Change is coming.

It has been way too long.

I can't say that I have had many exciting things to post about, which I would use as an excuse. But the real reason may have been that something needed to change.

A Change in my walk with God.

A Change in how I interact with the people around me.

A Change in my current outlook on life and the world in general.

I don't quite have the progress or even words to fully explain what is just starting. One thing I know; there is a need for change in my life, and the first part of that is putting it out there for others to know. ~Accountability.

Some of the topics that I would like to elaborate on are...

1. I opened a Facebook account a couple of months ago. (Why, How did reality meet up with expectations, how has it changed how I interact with people, and how long will I keep it up?)

2.  A more recent realization/awareness of my walk with God. My walk with God will have the greatest impact on others, more so than any ministries or services that I could complete. Every physical/earth bound thing I accomplish will have no merit if the life I live behind closed doors does not match it.

3. ...I literally had 4 or 5 topics on the tip of my brain a couple of sentences ago, and now they are lost. : P (But not forever...)



I did have fun giving a couple of friends a scare with a recent post on Facebook. Here it is. Verbatim.

I had an accident on the way to work last Thursday evening.

My car came out fine but the other guy was mortally injured. He was on feet, trying to cross the road during post rush hour. Plus, it was dark out and he was not wearing any reflective clothing.

My condolences go out to his relatives; but I hope they learn from his mistake.




























R.I.P Mr. Racoon

A secular view of "conversion"

I got off of work around 10:30 last night, and as I was driving home-feeling a little sleepy-I started flipping through the radio channels so I that I could listen to the news.

I came across a female talkshow host talking to a caller about the caller's boyfriend who had been unfaithful, but now claimed to have "found God". The caller wanted to know if she should believe what her boyfriend was telling her.

The talkshow host laid it out to her. "I would not take him back, unless what he is saying is true. But you would know if he had really found God. It is a drastic life change, like a personality 180. You would know if he had really found God."

The radio host relayed that she knew this because of a couple she had seen this actually happen to. They were in church every week;  they were reading and studying their Bibles everyday;  they prayed all of the time. Everything about them seemed to change, for the better.


I think most "churched" people would agree that when an unsaved person accepts Jesus as their Savior, there should be a definite difference in their life, brought about by the Holy Spirit working in their life.

What about that fifteen year old son of a preacher who makes a profession of salvation?

We may think that a young person who has grown up in a Christian home will not seem much different from what he was before. Is that the way the Bible shows it though?

Of course any person who confesses Jesus should change, but I think that even those raised in a Godly home should show more personality and character change than anyone.

The radio's hosts opinion on real conversion certainly made me think about "ye shall know them by their fruits".



What are your thoughts on this?

Coming home to Ruthann

When I left work tonight, I managed to put my foot where it did not belong. I slipped on the snow, and landed, ladylike I hope, on my left side. A few bruises, plus a lovely scrape on a third of my left hand was all the experience gave me. I walked to my car carefully.

About halfway home, a strange light appeared on my dashboard. Apparently, the fluid levels in the radiator were low, but a quick call to my Dad confirmed my disbelief that I would be unable to make it safely the rest of the way home. (Try to make sense of that sentence :)

Did I mention that I have come down with a beautiful cold that has plagued me for about five days? I would have loved to have stayed home and slept, but my neglected job was calling to me.

When I finally did arrive home, I went to clean my injured hand, put ointment on it (why does medicine have to hurt?), and lastly a bandage or two to last me through the night. As I finished up, I heard a tiny little person talking to herself. I went to investigate. Mind you, she was not crying, just talking.

When I looked over the side of her crib,  her eyes lit up, and she smiled. Well, I just smiled back. We just smiled at each other for a few seconds.

Then she did start to cry. She was just fine talking to herself when no one was around, but as soon as someone was available to give attention, of course that attention belonged to her alone.

So I picked her up, talked with her a bit. It was not a long conversation.

My hand hurt a little when I picked her up, but I ignored the pain. I also conveniently forgot that I had been avoiding contact with her because of my illness.

Sometimes, when there is a baby in the house....You just have to hold them. And forget about everything that could possibly be wrong.


Medicine that does not hurt...

My little sister, Ruthann-5 months

Hello

I was recently encouraged by two sermons with very similar topics. One was preached by an evangelist that I had never heard before on Tuesday, and the other sermon was preached by my father on Wednesday.

The topic: Dissapointment.

The evangelist was preaching from Genesis, going through the dissapointments that Joseph faced. Jospeh was shown at a young age that he was to be a leader. At the age of 17, Joseph was surely confused when he was sold into slavery by his own brothers. How could he be a leader if he was a slave? You know the story. Several times, Joseph was blessed by God with favor in the eyes of those over him, only to be unfairly put down. Eventually, Joseph was giving a great position of power. After thirteen years of waiting for the dreams he had as a young man to be fulfilled, Joseph finally saw what God had been doing.

