Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

(Okay, all of you Okies that are still out of school, work, the house, etc.....

from last weeks blizzard, please forgive me for this post :).

Photography Graphics

I just looked at the forecast for Tipton, Oklahoma, tomorrow night.  It's 100% chance for "wintry mix" tomorrow night and 60% chance for snow on Wednesday.  I am so, so excited!  In fact, I say, "Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!"

Last week we received quite a bit of snow, the kids missed a few days of school, and we had heat, water, and electricity.....oh, and Paula Deen's recipe for Snow Ice Cream.  It was great!  We had a lot of fun!  But now, we're expecting even more snow in the next few days - something that is soooo rare for this part of Oklahoma.

Now, about my excitement.  Several years ago, it was predicted for our area to get 10 - 12 inches of snow.  I haven't seen that much snow (except in Colorado) since I was a kid.  In fact, I'm not sure I really ever did as a kid - maybe I was just little and it seemed like that much.  Well, anyway, I watched the radars online for DAYS waiting for that system to move in.  The night it was coming I stayed up into the wee hours of the night/next morning watching and waiting....so excited like a child the day before his/her birthday or Christmas!  Finally I made myself go to bed - knowing that when I woke up I would see 10 - 12 inches of beautiful white snow.  I couldn't wait to wake up the kids and let them see the blanket of white.

The next morning I woke up, put on my glasses and rushed to the window.  Guess what I saw?  Just a slight dusting of white all over our dead grass yard.  I was sooooo disappointed!  The snow had missed us!  It had gone north of us and we missed all but a tiny bit of that system.

Last week, when all of the weather predictions were coming in, I made myself stay calm.  If I would start to get all anxious and excited, I would think back to that disappointing time from a few years before.  But, to my surprise and great satisfaction, when we awoke last Tuesday morning, there was snow - and quite a bit of snow!  The first time I was anxious and it didn't happen.  The next time I wasn't anxious and it did happen. 

Is God trying to teach me a lesson????? 

Can I learn anything from these two extremes????

When I look at the radars and weather sites right now, it's really, really hard for me to not get overly excited and anxious about the possibility of lots of snow.  It's really hard for me to not be excited for the kids to maybe miss school Wednesday and we get to cook and play games and play in the snow all day.

But, when I think of God and His promises and His plan and His will for my life, I MUST remain calm. 

I MUSTN'T be anxious or worried about this possible snow, or no snow, or anything else for that matter.  When we're anxious, we're not putting our trust in God.  A harsh, but true fact.

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:23-24

So, I say, "Let it snow!" but should add to that, "if it is your will, God."

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Philippians 4:6

On this Gratituesday, I am grateful to God for calming my anxious thoughts, for leading me in the way, if I'll submit to Him, and for His patience with me in all of these things.  To see what others are grateful for, visit Heavenly Homemakers.

are you an EN or a DIS?

Several years ago, on an early, sunny morning, I headed east towards Lawton.  The sun was just coming up and glaring me in the eyes, even though I was wearing sunglasses.  My cell phone rang and I quickly glanced at it, but couldn't tell who it was due to the sun.  I answered and a male voice on the other end said, "Don't worry.  It will get better." 

A little stunned, thinking something bad had happened that I didn't even know about...I stammered out an, "Ooookkkkayyyy."  Then voice continued, "Well, I just met you on the road and you had a frown.  I wanted you to know that whatever was wrong...it would be okay."  After his mini pep talk, I recognized the voice.  It was a friend....a brother in Christ.....calling to encourage me. I explained that the sun was in my eyes and probably causing the frowning face and that I didn't even realized I had met him on the highway.

I've thought about that morning several times over the past few years.  For one thing, even though I wasn't in a bad/sad/worried mood at all that morning, the fact that this Christian brother took the time to call and encourage me, made me feel good the rest of the day.  Another thing is that a few years later, this young husband and father (who struggled with difficult-to-control diabetes) died tragically.....on a road....headed a different direction out of town.  Two very different episodes on a highway going out of town.

After this young man passed away, my children remarked about how he would drive by our house as they played out in the yard.  Typically they were playing some kind of sport.  They would often be wearing OU uniforms, t-shirts, and such.  This young man was an OSU cowboy.  As he would drive by, he would take the time to slow down and roll down the window to yell out at them, "OSU!" or motion with his hands the OSU letters.  The kids enjoyed this fun rivalry with him. One of my sons even wrote an essay about him at school.  He missed his stops in front of the house. He called him an encourager.

When you take the word courage, you can add to it in two very different ways:  add an EN to be an encourager....add a DIS to be a discourager.

