Radomly Thankful

Here it is -- my annual random thankful list for 2014.  (i know you've all been on pins and needles waiting) 

In no particular order.  just the things that pop into the hamster wheel.  things over the past year that have been wonderfully wonderful.

1.  my cook lovin husband! he's been on a wild tear, having my supper cooked when i get home form work.  i so love it because cooking is not what i love. but i so love him.

2.  a good year for MSU football

3.  but  so glad my thanksgiving holiday is not determined by the egg bowl

4.  seven -- all of it --- all of the seven weeks of 7

5.  IF:Gathering, IF:Local, IF:Table, IF:Pray

6.  Jennie Allen and Restless





7.  Bethany Services

8.  #hopeandarrow

9.  Robert, Erin, Blaine (in order of their entrance into my family)

10.  Kids who serve Jesus every single week

11.  Kids who have spouses who serve Jesus every single week

12.  Midnight (so thankful he came back after his first accidental visit outdoors in 15 years!)

13.  Haiti

14.  Honduras aka #emmaandnonnieweek

15.  Salvation Army

16.  sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews, inlaws, outlaws, all the rest

17.  being emma's favorite

18.  small group girls

19.  dark roast

20.  MSU 2014 graduation

21.  Milam Elementary School

22.  the final ledbetter wedding of this generation!

22.  chocolate cobbler

23.  empty nests

24.  eaglets that occasionally come by to visit (grown children are pretty fun)

25.  baby pruitt and out came the son

26. the fire pit

27. my mother and daddy reunited in heaven

28.  this face

A WORD for Wednesday-Vicissitude

Romans 12:2    

“Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”  The Msg.

          vicissitude \vih-SIS-ih-tood; -tyood\, noun:

 1.  regular change or succession of one state or thing to another.  

2.  Irregular change; revolution; mutation. 

3.  change in condition or fortune; an instance of mutability in life or nature (especially successive alternation from one condition to another).

4.  an unpredictable change:  the unexpected stuff you have no firm control over. (I really like this one)

I LOVE this word!  um ok.  i have never spoken it out loud in an actual sentence, but i plan to real soon.  "Vicissitude"  it just sounds so impressive.  On the other hand i HATE the word "change."  My darling of 32 years can get a certain look in his eye and i know he's about to rearrange the living room.  At work, just when i get the hang of doing something the "right" way, sure enough they vicissitude it. As much as i balk and resist and try to pretend it won't happen, vicissitude is inevitable and i can't un-vicissitude it.  Sometimes it's not good, but sometimes it is good.  very good.   

When’s the last time you had a life-altering vicissitude?  How about the vicissitude from walking by sight to walking by faith, allowing God to “bring out the best and develop well-formed maturity?”  Or the vicissitude of standing strong in the Lord and the power of His might, rather than working in mediocre human strength?  Read closely the #3 definition above.  Sometimes vicissitudes are wrought by a succession of events in our lives.  The well formed maturity of Romans 12:2 doesn’t happen in overnight.  One vicissitude builds upon another until one day we will stand complete in Him. 

This world is ever vicissituding (now that's probably not even a real word but just roll with it).   The choice is ours.  We allow the culture to hand over vicissitudes  or we allow the Holy Spirit to do it.  And most often it's our response to those #4 vicissitudes -- an unpredictable change:  the unexpected stuff you have no firm control over that He uses to bring about the vicissitudes necessary to make us into the person He wants to use for His glory!!

now... i dare you...go use vicissitude in a sentence!  right now.  go.

A WORD for Wednesday-Capitulate

Romans 8:37- 39    

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

capitulate \kuh-PICH-uh-layt\, intransitive verb:

To surrender under agreed conditions.

      

“I give up.  I quit.  Forget it.  Stick a fork in me, I’m done.”  Those words ever passed through your brain cells?   Me!  (raised hand here) usually in regards to one of the following:

•  A rocky friendship
• Work
• volunteering at church (esp. if it involves anything with "Lock-in" in the description; pre-adolescents; or diaper changes for the kid who's mom forgot to tell us about the "laxative" situation.)
• Raising children (just pack them up and ship them to military school now) 
• Holiday family gatherings (And if you think yours is dysfunctional, please read  The Thanksgiving Letter  - you will laugh your face off if you've never read it.

photocred: barbedwire.com

The key is remembering who the Enemy actually is and who it is not.  Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that " For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."   Our struggle is not with a boss, friend, or 6th grader! It's not EVEN your mother-in-law! 

 There are actually two ways to look at this.  Satan delights in these words when he is his waging war in our minds.  If the prince of darkness can get us to fight this spiritual battle in our own strength on his terms, he has us cornered. 

 But when we fall flat on our faces, cry out these same words to the Father of Light, He too is delighted with our response.  We capitulate to the One who makes us “more than conquerors” allowing Him to fight this battle.   Anything He has called us to do can only be successful if we approach the task with complete capitulation.   
Oh, and about the “agreed conditions.”  They’re quite simple, we do it His way. 

