Transformers

Sunday afternoon my husband and I decided to go to the movies and "preview" Transformers for our kids.

To be perfectly honest, it's a good movie but the adult content is just over the top and I'm not talking about the violence if you know what I mean. Why they feel the need to put that stuff in these movies is a mystery to me.

Anyhow, It had the usual plot. The bad guys - Deceptacons and the good guys - Megatron and the Autobots. The bad guys are planning to destroy the earth because they hate humans but the Autobots are protectors of the earth.

The head good guy, Optimus Prime is destroyed early on and then resurrected in the end by the human who is also the main character.

Ok, I'm trying not to give away too much of the movie to get to my point.

When Optimus Prime comes back he is weaker and not strong enough to destroy the head bad guy who is called, The Fallen. Several other Autobots - including a Decptacon who decided to change sides, bind together with Optimus to make him more powerful and quite a bit larger in order to defeat the enemy. I won't tell anymore so you can see the movie yourself.

On the way home I pondered my own life and all of the things I've been through over the years - both good and bad.

I feel like our past could represent the combined Optimus Prime at the end of the movie.

We all have some good and some bad (some by our choice and other's that happened out of our control) in our past's. Regardless of how it got into your life, it happened and it is a part of who you are.

Thankfully, if you are a Christian, your past sins are forgiven, but the consequences of those sins may still be present.

My point in all of this is that we cannot change the past, but we can take who we have become and decide which side we are on. We are a powerful force - which side are we fighting for?

"But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15)

Thankful Thursday #33

Welcome to Thankful Thursday! If you'd like to participate, just copy the T.T. button on my sidebar and paste it into your post. Next write down five things you are thankful for this week. Finally, come back here and link up with Mr. Linky. It's that easy!

Here's my list for this week:

1) I am thankful that my husband protects me. When we were receiving daily phone calls that were discouraging about how we weren't closing yet again, my husband realized that it was stressing me out and asked the closing agent to call him and he would tell me when we were going to close. That lifted such a burden off of me! And I know he's super busy and I'm the more reasonable person to call - that's a true sacrifice of love.

2) That we closed on our new house yesterday morning at 8am! Now I need to pack, pack, pack as we are moving on July 10th.

3) That when life gets hectic, God is there to walk you through and answer your prayers.

4) That God is teaching me about faith and it's everywhere I turn! In my Bible study, in my Bible reading, and everywhere I seem to go on the net or in magazines. He's making sure I learn about it. It's starting with building up my root system of faith in Him. The fruit will come later. I love God's gentle ways.

5) I'm really thankful that God is encouraging me to pray about every detail of my life - specific prayers. It is keeping me more in tune with Him as this requires real relationship with my heavenly father. He wants to answer all of our prayers about all of our needs, not just the big things. The little things are real faith builders!

Faith as a Child

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

My husband and I are studying about faith. Hebrews 11:1 gives a straightforward definition for faith. You need to be certain of what you do not see and sure of what you hope for. That's basic but difficult for adults, namely me.

I am sure of what I'm hoping for, but certain of what I do not see, that's where the doubt seems to creep in. This next verse holds some important keys for me:

And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3

Faith comes so much easier for my children than for me at times. When it's prayer time, they are willing to pray for whatever we need or whatever our friends need. I, on the other hand, seem to hesitate if I am not sure God will answer the prayer.

How did I get to this place of unbelief?

By living 42 years on this earth.

I know that God has performed many miracles in my life over the years, so why doubt?

Because I'm focusing too much on the times when the outcome didn't match my expectations.

Here's a sobering verse:

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6

The bottom line for me, I'm going to start asking God for whatever I need, and believe with childlike faith that He will deliver me. If He chooses not to, I will not be discouraged or despair because I know that God knows what is best for me and my family.

I'll start by asking God to increase my faith.

Thankful Thursday #32

Welcome to Thankful Thursday! If you'd like to participate, just copy the T.T. button on my sidebar and paste it into your post. Next write down five things you are thankful for this week. Finally, come back here and link up with Mr. Linky. It's that easy!

Here's my list for this week:

1) I am thankful that my husband is an optimist. Whenever I start to get a little down about something, he's always there to help my focus turn to God and heaven and it always improves. The best part is that I often have the chance to pass it along to my kids later on.

2) I am thankful that God's grace is upon us. We just found out that one of the AC units at our new house is not working because someone had cut the outside line and it ran without coolant in it. Fearing the worst (having to buy a new AC unit) we called in an HVAC guy. Much to our surprise, he told us later that the company (Lenox) was going to GIVE us the replacement parts to fix the unit. What? Did he say, "For free!" Now that's God's undeserved favor!

3) I am thankful that we are going to receive a $700 discount for installing a new tankless hot water heater at our new home! The gas company is promoting them and offering the discount! There's that favor again.

4) I am thankful that I can take the time to encourage my children when they are feeling discouraged about something. Because God cared enough about me to sow seeds into my life, I have the fruit there to pass on to my children. God is good.

