What's an Instant

I can't help but thing how this little 7 letter world has changed so much of society as we know it today.  Just the other day I happen to purchase a new pair of pants, and the tag said this "instantly slims you"  Wow, Instantly slimmer?  I need ten pairs not just one pair.  That is magic to be instantly slimmer.  In reality there is no "instant" in being slimmer it takes hard work eating right, exercising and choosing the right foods.  But we want everything instantly. We have become impatient people. 
I started to doodle about how much instant we have become  Here is just a very short list.

 

* Instant Messaging

* Instant Coffee

* Instant Credit

* Instant Replay

* Instant Commissions

* Instant Krazy Klue

* Instant Dry Nails

* E-Books InstantlySynced

*Insant Downloads

* Instant Live Streaming

 

I am sure many of us could had hundreds of "instant" things to our list some necessary and some unnecessary. I remember when Turkey's took hours to cook and yet now you can deep fry them and even thug they are not ready in seconds in less than an hour a turkey is done.  That is just one example of how things have changed. I know for me when I got my implants I had hoped I would instantly hear.  That was not the case and so often those I mentor that are getting CI"s ask how instantly they will hear.  Now seems to be the language every one speaks. 

James 1:9 (niv) says "Understand this my dear brothers and sisters; you must all be quick to listen,slow to speak and slow to get angry.  Jesus didn't say to be instantly listen or instantly speak one even get angry he said to be slow.  Next time you see something flash ahead of you that says instant think twice and see if it's worth having that appear instantly.  

As for the pants well let's just say I can't tell the difference so I was not instantly slimmer...

Until next time

Cathie

To Walk or to Run

t In this week of being thankful I have had a song that has never left my mind and has given me time to think about my life where it was and where it is going.  I seem to listen to more praise and worship music then secular music but the song by Kenny Rogers The Gambler Chorus has been playing over and over in my head.  Just the chorus but it really has a lot to say about life. 

 

You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run......
 

 

Often in life we continue to sit at that table and not get up to make a move. We are scared of the unknown what will happen if we walk away. Often we think of our failures and that inhibits us from moving forward because we are to scared to fail again.  Yet God's mercies are bountiful and often once we get up life begins to happen.  Yet, so  often we do know when it is time to walk away and even when it is to Run.  I have sat at many tables had many conversations some good and some bad and often I knew when it was time to get up.  This chorus can apply so much about life and where we are and were we need to be.  I am so glad I chose to get up and walk away and make the choices that God will honor.  (The part of the song about wheelin and dealin are not what I wanted to focus on but the first part of the chorus) :)

 

Life isn't easy but I can tell you that it is easier when you are ready to surrender and give it all to him and let him direct your path.  You do have a choice you can continue to sit at that table or let go and run to a new day a new beginning a new you !!!

 

Blessings

 

Cathie

Month of Gratitude - Day 10

Being thankful for things is often something we do take for-granted in that should we be thankful for every little thing in our lives?  Take the jig saw puzzle. How many of us have done a jig saw puzzle and we get to the very end of the puzzle only to find out it is missing one piece. Or we have a puzzle and one piece just does not fit in anywhere. We can get so agitated and frustrated because we can not get it to work correctly.  We try and fail so we give up.  Not sure why, but we end up throwing that jig saw puzzle in a box and putting it in the closet to maybe some day bring out again and seeing if somehow that puzzle piece magically found it's way home to the correct box. 

In ways that is how I have been for years trying to figure out who I was, what I enjoyed doing and who I actually was. I always felt I was missing a puzzle piece that I could not get my hands on.  Everyone would say I was this type of person, or would tell me what I meant or was feeling it was assumed that they knew.  No one every truly asked how I felt they just always knew.  But most of the time they were never right.  But I was too much of a misfit to say they were wrong. 

Yet I have found that puzzle piece and in finding that puzzle piece I have also found my voice. I can now speak up for myself and say what I think. And if they don't agree that is fine. But I have feelings and great ideas I just have to be able to be who I am and who God wants me to be. I no longer feel like I am missing a puzzle piece, I found it and I now the secret of why I was missing it.  Maybe at some point another piece will go missing, yet this time I know exactly who to ask and how to find it. It's inward looking inside to see what is missing and praying to our awesome father who will light the way. 

Here's a verse to meditate on:

"I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well"Psalms 139:14 (ESV)

God made us so we are not misfits, we aren't missing any puzzle pieces.  They maybe hidden but God will show them to us in his time not ours.

