Learning Patience-Funny, God

Dear Readers:
Have you ever prayed for something and have been blessed to receive an answer to that prayer-even more than you were expecting?

Well, funny thing is, I’ve been praying for patience in preparation for children.

After taking my MacBook to be repaired, God answered my prayer. In a very real way.

Upon bringing home my newly “repaired” MacBook, I realized something was different about it.

For example, this is what I’ve been staring at for close to four days now. The cheery colors swirl while my computer hums, taking its time to open a program (at least 10 minutes), change between my email and iphoto (spastic in and out minimizing and maximizing of the screens) or try to open WordPress to write a post (this has taken me almost 45 minutes to write, due to crashing, slow uploading and inadvertent deletions).

I’ve run disk utility in order to repair it several times. Everything seems to be “clean” and ready to go, but the swirl keeps on a swirlin’. I’ve tried everything to get this stinker running again.

I have no idea what the “geniuses” did to my computer. Maybe they heard from the Lord and sabotaged my computer so that I may learn patience.

Funny, God. Real Funny.

Give-Away! My Inspirational Wrapped Canvas Prints

Dear Readers:
I’m going to get very real right now.

Momma (me) needs to make some money. Biceps took a huge cut in pay to become a firefighter and our budget is getting tighter every month. If you know anything about me, you know that I am one seriously frugal girl. We operate on a debt-free mindset (no credit cards) and are determined to be completely debt-free (student loans, our rent houses and our house) in six years or less.

I am making every homemade product for myself that I possibly can to save money. I considered selling these, but determined the profit margin wouldn’t be there for me while making it affordable to others.

We drive a paid for, slightly used (hah!) 8 year old van that badly needs new tires. I happily bike all over town so that we don’t have to buy a second car and so that I can burn some extra calories.

That said-I need a job and have been sending out resumes one right after another. This blog pays me diddly squat and being a self-employed writer is either feast or famine. And, as of yet, no one has offered to pay me to sit around looking cute. Dang them.

“The Harvest”
After talking with my mom this morning, she got my creative juices flowing. She reminded me of the prints with scriptures that I made for their bookstore and wondered if it wouldn’t be feasible for me to sell them through Etsy (which she pronounces Es-ty) or something similar.

I instantly thought this was a brilliant idea! I have decided to sell the following prints as wrapped canvas prints.

And, I’m giving one away to a lucky winner! Enter now for your very own FREE inspiration wrapped canvas prints.!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

“His Sheep”
These inspirational wrapped canvas prints are made from original photographs that I have taken around the country as I travel. Each photograph has a significant meaning to me, which I will share with you in a personalized note along with your order.

Now, here’s the lowdown-these wrapped canvas prints are totally customizable with your choice of inspirational saying, scripture, last name-whatever!

The canvas is either .75″ or  1.5″ deep, with the print bleeding all the way to the edges. The best part is-there’s no need to frame this. When you receive the wrapped canvas print, all you need to do is decide on where you want to hang it.

“His Pathway”
These make great gifts for pastors, friends, grandparents-and they look perfect at home or in the office.

“He is my Rock”
If you don’t happen to win this giveaway and still can’t live without one of these, here are a few prices for you to reference (but you can email me if you have a particular size in mind that I haven’t listed):

8 x 10- $49
10 x 14- $59
12 x 16- $64
16 x 20- $75
20 x 36- $169

*These prices include Free Shipping! Please allow 2 weeks for delivery of your item.

“The Light”
Let me know if you have any suggestions or thoughts. I am excited to hear what you, my dear friends, have to say! Don’t forget to enter the give away!

Pressing on to things that are ahead

Have you ever felt like the minister at your church was speaking straight to you and your circumstances? It happens to me all the time. (Maybe it’s because I’m so jacked up that any sermon covers some sort of “situation” in my life.) See self-deprecating picture below.

Spending daily time with God is important to me-I mean, look at what a mess I am. But it’s on Sunday’s that I experience community, I participate in worship with hundreds of other voices and I hear the sermon while I’m taking notes. All of my senses are heightened to what God is telling me.

Here are a few verses that stuck out to me this week at church. If you have everything together, you may as well just go browse my other posts. But for those of you who are trying to figure things out, are discouraged or are confused-read on. The best wisdom you will ever find is here in his Word.

(These wild Mustangs were shot by me at The Pioneer Woman’s Ranch)
“Forget the former things; do no dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43: 18-20

(I think I ran a little too far this day-but, I survived.)
“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” 1 Peter 4:12-13

(One of our rental homes blew up. We were ok with that.)
“God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” 2 Peter 1:3

(This was the last day of tour and I was both excited and anxious about how our life would be changing.)
“Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.” 1 Chronicles 28:20

God Watered for me Last Night-Garden Update

I spend most mornings on my back porch enjoying the coolness of the day. The neighborhood dogs haven’t been put out yet to bark incessantly at me, the squirrels or anything else they deem bark-worthy. All is quiet, save the birds singing in the new day. I talk to God, watch the kittens attack bugs and peer out at my garden.

This morning, I awoke to a spectacular sight.

While I was sleeping, God watered the garden for me.

Everything was touched with a bit of dew and when the sunlight hit it, the leaves sparkled. The hues were deeper, the green of the garden appeared healthy and vibrant.

I did nothing to make this little guy struggle from beneath the earth, other than plant the seed. But, here he is reaching up for his morning drink.

It’s weird to say, but I felt a bit of homesickness for heaven. This was how it was intended to be, I think. In a small way, I was experiencing my Garden of Eden.

I think that’s why I like gardening-it’s so biblical. I plant the seed, offer water when needed, protect it from naughty bunny enemies and then…I hope.

I hope that all of my efforts will bring the harvest. I hope there’s enough to freeze, can, dehydrate and share.

But other than my hope in God’s growing system, there’s nothing more that I can do. I could wish for it, demand it, curse about it when something dies or turns brown, but in the end, it’s up to God to make each plant grow and produce.

And he does it for me and my tiny little garden every single time. Even though I don’t deserve it, he still blesses me with a harvest.

It’s a reminder that if I put in the work in my garden or in people’s lives, he’ll take care of the harvest.
What a relief. God’s much better at it by far than I am.