Eager Anticipation

The phone rang last night at 5:30.  My husband answered it.  "Yes, uh huh.  Ok."  By this time he was standing next to me, looking at me.  First of all, our home phone never rings, so that was odd.  His mom calls us on it, but that is about all, and I knew from the way he was talking, it was not her.  Suddenly my eyes lit up, and I ask 'Is my camera done?'  He nods.  I was so excited, as he asks 'what time do you close?  Oh, you just did.'  My excitement went to anticipation for morning.  Although I was happy my camera only took nine days in the shop instead of three weeks, now I had to wait until morning to go to town to get it.  As I write, I am still anticipating with excitement getting my camera back in my hands.  My experimenting with my hubby's camera has not been that great. 


Do you live with anticipation and excitement for anything in your life?  I think of how I should have this feeling in serving the Lord, with great anticipation and excitement in where He is leading me and what He is going to do through me.  I think of that type of excitement and anticipation as I am transformed, hopefully continually, into a person more like Christ.  I think I can get too stagnant, to comfortable, maybe even stuck in a rut,  and forget to look with excitement and anticipation at what God is doing in my life, where He is leading me, how He is transforming me, and how, even in the tough times, He is teaching me something valuable.  I know I get impatient sometimes in those times of waiting.  I feel like I am in one of those times right now.  I asked God for some direction this week, I asked very specifically for a point blank yes or no.  The answer I feel I got from Him was wait.  What I was asking for is serving somewhere that I as I thought about it, it actually gave me some anticipation/excitement, but the more I prayed and sought direction, the louder I felt a wait, wait, wait.  Not yet. I don't wait well.  I like to jump in and do.  Waiting is not a virtue that I have been blessed with, but evidently, I have to learn a little more about that virtue, as I wait in expectation and eager anticipation for God to say "GO!" 


For I am waiting for you, O Lord. You must answer for me, O Lord my God. Psalm 38:15


Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! Isaiah 30:18


In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. Psalm 5:3


Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you.
Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. Psalm 37:5, 7


It's funny how God teaches me lessons as I write this blog.  He taught me a lot today.  I would say 98% of the time, I don't really know what I am going to write about when I start typing here.  God definitely took me through this one today for a reason.  Thanks God.  I will praise you as I wait. 

Blindness or Hope

I saw this video in church yesterday. 







This video shows hope, how we can come out of the darkness of the world, and find true hope in Christ.  How Christ can turn our world upside down when we put our faith, our hope, in Him.


“Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He led them from the darkness and deepest gloom; he snapped their chains. Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them. Psalm 107:13-15


Everyone needs hope, is looking for hope.  When we put our faith in God, we have a reason to have hope.  We have to hold on to hope in Christ everyday. To me, it's the only way to get through each day.


Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Hebrews 11:1


But you are God's chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done. The Scriptures say, "Once you were nobody.  Now you are God's people. At one time no one had pity on you. Now God has treated you with kindness.  1 Peter 2:9-10




 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. Romans 3:20-24

Missing Something

It's been almost three days, but it feels like weeks.  I am missing something very important.  Something I take with me practically everywhere I go.  On Monday morning, I had to take my camera to the repair shop.  I had a great fear that somehow something inside got broken.  One reason I haven't posted any photos from our trip is because almost every photo needs extensive editing.  In the upper right hand corner of almost every picture is a large half circle.  Of course, since the pictures would not load onto my laptop, I didn't know that the hundreds of photos I took had this giant half circle on them.  For some reason, it didn't show up on my camera as I looked at a few of the pictures.  Yes, on MOST photos I will be able to Photoshop it out, if I can get Photoshop to work on my PC, since my PC and my Photoshop 8 don't like each other and get in a fight every time they are together.  Ahhh, sometimes I love technology!  Anyway, back to my camera.  The man at the camera shop looked it over and found the culprit deep within.  I didn't know that layer even existed in my camera, and have no idea how he got there, but he did.  Deep down in my camera, behind closed shutters, a hair appeared.  Why this hair appeared just in time for vacation is beyond me.  I used my camera a couple days before vacation, and the hair was not there, but once we got to Oregon, the hair was there.  Interesting and strange.  The man at the camera shop tried to used canned air to blow the hair out, but he just made it worse, and put it across the entire viewfinder.  So, I was happy that it's not a crack in a an inner lens or viewfinder, however, he told me it could take up to three weeks to get my camera cleaned up really well.  THREE WEEKS????  Without a camera???  Just for a cleaning??  I refrained from the tears and pouted as I walked all the way to my car in the pouring down rain.  I still keep saying to myself, three weeks??  Where are they sending it to get cleaned, New York?  No, it's local.  The guy just must be really busy. 

