Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Dear Family and Friends, I am so sorry I have not blogged lately...Well Actually I have but those are being posted over at caringbridge.org/gracepaul. I am currently under construction and there are big changes in store!!! Apparently this is God's new modo for me and the Paul family. My oldest child has been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Everyone is doing well but I am taking a bit of a break...somewhat too long of a break to get myself together so to speak...Like the profile pic says...First Things First....Breath!! So please be kind and sweet and hang in there with me while I re-group and...."walk" forward. Can't wait to see you in 2011....OK see and hear from you ...or is it read from you...or maybe write for you...Yeah that's it.....Got to get back to that......and I will soon....God bless and I love you all...Y'all just keep walking even though I'm a bit slow at it these days!!!!!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
The Lights Are On But Nobody is home!
How many times have we heard that...The lights are on but no one is home? Mostly in reference to some person that has done something that seems so very obviously wrong in our opinion. Yes I am still gonna talk about is your home a Haven....I'm getting there...( to those of you who got a heads up on Facebook ) Give me a minute, I'm getting there....I got a point to make and then we'll dive into that....So in the context of your home lighting....what if your lights are on but you really aren't home...Go further...what if YOU are home but your lights are NOT on....and then a bit deeper...Now what if....everyone thinks your lights are on and thinks you are home but in fact...you and your family are living in the dark, cold cellar out back???? Now I'm cutting to the chase...Point is...is your home a haven in which everyone can see the Light of Jesus Christ shining through you and your family members? Are you living with the light on? Yes the power bill will be high but who cares...the lights are on...switch to candles!!!
If your home is not a haven filled with his goodness and grace and glory...and shinning brightly as a beacon for those who are traveling through.....well then...you need to get to it now don't ya!!!!!Now if you happen to know me then you know....this home ain't always in any shape fashion or form a Haven....and then there are the moments when the lights come on and Jesus reside here...I like those moments so how can we keep those moment coming.... I don't know..one of you needs to tell me!...But seriously....How about starting with the man in your house... Is this a haven for him? Is he getting what he needs? Have you asked him? Does he like coming home? Does he feel comfy when he arrives? Or is he greeted with....Oh my what did I come home for!!!! Once you think about your husband and then work though some of those thoughts, turn your thoughts to your children. Is your home a place where they are happy and feel loved. Are they content or fussy and crabby? Do they bring friends over? Yep you need to ask them its their house too. Depending on the answers you get you need to go through the same process and add and change till you get just the right lighting...Kinda like those dimmer lighting switches...where you can turn the light up and down (preferably up instead of down!). Now go through the same thought process and think about yourself and then your friends and neighbors. Are they visiting your home. Are they calling you? Are they asking you for the reason for your Joy and Light? If not changes need to be made. Truthfully I am lonely in my home right now and my lighting is not working properly. Some switches work , some don't! But what I want and what God wants for me is clear....well its clear if you read what he has to say about it...and I know this is hard to do and to buy into at times...We all struggle...its ok! What's in your heart?...What are you hanging on for anyways? You have the answers you know you do....so get at it! When it gets tough and you do not know what to do...Yes Pray...but think of this...2 John 1:5-6 "... I am not writing to you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.And this is love; that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. So for those of you who know me personally and you are wondering what in the world I am hanging in here for marriage wise..its that simply little word...LOVE.... And apparently it meant a whole lot to the maker, the creator, and the LOVER of us all....So go turn your lights on and Walk In LOVE!!!
If your home is not a haven filled with his goodness and grace and glory...and shinning brightly as a beacon for those who are traveling through.....well then...you need to get to it now don't ya!!!!!Now if you happen to know me then you know....this home ain't always in any shape fashion or form a Haven....and then there are the moments when the lights come on and Jesus reside here...I like those moments so how can we keep those moment coming.... I don't know..one of you needs to tell me!...But seriously....How about starting with the man in your house... Is this a haven for him? Is he getting what he needs? Have you asked him? Does he like coming home? Does he feel comfy when he arrives? Or is he greeted with....Oh my what did I come home for!!!! Once you think about your husband and then work though some of those thoughts, turn your thoughts to your children. Is your home a place where they are happy and feel loved. Are they content or fussy and crabby? Do they bring friends over? Yep you need to ask them its their house too. Depending on the answers you get you need to go through the same process and add and change till you get just the right lighting...Kinda like those dimmer lighting switches...where you can turn the light up and down (preferably up instead of down!). Now go through the same thought process and think about yourself and then your friends and neighbors. Are they visiting your home. Are they calling you? Are they asking you for the reason for your Joy and Light? If not changes need to be made. Truthfully I am lonely in my home right now and my lighting is not working properly. Some switches work , some don't! But what I want and what God wants for me is clear....well its clear if you read what he has to say about it...and I know this is hard to do and to buy into at times...We all struggle...its ok! What's in your heart?...What are you hanging on for anyways? You have the answers you know you do....so get at it! When it gets tough and you do not know what to do...Yes Pray...but think of this...2 John 1:5-6 "... I am not writing to you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.And this is love; that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. So for those of you who know me personally and you are wondering what in the world I am hanging in here for marriage wise..its that simply little word...LOVE.... And apparently it meant a whole lot to the maker, the creator, and the LOVER of us all....So go turn your lights on and Walk In LOVE!!!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Birthday Wishes And Caviar Dreams
Actually, I think the cache phrase is Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams....Honestly I'm not to partial to champagne or caviar....Now some really good sweet wine and I am all in... preferably some ice wine although I have been unable to find any as of late. I recently had a birthday....too old and holding!!!! And the birthday as birthdays seem to do ...got me to thinking....Do any of our Birthday Wishes ever come true? Do dreams wished upon a star ever come to life? Does anything ever work out like it was suppose too? OK ...like we want them too? Is there some magical mystical something another that I have simply never been able to figure out? No, I do not think so. Then I got to trying to remember....yeah that hurt and strained my brain....What in the world did I use to dream of when I was younger. And then I remembered..... I wanted a Piano, I wanted to go to college. I dreamed of growing up and getting married and more than anything in the world I wanted to have children. Lots of children! LOL!!! I always wanted to travel, see the world, live life to the fullest....those kinds of dreams....So how have I done.....????Well, I had a piano and then sold it to get to Ohio to go to Nanny School, I went to college...for 9 yrs!,( College was AWESOME!!!) I am married, and I have 3 children. I have traveled some...but just in the U.S.A. ...but none the less I have seen some beautiful things....some beautiful places....some beautiful events. Were any of them a direct result of wishes wished and daydreams come to life?? Not very likely!!!!...
