The uninvited guest!

There is a beautiful story in the Bible about a woman.  A sinner. (Lk 7:36-50)
We don't know much about her except she showed up at a dinner party - uninvited.
Why is she there?  Because Jesus is there.  (already i'm getting goose bumps)
It's a story of love.  Forgiveness.  Repentance.  Joy. Weeping.

Jesus actually lived 30 some years on earth.  Walking, talking, touching, listening, healing.....
He was having dinner in a room full of sinners..... but the woman at his feet.... the one the rest of them called "A sinner" was  washing His feet with her tears.  Drying them with her hair.  Anointing them with oil.

Why is she doing it?  Because Jesus is there!
She gets it!!
It doesn't say anything about her past, but you know she must have loved following and listening to Jesus teach.
It must have touched her heart.
     It must have led to a broken heart.
          It must have caused her to know her Saviour.
                It led her to His feet.
                       Her sins were forgiven,  Her faith saved her.

A beautiful story of knowing you are a sinner     AND      sitting right at His feet --- the only one who could forgive!

She got it!   I am starting to get it.   She didn't care what the others thought, her emotions took over, she couldn't stop loving Him.  When I see her faith and her outpouring of herself in front of strangers no less, i feel inadequate.  I feel humbled.  I feel like she expressed all that is lurking inside of me.

A sinful woman with a bottle of oil and hair and tears.   That's me.... and you.

She demonstrated what we need to do daily. {fall at His feet in Thanksgiving and praise and worship}

Oh how I love You Jesus.  You deserve more than i can ever give.



Come, let us return to the Lord
   He will heal us
       He will raise us up that we may live in His sight
            Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord
                 His going forth is established as the morning
                      He will come to us like the rain. (Hos 6:1-3)

Oh I wish I could have been there to see Jesus take her hand and raise her up.
I would have been weeping too,
and you?
(Hos 2:19 - 23 is another love story worth meditating on)

Positive + Negative = ____

How many years have I taught this rule?  Well........34 to be exact.
And (lets think) what is the answer?     Well......... it depends.
Rule one:  it's the difference in the two, and secondly, it's the sign of the larger.

So how does this apply to my life?  Basically I want to be a positive person.  I want to have a positive outlook on life.   I want others to see me as friendly and approachable.  Someone they can talk to and share life with.

I want my positives to be bigger than my negatives!!   But am I doing this?

I've made up my mind - * i'm going to think about what i'm thinking about* (Joyce Meyer again :)
I don't have to think everything that pops into my mind.
Thoughts are fickle, here today, gone tomorrow.  Some positive, some negative.

I must train my mind to "strike out" or "cast down" the negative ones!

The Bible calls this a spiritual war.  Satan wants to infiltrate our mind with garbage, and I for one do NOT
want litter hanging around in my brain.

 I want to "cast down everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God"
I want to "bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ "  (2Cor. 5:10)

Here's the scary part - God hears what we think!
And a typical Gloria thought must be depressing to Him.
I can go from thinking "you're going to do WHAT?"  to "I don't possibly see how that will EVER work out"
{Not one hint of positive thinking.....booooo}

I want a 'head' transplant.  Colossians 2:10 says that God can be our new head.......yeaaaaa!  In fact He is the head of all powers. 
We are complete "in Him".  (vs. 10)
We are rooted in and built up "in Him". (vs. 7)
We are to WALK "in Him".  (vs. 6)

I'm not sure what blogs are all about, other that to lay it all out there..... our life.
Cheer ourselves up maybe!
Lay it out for the world to see and then we know we aren't alone in this mess called life.
We all learn stuff from day to day,
But now that I've written an essay on it,
I guess I have no excuse...... I have to do it now!
Think positive that is!

Happy Thinking!

I'm Trying to Lose IT

Yes I am!  It happened overnight.  All of those donuts and cookies and muffins just showed up on my middle section overnight.  So what did I do?  Well at first I was in denial. "It's just something I ate",I thought  "it will be gone by morning."  But it wasn't!!   My friends just said, its water weight and laughed.  (They also know about the overnight disease )   Then when the women in my book club said (about themselves, and maybe all women over 50 in general), that from the chin down, what used to have curves, is now just one massive undefined blob.
OOOOOOHHH.
That's it, I've turned blobbish.    But, is it irreversible is what I'm dying to know?
So the experiment has begun.
I'm slowly getting rid of having dessert every night.  Now, just once a week.
Trying to eat more fruit and drink more water. ( i hate water :)
But, here's the biggie.  I've joined the gym at the school where I teach.
And I just found out, that an over-achiever I am not.
When everyone else is doing 30-40 min of treadmill workout, I am dying on the Elliptical after 2 min.
"I"m sweating"  I told my hubby the other day.  "What?"   He looked dumbfounded.  He has never seen me sweat in 55 years!
When my teacher friend walked by and saw me sweating I said "Look what happens when you don't go to the gym for 55 years!"
He smiled and said he was out of shape because he hadn't been in one and a half months !!
Ugggh.
Point is.... it feels good to be doing something so NOT ME.
I'm getting out in the world instead of walking up and down my half mile road.
I'm letting people see me "unfit" and "dying".
Maybe I'll get a chance to talk someone too, if they take out their ear pods.
But, I know it's good for me.  To try something different.  To tighten up the abs and feel the legs ache some.
Eventually the shoulder will come around and start working too.
Then one day I will wake up and say - wow - where's the roll?  And - look - my jeans don't have that blobbish thing on top any more.

I hope this is the year I stick to things.  Maybe even attempt some of the things on my "things I want to do someday" list.  Like, really be a caring person to everyone I meet.  I want people to know I love Jesus by my actions.  That something I need help with too Lord.

So this is my prayer:  Help me make a difference in other people's lives.  Help me keep a good attitude about getting older and rounder.  And show me how to meet people right where they are at and not be ashamed to talk about Jesus and His awesomeness.

This must be a pivotal point in my life.  Do I just throw in the towel and say "i give up",  or "been there done that", or "won't try that again, cause I stink at that."  Or will I change and start saying "this is something new and God must be leading me here to show me something great!"