Ebenezer Season

hehe. It's not what you think.

As a little girl I remember going to the family camp and seeing all the rocks my grandmother had on the window sills there and I eventually started my own collection. Some of my rocks I've had since 1985 or 86 when my dad brought 6 jungle river pebbles home to me (they're in the dish in the picture here.) But there's a reason why I collect rocks as well as a few other little knickknacks--and it's not because I like to dust, because I don't! LoL. You can find out why here.

As I played taxi this morning I got caught in a skunk parade! And I came out smelling like a rose. *grin* Okay, maybe not quite like a rose, but I sure didn't stink of skunk. I'll tell you about sometime, along with what I learned.

Happy Tuesday!

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Traffic in the Cornfields

Yesterday at church our youth pastor preached and asked a very good question...

Are you too busy living life to see God?

Be still, and know that I am God. 

~Psalm 46:10 NIV

That's a question we need to stop and ask ourselves every so often. And if you think "But I don't have time to stop!" then you ARE too busy.

Be still so you can see God.
~*~*~*~

I'm posting today at The Barn Door about a cornfield traffic jam. ;-) Drop by and see what I'm talking about.

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Time for the Edges

One of the joys of living I the country is dealing with the dust, dirt and mud, depending on the season. With 7 of us in and out the door, our floors get dirty fast so it's not uncommon for one of us to run around with the broom and do a quick sweep of the walkways. It works as a quick fix, but we still need to take the time and do a thorough job of sweeping everyday.

Recently I've been just sweeping the walkways of my life. Sweeping the clumps of mud, chunks of dirt and all the grit of life out of the way so I can keep rushing on. But it's not working well. In fact, it's caught up to me.

All around the edges of my life there's a mess and it's time for me to take care of it.

The other day I was finally able to do the cleaning that's been on my to-do list for 2-3 Saturdays and it was such a relief to get it done. I even enjoyed doing it! I'm looking forward to doing the same thing in my life now. I NEED to do the same thing in my life. For me, my marriage and my family.

Just wanted to let you know why I won't be around as much as I was planning. This is a good thing and although the path here was not nice, I'm glad to be here.

How about the edges of your life? Have you been doing quick sweeps of the walkways but neglecting the edges?

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Author Spotlights and Winners

Are you looking for the Author Spotlight? It's posted over at Reflections and this week is Cathy Bryant and her book, A Path Less Traveled.

Last week's spotlight was on Linore Burkard and her giveaway is still open. You can find Linore's spotlight and her interview at Reflections.

WINNERS!
Holly Heisey is the winner of Paul Baines' book, Alpha Redemption and
Rita has won A.K. Arenz's book, Mirrored Image.
Congratulations!

How do you deal with stress? Do you deal with it like Jesus did? Yesterday I posted at the Internet Cafe on Dealing with Stress Like Jesus. I'd love for you to stop by!

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Resisting or Resting?

Nursery duty is not one of my favorite things. In fact, it's enough to make me groan, but I remember quite clearly how much I appreciated being able to sit through a church service without little ones. Nursery is something I can certainly do once every six weeks, so when the need was announced, and my daughter asked, we volunteered. Each time our turn comes up, I remind myself it's a good opportunity to serve with a smile so a young mother can sit in service. It's been good for me! And the time I'm with the kids is okay.

I was in the nursery recently and found myself with a little one that was tired and fighting sleep. Which made two of us! By 11:30 the child did not want to play, but to be held while I stood. I'm enough out of practice that I can't stand with a little one on my hip for long, so I sat in the rocker and tried to placate the temper tantrum throwing child on my lap. After several toys were batted away, I reached for a book, and quiet finally settled in. After chatting through several pages, the little one's head nodded and I would've cheered if I hadn't been afraid of ruining it. Two more nods and the little head tucked under my chin with a sigh from both of us.

As I sat and snuggled the little one I wondered why they resist sleep so much sometimes. That's when I realized that I'm often like that little one. I throw a fit because I don't want to rest in God. I resist relaxing in my Savior's hands and do everything I can to handle things on my own. Until I can't anymore and I drop off and finally rest in God—the very thing I needed all along.

Why does a little one fight sleep so much? Why do I fight resting in God so much? Maybe I need to simply let go, snuggle in and rest in my Father's arms.

How about you? Do resist resting at times too?

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Boys, boys, boys

We knew going in we would not only enjoy ourselves, but that we'd be blessed. And we were--above and beyond what we thought. Far above. Recently we were a host home for some of the Watoto children from Uganda and although we only got to spend a few hours with them, we fell in love fast! Here's our boys and their caretaker, Uncle Nicholas.

In the morning the boys were anxious to go outside and play. They loved being able to run around for awhile and they didn't mind substituting a volleyball for a soccer ball. They ran circles around my boys! =]

The little time we spent inside was full of legos, blocks, airplanes and kittens.

The youngest of the boys and and Alex teamed up. I don't know who had more fun, but they sure made a towering giant.

Although Bruce wasn't at our house, he connected with my middle son. I have a feeling the impact of that friendship will be felt for quite awhile. He was missed immediately.

These boys immediately became our boys and it was hard to let them go and wave goodbye. If you ever have a chance to hear a Watoto Childrens' Choir, GO! And if you can, host a few of them in your home. It will be a breath of fresh air and it just might change your life.

So tell me, what's been the highlight of your week?

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Choosing to Celebrate

Have you ever felt like you fell short? Miserably short?
That's how I'm feeling.

I set out to celebrate the 40 days before my birthday, and life was so dog-gone busy that I didn't do near as much celebrating and seeking as I wanted to. I was hoping to make it through the book of 1 Samuel in my studying, but I'm only in chapter 11 of 31 chapters. I planned on staying up-to-date in my Esther study posts, but I missed several weeks and barely kept my nose above water in the Tuesday night study, never mind writing a weekly post.

But the fact is that I'm still standing and not down and out and that, in itself, is cause for celebration. So I'm choosing to celebrate in spite of falling short of my goals.

One night at Bible study a prayer was answered in a way that I had no doubt it was the direction from God that I'd been seeking. I don't remember ever receiving an answer like I did that night, and if another lady hadn't been sharing a neat answer to prayer I might've done a happy dance right there in someone else's living room.

One of the things I was seeking direction on was concerning a domain name I purchased a couple months ago. I've been thinking of moving my blog to a different domain, but I didn't want to jump first and think later, as I'm prone to do, so I had been talking with God about it. That night at Bible study God directed me to move to the new domain.

I was really hoping that I'd be able to move on my birthday, but other things have been going on and I wasn't able to get the site up and going, let along move. But that's okay, it will come in time. There are still lots of details to work out, but just experiencing God's direction like that was fantastic!

Other things have happened in ways that points to God's hand working and it's been so cool to see and realize that God is working behind the scenes even when I don't see any obvious evidence. The timing of the Esther study is a perfect example. I learned so much in this study—things that I've been able to apply immediately to where I'm at right now. Things that have made a difference in my life and changed how I see my current events and how I approach those events. Only God, who loves me enough to be intimately involved in the details of my life, would work things as He has. What a great an awesome God!!

Life has been in a pattern of change recently, and you've seen a little of it here at Patterings with the author spotlights, but things here will be settling down now. I'll be returning to what I love blogging about most: Finding the extraordinary God in our ordinary lives.

I hope you'll continue to join me. =]
Oh! I almost forgot! Today is my first post at The Barn Door. I'd LOVE it if you stopped by and said hi! Check out why I have No LadyBug Love.

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