He'll Take Care of The Rest

I haven't blogged for awhile but life has been super busy in recent weeks. Really you could describe my job in one word:
S T R E S S!

Every Fall we gear up to start another new year for our Bible Study or as others would call it Sunday School and all of our other ministries. During this time of year we usually are knowledgeable of a little bit of turnover but this year we had a bit more last minute step downs than I had expected many of which were for health and family reasons. And when you have these situations you cannot anticipate them. So for me this means I have to become a heavy duty recruiter and trainer and make it happen in a relatively short period of time. And I am so thankful that I have a wonderful helper who takes on a great portion of calling and helping me with the recruiting part. She does such a great job of calling people for me. When you have more people helping you it sure does lighten that load.

I admit at first whenever things like this happen I am good, I am praying, watching and waiting, walking with Jesus, and listening. But as time gets nearer to deadlines and I am looking at the empty teacher spots I am always amazed at my descent into self-sufficiency. It is so subtle. However things start happening to me physically I will start having bouts with migraines, sleeplessness, and tension. And for all of my fitness conscious friends, yes I do still take time to eat healthy and also exercise. But stress was still was taking its toll.

Thankfully God sent me a reality check a few weeks back through a wake up "call" from some friends and my family. They told me that in every conversation I was having with them I was fretting. That I was talking about how I could "make this or that work" and trying to "work things out". That's self sufficiency not God Sufficiency! And they were right. After the last person mentioned that to me I thought "Okay God I hear you!" So He sent me to look at my prayer journal... and it was more like a Fret Journal. I was whining and fretting on paper and telling Him what had to be done, not asking Him what HE wanted to happen and who HE wanted to serve Him through these opportunities.
So I stepped back and had a literal come to Jesus meeting with myself. I sat down with Him and said..."I CANNOT do this...I know that. Only YOU can. I confess to You that I am trying to handle it all in my own strength. But I give up, I can't do it You are going to have to handle it and I give it to you. Help me to leave all these worries with You. And thank You for helping me leave it there and see what You are trying to show me."
When I finished talking AND listening I had such a great sense of His Peace and literally felt the tension leave. A really great song also came to mind. It is an oldie but a goodie: Keith Green's: "He'll Take Care of the Rest" (By the way, if you look to the right in my Playlist its the second song down. You can click on it to hear it.) Now for me,this song said it all: I needed to leave this very small thing in His eyes in His ALMIGHTY hands and be watching and listening and waiting for Him to provide. Now does this mean I will never try to handle things on my own, I wish! No I am sure I am going to have be looking for this and check myself.

So... what in your life right now are you trying to handle all on your own? Maybe its time to let God "handle the rest" for you. ???

By the way here are the lyrics in case you don't know the song:

He'll Take Care of the Rest
Keith Green

You know it ain't no use, banging your head, up against that cold stone wall,
Cause nobody's perfect, except for the Lord, and even the best bound to fall,
Remember He is de vine, and you are de branch,
He'd love to get you through it if you'd give Him a chance,
Just keep doing your best,
And pray that it's blessed,
And Jesus takes care of the rest.
Yes the Lord said that He'd take care of the rest, He's gonna do it,
He'll take care of the rest, He'll see you through it,
He'll take care of the rest, the devil blew it,
He'll take care of the, He'll take care of the rest.
Just think about Moses, in front of the burning bush,
barefoot on the Holy ground,
You know, he must have been thinking, what's an old dude like me,
Gonna tell em all when I go down, go down Moses,
The Lord said, hey Moe, don't you worry about going down south,
I'll be saying every word that comes out of your mouth,
Just keep doing your best, and pray that it's blessed,
Hey Moe, I'll take care of the rest.
Yes the Lord said that He'd take care of the rest, he's gonna do it,
He'll take care of the rest, He'll see you through it,
He'll take care of the rest, oh, Pharaoh blew it,
He'll take care of the, He'll take care of the rest.
Just believe, and you'll receive, that comfort you need,
You just think about all those lonely people you know,
They've got everything they want, but they have empty souls,
Well, He'll take care of the, He'll take care of the,
He'll take care of the, care of the rest.
You just think about Noah, toting his umbrella,
when there wasn't a cloud in the sky,
All his neighbors would laugh at his pet giraffe,
and would snicker as he walked by,
But the Lord said, hey Noah, keep cool, just keep building that boat,
It's just a matter of time till they see who's gonna float,
You just keep doing your best, and pray that it's blessed,
Hey Noah, I'll take care of the rest, I'm the weatherman.
The Lord said that he'll take care of the rest, He's gonna do it,
He'll take care of the rest, He'll see you through it,
He'll take care of the rest, his neighbors blew it,
He'll take care of the rest, He's gonna do it, He's gonna do it,
He'll take care of the rest, only Jesus can see you through it,
He'll take care of the rest, yes, yes, yes,
He'll take care of the, He'll take care of the rest….

