"STAYING ON TASK"

I have had the privilege of being a “stay at home” mom for the last several years, which in some people’s opinion is the easiest thing in the world. Let me tell you; it is not. There have been many times when I have truly wished I could work “outside” the home again. It’s much easier! You usually have one particular job to focus on and really one area of expertise to deal with. My job was entitled “certification analyst.” I determined if workers were actually in “real time” work, if they were furloughed, on leave of absence, etc., to certify if they were entitled to pay. That’s all I did all day long; well with the exception of having to answer the phones sometimes when we would get swamped with calls, but mostly it was the same thing every day, all day. Staying at home is much the same with the exception there are many tasks to be carried out in a day at home. Oh, I did those same tasks when I worked outside the home, but I guess because I was gone all day long, I had somewhat of a schedule to keep as far as housework, laundry and other things were concerned. Being home during the day all day gives you more freedom to do whatever, whenever, which in theory sounds good, but it is not!! I have found since being home I truly believe I have a slight (hahahaha) case of ADD or maybe even ADHD!!! I find myself starting a task in one room, finding something that goes in another room, taking it to that particular room, seeing something that needs to be done in that room, starting on that, seeing something that goes in another room, taking it there noticing while I’m in that room that something needs to be done there, starting on that project, finding yet another thing that belongs to a different room………………are you getting the picture? It seems I’m easily distracted these days and can never “finish” what I started. It’s a vicious cycle that is occurring in my life and it feels as if I’m going in circles like a dog chasing its tail!!!! Nothing ever truly gets accomplished which is becoming more and more apparent!!!

That’s how our lives can become as Christians if we’re not very careful. We have “good intentions” of doing what we’re supposed to do for Christ, but there are so many things that go on in our every day lives that many times cause us to get distracted. We find ourselves telling God that we’ll have our “quiet time” at such and such a time and we even manage to get our Bible out, set our coffee down, sit down in the chair………and then the phone rings!!! Well, goodness me, every woman knows you can’t just let the phone right. You HAVE to answer it!!! It might be Sally or Mary with the newest gossip and we wouldn’t want to miss that!!! *Ugh*……gossip!!! That’s a whole other discussion!!!! So…………..we answer the phone, get into a 45 minute discussion and by the time we get off the phone maybe one of the children are up milling around and then of course, you can’t have “quiet time” at that point, so you close the Bible, all the while telling God, “I’ll do it later when the baby goes down for a nap.” And then, there are some encouragement cards that you need to send out so you go to do that and all of a sudden are reminded that you didn’t lay anything out for dinner so you make your way to the kitchen to find whatever it is you are going to fix and in the meantime, something else steals your attention and the cards never get made out.

Some days it’s just hard to stay on task. We as women in general have so much to do and our minds never shut off, unlike men, we are constantly in “go” mode! We don’t have time to step back and look at what we are about to do, we just do it. It’s almost as if we are on “auto pilot” and don’t even realize it most of the time. However, I have found that even though I’m blessed to stay at home now, I still have to have a “to do” list and stick to it. If I don’t, nothing gets accomplished. First things first though. Our tasks have to be prioritized and when God does not take first place on that priority list we fail and we only make our life harder. I know in my own life that when God gets my full attention at the very beginning of every day, it makes my day much more tolerable than if He gets shoved off to the side for every other things I have to do. Somehow, somewhere we have to find a happy medium. We must be intentional about putting God first on our “to do” list otherwise something else will grab our attention and we’ll be whisked away into our day. Does that make the day “perfect?” Certainly not, but it sure does throw a “monkey wrench” into the plans that the ol’ devil had for you that day and it surely aggravates him!!! That’s my goal!!! Aggravate satan as much as he tries to aggravate me and ruin my life!! I want my days to go smooth and I want God to be in complete control of them even when I don’t feel in control of me or what I’m doing. As long as he guides my day, the right things get accomplished and all is well.

“Grace be with all of you.”
Hebrew 13:25

"CRAB LEGS ANYONE?"

“Father…….forgive me for I have sinned!!!” Well, that’s the prayer I was praying on Saturday. As many know I have had more health issues this year than I have had in all my years and as one more issue has been added (Shingles) I think and my husband, wonderful man that he is, is trying his best to do “anything” and “everything” to bring some kind of relief to me!!! Bless his heart!!! He’s better to me than I deserve that’s for sure!!! Well, he found this quaint little place called “Gaucho’s.” He saw a coupon for it in the paper and decided to take me there. It’s a Brazilian restaurant. Needless to say, it was quite different than I had ever been in before; a very different atmosphere than a normal restaurant. I won’t give it away and ruin it in case you haven’t been there!! You really should try it (but ONLY if they are running a special unless your name is Bill Gates!!!!!) J Well, anyways, they were running a lunch special that included “all you can eat”, prime rib, pork tenderloin, chicken “something or what” and crab legs!!!! Normally I don’t get my money’s worth when we go to any restaurant because I don’t eat enough. Let me tell you………they lost money on me Saturday!!! I swear I must have eaten 10 pounds of crab legs!!! The waiter took away 3 plates full of shells if I count right!!! Did I mention crab legs are my ultimate favorite? It used to be shrimp scampi, but I think crab legs have truly won out in the last year or so!! I just kept eating and kept eating…….and kept eating……until I was completely and utterly miserable!!!!! I felt so guilty. I never eat that much!!! I couldn’t take anymore and just had to say “no” to more!! It was wonderful while I was filling up on them though!!!! However, I felt kind of sick after I was done. Too much I guess!!!

