Pain and Suffering

I went to John Piper's conference this weekend and the topic was "Job" (of the Bible). Boy does that man ever know how to dissect Scripture! And surprising to me was that he is very animated and funny! He delights in the things God made and it's fun to hear him talk about those things.

The main point that John made for this teaching was why does God allow suffering when he is a good and loving God? I think what I took away from this seminar was that above all things God is Sovereign. And it is wrong to question God, but we do it anyway! Job was a righteous man, meaning he loved the Lord with all his heart and sought after Him in all things. But God allowed Satan to kill his livestock, his family, to afflict Job with horrible sores for days. (God didn't but allowed Satan to.) Job wasn't perfect and he did question God. Another thing I got out of it is that God will use suffering to bring people together. When you are suffering you call your friends and family more, you reach out and connect more because you feel vulnerable and needy. And mainly when you are suffering you reach out to God more, it draws you closer to Him, you are tested (like Job was) at times to see if you truly mean what you say about your love for Jesus. This is a tip of the iceberg so I encourage you to go to the Desiring God website to listen to Piper's message on Job. www.desiringgod.org

so much to do, so little time

Sorry blog world, I am absolutely overwhelmed with things to do recently. There's 2 parties to attend this weekend and I went to one last weekend, preparations for my testimony on Thursday and a football game this Saturday. Oh and this is the month of October, the BIRTHDAY month. There are 7 birthdays in my family this month, not including my own. That's typically 7 cards, a few gifts and usually about one or two parties. Oh and did you all know that Christmas is coming? So there is that on my mind. Plus we're going to New York for Christmas so then there's the planning I've got to do. When I have a lot of things to do I tend to do very little. I will wait till the very last minute and run around like crazy and get everything done in like 2 hours. It's the "to do" that I don't like, so I procrastinate, I put it off, I wait until I can wait no more. Is there something wrong with that? I guess if I end up forgetting something then that can be a problem, plus I can get stressed trying to get it all done. And we all know stress is no good. I guess in the race of things I end up being the rabbit and I really should be the turtle. But in all honesty, I don't want to do all of these things. I want to be selfish with my time and do nothing else. But that benefits no one except for me so then I feel guilty. So fess up, how are you with deadlines and to do's? Any words of wisdom?

Yikes

I am giving my testimony at Recovery at the Village exactly two weeks from tonight, less than two weeks, one week, six days and 22 hours (I think). I have had in the past MAJOR MAJOR stage fright. I'm talking about heart pounding, eyes dilated, can't breath, kind of stage fright and when I talk I sound like a squeaky mouse because my throat is closed off. I am asking for all of your prayers; prayers for God to completely envelope me and to take away the fear, prayers that my testimony is glory given to God and the truth is told in love, prayers against Satan's attacks through sickness, accidents and fear most of all. I am really looking forward to sharing my story in hopes that others can see how amazing God is and how great is His love for us!

I will be sharing my testimony on October 16th at 7:30PM, thanks again.

Migraines & the thorn in my flesh

I have suffered through another migraine this month. It's no fun. No fun at all I tell you. I've cut out caffeine this past month to see if that was the culprit. Well I can say that my migraine was different this time around, it wasn't a heavy, boulder on my head, pressure on all sides, I wanna kill myself migraine. This time it was what they call a cluster migraine. It's only on one side and it feels like it's the size of a golf ball and it is shooting, piercing pain. Often times it takes a couple doses of meds to get rid of it. And believe you me I don't like taking meds so I tried everything to get rid of it. I tried a couple of weird yoga poses, upside down, standing on my head poses...didn't work but it did get my husbands attention! Ha! I tried lying in bed, with silence and no lights on and that did not work. I tried sleeping, that didn't work. I tried taking a cold shower, I was freezing and yet that did not work. So after I was freezing I turned the water to warm and realized that that helped a little so I stood under the very hot water for a while. After that I used a heating pad to try to get the same effect, it helped some but it did not take away the pain. So I finally caved and took some meds, still the next day (today) I have a migraine and that meant med #2. Well it's finally gone, yay! No more pain! But I tell you I have to wonder if this migraine is a thorn in my flesh to keep me from being proud. Like Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. All the while having the pain I pray to God, I spend more time with Him then if I am well. I look forward to Heaven, I do, no more suffering and no more pain. But if getting a migraine keeps me closer to the Lord then I will take the suffering. And I believe this computer is causing me more pain so I better get off now. Sorry to end it so awkwardly. Thanks for prayers my way.

Funny

I just had a funny thought. Well let me back up a little bit more. I was bored and reading through random blogs, no one I knew just looking at blog after blog. One thing I noticed is that there are a lot of blogs out there with moms taking pictures of their babies, toddlers and preschoolers. I think I looked at around 25 blogs and that's what the majority of them were, some newlyweds but mostly blogs about children. I thought it kind of funny how you rarely see a blog about teenagers. Actually I did not see one blog where they had pictures of their teens. I suppose that's natural cause they're not around much when they are teens, but why do you suppose the moms aren't following around the teens with a camera like they are their babies? LOL I know...I need to go to bed and be off the Internet for the day. But just a funny thought to ponder.

Confession Time

Hi to my two readers, lol! I have a confession and I am shameful and embarrassed about it. The thing about confessions is that it helps to make you accountable as well as to receive prayers from those that care about you. Whenever I hear something that is about to occur I always assume the worst about people. If we meet our family for dinner and they've picked the place (which is 99.9% of the time) I automatically assume I am not loved enough to be able to pick. Or if there is a need in my ministry and my name is not mentioned I assume it's because they don't like me or I am not good enough. Or if my hubby mentions something about our kids or our home I automatically assume it's because he's got a problem with it and he's the bad guy. It's like I think everyone is always out to get me, to hurt me, to spite me, to use me. I hate to think that I'm one of those people that always sees things half empty rather than half full but I do believe that is true. I think this has a lot to do with pride. It should always be about me right?! Wrong! It's never about me, it's about Christ. But I'm not really writing here to be preachy I just need prayers and accountability in this area. Thanks so much from your sister in Christ.

Happy Birthday Ralph!!!

To my big brother Ralph, that has been through thick and thin with me, that is always there if I need him, that has the biggest heart in the world! Happy 40th, I love you!!!