The Ole Baby Powder Trick!

Psalm 51

Hi Ya Gang...

     This week has been a "mock speed, hair on fire" kind of week, if you know what I mean.  In fact, I've had to use the ole 'baby powder in the hair' trick on the days I haven't had time to wash my stringy locks.  My friend even asked me one day, "Rebecca, have you washed your hair yet?"  We joked that I'd be like the dusty guy on Charlie Brown and if anyone touched me or patted me on the back, a puff of powder would fly up all around me! 

     As far back as I can remember, I've always resisted washing my hair.  I hate the feeling of getting my head wet. As much as I hate dripping strands, I love clean ones more!  So, on days I requiring the powder trick, I always feel off kilter.  On the outside I look acceptable, I suppose.  In fact, a lot of times my hair does better on the powder days, but I know it's dirty so it's a constant distraction.  It's itchy and dull feeling. I'm self conscious that maybe everyone will know my hair is dirty or maybe it smells bad...  (Hence the question you may have heard me ask before: Would you rather look good and smell bad or look bad and smell good?  Anyway...I digress)  Truth is that powder trick will keep me socially acceptable for a short period of time, but eventually if I don't make time to wash my hair bad things begin to happen! ...not to mention how awful I feel on the inside.  

     I thought of that this morning as I cleaned up to face another day.  I thanked God continually for the privilege and relief of being clean and smelling fresh.  I remember an interview with a Jewish man released from a concentration camp.  He explained that one of the most debilitating, emotionally difficult parts of the whole prison camp experience centered around not being able to get clean... no soap or clean underwear or fresh clothes for months... Can you even imagine?  

     I don't think anyone would discredit the importance and positive psyche associated with a clean clothes and body.  But what about a clean soul?  Do you realize how much stress and discomfort comes into your life when you ignore your inside?  Unfortunately, I've wielded "baby powder tricks" for my soul and heart and conscious.  And you know, for a while it may appear to work...at least on the outside.  But eventually if I don't take time to deal with my heart, bad things begin to happen!  

     Just a gentle reminder today to you and to me... don't neglect your inside cleanliness any more than you would your outside.  It's important to God because He has abundant life He wants for you! He can't offer it to us if we refuse to deal with our hearts :)  And take it from me, once you take the time to meet with Him, it's worth every bit of pride and self you've had to sacrifice to make your heart right with Him!   Psalm 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit within me."

Hope & Glory! to You~ Love

Rebecca 

PS ~ I’d love to connect with you on Twitter @RebeccaFussell

Smells like cocky...

Smells like cocky…

Psalm 31

     You can spot them a mile away…Funny, while it’s obvious to everyone else, often the person of reference thinks no one knows.  I’ve been guilty.  I’m talking about the person who thinks they’re all that and a bag of chips.  Weird isn’t it how we can almost smell when someone is just a little too big for their britches?  I’m not sure what gives it away, but there is a certain air around those who believe they are God’s gift to mankind or to the workplace or to the neighborhood block party…I can't speak for anyone else, but like I said, I've stunk to high heaven with it myself.

     I’d like to think many of those days are behind me as I’ve matured and grown to understand more of my need for Christ as my daily life.  I do, however, recall with vivid memory the first time I realized how ridiculous I had been acting after thinking initially how cute and flirty I must be.  It’s embarrassing…

     I was in Jr. High.  My youth group gathered in someone’s home for something. I had a crush on someone whose name I don’t remember or even recollect what he looked like.  I do recall sitting on the couch convinced I must be making a darling impression on him when something clicked.  It was almost as if I could see myself apart from myself, like in a movie, and I realized how ridiculous I actually acted.

     I thank God for that memory…strange how certain things will stick out in your mind.  I can barely remember what I wore yesterday, but I recall that feeling from 30 years ago clear as a bell.  

      I say all that to say just be who you are.  Don’t worry about impressing anyone.  Dress with a desire to honor your King.  Treat others with respect and the humility of realizing when you look into their eyes they are a person created in the image of God.  Each person is someone of value.  Each person puts his or her clothes on the same way.  All must brush our teeth to have clean breath and all have uniqueness to be celebrated. 

     So instead of flitting around vying to make a good impression or slipping into the shadows in hopes of being lost in the crowd, take it as it comes.  Every person you come across is a person to look into the eye gate of their soul and hopefully share the love of Jesus with a warm smile and kind word. 

