My Lenten News Fast

For those who observe, Lent began earlier this month on Ash Wednesday (March 9th).  This year for Lent, I'm undertaking a news fast.  No news coverage except for weather.  I decided to give up news because as a "news junkie", I have a tendency to saturate myself with news coverage.  News in the morning while I'm getting dressed, listening to talk radio on-line at work, more news in the evening.  While its good to be informed, I find most news today is presented in such a manner that creates fear and anxiety.  That's not a healthy place to exist.  In 2 Timothy 1:7, it says "God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, of love and a sound mind."  A sound mind is not a fearful mind.  So in an effort to reclaim my peace and set my mind on whatever is excellent and praiseworthy, I said bye-bye to news (sorry Glenn and Rush!).

Since beginning my news fast, I've found that I haven't been able to completely escape the news of the day.  I don't know specifics, but I gather a disaster has happened in Japan (prayers for those affected).  And I've learned its not always the big things that rob my peace.  But my reaction to the little things during my day also has the potential to steal my peace (God is still working on me with that one!).



   

Ash Wednesday

"Memento, homo ... quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris"

"Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return."

I know I'm about a month late, but Happy Fall Y'all!

Thank you for your patience during my break from blogging.  Last month, I felt God was leading me to quiet myself and my life.  To step back and look at what matters most.  To make sure the things I say are priorities in my life, are being given their proper attention.  I'm still working on some things, but Lord willing I'll get there!

My time away from blogging has been productive, but also busy.  My mother has been dealing with a stubborn wound on her ankle that would not heal.  Being that she is a diabetic, it was especially troubling.  After numerous appointments to doctors, wound care clinics, we found out she had blockages in her upper thigh that were preventing adequate blood flow to her lower leg.  This Monday, she had surgery to place two stents in her right leg.  The surgery was successful and she seems to be recovering nicely! 

In my mind's eye, my mother is still the same dominant force she was when I was a child.  So it hasn't been easy seeing her struggle with her health in this way.  I've gone from just taking her to her doctors appointments, to sitting in on them and keeping track of numerous medications.  I feel very unprepared to take on this caregiver role.  But it appears to be the season of life I'm slowly moving into.

   

Divine Mercy Sunday

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Easter Sunday

CHRIST IS RISEN!

HAPPY EASTER

Good Friday

Photo Credit

Holy Thursday

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 
 

And the cup in like manner after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, even that which is poured out for you.

Luke 22: 19- 20

Stop focusing on what you can't do, and start focusing on what God can do.

- Joel Osteen from Your Best Life Now

Another Breakthrough!

Before the year began, God challenged me to believe in Him for the "big things" - to stop limiting Him based on my own doubts.  To believe He would show up not like a trickle, or a stream, but like a flood.  Our first flood came back in January when my husband was offered a job after six months of unemployment.  Not just any job, but a job like the one we had been praying for, with great benefits, great work hours and a less stressful environment. 

Last week, I was flooded with a blessing again.  I had been praying for a family member that had broken off ties with us for quite some time.  It's a complicated situation and one I just didn't see any resolution to.  So how surprised was I, when I returned to work from a day off last week to find a voice mail from that person!  After having very minimal contact for almost 6-7 years, it felt so good to hear their voice and catch up, if only briefly.  I was filled with joy and praise and hope that old wounds can be further healed. 

What an amazing God we serve!

Ash Wednesday

"Memento, homo ... quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris"

"Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return."

"Stop waiting for life to become perfect and start working with what we've got to make it as satisfying as we can.  We can accept, bless, give thanks, and get going.  Today, we can begin to call forth the riches from our everyday life.  Today we can move from lack to abundance."

-Sarah Ban Breathnach

Simple Abundance:  A Daybook of Comfort and Joy

Praising the God of the Breakthrough!

Before this year began, I felt God challenging me to believe in Him for the big things.  To stop limiting Him based on my own doubts.  Not long after, I caught a program by Joel Osteen where he talked about living "breakthrough-minded".  Taking the limits off of God and believing He would show up not with a trickle or a stream, but like a flood.

