When We Shift Our Focus

practicing an attitude of gratitude in a world of practiced self-entitlement

if a person were to be consistent in spending time praising God, how would that affect the way that person looks at problems 

she is facing? 

When I cannot see the forest for the trees, when the road I'm walking is so foggy I can't see more than one step at a time, when life circumstances knock me to my knees, I want to lift my eyes to the hills, and ask, from where does my help come from? And answer with certainty and resolute hope, "My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth!"

This past week has had the usual challenges and trials. Trying to pay bills from last month with this months paycheck, stretching that mighty dollar once again. Watching the gas gauge flicker on empty and still coaxing one more trip into town. Talking with Mom about the impending move. Working. Feeding my family and keeping up with the house keeping. Nursing my hubby who is once again being pulled under by a nasty head cold. Feeling the distance and separation in stronger waves as I learn my son-in-law has broken his foot and knowing the hardship this puts on their family. Feeling tired. Stressed. Near burn out. Fighting tears and cranky spells (and losing) I have found something that works better than sleep, better than chocolate and better than retail therapy. 

What is IT????

PRAISING GOD. 

I crank UP the praise music. 

I dig out my bible and read from the Psalms >ALOUD<  

I LOOK, really look at creation and all the glorious splendor our loving and mighty God gave us to enjoy. 

And I am instantly transported to a place of peace, joy and hope. I gain strength in a way that I cannot truly describe. I feel hope in the face of despair. I start praising God and thanking Him for all I DO have. It turns everything around. 

I see things in a fresh new perspective. Those bills I was worried about have all gotten a portion of our paychecks. We slid through another month with the power and phone intact. Those numerous trips to town yielded great results and good gas mileage! Mom took the news about moving with grace. I am thankful for my job and getting up early every morning is good discipline and I have time  carved out for reading my bible. The life group bible study my husband and I are leading is encouraging us to have weekly dates and pray together. We have cold medicine stashed in the cupboard and a weekend for him to sleep, rest and recuperate. We have skype to stay connected with family and friends far away. We have stress-busting worship time with our church family and smiles and hugs from them also. 

I am blessed. 

I am so very very blessed. 

I am grateful. I am thankful. I am satisfied. 

I have joy. 

I lift my eyes to the hills.Where does my help come from? 

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth! 

Psalm 121.

Racing the Clock

One of my favorite quotes comes from a dear dear friend of ours. I may have shared it before but it is apropos today. "God is seldom early but He's never late."


Yesterday afternoon around 2:45 my husband called me and shared the good wonderful AMAZING MIND BOGGLING news that some friends had decided to pool their resources and loan us the money needed to prevent the foreclosure proceedings from going into effect. However the clock was ticking and would require some fast action on my part since hubby was trapped in the field working. 


After a race to the bank to establish the exact amount and process required for payment, the countdown was on!! We are west coast and we had to act on east coast time since this was where the money needed to. We had to have cash. We had to wire it. And it had to be 'there' before 10 am EST Thursday. (we learned the foreclosure date was actually scheduled for today, not yesterday as previously thought) 


After numerous phone calls back and forth between hubby and the friends and myself, I met one of the friends later that evening and let the tears flow as the check was placed in my hand. I couldn't let them fall for too long as I needed to see to drive to the bank and cash this!!  Thankfully our bank's drive up window was open till 7pm. Then it was scurry over to the nearest Western Union. Slam dunk. 

right?


No. Something was missing in my information regarding a 'code city' for where to wire the money and by now the bank who has the loan, was closed and there was no one who could tell me what this missing information was!!! Aaaaaaaghhhh!!!


Operating on FUMES (both in my car tank and my tummy, to say NOTHING of what the constant racing and adrenaline pumping had done to my sweat glands!!!!) I drove home to where Bruce was waiting for me. We could do nothing but wait till this morning to make more calls and learn more. At 5 am this morning I was up and calling the east coast bank and learning what I could. By 6:30am we were at the door of the nearest Western Union-- our local grocery store down the street-- which I never realized has this service till I was google-ing every thing I could last night in a vain attempt to learn code cities!!


