Name That Newsletter

Calling all you creative types:  Our Woman to Woman mentoring ministry at FBC needs your help naming our newsletter!   Go to our Woman to Woman blog and give us your ideas.

"Stuff"

I love the words to this song This is The Stuff by Francesca Battistelli.  Too often I let little annoyances steal my joy.   The words of this song remind me  that I  need to acknowledge my blessings daily.  Have a wonderful day and remember how BIG you are blessed!


"This Is The Stuff"

I lost my keys
In the great unknown
And call me please
'Cause I can't find my phone

This is the stuff that drives me crazy.
This is the stuff that's getting to me lately.
In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I'm blessed

This is the stuff that gets under my skin
But I've got to trust You know exactly what You're doing
It might not be what I might choose
But this is the stuff you use

45 in a 35
Sirens and fines
While I'm running behind

This is the stuff that drives me crazy
This is the stuff that's getting to me lately
In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I'm blessed

This is the stuff that gets under my skin
But I've got to trust You know exactly what You're doing
It might not be what I might choose but this is the stuff You use

To break me of impatience
Conquer my frustrations
I've got a new appreciation

It's not the end of the world

This is the stuff that drives me crazy.
This is the stuff
Someone save me
In the middle of little my mess
I forget how big I'm blessed

This is the stuff that gets under my skin
And I've got to trust you know exactly what You're doing
Might not be what I would choose but this is the stuff You use

This is the stuff You use

Got To Give It Up

I was recently diagnosed with food allergies, specifically to milk, eggs and almonds.  I typically consumed those foods on a daily basis so now  I have to stop and think about what I can and can't eat.  Milk and eggs are in almost everything.   Lactose is present in most medicines as a filler and as a binding agent!  I can't have cream in my coffee.  No cheese or butter.  No cake. (I will probably mourn the loss of this the most!)  No more Chick-fil-A strawberry milkshakes!

I can approach this season in my life in several ways; I can totally ignore the allergy, eat what I want and itch like crazy,  I can totally focus on the foods that I have had to give up and have a woe is me attitude, or I can focus on being thankful that the doctors figured out what was wrong with me and that there are still plenty of foods that I can eat.

Oh Father, help me daily to focus on what  I have, not on what I don't have or what I've had to give up.  I have everything in Jesus.  And He is all that I need.

The Check is In the Mail

We live in an amazing age.  The technological advances that we have made in the last 100 years can boggle your mind if you really think about it.  We fly on gigantic birds of steel, the physics of which I cannot grasp (not that I can really grasp the physics of anything).  We travel in little metal boxes over miles of super highway.  We can surf the world wide web and find information on most anything, whether good or bad.  We can purchase whatever we want with a couple of clicks of our mouse.  Yes, technology can be a wonderful thing.  Until someone "borrows" our information and uses it as their own.

We have been the victims of credit card fraud several times.  We have no idea how it happens.  If only those that do this would use their genius for good instead of evil, but that's a story for another day.  Recently at a  pharmacy  I wrote tried to write a check for my medication.  It was denied.  DENIED.  Apparently my husband's driver's license number was tied to an account that isn't ours at a bank we've never used.  Someone wrote a bad check for $27.20 in 2004.  Somehow seven years later they have tied it to our account.  So now any store that uses TeleCheck won't take my check.  Even though the clerk at this pharmacy knows me, she couldn't accept my check because the computer told her not to.   The burden of proof is on us.  And so begins the arduous process of trying to prove that we are who we say we are and we did not write the said check.

We have faxed copies of our driver's licenses.  We also had to fax a copy of our social security cards.  And now I have to send a voided check as further proof.  So far they haven't asked for our blood types but who knows, it could be the next requirement.  If someone did not steal our identities they now have everything they need to do so.  Arrrgh.  It's the little stuff like this that makes me crazy.

What if we had to prove our identity to God?  What if every time that we wanted to talk to Him we had to verify that we are who we say we are.

It might go something like this:

Me:  Hello God it's me Cindy

GOD:  Who?

