Category Archives: About me

A milestone birthday

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I turn 50 today. 50! Wow. I can hardly believe it. Doesn’t seem like I’ve been around for 50 years!

I guess I’ll need to change the “40-something” designation in my profile. But I don’t want to say “50-something” since that sounds so much older than just barely 50. Maybe I’ll just say “middle-aged.” 😀

I had thought about doing something special here to celebrate this milestone, but it ended up being a busy week. So I’ll share something that brought me a few chuckles and eased me into the transition into a new decade:

Perks of Being Over 50

  • No one expects you to run into a burning building.
  • People call at 9 PM and ask, “Did I wake you?”
  • People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.
  • There is nothing left to learn the hard way.
  • You can eat dinner at 4 PM.
  • You have a party and the neighbors don’t even realize it.
  • You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
  • You quit trying to hold your stomach in, no matter who walks into the room.
  • You sing along with elevator music.
  • Your eyes won’t get much worse.
  • Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.
  • Your joints are more accurate meteorologist than the national weather service.
  • Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can’t remember them either.

~~~~~

When Sally discovered her first gray hair she immediately wrote to her parents: “Dear Dad and Mom, You saw my first steps. You might want to experience this with me too.” She taped the offending hair to the paper and mailed it. Her father’s response was in the form of a poem:

It’s a trustworthy observation
That nothing can compare
In the process of aging
With finding the first gray hair.

He signed off with this observation: “That gray hair you sent is not the first one you gave us!”

~~~~~

Finally, here are some quotes I saved especially for this birthday from a Thursday Thirteen I saw at Echoes of Grace when she was also facing a milestone birthday:

1. Happiness is inward, and not outward, and so, it does not depend on what we have, but on who we are. ~Henry Van Dyke

2. Regrets are the natural property of gray hairs. ~Charles Dickens

3. I suppose real old age begins when one looks backward rather than forward. ~May Sarton

4. There is no cure for the common birthday. ~John Glenn

5. It is not how old you are, but how you are old.~ Marie Dressler

6. The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune.~ English Proverb

7. Old age is like flying through a storm. Once you’re aboard, there’s nothing you can do.~ Golda Meir

8. The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it. ~Jean Paul

9. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair. ~Douglas MacArthur

10. Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. ~Mark Twain

11. Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone. ~Jim Fiebig

12. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were? ~Satchel Paige

13. Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many ~Anonymous

My one year blogging anniversary!

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I don’t remember quite when I started reading blogs. But after some time I began to think about starting my own. I wrestled through a lot of questions: Is it safe? Will some stalker find me or my children? Would anybody be interested in what I have to say? Would it be a wise use of time? After considering it for a long time, I felt that it would be a good use of time and it could be done safely. I had been wanting to do more writing and felt blogging would be good practice and discipline. Writing for an audience (hopefully!) would help me be thoughtful and careful with my words. And blogging would be an avenue to be a blessing to others, to share things the Lord had taught me, to encourage other women along the way.

And besides all that, it looked like a lot of fun!

So with the technical help of my son, I plunged in a year ago today.

Besides all of the the above reasons for blogging, I have found a wonderful blogging community out there! I am so glad to have “met” so many of you online!

To celebrate my blogging anniversary, I want to do a few things. First, I finally wrote a “100 things about me” post. I had seen and enjoyed these on other blogs and decided to join in. I had wanted to post that here and then after a couple of days put it in the upper right hand corner. But WordPress calls this a “Post” and those things “Pages,” and after I post a post there is no way to change it into a page — I’d just have to copy and paste the text into a page, then I’d lose the comments here. So, I’ll just post it as a page under the “About me” section. You can click here to read it, but I won’t be offended if you don’t. 🙂

Secondly, I’d really like to see if some of the folks who read would leave me a comment here. 🙂 I am so thankful for those who comment regularly! You make my day! My blog stats tell me that on a “normal” day when there is not an interactive meme like the photo hunt or Works for Me Wednesday or that kind of thing, I have 100-150 or so readers. I’d love to hear from some of you so that I know someone besides spam bots are out there. 🙂

Thirdly, to say thank you to my readers, I want to have another give-away. I will draw from the names of those who leave comments on this post between now and Monday morning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time and give one person a couple of prizes. One is something I have mentioned many times on my blog, a copy of the devotional book Daily Light on the Daily Path. It is composed totally of Scripture verses, usually centered around one topic for each day. I like to use it to begin my devotional times, but there are some days — Sundays and unusually busy days — when that day’s reading may be all I do. Yet so many times the Lord has given me just what I needed for the day, and something thinking through the list of verses and trying to figure out why the compiler grouped them together has shed light on what they mean. This book has been in publication for decades and had been a blessing to many. I first read of it in missionary biographies.