When we left I thought about that little prayer…..you know……the “Father, forgive me prayer?” I got to thinking that me with those crab legs is like us with sin. We all have that one particular sin that seems to draw us more than others and we feast on it!!! We indulge every now and again. However, after we have filled up on it we begin to realize we can’t take anymore and we have to say “no” and stop. It begins to make us feel uneasy and leaves us feeling sick. It’s at that point we go to the Father and ask for His forgiveness. He gives His true forgiveness, not some little prayer that many make fun of. It’s an earnest prayer knowing that we took in more than we could handle. But, thanks be to God, He is there just waiting to hear our plea ready to freely give that forgiveness to empty us of the guilt we feel and the sin that sickens us. And just like me with the crab legs, knowing the very next time I get the opportunity, I will do it again, He will be eagerly awaiting my request. He is faithful and just to forgive every time we indulge in that sin!!!!

”for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Romans 3:23 -24


Until next time!!!
Love lots,
Always,
Darlene

THE RAPTURE

I just can’t begin to say what a wonderful time we’ve had in the past two weeks. It started with us, Deliverance, singing at Kolas Bookstore last Saturday night, our Association sing last Sunday afternoon, two revivals last week that were just out of this world and then the Annual Spring Association Meeting last night!!! The songs we’ve heard and sang, the messages we’ve heard preached……..oh how AWESOME they all have been!!! In this day and age people just don’t seem to be interested in the things of God too much anymore, but I’m here to tell you that for this last two weeks I have seen people come out and just enjoy hearing God’s Word through song and some preaching that has been out of this world!!!!!!!! Most people just don’t have time in their schedules to fit in any of that “churchy” stuff!! Mostly Sunday morning suffices their purpose and they’re good to go until next Sunday!!! I’d starve to death!!!!! I still hunger for His word after Sunday morning service, Sunday night service, Wednesday night Bible study and Thursday night Bible study!!!!!! Schedules are just to cluttered up with all the other things on our agendas. (We had to rearrange some of our schedule to make some of these meetings, but we did it and it was well worth it!!!!) There’s just so much “stuff” that satan throws in our way to steal our attention away from the truly important things!! I’m sorry if you think a sporting event, taking a nap or even spending time with family is more important than being about God’s business, you’re wrong. There’s nothing more important than doing God’s work. I make no apology for saying the “important” things are those that have to deal with God and His service!!! It’s just good to be together with brothers and sisters in Christ that love the Lord with all their heart and have a desire to serve Him in any way they can!!!! I truly believe we may very well be living in the age where we will be the generation that will get to be a part of the Rapture!!!! Yep, that’s what I said: “The Rapture!!!!!” That’s not a word that I’ve ever heard used up in here in Northwest Indiana ever, but we used to sing a song when I was at home called “I’ll See You in the Rapture.” These are the lyrics of the song:

"IF WE NEVER MEET AGAIN, ON THIS EARTH MY PRECIOUS FRIEND.
IF TO GOD WE HAVE BEEN TRUE, AND WE'VE LIVED ABOVE ALL SIN.
THEN FOR US THERE'LL BE A MEETING,
YES A HALLELUJAH GREETING.
I'LL SEE YOU IN THE RAPTURE SOME SWEET DAY.

TO MY LOVED ONES LET ME SAY,
THAT THERE'LL SURELY COME A DAY.
WHEN OUR LORD WILL COME AGAIN,
AND TAKE HIS BRIDE AWAY.
SO GET READY NOW TO MEET HIM,
WITH HALLELUJAH'S GREET HIM.
I'LL SEE YOU IN THE RAPTURE SOME SWEET DAY.

CHORUS

I'LL SEE YOU IN THE RAPTURE YES…...I'LL SEE YOU IN THE RAPTURE
I'LL SEE YOU IN THAT MEETING IN THE AIR
THERE WITH OUR BLESSED SAVIOUR
WE WILL LIVE AND REIGN FOREVER
I'LL SEE YOU IN THE RAPTURE SOME SWEET DAY."

Oh how I’m looking and longing for that day. Unfortunately there are so many who are of the idea that they still have so much life to live and so many things to do before that time. Now really………………what could possibly be better than to meet our Lord in the air!!!!!!! It couldn’t’ be to soon for me!!! In these meetings that we have attended, of late, would have just been a superb time for Him to split the Eastern sky and call His children home!!!! We ALL know someone who needs salvation and the Bible says, “today is the day of salvation!!!” It’s time we tell them before it’s to late. One day we’re going to be separated from someone we dearly love because we didn’t take time to make sure they had a relationship with Christ because we were to busy doing other things thinking we still had time!!! One day it’s going to happen at the least expected time. Don’t let it be to late for you or someone you love!!!!

Then two will be in the field; the one will be taken, and the other left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill; the one will be taken, and the other left.
Watch therefore: for you do not know what hour your Lord will come.
Matthew 24: 40-42
Watchin’ & waitin’
Love lots!!!
Always,
Darlene