Posted in inspirational

Well, it's true.  We WILL be surprised by who we see in heaven...

But God who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4-7

He is rich in mercy, giving to all who ask.  And we don't know who is asking for His mercy while believing in Christ Jesus.  There are lots of people that we decide are "dead in trespasses" who may be crying out to their Savior in their prayer closets, unbeknownst to us.    So we are made alive with all of those who cry out to God through Christ.  We will be raised up with all of those who cry out for mercy to God through Christ.  And we will see these people in heaven.  Won't we be surprised?

So, I'm thinking that God uses "time out" in heaven.  This verse says that he will make us sit together.  I think we'll be sitting beside those we may have judged...time out.  What better way is there for Him to show His "exceeding riches of grace and kindness"?

Posted in inspirational

Posted in inspirational

In the past few years, we have been praying about moving our little family from our home in Central Pennsylvania to Northern Minnesota.  My husband was raised in a small town about an hour south of the Canadian border.  We have talked about the move for quite some time and I am at peace with however God leads us.  We recently returned from spending 8 days with family who live there.  It was truly relaxing.  Our trip to Minnesota, however, had God’s hand all over it.  He made points in several places to show me that He was there.

 (Main Street, Park Rapids, MN)

(The Park Theater in Park Rapids)

I did have one troubled night.  After spending the evening visiting relatives I could not shake an anxious feeling.  I was exhausted and when my husband and I went to bed I slept fitfully.  I was awake several times that night with anxious feelings.  I would wake from a dead-sleep with butterflies in my stomach and my heart racing.  Some of it was related to the visit earlier in the evening.  There was some tension and I had a bad feeling about the location.  But laying awake in the dark with my heart racing, it was very difficult to not visit a very fearful place in my mind.  When I awoke in the morning I felt as though I had hardly slept at all.  My stomach was upset, my head ached and I was very emotional.  I found myself alone for a little while and as I did, I cried out to God.  As I began to cry in earnest, I told God, “I can’t move here.  I just can’t live here.”  It really grieved me to say that.  My husband and I had talked about moving to Minnesota and I knew that he was really desiring to be “home” once again.

It was then that I opened the bible we had brought with us.  It usually doesn’t work out very well for me to just open up my bible and have it fall on a passage I need.  But this day was an exception.  I grabbed the bible and peeled in open.  As I did, my eyes fell on Psalm 61.

 ¹ Hear my cry, O God;
       listen to my prayer.

 ² From the ends of the earth I call to you,
       I call as my heart grows faint;
       lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

 ³ For you have been my refuge,
       a strong tower against the foe.

 ⁴ I long to dwell in your tent forever
       and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.
       Selah

 ⁵ For you have heard my vows, O God;
       you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

 ⁶ Increase the days of the king's life,
       his years for many generations.

 ⁷ May he be enthroned in God's presence forever;
       appoint your love and faithfulness to protect him.

 ⁸ Then will I ever sing praise to your name
       and fulfill my vows day after day.

It was as though David was praying for me in this Psalm.  I was crying out to God to “hear me!”  When I read “from the ends of the earth I call to you” I almost laughed.  At that moment, Northern Minnesota seemed like the ends of the earth to me.  And my heart was definitely “growing faint.”  But when I read this Psalm I was lead “to the Rock that is higher than I.”  I felt, once again, fortified.

Later that same day, I was out to lunch with my mother-in-love.  While there I noted a large table of women.  They were obviously celebrating one of the women’s birthdays as there was a decorated cake and some presents in the middle of the table.  Before they were served their lunch, every one at the table bowed their heads and one woman lead the group in prayer.  I felt like God was laying His hand on my shoulder and whispering, “I’m here.”

My sleep patterns returned to normal as the week progressed.  I was grateful for no more anxiety attacks.  But I was noting as we drove through town that there weren’t any large developed evangelical-style churches on the roads we were driving.  I was looking ahead to a time when we would be living there.  Where would we worship?  We took our boys to the McDonald’s in town so that I could use their WiFi and check email.  As we sat there sipping sodas, a polite young man walked up to my husband and introduced himself.  He said he was the new youth pastor at the church down the road.  Todd explained that we were currently not living in the state, but this young man took the time to visit with us anyway.  He told us about his heart for the youth of the area.  He spoke of the size of his current youth group and his desire to save the kids in the area from the “bad stuff” happening among them.  He was a lovely young man.  I wonder if he knew that God was using him to say, “I’m here.”

All too soon, our time with our family in Northern Minnesota came to a close.  We all cried as we drove down the highway toward home.  Although the tears ended, we are all still a bit homesick for Minnesota and the family we left behind.  I know that if He sends us, He will be there.  He showed me that already. 

(The Big Dog and his dad with our boys)

Posted in inspirational

I love Grace Livingston Hill.  I began to read her when I was nursing our oldest son, Big Mac.  I would exit our church service to nurse him outside the church library.  While walking through the library I picked up a book to read.  It was Grace Livingston Hill's "Christmas Bride."  Since that day I've read many of her books, she wrote more than 90.

Her books can be formulaic.  There is usually a hero and a damsel in distress.  Sometimes the roles are reversed.  Usually one of the main characters is a Christian and the other is not, or is back-slidden.  The wealthy rescue the poor, and the saved lead the un-saved to Christ.  They are always uplifting and encouraging to me.

I don't feed on a steady diet of Mrs. Hill, but I do return to her every few months for a bit of a respite from other books that may not encourage me as much as she always does.

Last week was no exception when I read "Sunrise."  This was the story of a few families in a small town.  A scandal rocked the town and the crime was pinned on two young men who were innocent.  The families were struggling to believe in their boys, and the women who loved them were on their knees on the young-men's behalf.  God brought these boys to the middle of the ocean to get their attention and bring them to Him.  It was a great read!

Here are some quotes I've copied from the book.  They spoke to me as I was reading.  If you haven't read any of Grace Livingston Hill's books, pick one up.  Be encouraged!

All quotes are from Sunrise by Grace Livingston Hill, Grosset & Dunlap 1937:

'I'll find a way to stop it or I'll disown him!'

