The Familiar “New Year” Post… December 31, 2007
Posted by servingthesavior in life.1 comment so far
I decided to post one of those cheesy new year posts that no doubt millions of people have posted or will post. It’s just nice to write down things you hope to achieve in the new year, etc. This way, you have something to look back at, in case you lose sight of your goals… So here goes!
First of all, I thought it would be beneficial to list a few things I want to eliminate from my life in 2008.
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First, I want to eliminate complaining from my life. I complain entirely too much and it’s time I focus on what I have instead of what I don’t have. My aunt told me about a book she read that helped her to eliminate complaining from her life. I doubt that I will read it because it was written by Unitarian Universalist minister (the kind of “church” she attends) and I have SERIOUS issues with their beliefs. I do, however, agree with the need to eliminate complaining from our lives. She told me the basic premise of the book and I plan to try it.
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Second, I want to eliminate all forms of entertainment from my life that doesn’t glorify God. This one will be hard with all the shows on TV and all the movies that are out. The TV has been a major part of life in my house, and I intend to change that.
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Finally, I plan to eliminate as much ungodly and unholy thinking from my life. This will be the hardest thing to eliminate because I may profess Christ with my mouth, but who I really am lies in what I think about when I’m by myself. How I respond internally to a situation I don’t agree with. What I think about when something happens that upsets me. It’s hard for me to explain this, so I’ll go to God’s word. Here are some verses that made me decide on this final and most important decision:
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Job 21:27 states “I know full well what you are thinking, and the schemes by which you would wrong me.”
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Psalm 94:11 states “The Lord knows the thoughts of man; He knows that they are futile.”
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There are others, but basically I take this from these verses: if God knows my thoughts, I want ALL of my thoughts to be pure. God knows every single thing that goes through our mind. We always assume our innermost thoughts are private and there is no way others can know what we’re thinking. God knows. We might as well yell our thoughts at the top of our lungs into a microphone.
Next, some things I want to achieve by December 31, 2008:
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For the first time, losing weight isn’t at the top of my “to do” list for the new year. No, this year the top of my to do list is to grow closer to God. I want to keep growing in the Word and live my life in God to the fullest. I want to learn everyting I can about my Lord and Savior this year.
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Now the weight thing. I always have the goal of losing weight at the beginning of the year. This year is no different. Hopefully I will actually be successful with this goal, unlike other years. This isn’t so much about how I look this time though. I developed high blood pressure this year, which was a big scare for me. I NEED to lose weight to help keep my blood pressure under control. When you have wake up call like that, it becomes a big deal to lose the weight you KNOW you need to get off.
These are the only goals I’m setting for myself. I hope to achieve these and many more things throughout 2008, but I’m limiting myself to these “must do’s” for the year.
I wish everyone a safe and happy new year and I pray everyone will accomplish their goals through the coming year!
I know…It’s been FOREVER! December 22, 2007
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Sorry for not posting in so long. As I mentioned before, my back has been giving me all kinds of trouble. Fortunately it’s doing a lot better now. I’m still going to have to get a check-up to see if any further damage has been done, which I will be doing soon, but I’m functioning now. So, enough about that.
I did well in school this semester. All A’s except for one stupid B in an English class. There is always one class that keeps me from having a 4.0. ALWAYS. Even in high school. I shouldn’t complain. Some people would LOVE those grades. I just hate working SO HARD and falling just the tiniest bit short. But hey, that’s life!
So, in case you didn’t know, my favorite holiday is CHRISTMAS! I am so excited it’s coming up on Tuesday! I will see my family and it’s going to be great. More exciting than that is actually considering the real reason for Christmas, something I didn’t do before.
Anyway, I’ll post a more “meaningful” blog after the holiday. For now I just want to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS!
