Red Rover, Red Rover

If anyone has ever played this game, then you know exactly what I'm talking about. But just in case you haven't heard of Red Rover, it's a game where there are two teams. One team calls out, "red rover, red rover, send (your name) right over." So that person runs to try and break through the other team. If that person can't break through, well he/she is stuck on the opposing team. However, if that person does break through, he/she will get to go back to his/her team but also take someone from the opposing team back with them and have more members on their side. Now I don't know how someone else played it but this is how we did it in MS. I brought this up because that is just how life works. When you feel that you are in a compromising position, the devil wants you to come over to his side. He doesn't want you to be happy with where you are. He doesn't want you to work out things at home, he wants you to run over and feel that there is no way out. But oh the joy when you see a breakthrough! Not only do you feel glad that you came through, but you feel glad that you can bring somebody else out of their breakthrough as well. This was just on my heart to share and I thought of Red Rover to illustrate my point.
1 Chronicles 4:10 (New King James Version)
And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.

Who's taking care of the baby?

While waiting for my son to get his hair cut, I sat in the chair making a list of things I needed to pick up from the store. As I wrote down soap and mouthwash, I couldn't finish my list because three ladies were at the front having a conversation. I don't know these ladies, but I will call them Lady A, Lady B, and Lady C. I overheard the conversation and Lady A was telling Lady B about Lady C's sister, who had just come home after having a c-section. The new mother had begun to get infection and was in so much pain and was beginning to have drainage around her incision. I put my pen down and just sat there thinking about this lady in all this pain and a newborn at the house that she can't care for. The conversation continued as Lady C came up and gave an update about her sister. Lady C was saying that her sister had to go back to the hospital and the doctors had to remove the 27 staples in order for the infection to drain out. Lady C also said that her sister was doing better but had to be in the hospital for a few days though. And here it is, a newborn baby who is dependant on someone else to take care of him/her doesn't even have a clue at what is going on. As I sat there, I said a prayer for the mom, the baby and Lady C. I also prayed for the person who is taking care of the baby until the mom gets well. I don't know any of these people but I do know that prayer changes things, no matter what the situation may be.

Today I am tired

After I got off work yesterday, I went home and started a load of clothes. Thank God that someone from work had fixed dinner because there would have been no way I would have been able to do all that. After I put on a load of clothes, I fixed hubby something to eat and wandered over to the sink to do dishes. Now at this point, I am wondering why are there dishes in the sink when we have paper plates AND we didn't even have to cook. The kids said that they forgot we had paper plates and the only reason I was washing dishes was so that the kids could finish their homework. If it had not been for that, they would have been at the sink busting those suds. Ok now one load of clothes are ready for the dryer and another load is screaming my name to throw them in the washer. Hubby still can't get in the water with his stitches intact so he is sponge bathing himself, so I went to get his water ready so he can bathe and then after that, I actually had time to bathe myself. Ok so now I have the kids helping out and just when I think I'm about to go rest and watch a little television, a phone call comes through and it's the nurse from the home health agency about to come by. It is now 8:30 at night. I'm like can't these people send someone out during the day, but the nurse did explain someone would be out much earlier on Wednesday. Is it time for bed yet? It is time for bed....until....I wake up sweating at 1a.m. WHAT! Hubby has the heater on saying he was cold. Ok now I can deal with the AC on, but a heater on....at the end of April.....in Florida.....that is insanely insane. I told him that I would get him more cover and turn the ceiling fan off but the heat has got to go. I didn't get back to sleep until 2:30, and then had to wake up at 5:45 to begin my day. I'm dragging now. My parents are coming from MS today to help out a little, which is great because when I get home, I'll be ready to crash.

Have you been tried in the fire?

I can't remember who sings that song but I love it. When I was younger, I didn't understand what it was trying to say; but as I grew, not only mentally, but spiritually as well, I was then able to comprehend "being tried in the fire." While attending Sunday Church School on yesterday, one of my elderly church members came up to me and said something to me. She said that she hope I don't get offended when she calls me baby and sugar or child. She continued and said that when she says that, the receiving end will say, "I'm grown. I'm not your baby." This elderly woman, I'll call her Grandma, said that she doesn't mean any harm when she says that. Well I told Grandma that it didn't offend me when she calls me that because you have to have been tried in the fire in order to hold your tongue on certain things. I told Grandma that if a person has to say, "I am grown" that means they haven't grown. You have to grow in more ways than one in order to be grown; but it's when you become an adult that one will truly know he or she has grown. That was my own opinion. Even though Grandma is up in years past me, she sat and listened and said that made her day. When it was time to go, she said, "Bye sugar." I said, "Bye Grandma" and that just made her laugh so and her laughter made me laugh. Have you been tried in the fire? And did you come through as pure gold?

A Slow Recovery

One of my favorite scriptures is Psalm 46:10 - Be still, and know that I am God. I love that scripture for many different reasons. My husband was released from the hospital on Saturday, only five days after his quadruple bypass open heart surgery. We were anticipating on him coming home soon but I think his desire to be home was very exciting. The doctors told him to take it easy and not do anything for awhile. So all the laundry that he was used to doing, was put into the hands of our daughter, our son and myself. Ok, there are no pink socks and shirts yet. Sometimes in life we try to hurry up and do things when God hasn't even put that thing in His plans. My husband knows that his recovery will be a slow one but he also understands that is God's way. When God brought his people out of Egypt, it was at the exact right time when He wanted it done. Before that, it wasn't their season. They, too, had to be still and let God do what he do best. There will be people who will get angry just because we serve a living God and they don't understand why we can walk around with a smile on our face but have so much stuff going on around us. They won't understand because they haven't allowed themselves to be still and see the awesomeness of God. Yes, hubby will take things slow and his recovery will not be of my will but God's will. Whether it be a few weeks or a few months, we will be still and wait.

