Another Waiting Scripture

Psalms 130

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications!

If you, O lord should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is
steadfast love,
and with him is great power
to redeem.
It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.

From the New Oxford Annotated Bible

Waiting

I hate waiting. Hate it, hate it, hate it. It feels like I've been in a season on waiting and man have I struggled. As painful as it has been though, God is still good and He uses every situation to teach me to be a better daughter of His.

I recently read a book titled When God Takes Too Long. It really helped me change how I viewed God. I would become so angry with God because I wasn't getting my prayers answered when and how I wanted them to be. Ouch. What a selfish brat I realized I was being. God is still God in the waiting. "If we allow our faith and our actions to fade in and out according to the difficulties we face, then we'll spend our whole lives getting knocked off course and flailing around spiritually." (p.131) That blew my mind. Looking back at my spiritual life, I realized I had been doing just that. My spiritual life has waxed an waned with the tides of life. (I know that sounds cheesy) If life has been hard then I've gotten mad at God, pouted and stopped talking with Him; when life is going good I have a great spiritual life. I think God wants more than that for us and from us. We have to trust that He knows and He is working whether we can see it or not.

I also had gotten to the point where I didn't expect much from God anymore. I hadn't realized it until I read this from the book:

We interpret "not yet" to mean "never". We begin to believe this vague disappointment with God is a permanent condition. He'll take us so far, He'll raise our hopes, but we'll always be left stranded in the end. We don't give up exactly. We don't renounce our Christian commitment and publicly turn away from God. Instead, we belive in Him, but we don't expect much from Him. We'll continue to call ourselves His, but we don't intend to dream big anymore or put ourselves on the line for Him. (p.59,60 emphasis added)

If you are in the waiting room. Keep waiting. I know that sounds cruel and not very helpful at all but keep waiting. Hang in there. More than likely, you don't see God working in your life. You feel frustrated and left all alone. Don't give up! Keep Waiting! God IS working in your life. Just because things don't work out the way we would like for them to does not mean that God is any less powerful, any less caring, any less loving. I have learned that in my own waiting room.

I'm reminded of the Scripture "In my Father's house there are many rooms..." Maybe in addition to a waiting room, there's a living room and a bedroom and a parlor and a kitchen... In the waiting room, you can only see that one room. You can't see what's happening in the rest of the house. It's still God's house and He's still working in it. Maybe He's cleaning up another room getting it ready for you to join Him in it next. Right now though, it may not be ready for you - the timing's not right. Right now, you just need to wait.

The past two weeks have been stressful for me. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I believe the waiting is coming to an end. I still worry. I'm still anxious. I'm still afraid. How is it going to work out? What if it doesn't work out? I know. I forget what I've learned. For the past few nights as I'm trying to drift to dream land I've had those gnawing questions come up. And each time, I've prayed for God's help and have been flooded with Scriptures. I would like to share a few of them with you now. I hope they will help you in your time of waiting.

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Psalm 27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?

2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

Philippians 4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Also, I looked up "do not be afraid" on Bible Resources. According to this site, there are 65 verses throughout the Bible where God says to His people or servant "do not be afraid". I hope these will help encourage you in your time of waiting.

African Violet

I am so proud of my African Violet. It is doing really well. It's even starting to bloom.


My friend Carol's African Volet looks a lot different from mine. I have never seen a plant look so funky before. She has it in her office and it is trying to get more sunlight!

Man, mine looks so boring compared to her's! :) Her's does look like some abstract art doesn't it.

Survivor

Survivor last night was awesome! All I have to say is if you missed it, it's worth watching it. When they were at tribal council, I started laughing & Brooks was just dumbfounded. The look on Alex's face was classic! They did such a great job pulling of that stunt. Tell me what you think!

Innocence Lost

My heart breaks for the VA Tech family. There are so many speculations about how this could have been avoided and who is to blame but for right now is the time to simply grieve. Grieve for the loved ones who lost their lives, and those that lost their loved ones (including the shooter's family), and grieve for innocence lost.

Personally, I think I was finally beginning to become comfortable again after 9/11 but again we are reminded of the carnage that man is capable of. How can this happen again? How can human beings continually treat each other with such brutality? I'll never understand how genocides can go on unnoticed or shy students can erupt like an angry volcano with out it being prevented or avoided.