Blessings

Month of Gratitude - Day 9

 

Today was one of those beautiful mornings that I love to walk thru the farmer's market. The humidity was low, the breeze was blowing softly so there was no chance that I could get too hot. It was a just perfect day.  Living in Florida these days are so rare, in which one actually enjoys getting outside and enjoying it.  I  was just walking by and something caught my eye, a beautiful shade of red and black. I looked again and it was a butterfly.  I love butterflies because they so symbolize me and my journey that I have taken.  I feel like I have found my wings and I am ready to soar.  When I saw this butterfly I felt like asking if I could tag along and fly to where ever he/she was headed. But then I had to think isn't that exactly what I am doing? I am praying and asking for wisdom in where God wants me.  Is it here in Clermont? The Gulf ? Or where?  I am so content here and I feel I have a safety net here in which I feel safe and secure.  But I know God has a plan and I am patiently waiting for him to reveal more of what he wants for me but it is in God's time not my time. So for now these wings are flying close to the ground,  but they are ready to expand a wee bit.  But I am so glad I have left the cocoon stage and I am in some ways spreading my wings. That's the amazing part of this journey <3  Be Blessed Peeps

Blessings

Month of Gratitude ~ Day 8

How is it that something that is free is something we often for get to give others!  I am sure yourshaking your head at that comment what do we hesitate to give right?  What I am talking about is a SMILE.  How often we pass others and we don't take a moment just to acknowledge someone and tell them to have a nice day?  This happened to me today while I was helping afriend and we were at a store a stranger walked past me and no only said hello and Smiled buthe also said to have a blessed day.  It came a right moment a moment that I needed to be remindedat others see what we do and the way we all,talk and act often can make someone'sday or It can tear someone one apart.  That smile yesterday put a smile on my face but it also reminded me to pass a smile along.  

Proverbs 17: 22: says " A merry heart does good , like medicine. But a broken spirit dries the bones.    We can either be the medicine someone needs or we can quench someone's spirit,  choose the medicine It's good for the soul!!!

Blessings 

Month of Gratitude - Day 4-7

Funny how technology can be good and bad at times.  I had written 3 gratitude posts but they ended up in my draft folder even though I had scheduled them to automatically post.  With that being said I decided to combine in a blog of 4 days of gratitude!!!

Day Four  ~ I am so thankful for my eating healthy.  This journey of weight loss has had me examining how I eat why do I eat what I do? Is it healthy for me or not? Am I eating to fill a void? Am I eating cause I am hungry or just for comfort?  My eating before my weight loss was so focused on satisfying my hurts that I ate e wrong things. Focusing on self care and eating well is such a blessing to me for which I am thankful.

Day Five ~ Thankful today that technology invented text messaging.  For the hearing impaired this is so vital in communicating.  Even now I often will say to my boys that I don't understand what they are saying and to just text me!  That is the best for me and still is. That way I know I heard it right or wrong but have the accuracy in a text.  Again it's the little things we so take for-granted.

Day Six ~. Thankful today for the blessings of hearing the apprehension of upgrading this aid has been stressful wondering how I am going to pay for it all yet knowing that God has it all worked out is called Faith!  Hooking up to my audiologist laptop and being programmed with my New Ears has been wonderful even with a few kinks!  Never take your hearing as something you never lose cause I did.  

Day Seven ~ The Gift Of Friendships is such a blessing having friends who love and support you thru it all.  Never judging you just standing beside you in the good times and the bad times they are their to get you through the storms of life.  Friendships are valuable and should never be taken  for-granted.  So many times friendships come and go sometimes they were only meant for a season, yet for me they never leave my heart or my prayers.  Tell a friend today for how much they mean to you. You will be surprised at how much you mean to them too,

Blessings 

Cathie 

 

Month of Gratitude - Day Three

We for that matter I often take things for granted, I assume all will be ok.  And for the most part it usually works out that way. Yet, is it always a good thing to assume we will get a second chance?  A Re-do?  We get our hair dyed and it is not the right color we can run to the store and get a new color and most likely  change the results.  But is that how it always is to be?  Is their always a quick fix? 

I feel the past three years has been a year of second chances, to restart that journey I started so long ago but to look at things differently, to see people differently, to help those in need more to think of others before myself. I have been stretched, grown and in ways changed.  What has truly changed is living by Faith.  The Faith to make these necessary second chances.  Is life easier?  Not sure on that, but I know that I know that God is with me every step of this journey. And thankful that I have a second chance to make things right as long as I keep surrendering.  So today, I am truly thankful for this second chance that I have been given.  It's an amazing journey. 

Lamentations 3:21-23                    
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Grace and Blessings

Cathie

Month of Gratitude - Day Two

 

Day Two on this month of Gratitude and I am finding that it is endless what I am thankful for.  We have so much to really be thankful for and often we take things for granted. So this month  I am trying to focus on just that, find the things we take for granted so that I can appreciate those things in a fresh new way.