     I’m challenged and guided by the verses in Ps 31… I remember reading it the night I came home from that activity, embarrassed and needing a new plan of action!  “In Thee O Lord do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed…Into thine hand I commit my spirit…My times are in they hand…Make thy face to shine upon thy servant…Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man…Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart…”

Hope & Glory to you my friend,

Rebecca

Just Do the Next Thing

Psalm 103:14;  Deuteronomy 33:27

Hello All ~

     “Just do the next thing…”  That’s my mantra these days.  If I listed all the areas that lacked and needed my attention I’d just tie a cement bag on my leg and jump into the St. Johns.  Well, of course I wouldn’t really do that but I’d feel like it.   My present life whirls on two speeds: fast and faster.  The barrages of duties and deadlines have added a few wrinkles to my face and probably some gray hair to my head. (I’m not sure about the gray because I don’t actually know my true hair color thanks to Lindsay my hairdresser)

      I’ve experienced other times in my 45 years of life that have required this same mental focus, forcing my mind not to delve into the future, but concentrate on just dealing with the next task.  A season much different than the one I face now; a season of despair and wounds.  A season of “I don’t want to get out of bed today… or ever”.  After my first husband left, I couldn’t imagine life alone.  Within that same year my parents were in a deadly car wreck that took my dad home to Heaven and left my mother in the hospital for days causing her to loose her job.  Those days threatened to paralyze me.  It was all I could do to open my eyes in the morning.  But I thank God for the advice I read in one of Elizabeth Elliot’s books.  Don’t worry about next week or even this afternoon.  Can you just get up and let the dog out?  Yes.  Can you just walk into the bathroom and brush your teeth?  Yes. I think I can do that, but what about… Just do the next thing. Don’t worry about 30 minutes from now…just do the next thing…and then the next thing…

     I don’t have time to elaborate.  My sticky note reminders wallpapered around me are calling me to the next thing!  Here is what I’m witnessing first hand in this season.  My only responsibility is to be obedient to God’s leading one moment at a time.  I’m learning afresh I cannot be everyone’s savior.  I cannot accomplish it all by myself.  But the good news is, I am not meant to do that. Neither are you.  I am called to obey one moment at a time.

     May you be encouraged today.  Whether your heart is broken or wrapped in a suffocating to –do list; just do the next thing.  While I don’t necessarily enjoy this type of living it does have its advantages.  In an odd way it’s quite freeing because there is no way in Heaven’s name you can survive without Him.  God’s got this.  You just do the next thing…   

“He knows our frame.  He remembers that we are dust Ps. 103:14 …underneath are the everlasting arms.” Deuteronomy 33:27

Hope & Glory! to You ~

Rebecca

Redlights or Roadblocks...

     II Timothy 2:3

Hey Everyone~

     I’m not sure where I ever got the idea that life would be easy…I want to be strong, but I don’t want to have to lift the weight or push my comfort zone.  Obviously, it doesn’t work that way…obviously. The other day God gave me a picture of life, as simple as it sounds, that has helped me endure when I’ve wanted to give up. 

     Driving to an appointment recently, I managed to hit almost every green light.  In rare form I sailed through intersections without hindrance.  Traffic flowed at the perfect pace and all was well with the world!  I made the mistake of equating my driving ease with confirmation of God’s will for my life.  Crazy I know… I said, “God, this must be your will for my life!  You have blown open every door and made it simple for me today.”

     As soon as the words formulated in my thoughts it dawned on me the error of my assumption.  So began the dialogue with me, myself and I.  Me started if off with a chuckle, “Wait a minute Rebecca… Are you saying, if you hit a red light you’d just turn around and go home?” 

     I responded, “Well, no.  I hate red lights, but I know if I will just be patient eventually it will turn green and I’ll move forward towards my destination.”

     Myself added, “You do realize that if you did turn around every time you hit a red light you’d probably never get home anyway.  Chances are the other lights on the pathway home would not all be green and you’d be caught in no mans land, giving up and turning around each time you hit a light.” 

     Time for a new thought process…Just because I hit red lights along the path of life doesn’t mean it’s time to turn around and head back.  I need the discipline and focus to push through those times or I’ll never reach the destination God has prepared for me.  One huge point my husband Ronnie reminded me of as I relayed to him my newly discovered understanding is the fact that red lights often protect us from disaster.  My cousin Daniel chimed in by asking me to name one hero in history or the Bible that turned around or quit when the going got tough.  I couldn’t.  That’s because to achieve God’s plan for your life will require a sense of determination not to quit just because it gets uncomfortable. 

     Today, as I type, I am facing problems and situations I’d like to chunk into the pond. Anyone else?!  I’d rather just turn my life around to remove myself from the situation.  And at times God does place roadblocks in our life or lets us know the bridge is washed out and we must turn back.  But there is a huge difference between a red light and a roadblock.  I don’t want to turn around when the going gets tough or things don’t move as quickly as I’d like.  I want to do as Paul encouraged Timothy in II Timothy 2:3, “Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” 

      I can endure because He’s not sending me out on this journey of life solo!  He’s always with me and I rest in that fact.  So today, I’ll endure patiently through the red lights in my life.  I’ll push forward knowing that God’s got this!  He is with me and will get me to the place He wants me, right on time!