5) I am thankful that we were able to hire movers. We are planning to move in July and using movers makes the move go so much more smoothly! We just need to pack everything up! Not a small task, but one that God will give us the strength to finish.

Seeing God in Sunglasses

My Monday was crazy busy, and I had tons of errands to run. I started out at the gym and it was downhill after that. While driving into town, I realized that I had forgotten my sunglasses. After squinting for 30 minutes, I developed a headache so I decided to drop by the grocery store to buy some advil - and some sunglasses!

I spent a few minutes picking out my new shades and a cute carrying case, as well as a water bottle and some advil for my headache.

I boldly approached the express checkout line because I only had four items to purchase. Unfortunately, as the clerk began ringing up my order the carrying case didn't ring up. After several tries the clerk called the manager over to go and get the price off of the shelf.

There I was, holding up the entire express lane. It was close to lunch time and the line was growing behind me. I felt as if everyone was starring at me with frustration for holding them up! I was sure I could actually hear the seconds as they ticked by saying, "You're holding EVERYONE up!"

In a desperate effort to distract the lady behind me (and my overactive imagination) I looked at the items placed on the belt by the lady in line behind me. Interestingly, she was buying 10 identical packs of frozen baby lima beans.

Trying to be witty, I said, "I'll bet I can guess what your favorite vegetable is." *smile*

This opened up the floodgates and she proceeded to tell me that her son had such severe food allergies that this was one of the only foods he could eat. She said that whenever she sees them in the store, she buys up all of them.

Now the check out clerk chimed in to tell her that if she talked to the manager, he could order the lima beans by the case for her to pick up at a discount! What a hidden treasure!

I was embarrassed that I had felt uncomfortable about the price check when God clearly needed to help this lady find a small break in her life. I rejoiced with her that God was good.

Then, after the longest five minutes of my life, the manager returned to say that there were NO price's on any of the carrying cases and to just give them to me for FREE! WOOOHOOO!

Suddenly, I forgot that I had caused a serious backup in the express line, and I left with a smile on my face. It's great to find God in the everyday events in our lives. Now to just learn to trust Him in every situation. Hmmm, I believe there is a scripture about this:

1Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV) Ggive thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Welcome to Thankful Thursday! If you'd like to participate, just copy the T.T. button on my sidebar and paste it into your post. Next write down five things you are thankful for this week. Finally, come back here and link up with Mr. Linky. It's that easy!

Here's my list for this week:

1) I'm thankful that my husband prays with me every morning. It is sacred to us and we haven't missed a morning since the year began.

2) I'm thankful that we've bought a new house and close tomorrow! Now to get everything ready to move!

3) I'm thankful for my friends. Hanging out with Kelly this week was really fun. We need friends in our lives to encourage us.

4) I'm thankful for my family (both mine and my husband's). I have family who all lives in Richmond (on both sides of our family) and it's great to be surrounded by so many supportive people.

5) I'm thankful for your patience as I didn't have my Thankful Thursday post up and running until almost 9am! Clearly I need to put this on my "to do" list. LOL! I'm a work in progress! Love you!

HELP! My Life is Running Me!

"HELP! My life is running me, and I'm no longer running my life."

Desperate words spoken to my husband on Thursday night.

I have goals in my head that I want to accomplish, but somehow, I'm muddling through life busily accomplishing none of them. My biggest challenge is being a type "B" personality. I HATE lists, and have been fighting the idea of living life by a list for many years now.

First things first, I gave my husband permission to "solve" my problems because he knows that often times I just want a sympathetic word of encouragement. Next, I resolved to do whatever he suggested.

Why? Because he is a type "A" who has successfully run his own business for many years now. I knew he had the answers, but I knew I'd have to adjust them to fit a type "B" more comfortably.

"30, 60, 90," He said.

"What does that mean?" I questioned.

"You have to have direction, Sonya, and knowing what you need to accomplish over the next 30, 60, and 90 days is the key to taking back your life."

I quietly pulled out a notebook and began to write down everything I could think of that needed to be completed by the end of summer. Then I either wrote 30, 60, or 90 beside each one to help me prioritize them.

Looking over my arduous list, I developed a knot in my gut and thought I might throw up! How will I ever get it all done? I wondered.

Next, my husband showed me how to break down each project into measurable steps which I could transfer to my actual planner. (Yes, I do have a planner - just never used it like this before.)

Then, in an unexpected twist, my husband gave me the golden nugget that I had been missing in the past. You see, I've tried making "lists" on several occasions, but as soon as an emergency visit to the Doctor would arise I would abandon my list - the end.

Here's the nugget:

"Now prioritize each day's goals so you know which are the top three areas of importance. When an interruption comes in your day you will go back to your list and replace something of a lower priority with one of the top three. This should help you ensure completion of the most important things. The ones that had to be neglected for the moment can be re-scheduled for another day or time."

Tim had graciously given me the key to success. As a type "B" I had never understood how to handle the unexpected interruptions when it came to my list. Now, I believe that I am armed with the tools I need to accomplish much this summer.

If your life has been running you lately, I hope this article will be the nugget you've been looking for to help you take back your life, too.