Last night I got home late after an evening at church, only to have my 19 year old son tell me something is wrong with the light in the laundry room.  Being the head of the household now has made me think and act in ways I never did before because I had a husband to take care of those issues.  But I went to check out the fuse box, and all was ok. I then proceeded to the laundry room and found that all the light would not come on.  So then I thought, wonder if it is just something as simple as a light bulb being blown out. And so I took out that light bulb and put in a fresh new one and instantly we had light.  I think my 19 year old felt a little silly not thinking of that yet, it reminded me of how we are  truly lost with out that light shining so brightly. 

 In Psalms 119:105 it says "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path"  God is not the physical light as we need for everyday living,  yet God is the light that leads us on a path that he has designed for us.  The opposite of light is darkness and often times when storms come our way we tend to run and find those candles, Often we have forgotten where we put them.  At least in my household that often is the case.  Yet God is our light and we only have to reach out to him to light the way and he will direct our paths. 

Next time you need some extra light, it may not be the physical light that we so desire but the spiritual light that only our heavenly father can give us.  Rest assured God's light will never dim.  It will be the same yesterday as it will be tomorrow. And it will shine until eternity. So thank you God for lightening our way, and for showing us the path to take.  It maybe a path filled with hardships and ups and downs, but I know you will light the way. 

Blessings and Grace

Cathie 

Month of Gratitude - Day One

 



November 1st means Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and many are already thinking of that scrumptious turkey dinner. Yet taking a "day" to be thankful for me is not enough.  So this year I have been challenged to write a set of things I am most thankful for.  I am not sure I can think of 28 things to talk about between now and that scrumptious turkey meal, but I am going to try each day to make a go of this.  It's not to late to join me if you want or post a comment about something YOU are thankful for.  So Here I go.

What am I thankful for today?  I would have to say Laughter so often when times get difficult the one thing we seem to drop from our life is to be happy and laugh at life and even at times at your self for your mistakes.  I didn't realize how much I missed laughing until one day someone said something to me, and I didn't understand them correctly and I started to laugh and the funny thing was it was not really that funny, yet I could not stop the laughter from escaping my mouth.  I realized at that moment how good it felt to laugh again.  It made me feel alive and that I had a life worth living.  It might sound like a simple thing but for some life is hard and they can't imagine being able to laugh.  I know that no matter what happens on the journey I know God wants us to be laugh and have joy deep down in our hearts.  So take it from me a hearty dose of laugher is the best medicine to a fragile heart !!

Grace and Blessings
Cathie 

"Merry Humbug Christmas Blog Link-Along"

Merry Christmas Snow ,A.K.A. Joss M. Snow  is a 26 year old Corporate PR Girl that in her mind was born on the wrong day. December 25th is to be a day for opening presents from Santa Claus not being born. But no matter how much Joss wished and wished to change her date of birth that was an impossible feat. To quote Joss,(A.K.A. Merry Christmas) "by the time she turned twenty-five, she had just about all she could take of her given name.  She'd carried that thing around with her like a joke book tucked into her back pocket".  So what did she do she decided enough was enough and she decided to wipe out Christmas entirely, and to take the curse off of her name.  So the day after her 26th Birthday she officially changed her name to Joss M. Snow.  A normal plain name wouldn't you say?  But there is nothing normal about Joss as much as she loves life, her joy is her  PR Firm with business partner Ryan, and taking time to be with her best friend Reese. Joss and Reese for the past 5 years have escaped the Christmas Wrath. Even with changing her name, she finds that she does not like Christmas. She avoids it at all cost. This year was a no exception, she found a  Bah Humbug Cruise sailing to the Mexican Riviera now does that not sound like a perfect getaway to avoid the Christmas Season? Seriously,  For Joss their is nothing like a fresh Praline Cheesecake, or any kind of cheese cake for that matter. She is a loyal friend and once and her become friends it is friends for life. Just ask Reese about their friendship.  It is a friendship made in heaven.  Then there is  David Cassidy aka Keith Partridge from the Partridges family is her teen idol, that has carried over into her young adult life.  Her constant companion Caleb is a sheepdog but hasn't realized he has "outgrown" the lapdog phase. Reese and Caleb are her family.  The great adventures for Joss is sitting behind a desk, drumming up ideas for various ad campaigns for her corporate clients, yet she finds herself every year escaping the reality of Christmas at least of the past five years.  This year is  the not the exception, her Bah Humbug Cruise may turn out to be the Merriest Christmas of all. 

Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty

As they nursery rhyme goes, it says that Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall and he had great fall,

yet no one would help him, all the kings horses, and all the kings men

couldn't put humpty together again.

