Tag: #Blogger

It’s So Quiet

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God found a home for our Blue Heeler on Saturday. I have been wrestling with finding him a new home for months. We knew he deserved more than we could give him, but to let him go?

After years of practice, it still gets to me. The actual physical and emotional part of it. I could see God’s hand all over the situation, so that helped. It’s been a very quiet morning.

By now Gus, the Blue Heeler, would be making a squeaking noise to get out of his kennel. It has surprised me how much I accommodated this dog. I was loading the Keurig lastnight before bed, until I realized I didn’t need to do that anymore. I used to get it ready, so the next morning all I had to do was push the button. Not making noise means not waking Gus.

He was actually my daughters dog, but both of us cared for him. It was going have to be her decision to let him go. All I could do was point out what I saw, and plant seeds.

Accepting Gus for his true self, and seeing he deserved more than we could give. He’s a working dog, and needs a job. Someone rents the acreage behind us to use for cattle. The cows would come up to our fence and Gus would start barking, and running the fence line trying to herd them. He knew what he was, and the day I saw that, it broke my heart.

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I envisioned Gus with a man that drove a truck. He would be a good truck dog. Someone with a ranch, so he would have plenty to do. Gus knows his purpose, and should fulfill it just like us. Praying for our hearts desire for Gus, my daughter placed an ad for him. We knew if it was meant to be, God would send the right person, and God being God, He did.

The day the ad was placed, a man responded.

He had been looking for a Heeler for a while, and wanted one that was instinctual. He lived an hour away, but was happy to drive and meet Gus the next morning, and bring his wife. He asked, “How early is too early for you?”

They came early Saturday morning, and not surprisingly, he was driving a big truck. It was love at first sight for Gus, and them. He started throwing the ball for Gus, and I mentioned how I thought he would be good with a Frisbee. He runs after the ball, and jumps high in the air to catch it.

The man walked over to his truck, and pulled out a brand new Frisbee.

God showed us things that morning assuring us that this was his new family. I texted them over the weekend, and Gus had already been to a park, and walked around the neighborhood twice. They also have a weekend ranch with lots of livestock.

They sent me a picture of him laying on a pretty rug surrounded by new chew toys. I had already warned her ahead of time about the dog hair. He found his people.

What are you holding onto today, that both of you would be happier by letting go?

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Enjoy the Beauty

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When I was a child, I would watch my Mother dust the bottom of our furniture. The legs of every chair, and up underneath the piece. It was very odd, and I swore I would never do that!

My daughter saved a baby lizard the other night from his doom. It was stuck up under a chair, so she released him, and took him outside. It was a mystery to me how he was stuck, and then she told me he was in a cobweb.

That is when I remembered what Mother dusting the cobwebs. Have you noticed they come around right before Halloween?

Just like the cobwebs are a sign of the changing season, I made a lot of changes to my environment over the past few days. My little dog wasn’t sure about them though. The first thing I noticed was his behavior around the furniture being moved in the den. His main concern was his rug was now moved.

What’s funny is, I moved the rug with him in mind.

We have hard wood floors, which is another reason for the cobwebs. No carpet to hide in. My little dog Mochee doesn’t like laying on the hard wood, so he has always laid on the rug in front of the front door. This puts him far away from where my daughter and I usually are.

When I rearranged the furniture, I put that rug in front of our chairs. Now, when we are in our chairs, he can lay in front of us. He was distraught when he saw that the rug was moved. He paced back and forth looking at the new design, but he just wasn’t sure.

I watched him do this for quite a while. It doesn’t take much to entertain me.

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Then he got it. The room had changed, but the change had his best interests at heart.

When we make a change, it will most likely effect someone else in our life. I enjoy change, and my daughter has grown to enjoy it too. They can see it makes life better, but it’s up to them to embrace it or not. Mochee laid down on the rug, but watched the front door from afar.

Once I rearranged the living area, I kept on moving stuff. I rearranged artwork, moved accessories to a new spot, and found better uses for things I had that were not being used well.

Embrace it. Don’t let your life get stale. Keep things moving, and in good working order. Use everything God has given you to the best of your ability, enjoy the beauty.

 

To Be Seen

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We are only given one life. God gave me this Blog title before I fell asleep lastnight. Facebook revealed to me this morning, it was 3 years ago today that I wrote my first Blog.

It doesn’t feel like 3 years ago, but looking at my life today it makes sense. I have simplified my life so much, and I’m still doing it today. My daughter and I have this joke about driving, and getting distracted by the sunset. She would be the one arriving home late because she was taking pictures of the sky.

It takes time to unlearn what we’ve learned.

When my daughter and I starting living together on our own, I recall a moment of us getting dressed and ready for the day. She was frantically trying to get ready, and out the door, as I stood there feeling a building pressure of being late again. Then I had a life changing revelation.

I looked her way and said, “We’re not in a hurry.”

