Quotes

When I stop speeding through life, I find the joy in each days doings, in the life that cannot be bought, but only discovered, created, savored, and lived.   – Katrina Kennison

word for the day...{giving}

give

[giv] verb, gave, giv·en, giv·ing, noun

to present voluntarily and without expecting compensation; bestow; to set forth or show; present; offer; to furnish, provide, or proffer; to make a gift or gifts; contribute; to be warm and open in relationships with other persons

verse to reflect on...

Your own soul is nourished when you are kind. - Proverbs 11:17 (NLT)

Quotes

Just the knowledge that a good book is awaiting one at the end of a long day makes that day happier.  
― Kathleen Norris

song ~ perfect peace

Perfect Peace
by: Laura Story


stay close by my side
keep your eyes on me 
though this life is hard
I will give you perfect peace


in this time of trial
pain that no one sees
trust me when I say
I will give you perfect peace


and you'll never walk alone
and you'll never be in need
though I may not 
calm the storms around you 
you can hide in me


burdens that you bear
offer no relief 
let me bear your load
cause I will give you perfect peace


stay close by my side
and you'll never walk alone 
keep your eyes on me 
and you will never be in need 
though this life is hard 
know that I will always give you perfect peace
I will give you perfect peace

Quotes

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
 - William Morris

word for the day...{hope}

hope

[hohp] noun, verb, hoped, hop·ing.
the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best; to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence.

a ding...

I am usually very courageous...or so I think...but last night, I was scared stiff.  I have never driven in such horrible weather in Texas before.  Hail that was HUGE!!!  The largest I have ever seen since I have lived here.  

I had seen a post on Facebook about a Weather Advisory being issued for the evening in Texas, but I didn't stop to read the details nor did it occur that evening was 5.30pm!  Regardless, when the crackle and down poor of massive hail occured, my mind went back to the short clip I had read.  I was at a client's office, fixing to wrap up my day and head out to my monthly AAPC class.  But all those plans quickly changed with the state of the weather.  The office manager and I were trying to lock up the place, but the alarm would not set.  That usually means a door is not closed all the way, but with the massive hailing going on, we made a quick decision after trying to do a quick trouble shoot to forget the alarm and get gone.  We were pelted with hail as we ran to our cars.  When, I got in my car, I quickly realized this hail was not going to leave anytime soon and I decided to skip class and head straight home.  After I got on the freeway, I wasn't sure this was the best idea or not...people were pulling over and parking under the overpasses and blocking all lanes of traffic.  Police were coming thru having to honk so that they would break up and keep moving.  Someone pulled over like that right in front of me and it was all I could do to miss them.  No break lights, no warning!!!  It was insane to say the least!!!  I decided to keep moving, my hands criped really tight on the steering wheel, trying to decide whether I was going to find a bank drive thru to pull under or just keep making headway home.  As the hail streamed down, I thought at any minute I was not going to have a windshield.  The wind, the driving rain, the ice and hail let alone the maniacs out on the road made the drive home scary!!!  I made it home before the hail hit my end of town.  After I pulled in the garage, I wasn't sure I even wanted to inspect my car to see if there was damage as I was thoroughly expecting to have dents all over my brand new Honda Civic!  There is one big dent on the curve of the left rear panel halfway in towards the trunk (see the picture below) and it is comparable to the size of your first finger curved towards your thumb to make a circle.  The other picture is of someone else's post on Facebook of the hail in their area and I snagged it so that you can see in detail the actual size, and larger, pieces of hail I had to deal with.  Totally incredible that hail can come out of the sky like that...makes you feel really small when you think about how God does that!  I am very thankful that I did not have a wreck and that I made it home safe and sound.  Though having a dent in my car isn't my choice of things, it matches my life, anything but perfect!

golf ball size hail

dent in my car

In every situation, particularly when you have negative results, I always contemplate what would I do different...so I wonder, should I have just stayed put at the clinic???  Dents could have happened moving or not.  Would that have been safer???  I was afraid to stay there in case the power went out and then trying to get all my things out the door would not have worked out well by myself.  I still don't know...I just hope that I know next time what to do and that I will have the same safety, but if not, I know God is still with me!

verse to reflect on...

A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls. 
Proverbs 25:28

Medical Tip

Do you ever get excited when you learn something new or something that is really helpful?  I do!

If you follow me on Facebook, you know that recently, about 2 weeks ago, I received a call from my pharmacy informing me that my 8 prescriptions were going to cost me $1927.34!  Yah, I gulped and freaked out.  Sure, I knew I had  a $6K deductible, but who has that kind of money???  Not me...so I have been doing research.  I am still doing research, but today wanted to share a tip from you one of my kind doctors shared with me:

Every time you get a new prescription, go to the website of that manufacturer and make sure there is not a coupon available for it.  This used to only be available to the physician market, but with the explosion of the internet, this is no longer the case. 


