Wednesday, July 30, 2008

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).









10 comments:

Laura Marchant said...

I love the coon updates!

Anonymous said...

Melissa, Don't be so hard on yourself. What a great platform you have with your blog for sharing your beliefs and your everyday experiences! We are after all living in the world that God created for us. I believe God has a sense of humor...he gave you a great ability to laugh at yourself and your situation. I never laughed so hard as I ready this mornings post about the raccoon traps. Please continue to share your life with the world. I believe God is using you in this way to touch others. Love, Mom

Alex D said...

Thanks for this example. It is extremely tough, but we should be more passionate about treasuring Christ than we are about having comments on our blog. I resonate with you on that point. Thanks again.

Claremont First Ward said...

Life is all about the truly important things. I applaud you for prioritizing what's most important to you!

Shelley said...

Melissa,

What if your blogging is your ministry format?
I would love for you to put a day by day or week by week however you want to put it on, bible study. Maybe one day of the week, you could do that and we could all email what we got from it? No doubt you have a wonderful sense of humor and realness in relaying your everyday struggles to become all that God wants you to be, but don't underestimate that He may have you here for a reason other than getting your ego stroked.
I love you sister,
Keep on blogging.

Lula! said...

What your sweet Mama said...I ditto it...

I can't speak for you, but I know God uses my quirky, crazy ways to bring glory to Him. It's enough, whether I'm talking about the Lord, Twilight, tampons, or being a redneck...it's enough, because He gave me these ideas. And I gave my blog to Him a long time ago...and I sang over it..."It's all about you, Jesus, and all this is for You, for Your glory and Your fame, it's not about me, as if You should do things my way..."

Remember...we are in this world. Not of it. I realize you know this, but it bears repeating from a fellow sister. And I like that you are in the blogging world--it's comforting to me.
XOXO

Debbie said...

I hear ya sister and I am really really struggling with the balance in all this right now. I have tried not to post on the weekends, but I did last weekend because I got my feathers in a tizzy over those books...I really need to pray over what I am doing because like you the first thing I do in the morning is check for comments instead of cracking open my Bible. Instead of being fed by HIM, I am feeding my ego. Ummmm, did I just type that. Why is it that everytime I come over here to your blog, I have a spiritual epiphany. That's my cue to close the computer down for the day... and beg you to post once in ahile please. You don't even need to stop in and comment...just post.

Heather said...

It's all about finding balance, which is so hard to do. I have to say, I love how open you are about your relationship with Jesus on your blog. That is something I struggle with (I don't want to scare anyone away). Why do I worry? I'm not sure, but you inspire me to be more like you.

Caroline said...

During my time with the Lord yesterday, I really came face to face with this issue too. I notice that I have neglected spending precious time with Jesus, Mr. Baseball, the redhead, cleaning house, etc. I realized that my blog is not a bad thing - its a great creative outlet for me, but I need to get my priorities in order. I applaud your honesty and want to encourage you to do what you feel the Lord is leading. I'll keep checking up on you!

Melissa Lee said...

I hear you loud and clear Miss Melissa.

Also - thank you for your comments on my blog. They were much needed. And I really appreciate them.

Love to you,
Melissa at Stretch Marks