Attitude Is Everything

My sister sent me this really interesting story (Thanks, sis!!!) -

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."

I reflected on what he said. Soon thereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.

He continued, "..the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, "He's a dead man." I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John. "She asked if I was allergic to anything, 'Yes, I replied!' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'."

" Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude... I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

How Cute Is This???

Unconditional Love

What an awesome feeling to know that no matter what I do or how many times I screw up, God will never leave me alone! I may turn my back on Him and even forget He’s there, but He will not forget me.

I can picture God sitting beside me, waiting patiently for me to turn to Him. I can see Him shake his head sometimes when I make the wrong decision, but He never says a word. He allows me to make my own choices and allows me to go down whatever path I may choose.

It is when I turn to Him that He speaks up. He says to me, “I’ve been waiting for quite a while, but I didn’t mind. I knew that one day you’d come back to me!” He stands and reaches out His arms to embrace me as He’s done so many times before. He is not critical, but loving and supportive. He holds me as I cry and promises that, although I am the one who messed up, He will be the one to fix everything.

He forgives me for all the bad things I’ve done and for the awful things I’ve said. He reminds me that there is nothing I can do that would ever change His love for me. He tells me again that His love and forgiveness are unconditional and they are always available when needed.

After we talk, I let Him know that this time will be different and that I’ll never do that again. He listens and smiles as I talk to Him. I begin thanking Him that He never left me and He let’s me know that He never will. We begin to talk and laugh together again like we’ve done so many times before. I am so glad that I’ve decided to let Him back into my life again!

The rest of the day, I am at total peace. I pick up my neglected bible and begin to thumb through the pages. I find some of my favorite verses that I had totally forgotten about. I pray and pray and pray! By bedtime, I can feel His presence all around me even though I can’t see Him with my own eyes. I go to sleep that night thinking about Him and how wonderful He truly is!

And then the very next day, I begin to screw up again! I forget He’s still there and, once again, I decide to do my own thing. He sits down again and begins to wait…

Have You Seen...???

If you haven't seen "One Night With The King", you should! It is my new favorite movie!!! We rented it last weekend and I finally got a chance to watch it last night. It is the story of Queen Esther (from the Bible).
It was such a great movie and one that I will be adding to my own personal collection very soon!!!

Well, this past week has been a very interesting one. So much has happened I'm not really even sure where to start. I honestly don't even know for sure what has happened, but I'll share more on this a little later...

I do want to praise God for what has happened with my younger sister. She got saved a little over a week ago!!! Isn't God AWESOME!!! :-) I am so happy for her and am really excited to see how God is going to continue to move in her life and in the lives of her husband and children!!!

Self Confidence

I'm Back Again! :-)

We are all doing great!!! We are all finally feeling better and things are getting back to normal. We have 6 more weeks of school left so we have been very busy making sure we've covered everything we need to. I can't believe DS will be in the 3rd grade next year!!! It doesn't seem possible. They do grow up so fast!!!

DH and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary yesterday (Monday, April 16). We carried DS to his Papa's house after church Sunday and he spent the night. DH surprised me and took me out to Fatz Cafe and then took me to the movies. It's been awhile since we've been "out" so it was really nice spending time just the two of us. After the movie, we stopped and rented a few more movies and watched movies until late, late! We did regret that the next morning when we had to get up extra early and pick DS up before his Papa and MawMaw had to go to work. :-)

Spring Is In The Air

This is my favorite season of the year! I love the warmer weather, all the flowers and being able to go outside again. The only thing I dislike about spring is that my allergies are horrible and I usually end up getting sick for a few weeks and then it takes a few more weeks to completely get over it.

I have been really sick for the last two weeks. I am finally not quite as congested today, but I can't hear anything. I hate being sick because, not only do I feel bad, but I miss out on important family time.

Today was the annual Easter Egg Hunt for church and I missed that. Later this afternoon DS and his daddy went to see the new TMNT movie without me. We had been promising him for weeks that we would take him this week, but I had no idea I would be feeling so bad. He felt bad I couldn't go, but when given the choice to go ahead and see the movie or wait until Mom was feeling better, he chose what any other normal 7 year old would've done! LOL

They did have a wonderful time and DS told me all about the movie when they came back home. I did find out, too, that something major happened on the way into the movie theater. It seems that Dad was giving DS a hug and telling him how excited he was about the movie when DS pulled away and told Dad that he was embarrassing him!!! (So glad it wasn't me!!! LOL) I guess our little boy is really starting to grow up now!!!

Even though I wasn't able to hang out with my guys today, I am still thankful that they got to spend some quality time together. They even wrestled and played ping pong after they got home tonight! It's always so sweet to see the two of them together and DH is such an awesome Dad!!!

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Today was also a day of remembrance for me. Two years ago one of my very best friends from high school (my very best in 10th grade!) died of cancer. I hadn't seen her in years, but had tried to get back in touch with her and could never track her down. I guess I can see now how God spared me the pain of seeing her go through all that, but at the same time I feel bad that I couldn't have been there for her and helped her during that time.

It does make me sad that she died so young. I feel sad for her husband and her parents (she was their only child... she was adopted). I feel sad that she didn't get a chance to have any children of her own. It also makes me sad that we can't talk on the phone, have lunch or watch each others lives change as we get older. She had so much to live for and now she's not here anymore.

I am glad, though, that I know she was saved! I know that even though I may not be able to see her again in this lifetime, that I will be able to see her again one day. I am glad that she's in heaven and she's not suffering anymore.

Her death has made me realize how short life really is. I realized that no matter how young you are, you never know when today will be your last on earth. I am so thankful that I found Jesus and that when it is my turn to go I will be with Him and I'll be able to see and be with all my loved ones I am missing now.