September 29 Pearl

September 29

O Lord, you alone are my hope. I’ve trusted you, O Lord, from childhood. Yes, you have been with me from birth; from my mother’s womb you have cared for me. No wonder I’m always praising you! Psalm 71:5-6

I believe the Lord was with me from the moment I was conceived. Although the environment I was born into was one of angst and turmoil, I believe the Lord’s presence was with me.

I can look back and remember times I stood at the window looking out, feeling a deep sense in my spirit of something much greater than myself was out there, I just couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

I would sing certain songs in German and didn’t realize I was singing what a friend we have in Jesus. I didn’t know who God was until many years later in 1994 when I trusted Christ as my Savior.

It still took many years to realize that He was the presence I felt lifting me up above my circumstances, giving me a big picture view. I could not describe the sense I had, but now I know.

My Pearl is that the Lord is trustworthy and wants our best no matter how bad things appear in the moment.

September 28 Pearl

September 28

A house is built by wisdom and become strong through good sense. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables. Proverbs 24:3-4.

This verse makes me go hmmm and ponder the building of our house. As we have watched the house take shape step by step its been exciting and emotionally exhausting.

The part that is exhausting are the many decisions. What if our color combinations are going to look disgusting and make us want to vomit? Those are my thought processes. What if we really don’t like the house after we put all this thought process and energy into it.

What if we are idolizing a new house? That would not be pleasing to the Lord and I sure don’t want to do that, but I want to enjoy a new house. I’m sure there is a balance?

Balance is not always my strength. I usually lean all the way left or right. I’m either eating no sugar or all the sugar I can get. Or not in the mood to clean and then clean my house from top to bottom even the walls. Or I’m going to exercise until I vomit or not at all.

There are so many decisions with the color and kind of furniture to the color of floors, countertops etc… I mean the list goes on and I know that if you put the right color combinations together it will look great. But have you seen the way I dress? I’m not always color coordinated. I go with comfort.

My Pearl today is that we have a house to live in and we will learn to like it.

September 27 Pearl

September 27

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23.

I needed to remember this today! I had a person get very angry with me accusing me of being a liar and other outlandish accusations.

I was taken back! Wow, I was not expecting such accusations. Her logic appeared way off in left field, but I stood there and listened as she hollered at me loud enough for all to hear.

Obviously there was something else going on in her life that had nothing to do with me. I have to say internally I did not do well with it at all. I wanted to react and tell her where to go. I was not having godly thoughts.

I did not say anything I wanted to say and simply listened and tried to reason with her, but soon learned it was not going to help.

What does it mean to take up your cross? I think it means whatever difficult problem is dealt your way, take it to the Lord and surrender your own will.

I really wanted to set this person straight, but that wasn’t going to help the situation, so I surrendered.

My Pearl is the joy of maturity and growth that comes from taking up your cross.

September 26 Pearl

September 26

Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms. Our God is a God who saves! The Sovereign Lord rescues us from death. Psalm 68:19-20

I can relax and know The Lord will carry me in his arms. I had a severe headache that turned into a migraine and I was unable to take care of my responsibilities and vomited in the middle of our small group.

I tried so hard to make it through, but I couldn’t stop the vomit. It was rather embarrassing to rush to the bathroom and know that everyone could hear me vomit.

I’m sticking to my guns and denying myself the comfort of sugar. If I find solace in food instead of the Lord than this is not pleasing to him and its an Idol. I want to please the Lord and do the right thing.

Food should be to meet my needs not to indulge and cover up any issues I may have. I feel slightly out of control because I’m not controlling my comfort with food. Of course the reality is that I’m not in control even when I think I am.

My Pearl today is that the Lord will carry me in his arms as I find rest in Him alone.

September 25 Pearl

September 25

Be humble and gentle, be patient with each other making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit and bind yourselves together with peace. Ephesians 4:2-3

Today I’m starting the first day of a month with no sugar. I have an addiction to food, especially sugar to make me feel better. This is probably what people feel when they can’t have their narcotics. Mine is sugar.

I should be more humble and gentle towards others who have addictions to other substances. I think sugar altars your mood. I guess one could consider it a mood altering drug?

What do I do when I’m stressed? Well of course I eat a bowl of ice cream or a snickers bar and I magically feel better. The instant gratification is just like a drug.

As I’ve been moping around today I’m recognizing my need for The Lord instead of going to food. I know I’m going to learn a lot as I surrender to the Lord through this process.

I’ve been praying about my addiction to food, asking The Lord to help me. First I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis and started wearing an appliance in my life which makes it harder to eat and forces me to eat slower.

Next I realize I have allergies and need to take a month and eat clean so that my gut can heal. He answered my prayer! I wanted to face my issue so here it is.

