CHANGE (Cont'd)

I believe change truly comes from the power of God and not from us. II Corinthians 4:7 talks about being a hypocrite - I know my husband mentioned that briefly in his message last Sunday. I want to add a thought - Stop pretending to be someone you are not....just be who you are! Be real. Change - if you lie, change to tell the truth always. If you're not caring, change to be caring. If you don't take care of yourself, change to start looking good; take some pride in yourself. If you're hurting, call the 24/7 prayer line at our church and please know you will be prayed for. If you're lonely, try doing something for someone; make some cookies or brownies and take them to someone. Yesterday I took some crackers and chicken soup to a lady in our church who has missed work and church because of not feeling well. She said the crackers are the exact ones she eats. Sounds like I'm on a soapbox.......I can only speak for myself; I feel a zillion percent better when I desire a change for the better - and by all means if nothing else, do something just for you - change the color of your nail polish ....... change your way of thinking - uh-ho this one might freak you out....especially if you have a lot of negative or woe is me thinking - take a risk! Bottom Line: Change is inevitable; putting it off only delays happiness!!!

CHANGE

As my husband always says "Embrace that -- own it for a week.....get back in touch and we'll work on an answer." To me, change takes place. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! I love blogging as well as researching blogs of interest. I found this quote: "You can't change the whole world but you can change somebody's world.......somewhere." by George Hoffman. My grandfather on my Mom's side was a Park Custodian who picked up cig. butts daily for a living....and even though he didn't coin the phrase, "Put that in your pipe and smoke it," that was a release on his frustrations for having to endlessly pick up after people!!! That's the way I feel about blogging. My caring thoughts are what I feel would be something to think about, especially if you are looking for a change. My brother, who has gone home to be with the Lord, said "Carol - you wake up in a new world every day!." He couldn't have been more perfectly right! I'm not globally trying to change the world, but I know positive, caring words do more than calculated icey cold, rude words! Beginning my day with blogging keeps me focused and starts my day with a new attitude and plenty of gratitude! Seeing God's truth in new, fresh ways-change is inevitable!

PEACE

Peace is the tranquility which comes from order. Order means that everything is as it should be. When my life is running as it should I shall have peace. Seeking after God's peace and praying for "worries" that at some point burden me is the only answer. I've had so many people say, well if you're a Christian, you shouldn't worry. God commands the best for me....in my blind selfishness I run away from Him and in my human frailities, decide to take things in my own hands....at that point I am my own worst enemy....my greatest advantage is to have the Bible persuade me, once and for all, that seeking peace only comes from God. The song says "Peace, peace, wonderful peace; coming down from the Father above. Sweep over my spirit forever I pray....in fathomless billows of love." I ALWAYS feel so peaceful when I enter the Sanctuary at Church and it's time for a.m. Worshp. It's God calming my heart and saying okay Carol, you're here; you've done all the Outreach, Praying, Serving, Caring, Loving, 1-on-1 Invitations, Answered all the God questions, come on in relax, and hear a relevant message of course by the very best Pastor in the Universe.... = ) Want order and Peace.....need help in that decision.....I definitely know where you can FIND A GOOD CHURCH! -- Lighthouse Church.....10 a.m. see you here!
FFW: Family Friendly Welcome!

FRIENDS

You are better off to have a friend than to be all alone....if you fall, your friend can help you up. But if you fall without having afriend nearby, you are really in trouble. Proverbs says.... "A friend loveth at all times." and I truly believe it! I thank God for trusting friends!

Go Ahead - Make Someone's Day!

Yesterday I did a semi-study on Blogging (semi-meaning just barely getting started) and one of the great suggestions was have a catchy Title. In "Carol's Chicktionary Library" Go Ahead - Make Someone's Day would be "catchy." To me, just the mere meaning of my blog "Carol's Caring Thoughts" would be enough to pass today's title on........ okay so how would you make someone's day? It's Friday, so my day begins on Friday with my hair appointment and my hairdresser has a boyfriend and one of the questions she always asks me is "I know you have a Friday night date night with your husband, but I need some ideas from you as to what to do with my boyfriend this weekend." So I'm taking her the Entertainment section of the paper and she can choose. I'm positive that will make her day. Next.....I'm going to surprise an acquaintance I know with a cute keyring (she collects them) with a funky pen attached that I paid hardly anything for from Staples.........she suffers from "aloneness" since her hubby passed away 3 years ago. I know that will make her day. I'd love to hear how you will make someone's day and of course what I'm finding out is no one can remember her/his password to send a comment, so as the current saying goes with our kids "No worries." Have a better than happy Friday and okay - go ahead makes someone's day!

