Book Club

Another good prayer was written in Outside our Comfort Zone and The Turquoise Shoes had me laughing. To answer Susan’s question “Have you ever set your mind on having something, certain that it was meant for you, even though all the signs were telling you it wasn’t?”

O heavens yes. I have made this mistake so many times that I wonder when I will learn. This story was about a pair of pretty shoes and I recently just did this with a pair of flip flops. I had to have these flip flops a few weeks ago and they totally destroyed my feet during one walk. The scars from the blisters on my feet will probably stay all summer.

I have also convinced myself that cars were meant for me, poker tournaments, home décor and even some toxic people. After acquiring a lot of debt in my 20’s and being drained by drama, I am quickly learning in my thirties to follow my gut. It guides me well and is rarely wrong.

Lately my gut has been eerily accurate. What would life be like if women honed this instinct at a younger age?

5/13/10

Story 23 is called Weeding in Gods Garden. At first I was wondering where she was going with her thought and then I ended up loving the last two paragraphs. Karen Talcott cleverly points out how we shouldn’t complain about the weeds in our garden because think of the muttering that God does when he has to weed the human garden.

If you still don’t get her thought think of it this way. We humans create so many problems for ourselves here on this earth. Imagine how God feels when he has to clean up mess after mess each day especially those messes when the person just doesn’t learn their lesson.

Karen thoughts about the earth and how we take care of it resulted in me thinking of some recent news articles. About a month ago I read an article saying that China’s air is so polluted that it has now crossed the ocean and has now blended with California’s. I know LA already had a pollution problem but this has really made efforts to clean up the issue more difficult.

I also recently read about the behind the scenes human cruelty that goes on so that we all can use our cell phones. Polluting the air and disregard for human life is not an issue when large companies are battling to give us our clothing and gadgets.

Note the first sentence of Karen’s prayer “Dear God, how we like to go on about our problems and want quick and easy answers.” This is so true. This sentence applies to me too. I love to shop for clothes and can’t live without my cell phone. I know the working conditions that people have to suffer with so I can have these things but yet I still use the product.

I hope for easy answers for these people so I can still use my toys but I know deep down that it’s not the case. In my opinion it’s not the case for a lot of issues. We love our technology and have come to need it and there is no easy way to go back. Can you imagine the world going back to the days of no computers? Does the world want to even though the end result hurts the earth? I think we are hopelessly hooked.

If there is a 2012 coming maybe we all deserve it. Maybe the earth should be cleansed and given a fresh start. We have had thousands of years to take care of Mother Earth and have not done a good job. When humans create these cool inventions I think how it will make life easier comes to mind first with the waste and pollution issues coming last or being completely disregarded for the love of money. Will God finally be over his human weeds and start a new garden one day?

3/19/10

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I only wanted to discuss story 22 this week because I have a lot to say on the topic. Only Five Dollars is a story about helping the homeless. It made me look at how I used to handle these situations and what I do now due to my relationship with God.

As a child I fed the homeless with my parents and was taught to give to the poor. On the other hand as I grew up I started to notice different situations in dealing with the poor. On some occasions we would try to help and the person would get really angry one even got violent. Then there were other times that the person would take the cash and go buy booze.

By my teenage years I wasn’t so hot on helping the homeless anymore. I felt like they were wasting the money away. Then in my twenties I actually met someone who chose to be homeless and was part of a group. At that point I was done helping. A homeless person could hold a sign right up to my face and I would keep walking.

Then God came into my life and this whole obedience thing. It changed me forever. I realized that a few unappreciative homeless people are not the poster for all. It doesn’t matter how they got themselves into the situation. What matters is that they need help now.

It’s not our duty to judge but our duty to give if we have the extra cash. If I have 5 dollars, 10, and 20 might be the limit. If a homeless person approaches me and I have the cash I will give it to them. I feel it is the obedient thing to do. I feel like God is my dad telling me to do something that I don’t fully understand yet but one day I will. This started happening a few years ago and now I am getting it.

The next time I walk out of the grocery store and see that the homeless person has chosen to buy booze instead of food. I won’t get mad but will know that I made my father happy. Who knows the next homeless person could actually go buy a meal. The next person could be like the old woman in the story so I’ll never give up trying.

2/21/10

I have to say again that the prayers in this book are amazing. The 20th story is called The Best Christmas Gift. It’s a sweet story about the birth of Susan’s first born son. The prayer at the end got me thinking about how easy it is to get caught up in the holidays but not Christmas.

We had a fantastic time this Christmas as there was no sickness and we were surrounded by amazing friends. My pastor gave an excellent sermon that week about the journey of the wise men after meeting baby Jesus.

Susan’s prayer and my pastor’s sermon make me realize that I need to pause during the holiday parties and really teach my kids the story of not just Jesus’s birth but of how the journey of the wise men after meeting him is very special too. The days following the meeting shows how important Jesus really is and that we should be taking time during our holiday parties to stop and say a prayer of thanks to God. Thus remembering to celebrate Christmas too.

Story 21, Everyday Mundane Things made me laugh but it’s so true. I pray to God for little things all the time but I find that my husband does not. I think men who believe only want to bother God for big things.

My husband will be able to identify with this story. He had some issues going on at work last week that was stressing him out. Of course it’s not the end of the world but by day 3 of watching him be very thrown off by this co worker I asked him if he prayed. He gave me a look and I urged him to talk to God about this situation. I don’t know when he prayed I just know he did and he is having an amazing turn around with this situation.

1/21/10

The stories for this week are 16-19.

The story Like a Child made me think of my friend’s son. He is 4 years old and she bought him a camera. It is so funny to see what he takes pictures of. When you give a child a camera you see life thorough their eyes. It’s very interesting and comical.

Destiny is such a sweet story. Children are gifts from God and I am so glad that God lent me two beautiful children too. The author used the words lending when thanking God for the adoption of her first child. It just made me think that all children are gifts we should take care of no matter how they arrive in our homes.

Wow, I can’t imagine going through what the author of In God’s Hands had to endure. We want to fix everything for our children and this story made me realize that there will be times that a parent just can’t. Children are individuals too and at some point have to deal with their actions themselves. It will be hard for me to leave things in God’s hands when dealing with my children. This story will be great to reflect on when I have to go through this myself.