Between

Posted By Tammie on February 4, 2010

Again my sediments:  I repeat –

What a wonderful day in the Lord!  I am so excited to be learning so many new things and actually putting them into action.  It helps to know that there are Christians out there in cyberspace that are willing to help, give advice, pray for you and just cheer you on.  I’ve never had my own cheerleading section before and I am in awe of how wonderful it is.  I pray the Lord’s blessing upon the women of God who are out there ministering to all of us.

“The LORD bless you
and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.” Number 6:24-26

Category: Friends, Life Lesson | No Comments »
Tags: Lord, peace, Thanks

Posted By Tammie on February 2, 2010

Okay, so I have a habit of eating at my computer. It’s a bad habit, but with all the things I need to do in a day, I have little time to just play, write, or eat for that matter. So, today I decided to de-crumb my keyboard. It wasn’t pretty.

Unfortunately, as I sat at my desk there was an ugly reminder of how disorganized I have become. Where did all this STUFF come from? It’s good stuff (I think). Buried among the ruins I see the sample tube of hand lotion I was looking for the other day. There’s my assignment book…let’s see last entry was on January 3rd. Okay, so I’m behind in writing everything down. What else can I find? There’s the pen that my son, Nicholas (son #2) gave to me. A GIANT sunflower attached to a pen with florist’s tape; a memory of Mother’s Day and a cheery reminder that brightens my day. Somehow, I can’t part with it.

My cell phone is under my last edition of America Family Association’s Journal. I haven’t had time to read that yet. I’m sure there will be a great article…seems like global warming is on the cover. Multiple Post-it notes with Joshua’s (son #1) work schedule. Rebate to mail in for my dear husband, Tim. Oh, there’s something I can throw out, a reminder to take the quiz for my online course…DONE!

Yes, that is really my mess! Sad, isn’t it?

But, I have been reading and learning. I’ve been listening and observing. I know all about organizing and keeping things tidy. I know all about…

The truth of the matter is no amount of learning or education will prepare me to clean up my act. I just have to do it. I have to stop relying on myself and look to God who is the ruler of my life!

Have you ever found yourself in my predicament? Oh, I hope I’m not alone. Struggling to “learn” yet never having time, energy, or organization to put it into action? I’m just an ordinary woman, with an ordinary life, that has been called by God to do extraordinary things for Him. I have yet to reach the status of the Proverbs 31 woman, but more important is that I keep trying, striving, seeking, and acknowledging that I am nothing on my own and that God is the leader of my life. His Spirit will be my guide.

Well, it’s about 1-1/2 hours later, as I finish up this post. I got up, got moving, and got my desk organized. I threw out all the junk, filed all my important papers, put Joshua’s schedule on a central calendar, organized my writing notebook, work notebook, and even have the rebate envelope stamped, ready for tomorrow’s mail. See, I can get it done when I set my mind and my heart to it. Tomorrow I will be much more productive as I start my day with this load lifted.

Sometimes we just need to take little steps to get ourselves going again, remembering that along our jumbled lives, there is a God looking after us and loving us through it all….

I’m just an ordinary woman, with an ordinary life, that has been called by a magnificent God, to do extraordinary things for Him. To God be the glory.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

©Tammie Swaney 2010

Category: Life lessons | 2 Comments »
Tags: glory, Organize, Seek, Strive, woman

Posted By Tammie on January 27, 2010

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:88

She toddled around the Sunday school room.  Gracie’s dad was teaching the class, slightly distracted by her actions.  Gracie had been passed to several members of the class, as entertainment or a pacifier we didn’t know which.  We all smiled at her curiosity, wondering which pen or gadget would be her next prized possession.  Unseen to Gracie, her mother had walked into the room.  Coming up behind Gracie, mom lowered her hand.  Instinctively, little Gracie’s hand reached up to meet that loving hand, to be led to the nursery and onto her next adventure.

That picture reminded me that every day of our life, the Father meets us.  In good times and in bad, He meets us right where we are.  He reaches out his hand and holds on.  He picks us up when we fall.  He answers us when we call.  Do you hear him?  Can you feel His hand in yours? 

