Showing posts with label Living In The Middle Wednesdays. Show all posts

Wow! How time flies! I am amazed how quickly this week is zooming by, not to mention life in general. This week was a big week for me at the office. I have been working on a large project that finally went into production last Friday and I have been busy (and exhausted) to say the least. So, I have been focused on that goal this week and staying positive.

Well, I was knocked down on Monday with an overwhelming response from a lady when I simply waved hello and asked her how she is doing today. I was working in the Shaw facility in Calhoun all week and I have been out on the production floor with the employees training them and working with the Shop Floor system we just installed. So, it is around 3:00 PM, Monday and I have been there since 6:45 AM, and I am really just in the 'middle' of my day that will end around 11:30 PM, and I am a 'little tired'. I ask this nice lady how she is doing today, as a friendly comment, and she responds to me with 'I am blessed and highly favored! How are you?' with a HUGE smile on her face! Well, that blew me away! I was so impressed with her positive attitude! She looked so joyful and at peace. I told her that her response blessed me and then we went on our way. It was a 30 second exchange.

Well, as I head out into the plant to conduct some training for the 2nd shift employees, I see that Gloria is one the operators I will be training. I was so thrilled! I told her again how much she blessed me and she said this to me, 'God is good. Do you know Him? Do you have Him, too?' Well, she was so bold and I said, 'Yes ma'am, I do!' She grinned and gave me a big hug.

But, she then shared with me that she loved the Lord and He has been so good to her and that she truly is blessed and highly favored in His Kingdom. Then, she told me that her husband died less than 1 year ago. Her father died 1 month ago and her sister died 2 weeks ago. But, then she added that God is still good and she is still so blessed! All the time, she is smiling and telling me how GOOD her God is!!

I had no words for this amazing woman! I had tears in my eyes! How many days do I feel sorry for myself because I am not having a 'great day' or I am stressed out from all of the demands of family, work, home, church, school, just LIFE in general! I am stuck 'IN THE MIDDLE OF LIFE' and I sometimes just wish I could take a break and things could be a bit 'easier'. But, as Gloria reminded me, amidst some dark circumstances in her life over the course of the past year, that no matter what, she was blessed and highly favored and that she serves an AWESOME God! WOW! I serve that God, too and I, too am 'blessed and highly favored'!!! Are you??

Make this a GLORIOUS day and walk on, press on knowing that you, too, are BLESSED AND HIGHLY FAVORED! Try answering someone like that today and see how they respond!

Well, some of you have asked me why I haven't posted an update on our March Of Dimes (4.2 mile) March For Babies walk yet from this past Saturday. Well, today is the first day since the walk that I can actually type without a muscle hurting!! :) No, really, I am kidding. It wasn't THAT bad...

Saturday started off very soggy, but the rain moved out of the way for us just in time. The whole gang was there. Our dear friends, Wade and Jennifer, and their precious girls, showed up to walk with us. Well, they were kind of 'obligated' since they had volunteered to walk with us about 2 months ago. In that same conversation from 2 months prior, we all agreed we would do some training to 'get in shape' before the big day, but how much training did we accomplish? Well, that would be NONE!! We had not trained one teeny, tiny mile!!! But, we were planning on walking 4.2 of them Saturday, all at ONE TIME!! Did you READ that last part- ALL AT ONE TIME?? I think we were INSANE!!

- You can turn around and go BACK to the starting line- which is JUST as far away as it would be to just keep on going, hence being at the 1/2 way point.

• Well, if you turn back, you waste all of your energy on retracing your steps and you have accomplished nothing.
• If you pass out and pray for someone to come and get you, well you pretty much just gave up on finishing the race!
• If you stop there and wait for those who stick with it to finish and come back and get you, well you miss 1/2 of the journey of just getting to the finish line! You spend all of your time 'waiting on the sidelines'!
• OR, you can take a moment to realize that you are directly in the MIDDLE and the only way around it is to 'stick with it and push on through' until you cross that FINISH line! Well, thankfully ALL 8 of us chose to cross that FINISH line! And, shin splints and sore muscles aside, we are all glad we did!!! It was such a WONDERFUL feeling of accomplishment to know that we DID IT!! We finished the race and we didn't come in last place!!

I know, I know... I am 2 days LATE with this 'Living in the Middle' post. But, again, I say, better late than never...

Wow!! I MUST share with you what I learned TUESDAY in our Life Lessons Over Lunch session. We viewed our last session titled 'Canvas- The Way Of Glory'. It was eye opening and revealing! I will only be able to scratch the surface in this post...

Hopefully, I can do A LITTLE BIT of justice to Andy Stanley and Louie Giglio (the preachers) by sharing what I learned from them Tuesday...

They talked again about Living in the Middle with the GREAT 'I AM'!! Louie Giglio spoke about how AWESOME our God is and how INCREDIBLE it truly is that He gave up HIS MOST PRECIOUS POSSESSION for US!?? Yes, I put a question mark or two, because sometimes, I look at me and my life and what I chase after and what I worry about (and girls, you know I worry) and I think, 'You gave up your PRECIOUS Son for me?????'

