An Ahhh–haaa Moment

Well, you know what I mean, you know aha–something  just came to me and I think I am right on.  Now listen to this.  You know how we have been talking about our belief window?  Here is what I think about mine.

First let me say, my parents made me feel loved beyond love.  I always felt like I was very important to them and that I was the apple of their eye.  (This fact and what I am about to tell you makes me wonder is knowing you are loved the most important thing ? IDK). But. . .  my mom had a little poem she would quote to me. . .”There was a little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead and when she was good she was very good but when she was bad she was horrid.”  Considering that I was pretty much a brat, I was bad and horrid most of the time. 

When I became a teenager my mom switched her quote to, “Pretty is as pretty does.”  Well. . . .since I was horrid most of the time I never felt very pretty.  Which bring me back to my belief window, I see myself as fairly unattractive.  Or do I?  It seems to me I have a good self-esteem.  Did I get the good self-esteem because I knew I was loved?  Maybe!

Have you taken a look at your own window?  The book says, “Each of us sees the world through a window on which we have written the principles we believe to be true.  Where those principles are true, the view through our window is clear; where they are false, the view is misleading.”

So……..YOU can be in control of your life, depending on the truth of the principles by which you choose to live it.

The Anniversary

What to say.  Married 43 years and not much to say about it.  Well, that’s not exactly true, there is plenty to say.  I can tell you 43 years has gone by quick and yet slow.  Have you ever heard that days go slow but the years go fast?  This was really true when the kids were small, sometimes those days would just drag by until daddy came home and, and, and eat supper and watch tv until bed time. LOL

That’s how it use to be, husbands didn’t help out like they do now.  I wonder why that was.  My fella would at least put the kids to bed, he almost always did that.  I gave them the bath, got the pj’s on and he would slip into the bedroom and stay with them until they would fall asleep.  Funny thing is, that seems to be the thing the kids remember.  They don’t remember all the baths, they remember dad going to bed with them and talking until they fell asleep, all three of them.

So what did we get each other?  Welllllllllllllllllllllllllll, I told Bob to skip the present there is nothing I want and the VitaMix was pretty expensive for Mother’s Day.  What did I get him? Flowers.  Yup, I did.  He told me one time when I was wishing for flowers that I have never gotten him flowers, so I fooled him and did it.  Here’s the kicker, after a few days I asked him how he liked his flowers, he said, “What flowers?”  Funny, isn’t it?  Oh well, I have enjoyed the flowers, I’m not sure he thinks of them as his.  Who knows.

So do you have the picture?  No gifts, no cards, well except for flowers.  We did go out to eat with four other people and we went to the university dairy for an ice cream cone.  You know what? It was perfect, really it’s just nice to be happy, healthy and still seeking Jesus.

This Morning

It was about 6:00 am and I just turned over in bed and I heard a voice say, “Happy Anniversary.”  LOL  If you knew my man you would know he is never awake much less aware of much at 6:00 am. 

Yup, 43 years of marriage.  You already know it isn’t always perfect.  He can “tick” me off and yet I have noticed the older we get the easier it is.  Praise the Lord.  Don’t get me wrong it has never been exactly hard but we certainly come from different backgrounds.

I remember reading, way back when we were first married and I was not sure I was really happy, something like this: The more you dwell on your unhappiness the more unhappy you become.  Make the best of your decision and decide to be happy.  Take it to the Lord in prayer.  Now that is not exactly how it read but it was good advice that’s for sure.

Here is the Thai Peanut Sauce that goes with the Lettuce Wraps from yesterday.  Not everyone will like this, but we do and Bob is not exactly adventuresome in his eating.

This would be good drizzled over stir fried vegetable or over the rice recipe I will give you next week.  Be sure you use natural peanut butter with no added sugar and NO partially hydrogenated oil.

