Sunday, April 26, 2020

Stirred Nest

Think with me for a moment.  Do you live a life of blessings or complaint? It is so easy to grumble. It is so easy to find fault.  It is so easy to be discontent.  It is so easy to find things that are less than you want them to be.  It is so easy to be irritated and impatient. It is so easy to groan and moan about the difficulties of life.  It is so easy to be dissatisfied. 

At street level, it is tempting to live a God-forgetful me-istic existence. If you put yourself in the center of your world, you will find plenty of things to complain about.   Paul Tripp
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Moving or huge change brings out of me all the things the quote talks about.  I know I am not alone in this,  I don't like my nest being messed with. 


For the past 41/2 years our nest has been sharing a house with our son and family.  We had our own living room, bedroom, bathroom, only shared a kitchen. It was a great set up and having the grandkids around was special, loud but special. They bought a small house that at this time will not accomadate us living with them.  So with much prayer we believe its time for us to move to Minnesota where our daughters lives. There is a cabin on their property which they want to fix up for us to live in, a permanent place when we need it.   We will live in our rv for the summer as they get it ready.   We can continue our ministry in any region of the country.

This process has been going on for over a month and in that month I have had a couple of meltdowns that shows my wanting to have things my way. I tell you , God is so gracious to me.  Despite my bad attitudes at times He has brought blessing after blessing into this stirring of the nest. 

A few days after we helped move our son stuff, Ace woke about 2 am one morning struggling with his heart.  It got bad enough he called the ambulance and they took him off to nearest hospital thinking he could be having a heart attack.  They left me at home alone to wait this out.   He already has one bypass, five stints and a difibulator in him  to help his damaged heart.  After a angiogram and several other test, they rules out another heart attack, no more new blockage.  The doctor adjusted his difibulator and put him on a stronger med for the racing of his heart and told him to go live.    HUGE PRAISE

We were in the middle of looking for  newer vehicle too since our old Buick, 2005, 2 hundred thousand miles was going to cost more then it was worth to fix for travel. 

Because of a huge gift toward another vehicle we purchase a 2017 Toyota Highlander SUV, capable of pulling a lightweight RV for our ministry.   HUGE PRAISE. 

Because our kids are worried about their Dad driving  to Mn. God has provided someone to go with us and help with the driving.   PRAISE THE LORD.  

  I think the buying the SUV was the most nerve racking.  We have not bought a car from a dealer since the 70's or been in debt for one since then.  My husband  likes for me to go with him to look,  but after looking for days and a number of truck then SUV's I was not a happy wife.  My,  just get it done now,  personality wanted to quit looking after the third one.  Thank God Ace loves to look and as a result he found a great vehicle, good price with very low mileage.  
  
Today is the day we start loading the Uhaul Box...it's about 93 degrees outside.  

Ok, lets get to the nitty gritty.  We see God all over this move, all over the heart issue, all over the car issue, all over not enough help, all over it all.  Yet...even with Him all over it, we have had our tense moments.  It frustrating and humbling to have so much good happening in such stressful time and I so want to act grateful and humble.  To get bent out of shape over some "stuff" not going to fit in the Uhaul box sounds so petty in light of all we have been blessed with.  And on top of that, we have moved over 30 times, wouldn't you think we would have it nailed down and all would be easy as butter?  Since I started this blog we have moved five times, this will be the 6th.  

Here is the bottom line...WE ALL ARE STILL DYING TO SELF.   And it is painful to be made aware of the frailities in our charecter.  That the ME-ISTIC is alive and well in me.  Here is the best part, God still loves me and so does my family and Ace and I are not getting a divorce.  

We will get moved and soon I will be writing most of my blogs from Minnesota or on the road.  I would like to end this post with another quote from Paul Tripp.  It's my prayer for this quote to be active in my life. 

If you have quit being defensive and are now willingly and humbly approachable, you know that transforming grace has visited you.  Paul Tripp

Friday, April 17, 2020

Eternal Sight


Going through some notebooks where I write quotes or thoughts down and this one screamed, post me, post me. I know the,"WHY" this resonates in my life so much because I have had to forgive much but not as much as Jesus had to forgive me. To be owned in my mind by past hurts, to make them present hurts is to be controlled by those hurts is a prescription for anger and depression. It's not worth my health, my mind, my body, family and friends and my whole life to let it fester in me. I have always counsel others and myself that if you wake up with a thought, go to bed with the same thought and it's killing the in-between, you need to get some help to get over it.  I think the below quote is the best prescription for this.  Wise Hearted. 

There comes a time when you need to make what Jesus did for you, bigger than what someone did to you. E.J. Lanham

What say you?






Thursday, April 9, 2020

Exhaust Man



I know Easter is right around the corner and here I am writing about truck exhaust. If you’ll stay with me on this, there is an Easter story in my post.

But, it was the smell that got me! Not just because it was a truck because I have smelled it on old cars too. You know, gasoline, exhaust from too loud mufflers, a dark gray smoke puffing from it’s behind. Shuddering at times like it was going to quit running but never did. It needed a tune up job for sure and I am betting the man who drove it knew, but why spend money on something that still runs? I would also bet it was a man who drove it, not a women, it smelled like a man’s truck, maybe a work truck.

When I was a teen I had a few of those kind of trucks or car pull up in front of my house full of friends to pick me up. You could hear them coming a half mile away. The friends that I had did not drive new trucks or new cars. It was young men who worked at gas stations, drove a tractor, baled hay, and some worked in the oil field, like my boyfriend who became my husband. Most of them could work on their own cars and trucks too, a dirty job but saved money and taught them to fix things.







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As soon as he graduated from high school he got a job for a company that paved parking lots. Dirty hot work but it paid pretty good and there was tons of over time. It was nothing for him to work 16 hours seven days a week. First thing he did to his jeep was put the loudest radio speakers and mufflers that you can hear a mile away. All the girls wanted to ride in it and all the boys wanted to drive it.

Right now he is in his first year of University of North Dakota and his job is not only dirty , but a cold one, snow removal. We are all thankful he is not afraid to work and strives to pay his own way. He does not mind that his jeep needs a paint job, drink gas faster then one can drink a cold coke, it’s his, paid for by sweat and dirt and a little help from his Grandpa.

Are you wondering where I am going with this since I told you the Easter story was in the exhaust?  When Jesus came to earth as a baby, through the body of a women, took on humanity He took on exhaust. If He had come during this time span I don’t think he would have drove a new truck or car, I mean a donkey was his mode of travel but mostly His feet took Him everywhere He went. I guess what I want to say is, I love the humanity in our Savior. It causes my heart to swell with love for Him. Makes me want to do everything He ask of me. He worked all His life, learned a skill as a carpenter, sit underneath the teaching of the Word, He was a man’s man. He was not high and mighty and prideful like the priest with their fine clothing and jewelry.

For those that stood near when He carried the cross up Calvary they knew He was in pain and torment, yet He took it like a man, a flesh and blood man, He fell under the weight of the cross so the human part of Him did not have superman strength. He was exhausted, beat to the bone, and the part I love the best of this story is, He did it for us.