Today, as I pondered this fact, I imagined if I was asked to give up my most PRECIOUS possession for a group of people. Not just ANY group of people, but people who spit on me, turned their backs on me, and broke my heart. Well, I came to the conclusion that in no conceivable realm could I give up what is most precious to me for a group of people who treated me like THAT! But, you know what....

The GREAT 'I AM' did just THAT!! No, really He did just that for...

- The boss who has treated you unfairly...
- The friend who no longer wants to speak to you for some falling out or another...
- The spouse who couldn't keep a promise to you or your children...
- The grown child who has seemingly turned his/her back on everything you taught them...
- YOU and ME, who are like little children in His eyes!!

The GREAT 'I AM' continues to amaze me with His love and grace for me. One more thing that was so VERY AWESOME about today's session is THIS...

Louie Giglio 'restated' the words to 'Here I am to worship'. Do you know that praise song? If not, the words are below...

Here I am to worship, Here I am to bow down, Here I am to say that you're my God.
You're altogether worthy, altogether lovely, altogether wonderful to me!!
I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross!

Well, he put them in a 'new context' for us. Stay with me here.... In light of 'I AM NOT but I know I AM', he stated it from the perspective, of 'Here, 'I AM', to Worship'. In other words, we are not singing, 'Here I am...' as in 'OK, God, here I am to worship you. I showed up today and here I am worshipping you.' No, no, no, try this... "Here, 'I AM' to worship," meaning, "The great 'I AM', I am here to worship you, HERE in this place, in this moment." Here is little ol' me worshipping 'I AM'. The emphasis is NOT that I am here, but that 'Here, (I am NOT) is worshipping the great 'I AM'! I sang that song on the way home this evening (while I am sure I looked like a crazy woman driving down the road) and I thought about the 'new' context I was given this afternoon during the Canvas session and it gave the words and the song a whole new meaning to me.

Finally, Louie Giglio went on to say the line about 'Altogether lovely, altogether worthy...' Well, he said that (and I paraphrase here), 'Hey! We could stop at the word 'altogether' because that says it ALL! He is ALTOGETHER and He is the only one in the room who can TRULY say that.' We are definitely NOT altogether, no matter who you are. He is SO MUCH MORE altogether than we can ever hope to be!! (OK I may be speaking for myself here, because I am not 'altogether' most days, but you get the point.)

Isn't that SOMETHING??!!! 'Here 'I AM', to WORSHIP! You are ALTOGETHER PERIOD!!'

HE is the great 'I AM' and He is altogether, even on days when it seems my world might be falling apart. And, my dear friends, we all have those days where we fell like all of our efforts are falling apart before our very eyes.

Remember that HE IS the GREAT 'I AM' and He is ALTOGETHER, even when you and I are not the least bit together!

Here's to another week of 'Living In The Middle' with the GREAT I AM!! Here 'I AM', to worship!!!

Well, I meant to 'publish' this post on Wednesday for my "Living In The Middle" Wednesdays, but I found out on Wednesday morning that I have STREP!! So, I have been 'living in the middle' of my bed for 2 1/2 days now. I must tell you that this is not by choice. I have not been in the bed because I am lazy and just LOVE to lie around, but because my body aches tremendously- still does! This being sick sure is inconvenient! I couldn't do much of anything Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday night. The first night I have done much of anything is tonight and that flat wore me out!! I am amazed that I am here typing a post!! But, tonight, Anna Grace and Austin had PTO at New Hope and it was a BIG night for both of them! (I will have more on that in a later post this weekend!)

Anyway, this whole being sick thing, well, it started me thinking, is God REALLY in the middle of my being sick? And, what did Jesus do when HE got strep or really sick, so much so that He couldn't move?!? I feel that God WAS in the middle of this STREP with me...

Let's see, I had plenty of time to pray (pray for HEALING AND QUICK) and to think and to read. I am reading some GREAT books by author Randy Alcorn (more on those books in later posts as well). I had time to think about all of the things I am thankful for-- my Savior, my family, my friends, my husband, my children, my church, my home, my job.... water, Popsicles, Sprite, soup, antibiotics, Decadron shots at the Dr's office, and modern medicine!!!!

I had time to think of why I was sick and forced to 'be still' (not because I am good at being still (I am with Meleia here), but because I had no choice- every muscle ached, every bone creaked)- what is God trying to tell me this week? I am still learning about that and pondering that. I had time to think about Him being RIGHT HERE in the MIDDLE with me!

