Pow! Biff! Sock! Crash! Holy Trouble Batman!

I am foregoing my Walking With the Psalmist post for this month in order to bring you another amazing and trouble filled episode of life! If you have been following my blog for a while now, then you know last May, my hubby and I attempted to take a vacation to Maine. We only got as far as Rochester, NY when I gave birth to a kidney stone. Ouch! Not knowing for sure if the kidney stone passed, I ended up spending a night in the hospital and we made our way home, feeling down and discouraged. 

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Fast forward to May of 2018. Here we are again, planning a vacation, this time to my husband's old stomping grounds in various spots around Wisconsin. We were going to camp, hike, and visit with friends and family. Last week, I spent the entire week taking care of my grandson, who came down with whatever the going virus was at the moment for a week long battle with fatigue, fever, runny nose and loss of appetite. Guess who got sick this past Friday? Yup! Me. 

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I did my usual regimen of echinacea tea, Zicam and other supplements to try to quicken the down time and speed up healing. No such luck! Today, I developed a fever, though I think I may have had one earlier. Today, I took my temp and it said, 99.5. Now, as you know that is not a high temp, but it is enough to make one feel pooky and even make my skin hurt. In addition to that I spent the night on the couch, coughing. I have always been a cougher. I had childhood asthma and I still think my bronchial tubes get especially irritated when I am sick. 

We were supposed to leave on vacation Thursday, but I am thinking maybe Friday or Saturday. Ugg! I'm sorry. I feel like I am complaining all the time and I don't mean to. I just feel that real life is happening all around and it is not always pretty or easy. Maybe when you read my stories of woe I will help you realize, you are not alone! We are all struggling through this journey together and I want you to know, I get the hard bits!

So when I started thinking about this post, I couldn't help but think of the old campy Batman and Robin show. Those of you who are my age will remember the silly fight scenes with the cartooned in words, "Pow!" "Biff!" and "Sock!" 

The reality is, my life is more like that colorful show of the the 1960's, than what some people are going through. We know more than one person who is battling cancer, several who already know they aren't going to make it. People struggle with such hurts, illness and pain, that I cannot even begin to imagine, but I understand. Sometimes life just sucks! For reals!

This morning, when I was standing in the shower, feeling like crud, I turned my eyes to Jesus. I went back to the basics. I confessed my discouragement and frustration, I praised His name, and then I thanked Him. I thanked Him that I had a comfy couch, a blanket and a pillow to spend the night on. I wasn't coughing and shivering in a box in some alley. I thanked Him for the hot water that felt comforting to my tired and achy body. I thanked Him that, although this morning I wasn't able to keep my shopping and lunch date with one of my daughters, I was able to lay on the couch and watch Netflix. 

“in everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you”

— I Thessalonians 5:18 (NET)

I can't remind you (and me) of this verse enough! Even when we are getting struck down and beaten on all sides, it is God's will that we give thanks. I would make the distinction that it says, "in everything give thanks," not "give thanks for everything." I have heard people say you should thank God, even for the bad stuff, but I think it is more the case that when we are going through the bad stuff we continue to give thanks. That, my dear sisters, is what will keep us standing and keep us focused on Him. 

I hope that we will still be able to get away in the next few days, but even if we don't, I feel that once again, God is who God is and He is trustworthy. I hope you will find Him trustworthy as well. 

Divine Appointments

We live in a society of planners. Architects design and plan buildings. Engineers design and plan roads and parking lots. Fashion designers plan for the next season always thinking ahead to the next color palette or trend. Even those of us, who would not call ourselves true planners make dentist and doctor appointments, write up grocery lists and plan get togethers with friends. 

Jerry Jenkins, is the author of a myriad of books including the Left Behind Series and numerous biographies on people ranging from Hank Aaron, to Luis Pulau to Walter Payton. He even assisted Billy Graham with his autobiography, Just As I Am. Jerry also owns and runs The Jerry Jenkins Writer's Guild, of which I am in my second year of membership. I remember one of the first webinars I took from Jerry, where he talked about the difference between two types of writers; the panster and the outliner. Like Jerry himself and another big name author,  Stephen King, I am a panster.  I write my blog and my fiction by the seat of my pants. Where as an outliner has a plan or an outline they follow as they write. Neither one is better than the other, they are just different. There is also a hybrid of writers who combine the elements of both styles of writing. They come up with a loose outline, but fill in details by the seat of their pants. 

When we talk about making plans versus living by the seat of our pants, we can see that there are good points and bad points to both ways of approaching life. Planners, usually, get more done, but they are often so rigid in their schedules that they have forgotten how to enjoy the moment. Those who live by the seat of their pants are usually more relaxed and easy going, but often have projects piling up, because they neglect to develop a plan on how to get them finished.

