Ants in my Plans

A few days ago some very tiny unexpected house guest showed up and took over my little teacup chahuahua's food bowl. The more I try to get them out of my bathroom so little Peyton can eat in peace the more they show up messing up my happy plans. I'm talking about tiny very tiny little sugar ants. And speaking of that, I don't know who decided they were sweet enough to be called sugar, because they are certainly not being sweet to me or my little precious puppy Peyton Bear. So here we are every morning washing out her food bowl hoping that she eats all her food up before those little rascals decide to come take over each day. I've tried everything to divert them from having their on way around my bathroom. I've used straight Pine Sol all over the bathroom floor. This worked GREAT for a few days and then they were back roaming all around doing what they felt like doing. So I have started smearing them right in their tracks when I see them, but it's not realistic that I spend the rest of my life stuck in my bathroom killing sugar ants because they won't take a hint that I don't want them in there. Interesting thing happened to me this morning in the bathroom as I cleaned up Peyton's bowl added fresh food and water and started to get myself ready for work. I saw a tiny sugar ant running around my bathroom sink. But instead of killing it this time my mind began to compare that little tiny ant to me, to us.
What if God saw us as we see little ants? What if God watched from way up high as we like ants run all over His plans? What if God saw us running around doing what we want to do never giving any thought to what God's desires might be for us? When I get honest with myself and with you I am that little sugar ant sometimes. Just doing my thing and not stopping to ask God if I'm on the right track or if my happy plans are lining up with His plans for me. So as my mind started making comparisons between me and this tiny little ant I started thinking how very frustrated this ant makes me and how very frustrated I often must make my God. But unlike me and my smearing ant finger, God doesn't wipe me out when I aggravate Him. I'm thankful because I would have been smeared out a long time ago. No, God sometimes toughly sometimes gently urges and guides me to make better choices and decisions to lead me into his loving plans. Job 34:21 For God watches how people live; He sees everything they do. (NLT).

Undeserved compliment

Happy Tuesday to anyone that have stopped by the Grill. I'm so glad you have chosen to give me a few minutes of your time. I would be so excited to hear from you today. Leave me a comment if you have a moment.
I'm going to share a wonderful compliment I received today.

I just wanted u to know that i think u have the love of Christ beaming out of u...ur slow to anger, non judgemental, u don't talk ugly about people and u love everyone and find the best in them... ur a beautiful person... it is very intimidating for those of us who struggle with those things....lol... i think ur very special and i could learn from you!

I am positive this is the most beautiful compliment I could ever be given. I mean it is the type of compliment a woman could live her whole life and never hear. But it was spoken today and to me! What a normal Tuesday to have such a blessing of a compliment to come my way for no special reason at all. And the craziest part is for a brief moment I was basking in the warm fuzzy feeling I had just reading over the compliment from my blackberry phone. It came from a dear friend of mine and I'm convinced my heart was racing with excitement for several seconds at the thought that this compliment was for me. Then it happened... then I realized that this warm fuzzy compliment is undeserved, that I'm not worthy of such beautiful attributes to be spoken about me. What a sour taste for a girl who had racing heart with warm fuzzys. Why can't I just take the compliment, hold it, linger over it, enjoy it, and graciously smile and say thank you. I did say thank you, I did smile through my tear filled eyes, but the reality is this beautiful compliment was not really for me. It's for the person I desire to be. It's for the person I pray God will grow me into, it could be for the very small snip-its of brief short moments that I do allow Jesus to guide me into making the right choice when I really want to make the wrong choice. That compliment was for the me I long to be. Not for the me that I am. I'm so far away from the person the compliment implies that I am. But then. But then Jesus is always with me, dwelling in my heart waiting for me to step aside and let Him move me, mold me, make me who I can be through Him. Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me.
So I say with humble heart YES I will hold that compliment deep in my heart and smile, not because of the woman I am but because of the woman I desire to be through my Jesus.
And to my dear friend who chose to share such a wonderful compliment with me today, you are truly a blessing to me. I love you lady and you and your family are so important to all of us at the Walker house.
Thank you for stopping by the grill and sharing with me on this wonderfully normal Tuesday.