When I was reorganizing my CDs the other day, I discovered that I had two copies of one of my favorite CDs, A Quiet Heart by Soundforth. I think I have posted the words to most of the songs on it at various times! I would like to give the extra copy, though it has been opened and used, to someone else so it can bless them.

Again, I’ll be sending both of these to one person whose name I’ll draw from the comments on this post. I will be glad to ship them anywhere. If you are not interested in these — perhaps you already have them (though you could always pass these on to someone else) — please just let me know in the comments, but do stop in to say hi and help me celebrate!

Just for fun, few stats: my blog stats tell me that in the past year I have had 664 posts 😳 , 5,866 comments (most of those from the interactive memes) and 17,004 spam comments (thankfully WordPress has an excellent spam catcher!) My most-viewed posts, besides the Dog Days of Summer give-aways, are Chicken Tenderloins and More Chicken Tenderloin Recipes, One of THE best things to do with leftover ham, Encouragement for mothers of young children, and When there is no hunger for God’s Word. I think it’s funny that recipe posts are getting the most views when I don’t consider myself that great a cook, especially next to some of the others out there!

Besides continuing on with my other reasons for blogging, I do have two goals for the coming year: to try to write shorter posts (I know I am way too wordy), and to try to use “smilies” less and convey the sentiment through words instead.

Here’s to another great year!

Personal policies meme

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Laura at My Quotidian Mysteries tagged me for a “Personal Policies Meme,” asking about “not moral rules, like ”Do Not Kill,’ I’m talking about the silly policies we impose on ourselves, like ‘Never eat anything you can’t identify,’ or ‘Don’t step on sidewalk cracks.'”

First of all, thanks for the tag, Laura! I think it is fun to be tagged.

I had to think about this for a while — I wasn’t sure I had any personal policies. I should probably ask my family what they think my policies are. 🙂

Before I read the “silly” part, my first thought was that two of my policies are to try to read some portion of the Bible every day and to go to church just about every time the doors are open. Both were instilled in me early in my Christian life and have done a lot to help me grow spiritually.

Beyond that, though, some everyday “silly” policies are:

1. I am kind of germophobic, so I am always asking everyone in the house if they have washed their hands (with soap!).

2. In public restrooms I always put a seat cover or toilet paper on the seat. I know it is probably not really protecting me from anything, but it makes me feel better.

3. I’m not really obsessive-compulsive and I don’t have “a place for everything” like I should, but one place I do like to keep everything in a certain place is the refrigerator. It helps avoid the opening the door and asking anyone in range, “Where’s the…….?” syndrome — though that sometimes still happens. 🙂 I also put the new milk or OJ behind the old — if I don’t, almost without fail someone will open the new one before the old one is finished, then the old one spoils. I’m afraid I can get quite carnal in my heart when I open the refrigerator and the jar of Miracle Whip is there on the center shelf instead of in the door shelf where it always goes. 😳

4. I can’t stand music with words playing in the background when people are talking. I don’t know, it’s something like sensory overload — my brain feels like it should be listening to both and can’t. I love listening to music while I am making dinner or cleaning, but if someone comes in and starts talking to me, I have to turn the music off. Instrumental music is a little better, but not much — I usually turn it off, too, unless I am alone or the room I’m in is quiet. I tend to turn music on blogs off, too, for the same reason.

5. When I was a teen, I tended to skip around in books. Then I began to make myself read from the introduction, forwards, etc., into the main part of the book. That’s usually pretty enlightening, but I’ve suspended it a couple of times recently when reading classics in which the forward gave away way too much of the story — I guess the ones writing the forwards figured everyone must already know the plot.

6. I have to sit where I can get out easily, whether it is at the end of a near-the-back row at church or by the doorway at a bridal shower at someone’s home. I just feel closed-in and trapped and panicky otherwise. I don’t know why. I think it stems from a time when I was having….ah…..digestive issues and needed to be able to get to a bathroom as soon as possible if needed. The source of the problem was found (a medication), but that feeling still remains.

7. I always call an older person by Mr., Miss, or Mrs. and their last name unless they tell me to do otherwise. That’s just what I was taught. Sometimes even if they tell me to call them by their first names, I have trouble doing it, especially an authority figure.

That’s all I can think of right now! If any other things come to mind, I’ll add them on.

(I did think of one more: I almost always take a Sunday afternoon nap!)

I’ll tag Alice, Jen, Janeen, and Joyful Days — and anyone else who would to to do this!

Two childhood/teen memes

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I saw a “Childhood Memories Meme” over at Jen’s and a “7 Things That Happened To Me As a Teenager” meme at newly-discovered Mama Bear’s. I thought I’d combine them here.

