Prayer is about Trust

I just had this epiphany that prayer is about trust. I may be coming to this a little slow since I've been a Christian for almost 25 years. At various times in my life, I've really struggled with prayer because well God knows everything so what purpose does it serve for me to tell him what He already knows. I've also gone through times when prayer just seemed like me taking my to do list to Him. It is easier for me to thank him because I think that I have a pretty great life.

Anyway, I went to Bible Study Fellowship this morning yesterday, and the topic was Numbers 11 & 12. The whole theme of Numbers 11 is about complaining. The Israelites complained and God got angry, but then Moses seems to complain and God helped Him. What's with that? The difference is that the Israelites were complaining about God's provision. They were rejecting his feeding of them in the middle of the desert. Moses was overwhelmed with governing over at least 2 million people and he complained to God, and then trusted God to take care of it. This is where I got my epiphany. God wants us to come to Him for help, and those cries or prayers get answered (although we may still not like the answer) when we trust God with the solution. The key is trusting or having faith that God is good, Holy, and Just, that He cares about us.

I agree that it is hard to trust a God in a world that is full of hate and destruction. That makes faith all the harder, but I just don't believe that God is behind all of the hate and destruction, we can do those things by ourselves. That's a discussion for another time.

So I guess it is time that I start praying like I mean it, really giving over my frustrations to God. If you read Numbers 11:11, you will see that Moses really took all of his frustrations over to God. The rest of the chapter shows God's response. I hope this gives you the encouragement that it gave me.

God bless!

G's Deep Thought for the Day

Yesterday, G asked me as we were driving home after school: If God wants us to praise him, then how come he just doesn't make everyone praise him?

I just love it when my kids ask questions that show that they are really thinking. No matter how I answer her questions, I'm glad that she is trying to figure things out.

Observations from Moving from Place to Place

This is a list that I put together based on living and moving in so many places. I will probably add a few items as I come up with more. Please leave your own observations in the comments.

1) Not everything is cheaper in small towns: The bigger city that I've lived in the cheaper the water although I've always lived in places where water is plentiful.

2) Sometimes more competition means much better customer service if it doesn't mean better prices.

3) Grocery prices are really not all that different from place to place although Houston has the cheapest grocery prices, possibly because it is so close to Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico. Our food bill has shrunk living in a small town because there just aren't that many places to eat out.

4) Preschools, classes, hair stylists, and oil changes are better priced in smaller areas.

5) People are pretty much the same where ever I've been, but different areas have their own flavor. Each area has its own terminology so in some ways, I have to learn the local language.

6) People who haven't moved around don't realize that not everyone does things the same way. You can definitely tell the difference between areas that are used to dealing with newcomers and those that aren't.

7) Churches in small towns are probably a good 20 years behind what's going on in the big city churches, but community is easier to find in small towns than in big cities.

8) Some small town hospitality would be really creepy in a big city.

9) The internet & the library are great tools no matter where I live, and both have their own social circles.

10) A bigger house doesn't necessarily mean it's harder to clean, but the more stuff I have, the harder it is to clean a house, no matter how big it is. I have gotten better and better at getting rid of stuff.

Sickness & Blogs

I guess a month with an infected tooth really depletes the immune system. My immune system just keeps getting kicked to the curb. I wash and wash and wash my hands, but I also cuddle and clean up after my sick kids, and according to my Germ Guru, this exposes me to lots of germs. So I'm washing my hands, disinfecting the house, taking my vitamins, eating well when I have an appetite, drinking lots of clear liquids, and resting as much as possible.

Unfortunately, for those of you that actually read this blog (Are there really any of you out there?) I haven't been very consistent with making entries. I wanted to let you know that I do have some ideas for blogs, but while being sick, they seem to only come out one line at a time. My goal is to post blogs on Monday, Wednesday & Friday, so if I'm going to post, I'll post on these days with the ultimate goal that I'll post every Monday, Wednesday & Friday.

Please say hi if you're out there? Also any guesses to the identity of the Germ Guru, and isn't this a great nick name for her?

It is still Beautiful if it isn't perfect.

G
I have been really pondering this quote from a favorite blog of mine lately. I think that it is a matter of choice to look at a scene in all of its imperfections and choose to concentrate on the beautiful.

We've had a lot of snow this year. Last week, we got another 8 inches. N and G went outside to make a snow lady. (All major characters are girls to G.) When they came back in, the snow lady was made, but it was far from perfect; Short and fat with no neat round balls. Evidently, the snow was too dry and it wouldn't pack into balls so they mounded it into a big heap and then carved out the figure. Mismatched hat and scarf with carrots for the whole face completed the character. G loved her snow lady, but N was very disappointed in the snow. It just wasn't the picture perfect snowman.

I smiled when I saw the lady. She was beautiful. She represented a father spending time outside with his daughter. She graces our front yard like a snow Michelin tire. Why look at what she isn't when there is so much to appreciate in what she is. Our short and fat snow lady is absolutely beautiful.