Know the Truth

I have always thought my life was going along pretty good, great family, good health, wonderful husband, caring friends. Perfect right? Well, perfect has a way of crumbling before your very eyes.

The first to fall from the Perfection Train was my health. I know getting older things change but this is ridiculous! Parts need replacing, other parts just quit working altogether. Ok, I can deal with this I will just strive harder in other areas of my life. Not truth!

Next to leave the Perfection Train were the caring friends. We have moved a number of times and trying to keep caring friends long distance is VERY difficult. They seem to dwindle and even though I try to hold on they slip through my fingers. That's alright I will make new friends and they will become the caring ones. Right? Not always truth.

Family derails on the Train. Thinking that once the kids are grown everything will be great. No not the truth. Realization hits that perhaps I wasn't that perfect mom after all. This is perhaps the car that will derail me. Not truth. [I do still have a wonderful husband.]

If I were to let this be the end of what I was sure was the PERFECT LIFE, I would go down in flames. I have a verse that I keep telling myself,

 

 Isaiah 41:13



       For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

Knowing that God ALWAYS keeps his word, I hold on to the thought of him holding my hand and walking through the day with me. Each time I encounter the need for perfection and fall I remember that he is holding my hand and I have nothing to fear because the God that created me is right here. He is helping me to be exactly who he created me to be, not perfect, but His very own daughter. Now that is perfection! That is a truth to hold tightly to!

 

Freedom from Perfection

As I grow older and look back at my life I sigh and struggle with all the mistakes made, bad judgments , things left undone, things never said and now are to late, in a word not Perfect.

I could struggle with the weight of the failures. I could sit in a blue funk and never move. I could put on a happy face to try and fool those around. None of these are the path I have chosen.

Holley has asked how we have moved to the freedom of perfection, these are the ways I have chosen.

I have run to God and asked his forgiveness for all of what I see and don't like, in other words my sins. He is so merciful and reminds me that I am forgiven. Easter is such a wonderful reminder of God's great and steadfast love for me and for you.

He also reminds me that he knows me and he knows my heart and he adores me.[did you know he adores you also?]

I also have a wonderful friend that listens without judgment. She always points me back to God's word with such a gentle and loving spirit. We all need someone that listens and offers a loving shoulder to lean on.

I think that one of the greatest verses in the Bible is this one:

                                                                     1 Peter 5:7

                                  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 

 

This verse says I don't have to be perfect. I can give all the mistakes,  bad judgments, things that are now to late to say, to God because he cares for me. He loves me and doesn't want perfection just my best. He is the only perfect one and that is great to remember.

 

 

Not Perfection, Perseverance

When I was thinking about all the women that I know that have shown perseverance it was difficult. I have lived quite a while so thinking about friends that came through abuse and have the most positive outlook on life. Perhaps the friend that came through a spouse finding someone else but stayed the course and her marriage was restored. I decided on a very special woman, my mom.

Times were difficult when my mom was growing up. Her father left her mom with 5 kids to take care of. My mom decided she would easy the problem of food and clothing and became a live in maid. She had just finished the 8th grade and now she was in charge of cooking the meals, cleaning the home, and all the laundry [back when shirts were starched and ironed]Makes me tired just to think about it.

She married my father and they had a small farm that was totally washed away in a flood. They started over and built our family home themselves while raising 2 small girls.

When I was 10 and my sister was 16 my father died. It was a very traumatic time. My mom however, didn't cave and throw up her hands and give up. Nope she found a job cleaning family homes and on the weekends she cleaned the airport hotel rooms.

When I think of my mom I think of her tremendous perseverance. She wasn't worried about perfection, she left that to God. She carried on with the day to day living and loving. Yeah, this is the person that has greatly inspired me with such great perseverance.

Romans 5:3

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

 

 

 

Just Perfect

Where does that pressure come from to be more, to do more, to be PERFECT? I think it is fear. Fear from not measuring up, fear from not being good enough, fear that we haven't done enough.

When I was a lot younger, I was sure that I was good at everything. However, as I grew older there were lots of folks that told me something very different. That high school art teacher that said I couldn't draw and should never even try. Or those college young men that thought it would be funny to bark as I passed their table. What about those TV commercials that are telling me I need this product or that product to have the perfect smile, less wrinkles, or the clothes to be just Perfect person?

All of these words, hurtful, hateful, and just down right silly can send us one way or the other. Either we will believe that God made us exactly like we are, or we will believe the lies that are thrown at us and strive to prove them wrong.

When we live our lives in fear it is exhausting. We fear not measuring up to someone else's standard so we do more. We fear we don't look like the ads on TV, so we lose weight, buy the newest fad, wear the latest and greatest make-up. We fear others will see our flaws so we build walls.

You know what God tells us?

      Isaiah 41:10

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

 

To know that God is with me in this, to know that I don't have to be dismayed by the careless words that are flung my way is such wonderful and news. He will be my strength, He will help me, and He will hold me up are words of freedom.

 

You can trust His words as they are always faithful and true. Let Him take all your fears and be the wonderful person He created you to be!

 

 

Check out Holley's new book You’re Loved No Matter What: Freeing Your Heart from the Need to Be Perfect

 

 

 

Are They Gone?

Don't you just love small children and their honesty? Don't ask them a loaded question unless you want to hear the truth!