I believe that this is a reminder to pray. Not only does VA Tech need prayer but also our nation and our world. I believe that every human being is looking for acceptance and love and that can only be found through Jesus Christ. Let this be a reminder for us to intervene through intercessory prayer. Also, let us be the walking example of Jesus and embody the love and acceptance so many are yearning for.

Bowling

Saturday the family went bowling! We were celebrating my dad's birthday while they were here. We were going to go golfing but, of course, the weather didn't cooperate. That's fine with me b/c I've never been golfing in my life! And I doubt I would have won like I did in bowling!!! That's right. I won! I bowled a 128. I think that might be my highest score. I can't remember though since it's been such a long time since I've gone bowling.

We bowled two games. The first game was as individuals and it took a long time to go through a game of 7 people. Oh, did I mention I won that game? The second game went much quicker because we played pairs. My little brother, Ben, asked my sister, Cathy, to play with him. He was not a happy camper when at the end of the game he and Cathy were dead last! Cathy felt terrible that she was "letting Ben down" and I think Ben thought he had made a bad decision! Cathy & Luis won that round. I had to give someone else a chance, right?

TNT@TNU

WOW! Did I have a busy weekend!

Every year Nazarene teens from all around the southeast come to Trevecca (TNU) and compete in all sorts of categories: sports, singing, puppets, sign language, Bible quizzing... It's called "Top Nazarene Talent at Trevecca Nazarene University" - TNT@TNU. Hundreds of teens come and invade the college campus and hundreds of Trevecca students hide from said teens.

This year, my little brother who is not so little anymore, Ben, competed with his church teen group in puppets . So to support him, I hung out Friday at Trevecca. I had so much fun. It felt like a big family reunion, running into old friends and catching up on life. It was great fun. I laughed so much this weekend!

I think the book store and the meteorologists were in cahoots with one another though. It was bitterly cold Friday. I had on a short sleeved shirt and a zip up hoodie. I was still so cold I had to go buy a $37 sweat shirt from the book store. You know, this is the first ever article of clothing I've had with "Trevecca" on it. While in college, I was too poor to buy one. Plus, I figured they had enough of my money to begin with!

This weekend was also a tribute to time as well. I lived 5 years of my life at that school and now it is filled with a new generation of students busying around just as I had done many times. This time though, I was no longer in that role of "Trevecca student". Being able to look back at that time in my life made me appreciate that experience and it also made me appreciate my life right now. I gained so many life long friendships through Trevecca and it was only fitting that I would be reunited with some of them this weekend at Trevecca.

Oh, by the way, Ben's group won 1st place in puppets! Go Team!

Snow in April

I can't believe it! It is snowing in April! Tuesday it was 83 degrees and the temperature plumeted that night 50 degrees lower to a low of 30-ish.
Today - it is snowing! Snowing, people, in April! It's not enough to stick but it's still snowing!

Man, that "Global Warming" is KILLING us!

The Jungle - Killing Lawn Mowers Everywhere

Our neighbor, L.D., has mowed our lawn ever since we moved into our house. He does a great job and we appreciate his hard work. This afternoon he was mowing the back yard and I noticed that his lawn mower had stalled out. I asked him if everything was okay and he said "Ms. Veronica", which is very unnerving to hear from a 15 year old since I'm not old enough to be a 'Ms.', "this hill is too much for my lawn mower. I can't mow it. Do you think the home owner's association can come out and mow it?" I explained to him that they had already come out and mowed half the stupid thing but wouldn't mow the other half b/c they say it's on our lawn. It's been a huge issue going back and forth with these people. "Well, didn't they put it here?!", he said indignantly. "Yes, they did but they are very difficult to deal with and don't do any more than necessary." L.D. said, completely seriously & sterned faced, "Ms. Veronica, you want me to talk to them about it for you." Trying not to crack up in his face, I politely told him "no". His sincerity meant a lot to me. :)
Fortunately for us, we now have a new home owner's association. Hopefully, they will be a whole lot better than the last group. Maybe they will come mow our massive hill.

It's a Jungle Out There

We bought our home a few years ago with a beautiful view of a drainage pipe looking right at us. We really didn't mind because we were going to fence in our yard.

Before we had a chance to do so, last April a huge storm came through the area and almost flooded our neighbor's yard. In order to make sure this never happens a gain, the drainage pipe was reconstructed. The home owners association came in, dug a big trench, put a big hill in our yard ("a retaining wall"), and put the drain underground.

