Playing Catch-Up On Thanksgiving

Michael and I do not have access to a computer any longer, therefore we are only able to access the internet via our iPhones. I just recently got my iPhone back in October at the North Carolina State Fair. Apparently I am not able to write on my blog as faithfully as I want to because my phone won't allow me too access it. It's stupid. Just recently I have been able to get back in contact with my brother, Jonathan, and we have talked every single night except for one. Why is this so fantastic? Because I haven't talked to him in over a year before this. The first time I was able to talk to him I was shaking because of the Adhrenaline rushing through my body. I have also started writing a book. Not a book on on a computer or through my iPhone...no, I mean literally writing a book...by hand...with a pen and paper! It is going to be a fictionalized version of my life. Obviously with things added, left out, and changed. Michael and I have been married 6 months now, and have celebrated each month on the 19th by going out to eat, and then doing something fun afterwards. This is our first Thanksgiving toggether. We are spending it in Raleigh, and we plan on spending Christmas up here in Raleigh as well. Hopefully, I haven't talked to Michael about it, we can spend Christmas with my family. (We've spent Christmas down here in Raleigh for the last three years). I have a job at a local Deli called "McAlister's" and I am in training right now. It's minimum wage and then, depending on my performance, I will get an increase in my pay rate after 60-90 days on the job. We'll see how I do. I hope I will get a raise. I need it. Michael's job is going well, and he is in the process of getting promoted into an Assistant Manager's position. We just don't know when that will happen. Well, I guess that's all that I can think of to catch you up on! We are going to go eat Thanksgiving Dinner, and then the girls are going to see Twilight: Breaking Dawn (Part II) and the guys are going to watch Skyfall, the new James Bond movie. =) Well, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Down with the Constitution...?!

I'm not sure how true some (if any) of these are, so don't yell at me. I'm just copying and pasting something that almost made me vomit. IF these are true, excuse me while I run to the bathroom and get sick. "JUDGE KITHIL IS THE 2ND OFFICIAL WHO HAS OUTLINED THESE PARTS OF THE CARE BILL. Judge Kithil of Marble Falls, TX -highlighted the most egregious pages of HB3200 Please read this........ especially the reference to pages 58 & 59 JUDGE KITHIL wrote: ** Page 50/section 152: The bill will provide insurance to all non-U.S. residents, even if they are here illegally. ** Page 58 and 59: The government will have real-time access to an individual's bank account and will have the authority to make electronic fund transfers from those accounts. ** Page 65/section 164: The plan will be subsidized (by the government) for all union members, union retirees and for community organizations (such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now - ACORN). ** Page 203/line 14-15: The tax imposed under this section will not be treated as a tax. (How could anybody in their right mind come up with that?) ** Page 241 and 253: Doctors will all be paid the same regardless of specialty, and the government will set all doctors' fees. ** Page 272. section 1145: Cancer hospital will ration care according to the patient's age. ** Page 317 and 321: The government will impose a prohibition on hospital expansion; however, communities may petition for an exception. ** Page 425, line 4-12: The government mandates advance-care planning consultations. Those on Social Security will be required to attend an "end-of-life planning" seminar every five years. (Death counseling..) ** Page 429, line 13-25: The government will specify which doctors can write an end-of-life order. HAD ENOUGH???? Judge Kithil then goes on to identify: "Finally, it is specifically stated that this bill will not apply to members of Congress. Members of Congress are already exempt from the Social Security system, and have a well-funded private plan that covers their retirement needs. If they were on our Social Security plan, I believe they would find a very quick 'fix' to make the plan financially sound for their future." - Honorable David Kithil of Marble Falls , Texas"

New Year's "Resolutions"?

We all have them. New year's resolutions I mean. They are something we "resolve" to do before the end of the year. They are usually in the form of:
"Reading a book",
"Losing weight",
"Working out",
"Keeping a clean house",
"Beating an addiction", etc.
However, tonight in church I was thinking about everything I was planning for my New Year's Resolution list. They were pretty generic for me.
Read through the Bible in a Year
Lose a pound per day until the wedding...ok, maybe that's too much, but it's a good thought to lose weight right?
Walk each and every day to the Wadesboro Park and walk/run the 1 mile loop
Then I started thinking about my prayer life. It was there, but...it was definitely not in the shape I wanted it to be. Something was missing, I knew that, and I knew what, but I didn't know how to change it. What was missing? I wasn't Thanking God for things? I mean, it was very general, like, "Thank you for this day" etc. However, I wasn't really THANKING Him, nor praising Him for blessings and other things. But another thought struck me. I'm also supposed to thank God for trials. I'm supposed to THANK Him!? I'm supposed to Praise Him...WHAT?! He wants me to be GRATEFUL when something HORRIBLE happens? Something is wrong with this picture. VERY wrong. However...not really.

In His Word, He says to "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice." ~ Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice evermore." ~ I Thessalonians 5:16. It doesn't say "Rejoice if things are going well for you." or even, "Rejoice if most things are working for you." or even, "Rejoice when at least you're not dead.". It says, very plainly, Rejoice in EVERYTHING. I am afraid I don't do that! I'm afraid a lot of us don't.

We treat a trial that God puts us through as a thing to be dreaded. Why? It's like what Pastor Dave at Calvary Baptist Church in Cheraw, South Carolina tonight said in his message. He said, (and I'm paraphrasing), "The greater/more severe the trial or testing is, God's grace is as equally great." I Corinthians 10:13 says, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it]." We might not think it, but, even when God seems a million miles away, with his back to us, He's right there beside us. He's listening as we have our hands over our head, curling up in a ball sobbing and asking, "Why? Why God? Help me! Jesus, please! Help me." I can imagine Him listening to us plead with tears in His eyes, and a hand we can't feel around our shoulders whispering, "I'm right here. Breathe. Listen for me. I'm calling for you to lean on me! Come to me. I'm right here." Sometimes we pull away, sometimes we lean on Him. The point is, how we respond is the important thing. Do we lean on Him, thank Him for bringing the trial into our life, accept it, and try to learn something from it? Or do we pull away, become bitter, deny the "problem" in front of us, and refuse to acknowledge anything is wrong?

Some would say that God doesn't bring them into our lives. I don't know...I believe He brings some trials into our lives simply to help us grow and become more like His Son. Do I believe we should just sit there and say "Woa is me, I'm going through this trial that is from God..."? No. However, at the same time, I don't believe we're supposed to fight what God is trying to teach us.

However, I'm starting to go off on a rabbit trail. My point in this note is this. When it comes to my prayer life, I'm going to start writing verses and sticking them above me on the head of my bed, or else on the wall. That way when I start to pray, I won't be able to help but be reminded to thank and praise Him. Now whether I am reminded to praise and thank Him in EVERYTHING is a completely different story, but I do know this, and I keep saying this, "Everything in life is a choice." If I choose to get discouraged in the middle of a trial, I have chosen to pull away from His loving hands. But if I run to Him, the trial won't be nearly so difficult to bear because I might be bearing the test, but Jesus is carrying me. If that isn't a wonderful hope, I don't know what is!

God Bless as you start 2012!!! Keep looking up!