One of Those Days....

It is one of those days. you know the one, where your irritated for reasons you cant quite put your finger on. Or maybe you can put a finger on your irritation but refuse to do so. Who knows. Irritation is building and you know it is probably only a matter of time until you explode with either angry words or it could be print form. What ever the reason, what ever the cause, you are irritated and those close to you are the ones most likely to suffer your wrath. Unless of course you are in line at the coffee shop and the person in front of you has no idea what they want, while you stand behind them knowing exactly what you want. Heaven forbid the Barista (today's word for those who make your coffee), messes up your order.

As I sit here in the coffee shop working on a paper for class, I have see the irritation of customers who direct their frustration on the poor girls behind the counter. One got their coffee as ordered but decided to complain anyway. The joys of working with the public.

What about us as Christians? How do we handle frustration and irritation? Just because we have the label of Christian surrounding us, this does not automatically guarantee that my behaviors or my initial reactions are going to be changed the moment I accepted the label of Christian or accepted that God was in charge of my life, and neither did any of the other Christians living out there.

We are human and we are going to make mistakes, the questions that Christians face is whether or not we give our troubles over to God and ask for forgiveness when we are wrong. I have mentioned that I am mom (perhaps not in this blog post, but in others) and I am human, very capable of making daily mistakes with my choices, my parenting and my opinions. I can hurt the feelings of my children without ever meaning to. Just ask them.

We need to pray and read the word daily. Will this erase our humanness? Heavens no, we will always be vulnerable to our humanness. Always. The beauty is that God knows this! He really does and He loves us anyway. Despite our faults, our actions and how we behave.

Just yesterday I wrote this in my journal:

     Thank you Lord, that you accept me into your family. You accept me just as I am and you have opened your arms to accept me. For this I am truly grateful and blessed. I am blessed beyond all measure to have you as a Father. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

We only have to open our bibles and read His word to gain an understanding of just how much He loves us. It is written on every page of this very important book. All we have to do is open it. I have committed myself to starting my day of in His word and ending my day in His word. Some days I am really good at this and others I just really want to do nothing more than sleep in for a few extra minutes. As a single mom mornings are hectic (and no you don't have to be a single mom for your morning to be hectic). 

One of my go-to bible verses is Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Sometimes this is hard to remember, and we can take on frustrations we really do not have to take on.  

I am trusting God to work out my frustrations and the things I am waiting on. We have to trust Him, if we want the best for our lives. He knows our wants and our needs, He knows the desires of our hearts and as Psalms 37:3 says, we need to trust in him and take delight in him and He will give us the desires of our heart. The key to this is that He needs to be our number one desire. 

Let go of your irritation and frustration and give them over to God. He has this, you don't need to fight battles that He has already won for you. He already won today's battles, tomorrows and every other battle we face in the future. We may not get the answer we want, but it will be His best answer. 

Sit back, breathe and pray! 

Until the next Scribble......

Country Life

Matthew 6:26-34 - Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today thrown into the fire tomorrow, He will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? So don;t worry about these things saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously and He will give you everything you need. So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will brings its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today. (NLT)

What do the sounds of roosters crowing, (do roosters crow?), the smell of dirt and manure, and the sight of barns have in common? Country Life of course. Most of you readers know that I am a self-proclaimed city girl. I preferred the sight of buildings, the crowds of eclectic people walking about their busy lives and even the sirens signaling that something is not quite kosher somewhere in the city. The sights and sounds of life happening everywhere you look and even where you don't look. 

So what is it about being in the country that makes one want to start a garden, make jelly and other various canning items and for kids to want to have cows and chickens? The view is very different from the city views I have preferred. 

Our Barn....yup there is a barn! :) 

This view is from the walk M and I took yesterday! It was literally the first gorgeous day we have had since arriving in Oregon. Most days have been foggy and dreary and then rainy and gloomy. Being here makes me want to do things I have never wanted to do before. Hiking, something I have kind of wanted to do, but never really gotten into. Bugs, poison oak, creepy crawly things and so on have prevented me from becoming much of an outdoors girl and yet, living in the country makes me want to do all of them. 

