Stuck on PAUSE

Do you remember the old VHS players? Yes I said VHS. For some of you, you might be saying “What is a VHS and why does it need a player?” A VHS my dear friends is what we would watch movies on at home before DVDs or Netflix. Same thing just bigger, bulgier and boxy. Anyway, I know we have moved on to the more sophisticated electronics and I am sure that soon DVDs will be obsolete. Back to VHS, if you do remember them you probably also remember when the tape got pulled out or stuck around the inside of the player and you had to carefully, using a butter knife, remove the tape from the player and then slowly re-thread it through the tape. From then on, when you watched that video it would always get a little shaky when it got to the part in the tape that got wrinkled. Or if it was a really old tape and just worn out it would get stuck on pause until you ejected it, wound the tape manually passed that point and put it back in. I sincerely hope I’m not the only one that remembers VHS.

I take you back to yesteryear of electronics and home movies to ask you a simple question. Do you feel like your life is “Stuck On Pause”.
I recently, well really for the past few months have felt like life has been stuck on pause for me. It just seems as though the people around me were continuing on in their stories or “movies”. Their story just kept going while my story was stuck, stuck on pause. I can’t tell you why or how my life got stuck on pause or even if it really was stuck on pause. But what I can share is a revelation I had by realizing I needed to live in the pause to keep my story going.

Like I said, for the last few months I have felt like my life was on pause. I had gotten to a point to where nothing was new. It was all just the same old stuff. Get up, go to work, go workout, go home and go to church. Then I would get up and do it all over again. When I broke my foot and couldn’t workout I still felt like life was on pause. Then even when I moved out of the house I shared with my roommate and her little 17 month old girl (the cutest kid in the world by the way) into a one bedroom apartment, by myself. Life still felt like it was on pause. I was getting so frustrated. I just wanted to see something change. I wanted to see something happen. There was this constant unrest in my spirit. I never could nail it down and tell you what it was but I knew that I needed change and fast or I might just go a little crazy. I was continually praying and asking the Lord about what to do next, where to go next, but still nothing. LIFE WAS STILL ON PAUSE!!

Then through a meeting with a Pastor, an email from around the world in another country, and a 10 minute window of silence at a church service the Lord showed me something. He showed me that sometimes we have to live in the pause so that our story can hit play again.

I realized that in this pause of life I needed to look deeper, into the details of what was right there. I needed to look deeper into the things that had become so common place and so repetitive, so paused in my life. I had grown to hate this pause in my life because I wanted to see life just keep moving. I wanted to hit the play button already. But as these events unfolded in my life and I began to look deeper at the pause I saw different people that have been there through this pause. People who have spoken deep into my heart. people that I loved. I saw people, who in some way, had help mold me into who I am today. As I looked deeper I saw moments that were spent alone and moments that were ordained and coordinated by God. These all were precious moments that I had forgotten about and had taken for granted. As I took the time to live right there in the midst of the pause I became silently content. My prayers changed from desperate pleas for something to change to prayers of thanks for the people and things that were right there in front of me.

I watched a movie the other night and had to pause the movie for a phone call. When I turned back to watch the movie I stopped for just a second before hitting play and looked a little deeper at the scene before me. There were no surprises but I will tell you the detail of that one scene popped off of the screen to me and reminded me that every detail of life is there to had color and depth to your story.

Do you feel like your life is on pause? If yes, take the time to look a little deeper, you never know what you might have missed trying to find the play button.

Event To Event To Event

I realized something this morning as I was brushing my teeth, I know a weird moment to realize something. Maybe because it is such a routine thing to do and in routine our mind tends to wonder a bit, but that is beside the point. Soooo, I realized something this morning…wait for it…wait for it…I realized that I have gotten to a point that I base SOME of my excitement in life on what the next EVENT is on my calendar. Let me explain.

