Blactions speak louder than words

Ok so I keep talking about how I've been slacking on the blogging thing. So I will write what I am thinking right now. Here we go.

I think that one thing I struggle with is a lack of sensitivity for others. I don't think I realize sometimes that what I am doing (or not doing) may be affecting someone around me in a negative way. I may be neglecting someone, hurting someone's feelings, or offending someone without knowing it. But that ignorance on my part is not excusable--not when I am trying to be a light for Christ, not when I am trying to show others God's love. I need to really work on being conscious of the affects that my actions have on those around me at all times. Anybody and everybody: please join me in praying for me about this. Please please please! I know there's power in prayer and power in numbers. So combine the two and maybe we'll get an answer. No, actually I think God is already answering it--I am aware of it now. So there you go. I just need to stay aware of it, so I guess that's what the prayers should be for.

Little Poop Buckets with Cheese

That's Gizmo's new name. Ok but seriously, what I wanted to write about today is my new outlook on how I should be living as a Christian. So far I've been very self-absorbed. I feel like I've taken way too long JUST focusing on building up myself for God and not much time at all building others up. So I want to start making an effort to work on my relationships with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. That's something Christ encouraged and commanded while He was here. In this life we need others. We can't do this on our own. We need to have friendships with other Christians to support each other, bear each others' burdens, pray for one another, build each other up, be accountable to one another. Yes, it's important also to have good relationships with the non-Christians in our lives for various reasons. But our relationships with the brethren is valuable for our growth because we have the same focus; we are running the same race. We can therefore help each other overcome sin, we can offer our prayers during hard times, we can impart real wisdom we've learned through the scriptures, and so on.

We need each other. That's something we have to be willing to admit. I've known Christians whose attitude was, "I don't need to be around other Christians...I can do this on my own," and they loose faith fast. They get discouraged when something goes wrong and there's no one there to build them back up. So they give up. It's easy to go back living for yourself when you're only surrounded by those living for themselves. But when you are regularly involved in other Christian's lives, and they're involved in yours, you grow together. You offer a hand when one falls and lift them back up. And they do the same for you. You become stronger... continually, throughout your life. And so do they. The Kingdom is then nourished and can begin to grow and impact the rest of the world.

Good Old Jesus

I really can do anything, as long as I trust that God will get me through it. I mean, knowing that He's there encourages me to do things that otherwise I would be too afraid to do--or that I would do with an extremely bad attitude because I thought it would be a complete failure. This is one of the cool advantages of having a relationship with the Lord. I love it! I know, I know...I'm all positive now, but watch: tomorrow something will happen and I'll fail to trust in the Lord and either I will avoid the situation, or again, have that bad attitude and negatively affect others around me (whether I succeed at the thing or not).-- That's because I'm not perfect. It's just that I've been noticing this confidence happening more and more, even on a regular basis. Okay atheists, maybe it is just a psychology thing. You know, there's this so called "God" I believe in and since I "trust in Him" I am encouraged to actually try new things, and do so with a good attitude. Yes, it's basic psychology.

But guess Who created our psychology.

And guess Who relates to us through those brains of ours He created.

Duh! I always thought that was a way to explain away prayer and other things. But then one day I thought, "Hey! Of course it's "just psychology"!...He created us that way so He can related to us though it. I mean, why not communicate to the created by the means of how we were created?!? Again I will say, DUH! How else would He interact with us? It does make sense, you have to admit.

Happy Birthday to you, Neil!

My husband's birthday is in 1 hour and 20 minutes. And I would like to say a few words about him. One thing I really love about Neil is how he loves others. He never shows favoritism--he'll be friends with anyone, no matter how annoying or unpleasant to be around. He will go out of his way, sacrificing his time, money, gas, himself, to help others. He always makes others feel welcomed, wanted, and loved. I've learned a lot from him about what it truly means to love others.

Neil's also taught me a lot about myself. I sincerely believe God has used him to help me grow. By opening flaps and having a lot of patience with me, he has played a huge role in my spiritual and general maturity. And I can never thank him enough for that.

And of course, I cannot thank him near enough for being such a wonderful husband. He makes me feel adored--what an amazing feeling. He's all and more than I want and need in a man, and I am honored to be his wife. I feel cared for, protected, loved.

