Archive for the ‘Not Food’ Category

18 Sep

The Blessing of A Kitten Named Turkey

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

Meet Turkey.  She is the latest addition to our family.  How did we get her?  Turkey actually found us.  She was screaming (meowing) early one morning for us to let her in, so we did.  We were amazed right away by the mighty big voice she had for being such a tiny kitten.  It was obvious, upon first glance, that she was not someone’s pet.  Dirty, boney, flea-covered, and appearing to be missing an eye at first, we knew we couldn’t turn her back out onto the street.  So here we are, about 2 1/2 weeks later, and this tiny kitten has us smitten with her!

The Day She Found Us

Like any other healthy kitten, Turkey is rambunctious and busy every single second she is awake, but she is still a baby, so she has several catnaps a day and knows when it is bedtime for the rest of us.  Without being taught or encouraged, she’s learned to jump onto the foot of our bed as we’re turning in for the night. It’s a neat routine.  We get into bed.  Moments later, we can feel the tiny bounce of her massive 1.5 pound body, and she immediately turns on her purr.  When we call to her (“Turkey, good little Turkey, sweet kitty Turkey….”), she turns her purr up even louder.  And if we rub her beneath her chin, she purrs even louder still!  It’s funny, because when she’s running around the house all day, you won’t hear a purr out of her at all.  But at bedtime, in her contentment and seemingly gratitude, she offers us the warmth of her happiness through a purr. She appears to offer us “the purr” as a means of thanksgiving for taking her in.  For loving her. 

This past Tuesday, like most days as I’m driving to work, I was reflecting on the morning devotion and thinking about the scripture it was based upon.  Before I knew it, I was singing praises to our Saviour – belting it out! – unscripted words on paper, but definitely scripted in my heart.  Don’t you just love that when it happens?!  I was singing praises of thanks for the many, many blessings God has shown me, and for those that I knew He has in store for me yet to come.  Hallelujah, He knows my past, present and future!  As I was singing, I became aware of this warmth, building inside – almost as if some nurtured energy was about to unfold – like a daisy opening it’s petals beneath he morning’s early dew.  And as I continued to sing praises, that warmth became greater, and greater, until I was filled with such enormous joy!  Immediately, I began to think of Turkey, our newest feline family member, and an understanding of this joy came to me in the very simple, tangible definition of this tiny beast. Just as Turkey lands on the foot our our bed, offering her warm little purr that grows a little louder with some praiseful cooing, and then even louder with the anticipation of an outstretched hand coming toward her……..so was the warmth, the radiation of the Holy Spirit within me.  The more I praised, the more I poured my heart out in Thanksgiving, the more I could feel the love and satisfaction of my Father.  Thank you, thank you, sweet Lord for giving me a glimpse of  the happiness you must feel when we glorify you and praise your name, in terms that I can understand.  Thank you for showing me this…..yet another blessing!

So maybe not everyone would understand it if I compared the warmth of the Holy Spirit to the instinctive purr of a cat…..but that’s okay.  Our wonderful Saviour has showed me in a way he knows I can understand.  He will reveal things to you, too, in ways you can understand them best. Our Father knows each of us, loves each of us, and is ready to reveal things to you in your language – way you can understand.  All you have to do is believe with all your heart, and listen for his gentle way.    John 14:  16-17

2 Weeks After Finding Us

A blessing in the making:  The night Turkey found us, we were in the middle of singing praises to our Saviour, literally.  We were at a recording studio with our oldest son as he was working on the final tracks for a song titled “Magnify”.  It was when taking a donut break at 2:00am that Turkey came-a-callin’.  Praise God for all the blessings, big and small, known and yet to come!

Be magnified
As we sing your praise and lift your name
Up higher than the mountaintops you made

                                  Magnify
                                 (c) 2011 – D. Johnston 

12 Sep

My Basket

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , , , , .

It’s a big one.
Made out of some type of weave material native to the plantation area in the south.
And it’s elastic, of this I am sure, because it can stretch to hold a lot of junk.

It used to be really heavy when I first got it.  Sometimes, debilitatingly so.
Often times, it would slow my pace, or be so cumbersome, that it distracted me from other things.
And it used to be very important to me, too.
I would never leave home without it.
For that matter, I would never be home without it, either.
It used to hold a pretty prominent position, always close by my side, or in my lap.