'Father!  You know you wouldn't do that!  Even God doesn't do that! Not to His real own children!'

p. 9

"Over across the pastures Hannah Parsons got out the hardest task she could find and sat down to work late.  She always did that when there was hard sailing ahead-something to fear or something to bear--she looked for the hardest task she could find and worked at it with all her might.  it seemed to make the time go faster.

p. 41

She longed with all her heart that her son should be a true knight and go on the right kinds of errands, but he was young enough and eager enough to mistake values, and to think a matter of vindicating his own or some friend's rights a sufficient cause for sacrifice.

p. 42

What would he have wanted her to say about his departure?  Oh! she must rather ask herself, what would God want her to say?  And she could trust God to teach her waht to say.

P. 58

'Father in heaven, I'm putting my trust in you!' breathed Hannah softly in her heart, and turned her quiet eyes on the man who questioned her.

p. 59

She brought him white bread of her own baking, and butter of her own making that smelled of the clover from which it was brewed.  She brought a comb of honey from their own hives, and a dish of her yellow tomato preserve, a foaming glass of milk from their own cow, a piece of custard pie and some cottage cheese to which their own hens and cow had contributed, and contentedly he drew up his chair and ate, slowly, deliberately.

p. 89-90

Our Father knows just how we feel, and He's putting every one of those tears down in His book, and the time will come when He'll have them in remembrance and make it all right!

p. 96

The night might be dark now, but Day was prmised and their Guide could see in the dark as well as in the day, and 'He knowethe the end from the beginning.'

p. 97

What a leveler death was!  How it suddenly took the power from villains and brought their evil machinations to an end!

p. 37

Her tenderness was more like the overshadowing of a bride for her beloved, than the fussing of an elderly married woman over a sick husband.

p. 231

The captain was a man who used oaths as crutches to get him from one word to another...

p. 259

When once a man takes Jesus Christ as his Savior the personal relationship must be kept close and vital at all costs or that man is going to show a mighty inconsistant Christan life to the world...

p. 267

How careful parents ought to be to teach their children not to have fellowship with unbelievers, not to choose their intimate friends from among them, not to marry them!

p. 296

...weeping over disappointments and not looking up for God's way, and God's appointments.

p. 296

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At lunch we say  this prayer:

God is great and God is good.

And we thank Him for this food.

By His hand we all are fed.

Give us, Lord, our daily bread.

Amen

Today, after saying our lunch prayer, our 12-year-old, Big Mac, said, "Does God only have one hand?" 

I said, "No."

Big Mac said, "Yes, but God only NEEDS one hand!"

Too right!!

Posted in inspirational

About two weeks ago I began a monstrous "To Do" list.  One of my mentors is Cindy Rushton.  (www.cindysdesktop.com, www.writers-nook.com, www.cindyrushton.com)  On her writer's nook web site, she said that you can really make a change in your life by writing everything down.  She advised to get a little book and carry it with you.  Everytime you think of something you want to do, you should write it down.  I began doing that.  I'm on page 6!  I have written things I want to do around the house; things I want to do with our little homeschool; projects I want to knit and crochet; and things I want to do for others.  Eventually I will take this giant list, when I feel like my brain has really been dumped, and organize it into specific projects.  I will sort the line items by their categories, such as crafts, homeschool, home repair, etc...   But I am beginning to cross off some of these things with a highlighter even before they are sorted into categories.  I love working from this list.   I am more focused about what I am doing.  I have a few spare minutes in my day and I think, "What can I do to cross something off my list?"  It has made my already-productive days more productive.

Another great dividend of making this list is that as the mundane chore-type projects were dumped onto the list, my mind was freed to dream about the things I really want to do.  The big dreams made their way to my list after a few days of listing chores and home repair.  I can feel the change in my life already by just beginning to dream dreams.  By putting those dreams on paper, I'm really feeling for the first time like they might actually happen!  It's given me a hopeful bublly feeling deep inside.

This week, the items on my list that seem to be glaring at me are the "declutter" items.  I need to clean out/reorganize my closet.  I need to do a purge in the basement.  I need to de-clutter the book shelves and the craft hutch...the list goes on and on.  I began Monday by working in Big Dog's study and clearing books.  I then moved into my bookshelf in our bedroom and got it cleaned and organized.  Each day, as I plan to tackle another area, I pray and ask My Father if this is something He would want me to do.  So, it will come as no surprise what Cindy Rushton's current article is about on her website?  Decluttering!  This morning, I woke up and started my daily to do list.  I added a declutter area to my list and asked My Father if that is what He would want me to do?  Then I checked my email and "The Homeschool Minute" was in my in-box.  Guess what it was about?  Yep, decluttering!!!

I find that The Lord affirms me in many ways.  Sometimes, I don't recognize His affirmation until later.  I want to be so aware of His presence in my life that I see His affirmations as they happen.  As I seek His will for my life, I can see His hand in guiding me.

Last week, He used my email inbox to affirm our parenting choices.  Someone encouraged me to send our boys to a week-long summer camp.  My husband and I have made a decision for our family that we don't want the boys spending long periods of time away from us and certainly not sleep-away periods of time.  We want to be their peer group.  We don't know how we could follow the command in Deuteronomy to teach them "all along the way" when they are not with us.  So we do not send them to sleep-away camps.  As this person encouraged us to send the boys away, I fervrently prayed that The Lord would change my heart if I was wrong in my way of thinking.  I just want to be in the center of His will and if His will is summer camp, then He must change my heart.  A few short days after this summer-camp discussion, I got my copy of Lorri Flemm's ezine in my in-box.  Can you guess what one of her articles was concerning?  Her rule that she doesn't send her children on sleep-away excursions!

Affirmations.  I wrote once, a long time ago, about how My Father continually affirms our little home school.  When I decided, years ago, to study the ocean, a free ocean's unit study landed in my in-box.  When I began reading the book "The Secret Garden" to the boys last Spring, the Monday freebie at www.currclick.com was a time-tags project for that book.  He affirms our home school.  He affirms our parenting.  He affirms my to do list! 

When I am really seeking His ways and to be in the center of His will, My Father puts His hand on my back and says, "Walk this way."  I've listed just a few examples of how He's done this recently.  It's exciting to look at these things and give the credit where it is due.  The Father in Heaven is an Affirming God.  I am a grateful girl.