SERVING

Serving means giving up the right to control your schedule and allowing God to interrupt it whenever He needs to. Real servers pay attention to need and with much dedication to the task. Last night I had the privilege of going to a function regarding Women's Health and meeting a great staff of OB/GYN employees as well as Doctors and Nurse Practitioners. To see these people in a completely relaxed, social atmosphere as they "served" each attendee amazed me! I count on God and Him alone for my health and strength, but to know this particular medical profession have the answers to my health issues and for them to extend their service and answer any questions presented to them was way beyond my comprehension. But they did! Their staff was so cordial and serving everyone there a delicious meal of at least four or five entrees. Even though I proudly say I love to serve, I definitely felt served and find that in the medical profession, these people come by it naturally and devotedly!

Homemade Cards

Yep I'm hooked! With the exception of one Sister, all the others have an August Birthday. I have oooed and aweeeed over our daughter-in-law's magnificent homemade cards. Her Creative room is prettier than Michael's or Hobby Lobby for sure! This year for Mother's Day they blessed me with a beautiful "Stampin' Up! Card Kits." (Note: plural "kits) Last night before tucking in for bed, my last thought was I can't wait to get up on Wednesday and get all the birthday cards made! Much to my amazement, I finished at 5:42 a.m. (I'm not even going to say what time I got up.......caring word of advice.....don't do a TO DO reminder before falling to sleep!) :(

All I can say is - it was tons of fun and I will definitely brag to her on my accomplishments! There is an art to it (a little play on words)........and that is knowing what the recepient likes (i.e. colors, collections, etc.) and just put your whole heart and love into it! ......and going with the flow.......I've tried knitting, crocheting, tennis, sewing, keyboarding, but I'm sure this will be my main hobby......why??? because after the cards are made, it's a done deal: address, seal and mail! Waaaaaay cool!

Parenting

I found this quote by Dr. Spock "In automobile terms, the child supplies the power but the parents have to do the steering." Dr. Dobson says: "To apply consistent, loving discipline—resulting in mutual respect and self-control." A Pastor we know says "A child not only has to have esteem and acceptance, he's got to have affection." (Love with skin on it.) My husband always uses the Bible Verse Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a Child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." Training means lots of patience, but we have to train. Recently I dealt with a lady that, to put it bluntly, was saying discouraging words about her husband to the children. At first I didn't believe it and I'm sure my mouth flew open in disbelief. It was almost as if she was playing a game and wanted to children to "love her more than him." I thought to myself, what in the world is this world coming to? That's disgusting! Well, just go ahead and destroy your home in a matter of 2 seconds! Rules are made to be fair. And I admonish ladies daily regarding parenting: Do not degrade or cast a shadow of doubt on your child's Father while he is out providing for the family! My husband held a "Child Discipline" Seminar. One of the men actually spoke up and said the kids told him it was happening and he felt the "put down." Ladies, Women, Wonderful Girls......The principles and fairness of marriage remains the same for both Father and Mother and for all time. God's principles, as well as His character are immutable. I know it sounds like I am on a soapbox but when I heard that, I couldn't wait until morning to blog on parenting. Give me a call.....if you're considering being "unfair regarding parenting." I definitely care!!!!

A SCHEDULE

What is a schedule? Technically a schedule is a list of times and details of events that are going to happen and projected operations.....time planned it takes to finish. My definition is a timed plan for a procedure or project so that I can flow through the projected operation of my day in a calm, orderly, smooth progressionI would say, a TO BE DONE list for the mark of wisdom. Considering God's Proverbs 31 woman makes my schedule run smoothly. (Tending, serving, getting up early, taking care of family and home first, finishing the To BE DONE list and being flexible enough to go with plan B if Plan A doesn't work.) .......I've always heard "work your schedule or your schedule will work you." Garnish the Schedule with lots of love, prayer, and peace (to name just a few) and we all are bound to have a happy Monday!!!!

YEA, IT'S SUNDAY!

Okay everyone that knows me knows Sunday is my favorite day! What a great joy to be in the service of the Lord. Do I count it a privilege? You bet! Our church is known as a "loving church" - a church where you will hear a message of hope, guidance, and security. FFW-family friendly worship. Several years ago I was invited to attend church with a high school friend. My life has been changed in such a great way for being faithful in church since then. There is a definite difference......to be is the challenge from the Bible message that I receive. Hearing it motivates me to be a better Christian and confident that every battle is in God's hands to fight! See you there!!!!!