Childhood memories meme:

1. What was your favorite childhood family vacation?

I don’t remember that we actually went on vacations except to my grandmother’s or uncle’s house. The thing I loved about that particular uncle was that, of his 5 kids, 3 were girls close to my age and all of our birthday were in August. One was a year older than me, one was the same age I was, and the other was a year younger. I remember once we celebrated all of our birthdays at once with a big party. Other than that, if we went anywhere it was to the beach. I grew up in Corpus Christi, TX, and we made multitudes of excursions to Padre Island. Camp-outs, cookouts, birthday parties — a lot of that kind of thing happened there, besides just regular Saturdays at the beach. We moved from there when I was 13, and I had forgotten how much I missed it until we want back for a family reunion when I was in my early 30s. Sadly, just wading into the water then left us with globs of oil on our legs. I hope that’s better now.

2. If you knew your grandparents, what do you remember most about them as a child? If you didn’t know them, what stories do you remember being told about them?

My father’s father died before I was born. I really don’t know much about him. My mother’s mother passed away when I was about 4. She had cancer the last few years of her life and had some kind of bag set-up — I don’t remember if she had had her colon removed or just what. My mom says I asked her about it, and my mom was horrified, but my grandmother just matter-of-factly explained what it was for, and I was satisfied.

My mother’s father was tall and thin, constantly teased us, and had a unique laugh.

My father’s mother was short and plump. She is the one I probably spent the most time with, at least that I can remember. Her grown kids were spread out in TX, LA, and AL, and she would drive to see them all — we called her the Galloping Grandma. 🙂 There were a couple of summers she took me with her, and I loved that. For a few years when we lived in the same town, I would spend the night with her. We shared a love of reading and would stay up late at night reading different books.

3. Do you have siblings or not? What do you remember about growing up with or without them?

I have 5, 1 brother and 4 sisters. I’m the oldest. We’re quite spread apart — the first four of us are 4 years apart from each other; the youngest was born when I was 17. After my parents were divorced and my brother lived with my father for a while, I felt more like an assistant mom than a big sister. They were still pretty young when I married and left home at 22. I’ve enjoyed getting to know them as adults when we get together, which isn’t often enough.

4. What did you like best about summer vacation from school?

Just being off. 🙂 We roamed a lot more then than I let my children roam now, riding bikes, swimming in the creek, hanging out.

5. Did you like school or dislike school? What is your most memorable school moment?

Loved it. I’ve always loved learning, and except for 7th-9th grades (what is it about jr. high?) had friends. I was always more inclined to have 1 close friend than “group.”

7 Things That Happened to Me As a Teen-ager: 

1. My parents divorced when I was about 15.

2. We moved from a very small town (less than 200) to Houston, Texas, with a population then of over 1 million. It was a culture shock.

3. I was saved.

4. I started dating a guy that I ended up dating for 4 years and got engaged to, but it was all wrong. Thankfully the Lord showed me that before we actually got married.

5. I got into a good-Bible teaching church and was taught to read the Bible through.

6. I heard about the college I would eventually go to. College was “the impossible dream,” or so it seemed, but God provided.

7. I made another big move from TX to SC to go to college, not knowing that SC would become “home” and I would live there 27 years, including college years.

This wasn’t part of the meme, but I thought it would be fun to look at 7 historical things that happened during my teens , which happened to be from 1970-1979:

1. Four student protestors were shot by the National Guard at Kent State University.

2.  Elvis Presley died.

3. Cult leader Jim Jones led followers in a mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.

4. The “energy crisis” occurred. I remember looooong gas lines and Jimmy Carter regulating our thermostats.

5. American troops pulled out of Viet Nam.

6. In the 1976 Summer Olympics, Nadia Comaneci of Romania was the first gymnast to receive perfect scores.

7. Modern computing was born with the Intel 4004

If you’d like to do any or all of these memes, let me know! Or you can answer in the comments section.

(Historical details courtesy of Wikipedia) 

Personal meme

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I’ve seen 3 different interesting-looking memes on friends’ blogs today. I don’t want to do them all at once, so I’ll spread them out this week.

I saw this one at Diane’s of Candid Reflections.

1. Three words to describe you?
Honest, careful, detailed.


2. Your favorite color?
Blues & pinks, some greens.

3. Describe your style?
Feminine, somewhere between country and Victorian.

4. Favorite recreational activity?
Reading, blogging, playing games.

5. Pets?
Suzie, half collie, half German Shepherd.We’ve had her about 11 years.

6. Favorite Hymn?
There are too many great ones to have just one favorite, but on top of the list would be “I Could Not Do Without Thee” and “Before the Throne of God Above.” And “In My Weakness.” And “To Behold Thee“……

7. Favorite Scripture?
Again, way too many to have just one, but two of my favorites that I keep coming back to over and over again in my life are Isaiah 41:10: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness,” and Psalm 16:11: “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

8. Favorite Quotation?
I love good quotes and have many of them. One I come to often is “God does not waste suffering, nor does He discipline out of caprice. If He plough, it is because He purposes a crop” from J. Oswald Sanders.