5 TBS. peanut butter

3 Tbs. water

1 Tbs. soy sauce

3 Tbs. fresh lime juice

2 tsp. honey–maybe 3

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1.16 tsp. salt

1/16 tsp. cayenne pepper

Put it in the blender and blend on  high until smooth and creamy.  Refrigerate until using.  Warm the sauce in a microwave before serving.  Leftover sauce freezes well.  1 Tbs. 46 Calories

A Giving Heart

Do you know the Bible tells us that’s it’s important to give?  I think we should give because it is our role.  As women God certainly created us to be givers.  We give a smile, a hug, a compliment, encouragement.  I mean that’s us, we are natural givers.

The New Testament tells us to give generously.  Galatians 6:7 says, “What ever a mother sows, that she will also reap.” That’s a scary thought.  As I consider the principle of sowing and reaping, I realize that what I put into my family on a daily basis will be what I get back in the years to come.  When I really think about that I could gasp for air, wish I had thought about this sooner.

Give expecting nothing in return.  Really we serve our family because God says to do it. Luke 6:35  We don’t give love to get praise, and if we do there is something really wrong.  Read Titus 2:4 it is pretty clear on just how we are to love our children.

I think we need to have fun, I think visiting grandma’s house should be the most fun a kid has.  Or what about a child’s home? It should be a ball for every family member.  We need to develop a good sense of humor, laugh easily.  When my daughter was dating I would usually wait up for her and when she would come in the door, usually with a girl friend, we would put on the water make some mac and cheese and talk it all over.  We had some really good laughs and lots of fun talking about the evening.

IDK–I certainly don’t have all the answers but let’s make life fun.  Lighten up a little and bring a sparkle to the eyes of the people we love.

A Cord of Three Strands

I love to embroidery, I know what you’re thinking, what doesn’t she love?  Well, I don’t love. . .oh we will leave that for another time.  Ecclesiastes 4:12 says: “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”  It  sure is true in my embroidery experience and it’s true in live.

I am just going to jump right in and say I am comparing this to at least 3 things we need in our life to stay strong.  First, we each need a mentor–perhaps an older person, for sure someone who knows Jesus. 

Second, we need someone to encourage us.  Last week two of my little grands visited us, it was so much fun to encourage them and watch what encouragement does for them. I have seen it in the lives of women, when we are encouraged we seem to blossom. 

 Third we each need to invest in the life of a younger person or someone who does not know Christ like we do.  I have never felt any closer to the Lord than when I was investing in another person’s spiritual life.  I think I grew as much or more than she did.

 Sometimes a person may start out knowing an individual in one way and then after a time this person may become part of the strand of the cord. I think often we never allow ourselves to be open enough to allow another individual to help us grow in Christ or grow as an individual, We have the idea that we can do it all by ourselves.

If we allow a mentor in our life who truly loves us they will tell us like it is.  Love always wants the best for the other person.  Sometimes that means we need to speak some difficult truths rather than simply stroke each other’s egos.  Jesus challenged His disciples when they needed it.

I hope you will look for a mentor, someone to mentor and someone who will encourage you, it’s worth your time.

How Was it When You Grew Up?

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I grew up in the 40’s/50’s with practical parents. A mother, God love her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then reused it. She was the original recycle queen, before they had a name for it… A father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones.   I can see them now, Dad in trousers, tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower in one hand, and dish-towel in the other. It was the time for fixing things. A curtain rod, the kitchen radio , screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress Things we keep.    best friend that moved away or a classmate we grew up with. Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away.. It was a way of life, and  sometimes it made me crazy. All that re-fixing, eating, renewing, I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there’d always be more. But then my mother died, and on that clear summer’s night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn’t any more.  Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away….never to return.. So… while we have it…… it’s best we love it…. and care for it… and fix it when it’s ! broken……… and heal it when it’s sick.  This is true. for marriage…….. and old cars…. and children with bad report cards….. and dogs with bad hips….. and aging parents…. . and grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it. Some things we keep. Like a There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special…….. and so, we keep them close!  THIS WAS EMAILED TO ME AND IT REMINDED ME OF THE HOME I GREW UP IN.  AS A KID I THOUGHT THINGS WOULD ALWAYS STAY THE SAME.  MY DAD TELLING ME TO TURN OFF THE LIGHT AND CATCH A NICKLE, MY MOM COLLECTING RAIN WATER TO WATER HER PLANTS.  THINGS DO CHANGE AND NOT ALWAYS FOR THE GOOD AND YET IT IS INEVITABLE. ALL I KNOW IS WE MUST LIVE IN TODAY, NOT YESTERDAY, NOT TOMORROW BUT RIGHT NOW.  WE MUST LOVE COMPLETELY AND FEEL DEEPLY FOR OUR FELLOW MAN (WOMAN). AGAIN, IT IS BIBLICAL–LOVE THE LORD AND LOVE YOUR FELLOW MAN.