PAIN! December 9, 2007
Posted by servingthesavior in life.2 comments
Sorry I’ve been slightly incommunicado lately. I’ve been in severe pain the last few days. As some of you know, I have back issues–big time. I have several discs in my lumbar and one in my thoracic spine that are bulging and on the verge of herniation. This causes me frequent pain that I’ve been learning to live with. Thursday, though, I had a sudden, severe pain start in my mid-back. This pain has not yet let up, which worries me that maybe the problem disc in that area has finally given way. If this is so, surgery could be the only treatment.
I don’t know anything yet, but usually sudden severe pain with nothing to cause it usually indicates a major problem. I’m going to make an appointment with my spine doctor the first of next week (unless this pain mysteriously goes away), and will probably be getting another MRI to see what’s going on. I guess treatment will be discussed from there. However, in the mean time, I can barely move. There are only a few places I can be without experiencing horrible pain-sitting in the recliner or in my computer chair (which explains my ability to be online). I’m putting off going to bed because I know it will be a night of tossing and turning in pain and when I finally do sleep, I will no doubt wake up stiff and in excrutiating pain which has been lasting about 6 hours into the day. This pain has kept me from leaving the house since class Friday and I probably won’t be able to leave tomorrow. I would skip school next week if it weren’t finals week. I just hope I can drive. Anyway, please be praying for me that this can be taken care of — especially without surgery!
Oh, on the upside, I know I just complained about it, but I really am trying to use this time to my benefit. It’s given me time to study my Bible and my finals. In a way, this pain has kept me home and focused on what I need to be focused on, rather than out enjoying myself for the weekend as I probably would have done!
Undoubtedly, I am still working on this “Being happy in my hard times” thing!
Be Glad When You’re Depressed December 3, 2007
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I read the book of Philippians this weekend, and I learned two things that were specific to my current situation.
1. In reading about how Paul was joyful about his imprisonment, God revelaed to me that I have not been joyful in the hard times I have been experiencing lately. Refer to my first post to learn a little more about my “hard times.” Instead of getting discouraged like I was, I should have been praising God for the opportunity to trust and grow closer to Him! We should always rejoice when given the opportunity to allow God to work in our lives!
2. Philippians 2:14-15:
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shile like stars in the universe.
I am the world’s worst about complaining when asked to do something I don’t particularly want to do! If I’m asked to do something I don’t want to do, I may not complain outwardly, but inwardly, let me tell you. I know now that I must do EVERYTHING with JOY and THANKSGIVING. Not just the things I want to do. Let me tell you, this isn’t easy either. This is one area of my life I am going to have to pray hard about since it’s one of my most difficult areas. I
t’s difficult but not impossible.
Things I’ve Noticed… December 1, 2007
Posted by servingthesavior in salvation..1 comment so far
I’ve noticed something recently. I love how, since my salvation, I have begun making connections and noticing things that never even occurred to me before. Now, every time I even have a thought that I know is not pleasing to God, I immediately notice it and feel guilty. Every time I say or do something that God isn’t pleased with, I’m immediately remorseful. This may seem like something that is blatantly obvious to most people, especially those who have been saved for a while. It wasn’t like that for me before, though. Before I was saved I might feel guilty and ask forgiveness if I did something that was obviously sinful. If I told a lie or took the Lord’s name in vain, for instance. However, one thing I hardly ever noticed was when I’d have a sinful thought. I never even thought about what went on in my mind as being sin. Many times I could sin and never feel the slightest remorse. It got to where some of my sins became habitual, never even giving me the slightes bit of trouble to commit. It never occurred to me (before October) that “HEY! Maybe that signals a problem!”
I know now that I can’t live with Jesus in my heart as well as unconfessed sin. I literally grieve when I slip up. I am working on keeping God in control of my life and not being so quick to try and handle things myself. I am so desperate to try and live a pure and holy life that I don’t stop to consider that our human nature sometimes makes that difficult. I am still guilty of trying to do things to fix the problem rather than confessing my sin and asking God to help me live a life that is pleasing to Him each and every day. Without Him, it is impossible to live a holy life, yet I continue to make the mistake of trying. My prayer is that I will grow and mature in Christ and eventually not struggle so much with this particular problem.