I know this basket well – would recognize it anywhere.
Because it’s familiar, I sometimes feel comfort at the sheer recognition of it.
It’s no more than the comfort of habit, though, and it is only temporary.
I have spent a majority of my life toting it around.
It has been with me through so many turns.
For a long while, it seemed to be my only constant.
Through high school, college, broken relationships.
Through health issues.
Through the birth of three children, parenting.
Through all sorts of highs and lows, I’ve held onto it.

Now, it’s not nearly as heavy, although it hasn’t changed in shape or size.
I just don’t put that much junk in it anymore.
It doesn’t really slow my pace anymore, or distract me too often.
Sometimes, I don’t even notice it.
At home, I forget sometimes that I still have it.
When I leave, I forget sometimes to take it with me.

This is what happens when I let God have what’s inside the basket.
He takes that burden from me.
He eliminates the distraction of it’s contents.
He carries anything that is too much for me to handle.
He replaces it with peace, comfort and hope.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”   Philippians 4:6-7.

My basket is much less important to me than it used to be 20 years ago.
To be honest, it’s much less important to me than it was a year ago!
As my relationship with Christ grows stronger, my dependency on my basket diminishes.
Moving my focus toward faith, takes it away from things that are out of my control.

One of my favorite hymns is “Turn  Your Eyes Upon Jesus”.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in his wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim.
In the light of his glory and grace.

I’m so thankful for the understanding and comfort that only my Savior can provide.
And thankful that he so willingly and lovingly takes my worries from me & empties my basket.

1 Peter 5:7

18 Aug

His Word Is Alive!

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , , , .

A few months back when I started this blog, my first post was the story behind the name, The Toenail.  I didn’t have scripture to back up what I was experiencing and longing for “in real life”, but I heard God’s message loud and clear:   We are all important to the Body of Christ.

Yesterday, several months after creating this blog, I came upon scripture that revealed this very same message.  How cool is that?  How I came across it is even “cooler”.  The devotion that I read (most every day) from our church referenced 1 Co 3:13.  Immediately desiring to see what the word had in store for me, I turned to Colossians 3:13.  This scripture reads:

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”  Then it continues in verse 14: “And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

Hmmmm.  This is great scripture – and the subject of forgiveness is always a dear one for me – but it had absolutely nothing, from what I could tell, to do with the devotion I had just read.  Then I noticed that in my devotion book, the scripture had a “one” before the initials Co.  I didn’t have a first Colossians in my Bible.  I wondered why the devotion book had placed the “one” before the initials.  Not even thinking that I could be wrong, I asked my son about it.  I’m so glad he doesn’t judge me for not knowing the abbreviations for the books!  Apparently Co stands for Corinthians, of which there is a “one” and “two”, instead of for Colossians.  So next, I turned to the correct referenced scripture.  It reads:

“…his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.  It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.”

Okay, this makes more sense with the devotion, which was about “doing what you’re supposed to do”.  Still, the conversation with my son continued, as we shared about different parts of 1 Corinthians that we have studied.  That’s when I came across the scripture – THE scripture! – the message God had so clearly revealed to me months earlier when I was doubting my significance in the Body of Christ.  1 Corinthians 12 verses 12 through 31 are so exciting to me!  It’s beautiful scripture.  Look it up!  I’m so thankful for God’s perfect timing in revealing things to us.  Had I been shown that scripture months ago, I may not have started this blog.  But because of my experience and wondering how God can use “little ole me”, He has shown me personally, allowing for the creation of this blog, and has now validated His message to me in scripture.  That is so cool!  His word is certainly alive!

14 Aug

Shark Teeth

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .




Beachcombing one Saturday morning on the shore of Topsail Island, I realized something pretty cool.  As I walked along the abundant crush of seashells and things, my son walked a few feet behind me, on the same path.  Every so often, he would say, “Hey mom, you missed this one!”, “I can’t believe you missed this one!”, or “Are you wearing your glasses, because you missed another good one?”.  NO, I  was not wearing my glasses, and I refuse to think that my 40+ years had anything to do with my overlooking the big ones. Then, clear as my vision is from behind those prescription glasses, I heard my Savior say:

“As you and your son are looking at the same sandy shell bed, searching for the same thing, you each find exactly what you were intended to find at exactly the right moment.”

