Confusing Contradictions

     Does everyone face such confusing contradictions in their emotions as I experience?
     Let me explain what I mean. Recently we were blessed with the use of a car for about 2 and 1/2 months. The car was new and had no mechanical issues and we had no expense connected to it, the owner was going to be out of the country and just didn't need it and God had impressed on their heart to leave it for my enjoyment! (That's my Abba, blessing me in surprising ways!) Anyway, I knew the time was getting close to when we would need to give the car back to the owner and I was prepared for that, I thought I was at least, but then unexpectedly the owner returned and needed their car about 2 weeks earlier than we had expected.
     It was a shock to me and I found I didn't want to give the car back! I also thought this showed how much we needed a second car! I struggled through the emotions of not wanting to turn loose of the car and giving it back to the rightful owner and after much prayer was able to take my tight grasp of the keys away long enough to give them back!
     Now I have been without a car for a week and I am experiencing such a wonderful peace! I am not sure why the car removed peace from me, because I did enjoy having the flexibility of having a car to drive if I wanted to run an errand or even just to get out of the house for a while. Maybe the car brought extra pressure into my life? Or maybe it was an illusion of independence? Now I am back to being more dependent and therefore more in tune with the leadings of God? (I"m not saying that having a car causes us to not be in tune with God, I'm just curious why I have more peace when I don't have a car!)
     I just know that now that I am more housebound I have a level of peace that I did not experience while I had the car available for my pleasure. So there you go, when I was first told it was time to give the car back, I actually cried because I wasn't prepared to let it go! And now here I am enjoying a new level of peace because the car is gone! But I am also recognizing a new level of dependence on Abba, my heavenly Father, Who has promised to provide for my needs. I am experiencing Psalm 23 in a real-life way.



The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
for His name’s sake. Psalm 23:1-3 
but I like the Message version here also~

God, my shepherd!
I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction. Psalm 23:1-3 

     He provided a car when I needed one, and I did really need it, I made several important trips that I would not have been able to make otherwise. And now He has placed me by a quiet pool to be restored. (Our apartment is perfect for someone like me who is not a good "apartment" dweller". When I look out of our deck windows I see a beautiful lake and a forest surrounding it, it is a beautiful backyard to be restored by.)
     Thank You Lord for Your provision, You know what I need more than I can know myself. Thank You for "making" me lie down in green pastures! Thank You for making sure that I catch my breath! and especially~ Thank You for being my Shepherd!

Ramblings

Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and become a slave. Proverbs 12:24

     When I reflect on this I think of our society that wants something for nothing. So many people today want a life of ease with cheap products and are even willing to amass a debt that they will most likely never be able to pay off in their lifetime just to chase after their hearts unquenchable desires.
     Part of this situation can be blamed on society but you also have to accept the fact that each person as an adult is responsible for their own decisions. Unfortunately our younger generations are not being equipped with teaching that helps them to make wise choices and evidently, the older generation hasn't learned either.
     I looked at the reality of people and the choices they make and unfortunately the truth of the matter that I see is not attractive!  People left to their own devices will choose the easiest way, causing our society to degenerate year by year, generation by generation. There are a "few" people of integrity and they will make choices reflecting a respect of themselves and for others, but they are "few".
     Even when each generation tries to teach morals and decent living the next generation will take the laxer side and stretch it out even further. There are many people on the more liberal side of society that believe that people are really "good" and that they only make bad choices and do bad things when they are not allowed to be their "good selves". I disagree with this philosophy and say that people are naturally bad and will continue on a long slide into darkness unless their actions and choices are interrupted by an encounter of a spiritual nature.
     Of a spiritual nature meaning recognizing that they are more than just a physical being. they are a spiritual being with a body. Once a person recognizes the truth of this situation then they realize that they are not free to just live life in their body and not expect to have repercussions. In other words, if they live like there is no tomorrow then they have yet to understand that they have a spirit that will not stop living just because their flesh body dies.
     As a person becomes aware of their spirit being living beyond their flesh then they start to realize that their decisions will have a ripple effect and start to want to learn more about the things that are currently at their fingertips. The new TV, new car, new electronic device, the latest style in shoes that they had to have!
     It is very hard for a person that has become a slave to their lifestyle of ease (no strenuous work) and material possessions to turn from the addiction of flashing their plastic charge card to buy whatever their latest whim or desire might be demanding to be satisfied.
     Recently my husband and I were sharing some scripture reading, Psalm 12 to be specific and this verse (24) stood out to me. As we went through our business and were out in society for the next few days I watched people and thought how true this scripture is and the American people are the ones that have become lazy and are becoming slaves.
     We as Americans have no concept of the freedom that our ancestors lived in. They may not have had all of the luxuries that we currently thing we have to have just to get through our day, such as a cellphone...but believe it or not, they did and so could we. I do believe that our lives would be better if we did not have so much "stuff".
     I am guilty of having too much stuff and I struggle with it. My "stuff" isn't the latest gizmo, but it is sentimental things that I have attached memories too. Even those I need to cut back on and simplify to improve my quality of life, but at least they aren't causing me debt!
     This is a rambling statement of what I have observed and some things that weigh heavily on my heart.