Super Saturday

I'm declaring this to be super Saturday! There are so many super things I have to do to catch up.........prepare for Sunday service is what makes it super. Practicing the new worship song; playing on the Keyboard and a song for offertory.....Q&A grocery buying......looking for a super buy in the shoe departments. I love to walk as my exercise and have decided my tennis shoes are not supporting my ankles. I know so many people who have promised to come to church...these people are hurting for someone to care for them. ....and talk about joy being lost and all the disappointments they have. I'm going to do some super Outreach to remind them our church service begins at 10 a.m. I know that's early, but it's only for 1 hour of their time. God's timetable and His motivation tells me to care to call and give a nudge of remembrance of caring...........when I pillow my head tonight.....I can honestly say what a super day!!!!! See ya in church tomorrow :)

NEW WORSHIP SONG

I'm a person who loves to learn something new! I do a lot of research on what's new in the corporate world; what's the latest in worship music; keeping up with various school systems to see what our grandkids might have to face in a new school year; video streaming world; scoping the Mall to see what's the latest in fashion; keeping up with the latest books and Author; oh, good grief the list goes on and on......my life is full of exciting events, and one of the latest is spending a ton of time this week learning a new worship song for Sunday. My husband is brilliant at finding accompaniment music for 99cents on the internet!!! (Imagine that!!!) and he even finds it in the right key...I could never thank him enough because at times music is my life.....practice, practice, practice and strict discipline to as I call it "keeping your voice in tune...." I'm hoping everyone's Friday is happy as we put music in our souls.....whatever music that motivates us to have a phenomenal day! Music moves me closer to being my best self!

A couple of A-Ha Moments at Starbucks!

Yesterday was a busy day for me and topping it all off with 3rd Wednesday, about 4-ish p.m. I told my hubby I was heading out to Starbucks to get my second wind......I had one of the employees discuss how much he loved working at Starbucks and began to tell me how much he gives out to make it a great experience for whomever he serves. To me, they give the customer what they want and to me it is exactly the way you like it. If not, they'll fix it the way you want it! The employee ("Barista") also stated he had been working extra shifts to help fund his College in the fall. I could definitely relate.....One of my first jobs was a "Soda Fountain Attendant" where I made malts, sodas, etc. at a Drugstore to fund my Freshman Year in College. I wanted to leave some encouraging words to him, which I feel I did.....at the same time, I was remembering the customers who sat in my particular area at the Drugstore who left super compliments to me. An added note......Starbucks has new lunch packs...sandwich, fruit or individual salads. What will they think of next? .....What an A-Ha moment.........Being at Starbucks, reading the "New York Times" newspaper while sipping my favorite latte!!!!

Can God fill your emptiness?

Life is full of disappointments. Whether it's a broken heart, a broken dream, or just something that hasn't gone right; we've all experienced true letdowns in life. When people are disappointed, they usually try to cover it up or build a wall; they look for a substitute or a distraction from the pain. Here's some good encouragement......when reaching a place of emptiness where the disappointments run deep, remember you are in the perfect position for a miracle. Why? Because God can make His good come from bad times. In the Bible (John 2:1-11) we read abut the first miracle Jesus had. He was only 30 and this was when he entered His public ministry. Turning the water pots into wine....what a miracle! In verse 7 the servants didn't need water - they needed wine. So they filled the pots "to the brim" v. 7. And then when He asked the head waiter to draw it and taste it, it had become wine. Jesus doesn't put on a big show to perform this miracle; it is almost imperceptible. He transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary. He fills our emptiness with new joy. He will take our empty waterpots and fill them to the brim with His goodness, provision, and love. At our church we have only one Wednesday night Service and it's called "3rd Wednesday." It's the only special time we are served Communion by the Pastor. There's no big show....just a time to let God fill the emptiness as we honor and respect the miracles He has done for us and the new life He gives us! There is nothing we can do about our no-wine situations (emptiness); we must trust in our faith in Jesus to do His transforming work in our hearts. ........the best is yet to come.....a life full of joy, happiness, and potential! ......I don't mean to sound "preachy" just sharing my caring thoughts........have a superb Wednesday!

DISCIPLINE

Actually I love the word discipline. I do not have a clue where I would be if I didn't not adhere to that word DAILY. It takes tough discipline to keep the goals and visions I have. But, without disciplining myself I would just be a glitz on the radar screen! I love to tackle huge challenges.....just like last Sunday at the W.O.W. (Women of Worth) class I teach, I shared with all the ladies there to form a (Siesta) (Sister) common approach and have accountability .....one lady continued to extend it to "Servitude." Now that's having a heart of concern and caring! I've begun this new week with that in mind.....simply disciplining myself to SERVE wherever needed! Yesterday my husband suggested to have just veggies for supper. That sounded so great I decided to have a candlelight dinner and the menu consisted of our 3 very favorite veggies.....green large butter beans, fried okra (only picsweet brand becaue I love to make the coating :) and corn on the cob. mmm-- but today's a brand new day and yesterday is history......so I'm going to continue the week disciplining myself to achieve any and all goals this day, of course looking to whom I may serve!

