Don't forget to eat!

Out of the mouths of babes! Yesterday at lunch, I was all fired up about God and was talking, talking, talking to my luncheon companion. As I talked, I heard a little voice (of the daycare child who was tagging along) say, "Eat Lori." The tyke was apparently concerned that in my enthusiasm, I would forget to consume the food which was before me. My companion and I laughed over the ridiculousness of the statement. I believe my comment back to him went something like this, "Well thank you Kimo for reminding me because it seems I might just starve to death if you hadn't been here. As you can see, I'm practically wasting away!"
Anorexic has never been a word to describe me. I have never allowed my scale to be less than heavily burdened. My clothing sizes include anything in the double digits from 10 all the way up. I am truly a Fat Old Mom, so the hilarity of his statement hit me full force. I may forget to brush my teeth. I may forget to wash my face. I may not always have time to go to the bathroom, but I have never FORGOTTEN to eat. I love to eat. I love the taste of food. I love the preparation of food. I love shopping for food. It is a part of everything I do.
I include it in family time. I include it in celebration. It consoles me. When I want to show someone I care- I bake. When I am concerned for someone, I offer to cook for them. I know people like it when I fix them something. I love how their eyes light up when they see me with a container of cookies.
I own many cookbooks and cooking implements. Pampered Chef is my friend. Tupperware invitations send me into a happy little dance. I find fulfillment in food and all the emotions surrounding it.
Do I feel this way about Jesus and prayer? I would like to think so. At the end of the day, if someone asks me about my relationship with Christ, I would like to use all of the above examples to define that relationship. I would like to think that He consumes my day, that I want to share Him with others. I would like to think that I can't wait to be alone with Him and consume His word. I would like to think He is the cornerstone of all of my family functions, the basis for my outreach. I would like to think being invited to Christian events would stir the emotion within me that a Tupperware invitation does. As my walk progresses, I find these things to be truer and truer about my everyday life, but I still am not to the place where I would laugh out loud about the lunacy of the statement..."Pray Lori"....as if it would be beyond my comprehension that I might NOT.
Hopefully someday, I will get to the point in my life where I may forget to eat, but I will never forget to pray and put Jesus first in my thoughts, life and actions.

Joy of Jesus

When I got this picture from someone, I fell in love with it. It almost makes me want to get another tattoo! This is how I picture Jesus and how I want to visualize my relationship with Him. I see so many Christians who seem persecuted by their beliefs. They live in constant fear of condemnation. WHY? God has promised us eternal life. God has promised us heaven.
I asked my 5 year old son one day what he wanted to be when he grew up. His reply? "Dead, so I can go to heaven." As horrible as my face must have looked in the wake of his response, when I thought about it, I realized he is on the right track. Why wouldn't he want to be dead? Heaven is our ultimate destination, and in our home we speak of its wonder and gloriousness. Of course, I gently explained that God wants us to live our lives and spread His word and be here on earth for awhile. Sawyer was responsive to that and I'm SO glad.
Bottom line....the journey to heaven will be so much more rewarding if we focus on the JOY of Jesus and our lives with Him. I saw this quote one day, "Joy is the infallible proof that God is present." Shine the light of Jesus today!

I learned a new skill tonight (thank you Pastor Brian!) Now I can add photos to my blogs. I guess this one is a little misleading....it is 2 of the 3 Fat Old Mom's....but the one in red (me) is not as fat as I am now. Call it a bait and switch...call it what you will....but I am truer to the image of FOM now than I was then (less than a year ago.) Watch for more pitchers (I KNOW it's pictures...I are not an IDOT....put your tongue in your cheek and laugh please!)

Poetry

Surrender

"Surrender" He said....

I replied, "NO!"

I have control of my life

and don't need to be told

what to do

what to say

what to listen to

when I pray.

"Just be there for me

in case I stumble."

"That won't do,

you need to be humble."

So I fail and I fall.

I can't do it all.

I cry and I plea...

"Oh God, help me!"

So in His grace

and in His glory

I am here to tell my story.

I couldn't do it after all.

Thank God I can walk

after I've crawled.

Submission

Submission....a word that strikes fear in my heart.