1.  We as a people have become fat and lazy, wanting only our ease and comfort. (Even to the point of electing candidates that promise to give us more benefits from the government coffer
2.  We are in debt and we are happy to be there. We are selling ourselves into slavery to the highest bidder, even if it's a store that has convinced us we have to have whatever the item of the month is. Or a credit card that gives us the benefit of buying things that we really can't afford!
3.  We are neglecting our families, I see couples and parents that pay more attention to the cellphone in their hands than to the people (children and spouses) that should be receiving all of the current attention. (How many people will wonder why their spouse wants a divorce? or Why their children have grown up to have no connection to them? and it will easily be tracked back to the quality time that was lost while they were busy texting a friend that wasn't even really important in the big picture of their lives?!) How sad to see a young mother with her children at a playground and she never even looks up at them, she is too busy focusing on her cellphone. She wanted these children and now she can't be bothered to watch them when they need her attention, it's not just mothers...fathers are just as guilty. We have become too concerned with our own self-pleasure to be distracted by responsibilities or the needs of others that we are responsible for. Not to mention couples that started their paths with eyes only for each other and now they sit together physically, but their eyes are glued to a cellphone or television and won't make any effort to connect with the person they had hoped to spend the rest of their lives!
4.  We are losing all respect for ourselves and each other. Why would people be seen in public the way they are and why are they so rude to the people around them?

     From these observations, I have to believe that people are not inherently good because if they were, divorce rates, abortion rates would improve, not grow at such an alarming rate. Without a spiritual awareness, society is lost. The society that tries to live simply as "good" physical beings will sink to a base level of self-fulfillment, not rise to a self-sacrificing level where they focus on the well being of all.
     I do know the answer to this problem, but in our society, there are few that want to know the solution. A person has to hit bottom and realize that they don't have all of the answers in themselves. Unfortunately, there are many people that are still floating along, they can feel the waves picking up in their lives but they have not felt the tidal wave that will create a heart that is open to hear or see the true way out of the slave, self-absorbed mentality that has consumed them.
     I have walked a path of trying to find my own happiness and thinking I could handle it all also, now I have confidence and joy! When you're ready, send an email, I'll be happy to share with you the very same things that I have grabbed hold of (or that has grabbed a hold of me!) that has opened my heart and my eyes. The answer is easy, but your heart has to be open and ready~
Lorna Mercer

