Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day

Yesterday was a bad day.

It started poorly.

The first thing—and I do mean the first thing I did after coming into the kitchen was stump my broken toe.

Um, yes, it hurt very much, thank you.

I sat on the couch and cried, resolving to not leave the safety of that refuge the entire day.

Then I made a critical bad decision.

Instead of hobbling across the room to get my Bible and Bible study, I picked up the laptop.  I mean, my quiet time could wait, couldn’t it?  I had all day to meet with God, and how much trouble could a one-footed woman stuck on a couch cause anyway?

Don’t answer that.

I read along, ignoring the clear pull in my heart to get in the Word, when someone knocked on my door.

Y’all, I live in the Middle of Nowhere, USA.

No one ever knocks on my door.

There stood two lovely ladies who need Jesus.

I know Jesus, and I know they don’t know Jesus, and I’ve just been given a silver platter invitation to tell them about Jesus, and

I  bailed.

In my head I know that I need to always be prepared with a ready answer for what I believe.

I know that the Word says not to worry about what I’m going to say.

But I worried anyway.

I stood there and thought, “My foot hurts, my house is filthy, I’ll stumble around and mess this whole thing up.”

Like I could mess God up.

Hello,  right there is one of the major reasons why perfectionism is a huge obstacle to abundant life in Christ.

It makes me think that it’s all about me.

It’s not all about my performance; it’s ALL ABOUT JESUS.

It’s also not just about information. Maybe, in thirty minutes around my kitchen table, I might have offered those sweet ladies the right information about Christ.

Only He could offer them transformation, which happens at and way beyond the moment we first believe.

I’ve asked and received forgiveness for my failure, and I wait for the power of Christ to continue its transforming work in me.  The more I know Him and rest in Him, the more I will risk for Him, and I’ll await His Words instead of fearing the weakness of my own.

Be blessed today,

Ginger

Stick a Fork in Me and Call Me Done

(image from ikea.com) 

Y’all, I’m here to tell you that this foot thing is wearing me out.

Done, over it, finished.

Though, I admit, after talking to someone today with a ridiculously awful ankle injury that makes mine look like a day at the park, I quit whining and repented.

The orthopedist has cleared me to let the pain dictate my activity level. 

So far the pain is dictating a gracious little activity, leaving me even less of any significance to report in Blogland.

Except perhaps that a nutella s’more is a culinary wonder.

And it has only 4 Weight Watchers points.

Actually, I did hobble into my kitchen this morning to prepare super-healthy, really-yummy (I promise) Oat Bran Muffins. 

After putting them in the oven, I sat down to my Beth Moore Bible study homework and neglected to set the timer.

Regrettably, these muffins were a tad overdone, but if I liked them burnt toasty, I’m confident they’re good properly baked.

On-One-Foot Oat Bran Muffins

(So easy you can make them while standing on one foot!)

(adapted from somewhere in Blogville that I can’t remember; if it’s you, these are delicious!  Thanks so much!)

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup oat bran

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 egg

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp. vanilla

2 T. oil

1 1/4 cup skim milk

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/2 berries, raisins, or chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400*.  In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients.  In a small bowl, whisk egg, honey, vanilla, oil, and milk.  Stir the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix in almonds and berries.  (Blackberries were fabulous.)  Bake for 16-20 minutes, NOT 25.3 minutes while you read Isaiah.  Take them out on time, top with a little butter, and then read Isaiah.

Be blessed!

Ginger

Linked up at Tasty Tuesday!

Jail Break

Thanks to these,

DD#1 and I met my sister and niece

in a nearby town for a small adventure.

They’re visiting for a few days to relieve the servants help out.

While they explored the shops,

I spent a lot of time here, people-watching.

I did hip-hop into one store with *hallelujah* a chair! where I took in some gorgeous eye-candy.

Seriously, I’ll take one of everything, please.

Next door is the cutest jewelry store ever-- arranged by color.

The greens are my favorites.

I bought myself a little bling.

Later, we ate a fabulous chocolate chip cookie from the cutey-patootie Sweet Shop Bakery.

(Photo credit: my niece; my armpits had completely given up by this point.)

I’m off to the orthopedist later this week for a second evaluation.  Pray for mobility!

Be blessed,

Ginger

What to Do When You’re Stuck

1. Join Weight Watchers so you won’t eat constantly while you can’t exercise.

2. Find a new favorite blogger and realize you’re from the same hometown.

3. Feel slightly homesick.

4. Remember that it is 999* degrees in your hometown with approximately 177,659 gnats.

5. View unfinished projects.  Decide you don’t really like the white chair as much as you thought you would.

(Ignore clutter in this picture.)

6. Shop for fabric online because new cushions might restore your chair’s mojo.

(Which one do you like best?)

7. Lament again that Mom’s sewing lessons didn’t really take.

8. Sigh heavily.

9. Listen to slave laborers daughters whine about helping their poor, invalid mother.

10. Offer heartfelt prayers of gratitude for them anyway.

Be blessed,

Ginger

Change of Plans

Remember this?

It’s now this:

Yep.  Party’s over.

After two weeks of hobbling, I finally had it checked.

Big-time foot sprain with ankle involvement.

Three weeks minimum off the foot.

Occasional crutches or zippy cart thingy at the grocery store.

Better be good or be in a world of hurt once school starts.

Thank heaven for slave labor teens who know their way around the kitchen and laundry.

I’m sure that in here somewhere are profound lessons  about resting. 

In the meantime, I’m trying to figure out how Big Red is going to manage his projects and mine—like 22,000 snap-beans that need to be canned.

Um.  I’ll get back to you.

Be blessed,

Ginger

 

Waiting

In one of the Esther videos, Beth Moore reminds us that

we can wait on a person or an event,

and we will be exhausted.

Or

we can wait on the Lord,

and our strength will be renewed.

The waiting in this verse stands out to me.

Our God is worth the wait.

Be blessed today.

Ginger

Linking up at Scripture and a Snapshot

Folly Beach Love

For the first time in several years, our family spent a few days at the beach.

In our house live:

one red-head

one ghostly pale-face

two beach bums,

so going to the beach doesn’t quite have the same ring to some of us that it does for others.

Until this year.

Because this year, we discovered some secrets to beach love.

1. Washer and dryer.

No sand in sheets.

No sand dirty laundry piles at home.

2. Separate bedrooms

No hormonal teens forced to share half a hotel room.

No parents forced to share half a hotel room with hormonal teens.

The catch? (‘Cause we know there has to be one.)

Our affordable condo was located on the wrong side of a super-scary bridge.

(No picture because I was too busy mentally gripping before-mentioned teens who would have died of embarrassment if their mom had touched them on the super-scary bridge.)

Once we crossed over, here’s some things we loved: 

Gentle waves:

Cool pier:

Love at the beach:

Beach read. The next person to check this out of our library will have authentic Folly Beach sand between the pages.

Beach toes —and beach broken toe (which meant I hobbled across super-scary bridge in a moon boot.)

Secret to pale-face beach love: beach umbrella.  Some strong ocean breezes nearly sent this umbrella and me soaring to Maine like Mary Poppins.

Beach food. Jack’s Cosmic Dogs=retro-cool restaurant.

Sadly, I neglected to take pictures at the ice-cream shop where we stopped nightly.

I was too busy licking peach ice cream from a waffle cone. Yum.

This week we’re anticipating some July 4th fun with family before summer and school planning start to overlap.

Hope your summer is going great!

Be blessed,

Ginger