For His Service

Beth Moore talks about her experience in listening to...and (the hard part)...obeying God's voice. She talks about what blessings we miss out on when we choose not to listen to His voice because of our own pride, our own fears (fear of rejection, etc), or just because we don't want to... I heard a homeschool mom say her life was turned around when someone said to her, "Are you afraid to disobey God?"...and she had to answer no. Well, which is scarier...a wild lion or the creator of the entire world. None of us would consider going on an African safari and getting our of the jeep to go touch a wild lion, but daily...we choose to disobey our God. Are we crazy or what? Watch the video. It is funny...it shows the joys of obeying a "bossy" God. :)

Fifteen years ago, I adopted my long-haired Chihuahua, Lupe'. She was my first baby. She slept with me until Noah came along a few years later. A few months ago, her trachea started closing or collapsing for a few seconds at a time. She needed two kinds of pills every 6 hours. That was a problem. I couldn't force it down her throat, because of her collapsing trachea. I tried crushing it and adding it to her food, but she ate very little. When she did eat, it usually didn't stay down. She was getting smaller and smaller. Despite the frequent visits to the vet, we couldn't make her better. Yesterday was a very, very hard day. We lost her. I miss her very, very much. Who knew loosing a pet would hurt so much? She was a fabulous dog. I am so glad for the time I had with this precious little girl.

"Mommy, what is this little blue pill I found in the bathroom?", my six year old son said. I KNEW my husband wasn't on anything . ..LOL.... I instantly remembered that I had given Dirk, our 8 year old snoodle, a blue pill...for his allergies and ear infection. You see, Dirk gets raging ear infections and skin infections each spring and fall. Apparently, poodles and schnauzers, both are proned to both types of infections. Noah, my 12 year old, accurately described Dirk's ear, when he said, "Mom, it looks like a ear wax ball exploded all over his ear". Anyway, it is painful , for both of us. I have to put drops in his ears each day. I have to figure out how to hide a pill and get him to eat it....without him spitting it out (which is where I failed today). I thought, "Dirk, if only you knew that the 10 seconds or less it takes to take the pill, which you sooooo obviously dread, will keep you from having pain for months. It will keep your skin and ears inf...

I have been painting for about 15 years. I don't get to paint as often as I would like. However, today.... I painted these two in response to David McNeeley's sermon . He said that too often we say we are holy because we aren't as bad as so and so. However, the goal isn't to say we are sinless and pretend that our sins aren't as offensive as someone else's sins. Our goal isn't to jump 5 inches (be holier than the person beside us)...our goal is the MOON (to be HOLY for HE is holy). Of course, when we try to jump to the moon in our own power, we are doomed to failure. It is only CHRIST in us that can jump at all. We must not judge our neighbor and say we are righteous. We must not puff ourselves up when we get it right. We must not smash ourselves when we get it wrong We must cooperate in the sanctification process, but know the results and timing of how quickly it is done is up to Christ alone. It is His power alone that we are able to do what He wants. R...

I started this morning at 7:00 running at the Greenway. My friend, who is much, much faster than I am, Cathy M., joined me at 7:20. She left me in her dust and I turned around to get my friend, Kathy Lee. We ran and walked about 15 miles. My calves are so sore, but I am so proud of myself. It looks like that 1/2 marathon will be ok come November. I will keep you posted.