"She is more trouble than what she is worth." That is what I heard the day that we got our little girl, Lucy. Now before someone gets all upset our little girl is brown and white with cute freckles and has four legs.
I work for an animal hospital as a PetNurse. About two years ago, I went to see a sweet 8-week old Cocker Spaniel puppy for her first puppy visit.. When I opened the door I thought that she was the sweetest thing ever...she had a big poof of hair right on top of her head and super long eyelashes. She came in because she had an ear infection, tapeworms, fleas and a urinary tract infection...you name it, this puppy had it.
At 21 weeks old, she had already had two different homes. When the second owner brought her to us for her spay, she told me that she was going to pick her up and take her straight to the pound because "she is more trouble than what she is worth." I asked the lady if she would mind if I took her off her hands. She agreed and Lucy has been mine ever since. I am so blessed to have this little girl in my life because she is nothing but love. She is so funny, she gets along great with the other two knuckleheads dogs in our house and she is a great foot warmer!
I am personally so happy that Jesus didn't say that about me. I know that I am more trouble than what I am worth. I do things that I know I shouldn't, I say things that should stay in my head, I act like a crazy person. But He doesn't care...He loves me anyway. It would have been so easy for Him to stop carrying that cross and say, "Yeah, she is not worth it." He didn't do that. He said "...I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
I am so blessed that Jesus is in my life. He is nothing but love. He doesn't care that I can't cook or have smelly feet or laugh at my own jokes...He doesn't think that I'm more trouble than what I'm worth. He loves me so much that he gave His life for me. He thinks I am worth it all.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Butter Knife
Because it is winter, I don't shave my legs more than a handful of times in a month. I wear knee high socks everyday so that no one, and I mean no one, will see my legs. I try to shave them on Sunday...you know getting pretty for God, but since we still have no heat, our showers have been very quick with no time to shave.
It was so pretty outside today with a high of 64, so today, my legs got first class treatment. Well, I say first class but it wasn't so much. I did try to shave my legs today but it was with a dull razor and soap. Do you know what that combo will do to a girl's legs?...it is not pretty. Not only are my legs ashy, but now I have patches of hair when there is clearly not supposed to be any! Shaving with a dull razor is like trying to cut down a forest with a butter knife....it ain't going to happen.
So let's compare that with our walk with the Lord. There are certain things you need to have a successful walk with Jesus. It is pretty basic, but necessary.
1. Faith - You have to believe that Jesus came to earth, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life and then died on the cross to save you from your sins.
2. Confession - You have to confess your sins.
3. Forgiveness - You have to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins.
4. Read/Pray/Share - You must read His Word to know what you believe. You must pray to God for understanding and application of the Word into your life. And you must share His Word with the world.
As Christians, we pretty much have the first few down, that is why we call ourselves Christians. It is the fourth one that we have the most trouble with. Most of the time we read His Word at church on Sunday, but then don't touch our Bible until the next Sunday. How many times have you found y0ur Bible in your car the following week?
If we don't read our Bible then we will not be able to share with others our beliefs. You are not prepared to defend your faith when you need to and you are at risk of falling under the happy, feel good umbrella god. If you don't read your Bible then you might as well go to the local forest with your butter knife and go to town. The results will be about the same...you will get nowhere.
As for me, I am going to try to make sure that I read my Bible more than I have in the past. I have to if I want to share with others the greatest gift known to mankind...the LOVE of Christ.
It was so pretty outside today with a high of 64, so today, my legs got first class treatment. Well, I say first class but it wasn't so much. I did try to shave my legs today but it was with a dull razor and soap. Do you know what that combo will do to a girl's legs?...it is not pretty. Not only are my legs ashy, but now I have patches of hair when there is clearly not supposed to be any! Shaving with a dull razor is like trying to cut down a forest with a butter knife....it ain't going to happen.
So let's compare that with our walk with the Lord. There are certain things you need to have a successful walk with Jesus. It is pretty basic, but necessary.
1. Faith - You have to believe that Jesus came to earth, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life and then died on the cross to save you from your sins.
2. Confession - You have to confess your sins.
3. Forgiveness - You have to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins.
4. Read/Pray/Share - You must read His Word to know what you believe. You must pray to God for understanding and application of the Word into your life. And you must share His Word with the world.
As Christians, we pretty much have the first few down, that is why we call ourselves Christians. It is the fourth one that we have the most trouble with. Most of the time we read His Word at church on Sunday, but then don't touch our Bible until the next Sunday. How many times have you found y0ur Bible in your car the following week?