9. Dress/Skirt?
Dresses, but they are hard to find.

11. Favorite CD?
One of my first posts was about favorite CDs. Probably highest on the list are A Quiet Heart and Anthems.

12. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
Ireland.

13. Lake, Ocean, River?
I like them all but probably ocean would top the list. I love the vastness, the waves, the sound of the surf.

14. Diamonds or Pearls? ?
Hmm… I like them both depending on the setting. Probably pearls, I guess.

I won’t tag anyone, but let me know in the comments if you do this and I’ll come read yours.

Tuesday weigh-in

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I know I told you I started a separate weight-loss blog because I didn’t want this blog taken over by posts about it, but I may report progress from time to time. This is the first weigh-in day at Tales From the Scales, and I lost 2 lbs.! Still a long way to go, both on the journey and in learning how to get there, but I am glad the first week there were results from the efforts I did make.

7 random facts

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I was tagged by Janeen to do a 7 random facts meme. You wouldn’t think it would be that hard to come up with 7 facts about oneself, but I had to think about it a while! Thankfully it’s not the six weird things meme — though you might think some of these weird. 🙂

Here are the rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. You need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. I’ve lived in TX and SC for most of my life, with a brief 4-year stint in GA.

2. I don’t really enjoy cooking even though I was a Home Ec. Ed. major. 😳

3. I’m hot-natured (my husband says our house is like a meat locker. )

4. I cannot stand repetitive noises. I don’t know why. It just makes me feel like I’m going to come out of my skin. One of my sons used to continually be tapping or drumming fingers or something, and I’d try to be patient, but then blurt out, “Would you please stop that?!” Poor guy. You can imagine I am therefore not fond of the guy beside me in traffic whose base is throbbing through my windows.

5. I am a pastel person — I love pinks, softs blues and greens. I don’t care for red, orange, or yellow. The only time I liked bright colors was when my children were small — I liked brighter colors on their clothes and in their room.

6. Even though I know someone else has locked up, I feel compelled to check the doors before I go to bed.

7. Though I don’t consider myself obsessive/compulsive in general, I lean a little that way with my refrigerator. I like having things always in the same place so no one has to open the door and ask “Where’s the….” whatever (though some do no matter what 🙂 ).

Now I am supposed to tag 7 more people. I have seen this meme here and there but don’t remember where, so, if you haven’t done this yet, I tag:

Bet (Grades are turned in and you can come out and play now. 😀 )
Jen
Karla
Addie
Jungle Mom (when you recover from your surgery)
Kim (when you get back from your break)
Susan (when you recover from moving)

Dear Me in 1973

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miscmum21.jpg

Dear Me in 1973,

I see you lying on your bed that summer day, between your sophomore and junior years of high school, at what you feel is the lowest point in your life. Your parents have separated and your mom has moved you and your brother and sisters from the tiny town you lived in to the big metropolis of Houston. You’re grieving over the break-up of your family, the move away from all your friends and all that is familiar, the seemingly impossible situation with your father’s anger and alcoholism, the rift in the close relationship you’ve always had with your mother, and the awkwardness of trying to figure out how to relate to the man who will become your step-father. You’re lying on your bed clinging to Roman’s 8:28 for dear life. If I could encourage you in only one thing, it would be to always do that, always cling to God and His Word, to anchor your soul there when the waves of life come crashing over you. You don’t even really fully know what Romans 8:28 means just yet, but you don’t realize it: you do know that you love God in the best way you know how at this time and that He promised to somehow work out all things together for good for those who love Him. He will. There has “not failed one word of all his good promise” (I Kings 8:56).

Don’t resent the loneliness of this time and the responsibilities of being “the oldest” and the “built-in baby-sitter.” God has a purpose in this as well. You’re learning character that will stand you in good stead for years to come. You’re vulnerable and would possibly get into all kinds of trouble if you were allowed to run loose. You proved that possibility by some of the really dumb things you did this year, the only year you were tempted to walk on the wild side. What were you thinking? That just because the rest of your world seemed to be going crazy that you could, too? You’ll realize later that God protected you from so much that could have happened this past year, and His “hemming you in” now is not only keeping you from harm and from major life disasters, but it is giving you time to contemplate, to think, to seek, to pray, time that you might not have spent that way if you had the distractions of friends and amusements that most consider normal for that age.

I can tell you that things do turn a corner in just a few months. God miraculously leads you to a Christian school and provides for you to attend even though your parents can’t afford it. Through the school you’ll attend the church it is affiliated with. You’ve sporadically attended different churches here and there, but now you’ll get under regular Biblical instruction. Your new pastor will encourage his congregation to read the Bible through, you start what will become a habit that will change your life. You get grounded. You’ve struggled with whether the profession of faith you expressed when you were 8 was real and thorough and, though you probably struggle with it much longer than you need to, you will finally come to full assurance from God’s Word that He has saved you and brought you into His family when you asked His forgiveness and believed on His Son.