Words Aren’t Enough. . .

I hope your Christmas was glorious, fun, Spiritual and filled with love for each other and God.

Mine was funny, surprising, fun, snowy and Spiritual, what more could I ask for?  I still smile when I think of Jenna opening a gift and saying with a questioning look on her face, “but I don’t remember asking for this.”

A snowy Christmas!

I know you are wondering two things:  How much weight did I gain and the big question, what did my man get me for Christmas?

First, the weight, I felt really big on the way home especially since we stopped and I had a Candy Cane Blizzard all to myself.  I gained about 4 ounces over Christmas.  I am on the wagon today, we do have some candy in the house, I am planning to stay out of it.  I am actually thinking of sending it to work with Bob.  But, it is sooooooooooooooo good.

The Huskers play in a bowl game this week, and then there is New Year’s Eve, I can see eating in my future.  How about you, how did you do over the holiday?

Can you tell I am avoiding telling you what my fella got me for Christmas?  https://nancyoutlook.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/another-surprise/. Well, it was not another stuffed bear.  You know I was waiting with great anticipation.

Here is how it played out.  I had taken the envelope downstairs to the wrapping table.  I wondered if he would remember it, mean of me I know, but I had decided not to remind him.  At the last minute he ran downstairs and wrapped it up and put it in the car.

Jenna, in her Laura Engles dress and bonnet I made for her.

Christmas morning the kids had opened about all they could stand and we decided to eat breakfast and then open some more.  Quick as a wink, Bob jumped up and grabbed his present to me and said, “open it.”  All eyes were on the quickly wrapped package.  My hands were trembling (not really), I ripped the wrapping open and it was a  . . . . . . . . . . . . .KJV electronic Bible.

Here is the surprise!

This is what I am thankful for: He took the time to buy me something he thought I would enjoy.  He thought a Bible was something I would enjoy.  He was excited about the gift.  He loves me enough to venture out and buy something I had not asked for.  He bought it without help from anyone.

It will be handy for my purse and I will keep studying on how to use it. King James is not my favorite version of the Bible but I will use this gift with warm feelings for my man.

There has to be a Spiritual lesson here somewhere, could it be that I am not always thrilled with the gifts God gives me, but with every gift there is a lesson to be learned and a growing of character and mind?

With Great Sorrow. . .

Some of you know Jeff and Sylvia.  This is a portion of the journal Sylvia writes about Jeff.  I am asking each of you to pray for this little family.  As you can see their pain is great and their love and dependance for Jesus is even greater.

Sitting at the office trying to get caught up on my pile of work.  I’ve managed to get two charts completed in the last 8 hours.  Obviously my mind is not with me today.  Yesterday I stayed home for a while to do a little Christmas decorating.  I just wandered around the house instead. 

I’m the kind of person who, when the closet is a mess, will pull everything out of the closet and put it in a pile on the floor, make a survey of what needs to go back in and what my space allows, then start putting things back.  Currently my mental closet is all dumped on the floor.  I haven’t figured out how to acceptably arrange it in my new space.

Jeff has spots of cancer throughout his liver- too many to count.  He has a lymph node or two affected also.  He feels mediocre. Not much else to say right now.  Just a heavy heart.

Our pain is great, but not without hope for a future.  “I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD.  “…Plans for a future.”  We look forward to an eternity and praise God for the hope we can have in Him.  He will carry us through the days ahead.  My head sometimes forgets that, but my heart clings to it fervently.

