Category: Just My Thoughts

Peeve of the Season

by ObtainingMercy, posted in Holiday, Just My Thoughts

 

My pet peeve for the Christmas season:

people who change the words of the Christmas carols!


Case in point: Jewel.

(And before you think to question me about my music preferences, I do not listen to Jewel and I do not own any of her cds. I heard this song on the AOL free radio Christmas station.)

She can sing…

"Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth"

…without any hesitation;

BUT she changes "Offspring of a virgin's womb" to "Offspring of the favored one" in the previous verse??? 

Why?

Because without the virgin birth, Jesus is just another man.

A really great man, apparently, according to what Jewel believes. He wants to give man a "second birth" and He is "ris'n with healing in His wings".  Considering what folks believe with today's New Age mysticism, they could sing those words about any good man.

 

If, however, you sing that a Man was born of a virgin – that, of necessity, makes Him Diety – God Almighty! And the world just can't admit or acknowledge that about Jesus Christ.


I know…why should I even be surprised that the world doesn't believe that the baby Jesus was truly the Son of God? I guess, in all actuality, I'm not surprised or even offended.


What I do object to, though, is this: 

when they take the songs of authors who did believe this truth with their whole heart, and twist and distort the author's message to be something that it isn't:  a pretty song about a winter holiday.


As a musician, as a singer and soloist, I can with a clear conscience, admonish you,

  • If you cannot sing every word of a song with sincerity and honesty… 
  • If you don't believe every word of the song you are performing…
  • If you can't be true to the message of the author… 

Don't sing the song!


We musicians should take our role very seriously, as we use music to proclaim our Christ and the message of His Word. While we don't expect the world to honor or understand His message, we should do our utmost to proclaim it clearly.

May we honor Christ this season – with our lives and our music.

Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Less is More

by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Isaac Update, Just My Thoughts, What's Happening

I looked to see if I had any new pictures downloaded since my last post…and to this blogger's utter shame, I do not!

How embarrassing!

😉

So, with no pictures, I'll have to work really hard to make this interesting, won't I?

We are all doing well, but not great.  Doug is still fighting an eye infection, and Isaac and I are both still having sinus issues.  Isaac isn't sleeping well, either, so…well, you know…hyper, overstimulated boy and tired mama and daddy.

