Lost and Found

I can't post any pictures because for over a day now my camera card reader and both camera cards are missing! I've looked everywhere I know where they were set down and the places where they typically were kept. We've been busy using them for Craig's List postings before and during our garage sales. But now that most of the furniture and bookshelves are gone, it can be hit and miss where something is put and hit and miss if you find anything right when you are looking for it.

On the other hand, I found a little pocket knife that has been missing for months. It had become a favorite little knife to carry around in my pocket - I never knew how useful a knife was or would have been carrying one long before. Anyway, I was rummaging in the linen closet, making room for the towels and there it was! I wonder what else I will be finding as I get to the bottoms of the drawers and last of the closets!

It has made me think more about the state of lostness and the wonder of finding something that has been missing, from both our perspectives and the Lord's perspective. "I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see."

Anna's Piano

For years now, our daughter, Anna, has been playing the piano. This piano has been her "friend" and has been a source of enjoyment to all of our family.

I would miss hearing her play during these years as she came and went back and forth to college but she always sat down at it soon after getting home for a weekend or holiday, and it seemed she'd not been gone long.

Yesterday we watched it go out of the house. It was sold on Saturday but the day that it was to be picked up came rather suddenly. I watched Anna work through the music in the bench and go through what she was keeping and getting rid of. I'm so glad that the Lord has our best individual interests in mind, for us and for our children, when He asks the hard things of us. These days will be a fleeting mist in time and what gifts and talents the Lord has put into us will not be wasted - even if it means giving up a piano for now.

From Attic to Garage

Attic(s) and everything in between to the garage. We have one more big push to get rid of things, finish our packing for the crate and moving out of the house next week. It is absolutely mind-boggling at times and yet there is the ever present reality that even in this hard process, God is walking with us.

This morning I woke up with a list of things on my mind and worrying that I was already forgetting some important tasks to take care of. I read the Oswald Chambers devotional and it was as if the Lord knew that this day, I would need these words of encouragement, so very much.

The Concept of Divine Control

Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct in this passage for those people who have His Spirit. He urges us to keep our minds filled with the concept of God’s control over everything, which means that a disciple must maintain an attitude of perfect trust and an eagerness to ask and to seek.

Fill your mind with the thought that God is there. And once your mind is truly filled with that thought, when you experience difficulties it will be as easy as breathing for you to remember, "My heavenly Father knows all about this!" This will be no effort at all, but will be a natural thing for you when difficulties and uncertainties arise. Before you formed this concept of divine control so powerfully in your mind, you used to go from person to person seeking help, but now you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those people who have His Spirit, and it works on the following principle: God is my Father, He loves me, and I will never think of anything that He will forget, so why should I worry?

... Keep the thought that the mind of God is behind all things strong and growing. Not even the smallest detail of life happens unless God’s will is behind it. Therefore, you can rest in perfect confidence in Him. Prayer is not only asking, but is an attitude of the mind which produces the atmosphere in which asking is perfectly natural. "Ask, and it will be given to you . . ." (Matthew 7:7 ).

Stuff, Stuff, Stuff - How much did we really need after all?

Well, it has been some time now since I've blogged due to the fact that we have been in the midst of going through closets, drawers, cabinets, basement, attic, office, and garage. Our kids have been a major force in getting things moving and my parents came for a day and ended up staying for two. Thanks, too, for my brother and his family going to the trouble of taking things back to Alabama to keep for us.

It is amazing how much accumulates over 30 years of marriage and the decisions to "make a decision later on what to do with that". I have to admit though, it was really difficult at first to let the Lord change my heart to letting go of those "keepsakes". But once the process began, it became easier and easier. It hasn't been too hard for Don as he has always loved having more space than clutter and there are some things that he is absolutely happy to give up - like the snowblower ; ) Here are some pictures of things that we won't be needing or taking with us to Portugal. Oh, and we haven't even gotten everything out for the sale yet!

Where was my camera?!?!

Tonight - a special group of friends of many years, probably the last time that we all gather, a good meal and good fellowship, a time of prayer, last hugs...

Okay, so my mind is full of things - to do lists, plans for tomorrow, stuff to gather before I run out the door... but I was going to meet friends and looking forward to it, people I may not see for a long time and who have been important to my life, so - where was my camera?!?!

I am really bummed about this and know that it will take more time to forget than it did to forget my camera. But I won't forget my friends or the good fellowship we had and I thank the Lord for each one. It was a special night, even without the camera.

Facing "Stuff"

As I have faced and am still facing this huge process of getting packed up and emptying out a house that over the years became a gathering place for stuff because I would never deal with making the decisions of what to do with things, I know that my only help will really come from the Lord. As I was reading in the Psalms this morning, many of David's words and thoughts were a comfort (as opposed to my journal thoughts below in italic.)

Some of my enemies are the fear of not having "enough" for our needs, so I hung on to things and just let "stuff" accumulate. Maybe, not having much growing up became a foothold for Satan to keep me from being content and letting go of the unnecessary things. (I saw it as not being wasteful, or not having to go buy something later that we already had.) Wanting to have good stewardship has warped into perfectionism that makes me not want to give things away but to "hoard" or at least make some money off of it (which really is selfishness and greed), but my spontaneous nature (that I often let control me) has never led me to be focused on taking care of this last stage of downsizing.

A cut in income has made me uncomfortable (fear and lack of faith) and I wonder how we will manage when we have to get things all over again in a more costly economy. (I know God will provide for our needs but I, humanly, don't like having to start over.) Because my mind is so full of and I am so out of my comfort zone, I have let procrastination take hold and kept putting a lot of those decisions off, until now we are almost out of time (I think that has been laziness.) Oh, I have been very, very, busy in many other ways - not lazy in that sense - you should see how much stuff we did get rid of and give away before, but the last big hill to get over is still to climb, and I am just having a hard time facing it all.

So I do feel that I have a lot of "enemies" out there that God is using in my life to call me closer to Him and I know that I have some uncomfortable things to work on. I know that God will take care of our needs and even bless us beyond that in many ways; I know that God will work "all things out for our good" because we love him and are called to His purpose; I know that fulfillment in life doesn't come from things, but comes from following Christ; and I know that God is my refuge and strength.

Here are some of David's thoughts from the Psalms -

60:11-12 - "Oh, please help us against our enemies, for all human help is useless. With God's help we will do mighty things for he will trample down our foes."

62:5-8 - "Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. O my people, trust in him at all time. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge."

30:1-3 - "I will exalt you, Lord, for you rescued me. You refused to let my enemies triumph over me. O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you restored my health. You brought me up from the grave, O Lord. You kept me from falling into the pit of death."