Post-It Note Tuesdays: God is self-sufficient

He is the One who contains all, who gives all that is given, but who Himself can receive nothing that He has not first given.

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For other posts in this series, click here.



I will not claim this idea as my own...Post-It Note Tuesdays comes from Supah Mommy and so I give her the credit for this great idea, though I am modifying it a bit. I've also heard of Flylady using Post-Its to help develop habits so I give her credit too.

Combining both of these influences in the soup-i-ness of my mind, I've decided to develop the habit of focusing more on God's character via Post-Its! Part of living grace-fully is being grounded in WHO God is and WHAT He has done for us. In the roller coaster of life, the stable and unchangeable character of God is what I rely on to remain calm and unwavering (well, at least I strive to respond to life's chaos in a calm way! haha).

If you'd like to do this also, here's what to do:

1. Each week I'll post an element of God's character to focus on for the week on a Post-It note. So check back each Tuesday - or, sign up to receive new posts via email.

2. You can copy and paste the HTML code in the box below my Post-It and place it on your blog or use the Facebook link down below to share on your profile page.

3. You can write it down on a REAL Post-It and put it somewhere in your house that you can be reminded of God's character each day throughout the week. It has to be somewhere you see each day. (Hints: by the toilet paper in the bathroom, on your steering wheel, in your checkbook, you get the idea)

Together we will be growing strong in the Lord...

feeling our roots go down into the fertile soil of His power and strength

so we "will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." Jeremiah 17:8 NIV

My Post-Its Character of God series is based on information from The Navigators website Thirty Days of Praying the Names and Attributes of God and/or Ann Spangler's book Praying the Names of God: A Daily Guide

Gratitude?

I'm still on my way to listing 1000 Gifts with Ann at A Holy Experience.

Well I survived California and even had some fun while there.  My kids will NOT remember Mommy feeling super-sick while on our trip, thankfully.  I am, however, extremely behind in my blogging now because I have been gone and also so tired from being gone.  I have nothing scheduled ahead to post after tomorrow.  And this week brings a number of deadlines for different projects at the clinic, at church, and for me personally.  So if I disappear for a bit it's not because I don't love you.  xoxo

I titled this entry "Gratitude?" because I have been struggling with being thankful for my 'all-day-long' sickness in this first trimester.  It has worn me down enough that I have begun to grow very weary of it.  I did some figuring last night....I usually get work done after the kids go to bed.  So every night from 9:30 or so until 12:00 (sometimes later) I get things picked up around here, work on the computer, etc.  But lately I have had to get horizontal way earlier than that - like 10:00 or so - due to gagging so hard I am about barfing all over.  Two hours a night for five nights a week figures out to losing 10 hours of 'work time' a week.  Gee, no wonder I'm stressed out about all that has to get done by Friday AND I'm behind in my blogging AND the house is a mess.  Pray for me, dear ones, that this sickness stuff ends in a couple weeks (when I'm at 12 weeks).   
111.  For still being pregnant (again).  I have another good friend who announced her pregnancy but is concerned of a miscarriage.  She is four weeks behind me.

112.  For safe travels to and from California.

113.  For the wisdom to buy a seat for Little Man on the way home from Cali.  He is definitely NOT a lap child, despite only being 1.

114.  For Sugar Free Jolly Ranchers and little oyster/soup crackers.  Sometimes those are the only things that get me through a gaggy evening.

115.  For the opportunity to go to Legoland before my Lego-maniac had 'aged out' of most of the rides there.  I didn't realize how 'baby-ish' the rides would be. 

116.  For my mom and all her energy to have been along to Cali.  What great memories with Grandma.

117.  Being able to return to serving on worship team at our church after a couple months off because of that cabin.

118.  Friends who are honest with me.

119.  An opportunity to mentor someone and grow myself along the way.

120.  A beautiful fall here in SD.



You can also read my complete gratitude list here.

Post-It Note Tuesdays: God is transcendent

We must not think of God as highest in an order of beings. This would be to grant Him eminence, even pre-eminence, but this is not enough. He is transcendent—existing beyond the created universe.

