seems to be the word of the day

anxiety, that is.

My dear friend, Kacie, had a wonderful post on anxiety yesterday. You can read it here.

Anyone who knows me knows that my biggest sin struggle is definitely anxiety. The word alone evokes feelings of disgust and dread from within me. Lately, I had begin to think that anxiety was becoming less and less of a struggle for me. Perhaps, as sanctification so does, I was slowly pulling away from the world and slowly becoming more like my Savior? Be that as it may, anxiety is something we are never completely free from until this life is over, I am sure of it! The Spirit made that ever-so-clear to me yesterday as I read Kacie’s post on the subject.

David and I are facing many tough decisions in our lives right now that would naturally make one anxious. And I realized- I’ve been giving in to it! Instead of turning my worry into prayer, I’ve been endlessly fretting and taking the burden upon myself, all the while completely overlooking that the burden is one that Jesus would gladly bear for me, and He could actually do something about…unlike myself.

Then this morning I found another excellent writing from Desiring God on this same topic. It is long, but worth the read. Click here to read it!

An excerpt (based on Matthew 6:24-34):

Everybody can see plainly that the main point of this text is that disciples of Jesus should not be anxious. Verse 25: “Do not be anxious about your life.” Verse 31: “Do not be anxious, saying , ‘What shall we eat?’” Verse 34: “Do not be anxious about tomorrow.” So one thing should ring in your ears when you leave this morning, namely, “Jesus does not want me to be anxious.”

But that is just the negative way of stating the main point of this passage. There is a positive way found in verse 33; namely, instead of being anxious, “Seek first God’s kingdom.” In other words when you think about your life or your food or your clothes or your spouse or your job or your mission, don’t fret about them. Instead make God the king in that affair and in that moment, and hand over the situation to his kingly power and do his righteous will with the confidence that he will work for you and meet all your needs. To seek the kingship of God first in every affair and every moment of life is a thrilling way to live. It’s full of freedom and peace and joy and adventure—and hardship; and it’s worth it all. If you believe in the kingship of your heavenly Father, you do not need to be anxious about anything.

Scorpion Update!

Any southerners like myself are just gonna love this: supposedly scorpions are just something I am gonna have to get used to. I have been informed that there are certain parts of New Mexico that are so full of scorpions that they fall onto you from the ceiling while you are sleeping.

The good news: in the mountains of NM (our territory) they are less common and our pastor (who lived in this house before us) said that in the year and a half they lived here they saw maybe two. Whew…

If one of us were to be bitten, the ones here are not poisonous and, even better, not fatal! Another whew….

Thanks for bearing with me during my ever-so-normal spazz mode.

One Word: Scorpion

in my washing machine! David said: “Call the bug man! I don’t care what it costs or if it has to go on a credit card. Call the bug man!”

Sorry to run, but I’ve got a bug man to call.

P.S. This entry shall be categorized under “health and wellness” because I cannot think of a better category!

Tuesday Musings

We went made our trip to the grocery store on Saturday. An executive decision was made on the part of my husband: no more children. I was either go alone or we will have a sitter. Besides the fact that we had to buy pears that we didn’t even want (thanks to Sammy) and the fact that Simon can’t fit in an infant seat anymore (thus making his napping impossible), it is just too difficult. I told David to imagine trying to go by himself with all 3. Now that is interesting.

Secondly, graduation was Friday night. Sitting in the bleachers listening to “Pomp and Circumstance” took me back to my own graduation. So many hopes, so many aspirations. It is such a neat time. I have found myself quite cynical concerning the rite of passage than I used to be as I joked of how all these friends that they spoke of being there for them for the rest of their lives was probably not going to turn out that way. Any amens on that one?

Saturday night was another trip to the ER with abdominal pain that nearly killed me. One CT scan and much blood work later, still no answers. I am not kidding about the pain. 4 pain pills and 2 shots of demerol later, the pain was not even phased. I went back to my gallbladder surgeon yesterday and he couldn’t find anything wrong with me. I was listening to one of our counseling cds yesterday and Dr. Wickert said that sometimes God will keep your doctors from finding out what’s wrong with you so that you are forced to trust the Great Physician. How true that is. I wish I could say that I was doing better at the whole trust and joy in the midst of suffering thing, but I am not. I am lonely. I am hurting. I want Louisville. And I want my family. It’s hard being alone. Never-the-less, God is calling us to persevere. It is so hard, but necessary for Him to sanctify me.

Fresh Air to a Weary Soul

http://girltalk.blogs.com/girltalk/2007/05/shall_i_indeed.html

I suppose perhaps a valley has to go deeper before the ascent begins?

Any thoughts?

For thought and reflection

“Worship is the opposite of worry,” said John Macarthur in my latest read this week. I am clinging to that thought throughtout my days this week. Whenever I am finding myself tempted to be anxious or fearful surrounding my current life circumstances, I worship. I worship again. And I worship so more.

My children found me eyes shut, hands in the air, surrendered yesterday morning in my kitchen floor, iPod in hand and dishes in the middle of being unloaded. It is such a blessing for God to have opened my eyes to the knowledge that despite anything I face, He is still God. He is who He says He is. And He is going to do what He says He is going to do. And in that, I find peace. A flicker of peace. But the peace is there.

So, one might say, “When life hands you lemons, make some lemonade.” But I say ”When life hands you lemons, worship!” 

Lions, Tigers, and Mountain Lions? (Oh my!)

Well, I’ll start off by saying that I usually save my “fear” category to discuss various trials and testings that I am facing, but today, I can’t think of any category more relevant. It’s official:

 We have our first mountain lion in our yard.

Yes, that’s right. According to our landlord, it is definitely a mountain lion and, while they are beautiful, if we ever heard one, he said it would send chills up our spines and we’d run into our house and probably cry. I don’t think he was joking.

David’s itinerary tomorrow includes a stop at Elite Sporting Goods to purchase a gun. I never wanted a gun in my house (or draino-draino scares me) but it seems as though we have no other choice.

Prayers for a safe summer please!