Your relationship with your mother is restored and you become closer than ever. You learn from the Bible that respect can be based on obedience to God and a person’s God-appointed position in your life even when their actions don’t invite respect, and what’s more, you’ll learn (or begin to — it’s a life-long lesson) to love and have compassion on other people in spite of faults and failings, just as God does you. Years later that father whom you thought would be the hardest to reach and the last one to be saved does come to finally know the Lord. Your mom, though there is not one obvious moment that you can point to as a conversion, experiences a change of heart that causes you to believe and hope that she truly did come to faith in the quietness of her own heart. You will lose her much sooner that you’ll be ready to: stay in touch, call often, treasure each moment. Don’t be so ready to begin the grand adventure of your adult life that you forget to keep close contact with those at home.

I wish I could forewarn you away from that four-year attachment to that young man. I think the Lord may have had a purpose in in the beginning — you start working at a grocery store a few months after you moved where there are all kinds of teen-age guys, unsaved guys, and you had little instruction and not much sense about dating. You always were too boy-crazy. Even when you were two your parents said you were “in love” with your cousin. 🙄 It may be that having a boyfriend kept you from getting into a worse situation with some of those guys. But it is not healthy and it goes on way too long. You’re still afflicted with the “cave-man” view of love, that love comes and bops you on the head and drags you off and whoever you “fall in love with” is the one for you despite all kinds of warning signs. Thankfully you’ll feel the Lord wants you in college, which delays a right-out-of-high school wedding (what a disaster that would have been!) And later when you have had some instruction and you’re a little more mature and you begin to seek the Lord’s will in this area of your life, you’ll see this relationship is all wrong. There will be another lonely spell, but be patient! You’ll still have a lot to learn and a lot of growing to do. In this area, as in others, you come to a point of trusting God’s leadership rather than striving after fulfillment your own way.

You want to go to college, but you don’t see how it will possibly work. There’s no money at all — your folks are doing all they can do to take care of you and your five siblings. But God will lead and provide in miraculous ways. You’ll love it: meeting new people, being stimulated in your faith, your thinking, your imagination. There will be some painful spots as you continue to develop the character you need and as you grow. When you are unable to get a job first semester and are advised to try the library second semester, as you sit down to take the entrance test, you really don’t know how you will handle a job in addition to your classes, and you pray for the Lord’s will to be done in whether you get the job or not. Years later you learn that they don’t really have a need for another student worker right at that time, but the man who interviews you feels sorry for you and hires you. The Lord works in mysterious ways, for that’s where you first meet Jim and become friends. Friendship leads to interest and interest lead to…well, I’ll let you be surprised. 🙂

Throughout your childhood when you dreamed of what you wanted to be when you grew up, the possibilities of writer, teacher, and psychiatrist all were considered (as well as being a movie star, which idea was wisely tossed aside). Even amidst all the other possibilities, you always wanted to be a wife and mother, and the Lord fulfills that desire, with a bit of the others mixed in (all mothers are to some degree teachers and psychiatrists. 🙂 ).

When health issues come up later on, the lessons of faith and dependence on God that you learn along the way will stand you in good stead, and you find yourself once again clinging to Him in faith when another of life’s waves rolls over you.

You will know by experience as well as by faith that God keeps His promises and has a purpose in everything He allows. Keep clinging, in good times and bad.

Love,

Me in 2007.

(To be part of the Dear Me project, go here. Thanks to Shannon and Mary for their stories and for alerting us to it.)

My favorite things

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Kimberly, at the appropriately titled Kimberly’s Cup, whom I met through the Ultimate Blog Party, made a meme about “favorite things.” Since I tagged a bunch of people last time, I won’t tag anyone officially for this one, but if you do it, please let me know in the comments, and I’ll come read your list (or you can answer in the comments if you like). And please do credit Kimberly if you do this on your blog.

I have a hard time narrowing favorites down to just one, but I’ll do my best.

A Authors
Classic: Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, L. M. Montgomery
Contemporary: Terri Blackstock, Dee Henderson, Lori Wick, Beverly Lewis

B Books
Classic Childrens’ Books: Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery; Little Women by Louisa May Alcott; Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Classics for Adults: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens; Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Non-fiction: Climbing and Goforth of China by Rosalind Goforth; By Searching and In the Arena by Isobel Kuhn

Other favorite non-fiction books are listed here and fiction books here.

C Coffee
Plain decaf. Not exciting, I know. 🙂

D Dessert
Devil’s food cake with chocolate fudge icing.

E Elegant Object You Own
A few brooches seen here

F Flowers
Pink roses, white carnations, lavender hydrangeas

G Guests for Tea
My good friends Valorie and Carol. I’d love for them to meet each other, and I always enjoy time with each of them.

