Count Your Blessings

On Friday night, I went to a movie with my sister. We went to see Blindside. Now, as I sit here at my lovely little computer on Thanksgiving Eve, I ponder the blessings in my life. The hymn "Count Your Blessings" is going through my head right now. You know the chorus:

Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

But have you spent time to ponder the verses?

Verse 1:
When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Verse 2:
Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, ev'ry doubt will fly,
And you will be singing as the days go by.

Verse 3:
When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think the Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings, money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

Verse 4:
So, amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey's end.
Count your blessings, name them one by one.....Have you done that today?

Seeing God's Hand

While participating in choir practice a while back, our music minister asked us a question. I can't remember his words exactly but it was something about how we approach God when there's a problem that needs solving. How many times do we approach or call out to Him when there AREN'T any issues? How often is it that God calls us to serve or do something for Him and our response is usually something like, "I'll do it Lord, when I can squeeze it into my schedule." or "I'll gladly serve you Lord, as long as I can do it between this activity or that activity."? Well, I pondered that question for a while and realized that I would serve the Lord, gladly, with all my heart and soul....as long as there is no pain involved. I'm all about PAINLESS servanthood!!!

Anyway, all that being said, let me tell you about the tiny, trivial challenge I was faced with today. I had a doctor's appointment that could not be changed. Well, it could but it would be rescheduled for 3 months down the road. I couldn't wait that long so I kept this appointment. My Little Bird has been participating in a music camp at a friend's church this week. It just so happens that the time to pick her up from music camp clashed with my doctor's appointment time. So, something had to give.

Fortunately, I have a 21 y.o. daughter who could drive to pick up Little Bird from music camp and pick up the Teen from driver's ed on the way. My concern was about the vehicle she would be driving. It hasn't passed inspection since we've had it back on the road. My other concern was the Teen and his ability to be very distracting. Despite these concerns, I had made arrangements last night with DQ to pick up both kids and bring them home since I was unable to do so.

After this discussion with DQ, I went to bed and read my little devotional book, "Jesus Calling". I read ahead to tomorrow's devotion. All devotions in this book are written in first person, as if Jesus Himself is speaking directly to the reader.

"Welcome the Challenging Times as opportunities to trust Me. You have me beside you and My Spirit within you, so no set of circumstances is too much for you to handle. When the path before you is dotted with difficulties, beware of measuring your strength against those challenges. That calculation is certain to riddle you with anxiety. Without Me, you wouldn't make it past the first hurdle!

The way to walk through demanding days is to grip My hand tightly and stay in close communication with Me. Let your thoughts and spoken words be richly flavored with trust and thankfulness. Regardless of the day's problems, I can keep you in perfect peace as you stay close to Me."

After I read that, I thought, "Hmm." and then I went to sleep. I got up this morning and headed out, taking Kangaroo with me and dropping Little Bird at Music Camp. Then I made my way over into town for my doctor's appointment. At this point, I'm still concerned about the pick up arrangements but feel confident that all will work out. DQ is a good driver and I knew everything would be okay. After all, God is in control!!

I made it to my appointment, made the hike from the parking lot to the doctor's office, and signed my name on the little list at the counter. Normally, I would have a seat and wait, wait, and wait some more until they called my name to go to another waiting area. However, today, that wasn't the case. I signed my name and was immediately directed to the 2nd waiting area. Upon arriving there, I briefly sat (by briefly I mean, my butt JUST touched the seat!) when the nurse called my name! I commented, "Wow, THAT was quick!". Then she took my vitals as she needed for the records and told me that room was available already and I could go on in and wait for the doctor. I was pleasantly Surprised! So, me and Kangaroo went in and the doctor arrived about 5 minutes later!

Doc's visit over, I head back out to my vehicle. On the way I realized that the ENTIRE ordeal from parking my truck-signing in-seeing the doctor-getting back to my truck took all of 30 minutes!!!! I had PLENTY of time to pick up Little Bird and the Teen myself and not have to depend on DQ to do it in that other vehicle!

Calling DQ and cancelling her services, I went on and retrieved the other kiddos. I got to the music Camp only 1 minute after they finished! PERFECT timing!

On the drive home from the music camp, I reflected on the devotional I had read. OF COURSE, it was PERFECT timing! Because EVERYTHING he does is PERFECT!

