Cleaning and Sickness

You guys know that I've been trying to keep my house cleaner for my new year's resolution and you also know that I've had highs and lows in actually doing it.  I've noticed something recently and I'm not joking that this is how it works.  Every time I've spent a couple of weeks really cleaning the house and it's looking pretty good, inevitably I get sick.  While I'm sick, the house gets messy again and I get discouraged and end up back at where I started - feeling overwhelmed.

So the last couple of weeks I was really cleaning my house.  I was going to start over on the resolution and set up some good habits.  And, of course, I got sick.  I don't know if while I'm cleaning I stir up dust and then I'm wiping my nose a lot and putting my hands up on my face all the time and that contributes to getting me sick, but it's very frustrating because normally I'm a pretty healthy person.  I feel like I'm being kept in this crazy cycle and it's hard for me to break free of it.  It's easy to say "Satan is doing it to keep me frustrated and discouraged" but the bottom line is that I need to control my own attitude.  I could let it get me down or I could back on my feet and get to work.  This time, I'm choosing to get back on my feet.

Today, I still don't feel wonderful.  My throat itches and my head feels dizzy, but I feel better than I did.  So instead of looking around the house and feeling like I'm too far behind and I can't possibly get caught up, I'm digging in my heals and working.  It's kind of nice.  I don't feel like I've won the war, but this has been a huge victory for me.  It may seem silly, but this battle has beaten me time and time again and to finally have even one time where I've said, "I'm not going to let this put me back where I started" is a big deal.  I think it's important to celebrate the small victories as well as the large ones - and give the glory to God.  I can't do it on my own.

I have to thank my friend, Casey Husar for this too.   She doesn't know it, but she's been a huge help in this victory.  Back when I posted my blog about my new year's resolution, Casey posted a link to a weekly cleaning schedule.  I downloaded it and printed it out - and left it sitting in my printer for four months.  It seemed like too much and I felt like I had to clean my house first before I could keep it clean with the chart she sent me.  I finally felt like I needed to use it because I didn't know where to start.  It was amazing!  It broke things down and I finally felt like this was something I could do.  I think that's what has helped me be able to get back up this time.  I finally have someplace to start and I know where I'm going.  So thank you so much for your help, my dear friend!

Sometimes we can feel like we need to clean ourselves up before doing something that God has for us to do.  The worst lie we can possibly believe is that God wants us to clean ourselves up before coming to Him.  The truth of the matter is that our own attempts to clean us are futile.  We can't do it.  We can only come to Him and let Him clean us.  When we try to clean ourselves, it's like a child going down to a mud puddle and washing their hands.  No matter how hard they scrub or how long they wash, they will always come to their mother with dirty hands.  It's only when they allow their mom to take them to the sink and gently scrub away the mud with soap and clean water that they will be truly clean.  This Easter season our pastor talked about the thief on the cross.  He wasn't able to go and make restitution for what he had done or give money to the poor or go to church.  He was dying.  Yet Jesus told him that he would be with Him in Paradise.  Jesus cleaned that thief completely with His blood.  Praise the Lord!

Easter

Happy Resurrection!  I love Christmas, but I think Easter is my very favorite holiday.  Jesus coming is only part of the story.  It's a wonderful, joyous time, but I love Easter because it celebrates the reason He came.  I love the solemness of Good Friday.  I love the mixture of joy and sorrow.  If you've never done it, I encourage you to look up the details of a Roman crucifixion.  It's hard to stomach and difficult to imagine, but very eye opening.  Jesus was willing to go through the excruciating, humiliating agony of the cross - for ME!  That is absolutely amazing!  His blood was shed instead of my own.  He paid a price that I could never have paid and all because He loves me so very much.

And as awesome as Good Friday is, it would be worthless if Easter had never happened.  Jesus' resurrection gave us hope and showed that He triumphed over the grave so that we can, too.  Hallelujah!  I love this passage where Paul explains why the resurrection is so important for believers.

12 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. 15 Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.  (I Corinthians 15:12-22)

I hope that you had a precious weekend of reflecting on Jesus sacrifice and celebrating His resurrection.  The picture at the top is me, my mom and my sister at the end of our choir's Easter musical.  It was a beautiful way to remember the events of that weekend so many years ago.  I pray that Easter is not just a yearly holiday for you, but that it is something to be celebrated every day.  He has risen!  He has risen indeed!

A New Hobby

I've started a new hobby recently and it's all because I'm a reader.  One of the authors that I like to read is Debbie Macomber and many of her books have characters who knit.  She even has a series where the primary setting is in a yarn store and the group of women meet because they are doing a knitting class together.  After reading so much about it, I had to try it for myself.  Since my mom and my sister read the same author, they were game to try it with me.

I've been surprised at exactly how much I've enjoyed knitting.  I knit a scarf for each of my kids (which is extremely useful in Arizona).  Still, they were excited about it and kept coming to check the progress on their scarf.  I've started knitting a few dish cloths recently just to do something different and to use up some of my left over yarn.  I'm looking forward to trying new projects.

All of this makes me realize how much reading can influence what you want to try or where you want to go.  I want to visit places that I would have never had any interest in except that I've read about it in some story.  I've wanted to try activities simply because a character in a book enjoyed it.  I've wanted to try certain foods only because the description in a story sounded so good.  Which shows how important it is that the books I read are honoring to God.

I'm reminded of Philippians 4:8.  "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."  What am I thinking about after I read a book?  Is it honorable?  Is it lovely?  Is it pure?  If not, I need to rethink what I'm reading.

On the flip side, as an author, what do I want my readers to be thinking about as they read my books?  Would my stories fit within the qualifications of this verse?  I certainly hope so!