Busy Time of Year for Me...

(yes I still use a paper planner...I like writing it all in)
This time of year is just a bit nuts for me at work and it all starts in October.(Well actually it starts when we begin our new church year in August but this time of year is a concentrated sprint as well) It starts with the build up to our annual Fall Fun Fest; decorating the church for Christmas (which I am liaison to the decorations team so I help with that effort) our Preschool annual event Birthday Party for Jesus; our new Hanging of the Green family event; and Sounds of Christmas. Usually I sing in Sounds of Christmas but still am not able to sing for long periods of time without coughing so I had to nix that for this year. All this plus the "normal" every week activities makes it non stop 11 weeks of activity.

But in the midst of all of this about 4 weeks ago I had a nasty bout with Bronchitis. My doctor said I was dangerously close to the Pneumonia mark. My breathing was really shallow and lungs were filled with infection. TMI? :-) Just know it was gross and I didn't really know how bad it was til I started recovering. At times I thought I would cough up a lung, ha ha ! Anyway, its been a loooooong trek trying to get back to "normal" from this. One annoying thing in the midst of this is that I still have not been allowed to get back to my full exercise routine; I can do my weights but no to the elliptical right now. Sad for this ...because that also means it will take a while to get back to where I was before I got sick.

As a result of the recovery I am usually zapped when I get home. Its hard not to do something for me...but have tried to be "good" so I could recover well instead of slowing it all down by not resting. But let me tell you its been hard.

In the midst of all of this have been several emotionally draining situations at church: we had the home going for one of our little ones this week. Little 5 month old Emily fought long and hard for many months but last Friday she went home to be with Jesus. I admit these things always send me to God's throne with crazy questions, anger and frustration. Thankfully He is there to lean on for me as well as others and all of Emily's family. I can't imagine her parents heartbreak. If you would, please join me in praying for Jeff and Karen. Thank you.

We also had one of our Dad's suffer from a brain bleed last week. Scary part of this beyond the nature of the ailment, was that his wife was in Guatemala at the orphanage we sponsor with people from our church when it took place. Thankfully she was able to make it home before they did his surgery. It has been a crazy couple of days for them. Thankfully he is at home recovering but its gonna take a few weeks for him to get back his strength, etc. If you would, would you also please join me in praying for the Jensen family. Thank you.

I end all of this with a question...do you let the crazy-ness at your job rob you of spending time with your family and friends? My hardest task in days like these is keeping my time balanced, not getting so wrapped up in my job that I miss out on time with my friends. (My family is a bit far away for me to spend time with, but I do keep up with them via phone, texts, and email.)

So at this time of year don't miss out on those special moments with your family and friends. You can never get those moments back.

Walking Through Days in a Blur

Do you have those times of the year that you look back on and for the life of you can't remember one day from the next? For me its this time of year. Why? With my job summers are a bit busy with special events, VBS, etc. But the Fall is packed with starting programs back up that have been on hiatus for the summer as well as a new Bible Study, aka Sunday School year. This means lots of recruiting, training, constantly evaluating, creating publications, and meeting with people. There is not a lot of down time.
This always poses problems for my sleep habits, harder for me to wind down at night and to truly stop my brain from processing. And I know from the past this also is the time of year I start to catch stupid little bugs that my body should be able to ward off but it is too run down to fight because of the lack of sleep and rest.
So...you may ask what are you going to do about this? Well, I had a plan to help myself wind down during this busy Fall and not suffer from sleep and rest deprivation. The plan's goals are to make sure I spend time outside each day in the fresh air, walk, or ride my bike, and turn off the digital media. But here's a confession, this week I flunked!!! I gave in to the tired feelings and brain fog and allowed myself to veg out in front of the TV and computer. And sleep this week you may ask?? Horrible. I have averaged 4 hrs a night. Not good heading into cold and flu season. And my working with preschoolers who share their germs every day doesn't help either. With my current lack of rest and habits I am definitely headed into sick-ville. However, I am determined NOT to do this, so I am getting back into the groove of my daily wind down goals...so the tennis shoes are by the door, the bike is all ready to go, and the digital media has a 9 pm curfew. :-)


So with all that said, is there something you need to do for yourself this new school year? Is it to be healthier, to be more active, to tackle something you have wanted to try, or is it just to carve out more time to spend with your family and friends? Don't set insurmountable goals but set realistic ones and for pete's sake don't give up or give in!