H Home
I like homes with a Southern style or maybe even a Victorian style if not too fussy. I’d love a big front porch and lots of room.

I Inspirational Authors
Elisabeth Elliot, Isobel Kuhn, Rosalind Goforth

J Jane Austen book
I’ve only read Pride and Prejudice so far: I’ve just started Sense and Sensibility and want to also read Persuasion. I‘ll tell you my favorite after I’ve done that. 🙂

K Kitchen Gadget
My Salad Shooter or my multi-measure measuring spoons

L Laundry Help
Stain Stick

M Musical
Phantom of the Opera

N Naptime
Sunday afternoons. I don’t take naps every day, but Sunday afternoon is one time my body just craves it. It’s a nice break and refreshes me for the Sunday evening services.

O Organizing Tip
The OHIO principle, when possible to use it: Only Handle It Once. Putting things away while in hand rather than setting them out of place “just for now” saves so much clutter.

P Pride & Prejudice Character
Kimberly’s answer was based on the films, so I’ll answer in like fashion — I’m not sure. This is a hard one. 🙂 I liked Mr. Bennet in the 2005 one even though it wasn’t true to the book. But I am a stickler for movies being true to the book. I liked Jane better in the A&E version than the 2005 one, and Mr. Darcy better in the 2005 one than the A&E one. Didn’t like Mrs. Bennet in either. 🙂 I liked Elizabeth better in the book than in either film.

Q Quote
“God does not waste suffering, nor does He discipline out of caprice. If He plough, it is because He purposes a crop.” — J. Oswald Sanders

I have a whole category of favorite quotes here. 🙂

R Recipe
For dinner, Chicken Enchilada Bake is one. A favorite seasonal dessert is Harvest Loaf Cake. Cookies — one favorite is Pudding Chip Cookies.

S Scent
Cookies baking. Rain. Carnations. Artificial scents give me a headache.

T Tea
Lipton’s decaf

U Underwater Creature
Sea horses

V Voyage You’ve Taken
I’ve never taken one.

W Water Feature; Lake, Creek, Ocean, etc.
Padre Island, Texas. At least it was when I lived near it — I don’t know what it’s like today. Then there were beach and sand dunes as far as the eye could see and not a lot of commercialization.

X X-tra Special Treat for Yourself
Curling up on the couch with a throw blanket and a good book. Eating out. 😀

Y Thing About YOU!
That I am a saved child of God, that I love to read, that I am quiet. Actually I had a love/hate relationship with being quiet. It can keep me out of trouble and help me learn a lot. 🙂 But it can also cause me to miss opportunities to say things I should say.

Z Zoo Animal

Zebras!

What’s the Shape of Your Faith: Spiritual Gifts

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In the continuing series “What’s the Shape of Your Faith,” Heather asks us this week about spiritual gifts. For those who might be unfamiliar with this term, the Bible teaches that God gives gifts in the form of abilities to His followers through which He works in and through the lives of believers. I Corinthians 12 is one of the main passages that teaches about spiritual gifts, though there are others which touch on it. The definitions for some of the individual ones will be discussed later.

Thankfully this is a topic I have thought through carefully at several points in the past. One church we were members of in another state did a very thorough study over several weeks on this topic. A few years ago at our church here we had a ladies’ Bible study using a book which was one of the best I’ve seen on the topic. Unfortunately I can’t remember the name and I am not sure where the book is. I had thought it was from Regular Baptist Press, but I searched and did not see it there. I will see if I can find it later because I would love to share the title with you.

There are things I learned in the wake of those two studies that I would like to share here before I get into my own spiritual gift survey.

First of all, while taking surveys like this can be helpful, there can be variance from each of them because of the way the questions were asked. I would not use any of them as a hard-and-fast diagnosis, but rather a guideline.

Secondly, one danger in a study like this is the possible “That’s not my job” mentality that may arise. There are certain things we are all supposed to do — give, help people, witness, etc. — but some people are especially gifted at it. Sometimes, I can testify, God puts us in situations we’re not gifted to handle — I think in order to cause us to see the need to depend on Him, and so the results will be attributed to Him and not our giftedness. So, while a study like this can be help us to know what types of ministry we might best participate in, ultimately we need to do whatever we feel the Lord is requiring of us every day, seeking His will and strength and grace and power to do it.

One thing to remember is that our gifts are not…foolproof, for want of a better word. There is Scriptural instruction for how we are to exercise those gifts — we don’t receive them fully developed usually. We still have a sin nature we need to battle against every day, and that will sometimes affect our gifts and how we exercise them. And, as we mature, our spiritual gifts should also mature. Why am I even bringing this up? Well, I have sat under those who have felt they had the gift of teaching who I really doubted had that gift. I have seen some who said they have the gift of discernment make errors in discernment. That doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t have that gift, but for some reason their correct use of it was skewered. That is one reason there is Bible instruction on how to exercise our gifts

Another danger is that of tending to trust in our gift rather than in Him. This goes along with the preceding point.

