Out of My Comfort Zone

I’m not a person who makes New Year resolutions. When I think of the word l think of the word  “resolve,” I think of what is said of Daniel in scripture. Daniel “resolved” not to each the rich food that he was given, sticking to a diet of vegetables and water. He wouldn’t defile himself with the king’s food. I’m definitely not in the same league as Daniel! 

But, I’m not opposed to setting goals for myself. I tend to be a homebody. So, I have challenged myself to get out more, to do something at least once a month. In January, I went to a local church that was hosting a ladies night to make a prayer board/vision board. I didn’t know anyone there, but I went. There was a glorious time of worship, good food and a chance to be creative. I am actually using my board.

February found me making a reservation at a local winery for a wine and chocolate pairing. I was going to go by myself and a good book, but a friend decided to go with me. It was nice to relax and talk with a friend for the afternoon. And, the chocolate was delicious! 

In March, I wasn’t sure what I would do. I kept thinking that I wanted to try the Salt Cave in the next town. I never called, so I went to the Historic Star Theatre to hear the Maui Mt. Airy Ukulele Invasion play. I had no idea what to expect. It’s easy to think “Don Ho.” It was definitely far from that. The guy who taught these 30 plus ukulele players had a great stage presence and an even better voice. He sang most of the songs they played starting with “Listen to the Music” and ending with “Hey, Jude.” It was an amazing show.

I finally did call to make an appointment with the Salt Cave. I figured it would be my April outing. They could take me that same day, in less than an hour, in fact. So, off I went. The room had Himalayan salt on the walls and on the floor. There was a comfortable lounge chair and waves for background noise. It really felt like I was at the beach. And, the air was infused with teeny tiny salt, too. So relaxing. Now, I have to think of something to do in April. 

I’m trying to balance out being a hermit and getting out. It’s hard sometimes. I like my comfort zone. If I stay there, I would rarely do anything. Where does the push and the strength and the confidence come from to get me to do these things? From my Lord and my God. And, I am grateful.

Frustration to Satisfaction

 When was the last time you shopped for jeans? Has it been a while? For the past six months or so, I have wanted a pair of jeans that fit. The jeans I have been wearing are about six years old, stretched out and worn out. I work in Tourism, at the county Visitors Center. We can wear jeans to work, as long as they aren’t ripped and they looked decent. In my mind, my jeans went past decent a long time ago. It was time to replace them.

I didn’t know that something so simple could be so hard. Over the years I have gained weight, so I wasn’t even sure what size to buy. I live in a small town and places to buy jeans are limited. I tried on a couple of pairs and bought a pair that I thought fit. LOL! Was I ever wrong. Since there was some stretch to them, after about thirty minutes they felt like I had on a full diaper. Nope. These wouldn’t work. So, I ordered a pair from Amazon. Too big. I returned them. I ordered the next smaller size. Too big. I returned them. I ordered the next smaller size. Too small. I donated them to a thrift shop run by one of the local churches. Was I discouraged? Definitely! I didn’t just want jeans that fit. I needed jeans that fit. What do I do now? I didn’t know.

I needed something to wear to a bridal shower, so a friend took me thrift store shopping and I found the perfect dress. We stopped at one of her favorite stores near where she used to work and found jewelry to go with the dress. But, guess what else they had…jeans! I tried on a few different pairs and praise God, some of them fit. I ended up buying two pair of jeans that day. One of them feels like I’m wearing pajama pants. I bought a couple of shirts, too.

The next week, I went to the same store, but it was in a different town. It was bigger, too. I was like a kid in a candy shop. I bought a second pair like the ones I really liked and another pair, too. I now have a variety of jeans that fit! I’m grateful to God for having my friend introduce me to this shop. He really does care about me (I knew He did) even in the little things, things that aren’t important in the big picture, but they are important to me. 

Called to Move

 

This morning I was reading in Deuteronomy 1. The Israelites were on the east side of the Jordan River in the territory of Moab. They had been set up in one place for a season. They were still in the wilderness. They hadn’t moved on. Now it was time. It was time to move out of their comfort zone and claim the land God had promised them. 

All too often, I get stuck in my comfort zone. My inner self doesn’t want to break out of the mold - the safety and security that I feel at home. God calls me to more. He has so much more in store for me. He has a promise of a future and a hope for me. I just have to listen to His call, His still, small voice and follow to see that promise come to fruition. 

Church

 

Church is defined as “a house of worship.” I have seen all types of churches in my life, from very elaborate St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow to Abadia de Monterserrat in Spain to little country churches near home. And everything in between. What is the one thing that they have in common? They are all places of worship.