It means to me I'm not doing my part.

It implies that I'm less than I'm able to be.

To give up control...to someone else heed.

I feel it is weakness, but God knows it's power.

To give Him control in our darkest hour.

But we also should give it on brightest of days.

Raise our hands in surrender; lift our faces in praise.

He will bless us beyond all of our wildest dreams,

Take us far past all of our hopes and our schemes.

Our cups will flow over, our lives be fulfilled.

If only...if only...we surrender our will.

Humility

Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord....and He shall raise you up!!!
Humility....what a concept. I recently heard someone ask if they felt closest to the Lord on the mountain top, or when they were on their knees. My own experience has been that in my darkest hour is when the Lord seems to be the closest. When things are going well, I tend to think it was because of my own doing. I tend to forget where the true power for the hour came from.
Anyone who knows me knows that words to describe me would include, 'control freak', fiercely independent, hard headed....but I know my true power comes in total submission to the Lord.
Last year I faced a horrible crisis in my life and marriage. I was stripped of my relationship, my finances and my hope (for a moment). Fortunately, I turned to the Lord, and gave it all to Him. The Fat Old Mom's told me I have never shown so brightly as in the face of this terrible adversity. They even called me inspirational (thank you!) I completely trusted God to see me through, and HE DID! My finances defied the calculator, and my husband returned, my family was restored, and my testimony is strong. The miracles were unimaginable and my purpose became clear.
I still have my days. When I feel the most 'out of whack', I look around myself and realize that I am fighting God's will. I then try to step back, look it all over and realize that in a wrestling match with God....I will never win.

Asking

Ask and it shall be given unto you.....seek and ye shall find....knock and the door shall be opened unto you.....
Those words are hard for me to process. I've never been an ASKER. I'm a DO-ER. When I see a problem, I figure out how to solve it, and I 'get 'er done'!!! If I have to work an extra job to pay for it....done. If I have to learn a new skill...done! If I have to sacrifice....done. One thing I don't do is ASK.
By nature, I am a giver, so to take is outside of my comfort zone.
Recently, I've been faced with the challenge and hit a wall. Because God called me to be home with my children, I have eliminated the possibility of working harder to earn the money to complete a project that NEEDS to be done at our home. (Re-roofing our garage) At my age, it doesn't seem prudent for me to learn how to build a roof, especially when my husband possesses carpentry skills (although he chooses to ignore the holes in 'said' roof.)
The option that was left to me was to ASK. EEK! My Christian sisters challenged me to ask. They know my church family, and know they love me. They know they would help. They also know that God stretches us when we listen....so I asked. There is no conclusion to this story yet. I don't know if my garage will get re-roofed. I don't know if my husband will feel threatened in his masculinity because I asked. I don't know....
What I DO know is this....God will provide, but we need to ASK.

What are we missing?

I had a few minutes this morning after my children left for school and before one of my daycare children arrived. There was not a whole lot of time to engage in a real project, so I was just wandering around the kitchen. It was then that I saw the cabinet. On the back side of one of my cabinets, I saw what seemed to be a sticky splatter of SOMETHING that had obviously been there for a while. It had collected dirt and cobwebs and even a few cat hairs. I was sickened! How had I missed that? I walk past that cabinet 100 times a day. I bend over near it to feed the cat. It resides underneath my microwave- and we all know how often a busy mother uses that appliance!
That was the key...a BUSY mother. I never slow down enough to see it. I am always rushing past it and my eyes don't see it. It isn't my intention to have a dirty home, and I'm sure those cat hairs are crystal clear to an outsider who walks into my house.....so how could I be overlooking that?
Is it like that in our Christian life also? So often we rush through our days and we don't see the sins and dirt that have crept into our existance. We don't even see them. We don't INTEND to be sinful, but it just happens. The wonderful thing is, when we slow down enough to realize they are there, we sweep them away as soon as we can, because we are now enlightened, and we don't want that to be a part of our lives. Even when we don't see the 'dirt', our friends do...our children do...our spouses do...those looking for a Christian example do....
So, why don't we all slow down, look at our cabinets, and get that sticky stuff off of there?