A spiritual gift is also not an excuse for negative personality traits. In the former church I mentioned, there was an older man who could sometimes be a cantankerous and get all in a huff over something and “let loose” about it. The questions in that particular study seemed to indicate that the gift of a “prophet” would have that type of personality, so he felt fully justified, even exultant, that that was his gift. Well, first of all, I would disagree that a prophet is like that (the Biblical prophets all had different personalities. One pastor pointed out that many of them ministered at the same time and area, and one reason God raised up different prophets in the same time and place was so that the different personalities and approaches might reach different people), but secondly, as we grow in grace our spiritual gifts will become more refined and Christlike.

One positive thing to remember is that God gives to the body of Christ different people with different gifts to work together to accomplish His will, and they will tend to balance out each other. For instance, a church whose members all have the gifts of mercy and giving, but no one with discernment or administration, will probably run into trouble. So when we get frustrated in committee meetings or business meetings because other people don’t see things the way we do, that may be one reason. But the Lord will guide to the correct course of action.

One last thought: many of the test questions used words like “enjoy” or “take joy in” or the word “easily.” While what we enjoy doing or what comes easily to us may be a sign of a spiritual gift, I think of Moses and all the good reasons he gave God as to why he wasn’t gifted to go before Pharoah and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. Yet God told him to go and promised to give him what he needed to do the job. I don’t think there is much record that he enjoyed the process. Paul told the Corinthians that he had been with them “in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.” He goes on to say, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” That’s what a spiritual gift is!

OK, now that this post is already too long 🙂 I’ll get to the results of my surveys. 🙂

In the first Spiritual Gifts Discovery Survey that Heather referred us to, my highest results were Faith (20),Teaching (19), Administration/Ruling (15), Discernment and Giving (14), Exhortation and Wisdom (13).

In the second Spiritual Gift Inventory she mentioned, my highest scores were Knowledge (16), Teaching (15), and Administration, Exhortation, Giving, and Wisdom all tying at 14.

In the previous book study I mentioned, I scored higher in Discernment. That may be because the second survey above seemed to define discernment as knowing when demonic activity is present, whereas the previous study I did defined it more as discerning between what teaching is Biblical and what is not. Other studies might put that in the category of wisdom or knowledge. (That’s why I say no one study is foolproof. 🙂 )

In both, Helps and Mercy hover around the middle of the scale, with evangelism low.

That has pretty well been the way it has played out in the other tests I have taken, with maybe a little different order, but those same ones are the ones that keep popping up.

Here are the definitions from the first survey for the ones I scored highest in:

Faith: “It is the special gift whereby the Spirit provides Christians with extraordinary confidence in God’s promises, power, and presence so that they can take heroic stands for their future of God’s work in the church. See Hebrews 11.”

Teacher: “It is the special gift whereby the Spirit enables particular Christians to communicate the truths of God’s Word so that others can learn. See Hebrews 5:12-14.”

Administration: “It is the special gift whereby the Spirit enables certain Christians to understand the goals of a given segment of the Church’s ministry and to direct that area effectively, keeping the Church on course. See Acts 15:12-21.”

Giving: “It is the special gift whereby the Spirit enables certain Christians to offer their material blessings for the work of the church with exceptional willingness, cheerfulness and liberality. See 2 Corinthians 8:1-5.”

From the second site’s definitions:

Knowledge: “The special ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to discover, accumulate, analyze, and clarify information and ideas which are pertinent to the well-being of the Body.”
This gift is a practical gift. Those with the gift of knowledge are at home in a book or studying. Those with this gift will often spend countless hours researching information. These people are interested in ideas and problem solving through gathering information and studying. Often, those with this gift have a low need for people. On rare occasions, people with this gift will gather vast amounts of information through studying and analyzing personal experience, but the primary method of learning with this gift is reading and studying books and other written materials. Scriptures: Luke 1:1-4; Acts 5:1-11; 1 Corinthians 2:14; 12:8; 2 Corinthians 11:6; Colossians 1:10; 2:2-3; 1 Timothy 2:15.

Teaching: “The special ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to communicate information relevant to the health and ministry of the Body and its members in such a way that others will learn.”
This gift is a communication gift. People with the gift of teaching enjoy studying the Bible and related materials in order to communicate what they have learned to other Christians. Those with this gift find it easy to organize vast amounts of information in such a way as to make it easy to communicate, understand, and remember. Scriptures: Matthew 7:28-29; 28:19-20; Acts 15:32; Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians 12:10, 28; Ephesians 4:11-14.
Note: Exhortation, Prophecy, and Teaching are considered the communication gifts. The distinctions for each gift are often confused. Often, gifted communicators have a mix of these gifts. Exhortation focuses on personal and practical application of the message or truth being communicated. Prophecy focuses on the urgency and impact of the message or truth being communicated. Teaching focuses on bringing thorough or adequate understanding of the message or truth being communicated.

