Posts
...this past week, she clicked over to 319kMiles!
Want to lose weight and keep it off...
We have to face our face our "issues" and change our way of thinking.
Living a life joyful and happy regardless of our circumstance is easy for someone to say to our face then to go home and actually live it. When Facebook first began it was open to college students and younger, but when it opened to the public, I became friends with people I went to school with over four schools I attended from elementary through high-school. Bullying was a hot topic once and I asked many of them, "Did we have bullying when we were in school? If so, I don't remember it." They replied randomly with stories and like, "Yes! Where were you...oh wait...we are talking to Rita...she lived in her own bubble..." That pretty much describes how I float through life, in my happy place, this bubble of hope, positive atmosphere, happiness. It is easy for me to forgive instead of getting revenge, to love rather than hold bitterness, to hope rather than live in regrets. I am not perfect, but I would rather live as a victor and not a victim of my circumstance or my past. I live in my blessings and what I have seen God do in my life rather than the bad things that have happened.
This van I own is a perfect example of a bundle of blessings. When I got this van, it was a program vehicle. My previous van had been totaled due to someone doing a U-turn and not seeing me on the right away. I got the "Silver Bullet" when she had eleven-thousand miles on her. She is a 2004 Dodge Caravan Anniversary Edition fully loaded with DVD player, cassette player, CD, hook ups for iPod, gaming units, plug ins (like to put a curling iron or laptop...don't ask) and electric doors and windows. Everything still works on this van except on electric door and a window. She has all the original parts including engine and transmission. I don't drive her other than in the city I live and to Huntsville or Athens on occasion. I have a fantastic mechanic who is on speed-dial, text messaging should something critical ever happen. Once I was in a nearby city for work and it suddenly overheated. I pulled into a repair shop and when they told me what was wrong, quoting me an unbudgeted amount for repairs, I texted him He called me and got them on the phone. When he returned to me, he said, "Rita, I am sending a tow truck to pick you and the van up, it will be ready in the morning at 1/4 what they are going to charge. I've got this."
Just like Duck, I will call him, God blessed me with people in my life, like he and his wife along with the shop that services my vehicles, to help me after a serious life-experience. When I was saving for another car, I waited. Then someone at church came to me with a car that was perfect for me. The price was completely unbelievable and the car was in mint condition. Once again, God blessed me and I not only didn't have to get a loan for a car, but I had another car to drive to work and one to transport Garrett and his equipment. My home, wow, a lady at much church told me about this house not five-minutes in a complete circle to all that we did on a daily basis. We were prepared to move when a professional mover called me and, the short of it...yet another God story, moved us completely in one day. Last winter, I needed to buy Garrett a coat. He is a large football player size. I couldn't find an Alabama jacket in his size, but I found a Falcon's jacket. It was out of my budget, but I stepped out on faith and ordered it. I was at Target cafe ordering my drink, telling the clerk about the jacket and acting on faith. When I went back to my table to enjoy a few moments of quiet time, I opened my book and the cash in the exact amount of the jacket fell out. I saw nobody around the cafe. When I needed clothes, a bag showed up at my front door without explanation. When I moved in my house, I didn't have a bed in my room. I slept on the floor. One day, I got a delivery... I have a neighbor that is beyond a blessing...he has been mowing my grass since I moved in and won't take anything for it ((so I bake))!
I could go on with times that blessings have come my way. Protection to provisions are the abundance of His graces and mercies that flow when I hope and trust in Him. Being abandoned, left in a situation that we can't see clearly how we are going to manage, care for ourselves, pay bills, buy food or manage our home, we have to grow up and clean the glasses. There has to come a point where we decide to live in the abundance, the promises that have come to us in the past rather than the bad or negative things of the past. Too often we overlook the best things and the goodness of our life-experiences and dwell of the hurt and develop bitterness as a result. Through the ugliness we become depressed, angry, hateful, and can't see a future. The reality of the gospel, the cross, the resurrection and our eternal home is to choose to live in abundance, His blessings, His promises, to be thankful, grateful and grow up beyond self-centered emotions and ourselves. Blunt, but honest.
Like the Silver Bullet, she is rewarded for taking good care of my family. She is serviced ever three-thousand miles. She gets washed often. The tires are what I call mileless. She goes to worship every Sunday and Garrett loves her. He doesn't want to replace her, but he is praying for a red Toyota 4Runner, ((Lord, help us! I have no idea where this prayer request came from!)) Just like the van, if we faithfully and continuously live thankful in what we have abundantly been blessed with, our lives are forever changed to a healthier life-style. When I did this, I wanted to continue to eat healthy, make my fitness routine better, run further, keep my goals and challenges in front of me and to keep my eyes on the prize of tomorrow. My life moved past everything that I was tired of, what I knew before to what God had for me today and for the future. We were made for more than this; we were made for an abundant life. Live in the blessings.
0 comments:
Post a Comment