If we don't read our Bible then we will not be able to share with others our beliefs. You are not prepared to defend your faith when you need to and you are at risk of falling under the happy, feel good umbrella god. If you don't read your Bible then you might as well go to the local forest with your butter knife and go to town. The results will be about the same...you will get nowhere.
As for me, I am going to try to make sure that I read my Bible more than I have in the past. I have to if I want to share with others the greatest gift known to mankind...the LOVE of Christ.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Laugh Until You Cry
Every Tuesday for the past three years we have been going to my wonderful in-laws home for "Game Night." We don't always play games, mostly because I always beat Ryan and he gets mad. We really just get together to spend time with one another. I have to say that it is the best day of my week.
We play all kinds of games: Canasta, Clue, Phase 10 (I HATE this game, because no matter what I do I can never win), Sequence and now my new personal favorite, Scrabble. We always seem to have a good time (until I win) and laugh a good bit. We have laughed so hard at times that many of us shed a few tears.
No matter how many times I hear Ryan laugh, I can not get enough of it. He laughs so loud that I think the windows will shake. I LOVE IT! I love hearing him laugh more than anything. He has such a wonderful deep laugh...it starts out slow and then gets all kinds of worked up. I love to watch him laugh...sometimes he gets so tickled that he laughs until he cries.
My very sweet husband has a hard job. It might not be the most difficult job out there, but he has to work from sun up to sun down six days a week. He works out in the hot sun in long sleeves, pants and work boots. He works in the cold wind, spraying people's yards with water and fancy bug killers.
I feel sorry for Ryan because I know that he does not like his job. I love my job! I get up every morning with a smile on my face because after all these years I have a job that I love. It might not be something that I can do forever, but for right I enjoy it. Ryan, however; gets up every morning dreading going in and doing his job. So on Tuesday night, I enjoy listening to him laugh and forget all of his troubles for a few hours.
As Christians, we don't get up with a smile on our face. We get up and dread the day because someone is sick or out of a job or something worse than I can even imagine. Why can't we get up with a smile on our face enjoying the day the Lord has given us. Aren't we supposed to give praise to the Lord with every breathe we take? How can we do that if we don't have a smile on our face?
I have a personal belief that if you smile and laugh you can get through anything. I know that some things in life are not funny and it is hard to smile through them. But if you have faith in the Lord it will be a little easier for you to smile and eventually laugh through the hard times.
We play all kinds of games: Canasta, Clue, Phase 10 (I HATE this game, because no matter what I do I can never win), Sequence and now my new personal favorite, Scrabble. We always seem to have a good time (until I win) and laugh a good bit. We have laughed so hard at times that many of us shed a few tears.
No matter how many times I hear Ryan laugh, I can not get enough of it. He laughs so loud that I think the windows will shake. I LOVE IT! I love hearing him laugh more than anything. He has such a wonderful deep laugh...it starts out slow and then gets all kinds of worked up. I love to watch him laugh...sometimes he gets so tickled that he laughs until he cries.
My very sweet husband has a hard job. It might not be the most difficult job out there, but he has to work from sun up to sun down six days a week. He works out in the hot sun in long sleeves, pants and work boots. He works in the cold wind, spraying people's yards with water and fancy bug killers.
I feel sorry for Ryan because I know that he does not like his job. I love my job! I get up every morning with a smile on my face because after all these years I have a job that I love. It might not be something that I can do forever, but for right I enjoy it. Ryan, however; gets up every morning dreading going in and doing his job. So on Tuesday night, I enjoy listening to him laugh and forget all of his troubles for a few hours.
As Christians, we don't get up with a smile on our face. We get up and dread the day because someone is sick or out of a job or something worse than I can even imagine. Why can't we get up with a smile on our face enjoying the day the Lord has given us. Aren't we supposed to give praise to the Lord with every breathe we take? How can we do that if we don't have a smile on our face?
I have a personal belief that if you smile and laugh you can get through anything. I know that some things in life are not funny and it is hard to smile through them. But if you have faith in the Lord it will be a little easier for you to smile and eventually laugh through the hard times.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Man Under the Bridge
So in our very old house we apparently have a very old heater. Our very old heater decided that on the coldest day of the new year it didn't want to work...AT ALL!!! I think this heater of ours has a mind of it's own. It will come on for hours on end and then go off for a day at a time. Yesterday just so happened to be one of the days it decided to go off and stay off.
Covered up in blankets, huddled around a very small space heater, using our dogs as feet warmers, I sat there and got mad. I got mad because we were cold and having to eat dinner in our bedroom just to be able to keep the small amount of heat in the room. I thought "my goodness, why are we sleeping here...why can't we just go to someone's house where they have heat!!! I am tired of being cold. I am tired of wearing two pairs of socks. I am tired of my nose running because I am now sick."