Now that spring has sprung and the grass has grown we have a rolling hill of tall, tall grass in our back yard. It feels like we're on a prairie when the wind blows over it and it ripples like an ocean wave. This beautiful grass makes hitting practice golf balls quite challenging to find when Brooks hits them into this grass. When he has to go look for a ball he has to swing his golf club like a machete. To give you an idea of just how tall it is - Brooks & I are both 5'6" and the grass comes up above our knees!

This picture is to show how big the contrast is between a cut and uncut section of the grass.

Oh, and if you look at the before and after you'll notice before there were no houses. We left for a trip and were gone for two weeks and when we came up a subdivision was in our back yard!

I Moved

As many of my friends and family know, I had a blog on 360.yahoo.com - yahoo's blog space. I just didn't like it. It was easy to post blogs but there were just so many other things I didn't like. I have many friends on blogger and really liked the look of their pages. So I have come to join the masses on blogger. I am going to move all my stories from my other blog onto here and then so long yahoo blog page.

Kittens for Maebel

My sister, Cathy, lives in an apartment with her husband Luis. One uneventful day Cathy came home to be greeted by a very friendly cat. The cat had been abandoned by it's owners and so decided to adopt Cathy. She followed her new pet into the apartment, like it was her new castle, and made herself at home.

As the weeks went by, Maebel, (who was originally called Maple for the color of her fur but was mispronounced constantly by Luis) started getting heavier and eating a lot more. It was soon discovered that Maebel was pregnant. What joy came into the apartment!

The time came for Maebel to have her kittens. Sadly, tragedy struck and she gave birth to two stillborn kittens. Maebel was rushed to the doctor to have an emergency c-section to remove the remaining three stillborn kittens. All of her kittens were lost.

She couldn't get over her pain of losing her kittens crying constantly and so Maebel again adopted Cathy and Luis. This time as her surrogate kittens. Since she had already picked out a spot to raise her kittens and since Cathy & Luis were now her kittens, she began to corral Cathy & Luis to her spot: a nook at the computer desk.

After three days of heart-wrenching crying, Maebel finally convinced her new human kittens to sleep on the floor on an air mattress in front of her spot. It was the best sleep they had in three days!

Whenever her new human kittens would move or leave the apartment, Mama Maebel, would become very upset. No work was to be done, no errands to be made. And when her human kittens returned she would fuss profusely at them!

Four days had passed since she lost her kittens and the human kitties were losing their minds! Cathy called everywhere looking for kittens for Maebel. She finally learned that a stray cat had given birth to five kittens, just like Maebel, on the same day Maebel had.

The stray had them up in a tree but they fell out and she only retrieved two leaving the other three on the ground. The owner of the tree was very happy to give the kittens to Cathy hoping that Maebel would accept them.

Cathy came home with her box of kittens for Maebel and since Cathy was still a human kitten Mable fussed at her for leaving without permission. In mid "Meow", Maebel smelled the kittens. So it was: "Meow, Meow, Me". They put the box down anxious that she would accept the new kittens. They didn't have to wait long! Maebel immediately crawled over the side of the box, hanging half in and half out, trying to get to the kittens. Then there was a frenzy of excited licks and rubs from Maebel for her new kittens. Moments later, she took her kittens and placed them in her special spot and began feeding them and taking care of them not as if they were her own. They were her own.
First published: Monday April 2, 2007 - 04:49pm (CDT)

Men's Bathroom

I got this forward from my dad and I don't know if this is true but it was so creative and so funny to me I decided to share it.

Edge Designs is an all-women run company that designs interior office space. They had a recent opportunity to do an office project in NYC. The client allowed the women of this company a free hand in all design aspects. The client was a company that was also run by all women execs...

The result.........well.....We all know that men never talk, never look at each other....and never laugh much in the restroom.... The men's room is a serious and quiet place...........

But now.....with the addition of one mural on the wall...... lets just say the men's restroom is a place of laughter and smiles....

Tell me what you think!