Seriously I want to plant a garden, grow herbs (the legal kind, the ones you cook with, not the kind that I know came to mind), and can. I want to make soaps, and candles, and homemade everything! You all know how much I love to cook (at least I think you do?!) and I just want to spend my days in the kitchen creating and feeding my kids. Weird, right? 

M on our walk yesterday! 

Even waking up early and reading my bible is more enjoyable. Delving into the word and being close to God gets easier each day. I love my prayer time and learning more about myself and my walk with God. It is so easy to see God in everything around me. The wild flowers that He made beautiful, the birds that He feeds and He created. The mountains and the trees and all the life that is actually happening and all without sirens! 

Yesterday during our walk A, who rode his bike way ahead of us, cam back to tell M that there were fireman at his school and I actually felt safe letting them walk to the school without me! M had a blast  and came home to tell me all about how they let him on the truck and he got to see the inside of the fire truck and they told them about the training and even invited them to the fire station anytime they wanted to go! M is ecstatic. I guess we will need to make cookies and bring them to the fire station so M can visit a fire station! 

The path may be rocky and narrow, but if
it is a God created path, then it is
the right path. 

We have entered a whole new phase of life for our family and I can't wait to see what God has in store for us. Being here is like seeing Matthew 6:24-34 in real time, not just in word form. He does provide for the flowers of the field, for the birds and animals that roam the ground and the sky. He provides for them and they don't worry about a thing! So why should we? Being out here you can see this verse come to life! 

I am on a new path, creating new memories and creating stability for my children. (Finding a job will totally help with that). This path is not always clear, it is rocky and appears to be narrow and going nowhere. It is a struggle sometimes to put one foot in front of the next and go on, but as sure as I am sitting here, I know that God will provide. I many not like this situation very much, but I love and trust God and I know He is here guiding the path. 

Now, seriously, I need to consider this garden idea and figure out where to put my herb garden that I must have! (I had on in Cali too!) I love herbs and every cook needs an herb garden! :) Life is full of surprises! Keep you faith, turn to God and nothing is impossible! 

Until the next Scribble.........

P.S. The fog is back and it is thick as molasses!!! :) 

Psalms 37:3-7

     This morning found me sitting on the couch praying. I prayed for my kids as well as J and S as I do every morning. Praying for God's will to influence their decisions and for them to be able to make decisions that honor God, themselves and their parents. When I felt compelled to pray for the family of this reporter who had been beheaded and those two who await the same fate. As I was praying I wanted to pray for their captors as well, bit not knowing exactly what to pray for them I prayed for God to know what to do in this situation. Only He knows their true hearts and as we know, Paul was once an enemy and a hater of God and he became one of His greatest followers.
     As I turned to my bible I started to read Psalms 37:3-4 as I do every morning, which says "Trust in the Lord and do good then you will dwell safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord and He will give you your hearts desires." This goes with a specific situation I pray for daily.
     Then I continued to read on and 5-7 says "Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help him. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday Sun. Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act. Don't worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes."
     Woah! OK, so this could be why I couldn't find the words to pray for the captors as I could for those two men who are awaiting to have the same fate fall upon them. Maybe it is not for me to worry about the captors who continue to spread their malicious acts and to leave them to God. This does not mean that we should not listen to the news or pay attention to what is happening in our world, for we still need to pray, maybe it is God's way of telling me that evil men and their wicked schemes are for Him to deal with and I should not worry for He is in charge.
     We can also apply this to those annoying individuals that are causing strife in our own lives and situations we are praying for. (Walk in Love, as my aunt tells me) The word "men" can be applied to women as well. So my advice.for today is to pray for your situation and let God be the one to handle the ones causing you strife. I tell my children all the time that if they retaliate against their sibling who hit them first, I can't correct the behavior of the offender because that would be punishing them twice. No double jeopardy in this house. :) The same goes for our heavenly father. His wrath is much greater than anything we can do. So let go and let God...and great things will happen in your life.

Until the next Scribble....