Jump back!  What an awesome teacher our Savior is.  This is exactly how it is with His word!   We can read the same scripture or hear the same message and get completely different rewards from them.  Or, something that may speak to my heart with great significance or result in a clear understanding for me, may speak to your heart differently.  We see in the word what we were intended to see at exactly the moment we were intended to understand it.  Isn’t that cool!?  Have you ever been exposed to a particular scripture repeatedly before, but it never jumped out to you and stuck?  And then, one day, hear the same scripture and all of a sudden, you ‘see’ it for the first time?

Praise God for being with me on the beach that morning and revealing to me the significance of our different “eye sight”.

12 Aug

Stop, Drop and Pray

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , .

You’ve heard that saying before…”Stop, Drop and Roll”.  You may have learned it when you were very young, like I did in elementary school when the local firemen visited our classroom to teach us the importance of remembering this life saving phrase.  I didn’t really understand the importance of those words when I was younger, but the phrase was so catchy that I held on to it and gained a better knowledge of what it meant as I grew older.  Thankfully, I’ve never had to put the phrase into action, but I think I could if I was ever in a situation where it was needed.  Those firemen taught a fundamental lesson and did so very well.

God has been moving in my life, and things that I’ve been taught or heard over the years are coming to life left and right.  Praise God!  It’s like a light switch being turned on!  That’s how I woke this morning.  In the pitch dark of my bedroom, before I even opened my eyes, I was reflecting on and thanking God for all of the opportunities He’s given me recently, and that’s when it came to me – Stop, Drop and Pray.

Just yesterday, while standing in the parking lot of WalMart, I met a man.  I’m going to call him Mr. Calvary Baptist Church, because I can remember that instead of his name (I’m terrible with names, and I’m not in denial, but chances are if I’ve met you, you hold a special moniker, too).  I really thought, upon hearing this man’s voice across the way, that I knew him.  I really thought, upon seeing his profile, that I knew him.  Excited to share with him some good news, I grabbed a flyer to an upcoming event and called to him.  As he  came closer, I realized that I didn’t know him at all!  Wow!  That was a hearing AND sight blooper, but that’s another blog for another time.  Moving on.   This normally would have embarrassed me, but now, so many things that would have done that before just remind me it’s an opportunity.  Within moments of our introduction, I had made that statement we all hear so many times, “Will you pray for _________”.  You fill in the blank.  I’ve asked people to pray for my mother, our President, a stressful situation I was facing, a friend’s sick husband, for clarity…….and so on.  And without batting an eye, this man who I had only known for seconds, put his arm around my shoulder, and right there in the parking lot of WalMart, in the middle of the day, front and center to the entrance doors, he began to pray.

Stop, Drop and Pray.  STOP DROP AND PRAY!  I get it, Lord.  I hear you!  Why has it taken me so long to understand this?  I’ve been doing this recently, and didn’t even know I was doing what has been taught to me all these years – what I’ve seen around me.  Other people have prayed on the spot when I’ve asked for prayer, but yesterday’s opportunity connected the dots for me.  Instead of agreeing to pray for someone when they ask me to, at a later time, I am going to pray right away, with them, if I can.  There are so many needs, and so many things that need to be prayed over.  I’ve tried to put them aside oftentimes until they accumulate and I, within a structured timeframe, pause to remember the list and pray at a “more convenient time”, or a “more private time”.  There’s nothing wrong with that – God wants our prayer and our conversation always, in all ways.  But today, I wake with a desire to address prayer immediately…to slow down and bring things to God in real time…to stop putting prayer time in a box and keeping it closed….

Thank you, Mr. Calvary Baptist Church.  I wish I could tell you how much the opportunity to meet you yesterday has meant to me!  “Stop, Drop and Roll” may be a life-saving phrase, but “Stop, Drop and Pray” is a saved-life phrase.  Now I have to go put it into action!

13 Jul

It’s Personal!

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , , , .

