The Glad Game

Have you ever seen Pollyanna?

If not...put it on your must see list of old movies.

Pollyanna is one of those annoyingly positive people that everyone thinks they get tired of but in the end feel better from being around this little ball of joy.

I've noticed in myself, the past couples weeks, a little more negativity coming out of me. I've always tried to keep a good attitude and stay positive, so this whole negative streak has been of great concern to me. 

School has been the main thing that I have remained negative about, and I was recently put to shame for it.

I'm currently in Anesthesia, and have been very unmotivated, negative, and neglectful with this class. I ran into my professor the other day and he made a comment to another professor that "this young lady always has a good attitude no matter what!"

Ouch. 

That was a smack in the face for me. I haven't had a good attitude about this class at all. And yet it gave me some hope that I wasn't a complete failure at life because he also said I always had a smile on my face.

What I'm trying to get to here is...I've decided to be more Pollyanna-like and start playing the "Glad Game."

Want to know how to play? Well, for every situation you encounter that seems bad, unfavorable, sad, negative, or not exactly how YOU want it to be...find at least one thing to be glad about. 

Let's throw out a few examples, shall we? 

Example #1: Your feet are cold and you stub your big toe on a hard piece of oak furniture.

You can be glad that your toe is not broken and that the pain will only last a few minutes and you will not end up with gangrene infection, be glad that you have a nice hard piece of oak furniture and that stubbing your toe was a good reminder to put some socks on!

Example #2: You are walking through the house with a piping hot plate of food when you slip on your little sister's rollerskate and spill the food down the front of you.

You can be glad that you have food to eat in the first place, be glad that you have a way to heat the food up to the proper degree that your palate is craving at that time, and be glad that your little sister has toys to play with.

Ok so those were poor examples...but you get the idea! 

Anyway...I'm glad that the Lord showed me that I was being negative and needed to turn it around. I'm also glad that I have a savior in my life that loves me, forgives me, keeps His promises to me, and is constantly molding me into His perfect image. 

Stress

This doesn't happen to me very often, but today was one of those days that I felt very down about myself. 

(I know this is starting out depressing but it gets better, I promise :))

I felt a lack of self confidence and frustration with everything around me. 

Confession is good for the soul right?

Everyone had left the house and I was laying in my floor talking to God, sharing my heart with Him.

I don't like letting satan have the upper edge on me, so finally I stopped, asked the Lord to forgive me if I was being selfish and ungrateful.

Then I asked Him to take all that was on my mind into His hands, and take care of it for me. 

I asked Him to send me something today that would make me happy and take care of all I was feeling.

I went downstairs when my family got home, and a few hours later totally forgot what I had said and went on to the youth meeting. 

Brother Burley Williams spoke for us. When we all sat down he said he came with no certain subject in mind, but heard someone say the word stress. "So we are going to talk about stress." He said.

I though, "ok this will be interesting."

Little did I know that absolutely every example he gave of dealing with stress and letting the spirit of stress and oppression run your mind, would be exactly what I had just gone through a few hours before alone in my room. 

God....never ceases to amaze me. 

In a world where we will deal with stress every single day of our lives...I have a God that I can give my stress to. I have a God that will help me put my stress in the right place so I don't blow off the handle at someone without even knowing it. 

What you think of yourself will determine how stress works in you. I was sitting in my room feeling totally worthless and with every thought I had, the spirit of stress was right there to urge me on. 

As soon as the youth meeting was over, those thoughts tried to come back to me. All I had to say was satan my God has a plan for me and I am His child, so get back! And the oppression was gone.

It is so easy to become stressed. As soon as you walk in the door of your home after a long day of work and you feel stressed; if you don't handle it properly it will travel to the other people around you. I pray that God will help me to channel my stress and give it to Him from now on. 

What a great subject to think about. Sobering.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Matthew 6:33

Thankful

I haven't felt super inspired to blog about anything lately. I guess the inspiration comes and goes. 

But I thought I would share a few things that I'm thankful for. 

1. I'm so thankful for the ministry God has placed me under and the visiting ministers He has been sending to our church this month. I have never had so many services hit the nail right on the head before.

2. I'm thankful for the freedom to serve my God, have a place to serve Him in, and have the Word of the hour literally at my fingertips.

3. I'm thankful for the gospel and the truth it holds. Without my Jesus living in me, I would be empty, lost, and searching everyday for that one thing that would make me complete.
I was yet a sinner and He saved me. He died for the sins of the world and I am blessed and honored to know and serve Him.

4. I'm thankful for what God is doing in my family right now. Lumps and bumps come along the way but He uses them to get our attention, make us stronger, and most importantly bring us closer to Him. 

When everything unsteady is shaken from us, He is the one thing completely unshakeable.