Me:  You know me Lord, you created me.  I'm your child.

GOD:  You can't be my child.  A child of mine would spend time talking to me and reading my Word.   You spend little time with me.  And you whine about little petty things.  And you got really mad at a car that almost ran you off the road the other day.  You don't show mercy or grace and frankly you have a bad attitude lots of the time.  A child of mine knows that I have shown them much mercy and they are quick to be merciful to others.  They are thankful and do not incessantly complain.


Me:  But God I promise it's me.

GOD:  I will need two-forms of identification please to confirm that you are who you say you are.

God does not keep up with us by our social security number.  We aren't some nameless, faceless number.  We don't constantly have to prove ourselves to Him.  His Word tells us that He knew us even before He formed us in the womb (Jer.1:5)  He loves us so intimately that he knows the number of hairs on our head (Luke 12:7). He holds us so tightly that we are engraved in the palms of His hands (Isaiah 49:16).

You are precious to Him.  He knows your name.

Gone Visiting

You can find me over at my friend Lisa's blog today as a guest for her Ladies On a Mission series.   I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

High Maintenance

I have a confession to make:  I am high maintenance.  My husband has said that for years.  Of course I told him that he didn't have a clue, that he was oh so wrong.  But after recently reviewing the "stuff" I took on an overnight trip to my daughter's,  I had to agree.  Dang it.

I like make-up and put on plenty every day; foundation, blush, eye shadow, mascara.    I use special face cream and an eye cream that claim to prevent aging and wrinkles.  (They aren't working.)  I need special cream for my very dry skin and for my recently diagnosed eczema. I have fine hair so I have a special shampoo and conditioner to prevent limp locks  and special mousse to try to plump it up even further.   And I like to use my own hair dryer.

I need several prescriptions for various things.  A pill to regulate my thyroid, one to regulate my hormones (my husband makes sure that I never run out of that one), two pills and two inhalers for my recently diagnosed asthma.  I look like a traveling pharmacy.

And then after I spent an hour removing the sequins from a shirt because I was afraid that they would irritate my skin, I had to face the music.  I am definitely high maintenance.  (Why, you ask, did I buy a shirt that I would have to alter anyway?  It was on SALE and it matched a sweater that was also on SALE,  but I digress.) 

I was telling this to an old friend and she agreed about my being high maintenance about some things.  But she said that in the area of friendship she thought I was a cactus.  I asked, "so you think I'm dry and prickly" ?  She  laughed and explained that even though we might not talk every day, she knew that she could call on me for anything at any time.  We know that we are friends and we don't have to baby our friendship, we are real with each other and there's nothing high maintenance about it.

I can accept the fact that I am high maintenance in the grooming department.  But I don't want to be a high maintenance kind of friend.  They can wear you out with expectations and you will ultimately fail them in some way.  But I especially don't want to be a high maintenance kind of Christian who can't worship on Sundays if the right type of music isn't playing or because I feel like someone in the church has hurt my feelings with some slight, whether real or imagined. I don't want to be the kind of person who feels like God has failed or forsaken me because my circumstances have taken a turn for the worse. I have to admit that I have felt this way in the past.  But God will never fail us no matter how our circumstances might change.

And aren't you thrilled that we serve a God who isn't high maintenance?  We don't have to be in a particular type of dress we have to wear to approach Him.  We can worship Him in a variety of ways, there are no prescribed rituals or formulas that we have to perform in order to  worship Him. We can go before His throne with our petitions at any time.  He never sleeps and will never turn us away.  We don't have to live in fear of not being good enough. Jesus' death on the cross made us good enough.  He won't reject us if we are having a bad hair day, or because have wrinkles or if we don't measure up to the world's standards.  We don't have to work for His love.   His Word  tells us just how simple it is :

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.


             Jeremiah 29:13

Praise His Holy Name!

A Friend's Giveaway

I'd like to tell you about an opportunity to enter a drawing for a Bible Study written by my blog friend Mariel.  Go here for the details and to enter.