Pray and listen!

Happy Thing of the Day: 10 more minutes when you need it. Pg. 437

Have you ever gotten good news, but you were too pessimistic to believe it?  Have you ever been in such a rut that you can't accept the good things as they come at you?  It's hard to be positive about some amazing news when for a while all you have gotten is bad news or things not going your way.  So how do you enjoy the exciting, new, and great things happening without that little voice inside your head saying "this is far too good to be true"?

Does the doubt monster come out to play too much in your mind? Are things too good to be true? It's sort of like when you watch the weather and the weatherman says there will be a snow storm.  You're looking forward to snow, you love playing in the winter.  But snow would just be too good to be true....until you look out your window in the morning and see beautiful snow flakes falling from the sky like I am looking out my window at right now...maybe you should have a little more faith in that weatherman...

Wouldn't it be okay for things to be just that...okay? Isn't it possible that God has a plan, and is just waiting for you to trust Him?  Do we need to put more trust in Him? Have a little more FAITH!?!

So what do you do when you're in the rut of doubt? Simple. You pray and you listen. In God's Survival Guide there is a lesson on doubt.  He says that "the Bible is clear: when we are beset by our doubts, of whatever kind, we must draw ourselves nearer to God through worship and prayer". Doesn't that sound easy....not.  The Bible says in James 1:6 "He who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."  That wind of doubt is so very powerful.  No matter what your doubts are, whether they are about the future, a good thing happening to you, doubts about a relationship or a job, anything that makes you unsure or uneasy, that wind knocks you over into that deep water making it nearly impossible to find a way out.

But what if, just maybe, we were willing to reach our hands up out of that scary water.  What if we were willing to be saved from that swirling water of doubt.  What if...we were willing to reach for God, let Him pull us up out of that water and follow Him.  God works in mysterious ways, and only He knows what path He has laid out for you.  Maybe all of the suffering and that rut of pessimism was all just to challenge you to follow Him, trust in His plan.  I started this blog to try and be with God daily, and write about things when I feel moved to.  I was trying to let go and let God. Trying to follow His plan instead of one I had for myself.  I thought things were looking up just enough to get me by, and I was beyond grateful for that.  But when things started getting even better, when things started looking up even more, the doubt storm came a callin'.  So I haven't fully let myself celebrate good news, waiting to make sure things are actually going to happen. But maybe, with this new, but not yet 100% sure thing happening, maybe God is saying "see, told ya my plan rocked!" I have been doubting His plan because things started looking too good to be true. But maybe He is just waiting to prove me wrong, to make me reach out of this water I'm hiding in. And if...WHEN...this goes through here in a few weeks,  that "Told ya so" will be welcomed with open and grateful arms.  Because His plan is turning out so much better than the one I was trying to follow.  Maybe this is just a test of faith, one that I am trying my best to pass with flying colors. God provides. I know this with all my heart.  I'm holding my hand out of that water as far as I can, and I know that when I'm truly ready to be lifted out, He will grab me and carry me to shore!

Maybe we all just need to pray and listen, know that He will come running if we need Him.  Never doubt the plan God has, it is so much better than anything you could plan for yourself.

Feel the ARFF

Happy Thing of the Day: homemade sausage- which is what my man and his best friend are currently doing.  meat grinder + game meat + seasonings = day full of snack time and taste testing.  Best job ever!

Achievement, Respect, Fun, Freedom

I have had a few teachers in my life who have introduced me to ARFF.  I was a way to evaluate yourself, a GREAT way to run a classroom, and from one teacher I learned it was the perfect way to balance your life.  I was introduced to ARFF by my 8th grade English teacher.  Her teaching philosophy was that in order to have a successful classroom and successful students, you needed to have Achievement, Respect, Fun, and Freedom in the classroom.  Our achievement was of course our work, and she would always call attention to sports wins, solos in choir or band, anything we did outside of the classroom that was noteworthy, she made sure we all knew about it.  Our respect came from her treating us as equals most of the time, she treated us as young adults rather than the lowly new teenagers we were. Our freedom came every day at the end of class. We free time to read, catch up on homework, doodle, whatever we wanted.  Every Friday it was 15 minutes, and the couch and bean bags were the highlight, and everyone wanted to sit there. This was also part of our fun, that couch was the coolest place on the planet!

When I got to high school, I met my Life 101 leader and she gave the analogy that ARFF was the way you needed to balance your life.  If your life was a car, A.R.F.F. was the wheels of the car, keeping you steady.  If one wasn't full you couldn't drive correctly, or safely.  All of your wheels needed to be full, or things just weren't right.  So when we were all feeling low on ARFF we would have ARFF note day in Life 101.  This is something I miss pretty much every time my ARFF feels low.  Instead of having a lesson or discussion, she would put on some music, hand out sharpies, and we would write each other encouraging little notes.  We had ARFF bags or boxes or whatever we had to put them in and she kept them in her classroom.  Anytime we needed them we could come in and read them, and of course we could take them home.  By the time I graduated, my ARFF notes were exploding out of my Life 101 kit.

Anytime I'm feeling like my ARFF is low, I pull those old notes out and read them, and I always feel so incredibly loved.  It is just what I need to pick myself up, realize I am great, and kick it into gear!  I go find ways to fill my ARFF and feel amazing at the end of the day!

I got these little notes out the other day and I just missed those people from Life 101 like crazy, wishing I could send them all a little ARFF.  So here is your ARFF 101ers-  Thank you for the support you gave me and still give me today, your love and encouragement still follows me today with all of my 101 reminders everywhere (like frog and flower shaped "erasers" on my mirror).  I know that none of us would be the same without this group, no matter if we were in it all 4 years of high school, or if it was just a pit stop on the way.  Thank you for these precious notes, I will treasure them FOREVER!  I love you all (even if you never read this)

Go fill your ARFF people, you will feel AMAZING!!!!


(pictures are all of Life 101 members from while I was in the group, top picture is our leaders!)

Thank God...but really, did you?

Happy Thing of the Day: surprise bowling dates (this one is MY happy thing, because the other night that's exactly what I got!)

On any given day, people respond in sighs of relief "thank God".  But did you really?  The other day I heard a group of people complaining and making fun of someone because they took Sundays off for church.  They talked about how religion was pointless and how God didn't exist.  And then after a slight crisis was averted, the main complainer said "thank God".  My thought was..."so you'll give Him credit but deny His existence?" 

On the other side of this are the Christ following crew.  We all say this tiny phrase probably more than once a day, but did you really stop to thank Him?  It's such a small thing when you think about it, we say thank you to a stranger opening a door or to a friend for a gift, but we don't very often thank God for what He does for us.  We really don't give Him the credit He deserves.  We are right in saying "thank God" for all of these tiny or enormous things He does for us, but we don't actually STOP and THANK Him. 

We ask God all the time for so many things- new jobs, new relationships, healing, love, or even small petty things.  But when these things happen, we forget, we actually asked for them, and most of the time, we don't say thank you to the one who granted our requests.  It's like we're three years old again and our mom has to ask "what do you say?" but we don't have that little reminder anymore. No one gives us that little nudge to be polite anymore, so shouldn't we all know better by now? 

Maybe we should all think when we say that, and take a few seconds, close our eyes, and just say "thanks!" because He really does deserve all the credit!