Again with the CHOICES!

I have said it before and I feel a need to say it again....

Life is all about choices.

This delightful looking child is my youngest...her name is Bella and she is 9.  She has Tourette's Syndrome (TS).  We have been struggling with how to best cope with this neurological disorder since she was 6. It has been a difficult road and most likely will continue to be but God has certainly been right there with us.  I can't imagine how difficult it would be without Him actually.

God was speaking to me very loudly this morning and I thought I would share with you what He told me.

At the end of last week Bella was having a very difficult time with her Tourette's.  Basically, what happens is she has uncontrollable motor and verbal tics.  She is nothing like what you see portrayed on TV when you see someone with Tourette's.  She does not shout profanities or throw herself around.  That is just Hollywood doing what they do best...exaggerating something to make it more entertaining.  Some people with TS have very large motor tics and even obscene verbal tics but most who deal with TS have ever changing minor to moderate uncontrollable physical movements and verbal outbursts.  These tics will get worse with anxiety and stress of any kind.  When I see Bella's tics increasing I have learned to dig a little and see what is bothering her.  She needs to learn how to recognize what is causing the increase in her tics so she can process the situation and move through it.  Sometimes she might be coming down with a cold or a bug of some sort which will cause her tics to skyrocket as well.  It really is a constant process of being in touch with her emotions and physical health.  It's rather exhausting actually but I can only imagine how exhausting it is for her.

I asked her last week when I noticed a tic increase if something was up.  She said no.  I pressed the issue a little but she was really unable to identify anything specific.  We moved on.  The weekend was ok...tics not too terrible.  This morning as she was getting ready for school she shared with me, through tears and tics, that she didn't want to go to school because nobody "gets her."  She went on to say that everyone thinks she is bad.  Well now...we need to chat a bit about that.   This must be the reason her tics where going bat crazy since mid last week. Here it is.  Her TS is like a never-ending game of Where's Waldo.  I never liked Waldo.

A quick overview of what Bella shared:  her teacher had pulled Bella aside, out into the hallway, last week and talked with her about a parent that had come in to talk about Bella and her behavior.  One of Bella's current tics is sticking her tongue out (Yea...I know....not too great for a 4th grader to be dealing with.  satan sucks!) and apparently this child was disturbed by it, took it personally and did not understand that it could not be helped.  This child's parent talked with the teacher about it.  The teacher pulled Bella aside to verify that the tongue issue was a tic and not Bella being naughty.  (picture a bear playing in the water with her cubs.....one cub is off, out of site....mama bear hears the cries of a cub...mama looks up to see an animal chasing the little cub....ggggggrrrrrrrrrrwww!!!)  Get the picture?!

My FLESH wanted to scream.  I wanted to call the teacher up, demand that she tell me who this parent was....what exactly did they say....and then explain to both the teacher and that parent, the torment that my child had been going through since being pulled aside into the hallway.  My flesh got so fiesty because I have had many conversations with the teacher about Bella's TS.  Bella even asked if she could talk to her class about her tics and what Tourette's is.  We found some great youTube educational video's done by kids, for kids, on TS.  Picture me yelling, "Are you joking me!"  Leave my kid alone!  Life is difficult enough without having to explain what has already been explained!  My child should not have been pulled aside, it should be obvious that she is not being naughty...she does this stupid tic of sticking her tongue out all the time....not just at this kid, who is probably a complete brat anyway!  

I could go on and on with what my brain was saying to itself...which happened in about a total of 30 seconds but felt like a week and a half!   Fortunately my Bella was off to school so I could process all this.  Anger with the teacher...anger with that parent!, anger with that snotty child, frustration at the lack of understanding, the NEED to call a few people and give them a piece of my mind.  Then God pulled me aside.
He gently reminded me of a few things...

Ecclesiates 7:9
 Do not be quick to anger, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.