I hope anyone who reads this understands what I mean. Sometimes I am guilty of spilling my heart out on the keyboard in a way that makes perfect sense to me, but absolutely no sense to anyone else. But, if it does make sense, does anyone else struggle with this? I get frustrated sometimes when I make these mistakes continually, even though I try my best not to.
Living with our flesh is a constant struggle, though. God never said the Christian life was easy. Before October, I thought it was easy! I was living life the way I wanted, because in my mind, I had signed up for “fire insurance” back in 1999. I understand now that salvation is truly the most amazing gift I’ve ever received, but living the christian life definitely isn’t easy!
Thanks to a challenge I read in another blog, I began reading the book of Ephesians. In reading, I found something that can be one of my reference points for helping me live a life that is pleasing to God.
Ephesians 4:1-6
1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bodn of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit–just as you were called to one hope when you were called–5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
These words just jumped off the page at me. Praise God that with His help, we can accomplish this!
The Great To-Do List December 1, 2007
Posted by servingthesavior in school.1 comment so far
So, here is what I have to do by December 12:
- Get Leadership clinical worked out
- Finish Peds Paper
- Finish Essay for Comp
- Finish 4 careplans for Peds Clinical
- Write Paper for Community
- Finish Study Guide/Study for Peds Test
- Study for Peds and Comp Finals
- Present community assessment findings
I’m sure there’s more, but this is all I can think of right now. There is an awful lot of writing assignments in that list…I better get moving! Guess I know what I’ll be doing this weekend.
Something Else November 30, 2007
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Check out this article…
Now there’s an idea I could live with. I knew I liked Mike Huckabee!
I wanted to share a few prayer requests. First, please pray for my grandparents, Vernon and Mary Eaton. They are both in poor health. My grandpa has Alzheimer’s and continues to steadily decline. This is making it very hard for my grandma to care for him, having a laundry list of problems of her own. She will be having surgery December 13 for blockages in her femoral artery. She had this procedure done on her other leg a few weeks ago. She isn’t bouncing back like we would have hoped, as she is still having pain and symptoms from the procedure. Now she has to endure it again, and it worries us due to the other problems she has. Just pray that God’s will be done and that she will come through it hopefully feeling better. Second, finals are coming up for all of us who are in college. I know I’m a little nervous about one of my finals in particular, and besides studying, I could use all the prayer and support I can get. I know many of you and my other friends are going through the same situation right now. Just think, it will soon be over and we will have a beautiful month-long break!
I also wanted to share a Bible verse I came across when reading tonight:
“The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The LORD is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made.” –Psalm 145: 8-9
This is so true! He was merciful enough to forgive me, something I still find it hard to believe. We are so unworthy of His grace and forgiveness, but He continually showers it on us! Praise GOD! Is anyone else excited about this?
The End is Near November 29, 2007
Posted by servingthesavior in life.Tags: encouragement, life, nursing, school
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I like the new look of my blog now. The picture featured at the top is the view from the top of Mount Nebo (the one in Arkansas, not the Bible 
). I will probably change it regularly.
Just as an update to my previous post, I’m not feeling as discouraged today. I had clinicals at Children’s Hospital and I sort of realized just how blessed I am. I’ve always known, but it really hit home that I have it pretty good. I’m not in the hospital. I don’t have a baby who has spent their entire life in a hospital. Some of the kids there have such sad stories, but you would never know it. Most of them just smile and love the time you spend with them. Those children are so precious, I wish I could stay up there with them all the time. I fell in love with my little patient today. He was an absolute doll, and all he wanted was a little attention. Well, I GAVE it to him! I hope he does well. Children’s is an amazing place. I wouldn’t mind working there. I am starting to think Pediatrics may not be my field though. I always thought it would be, but now I’m not so sure.
