Saturday, July 28, 2012

Your Way OR The Right Way?

Guidance defined by Webster's Dictionary:  1. the act or process of guiding
2. a: the direction provided by a guide b : advice on vocational or educational problems given to students
3. the process of controlling the course of a projectile by a built-in mechanism
 
We all have been guided by someone at least once in our lives.  It could have been a friend, a school counselor, a teacher, a parent, aunt, uncle, etc.  When you are born you are not born knowing everything, therefore you have parents or someone to guide you and help you.  In my life right now, I am going through a little spiritual guidance.  I have totally given God the reins and given Him total control.  I have a lot of things on my plate right now and He is in total control of it all.  On August 1, I will become a full time stay at home mom, with a part time job working from home, plus my husband and I are in the process of adopting.  Pretty huge things, right?  These two major things have been orchestrated by God and just when I think I am headed in one direction(my direction), He is right there to take me by the shoulders and stir me in His direction(the right direction).  Let me explain with some examples, when me and my husband decided that I should stay at home with our son, because of his autism and special classes he would have to take, I was extremely nervous about how we were going to make ends meet without my paycheck.  I prayed about it and tried to give it up to the Lord, but I still wanted to hold on to it.  I worried and then decided I was weary and once again let go and gave it to God.  A couple of days later my boss came to me and said she could offer me a part time position doing collections from home.  I was completely taken a back!  I was not prepared for that statement at all.  It was an answer to prayer, and I knew that since I had let God lead instead of me,  He was able to provide a solution.  Next example, my husband and I have been talking about adoption since the end of last year.  We tried several different private adoption agencies and never was able to "get our foot in the door" so to speak.  I felt that was God's way of saying, "No, that is not what I want you to do."  Eventually we were able to start with a state agency and start the process.  From the very beginning we both said that we wanted to straight adopt.  There was no way that we wanted to foster to adopt!  We were very adamant about it!  We decided that we would adopt a child between the age of 0-2.  Perfect!  Over the course of these classes that we have been taking, I can feel the Lord taking me by the shoulders and stirring me away from straight adoption and into foster to adopt.  You wanna no my answer, "Really God? You know that my heart is too big to have a child taken away from me."  Yea, God isn't having any of it!  He is listening to me, of course, but He is still guiding us away from straight adoption.  You see, God always, always knows what is best for us, even when we don't think it is.  He also wants to give us what our hearts desire.  We were told by the agency in one of our classes that if we straight adopt there is no way we would be able to adopt a kid between the ages of 0-2.  The youngest is usually around 4 with straight adoption, but most of them our older.  So, the route to go would be foster to adopt.  I have two choices, I can not listen to God and continuing fighting and doing it MY way OR I can listen to God and let Him guide me and reap the wonderful benefits that He has in store for my family.  God's way is not always the easy road to follow, but in the end it has the best reward possible!  God loves and wants to guide us in our journey of life.  He also puts special people in our paths to help guide us as well.  No matter what decision you are having to face you can always look to the ultimate guidance counselor, God and know that if you choose to listen and have Him guide you, the results will be so much sweeter in the end! 
 

Psalm 32:8 ESV  I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (this is one of my favorite verses)

Love In Christ,
Alicia

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Blessed to be Different

On the radio this past week, I heard the DJ quoting Aimee Copeland, the girl who has been in the hospital fighting a flesh eating disease. If you don't know who I am talking about, she was on a zip line when it broke and she gashed her leg open and fell into the river below. The quote below came from her, the girl that has lost both her hands, part of her stomach, and other limbs. She is blessed to be different! I have played that one sentence over and over in my head. What a great example of taking something so negative and finding the positive in it. I know that we all have experienced some negative situations in our lives, but how many can honestly say that they turned it into a positive instead of dwelling on the negative. I sure can't say that I have done that with all the negative in my life. It is always easier to wallow in self pity, rather than try to find the good in the situation. I want to challenge you, the next time you find yourself in a negative situation try to find the good in it. We should all feel blessed to be different, no matter who we are or what we have gone through. God created each and everyone of us to be different!



"'I mean that I am blessed to have the opportunity to experience something that not many other people have the chance to experience,'" Copeland wrote, recalling his daughter's words. "'I am blessed to be able to have a challenge that not many others get to have. I am blessed to have the capacity to share my experience with others and have a chance to improve the quality of someone else's life. I'm blessed to be different.'" by: Aimee Copeland

It all began after her ride on a makeshift zip line across the Little Tallapoosa River snapped. A gash in her left calf took 22 staples to close.

The pain continued for three days. When she went to an emergency room, doctors determined she had necrotizing fasciitis caused by the bacteria Aeromonas hydrophila.

Surgeons amputated most of her hands, part of her abdomen, one of her legs and her remaining foot in an effort to stay ahead of the infection. She has also had multiple skin grafts.

Exert taken from Hlntv.com

Proverbs 1:15 says, "My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path,.." NAS

Genesis 1:27 says, "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." NAS

Love in Christ,

Alicia






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