Today's Woman, Proverbs 31 Woman and Description of a Worthy Woman

      Well, I just set one of my handmaidens to work making bread for supper. I know you're wondering who I am and how I can have a handmaiden in these days and times, and maybe even what country I live in, right?! Well, every time I set my breadmaker working I think of it as my handmaiden taking care of bread for my household, you know like the Proverbs 31 woman that sets her handmaidens to work.
      I've heard women complain about the comparison of the Proverbs 31 woman to our lives and demands and they say "Sure, if I had handmaidens I could get a lot done too!". But ladies, we do have handmaidens. As I already mentioned we have breadmakers, add to that dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, crockpots, microwaves, timed coffee pots! Every gadget to make your life easier is available! Even electricity and running water are luxuries that the Proverbs 31 woman didn't have available! Not to mention hot running water, and toilets?! Shew! I bet she would have loved to have flushable toilets!
      So when we think it would be impossible to be like the woman in Proverbs 31 don't fall for that lie! We can be like that woman or God wouldn't of put it in scripture. Be encouraged, maybe it's just a change of priorities that needs to be made? Are you perhaps spending your time and energy in ways that really isn't beneficial?
      This is a wandering thought and not meant in any way to criticize my mother because I think she is as close to the Proverbs 31 woman as any that I have know, her and my early care babysitter! I know I grew up with 2 sisters, so my mother had 3 helpers available to train and put to work in the things our family needed taken care of, but as I said my mother was a very busy woman. Before all of the convenience foods available now my mother was a working woman, with 4 children that she kept well fed, clean and in bed on time! My father was a very real support in our family, but he was always busy outside with "men's work" like cutting firewood, hauling hay, building fences, handling cattle(branding, immunizing, culling, checking to make sure they were still there!) and of course there was hunting and fishing!
      Anyway, between my mother's 40 hour a week job, and cooking, cleaning, gardening, sewing, canning and mothering, she didn't have a lot of time left over for teaching and training. Often it was easier to send her daughters to play or go outside or whatever would help to get them out from "under foot". It might have behooved her to train her daughters to do some of the chores that demanded so much of her time and energy? While it might seem like it's doing the children a favor to let them go play while you take care of the chores is not necessarily true. The children will not learn the responsibility of the things that keep life running on a level balance and it will stress you more trying to do the things that they could handle. If you have a family that doesn't have outdoor "men's work" like cutting wood, hauling hay...etc you may even consider that your sons will need to know how to care for themselves also! (I hope you heard the facetious tone in that sentence, of course sons should be helping!)
      These are just some thoughts I've had about the Proverbs 31 woman and some of the excuses that women today can't possibly live up to that! I am going to make it a point to read these scriptures daily for awhile(maybe a month?) and see what things I can start incorporating into my life instead of wasting so much time on things that are of no value.


Description of a Worthy Woman

¹⁰ An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.
¹¹ The heart of her husband trusts in her,
And he will have no lack of gain.
¹² She does him good and not evil
All the days of her life.
¹³ She looks for wool and flax
And works with her hands in delight.
¹⁴ She is like merchant ships;
She brings her food from afar.
¹⁵ She rises also while it is still night
And gives food to her household
And portions to her maidens.
¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it;
From her earnings she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷ She girds herself with strength
And makes her arms strong.
¹⁸ She senses that her gain is good;
Her lamp does not go out at night.
¹⁹ She stretches out her hands to the distaff,
And her hands grasp the spindle.
²⁰ She extends her hand to the poor,
And she stretches out her hands to the needy.
²¹ She is not afraid of the snow for her household,
For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
²² She makes coverings for herself;
Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
²³ Her husband is known in the gates,
When he sits among the elders of the land.
²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them,
And supplies belts to the tradesmen.
²⁵ Strength and dignity are her clothing,
And she smiles at the future.
²⁶ She opens her mouth in wisdom,
And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
²⁷ She looks well to the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children rise up and bless her;
Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:
²⁹ “Many daughters have done nobly,
But you excel them all.”
³⁰ Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
³¹ Give her the product of her hands,
And let her works praise her in the gates.

Proverbs 31:10-31