ENCOURAGED IN HEART

Ladies, please keep posting your comments to win one of two free autographed copies of Carolyn Gray’s (just released this month) book, Secrets of a Skinny Jean Queen. Tomorrow, Carolyn will select and I’ll post the two winners!

Today’s an exciting day for me as I have my very first speaking engagement tonight to a group of women leaders.  My message is titled, “A Bright Light in a Dark World”.  I’m psyched but judging by the perspiration in my palms and pits (TMI!), I clearly need some prayer!  Sure, I’m all typed up and ready to roll…and then I came across Maya Angelou’s statement, “Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning”.

Would you please pray that my crazy Jersey girl voice would be infused with shades of deeper meaning tonight?  I’m wondering, what can I pray for you too?

Taking the edge off…it’s looked different, in different stages of my life.

As a little girl, I took the edge off with temper tantrums…and made my family pay for my unhappiness by bouncing my pigtails up and down in the same pattern as my stomped  foot, with the best “Humph!” I had in me.

As a college student, I took the edge off with obscene quantites of poor quality beer, many times from a community  plastic cup. It’s no wonder I have germ “issues” today…

As a woman, I took the edge off with cigarettes, nasty cigarettes that helped claim my mother’s life and I smoked em’ anyway.

As a cop, I took the edge off with gallons of coffee, diet coke and attitude…oh, the attitude, I had it in spades.  Well, typing “had” seems a bit extreme!

As a post-military veteran, who no longer had a weight requirement to meet, my edge cutter was food, food and more food.  I would have never been found offending a buffet line by visiting it just once.

Today, I’m a woman that is no longer in hot pursuit of growing up, or obtaining a degree or catching the next criminal…no, I’m in hot pursuit of God.  That may sound like a cheesy Christian type of thing to type, but it’s the truth. I’ve tried many versions of doing life my way…and I’ve ended up frustrated.

Well, I’ve been frustrated again because food still has a powerful pull on me.

Unlike many times in my past, I stepped outside of me and got help.  Many of you know that I joined Weight Watchers.  I’m in my fourth week and so far have lost a little over five pounds.  As I limited my food portions to meet Weight Watcher requirements, I’ve been edgier.  Like PMS-marries-Sybil-and-have-demonic-offspring-type-edgy.

I’m feeling a lot more feelings these days and I won’t “medicate” with anything but God, God’s people and the Truth.  I’ve tried the substitutes and only want the real thing. God.

God takes the edge off.

As you’ve seen played out in my life, the enemy always offers a substitute, but the effects are destructive.  God takes the edge off.

Sound too simple?

Well, let me ask, “WHY make it more complicated?”

Will you today, consider opening an area of your life that you’ve allowed a substitute in?  Will you invite God in?

This morning I exited our silent “library”, to enter my non-silent office. Unbeknownst to me, I had a meeting waiting to be had.

Today is no ordinary day here at the Fink household. Today is the long-awaited and much anticipated play date with none other than Alexandar T. Yes, by birth right, the boy has a last name; it’s just not how he’s known in Cal’s world.

Cal’s excitement was just a tad more subtle than the Christmas Eve frenzy, “Alexander T has LOTS of train track stuff, that’s what he told me…he loves train tracks but I’m going to play with all his toys, but not his train tracks!”

“Well maybe you can play trains with him for a little while, then ask him to play something that you like?” His confused face spoke more words than his silence. Cal’s devotion today was about how to be a friend to Jesus. The answer, spending time. Being friends with your Alexandar T. or Jesus requires one thing – spending time together.

As for me, I’m off to spend time on the elliptical while I call a friend who just had surgery, I need to spend some time there too. Then, off to the big play date!

Isn’t the commitment to spend time together the nutshell of all friendships?