After spending most of my life rushing, this was huge. We were not on anyone else’s timetable anymore, so we got to choose how to live our lives. Our lives were pretty much a blank canvas at that point, so we had the opportunity to fill it in as we pleased.

We stopped rushing, and began enjoying our life.

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When I see my daughter rushing today, I still tell her, “We’re not in a hurry.” I think I say it outloud for my own sake as well. It’s like a reminder for both of us.

This took years of downsizing, and my flesh having fits because I thought I needed that ginormous house. God gently moved us from one house to the next, each time they got smaller, and we were forced to let go of more things. When my daughter and I moved for the first time into our own little house, that was a defining moment for me.

We only took the things we loved.

There was so much stuff in that house, you couldn’t tell anything was missing when we left. We have moved twice, so we have given away a lot of what we thought we loved. We continue to simplify our lives.

Yesterday, I rearranged the furniture in our den. I woke up this morning excited about walking into a newly designed room. It caused me to take notice of something that has not been used in a while. My daughter’s desk. She has been doing her schoolwork at the dining room table this year, when she has a perfectly good desk. It’s just cluttered up.

To see our lives, and all the opportunity it holds, will take some uncluttering. She has a bookshelf behind her desk that can be made more useful. When she returns home tomorrow, she will have a clean, inviting desk, and a bookshelf housing what she needs.

Enjoy your life. It’s waiting to be seen.

Use Your Gifts

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I love the little things God prompts me to write about. I don’t particularly enjoy telling on myself, but that is part of writing. To share what we see, and where we’ve been in hopes of encouraging others. I write about having a beautiful life, but God just whacked me with this.

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It was almost a month ago, my daughter gave me these gorgeous house shoes. They are so pretty, the brand name is, “Pretty You.” I was so excited to receive them, that I slid them on and walked across the room.

They didn’t feel snug like my other house shoes. The bottoms were slippery, and they felt light and fluffy. I thanked her, and sat them in my room.

I sat them on my vanity, where I could see them. Anytime I looked that way, I could enjoy how pretty they are. Like so many other things in my life, they were nice to look at. The only difference was they actually have a function. So, I moved them from the bedroom to the den.

We walk through, or sit in the den a good bit during the day. I even gave them their own chair to sit in, so they’d be off the floor. I was being pretty careful with them, as I tried to decide when to wear them. Do you ever know what you want to do, but it takes time to do it?

Well, today was that day. I slid my feet in and left them on.

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My daughter saw them sitting in the chair in the den and was concerned. We have this saying that, if you’re not using it, or it’s not bringing you joy, then give it away. It will bring someone else joy. She asked if she needed to return them, or give them away. I was obviously breaking our golden rule. They were so pretty to look at, but why couldn’t I use them?

They brought me joy just by looking at them across the room. I think we are a lot like that with the gifts God has given us. We’re perfectly happy just having the gift, or desire, but we’re leery of stepping out in faith and using it. I know I am guilty of keeping mine in the room, but not using them to the fullest extent. Stained glass is one that God is nudging me toward.

I fell in love with stained glass 20 years ago. A friend of mine had started making it, and what started out as a hobby, grew into a full blown workshop/studio. That was the day God planted the seed. I have not forgotten how it made me feel to see the light shining through the glass. It was so beautiful, and a spectacular way to bring beauty to other peoples lives.

A couple of years ago, I took a class on how to make it. My most favorite job ever was working in a custom frame shop, and cutting the glass made me feel alive! The sound of the glass cutter scoring the glass, and then breaking the excess glass away. There’s a vulnerability working with glass, knowing it could hurt you if you don’t respect it’s power.

Fast forward to today, and I have everything I need to make stained glass. It’s in a cabinet, and has been laid out many times and worked with, but back in the cabinet it goes. I have people around me that support my dream, but what is keeping me from using it? Because it’s new, somewhat uncomfortable, and I’m happy with knowing it’s in the cabinet.

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After I took a picture of my feet in the slippers, I flipped them over to look at the sole. This is where God just drilled it on home for me. Above the PY, for Pretty You, it says, “Love What You Do!” That is my mantra, “Do what you love and love what you do!” If that wasn’t enough, on the heel is a crown, and a heart. Two other things I preach about quite often.

I’m still wearing the slippers, and not sure when I’m going to take them off. They are starting to feel good now like they were made for me. What is God showing you today? Are your dreams in a cabinet? Are you gazing at the beauty in your life from across the room?

We only get this one life, so if the shoe fits, wear it. Now I take the beauty with me wherever I go.

 

Not That Powerful

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My daughter is back home from a long weekend at ACL. Her boyfriend is back in Missouri safe and sound. She is exhausted, and a feeling a bit under the weather. This gives me the chance to take care of her, like she has me for months. It feels good to be able to give back.

