Stressed-Less Week 7

 

The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.

                                                             Isaiah 58:11

Speaking of well watered gardens...

Blessings this week: 

36. I've been blessed this week with blooming flowers!  Here are the first to come inside...I'm not sure what they are, but they are from a Lilac-type bush in our backyard:

 37. In the flower beds, the Iris's are the first to bloom!  I've never had these before.

 

38. These things that I thought were just decorative grass actually bloomed as well:

39. Getting plants moved and mulch in the flower beds just in time for things to start blooming. (Not to mention my favorite helper)

 

40. My husband's most recent acquisition: That nice big vehicle to the right that he used to haul all that mulch for me. 

5 more...

41. There's nothing like a boy and his cat:

42. God's safety and protection traveling despite a rough running truck pulling a loaded trailer.

43. God's help in keeping up with this Bible Study. I've needed it these last few of weeks!

44. Summer small groups. We had a really hard time deciding which one to go to, but I'm glad we chose the one we did. I didn't know it but it went right along with things God has already been challenging me to work on and change. In fact, both this Bible Study and my Small Group this week dealt with the same verse-Philippians 4:8.

45. My birthday was last week and I to go and have breakfast with my son and hubby on Tuesday, have lunch at a coffee shop with my Mom on Wednesday, and lunch with my Mom, Gma, and Aunt at Applebees on Thursday. Lots of great food and fellowship!

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Chapter 7 Take-Aways:

-"Once we allow ourselves to grasp how big God really is, we can learn to put aside worry and rest in knowing that he can handle our problems--leaving no need for us to destroy ourselves stressing over them."

-..."God's desire is that, with every new circumstance we face, we see not only the giant but also an opportunity to discover what he is capable of handling and just how big he really is."

-"Life just happens, but attitude doesn't. A positive attitude that is pleasing to Christ and not poisoned by stress has to be developed over time, with commitment, dedication, perseverance, and self-discipline...A Christ-like attitude...is gradually built over a lifetime of submitting to God's desires over our own."

-David (when confronting Goliath) did not look at the battle line from afar, measure the distance that he would have to run versus his own quickness and agility, contemplate specific rock throwing moves, consider where he might be able to hide if things didn't work out, weigh all the positives against the negatives, or try to determine all the what-if scenarios so the he could be proactive and come up with solutions ahead of time. David just ran."

~