James 1:19
 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger;

It's not about NOT BECOMING angry because THAT would be impossible.  I see it as recognizing WHEN I get angry I need to know WHAY I do with it.  Anger is needed at times. I think we can all agree on that.  Scripture links quick to anger with being a fool.  I don't want to be a fool.  Who wants to be a fool, right?  It is at this very moment that I need to heed the Words of God.  I need to NOT be quick to anger.  I need to listen to my child, listen to the teacher to get the full story....I need to then pull all the info together and properly address anything that needs to be addressed.   I also need to take this opportunity to show my child what a life filled with Christ looks like.  Can I speak words of life to this?  (Proverbs 18:21 The power of life and death is in the tongue)  If I don't help train Bella as to how to deal with this, it will simply be harder for her to push through and deal with things in her life from a Godly perspective.  Now,  I am not saying that this moment is THE moment that I can mess up my kid, screw things up for her...blah blah blah....even though that's what satan would love for me to believe.  What I am saying is each day is so filled with choices.  As a parent, on this lil ol' day, in middle America...I had a choice.  

This is what I choose:

I will teach my daughter to be slow to anger (James 1:19).
I will teach my daughter to not be quick to judge others. (Matt 7:1,2)
I will teach my daughter to expect the best of others and not to jump to conclusions. (1 Cor 13)
I will teach my daughter to be patient with others because they just don't understand. (Eph 4:1-2, plus tons of others!)
Most importantly, I will try to SHOW my daughter that when life gets hard, which is does, I will rest in Him (Matt 11:28-30)...I will lean on Him and I will run to Him and His word for guidance   Because without this, I would be a quickly angered, impatient, foul mouthed fool who could do major damage with words....all in the name of protecting my child....but with the results of only hurting her.    

I praise God for His work in my life...I am lost without Him!  Selah.

Can't say it better!!

I have three children.  

A 14 year old girl, a 12 year old boy and a 9 year old girl.  

We are right at the beginning of the struggles and pitfalls of the teenage years.  And by "right at the beginning" I mean KNEE DEEP.  There was no ramp up for us.  There as been no "sort of...starting to....beginning of....heading in that direction" of all the issues that a parent is faced with as our babies turn into young ladies and gentlemen.  It feels like, BOOM, one day we just had to deal with so many topics that I knew would surface eventually but yikes...they are here!  I heeded the wise words of loving people that have assured me that they grow so fast and such-and-such times will be here before you know it.  (Having these loving, truth-telling, non-condescending people in my life is invaluable, btw!  I urge you to have people like this in your life too.) ACTUALLY, there had to be a ramp up to these days but I was not aware of that said ramp.  I missed the memo that the ramp was starting as I loaded my shopping cart with size 2 Pampers!  Grrrr.    ( Cue the fresh smell of Baby Magic. Cue the sight of cute lil tushies crawling away from you as you struggle to put footy pj's on your wee ones.)

Now...back to reality.  

This post is primarily about my oldest who is 14 and a girl.  Lord help me!  I am certain she will be powerful for the kingdom of God.  POWERFUL!  She is creative, artistic, hardworking, and very capable.  She is strong-willed and has been since leaving the womb. I am not exaggerating.  

She is in 8th grade and is dealing with so many things that I want so badly to help her through but I can only do so much.  The pitfalls of our enemy are everywhere.  I find myself wanting to unzip her, stuff her full of my 41 year old knowledge and zip her back up.  Can't be done.  I've tried.  I am always on the lookout for things that will help me to parent her in a Godly way.  I recently listen to a radio broadcast on Focus on the Family and I have linked it below.  This broadcast is so dead on that I didn't want to even try to re-say what they say.     I encourage you to listen and maybe even take notes!  

Comment at will!!  

  Here's the link:  Shaunti Feldhahn....Teens and their Cravings!

How does God feel about his creation?

The title of this post was posed to me during a recent Sunday service at my church.  What a great question right?  How do you think God feels about his creation?

Many years ago, before my walk with Christ began, I would have said something like this...

"Uuuummmmmm....I don't know.  Uuuummmmmmm.  I think maybe he likes it?  Oooorrrrrr, maybe he's upset with it?"


As I think about this question now,  I have to say, I started to smile.  I felt myself wanting to pull a "Horshack"  (for those of us born in the 1900's, you will know this reference to Welcome Back Kotter).  Inside my lil brain I raised my hand, waving it a bit and said...OOOOoooo!  OOOooooo!  Pick me!  I know the answer!"

Who do I think I AM to dare say I know that answer to such a question?  (I am a child of God that's who! but that's another post entirely)  Let me explain.

