unwelcomed ... guest?

"... people, certain people, just know how to step into my nice clean day and muddy up the whole thing. There I am frustrated .....that seed of frustration soon engulfs my whole being..... I go home feeling that I failed because I let them get me frustrated. I don't like that word- let. They come barging in... I don't let them. They are unwelcomed .... {guests?) {sigh} oh, what to do with those pesky guests.... Well, there goes my mind jumping off the deep end thinking about this word picture..."

~~~

This was part of my conversation with a co-worker.  I was feeling her pain and then I realized that I found a possible key to preventing the frustration from souring my attitude.

I had finished the sentence 'they are unwelcomed' and sat there staring at the sentence.  Guests?  So I added guests.  Thump.  Thump.  Thump.  What if I stopped focusing on unwelcomed and focused on guests?  What if I sent them off better than I received them?  Wouldn't the weed seeds of frustration die off because of the lack of oxygen and nutrients? 

Hmmm, this will certainly give me a better outlook.  It still will be tough but I can talk down an attitude with this simple word picture.  

Thank You, Heavenly Father!  I asked and You answered!

Corrie Ten Boom

her quotes:

Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the 

temperature of the heart. 

Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength. 

When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.

The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy.

Discernment is God's call to intercession, never to faultfinding. 

Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future. 

Let God's promises shine on your problems.

There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still.

God will give us the love to be able to forgive our enemies. 

“When people come up and give me a compliment–‘Corrie, that was a good talk,’ or ‘Corrie, you were so brave,’ I take each remark as if it were a flower. At the end of each day I lift up the bouquet of flowers I have gathered throughout the day and say, ‘Here you are, Lord, it is all Yours.'”

~~~

her books:

• The Hiding Place 
• Tramp for the Lord 
• In My Father's House: The Years Before "The Hiding Place" 
• Corrie Ten Boom's Prison Letters 
• Each new day 
• Amazing Love 
• A prisoner and Yet... 
• Clippings from My Notebook 
• Not Good If Detached 
• Father ten Boom, God's man 
• Not I, but Christ 
• This Day Is the Lord's 
• Marching Orders for the End Battle 
• Plenty for Everyone 
• He Sets the Captive Free 
• Corrie's Christmas Memories 
• Don't Wrestle, Just Nestle 
• He Cares, He Comforts 
• Jesus Is Victor 
• Corrie Ten Boom: Her Story 
• Defeated Enemies 
• I Stand at the Door and Knock: Meditations by the Author of The Hiding… 
• Reflections of God's Glory 
• Prayers and Promises for Every Day 
• Anywhere He Leads Me (Life Messages of Great Christians) 
• Messages of God's Abundance 
• He Cares for You 
• The End Battle 
• Snowflakes in September: Stories About God's Mysterious Ways 
• Tramp Finds a Home 
• Reflect God's Glory 
• Common Sense Not Needed 
• Oh, How He Loves You
• Her Life Her Faith
• A Visit to the Hiding Place 
• True stories of survival: Prison letters; In the presence of mine enemies;… 
• Love Came Down: Reflections on the Christmas Story 

~~~

I have been listening to "The Hiding Place" for the second time and with better ears.  I feel the end days heating up and I want to remember more her story.  I started to do a little research on her and was so surprised to find that Corrie has written a lot of books!  She is a good storyteller and I now I am on the prowl to find more of her writings.  I love the title "Don't Wrestle, Just Nestle."  Happy reading!

to have & to hold ... 50 year tribute!

June 18, 2016

Dearest Mom & Dad,

What an honor to have 50 great years of marriage with one another!  I am so proud of you!I have been blessed to experience 47 of those years.  I loved discovering your wedding day pictures.  Peering into those bright young faces ready to start this new adventure called marriage, I can’t help but think you made young love so beautiful.  Memories like photos come to mind.  It is varied with downs, sideways, & ups — all cherished & loved.

There are those leaking tents, laundry mat trips, compliments of well behaved kids, going to church, having a missionary in our home, making a Navaho hogan from popsicle sticks & ‘mud’, frozen pipes that burst, leaking trailer roof, skinned chins, skinned knees, broken arm, library trips, reading to & giving me the world of learning through books, family vacations, long car rides, bickering kids, all the wonderful cats & dogs we have adopted or in one case we were the ones adopted, teaching the art of riding a bike (bushes), afternoons at the pool, Dad’s flowers, pulling weeds in the garden, expecting a baby brother, buying a house (411 S Greene, our impossible dream - Jehovah Jireh), moving, teenage angst & silent sulking, band contests & trips, teaching the nuances of driving a car (bushes), leaving your child at college, gallbladder surgery, diverticulitis & surgery, support for buying house & being the movers, diabetes, not feeling good because of the heart value,  clean up after storm damage, & open heart surgery make a wonderful collage of memories that have made us a home.

There is a perfect picture in Psalms 1 of what your marriage has been for my brothers & me.  Your marriage is a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season & whose leaf does not wither.  One word — prosperous — for the Lord has watched over your marriage & home.  You have given us strong roots watered by the Living Waters of Salvation.  This is treasure stored in Heaven.  You have stood against the ways of the world & have instilled in us to love God & to enjoy Him forever.  This is the shade of soft breezes that you cast by standing tall & not withering under the heat.  The fruit of love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, & self-control has been given in full abundance in your home.  You gave us boundaries, teaching us that the thou shall nots was for our protection & the thou shalls was blessings.  Thank you, Mom & Dad, because of 50 years of wedded covenant together now I can be a sheltering tree to those who come my way.  You make vintage love more beautiful than young love!

‘too amazing for me … the way of a man with a woman’  proverb 30:18-19