The Lawnmower

 

"So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him." Matthew 7:11

Dear Friends,
    Earlier this week my husband told me that the guy who was cutting our yard was no longer working for us.  It's funny cause even before he told me that, i was planning  to cut our grass last Friday.    I went out into the garage, and much to my disappointment, there was no lawnmower.  I asked my husband where the mower was and he said it was at the restaurant  http://www.oldgreenbrier.com/ . I was a little annoyed but there was nothing i could do but wait til Monday til the young man who usually cuts our grass could do it.  Monday, my husband told  me  the young man was no longer working for us.  So, the next day my husband gave me money to go and buy a new lawnmower to keep at the house because they needed the  other one at the restaurant.
     I went by Lowe's and was checking out their lawnmowers.  I noticed a lot of them were self propelled , but i didn't want one of those.  My husband had bought a nice one for me last year and honestly, i was about as ungrateful as a person can be.  It had all the bells and whistles but i didn't like it.  I didn't think i needed one and I liked the old one i had just fine until the wheel broke off.  Giving me a self propelled mower and calling it my "Mother's Day," present did not sit too well with me last year.  I used it once or twice in the yard last year and although it worked great on the straight a ways, it was  heavy to use to trim.   So with disdain in my heart and voice i told my husband to take it to our restaurant and use it there, i didn't want to use it.  Besides we had the other young man to cut the grass and he didn't need a self propelled mower.
    Well, back to Lowe's this week. I walked by the self propelled mowers out front and went to the aisle the lawn mowers were displayed.  A chatty salesman helped me and told me which lawn mowers came back the most.  He was helpful but i couldn't make a decision  right then between the cheapest and middle of the road mulch mowers, so i told him i would have to come back later.  As i walked out the door, i found myself praying and asking GOD to show me which lawnmower He would have me to purchase.  Would you believe the first thing that popped into my head was the self propelled lawn mower my husband had bought for me a year ago?  The one i didn't like, and grumbled and complained about and was ungrateful for my husband's generous gift.  I called my husband and asked him about the mower. He said he wasn't sure where it was but he would look at the restaurant when he got there.  He called me a little while later and said he had the mower on the truck and he was bringing a guy in from work to cut the grass. I was a little disappointed, i wanted to cut the grass myself to get some exercise, but

i was glad to get the yard cut.  He called later and said the guy had to stay at the restaurant and couldn't cut the grass and i was really glad.  When he got home, we unloaded the mower, and i had to go and get some gas for the mower. The gas can was missing:).  After i was all gassed up, i immediately started cutting the tall grass.  Took me a little bit to remember how to engage the blade, but once i did, the mower took off and cut like a top.  It didn't get bogged down at all in the tall grass like my other mowers usually did. The mower plowed through that tall grass in nothing flat and up the hill in the back yard where our storm shelter is without any straining from me.  All i could think of was how thankful i was for this wonderful gift and i wondered why did it take me so long to appreciate what my husband had done for me?  Maybe get a year older and slower had something to do with it.
    I started thinking about the verse i shared up above that had been in my Bible reading that morning.  I thought about me being slow to accept the gift of the lawn mower my husband gave me was like not wanting to accept the many gifts God wants to give us....like the lawn mower for one,.  Some of His gifts come veiled in packages that we don't want....sickness, death, financial struggles, loss of relationships.  I know because i have struggled with illness since my mid twenties.  And as much as i have struggled with this "gift," of sickness, some of my greatest blessings from the LORD have come because of the path GOD has orchestrated for me.  Blessings of people i have met that i wouldn't have otherwise had i not been sick, education i have received because of the path the LORD has guided me down. Gifts like learning to depend on the LORD to help me raise my kids and homeschool them, because i had to so very much.  Now i am entering a new season with grandkids and i find myself having to depend on the LORD to be a good grandmother, and mother in law and mother and wife even when i don't feel like it. HE is strong in my weaknesses.  His gift of grace to me and to you each day is a GIFT  that HE gives us to DO THIS LIFE.  We don't have to struggle through and try to do it on our own.  He is there to "supply all my needs in CHRIST JESUS," Phil. 4:13. "His grace is sufficient and HIS power is made perfect in my  weakness...therefore i will gladly boast in my weaknesses that CHRIST's power may rest upon me.." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. Kind of like that self propelled lawnmower...all i have to do is hold on and it cuts!
    The most important gift of all is the gift of GOD paying for our salvation with the precious blood of His Son, JESUS. "But as many as received HIM, to them HE gave the right to become children of GOD." John 1:12. This gift is free to us, because it costs GOD so very much."For God so loved the world that HE gave His only Son, but whosoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.  But like me with the lawnmower, we often turn our nose up at this most precious of gifts and don't want to receive his  salvation from the fiery flames of hell, salvation from a miserable life and all the blessings that being a child of GOD brings to us.  Reading in my Bible reading this morning, God warned the children of Israel over and over, if they obeyed him, and loved him, He would bless them,  and pour out this gifts upon them. If they disobeyed and turned to other gods, he would punish them and eventually send them to live among other nations, which is what eventually happened to the Jews when they turned away from GOD. When we refuse God's grace in our lives and reject His gift of HIS SON JESUS, it results in us losing so many other blessings that GOD wants to lavish upon us as HIS children.
      I sure am glad the LORD led me to pray that prayer and ask HIM which lawnmower i should purchase.  My husband had already purchased the best lawn mower, last year, and it was sitting in a shed, just waiting to be a blessing to me.
    Do you have some "lawnmowers," in your life, gifts you have rejected for one reason or another?  God wants us to be thankful and receive all of HIS gifts with grateful hearts, whether it be a lawnmower in my case waiting to bless me, or maybe it's something else the LORD wants to bless your life with.  Just ask him, HE is so merciful and gracious and glad to give us good gifts if we will ask Him.

