Hello? Did I wake you?

Our Daily Bread
I have a silly quirk (some might say "Just one?") -- I can wake up very quickly.  A coworker called me in the middle of the night once to ask for help on a change he was making to a server.  Even at 3:00 am, I answered the phone with a very perky, awake voice "Hey, Jerry, how are you?  Everything going OK?"  He said "Did I wake you?"  I said "Yes, but no problem.  What can I do for you?"  ha!  He commented on that at work on Monday.  I also learned very quickly in my only long term relationship that I was not allowed to wake my partner up by touching nose to nose and saying "Good morning, honey!"  He really hated that!  ha!

Well, while I am perky when awakened, God is not!  That is because God doesn't slumber nor sleep.  He is always there for us no matter what the time of day or night.  Who can we call on for 24 hour service at no extra charge?  Our God!  Praise God!  Always remember that we can call on him for our fears, our doubts, our joys and our praise at any time!

Lord, thank you for always being there for us!  Always!

Simply Saturday
Learning stuff from God no matter where you are...
It never ceases to amaze how God can speak to us through the ordinary things we do each day if we are just open to him.  I went to a movie on Monday.  During the previews, I heard this saying from the teenage character in an upcoming movie.  He was asked "Why do you let people treat you that way?".  He answered "We accept the way we are treated because we don't think we deserve better"  WOW!  Did I say WOW?!?  How deep is that?  I have been thinking about it all week as I prayed to understand how this applies to my life.

For me, it mainly applied in the area of my attempted romantic relationships.  I sometimes get mixed up with how Christians are supposed to forgive and forgive and forgive and not stand up for myself when feeling mistreated.  Granted, the word "mistreated" is very, very subjective.  Think about what that word means to  you.  God told me that I need to pray about this subjectivity and talk to him about it.  I may not be perceiving things correctly or have unrealistic expectations.  I might also be mistreated and need to do something about it.  Let's keep saying to ourselves "I deserve better!"

It also applies to other relationships with my family and friends.  If I feel that I am being mistreated, then I need to act the way I act most of the rest of the time in my life (and personality): do something about it!  Push back in a gentle and loving way.  The push back in a gentle and loving way is what I really suck at.  I usually let things build up, get angry and then say stuff I regret long afterwards.  ;-(  That is not a good thing.  Letting things build up causes too much inner heat (as traditional Eastern medicine describes it).  It is not good for the body!  Let's keep saying to ourselves "I deserve better!"

Think about this.  Pray about this.

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Let go, my friends!  God will be there to catch you and hold you in his loving arms!

U r a BCOG  U r FAWM