So, if a place of worship is a church, then I have been in a multitude of churches in my life. I worship and praise my Lord and God everywhere. I especially like to pray to him when I am in nature. So, if I am praising God in the forest, the forest is my church at that time. If I am next to a lake or a stream, then they are my church. I praise God on my deck in the morning. That to me, is church. And, I praise Him when I’m driving, so my car becomes my church. I praise Him at work. My desk area is my church. I praise Him when in the shower, doing dishes, making cards. All of those areas become church at that time. 

God is there, wherever I am. He is with me. He is with you. And He deserves our praise, no matter what your “church” looks like at the time. After all, a church is a place of worship. And we should worship Him everywhere we go.

The Simple Things

 

Yesterday, I spent the day with a friend. After walking a mile with Leslie Sansone, we went to do some errands. I needed a watch battery and needed to get a necklace clasp fixed. The jeweler didn’t have the battery that I needed and told me to try CVS. They should have one. So, we went to CVS. I found the battery I needed. “Thank You, Jesus.” 

 

We went to the register to pay for it and lo and behold there was a display of playground balls! Right there, in front of the register, beautiful, colorful, bouncy playground balls. What to do? Of course, I grabbed one and started bouncing it. Then, I bounced it to my friend. We bounced it back and forth for a few minutes. Then, she bounced it under her leg. We laughed so much. So did the guy in line behind us. He asked us if we had hall passes. Oh, I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard.

Thank you, Lord for joy in the simple things in life. (I did buy one of those balls.)

Morning Worship

I had one of those mornings. You know the kind….I’m up, trying to get ready for the day and I just couldn’t get the shower temperature right. It was too hot. So, I adjusted it a bit. It was too cold. I tried again. Too hot, too cold. And again. The same thing happened. Finally, I got it right. In the big picture, it’s nothing to fuss about. But, that morning I couldn’t get it right on the first try. When I eventually was standing under the stream of perfect temperature water, my mind began to wander.

I was thinking about my shower in Ghana. First of all, it was a blessing that I even had running water. Most people did not. There was no hot and cold running water like here in the USA. Yes, I had hot water if I took a shower in the afternoon of a 95° day. And, I had cold running water during the Harmattan season when the outside temperatures were much cooler. I quickly learned not to take a long shower during Harmattan, and definitely learned not to take a morning shower Harmattan season. Brr!

So, my morning shower turned into a time to praise and thank the Lord. I praised Him for hot and cold running water. I praised Him for giving people knowledge on how to make the plumbing system in my apartment so I can adjust water temperatures. I thanked Him for the water pressure. And, I was grateful to Him because I didn’t have to be concerned about my water tank emptying before the next time it would be filled. 

Lord, thank You for morning showers that are the perfect temperature!

Prayer Request

History has repeated itself. It has happened again. Every time that I don’t feel well, I don’t write a blog. And, if I miss a week of not writing, I just quit all together. It’s what happened when I was living in Ghana. The first several years I tried to write twice a week. Then, the illnesses started, mainly constant (or so it seemed) sinus infections. I hardly wrote a blog those last two or three years. I felt crummy. And, who wants to read about an old woman and her sicknesses? In my mind, I hear Thumper’s mother say, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” When I write, I want to write something positive. 

I’ve been dealing with sinus infections for about six weeks. I’m on my third antibiotic. I don’t feel sick enough to stay home all day, but I don’t feel well enough to go out and about all day. I’m grateful that my work day is only six hours. And, I don’t think to write a blog when I am this way. (I am not looking for medical suggestions. Let me just say that I have really bad sinuses.) 

So, I’m asking for prayers for healing…healing for my sinus issues. Was a result of healing comes so many other good things. Things will happen such as increased ability to focus. A desire to be more active, to do some healthy stuff. My God is a good, good God, and He is my Healer!

Snow Days

 

The past week or so has been quite unusual. We have had more than three inches of snow where I live in Patrick County, VA. I’m sure up on the mountain there has been a lot more snow. A “snow day” was declared for work. We could all stay home, snuggle up in warm blankets, drink some coffee or tea and curl up with a good book. 

But, what do you do when the snow day turns into snow days? I had such good ideas of what I could get done…catch up on my Bible study, make thank-you cards to send out for the Christmas gifts I received, clean the oven, do laundry, exercise, make soup, bake cranberry orange muffins….you get the idea. 

So, what did I do? Not much. I did keep up with the laundry. And, I finally caught up with my Bible study lessons, but it took me several days to get started. And, I made a batch of chicken soup. I did buy eggs for the muffins, but they never got baked. And the thank- you cards? I barely even gave them a thought. I did read. And, I did sleep. Exercise? Once. Oh, and I did clean the oven. So, I guess I did get some stuff done, but not as much as I envisioned myself doing. 

