Hearts in Service Blog

Another month has come and gone.  Can you believe tomorrow will be November 1st?  The time has just flown by this fall.  I haven't taken a look at my yearly goals in a while and I thought the end of a month would be a good time to do this.  Here were the goals that I wrote out at the beginning of the year.  Underneath each category I've written my progress. 2013 Goals Spiritual Goals ► Set aside regular time reading my Bible and spending time in prayer. ► Keep a journal of how God is providing for us so I don't forget.  There is always room for improvement but I've been doing pretty well with having a regular time in God's word and prayer.   The hardest part for me right now is that everyone is up early when I used to have it and I cannot concentrate when someone is around.  So I think I'm going to have to just regroup and find a different time. Again, I find that my journal of blessings is done here as part of Multitude Monday....

Sweaty palms.  Panicked tightening of my chest.  Knots in my stomach.  All signs that I have procrastinated on something.  When I was in high school and college I always waited until the night before a paper was due or a major test was happening to actually start working on it.  Every time I wanted to kick myself for putting it off until the last minute. And yet, I still fall into that tendency at times.   It's not that I don't want to do the particular thing that is looming over me, but I get overwhelmed and have a difficult time getting started. And when I am feeling overwhelmed with an issue. or a to-do list a mile long or major project, I procrastinate.  However, the more I put it off, the worse I feel.  And still, I'll fritter away time on the computer or finding a million useless things to do so I don't have to face the task.  Dan doesn't get this at all.  He is so self-disciplined and gets things done way ahead of time....

Psalm 103:1-6 ~  Praise the Lord , my soul;      all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord , my soul,      and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins      and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit      and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things      so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness      and justice for all the oppressed. We have selective memory at times, don't we?  When going through a difficult time or struggle, it's so easy to begin to grumble and complain and feel like the Lord has abandoned us.  We whine and wail and whimper.    verses 7-12 ~  He made known his ways to Moses,      his deeds to the people of Israel: The Lord is compassionate and gracious, ...

Dan & I were talking the other day about how so many times in our lives God gives us signs and miraculous things to show His hand upon our lives.  So often we are looking for one major event or thing to point the way.  We want to see a huge miracle happen.  Personally, I'd love to hear a big voice coming out of heaven and telling me what I should do when I'm confused! Yet, more often than not, God's signs come in small ways that all add up to one big arrow. Hebrews 2:4 says, "And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose."  If we stay quiet and alert we can often see His hand in a myriad of little ways. Yet, we miss those things because we keep looking for a huge sign post in the sky or writing in the sand!  Or we try to orchestrate things to go the way we want.  However, when we walk intimately with the Lord, we'll begin to see the little things.  But that requ...

Sometimes you just want to do a handstand!  I'd do one today if I could! (but no one wants to see what gravity would do if I did one) So I will content myself with doing cartwheels and handstands on the inside.  It's one of those "only God could do something like this" type of days! Have a terrific Thursday!

Matthew 7:7-11 (NLT) ~  Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.   For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead?   Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. Emily missed her school bus yesterday.  She was absent on Friday and Monday and apparently, the bus driver just assumed and barely slowed at all on Tuesday.  When I called the bus company they told me she is supposed to wait at the end of the driveway, not on the porch.  The problem with that is that it's pitch black out at 6:30 in the morning and she is scared. ...

My children constantly amaze me at how in tune to God they are, even when I think they are drifting.  We'll be going on our merry way through life when they will say something off the cuff that shows some pretty deep thinking.  They've been like this since they were little. (Side note:  This photo makes me laugh.  He always gets into "firefighter" serious mode when I take his photo) When my children were small we worked in an inner city ministry in one of the most densely populated cities in the United States.  Our ministry rented space from the local YMCA and at that time, the boys were 5 and 4.  There were people who lived in the upstairs portion of the YMCA and many struggled with drug and alcohol abuse or mental issues. One night, after leaving the building, I had Stephen on one side of me and Nathan on the other and we rounded the corner of the building.  One of the residents was there, obviously under the influence of some narcotic and sc...