Just Full of ......... !

God works in such mysterious ways. I cannot fathom His love for me or why He chooses to bless me. I began reflecting on 2011 on Christmas Eve as I wrote the notes in my daughters' Christmas cards. For the sake of my memory and my family, I should take the time to start documenting a "simple" list of the highs and lows of this year. It is an incredible testimony to God's almighty hand at work. We have a book that our family writes in each Christmas, but I think the list this year (at least for me) would be a book in and of itself!

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but in the midst of Tony's vacation week, my schedule has been kind of crazy. I have something to fill my day every single day this week!

Tuesday needed to be declared a Toastmaster day. That night, was the first time for me to serve as the meeting director and facilitate the meeting. I was a tad bit nervous about that. There is an agenda to follow, but what if I forgot something and didn't follow all of the protocol? On top of that, I was to serve as an evaluator.

It all went fine. I think I am much tougher on myself than my fellow toastmasters are on me. They are so kind and supportive! I was complimented on both roles and won the award for the best evaluation. I haven't broken my winning streak yet - kind of like the Packers, I suppose. However, I am beginning to look forward to the day when I am not awarded the best of whatever I did that night because that will help me to grow my skill set some more. (part of the reason I enjoy traveling to other club meetings.)

After the meeting, I saw some people I knew at Walmart. We talked at length. I really don't know where it all came from. I was reminded of blessing after blessing, mixed with some of the trials my family has faced recently. One of them wondered why God lets people suffer so much before He sends the blessings. All I could tell her was that if God hadn't let us get down that far as a family, we wouldn't be who we are today. There were valuable lessons learned in the times we are so troubled.

I stayed up almost all night to prepare for Wednesday - a day I have looked forward to since November 5. I won tickets to the Milwaukee Art Museum and was invited to attend the show, meet for dinner, and participate in a Speak-a-thon. Tony agreed to go with me, so I planned to take him to a fun place for lunch. I was beside myself with excitement! I could barely focus on my speech (which I memorize and hadn't done yet).

Wednesday came. We left around 10AM with the faithful Garmin in hand. We used "her" to find the alley I was taking Tony to. She dutifully did her job, but chose to take us through the ghetto to get there. Very interesting! In fact, Tony does a pretty great comedy routine about that! To shorten my story, we had a fantastic day. The restaurant was fun, the Impressionist exhibit at the museum was fantastic, supper was amazing (after another trip through the ghetto! ), and the Speak-a-thon not only allowed me to speak, but to learn and meet new people. It has been a long time since Tony and I spent that much time alone together and chatted the whole time. It was really nice! By the end of the day, we learned that the entire trip had been funded for us! Incredible!

Today and tomorrow are filled with friends and family. My head is just spinning as I reflect. I don't know how I am going to be able to focus on writing the next four or five speeches this month, but when I do manage to complete them, I will be able to receive my Competent Communicator award. Fun! 

 I cannot believe how richly blessed my life is. Blessings...Thank God, I'm just filled with them! I pray that you are able to see all of the blessings in your life too!!!

Our Christmas

Waffles with strawberries and whipped cream are the tradition at our house. We clean up, regroup in the living room, read Scripture and reflect. This is the first year that both girls participated in purchasing gifts. They each have a job and took the responsibility on themselves without being told or asked. They purchased a gift for each other and a gift for their dad and I. But they put thought into what was purchased and it showed! Hannah even purchased a gift for the dog! I found it interesting that they wanted to give before they opened the gifts we had for them. It was fun! They had each picked up some overheard verbal cues and followed through on what was really wanted. Impressive!

Hannah was particularly curious this year. She asked me on Christmas Eve if they would each have three gifts to open - another Christmas tradition, symbolizing the gifts the three wise men took to Jesus. When she asked, I barely had one gift for them! I did have the idea for a second gift and knew how it could be taken care of though. A third gift...what could it be? I had some candy on hand. I put that in a small (and by small, I mean SMALL...think wedding favor size) bag.

A fancy lunch bag is the gift they chose first...the bag of candy... Not one complaint! Just appreciation for the smallest of small gifts. Second, they both received a tank top and shorts set that "magically grows" in water. I was worried they would think it was a lame gift. I had found it on a trip that I took this summer. It was meant to be a "filler" type gift. But they were a hit! Becca "grew" her clothes in a flash! Their final gift was a card, filled with a personal message and concluded with a coupon for a massage - a gift I knew they would both like to have.

We had a great time together and it really felt like we were able to focus more on the true meaning of Christmas. God has given us the ultimate gift of His Son, but we feel like we have been richly blessed by the lack of tangible items. It's a different concept than that of the all too common view of bigger is better and the more the merrier! Our true reward will be in heaven, but it feels like we have already received reward. Praise be to God!

I pray your holiday season has been as blessed as we feel ours has been. Happy holidays, everyone!

Richly Blessed

In just two weeks, those of us here in America will be celebrating Thanksgiving. We do have a lot to be thankful for. I like to count my blessings all year round. Today it was especially easy.

My morning began by saying good bye to my husband when he left for work. Now that is something to be thankful for! …And for those of you who think I may be thankful for the fact that my husband just walked out the door is my reason to be thankful, you may want to think again! He has a job, yes, we are thankful for that. But I have someone who cares enough about his family to be responsible each and every day to go to work and make the best of it. I cannot imagine that he wanted to go spend the day outside in the cold, wet snow. In fact, I know that he probably would prefer to stay home with his family. But he loves us enough to make that sacrifice for us. Not only that, we are blessed in the fact that most nights he comes right home to spend time with us.

