Praise

I have been really stressed this past week (or two, or three). It seems to be one thing after another happening in my life. There always seems to be some sort of obstacle to overcome, or some sort of bad news come my way. I know the majority of this is the devil trying to knock me down. He wants me to question the Lord & he wants me to think God isn't there for me. I think the more I try to walk with God & try to do what I think He wants me to do, the more the devil tries to mess with me.
This is why I think it is very important to spend time with God each & every day. Make the effort to talk with Him, pray to Him, praise & worship Him on a daily basis. Do not always ask God for things or help with things, but also remember to thank Him for all his many blessings.
I seem to of gotten off track with my daily walk with God. I have been focusing more on the bad things that have been going on, worrying about them, and forgetting to thank the Lord for what I do have. So, the following is a list of 10 things I want to thank the Lord for:

Thank you Lord for:
1. loving me - unconditionally
2. your guidance
3. my husband
4. my family & friends
5. the roof over my head
6. the clothes on my back
7. the food I have to eat
8. my health
9. providing us with whatever we have needed - when we needed it
10. your son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for my sins, so that I may know you & have everlasting life

In closing today, please meditate with me on the following verses:

1 Chronicles 16:8-12 (Amplified Bible)
8. O give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known His doings among the peoples!
9. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; meditate on and talk of all His wondrous works and devoutly praise them!
10. Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
11. Seek the Lord and His strength; yearn for and seek His face and to be in His presence continually!
12. [Earnestly] remember the marvelous deeds which He has done, His miracles, and the judgments He uttered [as in Egypt],

Verse 11 reminds me of something Joyce Meyer said on one of her programs....We need to learn to seek the Lord's face & not His hands (and what He can do for us)

Venting

Well since my last blog we have had more bad news. GW's grandmother passed away Saturday night. We have comfort in the fact she is with the Lord now & is not suffering any more. It makes me sad that we didn't make it out to the hospital to see her before she passed though. G.W. worked all day Saturday, so we thought we would just head out to the hospital first thing Sunday morning. Unfortunately, she passed away about 10pm Saturday night.

On top of the loss of his grandmother, there is so much else going on right now. This week is going to be crazy. His granny's birthday is today, our niece birthday is tomorrow, visitation is Tuesday, burial is Wednesday, we should get papers via email to close on our house in MS Thursday, should close on house here in TN Friday, and try to move Saturday!!

We have been praying for the house in MS to close out. This has been such a long drawn out process. We were originally supposed to close on 5/29, and it kept getting postponed. Now the buyers are scheduled to close Friday, 6/26! That is an extra four weeks it took them to get everything together! It caused us to pay rent & mortgage all in one month. If we had of known it wouldn't close until this Friday, we could have moved from one house to the other - which would mean we could have saved on rent this month, as well as not having to move our things twice in one month! I am also concerned that the $$ from the closing on our home in MS will not be wired to us in time to close on our house in TN. It is supposed to be wired Friday after the buyers sign their papers. Problem is, if we don't get it before 2pm Friday, we will have to postpone our closing here.

Needless to say, I am stressed & very frustrated. All I want is some peace in our life for a change. It seems to be one thing after another the past couple of years. I know God doesn't give us more than we can bear...but as Mother Teresa once said "Sometimes I wish he didn't trust me so much".

Well, I am going to close now. I think I will go try to revive my spirit with some scripture & maybe listen to today's Joyce Meyer's program....then take a nap.

Charlie

Today was a rough day....we had to put our lab, Charlie, down this morning. We took him to the vet last Wednesday b/c he didn't eat Tuesday & was not acting like himself. They at first said maybe he is just depressed b/c of your recent move. But then they ran a test, which came back positive for heart worms. That was terrible news; but they said we had caught it extremely early & he would only need two treatments instead of 3. They kept him at vet to monitor him after his shots. Then they said he quit drinking as well; which was not good. They ran an x-ray of his tummy over the weekend & said he had air pockets in his intestines & were going to give him meds to help things move out of his intestines. Well this morning they said he wasn't any better & wanted to perform surgery. Unfortunately, we couldn't afford the surgery on top of what we had already had to pay for his heart worm treatments, etc. We had to put him down. It killed me to put him down b/c we couldn't afford surgery. But the vet called afterwards & she opened him up to look at his intestines & said there was part of a leach in it!! She said it was so bad, they would have had to put him down anyway...that we made the right decision.

Your animals become part of your family; so it was very difficult to say goodbye to Charlie today. He was such a sweet & loving dog. He had a wonderful temperament, and just wanted to be loved on all the time. He is truly going to be missed...but I know he is in doggy heaven now & isn't suffering anymore.

RIP Charlie....We love you buddy

We are buying a house!

Oh boy...where do I begin to start with what all is going on right now! Lets start with the good news first....we are buying a house!! It is a little higher than we wanted to pay for a home; but with the location & all the upgrades, we are happy with it. I know the hubby is happy b/c the lake is less than 5 min away! :-)

Now for the bad news....our lab has heart worms :-( They say we have caught it really early & he should pull through; which is good news. But it is going to cost us some $$$. What gets me is he just had all his up-to-date shots before we left MS last week. He had a heart worm test at that time just b/c I was buying more heart worm meds. It was negative. So, it was shocking to find out a week later once we are in TN that he does indeed have them.

We also have not closed on the house in MS yet! They keep assuring us that it is going to close; its just being held up in the rural housing dept. They say we should close before next Friday. So, I hope that is the case!

Other than all that, things are good. I don't see things slowing down for us anytime soon; but that's okay. We are supposed to close on the new house end of this month. Then the week after that, we are going camping in Gatlinburg with my family. I also need to get on the ball with trying to find myself a job...

It's good to be home

Well I am officially a Tennessee resident again!

Moving really stinks; but I have to say it is nice being back "home"...and especially nice to be living with the husband again! :-) Of course, I have the house to myself tonight b/c he went to fish a tournament on KY lake. That's okay though; b/c I have lots to keep me busy.

I am meeting the real estate agent tomorrow to start looking for a house to buy. Part of me is excited about looking at houses, and the other part of me is dreading it. We don't have the time we thought we would to look for a house b/c my grandpa has sold the house we are renting!! So, hopefully we will find a house we want to buy very soon....although it seems every time I find a house I really like, it already has a contract on it :-(

It would also be really nice if we could close on our house in MS!! I found out tonight closing has been postponed AGAIN! This whole process has been so frustrating & trying. I pray a lot for the Lord to give me patience; so I guess he is trying to teach me to have some, huh?

Serenity

Today has been very trying for me. I try not to worry & get stressed about things I have no control over; but it is easier said than done.

I am concerned that we are not going to get to close on the house this Friday; which has me worried. Our agent assures me that everything is okay; but just not sure if the lender & title company can get everything done in order to close by Friday. It might be middle of next week. Normally that would not be that big of a deal; but we are moving out of state & have family coming in from out of state to help us move. Everything has been set up already to move & if closing is re-scheduled, it throws so much off. I know that it will all work out; I am just stressed about it right now. It doesn't help that I have been down here packing up this entire house by myself this week (which has me exhausted).

While sitting here worrying about how everything is going to work out, a certain prayer came to mind that reminds me to put all my worries in God's hands & He will guide us through.


The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen.
--Reinhold Niebuhr

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.
Proverbs 3, 5-6