Today’s sermon notes—Who’s your daddy?

Pascal said God created man in his own image. And then we returned the favor. 

Be imitators of me just as I also am of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1

Who or what does your life say is your God?   For me it used to be horses. Or my animals. Since marrying Mike and coming to Boots N Saddles my heart has changed and I hopefully am more on track to be able to answer this question as Jesus. At least that's what I hope that people who know me would say if they spent time following me around. God first   Michael second and everything else after that. 

Exodus 19:18-19

Exodus 20.  The Ten Commandments. 

Our God is a jealous but just God. He wants us to only follow him with no other Gods. 

If the evidence points toward christ as the center of our lives then great. If not we need to reassess our lives and go from there. 

A good thing that has made it to the ultimate thing becomes a bad thing 

Romans 5:1. Therefore just was one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. 

John 5:19. 

In other news. 

Last night I had the oddest dream. I wanted to try to write it down here but it's so disjointed that I can't even explain it. But it ended with an escape and an explosion and I woke up with my heart racing. I only slept about 3 hours last night because my heart would not stop pounding. 

A problem with relationships

Kevin's sermon today. 

Matthew 7:12-The golden rule 

Matthew 7:7-12 sums up the law of the prophets 

Treat others the way you want others to treat you. We all fall short but this is the ultimate calling. It demonstrates our relationship with God if we treat others the way we want them to treat us. 

Matthew 23:22

Exodus 22:21 do not wrong a stranger or oppress him. For you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 

We have to look past the things people have done in their past. The last thing we want is for people to remind me of all the stupid things I've done in my past. It doesn't mean that we don't rebuke in the name of God but that should wait till we have all the info before we assume we know their hearts. 

Romans 8:7-8. 

Seasonal affective disorder

 I have had the feelings of overwhelming dread and stress for going on several days now. This is unusual for me and I do not welcome these feelings. Not that anyone does but I have this overwhelming sense of stress that I just can't shake. It only just occurred to me today that I am being afflicted with SAD or seasonal affective disorder. I'm sure that all of the days of clouds and rain and cold and being indoors have negatively impacted my vitamin D stores.   In my head I know all of this worry is ridiculous but in my gut I can't let it go.   

It probably doesn't help that Walgreens ran out of my thyroid medicine and did not bother to tell me. So, that by the time I found out that it was unavailable I had already been without it for several days.  Thanks to Gatesville drug company, who had some extra on hand, I at least have some for two weeks. I have learned that the manufacturer had a retooling of their plant and a slow down but that for whatever reason Walgreens did not know this or tell me this ahead of time so that I could obtain a new prescription prior to running out of medication. It has occurred to me that I should do business with Gatesville drug on an ongoing basis. 

 I had planned to start my new routine of days to see  cornets this week. Only sub freezing temperatures, the likes of which we have not seen in a few years, put us to a virtual hold on the ranch. Water froze, pipes froze, no showers or obtainable for several days. So today, on the first pretty day I finally got out to see people only to find that I had several pressing pieces of paperwork that had to be done yesterday. Work stress gets me because everybody wants what they want when they want it or before and I feel like I'm a hamster on a treadmill. 

There is just so much to do. I don't feel like I can ever get it all done. I want to climb in a hole and do none of it but of course that will just stress me out more. I do deep breathing. I use essential oils. I drink wine and other fine spirits. I exercise. Nothing seems to take it away. I partially blame how plugged in we are as a society. There is no escape. There is no peace or isolation. There is just being bombarded by demands all the time. I also blame my chosen line of work. Being self employed means flexibility in some ways, but it also means a lack of routine which I seem to crave more and more as I get older. I used to love being free but now I almost wish I had a place to go to work and some expectation of what each day would bring. 

I'm the cause if a lot of my trouble. I need to learn to tell people what I need more. I am guilty of feeling guilty when I don't take care of everyone before me. I must learn to say no and tell people flat out when I'm feeling bitchy. I don't have to spend each day trying to prove how nice I am. Sometimes I feel nice and sometimes I don't. I'm human. For the first time in my adult life I have people who treat me with the love they claim to hold for me. I don't have to prove it. I don't have to worry they won't love me tomorrow because they do. 

I need to learn to turn off. Some days it seems like the work just never stops. I need to learn to turn it off.