 In the meantime, I am trying to learn how to use my hubby's camera.  It's a digital and a Canon, but that's the only similarities!  His is more the point and shoot type, and to me it's much more difficult to figure out all those crazy settings than my camera is, even though my camera has more settings.  I know it's just what I'm used to, but I am used to my Canon XTi.  I also borrowed my mom's Nikon to do a photo shoot on Tuesday that I already had scheduled.  Also much different than my camera.  Yes, I like my camera comfort zone.  When I switched from film to digital, the cameras were extremely similar so I didn't have to get out of my camera comfort zone for that switch!  I am learning to adjust, for just a couple weeks, to my hubby's camera.  It's either that, or no pictures, which could drive me to the need for intense therapy since photography is the way I release stress in life and unwind.  So readers of this blog, bear with me over the next couple weeks as I miss the appendage known as my camera.  It's going to be a long few weeks!!

Value

We suffer from poor I-sight. Not eyesight, a matter of distorted vision that lenses can correct, but I-sight. Poor I-sight blurs your view, not of the world, but of yourself...two extremes of poor I-sight are self-loving and self-loathing. We swing from one side to the other. Promotions and demotions bump us back and forth. One day too high on self, the next too hard on self. Neither is correct. Self-elevation and self-deprecation are equally inaccurate. Where is the truth? Smack-dab in the middle. Dead center between 'I can do anything' and 'I can't do anything' lies the truth: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13) ~Max Lucado



A friend of mine put this on her facebook today:
"Never say anything about yourself you do not want to come true." -Brian Tracy   
 Think of 12 positive things to say about who you are, where you are going, and the value you will bring.


Is that difficult for you to come up with those 12 things?  It is for me. I think we get knocked down so much by society/the world that we forget we have value, that we matter. We can get stuck living in our past, our failures, our insecurities, instead of starting each day out as a new opportunity to make a difference in our lives, and in others lives. We don't need to do this journey of life alone, or be stuck in sadness, or our insecurities. God gave us skills, talents, and abilities that He will help us to discover and put to great use, if we allow Him to help us.  He also gave us great victory through the cross of Christ, and we don't have to live in the lie that we don't matter to anyone, or that what we do/who we are doesn't matter, because it does!  It's true that if we are only doing things for a pat on the back, and a 'look how great I am' then we are doing things for the wrong reasons.  However, if we do things to help out others without expecting any recognition, we can find great joy in that life, especially if we are centered in Christ. 


All the bad that has happened to make us feel inferior, not valuable, can be overcome.  It's our choice if we live in the put downs, negativity, hurt, or if we move out of those to a life of victory, a life that makes a difference.  How do you want people to think of you, remember you?  Someone who wallowed in the things of life that knocked them down, or someone who overcame their past, their sorrow, their hurts, and helped others, lived life to the fullest, not wasting the gift of each day.  Christ suffered pain, betrayal, hurt, abandonment from His friends.  He dealt with every pain we have dealt with, but He did not let those pains and betrayals change Him, get Him in a pit of despair.  He chose to look to God for His true identity, not man.  He chose to let only what the Father wanted truly matter in His life.  We have the same choice. 


In Christ we can move out of our past into a meaningful present and a breathtaking future. ~Erwin Lutzer


Forget what happened long ago!  Don't think about the past. I am creating something new. There it is! Do you see it? Isaiah 43:18-19


Now, make your list of 12 things about yourself, hopefully through Christ, that say something positive about who you are, where you are going in life, and the value you bring to this world, to others.  Live life, because you do matter!

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day brings many thoughts of love, compassion, laughter, friendship, support, encouragement, and honor to the minds of my husband and I as we think of our dad's today. 


Today is a tough day for my husband as he celebrates Father's Day without his dad.  His dad has been gone for ten years, yet lives on in our hearts and thoughts every day.  We think of him with love and remember the laughter and love he shared with us.  My husband and my dad are close, for which I am thankful, and my hubby is thankful.  My hubby looks up to my dad in so many ways, and cherishes the times they get to hang out, just the two of them.


I was one of the lucky ones.  I was raised with a loving, caring, moral, God-fearing dad.  A dad who taught us right from wrong, in a loving manner.  I have a dad who wanted the best for his family,  who has always worked with integrity and treated people fair, and taught us to do the same.  I was blessed to see my dad truly love my mom, and never be ashamed to let us girls know that he loved her, and us.  I am blessed to have been raised with a dad who also loves the Lord, and taught us to do the same. 


I found this poem, and it expresses my thoughts about my dad. I love you, dad.  Happy Father's Day!