Today is my last day of work for 5 days, I am taking 3 days off work with the weekend pushed in the middle to move from my house into an apartment. I am super excited about the move, though I will miss my roomie. I have been looking forward to being off work and finishing packing but I didn’t realize how much I was looking forward to it until this morning. It is almost as if I have a renewed since of energy and drive to get things done at work today, so my time off is not spent worrying about things in the office. I will admit I am a bit OCD when it comes to organization and I’m certainly that way within my job, so I tend to go into every weekend with the checklist, checked off. But this time, this weekend, I feel as though I have an extra since of “get it done attitude”. I’ve also been sick for the past 2 weeks, and have had no energy to really do much of anything but today it hasn’t phased me. That’s what I realized this morning, it shouldn’t matter, sick or not, days off or not, event or not, IT SHOULDN”T CHANGE MY OUT LOOK OR ATTITUDE TOWARD THE DAY, PERIOD.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t get excited about the events that happen in life, or that we shouldn’t get excited about a few extra days off work. By all means be excited for those and look forward to them, they are certainly precious and should be cherished. But I am saying we should take the time to be excited for everyday, cherish everyday and look everyday for what we can get out of it.

The Lord tells us that he has given us enough time in every day to get done what needs to be done that done. It is our choice to live in the peace and knowledge of that. It is also our choice to do the things on our ever growing to do list within the power of the Lord and not within our own.

Have you ever noticed that when you make the conscious decision to work down a to do list with first acknowledging the Lord is control of what gets done, EVERYTHING on the list gets done and most of the time there is time to spare. Then even if the list isn’t complete there is this inner peace of knowing the things not marked off are those that really didn’t HAVE to be done immediately. I absolutely love it, when I set out on a Saturday to do the laundry, clean and run errands, and I put it all in the Lords hands, first. I look up, I’m done with the list for the day and it is 2 in the afternoon. Plenty of time to rest, relax and enjoy the rest of the weekend. LOVE IT!!!

I know what you’re thinking. I am one of those crazy people that makes lists, a schedules and limit the time to which they will be done in and your kind of right. I am a list maker and love to put time limits on stuff. But I am also an individual who loves to sit down relax and not do anything. I can honestly say that there are times that I make the list, I put it in God’s hands and not everything gets done. But when I look back over that list, the things that are not done, either really didn’t need to happen or they were things that I wanted to do but probably shouldn’t because it would save me money not to, or it would’ve been the wrong decision in the long run.

Ok you know I like lists and getting stuff done, but why does my week or month look brighter the closer I get to the next event in my life. It shouldn’t and I am the world’s worst at this. It’s like after one event I am looking to the next one and say to myself: “Ok you can make 2 more months, 3 days till such and such happens” this so sad, on my part.

I believe that each day is a gift from the Lord. He gives us breath every morning as we hit the snooze button on the alarm and we should be excited and thankful about that. We should relish each day. We should look at each day as the “next Event” on the calendar. God gives us small things in everyday that make them special but if we don’t stop and see each day as the next event we miss the small things because we see the day as routine. Please know that I do see the big events as things to get excited about. I am thrilled to be off the next 5 days and of course I have a little extra pep in my step but that doesn’t meant that today there aren’t things that can bless my life or people’s lives I can be a blessing to.

I encourage you as I encourage myself, start looking forward to the next event, today. And then tomorrow and the next day, EACH DAY is an event. I think if we can get into the practice of seeing each day as the next event God has for us we might just see him move in a mighty way in our lives that we never thought possible. So, CHEERS to today and the adventure it brings.

God Communications

So for a long time I have wrote stories. Well I don't know if they are short stories or just the way that God communicates lessons to mebut they are what they are. I have kept a lot of the stories in hopes to one day put them all together in a book. I have not given up on that hope but have felt like I am supposed to start sharing these God Communications with other people. So here is the first one. I wrote this in 2010.