The Dreaded Migraine

This last week and weekend was busy with a capitol "B" and then capped off with Sunday which started really early as in 4 am with my running to get ready for our Kindergarten graduation that began at 8:30 and of course we had our usual morning activities. Then that afternoon we geared up for our Bible Study leaderhip training and meeting which didn't end until 9:15 pm or so. So was it a stressful weekend? Most assuredly. So after all of the stress of the day it should have been no surprise to be awakened by a pounding headache and pressure behind my left eye. But dummy me not tuning into the weekend that I had, had got up and took meds for what I thought was just a sinus headache. But of course three hours later I was awakened to more intense pain. You know the kind: can't move your head for fear you are going to throw up? And then I knew it wasn't a sinus headache it was the dreaded migraine. So I got up to take my meds for it....but of course not recognizing the culprit early it really was too late I knew I was going to have to ride it out and let it run its course. Which meant no light, no sound, and laying VERY still. And this was an ugly one. It is is still with me: nagging pain, weak eyes, sensitivity to light and sound. And its been over 2 days.

Does this sound familiar to you? Migraines are so debilitating. I remember the first one I had was when I was in seminary. It scared me to death. It was mid-terms and I of course had tests and papers due. Can you say STRESSFUL! Anyway, while I was at work I noticed that I couldn't see well out of one eye. It was like someone had taken some oil and dropped in my eye and smeared it in a big circle so I couldn't see through the center but only around the edges. (here is an example on the right of what you "see" or dont' see ) There was also intense pressure and pain behind that eye. Sounds wierd I know but it was a classic ocular migraine. However, I thought I was going blind in that eye. It was scary.

Such is the world of migraines. They are sneaky and hit like a ton of bricks. Unfortunately after all these years I still haven't figured out all of my triggers. And yes I have noticed that high stress is a trigger, but not all of the time. But that is the key you see to helping to prevent them, finding your triggers. So if you suffer from migraines. You have my deepest sympathy. If you don't but know others that do, take pity. They really aren't something you can just "get over" and get on with it. They truly can knock you flat and take a while to recover from .

So what did I learn from all of this? That I need to be kind to myself during high stress times. Need to take more breaks, walk, and get PLENTY of sleep. But this is a process for me as I muddle through the sea of migraine symptoms and preventatives. But I am not going to give up trying to become migraine free. :-)

So... What Do You Do When You Can't Sleep

Many nights I will fall asleep normally and then wake up a few hours later, wide awake. Very annoying. So what do I do when I can't sleep?I will journal or usually I grab a good book and try to let that lull me back to sleep. I wish I could say I always grab my Bible but that wouldn't be the truth. When I read the Bible it actually stimulates my brain and I start thinking and pondering, not a good thing to do when I need to fall asleep. Sounds horrible huh? Especially when you read verses that speak about meditating on scripture day and night, David talks about this quite a bit in his Psalms. But I can't just pick up my Bible and read, cause it will keep me up for hours. I will however pray. I will start ticking off my mental list of prayer requests and sometimes that will relax me. Something else is to ask God why am I awake? Sometimes as in the case of Samuel He has something He wants to alert me to or show me and in the "awake" hours I am too focused on me to hear or be aware of what He is showing me.

Other things I will try:

If there is a movie on that I like I will see if it can help my mind to zone out because usually its my brain that won't let me sleep. My favorite movie to lull me to sleep these days is the Illusionist. Not that its a snoozer, I actually like this movie. But its just a quiet type of film and the colors they use are mostly sepia and muted dark colors and for some reason, it relaxes me and I can fall asleep to it. So I will set the timer on the TV and hopefully sleep.

My last resort is to take a sleep aid. Most of these including prescriptions make me too groggy in the morning and I don't like how long it takes me to wake up. But if I am desperate and facing a long day ahead I will take one. The next day will be filled with caffeinated drinks. Mostly coffee.

Another thing a friend taught me to do when its my brain that won't let me go to sleep is to grab a blank notebook and some colored pencils or markers and just start doodling or writing out random words. This works sometimes for me, but many times it gets the creative juices flowing and just keeps the old brain on alert mode, so not such a good all time remedy.

So with all of my remedy's listed, what do you do when you can't sleep?