What makes you feel excited,
full of life,
energized?
What is your passion?

"Being happy in God is the way we glorify Him.
 It should be the single passion of our lives.
Seeking happiness in God and glorifying God are the same.
Don't waste your life.
What is life about?
What is it for?
Why do I exist?
Why am I here?
To be happy?
Or to glorify God?
God's purpose for my life is that I have passion for His glory and
that I have passion for my joy in that glory,
and that these two are one passion."
  -Don't Waste Your Life.

Love and Laugh -July 17

What ever sorrow the day may bring,
still love and laugh.

Learn how to be actively obedient to God.

HONOR - means to value and esteem.
your parents, your spouse, yourself, your God............

This is what I command you,
that you love one another.

I have all your affairs in My hands.

God will develop us and bring us to perfection.
He will fulfill His will for us.

Chiggers and Chigger Bites... Spawn of Satan? Perhaps. Camping at Uwharrie

Decided to take a great trip to UWharrie.   

There we could go camping and four wheeling in the Jeeps.

Great idea!   

Great fun!

Then of course, my husband got bitten by a spider and we all got chigger bites.

I am still just reading up on all kinds of wierd and wild ways to treat or prevent chigger bites.

Of course this is too little too late.


I was going to be adventurous and wear shorts.


Mistake #1.    Don't wear shorts.

Mistake #2.    I felt like something was biting my ankles, 

but I was in my tent, tired, 11 pm, so I went to sleep. I should have taken a shower &scrubbed them little varmints off !

Mistake #3.    At some points I wore sandals and never applied bug repellent.  Don't wear sandals, and DO wear bug repellant!

Mistake #4.    I wore the same pants....during the day I would wear one pair of pants or shorts, then at night wear some pajama's.   Mistake, the next day I would use the same pair.  Bring lots of changes of clothing.

The bites showed up on a Sunday morning.

We went hiking anyway!

 By Monday morning the bites were horrible and itchy.
I read up on all kinds of ways to treat the itch.

The blisters were itchy!

 I tried a paste of baking soda.  Some little relief.

I went to work.   The itch intensified.   That is when a co worker informed me that Chiggers are Satan's Spawn.   And there is no relief from the itch!
I went home.  I tried the vaporub and salt concoction.
I woke up in the night itching like crazy and throwing up.
By Tuesday I was miserable.
The welts had become similar to those of poison ivy.
The itch was crazy!
I tried:   Witch Hazel, Rubbing Alcohol, Campho Phenique, even Instant Ear-Dry, then Neosporin, and

              Hydrogen Peroxide.  Of course Benadryl.   (I did not try nail polish          because, before when I got chigger bites that didn't do me any good.)
   No relief.  I did not try an Epsom Salt Soak because there was too much of me that needed to soak.... and that would mean I would have to wash the bathtub!  I did not try ChiggerX because that would mean going out in 90 degree heat to get it.  heat makes the bites itch like crazy!

But by Thursday I was okay enough to go to work, I just made sure I wore clothing that was loose, as well as shoes that did not rub.

I read about a sergeant that made his men eat matches after lighting them, supposedly because the sulphur in the match would keep the buggers away.

I have heard to use listerine, deodorant, or toothpaste on the bites!

I have read to keep the little bastards off of you to:

Stay on the trail!  Avoid high grass and vegetation.
Apply Dawn, or Sulphur, keep yourself totally covered with clothing,
take a shower after being out, scrub yourself, change all your clothing and wash the clothes immediately.   I have heard of ChiggerX , Eurax, Chig-Away.   Use a bug repellent which has DEET.  Apply every two hours.  I have been told to stay inside when it is a certain temperature that the chiggers love.  I have been told to eat lots of raw garlic (which curiously has alot of sulphur!), lots of vitamin B. I have read that you can outfit yourself in Ex-Officio's line of clothing that is pretreated with permethrin.   The treatment lasts through 70 washings.  .

I am afraid I will probably have another run in with these horrible creatures.  Seeing as I do love being outdoors.  I think I may investigate buying some:
Dawn,
ChiggerX,
Sulphur.

Who knows, maybe my co-worker was right, maybe they really are spawns of Satan!  

You are not alone.

Trust in Me.
Dwell in My love.
Laugh and Trust.  Laughter is a child's faith in God and good.
Seek safety in My Secret Place.
You cannot be touched or harmed there. 
That is sure.
Really feel as if you were in a strong Tower,
strongly guarded and against which nothing can prevail.

We all get alittle warped when we are out of the herd.

"Many of my disciples have had to stay on in the dark, alone, and friendless.     They struggled on, singing as they went.  
If I have asked you to step on and up firmly, then surely I have secured your ladder."
-God Calling 

Be at Peace.  Fear not.   Give thanks.

There are no rejects from God's 'herd'. 

Do you know the theme music from the T.V. show Cheers?

"Everybody knows your name, and they are all so glad you came." 

We all want a place like that.  
A place where we belong.

There is no one who is not good enough,
not cool enough,
not smart enough to be in this herd,
His herd. 
Welcome all.
Because you know what?  
We all get alittle warped
when we are out of the herd. (or the family, the pride, the group, fellowship)

 

Messed up relationship?

Ever have a misunderstanding with one you love,
barriers get higher, misunderstanding.  Explanation seems impossible.  
The situation becomes ever more complex and insolvable.   Regretting, wondering how it could have been different.

... The Lord wants to teach us to commit, trust, rest.

Humble yourself under God's mighty hand and He will lift you up in due time.  Cast all your cares on Him, for you are His.   -1 Peter 5:6-7

"Leave them to Me,
There is nothing else that I am asking of you.
Leave them to Me.
You cannot fathom all that is taking place.
You don't need to know.  
I am at work in you,
in them,
Leave them to Me.
It will become clear. 
Trust Me."

Tell others they are beautiful.
Make others feel like the beautiful creation God meant them to be.

 

Are you just waiting for the next bad thing to happen to you?

To face the next thing, face Him.


Ever have your heart feel broken.   Things have gone wrong.   It seems that no one really cares what is going on in your life?
To face the next thing, face Him.

"Can you get the expectant attitude of faith?   Not waiting for the next bad thing  to happen to you but await with a joyful trust the next good thing in store?" 

Only by Your grace can I do that Lord.

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.  -pasalm 37:7

Why feel sad and despondant?
He knows what you need better than you do.
The work that He desires is that you 'believe'.   John 6:29

Patience takes away all wobbling.  

As we live by correct priorites, cultivating our relationship with God on a daily basis, we will begin to experience a quiet joy resulting from a sense of security that we belong to God and He is indeed in control of our lives.

Meeting with God regularly prepared Moses for the next step. 
What's your next step?   Don't know?   Get away with God.

"We are given no books with carefully marked pages, and very often we have no director, for God leaves us without any support except Himself.
We are abandoned and live in darkness.   We are forgotten.
We are aware of our needs and our wretchedness, but we do not know from where or if any help will come.
Meanwhile we do not worry and wait quietly for someone to come and help us, and we keep our thoughts fixed on heaven.

God Himself provides us with books, gives us insight into our souls, together with advice and examples from the lives of the good and wise.

The world thinks that we are useless and it seems as if we are.  
Yet we are quite certain that by various means and through hidden channels we pour out spiritual help on people who are often quite unaware of it and of whom we never think.   God gives a special force to all we say and do and even our silence, our tranquility and our detachment, which quite unknown to us profoundly influences other people."   - Abandonment to Divine Providence