gofish

I know I already posted this but I feel it fits here. I don't want just lip service in my life with God. Listen at the end when she said "I love you. Hold me accountable"

Wow the small ways God tells me its time to do some pruning. This week for me it's about reminders. I usually pack a lunch to take to work. Yesterday I walked out and left everything behind. I don't like the new vending company at work so at lunch I went out for lunch. Other wise I wouldn't have heard what God needed me to hear. I don't go to lunch until 11:10 It's weird but that's the way they stagger the lunches. I only had about 15 minutes to hear what God needed me to hear about forgiveness, I'm like OK God I'll get on line when I get home and listen to the whole thing. I get home and get on Facebook instead. Oh my dear sweet Edna, she listen to God and posted the link to the message. She said she knew someone needed to hear this today. Remember you need to listen to this dear child God whispered to me. Earlier this week I made a what I thought was a silly little post about the antics of 4 11 year olds. Your comments have brought back reminders and whispers from God to dig out the pruning shears. There is work to be done. The comfort zone is too big and crowed. Let me share how God used you dear ladies to give me the reminders I needed. What changes I need to make. Last winter my area had Revive Indiana. This is what they challenged us with... "God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.' (NASB, Acts 17:24) God did not call us to live safely in a box. He called us to live by faith, to take risks on where He is leading us. He called us to step out of our comfort zone and live supernaturally. We have been given the power of the Holy Spirit that lives within us, that can do more than we can ever comprehend. Break down your box and step into the fullness that God created you to be. In Him we have abundant life. What’s in your box?" They told us to listen. Listen to God's prompting. Really listen to people. To be prepared to act. I'm a behind to scenes person. I like serving people. Need coffee for 1000 people, tables washed,and food made, I'm your girl. So there I am working behind the scene giving support to the ones going out. I was a Martha. Let me tell you my story and how it changed me. People were listening to God. Listening to others. Hearing their pain. Prepared to offer prayer, love and hope. One Sunday it was decided to devote the service to sharing how God was working in lives. One woman stood up and told of how God told her to pay for a cup of coffee for the man behind her in the drive thru. She questioned God but he was insistent she buy his coffee so she listened and paid for the coffee. For some reason she had to park her car. She said she watched this man get his coffee and go to drive off but instead he turned around drove around the restaurant and park next to her. Image how she felt. A man, a stranger was deliberately seeking her out. How would you feel. She said she had the car locked and in drive, foot on the brake. He rolled down his window so she cautiously rolled hers down. What he told her sent chills down her spine. "Mam" he said. " I was sitting behind you, telling God,"God if you really exist give me a sign, have the woman in the red car in front of me pay for my for my coffee." Did you hear it? The pain. The despair. The "my life is in shambles and I don't know where to turn" The there is no knot to hang on to because there is no rope. I'm lost. God are you really there? God do you really care about me? She could have paid for the coffee and driven off never knowing how God used her. The man could have driven off never telling her how God used her. What would have happened if she wouldn't have obeyed God. What if she had just said" it's just a cup of coffee why would you want me to do such a little thing. It's seems kind of silly to me." When a strange man approached what if her reaction had been different, how if instead of trusting God and cautiously rolling down that window and listening to this man, what if, she stuck a gun up his nose, yelled back off dirt bag while burning rubber back to the fortress of safety. I'm thinking that would have destroyed something very precious. Now God wasn't done with that cup of coffee. As this woman shared her testimony I sat there, among all the" amen and praise the Lords" God had just ripped me in two. I couldn't stand. I couldn't get my breath. My heart was pounding. Tears in my eyes. I heard. I heard because I said the same thing to God and he gave me my sign just like he did this man. How could I stay a Martha after that? Martha's are important. Someone has to do the behind the scenes work, but that isn't their only job. They also have to listen and be prepared to act. God has used you dear ladies to remind me. What have I done lately? When my friend told me her husband of 30 years just walked out and said will you pray for me? When a coworker asked me to pray for her aunt with stage 4 cancer. Did stop what I was doing truly listen to their pain and say let us pray together. No,all I said oh yes of course I will put them on my payer list and walked on. God had sent them someone she just didn't listen. How have I prayed lately? Am I just going downing the list going um oh yeah by the way God there is Deb's Aunt give them peace and comfort. Angie's in pain send her someone to help and Karen down the road said something about her child I don't remember what it was but you know her need. There is pruning to be done in my life. Attitudes to change. Sin to dig out. There are going be things I don't want to let go of, things I will not want to do. The enemy is going to be there saying "did God really say?"and putting road blocks in my way. It's going to be painful but oh so worth it.

