Present

I am still alive. Life is good. That is all for now.

What I love today

I love fall in Florida. I love living in the country. I love walking in the morning and feeling the warm sun on my face while the cool breeze flows around me. I love listening to the sounds of nature- the birds and the bugs and the leaves in the trees. I love knowing that my heart is right with God, that Jesus will never leave me or forsake me and that His Holy Spirit dwells within me. I love knowing that I am right where I am supposed to be at this moment in time.

Revolt Leader Identified

The leader of the revolt has been identified. Her name is Pride. She runs with a couple of other roughians- Criticism and Self-Righteousness. They’re a mean bunch and masters of disguise. I’ve dealt with them before and thought they were banished but somehow they managed to slip back in. Looks like I’ve got some evicting to do and then I’m gonna work on shoring up the border patrol.


"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts."
Proverbs 21:2

Mutiny

Sometimes I want to do the right thing but I don’t actually want to DO the right thing. I can see what I’m supposed to do, my head and my heart both agree that yes, that is the right thing to do. However, there seems to be mutiny in the ranks because I can’t get my body to follow through. Hands, feet, mouth (especially mouth- a major ringleader in the rebellion) simply won’t budge. AARRGH! If I can’t get these rogues in line soon we may discuss plank walking. Perhaps that will make doing the right thing look more appealing.

Thanks, Soldier

I frequently receive forwards from friends and relatives reminding me to pray for the soldiers who are defending our freedoms in foreign lands. I am so grateful for them because it DOES remind me to pray and not to take those freedoms for granted.

We have a young friend in the Army who is on his third deployment to the Middle East. He was in both Afghanistan and Iraq and at present is not allowed to divulge exactly where he is because that would be dangerous for him and his fellow soldiers. He has a lovely wife and 2 beautiful young children here in the states as well as his parents and sister. The phone service where he is is limited so the soldiers must stand in line to use the phone. Last time he called his parents he stood in line for 6 hours to be able to use the phone for just a few minutes, since the line behind him was still long. How he must have agonized in trying to decide who to call during those six hours.

I can't imagine what he must go through on a day to day basis but I know that it is hot and dirty and without most of the conveniences that I take for granted. I know that he must be terribly lonely for his family and that their faces and voices must haunt him in the quiet hours of the night. I know that this particular young man is depending completely on the Lord for both himself and his family while he is away. He knows how important his work is for their sakes and ours and he believes that it is exactly what God would have him do with his life at this time.

I am grateful that he does.


(Note: Actually posted on Nov 18, 2006 - I wrote this back at the beginning of Oct and saved it as a draft. For some reason I never went back and posted it. Since it was written, this particular soldier has completed his deployment and has been sent back to the states- much to the delight of his family. There are many others who continue to need our prayers and encouragement.)

Going Public- Big Wave..Big Wave...

It took me a while but I finally went "public" with my blog. Talk about a big wave! At first I wanted to see if I had both the discipline to keep at this and something, anything, worth saying. The answers came back- somewhat and maybe. The act of thinking about what I'm thinking about and then ACTUALLY writing it down instead of just letting it run around in my head has been challenging. My thoughts seem to enjoy running around in all that empty space and it's really hard to corral them - rather like my grandsons.
Those who know me well know that I'm very good about writing letters- in my head. The problem is that they rarely make it onto paper and if they do, then the big hurdle becomes to actually make it into the mailbox. There's the whole proofreading, copy it over on the good stationary (ok, clean paper), find an envelope, find the address book, find the address - no the current address, find a stamp, remember to take the letter to the mailbox. If they make it this far they may ride around in my purse for a week or two, in which case, by the time I find it the whole thing may be outdated. Sheesh!
We were all excited when I got email, thinking this would be the answer. Fast, easy, no stamps, envelopes or addresses to keep up with. The computer wouldn't fit in my purse so that wasn't going to be an issue. Things looked promising. Unfortunately no one took the thinking thing into consideration. Email is fast. Instant Messaging is faster. I'm not fast, much less faster. I need time to consider, to reflect, to ponder, to rewrite if need be. While I'm doing all this thinking, life is moving on. By the time I'm ready to answer an email no one remembers what I'm talking about. Instant messaging is worse- everyone has signed off and I'm talking to some AOL guy who's going -HUH?
So far, blogging is better. I can take my time. I can rewrite to my heart's content. I can even edit if I need to. Yes, it's not as personal but, hey, at least it's something. Another way my kids can see that I'm still alive. (the answering machine wasn't quite cutting it- seems I don't change to message often enough- who knew?)