Next up, friends! A text from a friend, a card from another, a phone call, and a nice visit in the coffee shop with a few others. Without these people and many others in my life to hold me accountable and help me to laugh, I would be a completely different person. Extended family (parents, grandparents, siblings, in-laws, etc.) fall in this category too…I received an especially good text this morning from my sister-in-law. She is a good reminder to me of how good it is to have one another to pray and rejoice with!

"The Five Love Languages" is a book by Dr. Gary Chapman. He suggests that we all give and receive love within 5 major categories. 1.) Words of Affirmation, 2.) Quality Time, 3.) Giving/Receiving Gifts, 4.) Acts of Service, or 5.) Physical Touch. If you haven't seen any of Dr. Chapman's books, I encourage you to check them out. They can be real eye-openers! (The website is chocked full of info: www.5lovelanguages.com)

My primary love language is quality time. I feel like that is the way I best receive and give love. That is not to say that quality time is the only way I give and receive love, just the primary way. I think I give and receive love differently with different people. My girls have learned that acts of service show me love. Although that may not be their primary way of showing love to everyone, it works well with me!

All of that just to say that I really felt loved by my girls today. Hannah took time to text me. Then I found that the girls had worked together on laundry and dishes while I was out! Becca took time to spend with me running a couple errands today. By the time 4:30 rolled around, Becca was studying with a group of friends at the tech and it was time to attend Hannah's parent/teacher conference. I couldn't have been happier with them today! Becca has been working so hard on her French lessons. Adding a Thursday study group to the picture is the icing on the cake! Hannah was able to ice her cake with more A's on her report card than ever before! In fact, it is the grade she received in most of her classes! What hard workers! I love it! I feel really good to know that they are both trying so hard - not just to please me and show me love, but because it is the right thing to do.

God has been revealing Himself to me and my family in lots of ways. Years ago, we were challenged in church to play "I Spy God". It was fun to play with the girls when they were young, but what I have discovered is that it translated into my everyday life and continues to do so.

Yesterday when it snowed, I have to admit that it was pretty. Driving was terrible, but the end result of that was time with my daughter and a friend. Power went out, but that resulted in my husband coming home from work early to spend time with his family. When I don't want to do the dishes, I am reminded that we had food and have warm water and electricity. No matter what my grumble, there seems to always be another side of the coin. Even in the absolute worst time in my life, I can take a look at it from another angle and see God at work.

A couple of my friends have committed to putting a statement of thanks on their Facebook status each day of November. I like the challenge. If you are not taking part in that effort, why not join me and my family as we play "I Spy God" and find "God at Work" stories? It's a lot of fun once you start noticing how richly blessed we all are!

What Comes First?

I think most people are familiar with the Ten Commandments of the Bible. Ten basic rules. That doesn't sound too tough, does it? If you ask me, I would have to say, yes. Those ten rules are tough! And not only are they tough, I can't even say that I can get past the first one without stumbling! Do you know what the first command is? Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Ouch!

Before I get too far into this, I need to tell you that yes, I love God. He is my Lord and Savior. I have accepted His free gift of salvation that I really don't deserve. Having shared that, I return to my original point. As much as I love God, I have to wonder sometimes how genuine I really am. I go to church, attend and even lead Bible studies; I even have the Bible on my cell phone! Does that show that I am following the first command? I don't think so.

It seems easy to read the Bible and take it for face value - to see that God talked to Moses and gave him these commandments to share with the people. It's easy to read that these people weren't following the rules. Changes needed to be made. Wood and stone were carved. Gold was melted. Statues were made and worshipped. You get the picture.

What does that mean today? What are the gods of our time? I'm not referring to Buddah or other gods like that. I am talking to my Christian audience. As I see it, whatever it is that we put before God is a god. It could be our time, our money, material things, lust or sexual sin. Our god could be summed up as a god of self, i.e. putting self before God. Have you ever found yourself either purposefully or unknowingly stepping on others to further your own selfish desires? Many marriages have been ruined this way. In the work place, it tends to be a dog eat dog world out there. Have you ever found yourself "stepping on" another person just to get that edge?

The transparent side of me is willing to share that I struggle. Not just once in awhile, but every day. I don't know about you, but after awhile, I get tired of constantly being told what to do. I have been told how I should raise my children, the way I should treat my husband, what I should do with my time, and in general, the way I should live my life. As if hearing it from one source isn't enough, I have heard it from multiple people, in multiple opinions, and not only from people, the Bible tells me what to do too!

However, I have found blessing in all most of those situations! If I have a piece of encouragement for you, it is to truly seek God with all of your heart and mind. For it is there that you will find peace and happiness. The Bible is full of great words of encouragement. It isn't just a big book of senseless rules and useless stories. Regarding people telling me or you what to do, take time to realize that when they share their opinions with you it is because they genuinely care about you! They may not always know what is the right or best answer, but they love you enough to share a little bit of themselves with you.

As for the material things that I struggle with, I am choosing to remember those less fortunate than I. People in third world countries seem to be happy with much less than we have in America. They appreciate the little things in life. The dirty dishes in my kitchen are a great reminder that God has richly blessed me. Not only did we have food to eat, we had dishes to eat on and have hot water to wash them with and a kitchen to work in.

Our life stories can be filled with adventure, but until we allow God to completely break us, we will not find true joy. I challenge you today to put God first. Put aside a special time for God. Pray. Read your Bible. And pray some more! Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Are you ready to experience life more fully? to put God first? to find true joy? and discover God's perfect will? I pray that you will be richly blessed as you dive in and accept this challenge. It will truly be one of your life's defining adventures!