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Welcome! |
Now that it is 2012 I have to do something about setting a schedule for myself. Ever since my husband retired I have been wandering about like a lost soul. Well, that's an exaggeration, but mentally I feel like I am wandering. I have things that I must do. I must work on my mental, physical, and spiritual health on a daily basis. When my husband was working I got up early every day during the week. If I didn't accomplish everything I got up earlier. I'm not a morning person. It takes me a while to wake up. It takes my body about an hour to quit hurting so badly. So, the later I get up, the longer into the day it takes me to get things done. Solution: get to bed earlier at night. Set alarm to wake up earlier in the morning. Set a routine. I'll let you know how it goes. |
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I found a "My Utmost for His Highest" journal in a yard sale for $1.00.
I love that daily devotional in book form and this is better for my new
routine. It makes me write my own goals, experiences, and thoughts on
each day. It is giving me lots of ideas for Bible studies for here,
too. From now on, when I am reading a daily devotional I will always write about what I read. I like the results. |
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I'm way behind on my email, too. It's the fault of my "no routine"
because I'm not going to answer some of them unless I'm all prayed up.
I kept thinking I would get to them, but day after day slipped by.
Some day I will have to account for my time to the Lord. Once it has slipped by I can't retrieve it and do a "do-over". |
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| I really like puzzles of all kinds. I like the
puzzles that come in a box, especially fun ones. I like working on
ancestry.com finding my ancestors (one clue leads to another, leads to
another, just like a puzzle), and that is probably why I like doing some of
the Bible studies that include places and names and such pulled together
from different places in the Bible. The problem I have is that I don't want to stop. Once I am on a roll, gathering puzzle pieces or information, I just want to keep going. If I walk away and come back later my brain has forgotten all the things it was remembering about all the different "puzzle pieces". On ancestry.com I find clues to different family members but have to verify them by checking dates, names of other family members, places, etc. So, I end up traveling down multiple "side roads" to verify the information on someone. There are too many details for me to write it all down so I can pick up on the trails later. I guess the problem is with my brain. It gets occupied with the subject at hand and shoves all the previous information out my ear to make room. I wonder what would happen if I wore earplugs all the time. I better not try it. My brain might implode and turn into a black hole, sucking everyone and everything around me into it.  |
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| I began volunteering at our local animal shelter.
It has always broken my heart to see animals suffer because of stupid
choices people make. Our animal shelter is not a no-kill shelter.
When they run out of room or don't have the money to spend to help an animal
they euthanize them. I have taken stray animals there in the past. All of our pets were strays at one time. We can't take in every stray that comes along. Each time I'd take an animal there I'd pray over them. That was the very best thing I could do for them. I was wondering if I'd be able to see the homeless animals at the shelter and not want to take them home. I set my mind to make each animal as adoptable as I could. I've been able to give them love and not take them home. So far I've only worked in the cat area. I thought I would learn all there was to know about the dogs and cats, but I think I'll stay with the cats. Most of the time there is nobody else in there with them. That means that, when a potential adopter comes through, there isn't' anyone offering to let them touch and interact with the cats. If it were me, I might just walk out and go to another shelter or rescue place if all I could do was look at them through the glass. When I go in I try to touch, brush, and pet as many cats as I can. I put notes on the cages of cats that are sneezing or seem sick. Cats that are hiding in the catbox and are shy I try to encourage to come out into the windowed area so people can see them. I tell them all that I love them and that they are very pretty or handsome. I bought my own cat brush and toenail clipper. They only had one broken brush there. I show people how to trim their toenails. So far I've been able to adopt out ten cats. I've taken some people who "aren't cat people" and gotten them to like cats. I talk people out of getting kittens and adopting an older cat. I make them promise to look at the older ones before adopting the kitten. They end up falling in love with the older cat's personality. I'm not patting myself on the back. I'm saying that I have made a difference in the lives of animals. They are like helpless babies. They can't buy their own food. Many don't know that people can be kind. They don't know that a permanent home with people that love them is better than catching mice and bugs in a field. It sometimes is depressing and makes me want to cry when I see that the cats in the shelter aren't being given the very best chance of being adopted. When nobody is in there with them, when the photos they take and post on the internet are blurry or goofy, and when they are not given medication to rid them of eye infections and other ailments they won't get adopted. Over the years I have volunteered my time, mostly in the schools and organizations my children were in. I saw the same people volunteering in multiple places. In many cases an organization or other place succeeds based on the quantity and quality of volunteers. I urge you to listen to your heart. God will be quietly urging you to help somewhere. It isn't always in a church or Sunday school. It isn't even always people as I discovered. I thought He sent me to help the animals. Well, the animals I am helping are, in turn, helping people. |
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I hope your visit here is and was a good one. Since my "door" is always open I don't know who is coming and going. I would love to hear from you! |
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Sometimes the Bible study was started in the welcome message. Each Bible study has a link to that week's welcome. You know, I just realized that I was blogging before there was such a thing as a blog! |
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News Flashes If something happens and I can't communicate with you I will post a message here. |
Updated weekly (87.96725% of the time) |
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Hebrews 11:8 |
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This is something we are afraid to do. We are afraid to wait to
find out where God will send us and we are afraid to go if we aren't sure where
exactly we are being sent. Even churches/pastors are afraid to step out unless they have a road map. Have you ever been in a church service where there were moments of silence when the leadership was waiting on God's direction? I haven't. There is usually a set program and the songs are already chosen, the announcements will be read no matter what, and the sermon is set in stone. It isn't like we are to wander around like mindless robots waiting for God to do something. We have to be prepared. We must be prayed up, full of the Word from the Bible, and we must be willing to be sent wherever God would have us go. Serving God isn't always by doing something at church. God has much more planned for us than just being pastors, Sunday school teachers, deacons, or the like. Those are not the only service positions that need to be filled. I used to be afraid of where God might want to use me. I was afraid He might send me to a foreign country to be a missionary or to a rough neighborhood to witness to people. The problem was that I didn't trust Him. I didn't know Him well enough to place my life, my health, my body, my family, and my heart in His hands. After spending time in my "prayer closet" listening for His voice and reading the Word trying to learn more about His heart I ended up asking Him to use me. I didn't place restrictions on where or how He could use me. I just asked Him to use me. Boy, oh boy, did He ever use me! It's not easy to be used by Him. It takes us out of our comfort zone that we have so carefully built for ourselves. So what? He's there with us! Is it any different than going to a new job that is completely different than our old one? Not really. How many people would gladly move to another location for a great job but won't allow God to move them? Each morning we should be ready to be used by God. Every minute of every day we should be ready to be used by God. Those that refuse to be used are the broken arms, malfunctioning kidneys, and amputated limbs of the Body of Christ. |
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Did you miss the
last Bible study? Here's a short cut to find it.
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My mind is always busy. It wanders from thing to thing. Many times those thoughts just float away. Every once in a while I will catch one and put it here. Once a new musing comes then "poof" the old one is gone. |
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Every once in a while I come here to the Clarion Call and read about things that I need to learn. You see, I didn't write all the things here. Some of the things have other authors, but I didn't even write all the things I wrote. That sounds goofy. Let me explain. I wrote them, but it was God that gave them to me. I struggle with some of the things that He gave me Bible studies about. So, when I read them it is as if somebody else wrote them down. I don't remember them. That makes me feel good to know that I was allowing God to work through me. |
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Eagle head pictures at the top
courtesy of
Sue Woosley
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