My finger hurts.

by Lillian Humphries

I woke up the other day and my finger hurt. It didn’t look hurt or bruised but it ached. It was my pointer finger on my left hand. I shrugged it off and went about my business. After doing some laundry and other house hold chores I noticed it was still throbbing. For the life of me I could not remember what I had done to it. I thought about the previous day’s events and couldn’t recall if I had jammed it into
something.
 
Still throbbing a few hours later I took some anti-inflammatory medicine. Later on it felt better, but I kept thinking about it. Just thoughts running through my mind as to what I may have done. Since I am right handed I knew it wasn’t because I used it to much, or did I? 

While I was contemplating the greatness of this world and how my finger contributed to my life, I finally turned to God and said “why is my finger hurting so much today”? This brought to mind the verse in Luke.

Luke 6:42 (ASV)
42 Or how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me cast out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.

I couldn’t remember pointing my finger at others lately but it sure made me stop and think. In the most innocent of words or thoughts we judge others and say look at them, when we haven’t looked at ourselves lately. It is a human trait and we have to be careful. Every now and then it is good to have a reminder to be aware of our thoughts and words.

Amazing how God used that aching finger to bring a lesson to me. Always be on the lookout for God’s lesson of the day.

Have you had a similar experience? Share with me.

Questioning God?

by Lillian Humphries

Have you ever questioned God? I have. I have even been disrespectful to Him. I’m not extremely proud of those moments, but I know they have happened. I have even been known to write Him letters. I wish I had kept those letters.

Some days when life was really getting me down I would turn the world off get myself real comfortable, snugly pajamas, coffee or a diet soda maybe some chocolate, some soft music and then let God have it in my letter. Funny thing about those rants to God, I would always end up writing down all my blessings and wondering what in the world was I complaining about.

Oh this human mind of mine could not comprehend all the blessings God had given me. I could only focus on the one small piece of my life that was not the way I wanted it to be. Instead of saying, this is where God has put me and I better use it for His good, I would sit and complain about what I thought was wrong with my life.

Questioning God is OK in my book. If we don’t question Him then we are not thinking. Now I’m not talking about the questioning of His ability to guide me or His love for me. I’m talking about the understanding of His ways. If I am thinking about God and questioning His ways and trying to understand Him, then my life is focused on God.

Throughout the Bible we have some examples of those that questioned God. Questions that are from a critical heart are different than those with an open heart. 

Open your Bible to hear God speak

Hebrews 11:6 tells us; “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him”

Being inquisitive is part of our makeup and God made us. Look at a child, always questioning and exploring and wondering. We are God’s children no matter how old we are. The question is how your heart is when you are submitting these questions to God. We should have our Bible with us when we question God so we can search for the answers and hear His word talk to us. Then we need to be ready to accept His answer even if it isn’t what we think it should be.

Are you seeking for answers in the right place? Are you willing to hear the answers? Do you want the answers or are you just complaining like I was?

Are you brave enough?

by Lillian Humphries


Let’s just start by saying I know some of you will disagree with me and that’s OK. I will love you anyway. J Remember this is my blog and it has my opinions in it.

Are you brave enough to stand up for what is right for your family? Life is hard and every day we face a myriad of decisions that must be made. We make them for ourselves, our family, our work, or husband/wife. What to wear, what to eat, what needs to be 
cleaned, who goes where and at what time and the list goes on. When was the last time you woke up and said “What should I do today”? Or “What would I like to do today”? I am sure it has been a long time since that happened, maybe even back to when you were a child.

When did we start letting society tell us what to do? Can we not think for ourselves? We
are so bombarded with information and choices in this day and age that it leaves our head spinning. Where are the days of getting up each day and doing your job and coming home to spend time with family and friends and considering that a full day and enough?

Psalm 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

God tells us to be still. When will we listen to Him? I understand we all think we are doing the best we can. I challenge you to really think about that issue.

List the top 5 priorities that you believe should be in life. Now list the top 5 things that really take up most of your time. Are they the same? Good for you if they are. I would venture to say that we can delete a few things from our lists of activities and still have a wonderful complete life.

All things can be pleasurable and fun and teach us things along the way. But what is the trade off? Organized sports are a great activity for children to be in. It teaches them team work and how to share, take turns and work with others. It is wonderful exercise and runs off excessive energy. It is also very entertaining. How about dance, gymnastics, karate, cycling, volleyball, basketball, golf or swimming, etc. They are all good activities, nothing wrong with them. But what quality of life are these things bringing to your life? If you are like most families I know you are spending a lot of time running to and from activities, spending more money then you need to on uniforms, costumes and equipment. Everything is rushed in life, hurry up and eat so we can get to school, hurry up eat so we can get to church, hurry up brush your teeth so we can get to bed, hurry up so we can . . . . . . (you fill in the blank).