The Power of Touch

Hi All ~

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word,

a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring –
all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”  Leo Buscaglia

    I loved my teaching job at Parkview.  I couldn’t believe I actually received a paycheck to be there every day! One of the perks of my job entailed our Tuesday morning prayer meetings. The privilege of being with such incredible, Godly teachers always inspired and encouraged me. But on this particular Tuesday, my mind struggled being present in the room.  My body sat towards the back of the group just as I had done numerous times. The conversation, the announcements for the week and a few prayer request sounded more like the teacher on Charlie Brown than anything I recognized.  The fierce battle exploding in my heart and mind forced my undivided attention. What if God isn’t enough? I needed to know…  Suddenly, I began to shake.
     I didn’t notice it at first because my insides had been shaking for weeks.  I think periodically throughout the last several days there had been moments I began to shake outwardly, but I had always been able to regain my composure.   Today, however, I couldn’t control it. In recent days, I’d been forced to ask God and myself, “If everything were stripped away from me, would He truly be enough?”  The reality of that question scared me to death.  I’d been banking on the truth of His sufficiency my whole life. The test day had arrived and I didn’t know the answer.  
      At that moment every external thing I heard and saw clicked into slow motion. I started fading away into a world I could not reach and I believed could not reach me.  The foundational question about God being enough thundered through my thoughts like a storm.  The louder it shouted the more my uncertainty built.  My insides intensified like the winding of a Jack in box.  I dreaded the closing prayer. I had no idea how in Heaven’s name I’d be able to stand up, let alone walk down the hall to my class.
     As the group bowed their heads to pray, the shaking escalated becoming more visible and uncontrollable.  I felt any moment now, the strength to take the next breath would be gone and I would end up in a puddle on the ground.  Everyone would be so shocked and say, “Oh, my goodness, what’s wrong with Rebecca?” I had no idea what would happen next. I didn’t know what to do.  I wondered if this was how it felt to go crazy.
     Suddenly, in the midst of this intense battle, I felt a gentle hand on my back.  As if somehow this hand yanked me from the fight and lifted me above the warfare long enough to catch my breath and stop the arrows for just a moment. This touch propelled love and compassion through my veins, overriding the debilitating doubts and fears.  Strength and calm returned to my body.  I could breath again and almost instantly my shaking stopped! Someone had reached through the dark veil and pulled me back to the present.   I peeked to see whose hand had ministered the relief.  It was Jessica, our new student teacher.  She’d been sitting in the desk next to me. After prayer she looked over to me and asked, “Rebecca, are you alright?  You were shaking.”
     She just touched me.  No words. No solutions.  No magic potions. But her simple gesture overwhelmed my senses and stopped a torrent of fear from erupting.  Her powerful act created a calm, peacefully stream of courage and hope to flow instead. Her touch pointed me in the right direction to finding the answer I so desperately needed to know.
        A hero is someone you would want to emulate.  Jessica matched the description perfectly that morning.  She will never know how God used her simple act of kindness to help me.  It humbled me, as it revealed my inability to do this thing called life alone.  But even more, her willingness to reach out to one in need inspired me, even in my pain, to see past myself to those who may need a simple act of kindness.
    I wonder how the leprous man must have felt the day Jesus reached out and touched his disease infested body. I imagine he may have felt somewhat like I did in that classroom prayer meeting; wondering if anyone could make a difference, wondering if there is still hope.

     I have a feeling that he, like me, will never again underestimate what a simple touch can do!

Hope & Glory! To You ~ Love

Rebecca

Three Times' A Charm

Proverbs 16:9

 Good Day Everyone ~ 

PS... Is the font  too small ?  Let me know :) 

     Sometimes life is weird...at least it is for me anyway.  Sometimes, even though I think I know what God is telling me, I need extra encouragement or confirmation that He knows where I am; and He will handle everything exactly according to His plan if I will seek Him and get out of His way!  Recently during one of my journaling times, I mentioned to God, "Honestly Lord, I could really use some encouragement - from You.  Something to let me know that You see me and that I'm on the path you designated for me."  

     The next morning I had a few minutes so I plopped down on my green couch and literally flipped open my Bible hoping for some type of direction.  My eyes fell on a passage of scripture I hadn't read in a long time describing the Lord delivering me and His way being perfect...by my God I can leap over a wall etc...  My heart quickened. I sure hope He meant for me to read that, but I took it with a grain of salt.  How did I know God truly intended me to read these exact verses? I had just slung open the page. I'm old enough to know gaining doctrine and fact with that method can prove dangerous. Just ask my unmarried friend who found her life verse that way!  One day she flipped open her Bible and read "If any man come after me, let him!..."  She instantly declared that her life verse :)   What if I had flipped to Lamentations 3 where it says, "He has led me into darkness, but not into light. Surely He is against me..."?  Just because I like what the random passage said, didn't necessarily mean God sent that word to me for my particular circumstance.  But I did tell Him thank you and maybe He really did mean that for me.  I just wish I knew for sure.

