It's Been A Long Time

It has been a long time since I have written a blog post. Between being physically sick I have to say my spiritual life has suffered also, I have also a woe-is-me complex. I'm getting older, just turned 71, my health is bad, just fell and broke my shoulder in three places. How can the Lord use me? What does He want me to do?

As I was sitting on my new couch, which is in front of our new window, I could look across the street and see a huge tree and a lot of other trees surrounding it. It took me back in time when I was growing up and looked out at the same tree and thought about how nice it would be to have a boyfriend, do teenage things and what it was going to be like when I grew up. I didn't know the Lord until I was nineteen. My world was all messed up. But as I was thinking about it I realize that the Lord has always told me after I became His that He has something good for me to be doing. Even though I no longer a Sunday School teacher or involved so much in that kind of ministry. I work at a library, I am a wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and a great-aunt. So I have a lot of people I can share with my love of the Lord and be a good example to all of them. If the Lord wants me to do other things He will show me and help me along the way.

Prayer
Thank you Lord for being with me even when sometimes I am so weak and turn from you. You are still with me and You will guide me in the right direction. In Jesus Name I pray this.

O What A Beautiful Morning

I had surgery on my right eye to remove my cataract and each day I can see better and better. The computer is the last hurdle. I have to put the size up to 200 to really be able to read it. I can see things far away without glasses and use reading glasses over the counter to see small print.  So I am praising the Lord for the great progress. Now I start all over again this coming Thursday, February 23th. But it is so amazing how bright colors are and everything in general, So exciting. 

I was able to go to church yesterday morning and one of the challenges that my Pastor gave was to write down this question and then prayer about it and see how God answers. The question is God, what are the things I need to grow up (become mature) in?

We are talking about digging deeper in the Word and growing in it. 

I had one area I believed God wanted me to work on but as I sat quietly and just listen there were four areas so far. Using my time better, do a true Bible study in which I read all the verses and cross-reference verses, share with others what I am learning. Be more organized so that I can accomplish the other things on the list. Finally, use my skill, talents, gifts so other may be encouraged and grow also.

For months I have not posted because I felt so depressed and felt I couldn't help others as I wasn't allowing the Lord help me. But by talking to a friend, small group family, and hearing messages I realize I was trying to work things out on my own.

I know there will be times in which I will take steps backward but my goal is to continue forward and to encourage others on travel on my journey.

How About You?
Maybe you might want to ask the question to God in what way does He want you to grow become mature and reach out to others to help them grow. 

Update

So far all my test have come back good so that I can have my contracts out. There is one I haven't heard back on and that was the one that checks to see if there are any blockages to my eyes and brain. My one eye turns totally black when my good eye is covered and my good eye is beginning to get a few black spots in it when I get my eye exam, Checked the arteries in my neck. 

They are going to do my good eye first. So am praying that it is not blurry for a long so that I can see. I know at night will have to wear a patch so won't be able to see at all. 

The Lord knows all about it and so I am putting my trust in Him and we will see how it turns out. 

Music, What A Difference

My husband has a routine in the morning when he gets up. He sets the table and gets his cereals ready, his cup out, and a plate for his toast. All this time I am still sleeping. He has done this for 50 years. I think I have made his breakfast maybe twice in those 50 years. 

Before he sits down to eat he has gotten a disk ready for the player and I never know what to expect when I come out to get my breakfast ready. This morning I could hear water running but couldn't see any coming out of the facet. It was a nature disk of running water. We laughed and then I went on getting my breakfast ready. As I listened to the disk I could feel my body relax and I felt so good. 

Thought
Music can make a big difference in your mood and thoughts. This morning I was thinking about all the beautiful God has made and the running water made me think of a little brook and I was sitting on a rock with my feet in the water. 

It Happened Again

I had an appointment with an eye surgeon on January 11th. I had never seen this doctor before and he took his time and answered all my questions and we were about to end the visit when I said that when I have my left eye tested after a few seconds it goes black. They call it a lazy eye. That is when it happened again. I see a new doctor and he finds something else wrong then what I went in for.

My doctor told me that my eye should not go black but just have blurry vision. I told him that my right eye is starting to do the same thing. So he ended up ordering a special test to see if the blood is going into the eye and up to the brain the right way.

Everyone I have worked with so far thinks it just happened. I tell them that I have never really seen much out of left eye since I can remember which is around first grade as I had to wear a patch on my good eye. So I probably had the problem since birth.

I have had two doppler tests and now waiting for the results. If everything is alright then I have my first surgery on my good eye on February 9th and the second cataract surgery on February 28th.

I am just so thankful that my Heavenly Father knows all things and if there is a problem going on with my right eye that it can be taken care of and will be able to keep my sight in that eye. 

