Why?

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I had another post planned but changed my mind at the last minute.

Why, oh why, do so many Christian blogs poke fun and/or say nasty things about politicians? I went through a long period right before elections where I would delete blog posts in my RSS feeds because they were just plain mean to the people running. I’m sorry, but even if you don’t agree with a politician’s views and beliefs, that doesn’t give you any right to say mean things about them. I don’t agree with President Obama all the time, but he’s our President. Period.

While I’m on the topic, why do I have to vote a certain way because I’m a conservative Christian? Why do I have to be anti-Obama because he supports abortion and pro-Palin because she doesn’t? Why do some people believe they have the right to dictate how other Christians should vote and look down upon Christians who vote a different way? All political parties have pros and cons; all parties contradict certain moral beliefs of mine. But why make people feel less Christian because they vote for a certain politician?

The Bible says that we are to respect our leaders, that our leaders were God appointed. I don’t respond to blog posts that bash politicians because I know it will just cause disagreement and bad feelings to any involved, as well as start flame wars. But why can’t Christians just focus on the positives? For whatever reason, God saw fit to allow President Obama to be in office.

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth
(1 Timothy 2:1-4, NASB).

Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king
(1 Peter 2:17, NASB).

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God
(Romans 13:1, NASB).

We are to pray for ALL men, honor ALL men, love ALL men, be thankful for ALL men. We are all children of God and He wants to see all of us in heaven with Him.

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Pasta salad!

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My developing frugality skills finally paid off. hehe

Over the weekend, my brother bought this really nasty Fry’s brand imitation cheese. Sorry Josh, but it was nasty. I looked on the website, and Fry’s has a satisfaction guarantee on all of their store brands. This morning, I took two packages of the “cheese” back to Fry’s and asked for a refund or store credit. Even though I didn’t have the receipt, they offered me a cash refund. Yay!

Fry’s has their Fry’s brand “real” cheese on sale right now, so we bought a block of that instead. Walmart had pasta salad noodles discounted and combined with the ingredients we have been saving at home, we’re having pasta salad for dinner! It’s been ages (well, several months) since we’ve had pasta salad and we’ve been scraping the bottom of the cupboards for food to eat the past couple days. The pasta salad cost us a few minutes of time to return the icky cheese and $2.25 for the noodles. The olives, frozen peas, and salad dressing was being saved for this day.

Hurray for yummy dinners! This will be so much better than hot cereal or canned chili…

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Today was a great day!

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Today was a great day. We woke up early, exercised, and ate a good breakfast (haystacks!). We spent most of the day job searching, posting stuff to sell online, and cleaning up the apartment.

We sold another couple video games today. We only have a couple left. Everything is posted online for sale and we’re hoping the rest will sell in the next couple weeks. I also posted our bookshelves for sale on Craigslist, as well as my SLR camera. It kind of hurts selling off your belongings, but I am so thankful that we are still able to pay the bills. Each item sold helps pay another bill. No late payments yet!

Hubby and I also had our devotional time in the morning. Usually, we read the Bible together in the evenings, but I’d like to switch to mornings if hubby is agreeable. I find that my day goes smoother when I read God’s word earlier. Almost as if I have advice and encouragement to remember all day long instead of looking back on the day to see how things could be done differently.

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Sunday Exercise Roundup

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It seems that the only really interesting thing I’ve been doing lately is exercising. 🙂 Hubby and I have been exercising almost every day for the past five weeks. Here was the run down for last week:

Sunday
Week 5, Day 1 of the One Hundred Push ups program. I can’t do full push ups, so I’ve been doing girls push ups for this program.
Running – Week 1, Day 1 of the Couch to 5K program. Not too difficult, but feeling it. First time running in awhile. I can tell I’ve trained before, but it’s still hard.

Monday
Week 5, Day 1 of the Two Hundred Sit ups program.

Tuesday
Week 5, Day 2 of the One Hundred Push ups program.
Running – Week 1, Day 2 of the Couch to 5K program.

Wednesday
Week 5, Day 2 of the Two Hundred Sit ups program. I almost died during this training day. I don’t know why it was so hard today. I barely finished the workout and I was crying during the last set.

Thursday
Week 5, Day 3 of the One Hundred Push ups program. I have to say, I was really pushing out these push ups. On my last set, I did 40 of them without stopping. I’ve never done so many in my life!
Running – Week 1, Day 3 of the Couch to 5K program.

Sabbath
Rest Day

I weighed myself on New Years – 187.2 pounds. This is my heaviest weight ever. Since New Years, I have tried to get involved in various exercise plans, portioned eating, etc. But I kept failing. My weight would go down 3 or 4 pounds and then go back up to where I started. Thankfully, I never exceeded 187.2 pounds.