You all have valid points and you are right but could I share my point of view and it is just my point of view. The reason I'm on this forum is not only the prepping aspect but also the strong christian support I feel here. A few years ago on this forum I asked the question of how big or small my bubble could be before it limits God. I really don't remember how it was worded and it doesn't matter. You dear people told me that I had to decide what God was telling me. It would have to be personal. So my journey began. The first thing God told me was the size of my bubble didn't matter. God can't be contained in my bubble. He will never fit. He loves me. He sent His Son to die for me. He could use me. He could teach me but he didn't need me. I can't limit him and I can't control everything that happens to me or around me. I am weak. I don't have to be stupid about my environment. He gave us intuition for a reason and we should use it but I'm not the one in control. I know, it's a scary thought. Then He lead me to Psalms 91. It's a very powerful Psalm. It doesn't matter if you agree with my post today. For me it was a life changer. Please read it and tell he how you feel. Around that time my church started to use a phrase to end every church service. No I'm wrong it's not just a phrase itis a challenge. The challenge is... Go and BE the church. The challenge means we are all missionaries of God. We are to be his witness. I had to figure out what that meant to me. It has been a journey. My comfort zone has been stretched. My bubble is probably not as big as yours. I have hugged a sobbing stranger. I have spent the night with homeless family's as their host and I would do it again. I read somewhere people that have tried to commit suicide have said that if one person had smiled at them that day it would have changed their mind so yes, I'm the stranger that will ask how your day is going. Revive Indiana taught us be bold, listen to God's prompting and ask a stranger " How can I pray for you." and to really listen to the person, respect their boundaries and if they want prayer pray with them. About the photos. I'm on Facebook and there are cameras everywhere you can't avoid them. I would like to think that one young man invited his friend to a church scavenger hunt on Halloween and his friend had fun because a few strangers played along with them so the next time he went with his friend he'd hear the message of Jesus's love take it to heart and change his eternity. It's how I personally need to be the church. It keeps my bubble small.

It is the new scavenger hunt. Churches around town do it instead of trick or treating. Sorry, I always use the tearm young men because at that tender age being called a boy could be a sensitive subject. There is always a adult and the kids are always polite. Most chruches do it as a famlily so there could be teens involved. As soon as they talked to the cashier I knew what was going on.

She will be missed.

Dd 2 and I went shopping and then we stopped at DQ to wait for her boyfriend to get off work so I could take them to his house to work on a project for school. We went in so we could get something to drink while we waited. We were talking about getting our coats out of the car because it was cold when a black SUV pulled up by the door and 4 young men got out and rushed inside. You could tell the were anxious and excited. They rushed up to the cashier armed with a list, a camera, and a Mom. They asked if they could take a tray of food out to someone and ordered ice cream. Then the turned their preadolescence eyes towards us, their next victims. It was a skimpy crowd. DD and me, and 2 older couples. They asked if they could sit with DD and me and took a photo. DD and I didn't have food so they moved on to one of the older men and asked to share some of his fries. Then they noticed Dd had waist length hair so they asked if one of them could braid her hair. DD had to teach the boy how the braid while the Mom took video. The look on DD's face. She was trying so hard not to laugh. Then off they went looking for a cop or photo booth or something else on their list. I had to wonder if they would get extra points if the could get the cop in the photo booth.

Oh my.

Really missing my Sadie today. I got up early today and started laundry and got most of it done. I was cleaning out the hall closet and doing some hard core cleaning when my tummy started cramping. Soon after I was nauseous. Now I'm weak and can't get warm. I don't like the new vending company at work and from now on I will pack a lunch. I've been on the sofa all afternoon with no Sadie no disaster movie or even a bad shark movie to keep me company. Hank the bad puppy has been banned form the house unless some is watching him at all times today and he's not happy about being outside. Dh and his friends are cutting down some trees in the backyard. It's to bad I can't be out there helping them.

The address is a trailer that needs taken out it's owned by one of the nicer slumloards in town. It has been vacant for years as it's uninhabitable and attractes undesirable behavior. The city said it's outside the city limits so they don't care (meaning just outside) and as long as he keeps the yard maintenance done the county doesn't care either. A few years ago bomb threats were called in at the high school so drug store could be robbed while the police were distracted. This tied up a lot of city and county boys. Makes you wonder what someone pulled elsewhere.