A little girl needs her daddy

To love her with manly charm,

To soothe her when she’s hurt,

And keep her safe from harm.

A girl needs her dad

To show her a what is good,

To help her make right choices,

As only a father could.

A woman needs her father

Just to be aware,

He’ll always be there for her

To support her and to care.

You’ve been all these things, Dad.

I hope that you can see

How much I treasure you;

You mean everything to me.

Twenty Three Years

23 years ago, I said I do.  I do to the good times.  I do to the tough times.  I do to loving someone else for the rest of my life, unselfishly, with a love like Christ gives to us.  I do to I standing by his side through everything life tosses our way, whether they are blessings or things that we have to work through, figure out why it happened, and move through changes.  There have been many changes in our life together of 23 years.  Many wonderful times.  Many times of growth.  There have been times of packing up and moving away.  There have been job changes, job loss. There have been times of clinging to each other, knowing we will get through, together.  There have been times of great sorrow, but there have also been times of great joy.  There have been times of celebration and victory, and times of being knocked down and having to work our way out of a tough place.  We have shared a lot of laughs, and a lot of tears.  We've had to say goodbye to too many loved ones, much too close together.  We have learned that love isn't about just a warm fuzzy feeling, but about being there through sickness, health, loss, wins, sorrow, joys, and standing side by side, knowing that together, and with God's help, we can make it to another day, another month, another year.  It's learning, and living out, that love is patient and kind.  Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.  It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.  Both my hubby and I know this isn't always easy to live out, but things are so much better when we do live our marriage in this way.  Love of this kind NEVER fails.  Never.  I fail, and I fail a lot, but love in the purest form does not fail. 


I am thankful for a husband who has been by my side for 23 years.  I am thankful I said I do to a wonderful man who has walked with me through this journey of life. 

 Happy Anniversary!  I love you!

Vacation

I had planned to post some photos this morning.  I am out of  town and have captured some nice images, but my laptop is not cooperating.  It seems that if it stays on for longer than five minutes, I have accomplished something big!  Needless to say, I am a bit frustrated.  Not sure what's going on with it, but it may truly visit the ocean today! 

I have  been in the city for a day and a half.  I am even more thankful for where I live after hanging out in the city!  Overall, people don't smile, or look at others.  There is an awful lot of road rage, however!  People seem wound tight, and the sun was even out for the weekend for the first time in a long time!  Today, the sun has disappeared.  The forecast on Saturday was sun most of the week, but that changed and now there are significant chances of rain, especially at the ocean, where I am headed today.  Oh well, it's not going to dampen my enjoyment of the ocean!! 

So, if you don't hear from me for a few days, it's because I am sitting oceanside!  Blessings on your week!

Open Hands

We sang this song in church a couple weeks ago, and it really touched me. 

After The Storm

We have received a lot of rain lately. A lot.  But tonight right at sunset, the rain (and thunder) stopped, the clouds became breathtaking, and I ran out with my camera.  While I was snapping away at the clouds, I noticed the beautiful drops of rain just sitting on my plants, so I snapped a few more pictures of God's beauty after the storm.

The Foliage:

The Sky:

The White Tulip:

What Do I Know of Holy

This song asks 'What Do I Know of Holy?'  It talks of how we try to hear from God, but we talk the whole time, and how we make God smaller than He really is.  I think we tend to do that a lot, at least I do. God, I need to hear from you, but I won't stop talking or stop doing long enough to hear you when you do try to get my attention.  We need to just stop, be silent, and worship our Lord.  He is God, Creator of ALL, able to do so much more than we ever can imagine, or wrap our tiny little brains around.  He is Holy!


This song isn't being disrespectful in asking what do I know of Holy.  It's talking about how we can only get such a small taste of how big, how HOLY God really is, even at the best of our relationship with Him.  It's also talking about how we get in the way of God and His power.  God doesn't need to be put in a box.  He is capable of so much more than we can ever fathom. Take time with Him to just be silent, maybe with some worship music, but to just be silent.  Believe me, I know it's difficult to do this, to shut the mind off, but when we can and can focus on God, we can experience just a taste of God's holiness.   

A Life to Strive For

The secret of the success of the Apostles lay not in what they did and said, but in the presence of Christ in them and with them. They saw with the eyes of Christ, felt with His heart, and worked with His energies. They were nothing; Christ was everything. Christ was living, breathing, and triumphing in their personal lives. Their entire nature being replete with His life, their spirits bathed in His light, and their souls kindled with the fires of His love, they moved in the midst of men as embodiments of supernatural power. Brethren, this is what we must be...But to be this, the throne of grace must be our refuge, the secret place of the Most High must be our daily and hourly habitation. ~Griffith John