Neil deserves to have a great day today (or in an hour and 10 minutes), because he is such a great guy, role model, friend, and spouse.

I love you, Neil.

Home Sweet Home.......almost!

I am about to make the biggest purchase of my life. We've put a lot of thought and prayer into it. I think it's the right thing to do. I think. How do you ever know what God's will is for your life? I figured we'd put forth effort into buying a house and if we notice any red flags, we'll take the hint that He'd rather us do something else. I know that many paths could be in His will for us. But I think it's smart to keep our eyes open to any red flags He might be throwing up to let us know we may be on the wrong path. Now I'm not talking about hurdles. Problems arising while trying to do something shouldn't automatically qualify us for assuming that God's not happy with what we're doing. I'm talking about obvious things that would be unwise to push past for the goal. Of course there's going to be problems--it's not easy buying a house...or selecting one for that matter. Hey I think those hurdles are what He uses to make sure we want what we're after enough--they help to build character. And so far, no red flags. So I guess we'll just keep moving forward one hurdle at a time. eek!

Our Savior

Light of the world, You stepped down into darkness.
Open my eyes; let me see.
Beauty that makes this heart adore you, hope of a life spent with You.

King of all days, oh so highly exalted, glorious in heaven above.
Humbly You came to the earth You created.
All for love's sake became poor.

I'll never know how much it cost, to see my sin upon that cross.

-author unknown (to me)

I feel like when we take communion, we should be thinking about everything He did for us, not just the climax of what He did for us. He was in heaven, exalted on high. And then He came down here, making Himself susceptible to pain, suffering, sin, disease, illness, evil, and temptation. It wasn't a walk in the park. We are saved not just because He sacrificed His life that day, but because He sacrificed His life everyday. He was a living sacrifice. He was completely submitted to the Father to be used to get the job done. He was faithful everyday, even to the point of death..."even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:8).

Smudge

I think my cat is dead. No one has seen him in about a week. He is primarily an outside cat. But he always hangs around the house and every so often comes in the garage where his food is. We definitely see him every day. I'm pretty sure something got him. It makes me sad because he was such a special cat. He is the reason I like cats. Really it was easy to love him. I was never good at picking up and holding cats and so they would never let me hold them. But he doesn't care how you pick him up. He is so affectionate. What I love most about him is that he was always content no matter what. He never got jealous if there was another pet around. But he loved attention.

When he used to sleep in my bed with me, he would always crack me up...if I was lying on my stomach, he would lay longways on my back...if I was on my side, he would spoon with me with his head on the pillow. And during the day, his favorite place to sleep was the bathroom sink.

Smudge was a beast. He did have a stomach that swung rather low to the ground but other than that, he was muscle. I've seen him jump up in the air and catch a bird. He's always bringing me random body parts of what he's just killed (usually the intestines and half of the skull).

If you were outside, he would come to you. He loved people. Though, I have to say, we didn't give him too much attention. But he's stuck around for the last 7 years. I'm not sure how old he is (was). He was full grown when we found him. One day Neil and I were driving down the road in our neighborhood and Neil had to slam on his brakes to not hit him. That's how he got his name--he was almost a "smudge" on the road. Anyway, once the truck was stopped, Smudge walked over to the driver door, Neil opened it, and he jumped up on Neil's lap. So then we took him home. That's right, we might have stolen him from one of our neighbors. But hey, there was no collar on him and he was not de-clawed. Plus there are always strays around our neighborhood, with all the woods and everything. My brother once found a litter of kittens in a tree in our back woods. One of them fell out of the tree at that moment and my brother's friend caught it--called him Lucky. Anyway, if there was no collar then he was not claimed, so I guess that's how I rationalized it all these years. Also he was always free to go back down the road where we found him if he wanted.

So maybe that's where he is. But I'm pretty sure he's dead. There's coyotes, racoons, wild turkeys (with claws), possums--anything could have gotten him. I just hope it was a quick death with no suffering. Oh, I love(d) that cat. Who knows, maybe he's still out there and will be back soon. But lets be realistic--that's probably not the case.

Neil, don't make fun of me for writing a blog about an animal.