Are we headed for warmer weather?

Over the past week, we've experienced warmer weather here in East Tennessee. We've run barefoot...raised the windows...worn short sleeves. And that is supposed to continue for the next few days. HOWEVER (and you always know there's a 'however'!), four days from now, the cold is expected to creep back in for several days.

Ah the joy of knowing exactly what the forecast is and how we should react to it! We can mentally begin to prepare ourselves for those upcoming days of chill. We can absolutely live up the days until then! We can live the outdoor life to it's fullest, right? Barefoot and carefree ALL THE WAY! Sleeping at night with the windows open and the springtime air floating in. We can party like it's 1999, right?...(you'd have to be over the age of 30 to understand that!).

Do we really enjoy the days before the unpleasant chill? Or do we fret over the chill moving back into our early springtime air?

I guess it depends on your perspective.

Enjoy the fun while it lasts, or worry over the time to come? Live in the moment, or stress for the future?

While it's always best to plan for the future, God definitely wants us to live in the moment...to live life to it's fullest. To set aside the temporary feelings that our sometimes misled perception can bring us, and place our life in His hands to live out according to His purpose.

Easier said than done.

That old perception steps in and tends to ruin things sometimes. Which in turn, holds us back from all God promised we could enjoy. And I struggle with that very thing...not being the perfect Christian. Not spending enough time studying His Word. Not allowing Him to fulfill me instead of those temporary fixes (like Ebay!) that will never satisfy my longings. Not that Ebay is bad...but you sure can't find "fulfillment" on those auction pages, much less bid on it!

My heart has been a little overwhelmed since I last blogged. So much has happened! Scarlett lost one of her front teeth. Two of the most precious people on this planet to me have had a birthday...with no special blog (it seems that birthdays come and go even when we don't "do" them like we thought we would!). My sweet and very funny neighbors lost their child/grandchild to SIDS. My friend's father has been diagnosed with cancer. I'm frustrated over ministry relationships. And God has been speaking to me about fulfillment and all the things we reach for in desperation (yes, and most of the time we don't realize we're desperate!) each day, to fill the spot that only He can. And I sense Him getting ready to make a change in my life.

I've lacked the energy to put it all into words!

And along with feeling guilty over not putting up the special birthday blogs, I've felt guilty for feeling like I've somehow disappointed God.

Do you ever feel that way?

I hate my feelings sometimes...because feelings LIE. And what I long for, as I'm sure you long for, is very simply...truth.

Truth!

As in...TRUTH or DARE?...how about..."To Tell the Truth" (an oldie but goodie!).

I get tired of battling my perception of how God sees me, versus what He actually tells me (about how He sees me) in His Word. Can anybody relate?!

Why isn't it enough to know that God sent His only Son to die in my place?

I think that has been a struggle my whole life. Why? Because I feel that when I'm not the perfect Christian, that God has no reason to love me and accept me...much less, to bless me. The problem with that way of thinking is...

A~I'll never be perfect
B~God's love & acceptance of me has no rhyme OR reason
C~He doesn't bless me based on my "perfect-ness"

I continually have to remind myself that when I fail Him in my time (being a time-waster), or I overeat (leave the wheat thins on the shelf!)...I'm overly irritated with these wonderful little people that He's blessed me with (my kiddies), or when I isolate myself from others (instead of taking the opportunities to be a blessing to someone else)...God isn't sitting there with a demerit list, just waiting to whack my hands with a ruler! God isn't surprised when any of us choose to do things that deviate from His daily plan for our lives! He's disappointed, but doesn't hold it against us. And He knows that ultimately, if we know Him and love Him, our pig-trail will lead us right back to His highway!

But that's a daily battle of laying down my will and asking Him to take the wheel once more. And it's not the end of the world when we get distracted...it's called...

the walk...living in the moment...with God planning our future.

And us knowing, although we might not always feel it, that we can rest in His plan...that He loves us & accepts us despite our time wasting...wheat thin eating (the Parmesan basil ones are TDF!)...irritatingly frustrating...isolated pig trail ways.

We don't have to stress out over those chilly days that are forecast to come! God knows ALL about those! And He WILL be faithful. Feelings will probably lie about that, too, but God's commitment to us is not based on feelings...it's based on His truth. We can't mess that up! We can feel like a failure all day long, but our feelings do not define God's truth! PRAISE HIM!!!

So I might feel blue over the trickle of colder days that no doubt lie ahead of our glorious warm weather! But I know that God will not pack up and move to Florida! He will not give up on me! And my feelings wouldn't jerk me around as bad if I didn't give them permission to do it. I can only help myself by using the Word that lies at my fingertips, to bring those feelings into His perspective. All the guilt in the world can't stand up against my Father!!!

And another thing...(this one's for Mark)...

God actually loves the color blue. So it can't be all that bad.