* All * That * Glitters *: September 2008

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

A Thought

Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty - they merely move it from their faces to their hearts. - unknown

Patience

One of the greatest secrets of life is having patience AND wisdom.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Rennie's Reading suggestion

Yes, I actually am writing a personal blog.

I am currently reading "Enjoying Where You Are On the Way To Where You Are Going" by Joyce Meyer (when does she have the time to write so many books?!?!)

The first 3 Chapters sang to me. Especially Chapter 2. I'm on the 4th or 5th chapter now. It's opening my mind and it's helping AND teaching me how to really ENJOY life, helping me to overcome and understand dread, regret andmany other faults that I have let bog me down for over 25 years.

It's no secret I suffer from major depression and Sever Anxiety, well, it's not anymore. I have a chemical imbalance in my brain and don't produce enough serotonin. I was born with it. It's genetic apparently and being adopted my parents didn't know the signs and I guess I came off pretty moody a lot or overreacted to the least of the littlest things at times...I repeat...at times. I am outgoing but scared a lot, I have a happy go lucky attitude (or so I like to think that) most of the times yet deep inside I'm so anxious The bad anxious kind, not the "OH, I can't wait to open that Christmas present" anxious.

I was miserable off and on for years yet I did the best I could and because of God, who gave me the best parents a child could ask for, laughter got me through A LOT, still does. I am a huge cut up, always have been, it's in the family and goes way back and apparently I'm raising another silly little being...Taylor. She's a joy. And luckily I see no signs of depression or anxiety from her. I have the knowledge and the insight and I decided when she was still in the womb that I was going to watch for these things because I can help her early and she wouldn't have to go through all the needless feeling I struggled with for so many years and still do.

She is a little more shy at times when I wish she wasn't but she's the best. She is one of my best friends. We've got a great open communication relationship and that is exactly the way I want it to stay, and some of you may be thinking, "Oh, just you wait." I know that there will be the teen years and I am not looking forward to that at all, but I feel Joey and I are doing a great job raising her and I don't see her being a problem at all, well not all the time.

Long story short, I have a problem with self-worth, I have a problem with what others think of me, I am the best procrastinator on this planet, I worry about everything, I think way to much over the simplest things, everything has to be just so, I am a perfectionist.......and so it goes.

I was married once before. I married right before my 21st birthday to who I thought was the man of my dreams (if my mom is reading this right now, she is gagging...lol) but little did I know I was in for a heck of a ride. He was emotional abusive, then physical towards the end. He had brained washed me from thinking he was the only man on the planet, NO the universe that would ever love me. Little did I know but I was his trophy wife, yet he treated me like a dog at times infront of friends and his relatives. I stayed married to him for a year and half. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be a divorcee, never. You marry for life, right? But my friends could see me change from this silly lady to a shy shell of a woman. i couldn't go anywhere alone, I was scared. If I visited my parents in McMinnville, I had this overwhelming feeling I must go home, I must get back to him, only to find him not there anyway.

So I divorced him and it took many years to get the funny Rennie back, the person who could hold her head up and walk into Wal-mart alone. Sounds easy but that was a hard one to over come. To feel ok to be alone, be by myself.

There are still scars in my heart and head from the abuse and that has left me with a lot of terrible feelings about myself that I am still today this day EVEN though I am remarried to THE MAN OF MY DREAMS, THE LOVE OF MY LIFE, JOEY and we will be celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary this New years Eve!!!

But anyway, you add depression and anxiety on top of abuse or perhaps those maybe the very thing that causes these problems for me but my heart has been heavy with constant worry, anxiety, fear, dread, even feelings of guilt and I've not done one thing that I should feel guilty about and I know it, so why? Why do I feel this way?

Well, this book has laid out many things and defined many of these very words, defined them and even follows up with scriptures assuring me why there are these feelings and I know and I didn't have to read this book to know this but I do know my Heavenly Father loves me I know Jesus loves me. But I'm plagues with these hmmm...let's call them "quirks."

At any rate this book fell in my hands when I was hungry to find why I feel the way I do and I wanted the feelings to go away, I wanted to do something about this. You know I asked myself for years "How do I handle these unnecessary" feelings and she has given me some insight about just letting go. Past is past. I understand that God did not give me fear, as she says...

"We know that God has not given us a spirit of fear and since He did not give us fear, we know that He did not give us dread either. As a matter of fact, the Bible teaches us in several places not to dread."
"Dread is like fear---it draws disaster. It is Satan's open door to bring in the feared or dreaded." "'Relish the moment's a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24, This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Oh and how I love this: "It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who rob us of today."
"Regret of the past and dread of the future are both thieves of joy."
"In order to live as God intends for us to live, the first thing we must do is truly believe that it is God's will for us to experience continual joy. Then we must decide to enter into that joy." - Joyce Meyer

She goes on and quotes many scriptures which Jesus revealed that it is God's will for us to enjoy life.

Now, I know God loves me. I know He wants me to be happy. And to enjoy life to the fullest but I couldn't seem to pull myself up and realize that Satan has been stealing a lot of my joy. I think I have had some cracks in me and he has found a way in and I not knowing or even thinking that Satan, himself, has had something to do with. You know I forget about Satan a lot. My love for God and his Son, I never think about Satan trying so hard to work on everybody. Never thinking he could be working on me.

I don't like admitting that apparently he's been working on me. Trying his hardest to bring me down and I daily struggle with insecurities even when I am just sitting at home alone much less when I need to go out in public. My anxiety doesn't help matters and the depression either.

I just wanted to share this book or rather suggest it for anyone struggling with how to make the decision to ENJOY life, get over those unnecessary feelings of dread or regret, unexplainable feelings of guilt and ways to simplify your life (that's the chapter I am on now...wonderful) and apparently so much more.

