Lessons from August

It's hard to believe that it is the end of August already.  Here in the midwest the heat has finally taken a choke hold on us and we are simmering at near 100 degrees.  So it feels more like July than September.

But with the end of the month comes "What I learned this Month."

1)  We had an awesome summer here and I nearly forgot to thank God for it.  Now that it is in the high 90's, I am thanking and praising God for a summer that was not so hot, literally.

2)  God will see me through.  I guess I already know this, but I am reminded of it after each Middle School Camp I have completed.  Being over 50 and having fibromyalgia, it is only by the grace of God that I can make it through these summer camps.  And, PTL, the weather was fantastic this year.

3)  God gives babies to young mothers for a reason.  I'm getting too old for fussy babies.

4)  Just today He "reminded" me of "And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.'  Most gladly therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me . . . for when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:9-10).  I need this repetition!  Please keep reminding me, Lord.

5)  Stepping down from a ministry that you love without being able to see the next step to a new ministry is extremely hard.  I stand on the rim of the His Word's lamplight waiting to see where that next step is.  Lord, don't let me fall.

6)  Sometimes Always I am embarrassed when people introduce me as a prayer warrior.  First, I know I do not measure up.  I am weak.  But He is my strength and He is able to do more than I can ever ask.  And, second, right now I don't feel like a warrior.  A warrior trains when things are peaceful and fights when war arises.  I pray when things are peaceful and cringe when the fighting begins.

Now its your turn.

What I learned in July

One of my new fav bloggers is Emily over at http://www.chattingatthesky.com/.  She enjoys ending her month thinking back and blogging about what she learned.  Recently, she asked her readers to chime in.  Well, I doubt I can come up with as many as Emily, but I'll give it a go.  (I had hoped to post this within her time frame, but middleschool camp delayed me.)

1.  This has been an awesome summer here in the Midwest.  The temps have been tolerable for once and I've been able to spend more time outside.

2.  Hubby CAN pick out awesome colors.  He is color blind to many shades of green and red.  But when he took our rescued porch glider to some guys who cleaned it up and "powder-coated" it, he made an awesome choice in colors.  I love it!

3.  I'm loving me some grandbabies!  Three days a week I watch my 6-year-old and 8-month-old granddaughters.  Then once a week (or so) my youngest daughter-momma brings over her 18- and 2-month-olds to spend most of the day.  Awesome!  I love that my "work", processing One Girl bracelet orders for Tiny Hands International (check them out at www.tinyhandsinternational.org) allows me to be available to my extended family.

4.  I miss the phones from Tiny Hands.  In May I was feeling extremely overwhelmed with all that I was doing, including #3 + coordinating product parties for Tiny Hands and answering their phone.  So I resigned from both.  Now, with school fast approaching, I'm missing some of that work.  Hoping to get the phone back soon.  (Nope, no way do I want the product parties back.  Sorry, Aaron.)

5.  I have enjoyed having a sweet kindred spirit back in the states for 3 months.  Has it been 3 months?  That means that 1/2 her time back is over.  Jodi, we need to get together again! (Plans are in the works for next week.)

6.  My mother turned 93.  What have I learned from that?  I have good genes.  Better take care of this old body God gave me for I'm only slightly over 1/2 way there.

7.  With God's help I can make a quilt in less than a month.  Total shock to me!

8.  I don't think I can learn a foreign language at my age.  I did the tutorial sample from Rosetta Stone.  Hmm, not sure I remember anything from it.  It was all . . . Spanish to me!

9.  Going along with #8, I can't remember much of the blogging course I took through ed2go.com.  Like, how am I going to post that photo of my glider? (I DID it!!!) You can teach this old dog new tricks, but you'll have to keep teaching me over and over.

10.  Fav quote that I just found:  "Legalism says God will love us if we are good, while the gospel tells us God will make us good because HE LOVES US."  (I guess this is a quote of CS Lewis cited in Jesus + Nothing = Everything by Tullian Tchividjian.)  July lessons