When we are hit with life’s tests, trials and troubles what is our instinct?  Do we cry within or do we cry out to our heavenly Father?  Do we reach for a pacifier or do we reach up and take the hand of our Savior.

 Sometime mid scenes of deepest gloom, Sometime where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still o’er troubled sea, still ‘tis His hand that leadeth me! 
He leadeth me, He leadeth me, by His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful foll’wer I would be for by His hand He leadeth me.
 He Leadeth me – J. H. Gilmore, 1862

Today, reach out and grasp hold of the hand of the One who loves you.

©Tammie Swaney 2010

Category: Devotional | No Comments »
Tags: Jesus, lead, love

Posted By Tammie on January 23, 2010

Photo by Tammie Mitchell

Imagine driving down the road of life when you see a sign “Highway Home.” You pause for a moment, consider your options, and head in the other direction. How sad the day when you find you’ve gone the wrong way.

Too often we look for an alternative route, we venture off the highway looking for something new, different, maybe more adventurous. Isaiah prophesied that this highway home will be called “the Way of Holiness; the unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way…” (Isaiah 35:8) – that way is Jesus. He is our Highway home.

As Christians we are called to holiness (Leviticus 11:45) and reminded often that we are to conduct ourselves in a way that is Godly. Are you on the right path or are you veering off in another direction? Jesus is calling. He is the way the truth and the life (John 14:6) and has given us the road map to the Highway home.

Category: Devotional | 2 Comments »
Tags: holiness, Home, Jesus, Truth

Posted By Tammie on January 9, 2010

When you work at home, there are certain highlights of your day.  The peace and quiet you get when the last child is on the bus and you can finally relax with a fresh, hot cup of coffee, strong and black, before you dig into the mountain of work your day holds.  This is when I catch up on my email, news headlines, and just enjoy a few moments “connecting” with the world.

Another highlight of my day is the arrival of my mail.  For some this is a dreaded moment, but I do most of my banking online so I receive very few bills via traditional methods.  Most of my mail is ads, newsletters, credit card invitations (which I quickly destroy), a new quilting catalog or better yet…the newest issue of Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting magazine, now that’s the JACKPOT.  But there are some disappointing deliveries also.

Today was one such day.  You see, I had a Kindle on my Christmas list.  An expensive gift, but one of those gadgets I just HAD to have.  I held one in my hand and from that moment on, I fell in love with it.  I would be able to download e-books and enjoy them at my leisure.  I had been debating for some time before I wrote my letter to Santa.  Is this really what I want for Christmas?  Yes!  That was my final decision. 

Alas, no Kindle was found under the Christmas tree and now I know why.  The envelope was stamped “Return to Sender”.  Santa never received my request. Sad as that may seem, it really was a blessing in disguise.  Instead I got an IPod Touch for Christmas. 

What a powerful little device.  I wondered if I would use it often, but I am finding myself downloading podcasts, music and keeping up to date with my Facebook friends.  It’s very cool to be able to get up-to-the-minute news. I also downloaded the Kindle app so it works as a reader (just a bit small).  So far, I love my new IPod Touch.  I even was able to plug it into my car AUX and away I went with my favorite tunes today. 

Only two negatives to date…you need to have access to Wi-Fi.  Not too bad, but the other day when I was on campus, I tried logging in but had forgotten my password to enter their system.  That’s a memory problem on my part, ya think? 

The other is a woman thing…I have acrylic nails (okay, so I like my nails and as much as I’m beating on my keyboard, they’re a lifesaver).  Touch doesn’t work with your nails, just the little pads of your fingers so sometimes my mobile tweets and FB posts have a few misspelled words, for which I’ll ask forgiveness for right now.  Oh, but I found a solution, they have a stylus that I can get to type in my messages.

I haven’t ruled out getting a Kindle eventually, but for now, my IPod Touch is my newest toy and I’ll stick with that for a while.  Any thoughts on either?  Good, bad or ugly, I’d like to hear from you.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags: coffee, gadget, IPod Touch, jackpot, Kindle