First Day of Spring

Today is the first day of spring. This is a bitter/sweet moment for me. I am very excited that color will be coming back to our world after a dreary, monochromatic winter but it also means pollen is back. For the million of us that suffer from allergies we are torn between wanting to frolic outside and wanting to be comfortable.
Oh, to be able to play carefree in the newness of spring. No runny nose, no sneezing, no itchy eye, no allergy medicine side effects. All you would have to worry about is being tired at the end of the day from your accomplishments: picking dandy lions (we have plenty in our yard), and just simply playing until your heart's content. Ah, I miss those days.
I went out today to spray weeds & dandy lions and I would just like to share with you the biggest weed I've ever seen in my life. This thing has got to be 1 1/2 ft to 2 ft in diameter. I sprayed it with weed be gone stuff. Hopefully that will kill it before it takes over our house!
First posted on: Wednesday March 21, 2007 - 12:43pm (CDT)

Build Me Up Jonnacles

I never knew there was another name for buttercup flowers until I met my mother-in-law, Regina. She and her husband disagree about the name of this flower every spring. He calls them buttercups and she calls them "jonnacles".
When I her the term "Jonnacles" the image of pirates and "RRRRR" and "Ahoy, Mates" run through my mind. I don't know why, but the term always sounds like something more associated with pirates and their ships than a beautiful yellow flower.
Then talking about buttercups always makes me start singing: "Why do you build me up (build me up) buttercup baby when you let me down (let me down)... I need you (I need you) more than anyone baby la la la from the start So build me up (build me up) buttercup Don't break my heart" And this tune never fails to run relentlessly through my mind for days. Even now as I type this I can't help but to sing this song!
No matter what you call them, they're still such fun little flowers. But I don't think the song would flow as well if it were called by another name.

Windy Day

We had some college friends, Brad & Angela, come into town last weekend and we went to Amanda's soccer game. It was a gorgeous day Saturday but it was so windy. It was one of the windiest days with 24mph wind gusts. We sat outside for about 5 minutes and were frozen solid. I couldn't feel my butt when I stood up. We decided to move the car so we enjoy the game in the warm, cozy car. As we were sitting there, the wind would be so bad at times it was rocking the car. Sorry Amanda but we didn't see much of the soccer game.
Brooks & Brad saw more of the game than we did because they decided to sit outside for the duration of the game. They said that at one point a ball rolled by them and they couldn't move they were so cold. Also, Brad made the comment that he knew what I meant about not being able to feel his butt. Then when the game was over their hands were ice which they tried to torture their poor wives with by touching us with them.
Because of sitting outside, my lovely husband never completely dethawed. The ride home was quite interesting. We were wanting to head south on the interstate and he almost went north. He kept telling me about conversations that I was a part of. I was constantly saying, "Yes, honey, I was there, remember?" Even when we were going to bed he was still cold. This is phenomenal because my husband is a human heater. He's never cold!
It was a fun, fun day though despite the cold. It's always so much fun to hang out with our college friends.
Originally posted on: Tuesday March 6, 2007 - 02:48pm (CST)

"Thomas, Kitty"

My mom has had two cats for about 7 years now. They're names are Charlie & Sandie, two sisters that are almost identical except for a few markings that tell them apart. They're lovely cats and my two nephews love to pet them whenever the cats let them.
On Christmas, my youngest nephew, Kaden, got a whole Thomas the Train set from his older cousin, Eyan, and loves it. For the rest of the day all we saw was the back of his head as he stooped down over his trains. Well, one moment he decided to grace us with a glimpse of his cute face.
Brooks & I were sitting on the couch and Charlie was sitting in my lap. Kaden comes up to us, looks at Charlie, shows the cat his train, and says, "Thomas, Kitty." totally expecting Charlie to acknowledge him and Thomas. Well, when the cat doesn't, he gives her a confused look, walks back over to his trains, picks up another, walks up to the cat again and says, "Freight train, Kitty?" and just looks at her like "hello, did you hear me?" He couldn't seem to understand why Charlie wasn't as excited about his trains as he is. It was hilarious. Brooks & I laugh about that every time we think about it. I can't believe he's about to turn two this weekend.
First posted on: Wednesday February 28, 2007 - 04:34pm (CST)

My Favorite Childhood Book

The internet can be a great tool. It is so much easier to find information on the internet than any "old fashion way". For instance, when I was in elementary school, I read this book that I really enjoyed. All these years later, the memory of that book has stuck with me. Unfortunately, the name of the book didn't.
The book was set in the Revolutionary War and a young girl dresses up as a boy to send secret messages in loaves of bread to the patriots. That's all I could remember. I looked all over the web for this book and to no avail came up empty handed. What's a girl to do next?
I turned to Answers! on Yahoo!, typed my question with a description of the book and got an answer!!! I was so excited I started screaming at the computer, "Yes! That's It!!" Brooks thought I was a little nuts but what's new.
In case you're curious, the name of the book is Toliver's Secret by Esther Wood Brady. It's a good book. You should check it out.
Thank you wide world of web for making finding information from complete strangers so easy to do!
First published on Tuesday February 20, 2007 - 06:47pm (CST)