I had to share that tip with you because medications are VERY expensive.  When I locate a good Canadian Pharmacy, I will share that with you too...for now, I am still doing research.  :)

Quotes

A man can get discouraged many times, but he is not a failure until he begins to blame somebody else and stops trying.  - John Burroughs, Writer

Natural Drift from Holiness

NATURAL DRIFT FROM HOLINESS

People do not drift toward holiness!  Apart from grace driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to scripture, faith and delight in the Lord.

We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance.

We drift toward disobedience and call it freedom.

We drift toward superstition and opinions and call it faith.

We cherish the indiscipline of self-control and call it relaxation.

We slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism.

We slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated!

-Unknown

no money...

When you say you have "no money"...what does that mean?  Does it mean:

• you literally have absolutely NO MONEY, not a penny to your name?
• you are overdrawn on your account and there is NO MONEY?
• you haven't been paid yet so there is NO MONEY?
• you are on a budget so there is NO MONEY for this category?
• you spent everything yesterday so there is NO MONEY?
• you can't say I don't want to spend my funds that way, so there is NO MONEY?
• you think everyone will just understand if you say there is NO MONEY?

I am finding people say they have no money, but:

• then go out to eat when they could eat at home
• they go shopping for frivolous stuff, stuff they truly do not need
• they do not live by a budget so they can have money
• they do not keep priorities in order so they don't have money when they should have money
• they don't know how to say no so that they can have money
• they don't live and give as God has called them to, so they can't expect to have money
• they really have money and that is not a true response to the situation

how about you...do you have money???  do you save?  do you live on a budget?  are you honest about money and when you have it and when you don't?

I have been giving this some thought because I know that I don't have money for certain things and in light of some employment changes in my life the last year, I don't have the money I used to have.  I think each of us need to think about this a bit more and reflect on what we need to live and what money is needed for and stick to the basics...not stuff that is not needed and we will suddenly find we have MONEY!!!

word for the day...{faith}

faith 

[feyth] –noun

confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability; belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit,etc.

verse to reflect on...

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6

Quotes

be real, that means authentic! a leader that you would follow in genuineness, authenticity, honesty, and realness in love, friendliness, & emphathy for other people. - Tim Sanders

Can you Stand Up for what is right?

Some of you know my family situation...some of you don't.  I am not going to go into all the details of that.  I am going to relay a story of something that happened to me today.


I got a call from a private number on my cell phone.  I typically do not answer Unavailable or Private Numbers.  If you don't want me to know who you are, then I do not feel you deserve my time or attention because there is a reason you want to remain so private.  Well, I am dealing with the government on an issue for a client and I had several Private Number phone calls this week...and knew the next time that I got this call, I would need to answer so that we could get this resolved because we were playing phone tag.  So I answered...not remembering that it is Saturday and the government doesn't work on Saturdays!  This time the call was from my mom.  She was calling to let me know that she could not talk to me in December when I called (the truth is that she hung up on me and when I called back to let her know that if she had something to say she would give me a chance to respond and not just hang up on me, she didn't answer...I got their answering machine so I left the message on that). I didn't respond and she went on to tell me that the doctor's think that Terry has Lupus (I am thinking: Ugh, for reals, NO he doesn't have lupus...I know this, you self diagnose everyone all the time - including me when I lived there and I am living proof that I didn't die as you told me I would!) and that they want Terry to get a job, a car, handle a bank account and be self sufficient.  At this point I had all I could take. I stopped her and told her that there was obviously discrepancies in what she states (they would not let Terry get his car fixed in December, though I know he sold it for drugs which he shouldn't have done, they do not want him to have a car, they do not let him look for a job nor do they try to help him find a job, they spend the disability money he receives for their own use and don't let him have any of it (which is fraud), they won't even let him do laundry on the premises - etc).  She told me to stop and talk like an adult.  I said I am talking like an adult mom.  She told me that Terry is a liar and I didn't check these facts with her or Dad. I told her that I didn't need to check them with her, Terry knows where he does his laundry!  She said, honey you don't understand Terry is a liar.  I said, "Mom the fact is that you are lying to me right now."  Her response: "Honey, I don't try to lie all the time."  I said, "Mom you should NEVER lie."  She said, this is simply a misunderstanding. I said, "No lying and misunderstandings are not the same thing at all mom.  You are justifying things and are being a hypocrite."  She hung up on me.


My question to you is:  Do you stand up for the truth?  For what you know to be right?  No matter who it is? Are you faithful to God and His Word?  Do you believe that sin is sin?  


I was not trained that lying was okay.  I was not trained that to justify things was acceptable.  It grieves my heart, but I know that God's Word is still true!  The truth makes you free. He that is not with Him is against Him! 


I will continue to pray for my mom that she someday will open her heart and mind to God (in an all new way) and ask him to help her deal with her life, her sins of stubbornness, lying and hypocrisy. She is right in her own eyes and justifies everything...but I know God will not refuse an open and contrite heart if she desires to seek him!

word for the day...{peace}

peace 

[pees]  -noun, interjection, verb, peaced, peac·ing. 
a state of mutual harmony; freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc.; tranquillity; serenity.