Posted in inspirational

Today's sermon was from Luke 5:1-11.  The story of the disciples fishing expedition.  In case you don't remember, the disciples had been fishing all night.  They had not caught any fish and they were tired.  Feeling defeated, they decided to haul in the nets and head for shore.   That is when Jesus said, "Throw your nets onto the other side."  When the disciples did as they were told, they caught more fish than their nets could hold.  The boat was so laden down with fish that it almost sank!

Our preacher today reminded us as one of the points of his sermon that Jesus used people to perform his miracles.  When he changed the water into wine, the waiters first had to fill the jugs.  In order for the lame man to begin walking, he had to pick up his mat.  Each time he performed a miracle, a mere mortal had to do something before the miracle was performed.  In today's story, the disciples had to cast their nets out before they could receive th catch of fish.

Thirteen years ago I had what would appear to outsiders as a very successful career.  Big Dog and I had been married for almost four years.  Although we wanted children right away in our marriage, children hadn't come yet.  I was working and travelling quite often in my job.  And then, we began to feel that God was leading us for me to quit my job.  It made no sense at all.  I was actually making twice as much money as my husband.  We didn't own a home or have a lot of debt, but to give up 2/3 of our income was crazy!  But this idea wouldn't go away.  So, we threw up our hands and said, "OK God, we'll do it!"  I resigned, with no idea of what would come next.  The very next day, I was offered a position as a contractor.  This position was less stress, less hours, and less money, but it was a way for me to slowly wean myself from corporate life and for us to begin to learn how to live on less money.

While working the contract position, I began a small home-based business.  Within a year, we felt that it was time for me to quit the contract position.  On the day I resigned, I got two new clients for my home-based business and learned that I was pregnant with our first child.

You see, sometimes, maybe even most times, we need to take the step in order for God to perform the miracle.  He asks us to do something before He shows his plan and his power.  That's how it has worked for me numerous times in my life.  Just like the story of my career and the beginning of our family.  God required me to take a step, or a leap, before He provided the safety net.  But just when I leaped, that net was there, saving me once again.

When you know that you are centered in His will, you can trust that He will keep you safe as you take any leap of faith He requires.  Did quitting a lucrative career make sense in man's eyes?  Absolutely not!  But had I stuck with the safe route, I would have never seen His glorious hand in my life!  If you are sure that you are in the center of His will, take the leap, God will provide the safety net!

Posted in inspirational

Today's summer camp afternoon activity was a trip to the movie theater.  We took in the "cheap" theater which is only $2 per person and saw the movie "Space Chimps."

Here are two line from that movie that made me ponder:

1.  Life's just like a circus, only the tents are bigger.

2.  Do you know what it feels like to live your life in someone's shadow?  Cold.

Posted in inspirational

Thursday was Thanksgiving.  We spent a lovely day at my sister's home with my family and a few friends.  We spent the night there and I got up at 0-dark-thirty and went black Friday shopping with my sister's children.  We spent the wee hours of the morning standing in line at Target.  Then standing in line at Kohl's.  I had a wonderful time.  My nephew is now 21 years old and my neice is turning 20.  I love those two children as if they are my very own.  Being able to spend those precious hours with them laughing and listening to them talk about their future plans blessed me beyond measure.  Later that morning as the three of us sat down to breakfast at my favorite place, Cracker Barrel, all I could say as I prayed before eatting was, "Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you."

We spent the better part of the day at my sister's later celebrating my neice's upcoming 20th birthday.  It was another evening with family and very enjoyable.  But then it was time to pack up the boys and our overnight bags and head home to Perry County.  It did not take long after entering our home to find that there was no water.  We weren't getting water in any way throughout the house.  Since God knew that we were going home to no water, He had arranged for us to have two large empty water jugs.  My husband was supposed to take them with him to deer camp the next morning.  Instead, he took them to our friend's home and filled them so that we had water to "flush" the toilet and use to brush our teeth and wash our faces.  While retrieving water at our friend's home, this friend shared that he might have a well-pump.  This left us feeling hopeful when we went to bed Friday night.

On Saturday morning, the men began trying to fix the pump.  Hours later, they called a professional.  It was then that we learned that our pump could not be fixed and would have to be replaced by a different kind of pump that would require the excavation of our yard to find our well.  The friend that had filled our water-jugs and come to help fix the problem then graciously offered their home.  We went there for supper and to have showers, but returned to our home to sleep.

On Sunday, we worshipped at our home church.  It was hymn sing Sunday, and we were blessed by our worship with our church family.  But returning home, my enthusiasm for pretending to be Laura Ingalls Wilder while boiling all our water and not being able to bathe was over.  I wanted a shower and to do our laundry.  It was then that we decided to head to my mother for however many days it would take to repair our ailing water pump.

We spent four days at my mother's.  It was touch-and-go as to getting someone to come and fix our water situation.  This week was deer season, so every plumber and excavator in Perry County, Pennsylvania was in the woods all day on Monday and Tuesday.  But on Tuesday evening, my husband arranged to meet a plumber and a back-hoe operator at our home Wednesday morning.  By 4 PM, there was water, albeit brown water, running through our pipes.

We returned to our home Thursday morning.  We had secured financing in order to pay for the necessary repairs and stopped to pick up the check on our way home from my mother's.  Once home, the water was still a light shade of brown, but after a few hours "flushing" the pipes, we now have running, clear, drinkable, batheable, flushable water.  I've never been so grateful for running water and flushing toilets in my life!

So now, you're thinking, "Great story, Lori Lynn.  And your point?"  Well, here it is.  And please bear with me because, truthfully, I'm still flushing out the meaning in my own heart.   No pun intended.   In Deuteronomy 30:19 it says ,"I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing:  therefore choose life"  It seemed as this most recent trial emerged in our life this week I went from cursing to blessing from moment to moment.

Cursing:  we got home from a lovely Thanksgiving to find no water in our home  Blessing:  friends from church instantly gave us water and offered their help repairing the problem.

Cursing:  our pump could not be fixed as quickly as we had hoped  Blessing:  those same friends opened their home to us and made us feel loved and welcomed.  And then my mother so graciously let us invade her peace and quiet.

Cursing:  getting ready for church, I had to dunk my head in a bucket of cold water in order to fix my hair for church.  Blessing:  church was a wonderful worshipful experience that blessed us immensely.