We have made some changes to his feeding schedule lately, and to our utter delight, it has gone really well.  We are feeding him fewer times during the day, with more formula at each feeding.  He seems to be more satisfied between feedings this way, and we are really pleased.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I have an internet friend who is traveling halfway across the nation today to meet and adopt a little girl she has been praying about for many, many months.  That is so exciting!  This little one has many special needs, and I am so thrilled to see her find a forever home with an experienced former nurse and mom who already has two other special needs children besides.  What a joyful home this special one will be coming back too. 🙂

~~~~~~~~~~~

On a sadder note, we have more friends who are facing very serious battles with cancer right now – people our own age, and also folks who have been mentors and friends to us over the years. 

I really want to just lay right down in the floor and throw a temper tantrum about it.  I know that is such an immature thing to want to do.  I trust in my sovereign God – I truly do.  But for ME, for my friends' families, I am so sad to lose more precious people to this disease.

I read the following quote this week and it helped me:

"Do not be afraid to suffer.  Do not be afraid to be overthrown.  It is by being cast down and not destroyed, it is by being shaken to pieces, and the pieces torn to shreds, that men become men of might…" ~Beecher

I don't think I'm there yet.  I am still quite afraid to suffer too much.  However, I do want to learn to trust my Saviour more.  I do want to learn more of His power, and to see it used in my life; and it seems the two work together:

Phillipians 3:[8] Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
[9] And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
[10] That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Yep – there seems to be a pattern there: 

  • less of me, more of Him;
  • less comfort, more knowledge of Him;
  • less of my control, more of His power.

I'm so grateful that He is willing to let me continue to "grow up" in Him.  I do feel like such a "brat" some days – and a spoiled rotten one, at that.  I thank God that He is a good and patient Father to me!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, on a lighter note, Doug has been asked to help with our church's senior citizen's ministry.  He is extremely excited about that.  He will be working with an incredible saint of God who has just gone  – successfully, I might add – through his own battle with cancer.  Doug knows there is much to be learned from this seasoned pastor, and he is eager for the opportunity.

It makes me very happy to see my husband's gifts recognized and encouraged.

Yep…makes me proud and humbled all at the same time.

🙂

Our God is a good God (just in case you needed to be reminded.)

Thanks for reading,

Alesha

 

A Comment That Made Me Think

by ObtainingMercy, posted in Just My Thoughts

Sonya, over at Sonyamacdesigns, had a really great comment about the picture in my last post, and I wanted to share it with you, along with a couple of thoughts of my own.

"…The
beauty of Gail's grapes is evidence for us all, in the lasting uplifting
power of the work of our hands. I'm so Thankful for her obedience to
our Father then, so you could share so that others may read and be
therefore obedient when HE prompts their spirits … Thankful"

Sonya, thank you for this thoughtful comment.  You know, our creative works are important, aren't they?  How many works or art, books, songs – have moved others to know our God, and to worship Him as their Saviour?  It's exciting to think that Gail's obedience to plant a grape vine has drawn others closer to the Lord!

I do pray a lot when I work on my jewelry.  But usually it's more of a panicked sort of "Lord, help me to finish this piece!" :)  I think I need to start praying that the Lord will guide me to make pieces that somehow reflect HIS glory and draw others to Him.

You have really got me thinking on this, Sonya!

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with me!!! 🙂

Blessings to you all,

Alesha

I Forgot I Was Grieving

by ObtainingMercy, posted in A Door of Hope, Friendship, How Great is Our God, Just My Thoughts

I am, on balance, a fairly happy person.

I love the Lord, and I love my life.  I feel content in most circumstances.  Even if I get temporarily thrown off my usual stride, I can usually find my equilibrium, so to speak, pretty quickly.

You see, I like peace.  I like to feel peaceful.  I dislike anxiety, fretfulness and worry.

So, I'm learning to focus on my Lord, and to allow His peace to fill me.

That is why I have been extremely frustrated with my self the past month or so. 

I have not felt very peaceful.  I have been quite fretful.  I have been grouchy, cantankerous, and (I say it to my shame) a tad unforgiving lately.

And I don't like being that way!

I have been unhappy with myself that I am feeling unhappy with others and with life in general.

Then, this morning, I was working with Isaac, listening to the music playing in his room, and I just burst into tears.

The song was about Heaven.  I hear songs about Heaven several times every day.  I don't usually break down over them.

This song, however, was about our friends and loved ones who are already in Heaven, how we miss them, and how happy we will be to see them again.

Then I remembered.

Gail.

I am still grieving over losing Gail.

Don't get me wrong.  I think about Gail every day – usually more than once a day.  I mostly think of things that I want to tell her — then I remember that I can't.  So, I move my thoughts on to something else, and get on with my day.

But grief eventually needs its outlet, doesn't it?

I can't keep just pushing it aside for other things, because that's where the discontent comes from.  That's why I'm so easily frustrated and angered and why I hold on to those feelings longer than usual.

I've pushed aside the grieving to get on with my life, but the sadness just isn't disappearing. 

So, today, when I burst into tears, I should have just let those tears continue until I was finished with the crying.  As usual, I stopped them so that I could go about my business.

I think the next time they start, I'm just going to indulge them for a little while.  Maybe some of the anger, fretfulness, anxiety, unforgiveness with flow away with the tears.

Yeah, so I remembered I'm still grieving.  That's ok.  I think I will just give myself a little break today, and grieve for my sweet friend who I am missing so very much.

Our God is such a great God to create us to feel so many emotions, and then build into our very bodies the outlet for those emotions:  tears, laughter, and the huge array in between the two.

I almost wonder that if I allow myself to cry, I will find that my laughter returns as well.

I just think it might.

I Keep Reminding Myself

by ObtainingMercy, posted in Just My Thoughts

…that shorter posts are ok!  It's hard for me to just pop on here, say what's on my mind, then move on to the next thing.  Somehow, I feel the essentials of great writing must be observed here.

And, for the most part, I guess they should be.

But blogging is also about saying what's uppermost in your mind.

So, for what it's worth:

  • I've figured out that I get headaches when I'm dehydrated.  If we don't juice our veggies, I end up with a headache by mid-afternoon.
  • I made myself a smoothie.  I'm hoping it will help to rehydrate me. 🙂
  • I have not accomplished very much today.
  • I turned on the washer (that Doug had already filled), and after the first washing, I re-filled the Downy ball with vinegar and put the load on for it's second wash. (We wash all of Isaac's bed pads twice, with hot water, and use vinegar in the rinse.  It's the only way we've found to completely remove the urine smell.)
  • I've kept Isaac semi-content today.  It's been an all-day job! :o/
  • I did a little networking for my jewelry Facebook fan page, which leads to my Etsy site.
  • I got some jewelry packaged and ready to mail out tomorrow! 🙂
  • I checked the mail…it was greatly disappointing, except for the $10 off a $10 purchase for next week from JC Penney.
  • I guess that's all.

  • Oh, one more thing…is it just me, or do you have a hard time feeling content when everybody and their brother is vacationing and cruising and traveling?  I need to constantly stay on top of my attitude and spirit about that.  Whew…that's been an all-day job too. :o)  (I know many of them save all year for their vacations, so don't fuss at me.  I just mean that when I'm stuck at home, and others are not, I have to work on my attitude about that.  That's all.) :~D

I do hope that you feel your day has been profitable.  I'm a little conflicted on that today, as you can tell.  I'm hoping to work on some jewelry tonight…maybe that will help.  I'll let you know if I come up with anything FABulous! 🙂

Blessings to you,

Alesha

Ode to a Summer Day in a Truck with Faulty Air Conditioning

by ObtainingMercy, posted in Florida Weather, Just My Thoughts

Yesterday, I complained MANY TIMES to my hubby: "It is SO hot!"

He
finally told me, "Yes, I know! Maybe you should write a praise and
worship song about it!!!"

So, to that end, I offer the following:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It Is So Hot Today

by Alesha

.

(jumping up and down to the driving guitar rhythm)

"It is so hot!  It is so hot!  Today it is so HOT!

"IT is so hot!  It IS so hot!  It is SO hot!  IT IS SO HOT!

"Today it is so h-o-o-o-o-t!"

.

(softer now, with hands raised, swaying to the gentle keyboard score)

"The hotness is overwhelming me,

"The heat is overcoming my soul,

"The burning sun is melting me,

"I am so hot toda-a-a-a-y" 

.

("John-Tesh-worthy" electronic violin solo HERE!)

.

(jumping in on the chorus)

"It is so hot!  It is so hot!  Today it is so HOT!

"IT is so hot!  It IS so hot!  It is SO hot!  IT IS SO HOT!

"Today it is so h-o-o-o-o-t!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Feel free to add your own verses!!!

:o)

Have a great weekend (and stay COOL!),

Alesha