Yummy Potato Soup......

I was in the midst of writing a couple different things this morning when a couple little things knocked me off my rocker a little. So instead of continuing to finish the others I felt like the Lord was just saying to share what I was feeling today because someone needs to hear it. My day started off kind of humorus actually, Scott must have taken soup or something of that sort to school for lunch because as I was trying to throw some things in the crockpot this morning I noticed the disappearance of my can open. When your trying to open cans, a can opener is pretty important. So I'm shuffling through the kitchen drawers trying everything that I possibly can think of that might do the trick. How in the world did people function without can openers at one time????

So after much frustration and because I started thinking with my luck I'm surely going to cut my finger off I ran to the store and picked a new can opener up. It made the job so much easier it was amazing and I think I'm going to wrap it up and give it as a "thinking of you" gift to Scott when he gets home today :) I know this is a goofy story and hard to take serious when it was merely a can opener but it threw a curve in my road today and was a little unexpected mishap that I had to just deal with. I had 2 choices, I could have gotten really mad at my husband because I'm not sure what he was thinking and sat at home ticked off over this or just dealt with it the best way I could by grabbing another one at the store or borrowing one in the meantime from a neighbor.

When I thought I had tonights dinner fiasco figurd out I get a phone call about my upcoming tests in Cleveland on Friday. I have to admit I have been pretty anxious thinking about it coming up and hearing the list of instructions for the tests didnt help. The lady goes on and on but I hear a few of them that specifically pertain to me and that is I have to take out my feathers because they have metal on them and you can't have that with the MRI machine and also the substance they give you for the test can cause nausea and vomiting but not to worry because if that happens they can easily clean you up and continue the test. LOL huh??? ok that just took the anxiety level I had about the tests from 3 to 100. Inevitably I have to have the tests but now with every new detail thats added comes more worry and fear. In that moment when I wanted to let fear and worry take over I had to remind myself that I can't change it so I need to deal with it one thing at a time and trust God that everything is going to be ok. I need to avoid getting into the "stinkin thinkin" mode where negative thoguht on top of negative though creeps in and consumes us to the point of feeling smothered and drowning in the unknown. "We need inner strength to keep from being overwhelmed by outward circumstances."

I'm human and there is a part of me that I know will struggle from here through Friday until its over with but in the process I'm missing out on the now. Corrie ten Boom has a quote that has always been one of my favorites and it says "Worry doesnt empty tomorrow of its sorrow it empties today of its strength." What an awesome quote because we can't do anything about the things that are going to happen tomorrow really but we can change and decide how we are going to react and deal with today. "Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for power equal to your tasks," Joyce Meyers. Philippians 4:6 "We are commanded, “Do not be anxious [do not worry] about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

If we are constantly stressed over what "might" be in the future and yet maybe it will never happen, then we have wasted so much of our energy that we could have put into the now. Like my dinner fiasco I went to the store last night and made sure I had all the ingredients for tonights potato soup, I cut the bacon up early and had everything sitting out but then WHAM my plans and my worry failed because without a can opener this morning I was stuck. I went through all that worry and the game ended up being changed by circumstances. I firgued out a new path to deal with it but it just emphasize my point that we can worry and stress about whats ahead but ultimately it can change and be out of our hands. You can be overly prepared for something but if the situation shifts then you are still stuck scrambling how to figure out how to deal with new circumstances.

Next week Fridays tests will merely be a distant thought. The tests may be uncomfortable and may be nervewracking but its only temporary, I'm not going to have to spend the rest of my life stuck in an MRI machine even if it feels like it at some point. In those moments where fears tries to overtake us we have to remember to take those thoughts captive and understand how temporary the situation is. You may be dreading something ahead now or 6 months from now and its hard not to worry at all but ultimately remember where those thoughts come from and that God can replace them with comfort and peace because He will be with you through it all. "If you feel presed, confused, controlled, or stressed about something, then it is not of God; that is not how He works. Instead, the Holy Spirit will gently "reveal, (comfort, declare, disclose and transmit)" the truth to you,"Joyce Meyers.