When can I date?

That's the question that was asked by my daughter who will be 16 on May 31. I personally don't feel she is ready to date and I have voiced my opinion to her in letting her know. Society has put pressure on children saying that they should be doing this or that by a certain age. Who are the people on the "age committee" that says you can drive a motor vehicle at 16 but you can't drink until you are 21? Dating is something that you have to be mentally prepared for, not just age wise. My daughter says that she is growing into a young lady and I do agree...physically. But mentally she is not ready to date because it also comes with responsibility and the maturity in saying no to pre-marital sex and other issues that may arise. So what she is telling me is that she is responsible enough to sensibly date but not responsible enough to go and wash dishes or clean her room without me having to tell her? It all goes hand in hand. I have to see the change first. That's like saying she is ready to drive but haven't taken any driving lessons. Even though she knows she is not getting my car either because her maturity level is just not there to be under the wheel. She wants to drive, but doesn't take the initiative to take up drivers education in school. That's like someone saying they want to be a chef but is never in the kitchen watching parents cook or even trying to cook something for themselves. There will be plenty of time for dating. I just don't see it right now. Somebody please help me on this situation.

Unity Strengthened

Psalm 18:1 says I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. When I went to the hospital on Thursday evening to visit with my husband, he was so glad to see the family. After I had gotten off work and had gone home to shower first, I threw on some old sweat pants and a t-shirt to go and help him shower. When we walked in the room, he said that he had already taken care of that and I was happy that he had gotten up and and had the strength to at least try to do something for himself. He reached out his hand and I asked if he needed anything and he said for me to come closer. I went closer as he caressed my hand. That felt good. He told me to lean closer and as I did, he wanted his lips to touch mine and I did. He then told me how nice my hair looked and even though I knew to me that my hair looked like Helter Skelter that just got off a merry-go-round because it needed to be washed, I calmly said, "Thank You." My husband then rubbed his hands up and down my arm because without even saying a word, I knew his actions were that he missed me. He then asked me to shave him and I did the best I could and he said it was good and I felt good about that. It's just the simple things that we take for granted. We must be unified together to be strengthened not only in marriage but in our daily walk with Christ. There are a few things that we must endure through marriage and some of them are: U=understanding; N=negotiations; I=intimacy; T=togetherness; Y=yearning and also S=sensuality; T=time; R=romance; E=enjoyment; N=nights out; G=gratitude; T=talks; H=hugs

Unprepared for a storm

When you are sitting watching television and the weather person comes on saying there will be a hurricane or a thunderstorm or whatever case of bad weather we may get, the first thing we do is to check if the flashlight to see if the batteries are corroded and then we try to make sure we have enough supplies on hand to at least survive in case the lights go out. No matter how prepared you may think you are, when the storm is over, we always say we didn't expect it to be that bad...or we expected it to be worse. That is me right now. I was totally unprepared for the storm I am in. I had no clue that in one weekend my husband would be having open heart surgery and I would be stuck doing not only my work but his as well. If we had known, maybe we would have washed up and ironed all the clothes, cooked food to put in the freezer, filled the car up with gas and everything else that needed to be prepared for a storm. Psalm 107:9 says He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. My whisper moment is coming...my hushed sea moment is coming and in the meantime, I will sit in this storm and wait until it is over. Author Iyanla Vanzant said that you can't have a testimony unless you've been through a test.

My side of the bed

It's amazing how we title things as "mine" and "yours". Philippians 4:7 says: And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. This scripture came to me while I was trying to rest in the bed that my husband and I share. While he is recouperating from open heart surgery, I lay in bed trying to determine what side of the bed should I sleep on. He has his side and I have my side. When he is home, we get on our side of the bed and then meet up somewhere in the middle. Hubby is always scratching my leg in the middle of the night and I constantly tell him to move back over to your side of the bed and then cut those hard toenails. Last night was one of those nights where I wanted to feel those hard toenails. I couldn't rest well on my side nor could I rest well on his side, but I found that when I shifted myself in the middle of the bed where it was like unity, I fell asleep and didn't know what had hit me. I understood the scripture even more because sometimes we get so caught up with the things of this world that we don't even have time to understand what God is saying to us. Sometimes it could be slow down, speed up, or just move in the middle.

Husband's Hospital Adventure

Day 1:My husband had to be taken to the hospital on Wednesday, April 15, 2009. What started out as a journey for me ended up being an adventure. The scare came in to me, oh around 9ish or so that morning. I was at work doing what I normally do. Some days it's work, others days...well it's not so busy work, but work just the same. I received a call from my neighbors who was asking if this was Barbara Bedenfield. I said yes but at the same time I'm thinking now what in the yonkers is going on. The voice on the other end said that my husband had just been taken to the hospital in an ambulance because he was having shortness of breath. Now let's back up a minute and let me give you a brief description of the kind of husband I have. My husband is 60 years old, which is 21 years older than I am. He has already had several hip replacements, a rod in his leg since he was about 12 and a few other things that has taken place over the years. He is the one who has me spoiled beyond compare. I'm not a nasty spoiled. I'm a good spoiled. He is the man who does everything around the house while I go out and work. He does the cooking, washing, ironing....yes ironing. When the children and I come home from being gone all day, there is a piping hot meal on the stove. What! No, I didn't stutter. So can you just imagine what is going on in my head when I get this phone call from my neighbors.