The evangelist pointed out that throughout everything that Joseph faced in his life, he remained Spiritual, Steadfast, and Sweet.

Spiritual: because Joseph never stopped trusting God.

Steadfast: Joseph was consistent no matter what happened to him.

Sweet: he never dwelled on what had happened to him; he was able to forgive the brothers that had   hated him and welcome them with tears. How he had missed them!


My father's sermon did not showcase the trials of a person from the Bible, but the ones that he had recently been facing in his own personal life.

From the time that I really started maturing as a young teenage Christian, I saw the faith that my Dad and how it was so real in his life. The most recent problem that entered his life made me think about how his trust in God's watchful, loving eye gave me peace. Yes, at first it seemed overwhelming to face this new challenge. Where is God's hand in it?

Even though it may seem that it is just bad luck what has happened, my Dad, and even I, know that God is in control, and He knows much more how this is being used for our good. We may never see the reason now while we are here on earth, but does it matter if we do? The simple answer is, no.

Why worry about the unknown, when He that knows all is keeping careful watch?


These messages were a blessing to me because of the dissapointments that I have faced in my life. Compared to many others, what I have had to deal with is inconsequential. But I always take heart when I remember that God remembers and loves us each individually.

In the life that people see me living, I want them to see how God is blessing and taking care of me, the strength that He gives me to have a smile on my face even when I am not particularly happy.

Why should I burden others with my problems when I could be encouraging them instead?

What would really be most helpful to those I interact with every day?

I want the focus to be on how He has carried me through these trials, not on the trials themselves, and how I feel about it.


I save all of the discouragement I may be feeling, the saddness, and the dissapointment for when I seek His face.

"Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you." I Peter 5:7

Why worry, when you can pray?
Trust Jesus, He'll be your stay.
Don't be a doubting Thomas,
Live fully in His promise,
Why worry, worry, worry, worry,
When you can pray?

Have a great Lord's Day!

Will my life always seem everchanging?

A 5:30 AM sunrise!

I have just spent some time updating my blog feeds. There were some new blogs by my friends that I did not know existed. Some of these friends, I'm sure, will be taking over the blogging world with their quick witted blogs.

I love these colors

Beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline

Meet Trial and his good friend, Tribulation

Here is Tribulation's now wife, Martyr.  (Amber :)

My brother, Jacob

    

Cuddle bug-Gideon

Wild Child-Titus (4)

Love to make him laugh, Adorable-Michael (2)

The title for this post will make sense to anyone who knows me well, and the circumstances that are my life. Now, I know that many people have tumultuous lives and that it would seem normal to them, but I am fairly sure that many of my friends would agree with me when I surmise that I seem to be having a generous serving of "craziness" in my life. 

My Dad and his wife Cheri

I am perfectly at peace (Except for the usual week's time that it takes me to get over a new change to my routine :) with the course my life has taken. 

Mark and Rebekah (sister), soon to be joined by daughter Analise

However, I have wondered whether or not I might just get all of life's trials and tribulations dumped on me in five to seven years time and then live a quiet, uneventful life until I go Home, or is the last two years of my life only the beginning of never ending surprises (mostly unpleasant) that will send me to an early grave? 

Troublemaker-Jedediah "Jed"

Seriously, it doesn't look like it will be ending anytime soon.

I am not worried about any of this. It was just something that had me thinking. I suppose that once a person gets used to things always changing they continue to transition smoothly into each new phase of life. Being the fairly settled, habit forming creature that I am, I hope that this is all just a phase....  :)

Racheleah

my brain

 I have long thought that my mind works differently from the rest of the people living on this planet. The longer I live the more positive I am that I am right. Sometimes I feel like I can see things that no one else can see, but when it comes to the way my mind categorizes things that is when I know my mind is wired differently.

I have heard a lot about a person being able to train himself to write well, or learning a difficult instrument when that person had no previous talent. Someone who is educationally backwards can, with hard work and diligence, be able to reach the top of their class. I hear these inspirational stories and the main theme I hear is putting in the work, reading voraciously to understand something that you have struggled to understand, practicing and getting insight from others to help improve your practice.

These are all things that I know I don't take the time to do when I am come upon something that makes no sense to me at all.

I don't want the difficult things in my life to overcome me, I want to be the one who overcomes.
But how do I get past my own laziness and weak ambition?

By being the best Christian I can.

By being diligent in reading my Bible everyday. By seeking God all throughout my day when I am struggling with life and need His wisdom and strength to carry me through. When I do all of these things consistently I notice the difference. I find things so much easier to accomplish when I know exactly what I am doing. I will do a better job when I know what I am doing.

Because I know that God wants my best, I know that when I ask for Him to give me understanding He will.

~r

Popping in real quick!

I am alive, and I do plan on utilizing this form of communication more often. Things have just been busy since Christmas and the beginning of a new semester, but I think I can start a more steady flow of posts now. Keep your eyes and ears open for the next post.

~r