Deep Waters — A Devotional Thought for Monday

In Psalm 69:1-2, the Psalmist experiences something that we all go through every now and again–deep waters.

He says, “Save me, O God; for the waters have come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me (KJV, Psalm 69:1-2; http://www.Biblehub.com).”

In fact, I experienced something like this today. I have a writing deadline today and my computer wasn’t working. It kept locking up. So, I finally managed to load my docs on a thumb drive and take it to our local public library.

All I had to do was a simple edit.

Everything was going swimmingly (pun intended!) until I realized that I had saved an article under the wrong title…Which meant that somewhere along the lines, I’d deleted an article. And I had long ago deleted the client’s interview from my recorder.

Fortunately, I’d saved an earlier draft, so things weren’t that dire. Except that I had to go back home and use my rickety computer to get the previous draft.

Okay, so this isn’t the worst thing that could happen, even though I was close to tears and ready to take a sledge hammer to my cathode ray tube. But it was one of those life stressors. And we all experience those.

See the pictures that I took of the creek in Madison, Alabama? The one where Snuggles is gazing down at it like she would enjoy a nice swim?

What you may not know is that the creek is way too swollen for her to take a dip because we’ve had so much rain. Just give it a couple of weeks sans rain, and it will go back down.

When life’s worries seem to have you neck-deep in stress, remember the creek. Most of the time the stress will diminish.

In the meantime, ask our Father to give you strength until the floods recede.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path (Proverbs 3:5-6).”

#Psalm69:1-2
#Proverbs3:5-6
#MondayDevotional
#TrustGod
#stress
#lifestress

The Sunny Sunflower Field

Sunflowers in the Isom’s Field.

The other day, I drove past this beautiful field of Sunflowers in a sunny field in the country near Athens, Alabama. Love!!!

What southerner doesn’t love sunflowers? I surely do!

There was a sign that said something like: You pick–Saturdays mornings!

The field was near Isom’s Orchard, one of my favorite roadside farmer’s market that is known for their delicious peaches, apples, etc.

I met one of the Isom ladies, who is nice as she can be. All of those Isoms are super-nice.

What do you think of the sunflowers that I picked for Sweetgum House? I love comments! 🙂

Sunflowers at Sweetgum House.

Note: I paid $1/stem for the sunflowers, which won’t growing much longer. You may recall that my Papa Lindsey and then my parents owned a little store in rural south Alabama…So I love promoting local businesses such as Isom’s, Lowe Mill, Funky Monkey, University Pickers…all of those people! They’re cut from the same cloth as my Lindsey clan! 😉 Not to mention, I love writing about them!

#sunflowers
#sunnysunflowerfield
#sunflowersinfield
#southernlife

We’ve got #Shiplap!

My little reading nook.

I’m such a crazy fan of Joanna Gaines and her shiplap! I had to have some.

Unfortunately, I really don’t have an old farmhouse with shiplap hidden under some dated 1973 wood paneling.

So I made my oooooooooown! [Picture me singing this last word!!!]

Nope! My house was built in this millennia. I’ve got #sheetrock!

And one day, I will probably need to sell the place…some time in history when shiplap is no longer voguish. Therefore, I don’t want to nail up tongue-and-groove boards to my wall. And Lefty certainly doesn’t have time to make my shiplap dreams a reality.

No worries, I took my roller, white paint, and painted the walls white. Then I drew lines over the paint to look like the grooves in the boards. Finally, I used acrylic paint to do highlights and shadows.

Voila!

What do you think??

I think I’m going to do a tutorial blog, so stay tuned!

My fake shiplap!

#shiplap
#farmhouse
#farmhousechic
#myfakeshiplap

 

The Reboot — How to get Up and Going after an Illness

My rainbow reboot!

I contracted my first poison ivy rash near the beginning of June. Miserable, I went to the doctor and got a shot that eventually cleared it up but somehow caught a tummy bug the next week. By the time I was feeling better, I found another horrific rash on my legs that itched and hurt like poison ivy but it was much, much worse. I experienced extreme swelling and fever at the site. My doc again told me that it was some type of contact dermatitis. After the pain and itching went away, my tonsils started swelling and my throat became inflamed with tonsilitis. By that time, I felt like a truck had hit me. When I was a little better, I went outside just to pick a couple of tomatoes from my garden. And, you got it…I got that same horrible rash on my hands this time and had to have a shot and antibiotics.

 

The culprit: Virginia Creeper!

 

As you can guess, I was beginning to feel “learned helplessness” like Seligman’s dogs in his classical conditioning experiment.

Point is, I had become very discouraged. The house needed cleaning, my family had been eating out a lot during my infirmary, and I was deplete of positive energy.

I needed a complete reboot!

Just shut the whole system down, and start over.

Here are some things I learned about rebooting after a major setback:

1. Be patient. Regaining energy takes time. Be sure to give your mind and body time to rest so that it can heal. You definitely don’t want a relapse!

2. Be patient. It takes time to get back into the swing of things–the housework, grocery shopping, prepping meals. Patience helps to keep you from being overwhelmed by it all.

3. Be patient. Ease back into an exercise routine. I found that tai chi was a good way to do this because I can do it inside, and the stretches and movements are slow and easy.

4. Be thankful. In my case, I’ve been thankful that I don’t have a long-term illness and am usually very healthy.

5. Go! I began to feel alive again after getting out, being around people again, and being creative.

The reboot isn’t fast, but I’m thankful that it’s happening.

I’ve just got to avoid the Virginia Creeper.

“Jesus said, ‘Rise, take up your bed, and walk John 5:8.’”

This beautiful field of flowers makes me happy.

 

#illness
#discouragement
#reboot
#recovery