Whispers....

Or I could title this God's Not Dead.

It's a Monday.  Granted a beautiful fall Monday but Monday nonetheless.  We did not want to start school.  I turned on Family Life Radio and this song was playing.





Kid was walking around the kitchen putting away the dishes.  About three quarters of the way into the song (at around 3:35) they WHISPER..'God's Not Dead.  He's Surely Alive."  Kid stops.  And smiles.  He heard the whisper.  I love that. It truly is such a whisper from God I could not let the moment escape without getting it down in black and white.

And to make the connection even more personal, the "Three Things" on the 1000 gifts list   TODAY is "3 Things Said."  

1.  Whispers..  God's Not Dead.  He's Surely Alive.

Freedom and Expectations

I was discussing with our RDI consultant about AJ's behavior.  He is such a good kid.  But sometimes, as most spectrum kids do, he focuses on the negative.  AJ WANTS to know how to behave.  And I want to help him but sometimes things get off track, as they did on Monday with our OT.  This morning I wrote our consultant about our audiology appointment today.  Basically I was asking, "how can I make it work?"  Subtext... "how can I make it PERFECT?"  Here is what she wrote:

I would use the same strategy--review how he felt after negative behavior with OT, preview how he wants to feel after the audiologist, and then discuss how things need to go in order for him to feel good. I would be general rather than specific--polite, hands to self, etc. I would preview, and then see how it goes. If it starts to derail mid-event, I would give him a time out to calm down and then have him go back and finish. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you can't control it. You can preview and you can guide, but this is up to Andrew. That is important to know because it will impact your guiding in the moment--you can only do so much, and the rest is up to him.

Answer to "how can I make it perfect?"  I CAN'T!!!!!!  (Control is an illusion.)  And knowing that is FREEING and it calms my own nerves and expectations which decreases the tension in the room paving the way for a better result.   When you let go of expectations, amazing things can happen.  I am not sure how today will go.  But it doesn't have to be perfect.

ps:  You can apply this to basically any part of your life and in any relationship.  :)

Broken Glass

I have read several books, blogs and listened to messages about 'broken glass.'  You know.. how God uses broken glass to shine His light thru.  We are the broken glass.  Yada yada yada....

Today I was going through my journal from August.  I was following along in a "listening to God book" where the author suggested asking God, "what do You think of me?"  His answer, as I discerned it, was "broken glass."  I wrote it down.. I meditated on it.  I think He was telling me that He will 'glue' all the pieces back together seamlessly.

Here is how I pictured it at our starting point.

Purty isn't it??!!!!

Yesterday shortly before  I was pulling roasted broccoli from the oven, I heard a pop.  Thank you JESUS I had not yet opened the oven because THIS is what I found when I opened it this morning.

Ugly ain't it?!  The funny thing is that the timing was not a coincidence.  I had forgotten I had written about the broken glass in August.  I "just happened" to decide to spend this morning looking through my journal from the past month and saw that 'visual' that God had given me.  Yes.. this is the starting point.  It is gross, it is messy.  It isn't clean glass.  There were defects that were in there long before the shattering even occurred.  I just didn't see them.  And THIS is the starting point.  And yet He STILL seamlessly pulls it all together.

Somehow..

Someway...