    I had the opportunity to go see the Hoppers this past week and been singing this song in my head all week! ..."Life is Good Because God is.."  https://youtu.be/2a-JntnZcro

               With all His love,

                         Mitzi

       

You Don't Know Where I've Been...But GOD Knows Where I Am Going

                                                             

     This morning i dragged myself to the gym to go to the first dance exercise class I've been a part of since my husband was in seminary in the mid 80's when i went to aerobic classes at the RAC.  I'm a  slow starter in the mornings...i used to be a fast starter before i got sick from different stuff like too many antibiotics, pesticides, chlorine, cigarette smoke, medications, etc and i became allergic to EVERYTHING. I truly was and thankfully by the grace of GOD I am sensitive to a whole lot less things now.  Well, i wasn't dragging to0 slowly after i had my Armor thyroid medicine, my homeopathic drops that help me detox, my little pink drink, and my bone broth protein shake filled with raw eggs, almond milk, avocado, spinach, beet powder, green super foods mix, blueberries, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, wheat grass....you get the picture.  I have been going to the gym now about two weeks and just thrilled to death.  I've was very athletic up until i got sick...and then i wasn't. I couldn't hardly get up off the floor to be honest and i was 27 years old with an 8 month old little baby and a pastor's wife.I am 54 now.   So today, going to the gym and actually taking part in a dance class was a huge victory.  
    A couple of weeks ago, my husband told me to go by and see if i could stay in the gym because he wanted us to start going together.  He didn't have to ask me twice. Though i've tried before to stay in there, the smell of rubber or chlorine was always too strong for me, this time i signed us up and i have been able to exercise without any smell problems.  Finding something to wear was the hardest part so far.  I just had a couple of pair of pants that would work and they both were too short for me.   So after pulling them down around my waist as far as i could so i wouldn't flood too badly, i went to K Mart Thursday and bought me some better fitting pants. Lula Roe leggings work too, and since my daughter sells them, i have a good stock of them and wore the purple ones with different color motorcycles all over them this morning to dance class.  I am self conscious about my weight....and that was a humbling thing for me to go to the dance class as heavy as i am.  I am really thankful to have been able to get on thyroid medicine lately, along with some adrenal support and the other things i do including eating mostly organic, and i hope and pray my weight is going to start going the other direction.  It's been very humbling going from being the smallest or average person to the largest sometimes.  But it's a good humbling because i've always been judgmental about folks who are overweight.  Always. So God is giving me a good dose of what it's like to try, try, try to lose weight and i have to work harder than most people it seems.  But it will come off in GOD's timing.  

My husband took this picture of me this morning before i went to class for a 60 Day Trim Up with Plexus Contest
www.shopmyplexus.com/hisgraceissufficient

     So getting back to the dance class...i purposefully went to the class this morning hoping i wouldn't know anyone.  I didn't, thankfully.  Several from my church and old church go to the evening classes and they are like advanced and i didn't want them to see me heavy and stumbling around trying to dance.  God is gracious and there were just a few people there, some close to my age, and skill level:).  The teacher, Erin was really nice.  She made me feel comfortable and although i was on the back row, nothing was hidden in that class with the large mirror in front. Ugh.  But we got started, and i felt like i had two left feet, but it was ok.  I made it through most of the songs...not gracefully but i made it.  Two songs i recognized from my kids days, and dancing to them at their wedding....maybe that's why "The Cupid Shuffle," was my easiest dance move today!  I never thought i could be a cheerleader, and some of those hand and arm moves were just downright "cheerleaderly," and i don't do cheerleading.  The teacher said as long as you have rhythm you'll do fine.  I have rhythm, but i didn't do fine but i made it through and the humility is good for me.  As i looked at my self in the mirror stumbling through some of those dances, i thought this is growth.  Humbling myself, coming to a class where just a few days ago i wouldn't dream of going, and GOD took me there. I am so thankful.  I'm not sure what this journey holds, but I'm sure WHO holds the journey and that is GOD.  
    Yesterday while i was at the gym, i saw a young man who looked to be about 20 walking with a limp and using a cane.  He got on the treadmill and walked several minutes.  As i did the elliptical i watched him, and admired him.  I wondered why he walked with a limp.  When he got off, i gave him a thumbs up, suspecting that was a great victory, harder for him than most people.  I thought about my own journey and the pain and suffering i have been through. For years, no one could tell outwardly, unless i got angry with my family from "allergic reactions," or sensitivities to chemicals.  But now that i've gained weight you can tell i've gained weight but you don't know why.  I eat healthier than most, and i walk pretty regularly so a sluggish thyroid, and hormones diminishing definitely have something to do with it.  I'm very grateful for all the help GOD has brought me in the past and continues to.  As i think about that young man, i didn't know where he has been on his journey, but i admired him for being an overcomer.  I too am an overcomer in CHRIST JESUS and i am grateful to be out on the field after being sidelined for so long.  So when you look at me, don't feel sorry for me and think i've eaten myself to death.  I haven't. But i have had some difficult health challenges that i've sought for answers a long time.  One by one GOD is bring me answers and HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT.  I am learning not to judge others by their appearance, especially their weight.  You don't know the journey they've been on or the efforts they've made to try to lose it.  I know, I am one of them now and i pray that if GOD helps me to lose the weight,

i will never look down on overweight people again.  It's humbling to be overweight. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness.  There i will gladly boast in my weaknesses that CHRIST's power may rest upon me." 2 Corinthians 12:9

                                   "Overcomer" by Mandissa

                                https://youtu.be/b8VoUYtx0kw