Cursing:  my husband, who lives for deer season, could not go this year and it was our 11 year old son's first opportunity to hunt deer with his daddy.  Blessing:  while driving home from church, our son said, "I'm just trying to figure out why God didn't want me to go hunting this year.  But I know He has a plan!"  I don't know where that maturity came from, but I praise God for it!

Cursing:  We could not get anyone to come out to fix the pump becuase of deer-hunting season.  Blessing:  My mother suggested calling our insurance company and asking if this might be covered by our homeowner's insurance.  Since our time was not being taken by arranging workers, my husband could take a few hours and focus on coordinating information with our insurance agent.  And the repairs may be covered!

Cursing:  We already have a considerable amount of debt due to poor choices with credit cards.  We are working hard to climb out of that debt.  We had to get a loan to pay for the costly repairs to our well.  Blessing:  We had a loan that would pay for our repair.  If we had taken the same loan which was offered to us over a month before, we would not have had any financing opportunity to pay for this repair.   Even better blessing:  My father called to offer to pay for our repair.  He now knows that we have credit card debt, which is a tough pride-pill for me to swallow, but he is still offering his help.

This verse in Deuteronomy has become so poignant to me through this trial.  I could look at this trail as nothing but a curse, but I am choosing life.  I am choosing the blessing.   This Sunday, our small group will begin studying the first chapter of James.  My friend, the wife of the man who tried to help us repair our broken pump, wrote to me telling me of how inspiring James 1 has been to her as she and her husband study it in preparation for our meeting.  She wrote, "First, we must realize that there is purpose in trials.  Second, there is wisdom in trials.  Third, there is comfort in trials knowing that this life is not all there is."

So the next blessing is the blessing of the insight of Christian sisters.  I have not processed all that this life brings me and certainly not all that this last week has brought, but God continually blesses me.  And I am called by Him to claim the blessing and NOT the curse.  Our life is one of favor.  We are the blessed of the Lord.  Join me in choosing life.  Choose blessing!

Posted in inspirational

A little over a month ago, we lost our dog.  Frisbee had been our dog for almost 9 years.  He was our first pet.  My youngest son was a 18 months old when we got Frisbee.  So, he can't remember a time when Frisbee was not part of our family.  And suddenly, Frisbee was gone and we were heart broken.   It was so difficult to grieve with my two sons.  And the pain my husband and I felt was also very real.  My husband used to pet Frisbee and say, "I'm going to miss you when you're gone."  And now, he really was gone.  We were all so very sad.

Of course, friends and family immediately began looking for a puppy for us.  My mother called with a Brittany (Frisbee's breed) she had found in the paper.  She was ready to go out and buy us a new puppy.  My neice and sister were looking on puppy web sites for us.  I recently learned that one man from church was ready to go to the local shelter and just get us a dog!  When friends and family are grieving, you just want to act to relieve their pain.  That's what our friends and family were doing and we love them for it.

But with each offer and phone call, we said, "No.  God's going to provide a puppy.  We'll know it when it happens."  We just had a feeling that God was going to do something to provide a new dog for our family.  A week after Frisbee died, we emailed a friend who had bred her beagle recently.  She was out of puppies, but that began our conversations that  a beagle pup might be a nice fit for us.

Fast forward to two weeks ago.  My husband was early for a meeting at work.  While he and some co-workers were waiting for the meeting to begin he said, "Oh, if anyone knows of any puppy litters, my family and I are looking for a puppy.  We just lost our family dog about a month ago."  Someone asked, "What breed are you looking for?"  My husband said, "We were talking about a beagle, but we're open to anything."  One of the women who works for my husband said, "You're kidding.  My boyfriend's friend just had a littler of beagle puppies!" 

Later that week, she gave my husband the phone number.  He looked at the three-digit exchange and said, "That's our exchange.  Is this family in Newport?"  This was the first example of seeing God's hand in bringing a puppy to us.  The family lives in the same town we do.  Since my husband works 30 miles from our home and the woman who works for him lives 20 miles away from us, we would not expect this family with the puppies to be from our town. 

When my husband called about the puppies, he spoke with the woman for several minutes.  They made arrangements for us to come and look at the puppies.  Of course, this woman knew right where we live which is  just a few miles from them.  When the day arrived for us to meet the puppies, my husband called the owners of the beagles and spoke with the father.  He said that it would not work for us to meet the puppies that day.  Then he said, "Are you the one who lost a dog and has two boys?  Well, I'm not going to charge you for this dog!  Those boys need a dog."  Evidence #2 that this puppy was God's plan for our family.

We were feeling God's hand guiding us to this puppy.  He began by puttng the idea of a beagle in our hearts.  Then He prompted my husband to speak about a new puppy at the meeting at work.  He timed it perfectly with his co-workers, and the birth of the puppies.  AND he placed the family in the very town in which we live.

Finally, the day arrived that we could meet our puppy and put a collar on him.  We would not be able to take him home yet, but we could call him "ours."  As I was preparing supper for us to eat before we went to meet the puppy, I reflected on how God had brought this puppy into our family.  At the time when Frisbee died, we had endured a series of several trials.  We were weary but trying to remain thankful through our trial.  It amazed me how God was favoring our family in guiding us to this puppy.  And that's when it hit me.  THAT was the name of the puppy..."Favor."   Every time we called him we would remember God's favor to our family.

The time came for us to drive to the home where the beagle puppies were born.  As we arrived, I saw the children playing in the yard and I thought, "Those children look familiar."  We walked into the kitchen and the mother said, "Oh good, someone I know!"  She and I had been on many field trips with our county's homeschool support group.  Although we didn't know each other well, we had been on a few trips and outtings together with our children.  God had used so many situations to say, "Here's your puppy."  Knowing the family was the final line in a long string of evidence that God had orchestrated bringing Favor to our family.   In a month, we will bring him home, but for now, there is a little 3-week-old beagle puppy with a tiny blue collar in another home in our town who is living breathing evidence of God's favor on our little family.

Posted in inspirational

Since returning from our summer vacation, we have been enduring a time of trial.  To coin a phrase, it has been "one thing on top of another."  We had spent our two-week trip travelling to and from Northern Minnesota to visit family.  Less than one hour after walking into our home we got a phone call from my husband's brother who lives in Minnesota.  My husband's mother was being air lifted to a hospital in North Dakota.  She was having chest pains and the doctor said that time was critical.