PEACE

Some caring thoughts about......peace. Having been raised in a home where fussing and fighting continued day after day, I have lived my entire adult life striving for peace, contentment, harmony, happiness (in that order). I couldn't wait yesterday to tell our Son & Daughter-in-Law how marvelous the grandkids were while being at our home last week; especially the fact that they get along so wonderfully. It was amazingly incredible! The Bible says "Peace does passeth all understanding....." And I truly deeply believe this as having witnessed it. In our homes or in our relationship with others, it is needful to give understanding to respect and the right attitudes that causes the home to stand the test of storms and ..... live in PEACE. Also, real living of PEACE is the ability to look beyond the present and view the finished products. Ahhh....... Strive for peace.....that's what it's all about. What a relaxing thought and a great way to get Monday started!

CONTENTMENT

I always make no bones about it.....today is always an exciting day for me. There is a feeling of contentment when I got to church. I know my husband will show everyone from the Bible answers. Psalm 103:1-13 is great to read re: contentment. It's not about what we have or accomplish, it is about who has us and what He has accomplished for us. Contentment leads to gratitude and I truly believe is based on havig my life filled with so much appreciation and God's love! Our church service is only for one hour but definitely worth the time. I call it a time to sharpen our focus! ........and if you read my previous posts on Sunday, I will always be content with giving anyone a chance to plug in to LC which begins at 10 a.m. See you there! (oooops remember "Women of Worth" class is at 9 a.m. as announced but usually every other week!) :)

W.O.W.

Tomorrow is W.O.W. Women of Worth class. We meet every other Sunday opposite of Q&A. I've been up early looking over my notes......the title of my teaching tomorrow will "3 Toughest Things About Being A Woman" I know we have to get up early because the class begins at 9 a.m. sharp and I do want to commend the sacrifice all the women have made to attend. So.....can't wait to see you at church - this time in Fellowship Hall where you will definitely be glad you came! In the meantime, have a very happy Saturday!! I know I will!!!

CHARACTER

In this day and age, that's a strange word to people who have not been raised up with the word. Lately I have had a lot of Ladies & Moms ask me my thoughts on this subject. At the mere mention of this word.....character, appears a puzzled look...........and the question that follows is what's that? I am proud to say that both of our kids were taught character. As we would spend quality time with two huge character books that instilled the value of respect of authority, responsibility, initiative, honesty, to name a few. In a nutshell my thoughts given on character are there is a great value system in place. I can still remember my husband saying regarding almost all the character traits......okay see that cookie left in the cookie jar...there's only one left so if he or I had said "Leave the cookie alone, please." The next time the family looked in the cookie jar, character was revealed by the cookie still being there. That is honesty and trust. Rather than get the cookie and make up an excuse why it was taken - obviously the character support given by the entire family that there was one cookie left - who took it? To me character speaks for itself - what you do when no one else is around. I would write a book on this subject, but as I mentioned, there are already books published. Rest assured character is not only needed, but mandatory! Have a super happy Friday. I know I will!

NEW DAY

This week has flown by! I know it's because I've had the fantastic privilege of having our grandkids. I have actually taken the entire week off of church tasks (except for crisis phone calls only) and answering e-mails! After remembering, we forgot to get photos of our fun time at Chuck E. Cheese the other day; we stopped by this time taking Grandpa with us. He loves great salad bars for lunch and they have a great one! CEC has 2 awesome photo machines now; one that is so cool for the kids; it has their pic and cool things they like to say about what they like; the other one is the standard 5 X 7 black/white drawn pic which we get each time we go b/c it has the date on it. Oh, yes, we have a "CEC Hall of Fame" pic wall!!! Then we went on a picnic to this really cool park (notice I'm talking kiddo language :) and of course, love it!)
The fun part about going on a picnic is getting it ready. Always remember (if you're a Grandma) to take a pillow to sit on; the benches are concrete and iron. Ugh w/o the pillow. "Remember lots of water"...says our Grandson. ...."and banana bread, Grandma; nice and fresh made today" says our Granddaughter. This Grandma, whether out on the town for lunch, breakfast, going shopping, or an afternoon with family albums, stories, playing games and all the other cool things, my time is well spent on this NEW DAY and is priceless with these precious ones!