Last night less than a mile from my house. Yes I took out some details. After nearly three hours of searching, the police called off their search for a man who claimed to have shot and killed his girlfriend Thursday night. Police combed the area Thursday night. However, their canvass turned up nothing. Here's a timeline of what happened: Around 8:15 p.m., County dispatch sent out a call to first responders stating that a man had called 911 to say he had killed his girlfriend with a 12-gauge shotgun and that if any police attempted to come near the residence he was at, he would shoot them as well. The address given to dispatch was not a valid one so police set up a wide perimeter both north and south the address. The northern perimeter was established at with, at one point nearly, 10 marked and unmarked police cars blocking the roadway. The southern perimeter was established several hundred yards south of the northern perimeter with roughly the same amount of police cars blocking the roadway on that side. Around 8:45 p.m., plain clothes officers, one from the Police Department and the other from the County Sheriff’s Department, asked onlookers if anyone had heard gunshots. None said they had heard any. At that point the two officers got into their respective unmarked vehicles and headed north. At 8:53 p.m.,Police Chief arrived in an unmarked vehicle, stopped at the northern perimeter and walked a few hundred yards to where police had gathered. At 9:22 p.m., three of the police cars that were part of the northern perimeter left the scene. As of 10:30 p.m., police were still in the area, checking residences and talking to residents. Around 10:50 p.m., County Sheriff's Captain said officers were still on the scene but he didn't foresee being on the scene much longer. Earlier in the evening, the sheriff's department released a statement that included the following: "Officers have been going door to door to area homes and checking homes. It appears at this time that there was no shooting and no reports of gun fire were heard by residents." A dispatcher for the County Sheriff’s Department stated he couldn’t give any details regarding the call including the original address of the alleged incident or the time of call.

My son did dishes for me. Without me having to ask. I can't just do the wipe out my cast iron. I wash them and dry on the stove and oil them when still hot. That keeps them well seasoned for me. As my son was bragging to me how helpful he is he told me he even dried and oiled them just the way I do. When others do the dishes they don't always oil them and I have to re-season them. My cousin is downsizing and is giving me a deep freezer I told son he would have to help get it and all he said was" now I can go deer hunting and have somewhere to store it" He has been doing a lot of fishing so my refrigerator freezer has a lot of fish in it. I dislike fish. It would be a tough call between starvation and eating fish for me.

It's this ring and we would have had to cremate Sadie. At her size it would have been over $100 that we just don't have right now. http://www.lifegem.com/?gclid=CI-h842PnccCFY9hfgodUzIJVg

Some things have changed around here without our Sadie. Hank the bad puppy has settled down a bit. He was always wanted to play with Sadie but she hated him. He has also gotten protective of the family which bothers me a bit. He's not aggressive but I will have to watch to make sure it doesn't continue. He's a big dog and very intimidating when he barks and I heard him give a little growl before he started to bark when someone came over yesterday. The girls wanted to get Sadie's ashes made into a ring at $2000 a ring. Sadie is deeply missed. We got a Haskap Berry bush to plant by Sadie's grave in rememberance of her.

We lost our beloved Sadie the dog. My children are heart broken,

It was a busy weekend. Saturday I got up early and took DD2 to work and Son to the farm and then went to the farmers market. Dd1 went to a friends house over the weekend leaving her dog Hank the bad puppy with me. When I got home from running my errands I started with the reorganization of my kitchen. I scrubbed the microwave, stove, back splash, counter and refrigerator with a fine tooth comb. I have all the expired food gone and most of the kitchen painted. When Dh got home his friends came over to cut some dead/ dying trees down so I went to help them. A storm was coming so we stopped and I went to the store to get something for dinner and dog food. Hank is a big puppy. As I was getting home from the store it had just started to rain hard and Hank the bad puppy hearing my car bolted out the storm door that didn't latch. Of course he headed out back to harass the chickens. It was storming hard and I was out in it chasing down Hank the bad puppy. After everyone was drenched Hank the bad puppy decided he had enough and beat me to the door so he could shake off inside my house. Yesterday after work I dropped dd2 off at work I came home and helped Dh clean up a mostly dead apple tree we cut down this weekend. Dh and I were the only ones home for dinner. Hank was a pest as I was making dinner. I had bought 2 avocados for dinner and only found the seed and skin of one and half of the other one. Behind my back Hank the bad puppy had struck again. Sadie my old dog is not doing well. She sleeps most of the time. I haven't watched much TV lately and after dinner sat down to see if there was a disaster movie on Sadie and I could watch. She loves her disaster movies. Ugg nothing but shark movies. I lost the remote and didn't feel like getting up to change the channel when Dd2 called. My worst fear about my girls working as a kennel attendant for a vet came true. Dd2 was bitten by a Bull Mastiff. She has a large bruise on her leg and is limping some but she should be good in a few days. Dh went to help her deal with the paper work a dog bite entails and I was on my phone not paying attention to Hank when I heard him chewing on something. It was a walnut. I haven't had walnuts in the house in years. I don't even know where the nearest walnut trees is. Oh Hank you are driving me nuts.