"Mamaw" was in the hospital for six days.  After two stint procedures she returned to her apartment.  Praise God, there was no more serious damage or any limits placed on her work or lifestyle.  Certainly there will be no more smoking (pray for her to be able to quit after nearly 50 years), and other changes will be made to diet and exercise, perhaps.  But she is able to return to her home and work.

Three days after my mother-in-law was sent home from the hospital, our dog had to be taken to the veterinarian's office.  We expected to pick him up the following day after calling the vet. at 2 PM.  When I called the next day I was told  that there was nothing to be done for our "Frisbee."  Our dog was gone.  We had him since moving to this, our first home.  He was a part of our family.  We were all very very sad.  It was the most difficult grief to endure with our young boys.

Couple this with other financial issues, strife at church, and household problems and my husband and I began to feel very tried indeed.  We did try to stay intentional.  We gave thanks for all that we had and for our very breath.  We prayed as a family giving thanks.  We upheld each other and encouraged the boys that it was ok to feel sad but not ok to dwell in our sadness.

But today, I had a thought that was new to me since our time of trial began.  I have been listing in my mind all that has happened in the past few weeks.  "Mother-in-law had a heart attack."  " Frisbee died."  "Division in our church."  "Surmounting debt."  And as I began an imaginary  conversation in my mind where I listed my trials, I was prompted to change the wording of my list.

How much different is it if I say, "Mother-in-law survived a heart attack."  "We have the opportunity to look for a new puppy."  "We have a place in which to worship freely with people who love us." "We are able to pay all of our bills and because of our debt are now having financial conversations we should have had years ago."  It's all about how you coin your phrase. 

Last week was bible school at our little country church.  On Monday night, bible school began and some of the regular attenders did not send their children to bible school.  I was offended and depressed because of those who were NOT at bible school.  If you would have asked me how bible school was going on Monday night I would have said, "Eh, okay.  Could be better."  On Thursday night a little seven-year-old girl came up to me after snack time and said, "I want Jesus to live in my heart."  If you would have asked me how bible school was going on Thursday night I would say, as I have ever since, "Amazing!"  Talk about coining a phrase!  Isn't it amazing what a change a few days can bring?  Had I given into my mood and attitude on Monday night, Thursday night's prayer for salvation may have never happened.  I need to turn my thoughts around and be grateful for what I have.  I need to change my negatives into positives while filterning them through a God-light.

I'm determined to change my talk.  I want my perspective to be a heavenly one.  So, I will turn my trials to joy with my lips.  I will coin my phrases to give God the glory.  As they say, "It's all in how you look at it."  Well, I'm looking from a whole different angle.  Praise God! 

Posted in inspirational

In a recent email from one of my friends, she was recounting her plans for the weekend.  As with most mothers, and especially with working moms, she had a gazillion errands and projects on which to work, but it was this sentence that caught my eye:

Sunday I'll have my traditional morning retreat to my patio with my radio tuned to a jazz
station, a cup of tea and a book.   It's heaven, I tell ya!  

Upon reading this, I was jealous.  But then I self-righteously thought, well I CAN'T do that because I'm in church!  But for the past three days, my mind has travelled back to  Joannie's weekly retreat.  I've placed myself  in a white wooden rocker on my girlfriend's brick patio, surrounded  by the flowers that she plants and tends so lovingly.  I imagine the cool of a late Spring or early Summer morning when the sun is not yet high in the sky and the light all around is a pale yellow.  The sky, of course, is bright blue, but not cloudless.  The clouds are perfectly white and dancing around the sky in a fluffy ovals.   And I am sitting in this perfect morning, enjoying everything God has placed around me.  I am in a true place of worship.

But instead, I will be in church.   Although we have structured Sunday mornings so that they are not totally frenzied, there is no time for quiet reflection.  Our morning is busy as we prepare for church.  Church is busy as I serve at church and help to instruct our boys in the practice of worship.  But it is not a time of quiet reflection.  I don't take  the time to notice the nature surrounding me, or experience the peace of a summer morning.   I try to be active in worship.  I try to focus on the message being given and the allow the words of the music to teach my soul.  I'm a music person, so I let the music minister to me and lift my spirits.  But it's not a time of quiet where I am just in God's presence, experiencing fellowship with Him in a quiet and personal way.

When visitng my sister's church last year, the worship leader had someone read an excerpt form a worhsip book by Matt Redman.  He spoke in the book about how his church had distorted worship and come to a place where they had to strip away all the trappings of what we call "worship".  The instruments and even the music went away.  He wrote that, at first, it was ackward and seemed unnatural.  But as the congregation came into the presence of God on their own, but in the setting of corporate worship, it became such a beautiful experience.  Eventually the music and the instruments returned but everyone had experienced worship in such a real and personal way that it was never the same again.

I realized today, as I was imagining myself on my friend's patio once again, that what Joannie experience's every Sunday is true worship.  It is personal.  It is quiet.  It is a time of awe at the creation of The Creator.  In some ways, it is more worshipful than what I do for a few hours on Sunday morning.

The Word says, "Do not give up meeting together."  And I certainly am not proposing that I should forgo church all together and go sit on a patio every Sunday morning.  BUT I am planning to incorporate more of what my girlfriend experiences while sitting on her patio while I am sitting in the second row of the right hand side at Eshcol Brethren In Christ Church.  I am going to cease the business of worship and participate in the quiet and the reflection, and the acknowledgment of the beauty around me.  God has shown me true worship, if only in my imaginings.  I plan to pursue it until the experience matches the day dreams.

Posted in inspirational

Late this morning my husband called from work.  He said, "Do you ever have one of those days where you thought you were all caught up and then everyone needs something from you?  And you're trying to work on one thing and someone's asking for something else, and another person is asking for something else?"

I said, "Welcome to my world!  Right now I'm pulling together music for Sunday;" (I'm the worship leader at our small-country church, "working with one child on his math, and working with another on his handwriting"  I didn't tell him that I had a load of laundry in the dryer, a chorus printing off the printer, and my email up on the laptop!  He did respond with, "Oh yeah, this is kind of what your day is like every day!"