Because of His gentle Spirits' work in my life, I approach seemingly profound questions with tons of clarity.  God has gifted me with three children and through them I am better able to consider how God sees me.  So I ask myself, how do I feel about MY creation?  How do I feel about my children?

I have a 14 yr old, a 12 yr old and a 9 yr old.  For the most part I am just trying not to kill them each day.  Seriously....I often have to debate with myself to see if the pleasure of backhanding them would be worth it.  I say this in jest partly but I think you get my meaning.  Kids are really tough.  They drain every bit of my energy, they drain my bank account, they suck the life out of me, literally (if you were a nursing mom) and figuratively.  I could go on and on.  I bet you could too if you were being honest.

HOWEVER as I thumb through pictures of my three little babies from not so long ago...I just...I just..."heavy sigh."  I think back on those days with such joy.  Such fondness.  As I watch my kids come bounding home from school and they share their day with me, as they ask me to tuck them in or fix their bedcovers...or they ask "could you make a sandwich for me.  It tastes better when you make it ma." (yes, they are being lazy but no one makes a sandwich like mama, right)....

Or how about when I overhear my child say something that I know he/she learned from me.  I think of the moments when I get an inkling that my years of devotion, hard work and love have paid off and my kids are actually getting it. Or how about when we catch siblings red handed getting along and having fun together.

Aaaahhhhh...it is so satisfying.  So joyful.  So delightful!  I love my creation.  I love my children dearly!  I would do anything for them, no matter what the cost to me.  It is important that they know I love them.  I will spend the rest of my life expressing my love to them.  I will do my best to parent them in a way that is best for them, not for me or my own gain.  They are my joy.......they are my greatest creation.  They are mine and nothing can change the love I have for them.

Let me wipe a tear.....and bring this full circle...

Let's read about how God feels about his creation.

For we are God's masterpiece Eph 2:10

In the image of God, he created them, both male and female Genesis 1:27

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Genesis 1:31

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God  1 John 3:1

...God’s love has been poured out into our hearts... Romans 5:5

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God...

Romans 8:38-39

I could go on and on but I hope you got my point.  God loves you.  You are his creation!  He adores you and delights in you just as you delight in your own children.  All he does (just like what WE do for our own babies) is based on his love, for us.  Even a fleeting moment, of realization, of his great love for you is life changing.  My prayer is that you are able to feel it.  

Do you want to be healed?

The title of this post might seem a little strange. Who wouldn't want to be healed?  Right? Lets talk about that.

There is a wonderful passage in the book of John.  John 5:1-18 to be exact.  I would encourage you to read these verses if you are unfamiliar with them.  (Nothing can replace the reading of actual Words of God!) Now, these verses are chock full of wonderful concepts and lessons that God needs us to know.  I would like to look at just one lesson from these verses, which is based on the Do you want to be healed? portion of this.  

In summery, Jesus is heading to Jerusalem and goes to a town called Bethesda which is where a healing pool is located.  Apparently the water in this pool heals people. Let's picture the scene based on scripture.  There's a lake... surrounded by lame, sick, diseased, dying and paralyzed people.  It's probably hard to walk near it without stepping on people. I can just see it.  One man that has been paralyzed for 38 years sticks out to Jesus.  Jesus asks him, right off the bat, "Do you want to be healed?".   The man basically says, yes I do but I don't have anyone to put me in the water and every time I am almost in, someone steps on me and gets in first.      Now stop...look at that.      Really read it.  As I read it two things jumped out....

1.  Duh...of course I want to be healed.  What a (dare I say) dumb question.
2.  Ok, so you are not the first one in the pool...why not just flop yourself in anyway.     What's up with the whole someone gets in the pool before me deal.  The mama in me says, this is not a contest so just get in the pool for Pete's sake.

I want to address #2 first.  Because I am a complete study nerd, I looked into the in the pool first portion of my wonderings.  Turns out there are manuscripts dating back to the original language and text that go into more detail about this healing pool.  The King James bible version does a good job at painting a bigger picture for us.  Bare with me please...this is good.  Manuscripts tell us that this pool would be stirred up from time to time by an angel.  The first person in the pool, when the water was being stirred, was healed.  This explains why this paralyzed man was so bugged by not being first.  Not first in the water, no healing.  So, my second question is address and answered.  More questions pop up at this point but lets just focus on that.