Yeah Yeah Yeah I know where you think I am going to go with this now...and I will ..but first lets think.....Age 11 wish for piano...age 12 Father buys piano...age 19 I sale piano! Hmmm? So who or what was responsible for the culmination of that dream becoming reality. Not yet...but you know I am getting there!LOL! Well first I had to wish it, then I had to tell the father, then the father had to care enough about the wish to want to also share in the dream and provide the "piano" in this analogy, then the father had to come up with the money to purchase the piano, then he had to find just the right one; in my case it was an "old" upright with the ivory keys worn down and the varnish was non existent,then life happened and I sold it. ( That's the short version)So was it the dream, the wish, or just plain old good luck or good fortune. Hmmm? My answer or opinion is twofold....1) Your dreams and mine come true because of choices made... and 2) in direct relationship to the Father.....Yep Yep you knew I was going there!!! Don't diss me just yet....think on it!!!! For me I am of course referring to my heavenly Father. If ya wish you could chalk it up to your earthly father and your environment as well. Truthfully many people blame and attribute their "sucky" lives to their parents or to the life they were born into. I could go that route and explain it all!!!! Again....CHOICES....But this I know.....Yep....Because the Bible Told Me SO!!!!....Jeremiah 29:11-14 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. "I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." Lets face is it all of us have at some point in our lives felt as though someone or something just picked us up and sat us straight down into the fire filled pits of Hell. Well they did and it was God! Choices we make lead to different paths and different outcomes. But during all of it all ,no matter the chosen path the Father has a plan for you...yours just for you....and they are not to harm you...That is not of God...that is of your Choice. So if you are struggling as I am...hold on to your dreams and wishes, take them to your Father with all your heart, pray to him, and then rest peacefully knowing that He is listening and He can be found by you.....but first you must choose! I have made lots of choices and taken many different paths. None of which have ever been null and void of the power of God or the delightful reprieve of a dream!
Yeah Yeah Yeah I know where you think I am going to go with this now...and I will ..but first lets think.....Age 11 wish for piano...age 12 Father buys piano...age 19 I sale piano! Hmmm? So who or what was responsible for the culmination of that dream becoming reality. Not yet...but you know I am getting there!LOL! Well first I had to wish it, then I had to tell the father, then the father had to care enough about the wish to want to also share in the dream and provide the "piano" in this analogy, then the father had to come up with the money to purchase the piano, then he had to find just the right one; in my case it was an "old" upright with the ivory keys worn down and the varnish was non existent,then life happened and I sold it. ( That's the short version)So was it the dream, the wish, or just plain old good luck or good fortune. Hmmm? My answer or opinion is twofold....1) Your dreams and mine come true because of choices made... and 2) in direct relationship to the Father.....Yep Yep you knew I was going there!!! Don't diss me just yet....think on it!!!! For me I am of course referring to my heavenly Father. If ya wish you could chalk it up to your earthly father and your environment as well. Truthfully many people blame and attribute their "sucky" lives to their parents or to the life they were born into. I could go that route and explain it all!!!! Again....CHOICES....But this I know.....Yep....Because the Bible Told Me SO!!!!....Jeremiah 29:11-14 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. "I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." Lets face is it all of us have at some point in our lives felt as though someone or something just picked us up and sat us straight down into the fire filled pits of Hell. Well they did and it was God! Choices we make lead to different paths and different outcomes. But during all of it all ,no matter the chosen path the Father has a plan for you...yours just for you....and they are not to harm you...That is not of God...that is of your Choice. So if you are struggling as I am...hold on to your dreams and wishes, take them to your Father with all your heart, pray to him, and then rest peacefully knowing that He is listening and He can be found by you.....but first you must choose! I have made lots of choices and taken many different paths. None of which have ever been null and void of the power of God or the delightful reprieve of a dream!
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