For the past 6 weeks, hubby and I have been actively following the 200 sit ups and 100 push up plans. Unfortunately, that’s not enough exercise to lose weight. Last week, I decided it was time to run again. In one week, I lost 3.8 pounds. I’m praying it’s not a fluke. But as noted above, I exercised 5 days last week. I’ve been drinking lots of water, exercising, and attempting portion control. It looks like it might be paying off.

My goal is to lose 40 pounds and run a 5K without stopping for a walk break. I know I can accomplish my goals. I just need to stick with the plan. Lots of water, adequate rest, plenty of exercise, and eating fewer calories than I burn. I can do this.

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength
(Philippians 4:13, NLT)

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Whew! What a week! I am completely exhausted. I have a few things that I want to post about but I just don’t have the energy. Tomorrow may or may not be a laid back day, but Thursday is going to be packed. I think Friday might be our first quiet day but even that is debatable as I will need to clean for the Sabbath.

It looks like all our house guests will be gone by the end of the weekend. Getting back to regular blogging is one of my requirements for next week.

Until then… 🙂

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Quote

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I love this quote…

“If Christians were to act in concert, moving forward as one, under the direction of one Power, for the accomplishment of one purpose, they would move the world.”

-EGW

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Time with God

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I’m so glad the weekend is here, especially the Sabbath. I love taking 24 hours off to rest with God.

I’ll be back next week with more uplifting posts. This time with God tonight and tomorrow will be uplifting and faith building. I can tell it’s going to be a great day. 🙂

But he led His own people like a flock of sheep,
guiding them safely through the wilderness
(Psalm 78:52, NLT).

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Encouragement in times of trouble

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It’s late and I should be in bed. Hubby came home from his assignment about half an hour ago so we’re still up. This text spoke to me just now. The Lord will guide me. Continually. In everything that’s going on right now, I can have hope that the Lord will guide me and restore my strength. That’s exactly what I need right now.

The Lord will guide you continually,
giving you water when you are dry
and restoring your strength.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like an ever-flowing spring
(Isaiah 58:11).

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Stress – how much more can we handle?

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I haven’t posted in a few days. I’ve been really stressed and haven’t felt like posting just to complain. Hubby and I are pretty much out of money. We have enough money for April’s rent plus a student loan payment, but that’s it. A few bills might not get paid next month or will only receive partial payments.

Thankfully, one of our friends from church has pitched in to provide groceries. She brought us a few bags of groceries and gave us a Walmart gift card to buy more food as needed. A coworker of hers also gave us a gift card anonymously. The friend has lifted us up in prayer at work and another coworker today gave us $100. Every time I think about people’s generosity, I want to cry. It’s very humbling to admit you need help and it feels humiliating at times.

I’ve revised and polished my resume and am working on a cover letter. Hubby and I have agreed that I will start searching for a job. Even part time would really help out. My contract work is sporadic and I welcome it when it arrives, but I’m earning less than $100 per month. Neither of us want me to work, but we’re not sure what else to do. We’re praying about it, though, wanting to do what the Lord wills. If He wants me to get a job, then He’ll provide. If He doesn’t want me to get a job, then hopefully Jeff will receive an offer soon.

Also, an old car accident from 2003 has reared it’s ugly head. We thought that was resolved, an accident Jeff was involved in before we met. Unfortunately, the insurance company is trying to collect damages from Jeff and is suing us for $9300. Long story, but we’re looking for a lawyer who will sit down for a consultation and let us know what the best course of action is. We can’t afford to pay the debt now, but we’re willing to make payments after we’re employed.

Please pray for us. I thought I couldn’t handle much more, but the stress and pressure keeps mounting. God isn’t going to give me more than I can handle, so He must have a high opinion of my threshhold for stress. 🙂 There are a few moments of hope in this experience, like the free food and the monetary gifts, the support from friends and all the prayers. God will take care of us and we should have an amazing testimony to share after this is over. I just hope I can continue to remember all the good when the stress has me overwhelmed.

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Geocaching

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My hubby, brother, Dad, and I have been geocaching today. My brother got me hooked on it last year when he took me out on a couple hunts. I haven’t searched for that many caches, but every time we get together, we search for a couple. Today we found five!

If you haven’t tried geocaching, check it out. It’s a lot of fun, anyone can participate, and there are geocaches all over the world! We don’t have GPS but we can still participate by finding the general location and then following the clues. It’s a wonderful treasure hunt.

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