Adventure Of A Lifetime

Ever since I heard their new video, I just knew I wanted to use it in my blog somehow, or sometime.

What better time then at the beginning of the year. 

At the beginning of yet another adventure of a lifetime!

Everything you want's a dream away

A journey for me isn't about traveling to just a place or going on a vacation. A journey can also be about our every day lives. There is a beginning and an end, and it will surely include lessons from the past, experiences of the present, and dreams for the future. It's through life, through sickness and in health, through good times and bad. Through riches and through debt. Life is one big journey, a series of adventures within it, creating one big, wonderful, awesome life with so many seasons!

Under this pressure, under this weight. We are diamonds...

During our 40 years together, the dreams, the adventures, the roads, to even the challenges, contributed to it being our adventure of a lifetime, Our Journey Through LIFE!. I wouldn't have wanted to gone through it with any else. Looking back on our journey, there is not a single thing I would want to change or do different. To think I thought differently at one time or another along the way. What ever was I thinking? What if I had given up. Given in to the opinions of others. Why did I stop listening or seeing what Gods plan was for me? Why, became the aha Oprah talks so often about. It was always right there in front of me, yet I was so distracted by what this crazy world was throwing at me. Oh, and to top it off, I was the one catching it. Seriously! What was I thinking? I know I wasn't thinking of God. I was to busy!  

Said I can't go on, not in this way...

Difficult times called for difficult choices. As much as I would like to go back and change those times or those choices, it would then change the present. That just won't do. I LOVE were I am. I LOVE my hubby. I LOVE my children and the grandchildren they have given me. I LOVE the family and friends around me.

We are diamonds taking shape...

And yes, I have always LOVED God, but I began learning to LOVE Jesus. 

Over the last several years I began focusing more on who God was and why He sent His only Son for us, and for me! Really, me! Sure being raised Catholic, I was taught of Him but never really knew Him. I had some awesome women set outstanding example of faith, and I admired them, but to be like them, I was not sure I ever could. I received all His sacraments the church required, but it was more like I was doing what was expected, not because I wanted to. I remember wanting to be at other churches, (introduced by neighbors) singing and celebrating, making things while learning about Him, VBS in the 60's was so much fun! Oh, but that was not allowed. I soon learned to just go through the steps, and do as I was told. As an adult, I was able to make my own choices for my own faith. As lost as I was, He knew just where i was and put the right people along my path. Each time all the lessons and words of the bible effected me, encouraged me for that season, then down the road something else changed the path. There was never any real leaps and bounds until that first bible study some 40 plus years later. "Gods Greatest Gift to Women, Jesus" was my first encounter with actual bible study. Learning how to read the bible, along with doing homework, was new to me. It grabbed me from the very first night. The more I learned of Him, the closer I got. The closer I got, the more I learned. I am still learning!

Just because I didn't take some of those GIANT steps, it didn't mean I wasn't moving forward. The steps for me are and have always been different then they would be for someone else. Sometimes I walked side by side with Him. Sometime I am walking behind Him. Sometimes I can't keep up with Him. Sometimes He can't keep up with me running away. Sometimes I lead the parade. Sometimes I ride in one. Sometimes I still feel as if I am walking alone. Sometimes I just want to stop. Sometimes no matter the steps, good, bad, sad, or happy, big or baby steps, they all had me right where I was suppose to be then and they have me right where I am suppose to be now. I am NEVER alone! I don't ever plan to stop looking for and doing what ever it takes to enjoy our journey. It will always include bible studies that will help me grow in the way God plans.

If we've only got this life...

Yesterday, was a good example of what He has done within me. I had my first dance with the insurance company. My first reaction was to throw in the towel, raise my hands, and forget it, just cancel all my appointments. Instead, Pause, Pray, and Reflect. Just BREATHE! Awe...now was the time to test those steps, to trust and have faith in the ones already in place for just this reason. For this season!

Seems now that I have insurance, I need a referral to the cardiologist I started seeing last year. OK, no problem, we'll just get that set up. Nope, it just can't be that easy. If it was hubby being referred, no problem. However, because I had been seeing the doctor since 2007, so I am established under his old TI#. Hubby being a new patient, got set up under his new TI#. Each time the girls in both offices changed his number on my account, once the page was refreshed it went back to default. By the end of the day, all three ladies sounded like they were at their wits ends. I don't blame them. Problem was being turned over to a supervisor who had the tech knowledge needed. As it turns out, since the fall or there about, both offices have been having these issues. Pointing out the TI#'s will not only resolve our issues, but also others who have been having the same problem. I heard the opportunity to bless them for their jobs. Asking God to take the burden, present it it to those who can resolve it, and be patient, worked. I am so thankful my daughter has the grace and the Holy Spirit within her to deal so professionally with people within this system. I am improving, but remember, I still take baby steps. At the same time, the extra steps and understanding the others girls had all day needed some of the glory too. The best part, I didn't come across as some crazy old lady, LOL!

I'm so inspired by what Beth Moore recently said on her new TV program, "I'm going to have the Guts and Glory!... Yes, I'm scared to death!...That is Audacity!" That was yesterday!

"We want to be great and mighty in our War Rooms, but not have to deal with dirty underwear in our wash rooms!" What a hoot she is!

I'm reminded of my favorite saying from back in the beginning of this sometimes spiraling spiritual journey, "It's their junk in their trunk" and "Crap belongs in a toilet, flush it!". I learned I needed to close my gate to my garden. To many weeds had been brought in. If your not here to help me tend it, please don't give me more work to do. Really. I know that sounds way out there but seriously, between the voices in my head (the ones we all have while deciding what is right or wrong ones) and the voices of others, it became a raging war that changed the scenery! I not only had to close my gate again, I even had to let the garden die! Yep, no water, no life! No problem! That is some DEEP pain to admit, but in order to get above, sweeping it under a carpet isn't going to help. However, the possibility of tilling the garden with it, just might make things grow better.

Will I have the "Guts" to open that garden up again? Will I have the "Glory" when I see the seeds planted begin to grow again? Oh, Lord Jesus, I sure hope so!