"just" or MORE

It's been so long since I've blogged I don't know where to start. So let me just talk about what's been on my mind. Over the past few months as I look deeper into God's word He is showing me that I have a real desire not not to "just" be me but to be MORE. What does that mean? I don't want to go through life "just" merely getting by. I want to be as our blog site says, "On fire for God's desire". Every moment of everyday I want to be MORE. MORE through Jesus, MORE of a wife to my husband, MORE of a mom to my children, MORE of a friend, MORE of a daughter, MORE of a sister, MORE of a comforter, listener, MORE of a doer and less of a "just" enough to get by woman in Christ. God says, "I'm "MORE" than a conqueror in Him." So why do I allow myself to "just" be enough? Maybe it's because I'm scared to step out and allow God to have His way with all parts of my life. Maybe it's because I'm not really sure how to step out and be MORE. So I've began to pray about this. About finishing each and every decision and choice that I start, about praying for God to use me even MORE and for me to be entwined so tightly with Christ that I want to do MORE that I seek to be MORE in and through Him. I just started a really good book called Becoming more than a good Bible study girl. By: Lysa Terkeurst. I'm not a reader so to speak. So the fact that I'm already to chapter 11 of this book and I read the introduction pages is a real sign that I wish to be MORE in Christ. I hope that you have a sweetly blessed week. And may we strive to be MORE and not to "just" be.
Thank you for stopping by the GRILL.

Date night

Good morning. Thanks for taking a moment to stop by the grill. If you want to leave a comment for me I would be THRILLED with a capital "T". Can I share a love story with you this morning? Jim and I had a date last night! I know what your probably thinking, "We're married, why do we need to go out on a date? We are together everyday." You know what I have discovered? When your married a great amount of your time and energy is geared toward other people and things besides your relationship with your spouse. Let's be honest us moms tend to be in the room but NOT in the conversation alot of time. I mean even when we are with our husbands talking we tend to be thinking about 100 other things. Like dirty laundry, what needs to be taken out of the freezer for dinner, have the kids finished homework, going thru backpacks for the next day, did anyone feed the dog & cat yet, I can't forget to right out lunch money checks, etc. The list of thoughts that run through my head in a day of things I need to take care of could go on and on. Before we know it we are off to bed to get up the next day and start all over. Nothing at all wrong with all of that wonderful mom stuff, but before I realize it sometimes that wonderful man that God has joined me with to be his help mate through life gets the very back burner. Actually somedays he doesn't even fit on the stove at all with all the other priorities on my list. And then... something wonderful happens. A few nights ago Jim and I mentioned having a date night. Here's the catch.. Jim asked that I be with him on this date not only in body but also my mind! My mind? Did he know what he was asking? He was asking me to stop thinking about everything else for 1 night and concentrate on him. What a request. What a sincere, real, need to have some spouse one on one time alone with my wife request. That was an awakening request for me. My man was saying please give me some attention. My wheels got to turning like crazy. "DATE NIGHT !" I made a commitment to myself that last night was going to be all about my handsome husband. No talk about anything or anyone except us. Jim had already made arrangements with Meme to watch the boys all night. "You have to love Memes or you might have a Gran or Grammy or Grandma. They come with different names but they are GREAT!" I dressed up just for my guy. We went out to eat. Let me say it doesn't matter rather the food was good or bad the night was all about us. The conversation was all about us, the mood was all about us, and can I mention here that my mind was completely focused on how gorgeous my husband is. And what a wonderful man I have beside me. I LOVE date night. I encourage any woman reading this to try it. It's well worth the time invested and you might just learn a little more about your husband in process. Happy dating!
With love in Christ,
Angela

