Do you want more than $3?

"I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of God to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please."

-Wilbur Rees

Scripture for the Week (Weak)

"So chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe that God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. ~Colossians 3:14 (Message)

Morning Time

I don't know about you, but about my favorite time of the day is that 3o-45 minutes, maybe an hour sometimes before anybody in my house gets up. I kinda have to set my clock back a little earlier than I have to. Earlier than anyone would want to get up for anything. Nobody in my house would want to get up as early as I want to get up to do this. I love to get up when it's quiet, maybe a cup of coffee, talk to the Lord and allow His Word to talk to me. I love it. A friend of mine calls it 'Going Steady With Eddy' He says, "You do it Early, you do it Daily, you do it Diligently and you do it Yielding." You know what I found out about me? If I don't do it early, the day will slip away and I won't do it at all. I'll keep meaning to, of course.



"O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee..." Psalm 63:1






"Before the Day" from Newsong

Last night when I was sleeping
You were watching over me
While I dreamt about tomorrow
You knew my every need

Now another day is waiting
For me to make it through
And there's no way that I could face it without You

Before the day slips away
I want to stop and say
I love You I love You
Before the world rushes in again
I want to stop and say there's none above You
There's none above You
I'll just be still and know You are God
Be still and know You are God

There's something about the morning
The stillness of it all
It calms my heart to hear You
When You gently call

Here I am in Your presence
Where I long to be
Alone with You in the silence
Bring down Your love and Your mercy
Whisper softly to me



Try just one morning a week maybe, see what God has for you.

Eye Doc

So I went to the eye doc today for my 6 month check up...I was there for about an hour before we actually had the appointment...so, I waited in an office with crazy equipment...



Also, the lighting is very dim...I started to doze off...

Anyways, the appointment went well. My eyes have improved a lot and are a lot more healthy!

Scripture for the Week (Weak)

"Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done." Galations 6:4 (NLT)

No House Party = Project Week!

Oh, joy. There are never-ending projects at my house, let me assure you. That makes me stressed...

One of the big ones being, I haven't touched my room since I moved in over a year ago...the rest of the house is nice and my room just hasn't been touched. Well, that has all changed now!

And that makes me happy...

Also, I haven't had a dresser for years and my folded clothes were getting out of control! I was going to go shop for one when my Mom said that my bro wanted to get rid of the one he was using that was originally hers. I went and looked at it and had an instant design and vision!

There was no stopping me at that point! I went to the store, got black paint, Paint brushes and new hardware!

Then I went to work for about 4 hours in the 100 and some odd degree weather and produced a painted dresser and a bucket of sweat!

Somehow along the way I talked myself into painting an old curio cabinet that came with the house...

It turned out pretty well...

By the way, I listened to Jackson Waters the whole time...

I'm putting the finishing touches on my room now(hanging things on walls, de-cluttering and all that jazz)more pics to come!

July 4th

This is about what it looked like from where we sat...George Bush was there! Pretty cool vacation, awesome speech and bugs...awesome.

And this is what it looks like when I try to take a decent pic with my bro while waiting for Pres. Bush to speak.

Jeremiah is deep!

"The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be." Jeremiah 17:9-10

An Update on the Real Me...

So life has been 'crazy as usual' lately.

Everyday something happens that catches me off guard and keeps me tied up. I'm constantly working, volunteering, going to events, counseling and teaching multiple people...among other things...

I hate to ask for help or prayer because, 1. I don't want you to know that I need help or prayer & 2. I don't want any doubt or negativity in the situation.

When Jesus prayed for people, He had the wailing women leave the room. He didn't want any doubt...and it was probably hard to think straight with a bunch of women wailing...

Even though there is a chance that there will be some who are negative or don't care and there might be some doubt, I'm asking for you to pray for me. I can handle a lot of things really well but there is a point when it becomes too much and begins to scare me. I'm at that point.

For a few months I've been struggling with weird symptoms...when I try to explain them to people I'm sure they think I'm crazy or don't understand at all. I don't blame them. It's hard to make it make sense.

I'm having thyroidal issues. Now, mind you, this is what I've deducted from research and symptoms. I have not been to the doctor because of time and financial reasons. It started on the right side of my neck. It was this nagging pain/bruise-like/lump on or in my neck. (Believe me, this is one of the hardest things to explain.) It spread down my neck and just continues to annoy me. You can feel the lump on the right side. Then, just a few days ago the left side started having this pain, like a pin point size, just like the right side started. Overall, it is really annoying and strange.

I've spoke with only a few people about this and done some research. It's not really "in" my throat like a sore throat and it's not really outside my neck either...I know, sounds weird, right?

Over the last month or so I have had other weird symptoms that may or may not be related but they scare me.

It effects my speech and breathing. One day I'm sure I sounded drunk. I couldn't make my words crisp and clear no matter how hard I tried.

It also effects the power of my voice. The strength to talk or sing. The 'want-to' if you will. It's like I'm moving my mouth wanting to sing and focusing and my voice just sits down on a couch and is like, "No, thanks. I don't feel like it. I don't want to right now, ask me after Barney is over."