A Strange Light

I live across the street from where I grew up. It is not uncommon for me to look out my front door window to see if everything looks ok. I did this around 2:00 a.m. this morning. 

To my surprise, I saw this very bright light in the backyard of my cousin's house. It was a huge light and it reminded me of when I was young my mother and I and some of the neighbors would sit in our yard and look for strange moving objects in the sky. We never saw any then, but I was sure that this was an unusual object. Been watching too much TV. 

It really did look like a spaceship and it was hovering in the back yard. I laughed to myself and went to bed. When I got up this morning I saw that it was a street light from the street behind the house. I don't ever remember seeing this light before but I did see it early this morning. It must have shown more because of the clear sky and the freezing cold air. 

I thanked the Lord for it just being a street light and not a space ship. It may sound weird but you never know these days what is out there in our sky. It could have been an outer space object. Earlier I watch a program that was talking about a new planet that is in the sky so thinking about space.

God just told us how he made our planet. He did make other planets we just haven't found them all yet. 

Struggling With Sin

Have you ever struggled with sin? I have and I do. In Romans 7 Paul puts it this way: "The law is good, then. The trouble is not with the law but with me because I am sold into slavery, with sin as my master. I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. But I can't help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things."(Romans 7:17-17 NLT)

There are still more verses in Romans that continue with this theme. See Romans 7:18-23 and chapter 8.  

Sin still controls my life. This war of my mind makes me a slave to sin that is still within me. Then I say what Paul said, "Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life of domination of sin?

There is an answer! The answer is Jesus Christ. With Christ, I have the power of the life-giving Spirit which has freed me through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death. 

Summary
God put into effect a plan to save me and you. He sent his own Son, in a human body like ours, except for sin, so that sin could be destroyed through Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. We no longer have to follow our sinful nature, but instead follow the Spirit. What power, what love we have. 

We still have the sin nature but best of all we have God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit to guide us. They give us the power to overcome our sin nature and go for real life and ways in which we can please our God.

A Quiet Day

Normally I would be working today but the library is closed due to New Years Day being on Sunday. Right now it is very quiet in my house which is unusual. My husband likes music and videos and so either music is playing or the TV is on. Instead, he is doing a crossword puzzle from a crossword puzzle book he received for Christmas and he is doing it without music playing. I just woke up from a short nap and working on this post.

Sometimes I have so much I want to do that nothing gets down. Have you ever have that problem? Today however I decided to let the Holy Spirit have control of my life. It has worked out very well. 

Instead of saying I need to call my sister, I called her. We had a nice talk. Then I called my neighbor because she wasn't in church yesterday. She hasn't been feeling well so wanted to make sure she was ok. As it turns out her car needed a new battery and she didn't get it in time to have it put in her car so that was the reason she was unable to get to church.

As I already mention I did get my nap in. And now will spend time on the computer for awhile then I hope that I will be able to make up a card for my Pastor's wife as she is in the hospital. I like to do crafts so just got my craft room rearranged so can work better. 

The Lord is so good to me. He gives me the strength to do things such as still work outside the home, do crafts, and do other good things. I praise Him and thank Him for this. 

A New Year Begins

Happy New Year

Another year started. At least New Year's Day is starting out better than Christmas Day.

On Christmas morning around 4:30 a.m. I found myself flying through the air and landing on my tailbone on the hard wooden bedroom floor. I had just rolled over one too many times and now I am screaming and crying and I dare not move. 

My husband comes running out of the bathroom and sees me on the floor. I told him I better not move so he called 911. About an half-hour later the ambulance arrives. They bring in a chair but because of all of my husband's cd's and our couch they are not able to get the chair to me. So at 5:00 in the morning my husband is moving his cd's to our living room chair and the kitchen table. Then he and the ambulance driver move the couch so I can get to the ambulance.

By husband is able to leave first while the person is working on me in the ambulance. Then I arrive at the ER and the doctor gets some X-rays. Mean while as we are waiting for the results, my husband and I realize that if I am able to go home all I wore to the hospital was my weird multicolor polka dot pajamas. I had no socks, shoes or coat with me. So my husband went back home and brought me some clothes to wear. When he got back the doctor told us that I had no broken bones and was bruised up and would be sore for awhile. Being 70 years old and a broken hip at any time would be bad, but at 70 and also being diabetic and having arthritis it would be worse. So was very thankful to the Lord for His protection.

Now my next big project for the new year is getting contracts off both eyes. Not really looking forward to that but people say it is not bad surgery. 

I am looking forward to trying out a new craft project and if it turns out good I will put it on my post for you to see. 

My pj's.