Last night I was watching 19 Kids and Counting (I know many of you have issues with the Duggars, but I like their show and enjoy watching how they handle day to day activities, etc.) and part of the focus was on Anna's family visiting different prisons to have bible studies with inmates and to help bring God's word to those need/want to hear it. Given that many of the inmates have at one point or another suffered abuse of some kind, one of the things that they teach is forgiveness. They explain to the inmates that you can not move on with your life and have a joyful heart without forgiveness to the person(s) that put that hurt there.
Anna's father was explaining to one group of women that without forgiveness, they would eventually become who/what they most resent and I believe this to be true. I think that the anger and bitterness that lingers in our hearts leads us to being unhappy and sometimes unkind people. I believe that as long as we hang onto these bad bits that Satan has a hold of our souls in a bigger way than he would if we gave complete forgiveness.
The act of forgiveness is hard, I get that...I've been there...but the part that made the forgiveness easier for me was realizing that my hurt and anger was generally only affecting me. Most of the people that hurt me or that I was angry at were completely unaware of it. They were living their lives, enjoying themselves, having fun...while I was stewing (and sometimes plotting and planning imaginary acts of revenge LOL). Once I realized that it just made it easy for me to forgive them and move on.
Not every one that I've forgiven is someone that is still in my life, but that didn't matter. You don't have to bring someone back into your life for forgiveness to occur. For some it may even be easier to forgive and forget and not have the reminder in their face. But the point is, just because a person is no longer in your life or an event is long over with, that doesn't mean that we can't, and shouldn't, forgive.
It's taken me a long time to figure this out. But it was SO worth the journey. Because with forgiveness I can hold my head high and not worry about watching my back. God has me protected there because I've done what He wants me to do. And it really feels nice to be here. :-)
Monday, November 22, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
I love to FROG!
Ok, before I start, a quick definition...
Fully
Rely
On
God
After spending part of my day stressing myself out over something that is completely out of my hands, a thought occurred to me. Since this IS a problem that I can't control, I simply needed to FROG that He would take care of things. For a lot of years my Mom and I have always said the saying, "Let go and let God". Meaning give it to Him to take care of. She and I have ALWAYS had a strong faith in God that he would guide and protect us, give us strength we never knew we had and also make us weak enough at times to remind us to ask for help. He has always taken care of us and we both believe it is because of our faith and our believe that He will provide. We may not always have what we want, but He always gives us what we need. It's really kind of funny because generally after giving a problem over to God I also ask him to give me the patience I need to wait for him to respond. LOL
And wouldn't you know...He rarely makes me wait very long when it's something that's really bothering me. It may SEEM like a long time, but it's not. And of course it took about an hour and a half for Him to respond today. :-) But alas, as things go I found myself stressed and worried again this afternoon. So as I sat at the computer with tears running down my face and my brain in scrambles as I tried to think of a solution it hit me, "Well DUH! You're not taking your own advice!". So again, I decided to FROG. I KNEW, without a shadow of a doubt that if I put my faith in Him, He would again provide an answer. This time I think it took 10 minutes for the answer to arrive via the mouth of my hubby. (I love when God gives him the words to provide the answer I need!) So now, with a great big THANKS to both God and my Husband, we will again get to spend both Thanksgiving and Christmas with our family. :-)
Speaking of...that's just one more thing to give thanks for this year. God has never left us alone for a holiday since we've been in Texas. The first year we were here the holidays were spent in the company of friends and each year following has been celebrated with family around us. Who could ask for more when living 600 miles from home?? :-) Thank you, God, for providing us with such caring, loving family and friends. We wouldn't have made it without them!
Fully
Rely
On
God
After spending part of my day stressing myself out over something that is completely out of my hands, a thought occurred to me. Since this IS a problem that I can't control, I simply needed to FROG that He would take care of things. For a lot of years my Mom and I have always said the saying, "Let go and let God". Meaning give it to Him to take care of. She and I have ALWAYS had a strong faith in God that he would guide and protect us, give us strength we never knew we had and also make us weak enough at times to remind us to ask for help. He has always taken care of us and we both believe it is because of our faith and our believe that He will provide. We may not always have what we want, but He always gives us what we need. It's really kind of funny because generally after giving a problem over to God I also ask him to give me the patience I need to wait for him to respond. LOL
And wouldn't you know...He rarely makes me wait very long when it's something that's really bothering me. It may SEEM like a long time, but it's not. And of course it took about an hour and a half for Him to respond today. :-) But alas, as things go I found myself stressed and worried again this afternoon. So as I sat at the computer with tears running down my face and my brain in scrambles as I tried to think of a solution it hit me, "Well DUH! You're not taking your own advice!". So again, I decided to FROG. I KNEW, without a shadow of a doubt that if I put my faith in Him, He would again provide an answer. This time I think it took 10 minutes for the answer to arrive via the mouth of my hubby. (I love when God gives him the words to provide the answer I need!) So now, with a great big THANKS to both God and my Husband, we will again get to spend both Thanksgiving and Christmas with our family. :-)
Speaking of...that's just one more thing to give thanks for this year. God has never left us alone for a holiday since we've been in Texas. The first year we were here the holidays were spent in the company of friends and each year following has been celebrated with family around us. Who could ask for more when living 600 miles from home?? :-) Thank you, God, for providing us with such caring, loving family and friends. We wouldn't have made it without them!
