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Posts tagged ‘decisions’

Risky Business!

Today’s Prompt was:

“Describe a risk you took that you do not regret.”

I had children.

Giving birth is risky business.
Raising children is risky business.
They’re expensive!
They’re trouble.

Do I regret deciding to raise two children?
No!
They are a gift from God!

Here’s that spunky boy in today’s world:

Our son and his wife also took the risk.
They decided to raise a family.
But they were not able to have biological children.
So, they took the risk of adopting…
Not just one, but four children!
Adopting is risky business!!
God bless them!

Do they regret it?
You’ll have to ask them!

But, I know that decision of theirs
impacted our whole extended family!

When our granddaughter, Hope, was 18,
she decided she was grown up enough
to make her own decisions,
so she took a risk and left home.
She decided to live with a girlfriend.
(That’s her in stripes in that photo,
and the two little ones are hers: Xander & Sienna.)

Well, that living arrangement didn’t last.
Moving out is risky business.
In just a few months,
Hope was homeless,
couch-hopping, and in trouble.
We took the risk and invited her
to come to live with us in Montana.
It’s a risk we “do not regret.”

That little baby you prayed for this week
is Hope’s #3 … Charlotte.
Thank you, Hope, for taking the risk
of raising a family.
As David Jeremiah wrote in “Ever Faithful”
this week:

Life Takes Time…

“Be patient with yourself and with others.
Put down roots.
Stay in one place.
And remember…
nothing takes the place of
God’s work over time.”

Yesterday I texted Hope:

“Hope, how are you and Charlotte doing?”
“We are doing good!!! She’s eating and sleeping well!”
“How are Xander and Sienna?”
“Ok! They’re doing good!
I’m recovering well!
And the kids, too.
They love her!“

Yes, life is risky business.
Raising kids is risky business.
And we never stop parenting
as long as we and our children are alive.

Yesterday that little girl in Santa’s lap
up in that 1968 photo
was driving to a lunch date
in Switzerland (where she lives)
when a car dashed out into her path.

Oh my! Learning to drive is a risk.
Do you ever regret teaching your kids to drive?

Now, I need you to pray for DeAna and her transportation, OK?

And don’t forget to praise God.
She’s OK, even if the car is not!

See ya tomorrow.
Love,
JanBeek

No, I don’t regret having children.
Yes, Ty & De are God’s gifts.
But, every day’s a risk, isn’t it?

Life is risky business!!

God bless you all…

Category:

blessings, children, Family, God, Gratitude, health, Life's Challenges, Living in Christ's Family, Love, relationships

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Embrace Doubting

May sound really weird
For a Christian to embrace
Doubting; How can I?

What does doubting mean?
I believed it’s unbelief.
But, let’s think again.

Photo by Kaboompics .com on Pexels.com

Matthew 28:17

“When they saw him,
they worshiped him;
but some doubted.”

Who is “they” who saw?
It was Jesus’ disciples.
What does “doubted” mean?

In my devotional time this morning, Daily Guideposts explained that the original text was in Greek. The word “doubted” in Greek is “distazo.” That does not mean unbelief. It is more accurately translated as “hesitation or uncertainty about how to respond.”

In today’s world, as the cartoon shows, the disciples would not have to think twice about how to respond. They would simply get out their cell phones and record this momentous reappearance of their Savior!!

But in the world of Jesus’ time, how would you respond when someone you watched die on the cross suddenly walked out of the tomb? “Distazo” seems appropriate to me. Whoa!! I’d be pretty unsure about how to respond, wouldn’t you?

Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy on Pexels.com

Sometimes I am quite unsure about how to respond to situations in today’s world. How about you?

Our test kits came today for the COVID-19 test we have to self-administer and then mail FedEx in the envelope provided so it can go overnight to the place where the results are determined and then sent to me before our flight out of Chicago to London on Sunday night. (Whoa… that’s a long, complex sentence – did you grasp it?)

I am doubting … I am unsure about how to respond to the instructions.

Unfortunately, my test results won’t come in a fortune cookie. They will be sent to an app on my iPhone. Problem: my iPhone is 8 years old and it won’t upgrade to an IOS high enough to download the app. I am feeling doubtful. Very uncertain about how to respond. The new iPhone 12 and last year’s version (iPhone11) are not available here in Ennis. Checking with our nearest city, Bozeman, I discovered we don’t have an Apple store… and the Verizon Wireless store doesn’t have the phone I want in stock. I have to order it on-line from Apple. Will it arrive in time for our departure? What will I do if it isn’t here in time?

Photo by Edward Jenner on Pexels.com

In this COVID-19 world, “distazo” is a natural response. We are unsure of how to respond in so many ways. Get the vaccine or not? Wear a mask or not? Get a booster or not? Join friends for a dinner out or not? Worship in church with others sitting close by or not? Travel or not? Get a new phone or not? Forget the whole thing?

