Evaluations, Concert Tickets and Peace.....

Things have been going well for me these past couple of weeks. My home, while messy and unorganized, feels like my home again. My sleep is good and I am starting to review how I should really fill my days. I am re-evaluating my goals and desires as I look at myself in the mirror because I don't want it to all of a sudden be years down the road and have to think on the things I never took the time to do. I figure these are all normal thoughts and I tell myself that evaluation and goals are always a good thing.

I definitely do not feel that it is Christmas time. The girls are asking about decorating and getting a tree. Normally it is all done by now. I am not depressed or in denial. My problem is that when I left last January to go care for Daddy I had just put the Christmas decorations away. The weather was cold and rainy like it is now. So for the practical principle idea that our memories associate with familiarity....I feel like I just celebrated Christmas here. It is a strange feeling. My family is being very patient and understanding but I think I need to get myself into gear and prepare for the season for their sakes.

But on to other things. What is this in my title about concert tickets?
Boy do I have a story for you.
There will be a concert here January 29th that Puddin' has been really wanting to attend. It will be performed by Toby Mac which is currently her big favorite, second in line only to Jesus Culture. Tickets go on sale tomorrow morning.

The local radio station has been running a contest this week for people to win tickets. For part of the contest people were asked to email in their phone numbers to be put into a drawing. Then at 7:10 each morning a random number would be pulled and dialed. The catch is that the person receiving the call cannot answer with hello. Instead they have to say one of the radio station's catch phrases.

Yesterday I submitted our phone numbers just to give it a try and then promptly forgot about it until this morning as we were driving to school. At 7:02am I remembered and laughingly told Puddin' that if we get a phone call in the next few minutes we had to answer a certain way to win the tickets.

So there we were sitting in the parking lot of the school listening to the radio for the contest when the announcer said, "It is now 7:10 and we have actually already called a couple of people to win these tickets but they didn't answer the phone correctly. Let's do one more phone call and hopefully this will be the winner. Okay folks, it's ringing. Let's see what happens."

As he said that, my phone started to vibrate that a call was coming in. My very first thought was, "Oh bummer. I wanted to hear what happens on the radio but now I have to take a phone call." Then it dawned on my that my phone ringing coincided with the ringing on the radio. They were calling MY phone!

You know all the funny screaming and carrying on that you hear people do on the radio when they win something and you think you would of course be more calm if it was you? Yeah....totally not a reality. Puddin' and I carried on laughing and screaming as I answered the phone in the correct way and won 2nd row tickets to a concert that hasn't even released ticket sales yet.

It is just amazing. I still can't believe it actually happened. I did this so she could have the tickets and she wants ME to go with her. How is that for a fun mother/daughter evening? What a blessing after everything that has happened.

~~~~~

Now on a totally different train of thought, I want to share a revelation I had this morning. I am still trying to wrap my brain around the whole concept so please bear with me.

I was sitting at the table doing my morning devotion and I stumbled across a scripture that called Jesus the Prince of Peace. I kept reading on but my mind was circling back around to this characteristic name of Jesus and what that really means to me. Here is what I came up with...

When we ask Jesus to be a part of our daily lives we become interconnected. We become children of God and just like when children on earth take on the DNA of their parents, we take on God's spiritual DNA that gives us His character traits and strengths.

DNA is a permanent thing that is whole from the beginning. A child does not grow into having a cleft chin. He has it at birth from his parents. So the same is true for God's DNA in us. I have the ability to make Godly character choices from the beginning because the DNA is there. It is not given to me in levels of DNA as I earn it. God loves us whole from the beginning.

Then I started to think about all the times I have prayed for peace.
God I am scared. Please give me your peace.
God I am tense. Please give me your peace.
God I feel weird. Please give me your peace.

It hit me that it is not peace that I should be asking for because it is already there within me as part of my spiritual DNA. Instead I should be focusing on accepting God's character as my own. I don't have to beg or plead for His character because it is already in me to be so. Instead I should speak thankfulness for that peace. There is power in our words and the more I/we acknowledge that peace then the more my mind turns attention to it instead of the other stuff around us.

That is basically what hit me so strong this morning. As my thoughts are jumping all over the place in my own understanding, I don't know if I have explained it well here. I hope I have because I think it is a powerful thing of hope and encouragement to have.
It is definitely more of what I need right now.

Thank you for taking the time to share and be with me today.
I pray that you enjoy an amazing God filled day of purpose and destiny for each moment was created just for you.

Thank you Father God for your encouragement and your DNA inheritance that You give to us. You are so amazing!