The money was successfully wired before 8 am our time and then Bruce and I sat in the car and made the call to the bank (transfer to so and so and transferred to such and such and can you hold please?)  to give them the verification number to prove we'd wired the money so they would stop the process of foreclosure. Talk about more adrenaline rushes!!


The phrase 'roller coaster of emotions' probably gets used way too much but it captures the essence of the last 24 hours. From feeling despair in the morning, and trying to  hang on with hope that God's plan was still good no matter what it looked like from our perspective, to learning of the plan our friends were putting into effect to help us, to be affirmed by this selfless action of love, trust, and support, the race to make it all happen in time, the near misses and frustrating set backs, and finally, the whoosh when the basket sailed into the net, and cleared. 


I'm exhausted and it's only 8:30 in the morning!!

Facebook can make me insane sometimes, with some of the petty postings, verbal attacks and political or religious uses, but most of the time I find blessings in what my friends share.  This is what my dear dear sweet friend, Melody Mae wrote on my facebook wall yesterday and it is as fitting as the quote with which I started this post:

The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. Psalm 145:15-16

Yes, Lord in just the proper time, you opened your hands, using your humble servants here on earth, to supply what we need, just as we need it. 


Yesterday was a living breathing example of the 'church in action'.  Words fail me in trying to express my thanks to these dear people. All I can do is offer once again the simple 'thank you' which feels so inadequate yet it is all I can say. Once again, God used His Church to care for us. All glory and praise to God!

SO blown away by these actions and displays of love and faith in us. This is Grace. Pure Grace. 

what did i get myself into?

I know I must ask myself this question a dozen times a week. Seriously. I tend to be impulsive by nature though lessons learned the hard way have kind of helped curb it a bit. I'm moved by empathy or sympathy-- or stupidity-- and before I know it I have volunteered my time and energy for one more thing.

but, it's all good. If it's for God, it's always good. And more than that, God always redeems the time in His Awesome God-like ways.

A few months ago, my husband and I were approached by this young (young) couple at our church and asked if we'd mentor them. We'd never done this before and we were not really sure what mentoring would look like but after talking/thinking/praying about it we plunged in.... and you know what? It has been SO Awesome! We can't take credit because it's been ALL GOD but wow, it's been rewarding to be allowed this front row seat of what God is doing in their hearts and lives, both individually and as a couple. Powerful stuff!!

But I remember after one of our first get togethers with them, I looked at my husband and thought "what have we gotten ourselves into?"   I can chuckle now because, again, it's been all God, displaying His goodness and grace in such beautiful ways. All I can do is point heaven-ward and sigh with happiness and relief!

some of the commitments I take on do come back to bite me. Take my job for instance. I feel blessed to have found a job, in this economy and I feel blessed that the job is one I didn't need much training for, since it's an area I know well. Still, with in days of my accepting the position I found myself scratching my head, going, "what was I thinking?"  It's a fun job and for the extrovert it is the perfect job. For little closet-introvert me however, it can be a real struggle to keep my head above water and keep the right perspective.

I volunteered to be in charge of the church bulletin board, I spoke up and said I'd be happy to help coordinate small groups in our church and most recently I said yes to a request to help with a new church blog. All exciting stuff, using my gifts and talents and I squeal with delight over the possibilities it presents me....

uh, huh.... squealing with delight, yet squawking with Freak-Out inside.

 I DO laugh at myself. Yes, I do. Because I know that  I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME. In fact, His power is perfected in my weakness.

What a great reminder. It also helps me to remember to divide things into smaller chunks. A friend of mine is going to participate in a fundraiser this summer where she will BIKE from Seattle to San Diego. PEDAL ALL THE WAY. And while the big focus is San Diego and the finish line, the present focus has to be about miles she will pedal just that day. 

I need these reminders so I don't get overwhelmed.
It's one day at a time...
one moment at a time...
or my favorite....
one sip of coffee at a time...
savor each sip!! 

Kony 2012

 Maybe you've seen this on facebook, or the news. But it's important to share this and I am doing my part to bring about awareness of the horrors this man perpetrates as leader of the LRA. Please watch. Please share. Please consider how else you might support this movement.  Thank you. 



KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

time for another......Attitude CHECK!

 One of the things Bruce and I almost always do on the drive home from church each week is discuss the points of the sermon and what we felt God was speaking to us in that.


Yesterday what we both got out of the Sunday sermon was that sometimes our circumstances wont change until our attitude does. 

So we've been checking ours. 
Do we have an attitude of gratitude even as we stack those unpaid bills on the desk? 
Do we have an attitude of expectancy as we wait on the Lord to meet our needs? 
Do we leave God-Room for every situation? 

Well, I'd like to say YES!!  But in all honesty, we struggle every day to be joyful, hopeful and grateful. We ARE grateful for the surprises that come from unlikely benefactors. We are amazed at how God uses others to bless us.
But are we grateful, truly GRATEFUL for the CIRCUMSTANCES that  have us in this situation in the first place? 
Are we grateful for CIRCUMSTANCES make us so utterly dependent on God to supply our needs? 

Honestly? I can't say I would answer yes to that one all the time. And I want to be able to.  So attitude check time. And attitude adjustment time.

Lord, I WANT to really truly be GRATEFUL, not just for how you supply all my needs but for the very fact that I am in a situation where I have to depend on you and your greatness to meet those needs. Not just grateful for benefactors who show up on my doorstep and shove a twenty in my hand mumbling that they  felt led to give this to me, not just grateful for the fact that this $20 will buy me gas for a few more days, but grateful for the fact that I am in this place of poverty in the first place. And who in their right mind thanks God for being poor? 

Yet, if this is the will of God for me today, then who am I to discard it, reject it or even resent it? Lord Jesus, forgive me for this bad attitude. I repent here and now of my pity-party attitude that has me sinking into despair and depression and fear. YOU have a plan for my life and its for GOOD, (Jeremiah 29.11--it says prosperity in some versions) not for evil. Your plans include HOPE. 
You have my best in mind. You see and know things I can't. I trust you. I know you want what is best for me. So, even though I don't understand it, and may not like it, I will give thanks for it. And with your help Jesus, may I even find joy in my circumstances. 

Joy and Thanksgiving. I think I have found the words to live by for 2012.

The Messy Room

We all have one. That room (or closet) in our home that we shove all the stuff we don't have time to deal with. Company is coming and we need to put the junk somewhere quick. Piles of junk we will save for a rainy day. Out of sight, out of mind. You know what I'm talking about right?

I have a spare room in my house. It's the guest room if we have company, it's the craft room when I feel creative and it has a desk for my computer. However the thing it is most used for is storage of "unsightly stuff" (otherwise known as cr@p)

 I know someone who has a room in their home that has had some water damage to the ceiling tiles and so the ceiling has fallen in a few places. The dog has a tendency to 'use' that room when for one reason or another he can't get outside and it has become the place to pile all the stuff that has no other place to go.... yah, definitely a cr@p room!   ;)

I was thinking about this as I cleaned up the spare room for company. (First I was thinking 'where am I going to put all this ?!?!' )  I was thinking.... That we all have a room in our heart/ life that we pile all the cr@p we don't have time or energy to deal with. We ignore it as long as possible. We keep adding stuff to it. Eventually the pile is so high that it's dangerous. Eventually it's gonna topple. We can't close the door on it anymore because it's spilling out over the threshold.We now HAVE TO deal with it. Does anyone have a giant pooper scooper??

when I was scouting for images to add to this 'serious' post, I found this; the ultimate Barbie, yes she is called "Pooper Scooper Barbie"

It is interesting to note that when we turn to God for help He does not wave his magic eraser over our mess and make it all go away. Is. 43 reminds me of this when I read: when you go through deep waters and great trouble I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up, the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One...

I am not promised that I will be spared from the fire or the raging rivers. But I am promised that when I call on His name, His Great Name, He will help me.

Thank God for HIS giant pooper-scooper.  I still have to clean up the mess but He gives me the power shovel to do so. I still have to face and deal with the consequences (stinky messy consequences) but I'm not scooping it by myself.