God's Good, Pleasing and Perfect Will.....

Alright, I'm done talking about the stupid coons after this post. I will keep you updated if anything changes.

Raccoons are smart little devils. Tuesday morning, the hubby went out to check the traps and found a chicken inside one of them. All the eggs were gone. Then, to his surprise, he turned a corner and found an "R.J." in one of the traps. Unfortunately, hubby was outwitted by the masked bandit. When Eric went to pick up the cage, the weight of the coon shifted and he escaped the cage! He took off.

So, to answer your questions? Got any yet? No, but we've trapped 3 of our own chickens!

On to more important issues. I have been studying the life and ministry of the apostle Paul in our ladies bible study. It's been a very good and quite challenging. Have you ever done an in-depth bible study? If you haven't, I strongly recommend it. God has been challenging me for quite some time with something I just don't want to let go of.

You see, I struggle with allowing certain things to creep in and compete with my relationship with Jesus. Blogging has become one of them. If you were to read back on some of my earlier posts, you would see this isn't the first time I've dealt with this. There are so many things that I allow in that, very easily, become my favorite things. TV has been that. Eating has been that. I guess I have, what you would call, an addictive personality. Does this mean I'm going to cease blogging. No. However, I may be backing away for a while. Until I can get my priorities in order. I love the sisterhood I have developed with so many of you. The question I must ask myself is "Do I love Jesus that much?" Do I get as excited about opening His word as I do when I check my email and have 10 new messages from comments on my blog? I received a very random email from my Internet Service Provider the other day soliciting me for some new product and the title of the email was, "It's all about you, Melissa". Who knew God would speak to me through AT&T's marketing department?

It's not all about me. It's all about Him. I don't want it to be all about me. Don't get me wrong. I love the recognition I have received from all of you. I relish the comments about how funny I am. Keep stroking my ego. Like I need it!!! That's just it. I must decrease, He must increase. It's nobody's fault but mine. I am just making the decision to pull the reigns back a little. If I lose readers, oh well. I wasn't put here to serve anyone but my Heavenly Father. I hope I don't hurt anyone's feelings by saying that. I care. I really do. But, if by visiting Another Day In Paradise, you get a chuckle and nothing more, I have really done my Savior a tremendous disservice. Beth Moore recorded the video session for our bible study about 10 years ago. She doesn't know this yet, but session 9 that we viewed last night, was a message recorded especially for me. God knew before He laid the foundations of the earth that it was exactly what I needed to hear at that very moment. I sat and watched with a nauseated feeling in my stomach. I knew when I got home last night, I would have some very critical decisions to make. I must choose Jesus. My readers who are believers, I know, will understand. I don't even know if my words are making sense right at this moment. I'm just giving you a piece of my heart. If you don't return, I will understand. I just hope that my testimony will not be that I am a witty blogger with crazy, awnry kids. I want to be a "living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.....not [conforming] any longer to the patterns of this world, but being transformed by the renewing of [my] mind..." (Romans 12:1-2).