A Day in My Life

This post will be in response to my friend Mykaela's Blog, Making Music for the Master. It's about taking 10 pictures through a normal day. The beginning of this will be focused on yesterday. Yesterday was beautiful and a definite reminder that My God is in control.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It all started out with some friends by the lake last Tuesday night. Wonderful fellowship and getting to talk to our missionary's wife a little bit longer than I have been able to before. Some deep conversations, some not-so-deep conversations. I'm just starting to head home around 11/11:30pm when I run something over in the gravel and end up having a flat tire. When I finally get to a spot that I can change it, there was a guy sitting in his truck. No big deal, I have my parents on the phone already anyways, they can just listen to me change my tire. He even turned his truck off at one point, all the while his truck is facing my car. Eventually he took off, but this is only the beginning of blessings for this story (as well as the tire not blowing in general). When the tire is finally changed, I and my car limp back to the house around 12. Tomorrow is a new day, and so far, God has provided safety.

Wednesday morning, I walked out to my car to find the feather with blue. Feathers may not mean a lot to some people, but since meeting a special friend a few years back, they mean something when found in odd or unexpected places. It was just a small reminder that God cares about the little things.

So I take the tire in to a local tire shop to get it repaired. Unbeknownst to me, the hole is too big and the tire cannot be repaired. Thankfully, once again, God planned it just right so that there is an exact match in the tire shop's used bin and I have money set aside that will cover both the new tire and it getting placed on the rim. 

When I get back to work and go to change the tire, not only do I find the other two feathers pictured above, but the drizzling rain is making a big rectangle around my car. With the rain being blown sideways slightly, the trees at the edge of the parking lot are blocking it so I can change my tire and stay dry. 

Then, just to solidify this whole adventure is God reminding me that He is in control, I get this reminder in a fortune cookie. I normally don't take a lot of stock in them and find them very amusing, but this one held a bit of a different message. To say I laughed is an understatement...it was a full belly laugh for a few seconds which was reduced to simply smiling the rest of the day.

A couple of weird days deserved a cup of something hot. That day it was tea, though I usually drink coffee. This IS a part of my regular day. :-)

So, moving onto pictures of my day to day life. These are a couple of the things I use by default in my life at work. Though, I DID pick out the colors because 1) They are super bright and 2) They're just fun and I like them. Who cares if they don't match each other?

While I may not get flowers every day, I like to look at flowers on a regular basis and we have some pretty amazing wildflowers up here in Alaska. These ones were given to me by a co-worker for helping her with something the week before.

Alaska in general...and my car. The car is because Alaska is SO BIG!! I have a 15 minute drive at the LEAST to get anywhere decent, whether it be shopping, church, or fun. But I would not trade it for the world. I love Alaska and am grateful for every day that God gives me in this beautiful land.

So, a few of my friends know about my budgeting ways. Some of my bankers even know about it. But this is the app I use. I like it a lot and it helps me keep things straight. It's also part of the reason I had the money for that new tire mentioned above. Emergency funds are a VERY important aspect of life I have learned.

This is a picture of my special friend and one of her kids. She is a shining light in my life and always helps to keep things in perspective. She is an amazing lady, mother, and friend. I hope that one day I can be half as ingenuitive as her. She is the one who showed me how to make a cloak and just be happy with the little things in life that I always take for granted. We talk on a regular basis, but the times I get to visit her are some of the best. This year, I got to visit her in Haines, AK and had a wonderful time spoiling her and her family and taking pictures of them.

And last but not least, this goes along with my feathers from up above. This eagle in particular is a very special girl. She is located in Juneau and is taken care of by a group because she cannot take care of herself in the wild anymore. She had started out with her back to everyone when I went to visit her, but when I went to leave, she hopped closer and started staring at me. She was posing beautifully for the other people there taking pictures and with was just an all-around amazing experience.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Overall, my God is so amazing. I love more every day and even the days that I fall behind or fail in some way, He is there to lift me back up. I'm grateful this world is not my home and I'm just passing through. Thanks for reading this rambling post and I hope it helps someone else remember that no matter where we are, we are never too far for God to reach us still.

Just Another Day in Life

My life may not be as exciting as some others, but honestly, I'm glad for where I am. There are plenty of bumps and cracks along the path of my life that I've made for myself, but every step of the way, My God is there. In the darkest day and blackest night, He is there to help and guide me. It's not His fault when I stray, but He's there to bring me back when I realize that I "dun messed up". Every night is refreshing and I get to wake up with a fresh start and a new page to write on. One of the poems I always like to hear was once spoken by a man named Ravi Zacharias. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"A New Leaf" 
The author was an Elementary School teacher, but is unknown.

He came to my desk with a quivering lip,
the lesson was done.
“Have you a new sheet for me, dear teacher?
I’ve spoiled this one.”
I took his sheet, all soiled and blotted
and gave him a new one all unspotted.
And into his tired heart I cried,
“Do better now, my child.”

I went came to the throne with a trembling heart;
the day was done.
“Have you a new day for me, dear Master?
I’ve spoiled this one.”
He took my day, all soiled and blotted
and gave me a new one all unspotted.
And into my tired heart he cried,
“Do better now, my child.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's always such a blessing and a reminder that though I fail, He never will.

Remembering the Time

"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." ~1 Corinthians 10:31

Honestly, I'm sincerely sorry to those who have followed me and forgotten that this even exists because of the lack of time I've put into it recently. I would say it's because I've been too busy, but if we're honest, it's because I haven't really been budgeting my time well.

Recently, our church did a budgeting class, and while this is mostly a class for budgeting money, I've come to realize how much our life in general requires budgeting. We have all this stuff that we've been given by God, but hardly use it for His glory! And we don't realize how much is wasted until we begin to budget. We have days where we wonder where the time or money has gone, but until we sit down and look at our lives, we can't figure out where it all really goes. It doesn't take much to get distracted and "lose track of time" as one patient who was late recently said. So what have we been doing with our lives?

The world is filled with so many ways to distract ourselves, from (the stereotypical) cat videos, to game on our phones, to our phones in general. Our society has found out ways to keep us on our phones even more than we would like. And some of us, though we add a Bible to our phone, hardly read it there anyways. It's a daily struggle and I'm reminded, that's why Paul said he died daily.

We have to die daily to our selfishness of spending all the time on ourselves. We have to die daily to the flesh wanting to get distracted so we don't focus on God. We have to die daily to the pride that keeps us from growing and expanding our knowledge base. We have to die daily to our prejudices so we can look beyond our own thoughts and see the needs, thoughts, and desires of those around us.

We need to be open to those around us, sensitive to their thoughts and feelings, and looking for openings to share the love of our God and Saviour with them.

The world we live in is destined to forget God and try to find substitutes for the empty hole in our hearts. Won't we remember that time is short and die daily to ourselves, living for God alone? After all, He owns everything anyways, why not use it to glorify Him more?