Oh, ME of little faith! What else will it take for me to see His handiwork in ALL things?

BTW, if you've read this entire thing...thanks for reading.

Third Week of February Stuff

Gosh, have I neglected my blog for a week? Oh my! I'm so embarrassed!! Let me see if I get get ya'll updated. This means I have to remember what I did last week and then post a separate blog about certain things and link it to this one. Oh, Geez!! What a chore!!!

Well, first of all, for Valentine's day....we did nothing. The entire family had the flu. The rest of the week involved recuperating.

Hubby felt well enough to pull the camper out of it's hiding place and we commenced to preparing it for our Disney World vacation in June. Lemme tell ya!...Washing the windows in that thing was a JOB! However, it is all nice and shiny clean. We're planning on taking it down the road for a week long stay at Tickfaw State Park. We can't go too far because hubby still has to go to work. But at least we'll still FEEL like we're camping.

On Thursday, I attended a luncheon with my mom. She did a painting demonstration and devotion and then she sang a song to go with the devotional. I had to play the piano for her to sing. My thoughts on her devotional and scripture will be in a separate post shortly.

I've gotten the Geocaching bug again and have been trying to collect as many finds as possible. I set a personal goal of 200 finds for this coming year. I'm happy to report that I'm on a roll with 20 finds this weekend alone!!! My Mardi Gras geocaching will have it's own post shortly.

At this very moment, I'm sitting in my living room, typing on my little bloggy thingy, watching....um, no, listening to Handy Manny while trying to keep my eyes open. All that geocaching has got me worn out and I'm so very sleepy even though I got about 9 hours of sleep last night! I actually went to bed at a normal hour!!! Go figure!

Later ya'll!

Obedience leads to Friendship?

Well, let's see .... how should I start this. I guess I should first mention that for the past few months I have been going through some stuff. I won't go into detail here because there's just too much to type and I'll lose focus of what I want to say. I think I'm just ADD that way. But I WILL say that it has long involved my lack of trust and faith in my Father God. I know He exists and that He has saved me, but for some silly reason, I can't TRUST him. Isn't that strange?

So, two weeks ago, my Musical Brother (he's actually my music minister but we have this weird brother sister relationship where we constantly tease each other .... so I'm gonna call him my Musical Brother or M.B. from here on out).....okay, so, two wks ago (Jan 26), he emails me with a request to perform special music at tonight's evening worship service. There are times that I do enjoy performing but lately I just haven't been up to it. In fact, my mind has been more on my "bucket list" and upcoming summer vacation.

But, let me get back to my point. M.B. asks me to perform something for tonight. Since I wasn't feeling like it, I did what most disobedient kids do......hemmed and hawwed and tried to come up with excuses as to why I shouldn't.

On Thursday, Jan 29, I woke up humming a tune. This tune was from a song that I haven't heard in over 20 years. When I was a teenager there was a girl a little bit older than me who would sing it for special music during worship services. I heard her sing it 2 or 3 times and it spoke to me then. Anyway, as a musician, I have a music library and it just so happens that this particular song is in my library. I got the music out and placed it on my piano. I sat down and played just a page of it and decided..."okay, 2 chords, not much effort required, piece of cake." I'll go ahead and plan to play/sing this one.

A few days later, on Tuesday, Feb 3, I phoned M.B. and gave him a hard time about having special music during a Sunday evening worship service (I mean, why? Very few people show up for these services.) but agreed to provide music as he asked.

So, tonight was the night....I hadn't looked at the music or rehearsed at all until my turn to sing came up. I was THAT confident....a trait that is unusual for me when it comes to performing. It's time for my song, so I begin to sing. The title of the song is "May I Introduce You To A Friend".

I get up from the piano and had a little unplanned improv moment when my hand hit the worship band (from earlier in the service) drummer's high hat producing a loud cymbalic sound!!! I could feel my face turn beet red!! Finally, without any further incidents, I proceeded to sit down and hear what the preacher had to say. His chosen devotional tonight was on Luke 11, the Parable Of The Persistant Friend but I didn't know that prior to my song.

