It is not your father or mine, its ours

At Christmas I painted a picture for my son that I had been promising to him for two years, it was not complete at Christmas so I made a joke out of it by drowning him in gifts that replicated the picture (lighthouses). After he opened all the presents I showed him the painting and told him it was not completed. He insisted that it was perfect, took it home, framed it, hung it over his fireplace, and took a picture of it and sent it to me. It still haunts me.
The perfectionist in me has taken up a new hobby just to compensate for what I believe was my lack of talent (like I have time to take on a new hobby). I know I can sketch, so I began to sketch again and am working on a lighthouse scene for him. Now does any of this make sense? No...He loves it and so does everyone that sees it, and I can only see the flaws, but I am so "grateful that I am here" and can "hear him" tell me how beautiful he thinks it is. Like my father said, "it's all in your head." We always perceive things through our own thoughts and put demands on ourselves that we cannot live up to, but why? I have found that it is "ego" that drives us and when we finally separate ourselves from "ego" we find a peaceful mind and all the stress, fear, and expectation we have for ourselves is released and we are free from criticism...because who are we that we can judge anyone including ourselves? There is only one that can judge, and its not your father or mine, its ours.
Psalms 105:7 He is the Lord our God; he carries out judgment throughout the earth.

With God All Things are possible Good or Bad

Image by dannie4852 via FlickrI had a very perplexing day yesterday. Everywhere, everyone is talking about the disaster in Japan. Confused by some reactions of how people are saying that we should not pray for them because they are an Atheist country. Really! There are also Christian survivors there that have lost loved ones, and Atheists that have lost loved ones. We should pray that all of them find peace from all that they have lost.  We should also pray that many will see this as a sign of what God told us would come our way. I am not saying this as a doomsday post, I am merely saying we should all at all times be prepared for his coming by accepting Jesus as our Savior so that when our own time comes we are prepared. That is what love is about. Loving all that believe AND do not believe.  It is our purpose to share the word of god with others, but it is EVEN MORE PURPOSEFUL now to empathize and pray for those that have lost so much and so many.  Even more pray with gratitude for all that we have. Being grateful everyday for all that God has given us, and that is EVERYTHING.
Remembering that everything is thought first, think only good thoughts. Praise God with gratitude that we are not the survivors of such a tumultuous disaster, but remembering that we could be at anytime. Are you ready to leave this earth?
The greatest fear that most people have is the "fear of death," but those that have accepted Christ as their savior do not fear death, instead they believe that whatever happens in their life God is always with them. Relieve yourself of the greatest fear, the Fear of death, and realize if that is greatest fear, then "Fear is not a rational thought."This is a thought that I often play in my mind when plagued by Agoraphobia (fear of open spaces.)
My family's cookbook called "Traveling Recipes" is for sale as a pdf file on Etsy, all of the proceeds this from the sales this month are going to Autism Intervention Specialists.
Also try to turn the world BLUE on April 1,2, 2011 for Autism Awareness.

There is a reason it is called the Pepsi "Challenge"

Image via CrunchBase
For the third time in 2010 we did not collect enough votes to stay in the running. I will probably run again in March when they start accepting new Grantees. I am collecting resources now to get to the top in April. I will be asking many craft, and quilting sites to offer me their support. I will begin collecting them on my Face book page for the "challenge." It is a difficult challenge to win because it is based "totally" on people voting for me. I never give up, so I'll be in the fight again come March or April. So look for us and go to my page on Facebook to offer your commitment to vote for me. Please share with friends and family because this challenge is not about me it is about the disabled. Visit OUR GRATITUDE regularly to check for updates and our new start date.
I hope all that read this will go to the page join and lend "helping others with no expectation of return," is how life is meant to be lived. I hope to serve the disabled in my community and many others with this program. Please join in and lend me your support by beginning to collect bloggers, friends, and families to vote for us during our next challenge.