First Day Back

That Christmas break went way too fast, and I got so little done...sure was hard to get back to work yesterday. There is still so much to do and time just slips by.

I have been considering what I needed to put on my prayer list for the year...been journaling a bit, and started a new Bible reading schedule. The new year always challenges me to be more than I was the year before....not so much do...but "be"-be faithful, be committed, be filled with the Spirit, be yielding fruit, be more like Jesus. I am painfully aware of how short I fall. I always start off with a bang, then start slipping.

Yesterday, I read my Bible reading, prayed over my list, my Sunday School girls, the lesson I would be preparing for them this week, and of course my kids. I read little snippits from devotionals, and reviewed my verse cards. I have this stack I am always adding to and read through them when I read my Bible. I have read through them hundreds of times now, although I am sure I can quote very few!!!! One of them jumped out at me, stopped, read it again, put it down, picked it up, opened my Bible to look it up there, read it again, and again.

"Ye are bought with a price; be not ye servants of men. Brethren, let every man wherein he is called, therein abide with God." I Corinthians 7:23-24

I added that on January 4, 2007...almost exactly a year ago. Steve and I have been talking about where we are at and where we want to be...I have spent too much of my life trying to serve men thinking I was serving God. I realize I do serve God by serving men, but only when God is in charge...when He is the one directing my hand, as opposed to me following my own whims, or allowing someone else to pull the strings. So...last night...I go to work. I was meeting my husband after work to drop off the jeep for Kat to get home from work. I was concerned about my schedule this week because Kat and I share a vehicle. Sometimes our work schedules just don't mesh. God already had that worked out, and there is no conflict! I get to work and (after showing off the new rings!), get my check AND a bonus check. There was some talk about the possibility of a bonus, but nothing for sure. I was thinking...hey, got to put my check back in the account to cover all the money I have been spending...but the bonus....I might get to keep that one! :)

Steve picks me up and we are chatting about it. We head out to see another friend to take her three kings...the funnest thing about that is I printed all these pictures and did brag books...inside the brag books, I wrote out a prayer as God led me over these families....wow what God can do through prayer! We visit with my sweet friend and "my" beautiful Caitlyn!!!! Then we head to the store and Albertsons. My other sweet friend has been in and out of the hospital with her mother-in-law..seems like every day I am getting a text from her about her mother-in-law...Now I have to say, I really admire her. Here I am, struggling to deal with relatives in and out of my house...ugh..and she has her mom and her mother-in-law living with her! HOW DO YOU DO THAT?????

We are perusing Albertson's to get some snacks for them, who knows how long they will be up there??...and then we check out. Here we are, on a diet, starving at that moment, no hope of food any time soon, and buying soda and snacks! LOL (That was the real sacrifice my friend!). Then, I tell my hubbie I want to get them a card and give them a little something to help with the travel back and forth, and grab food kind of thing....being in a hospital is not a cheap venture! He says ok...and we check out. The lady asks how much cash back he wants and he tells her. We didn't discuss an amount, so I comment about his generosity...and he says, "I asked you how much, and that is what you said." I said, "I didn't say that." Hmm....was he having a conversation with someone else-apparently God! And really...we will never miss it....just got an unexpected bonus...

Was at this mission conference once, and the speaker was giving an illustration about mission giving. He had one hand up towards God and the other outstretched. God gives, we give away, God gives more, we give more away....and yet, God keeps giving, and we keep giving away....we have been so blessed to be able to live that for many months now....and we can sure testify, as long as God is giving, and we are giving away, He keeps giving, and we get the honor to be a conduit of His faithfulness, His provision, His grace....Lord, thank you for giving to us, so we can give away, not just in our finances, but in our time, our talents, our energies. All we have is yours, and let us be nothing more than your hands and your feet!

Not bad for a first day back at it!