I wrote a list in my journal of the big things I was going to dare myself to believe God for.  Top on the list was a job for my husband that paid well and gave him more time to be with our family.  Well today I'm praising God for the goodness He has just flooded us with!  After 6 months of being unemployed, my husband was offered (and accepted) a job with our State Controllers Office!  A Monday through Friday, 40 hour work-week, with State holidays, weekends off and great benefits.  After spending 10 years at his former job in a highly stressful environment, working 50 hour plus weeks and missing out on Saturdays with the family, this job is literally an answer to our prayers!

God is good!

Accepting the Now

"Over the years I have discovered that much of my struggle to be content despite outside circumstances has arisen when I stubbornly resisted what was actually happening in my life at the present moment.  But I have also learned that when I surrender to the reality of a particular situation - when I don't continue to resist, but accept - a softening in my soul occurs.  Suddenly I am able to open up to receive all the goodness and abundance available to me because acceptance brings with it so much relief and release.

Whatever situation exists in your life right now, accept it."

- Sarah Ban Breathnach

Simple Abundance:  A Daybook of Comfort and Joy

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I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

A Big Step

Our 4yo made perhaps the biggest step in his young life yesterday - he started school!  It's not a traditional preschool but sort of a 6-week kindergarten readiness course.  It's a small group of kids ages 4yo to 5yo who meet one day a week, working with teachers to help them further develop the social skills necessary for starting kindergarten.  Unlike the other kids in the group, this is Clayton's first exposure to a classroom setting.  He's been at home with me, my Mom or my husband since birth.  Scary step for him and for us!  Given Clay's tendency to be anxious in new situations, I wasn't sure how the first day would go.  So all week I've been sending prayer and praise ahead of us.

The teachers were fantastic and worked hard to make Clay feel comfortable from the minute he arrived.  To our delight, Clay did very well!  He participated in circle time, played with the other kids and talked with the teachers.  While the kids were participating in school activities, we parents got to observe the class from another room.  We were able to observe the positive discipline techniques the teachers used in the classroom.  Techniques we can then use at home.  One thing I took away from yesterday's classroom observation, was how the teachers approached misbehavior.  They did not go with the assumption the child was simply being bad.  But rather it was a matter of missing skills.  An opportunity to teach rather than offer harsh correction. 

I think this is going to be a wonderful learning experience not only for Clayton but for us as well.

The Need for Discipline

As in years past, I resolved to become more disciplined in certain areas of my life this year.  Exercise, prayer, homecaring routines, being timelier to appointments and work.  It was something God had been whispering needed to be addressed in my life.  My normal inclination is to avoid discipline and routine like a child resisting a big spoonful of medicine.  God, does it really matter if I get to work at 8:32 instead of 8:30? 

These words from Joel Osteen's book Starting Your Best Life Now leapt off the page and grabbed my attention:

"Every time you compromise, every time you are less than honest, you are causing a slight crack in the foundation.  If you continue compromising, that foundation will never be able to hold what God wants to build.  You'll never have lasting prosperity if you don't first have integrity"

So God wants me to develop discipline in these areas of my life, so there will be a strong foundation for His blessings and abundance!  Knowing this makes it easier to get up earlier in the mornings when I would rather just pull the covers up over my head.    

I'd love to hear from you!  Are there any areas in your life you're working on improving?

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

From Our Family To Yours

Fourth Week of Advent

Heavenly Father, help us to celebrate Jesus' coming in joy and peace.  May we welcome him into our lives in a new way this Christmas, allowing him to love and act in and through us.  Help us to be like Mary, always ready and eager to do your will.  Increase our faith and love.  We ask all this through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

Third Week of Advent

Lord, please hear our prayers.  May we always rejoice in your redeeming love.  Open our eyes to the goodness around us and grant us the light of your grace that we may never be overcome by the darkness of sin.  We ask this of you through Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Second Week of Advent

Lord, give us pure hearts and minds as we await the coming of  your Son.  Increase our hope.  We praise and thank you for all the good things you have done and continue to do for us.  May we serve you and one another in the love Jesus came to earth to bring.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.