Today, a friend told me about a homeless man that lives under the Skyway Bridge, here in Monroe. She tells me that this man in the summer will sit out in a chair and wave to people that pass him not bothered by the heat. This man in the winter, however; covers himself up in a sleeping bag and lays flat on the cold concrete trying to get away from the wind.
I can not imagine what it must be like to be homeless and have to sleep on the street...the actual road...where cars and trucks drive. I couldn't imagine if I had to spend the night without heat, without my "feet warmers" outside on cold concrete.
Our heat is not on again tonight. I don't know when we will get it fixed, but I do know that I will not complain about it. I have walls around me to keep the wind off of me and dogs to sit on my feet to warm them up when they get cold. There are some unfortunate people, like the man under the bridge, that have it way worse than I have it.
I am thankful to God that I do have a roof over my head, food in my belly and a family that loves me enough to give me a warm place to go. I pray, for this man and any other fellow human beings that are outside in this cold weather, that God may keep them warm and safe. Please join me in praying for the less fortunate and thanking God for the things in our lives that we have and take for granted .
Covered up in blankets, huddled around a very small space heater, using our dogs as feet warmers, I sat there and got mad. I got mad because we were cold and having to eat dinner in our bedroom just to be able to keep the small amount of heat in the room. I thought "my goodness, why are we sleeping here...why can't we just go to someone's house where they have heat!!! I am tired of being cold. I am tired of wearing two pairs of socks. I am tired of my nose running because I am now sick."
Today, a friend told me about a homeless man that lives under the Skyway Bridge, here in Monroe. She tells me that this man in the summer will sit out in a chair and wave to people that pass him not bothered by the heat. This man in the winter, however; covers himself up in a sleeping bag and lays flat on the cold concrete trying to get away from the wind.
I can not imagine what it must be like to be homeless and have to sleep on the street...the actual road...where cars and trucks drive. I couldn't imagine if I had to spend the night without heat, without my "feet warmers" outside on cold concrete.
Our heat is not on again tonight. I don't know when we will get it fixed, but I do know that I will not complain about it. I have walls around me to keep the wind off of me and dogs to sit on my feet to warm them up when they get cold. There are some unfortunate people, like the man under the bridge, that have it way worse than I have it.
I am thankful to God that I do have a roof over my head, food in my belly and a family that loves me enough to give me a warm place to go. I pray, for this man and any other fellow human beings that are outside in this cold weather, that God may keep them warm and safe. Please join me in praying for the less fortunate and thanking God for the things in our lives that we have and take for granted .
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
The Perfect Blade of Grass
My husband and I have three dogs (Max, Maddy and Lucy). Every morning we get up playing the "Oh, I am running late for work so you take them out" game. The mornings that Ryan takes them out it seems like they go out do their business and then come back in the house where it is nice and warm. On the days that I have to take them out first thing in the morning, they take what seems to be five hours to do the deed.
Max, our first four legged barking kid, has to have the perfect blade of grass to potty on. I don't understand it...do they not all look alike to him too? Does one blade smell different from the next? Does he prefer tall ones verses shorter ones? I am just not understanding his process of which he chooses the perfect one.
I don't know why he thinks that it has to be perfect for him to get what needs to be done done. Stop with all the sniffing already and just do it!
I want us all to just stop what we are doing and just do IT....whatever that IT is. Is your IT telling someone that you are sorry for something that you may have done to them. Or is your IT helping out someone in need or telling that special someone that you love them. I know for me, my IT is telling my family about Christ and showing them His love through me. In the past few months I have not been very Christ-like at all and this year I plan to change that.
I have a sister...we have never been close, but this past year our bond has been completely severed. This sister of mine is going to have her first baby, a little girl I recently found out. I was not happy for her at all. I didn't think that it was fair and even doubted God's plan for me. See, Ryan and I have been married for almost nine years now and for the past seven years have tried to have a baby. In the past year alone, I have been around 10 women that have been pregnant and had to watch each and everyone go through the wonder that is becoming a mother. It is still hard to see the joy on their faces while feeling my heartbreak, but I have faith in my Lord.
Sniff, sniff, sniff...how does this all relate? For the past few months I have been trying to find a time to talk to my sister. I have to stop sniffing around the idea of forgiveness and actually forgive her. I have to stop sniffing around the idea of compassion and actually be compassionate. I have to stop sniffing around the idea of love and actually love her. I have to find my perfect blade of grass and just do it already!