Tennessee Snow

I hate Tennessee weather!! I've lived here a number of years and and just can't get used to it! I'm from Georgia and Georgia weather is hot but it's consistently hot. We would pull out our heavy coats, if we had one, if it got below 50.
Here in TN, we had "snow" Saturday & Sunday and today we will have a high of almost 60 degrees!! That's around a 20-30 degree change in just 24 hours.
I use the term "snow" lightly, too. First, the weather people insight riots all over town and cause grocery stores to go out of milk and bread. (Maybe the weather people are being paid by the grocery stores to do so, hummm...) Anyway, then when "snow" finally comes it's a "dusting" which means two snow flakes come down and 57 wrecks occur spontaneously all over town! Then schools are closed for the next day. Children are so excited to play in the snow when they wake up only to look out their windows and find... NO SNOW! What's worse is that they don't even get to bundle up and face the cold weather because chances are a warm front has come through and it's 73 degrees. But despite this warm up, the weather people say things like "Is there more snow in the future?" Are they psychics or weather people? Both are pretty inaccurate! They have it rough here in TN though. It's hard to know what's going to happen around here.
There's a saying around here that fits so well: "If you don't like it (the weather), give it a few hours and it will be completely different." Amen!
First posted on Monday February 19, 2007 - 01:34pm (CST)

I like Birds - From a Distance

I got a new bird feeder about a month ago. This reminded me: I like birds. I like them a lot more when there is glass and a wall in between us. They're very pretty to look at but if one came in my house and started flying around me, that little birdie and I would no longer be friends.

I remember when I was a little girl my mom screaming like a banshee because a bird was in the house. At the time, I couldn't understand what her problem was but now I do. The bird was her problem!

I have a lot of visitors to my bird feeder. My favorite is a family of the fattest gray doves. My most interesting one has been an orange cat! And don't you know, I was so concerned for those birds I ran that cat off. He gave me this look like "what?" then promptly ran off. Oh, and another visitor we have just spotted has been a chipmunk. I had to take a picture of it and zoom in to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

My apologies to those who have birds as a pet but there's now way I would ever do that. I think that it's just gross. It would make me very paranoid to think that any moment I could be apart of a Kamikaze attack from something the size of my thumb. It's just my opinion.

House Plants

For Valentine's Day, Brooks got me purple irises. They're my favorite flowers. He told me that he almost got me some in a pot but he wanted something that would die in a week. Isn't that so morbid? When I asked him why he said that if we had one more house plant this place would turn into a greenhouse. I don't know what he's talking about. I only have 10 house plants around here!
In my defense, three of them were bought for 25 cents each. You can't beat that. One of them is a fern and the poor thing is naked from the bottom of the stems to about 3 inches up. But they're all growing like weeds. (They're not weeds.) I also have an African Violet that I got from Brooks' mom. It was in bad shape but is doing great now.
I like plants. All you have to do is water them and put them in the right spot and they'll grow.

Peter Pan Crashes

Last night I was watching the news and apparently it’s a slow news night because they only have 3 stories to repeat over and over and over again. One of them has been the Peter Pan salmonella outbreak. (In case you were in a coma or don’t own a TV, if you own Peter Pan or Great Value peanut butter it’s been recalled. Return it to your grocery store.) As I was watching this story unfold, time and time again, one of the news reporters said this: “Sources say that the birds and rats in the peanut butter had nothing to do with the salmonella outbreak.” I promise they said that!

I don’t know about you but that makes ME feel better to know that the salmonella didn’t come from the birds and rats in the peanut butter. Apparently they were well cleaned and sterilized before being put in the peanut butter. Well, I guess we now know what really makes crunchy peanut butter crunchy.

For clarification, because I know some of you will loose sleep, what they later said was that birds and rats get into the peanut silos all the time and the peanut butter process has two separate steps to sanitize the peanuts and peanut butter. I like my explanation much better; it’s much more interesting!