Stolen Nuggets

This is a Saturday morning and I really wanted to sleep in. I don't get to sleep late in the mornings and when I do it's usually when I need to get up early.  This particular morning, my dog, Sadie, woke me up to open the door so she could do her "business." When I was just about to head back to bed, I felt lead to pray and spend time with Jesus. Now, when He wakes me up and places in my heart to spend time with Him, I know there is a treasured nugget for me to find. I truly found it too. I hope you will find it also.

I learned this morning that you and I are stolen from everyday. Yep, everyday, and we do not recognize it. Here, let me ask you a couple of questions.

• Do you concentrate on what others think of you? 
• Do you look at other people around you and meditate on their skills?
• Do you have a little envy towards others and what they can do that you cannot? 
• Do you sometimes feel like you are inadequate at your job or at  home?
• Do you concentrate more on the negative things around you?

If you answered "yes" to any of these, you have had something precious stolen from you; your confidence. See, when we concentrate on the negative things in our lives, we cannot concentrate on the positive ones.
When you look in the mirror, who do you see? You see yourself right?  Do you see someone to your left? Do you see someone on your right? Is anyone behind you?  Okay, so it's just YOU.

Now, let us look at the positive side; YOU. What are you good at? Start making the list.  Here I will help you.

• Can you cook?  What is your best meal  you fix? 
• Do you like to entertain people? Have you hosted a part or dinner recently?
• Do you like to read? What was the last book you read? What did you learn from it?
• Are you an organizer? What did you recently plan? 
• Do you sing?  The last place you sang at was where? What did you sing? 
• Do you write?  Did you right a letter or note to someone recently? 
• Do you pray? Do you spend more than 5 minutes in prayer?

Was there something on this list that you are good at doing?  If you good and if you did not, that is okay too. This list is just a beginning for you find out what you are good at.

I am an organizer. I enjoy setting events up, making a list and crossing things off of it. I am good at that. I have the tendency to look at others and say to me, "she is upset with me because I did not complete _______________."  I will literally knock myself down and feel low because of my negative thinking.

But, God! This morning he showed me that I have victories in Him. I have triumphs in my life because of what He has given to me.  I have a tendency to ignore the mirror and build up others in my life and break myself down. There are people that I hang out with that are not organizers.
"I would say to me, "Man, he did a great job at cooking that Chili. I wish I could make food taste that good."  "I just cannot cook."

What I should be saying is this: "Marjorie, you did a great job at organizing the people to help in the kitchen by cleaning the dishes, take the trash out, put food away, and pack up the cook's materials."
The cook triumphed through Jesus in making the meal. I had the victory in Jesus of organizing people to do certain jobs to help clean the kitchen up.

It says in the Bible that "there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit."  Know that God created you with a gift that only you can do. He gives you the success in that gift when you use it to Glorify Him or use it with good intentions.  There are others around you that may say to themselves, "Man, she is so good at ________, look I am slacking at getting ____________ done. I wish I could be like her."

Don't discount that people look at you with a desire to be you. However, God created just one you and you are unique in many facets.

~Be encouraged, God didn't have time to make a nobody just a somebody and that somebody special is YOU. You have victories in Jesus; I hope you will take them back.

Moving From Dysfunctional to Functional

I feel bad for God because he has so much to change within me.
I have approximately 41 years of learning how to poorly react to others actions. He has to retrain my thinking. I get angry at the imaginative scenarios I think up, and expect things to go according to my daydreams. We have all heard, "Once a fighter; always a fighter", right? Wrong.
I cannot recall prayers that I've prayed about a year or more ago, but today I had a quick reminder that Papa in heaven is watching me, transforming me, and paddling me too.

When it comes to working on laundry, I have a system because I get overwhelmed with a pile of dirty clothes laying on the floor. I attempt to keep the dirty ones in a confined area until I'm ready to wash them.  If  I have clean folded clothes on the counter tops, I put them away before I begin to clean the dirty ones.
As a parent, you teach your kids how to do laundry and they usually drag their feet to help next time. Husbands are not usually real helpful, unless you are a lucky girl who has a helpful hubby.  Most of my experiences have been less than joyful when it comes to laundry.

Today, I had a quick lesson I'd like to share.  Now, here is a warning, if you want to keep a clean image of me in your mind; don't read this.  If you want to hear about my dirty image and laundry; continue at your own risk.

I did not ask my husband to take the dirty clothes up to the laundry room because I had clean ones still to work with. Being a loving helpful hubby,and in an effort  to help, Rodney took the dirty clothes up. I appreciated that, however, when I went upstairs the animosity welled up inside and I  became overwhelmed with the huge task at hand. I had no basket to for the clean, folded towels I needed to take downstairs and the dirty pile was staring me from the bottom of the floor to the counter top. UGH!
Well, in my unrighteous anger, I threw the clean, folded towels down the stairs. Yep, now you know who was going to have to pick them up, right?  Right, but I didn't think of that in the midst of my bad attitude.
I got the laundry room squared away and clean while at the bottom of the stairs was a mess waiting for me.

I slowly walk down the stairs and begun putting the clean half folded, half unfolded towels and sheets into the laundry basket. Now, Rodney comes in the door and I sweetly ask him to help me with the towels that I threw down the stairs. I imagined him saying no all the while the scenario was playing out in my mind as I expected it to happen; an argument was going to take place and I was going to win.
Oh no, my helpful hubby responds with "Sure." That threw me into a different kind of spin.
There came an arrow from heaven attached with these words, "Why didn't you take the basket upstairs in the first place?"
The next arrow that came down had a note on it; "Why did you get angry again?"
The last arrow had written on it; "You have a husband who will give you a loaf and not a stone, just as you have a heavenly Father who by His example your hubby is mimicking"
WOW!
Now before Rodney could even begin his task, I explained to him what had just happened between my actions and thoughts.  He kind of chuckled but was supportive.  We ended up folding the towels and sheets together and it became a joyful memory instead of an argument.

As we were talking I realized what had just happened. I went from my expectations becoming premeditated resentments to becoming ashes for beauty. I moved from dysfunction to function.

It doesn't matter how old you are, as long as you are a willing vessel, you can be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  God can do anything as long as we let Him.  I want peace and stability in my life. I didn't believe that I could have it in a marriage, as I've had 2 others fail. What I know now is; "Yes, Marjorie, you can."

~Be encouraged
If a son ask for bread from any Father among you, will he give a stone? Of if he ask for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?