I am still not too happy with the idea, but I can at least show her that she is not alone and I do care about her and her little girl. I am going to have another niece! :)
Max, our first four legged barking kid, has to have the perfect blade of grass to potty on. I don't understand it...do they not all look alike to him too? Does one blade smell different from the next? Does he prefer tall ones verses shorter ones? I am just not understanding his process of which he chooses the perfect one.
I don't know why he thinks that it has to be perfect for him to get what needs to be done done. Stop with all the sniffing already and just do it!
I want us all to just stop what we are doing and just do IT....whatever that IT is. Is your IT telling someone that you are sorry for something that you may have done to them. Or is your IT helping out someone in need or telling that special someone that you love them. I know for me, my IT is telling my family about Christ and showing them His love through me. In the past few months I have not been very Christ-like at all and this year I plan to change that.
I have a sister...we have never been close, but this past year our bond has been completely severed. This sister of mine is going to have her first baby, a little girl I recently found out. I was not happy for her at all. I didn't think that it was fair and even doubted God's plan for me. See, Ryan and I have been married for almost nine years now and for the past seven years have tried to have a baby. In the past year alone, I have been around 10 women that have been pregnant and had to watch each and everyone go through the wonder that is becoming a mother. It is still hard to see the joy on their faces while feeling my heartbreak, but I have faith in my Lord.
Sniff, sniff, sniff...how does this all relate? For the past few months I have been trying to find a time to talk to my sister. I have to stop sniffing around the idea of forgiveness and actually forgive her. I have to stop sniffing around the idea of compassion and actually be compassionate. I have to stop sniffing around the idea of love and actually love her. I have to find my perfect blade of grass and just do it already!
I am still not too happy with the idea, but I can at least show her that she is not alone and I do care about her and her little girl. I am going to have another niece! :)
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Toilet Paper
Have you ever been siting around...say on the toilet, and thought of about 100 different things that you need to do in a days time? Well, I do all the time. It's not always things that will take a huge amount of time or effort...mostly it is very easy tasks to complete.
For an example, I have been out of toilet paper for the past few weeks. Thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law, I had a roll this past week, but tomorrow is a new day and I don't think that there is enough to go around. I don't know what it is about me, but for some reason I just will not go to the store and buy the T.P. that is so very much needed in my house. Not even go to the store....in the past two days I have been at my very favorite store, TARGET, twice and each time have passed the row that the T.P. lives on....have I picked up some and taken it to the front of the store...NO, I have not. I don't know why...maybe it is because I am lazy or maybe it's because I think I can hold off for one more day. If I keep this up I will be on the pot with T.P. and then where will I be...that's right...up the creek without a paddle.
My point to all of this is in life we wait and wait and wait to do things that we most desperately need to do, like say hello to a friend, send out Christmas gifts to family that is not close by (Katie, I promise I will get that in the mail by the end of next week or the week after) or something as simple as asking the Lord to forgive you for your sins.
I don't know why we think it is so hard to do any of those things but its not hard at all...in fact it is pretty easy. The sad thing about it is we all think that we can do it tomorrow when we have more time...NEWS FLASH...we are not promised tomorrow...we might not have the time to do any of those things...tomorrow might just be the end of the roll. So, I would like to encourage you to think of something that you have been putting off and go do it. I am going to go and get my T.P. before it is too late.
For an example, I have been out of toilet paper for the past few weeks. Thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law, I had a roll this past week, but tomorrow is a new day and I don't think that there is enough to go around. I don't know what it is about me, but for some reason I just will not go to the store and buy the T.P. that is so very much needed in my house. Not even go to the store....in the past two days I have been at my very favorite store, TARGET, twice and each time have passed the row that the T.P. lives on....have I picked up some and taken it to the front of the store...NO, I have not. I don't know why...maybe it is because I am lazy or maybe it's because I think I can hold off for one more day. If I keep this up I will be on the pot with T.P. and then where will I be...that's right...up the creek without a paddle.
My point to all of this is in life we wait and wait and wait to do things that we most desperately need to do, like say hello to a friend, send out Christmas gifts to family that is not close by (Katie, I promise I will get that in the mail by the end of next week or the week after) or something as simple as asking the Lord to forgive you for your sins.
I don't know why we think it is so hard to do any of those things but its not hard at all...in fact it is pretty easy. The sad thing about it is we all think that we can do it tomorrow when we have more time...NEWS FLASH...we are not promised tomorrow...we might not have the time to do any of those things...tomorrow might just be the end of the roll. So, I would like to encourage you to think of something that you have been putting off and go do it. I am going to go and get my T.P. before it is too late.
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