Wait – it doesn’t have to be like that. Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean we all have to do it. If it doesn’t fit your family dynamics and you find out that life is harder than you want it to be – just stop. Oh wait – doesn’t that mean my child will not be accepted into the well-adjusted people in life. No – how about this – your child understands God’s plan for his/her life, your child understand that their job is to go to school, study and learn. Your child understands what family is and that life is not going from event to event. Your child understands what it takes to run a home and how to treat other family members, how to help your neighbors, how to take care of their elderly family members. Your child will know how to budget money with what they have and not go out and get another job to pay for all the things they want or think they “need”.

 If you had a child with special needs you would build your life around that child’s needs. Parents, each of your children are a special needs child. They need you to love them and teach them the basics first and foremost. They need to understand what home and family values are. You want to teach them team work, teach them how to be a member of your family team. Each is an MVP (most valuable player). They do not need to be on a field, stage or other environment to learn their worth.

Parents I beg you to stand up for your families and get off the merry-go-round before it’s too late. Don’t teach your child that life is a series of parties/events, teach them life is about doing your best, loving God, your family and country

Share with me how your feel about the crazy life we are trying to live now. Do you agree or disagree? Let me know.

Creating Pleasures

by Lillian Humphries

I love hosting a good party. Sometimes I like just to through a few things together and hope for the best, but sometimes I love to really put on the Ritz. This past couple of weeks I was planning for Easter dinner at our house. I searched Pinterest for all the cute decorations and tasty treats that the grand children would enjoy. I had such fun preparing everything. The only problem with having a picture in your mind is sometimes it does not translate to my hands during the creation time. However, this year I was successful. There was only one fail and that was the big white cardboard Easter egg that I put a ribbon on. I didn’t buy the wire ribbon and the bow just laid there like a wet noodle.

I made rice crispy treats in pastels, layered and cut then placed on lollipop sticks wrapped with cellophane and tied with a bow. Easter bark filled with chocolate and candies, Cheetos in cake

decorating bags that looked like carrots and egg shaped sugar cookies decorated so precise that Martha Stewart would have been proud of me. Homemade yeast rolls that were the bomb and topped it off with butter piped into little swirls. Did I go over the top, you bet I did.

All that was wonderful and I loved the faces of my family as I showed off my talents waiting for the accolade’s that would follow, maybe not one of my most humble moments.

There was a lot of energy put into the preparation of the event. In the evenings I was exhausted from all the planning and creating. I wonder how God felt about creating the universe and all that is in it. How excited He must have been of all His creations. So proud and pleased. The beauty across the universe, the trees, flowers, animals and then saved the best for last – humans.

My mind can’t comprehend anything near that grand. The pleasure our Father must have felt in the beginning surely was overwhelming.

Do you give our Father the accolades that you do others? Do praise Him and thank Him for the beauty all around us? Spring time is a wonderful time of year to see His beauty unfold. Praise and thank God today.

Do You Pray for Extra Blessings?

by Lillian Humphries

Taken from the book: The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson 

http://amzn.to/1Geo8o3

1 Chronicles 4:9-10
9 And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. 10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.
Jabez was never found mentioned again in the Bible, but this small one verse prayer is so powerful. 


Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed
For Jabez to add the word indeed to the end of his request for blessings in like putting five exclamation points at the end of a sentence, or writing it in capital letters and underlining it.

When we pray for blessings and ask for more we are crying out the wonderful unlimited goodness that only God can provide.

“Ask”, promised Jesus, “and it will be given to you”. (Matthew 7:7) “you do not have because you do not ask,” said James (James 4:2).

enlarge my coast or territory
It is not wrong to ask God for more as long as we are using it for His will.
For some of us our math equation would be similar to this

My abilities
+ experience
+ training
+ my personality and appearance
+ my past
+ the expectations of others
= my assigned territory (or my success)

Maybe it should be:

+My willingness and weakness
+ God’s will and power
= My assigned territory (or my success)

Remember – we will always feel fear and anticipation when we begin to take on new projects for God, but we will also have the thrill of God carrying us as we are doing it.

that thine hand might be with me
So now God has enlarged our territory or family audience, etc.
Now we go into panic mode.
Guess what – we are supposed to feel like that. If we don’t than we won’t be dependent on God. We might stop occasionally to say thanks and give Him praise, but we get away from the dependence on God that we need to make it through. 

and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!
Those words “keep me from evil” does not say keep temptation from me because Jabez knew temptation would be there. The more we do God’s work the more Satan is coming after us.

God is our only answer.