A Fly In The Ointment?

Yeah well, I had some disagreeable things plop into my life over the last few days. Nothing monumental…nothing life shattering…just left a bad taste in my mouth. O.C. hit the nail on my head this a.m. in today’s devotional, “The Habit Of Enjoying The Disagreeable”. Yuck!

Here is the question that did it for me, ‘Do I manifest the essential sweetness of the Son of God, or the essential irritation of ‘myself’ apart from Him?’ Oh, I’d say I was far from sweet yesterday. Irritable, yes, that describes me to a tee.

The next statement that O.C. makes is pushing things a bit too far: No matter how disagreeable a thing may be, say - "Lord, I am delighted to obey Thee in this matter." Whew, I do desire to have ‘that’ response to the strings that tug at me.

One of the last disagreeable things that intruded my day was…as I was cleaning off the bar in the kitchen, a solitary key fell off the shelf down into my scentsy candle. Leather wax went everywhere. I dug the key out of the jar and proceeded to play with the wax. I took a gospel tract (sorry, Jose) and began to scrape the now cooled wax off of the counter, the wall, the phone, the key, the side of the jar...just then I saw two dead flies covered in wax lying on the counter. Euwwaaa!

Had this key NOT plopped down into my candle then I’d still have a fly cemetery. And I'm trusting that there must have been a couple of flies in my life that disgusted the Lord, for Him to allow these disagreeable issues in my life. Or maybe life just has its' fill of flies? At any rate, I didn't embrace the opportunity of manifesting Him in a new, unnatural way thru my day for His utmost.

At the very least, I have a beautiful, fragrant object that I really enjoy in my wickless candle. And I hope to do better next time, so that, I can be a beautiful, fragrant object that He really enjoys. Keep my inner vision clear, Lord. Thank you for the disagreeable…rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice!

A Puppet on a String

Somedays I feel like a puppet on a string. Like the enemy pulls this string then that string and I respond so predictably. Today is one of those days. Shoot, he may not even be involved. He may just be sitting back behind a two way mirror punchin' a demon buddy saying, 'Watch this, Kent turned off the cooling and Tammie is about to notice.' Would he be pleased if I crawled back in bed and pulled the covers over my head? Probably. I think I may put on some praise music instead of crying.

I've heard of a hearty laugh, but...

A hearty wife??? I know what a hearty helping of food is?!!? Reminds me of the words healthy or husky. Got on the scales yesterday and I'm all of the above. Lord, help! In Proverbs 12 of the Message Bible, it says "A hearty wife invigorates her husband, but a frigid woman is cancer to the bones." Yep, hearty describes me to a tee! And I can be invigorating on the verge of annoying. I better select another translation...lol. Or go workout!

I caught some flack...

Hmmm...this is the first time in childrens' ministry history that I am able to go to summer camp. I've always given my iceman husband my summers. I've always had a desire to take the kids to camp, but it never happened. Once again, I had the desire to go and once again Kent wasn't in agreement with my desire. Which is soooo totally okay with me because if Kent ain't for it then God ain't for it. Disappointment was my lot. 'Kent, why did God let me get the desire if it's gonna turn out this way. I try to seek and hear HIM...He could've told me himself.' Well, the next day...

Kent rolls into the house and says, "You can go to camp!" Huh, do-what? Could you repeat that statement? He did and I can. I have my sweet honeys' blessing and the Fathers' favor! WooWhoo! Until...

I, for good reasons, chose a non-denom church camp. First of all, what would it look like in your hometown if the First Baptist, Calvary Baptist, First United Methodist, Church of Christ and Harvest Christian Fellowship did midweek kids' stuff, VBS and camp together? I know! Therefore, could you really SEE me taking this assortment to a BAPTIST encampment? I don't have ANYTHING against my denom, but for the love. I'm now stepping down from my soapbox...

In fact, the dates are in August which work WELL with the ice business. This morning God shined HIS glorious favor down on this trip...check out how at http://www.hizkiz.blogspot.com/

My, my, my....this is a huge thing to me, had to share~

Dear Kent and Tammie,
I've never been able to put a name with you guys that worked. I've tried cousin, aunt and uncle, but none of them seem to fit. Whenever I or our family have had issues you've always been there for us, with a strong sence of God backing you up. You've been a great inspiration to me and taught me many things about God and religion. It's because of this and my strong love for you two that I humbly ask that you two be my godparents. I've always enjoyed hanging out and being with you guys and it'd be cool to be closer to yall. Get back to me soon.
Love much,
~Jordan~

Hi NTLT,
Jordan kept checking his email yesterday to see if you had decided if you wanted to be his Godmother or not so I decided to write cha a line and see if you had received it. Have a great Monday!
ADK

Aunt Donna Kay,
I had the computer off b/c of storms over the weekend. Didn’t turn it back on till today! HE TOTALLY MADE ME GASP FOR AIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WITH HIS SWEET PRECIOUS SELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TALK ABOUT IN AWE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want my reply to him to be more than just a YES, OF COURSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want it to be AS SPECIAL AS HIS REQUEST WAS IN the ASKING. I want to spend some time on it. So, guess I have till the end of school today. Huh? And I want it to be ‘our’ (Kent and me) response. I cannot wait to share this with Kent when he comes home for lunch.

What, where and how, who….

~dramatic pause~

Boots just came in and over the screen door with a bird. It was loose in my dining room for a bit…flying up and around then back down and flopping on the floor. I put a bowl over it and called Kent. He picked it up with paper towels and took it outside. After he put it on a branch it flew off into the sunset. No, the sun isn’t setting but it sounded good. Anyway, all that to say this, Kent read Jordan’s email, too.

His response: “That kid is wayyy beyond his years. You (speaking to me) can go ahead and cry if you want to. How old is he?”

I said, “Junior High”.

“He’s got something big in store for his life”, Kent concluded. Yes, he sure does, I thought.

Dear Jordan,

That ‘fits’! We feel it in our bones! Our answer is yes, definitely!!! It’s an honor to be asked. It’s also overwhelming to me, Tammie, in particular because I haven’t had children and to think that you think that I’d be a good Mom is touching.

I’m sorry that it took this long to reply…had the computer off because of bad weather. And I’ve pondered what I want to write all day. I have seen, and now Kent sees, something very special in you. You have a spiritual maturity beyond your years. You see HIM and sense HIM…in other words, you see the unseen. Very cool, very deep!

You are right, God and His stuff are a priority in our lives. And for you to see that and acknowledge that, well it means a lot to us. More importantly, there is nothing that we want more than for you to love Him, know Him and be used by HIM, too. We look forward to sharing our lives with you, our Godchild.

We love you,
Kent and Tam