Who is Jesus Christ to you?

I’ve heard this question asked before.  I’ve listened to a multitude of responses.  Yes, He’s the Holy One, the Mighty Father… Counselor, Confidante and Corrector always.   He’s the Alpha, the Omega – the A to the Z.  The Omnipresent.  He’s called by so many dear, wonderful, descriptive names.

So who is Jesus Christ to me?  It’s personal.  I mean, really and truly, deep down and inside out, completely personal.  Jesus Christ is my best friend.  He calls me by name, and I call Him by His.  I don’t have to talk with Him through others.  He is in the front row, seat one.  I have access to Him all the time and desire Him to have access to me all the time.  I’m working on that!  As I grow in my relationship with Him, I desire to be more like Him.  I find  “including Him” in my daily walk to be more a recognition of Him “including me” in His.  He doesn’t just think of me sometimes, He thinks of me always, and always has.  Before, Now and in the Future, Christ thinks of me!  This is no one-sided relationship.  And it’s not an exclusive-to-me relationship.  Jesus Christ loves you and you and you and you…….and He longs to have a personal relationship with you, too.  He is mighty, indeed, but not in an intangible way.  Jesus Christ is very real and very present.  He is very personal!

Recently I met a couple of people who have not been called by their first names in a very long time.  They refer to themselves by title or last name or both, but not by first name.  In their friendships, they use their titles or last names.  Never their first names.  Even the mother of one doesn’t refer to her child by first name!  This made me sad.  I couldn’t help but think of my own family – my mom – and wondered how weird it would be for her to call me by some title, or by my last name.    My relationship with my mother – with my family – with my friends – it’s personal.  Why would I ask to be called by anything other than my name?  Then I started thinking about our Heavenly Father.  He calls me by name, too, and it is very personal.  We are family, and I can’t imagine it being any other way!

I’m so thankful for Jesus Christ, and that he calls me His. There’s a comfort that comes with being referred to by name.  His. I’m His!  And that is very personal!

5 Jun

Big Honkin’ Seeds

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , .

Our youngest son set out one morn on a mission – to deliver flowers to people he didn’t know.  After carefully picking flowers from our gardens, and tenderly placing them in vessels (a recycled small pickle relish jar and a jelly jar), together, we prayed:

“Lord, please help us to find just the right words to share with just the right people.  You know who could use some “sonshine” today, and you know just the right words they need.  Use us to bring them happiness today.  Amen.”

We sat down together with a Bible, and began reading God’s word, knowing that the words we needed to share would be made obvious to us.  Within minutes, I printed the verses and our son carefully taped them to each jar.  After adding a little ribbon, the special flowers were ready for delivery.  He wanted to deliver the flowers to people in our neighborhood he didn’t know.  With a little instruction (for safety), he was off to make his first delivery.  It was a quick delivery, too!

Me:  “How did it go?”

YS:  “Good!”  He had a smile that wouldn’t stop!

Me:  “Tell me what happened.”

YS:  “Well, I went to the door of this house around the corner, and a lady came to the door.  I said ‘I made these for you’.  And she said ‘Thank you’.”

Me:  “How did that make you feel?”

YS:  “Very happy!”

Me:  “That’s awesome!  You know that happy you’re feeling?  That’s what joy feels like!  That’s how it feels to do things for other people, or give them things, just to make them happy. That’s what it feels like when we are able to share Christ with others.  That’s so awesome!”

Our son could hardly wait to head out the door with the next jar.  This time, however, he was gone for a much longer time.  When he returned, he was still smiling loudly.

Me:  “Wow, that took you a little while longer.”

YS:  “Yeah.  I went to the first house and this lady came to the door, but she said ‘no thank you’, and closed the door fast.”

Me:  “Oh, how did that make you feel?

YS:  “Kind of bad.”

Me:  “Yes, sometimes people don’t understand when you want to give them something.  They might think you want them to pay for it, or that you want something from them.  I’m sure she didn’t understand.”

YS:  “I know.”

Me:  “So what did you do next?”

YS:  “I went to four more houses, but no body would come to the door.”

Me:  “Maybe there wasn’t anybody at home.  How did that make you feel?”

YS:  “Sort of bad, still.”