Fun Ladies Night

Thank you for stopping in at The Grill. I'm excited at the possibility that today might just be the day that someone leaves me my very first blog comment. OK, let me admit I once left myself a comment on here. You know, just to make sure it was working! Last night was the first annual ladies dinner at a new Christian School near our home. My children go to public school but I have a dear friend who's son attends this new Christian school. I was blessed to be invited to attend this school fundraiser event. It was such a fun time as you can imagine with a room full of ladies, a secret auction, arts & craft vendors, and some cute little waiters. OH did I mention the really good food and INCREDIBLE desserts!!
Our waiter just happened to be in my opinion the best waiter ever and did I mention he's 11 yrs old and he's my son's best friend.
We had such a fun time. I don't often leave my guys at home for a ladies only night out. I have to say the idea of going out with the girls makes me feel guilty. But last night as I left my men with a crock pot of beef stew I was excited to be going off to have a night full of wives and moms with lots of laughter and talking. I love being home with my family and I miss them when I'm not there, but I must admit once in a while to be in a room full of just women who love our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ and hearing a good word about being an ornament for Christ it's an event that I will definitely say yes to again. Have a wonderful weekend friends. And don't forget if you have a second leave me a comment.... I would be thrilled!!!
With love in Christ,
Angela

Family Game Night

Thank you for stopping by "The Grill" today. I'm excited to have you check out our family blog site. Speaking of family I just happen to have one of my very own. And I love talking about them. So here we go: Our 2 youngest children decided that our family needs a "Family EXTREME game night". My husband and our oldest son, and I had know idea what this was going to consist of. So last night we stayed home from our regular Wed night at church night and had "EXTREME GAME NIGHT. Keep in mind our 2 youngest children are 10 and 5 years old. So they went to one of their bedrooms worked for quite a while getting this event all set up complete with a score card. Finally the BIG event began. Our 15 year old son, Jim, and myself followed the boys into the EXTREME ROOM and the games began!! We played extreme magnetic darts, bonus round, and my favorite extreme advanced round which was twirling balloons on a string and tryingo to lasso the bed for 50 points each. They had really put alot of thought into this extreme game night and it was so cute watching the 2 boys explain the rules for each game that they had made up. At the end of the event we were all given a special participation prize.... our very own piece of Halloween candy. When the score card was added up they announced that all 5 of us were winners!!! Isn't that a wonderful way to look at our life in Christ Jesus, We are ALL winners !! May your Thursday be terrific and your coming up weekend be wonderful. And may you feel like the winner you are in our savior Christ Jesus. I would love to hear from you. Do you and your family have special family events, game nights, or a special weekly meal that everyone anticipates for? I would love to hear about them.
Wishing you sweet blessings,
Angela

Time changes fall back

I like the saying fall back spring foward regarding time change. This coming weekend time changes. We gain an hour to get ready for church Sunday morning. I can always use extra time. As we are well into the autumn season with Halloween behind us and Thanksgiving fastly approaching my mind is already calculating when will be a good time for our family to put up our Christmas tree. As a matter of fact as of yesterday I have already ordered this year's Christmas ornaments for my kids. Speaking of that if anyone reading this would care to leave me a comment to let me know if you are like me and think it's really cool to get your kids a new ornament to go on your tree each year. I'm curious how many other moms have this family tradition. For our family the ornaments represent something that relates to each of my sons for that specific year. Enough about Christmas for now it's barely November.


I was thinking about the fact that time falls back an hour, this morning, and it occurred to me how very much I need to also fall back. I need to fall back deeper into the comfort, peace, joy and unconditional love that God offers to me everyday. Not only me but to you too.

Interestingly, after I typed the above I had to stop and get back to work. In the course of today I had the opportunity to pray over email to a very desparate lady who felt hopeless in life. And the above statement came back around to me. God's comfort, peace, joy and unconditional love for each one of us. How wonderful it was for me to be able to share this truth about God with this lady I will probably never meet. And isn't that's how it's suppose to be.... God wants us to share about Him to everyone we come in contact with even if we don't know who they are.

Phil 4:19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.