5. I'm thankful for the people in my life. Church family, immediate family, friends.

6. I'm thankful for the woman God is making me into. Even though I fall and make mistakes everyday...God loves me. 

I'm thankful that I can do nothing to earn that love, but that He gives it freely to me. 

7. Finally, I'm thankful for a God that provides, heals, comforts, corrects, and LIVES. 

I'm sure you noticed that everything I'm thankful for has to do with God. Well friend...that's because without God...

I'm nothing.

Colossians 3:17

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord

Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.

Operation Caning of Tomatoes

Greetings!

As a continuation of my summer garden project...I decided to can the tomatoes I've got in so far. Just today I brought in almost a whole bucket!

My dad was telling me how Grandma Rosie would can crates and crates of tomatoes...I canned three jars. haha! 

I will be canning as they come in though, so by the end of the season I should have quite a bit...still, not crates and crates ;)

Anyway...mom and I got our little aprons on and went to work!

All of my maters (pile on the left wasn't quite ready yet) 

Me and the rents (compliments to Sister Dawn Carter for making me that cute little apron:)

Waiting for the water to boil... 

Roma and Pear tomatoes 

Hannah getting fancy with the pictures 

Boiling jars, lids, and water for the maters 

I love waiting. Really. 

Blanching them... 

Pealing... 

... 

Filling the first jar! 

Adding salt..

 Putting the lid on

 Time for the cherry tomatoes!

Like I said...I only got two jars of the Romas and one jar of the cherries. I would have two jars of the cherries but we had a little...technical difficulty. :)

Until next time friends!

The Marriage of the Lamb

I was listening to this as I was walking this morning...it was both sobering and lovely. 

The Marriage of the Lamb - 62

Bro. William Branham

And there was a certain school. And in this school, this group of young Americans come over. And every one of them, almost, did the same thing. But one certain little girl, she wouldn’t tolerate it at all. She stayed in. At nighttime she read while they was all out drinking. Daytime, she worked steady. But she was the laughingstock of the whole school. And she kept herself like a lady, conducted herself like a lady. Although there were young Roman boys and everything around, trying to get her to go out, she refused it. No, sir. She stayed right with her lessons, learning to draw, and to paint, rather. And she stayed with it.

154         Finally, an old custodian at the place kept watching her. Seeing she was so much different-although he was a Roman Catholic-kept watching her, how she conducted herself. One evening, the young girl in the park where the studio was, why... or the place where they had the school, she walked out upon the campus, and went up towards the top of the hill, and the sun was setting. And she was standing up there, with her pretty, clean face, and her hair hanging down, looking across that way towards the setting of the sun.

155         The old custodian was raking down there in the yard, and kept watching the girl. As he raked, something just kept telling him go talk to her. So he laid his rake down, took off his old slouch hat, walked up to where the young lady was, cleared up his throat. She turned around.

He said, “Pardon me, Miss.”

She said, “Yes, sir. Certainly.”

And he noticed she’d been crying. All the rest was out on a big spree for the night. He said, “Madam, I hope that you understand me in the right way, that I’m going to speak to you.” Said, “You’ve been here most for over two years now. And I’ve noticed the group that you’ve come with, continually they’re out on parties, and coming in all times of the night, drunk, and clothes half off of them, and everything. But I noticed that you don’t attend such parties.”

And said, “I notice that, seemingly, that you’re always looking across the sea. Of a evening, you walk up here to stand here, each evening, and watch the sun go down.” And said, “What causes that?” Said, “I’m an old man. I’m curious of knowing what causes this difference between you and the others.”

She said, “Yes, sir.” She said, “Sir, I’m looking towards home when the sun is setting.” She said, “Across... beyond that sun yonder is my homeland.” And she said, “In that land, there is a certain state. And in that certain state there’s a certain city. And in that certain city is a certain house. And in that house is a certain boy.”

She said, “He, too, is an artist. When I left to come over here, I pledged my love to him. We’re engaged to one another.” And she said, “No matter what any of the rest of them does, that has nothing to do with me.” She said, “I promised to live true and right.” And she said, “I’m longing for the day, that when I feel myself on the top of the wings of that big plane that’ll take me across the sea, and set me down at the airport where he’ll meet me. He’s building a home, and we’ll live together in that land.”

And said, “That’s the reason I act the way I do. I’m true to the promise that I made a boy. And he’s true to the promise that he made to me.” Said, “I hear from him now and then, and I write to him.” And said, “Corresponding with one another, we’re still holding our vows, waiting for the day we meet.”

156         Oh, how that would do for a real Christian, to get away from the things of the world! Someday... you talk about coming into the port on the wings of a dove; He’s coming for a bride-one that don’t fool with the world, or the things of the world. She’s washed in the blood of the Lamb. She’s pledged her love to Him only. The love of the world is gone and dead to her. The marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.

I pray that I can pledge my love to God in this way.