Now to the dumb question portion of my wonderings.  Why does Jesus ask the man if he wants to be healed?  Doesn't everyone want to be healed?

I have come to realize, the answer to that question is no.  Not everyone wants to be healed.  What happens when a person gets healed?  Hard work happens.  Pain is pushed through.  Fears are faced.  Diseased portions of our souls are cut out.  To be healed is hard work.  In a paralyzed persons case, when the muscles work again, he/she needs to exercise parts of the body that have not been worked.  To physically move around would be painful at first.  The hard work of laboring to make your way in the world would have to start.  Getting a job, finding food, earning a living by doing anything, would have to be faced for the first time.  Up until the healing, the paralytic that Jesus addressed would have been begging for food, shelter, clothes... or his family would have been providing it for him.  Now, that's not a great life at all but is sure is easier.

You might not be dealing with paralysis but what is it that YOU need to be healed from?


To be healed from a dependence on drugs and alcohol means allowing your body to go through pain and anguish as your body rids itself of the chemicals.  THEN the hard work begins.  A person needs to search through painful memories and experiences to see why he/she was desiring to blur their lives in the first place. 
To be healed from being a hoarder, a person has to dig in to get to the root of what they are desiring to hold on to.
To be healed from being an enabler means not helping people that you have helped, to their destruction, which means watching them go through tough times and usually not having them in your life.  
To be healed from being co-dependant on a person means starting to do for yourself.  It means pushing away from someone and standing on your own two feet.  
To be healed from blaming others for the woes of ones life means pointing the finger inward vs. outward.  It means coming to the realization that you and you alone are responsible for your life and where it is.  
To be healed from anger means forgiving people that you feel hatred for. It means facing the pain that caused that anger.  
To be healed from being lazy means getting a job (even if it is not a great job and below your pay grade), doing laundry when you don't want to, cleaning the house when you'd rather play, planning meals for your family, budgeting your finances (no matter how much your finances are or aren't), getting up early or going to bed late in order to make the day go smoothly. (and the list goes on and on with this one!)
To be healed from self-centeredness and pride (as well as false pride) means facing the reality that YOU are not the center.  It means putting your kids first.  It means putting your husband or wife in front of yourself.  It means seeing the people and situations from God's perspective and not YOURS.  (ouch!) 
To be healed from the deception of believing you are "of this world" rather than the truth of "we are in this world" (John 15:19, Romans 12:2) you have to come to lots of painful realizations.   That your money is not yours, peoples opinions are not most important, comfort is not a guarantee, daily sacrifice is needed, if the world says the answer is yes...the correct answer is most likely no.  

This list just scratches the surface.  In conclusion, I ask you...

Do you want to be healed?

(I would encourage you to share any thoughts on this.  I would love to hear what you have to say.)

Have you ever thought or said to someone, "You are so full of yourself!"

Believe it or not, I am posting this only a few days after my last post! God is moving big in my brain these days and I just had to share. Once again, it centers around the wonderful bible study I am currently doing. (In case anyone is interested, here is a link to the actual book. copy & paste...)

http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Worship-Tabernacle-FollowingDiscipleship/dp/0899572995/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324515023&sr=8-1

I highly recommend it. Very deep, amazingly foundational and in my view, a must.

Anywho....here is what was causing my brain to work overtime. It revolves around passages James 4:5-6 which says...

Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”

Now, this verse seems pretty straight forward for the most part. Well, sort of. This is what I see as I read it and ponder it.

James is almost being sarcastic by saying, Do you think that the bible is saying for no good reason that God is jealous? When it comes to His spirit and its dwelling in us, our God can get jealous and if it wasn't true, the bible surely wouldn't say it! God clearly keeps being gracious with us. Let's not forget, God is against the proud and loves on the ones that are humble. Now, please know that I am not claiming to say I am a bible scholar of any sort. Goodness no. I am being bold and pray that I am honoring God with what my heart understands and then shares with you.

Here's the thing about what James is saying to us. It mentions God being jealous. That perplexes me. What on earth does the Creator of the universe have to be jealous about? Has that ever confused you?