<a href="http://gracefull-living.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy253/aodland/superstickies_godis12.jpg" border="0″" width="125" height="125" /></a>

For other posts in this series, click here.



I will not claim this idea as my own...Post-It Note Tuesdays comes from Supah Mommy and so I give her the credit for this great idea, though I am modifying it a bit. I've also heard of Flylady using Post-Its to help develop habits so I give her credit too.

Combining both of these influences in the soup-i-ness of my mind, I've decided to develop the habit of focusing more on God's character via Post-Its! Part of living grace-fully is being grounded in WHO God is and WHAT He has done for us. In the roller coaster of life, the stable and unchangeable character of God is what I rely on to remain calm and unwavering (well, at least I strive to respond to life's chaos in a calm way! haha).

If you'd like to do this also, here's what to do:

1. Each week I'll post an element of God's character to focus on for the week on a Post-It note. So check back each Tuesday - or, sign up to receive new posts via email.

2. You can copy and paste the HTML code in the box below my Post-It and place it on your blog or use the Facebook link down below to share on your profile page.

3. You can write it down on a REAL Post-It and put it somewhere in your house that you can be reminded of God's character each day throughout the week. It has to be somewhere you see each day. (Hints: by the toilet paper in the bathroom, on your steering wheel, in your checkbook, you get the idea)

Together we will be growing strong in the Lord...

feeling our roots go down into the fertile soil of His power and strength

so we "will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." Jeremiah 17:8 NIV

My Post-Its Character of God series is based on information from The Navigators website Thirty Days of Praying the Names and Attributes of God and/or Ann Spangler's book Praying the Names of God: A Daily Guide

Post-It Note Tuesdays: God is immutable

All that God is, He has always been. All that He has been and is, He will ever be. He cannot change because He is perfect and will remain perfect.

<a href="http://gracefull-living.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy253/aodland/superstickies_godis11.jpg" border="0″" width="125" height="125" /></a>

For other posts in this series, click here.







I will not claim this idea as my own...Post-It Note Tuesdays comes from Supah Mommy and so I give her the credit for this great idea, though I am modifying it a bit. I've also heard of Flylady using Post-Its to help develop habits so I give her credit too.

Combining both of these influences in the soup-i-ness of my mind, I've decided to develop the habit of focusing more on God's character via Post-Its! Part of living grace-fully is being grounded in WHO God is and WHAT He has done for us. In the roller coaster of life, the stable and unchangeable character of God is what I rely on to remain calm and unwavering (well, at least I strive to respond to life's chaos in a calm way! haha).

If you'd like to do this also, here's what to do:
1. Each week I'll post an element of God's character to focus on for the week on a Post-It note. So check back each Tuesday - or, sign up to receive new posts via email.

2. You can copy and paste the HTML code in the box below my Post-It and place it on your blog or use the Facebook link down below to share on your profile page.

3. You can write it down on a REAL Post-It and put it somewhere in your house that you can be reminded of God's character each day throughout the week. It has to be somewhere you see each day. (Hints: by the toilet paper in the bathroom, on your steering wheel, in your checkbook, you get the idea)

Together we will be growing strong in the Lord...

feeling our roots go down into the fertile soil of His power and strength

so we "will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." Jeremiah 17:8 NIV

My Post-Its Character of God series is based on information from The Navigators website Thirty Days of Praying the Names and Attributes of God and/or Ann Spangler's book Praying the Names of God: A Daily Guide

