Re-do

I've done some furniture redo's the last couple of years and I'm so digging how they've turned out, so I thought I'd share some:

(Some have before's and others don't.)

Did you know that dirt and soil are different? And that if you transplant gorgeous flowers in just plain dirt they'll die? Also, that flowers need water on a regular basis? Lesson learned.

Heaven's slice is transforming things into something you see as beautiful... and finding a paint colour you adore!

You are not what happened to you

I've been thinking a lot about the well-known cowboy proverb  to

'get right back on the horse that bucked you off.' 

Since growing up on a ranch and coming from a rodeo family this saying had only a literal meaning to me when I was younger. I was gently forced at times against my will to get back on the horse that I got knocked off of, not tomorrow, not next week, but as soon as my wind was back inside me for a for a few minutes. It taught the horse and myself to basically work together and get better.

I do realize the much deeper side to it now of course, and am so fond of the deeper meaning that I thought I'd do a little post on it ;) 

You are not what happened to you.

We have to get back on the horse that bucked us off because if we don't we're basically saying to others, and more importantly to ourselves: I'm the one that got bucked off that horse. You are defining yourself by a moment in time, a moment of failure, hurt, embarrassment, or fear. Thus you put a mark on yourself that this is now who you are. A moment, a hard moment in which you chose not to recover from is what you have chosen to label yourself with. You claim 'defeated' to be your title as you sharpie it onto your name tag; A refusal to get back on.

There have of course, as there is with every human who ever walked this journey, been many many instances where I have been knocked down. Through chance or due to my own faulted choices, these occurrences still happen ... but I know they are a necessity to conquer, to continue, to get better. I purposely put myself back in those type of situations because I deeply and truly do not want that to be  my badge, my signification, because I know that it is not me. I am NOT my weaknesses and I am NOT what happened to me.

One example of this in my life is social anxiety. I started having it in junior high and it still haunts me on occasion. But despite making up excuses to dart off to the bathroom stall or do cruises solo around town to calm my nerves, I ALWAYS came back; back to the house party, back to the classroom. It may have taken a while to get my breathing back to normal, and tears dried out of my eyes, but dangit I came back. I HAD to come back. This was not me; it is not me. It's something that effects me, but I do not claim this for mine, and it will never be an excuse not to go out or be around people. I deal with its after effects, but for me that cannot have petition over the reasoning to quit trying or to completely avoid.

You are not what happened to you.

 We tend to focus and to fixate, to hold that grudge, to keep that sharp chip on our shoulder, that knife in our backs. It is our precious, our weakness, our excuse. The justifiable, understandable excuse to not be good enough, smart enough, courageous enough, or strong enough. But do we know that this hand-held self-proclaimed excuse is only giving way to our true dark destructive thought? The thought that says: "I am NOT enough."

But you are, we all are. It's an outright lie to ourselves that we're making when we decide to never get back on the horse that bucked us off - that we are now no longer enough because of this past circumstance. To our Saviour we will always be worth it; His sacrifice wasn't made for you based on your faults; it was based on your worth. To be saved is more than just a need because you're human, it was a requirement because you're LOVED.

We get right back on the horse that bucked us off because we're fighters; we are strong and we are brave. We know that we are not our physical limits, our mental illness, our tragic experience, our sins, or our failures. We are beings with potential beyond restraint.


(PS - how cute are all these photos of our daughter with horses?!)



Heaven's slice is knowing you are not what happens to you.

Thankful

I need to start out by saying I am like super blessed. I've got TONS of things I'm grateful for: family, faith, health, financial stability/independence, chocolate... the list goes on forever, literally. But I think I need to focus on just one. So this is the one that really stands out to me.

I'm grateful for prayer and answers that come.

I have an abundance of deeply personal and spiritual moments in my life that to me are too sacred to share, but I also have plenty of other simple yet still profound that I can share on the subject.

Prayer is a daily thing for me, sometimes only twice a day, sometimes 10+ times a day. But the more I implement questions that I need help on into my prayers the more I find the answers and help from a Heavenly Father that loves me more than I can even comprehend.

I've always prayed my whole life and received such blessings and answers from it, but a number of years back I received a firm knowledge and testimony that Heavenly Father needed me to pray sincerely. I had kept it pretty real with him, but then a certain trial sent my way changed things, it changed my prayers. I no longer felt that I was entitled to answers to my prayers. I could pray for others, but due to guilt from bounteous blessings I had been freely handed I felt I had no right to pray for myself. I kept my fears, my questions, my life, private from Him. Until one night the strong un-ignorable feeling came to me that He wanted to hear from me, He needed to hear from me, NOW. Obviously he knew what I had attempted to hide, but he needed me to let it out to Him. So I did, it was a long prayer full of tears and heartache. I felt embarrassed the next day having shown that side of me, yet 3 days later alone on a church bench, a broadcasted talk gave me the exact answer to that exact problem I had been struggling with for so long. I truly realized no matter what our circumstances he's always there to help us, we just need to pray sincerely to Him.

Prayer is a HUGE part of my life, and I simply have no desire to ever be found without it.

I've had soooo many experiences from answers to my prayers in my own personal life that I can't deny the power:

A quick prayer to help me with my budgeting efforts on a grocery trip. I bought the most food I ever bought, came in about $20 under budget when it should have been $50+ well over budget.

A strong feeling to take a casual job in a nearby town instead of a full time one 3 blocks from my house. The casual job turned into full time within 2 weeks and I found out the other job had been cut some months later due to the entire facility going bankrupt.

A prayer said in anger with a harsh demanding request. Forgotten by me, a few months later was given to me as requested. And though at the time given to me I was very troubled by it, it was brought to my memory, that I'm the one that asked for it. Apparently he hears every prayer, even the bitter ones.

...

We all have precious sacred experiences in our lives from the gift and power of prayer, and I'm so glad I know when all seems lost or when all is accounted for I can always pray.

(Sorry there weren't any photos!!)




Heaven's slice is prayer.

If YOU wonder...

If you wonder if God actually exists.

If you wonder if He knows you.

If you wonder if He cares.

You should may be watch this video:

And here's the link to read or watch it in case the above failed to show or upload: CLICK-->Receiving a Testimony of Light and Truth by Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf


This post is basically a blanketed public invitation to a deeply private matter, so don't worry cause I nor anyone else will know you watched/read it ;)



Heaven's slice is knowing God exists and that He knows, loves and cares about you.