A few times I had memory lapses, which NEVER happen to me, like trying to spell a simple word. (By the way, spelling has always been my strong subject.) Or trying to answer a simple question through an email. It's like I'm looking at the question, trying to word the answer correctly and my brain is off in la-la land. No matter how hard I look at that question and focus, my brain, who has the answer, is off somewhere else. If I move on to something else, then come back to that later, I have no problem with it.

Other little things like this highly concern me because it's not like me. It's not just because I've been out of school for a little while, so I forget how to spell something or do a simple math problem. It's different because the things I'm having issues with, I stick with it and there is a way to work out the problem. I don't have to look it up. When I used spell check the correct spelling didn't look right.

Somethings up. Maybe my minds out to get me? Maybe my neck is sabotaging my brain?

Whatever the case. It's not getting better. It is prgressively getting worse and more painful.

So what do I do?

Sit in my pity...........NOT!

Every day when I wake up I lay there for an extra moment and ask God for any extra strength He can give me that day. I need all I can get.

"In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation." Psalm 5:3

I ask Him to remind me to turn to Him when it becomes too much or when I'm overwhelmed. I speak life and healing over me even when I don't feel it because words have power. "The power of life and death are in the tongue." So, when I feel like my body is attacking itself, when I don't know how to get answers to what is happening to me, I turn to God. I ask Him, the knower of all things, to strengthen me and give me the answers I need. I ask Him to sustain me and put me at ease. I ask Him to continually work in & through me. Mainly I ask Him to give me strength as I pour all the strength I have into others. I pray that He would lift me up as I lift others up. He has placed people into my life that need Him and now I have to rely on Him to help me so I can help them.

God's working in me daily and I'm not giving up. Even though I feel like a wounded soldier working with my eyes fixed on the finish line. Even though I'm weak, He is strong.

This is a daily struggle and it effects every area of my life. Then again, that sounds a lot like the Christian walk.

Thank you for the prayers, positive thoughts and encouragement.

Scripture of the Week

"...go out into the world...Provide people with a glimpse of good living and the living God. Carry the light-giving message into the night..."
Philippians 2:14-16 (MSG)

Twitter / @Jenndividual

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Oh, the goobers I work with...

Faithbook

Faith Book
Susanne Scheppmann

"They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God." Nehemiah 9:3 (NIV)


Devotion:
A new addiction slipped into my life recently - Facebook. Internet social networking slid in quietly and unobtrusively. Each day I found myself reading and posting a bit more. I learned how to create my visual bookshelf, so my "friends" could check out what I was reading. I linked my blog. My time seeped into Facebook like grains of sand slide through the hourglass.

My addiction soon took a turn for the worst. I began to put off my personal quiet time with God until after I had Facebooked. Sadly, scripture seemed boring next to my friends' postings. Strangely, the mundane posts intrigued me. I had fallen under the spell of social networking.

Then one day, I dragged myself away from my laptop. I had Bible study that night and needed to finish my lesson. The lesson pointed us to the book of Nehemiah. I read, "They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God." (Nehemiah 9:3, NIV).

Yikes! They read God's Word for a quarter of the day, then spent another quarter of the day in confession and worshiping? These words haunted me the rest of the afternoon. When was the last time I spent that much time with God? How much time did I spend on the Internet? I felt a deep conviction about my Facebook addiction.

I determined that day to read my Bible, my FaithBook, before I turned on my computer each day. I would network with God, before networking with my friends. When I made this decision, I saw scripture jump back to life. God's Word spoke to me with a freshness that seemed as if He had just posted it Himself.

The addiction stopped. Oh, I still enjoy Facebook and other social networks, but I have learned to keep them in proper perspective. Psalm 119:59-60 sums up my new intent: "I pondered the direction of my life, and I turned to follow your laws. I will hurry, without delay, to obey your commands" (NLT).

Will you join me in the commitment to spending time in God's Word before time spent on Facebook?

Dear Lord, I recognize that I spend too much time on the computer. Forgive my inattention to Your Word. Help me each day to place You first in my life. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Slow Dance

This poem hits home with me:


Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go round?

Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down
Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?

When you ask: How are you?
Do you hear the reply?

When the day is gone,
do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?

You’d better slow down.
Don’t go so fast.

Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Ever told your child,
We’ll do it tomorrow?

And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die

Cause you never had time
To call and say “Hi”?

You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.

Time is short.
The music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift thrown away.

Life is not a race
Do take it slower.

Hear the music.
Before the song is over.


(a poem written by child psychologist David L. Weatherford, as quoted in “4-Hour Work Week”, Timothy Ferriss)

The Mystery Ring

So I went on a trip a couple of months ago, stayed with friends and hung out in my hometown...when I got home there was a mysterious ring in my bag that I'd never seen before...kinda weird. I asked my friends and everyone I was with if it was theirs...nope. No one is claiming this ring.

Hmmm...

It's not that special...It's silver with a raised triangle-type emblem.

I don't think it's worth anything either...it's turning my finger green...

Well, what to do now? I decided if no one is going to claim it, it's mine. BOOM - try to stop me now!