Whatever He Says

By Belinda The day of my flight to England (last Monday,) I woke shortly after 6.00 a.m. Just three hours had passed since I had relaxed into the couch cushions for the second time in the night (I hadn’t wanted to disturb Paul in the event I had another restless night.) I had made an attempt at sleep at 11.00 pm, but lay wide awake for an hour before taking my cue to use this precious time productively. My “To Do before I Leave” work list was waiting for me in the morning so why not make a start? I figured it would take about 2 hours to finish and it seemed like a great idea to ride the wave of wakefulness. First though, I swept the floor, mopped it and put away the last dishes left on the countertop from Sunday’s big family dinner. Brenda, asleep in her apartment downstairs, probably wondered what was going on in the middle of the night. By 3.00 a.m., with a sense of peace, I went back to the couch and instantly fell asleep. Susan dropped by at 8.30 a.m. for a goodbye cup of...

Paula Walker is one of our little crowd of cherished Whatever He Says readers. She wrote to tell me of her "What if" moment this week and graciously gave permission to share it here. It is a wonderful example of stepping onto the stone God pointed out, and asking, "What if I just embraced this moment?" By Paula My 'what if' moment, today, happened when at 9:15 a.m. my dear son invited himself, and four others for brunch at 9:30 - the four included my 'now away at college' grandson and a young teacher visiting here from Provence, France. I flirted with saying "I had my breakfast at the proper time at 6:30 am and defintely am not ready for brunch" but fortunately said nothing out loud ( a miracle for me !) Instead, quickly weighing the opportunity I was being given to share time with people I love dearly, I decided all other responsibilities, some of them rather pressing, would be dealt with later in the day. I managed, with some help...

By Belinda I slept soundly and woke up refreshed on Sunday morning when my alarm went off at 5.30 a.m. That was the time I had to take my crock pot out of the fridge and turn it on so that the roast could cook for 8 hours and be ready for our big family lunch after church. It was wonderful being up so early on a Sunday morning and I felt the expansive pleasure of having four whole hours ahead before I needed to leave for worship practice. After breakfast, I sat down on the couch with a second cup of delicious black coffee. The clock ticking was the only sound in the still sleeping household. I opened my Daily Light and began to read...and God began to speak. No I didn't hear an audible voice, but just as surely as I had felt him pointing out the stones I was to step on, I felt him now, speaking through his word, and a particular verse that leaped off the page. I don't usually bombard with so many scripture verses, but I feel compelled to pass these on:   26 Dear child,...

By Belinda So, what's up with me? Well, a lot! The journey of this past week has been deeply significant, starting with my Thursday post and my 5 inaugural "What ifs..." I call them inaugural because I plan to make a regular practice of asking that question of myself. On Friday night Paul and I had turned in at a reasonable time, but he was unusually restless. Several times he turned over just as I was about to drop off to sleep and after this happened a few times, I was wide awake. A bright full moon lighting up the bedroom added to my wakefulness and by midnight I decided that I might as well get up and do something useful. I may sound like the full moon got the better of me, but I balanced my budget and paid some bills; tidied up a room that was a disaster and made a list of essential work related things to do before leaving. All of this took a load off my mind. By 3.00 a.m. I found a comfy couch and dropped off into a peaceful sleep. All day Saturday, a day wi...

By Belinda Friends, I left for England on Monday and in case it took me a day or so to get hooked up to the internet, I have scheduled a couple of posts. I'll be in touch with more "Alvechurch Chronicles" as soon as I can! ____________________________________________________________________ "What if," I have discovered, is a powerful agent for change. It is the stick of dynamite blasting away the rock pile blocking my path; the tool that loosens the baked on debris from the corners of my life. "What if," tells me that change is possible. All I have to do is to ask myself that powerful question and answer, "Why not try and see what happens?" "What if," is encouragement to change up the counter-productive patterns in my life, because it reminds me that it is as simple as making a decision to try out doing life differently. Do ing Life Differently. What would you like to do differently? What is holding you back? Do...

By Belinda "Then..." is what follows "What if?"  :) After my Thursday post, I had to come back and give you, dear reader friends and encouragers, an update on the last two days, since my Potentially Pending Panic Attack. Writing out my 5 what ifs, had an immediate calming effect on me. Peace settled like a soft blanket around a baby, and I physically felt myself exhale. Why would such a simple exercise have such a profound effect? Because all of the "what ifs" were possible! They were simply choices I could make. I was not a helpless victim of my circumstance. I had some choices to make, and dreaming of what if...helped me choose well. On Wednesday night I knew that I had two working days left. I could have spent all 16 of those hours in my office and still not accomplished everything I wished I could do. But--I didn't tell you this--Thursday was a Staff Connection Day. I was out for 6 hours of that day in a church, celebrating with 35 wond...

Fridays by Susan. Belinda's post yesterday blew me away.  Those five "What If" questions she asked herself were profound in their potential to change her landscape and how she fits into it over the next several days.  By the time I reached the last of her questions, I was already formulating my own list...   What if I stopped doing "what feels right" most of the time and began to ask myself this same series of questions as deadlines approach - and long before they get to the "looming" stage!  Let me re-phrase them in a way that is generic. What if I figured out the most important things that are possible to do today (or this week?, or before that deadline, etc, etc) What if I didn't worry about the myriad of things that cannot get done? What if I made a list of those things that cannot get done so that I don't forget them - and then I scheduled blocks of time to do them at a later date? What if I keep on weighing what is most imp...

By Belinda I leave for England on Monday, and have only two days left at work before being away for two weeks. I am staving off low level panic at the coming boundary over which there can be no leaping! At the same time I have an opportunity to choose to be panicked or not, even though it might take some talking to myself to accomplish. This makes me think of a thought provoking post at my friend Marilyn's blog, As Good a Day as Any. You can click here to read it. It was entitled "If," and challenge us to ask ourselves the question "What if...?" Marilyn's post, and several other good ones in the blogosphere, was based on a blog post by Donald Miller, The single Most Powerful Question You Can Ask So, I'm asking myself 5 What If questions as I prepare to leave after this weekend: What if I figured out the most important things that are possible to do by Friday evening? What if I didn't worry about the myriad of things that cannot get don...