Those Roots


As she started down the path that she had walked everyday of her life, she started to notice what went a long the side of the road. There was a house off in the distance, it was beautiful. The house was huge with a porch that wrapped around all the way to the back. The front door was gorgeous cherry wood. It was a double door carved with the beauty of a skilled hand. The windows had beautiful arches that made the house flow from top to bottom seamlessly. The front yard landscaped to perfection, complete with the spring flower bed and the large Oak tree that seemed so old, it must have been there for hundreds of years, not to mention the tire swing that hung from a low branch. She could almost see the rope and how worn it was by repeated use. Even as she longed to go in and stay awhile, she knew she couldn't go in, for it was so far off her path. So she reluctantly continued to walk. She ventured to the side where she saw a deep rut in the path. The rut was worn and had many deep impressions of foot prints in it. But this was not new to her; she had seen it before and walked in it many times. Realizing that should she stay to long by the rut she would be drawn to step into it again, she turned her attention to the path. As she traveled she took the time to watch the sky and to enjoy the cool breeze that kissed her cheeks and cooled the sweat that wet her forehead. It was a welcome breeze, not always needed, but welcome. She took the time to notice the few clouds on the horizon and the sun as it began to make its descent to the west. Then she ran right smack, into it. The tree, that tree that always seem to be there. The further she walked the more it was in front of her. She never could get it out of her sight. This tree was massive. Its roots, they dug deep into the earth and seemed as though they wrapped themselves around the edges of her path and drove through the middle. Its bark was that dark deep chocolate brown that only covered the sap that flowed beneath. The sap that was black as molasses and so sticky you would never get it off if you touched it. She had never seen leaves on this tree or fruit. It was nothing but the trunk and the limbs that curved and bent their way to the sky, as if only to say I will grow as high as I need to, to keep me rooted here. She stopped along her path and looked at the tree that she had seen so many times before. She stopped and looked at this tree that she herself planted and yet now hated so much. She saw the ax marks where she had tried to cut it down before and the initials that she had carved in it so long ago. She thought back to when she planted the tree and she remembered thinking that she would only plant it with the intention of pulling it out after she didn't need it any more. Then she came back to her walk, she tried to move around the tree to continue on to see where the path might lead today. But as soon as she got the tree just out of her sight, she found herself falling face first to the ground. Smashing her face in the dirt and barely catching herself with her hands. She got up off the ground and as she brushed off the dirt that covered her clothes, she saw what had happened. She had tripped over one of the large roots of the tree. This was not strange to her for it had happened before. It seemed that every time she approached the tree and tried to get around it or move on from it, its roots would grow and inevitably she would trip over them. She began to loath the tree and hate it. But on this day the frustration over took her and she ran to the massive trunk of the tree and started to claw at the bark. Pulling piece after piece after piece off of the tree. Knowing that she would be covered in the black tar like sap but not caring she worked diligently to tear the bark off. Soon after running out of the steam that was generated by her frustration she realized not only had she not made any head way in getting the bark off the tree or the tree to be damaged in some way but she herself was covered from head to toe in black, sticky sap. Finally in exhaustion and hopelessness she slumped to her knees and then just sat on one of the large roots that protruded from the base of tree. She slowly began to cry and then to weep. Eventually she could do nothing but take a deep breath let the tears roll down her face. She was so tired of trying to get rid of the tree, of trying to move around the tree and trying to leave it behind. She felt as though she was at the end of her path and that she would be stuck here forever. Then from the distance she heard a whistling. She knew the song well and knew exactly who it came from. It was a song that brought so much joy to her heart and peace. It made her feel love. As