A year or more ago, I was a Flylady follower.  I was in desperate need of routines and order and she helped me to gain SOME of that.  I'm afraid I'll always have a little chaos in our home.  One of her sayings was "There's no such thing as multi-tasking."  When she was doing laundry, she was doing laundry.  When she did dishes, that is all she did.  She didn't give a child their math work, and then begin to unload the dishwasher while answering the child's question.

I'm afraid that multi-tasking is REQUIRED of a homeschool mother.  Rarely will a day go as I plan it, and I'm learning to have grace for the interruptions to my schedule.  As Proverbs say, "Many are the plans in a man's heart but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails!"  I want to be about His purpose!  I truly do.  But I also want to accomplish what's  on my to-do list.  Cindy Rushton has had some teachings lately about bringing your organizer and "To Do" list to the feet of God when you are doing your daily devotions.  She says that Rhea Perry has taught her to sit with her open organizer and say, "OK God is all that I have planned ok?  Show me what to change."

So, let's begin anew to put our lists before God.  Maybe He is a fan of multi-tasking.  Or maybe He wants you and I to slow down and take  one thing at a time appreciating every activity, even unloading the dishwasher.  As for me, I think I'll stop all this and just focus on the boys for a little while, then maybe a bubble bath and a book are in my future!  Now THAT kind of multi-tasking I can handle!

Posted in inspirational

I was recently speaking with someone who was complaining about not being recognized for her leadership in a group.  She made the comment, "So what, all I'm good for is cooking and cleaning the house?"  Although I said nothing, I thought "All I want to be good for is cooking and cleaning.  All I want in this world is to make our home."   The only title I want is "homemaker."  I've had other titles.  I've had fancy titles and very responsible titles.  None of them made me feel like I was home.  None of my titles gave me the calm in my spirit that being a wife, mother, and homemaker has given me.  This is God's will for my life.

I was listening to a Cindy Rushton seminar recently and she was talking about a time when her children were small.  She was in Sunday school telling her class about how God blessed her days with her children.  She told her Sunday school teacher how each day was full of teachable moments.   After finishing her explanation of her week, her teacher said, "That's great Cindy, but what have you done for God lately?"  I have received comments like this many times.  I've had people question what I know to be God's will for my life in just the same way Mrs. Rushton described.  Once, I told someone that all I wanted was to be home with my children, educating them and taking care of our home.  That person said, "Yes, but is that all GOD wants you to do?"  Somehow, homemaking has become a secondary pursuit that comes AFTER God's true calling in our lives.  Some time in the past 50 years, homemaking has become something you do if you have time, not a calling in one's life.  Many people question a homemaker asking if there is something more that they could be doing.

Today, as I was making supper, it hit me.  Just as clearly as anything has ever been, I knew my response to all the questioners.  I know, today, my response to all those who would say that I need to be working for the kingdom outside my home.  And, hopefully, I can communicate this as clearly to you as it was when the Lord first laid it on my heart this afternoon.

I make my home so that my husband can go to work.  By keeping our home, he can go and earn a living without worrying that things are being taken care of at home.  By keeping our home, my husband can reach out to those at work.  He can share scriptures with others and speak with conviction about his beliefs because there is no baggage from home that he carries with him to work.  And because he is earning a living outside our home, he is able to give to the kingdom through tithes and offerings.  He can give these tithes and offerings because I have kept his home.  By keeping our home, our boys and my husband can bring friends home with confidence knowing that all will be welcome and a warm meal will be prepared.  By keeping our home, my children will grow in grace each day.  I am here to catch those times when the boys want to talk.  We can be in the word each day together, because I am keeping our home.  By keeping our home, my boys will grow up and reach out to those in their community and at their workplaces.  They will be confident in their faith and secure in their identities because I kept their home.

What have I done for the kingdom today?  I've impacted every person with whom my husband has come in contact, because I kept his home.  I've impacted all of my children's friends, because I kept our home.  I'm part of each person to whom my children will witness in the future, because I was faithful to God's call in my life.  When He said, "Keep this home for Me."  I said, "Here I am!"

 I read this quote on Mrs. Wilt's website:  http://www.thesparrowsnest.typepad.com/  Martin Luther said, "What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God.  We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow."  He saw the importance of home keeping and elevated the calling to one of Godliness.

Several weeks ago, God gave me a verse.  Jesus actually said this about his ministry, but it applies to my life as well:  "This is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all He has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day."  John 6:39.  I wrote this in my journal and wrote, "This is my calling in life!"  and circled it.  God gave me my husband and my two sons.  He gave me a home to keep for them.  I will lose nothing, and will raise it up at the last day.  I will keep their home.

I am called to be a home maker.  Would you go to your Pastor and ask him to take a job building highways?  No, you would not because he answered the call to shepherd a flock.  Would you ask an artist to go and be a brick layer?  No, because he is gifted by God as an artist and you don't question that giftedness.  I was given the calling to be a home maker.   So, no, I won't be taking on many other responsibilities outside my home, because this is to where God has called me.  I know this because this is the only job I've ever had that DOESN'T make me say, "Well, this is nice...and I'm good at it, but there has to be something better out there."  When I wake up, I know that I am doing the exact job God made me to do.  I am a wife.  I am a mother.  I am cooking, cleaning, and homeschooling.  I am making the home that God planned for myself, my husband, and my sons.  And through this home, He will do great things. 

Posted in inspirational

Today was a quiet day and I had a chance to "catch up" on my reading.  I'm trying to read through the entire bible from Genesis to Revelation this year.  I am about two weeks behind even after spending the better part of the morning reading!

As I was reading in Exodus about the construction of the temple and all of it's furniture, I thought about how the furniture was ready to move at a moment's notice.  The table of incense, the ark of the covenant, and the table for the show bread were all equipped with a golden ring at each of the four top corners of the pieces of furniture.  Into these rings, long wooden poles were inserted so that when the Lord moved, the pieces could be easily picked up and moved. 

God put his cloud over the tabernacle tent during the day.  At night, God represented Himself as a pillar of fire.  In Exodus 40:36, the Lord told Moses that when the cloud moved, the Israelites were to pack up and follow.  When the cloud remained on the tent, everyone stayed in that area.  When the cloud moved, the Israelites moved.  And they were ready.  All the priests needed to do to move the tabernacle furniture was pick them up by the poles and go.  They were ready to move when God said, "Move!"

