Day 53

Hi,

It has been a while. I've been having trouble with my computer. After struggling and rebuilding my system (twice) I finally just decided to trash it and get a new one. I cannot afford an expensive one so I went to my neighborhood computer store (where I take mine when things go wrong) and traded my broken one in for one that they built at the store. The cost was not too bad.  I would have liked to have gotten "7" but I got XP Professional instead -- it was cheaper. I had Vista on my old one.

As I am working with XP I can see why people liked it better than Vista -- it seems to be much more intuitive. When I moved from Mac to Vista I did not know any better and simply used it. I had purchased it when Vista was new and the complaints were not so loud yet. Anyway, I am now set up and running again. (I still think Mac is better -- but cannot afford it anymore and the programs for Windows seem to be cheaper and are available everywhere -- and so are viruses and spyware, so you really have to be diligent with Windows. Mac you don't much have to worry about in the viruses area because most of them don't run on Mac.)

As far as the eating program, I still need to make the schedule which I talked about in my last post -- that is when the computer went kaput -- but now that I have a new "MS Office" suite I will try out "Outlook" to see if that is the kind of thing that will work in that program. I don't yet know anything about it, but see it as a requirement in a lot of job posts, so would like to become at least familiar with what it does and how it works.

For the most part I have continued to eat fresh raw veggies and protein with only a couple of "episodes." One where I ate ice cream and another when I had pop corn two days in a row. But other than that, I've been eating pretty clean. I did check and have gone down a couple of pounds but don't want to give out any numbers until I see something solid and sustained in that area.

I don't have any new "insights" for today, yet, but am glad to be able to blog freely again. I let the exercise collapse while facing the computer problems so have to get myself motivated to start that again. It should not take much because I have been noticing some pains in my neck area that I know come from lack of exercise. I did my 12 minutes on the Aerofit yesterday and did a bunch of crunches but got sidetracked and did not do the cervical traction, so that is on the agenda for today.

I think I must have gotten a little depressed through this last time period because my living room needs to be cleaned up and the dishes are nearly all in a state of waiting to be cleaned -- again. I have some clean towels that need to be folded and that will clear up one area of the living room. I need to spend my time in the Word and pray a little more. I went to church last night and sat with a new friend, Margaret, whom I met last Sunday at "Home Coming" (which I found out is a birthday celebration of the founding of the church). She was interesting to talk to and we seem to have a lot in common. I was glad to see she came to church again on Wednesday.

My church is very special. At the end of every service the Pastor chooses someone to stand next to him and his wife and the speaker, and shake the hands of the people as they leave; and last night he chose Margaret. You should have seen her face. She seemed afraid and pleased and excited all at once, and as she hugged everyone she teared up again. I am so glad they chose her, I think she may have needed the validating experience. It is a wonderful feeling to shake everyone's hand or hug them or speak to them, it just does something good for the soul to receive that much acknowledgment -- which we single older women don't get much of.

I was glad to hear that the Lord opened Dallas' ears on Monday, too. He had been dealing with that for a long time -- perhaps more than a month and I have been praying for him. I am concerned for my friend Mrs Wanda, too, she has been told she has breast cancer and it is a fast growing variety, so we have all been praying for her to help her make right decisions about treatment and to be healed. You know, when you start to pray for people you really get to be acquainted with all the pain and suffering in the world that goes on. If you try to carry the burden yourself, it is a heavy one. But nothing is too heavy for the Lord. Reminds me of a scripture:

Matthew 11:28-30  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Sometimes when I hear the stories of the stuff that people are going through my life does not seem so bad. I am just glad that God is able to take care of any and everything. He is the Great Healer and all a person has to do is turn to Him in faith -- and the prayers of other Christians really do make a difference. We share the miracles at our church, too. Like how two times in one week God protected two of our men from imminent harm -- one (our Pastor) was struck by lightening and came away unharmed in any way -- and the other one had been helped in a Walmart parking lot late at night. As he approached his car, a friend hollared, "Hey, hey, hey," and a man dressed all in black who had been crouching on the other side of his car stood up and ran away. God is so good!!

At Sweet Fellowship I used to be a teacher and when we did prayer requests I would write them down on the back of my lesson. I will never forget the day that I was scanning through the notebook and began to read the prayer requests over a many  month time period and was amazed to see that each and every one had been answered, including children who had been gone for years finally contacting parents, major illnesses healed, jobs found and a myriad of other blessings that God had poured out on our group as we prayed. A verse that just came to mind:

James 5:16  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

If you are a Bible believing Christian you know that a "righteous" man or woman is one who believes in Jesus Christ and who has been clothed in His righteousness. So if you want healing, seek out a person whom you know is a true believer and ask them to pray for you.

I have asked for prayer to be delivered from obesity and the more I cling to the Lord, the more able I am to walk the higher path. I slip, but I do not let that discourage me from going on.

For inspiration today, read Charles Spurgeon's "Morning and Evening" for this date -- the morning one especially. I will paste it below for those who do not have access:

"August 13-Morning {Daily Reading: #Isa 64:1-66:24} {Quick Study: #Isa 63:1-66:24}

"The cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted. {#Ps 104:16}

"Lebanon’s cedars are emblematic of the Christian, in that they owe their planting entirely to the Lord. This is quite true of every child of God. He is not man planted, nor self-planted, but God planted. The mysterious hand of the divine Spirit dropped the living seed into a heart which he had himself prepared for its reception. Every true heir of heaven owns the great Husbandman as his planter.

"Moreover, the cedars of Lebanon are not dependent upon man for their watering; they stand on the lofty rock, unmoistened by human irrigation; and yet our heavenly Father supplieth them. Thus it is with the Christian who has learned to live by faith. He is independent of man, even in temporal things; for his continued maintenance he looks to the Lord his God, and to him alone. The dew of heaven is his portion, and the God of heaven is his fountain.

"Again, the cedars of Lebanon are not protected by any mortal power. They owe nothing to man for their preservation from stormy wind and tempest. They are God’s trees, kept and preserved by him, and by him alone. It is precisely the same with the Christian. He is not a hot house plant, sheltered from temptation; he stands in the most exposed position; he has no shelter, no protection, except this, that the broad wings of the eternal God always cover the cedars which he himself has planted. Like cedars, believers are full of sap, having vitality enough to be ever green, even amid winter’s snows.

"Lastly, the flourishing and majestic condition of the cedar is to the praise of God only. The Lord, even the Lord alone hath been everything unto the cedars, and, therefore David very sweetly puts it in one of the psalms, ‘Praise ye the Lord, fruitful trees and all cedars.’ In the believer there is nothing that can magnify man; he is planted, nourished, and protected by the Lord’s own hand, and to him let all the glory be ascribed."

Amen! Be back soon -- Lord willing

--Marcia