In the last few weeks DD1 moved home with her dog and lizard. Son finished high school and started working. DD2 is working for a vet and hanging out with friends. Dh is helping a friend move. The girls and I painted the kitchen and I'm reorganizing. Sadie doesn't like other dogs and Hank is big untrained puppy who wants to play with poor old Sadie so Sadie has been hiding out. I have never had a dog over 25 pounds before and Hank is a Australian/ Lab mix. I made dinner last night and left the kitchen to tell everyone dinner was ready and by the time Son got into the kitchen Hank had eaten all the hamburger out of the skillet on the stove leaving a muddy paw print on my stove. Lucky for him I had shut off the stove. The girls went camping with a friend and took Hank with them. Hank and the kids have taken over the sofa and I have been sitting in the computer chair because my hip makes it hard to get up off the sofa. I realized this afternoon as Sadie the dog and I were on the sofa cuddled up and Hank free that we haven't watched TV in a while. No disaster movies. Sadie was unhappy to find out that shark week is starting and we don't like shark movies so we are watching Alaskan Bush People. Interesting family. Maybe I'll go work on kitchen organizing again. I hope everyone is having a great July 4th.

Nudge is a welsh harlequin duck Yes they do have a pool but with the young ducks being in the same cage separated by a fence we can't open the other part of the run where the pool is up yet. The chicks have their own run now and everyone is happier. Soon we can take the fence down give them access to the pool. She is doing very well.

I live near a small airport and my house is being buzzed by helicopters tonight. Big ones, small ones, Life flights, Coast Gard and military. They are taking off 2 at a time. There is a line of helicopters waiting to land. It must be time for the annual Rotors 'n Ribs fly in tomorrow. America's biggest Helicopter air show. Rain is a possibility. They are going to "blow" something up. Me, I'll be across town most of the day volunteering at a orchestra fundraiser. Inside where it's quiet and dry.

It was a very hot humid day. Son went out to check on the chickens and ducks and left to go fishing. When DH got home he went out to feed the chickens and ducks. We have the adults and little ones in the same pen separated by a fence. Dh could not find Nudge the adult female duck. He finally found her wedged between the fence and a bale of straw that was going to be used as bedding. She was overheated and just about dead. Dh brought her into the house and popped her into the bath tub. He called the vet Dd2 works for and was told to try to get 1/4 cup of honey down her. After a few hours of Dh, DD2, and DD2's boyfriend working to cool and honey Nudge we are happy to report she has recovered. Good thing I have LOTS of Comet.

If he's looking for easy drug money he won't care about who or what will catch him.

Yes they are the small black ants. The borax is working but I'm still finding a few.

We have a male and female duck. The kids got 2 female ducklings. They are in the same cage but separated by a fence. The duckling are in with the 8 female chicks. The chicks are being moved to their own cage soon. When can we put the ducklings in with the adults?

I have lived in my house for 23 years. Every spring I battle ants in my kitchen. I have tried everything in this war. The only thing that works for me is borax spread around the kitchen. Yesterday as I looked around my kitchen dusted with borax again I realized I'm winning the battles but losing the war.

It was more flash and smoke then a fire so it didn't set off the alarm and no one thought to pull the alarm. We were back inside before they did roll call.

We were working away at work when we heard a big boom you could feel the rumbling shaking from it and half of the power went out. There are a lot of machines so it really has to be storming before we can hear the thunder. I asked a co-worker if it was stormy at break time and was wondering why only half the power went out when people from the other room started running thru our department and yelling fire get out. A major transformer blew in the finish room starting a small fire they put it out quickly. Unfortunately they couldn't fix the transformer as quickly so I got sent home. Now I'll have to work Saturday to make up for today. Nobody was hurt.