Unfortunately, some people are discouragers. It's as if they get their "thrills" from beating others down, by smashing others' dreams, by belittling others' ideas.  Discouragers are all around us, but hopefully the discouragers are not us.

Look at the definitions of each of these words:

Encourage: to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence

Discourage: to deprive of courage, hope, or confidence; dishearten; dispirit.

Do you inspire or deprive?  Are you an EN or a DIS? 

With the beginning of this new week, I challenge you (and myself) to be an encourager to others - every day.  Take the time to call someone or stop and speak to someone just like this Christian brother did many times.  Take the time to inspire someone this week.

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:1

Love God, Love Others, Love Yourself

Love Graphics

 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Matthew 22:36-39

With February being the month of love, I was thinking about who we should love.  This verse above tells us who we should love.  First, we must love God.  It's the first and the greatest command given to us by God.  Second, we must love our neighbor....we must love others.  These "others" will be our spouses, our children, friends and other family - basically everyone else.  And lastly, but just as important, we must love ourselves.  I mentioned in a recent blog post, in order to truly love others as we should, we must love ourselves.  

Our love for God must supersede (FYI: this spelling IS correct, though it seems wrong!) all other love.  Why?  Because in order for us to know and appreciate the love of God, we must understand all that He has done for us.  He gave His ONLY Son for YOU.  He gave His ONLY Son for ME.  That is how much He loved YOU!  That's how much He loved ME!  He loved us enough to give us Jesus.

Loving others in the way God wants us to means taking care of their needs.  It means to serve them.  It means to put them and their needs above ourselves and our own needs.  Loving others is submitting to them and giving up our selfish desires.  Sometimes that's hard to do because those selfish desires get in the way and cloud our thinking.  But, just as Jesus points the way and shows up God's love, He also points the way and shows us the way to love others.

Loving ourselves may seem like a simple and easy thing to do, but sometimes it's not.  In fact, sometimes it really, really hard.  Sometimes we get down on ourselves.  Sometimes we mess up.  Sometimes we fail. Sometimes we feel defeated.  Sometimes we feel worthless.  It's hard to love God and love others when we're thinking such low thoughts about ourselves.

On the other hand, loving ourselves may be way too easy.  Maybe we think of ourselves more highly than we ought (Romans 12:3).  Maybe we excuse our bad behavior and character traits instead of trying to better ourselves.  Maybe we're prideful, arrogant, self righteous.  Maybe we believe we've done everything alone to get to where we are in life.  This kind of thinking doesn't have room for others and it certainly doesn't have room for God.

In the areas of loving others and loving ourselves, the key is balance.  God must be our first love, but we must also recognize God as the creator of all things....the ruler of all things...the judge of all things.  HE is everything.  His gift of Jesus is everything.  We must recognized these important facts.  

The balance of loving others and ourselves is crucial to healthy spiritual living.  We shouldn't neglect ourselves physically, mentally, or spiritually, but we mustn't neglect those needs in others, either. God, as Creator, created us in His image.  If we don't love ourselves and love others, what are we saying to God?  That we don't love His creation?  It would seem so, wouldn't it?

So, during this month of love, let's each make it a point to strive to love God each and every day.  Let's love others and see their needs.  And finally, but just as important, let's love ourselves. We can love others and love ourselves only by keeping our eyes focused on the One who loves us most - God.  We can love others and love ourselves only by keeping our eyes on the One who gave His life for us because He loved us so - Jesus.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 

1 John 4:7-11

PRAISE THE LORD!

Praise the LORD from the earth,

you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,

lightning and hail, snow and clouds,

stormy winds that do his bidding,

you mountains and all hills,

fruit trees and all cedars,

wild animals and all cattle,

small creatures and flying birds,

kings of the earth and all nations,

you princes and all rulers on earth,

young men and women,

old men and children.

Let them praise the name of the LORD,

for his name alone is exalted;

his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

PSALM 148:7-13

Photo Credits:
Some of these photos are from:  Me, several come from acobox.com. 
The "Lord Reigns Over All" photo is from Christian Clipart
and the last one, "Road to Heaven" comes from: Photo by John Watson lightproofbox.com/road-to-heaven

Gratituesday - Snow Days!!

What am I grateful for on this GRATITUESDAY?
Snow Days!

 

No school for Tuesday and Wednesday, so lots of fun for the kiddos!

I think this little bird was even enjoying the snowy day!

Playing in the snow.

Buried in the snowy ditch!

Too powdery for snowballs, so they just threw it in the air!

Snow Ice Cream....YUMMY!  (Recipe posted on our recipe blog - here.)

To find out what others are grateful for, visit Heavenly Homemakers.