she listened to this familiar song, it reminded her of the Andy Griffin show theme song and she let a small chuckle leave her throat. Then she saw him come up over the horizon. This man that she loved and that loved her, that she had known most of her life. They had walked down the path many times together. They would talk and laugh together. There were times that they would cry together and still others that they would just walk. No talking, no singing, nothing but silence. She thought back to those times and then she remembered the times that she had thought he wasn't walking with her but had realized he had been there, walking but at a slower pace then she had. As this wonderful man approached the tree, she dried her tears and slowly stood, embarrassed at what she knew she must look like and how funny and stupid it must be. She greeted him as he arrived at this tree of hers and with a smile and a slight chuckle he said: "Why hello, I see you ran ahead today and tried to do some work without me." She grinned that grin little girls give their daddies when they know that they have done something wrong but know that daddy won't get mad at his little girl, and nodded yes. She tried so hard to explain how the tree intentionally had tripped her and how it was following her. She started yelling and screaming her frustration about the tree at him. The whole time he just stood there nodding his head. When she was done having yet another tantrum, He asked her if she would like him to take the tree down. This was a question he had asked many times and every time she would battle with saying yes and eventually says no to his offer. He never seemed hurt by her denial or non-acceptance of his offer just sad that she would choose to not have this tree removed from her path. But this time she asked him: "What makes you think that you can remove the tree and it won't come back? I have cut it down time and time again but it has always grown back." As he slowly sat down on the side of her path he answered her question. “I know that it won't come back because I have the knowledge and the power to go deep and pull all of the roots out. I know that if all I do is cut the trunk down and don't pull out the roots the tree will grow back. I know it will not grow back because I have power over it to remove the entire hold that it has on this path of yours. So will you let me remove it from this path and help you move on?" As the question came she knew that he would be the only one that would be able to remove this tree from her path from her life. But still the fear of its return, of it over taking her path once again stood in the way of her answer. She slowly stood and walked all the way around the tree. She traced the carved initials with her fingers. She found the spot on which was carved the initials of all the people that she had allowed to walk along her path and to direct which way she went. She found the spot near the bottom where the ground was different from the rest. Remembering that it was there, where she thought she could burry the things no one else could see. Only later to realize those things had made the tree grow even larger. As she came back to in front of her friend, with tears of joy, pain, hurt, and healing she said: "yes, I would like for you to remove this tree from my path" With a hop up from sitting, he stood and took her hand and with a step away from the tree he said: "It is done". Upon hearing those words she turned to see the tree was gone. There were no more roots that lined and crossed over her path. The path seemed as though the tree had never existed. She turned still holding his hand and smiled a smile of gratitude and they began to walk. The longer they walked the more they talked. As the sun began to set for the day, her companion turned to her and said: "though the tree is gone remember this. I am the only one that can remove the roots that trip you along the way. If you try to remove them your self you only prolong the journey and the heartache. I will always be here to help you step past the roots that are planted along your path to make you stumble. But you must use me to get past them and not try it yourself." She smiled and thanked him for all he had done and asked him to stay as she ended her walk for the day. Knowing he really never left. As she turned to rest for the night on the side of her path she realized that all of the black sap that had earlier covered her was gone. Not a single drop was to be found. Looking up she saw him grin and give a little chuckle and a quick wink. She sat on the side of her path next to him; laid her head on his chest and listening to his heart beat she finally began to rest.
By Andrea Hamilton February 2010

