I'm sure everyone has seen the news stories about the massacre in Colorado. I have read so many posts on Facebook about the tragedy. As my heart and prayers go out to all those affected by the events, I just have to stop a moment and thank God for all He has done and blessed me with.
My plan tonight was to come home, eat dinner, and go to bed early. Going to bed early was something I was very excited about due to the fact that I did not get into bed until 4am this morning (that Batman movie was super long but SO worth it). However, as usual, He had other plans for me. Facebook sucked me in. Some how I got to looking at my own Facebook page and actually scrolled through so many posts, so many statuses, and so many pictures from over the last few years. First of all, let it be known, I am pretty funny. Second of all, wow. I am beyond blessed with people who love me and I love back.
If you ever need a pick me up, just look back at some of your posts and comments on your Facebook page. You will definitely be reminded of how many people actually care about it.
Reminder: we are all blessed beyond anything we will ever deserve.
You've gotta love DVR's! I was finally able to catch up on some of my recordings in the last couple of weeks and I was able to watch Kate Winslet on Oprah. I've always been a big fan of Kate and when I saw this show, it just confirmed how great of a woman she really is. Anyway! As I was watching the show, it was Oprah's Academy Award's special and she had Kate, Sean Penn, and Hugh Jackman on. She played clips from the awards show for each actor and showcased their best moments during the night. Kate's best moment in the night was when she won the Best Actress Award for The Reader. My favorite part of the clip was when she was thanking the people who had faith for her along the way. During the clip, she thanks her mom and dad and can't find them in the audience. Anyway, watch this video to see what I am talking about. You can fast foward the clip to about the 7 minute mark and that's where she actually starts her speech.
I about cried when I saw this clip because it made me think of our Father. Of how if we just whistle (pray), He'll respond and we'll know where He is!! If we just ask Him to, He'll speak to us so that we'll know He is there! He might whistle, He might speak, He might do something beyond normal but it will still give us the sense that He is there somewhere in the audience. Somewhere in the midst of all of our craziness!!
"When we trust our lives to the unseen but ever-present God, He will write our lives into His story and every last one of them will turn out to be a great read. With a grand ending." ~Beth Moore - Esther
Isn't it funny how all things always work out when you least expect it? Or how things work out when you're not even expecting it? I always feel in awe of God when these types of things happen.
That's how I feel today. I'm sitting in the lobby of our hotel at a conference for work and all I can think about is how awesome God is. Of how He takes care of us when we aren't even asking him to. Last night, I did some of my Esther Bible Study and I looked back at last weeks session. Last week, Beth Moore talked about how the book of Esther is all about time. Boy did God have something in store for me last week!
If you know me, you know that patience is one of those things that I do not have. Its not something that I struggle with, or have a hard time maintaining. It is something that I DO NOT have! Everyone always tells you..."don't pray for patience". Well I don't. I have realized over my life that I may not have patience, but I can accept things. Its hard to know people who stress over their jobs or things going on in their life and they can't seem to get to the point where they can just sit back and let God run things. Over the past few years, my mind frame has turned from panic and stress to "There's nothing I can...I might as well accept it". Take for instance my job situation: A couple of weeks ago, our Director comes to us with news from the state, from Governor Perdue. The Governor is trying to change things around with the way that school systems and RESA's co-exist. As of right now, the way things work for us at RESA, is that the school systems have to pay into their appointed RESA. They don't have a choice in the matter. In fact, the money goes directly to RESA and the systems don't ever see that money. The Governor is trying to change it to where the schools have the option whether they want to pay into RESA or not. Our Director sat everyone down a couple of weeks ago to give us this news. As you might guess, alot of people started to freak out. Alot of people started looking for other jobs and they started stressing over whether or not they were going to have a job. Me? I didn't do anything. I listened to what our Director had to say and went back to my desk and continued working. My only prayer was, "God." I didn't pray for it not to happen or anything. All I said was, "God". I knew that it was all in His hands. I didn't have to ask Him to take care of it. I knew that He was and is already taking care of it. I hate it for those people who just can't have faith that all things are going to work out for them. They just don't understand it. I can be an example of my faith but until they find it themselves, they'll never know.
I say all of this because up until last week that is where my mind frame has been concerning things in my life. Like I said, that was up until last week. Most of everyone who will read this knows about my situation with a certain somebody that I like to call P. P and I have been friends for a long time and with his situation we are remaining that way for a while. However, some days we start to see ourselves jumping ahead and we have to put the brakes back on. We start acting and talking like a couple. We know that until his situation is handled, that if we go any further with our friendship that it won't be pleasing to the Lord. Well....sometimes it is SO easy to forget that.
So last week...our Bible Study. Beth is talking about how the whole book of Esther is basically centered around time. She gives four points to show us how even in real life, time is important. I don't have my book next to me, but she talked about how sometimes we have to wait on things for them to be time for us, time for God, or time for someone else's time. I can't remember the 4th point, but the very last point was waiting on someone else's time. When she told us that last point, I started laughing. You see, God....he has a GREAT sense of humor. In fact, sometimes, I think He has a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor. He wasn't only reminding me that P and I have all the time in the world or that I needed to wait for P's situation to get settled. He was also telling me that I needed to wait on someone else's time. I needed to wait on P's time. Just because his situation will be over one day, he might not be ready for anything more than a friendship for a while.
Well...God's sense of humor goes even farther for me this week. As soon I get His point, or the point that I think He is trying to give, He shows me another part of His plan and all I can do is smile and shake my head. Like I said before, He just plain out amazes me.
As I stated earlier, I'm sitting in the lobby of our hotel at a conference in Atlanta. I've only been up here for 2 days. Well the last two days has definitely been a defining point for P and I. And let's just say that God has been having His own laugh these last few days.
I'm always so excited to see what God has in store for me. Especially now that P is part of my life's equation. But like I said before, I don't have patience and so I'm desperate to see where things are going. So....I can't wait to see what God has in store for tonights bible study! I'm expecting to be amazed once again! I guess that's why I entitled this post "Don't just wait and see. Live and see." I believe that to live life according to the way that God would have us to live it, we can't just sit back and wait for life to happen. We have to LIVE it.
