Why gas is so expensive

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good stuff

Well, God's brought me through a difficult time over the last couple of weeks (mostly self-created money stuff), enabling me to stay pretty well-fed and even pay less on a key bill (after following the leading of the Holy Spirit) than I thought I was going to have to, which enabled me to pay off another key debt. I'm so happy about that--just to have that done and dealt with. It actually emboldens me to attack some other stuff more vigorously, financial matters and otherwise.

One of the coolest things, though is that a ministry sowed some seed into my life in the form of some series of messages, which I was then able to sow into the life of one of my co-workers who likes this preacher. I hoped I wasn't being pushy, but he seemed to appreciate it. He even invited me up to Chicago with him and his family this weekend! I'm not going, but I am so grateful for the invitation.

Actually, God even staved off a cold for me--I had been getting symptoms but prayed over them and they never got very bad--in not much time, the thing had passed.

So, glory to God for all that.

Finally, as a great cherry on top, there are some opportunities for acting coming up and some interest in a project I'm going to start, so glory to God for all that, too!

p.s.--I found out the guitar place at which I'm buying a bass guitar still has the money I put down on it when I put the bass on lay-away even though I haven't paid on it in some time. I can just pay it off when I get the dough. I thought they would put the thing back out for sale (make it back available for sale) and I'd lose the money I had put down in exchange for that guitar not being available, but they don't do that. So, thanks to God for that, too; I'm not losing money and I can pay it off at a more financially convenient time. :)

afraid

I've lived my whole life afraid.

Today I decided not to.

Thanks, God.

:)

big news

So I was despairing of the acting thing, but then my pastor preached a sermon on reinvesting in your dream, which encouraged me. So I felt a lot better--my belief in my dream renewed, my career in God's hands. Then God reminded me that I should be giving more, so I did. The next day, I got my first paid acting gig in this area in a LONNNGGGG time. And the amount I'll be paid is three times what I gave--and all of this is just the first step. I thank God so much for this affirmationa nd blessing. Once AGAIN, praise God!

more thanks

I'm about halfway tempted to start calling this the blessing blog, since that's what I usually put on here. So what happened today? Two great things: 1) I got some proper flatware, at last, and 2) I read all the way through one of my own stories in one sitting (minus bathroom breaks).

I was brought up with not a lot of what I would consider really nice stuff. Great parents, but materially speaking, they could only do so much. So I developed a desire to get nice stuff I've seen other people have. Call it a status thing or whatever, but there it is. So I finally found, at Tuesday Morning, where one of my sisters has been suggesting I go for ages (thanks, you-know-who-you-are) and, glory to God, found a set of 18/10 flatware, which is what I'd been looking for, and from a brand I like. I even like the design. And the price was very good--the discount was more than the price I wound up paying for it, in fact. So, again, glory to God for that!

Also, I got a really snazzy coffee mug at Dillard's for a song--thank God!

It's rare for me to read and finish one of my own stories in one sitting, but I went through one of them, a 52 and change-pager, today. I was just drawn along by it, making some notes as I went, but mostly enjoying the thing. This doesn't happen that much for me because while I'm usually interested in what I'm writing, it doesn't always enthrall me. Other writers out there probably know what I mean. There are our good stories and then our really good stories. This was one of the latter, and I'm glad of it. It's like finding a diamond that I thought was a nice cubic zirconia--cool, and worth keeping, but nothing really special. So I thank and give praise and glory to God for that as well. And just between you and I, there's a chance I'm a better writer than I thought I was... ;) I need development, but I think there's more there than I've given myself credit for.

You know, as I'm writing this, I'm reminded that the more we give over to God, the more He blesses us and what we've given over. It's like we give Him coal and He gives us back diamonds. Pretty cool, huh?

glory to God!

Just wanted to share this with you: I found out about two small children who were either in or potentially in danger this week. One, a daughter of a couple of friends of mine, fell into the pool and was in the hospital, where I gather it was touch and go for a while. Another kid who's close to me went to the doctor today about a catscan that hadn't looked good some time ago. I called Kenneth Copeland Ministries in each case and got agreement in prayer about these kids (and I think both of them had more than just me praying for them). I just found out not long ago that the first has been sent home today, and she's running around and her parents can't keep her down :), and that the doctor is not concerned about the other's MRI. Glory to God for that!

-Sean