Construction Zone

Don't you just hate driving through a construction zone!  Oh my stars and they're never ending in Tupelo!  Every morning about 2 minutes after I leave for work i remember i should have left ten minutes earlier to account for the inevitable traffic due the road work.  Yes, Mayor Shelton , I know.  East Tupelo has SO needed the work done for a big old long time and once it's complete it will be SO worth the inconvenience.  Yes, sir, I do realize, Mayor Shelton, that it is not your personal vendetta to lie awake at night to come up with ways to make me late for work.  BUT...how i hate the delays.  And oh how i've tried to out fox you! 

 At soon as i see that long line of cars my mind spins like a top.  I'll turn here and there trying to just not sit still for the few extra minutes it will take.  I've tried every detour imaginable to me and Siri!   Just when i think i've got it all whipped, there's a TRAIN! Are you kidding me??? Come on!!! Gee Willikers! 

Then one day i actually timed it.  3 min. 27 sec.  that's how many extra minutes it took when i drove through the road construction.  The detours??? The quickest one was an added 6 minutes.  I finally figured out the only reason for taking the detours was just so i wasn't sitting still or going slow.  When i just backed my ears and left 3 min and 27 sec. earlier, quit trying to find a way out,  my road rage subsided and arrived at work with a much friendlier attitude.  just look how blue that sky is!!! What a glorious day it's going to be!  i wonder how hard it is to drive one of those things with the big bucket on it? he looks like he is having fun. 

uh oh...i feel a life lesson coming on. 

When i'm going through a season of "construction" in my life, i often (read:  always)  do everything to avoid it. 

sitting still.  going slow.   that's when the construction takes place.  

"God, just what are you doing here???" 

"Another roadblock???"

"Are you serious???"

"Can you not give me just one tiny little baby break!!!"

But if i just slow down.  quit trying to avoid it.  stop turning the corner every time i see a flagman ahead, i find it's really not so bad.  i might even see God at work.  might even see HOW He's repairing years of damage and the daily wear and tear.  

There are days when i feel like i should be wrapped in caution tape from head to toe.  But at least He's at work!  And it's really really true.  Just like Mayor Shelton loves where he grew up in East Tupelo too much to leave it like it is, God loves me too much to leave me like i am.  One day - not this side of heaven, but one day- this is the sign we'll see!

A Word for Wednesday-sacrifice

 1 John 4:10  This is love:  not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

1 John 3:16  This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay day our lives for our brothers and sisters.

sac·ri·fice

noun \ˈsa-krə-ˌfīs, also -fəs or -ˌfīz\ : the act of giving up something that you want to keep especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone

• the older brother who forgoes college so his younger brother can go
• the single mom who doesn't eat so her children will have enough
• the dad who refuses to act dishonestly at work so his children will know integrity
• the college student who hangs on to his virginity instead of a relationship.

 that's just a few really big sacrifices that come to my mind.

but sometimes I really have a hard time with this word.  Not that i don't want to sacrifice for others.  not that i don't want to give.  i do.  i really really do.  but a true sacrifice means I do without.  i give something up.  that's where the problem comes in.
 
i've never been truly hungry.  i've never NOT gotten a Christmas present.  i've never really and truly done without anything i really and truly wanted. i give away my leftovers, my discards, my "gently used" junk.

Sure, i give to my church and to charity and to special needs that arise.  (i've learned lately that generosity must be a budgeted line item) . . . but Marla gets what Marla wants. so where's the sacrifice?  

granted,  i gave some stuff away during our SEVEN study and no, i haven't just replaced it all . . . not yet.  but i catch myself hinting (ok, flat out asking) for stuff i just NEED (eyeroll) so very bad. My birthday's coming up you know.  

In the Old Testament, a sacrifice died.  Something indeed had to be lost, given up.  not the leftovers either!  not the runt that wouldn't bring much at market.  (and btw, why do we "donate" our broken junk that wouldn't sell at a yard sale to the church??)  a sacrifice had to be perfect.  the best.  the first.  and then it died.  Jesus. Perfect. Holy. Worthy. and then He died. 

 In light of Christ's sacrifice for me, how can i even think what that looks like for me on a daily basis?
(and now we come to the part of the blog where i'm supposed to come up with this eloquent answer to the whole deal.  good luck with that)

 Paul says in Romans 12 we're to BE a LIVING sacrifice--"This is true and proper worship."
Something still dies though.  my self, my will, my wants, my sin.  living in an attitude of praise, in step with His will, His wants, His ways. 

I'm still struggling with the whole giving up part.  what counts and what is just not even. . .(that's kinda like that "i can't even" phrase that's so cute right now-but if you have to explain it...i can't even)

A Word for Wednesday-Gasconade

Romans 1:  16-17     

“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

 gasconade [gas-kuh-neyd]

1. extravagant boasting; boastful talk.   