The service ends and I leave. On my way home, I was thinking about what the preacher had said etc when it dawned on me that on that Thursday when I woke up humming that tune, I believe God was telling me what song to sing. I also believe that I was so confident at the time of performance because I was being obedient and there was nothing to worry about. Finally, it occurred to me (now this is NOT to pat myself on the back but...) that I had been OBEDIENT....and Lo, and Behold.....NOTHING BAD HAPPENED!!! I didn't fall off a cliff, the ground didn't open up and swallow me whole, lightning didn't come down and strike me dead! Can you imagine my surprise?

Lesson learned.....I CAN trust Him. He can be my friend....my best friend in the whole wide world....the kind of friend that I can turn to and call on at 2 a.m. in times of crisis. Friendship with Him is what He wants most of all! Why do I find it so hard to comply?

Faith of the Christian Heroes

I recently rented The Hiding Place about the holocaust experiences of Corrie Ten Boom. As I watched the movie, I thought about the end times and what's in store for Christians of the future. I let fear get the best of me and I began to be anxious.

I wondered if I am a strong enough Christian to endure what Corrie has endured. Am I strong enough to see God's hand in the tribulations? Am I strong enough to offer forgiveness to those who wrong me? I don't know. I've been told that God gives us the strength needed to endure troubled situations. I guess I would have to be in the situation before I know whether or not I'd be able to endure it and I wonder if I be able to spread His word and lead others to Him in such a situation.

I also wonder if I'm even truly saved. I grew up in church (thanks to my Mom). I even remember spending some fun times in the nursery!!! When I was 16 years old, I said the "sinner's prayer" and I asked Jesus into my heart. I sincerely meant it at the time, but then life got in the way and I was distracted with a boyfriend (later my first husband) and children. Years passed, I went through divorce and remarriage. Now, I'm a church musician and as such am in church constantly. Every week I hear the sermons and read the scripture references. Honestly, I'm sure I could do more about my Bible reading.

Anyway, in reference to my "am I really saved" question....I once heard Micheal Youssef speak on that. He said something to the affect of giving a gift and having the recipient continually question it. He said that after a while the gift giver may feel insulted that his gift wasn't so well received. For example: I invite someone to my house for a steak dinner. They gratefully accept but a few hours later they phone me up and ask if I really meant it. Then I would reply, Yes I really meant it and they'd be satisfied with that answer yet would still phone me up a few hours later to ask me again. This would go on and on but eventually causing me to feel like they haven't truly accepted my invitation.

Well, I certainly don't want to be that kind of gift recipient. I have no intention of insulting my Lord. I guess I am one of very little faith when it comes to my salvation. It's just one of those things that make me say "hmmmmm" once in a while.

Spiritual Leadership

I got up this morning about 8:30 a.m. I've been feeling a little down the past couple of days and blame it on the weather. However, today, I can't blame it on that because it's a nice, crisp, beautiful day outside. Anyway, I've been craving spiritual leadership in my home. I feel like I'm the only one doing anything around here. I don't mean to put down on my husband or anything. He's a good man, hard worker, does his part around the house, likes his Budweiser, Copenhagen, and LSU games. The stereotypical redneck fella. He's definitely not a spiritual man much less a leader. He's one of those Easter/Christmas christians.

I sat down with him to have a talk this morning. I told him that I'd been needing something from him for quite some time. Then I paused while I got my thoughts together. At the same time, I could feel him getting defensive. Then I told him what it is I've been needing....Spiritual Leadership in our home. His response? "You know that church just isn't my thing...." and then he started this "If you want me to do this for you then you have to do some things for me...." and off he goes on the housekeeping rant. Then he tells me to stop pushing. I have never pushed. I just mentioned it this time because it's been heavy on my heart lately.

All I want is daily prayer and devotionals with the children. Is that really too much to ask? I could do it myself but (and here's my excuse) I'm afraid I won't do it "right". Besides, I don't think that was the original design.

I guess I hope that later he'll start feeling convicted and WANT to go to church with us on a regular basis. I don't know. I told him that if he felt embarrassed to be in church that he could sit on the back row where no one will see him, except the other hubbies sitting back there.

Okay, that's all for now. I need to get off my behonkus and start cleaning house. We're planning a big yard sale next weekend at my mom's and I have a lot of work to do now. I wonder if I do a really good job today, will he go to church with me tomorrow?