Deep Waters

Today's Scripture
“The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.” (Proverbs 20:5 NIV).
Today's Word from Joel and Victoria
Did you know that you are equipped with everything you need to fulfill your passion and purpose in this life? Everything you need is on the inside of you—like deep waters. You draw those deep things out when you stay open and humble before the Lord. You draw those things out when you are submitted to His Word. That’s what makes you a person of understanding. You are a person of understanding when you draw on the strength of God inside of you. Proverbs also tells us that a person of understanding delights in wisdom. A person of understanding is even-tempered. A person of understanding is not easily led astray and maintains peace and order. (Prov. 10:23; 15:21; 17:27; 28:2) Don’t just live on the surface of life today. Draw from the resources that God has placed on the inside of you. As you keep your heart open by obeying the Word of God, His purposes will become clearer, and you will live in the abundant life God has in store for you!
A Prayer for Today
Heavenly Father, thank You for equipping me with everything I need to be a success in life. I choose to humbly submit to You and obey Your Word so that I can be a person of understanding. Thank You for revealing Your plans and purposes for me today. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

I do not feel like a person of understanding today. I do not feel even-tempered. I do not feel like myself. We went out of town for the weekend and my routine is thrown all out of kilter. Then I get back to work after being off for two days and there are piles on my desk to be dealt with. I feel all out-of-sorts. I need to go to the grocery store tonight, but it is also the last night of my bible study. Because it is the last night of bible study, "they" decided we should have food. Since I haven't been to the store, I don't have anything to bring and I don't want to eat or bring anything. I may just go late and food less. At least I will be there. Or, I can just download the last video and watch it later.

Keeping a Tidy Bathroom

When I wash my face at night, I use a washcloth to dry my face instead of a hand towel. This keeps my hand towels from getting bits of makeup and mascara on them when I don't get my face quite clean. I then leave that washcloth on the counter. In the morning I use it to dry my hands when I am getting ready and that gives it just enough dampness to swipe down the counter top, sink, faucet, the pulls on the drawers, the windowsill, and the back of the commode. Because of the humidity and hair products used in the bathroom, everything would be covered in a sticky, dusty mess if I didn't stay on top of it daily. This only adds a few seconds to my daily routine.

I have another bathroom tidiness tip. I apologize if this is TMI. When I am going to "go #2," I put a kleenex in the bottom of the toilet bowl first. This keeps any "marks" from being left behind in the bowl when it is flushed.

Family and Food Day

Today we spent the day with Butterfly, her fiance, and his daughter. We had brunch and supper with them (no lunch).

I did not do well on my healthy habits or my routines, but that is ok. We don't get to see them very often and I have every other day to work habits and routines.

The Routine Life

No one is born either naturally or supernaturally with character; it must be developed. Nor are we born with habits--we have to form godly habits on the basis of the new life God has placed within us. We are not meant to be seen as God's perfect, bright-shining examples, but to be seen as the everyday essence of ordinary life exhibiting the miracle of His grace. Drudgery is the test of the genuine character...We all have those times when there are no flashes of light and no apparent thrill to life, where we experience nothing but the daily routine with its common everyday tasks. The routine of life is actually God's way of saving us between our times of great inspiration which come from Him. ~ My Utmost for His Highest

I love my routine life. I miss it when I am thrown out of my routine. My routine has been out of whack for a few weeks now due to our kitchen remodel. But we are getting very close to being finished. I am so ready.

God Helps Me be Regular

I apologize in advance if this is too much information. I just feel like maybe I just post this because it might help someone else. It's about having regular BMs, so if you're not interested, stop reading now.

I have to praise God that I am regular. Kind of weird, huh? Let me explain. In about May I started having my quiet time when I first get up. This is my routine: The alarm goes off about 5:30, I get up, empty my bladder, and start the coffee pot. Then I set down in my chair with a 24 oz bottle of water and begin my daily reading. It is usually cold in the house this early in the morning, so I set with my feet up in the chair with my knees to my chest to help stay warm. (I believe this "squatting" position is significant from something I read some time, so where, but of course I don't know where.) I drink the entire bottle and by that time the coffee is ready. Mmmm...coffee! I have it with powdered milk and a little artificial sweetner - not that how I drink my coffee makes any difference to the story, but I love it. :) Anyway, I drink my cup of coffee and continue my quiet time. By about 6:00 am, I am ready to "go." It's like clock work. I have never been so regular in my life. I don't believe it is the quiet time that is the "magic" here, I'd been having a quiet time long before this. I praise God for inspiring me to start having my quiet time first thing in the morning, for giving me the desire to start working on re-hydrating right away, for a cold house that makes me want to curl up in the chair, and for warm coffee to get things moving. God is good and He cares about every part of our lives. I praise Him and thank Him for that!

Routines

As always, I desire to grow closer to God. I want to remove the many distractions in my life that keep me from focusing on Him. I've been without my computer the past few days and weirdly that is distracting me. You would think that would allow me to focus on God more - that my computer would be a distraction. In some ways it is, but right now I am wondering what it is going to take to fix it, I am keeping the many thoughts that I record in my computer on my mind instead of being able to put them in my computer and then forget about them. My routine is off and that is distracting. But I am learning...I am learning to trust Him. I am learning to relax. I am learning that my routine really is important. The routine is important because it keeps a lot of my day on auto-pilot. I don't have to focus as much on what needs to be done and I can focus more on Him. However, my routine can also make me rigid and inflexible. God is always teaching me...but am I always learning? I don't know, but I am trying to listen to Him and learn from these daily struggles.