I've been so busy lately with my kiddos I haven't had much time for blogging. We have two in football and one in color guard and cheerleading. It's enough to make this momma CRAZY! I'm not even working or in school at the moment and still find it hard to find extra time. I start classes back on my birthday again just like last year! How crazy is that? I also start back to work in October so I better enjoy this extra time while I have it. In July, Lord willing, I will graduate! I'm looking forward to that day. The weather here is much cooler than it has been and I am really enjoying my coffee a little more than usual because of it. And...I can't begin to describe how excited I am about sweatshirt wearing, jacket wearing, sweater wearing, and "covering it up" wearing weather! I LOVE it. Not real cold, but just enough to want to snuggle up! Oh and how could I leave out my SNUGGIE!!! That thing is hideous but I do love my Snuggie. We all have one. Even the dog. I should take our pic in it and put it on Christmas cards and send them out. That would be great! We'll end up on one of those horrid "family pics gone" wrong websites. Well at least none of us have mullets!(if you have a mullet I apologize. They're just not for me or anyone really...) I can't wait to do my next book review on here. The one I'm reading now maybe one of the very best yet. I can't tell what it is yet or even what it's about but it is a true story and it is very hard to put down! More on that in another post!
My mom came by last night with a car full of sweets such as Oreo balls, cupcakes, no bake cookies, rice crispy treats, etc from a fund raiser her place of employment had for the American Heart Association and I turned them down! (And let me just ramble a little here and say, "What in the world were they doing selling artery clogging goods for the AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION??? I guess they are looking to give them job security. Who knows!?) Saying "no" to that may be one of the hardest things to date I've done but Lord knows I don't need them and it was 8:30 and it was bed time for the boys and I was not about to let her bring those devilish goods in this house! So what did she do with them? Jeff went outside and took them and put them all in his truck. LOL I'm not even kidding. He said he was going to take them to work and distribute them. That was OK with me just as long as they didn't get distributed across my backside! We had homecoming at church this past Sunday and I ate enough and cooked enough for that without eating all the things that Mom brought. Not to mention Jared will be 11 on next Wednesday and there will be cake, and I'll be having my birthday on the 27th. I'll splurge then! I'm going to wrap it up with all that until I can write again. Below is my devotional for today and thought it was just way too good not to share! Hope you enjoy!
I can't help but think of the shape our world is in when I read this devotional. But, I know how this story ends. It's a happy ending for me. Will it be a happy ending for you?
September 15: Defeat? Not Even An Option!
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Today, are you on the brink of sinking into defeat? Then consider Paul's plight:
"Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked." (2 Corinthians 11:24-27)
And what was Paul's response to life's would be "defeats"? "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body." (2 Corinthians 4:8-10)
Defeat? Not even an option!
Abraham Lincoln ignored "defeat" on his road to becoming America's most beloved and greatest President:
Failed in business in 1831
Defeated for Legislature in 1832
Second failure in business in 1833
Suffered nervous breakdown in 1836
Defeated for Speaker in 1838
Defeated for election in 1840
Defeated for Congress in 1848
Defeated for Senate in 1855
Defeated for Vice President in 1856
Defeated for Senate in 1858
Elected for President in 1860
Defeat? Not even an option!
Perhaps the birds have it best figured out: "Said the Robin to the Sparrow: 'I should really like to know why these anxious humans rush about and worry so.' Said the Sparrow to the Robin, 'Friend, I think that it must be that they have no heavenly Father such as cares for you and me.'" (Elizabeth Cheney)
So today, choose to rest your hand in His as He grants you victory out of the jaws of defeat. "Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again… A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all." (Proverbs 24:16a; Psalm 34:19)
Defeat? Not even an option!
—Facts of the Matter
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