Welcome Heart, Sue Donaldson, Speaker

Why can't we have a:

"Send Your Kids to Work While We Lie Around Watching TV" Day?

Hasn't happened yet, obviously...

     I'm grateful for my kids. The more I thank God, the less I worry. I need to thank Him more. Here's some refreshing words from Ann Voskamp:

"Thanks is what builds trust [in God.] Every time fear freezes and worry writhes, every time I surrender to stress, aren't I advertising the unreliability of God?" --One Thousand Gifts

I don't want to be that kind of advertisement - on TV or not. Join my thankful sisterhood (or brotherhood...) Name your thankfuls. Tell God your gratefulness, line by line. You will advertise His reliability, your trust will grow, your kids will know Who God is. Now that's something to be grateful for. While you're at it, you may just want to lie down and watch TV just to see how it feels...

Feels good. Go, Lakers!

Pastor Tim's been doing a bang-up job in James this month. I will miss it, even though it punches buttons needing punching (stepping on my tender-soul-toes.) Thanks be to God. He doesn't give up on me, nor should I.

Tim said:

The opposite of humility is arrogance. (I want that opposite.)

Two places arrogance lurks in our lives is:

1. Any negative speech against someone else (Any? Even that glance from-on-high, pursed lips, or the high-arched eyebrow--waxed or non-? Who's the only judge?  God. Remember, Sue, God only)

2. Making our plans without God in mind. James doesn't condemn making plans; just making them as if God doesn't exist. (I know God exists; I don't want plans without Him, honest. Peace comes from following the Leader, no matter where, no matter what.)

Feeling trampled? Good - join the club, right here behind the Everlasting Leader. Don't let the big "A" lurk. Amen. I need to go soak my feet.

I got to speak to the Grace College girls this past Sunday and this is what I said:

http://graceslo.org/Resources/Details/LI/TheStewardshipofSinglenessMoreThanaWaitingGame/

What a great group - so much fun! The one guy left in the room -- doing sound -- was too dazzled (I guess) to turn the tape on at the beginning...so if you listen, I started by saying:

"My name is Sue Donaldson, I live here in San Luis, and I've attended Grace for the last 24 years. I can always keep track because I married into the church. My husband, Mark, moved up here first and began attending Grace. He had proposed down in LA, but I said "no" and (sound guy wakes...)  then said "yes" 3 years later, but that's another story...we'll have to get coffee..."

I'll put up 6 powerful-points-to-ponder another day - it's a mouthful, naturally. Blessings!

My friend had a problem day. Her face showed it. I told her: "Lift it to the Lord. You can't do this. Work on what you can do." She agreed. Said she would.

As I drove off, I wondered about that advice. Some things we can't even "lift" to God. Arms won't budge, burdens too heavy. So be it. Just "slide" those pesky things to Jesus - not quite song lyrics, but you get the idea.

How's your day going?

Anything you should just "push" onto His plate? (His plate's a platter, don't you know?)

Need to "bring" something to His feet or "drag" it down the hall of your heart (kicking and screaming?)

Jan said, "God won't do what He expects us to do." He expects us to let Him "carry" what we can't.

I Peter 5:7 - "Cast your cares on Him - (Yeah! Another resting verb - cast those puppies!!) for He cares for you." (and you and you...)

PS I love a good thesaurus - Mark gave me a 50-lb one for my birthday years ago - sooo romantic since I'm an English major and love it so much (and him, too, of course.) Here's what I found to help us "rest" when our problems are too complicated--sticky--and,or--painful:

Yield...

Relinquish...

Hand over...

Surrender...

Abandon...

Stop (Love this one!!)...

Entrust...

And, make yourself a strong cup of bracing tea! Tell me your favorite and I'll do it immediately!

In a pinch for time? Check out this yummy and ample recipe - made in your microwave! Lori served this 3x while in SLO - for her Pampered Chef parties. Delish and easy, of course. We used my deep dish stoneware baker--just to show it off - but while you're waiting for yours to arrive (!) try it in your glass casserole. (see www.pamperedchef.biz/loris14kitchens)

Mexican Chicken "Lasagna"

1/4 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves (Mark doesn't like cilantro - next time I'll try diced green chilies or make it when he's out of town...Trish says cilantro is an "acquired taste" - so far he hasn't made the effort to acquire said taste - bummer.)

1 8 oz. cream cheese

2 cups Jack cheese or taco mix cheese

2/3 cup chopped onion

1 - 28 oz. can enchilada sauce

12 - 6 in. corn tortillas

3 cups diced or shredded cooked chicken - Lori cooked the chicken in micro for 15 minutes and shredded with salad chopper

Place cream cheese in batter bowl and microwave on high 30-45 seconds to soften. Add cilantro and 1 1/2 cups Jack cheese; mix well.

Spread 2/3 cup of enchilada sauce over bottom of deep covered baker. Pour the rest in a shallow bowl.

Dip four tortillas w/ tongs into the sauce and arrange over sauce in baker. Scoop half of the creamcheese mixture and spread. Top with 1 cup chicken, and 1/3 c. chopped onion. Repeat layers. Pour rmeaining enchilada sauce over and spinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Jack cheese.

Microwave, covered,  on HIGH 12-15 minutes or until center is hot. Let stand 10 minutes. Sprinkle with additonal chopped cilantro. I have the thrift store version of a microwave so I needed to cook it a little longer and swivel it by hand every 10 minutes. (It didn't break my arm...) The soaking sauce makes it so yummy. If you have a crowd, serve with Spanish rice, green salad and cornbread. Let me know how yours turns out!

On Thursday, this lovely lady inspired our women's group. Suzy Kenny (at left,) mother of eight (yes, you read that correctly...) speaks on Teacups and God's plan for our lives. Lovely and smart and funny and a lover of God. Jaime (at right,) mother of three, also inspires me to love and trust God and walk 3x a week.