Sunday, November 7, 2010
The neighbors baby tried to make off with J's new hat!
So today while he was outside doing some woodworking, I hear J talking to our neighbor and her daughter. So I walked out because the baby ALWAYS wants to see Spencer (see...not touch) and I of course want to see them. We stand around for a while chatting about this and that, making faces at the baby and trying to get her to say "Bow Wow" in German (which sounds something like Vow Vow or Vow Bow...anyway). She of course refuses to say anything to us (never has even though we see her a few times a week) but will definitely let you know that she wants to watch Spencer. She laughs when we laugh and makes funny faces at you if you aren't paying attention to her and is generally a happy baby. She turned 1 near the end of September and was walking before her birthday so naturally she doesn't like being held all the time. Her mom will put her down and we all make certain that Spencer doesn't 1.) lick her face and 2.) doesn't jump up on her or knock her over in some way because we are generally in the driveway while visiting. M (not me, the neighbor), like us, loves to be outside most of the time.
Well today in our conversation, J says something about his knitting. M looks at him with the lopsided grin of someone trying not to laugh and says, "Oh no, take that back!". LOL! She could not believe a guy would knit! M is our age but originally from Germany. She grew up with her grandmother and great grandmother teaching all of the girls that it was vital that they know how to do "Woman's work". She needed to learn to knit, crochet, sew, cook, etc. M of course had no interest in any of this and never learned any of these skills. So to hear that a MAN would be doing this willingly, WOW, she was floored! So I go grab the hat and scarf that J knitted for me as well as the hat that he knitted for himself and bring them out for M to see. Baby was still "playing" with Spencer...i.e. watching and pointing and running away laughing if he came too close. :-) M was thoroughly impressed with J's work!
So I sit down on the driveway and immediately baby comes to me, grabs my hand and crawls into my lap. This is definitely a first as she normally shies away from us if we get too close. So in the year and almost 2 months that we've been seeing her, this was the first time I'd "held" her. Well she is feeling the different materials of the two hats when she grabs J's hat and takes off! She literally stands up, grabs her mom's hand and headed down the driveway. LOL So I laughingly told J that he needed to make her a hat of her own. By this point, she was trying to put it on her head. ;-) So J asks her if he could have his hat back and she shook her head no at him and put the hat down at her side, apparently trying to keep him from getting to it. LOL M tells baby in German that she needs to give the hat back because it wasn't hers, so baby kindly brings the hat back to me, the person who she took it from. M explained that she was learning if you take something from someone that you have to give it back to that person. (Sharing is caring!) So I get J's hat back and baby bends over to touch the super fuzzy hat that is mine and I asked her if she wanted to see that one. She did...and she again takes off with it. LOL So I told J, "that's it, you HAVE to make her her own hat". And wouldn't you know...when M and baby were leaving to go back home, baby kept saying, "Bye!" over and over again to us. LOL
I really think baby likes J's hats! And she sure as heck knows how to suck up to get one! ;-)
Well today in our conversation, J says something about his knitting. M looks at him with the lopsided grin of someone trying not to laugh and says, "Oh no, take that back!". LOL! She could not believe a guy would knit! M is our age but originally from Germany. She grew up with her grandmother and great grandmother teaching all of the girls that it was vital that they know how to do "Woman's work". She needed to learn to knit, crochet, sew, cook, etc. M of course had no interest in any of this and never learned any of these skills. So to hear that a MAN would be doing this willingly, WOW, she was floored! So I go grab the hat and scarf that J knitted for me as well as the hat that he knitted for himself and bring them out for M to see. Baby was still "playing" with Spencer...i.e. watching and pointing and running away laughing if he came too close. :-) M was thoroughly impressed with J's work!
