One of those days

I won't even ask if you've ever had "one of those days". If you're breathing, the answer is, "yes".
Let me back up a few months in thoughts. For several months now, I'll go through my days and think to myself, "I'm so blessed. God is so real and so sweet in my life right now." Then almost as fast as that thought comes, this one comes on it's heels, "I wonder what God is preparing me for in all this peace?"
Well, let me just say, in the past few days, well, it's been bad. And I don't mean just for me personally but rather for my children and grandchildren. I've cried for most of this day, moaning and groaning and feeling quite confused as to just what was going on. It felt like one attack after the other.
Now I've been on this journey with Christ for quite sometime now. And through it there have been many lessons learned. Now wouldn't you think the biggest lesson would have been this; that the enemy is out to steal and to kill and to destroy but that I belong to the Creator of the Universe and we win! But noooooo! In my misery, I lost sight of that fact! God forgive me, please.
Then late in the day my daughter sent me a link to a song she likes and asked me if I'd ever heard this version. I hadn't and being the good mother I pulled it up to listen to.
I was suddenly and compassionately pulled from my wallowing into the presence of God thru this song, IN JESUS NAME (live) by Darlene Zschech. After listening and crying some more I realized what was going on in my world. I and my family, were being attacked by invisible fiery darts from the enemy.
No, the fact that I realized what was going on, in fact, did not change the circumstances. It did however, change me. I do not have the power to change the circumstances, but God does. I do not have the power to redeem what was stolen, but God does. I can not, no matter how badly I want to, fix what's happening, but God can.
My job is to lay it all before the alter, lift it all up in prayers like incense before my God. My job is to rest in the knowledge that I am not in control but that I serve the one who is. No, I don't understand it, I'll never understand it, but that part is not my job. Just breathe. Gods got this!

The sewing machine

I have a sewing machine. Actually I've had some sort of sewing machine ever since I started having children, 42 years ago. I'm not an accomplished seamstress, however, I'm pretty darn good witha straight stitch and a zig-zag stitch and some imagination. Patterns have never been my strong suit, but I have on occasion used a few with some alterations.
I have a love-hate relationship with the sewing machine I have right now. It's a simple Singer. I don't ask it to do Ralph Lauren or anything that is seen on the runway of fashion. I ask it to sew a straight stitch. Every now and then I asked it to zig-zag a frayed edge.
One afternoon it's works like a dream. I walk away to make a cup of coffee and come back and it knots up the thread on the underside. Why? I run out of thread, change the thread, it sews beautifully. Why?  I complete a project and put the machine away. Next Tuesday, I create, in my head, a great shirt. I get the material out, measure, cut, pin and sew! Not! Since last I touched this little jewel of a machine, the machine gremlin has visited. the stitches skip 1/2 inch at a time. I check the stitch size, no different than on Saturday. I take all thread out. Rethread, sew. It's sewing beautifully. Why?
So at this point my creative mind is trying to figure out a way to complete this shirt without stopping. Can one actually leave the material in the machine and pin as you go? Trust me, I have tried this! And the answer is NO YOU CANT!
So as of today, I had a way cool shirt I was copying off an internet style catalog I really love. I layed out the material, measured, cut the neck, pinned tiny pleats down the front, and one down the back, cut out lace to add into a cut out in the back and got out my trusty little Singer. Due to our great grandsons visiting I set up the machine in a different place. Checked thread and put the first little pleat in place, dropped the foot and started sewing. The machine sounded like a wounded cat! My husband, who was playing a game with the boys at the table I usually set up at said, "Sounds like it needs oiling." I gritted my teeth and said nothing. You see, he has an engineer brain; that means a brain that does not believe in sewing machine gremlins.
This afternoon it won't load a bobbin. Why? Does anyone know how to get rid of gremlins?

Dirt

The other day I was at SAMs doing the normal shopping. I was casually walking, checking things out as I went towards checkout station #4. And it came like a ton of bricks! The smell of dirt! That's right D I R T. I could not fill my lungs fast enough with this intoxicating smell. I followed my nose to a small, a very small, display of Spring bulbs. You know the kind in such a tiny amount of soil you wonder how they survive? Yeah that kind. I was weak. I succumbed to the allure of the display and came home with a box of "shade loving" plants.
Now for my confession. Until that day, I had no idea I was a dirt-a-holic. Yes, I often play in the dirt, smushing it in my hands, allowing it to sift through my fingers, patting it down around a new plant and yes, enjoying the aroma.
I wonder if there are support groups for such a problem. Hmmmmm