Wednesday, September 2, 2009

What's the Problem?

Good morning, dear Friends and Prayer Partners! This is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it! Well, no stars this morning when I stepped outside. We are supposed to have rain again today, and while the sky has lightened up, it is still overcast. Yesterday we did not leave the house all day, because of rain, but the cleaning ladies came and did a good job all around us. I am blessed that they live just across the street and know us. Usually we leave when they come so they don't have to work around us, but getting Louis in and out of the van gets us both wet!

Our grass is growing and so are the shrubs, from all the rain. I noticed mockingbirds flying in and out of the podacarpus bushes, so either they have a nest or they like the berries. The beauty berry bush is flourishing this year with absolutely no attention. It is a good plant for Florida! God is good!

From the book Quiet Moments with God for Teachers:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil. 4:13 NKJV

Ever had a difficulty that give you "2:00 Am wake up calls?" It could be a project at school, a committee you've suddenly ended up chairing, or simply trying to figure out how to get everything done with only two hands. Whatever the issue, it ruins your sleep and saps your energy for the upcoming day.

You start thinking , I'm uncomfortable, I'm anxious, I can't do this. I should never have started to try. I'm not creative. I was never creative in school. I'm a complete failure. I'm going to be fired, and that means my spouse will leave me and --in other words you start enjoying a real, good, old-fashioned panic attack.

Problems can feel ten times larger in the middle of the night. But in reality--and by daylight--solutions might not be as distant as they seem.

Inventor Charles Kettering had a unique problem solving method. He would divide each problem into the smallest possible pieces, then research the pieces to determine which ones had already been solved. He often found that what looked like a huge problem was already 98 percent solved by others. Then he tackled what was left.

In bite-sized pieces, problems become more manageable. Remember, that with God, all things are possible. He can give us peace in our darkest nights and bring wisdom with the morning.

Obstacles in the pathway of the weak become stepping stones in the pathway of the strong,
Thomas Carlyle

I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!

Love and hugs,
Amaryllis