On being humbled

This morning I was feeling sorry for myself. And I was having a grand time doing it. Mercy, to be a poor 'ol gal like me....it was just awful being me this morning.
I took stock of all the unexpected bills this past month.
Then I took stock of the pantry and fridge and the fact that I don't have grocery money again until next week. I put the last of my creamer in my coffee this morning. Not good. How did we run out of bananas that fast? How could we possibly have run out of this and this and this AT THE SAME TIME?! By the time my oldest son started a sentence "Mom, we're out of...." I decided to suck it up and talk to my husband.
I am in charge of groceries. We deal with cash only, so I have a certain amount of cash every week and most weeks I do really well. But, like I said, my family was particularly hungry this week and I was left with little to deal with for the rest of the week. So, with no money left, and knowing my husband was already probably under some pressure with other financial concerns he has with the expenses that have come up this month, I asked him if I could have an extra amount of money to run to the store.
He gave it to me and off we went.
My two oldest boys in tow, we hit the store and picked up the much needed creamer, bananas and a couple other things that I wasn't going to get by without before heading to the store again next week.
As I left the store, with all of our food in our van, we saw a man standing by the stop light with this sign: "Hungry. Anything would help."
Creamer. This morning creamer was a very big deal. I needed it. At the same time I was sweating over something I put in my coffee, this man may have been making his sign in hopes to have supper tonight. Humbling.
I looked at all the groceries I had in the seat behind me and did a U-Turn. I went back to the man, grabbed a couple things out of my bag and gave them to him.
Now, my husband is very gifted in this area. It comes naturally to him and I'm learning from him. If he sees anyone walking in the rain, he picks them up. He sees someone who looks hungry, he gets them a burger at Wendy's. I remember heading into the van at one point a couple years ago and seeing another woman's name and number scribbled down on a piece of paper laying on the dash. In the majority of cases, I'm sure this would have looked suspicious. Not to me. I figured it was a hitchhiker, a hungry person, or someone caught walking in the rain. Sure enough, when I talked with my husband, he told me about the young mom walking in the rain with her baby. Nate picked her up, buckled her baby into our back seat and talked to her about Jesus. She said she would maybe be willing to come to church with us some day (after numerous calls, she declined our offer to join us in the end).
All this is to say, that Nate has taught me a lot when it comes to things like this. He has taught me that when you give someone who is homeless food, it needs to be soft because a lot of times they have bad teeth. And, you want to give them something healthy at the same time. We don't give money, we give nourishment. Those are the rules.
So, I picked out some healthy, soft things (remember how I desperately needed all those bananas??), gave it to him and then off we went.
Goodness. Here I was sweating about creamer. About bananas. About unexpected bills that the Lord knows all about.
How silly of me.
I looked at the boys in the back seat and reminded them, as we usually do, "It's by the grace of God we don't have to do that to get food for our family." They agreed. We talked about how when we give "to the least of these" we are giving to Jesus.
And it was just this great discussion I was gifted with having with my sons this afternoon.
The Lord provides. Whether it's bananas to that gentleman or medical bills for us. He just does. He is faithful. We see it time and time again. How do I still doubt Him?

Post-It Note Tuesdays: God is Jehovah-rophe

This name means “Jehovah heals.” God alone has the remedy for the healing of mankind. The Gospel is concerned with the physical, moral, and spiritual healing of all people.

<a href="http://gracefull-living.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy253/aodland/superstickies_godis10.jpg" border="0″" width="125" height="125" /></a>

For other posts in this series, click here.







I will not claim this idea as my own...Post-It Note Tuesdays comes from Supah Mommy and so I give her the credit for this great idea, though I am modifying it a bit. I've also heard of Flylady using Post-Its to help develop habits so I give her credit too.

Combining both of these influences in the soup-i-ness of my mind, I've decided to develop the habit of focusing more on God's character via Post-Its! Part of living grace-fully is being grounded in WHO God is and WHAT He has done for us. In the roller coaster of life, the stable and unchangeable character of God is what I rely on to remain calm and unwavering (well, at least I strive to respond to life's chaos in a calm way! haha).

If you'd like to do this also, here's what to do:
1. Each week I'll post an element of God's character to focus on for the week on a Post-It note. So check back each Tuesday - or, sign up to receive new posts via email.

2. You can copy and paste the HTML code in the box below my Post-It and place it on your blog or use the Facebook link down below to share on your profile page.

