Praying For Guidance

I'm active on Facebook, and every once in awhile someone will make a very cryptic status update, like "things are difficult right now," or "that's it, I'm done," or, on the cheerier side, "well, that was fun," or "I can't believe I got away with that."

I don't know if it's intended as a bid for attention, but it can come off that way--almost soliciting FB friends to respond and ask "what's wrong?"

There's even a term for it: "Vaguebooking."  The typical sarcastic response is "do you think you could vague that up for me a little?"

Well, this is going to be a vague blog post.  I'm not seeking attention, and I don't want anyone to try to pry my secrets out of me.  My mood is upbeat and positive, and I'm seeing ample evidence that God is in control over even the challenges of our lives.  It's all good.

But there are some changing circumstances in our lives, affecting all our family members, and we're trying to figure out the God-pleasing way forward, and I can't really blog about this stuff..  Some of it's confidential, some of it's awkward, some of it I don't have the approval of family members to share, some of it's just not for public consumption yet.

But I know some of the people reading this are prayer warriors.

And we appreciate your prayers for God's guidance.  We know that He's going to guide us, we know that He has a plan, and we know that what He has in mind is far better than anything we could come up with on our own.

So, thanks for praying for us.  As and when I can talk about some of this, I most assuredly will.

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.

Managing Time

Proverbs 3:6 tells us to follow and acknowledge God in all our ways and He will direct our steps.

 We think about this verse a lot when we're trying to keep our day straight,  This isn't unique to our slightly-abnormal family, but we have a lot going on.  Wedding plans, three different job schedules, doctor appointments and more doctor appointments and more doctor appointments, school, sports, household chores, church and theater, social life, paying bills and doing taxes and calling insurance companies and other sundry administrative matters, juggling vehicles, aging parents, trips and hobbies and dates and whatnot.  Also, Adored Wife, the primary household manager, has limited amounts of energy and "feeling wellness" and has to budget her time accordingly.

Frankly, there have been more than a few occasions when things have slipped through the cracks.  And yet, the house is still standing and the cat's still alive and there's still food in the refrigerator, so it can't have been all that bad.

I probably ought to look this up, but some historical figure said that he had so much to do today he just had to spend extra time in prayer.

The theory goes like this:  "I have time today to do everything God wants me to do.  I don't necessarily have time today to do everything God wants me to do PLUS everything that I personally think ought to get done."

If we commit ourselves to following Him prayerfully and obediently then He will direct our use of managing time and resources, and everything will turn out for the best.

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.

God's Still Watching Over Us

Have I mentioned before that Graphics Magician is adopted?  Long story short, around fourteen years ago Adored Wife and I felt God's overwhelming message that we were going to have more children, and then a scant few weeks later we learned that GM's birth mother was expecting a child out of wedlock and wanted to know if we would adopt.  He's thirteen now.

He's grown up knowing he was adopted and it's never been a big deal to him.  But it was only in conversation with him this past week that all the miraculous "God's leading" stuff came up.  I don't use the word "miraculous" lightly, and I'd just never had the occasion to tell him the particulars.

But, yes, it was a miracle time.  I've rarely experienced a sense of God's direction as clearly as I did fourteen years ago, but it's happened a few times in my life.

And I needed the conversation this week.  I have a few stressful situations in my life right now, and I'm earnestly praying for God's guidance to see me through it.  And the conversation with my son was a reminder that God has always watched over me and seen me through times of testing.  And the timing of that conversation, relating to my son the Providential circumstances surrounding his birth and adoption, came in the midst of me seeking reassurance from God.

Yeah, He's still watching over us.

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.

Seeking The Right Things First

I don't really have a "life verse" in the sense of one Bible passage that I consider special to me.  But Adored Wife and I do come back to Matthew 6:33 pretty often: "Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

It's in the middle of a section where Jesus is talking about worry (hint: He's against it) and He concludes with this advice on where we ought to be placing our heart and our attention.

I kind of rewrite this, in my bumper-sticker-theology way, into "If we take care of God's business, God will take care of our business."

See, we have all kinds of things we COULD worry about:
1. Health
2. Finances
3. Family
4. Insurance
5. School
6. Relationships
7. Jobs
8. Immorality
9. Government
10. Commitments and obligations

But if we're focused instead on "what does God want me to do?" then we have this promise that He's GOING to take care of everything else.  Not to say that I shouldn't work or keep my finances in order or pay attention to my family--doing those things honorably can be a part of my service to God.  But my heart and my mind shouldn't be set on the "needs"--if we're putting God first, He's going to supply everything we need.

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.

Paying The Doctors

Every so often I worry about money.  I'm not supposed to worry about anything, I know this.  Cast all your cares upon the Lord, and so forth, and when I catch myself worrying I try to divert to praising and praying and it usually works.  And I'm not complaining--God's pulled off some major financial miracles over the years and there are people who have helped us out very generously in the past and would do so again if I only asked.  And I have a roof over my head and plenty to eat and some very nice possessions and there are a lot of people who can't say that, so.....

You know, this was supposed to be a post about medical bills, of which we have our fair share, and it's turning into a post about how God has taken care of me.  And that's okay.

But yes, medical bills.  We're very happy to have health insurance but we've had insurance snafus galore over the years and are still dealing with a few.  Adored Wife can do lots of things but probably ought to be on at least partial disability and that process has stalled out.  I don't make a huge amount of money doing what I do and what with one thing and another we're paying over three hundred dollars a month in doctor bills and medication not counting health insurance premiums.  (It would be way more than that if insurance wasn't covering most of it.)  And we're currently running around and around with a facility that wants us to pay several thousand dollars for something I honestly don't know whether or not we're legally responsible for.  I can't comment on that one but I'm not making payment arrangements until they come up with more substantiation than they have.

So, you know, I spend a fair amount of time and energy juggling finances.  And being tempted to worry about them.

Whew, deep breath.  Sorry for the rant.  Sometimes I just need to get it out.  But it's okay, God has and will continue to take care of things if we just follow Him.  Matthew 6:33, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.

Thanks for listening to me vent a little, friends.  Hope all's well out there, and God bless.