...His mercy and grace...you can think about God as you drive in traffic...or at your desk...or as you do household chores...
be on the lookout for wonders...a flower...a child...a friend...a wave on the beach...a butterfly...the natural world is so full of praise...see the wonder in things you encounter every day...
practice good health habits...taking care of your body is a way of praising God for the miracle of your wonderful working parts...the fact that your body allows you to go through each day is a miracle that invites praise...
enjoy life...God intended an abundant life for us all...enjoy every minute...it is a way of praising...
use music to praise God...sing great praise hymns or chorus...listen to music...read words from hymnbooks...
spend time remembering the many ways God has been loving to you down through the years...you will praise God with a loud voice when you think of a lifetime of love and care...
so here are some of the ways i praise...or that you can praise...
keep a journal of praise...every day write down what God has done for you that day...sometimes...if we are out of the habit of praising God...it takes awhile to recognize God's goodness...
read a praise psalm every day...sometimes...the best medicine is reading the psalms out loud...
think about God...think of His care...His love...His mercy and grace...you can think about God as you drive in traffic...or at your desk...or as you do household chores...
be on the lookout for wonders...a flower...a child...a friend...a wave on the beach...a butterfly...the natural world is so full of praise...see the wonder in things you encounter every day...
practice good health habits...taking care of your body is a way of praising God for the miracle of your wonderful working parts...the fact that your body allows you to go through each day is a miracle that invites praise...
enjoy life...God intended an abundant life for us all...enjoy every minute...it is a way of praising...
use music to praise God...sing great praise hymns or chorus...listen to music...read words from hymnbooks...
spend time remembering the many ways God has been loving to you down through the years...you will praise God with a loud voice when you think of a lifetime of love and care...
Friday, June 3, 2011
praise His holy name...
my life drastically changed...when...many many years ago...i heard a sermon on praise...one of the questions asked was..."what separates believers into mediocre christians...and christians truly enthusiastic about their faith?"
the answer? simple...it is the habit of praising God...daily...
what i changed in my life...
somewhere in my daily life...clearly apart from corporate worship...i started structuring a time for praising God...not asking for anything...not looking for anything...not with any other motive except to praise Him...
God desires and deserves our praise...but...more important...you & i need the experience...
so how do you do this?
when you wake each morning...praise God for another day...when things are difficult...take time to offer praise for the world...for love...and for shelter from the storms...when times are rushed and stressful...stop and praise God for a life that utilizes all your skills...then praise God for the wonder of creation...of which you are a tiny part...when good things happen...stop and praise God for His goodness...when you look at your family...or see photos of loving friends and family...praise God in a big way...
praising God reduces your cares...levels your anxieties...and multiplies your blessings...
why would you not want to start today?
the answer? simple...it is the habit of praising God...daily...
what i changed in my life...
somewhere in my daily life...clearly apart from corporate worship...i started structuring a time for praising God...not asking for anything...not looking for anything...not with any other motive except to praise Him...
God desires and deserves our praise...but...more important...you & i need the experience...
so how do you do this?
when you wake each morning...praise God for another day...when things are difficult...take time to offer praise for the world...for love...and for shelter from the storms...when times are rushed and stressful...stop and praise God for a life that utilizes all your skills...then praise God for the wonder of creation...of which you are a tiny part...when good things happen...stop and praise God for His goodness...when you look at your family...or see photos of loving friends and family...praise God in a big way...
praising God reduces your cares...levels your anxieties...and multiplies your blessings...
why would you not want to start today?
Thursday, June 2, 2011
r.i.p. kenny...
kenny was one year ahead of me in school...who could forget that head of red hair? but more then that...the way he made people laugh...
i spoke to rino (owner of sams sandwiches) last week...rino had spoken to kenny while he was on dialysis...rino said kenny sounded great...kenny past away at the end of that dialysis treatment...
you will be missed kenny...
kenneth hoffman obit
i spoke to rino (owner of sams sandwiches) last week...rino had spoken to kenny while he was on dialysis...rino said kenny sounded great...kenny past away at the end of that dialysis treatment...
you will be missed kenny...
kenneth hoffman obit
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