Set Your Mind On things Above

I have been encouraged this morning as I read over one of my favorite books in the Bible: Colossians. It is so rich, so full - reminding me I am Full in Christ, that Christ is the perfect image of God, and He is where my mind is to be set, to be fixed on things above, where Christ is seated!

The last two days i have been in a funk. That is a word that keeps coming to mind when I don't know how to describe how I am feeling, like something isn't aligned right with in me. Not sure why, part of being human, being tired, having weird dreams that opens up doors for the things that are "bothering" in the back of my mind to come out and just get me all in a tizzy. The subtle worries that want to have the stage of my mind instead of truly casting them onto the Lord. Spiritual warfare has something to do with it too. We do have an enemy who is alert and active, though I don't like to even give him any sort of credit, he is a factor - but he is a defeated foe!

So, my verse I am working on this week is Malachi 3:16 says, "Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other,...." I want to give HIM thanks for somethings that were like raindrops on the pedals of my day. I was given three gifts yesterday, small in nature but I got a real kick over them. These things were three separate thoughts that I have had in the last few days of things I needed. I really didn't even voice them to the Lord, they were just things that I noticed, "you know, I could really use this..." You will laugh but one thing was a waterbottle. When I moved from Florida, I had SEVERAL waterbottles. Each morning I go to my spinning class, I need a waterbottle but none of my cabinets have ONE (I re-cycled one I had but it didn't last or i think I forgot it someplace!?). The real durable kind is what I had in mind and the ones I had in Florida somehow did not make it to my house here. The next thing was a stapler. My professors like our papers stapled! Everytime I have a paper I would spend about 10 minutes roaming the halls at my school, poking my head into random offices to request the use of their staplers - what a mooch! So, I had a need for my own. The last thing was tissues. I don't like to use toilet paper to blow my nose or to refer a guest to the bathroom to blow their nose. Yesterday morning I needed a tissue and I had to use toilet paper. I just had a fleeting thought, "next time I am at walmart, i need to pick up some tissues."

Well, my roommate and I were invited to a friends for breakfast yesterday and her husband happens to work for a pharmicutical(sp?) company. They hand out all sorts of "freebys" to offices to advertise their name/products. As we were visiting, she pulled out a cool waterbottle and mentioned that she had a whole box of waterbottles in her closet. My eyes lit up and asked if I could have one (I felt a little bold - but I did ask nicely!) She was more than happy to comply. She jumped up and went back to retrieve my longed for waterbottle - when she came out her arms were full of a few other things: a box of tissues and a stapler! I seriously just started laughing - more to myself, thinking, "God you are so funny!" Who would have known, she didn't even know. They were not really on the "must have" list; just things that would make my life a little easier! It was such a GOD thing for me... :-) Thank You Kelly for being a channel of God's provision and care for me. I am THANKFUL!