Psalm 62

My soul, wait silently for God alone,

for my expectation is from Him.

He only is my rock and my salvation;

He is my defense;

I shall not be moved.

In God is my salvation and my glory;

The rock of my strength,

and my refuge, is in God.

Trust in Him at all times, you people;

pour out your heart before Him;

God is a refuge for us. Selah

Psalm 62:5-8

The Lord's Faithfulness

I was recently reviewing some of my past posts and came across an entry from January discussing the fact that I was having to work some extra hours at work because of staffing shortages. Well, 6 months later the staffing shortage continues and I continue to put in a lot of hours but there is good news in the midst of it all.

It's been a time of growth for me, both spiritually and professionally. I've seen, again, the Lord's faithfulness in providing the strength I need to get through each day. Some days I have my doubts about my survival, but He hasn't let me down a single time! He is always faithful to provide the resources I need to get through the day.

Over the past months, as I've gone about the search for a new nurse, I've been reminded of how important it is to include the Lord in that decision making process. It can be so easy to be consumed with work and the secular modes of making decisions and recruiting staff. That process is soooo frustrating and after having hired and trained 2 nurses in the last 2 years, I was concerned about making sure the new hire would be an appropriate fit for our department, a fit that will result in a successful working relationship for all parties involved.

I've spent a lot of time praying for wisdom as I've interviewed various candidates. I prayed that I would find someone whose personality would fit with the team, who possesses an admirable work ethic, a team player, etc. I'm looking for a good employee. I prayed that the Lord would give me wisdom and discernment throughout the process.

He has been so faithful throughout the months of this process. There have been many wonderful candidates that have come along and for various reasons none of them have been able to accept the position. I've clung to the fact that the Lord is in control of this and when the time is right, He will bring someone along, the right someone that He wants me to work alongside.

And, He has answered my prayers. He has brought someone along that will be starting on Tuesday! I am so thankful to the Lord for providing and excited to begin to nurture this new working relationship! I am reminded that the Lord does not bring anyone along our path by accident and so I look forward to seeing what other exciting things He has in store in the months ahead!

Garage Sales--A New Perspective

A few weeks ago my mom, Tanya, and I had a garage sale in my little single car garage/driveway. It was a great opportunity to clear things out, to get rid of the "junk" I no longer needed so an unsuspecting stranger could find their very own "treasure"!

My dad watched as we all scrambled to get our items ready, to price them and set things up. He thought we were a bit insane to be going to so much trouble for what appeared to be so little reward in his eyes. But, we were having a great time!

Then, the garage sale bug caught my dad, although it was in a way I never suspected! He wandered to a neighbor's garage sale and saw a ten speed bike that was at least 20 years old. It was dirty, the handle bars were worn, the seat was hard as a rock (no kidding!) and the tires weren't even functional!! He bought it! Full price! Didn't even try to barter the guy down!! I watched in awe!!

And then my awe turned to complete disbelief! He walked the bike to my driveway and put it back up for sale, 3 houses down from where he just bought it!! He got one offer...for 15 dollars more than what he paid for it!!

Thanks to my dad, I now have a whole new perspective on garage sales!!

Tag! I'm it!

Thanks to my dear friend, Rachel, I've been tagged! I'm supposed to tell you 7 random things about myself. I'm hoping I can come up with 7 interesting things to tell you about myself!!

Here are the rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

• I've taken up mosaicing (is that even a word!?) My friend Kathy likes to mosaic so I joined her in the fun and actually made a trivet for my mom for Mother's Day. (If I had a digital camera I'd insert the picture here so you could see my amazing talents!!)
• I started to learn to play the guitar 6 years ago...I'm still on lesson 1 but am proud to say I can pick out Jingle Bells, ever so slowly!! (I'm determined I will eventually learn!!)
• I've learned to cook for 100 (the discipleship weekends) but have trouble cooking for 1!
• I love to travel and wish I had more time and more funds to travel more frequently. But, I will gladly "settle" for my July vacation to the beach in Florida! I just love to spend a week on the beach, in the sun, enjoying the water and relaxing!!
• I love to read...to a fault! I have to limit my novel reading so that I don't get too distracted from the more important things in life! (that's why I love vacations! I can read all I want!)
• I do NOT have a green thumb! I would love to have a garden at my house but I really need to learn how to be a little more nurturing to plants! I have one plant that I've kept alive for a year...that's a record for me!
• Many people know me as JENKINS! A boss called me "Jenkins" one day by mistake and it's stuck...5 years later!!