We as Christ followers can often be guilty of both, planning too much and not planning enough. When I was a young mom, trying to figure out marriage, family life and eventually home schooling, I was often impatient and frustrated because I looked at life as a list of things I had to accomplish. This mentality become more pronounced as I home schooled our daughters from kindergarten through high school. I became a list person, which is a planner, if you didn't know! I think it is amusing that I could be a panster as a writer but in every day life, I was a planner. I loved to get a new planner every year as I looked forward to a new year of home schooling. I still love planners, but I'm not quite as rigid in how I used them. 

What does God say in His word about having plans? Let's take a look. 

“Commit your works to the Lord And your plans will be established.”

— Proverbs 16:3 (NASB)

“The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.”

— Proverbs 16:9 (NASB)

“Many plans are in a man’s heart, But the counsel of the Lord will stand.”

— Proverbs 19:21 (NASB)

“The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, But everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty.”

— Proverbs 21:5 (NASB)

Obviously, God inspired King Solomon, the author of Proverbs to pen these many verses about planning. It is normal and it is good to have a plan, whether you are talking about retirement or about next week's meals, planning can be beneficial in saving us time, money and frustration. 

Unfortunately, many of us have made plans that didn't work out. We have been disappointed by failed relationships, ruined vacations and the chaos of life that constantly seems to want to get in the way of our well thought out plans. The beauty of being a panster, when it comes to real life is a drastic reduction in stress and pain brought about by waylaid plans. 

A mindset that has recently come about in my own life, is that of divine appointments.

“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

— Jeremiah 29:11 (NASB)

If I really believe that God is sovereign, and I really believe that He is good, then I must also believe that every bump in the road and every plan that doesn't come to fruition, He already knows about and has a purpose for. How often have you had a plan for your day off and the day draws to a close and you didn't accomplish anything that you had planned? I see those hands our there! In addition to that, how many of you got frustrated because what you had planned got sabotaged by life....a child stays home from school sick, your mother needed your help with the garden, your teenagers and your spouse call saying that won't be home to eat that delicious meal you slaved to prepare....this is the reality of life. The question then becomes, am I supposed to stop planning? Do I just let life fly and go with the flow, like some sort of 1960's flower child, content to sit in the sun and listen to the music?

Like so many things we talk about, I think the key here is, balance. I think it is important to have plans, but we also need to allow God to do that thing that He does best...orchestrate our lives. Recognize that those speed bumps that come into life are allowed by Him. Everything that comes your way, even the little annoyance and inconveniences, have passed through Him. This is even more pertinent when we are talking about divine appointments. These are those interruptions to our plans that revolve around people. 

Sunday, my Grandson came down with a nasty virus. I am the primary care person when he is out of school, as my daughter, a single mom, has to work a full time job. He comes to my house, when he is home from school. Sunday, I had plans for Monday. I was going to get ahead on my blog, do some writing and try to tackle the laundry. It wasn't going to happen. In fact, here it is Wednesday and the poor guy is still running a low grade temp, so once again, he is home from school. You know what? It's okay. Did my plans get ruined? Not ruined, just adjusted. When I look at life as a series of divine appointments, not only do I have an easier time adjusting to the bumps, but I also keep my focus on the author and finisher of my faith. 

Whether you are a planner or a panster, allowing God to direct your life, day in and day out, gives you the capacity to be less frustrated and more in tune with exactly what He wants you to do. Next time you have a plan and it gets interrupted, ask yourself, could this be one of His divine appointments, then let Him meet you right there. 

What a Little Vine Can Do

Over the weekend, my hubby and I decided to do a little bit of yard work. Sunday was a gorgeous day and cool, so perfect for working out in our yard. My husband put in grape vines shortly after we moved into our house and over the years we have gotten a great mix of Concord, Niagara and a few other types of grapes. Unfortunately, the last few years have been busy and the arbor has fallen into disarray. The end result has been a monster that has taken over much of our yard. 

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For those of you who have any sort of vine type plant, you know full well, they have to be pruned. If they are not pruned, they will creep into every tree, up every wall and along every piece of fence they can find. The best word to describe this gradual creeping process is insidious. Don't you love language? There are certain words that just have a sound to them, as if the word itself can bring about the action it is describing. Say it, insidious. Doesn't the sound of it, just sort of creep you out? If it doesn't, it should. 

The word, insidious, is defined by Webster's online dictionary in this way:

“1 a : awaiting a chance to entrap : treacherous
b : harmful but enticing : seductive insidious drugs
2 a : having a gradual and cumulative effect : subtle
the insidious pressures of modern life
b : of a disease : developing so gradually as to be well established before becoming apparent”

I've included both types of definitions as they all are applicable, but the one I want to focus on for today's post is 2 - b - developing so gradually as to be well established before becoming apparent. When we planted our grape vines, we did not have the intent that they get out of control and become a problem. Our intentions were to prune them and take care of them in such a way that they would bear fruit and be healthy, controlled plants. Over time, unfortunately, these little vines began to develop a life of their own. A busy lifestyle, neglect and forgetfulness kept us from investing in the plants as we should have. Little by little, each year that passed, the vines grew, looking for anything they could latch onto that would propel them higher and longer.