My Pearl is that the Lord is so good that he even uses our negative things to help us grow.

September 24 Pearl

September 24

We are driving down the road in an orange mustang with the top down, heading to Fort Meyers airport. We have our church service streaming live from Greenwood Indiana.

I’m grateful for technology so that we can hear our sermon from home while we drive in Florida. The sermon today is about our attitude.

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a persons strength. Proverbs 17:22

I have experienced both of these and I can attest that a broken spirit does zap your strength. Laughter is good medicine for the soul. I’ve always loved to share jokes and make people laugh. It brings me joy.

The sermon challenged us to look at our problems as opportunities to grow instead of wishing they would go away. Embrace the problem, knowing the Lord has something great he wants to do in me!

Our life doesn’t belong to ourselves, its not up to us. As we change our thoughts our attitude will change, as well.

We don’t need to throw a fit like a two year old because things are not going our way. Its part of life. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him that is our desire and our goal.

My Pearl is that I have had and will have MANY opportunities to grow and learn. He’s not finished with me yet!

September 23 Pearl

September 23

Last night we flew to Florida to surprise mom and dad with a golf cart for their 50th anniversary. It was planned in secret, amazingly enough we never let the cat out of the bag.

Mom and dad did not know we were coming and of course they didn’t know we were bringing a golf cart for them. We had to do a lot of planning and some lying to pull it off. We told them we were not coming, which was a blatant lie.

I don’t like lying, but Rahab did it for to protect The Lord’s spies and she was included in the lineage of Jesus. If you lie for a good reason its ok?

My aunt decorated the golf cart and my sister in law kept mom and dad at home so we would know they would be at home when we arrived.

My aunt and uncle arrived at their house right in front of us to tell mom and dad there were some crazies driving around the neighborhood in a golf cart. They described us as long hairy people shouting and blowing our horn etc.

Of course they made mom and dad come out and look and there we were, we pulled up with beards and wigs on in a golf cart with their name on it. When we took our disguises off they about crapped their pants. And even more so when they realized the golf cart was theirs.

My Pearl today is the joy of getting to hang out with mom and dad for their 50th and enjoying surprising them.

September 22 Pearl

September 22

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people.

I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 1:18-19

These verses are rich and deep. The Lord can enlighten us with His truth and light to help us see our future clearly. As we gain His truth about what is in store for our future it gives us hope.

First we have to believe that He has a future for us and have faith that he will work in our favor. If we don’t believe that he is working on our behalf we lose all hope and become cynical.

When we believe he wants our best and that His power is available to us we can make our way through any sort of bad circumstances with our heads held high.

However, without truth, faith and hope its hard to face hard times in our life. Keep your focus on the size of your God, not the size of your problems!

My pearl is that we can have hope because we have a God who wants our best.

September 21 Pearl

September 21

The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants and the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desire.

These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. Galatians 5:17-18

I think these verses reveal our lifetime daily struggle. Our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak. We want to eat right and exercise and be calm with everyone no matter what we feel. However, we react to a lot of things.

I found out today that I have an allergy to eggs, whey and milk. When I start to take a look at what has eggs in it. Well its a lot of different things.

It was suggested to me by a dietician that I cut out all sugar/carbs for about a month to allow my GI tract to heal. I have a serious problem with self control. I can’t imagine living without my sweets for a whole month.

This is going to reveal my food addiction. I like to use food for comfort. Now I will need to use food for its proper use and go to The Lord for everything.

My pearl is that The Lord will help me to deal with my addiction and reveal the pain that is beneath my desire for food.

September 20 Pearl

September 20

I wait quietly before God, for my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken. Psalm 62:1-2

Life is full of questions and decisions that make life stressful. I’m grateful to have a place to return to each night..at the feet of Jesus.

This thought came to my mind today: Don’t borrow trouble from tomorrow today has plenty of its own. Its hard not to worry as our schedules become busy and there is very little time for quiet and rest.

I’m an introvert I reboot by spending time alone. I like being with others, but I gain fresh perspective by spending time alone with the Lord. No noise, no music, just quiet rest.

I had the privilege of speaking to a World War Two veteran who’s wife of seventy years was dying. The look in this man’s eyes is hard to put into words.

He shared many stories of the war and how he had met his wife. This man has lived through many decades. He was in his late 90’s and you could tell he had a library full of experiences he could share.

I wondered to myself, how different is this mans perspective at 90 plus years than it was at 20 when he was in the war. I can’t quite wrap my mind around that thought process.

I wonder how my perspective will be different when I’m 90? It has already changed a lot in the 40 plus years I’ve been on this earth.

My Pearl today is that as we take time to be alone with the Lord we can gain His perspective each and every day.