People ask me “Do you like pediatrics?” I say “yes.” “Do you like med/surg?” I say “It’s ok.” “Do you like Community?” I say “I could do that.” But when they ask “Do you like surgery?” I get excited. Nothing grabs my attention and excites me more than surgery. God made the human body so amazing! It’s so interesting to see how it works and see all the things that can be done to fix it. I had the priveledge of watching a surgery performed in the neonatal intensive care unit last week on a 2 lb. baby. It was sad, but incredible at the same time. Yes, I’m beginning to think I may end up being a surgical nurse after all is said and done. Time will tell…
To reference my title, I can’t believe the semester is almost over. Today was our last day in the hospital. Next week clinicals are meetings and on campus. Next week is our last week of classes. I have finals the following Monday and Wednesday, then I am FINISHED! One more semester to go and I’ll be graduating! We’re ordering our pins and invitations Monday. Soon after we’ll be getting our caps and gowns fitted. It’s all happening! I never thought I’d FINALLY graduate! In a little over 5 months I’ll have my BSN. I can’t wait.
On Being Discouraged November 28, 2007
Posted by servingthesavior in Uncategorized.Tags: discouragement, God, salvation.
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Sometimes it’s easy to become discouraged. I’ve been feeling this a lot lately. I try to think about positive things, I ask God to show me what I can do to make this overwhelming feeling go away. So far I haven’t gotten any answers. I know the Lord will answer my prayer in His way and in His time, but my “human side” is still hungry for instant gratification.
Let me tell you the latest thing that has added to my feelings of the blues. Monday, a sore place developed on my cheek, an since that time it has progressively gotten worse. One of my nursing instructors told me I needed to leave class and go to the doctor, because it sounded like I might have an infection. After my visit with the doctor, it was determined that I do indeed have an infection of some sort. I’ve been given a course of antibiotics and an order to report to the emergency room if the area gets bigger/the symptoms worsen/etc, for fear that this may be that dreadful staph infection that’s going around the schools and hospitals currently. Some cases have been reported at my school, I could have unknowingly come in contact with it at one of my nursing clinicals, there is just no telling where I could have acquired this infection. It is not necessarily staph, my doctor just dosen’t want to take any chances. Anyway, as some of you know, I was sick with a never-ending cold-like illness for about a month not too long ago, and now this. I just feel like I’m never truly “well.”
I know that this too shall pass, but it sure is hard waiting on it! My life right now bears a remarkable resemblance to the way my spiritual life was going a few short weeks ago before I gave my heart to the Lord. I was constantly discouraged, but I couldn’t figure out why for the longest time. I was putting on a “show” at church and with friends (and not doing such a good job at it either!). I was praying to a God I didn’t truly know. Whom I had never truly asked to forgive me of my hideous sins. I never grew from the moment I claimed I was “saved” in July of 1999. I basically signed up for fire insurance that day, and didn’t truly fall on my face to beg God to forgive the filty creature I was. I still don’t feel worthy of His grace, but I know that He is faithful to give that grace to us, PRAISE GOD!
I’ve been happy to share with people that I have accepted Christ as my savior since then, but I have been keeping to myself more or less over the past several weeks since I’ve been sick. I have been trying to use this time to learn all I could by getting in God’s word, seeking answers to the questions I’ve had. As a sidenote, I used to say I didn’t understand much about the Bible. It’s so amazing to see how God can open your eyes once you truly repent and ask for him to reveal to you the things you need to know. Before a few weeks ago, I never even had the desire to read my Bible, and rarely ever did. Now, I can’t seem to quench my thirst, so to speak. And I like that!
Now that I have shared that bit of information, I will get back to my original topic. Something else that has been adding to my dicouragement is that I have missed a few church services since I was saved. Schoolwork, illness, and family issues have all come into play in trying to keep me from going to church. I am working and praying very hard to not let this slow me down and hinder me from growing as I should be growing. I am now just looking forward to that glorious semester break that begins December 12 at 3 p.m. central standard time. I plan to use it as a time of refreshment and renewal and a time to get deeper in the Word. Hopefully my “singing the blues” days will be a thing of the past in the very near future.
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
II Corinthians 12:10
