His Footprints, My Heart...

God is good all the time and all the time God is good. You've probably heard that before and, just like me, you've probably even said it many times. It just sort of rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? My wonderful hubby was unfortuntate enough (or maybe fortunate, we can't really see the "big" picture of what God's doing, can we?) to come down with the flu, and I mean the THE flu. Poor thing, he's had a rough month with surgery and now the flu. We were staying with my MIL and FIL this weekend. In their guest bathroom my MIL has a "perpetual calendar" with quotes and scriptures. The page for July 9th read, "In His graciousness, God gives us many luxuries; we make a mistake when we consider them necessities." The quote was taken from Love Comes Softly. Along with this quote was one of my favorite scriptures, taken from matthew 6:26, "The fowls...do...not gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them."

Needless to say, this spoke to me...

My husband and I have been so blessed, God has always provided what we needed and more, so much more. Even recently, with the stress we've had with so many issues, God has never left us, never forsaken us, not even really made us "suffer" at all. We've never gone hungry, not even had a lack of choices of what to eat. He's always provided jobs for both of us -- in fact, He's opened doors that could have never been opened to us without His hand doing all the work. I could go on for hours listing the blessings, and trust me, I don't say any of this to boast. I truly don't deserve any of it. But, I really think God was speaking to me today in that little calendar. There are so many things, so many luxuries, that I take for granted. They certainly aren't necessities. So much of what we have are truly luxuries that God has allowed us to have, but in reality, it's all just "stuff". One of my favorite chain-type "emails" (for lack of a better term...) is the one that says something like this....

Want to know the value of 10 years? Ask a recently divorced
person.
Want to know the value of a year? Ask a new graduate.
Want to know the value of one month? Ask a mother whose child is
still-born.
Want to know the value of one day? Ask someone whose just been
diagnosed with cancer.
Want to know the value of one second? Ask someone who "just missed" a
terrible car accident.

I've learned in recent years that the value we place on something can change drastically in a moment's time. I think about those who lost in 9-11, and now 7-7. I hear the thunder rumbling as I type this and I think about those boarding up their houses in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, not knowing when and if they will be hit and if so, how badly? I think about the mother and father of a newborn in NICU fighting to live while my husband and I are battling the flu (ok, so he's the one battling, but I think I'm doing a pretty good job of taking care of him... certainly not by myself... I learn alot from my MIL and how she takes care of him...).

I've really been thinking, what's truly a necessity? A luxury? Is a luxury "just stuff" if we don't use it to honor and glorify God? I'm coming to the conclusion that my only true necessity is Him. After all, He said He'd provide for all of my needs and that He knows what I need even before I do.

You may get absolutely nothing from this post, or you just might hear God speaking to you as well. It's not my job to judge you or your life. It is my job to honor and glorify Him for all that He's done... Thank you, Lord, for your blessings on me...

"There's a roof up above me, I've a good place to sleep. There's food on my table and shoes on my feet. You gave me Your love, Lord, and a fine family...Thank You Lord for your blessings on me."

In Him,
Cindy-Lou

At 10:46 PM,  Bill said...

What a blessing, Cindy! It's nice to have someone remind us of the bottom line: It's not all about me... it's all about Him. It's not all mine... it's all His. And, how can I glorify Him with everything He's given me, including my very next breath...

 

At 11:28 PM,  Jenny said...

I love that Casting Crowns song that goes

Not because of what I am/ but because of what You've done/ not because of what I've done/ but because of who You are...

God IS so amazing. And even the really hard times in my life in the last few years, looking back, weren't really that bad at all.

Thank you so much for this post. I'm blogrolling you!

 

At 11:00 PM,  Darlene Schacht said...

Paula is right, that was an awesome post. I really love the design too! You make me realize how each moment is important.

 

At 8:27 AM,  Cindy-Lou said...

Paula,
Thanks, sis. It's always the posts that I don't think are really going to matter much that actually touch people. Isn't that just like God? When we get ourselves out of it and just let Him speak, He does so much better than we could it we tried to do it in ourselves...
Wow... *I'm* the one who's speechless seeing God work...
Love you!

 

At 8:53 AM,  Cindy-Lou said...

Bill,
Thanks... I needed the reminder more than anyone... God gets the credit for that post most of all ;)

 

At 8:55 AM,  Cindy-Lou said...

Jayleigh,
Oh, I love that song too! God IS awesome! I know what you mean about the hard times really haven't been that hard. I can't imagine going through some things without God, can you?
Thanks for blogrolling me... I'm adding you, too!

 

At 9:01 AM,  Cindy-Lou said...

Darlene,
Thanks...
You're right, each moment IS so important... I too often take for granted so many things when I may not even be promised my next breath... and I too often overlook my blessings and let the "inconveniences" of life overshadow all His wonderful gifts.

 

At 9:58 AM,  Cindy-Lou said...

Barbara,
Thank you, you are one of the sweetest people I think I've ever met! God ALWAYS shines through you! But, I can't take credit for that post... God has to get all the credit there... I just needed Him to drive that home to me ;-)

 

At 9:50 PM,  Nettie said...

Man, that's good.

 

At 11:50 AM,  Cindy-Lou said...

Nettie,
Thanks... ;-)

 

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