     Later, before hitting the hay for the night, I grabbed my Bible to read my regular reading.  I figured since this morning proved to be a little willy-nilly in my scripture reading selection, I needed to follow my every day reading plan.  I pulled my crimson bookmarker across the page to open my Bible and gazed on the passage before me...my mouth dropped.  Get this: The exact same verses I had read from Psalms that morning appeared almost verbatim in the II Samuel passage I read that night!  "The Lord delivered me...by my God I leaped over a wall...As for God His way is perfect...He is a buckler to all those that trust in Him..."

     By this time my confidence level expanded into believing that God did indeed send these verses across my path, but still...the daunting issues and decisions before me sent the my uncertainty meter off the charts.  Right or wrong, I still hesitated in embracing these promises for this specific situation in my life.  I remember that many things happen in threes.  Jesus asked for His cup to be removed three times.  Paul asked three times for the thorn to be removed.  Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him... If I just had one more confirmation, I could put all doubt to rest.

     A day or so later I received a text from a friend...would you like to take a guess at what it said?!  YEP!  'As for God, His way is perfect...He is a buckler to all who trust in Him..." May I add, I had told no one about this...not Ronnie, not my friends, no one.   

     God blew me away by His attentiveness to my little world and my silly questions.  He didn't have to do that.  Quite frankly, many times I’ve felt like the cut and dry answers have evaded me like the plague.  But for whatever reason, He knew I needed to be certain He purposed these verses for me that day.  

     This experience reminded me of how personal and tender; intimate and caring God is towards us.  Do you need Him to reveal Himself to you?  My friend Stephanie encouraged me when she reminded me the other day that God does not desire us to wandering around on this huge globe not knowing His plan for us.  He does want us to know! So we must ask and trust that He will lead us as He promised.  

      Are you wondering what in the world you’re supposed to be doing?  Then ask Him.  Then listen. Then ask Him to confirm it to you through His word and open doors.  “A man’s heart deviseth his way; but the LORD directeth His steps.”  Proverbs 16:9  

Hope & Glory! to You ~ Love

Rebecca

Lady Like & Delicate... of course

I Peter 5:7

Hi All ~ 

This may surprise you...although those of you who know me are numb to my crazy statements by now - it's just the norm for me I guess :)  Anyway...since we are just a small operation at work I'm responsible for just about everything (except cleaning the restrooms, which is nice - especially the men's side, if you know what I mean) Ok, this is the part that may surprise you.  One of my very favorite duties is taking out the garbage.  I'm not so keen on the collecting part.  There is usually left over lunches that stink to high heaven and it never fails something manages to leak all over the floor.  But once I've gotten it all securely in the big black bags, I love gathering it up and heading out the door to the dumpster.  For one thing it gets me out of the office and into the sunshine.  It also feels like a sense of accomplishment because it's a job I can see immediate results (not often the case in my list of duties).  But my favorite part happens a few feet away from the dumpster.  The receptacle is much taller than I am so I have to stand back, brace my self and fling the bag with gusto for it to clear the wall...all very lady like and delicate of course.

The other day I was trekking across the parking lot with a jam-packed bag.  I held it out away from my body so as to not let it touch my clothes. It felt like an especially tense week and I couldn't wait to have permission to throw something! I stood a little farther away than normal so I could really let loose with the bag.  I braced myself and pitched the bag with all my might. Oh, it felt so good!  

As the bag sailed through the air I longed for that bag to be filled with burdens weighing on my heart.  I longed to gather those up and give them a big fling! Oh, it would feel so good.  I thought of a verse I had learned as a little girl.  So simple and yet so powerful. "Casting all your cares on Him (this is the good part) for He careth for you."  I Peter 5:7. (Remember anytime you see "eth" at the end of the word it means continually, habitually...)  

Watching the bag sail from my hand, I knew I had more casting I could do.  I didn't need to walk around trying to carry all my burdens.  I had a mighty God in Heaven who wants me to cast my cares on Him...because He cares for me.  He continually cares for me whether I think I deserve it or not, whether I feel warm and fuzzy or crabby and irritated.  And He cares for you too. I needed to take this verse to heart.  I'm cared for and loved by an awesome God who actually asks me to cast all my care on him.   

Alrighty then... Here it comes! 

Hope & Glory! To You ~ Love

Rebecca