I think the latter two definitions hit the nail on the head for me. I love studying and researching the Bible. I used to be confused by my scores on “Teaching,” though, because, though I majored in education, I came to feel that teaching was not what I wanted to do. Now, with some physical problems, while it wouldn’t be impossible, the standing in front of a classroom type of teaching is still not what I feel called to. However, one of the previous spiritual gift studies mentioned writing as a method of teaching, and my heart leapt at that. I don’t know how the Lord may use that just yet. He has used it in smaller ways in various opportunities He has given me to write, here, and in our ladies’ ministry newsletter, and on a subscriber list I am on for TM patients and caregivers. If that is as far as He wants it to go, that’s fine.

Discernment, in the sense of discerning whether teaching is in line with the Word of God, comes into play here. I would never profess to be perfect at it, but sometimes during ladies’ Bible studies we will gloss over something in the book, and I’ll say, “Wait a minute…is that saying what I think it is?”

This gift is one for which you have to take the test questions very cautiously. Some of them say thing like, “I can size a person up after first impressions.” There is great danger in being presumptuous with that sort of attitude.

When I first began to serve in the church, it seemed that all the opportunities that came my way involved children’s ministries. While I could do it, and even enjoy it to some extent, I really didn’t look forward to it and often dragged my feet about it. For several years my family was active in Awanas. The one thing I liked about it was that it was something we could do as a whole family, rather than all separating at the door the way some ministry opportunities are. And my husband was really good at it. 🙂 Those two things kept me in it longer than I really wanted to be. But one year the Awana secretary needed a helper. That involved the more administrative behind-the-scenes details: ordering supplies, finding out who earned what awards and laying them out to be given at the end of the night, record-keeping, etc. That changed my outlook dramatically — I felt as if I had finally found my niche. That was one of my first clues, really, about God’s gifting people for different ministries. It was like a light bulb came on. Nowadays the Lord has used that primarily in the ladies’ ministry at out church. When it first began in the format it is now, another lady headed it up. Because I was interested in it, I asked questions and offered comments and help. When her family moved away, I was asked to take over. I really feel more comfortable as a “second banana” implementing the outworking of the various things we do, arranging for speakers and activities, etc. I’m not really comfortable as a leader and don’t feel I inspire or motivate people to action (which seems to be the definition of a leader.) I don’t think I have the personality to be the out-front person. Many times I have wished the other lady would move back and we could go back to the way it was before. 🙂 But I do feel confident that this was the Lord’s will for me these last few years and have seen Him work through me in that ministry. But if He wanted to raise up another leader and put me back as assistant, I’d be more than willing. 🙂

I think maybe because of seeing the Lord’s working in many of the different situations I mentioned earlier, plus reading many missionary biographies, it doesn’t seem hard now to trust the Lord to do things. When my husband has come to me at times with concern over a job situation, there has been a rock-solid conviction that the Lord will take care of us. Oh, there has been some measure of concern as to how it will all work out. But ultimately he enables me to trust in the fact of is control, provision, guidance, and protection. This may be where the scores for the gift of “faith” have come in. I have to confess, though, that I have more trouble trusting the Lord fo smaller everyday things than for the major crises of life. Silly, isn’t it, that I can trust Him with the saving of my soul and the care of my family and then wobble over things like helping me to find a bathroom when we are traveling. 😳

I do love to give, and not just money. I love looking for just the right gift for someone. I can’t understand when people give gifts without any thought as to what the recipient might want or like. The Lord has been using this in two ways. One is our church’s missions closet which we take missionaries through when they visit our church. Just recently a missionary my husband took back there picked up a small set of tools and said, “I almost bought these, but didn’t. May I take these?” Sure! It gives me a lot of joy to be used in that way. The second area is the missionary Christmas gift collection that our ladies’ groups sponsors for our church. We do ask the missionaries for ideas, and then make up lists that our folks can sign up on for what things they would like to contribute. I can sometimes drive myself (and my husband, I’m sure!) crazy with the details of that, wanting to get just the right thing, making sure the gifts are even among family members, etc. But overall I love it.

I have to confess, though, that I don’t always give sacrificially. I do love to give, but I like to have, too. 😳 And I have to learn that running over the budget to give is not exercising that gift in the best way, but praying over it and exercising discernment in what to give and being willing to do so sacrficially is something I need more of.

Whew! Are you still reading? Pat yourself on the back for me. 🙂

I would encourage any of you who want to discern what your spiritual gifts are to try different ministries within the church and your sphere of influence. That and other people’s feedback, along with studying the Word of God, are the best ways, I think, to see where you “fit” within the body of Christ. And you do fit somewhere.