That Doggie In the Window

…That Doggie in the Window

It’s been a while and this is a short post but it makes me smile.

This morning I was on my way into work and out of the passenger side window of the car in front of me I saw an adorable reddish brown dog. He was just hanging out of the window, with what could have been a smile on his face. He was letting his ears blow in the wind and occasionally followed with his head as is owner drove past other cars or houses. Not a care in the world with nothing but complete trust in his owner, his friend, his companion. It was a wonderful sight.
Then I had the thought: “Why can’t we be more like the dog in the window on this “car trip” of life?”

I am the first to admit that on the car ride of life, I grab the wheel a lot and try to direct where we will go and I do it from the passenger seat and I’m not sure if my driver’s license covers this drive anyway. I think a lot of us grab the wheel or even shove the Lord out of the driver’s seat completely and sometimes we don’t even mean too. We don’t put our trust in the driver, God, to take us where we need to go and where we will be safe. We avoid sticking our head out the window and enjoying the ride for fear that something will hit us and we won’t be prepared or because we might miss what’s coming up next.

God wants us to put our complete trust in him to direct our “car”/Life where HE wants it to go. He knows what lies ahead on the road, simply because he made it solely for us. Each of us has a different road of life to travel and sometimes our roads might intersect and those times are precious and we need to enjoy them. But if we are too busy trying to drive we miss the car that pulled up next to us, which could’ve been the blessing of a lifetime. We just take over driving we tend to wreck the car or take the wrong road and get lost. We need to realize and understand that God has it all under control and doesn’t need our help. He says it multiple times in his word. One you probably know is Jeremiah 29:11 “for I know the plans I have for you. Plans not to harm you but plans to prosper you and give hope for the future.” I would kind of change it up a bit, for sake of the blog entry, and say: “for I know the road you will travel. A road not full of wrecks and holes but of freshly paved streets driving toward my kingdom.”

So I challenge you as I challenge myself. BE THE DOGGIE IN THE WINDOW in the car of life. Stick your head out the window, smile big, let you hair blow in the wind and put your heart and life in the drivers hands.

21 Days

21 Days = Habit

Recently I have been heavily focusing on getting out of debt and getting my finances under control and I like to say up front that my uncle who is a CFP would be proud even though I shouldn't be in the mess that I'm in anyway. (a little shout out to my uncle) :) It was all going wonderful and I felt like I was getting a handle on my spending and on my debt. I mean I was paying off my credit card and not using it, i was only spending money that had to be spent with the once a month fun day or movie. First and foremost I was tithing like I believe we are called to do. (I know that some of you that may read this may not believe we are called to tithe and I am totally ok with that. But it is a believe of mine and something my heart wants too do.) Anyway, I thought things were going great and headed in the right direction. Then all of a sudden I had some unexpected medical expenses and some other expenses that were not budgeted for. Needless to say I'm not doing as well as I would like BUT I have more peace than I ever have had about money and through all of it God has been teaching me something that doesn't have to do with money but with the heart. Before I go into that I want to make a simple statement of FAITH.

I believe and know that my God is my provider in ALL things and he is going to walk me through ALL that is in my path providing what is needed for that moment. the return on my tithe may not be monetary in value but I am truly blessed in so many other ways and I receive 100 fold what i put into the kingdom. GOD IS AMAZING AND A WONDERFUL PROVIDER!!

Ok onto what my heart as learned in all of this financial learning experience.

I've been in the midst of working out my finances for a little over 6 months now and not being in a better place has become increasingly frustrating. I am a little on the OCD side and I LOVE ORGANIZATION. It makes my heart happy. With my finances out of whack it makes the rest of my life feel a little off. I did what I normally do when I get frustrated, I started telling the Lord about it. Now I didn't yell or complain, I just told him that I was frustrated at where I was at and that I had so many dreams and things I wanted to do when I was financially stable but I couldn't because I wasn't. I've been having this one sided conversation with the Lord for about two weeks now, mainly because I wouldn't shut-up and listen to what he was trying to tell me. I have a lot of those one sided conversations with the Lord. Guess I should learn my lesson. So as I was on my way into work this morning telling the Lord about my frustrations and I had to come to a screeching halt because two cars in front of me decided they would stop in the middle of the road, who knows why. But the sudden stop triggered a sudden stop in my conversation with the Lord and after i recovered from the adrenaline rush of the almost pile-up I felt the Lord speak to my heart. He pointed two things out to me. He showed me that one reason I was so frustrated was because not only was I in debt financially but my spiritual growth had become indebted to my life. This is a lesson we hear preached on over and over but I'm not sure we ever "get it".

I was putting an emphasis on so many other things in my life, i.e. working out, friends, sleeping, finances, and i could go on, that my life was in debt to my spirit. I owe my spirit the same kind of growth that I have been giving to life. I had taken so much energy and time and resources into making sure life was going ok that I had borrowed time away from my spiritual growth and development. I wasn't even listening, truly listening in church services. The Lord showed me that yes we are busy people and that he understands that but that he should be FIRST and that includes in spiritual growth.

At my church we are listening to a series by John Bevere and in it he talks about Moses. He tells the story of when God came to kill Moses. Now I have read the story of Moses a thousands times and heard it even more but i don't remember a place where God came to kill him. But he did. In Exodus 4:24: "At a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to put him to death" (insert wide eyed look with dropped jaw). Bevere goes onto to explain that the Lord sought to kill Moses because he had put his wife's wishes before the command of the Lord in cutting off the foreskin of their second son. She had thrown a huge fit when it was done to the eldest and demanded it not be done to the younger. Moses not wanting to cause a marital riff chose her wishes over the Lord's command and the Lord was not happy and came to kill him. Now, when the Lord came to kill Moses she did the deed herself and saved Moses' life. But HOLY COW!!!