It was upon reading this that I asked myself, "Am I ready to move when God says, 'Move!'?"  I need to be sure not to become too attached to anything of this world.  I need to be ready to throw off all of my stuff and all of my ideas when God says, "Move!"

So, are you living life with the poles in the furniture?  Are you ready to go?  If God called you to a mission in Africa, could you throw a few clothes in a bag and go?  Well, thankfully, God gives us more warning than a day to go to Africa!  But what about reaching out to the undesirable neighbor next door?  Can you throw aside your fear of rejection, or your disgust at another's lifestyle, to be a witness and go where God commands?  I have to say, that last example is one  with which I struggle.  I struggle with fear of man.  I struggle with fear of rejection.  But I'm feeling the challenge to dust off my poles.  I'm ready to watch the cloud.  I'm learning that I need to move when God says, "Move!"

I was always ready to go for the big things.  Go ahead, God, call me to the mission field.  We'll pack up the boys and go!  Have homeschool, will travel.  Go ahead, God, ask me to pursue foreign adoption.  I've got the poles in the furniture!  OK, God, shall we plant a church?  Do you want me to begin a city-wide women's bible study?  Let's go!  But, although God does occasionally ask big things of us, it is the day to day obedience for which He longs.  He wants us to move when He says, take a meal to the new neighbors.  He wants us to move when He says, wake up a few minutes earlier to spend extra time in prayer, or arrive at church a few minutes early to pray for those directing the service.  It is the, seemingly, little things to which God is more likely to call us.  Are you ready to move?

Matthew 24:42 says, "Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come."  The Israelites watched a pillar of cloud that was God.  We watch the clouds He created for another movement.   We are not watching for the cloud to move, but we're watching for them to part.  When the clouds do part, we will see our precious Savior coming to take us home.  Oh, come Lord Jesus!  I'm so ready to throw off these earthly trappings for His return!

But until then, just as the Israelites watched for the cloud to move, I'm watching.  My poles are in the furniture and I'm ready to answer His call.  I just pray that I can be faithful and go when He says, "Go!"

Posted in inspirational

My Aunt Janet loves to send letters.  I get several a year.  Each one is a treasure that makes me laugh out loud in some parts, and contemplate my life in other parts.  I love to get letters from Aunt Janet.  And so, I'm sharing some of her latest letter with you in hopes that it will encourage you as it did me.  Please note that Aunt Janet's letters have lots of run-on sentences and mixed-up grammar, but that makes them even more precious to me.

"Your golden years are ahead of you just enjoy the years now to the fullest, ya hear?  Please do.  Roll with the punches take the roller coaster ride (ups & downs) with a graain of salt and give thanks for everything."  (Aunt Janet doesn't know that I have a blog called Life on the Roller Coaster, isn't that funny?)

When talking about being a stay-at-home mom, "I wasn't organized I just dropped everything and did kids first!  Remember that and know one day you will be thankful you did.  The memories are priceless."

I don't need to add anything, her words and wisdom are so special and important.  I hope they inspire you and they do me.

Posted in inspirational

Today, I made pickles.  I love to can.  I try to do dill pickles, applesauce, tomatoes and a few sweet pickles each year.  It is a very gratifying activity for me, since I feel as though I am storing up summer's bounty to use during those cold winter months.  When I was a young girl, I loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books.  I always fantasized that I was living in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere, living off the land, cooking and sewing.  Scarily enough, that is still my daydream!  Although now, I dream of a small log cabin beside a lake in the middle of nowhere with a laptop and CNN.  Isn't it funny how your dreams change?

I am definitely digressing from what I wanted to share with you tonight!  As I was preparing the cucumbers to be packed in jars and covered in brine I started to think about how the cucumbers grow.  You see, when I prepare cucumbers for pickling, I cut off the bloom end of the cucumber.  It's easy to determine which end is the bloom end.  Cucumbers are darker on the end that was closest to the vine.  The end on which the bloom grew is lighter green in color.

As I was cutting these cucumbers today, I thought about my life.  What end of the cucumber do I want to be?  You see the end nearest to the vine is dark green.  This is the end that was fed and nourished by the life given it from the vine.  The end of the cucumber that was closest to the bloom did not get the same nourishment, so it's skin is lighter in color.  I want my life to be full of the nourishment that only Jesus can give.  If lives have color, I want the color of my life to be rich.  The only way to have that rich life, or abundant living, is by staying close to the vine.

John 15:1  I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

John 15:4  Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

If I stay close to Jesus, through prayer, through regular time reading the bible, through bringing every thought into captivity (II Cor 10:5).  My life can have a rich, vibrant color.  I can be the vine end of the cucumber, and not the bloom end.

So what happens to the end of the cucumber where there was once a beautiful orange flower?  Well, when I make pickels, that end gets removed and thrown into the compost bucket.  The flower has shriveled and left a brown blemish on the end of the cucumber.  I know people who have lives like the bloom on the cucumber.  They are bright and beautiful for a time, and then the flower fades.   A scar is left on their lives where the bloom used to be.  Where once they lived a life of color, like the color on the flower of the cucumber plant, they are now left with a dull green.  The bloom end of the cucumber is not a deep green, but a dull, light green.

I have a friend who is struggling with the result of some bad life choices.  She lived the rich color like the bloom on the cucumber for a period.  Now, she is left with the dull light green as her bloom has shriveled and fallen off of the plant.  I spoke with her this week and she told me that she used to think God humbled you by humiliating you.  She has now learned that God teaches you humility by showing you grace and forgiveness.  Her decisions hurt others in her family.  Now, she is experiencing the grace and forgiveness of God, her family, friends, and her church.  It is a very humbling thing to accept someone else's unconditional love and forgiveness when you know you were wrong.  But this is how God gets us back to that vibrant green life!  Our lives move toward the Vine and away from the bloom.

Ok, maybe the cucumber analogy has run its course.  But my afternoon spent trimming and packing cucumbers taught me life lessons that I needed to share with you tonight.

Live your life near the vine.  And live for the deep rich green color, it doesn't come in a quick burst of color in the form of a blooming flower.  It comes from staying close to the Vine, who is Jesus, and by drinking in all the nourishment only He can give.

