Blessings

Dr. Louann Brizendine, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco states in "The Female Brain"  that a woman uses about 20,000 words per day while a man uses about 7,000." Funtrivia.com

So I have approximately 20,000 words every day.  Think about that - 20,000 words every day.  Now that is a lot of words I am floating out into the universe.  Back in March I blogged about taking trash talk from my vocabulary which has freed up a lot of words for me.  So in a time when all the talk is about shortages, I am dealing with a surplus of words at the end of my day.  Now I will have to say that I find this new found surplus exciting.  What should I do with all these extra words I have to speak every day?

Simple deductive reasoning tells me that I have this excess because I have eliminated negative words so it naturally follows that positive words should fill up the void.  The word blessings sounds old and antiquated, but maybe it is a word that needs to make a comeback.  Remember those bell bottom pants they came back.  Headbands, scrunchies, and even blue eye shadow made a comeback so I don’t think bringing back the word blessings is a wild idea at all. What is the definition of blessing you ask - bless•ing   noun 1.the act or words of a person who blesses.

Think about it, or maybe to put you in an Old Testament frame of mind, – Selah. The Old Testament is filled with word blessings. How many times recently has someone spoken a blessing over you?  Has anyone ever spoken a blessing over you?  How many times today have you spoken blessings over someone else?  I don’t know about you but I think I know exactly where my surplus words should go.  I need to start using my surplus words as blessings.  Listen to this blessing. Deuteronomy 28¨1 -6 “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. 2 You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God:  Your towns and your fields will be blessed.  Your children and your crops will be blessed.  The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed.  Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed.  Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed.”  Talk about putting your surplus words to good use.  WOW what a blessing!!!

The New Testament gives us some good examples of using our words to bless.  Romans 1:7  To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Those words of blessings are spoken over and over in the New Testament by Paul. 

Mother Teresa said this, "There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread."

I think this is the perfect way for me to use my surplus words.  I think you will be amazed, as I have been, the impact that just a few words of blessing can be to someone.  For some, it may be the bread that sustains them for one more day.  Take these next 31 words as my words of blessings to you today. 

Numbers 6:24-26“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. ”’

Crafting With God

  I love crafts and you know what?  I have done many crafts and I have learned you need to read the instructions.  If you don’t have instructions how do you do it?  Well, you can’t can you?  Well are lives are like crafts because we have many pieces and God is putting us together.  If you don’t have God then you don’t have instructions.  If you want instructions here is how you get them.  The Bible is like the instructions if you don’t have the Bible you don’t have the instructions. 

  God is in control like the instructions are.  So you have to let God be in control.  You also have to take your time.  Like you have to take your time with God and let Him use all the parts.  Don’t lose parts like losing the instructions of the craft then God can’t finish.  You know if you only have half the craft done it looks wrong if you don’t let God finish then you will look weird.  You might be missing kindness, forgiveness, or helpfulness. 

   You never know how beautiful your craft is until you finish it so you have to finish.  You never know how beautiful you are until God finishes.  I made a heart necklace and every time I look at it I think God’s love is like a heart.  God can do anything and He makes our hearts look beautiful.

  

Crazy Trippy Things

Recently in my life, I have experienced many "crazy trippy things".  It started happening shortly after my relationship with God had gotten stronger.  I then realized that things were signs left by God, to tell me that He was there for me, and watching me.  Now many skeptics may believe these "signs" are just coincidence and don’t think anything of such events.  Although, when going into the day with the mindset that God is always there, many new possibilities will open up.  This is because of the simple fact that once you let God into your life, you will not only be much happier, but He will let His presence be known.  The first thing that happened to me was a simple, common problem.  I had lost my phone.   After about an hour of frustration, I exclaimed "please God just let me find my phone".  Immediately, I heard something under my recliner -- I had already checked under it several times.  I went to go check it out, and there it was, it had dropped right out from the bottom of the recliner.  Now I realize that this may not be a very profound event, but all that follows in such a short time frame, is worth thinking about.  Just the very next day, I had finals.  I had struggled in my Spanish class all year (I had been taking a higher level Spanish class).  I prayed before the test, not expecting help from God, but just asking and sure enough, the "butterflies" in my stomach went away, my clammy hands loosened up, and I became incredibly focused.  I felt as if I had super powers.  I ended up getting a good grade on the test bringing me to a C in the class.  A couple of days into summer, I was at work with my buddy, landscaping.  I had just received my payment when on my way home I realized it had fallen out.  Most people at that point would freak out.  They would frantically retrace their steps.  Instead, I let out a sigh, gave a small prayer, and calmly walked back with my friend, almost immediately after I had prayed, the money was in the middle of the sidewalk lying as if it was a present.   Now I am at my grandmothers, now those of you who know my grandmother (Judy) know that she is a bird fanatic.  She had recently acquired some orioles on her land and they hadn’t visited in quite some time.  She had told us about how she wanted them to come back.  The first thought that popped into my head was "they are back", that was followed by many others including "why did I think that?", and "how do I know?” I hadn’t seen them, and to this day I still haven’t.  I didn’t say anything so i wouldn’t get my grandmothers hopes up in case the orioles wouldn’t have come back, but almost immediately my grandmother exclaimed "the orioles, the orioles".  And I knew, it wasn’t just some random thought, it was reassurance, AKA a sign that God is watching over me. In Matthew 14:31 it states “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  I thought that this related to me and the orioles.  I should not have doubted the presence of God, just as all of the people in the world that say "God just give me a sign" should not deter from the many signs that He gives them.  Overall, in life, you are not to ignore what you are given, so why would you ignore God's "signs".

God's Fingerprints

What is the connection between clean windows and a two-year old?  What is the connection between bright shiny stainless steel appliances and a two-year old?  What is the connection between a crisp clean white blouse and a two-year old?  The answer, of course, is FINGERPRINTS!  The sun comes shining through those windows you spent hours cleaning and there they are – fingerprints.  You go to open your refrigerator door and there they are - fingerprints.  You are ready to walk out of the house for a meeting, and there they are – fingerprints.  You may find them on your couch, on your coffee table, on your TV, anywhere that two-year old can get, you will find his or her fingerprints.  Just a little gift  they leave behind to let you know they were there.

Well, believe it or not, people have been leaving their fingerprints behind for a very long time. " Fingerprints have been found on ancient Babylonian clay tablets, seals, and pottery. They have also been found on the

walls of Egyptian tombs and on Minoan, Greek, and Chinese pottery, as well as on bricks and tiles from ancient Babylon and Rome. Some of these fingerprints were deposited unintentionally by the potters and masons as a natural consequence of their work, and others were made in the process of adding decoration. However, on some pottery, fingerprints have been impressed so deeply into the clay that they were possibly intended to serve as an identifying mark by the maker."  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerprint

Fingerprints go back even further than that.  God has been leaving His fingerprints in the lives of His creation since the beginning of time.  He has left His fingerprint impressed into the very life of every living creature to identify Him as their maker.  If you think God has left you, God doesn’t love you, God doesn’t even know you exist, you have to watch Louie Giglio’s youtube sermon on laminin.  If you know that God is with you, that He loves you with an unfailing love, and calls you by name, you have to watch Louie Giglio’s youtube sermon on laminin.  If you are reading this blog, you have to watch Louie Giglio’s sermon on laminin.

                                     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg_ZVS6Kecw

 God's Fingerprint on My Life