Tag Archive | Freedom

This Week’s 5 for 5 Brain Dump Challenge Day 2

Oct17

The beauty of the 5 for 5? No need to edit as you go. Just free flow writing. So sometimes it’s a mess, and it’s OK.

Go here to find out how it’s done: 5for5braindump.weebly.com

Being alive. Do I notice the sun’s rays in the morning? Do I see and feel the dew on the grass? Do I smell the fresh morning air, before the traffic begins to move? Do I quiess in the silent moments when it seems only the birds are awake?

These are the morning senses. The ones I used to sleep through. Now, they are the ones I can’t wait to experience, the ones I can’t stand to miss.

Part of being alive? Yes. I believe so. It helps me to come alive with a better understanding of who God is. How BIG He is. My mind cannot comprehend.

Just a taste of His glory, for all the world to see, if we will only look for it.

The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the people see His glory.

Psalms 97:6 KJV

 

 

Books That Changed My Life #4

Oct12

I stumbled upon this book while looking at research on Asperger Syndrome. The name caught my attention, as I was looking for ways to understand and connect with my grandchild, who has the syndrome. Asperkid

I did not want to do anything that would make their situation worse, so a full understanding of what their life was like was in order. Little did I know just how well suited I was to understand!

As I was reading, I began to see a little familiarity. Some of the things listed in this book, I understood all too well. As the author first states in the first pages of the book ; ” Where was this book when I, like, needed it?”

Growing up, I always felt like the square peg in the round hole. The one who was always a bit too loud, a bit too kinetic, a bit too spacey, a bit too dreamy. These were the nice things I was called. I was constantly breaking many social rules that I never knew existed.

Now, more than ever I needed to be able to understand my grand child, by doing so, would also understand myself as well. After all these years. Years of ruminating over the smallest inflections of disapproval from other people, the lights began to brighten.

I was not defective. I was wired differently. My curvy way of thinking didn’t mesh well with the linear, stand in a straight line kind of thinking of organized school, and now I knew why. Indeed I was a square peg, but it was OK.

Enter Psalm 139: 1-4, 13-16, 23-24 (ESV). It reads as follows;

Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

139 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

13 For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a]
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me,
    when as yet there was none of them.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
    Try me and know my thoughts![c]
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting![d]

 

He knew me all along, and created me just the way I was supposed to be!

 

 

Books That Changed My Life #3

Oct9

         Eucharisteo. Thankfulness. Live Eucharisteo.

Philippians 4:11-12 (RSV)

11 Not that I complain of want; for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. (Thankful) 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want.

one thousand gifts

I never ever thought to be thankful. I was too busy guarding myself from the pain of what I didn’t have.

Through her book, Ann taught me that it is indeed “Holy work” to list what we are thankful for.

Name those things. When you name them, the things you think you lack, cannot haunt you anymore.

Some of the things you may lists, seem inconsequential. Too small to even note. Note them anyway. One to One Thousand. Some will seem larger and more important than others, list them all, you will see, they will add up. The more they add up, the freer you become!

Begin with a pen, or a crayon, or a marker. Use your voice. Use the shutter on your camera. Every word of thanks is a sacred act.

I consider myself a woman of prayer, but Ann showed me that the only way to really BE that, is to be a woman of thanks. I had no chip for that, so it took a while. One gratitude at a time.

And now, I am most grateful for every day. Every breath. Every thing that goes well, and even for every aggravation. Why? Because it gives opportunity to practice EVEN MORE thankfulness.

What are you thankful for? Coffee in your cup? Nuzzling soft baby hair against your cheek? A quiet sunrise? Shoes on your feet? The ability to take a breath or the very fact the you even woke up this morning? ………………………………………

I could go on and on, but it’s your turn. Care to share?