Well, the Holy Spirit helped me to understand this. Once I understood it, the idea of it definitely had a WOW factor in it. Here is what the spirit taught me:

Our God loves us so deeply, so intensely that when we have any other focus in our lives, he gets jealous. He gave us free will which intensifies our love of him once we experience it. (after all, isn't it better when our children give us a hug and say I love you because they love us rather than they are made to!) It is that same free will that enables our hearts to stray and end up focusing on something else besides our Creator as our item of worship. We are all so fickle! It is easy for us to get completely absorbed in our jobs, our kids, money, a new home, clothes, status, power....the list goes on and on. So many things quickly and easily take the center of our lives which by definition, replaces God as the one in the center. I am guilty of this...so guilty.

Since my walk with God began, which is when He became my center of worship I have not intentionally worship something else but it seems to creep in without me realizing. As I look back over the years, the one thing that keeps creeping in to become my focus is......ME! Ouch! It ends up being Michelle focusing all of her energy on Michelle!! The sickness of self worship is a disease that just gets worse if left unchecked. It is hard to diagnose and painful to treat. Let's go back to that verse in James. It is that pride/proud part of the verse that speaks to the self focus issue. (keep in mind, this "proud" is not the same a parent being proud of her child for getting good grades) God loves his children so much that even when the center of our world, the focus of our heart is US, he gets jealous. HE wants to be the focus. He created us, he knows what we need and when we need it. He wants to be our everything.

Back to that verse in James again. It tells us that God caused His spirit to dwell in us. When that Spirit, which is God himself, gets pushed and squished within us, because the space is being occupied by the self and all things ones self, what does God do? Well, according to James, God continues to be gracious....waiting for us to realize our "disease". Being proud or "full of ourselves" is not good. When we are so full of ourselves that God has no room to dwell within, we need to remember that our loving creator is jealously, graciously waiting for us to return to Him! Selah. Blessings.

Can the "world" tell a difference?

I am doing an absolutely FAAABUUUUUU bible study and I had to share something that just slapped me in the head. This is gonna hurt sooooo, be ready. (I suggest you stop reading if you do not have a teachable spirit.) xoxoxo

This comes from Paul and his first letter to his peeps, the people of Corinth. He says to them...

"do you not know that your body is a ^[a]temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from ^[b]God, and that you are not your own? ²⁰ For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." 1 Cor. 6:19-20

Now, I think many of us have heard this verse or at the very least know that the bible tells us our body is a holy temple. Am I right? As I think back to when my walk with God began, I think I recall knowing of this verse.

Please allow me to expound on this amazing verse. First of all, it is important to understand the word "temple" from a Jewish, Old Testament perspective. The temple was the holiest place on earth. It was a building designed by God, where God himself would dwell. The people of God, were instructed by God, as to HOW to construct this holy place. Within this temple was an even holier place....aptly named, the Holy of Holies. Not very creative but you certainly get the point right?! This was the actual "box" that God was going to be contained in when he wanted to dwell with his people. I know, I know...sounds super weird but its scripture and lots of things are hard to wrap ones brain around.

Lets continue.

Now Paul was telling the Corinthians that their bodies (all believers in Jesus) are now that temple. In the Greek language they use two words in stead of our one for temple. They would say, temple-hieron to mean the entire temple structure. When they were speaking of JUST the Holy of Holies they would say, temple-naos. It is this word, naos that Paul uses in the verse 1 Cor. 6:19-20. Did I lose ya?

Paul is letting us know that as believers, we get to have the actual God of the universe dwell inside of us....Hang out IN US! Now, I don't know about you but that shuts me down! (in a good way that is). It causes me to just sit and think about it. Ponder the very idea of it. I know the concept, I believe it but do I KNOW it. Do I really understand the significants of it? The verse goes on to say that we need to "glorify God with our body." This is where the painful part comes in...

Am I glorifying God with my body? To glorify means to reveal. Do I reveal who God is with my body. Not just my actual body...meaning eating right, not abusing my body, taking care of myself....but revealing Him with my entire being. This means my words and actions too. Am I revealing God and all His wonder with how I act and what I say? Can the world see something different in me? Does the world say, "there is just something different about Michelle" or do I just blend in with everyone else? I so want to....I so want to.