I tell that story to illustrate what the Lord was showing me. "you shall put no others before me" and he means it!!! I have been so caught up in life and doing this or that that I had put other things before the Lord and I was feeling the pain of it all. i was stealing the time the Lord was giving me to spend with him to do other things that I deemed more important, especially sleep, instead of diving into who he was. Wow, I cared more about sleeping than spending 15 minutes with the Lord. How selfish am I. I owe him back so much time not to mention that we all owe him our life for our original debt that was paid on the cross. But that's just it we owe him our LIFE and all he asks is for a little time to spend with us, a relationship with him. Yet so many times we don't full fill that debt because we see other things as more important.

So i have challenged myself today and for the next 21 days (21 days of doing something will form a habit) to, not sleep or whatever, in those moments of free time that you KNOW YOU HAVE and spend it with the Lord. Whether it is reading his word, writing in a journal, worshiping, I want to give back to the Lord what is rightfully his, my heart. I want to grow so close to him that i don't feel that separation and want to form such a habit that it becomes a part of my life style. I challenge you to do the 21 one day challenge and give the Lord back what is his in the first place.

The other thing the Lord showed me on my way into work this morning is that he is the provider of all things and he has my finances under control. He showed me that I have been putting my faith to much in my own ability to control and fix my finances. I have been so focused on what I can do to cut money here or cut money there that i have taken back control of it. Plus, I started to worry about my finances again. We are not called to worry but to trust.

Every thing we have whether it is the money or stuff or a house or whatever, it's the Lord's first. He gave it to us to be stewards of. I think that i lost what stewardship meant in the process of figuring out my finances. In being a steward of God's money (our money) we are to take good care of it and spend it wisely and through the direction of the Lord. But I got to the point of taking control of it. I didn't stop and listen to what the Lord might have me do with the extra $20 I found in my jeans I just spent it OR I completely ignored what the spirit was telling me to do and spent it where i felt it needed to go. Not only did i take control of it but I have been in a constant state of worrying about if i was going to be able to make the next payment and not go over or if this was going to cost this much then I wouldn't eat for this long. It got CRAZY and I kind of drove my self insane (yes I know short trip). I also got to a point of not putting my hope in the Lord and putting my hope in the different investments I've made. Hoping more in them and that they would come through than I was hoping in what the Lord might have to bless me with here and now. Who cares if the investments come through. Either way the Lord is my provider not something that may or may not happen.

So to add to my 21 day challenge I am going to every morning, before I leave my house, tell the Lord (out loud) that I trust him with my finances and that he will provide a way for me to be debt free and to be able to bless his kingdom in a mighty way financially and I will walk in that faith every day.

Whew that's a lot for a 15 min drive to work. I hope that somewhere in reading this you found a peace about where you are at in life. Whether it has to do with finances, life, or your heart, know that the Lord is the provider and the giver and if we put him first in everything we just might see breakthrough. If you want join me on the 21 day habit building challenge. Maybe just maybe for me this time the lesson will stick for good.

Be An Ice Cube

I tend to listen to the radio when I get up in the morning while I’m getting ready for work and my radio is on a Christian talk radio station and if I’m honest, most of the time I don’t really hear what they are saying. It’s usually just on for some back ground noise. But a few weeks ago I did hear an analogy that made complete since and spoke to my heart I thought I would share and give you my own elaboration. (I’ve put it into my own words but I do want to say this is not my analogy and that I am paraphrasing as well so this is not verbatim what was said)

Do you remember ice cube trays? You know the ones that you had to fill with water and then carefully walk them over to the freezer and place them gently on the shelf. Then you had to wait, patiently for the water to become ice cubes. You couldn’t just put them in there and then after a few minutes go back “presto!” ice cubes. Usually you had to wait a while and usually long enough that you forgot you made them. I remember that I would always try to get the ice before it was completely frozen. It would look frozen and feel frozen but as I would break the cubes out they would fall apart, because the inside wasn’t frozen yet. I think at different times in our life God puts us in the ice cube tray and we have to wait to be frozen. We have to learn some patience. Let me explain.