Posted in inspirational

It has been over a week since I've written on my blog.  Our Roller Coaster has included Vacation Bible School, my mother's house getting struck by lightening, friends moving, other friends struggling, and just life.  When I would have time to sit down and check email, I wanted to write, but my fatigued and frazzled mind wouldn't allow it.  You know how you grab the bar of the roller-coaster car when you're speeding down an incline or cresting the hill for yet another drop?  Well, my brain was holding the bar and would not allow anything to be dumped out of this roller coaster car.

But this week, I'm able to sit for a few moments and write.  A little over a week ago my family and I spent the day at Hershey Park.  My husband's company graciously invites all of their employees to spend a day at the park for their summer picnic.  With free tickets from my father who's an EMT in first aid at the park, and a picnic lunch provided by Todd's company, we have a lovely day with very little expense.  (I do have to buy a bag of kettle corn on my way out of the park!)  As we toured the park, rode the rides, and enjoyed some family time, I was reminded of the first blog I wrote, and the reason this blog is called Life on the Roller Coaster.  I came home from the park and re-read that first entry:  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/LoriLynn/21282/

It seems like I wrote that ages ago, and yet, it's only been a year.  Writing on this blog has helped me to organize my thoughts toward home education.  Writing has prompted me to notice those little times in life that somehow passed by without much recognition before blogging.  Blogging has helped me to enjoy my roller coaster ride a little bit more each day.  It has helped me to see the opportunities for ministry provided to me.  It has helped me to see the education that the boys get every day, even when we aren't completing anything formal!

This blog has given me a space to sort through my thoughts.  I'm blessed to have it and even more blessed that some have chosen to read my mind-dumps.  So, thank you.  Thank you for spending time here.  Thank you for leaving comments.  They all bless me so much!  I haven't figured out how to respond...do I just respond here on my blog and hope that you return?  Or do I find you out in blog-land and thank you for your comments or answer your questions.  I don't know!  Please know that I read your comments and am very blessed by each one I receive.  Thank you.

So, as I strap in for the ride this week, I do it thankfully and peacefully.  I don't know how many hills and valleys I will have this week, but I'm safely in the car God has given me.  He has mapped out the path, I just have to faithfully ride.

Enjoy your ride this week!  And write me any time!  Maybe I'll even figure out how to answer!

Posted in inspirational

We've been enjoying a visit from one of the boys' friends.  James spent the day with us yesterday and slept overnight.  (Praise God for bunk beds!)  James' father, Craig, is eduring a very persistant virus that has attacked his eye.  As I write this, he is preparing for another laser surgery to repair the retina which is beginning to detach.  Keep Craig in your prayers.

Actually, Craig's illness, is what has prompted me to write today.  Yesterday I took the boys to the local park.  We grilled hotdogs for lunch.  As we were preparing to say our prayer before eating, 10 year old James' asked if he could pray.  His prayer was full of thankfulness for the meal and the park and an opportunity to play with my two boys.  In the middle of all his thankfulness he simply said, "Heal my dad's eye."  Then he continued his list of things for which he was thankful and ended with Amen.

I think that we complicate prayer.  We think it has to be flowery.  We think that we have to explain to God all the details and nuances of a situation as we see them.  He's God!  He knows the details.  And He knows ALL the details.  We don't know all the details.

James' prayer was direct and to the point.  "Heal my dad's eye."  It was in the midst of a littany of thankfulness, almost as an afterthought.  I'm sure that he prays this prayer several times a day.  To James, those four words are all that need to be said.

How many times do we take our prayer and try to embellish it with more words?  When all we need to do is come before our Heavenly Father and make our simple requests known to Him.

Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  Phillipians 4:6

Surround your requests with thankgiving, just like James did, and pray simply.  Simply pray!

Hoping that you're praying your way through the ride!

Posted in inspirational

My feelings were hurt.  I just couldn't seem to let go of the hurtful comment.  I kept turning it over and over in my mind and the more I thought about it, the more sullen I became.  I was getting more and more quiet as the day progressed and I just couldn't seem to stop myself.

You see, earlier in the day, someone had made a comment to me and it had hurt my feeligs.  This person did not intend to hurt me.  It was nothing malicious, but it still hurt.  Ever since that moment, I kept thinking about the comment and how much it hurt me.

Finally, I asked God, "What should I do? I keep thinking about this hurtful comment.  I keep playing it over in my head.  I can't seem to let go of it.  Why do I keep reminding myself of this pain?"

God's reply was simple.  He said, "You don't have to."

There have been a few times in my life when I've known the Lord is speaking to me.  His voice rings clearly in my head and in my heart.  I usually feel the Lord's leading in my life, but this is different.  When God talks to me this way, I have a feeling throughout my spirit that is like electricity.  The other thing that always comes with His quiet comments to my soul is scripture.  When He speaks, He lays a scripture on my heart that affirms His words.  This way, I REALLY know it's Him.

This time was no different, I cried out in my heart asking God how to stop thinking about this offense and He replied, "You don't have to (think about it)."  Then He reminded me of Phillipians 4:8:

Finally, bretheren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

It was so simple, and yet to my broken spirit, it was so profound!  Was this offensive comment true?  No.  Was it honest?  No.  Was it just, pure or lovely?  No.  No. And no.  So why did I continually turn it over in my brain looking at it from every angle, contemplating it, and, yes, obsessing over it?

I determined to shut that thought down.  I focused on anything good that had happened that day.  And if that was not enough I focused on anything good that had happened that week!  And then I truly focused on the good, good God who took the time to speak to me and calm my chaotic mind.

I don't HAVE to think about the negative, offensive, or unkind things.  I don't HAVE to give them any more thought or energy from my mind.  I have a test for what to think about now.  I have a checklist.  If I find myself thinking about one incident or comment, I can measure it against Phillipians 4:8.  Is it truth?  Is it pure?  Is it lovely?

I'm committing to think about all those things that are of good report and virtue.  If I can give praise for it, I will think about it.  I'm determined to take all of my thoughts captive in this way. (II Corinthians 10:5)

I can't say that all of my days will be "sullen-free", but I can say that those sullen moments will be few and far-between.  I've  got the tools to keep myself from obsessing over hurtful words.  Isn't it great that we worship a God who gives us such good gifts?