I like to think that I’ve got it all together. That I can just get done the things that I want to get done. Obviously, that isn’t happening. I guess I’ll have to go back to making lists. I love crossing things off of a list and seeing all that I have accomplished. So, list making isn’t all that bad.

If I were about 40 years younger, I would have loved to go and play in the snow. I thought about making a small snowman. That didn’t happen, either. Where is my discipline? Where is my “get up and go?” I really need to work on that. I need to get rid of the distractions that take up some of the time that should be devoted to other, more productive activities.

Today, I will start with list making. I’ll let you know how it works out. In the meantime, enjoy the snow and stay warm! 

No Power? No Problem!

 

Last night, the power went out around 9:37 p.m. I was already asleep. But, I woke up since my CPAP wasn’t working. I wasn’t too concerned about it until I read the email that said that the estimated time of power being back on is 11:00 p.m. tomorrow night. Then, I came to my senses. 

I grew up tent camping. I was a Girl Scout for a gazillion years. I lived in a remote area of Africa. I can live 48+ hours without electricity. No problem. The electricity went out all the time in Ghana. The only difference is that in Ghana, it was a lot warmer than 22°F. 

I didn’t sleep well. I tossed and turned a lot during the night. I got up around 3:00 a.m. and read for a while. I went back to bed until it got light outside. It was 47°F in my apartment. Brrr! I wanted to stay under the blankets but I didn’t. I found batteries for my radio and tuned in to the local radio station, WHEO. A good part of the county was affected by the outage. I had a Coke Zero instead of coffee while I waited to find out what was happening with work. Everything was closed today because of no power.  So, I got dressed and went to my desk and basked in the sunshine. It was glorious! Then, I drove to Meadows of Dan for lunch and to mosey around. I even bought a cold coffee for tomorrow, just in case. 

As I sit in my apartment, I am grateful that I have protection from the elements. I have plenty of warm clothes and blankets. I have food and drink that can be consumed cold. I can go into my car to warm up if absolutely necessary. I have books to read and cards to make. (And, there’s always housework to do.) I don’t NEED anything. God has been good to me. He has blessed me in amazing ways. So, during this power challenge, I choose to praise Him and to make the best of it. 

No power? No problem!

Abundant Blessings

It’s kinda strange. When someone in the US greets me and I respond, I respond totally different than when I lived in Ghana. The same goes with holiday greetings. When I wished a friend in Ghana a merry Christmas and a happy new year, I added, “May God abundantly bless you in the coming year.”

Then, I got to thinking., these days when I think of blessings, my thoughts go to the small, seemingly insignificant stuff. My Ghanaian friends look at God’s abundant blessings as monetary or material things. And, I can’t really find too much fault in that. These people had nothing. It was a blessing that they had food to eat. Many didn’t have clean water to drink. The women worked from dawn to dusk and later. Most chores were on their shoulders. So, to ask for God’s blessing might mean food for the day or medicine for a sick child. 

What I always had trouble with was when an “evangelist” came to preach, preaching a gospel of “If you give this much to the ministry, then I will pray for God to bless you abundantly so that you’ll never have a need again.” I know people who gave their hard earned money to such ministers only to realize later it was a sham. Abundant blessings…where were they?  In their situation, it was hard to see the blessings.

Sometimes it is hard for me to see the blessings, especially when life gets tough. Abundant blessings…there’s so many of them…life, breath, sight, hearing, hot and cold running water, heat on a cold day, food in the refrigerator and cupboards, Bibles in my heart language, coffee, a comfortable bed to sleep on, Christian music, a variety of gospel-preaching churches close to home, plenty of clothes in my closet, electricity, the ability to come and go as I please, family, friends, the saving grace of Jesus Christ. And the list goes on, and I thank God for these abundant blessings.

May God bless you abundantly this year.

 

Some New Year’s Day Thoughts

 

 

In the times I kept up with my blog, I frequently posted Wesley’s Covenant Prayer on New Year’s Day. I’m going to do this again, but a bit differently. I hope you will be challenged by this, or at least that you will give it some thought.

Many churches pray this Covenant Prayer on the first Sunday of the new year. I love that tradition. I often wonder, do I, or do others really pray this prayer or do they just say the words, not giving them another thought? I’m going to add my thoughts today.

I am no longer my own, but Thine.

When I made a decision to follow Christ, I gave him my whole life, so I thought. Sometimes it’s really hard to do. Did I ever wonder what that meant? Not at that time I didn’t. Did you?

Put me to what Thou wilt, rank me with whom Thou wilt.