When I heard the analogy the Holy Spirit simply reminded my heart that God’s timing is perfect and until we are completely frozen and ready to take on the new adventure or blessing he has for us, he won’t pull us out of the freezer. I know that for me in my own life there have been so many different things that I have asked God for or prayed for and have had to wait for. Some have happened and some I am still waiting on. I get a little impatient with the ones I’m waiting on and I want to jump out of the ice cube tray and go for it but as soon as I do, some things fall apart. I get so tired of the waiting that I forget God is in control and has a plan.

We have to realize that the freezer is our time of waiting and in that waiting we have to learn what all the freezing has to teach us. I think for me and in my freezer time that I’m still in I’m learning more about what truly makes up me. I’m learning about what gives me true strength deep within myself. I’m learning who God made me to be and who he is in me. I’m learning how to walk in those things confidently. I certainly do look forward to when the freezing part is over but the last time I jumped out of the ice cube tray I fell apart and learned that I certainly want to be completely ready for God’s answer to my prayer.

I think also sometime God keeps us in the freezer long enough so that we get to a point to forget why we are there in the first place. Not that we forget our hopes and dreams. But he keeps us there long enough that we become so focused on him we start to put him first in everything. Then when we are focused on him we forget what we are there for and even forget that we are waiting. We see God and solely him. Then all of a sudden we realize we’ve been taken out of the freezer and popped out of the tray, to start living in the prayer he has answered AND we can do how he wants us to because we are already in the habit of being solely focused on the LORD.

I’m not sure how long the rest of my freezer time will be but I do know that while I am here I want to learn as much as possible because when God does pop me out of the tray, I want to be the ice cube I can be. Are you willing to be frozen for a while to grow closer to the Lord?

SQUIRREL - TASTIC Morning

No I’m not crazy and yes it was a squirrel - tastic morning for me. Let me define squirrel -tastic because you will not find it in the dictionary. Squirrel - tastic is a moment in your life that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God loves you and cares more about you than you will ever know.

I came to this definition this morning because of some of my neighbors and yes they are squirrels. It was right around 7AM and I was on my way home from workout. As I drove down the street all of a sudden about 150 ft in front of me I saw this squirrel dart across the road. I started to say out loud: “run squirrel run!!” but honestly it looked like he was just out having a fun morning run. He didn’t care about the huge truck coming right at him. I would imagine if he could smile he was. Then I turned down the street to my house I saw these 2 squirrels playing. They were running around and around the tree and then came down and tackled one another and then back up the tree. It was so much fun to watch and it looked like they were having a blast.

As I pulled into my drive way I remembered Matthew 6:26 “look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

I felt like the Lord just reminded me how precious I am to him. That not only will he feed the birds or provide a fun, exciting morning for some squirrels but he ALSO and MORE so cares for me. It just made smile from the inside out and it lasted the rest of the day. But I believe it did something else or rather I know that it did something else. Because of that simple reminder of how much the Lord loves me and cares from me, I was enveloped with such a spirit of peace. The over whelming peace that can over come any situation, that ONLY comes from the Lord. It was so awesome! My day, though filled with stressors and some problems, was full of peace and was a great day.

So I encourage you to walk in the comfort and peace of knowing that the Lord God our Father loves you more than the birds of the air and beasts of the field. He provides for you. He LOVES you. Make an effort to have a SQUIRREL - TASTIC day, everyday. It will change your life.

WAIT….don’t go yet…..just a quick note. Some people may say that you are NUTS, for having Squirrel - tastic days, but accept it. Its fun!! Sorry I had to make the joke.

Have a SQUIRREL – TASTIC day!!