As a Christian, I am aware of all this. The general concepts are probably not new to anyone reading this. But, as for this girl, I sooo need a refresher more often than I care to admit. (no one ever said Christianity was going to be easy!)

Selah. Blessings!

What does your life boil down to?

I recently went to an estate sale. Have you ever been to an estate sale? It's kind of like a garage sale on steroids. EVERYTHING MUST GO! might be the estate sale mantra. It is my understanding that family members take what they want from the loved ones items and the remaining "stuff" is sold. Prices are usually really cheap or fairly priced. Now, this sale that I was at the other day was really awesome! VERY well organized, clearly marked prices and an actual check out area. They even had boxes for easy shopping. Wow! The items for sale filled every room in the house, the basement, the garage, the driveway and two barns on the property. There were lots of antiques, oldtiques and uniques....the basement was over flowing with perfectly organized sections of seasonal decor. One area was Easter, one Christmas, one Fall, one was even 4th of July. It really was remarkable. There was china, casual dishes, place mats, silver pieces, serving bowls, silverware, Tupperware, etc. (there was even unopened food products from the cupboards with prices on it. There was clothes, books, furniture, purses, 1/2 used salon products....there was even a plethora of those free with purchase gifts you get when you purchase make-up from the fancy department store cosmetics department. You know the ones I'm talking about. I even saw a few family portraits for sale.

Oodles of people were carefully walking through the entire home, peering in every corner, making note of the decor, the style of the carpet, wood trim, etc. People were buying things left and right. Some people were even trying to bargain with the sellers. What does this have to do with Jesus? Oooo...surely you jest!! You know how I can bring everything back to Jesus!!

As I walked through the home I could not help but feel sad. An entire life and all the "stuff" of it was out there for all to see. Even worse, the stuff was all for sale. Now, I happen to know the woman that passed away. I did not know her well but the amount that I did know her, I knew her to be kind and loving. She obviously cared for her home and took great pride in its decor and appearance. She appeared to enjoy having gatherings that involved serving meals and she LOVED decorating her home for the upcoming holiday...whatever it may have been. As I looked over table after table of items, looking for a good deal, I could not help but think about how the woman must have felt as she purchased these items that I was now considering purchasing. She was obviously a girl who enjoyed shopping the housewares section of any store. (as do I) Did she get really excited after she found just the perfect thing? Did it bring her happiness as she brought it home and enjoyed it? Did the warm fuzzy, Norman Rockwell feelings of the next family gathering last for days after the actual event or did all those good feelings fade as the event got underway? Did she enjoy the planning and decorating more than she enjoyed the actual holiday? If only her "stuff " could talk...I wonder what it would say.

I will never know the answer to that but what I do know is that Jesus always points the questions we ask about others right back at us. What would my stuff say? Do I get too wrapped up in the perfection of a gathering? Is the planning of something way more enjoyable than the actual thing? Is the anticipation of a great day the greatest part of the day? Am I truly focusing on stuff or the things that Jesus tell us is most important. In our fallen world, our enemy would have us focus on all the thing surrounding an event or just the surroundings of every day life. The relationship with the people we are supposed to be sharing our time with becomes the after thought. The best stuff takes a back seat. As I am sure you can all relate too, it is the relationships and what they lack that often leave us feeling let down. Our Lord calls us to recognize when we fall into this kind of trap. He reminds us to be sure to get back on track and re re refocus on what is important- Loving God and then loving others. Not with perfection mind you, but to the best of our ability. In my life, the closer I get to Jesus, the better I can love those that he has put in my life. I often get all wrapped up in the wrapping of my life and not the actual guts of it. Know what I mean? It's just so easy to do....I hate that!

The estate sale experience was a call for me to look at my own life and see if I need to refocus. It was also a teaching moment for my children. I had an opportunity to talk with them about making sure that their lives are not just full of stuff that ends up on the front lawn with a FOR SALE tag on it. Without a relationship with our Creator, which leads us to have loving, genuine relationships with His children, our lives can easily turn into nothing more than an estate sale. Full of things that get sold to complete strangers for low, low prices.

So, this post is a call to make sure we are making the best of the time that the Lord has so graciously given us. It is the relationships that mean the most to God. Our relationship with Him. Our relationship with others. Be careful to not let the trappings of life trap you into focusing on the wrong elements of life. Blessings.