So I sit down on the driveway and immediately baby comes to me, grabs my hand and crawls into my lap. This is definitely a first as she normally shies away from us if we get too close. So in the year and almost 2 months that we've been seeing her, this was the first time I'd "held" her. Well she is feeling the different materials of the two hats when she grabs J's hat and takes off! She literally stands up, grabs her mom's hand and headed down the driveway. LOL So I laughingly told J that he needed to make her a hat of her own. By this point, she was trying to put it on her head. ;-) So J asks her if he could have his hat back and she shook her head no at him and put the hat down at her side, apparently trying to keep him from getting to it. LOL M tells baby in German that she needs to give the hat back because it wasn't hers, so baby kindly brings the hat back to me, the person who she took it from. M explained that she was learning if you take something from someone that you have to give it back to that person. (Sharing is caring!) So I get J's hat back and baby bends over to touch the super fuzzy hat that is mine and I asked her if she wanted to see that one. She did...and she again takes off with it. LOL So I told J, "that's it, you HAVE to make her her own hat". And wouldn't you know...when M and baby were leaving to go back home, baby kept saying, "Bye!" over and over again to us. LOL
I really think baby likes J's hats! And she sure as heck knows how to suck up to get one! ;-)
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Hello Blog!
I've missed you!
I've been busier than I've let most think because I'm preparing for the GOOD holiday season that is now upon us. I say good because while I do like Halloween, it just doesn't hold a candle to Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. ;-)
As most of you know, I'm a very crafty kind of gal and I've always got my hands in something. Well, once the day came that I realized I was a real live grown up and that I could do things MY way, in MY home the holidays have become, well, an undertaking. LOL Now I've not gotten to the point that it's overwhelming, a pain in the butt or something to dread (it's not like going to work, people!), but I have definitely made it my own by going bigger and bigger each year. J and I have a tradition (handed down to me from my Mom) of always buying a new ornament each year to symbolize a significant event from the year. This year we'll of course be on the hunt for a dog ornament since it was January when we got Spency. But some years there are a few ornaments to buy which of course is always a great thing. Who doesn't love having lots of great memories to look back on at the end of the year? But we also add to our other Christmas decorations each year. Even if it's as small as buying a few more strands of lights, we add to it.
Well along with all of the food cooking, house decorating and shopping that there is to do, I also spend a lot of time getting things ready to sell. It started off with craft fairs and has now reached the internet. I'll soon be posting lots of new (and different!) items on Etsy in the hopes of sharing my love of creativity with others. I LOVE knowing that something I created is being given as a gift to someone else or is gracing someone elses home (or person if it's jewelry they select!) because they found my work to be beautiful and/or interesting. I have this dream of owning a home with a TREMENDOUS work space for me to lay out all of my crafting materials. I'd have "stations" for each type of work and a wide variety of options, so that no matter what crafty mood you were in, you would have something to work with. Instead I've been slowly working on my projects in one of our spare bedrooms, trying my best to get and keep organized as I do. :-) I am really looking forward to getting these new items up on Etsy and sharing them with you all. And before long, it'll soon be time to start adding pictures to each blog post so that you can all see the progress that is made this holiday season. :-)
I hope that you, too, are getting in the holiday mood! To me this is truly the BEST time of the year. :-)
I've been busier than I've let most think because I'm preparing for the GOOD holiday season that is now upon us. I say good because while I do like Halloween, it just doesn't hold a candle to Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. ;-)
As most of you know, I'm a very crafty kind of gal and I've always got my hands in something. Well, once the day came that I realized I was a real live grown up and that I could do things MY way, in MY home the holidays have become, well, an undertaking. LOL Now I've not gotten to the point that it's overwhelming, a pain in the butt or something to dread (it's not like going to work, people!), but I have definitely made it my own by going bigger and bigger each year. J and I have a tradition (handed down to me from my Mom) of always buying a new ornament each year to symbolize a significant event from the year. This year we'll of course be on the hunt for a dog ornament since it was January when we got Spency. But some years there are a few ornaments to buy which of course is always a great thing. Who doesn't love having lots of great memories to look back on at the end of the year? But we also add to our other Christmas decorations each year. Even if it's as small as buying a few more strands of lights, we add to it.
Well along with all of the food cooking, house decorating and shopping that there is to do, I also spend a lot of time getting things ready to sell. It started off with craft fairs and has now reached the internet. I'll soon be posting lots of new (and different!) items on Etsy in the hopes of sharing my love of creativity with others. I LOVE knowing that something I created is being given as a gift to someone else or is gracing someone elses home (or person if it's jewelry they select!) because they found my work to be beautiful and/or interesting. I have this dream of owning a home with a TREMENDOUS work space for me to lay out all of my crafting materials. I'd have "stations" for each type of work and a wide variety of options, so that no matter what crafty mood you were in, you would have something to work with. Instead I've been slowly working on my projects in one of our spare bedrooms, trying my best to get and keep organized as I do. :-) I am really looking forward to getting these new items up on Etsy and sharing them with you all. And before long, it'll soon be time to start adding pictures to each blog post so that you can all see the progress that is made this holiday season. :-)
I hope that you, too, are getting in the holiday mood! To me this is truly the BEST time of the year. :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)