I just felt the need to pass this book along. And have meant to write about this a few days ago but alas, I procrastinated...lol.

Love you dearly, ~Rennie~

GOD'S 26 Guards

Have you ever felt the urge to pray for someone and then just put it on a list and said, 'I'll pray for them later?' Or has anyone ever called you and said, 'I need you to pray for me, I have this need?'

Read the following story that was sent to me and may it change the way that you may think about prayer and also The way you pray. You will be blessed by this.

A missionary on furlough told this true story while visiting his home church in Michigan.

'While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This was a journey of two days and required camping overnight at the halfway point.
On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city. Where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine, and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital.
Upon arrival in the city, I observed two men fighting, one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time talked to him about the Lord. I then traveled two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident.
Two weeks later I repeated my journey. Upon arriving in the city, I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that he had known I carried money and medicines. He said, 'Some friends and I followed you in to the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight.
We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards.
At this, I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, however, and said, 'No, sir, I was not the only person to see the guards, my friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone.'
At this point in the sermon, one of the men in the congregation jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell him the exact day this happened. The missionary told the congregation the date, and the man who interrupted told him this story:
'On the night of your incident in Africa, it was morning here and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to putt when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so strong, I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for you.
Would all of those men who met with me on that day stand up?' The men who had met together to pray that day stood up. The missionary wasn't concerned with who they were, He was too busy counting how many men he saw.
There were 26!

This story is an incredible example of how the Spirit of the Lord moves in behalf of those who love Him. If you ever hear such prodding, go along with it.

Nothing is ever hurt by prayer except the gates of hell.
I encourage you to forward this to as many people as you know.
If we all take it to heart, we can turn this world toward God once again.
As the above true story clearly illustrates, 'With God all things are possible'.

More importantly, how God hears and answers the prayers of the faithful.

After you read this, please pass it on and give God thanks for the beautiful gift of your faith, for the powerful gift of prayer, and for the many miracles He works in your own daily life. And then pass it on. Who says God does not move on the earth today?

I asked the Lord to bless you as I prayed for you today. To guide you and protect you as you go along your way. His love is always with you, His promises are true, and when we give Him our cares you know He will see us through. So when the road you're traveling on seems difficult at best, just remember I'm here praying, and God will do the rest.

Pass this on to those whom you want God to bless.

Great Qoute to Think About

"The optimist laughs to forget.
The pessimist forgets to laugh."

WHAT HAPPENS IN HEAVEN

This is one of the nicest e-mails I have seen and is so true:

I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, 'This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received.'

I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.

Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.

The angel then said to me, 'This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them. 'I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. 'This is the Acknowledgment Section,' my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed 'How is it that there is no work going on here?' I asked.

'So sad,' the angel sighed. 'After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments .'
'How does one acknowledge God's blessings?' I asked.
'Simple,' the angel answered. Just say, 'Thank you, Lord.'
'What blessings should they acknowledge?' I asked.

* 'If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wall et, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.'

* 'And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity.'

* 'If you woke up this morning with more health than illness ... You are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day .'

* 'If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ... You are ahead of 700 million people in the world.'

* 'If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world '

* 'If your parents are still alive and still married ...you are very rare .'

* 'If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair.'

Ok, what now? How can I start?

* If you can read this message, you just receive d a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you want, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.

ATTN:

Acknowledge Dept.: 'Thank you Lord, for giving me the ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people to share it with.'

If you have read this far, and are thankful for all that you have been blessed with, how can you not send it on???? I thank God for everything, especially all my family and friends!!

Blessings with love,
Amen

Need Washing???

NEED WASHING???

A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in Target. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout. We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Target.

We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Me mories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.

The little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in 'Mom let's run through the rain,' she said 'What?' Mom asked.

'Lets run through the rain!' She repeated

'No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit,' Mom replied.

This young child waited about another minute and repeated: 'Mom, let's run through the rain,'

'We'll get soaked if we do,' Mom said.

'No, we won't, Mom.. That's not what you said this morning,' the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.

This morning ?When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?

'Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!'

The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently.. No one came or left in the next few minutes.Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.

'Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD let's us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing,' Mom said.

Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children a ll the way to their cars.

And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.

Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.

I HOPE YOU STILL TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them. Send this to the people you'll never forget and remember to also send it to the person who sent it to you. It's a short message to let them know that you'll never forget them.

If you don't send it to anyone, it means you're in a hurry.

Take the time to live!!! Keep in touch with your friends, you never know when you'll need each other -- and don't forget to run in the rain !

Billy Graham's prayer aired by Paul Harvey.

GUY SURE HAS A GOOD VIEW OF WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THIS COUNTRY!

PAUL HARVEY'S ON-AIR PRAYER

'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!'

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, 'The Rest of the Story,' and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired. With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called 'One nation under God.'

If possible, please pass this prayer on to your friends. 'If you don't stand for something, you will fall for everything.'

Think about this: If you forward this prayer to everyone on your e-mail list, in less than 30 days it would be heard by the world. (It's worth a try!)

One Nation Under God

CHARLES SCHULTZ PHILOSOPHY

You don’t actually have to take this quiz. Just read it straight through, and you will get the point, an awesome one, that it is trying to make!

Take this quiz:
1.) Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2.) Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3.) Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.
4.) Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer prize.
5.) Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor or actress.
6.) Name a decades worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one:
1.) List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2.) Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3.) Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4.) Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5.) Think of a few people you enjoy spending time with.
6.) Name a half a dozen heroes whose stories have inspired you.

Easier?

The Lesson:
The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care! Pass this on to those people who have made a difference in your life.

~~Charles Schultz~~