There is a Meme I’ll be sharing at the end of this Blog, that has been on my mind ever since I saw it a week ago. It gave me great comfort in knowing it is true. There have been many a time in my life where I went down a side trail, and off God’s path. He’s a patient God, and stands there waiting for my return. He also watches just to make sure I don’t hurt myself.

I took a minute from typing, and pulled up Facebook. TobyMac had posted this, and it was right in front of me, as I went back to typing. I take it as a sign from God that what I did today was okay with Him. You see, God showed me something a couple of months ago, and I didn’t do it. I talked myself out of it because I didn’t feel qualified to go through with it.

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Have you ever done that?

God lays something right in front of you, and you say, “No thank you God. I can’t do that.”

I believe that is the idea. There is no way I could write, without God. Oh, I have tried! They all end up in the trash. Pretty awful stuff, but if I wait on God to prompt me what to write, that is what you get to read. That is why there is not a consistent schedule with my posts.

I wait. Sometimes waiting is good, but other times it’s disobedience to Him if it’s out of fear.

Today, I did what He showed me a couple of months ago. I joined Patreon. My account is on hold while they check me out, so I can’t share it with you yet. It is a site where you can donate on a monthly basis to the creative of your choice. To be a part of adding fruit to their labor.

To receive financial support for what God has called me to do. A leap of faith is always scary. For me, it’s God calling me out of my comfort zone, into bigger and better things.

The only way to know if it’s from God, and to see if it will even work, it to just do it. So, we will see! I know these things take time and patience, which is not a problem for me. I also know God wants me to write a book, and that is what Patreon will help me do.

So, back to the Meme I promised at the beginning of this Blog. Here it is, and I pray that you will look at your leap of faith today, and just do it. Even if you’re afraid.

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Is It Real

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With modern technology today, we are only limited by our minds. Scientists are creating things we don’t know about, and probably don’t want to know. We have tools like Facebook, and other social medias, to encourage, and reach people, but it’s outreach is limited by the people in charge.

This is a huge controversy today among encouraging pages, but is it real?

I enjoy reaching people through social media, but I had to learn some lessons. At one time, I was too wrapped up in the numbers, which is easy to do. Then God did something crazy.

To show me that He is still on the throne, and I better have a sense of humor, He did this.

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Months ago, I posted this. It was cute even though the information is dated. I just thought it would cheer somebody up. Well, do you see how many people it reached? Over 10 million.

That was unreal. It is still floating around out there, because I still receive notifications of people liking it, and commenting. It brought so many people joy, and they had a lot of fun with it. The one Meme, that I slapped up there just for fun, God took it and ran with it. I couldn’t control any of it. I tried to keep up with the comments, but there were too many.

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Learning I have Breast Cancer, has caused me to pause and look at my life. Was it as beautiful as it could be? It had become off balanced, and things had been overlooked, or neglected. Was everything in order?

My daughter and I have lived in this house for over a year. When we moved in, we sat things in their designated room.

Yesterday, I looked at my bedroom, which should be my haven, but it was a mess. I wasn’t happy with how it was arranged, so I moved everything around. God has provided everything needed for a beautiful life, it just needed some care, and consideration.

After the big pieces were moved, which takes patience thanks to Chemo, I was ready to beautify. I wanted new drapes for my room, but didn’t feel led to go buy any. I have always loved the ones in the den, so I swapped the bedroom drapes, with the den. There is a large painting hanging in the den that has always brought me joy. It’s now in my room too.

I added more color to the bed, with down stuffed pillows, that had been laying on a shelf. Just little things from around the house, that I love, but they were in the wrong room.

My room is now a happy, serene haven once again. I won’t get so wrapped up in the virtual world, that I lose site of my world. My world is beautiful, and it is real.

 

Brick by Brick

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I have read a lot of frightening articles about relationships. You can barely define the word anymore. In an ever changing world, God hasn’t changed His definition. It is still the same.

Maybe we have forgotten what love is?

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Firmly planted in my mind, was an idea of how I wanted to be loved. Based on parts that felt good in the past. I had to let all that go of my past beliefs, to receive what God had planned.

It didn’t look familiar, but there’s that connection you can’t deny. Maybe people are looking for that immediate connection, and get lost in it instead.

Are you a trustworthy person? Are you loyal? Do you strive to do the next right thing?

These attributes are what I call bricks, and helps build the foundation of the relationship.

What you have inside you, is what you have to offer. Be complete within yourself, and stop looking for someone to complete you. If you feel you’re missing something, or have a void inside, find that first.

For me, it was a God shaped void.

The day I asked God for help, He did, and I was made whole.

 

My unconditional love comes from God. He loves me no matter what, and forgives me when I mess up. I allow Him to mold me, and form me into what He wants me to be. It takes courage to allow someone to love you just the way you are.

To love and to be loved is the greatest gift of all. Time and patience. Brick by brick.