2.  to boast extravagantly; bluster.

not exactly a quality we’d like to develop.   nothing more irritating and cause for eye rolling. you know what i mean...that perfect mom who just goes on and on and on about those kids of hers and all their awards!  or that guy at work who just keeps ON talking about how great he is at this or that.   (well, ok, maybe I can gasconade for an hour or so about my beautiful intelligent gifted funny smart sweet sensitive generous loving kind cute amazing photogenic precious precocious unprecedented granddaughter.  but that's not EVEN the same thing.  it's not.  i checked.) 

There is one time we’re given special permission to gasconade and that's when it comes to who we are in Jesus. “May I never boast EXCEPT in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”  (Gal. 6:14) That's when we get to pour it on thick!  I mean.  He picked ME! That's a big deal.  I love the attitude found in this excerpt of a confession attributed to a young pastor in Zimbabwe who was martyred for his faith in Jesus Christ.  It was found in his study: 

"I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed! I have the Holy Spirit's power! The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made-I'm a disciple of His! I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I'm finished with low living, sight walking, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, depend on His presence, walk by patience, am uplifted by prayer, and labor with power.  I won't give up, shut up, let up, until i have stayed up, stored up, prayed up paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ.  I am a disciple of Jesus.  I must go til he comes, give til I drop, share til all know and work til he stops me.  And when he comes for his own, He will have no problem recognizing me....my banner will be clear."  

wow.  That's some pretty big gasconadiing right there.  I want to be able to say that.  to mean that.  to KNOW that.  To love Jesus so much because of all He has done for me that i gush about him even MORE than i gush about my Emma.  

A WORD on Wednesday-VULNERARY

A few years ago i had the responsibility to write a devotional series for an event.  Each one is in a "word of the day" format.  I ran across it the other day and decided to do a little tweaking and share one each wednesday.

Today's word is VULNERARY

Psalm 147:3

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Hosea 6:1

Come, let us return to the LORD
For He has torn us, but He will heal us;
He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

 vulnerary • \VUL-nuh-rair-ee\ adjective

        : used for or useful in healing wounds

Example Sentence:  Aloe vera is a vulnerary plant whose extract is widely used to soothe and heal burns.

Wounds.  they hurt.  cause all manner of problems-not just for the wounded, but often for anyone who just happens to be around.  some wounds are hidden.  known only to the soul who hurts in silence and solitude.  they have immeasurable causes.  some are accidents, some are intentional, some we ignore, some just never seem to heal. but the promise still stands.  Healing comes to those who allow the vunerary balm of God's presence to carefully wrap the wound in His love.  

When Aaron was about 4 we had a little accident.  Looking for something to cook for supper, i opened the refrigerator freezer then decided to pull something out of the big freezer in the laundry room.  Aaron spied a left over chocolate easter bunny though.  He asked for it but didn't get it.  it was almost supper time!  i ran out to the freezer and plowed through the frozen vegetables and thought, "that kid's trying to get that bunny."  i ran back in found the refrigerator freezer open the bunny on the counter and a knife beside it.  Aaron was nowhere in sight.  my heart dropped and i thought i would throw up.  I ran through the house calling him.  His tiny voice answered through the locked bathroom door.  I tried to calmly tell him he had to let me in.  He unlocked the door crying "I cut my finger off!!" "It's cut off, mommy! Go get my daddy!"  i was shaking.  He had wrapped his hand in a bathcloth and I could see some blood.  I don't do blood too well.  

"Let me see it son."  

"NO, I need my daddy."

"Daddy's not here, you need to let me see it."

"No. It's cut off. go get my daddy.  Please don't spank me."

"It's ok son, let me see it."

Very slowly and reluctantly he held his hand out to me.  And very slowly and hesitantly, I unwrapped his sweet little hand.  I honestly thought his finger was going to be gone.  Thankfully, it was still there and not nearly as bad as i thought.  yes, there was a little wound.  a small little cut.  with tears in both our eyes (mine from thankfulness and relief) i held my 4 year old so tight.  Again, he said, "please don't spank me" and that was the last thing on my mind.  even though he had been disobedient and caused this wound himself.  so gently i took his little hand and washed off the blood, put some ointment on his cut and put a spiderman band-aid over it.  he sat in my lap for awhile and kept saying "Momma I'm sorry."  I have no idea what we ate for supper.  it didn't matter.  we had all our fingers. 

today i am thankful that in the midst of my hurts and wounds, I have a Father who hurts with me, binds my wounds and wraps them in His love and grace.  He's not mean.  Even when it's my own fault.  When i finally let Him see it, trust Him not to hurt me more, then and only then is He able to fix it.  He is able and willing, but i have to trust him.