3. You can write it down on a REAL Post-It and put it somewhere in your house that you can be reminded of God's character each day throughout the week. It has to be somewhere you see each day. (Hints: by the toilet paper in the bathroom, on your steering wheel, in your checkbook, you get the idea)

Together we will be growing strong in the Lord...

feeling our roots go down into the fertile soil of His power and strength

so we "will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." Jeremiah 17:8 NIV

My Post-Its Character of God series is based on information from The Navigators website Thirty Days of Praying the Names and Attributes of God and/or Ann Spangler's book Praying the Names of God: A Daily Guide

Flaunt Your Gratitude

I'm still on my way to listing 1000 Gifts with Ann at A Holy Experience.

I will be missing the next two Mondays due to a trip.  Going to try to take my gaggy, draggy, and saggy behind to CA (along with some other people too).  It should definitely be a vacation to remember - unfortunately I think the thing that's going to be remembered is my feeling yucky the whole time we're there.  May God have mercy!!



101.  For still being pregnant.  A good friend who was going to be due only a couple days after me miscarried a couple weeks ago.

102.  For calmer weekends at home.

103.  Fall weather.

104.  A husband who really is trying to live this out, despite my moodiness, gagginess, and all-around fun-ness during this terribly hard first trimester (hardest out of all my 4 pregnancies).

105.  Naps.

106.  Zofran.

107.  Citrucel.  Miralax.  Carob.  You get the idea.

108.  My Dyson vacuum.  It really sucks.

109.  Good neighbors.

110.  A strong God I can lean on.





You can also read my complete gratitude list here.

The body of Christ coming together

My son Isaiah had a severe allergic reaction Wednesday. We figure it was a cross contamination in his food with a peanut. We gave him his Epi Pen and he got to spend a couple hours at the hospital. Then on Thursday, we had a follow-up appointment to see if we were clear to leave town, to visit my parents in Iowa so the boys and I could see my sister and her family and to give my husband a chance to work on our house, repairing the rain damage we got this summer.
We were okayed to leave with warnings that his body could somehow go into a flare up of sorts, starting to think it was being attacked again and would have symptoms of another allergic reaction.
That happened yesterday afternoon and so Isaiah and I were off to my hometown's ER where we got to spend some time and get his steroids upped to help combat his reaction. He didn't go into full anaphalactic shock again, so we are thankful we caught it in time.
So, that is the story of the last couple days. I'm tired. My son is tired. We're all a bit on edge and are almost a little paranoid now.
Now, let me tell you a blessing of all this.
The afternoon we were in the hospital initially, we sent word to a couple friends, our families and the resounding response was "What can we do?" and there was one quick thing that could be done for Isaiah that I asked someone for: a balloon bouquet. I know it may sound silly, but that thing made my son's day.
The next morning, a friend showed up with his favorite: chocolate chip cookies that she knew he would love and that are considered a luxury in our house.
Another friend came over with a book she checked out about some lingering questions I had on peanut allergies.
A grandma called several times and had a good conversation with her grandson this morning.
An aunt called today to tell Isaiah she was sending a super-duper package in the mail. Just for him.
And my mom has re-examined all recipes here at their house where I sit to write this.
My brother-in-law made a way for my sister and myself to go on a walk this morning.
And everyone in this house is showing my overactive little boy grace as he works his way through the steroids and is paying extra attention to his breathing. Uncle Nate had him sit out for a while until he caught his breath. He confided in Aunt Amanda this morning he wasn't breathing well.
I talked with a friend yesterday on the phone who cried with me as we talked about fears for Isaiah.
Here's the thing: we are seeing this body of Christ rally around this little boy and his family. Some want instructions, like to get a balloon bouquet. Some people just go and get the expensive cookies they know Isaiah loves but Mommy and Daddy hardly ever buy him.
It is just flowing.
The prayers are getting me through days with little sleep the night before.
I am reminded once again how the body of Christ, when it is working well and when it is fueled by love, just comes. It just comes around, surrounds us and engulfs us in a way that is hard to explain.
So, for those of you who have prayed for us, thank you. For those of you who have gone above and beyond, thank you.
We feel the love of Christ. Here even in Iowa, away from Nate and our closest friends.
We are being comforted.
I am just so blessed.
And so is that son of mine.


Kristin