Just thought I’d include the words to a great song that most of you probably know.  Jeff likes it best sung by Elvis. 🙂

Without Him I could do nothing
Without Him I’d surely fail
Without Him I would be drifting
Like a ship without a sail

Without Him I would be dying
Without Him I’d be enslaved
Without Him life would be worthless
But with Jesus thank God I’m saved

Oh Jesus, oh Jesus
Do you know Him today
Please don’t turn Him away
Oh Jesus, my Jesus
Without Him how lost I would be

Have You Witnessed Love?

I love rain, thunder, lightening, actually I love–love!  I think I have always been in love, even when I was only 5 years old I distinctly remember declaring my love for someone.

I have experienced love, I have watched love.  I have seen a mother look at her newborn baby with the eyes of an eagle, I saw a three year old brother look at his new baby sister and say–“she’s beautiful, mama.” I have seen a couple wanting a baby for so long and the look when they could finally say we are pregnant. I have watched two people who have discovered fresh love and realize one can’t live without the other. I have seen a little girl, only 7 years old, kiss her mama’s tummy telling her baby brother good night.  I have seen this same child running to greet her grandmothers yelling at the top of her voice, “wait ’til you see mom’s belly, it’s big,” and then watching with pride as the grandmothers nod their heads in agreement. I have seen a loving daughter sitting by her father’s bedside pleading with him to ask Jesus into his heart, he is dying and she knows it. I have seen a husband looking so pitiful as he remembers the fun loving woman he married so many years ago and now she  doesn’t recognize him.  I have heard the cry of a woman wishing her husband loved her enough to make their marriage work. I just finished reading about the love of Jesus for each of us, I have felt that love and am thankful.

So you see, whether it is the love we have for our child, our husband, our friend, our parents, our Lord, it is powerful, it is real and it is necessary.

I challenge you to love with all your heart, love your enemies, love those you are leery of loving, love as Jesus loved, love like everyone is your brother or sister.  It is Biblical.

Psalm 37:4 goes something like this–If you will make God the chief affection of your inmost heart. . .meaning delight yourself in the Lord, find pleasure and joy in him, get to know him well.  HE WILL GIVE YOU THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART.

God wants you, his daughters, to have the desires of your heart–he is a passionate God.  He has deep, moving desires for his creation and one of those is an intimacy with you.  He created you to be happiest when you are passionate about him, affectionate to him.

I love this text and I know you do too, Jeremiah 29:11  “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to five you hope and a future.”

Please let’s unwrap the gift of happiness, let’s throw away the wrapping and keep happiness and love in our hearts by being passionate and affectionate about Jesus.

He Loves Me He Loves Me Not. . . . .

Several years ago the phone woke me out of a deep sleep, it was a dear friend.  Do you have a close friend who all she has to do is say hi and you know instantly something is wrong?  I knew something was really wrong when I heard her greeting.  I asked the dreaded question, “what’s wrong?”

After many years of marriage her husband had found someone else–she made him laugh.  My friend and I have spent many hours on the phone we have hashed it over and over and over.

I don’t know why it happened, I love my friend I think she would be the ideal wife, but something went wrong.

Today I want to give you some thoughts on things you can do for your husband.  Many of these ideas come from Elizabeth Georg’s book, On Being a Godly Wife.

1.  Pray for him daily–pray about his success, his spiritual life, and anything else that comes to mind.

2.  Plan for him daily–plan a date night now and then, make his favorite meal, pick up the house a little before he gets home.  Leave a little note on the door or put a quick note in his lunch.

3.  Please him–pay attention to what he likes and dislikes, my husband hates washing his hands in the kitchen and not finding a towel to dry with, I try to keep a towel handy just for him.  I would really rather have everything off the counter.

4. Protect your time with him.–Make your husband your number one human priority.

5.  Physically love him–I Corinthians 7:3-5

6.  Positively respond to him.  Say yes as often as you can, he may want you to ride along to Home Depot and you would rather stay home.  Go!

7.  Praise Him–thank him for what he does, tell him how much you appreciate him.