I pray to God for help with decision-making, but I am not sure I am hearing His response. Should I keep asking? Should I reword my questions? Am I missing His answers?

As Daily Guideposts has written in today’s devotional, “Doubt, distazo, is part of our faith journey.” It’s OK to question how to respond when we’re baffled by the challenges we face. Like the disciples, we are faced with some unbelievable situations. These are unprecedented times!

In these troublesome times,
we are encouraged to Stretch!!

Embrace Doubting!

Let your hesitation
and your uncertainty
cause you to
question more,
research more,
and pray more.

Let your hesitancy
and your uncertainty
cause you to
trust more,
experience more,
and increase your humility
as you allow yourself
to admit

“Crap!
I don’t have all the answers after all!”

Get in touch with the
Tiger in you!

Do you find yourself doubting about anything?
What causes you to experience “distazo“?

See ya tomorrow (God willing)
Love,
JanBeek

Category:

Bible Lessons, Faith, God, humor, Jesus, learning, Life's Challenges, Love, prayer, Serving One Another

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Turning Things Around

I follow the posts of a delightful lady – “Time Out with Lois.” She refers to her very tall, deceased husband as “He-Who.” That’s short for “He-Who-Took-Long_Steps.” He-Who was well over 6′ tall … maybe 6’7′ or so. Lois loves to quote things He-Who used to say. And I love reading her quotes. Today she said he loved to turn things around.
Lois wrote, “He-Who always liked to turn them around, on purpose. Like ‘You can kill two stones with one bird’ or ‘Easier done than said’. Lois was on a trip and made a big u-turn. She said,  “Age is not why I’m doing this. I did it before I got this age. Who can remember if you starve a cold and feed a fever or feed a cold and starve a fever? I don’t take any chances, I feed both!” She is quite a character… must have rubbed off on her from He-Who!
Have you ever made a big U-Turn in life? Lois did it to retrieve a journal she had left under her pillow at a motel the night before. She said she put it there to see if the tooth fairy would leave her any money! I told her I’d make a big u-turn to retrieve my journal if I forgot it in a motel.
I’m almost finished with this one.
I received that journal in July of last year, 2018, from my friend, Sue Woodruff. I finished the journal I was on, and then in September a year ago, I began this one. It has that dedication page I showed you in a post earlier today:
In addition to answered prayers, I use this book to write the ideas that inspire me when I am up in my sanctuary. Then I carry it down to where my computer is to jog my memory and inform my daily post. It’s full of heart-felt thanks, ideas, plans, poems, pictures, newspaper articles… I’d hate to lose it!   Do you have an item you’d hate to lose? One you would gladly do a u-turn to retrieve if you left it behind somewhere?

What item has that specialness to you? What U-Turn have you made in your life? Or do you anticipate one on your future?

pexels-photo-707046.jpeg

Photo by Trace Constant on Pexels.com

Seems to me, u-turns are rarely plan-ahead items. But, when we need to, we can skid into a U. We can go back. We can retrieve. We can re-do.

Do you have a re-do in your future? It may be “‘Easier done than said.” Go for it! cattle in Ruby Valley field See you tomorrow.

Category:

Life's Challenges, Love, writing

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Boneheaded Decisions

Ecclesiastes

Assures us in chapter seven

Faith flows eternal

If faith’s eternal,

Shouldn’t my faith lead me straight?

Why do I wander?
.

Are you always right?

All your decisions are great?

You’re delusional!
.

All of us at times

Make boneheaded decisions.

Thank God for His Grace!
.

All the rivers flow

Into the eternal sea,

Yet it never fills.
.

My river of faith

Is evolving to follow –

Not because of me
.

God’s got me covered

In spite of my boneheaded

Circuitous routes.
.

Lord, lead me into

Your sweet everlasting sea;

Guide my faith river.

aerial photography of water beside forest during golden hour

Amen

Category:

Bible Lessons, God, Haiku, learning, Life's Challenges, Love, Montana, nature, peace, prayer

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Y = Youthfulness

Day #25 in the A-Z series of “What Makes Me Happy?”

YOUTHFULNESS

My time on earth is

Measured by experience

And development

I maintain an attitude of positivity and youthfulness.

The zeal of youth makes me happy.

My spirit is ageless.

How about you?

alley autumn autumn colours autumn leaves

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

My husband said, “Indecision.”

I said, “That’s not a Y, that’s an I.”

He said, “But it’s a Y in the road.  You have indecision.

You don’t know which way to go.

It doesn’t make me happy, but it makes me think.

Thinking/ pondering/weighing odds – those make me happy…

Because it’s nice to have choices.”

 

Hmmm, creative thinking, don’t you think?

 

What “Y” word makes you happy?

Category:

Aging Gracefully, children, contentment, Haiku, happiness, Life's Challenges, self-acceptance

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