My daughter bought me a cream for DEFYING wrinkles for Christmas. It was more for the moisture and the lovely feel on my dry skin that I was using it.

One morning as I was getting ready for the day and my 5 year old granddaughter waltzed into the bathroom and asked what I was doing. I said I was putting on the cream that her mommy had given me to get rid of my wrinkles. "Oh", she said. I asked her if she would like some. "Yes". So I put a small dollop on each cheek. As she watched me rub  mine in she wanted to make sure she was doing it properly. "Like this Nana?" I told her "Perfect." As she finished she said, "Are my wrinkles gone?" I had to chuckle but told her yes she looked gorgeous! She smiled. I thought I would have a little fun. So I asked her, "Are my wrinkles gone?" [now my face and the Grand Canyon have some things in common.] As she looked at me she tilted her head to one side and her little face kind of puckered up and she said, "Well, it  might take a little while for it to work on you!"
I was able to start the day with a chuckle. How awesome is that.

I am sure that a few years ago that would have sent me into a tail spin of sorrow. Not only did my face have wrinkles, but a 5 year old had spotted them! However, as I am growing closer to Christ and realize He has made me just the way I am, wrinkles and all. He is changing me from the inside out. I am not so worried about the outside packaging as I am about the inside reality of me.

1 Peter 3:3-4

 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.  Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

 

As I read this verse the words that catch my eye are these, great worth in God’s sight. That is the kind of beauty I want, unfading and of great worth. It is God who is adding the "defying cream" to me. He is changing me from the inside out. I don't have to use creams or a mud pack, I just need to do the best I can with the outside while God is doing His best on the part that counts, the inside. We can stop trying to be "perfect", in my case at least , that is never going to take place here on earth. We can allow God to make us of "great worth in His sight.

Check out Holley's New book.

 

 

Will I See You There?

Have you ever waited for something wonderful that is just about to happen? Of course you have, if  you are older than 4,[it's a memory thing] you had a birthday that was right around the corner. [ and well, they keep coming round the corner quicker each year] Remember the anticipation? Asking a million times "What is today?", "How many more days till my birthday?" Or what about that wedding day? The excitement built with each passing day, right? [along with the nerves}

What pops into your mind when I say "Heaven"? Is it this statement, "I want to go someday but not particularly today!" How about the words, "I am not sure I want to play a harp all day and do nothing else just yet."

We have just started a study on Heaven. I have got that anticipation, excitement, and sheer joy, just like a 4 year old waiting for her birthday to arrive. The study was so wonderful last night. We were introduced to how much Jesus had to say about Heaven and we are going to learn all the Bible has to tell us on this wonderful place.

Did you know that Heaven is God's Home! He is going to live with His people! Doesn't that make you want to jump up and down and shout? There are so many other wonderful things about Heaven that I would love to share but there isn't enough space here.

We are ALL [that means you and me] going to spend eternity somewhere. Not everyone will enter God's glorious home. Only those that have confessed their sin and accept Jesus as their Savior will be welcome with open arms.

Ephesians 1:7

 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

 

You have a choice to make. One only you can make.

Acts 16:30-31

  “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved

 

Ephesians 2:8-9

 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.

 

 

Dogs

I think that the topic of Dogs is more controversial than politics or religion. I think you are either a dog person or you are not.

I fall into the category of trying to be a dog person. We are blessed to live where there is the sweetest HUGE dog. If she were to stand on her rear paws I am sure she would be as tall as me or perhaps even taller. She is part Rottweiler and part Husky, so to go with the big she looks rather intimidating. We moved into a new place and the sign was already there BEWARE OF DOG so it was just left.

To let you know just how intimidating she is, I had a delivery to the house and the dog was outside the lady called from her car, [that was sitting 2 feet from my front porch] to let me know she was at the house but she was pretty sure the dog didn't want her to come out. I told her what I am sure every dog owner says, "she is really friendly, and won't hurt you." However just to reassure her my husband was at the door to call the dog to him and she got out of the car very carefully. Said she saw the sign then she saw the dog and didn't want to take the chance.

I was doing pretty well becoming that dog person until there was a skunk that found the house and decided to make it his own by sharing his "perfume" all around the house, Well, Lela {the dog in question} must have rolled in all the "perfume"  and then decided to come into the house and share her findings. Well, tottering on the line for pro and con it dipped to the con very quickly and I barred her from entering. She looked at me with that sweet face and those hurt eyes as if to ask, "What have I done to you?" I couldn't be swayed. However, I am married to a true dog lover. He allowed the dog to sit there until I went to bed and then he decided he really didn't smell anything so he let her in. [Yep, there is a big difference between a dog person and one that is trying to be a dog person.]

Lela holds no grudges, she is still so excited to see me when I drive in the driveway her whole body is one huge wag. She just wants me to pet her and tell her she is a great dog.

Got me to thinking about we treat each other. Do we snub someone because they don't smell as sweet as the daisies? De we try to ignore those that are in wheelchairs or with a cane, just because we don't know what to say?  What about that woman that is flawlessly beautiful, do we turn away because we are jealousy of her looks? We are all so different and there are so many things that could cause us to glance the other way. Do we get the look, "what have I done to you?" It is so very important to remember what God tells us:

Romans 12:10

 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

I read somewhere this little quote and it has stuck with me.

"Be kind everyone is going through something."

Dog person or not we are all people persons and need to remember to always honor others above ourselves. [still working on becoming a dog person!]