Book Club

This is the first story of the book where I have a different opinion. At the end of The Parking Lot Mishap I totally agree with the author in the fact that we never know what is going on with a person. I too try to always take this into consideration when I’m dealing with a person that is not so nice.

On the other hand I feel that yes on our end we need to be understanding but the woman who stole the parking space could have a least given a response. I think no matter what is happening in your world unless someone has died, if you are confronted you can take 2 seconds to give a response. If she was a vendor at the event then simply just saying I’m so sorry but I’m late and am working here at the conference would have worked for me. I do not agree at all with how the lady just blew off the storyteller. We all have to make an effort from both ends.

Trust in the Lord No Matter What couldn’t have come at a better time. Over the past 3 weeks I have lost an acquaintance to an aneurysm, my uncle to a stroke, I had a hemorrhagic cyst rupture on my ovary and am now left with headaches and strange symptoms of pain all over my body.

If I reflect back God has been so good to me and you can clearly see the path that he laid. The author states “It’s not easy to take our eyes off a difficult situation and look to God, but once we give up control to Him, we can expect to see change.” This statement made me realize that I am focusing on the storm and not on Him. I just need to be strong and have faith and I will come out of this health issue just like all the others.

More reading

Lessons About Faith in God

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8/10/10

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