It is truly amazing that HE loves me even when I am sick and look like 'death warmed over', which I promise you my friends, I DID!! But, my Lord loves me even like that! Not even my sweet, loving husband wanted to be near me yesterday when I was SURE I was dying! I looked pretty rough!! I have learned that only a parent can love a child when they look that bad!! Boy, we should ALL thank our PARENTS for taking great care of us when we have been really sick over the years! THANKS MOM and DAD for taking care of me when I have looked that bad, as bad as I looked yesterday in fact!!! :)

I was hoping for something really profound for this week's 'Living In The Middle' Wednesday, but I feel that maybe I am short of the mark. Short of the mark though I may be, I learned something valuable this 'Strep' Wednesday. I learned that He loves me even when I am sick and hurting and aching and just plain feeling yucky! My Savior is right there jumping up and down right there 'in the middle' saying 'OK!! Now that I have you still, this is what I want you to learn!!' Maybe next time, I will slow down enough to listen to what He is trying to tell me BEFORE I must get sick with aches in places that I didn't even know existed and a sore throat that should be illegal for it to hurt this bad!! Oh, the lengths our Father will go to in order to get us 'STILL' in the middle of our crazy, hectic lives!!

Oh, and by the way, I am still not sure what Jesus did when he got this sick. I am betting He kept right on going. I am rather sure that He kept on healing people and loving them and working miracles! It IS a miracle that I got a shower today, much less took care of getting my children dressed and ready for PTO tonight!! But, our God still IS in the 'miracle business' now isn't HE?!!

Here's to another week of 'Living in the Middle' with the GREAT 'I AM'!! I pray that you find HIM right in the MIDDLE of your life this week!! Look for Him and I am sure you will find Him!!

I will leave you with a picture of Anna Grace and Austin after PTO tonight, while she was still in her ladybug costume (more on that in a later post, of course). Obviously, I am NOT in the picture. I was behind the camera looking for my bedroom ASAP....

I must share something with you on this "hump day" Wednesday that I am learning about this week! I am watching a great series of videos at work (of all places)! The videos are offered by Andy Stanley as a ministry through North Point Ministries. It is called Life Lessons Over Lunch. We watch one video in a series every other Tuesday during our lunch hour. It is an awesome opportunity to bring our walk with God into the work place- into our daily lives among our daily routines.

Currently, we are watching the video series titled Canvas. It is about how God is weaving this amazing picture on the canvas of our world, our lives, and on our hearts all for one purpose only- to bring Glory to Himself. It is painting the picture, in my mind at least, of how BIG God really is and how small, teeny, tiny we really are! As Louie Giglio put it yesterday (he was the speaker yesterday), "We're loved little people with a HUGE, GLORIOUS GOD!' Let that soak in for a minute!! He is the GOD of the UNIVERSE and I am just little ol' me living in a small, tiny part of the world. Humbling, isn't it?

But, the part that really spoke to me, was that he talked about 'living in the middle'. He drove home the fact that God is working 'in the middle' of every situation we encounter!!

- No matter what kind of day I am having, HE is in the MIDDLE of it!
- No matter how tough my circumstances may seem, HE is in the MIDDLE of it!!
- No matter how long the night may seem, HE is RIGHT THERE in the MIDDLE of it!!
- No matter how tired I may get as a mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, HE is RIGHT THERE in the MIDDLE of it all!

He is all about bringing GLORY to Himself, no matter what the circumstance is in my life. We all focus on starting a new project, at home, at work, at church, wherever, or on accomplishing or finishing that project. Those are the focus points for our finite minds, and we gloss over what happens in the middle. But GOD is all about bringing Glory to Himself IN THE MIDDLE!! Life happens 'IN THE MIDDLE'!!!

You might as well have smacked me in the head with an iron skillet! I feel like most days I don't make a difference....

*I am in the middle of a big project at work, or.....
*In the middle of driving my children to school, dance, art, piano, or T-Ball, or Soccer, or...
*I am in the middle of spring cleaning my home (Can we all say UGGHHHHH here??), or...
*I am in the middle of trying to figure out how to get it all done in 24 hours each day...
* And you can add what YOU are in the middle of here...

The point I am learning is that HE IS THERE!! HE is RIGHT THERE with me in the middle of it all- no matter how big or small the task might be! That is what He wants to be about- about being with US in the MIDDLE!! He doesn't want us to start with Him and then 'live our lives' with Him on the shelf and then finish with Him when we see His face in Glory some day. He wants to be about being right there with us IN THE MIDDLE of our lives! He wants our MIDDLE to be about Him and glorifying Him no matter how big or small our tasks may seem.

HMMMMMM... I was humbled yesterday and I still am today. One other awesome thing that Louie Giglio stated was this.....

'I am NOT, but I know I AM!'

Exodus 3:14-- 'God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Isrealites: I AM has sent me to you.' (emphasis mine)

Let THAT sink in for a moment! I am NOT but I know who is I AM!! I know I AM personally! He is MY GOD!! I am going to have to let that sink in for awhile!

* I feel weary and tired today--- I am NOT, but I know I AM
* I am frustrated with my children, my husband, my family-- I am NOT, but I know I AM
* I need healing for me or my family, or a friend -- I am NOT, but I know I AM
* I need more hours in the day to get it all done-- I am NOT, but I know I AM

Let's LIVE IN THE MIDDLE with the GREAT I AM! I pray you have a blessed 'Living In The Middle' Wednesday!

I love you my friends!