I'm tagging: Ok, call me pathetic, but everyone I know that blogs has already been tagged! So, if you're reading my blog and haven't been tagged and would like to spend a little time coming up with 7 random things about yourself, feel free to join in!! Or, if anyone has any friends they'd like to share...

The following instructions don't appear to be applicable since I haven't tagged anyone!!

The next step, if you are not interested in playing I will remove your blog info from my list! If you stop in for a visit and want to play - leave a comment and I will be glad to check your blog as well!To my Meme victims, you now must make your list of 7 and then tag 7 other unsuspecting bloggers!

Classic Words by Kate Aspen

The other day my mom was taking care of my 23 month old niece. They were outside and my mom was working in the yard.

She turned to Kate and said: "Kate, do you want to help Grandma?"

Kate said: "No thanks. I watch."

For being so little she sure knows how to supervise!!

Light House

I just thought my blog needed a little sprucing up and figured a lighthouse might help!

Discipline Part 2: Self-Control

It's been a while since I've given my blog any TLC and I've had a few of you wonder when I was going to post again. To be honest, I usually like to be "inspired" before I post anything, inspired to share some sort of collected and organized thought. But I haven't felt particularly inspired of late, especially since I wanted to continue to address the topic of discipline. To me, that topic hits a little too close to home and may be a little too convicting for my liking, so I think I've been in a holding pattern of avoidance! But, this little desire to avoid the topic doesn't make it any less applicable to my life and so I need to press on and continue to gain an understanding of what it means to be disciplined and how I practically make changes to gain a more disciplined life.

There are various ways that I can be more disciplined outwardly in my daily life. Currently, I am working to improve my approach when it comes to making my meals at home rather than eating out so often, which not only affects my budget but also my cholesterol!! (I know, I should really be too young to be talking about cholesterol!) I'm putting together weekly meal plans rated "easy", "moderate", and "special occasions" so I can streamline my grocery shopping/list making and choose the meal plan that best suits my schedule for that week and provides a little bit of variety! This is just a small way I want to become more disciplined and organized.

But, in what way can I become more disciplined in my spiritual life? What "little" adjustments can I make that will help develop my character? Are there specific goals I should be striving to achieve in my quest for discipline? My last blog gave several definitions of discipline so I thought I'd look at them one by one and develop the idea of discipline in bite size portions.

Being disciplined is to have "controlled behavior

resulting from disciplinary training; self-control."

This particular definition caught my attention tonight because of it's reference to "controlled behavior" and "self-control". It reminded me of a passage I read recently in a book regarding gentleness as mentioned in I Peter 3: 3-6. "...it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."

"Gentleness, or meekness as many translations have it, isn't weakness or spinelessness or timidity or even niceness. This word in classical Greek was used to describe tame animals, soothing medicine, a mild word, and a mild breeze. It is a word with a caress in it.

Gentleness also implies self-control. Aristotle said that gentleness is the mean between excessive anger and excessive angerlessness. So the person who is gentle is able to balance his anger. He controls it.

Meekness/gentleness is strength under control. The gentle woman is strong! She is in control of her fears. She is as strong as steel."

Biblical Womanhood in the Home

--Edited by Nancy Leigh DeMoss--

The disciplined woman is going to exhibit a meek and gentle spirit. She will be characterized by self-control. To have self-control is to have "control of one's emotions, desires, or actions by one's own will".

But, how does a person cultivate a life characterized by self-control? Our tendency is to pursue our own desires, to seek after our own will, and particularly as women, we often battle to control our emotions. How do we get a handle on self-control?

• To have self-control involves an aspect of selflessness. Wouldn't you agree that to be disciplined is to lay aside selfish tendencies? Think of an athlete...they lay aside the desire for the immediate gratifications of life in order to train and discipline their bodies so that they might achieve a specific goal.

• Above all, in order to have a life characterized by self-control, we must immerse ourselves in the Word of God. "As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue...But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. " (II Peter 1: 3, 5-8)

It is only through time spent with our Savior that we will begin to gain an ability to truly bring our emotions, our actions, our thoughts under the discipline of our will. It is only through time in the Word that we can bring our will under subjection to the will of our heavenly Father. When our own will aligns with His will, that is when we can begin to gain a life characterized by self-control and therefore, discipline!