You can see our small arbor on the other side of the pine trees. The vines in the foreground are part of the shoots the original vines sent out. You can see the way they are climbing into the pine trees, and this was after we had trimmed masses of the vines out. If you don't think that is hard work, my heart was pumping and I was breathing hard from wrestling many of these long vines out of the trees. 

The above pile was from a few vines we had planted along our garage. Not only were the grape vines taking over, there was some other vine that had joined the mix. What a mess!

Obviously, I am going somewhere with this, so keep reading. 

The grape vines, in an of themselves are not bad. They are plants that God made, meant to bear fruit and bring food and drink to mankind. Grapes are known for their antioxidant benefits and the ones that are not harvested fill the tummies of all sorts of critters from insects to birds and squirrels. Unfortunately, vines, when not pruned regularly can easily get out of control.

There are all sorts of good things that God has given us to enjoy. Food, music, books, exercise, social activities, and learning are all good for us and can help us to grow and develop, not only as human beings, but as followers of Christ. Sometimes, though, even the good things can become like those insidious vines and creep into our lives, taking over in ways we never realized they could, until one day we are tied up, unable to move. Here are a few good things that can take over our lives like those creeping vines. 

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1. Cell Phones

Recently, I read an article on cell phone addiction. Yes, apparently this is a real thing, especially for kids. Here's an article to check out, 7 Scary Things You Never Knew About Phone Addiction. Cell phones are wonderful devices and have brought knowledge to our fingertips and made life a little more secure. Parents feel better knowing their teens can get a hold of them, if they are in a situation where they don't feel comfortable, and even I like knowing, that if my car breaks down, I can either call for a tow, or at least call my hubby. However, what begins as a good thing, can often become an insidious problem opening doors to interactions with strangers, bullying or pornography. 

2. Entertainment

I'm lumping a number of things into this category: books (especially romance novels), movies, serial TV shows, music and other types of entertainments like gaming and sports. All of these things are enjoyable and relatively harmless things, but when we leave our entertainments unchecked, we can suddenly find ourselves spending too much time and too much money trying to get the next thrill. Not only that, but often one thing leads to another. Our eyes and ears can get immune to seeing and hearing things that are not God glorifying. Over the course of time, we may start watching, listening to or reading things that are not good, even though, to begin with our hobby was quite harmless. 

3. Food

Hello, all you foodies out there. Food is a wonderful thing, in moderation. You have all probably heard the saying, "Eat to live, don't live to eat." Food is one of those things that we can so easily dismiss as something that becomes insidious, but I am here to tell you it can. You don't have to be overweight to be unhealthy and have an unhealthy relationship with food. There are statistics on things like anorexia and bulimia, Here is a quick sum up of some of those stats. Those are the two obvious eating disorders, but many more of us struggle with food issues without having either of those disorders. 

I personally have always loved my carbs. I love cake, cookies, pie and ice cream. I love chocolate and sweet cereals like Reese's Puffs and Lucky Charms. My addiction to sweets was added to by the Seasonal Affective Disorder, which causes one to crave carbohydrates. Don't even get me started on how much I love pizza. I also enjoy eating out, cooking and baking...can you see where I am going with this? None of those things in moderation is bad, but left unpruned, able to take over, it is a recipe for disaster. 

The last year, I have been having numerous digestive issues. I was diagnosed with irritable bowel a number of years ago, but in the last few months, I would describe my issues as IBS on steroids. I have gone completely off of sweets as well as pulling way back on carbs in general and trying to eat lower fat. I never knew I had it in me, but all I can say is this is a journey God is leading me on and I am trusting Him for the outcome. Just so you don't worry, I do have a doctor's appointment with a gastroenterologist in June, so I can get thoroughly checked out. 

All that to say, that yes, even food can become an insidious vine in our lives, causing us to become bound and enslaved. The entanglement becomes even more tightly wound when you suddenly can't eat the foods you want. Suddenly, all of life revolves around what can I eat or not eat. It's not fun!

4. Alcohol

Some of you might argue with me that alcohol is never good. My husband and I personally do not drink. We have never had alcohol in our house and we do not encourage others to drink. However, I do realize that alcohol is a part of our society and even some physicians acknowledge wine has antioxidant benefits when used in moderation. We did not raise our daughters to drink, but they both do. I know many Christians who have beer in the fridge or a bottle of wine in the cupboard. As with all of these other things, alcohol is not bad, in and of itself, but when it becomes more than just one beer, or one glass, or becomes a source of solace and happiness, then perhaps, the vine is beginning to take over. 

There are many other things that can become like the simple little grape vines that were taking over our yard. Things that are good, when used or done in moderation can become the chains that enslave us and keep us from becoming who God really wants us to be. Be sure you are regularly pruning and checking the vines in your life, so they don't get out of control. 

“Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?”

— Romans 6:16 (NASB)