 

Who is this Humpty Dumpty and why could no one help him? 

 In if he or she was in this predicament could someone today help him? 

What would social media play a role in helping Humpty? 

 

I tend to think each one of us is that Humpty Dumpty!!

We all have days when we wonder if we can ever be put back together again. 

When life falls apart we often wonder if we will ever be the same again. 

Why is it that we always look at the negative parts of life and not focus on the good things?

 

The only solution I feel there is to Humpty Dumpty's crisis is simple...

It's fully trusting in Jesus Christ for him to begin to make him whole again.

If he can do that for Humpty how much more can he do for you and I? 

Just an Ordinary Girls Thoughts.

 

Until next time...

 



T.B.Y.S

Our voices can be a good part of our communication or it can be a negative part of our communication skills.  Lately I have noticed how many are lacking in the area of T.B.Y.S - Think Before You Speak...That really says it all.  As a parent, brother or sister, friend or even Foe, what we say will have a lasting affect on that relationship. 

We have all heard the saying "Sticks and Stones may heart MY Bones BUT Words Will Never Hurt ME!!! That saying is so untrue.  What we say to one another can hurt us and have a lasting impact on our lives.  Believe me part of my recovery is just that in itself. The words that were negatively spoken to me for years has taken a lot of time and patience to let Go and be free of.  I think it needs to be more like "Sticks and Stones May Break MY Bones But Words May Hurt Me Forever. 

I love Proverbs 16:24 that states "Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.  (ESV)  Or by using encouraging words as 1Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing

Working as a cashier at Wal-Mart you do tend to see others in the best and worst behavior I must say. I have heard parents often say to their children "Get out of my face! I don't want to see you right now!" or, another one I hear often is a child wanting his/her parents attention and they are so busy on their cell phones the child is ignored for the most part until the parent notices them and will fly off the handle and yell at them because they are wanting his/her parents attention often due to the fact that they need to use the restroom, or someone needs them such as myself the cashier, or even cause they forgot something in the cart but we are so busy in our own world we lash out and not realize how our words are not being used in a positive way.

 I am not perfect by a long shot, but I am slowly learning how what we say and do can impact someone's life for eternity.  As many say we are often the only thing others will see.  And will it be for the good and that Jesus will shine thru you or will it be for the negative and leave people wondering where you stand spiritually. 

Lets do more T.B.Y.S and impact lives for the better.

Until next time. 

Addictions

WE have all heard it at one time or another heard someone say “ I’m addicted to…” Or “I’m not really addicted to this” Yet, do addictions really exist?  Are they wrong?  What does it actually mean to be addicted to something?  What does God say about Addictions?

Dictionary.com defines Addictions as “the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma”

The bible also encourages you to stay away from Evil Matthew 6:13 says “And lead us not into temptation, BUT deliver us from Evil” or Titus 2:12 says “Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.  Lastly Leviticus 19:4 says “Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God” 

So can much of our daily habits become addictions such as: Food, Television, Gambling, Computers, Facebook, Smoking, Drugs, Drinking, Chocolate, Sex, Twitter, Video Games, or even Texting, become our Addictions or Idols? There are so many more addictions that we could add to this list and I am sure you can name 5 more on the top of your head.  But when is a good thing too much?  What is a healthy balance?  How can we make sure that our actions don’t become an addiction?

1.    Prayer – Pray without Ceasing 1 Thessalonians 5:17

2.    If something Is taking over your life and you find that you are thinking about it and doing it more than normal you likely are addicted

3.    Get Help- Find help with finding a safe place to heal. Check out either a Celebrate Recovery Ministry that is often found in various churches and if that is not possible, look for some type of recovery support groups in your area. If you find that is not enough and you are still struggling then please seek professional help.

4.    Admit your Addiction – Confide in a friend, minister, teacher, accountability partner that you are struggling with your addiction and ask for support.  Everybody needs a little help to get their lives together and your no exception.

5.    Be Patient – it is easier to become addicted to something then to break the habit.  Be prepared to with draw from it gradually.  It will take some time but Change is possible.

6.    Believe, Pray and Wait - Your journey will take you to places you would not have expected. Healing from an addiction can be life changing. So be prepared to be wowed!!! 

Several years ago, when I realized that I suffered from Addictions I was so pleased to know that I was not alone. I am on the road to recovery from Food-Addiction, Co-Dependency, and Verbal and Emotional Abuse.  As God says in Philippians 4:13 I can do all things thru Christ who gives me the strength” God is there to reach out to you to take you by hand and show you the way.  Are you willing to surrender? He is waiting for you… 

Until Next Time…

Cathie