Many times in life I was the “low man on the totem pole.” And other times, I was held in high regard. And, of course, there’s always that middle ground. How did I handle each situation? Did I handle my position with grace? Did others see Christ in me? I didn’t really like the times I was in the spotlight, it’s nice to be acknowledged once in a while, but living as if I were in a goldfish bowl wasn’t my cup of tea. It was challenging at times.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

I would guess that we would all like to “do” instead of suffer. We like to be useful. But, are we willing to do menial tasks? What are we willing to do for the sake of the gospel? Work with AIDS patients? Work where no others would willingly work? Are we/am I willing to do what it takes? There was a time that I would have said, “yes!” loud and strong. I like to think I would react the same way now but my voice isn’t as loud or as strong anymore.

Let me be employed for Thee, or laid aside for Thee.

No matter where a person works, they can be the hands of Jesus. They can show His love to everyone that they interact with each and every day. Do others see that in me or do they see my impatience? When I was unemployed, were my actions those of Christ? Did I still have His joy in my heart?

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

Can you live without all the comforts of home that you now enjoy? Can you live without electricity? Or without clean drinking water? Without air conditioning in the summer? Without a washer and dryer? Most of the world lives just like that. When I returned from Ghana, I was so grateful for hot and cold running water. When a storm knocks out the electricity, so what? It’s not the end of the world. I have learned not to stress about it. I live a simple lifestyle. In years past, things were different, although I never did have an extravagant life. My friends in Ghana think I do. But, here in the US, no, I don’t. Things are a lot different here than in the villages of the Lawra District of Ghana. I have learned to be content no matter where I live.

I freely and heartily yield all things to Thy pleasure and disposal.

This is easier to do if you know in your heart of hearts that God can use you, your belongings, your cash, for a bigger purpose than what you can see with your own two eyes. Again, using Ghana as an example, I didn’t have to think twice about getting rid of 98% of my worldly possessions. God had a plan for my life in another part of the world. I had no idea how long I would be gone. And, why just let stuff sit in storage somewhere for years. Do I regret not keeping more? Sometimes I think it would have been nice to have a certain item or piece of furniture. But, again, what would I do with it? Where would I put it? In the end, I know that I did the right thing.

And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Thou art mine and I am Thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in Heaven. Amen.

Lord, I give you my all today, my heart, my mind, my strength (or lack there of,) my will, my possessions, my life. It’s all yours, Lord. Amen.

Have a blessed year!

Friendship

 

Today I  am challenged. I was reading in the book of Amos, chapter 3. It says, “Can two walk together without agreeing to meet?” Hmmmm. My goal since I returned from Ghana was to be a hermit. I have revised that goal. Now, I just want to be a part-time hermit. Having close friends has always been difficult for me. But, in my heart of hearts, I have always yearned for that small circle of close friends. You know, the kind that don’t mind if you call them at 4:00 in the morning because life happened. 

I am blessed because I have a couple of these friends. One lives in Rome, GA. I don’t see her often. When I do, it’s life-giving. I wished we lived closer. There are two or three other people who come to mind when thinking about friends. They have seen me in the best of times and the worst of times. We don’t get together often. They have families close by and have family obligations. 

I see people on Facebook that share pictures of times that they get together with friends…a weekly walk, a monthly dinner, going someplace fun, and I wonder, “Why don’t I have friends like that?” These friends have been friends forever, they grew up near each other and have lived in the same general locality for most of their lives. They share life together. I’ve only been here five years. 

I’m my own worst enemy. I don’t share life too often, not the deep down nitty gritty of life. I don’t want to take off my mask and be vulnerable. I’ve been hurt too many times in life and I’m not sure if I want to risk it. I know I shouldn’t isolate myself when I’m not working. It’s one of my safety nets. It works for me in this chapter of my life. Will I be this way for the rest of my life? Maybe, maybe not. From time to time, I force myself to get out, to be around people, to sign up for a class, to volunteer. Even now, I just want to go upstairs and read. I’m pretty comfortable with myself. 

What I do know is that when others have failed me, God hasn’t. I’m grateful for that. 

Choices

 

 Hebrews 11 contains a list of faithful heroes. They weren’t perfect. They didn’t have perfect lives. Their situation in life wasn’t perfect, either. Yet, they chose to fix their eyes on the Lord. They were focused on the better thing, what God had in store for them. Did they make mistakes? Most definitely. But, they didn’t let their mistakes define them. They repented and tried again, even more determined to fix their  eyes on the Lord and to follow Him. 

Some of them never saw the situation/focus of their prayers come to fruition, but they never gave up. They kept praying, believing, trusting. They had no guarantees except that whatever the Lord said He would do, He would do. He was their guarantee. And that was good enough for them.

Is it good enough for me? Is it good enough for you? Do I truly believe that God will do what He said He would do? I like to think so. Every day, choices are in front of me. I need to make a decision each time. Will it be a decision of trust in the One who loves me unconditionally and has my best interests in mind? Or will it be a decision that I make just because I want to, no matter what the consequences are? I pray that I will choose to trust Him.