Uh....Duh! Because God said so!

Joel Osteen Ministries:
‎"For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him." (Philippians 2:13)

Amen to that! When you feel those stirrings in your being that cause you to feel excited, not just excited, but compelled to act on a certain thing, that is God. That is God pointing you in the direction of your purpose. Almost a year ago I sat in bed one night after coming home from a church gathering and inherently knew that my life was going to be drastically different. I didn't know how. I didn't know when. I just...knew. At that moment a very clear vision of myself in the future was shown to me that night, and then later hidden away in the back of my mind, so well hidden that I forgot it was there.

The next morning I went on with life as usual putting the previous nights thoughts away. It wasn't until last week that I nearly hit my knees in realization of just EXACTLY what God had been doing for me over the past ten months and I just never realized it. How OBLIVIOUS of me not to see what was so OBVIOUS!

A few weeks after that night I got it into my head (again) that I wanted to change physically. I began a portion control program and making healthy food choices,again. I longed for an exercise program that would excite me. Shortly after that, a dear friend invited me to try her Zumba DVDs with her. I was hooked. As a former dancer, this was the answer I had been looking for to get in shape. Ten months later, (yes! TEN months and many many many pounds lost later) I am still hooked on the natural high and youthful feeling the classes give me.

Changes in my personal life began to take shape, at times painfully so. I began to center my life around positive people that wanted to live for Christ and had a true desire to know him. It was after ten o'clock one night in Walmart when I found myself loaded with Christian books written to guide people towards positive parenting, healthy living and living a life of joy. I spent entirely too much money that night on books, but there was mysteriously not a sting of guilt from this penny pincher for the indulgence. I needed, had to have, must have those books right at that moment and guarded my buggy just daring someone to take them.

And finally, the last major change happened just three short weeks ago. I woke up one morning and just knew in the deepest crevices of my soul that I needed to leave my job. It was time. The time had come for me to open my practice. So three hours later, I was unemployed, but calm and unafraid. And even at that point....yes....even then....I still did not get it.

It wasn't until the other day that it hit me, and I mean, hit me like a bolt of lighting between the eyes.  The very clear vision that was put in my mind almost a year ago reappeared. And I just couldn't believe it. Every single change that had been made over the past months, were changes leading me to fulfill that vision.

And now, I believe with every cell in my being, that is where God wants me. And that is where God needs me. Therefore, that is EXACTLY where God is going to put me.

How does this effect you as a client? Simple. It is now my job to glorify God through this fulfillment by praying before any meeting with a client and offering to share a time of prayer with the client. I am not a pastoral counselor, but I am a therapist that is here because....well....God said so.

Taking cookies from a skinny girl....

Before I even begin this, let me just say that I have no desire to offend anyone.  If you read closely, you will see that the person I am poking the most is myself.

I drove home this evening causing even myself disgust.  I had just spent the last hour moving my aging body in directions that it lost the map to several years ago.  I was dripping with sweat and causing even my adoring one boy fan club to scurry quickly away.  But through the fog of my own cloud, I could see more clearly the image of myself.  We all have that image.  The one we see on the inside, that doesn't match the one on the outside.  And there she was, looking more youthful and feeling more fulfilled.

I can't wait for the day that the two images are identical and the disappointing "aw" isn't resounding out of me first thing in the morning.  I can't count the times that I have scurried past a mirror or window without a care in the world, and then I catch my reflection.  It's at that point I find myself asking, who is that?  Because...uh....THAT is NOT me.  But, alas, it is.  Then you pick up your pride and enter into your adult world of work and play.  It is there that you run into "her".

She is the perpetual skinny girl with all the advice in the world regarding how you should better handle your body.  The one that stands over you at lunch smacking on her cookie while reminding you "It's a temple you know."  Uh...yeah...I know.  The not so nice side of you wants to take that cookie and....well, I can't exactly finish that thought.  Taking dieting advice from a skinny girl with no history of weight issues is not only self-defeating, it's down right tasking to the nerves.

Just as taking advice from a Christian that doesn't walk in the word........well.  You follow?  I know I do. God has put this on my heart more and more as I draw closer to opening my office doors.  If we are going to offer the advice, we need to walk the walk and not stand over our friends and family smacking on that cookie.  I believe that when we drop the cookie, our image of ourselves and the image God has of us will merge.  Therefore, making the trip past the mirror in the morning a pleasant awakening.

Frogs in his pockets and love in his heart.....

I never had the slightest inkling what I was in for when it came to raising a son.  There isn't a day that goes by that I don't find myself with my head thrown back in laughter.  Sometimes the laughter was to keep from crumbling in a defeated pile on the floor and crying.

There are many examples, but one special moment comes to mind.  It frames the opposing images of rearing a son just perfectly.  There is nothing more that our son loves to do than to "fix it".  Last summer in an attempt to thwart the boredom that accompanies a summer without his new found school chums, I gave my soon to be kindergartner a few of Daddy's harmless tools and tool belt to wear and played along at his request.  He politely asked me in his best handyman tone if there were any "fixins that needed doing".  I explained that I had noticed a leak in the kitchen sink that he could possibly help me with.  Off he went to conquer the world of "fixins".  After a short time, he returned to let me know that it had been handled and I owed him ten fifty hundred dollars for the job.

Awwww...how cute I thought and tousled his hair.  That evening I began to wash dishes and felt warm water pour in a steady stream onto my feet.  With reluctance I peered into cabinet beneath the sink and there lay every piece of pipe neatly placed side by side at the base of the cabinet.  Oh, my handy man had fixed it alright!  I then spent the next two hours rebuilding our sink.

I wanted nothing more than to speak to Dr. Dobson himself at that very moment and plead with him to refresh my memory on his eloquently stated parenting advice found in his book, Parenting Isn't for Cowards.  Boy, could he have not picked a better title for that book or what.  Boys are a unique gift that should come with their own separate set of instructions.

There isn't anyone that can express that better than Dr. Dobson himself.  Below you will find a link to an excerpt from his book, Bringing Up Boys.  I highly recommend that if you find yourself hearing the words, "Congratulations!  It's a boy." You swaddle that baby in a hospital blanket and crack open that book.  You're going to need it.


http://www2.focusonthefamily.com/docstudy/bookshelf/a000000388.cfm#