Suzy challenged us:

"Let God show off in your lives! He does in nature--let Him do it in your marriages, in your singleness, in your mothering, in your serving."

Psalm 19:1 speaks of God's "showing off" in nature:

"God's glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on exhibit across the horizon."

He's "on tour" everywhere you look. We can be part of that glory-tour.

I would add: "Let God show off in your being." We house God Incarnate. Just being shows Him off. Every time we walk out the door (or, fall out of bed), go to work, fold the laundry, count the socks (where DO those prodigal socks go???) -- we are "on tour"-- showing off the riches of His grace, the joy of His presence, the fruit of His forgiveness.

The question remains: Do we?

Suzy and Jaime are "stars" at touring - love that!

Mom never liked Mother's Day. The sermons about the Proverbs 31 woman irked her. She felt guilty she wasn't a better mother. Now I know that guilt comes with the job--the baby slips down the birth canal along with guilt and worry, love and hope.

Yet, Mom had some inner strength that got her through raising five spirited kids on an engineer's salary. She worked hard, laughed a lot, went to every game and every concert, sewed and organized (and organized), opened her home - again and again, and prayed for us.

Her strength became my strength and I'm grateful. She didn't have James Dobson and marriage conferences. She had good Bible teaching, good friends, and a good man. She had common sense and a deep sense of wanting to "do things right." She regaled her younger friends with funny statements like: "Well, I stayed up all night trying to think how I could leave Hy, but I figured out it was too much trouble!" She made us do things we didn't want to do. That is wearing for a mom, and I'm grateful. She kept a sandpaper ping pong paddle in the tool drawer in the kitchen - for spankng. I'm grateful (now.) She served many strangers at our table, and I'm grateful. She went to work for the first time when we began Christian college, and I'm SO grateful. The list goes on.

Her good friend, Jan Kropf, visited her recently and wrote this great tribute to her: "I cannot count the times I walked in the unlocked back door to find Betty chalking up the daily schedules.  She had an organizational skill that simply worked.  I loved her take-charge parenting, I envied her ability to simply address the task at hand.  I learned so much and so many things from her which I stored and prayed about." Thanks, Jan! Always good to see your mom through another's eyes. 

Thanks, mom! I love you! (Your card will be late--Lori and Lynnel got the organizational gene...)

PS

Mom didn't have a great role model, btw. Per ex: her mom never had company. I never "never had company" - get it? She broke the pattern by trusting God. She made mistakes but not as many. I add this because your mom may have been different than mine. Her's was. Take the challenge, break the pattern, and see God's grace fill in the blanks. Happy Mother's Day! I made reservations - yea! Sometimes you just need to do that.

We don't have one. It's on THE LIST of things to get - all part of the REMODEL, inside and out. Diane, landscraper-friend, told me that plants do best on a drip system--a little water on a regular basis. Better than a flood every once in a while when the Spirit leads (or, the leaves leave.)

This little fushia died all at once in a frost. Wasn't sure it would recover until I saw the green. I began watering, regularly, coaxing it back to health. Life wasn't gone altogether, but almost.

I can look like this when I don't get "dripped" regularly - by sitting in God's shade, soaking, drip by drip, verse by verse. Church is good for my soul, true. But time daily with Jesus keeps the green alive--joy, peace, gentleness, love.

It's a pleasing discipline. Come to the Table. Make your cup of tea, set a place for One. Let His Word wash where needed. Make it day by day.

Green is good. Green brings Him glory. Green shades another.

PS

Heard a mother of eight say yesterday: "No excuses, ladies. I listened to Scripture on tape while mothering my eight. This is a season."

Prayer for your day:

"Lord, help me want to want You more. Give me creativity to get the drip system in place. Everyone talks about being 'more green' --love that --can't do it without You. Amen."

"Jesus Christ opens wide the doors of the treasure house of God's promises, and bids us go in and take with boldness the riches that are ours."

- Corrie Ten Boom

Here's my question:

Did you know Jesus does that for you?

Here's my other question:

Do you treasure His promises?

Here's yet another:

Did you know you were invited to go in and "take with boldness" a treasure you could use?

Why not one (or two) more:

Did you take the time today to come through that door and take the promise you needed?

Do you need a list?

Ephesians 1:7 is a great place to open your door and grab a treasure -- Ephesians 3:20 isn't bad, either:

"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."

"Now unto Him Who is able to do exceeding, abundantly, above all that we ask or think." Think I'll be bold and grab that one. No worries. Enough to go around. The treasure chest is deep and wide, much like His love and grace.

When my folks speak of us kids, they only remember "the good parts version." Chalk it up to poor memorys or creative memories. If we remind them of our less-than-perfect-ness, they are both quick to say, "It's all grace." [that we turned out ok.]

I get that. I DO remember some regrets. Yes, I'm forgiven, but the memories work creativity to keep me grateful for God's great grace.

Debbi mentioned she knew it took God's grace to get her saved:

"For it's by grace you have been saved, not of works, it's God's great gift." (Ephesians 2:8)

BUT she didn't realize til years later how much she needed grace DAILY. I'm getting that, too.

--I need grace to keep my mouth shut or open - timely, gracious speech.

--I need grace to give me strength for the next task.

--I need grace to know when to say "no" or "yes" to the next task.

--I need grace to remind me to ask for wisdom in everything.

--I need grace to forgive myself after Christ already has.

--I need grace to not judge my friend.

--I need grace to take a risk for God.

I could go on, but wisdom and grace says: "It's enough--set the table."

Why so much grace? I'm meant to live for God--but I can't without it. Bring it on, Holy Spirit!