Me:  “I bet.  They might not have been at home, or you know how sometimes we’re at home, but a stranger rings the doorbell and we look out the window do see who it is?  Maybe, if they were at home, they didn’t know who you were so they didn’t open the door.”

YS:  “Yeah.”

Me:  “Well you don’t have any flowers, so you must have given them to somebody.”

YS:  “Yep!  At the next house, a lady opened the door, and I said ‘I made these for you!’, and she took them and said ‘Thank you!’.

Me:  “And that’s why you’re smiling, isn’t it?”

YS:  “Yes!  Can I go give out more flowers?”

What an awesome thing our youngest son experienced!  We were able to share with him how telling others about Christ is just like delivering those flowers.  First, we should pray and ask God to lead us to the people he wants us to share with.  Then, we should rely on His word when sharing Christ with others.  And finally, we should not be discouraged when “the sharing” doesn’t go as we had planned.  Even the woman who said “no thanks” will remember the little boy who tried to give her flowers.  What she may not have realized at the time was that he left with her something anyway – some “seeds”. Hopefully one day those seeds will be fruitful.  And those houses with unopened doors – they taught our son about persistence.  Keep on moving forward for Christ.  When one door doesn’t open, another one is going to open somewhere else.  And the women who received the flowers, they taught our son about  the joy that we receive in being obedient in sharing Christ with others.  It feels good when we do the right thing, from deep down in the middle.  It’s a joy you can’t contain, you just want to keep on sharing!

As if it couldn’t get any better, our son was able to share with some neighborhood children who were all about his age.  They saw him walking down the street with the jar full of flowers, and they asked him to play.  Our son told them he couldn’t right now, because he was busy giving out flowers.  When they asked him why he was doing that, he said, “Because that’s what God wants me to do right now, to make people happy by sharing these with them.”

Have you heard the song, ‘Itty Bitty Seeds’?  Well, those were some big honkin’ seeds that our son left by the roadside near those children.  THAT is what it’s all about!

30 May

Nose-diving Dog

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , .

“Not my rosemary!”

It was too late.  And it wasn’t just the rosemary, it was the just-about-to-bloom-perfectly purple African daisies, too.
Flat.    Broken.    Kaput.  
My almost green thumbs ached, as did my heart, as I observed the aftermath and began to remove the snapped stems and branches.

Some dog, about yae-high, decided my front door garden needed him to roll in it.   I had never seen this dog before.  He didn’t belong to any neighbors that I know of.  Like a phantom – phantom of the garden – he nose-dived right into the flower bed and then was gone just as quickly.  I dreaded telling my husband, since the daisies were his addition to the bed this year.  These daisies originally looked as though they’d been peeled straight from coloring book pages, their petals beautifully symmetrical in diameter, surrounding a perfect, circular button center.  I was delighted that my husband took interest in the flowers this year, and the fact that he chose the daisy was fitting – a simple, yet strong variety.  🙂  And then there is my favorite, the rosemary.  Just earlier this same day, a friend had commented on the sheer size of her and how healthy she looked.  She has been in our garden for about 5 years now and has enjoyed two full seasons of blooming (something I had never had a rosemary do before).  Planted by the front door, as ancient folk lore has it, to bring health and prosperity to all who pass her by.  

Stupid dog.  “Where were the owners?”, I thought.  “I would never let my dog run around the neighborhood loose”.  Even my kids got in on the pity party, as they had helped over the years and this season in nurturing the garden.  Our youngest said, “Man, we have about a hundred dollars worth of plants in our yard, just for some dog to come and mess them all up.”

Fast forward to the next morning.  The boys and I head out to our local nursery to find a replacement plant for the spot the daisy had it’s claim on.  As we were checking out, I explained to the nursery worker why we were purchasing the new plant.  Without missing a beat, or joining in on the pity party, she said words that, to this very minute, bring a smile to my face.

“Well, I bet the dog sure smelled nice afterwards!”

Hmm.  I bet he did!

Again, I found myself caught up in the details that I felt were important, and I almost missed the opportunity to delight in a positive.  Man, is the Holy Spirit working on me!  Did that dog come to my garden to cause me thumb (heart) ache?  No.  How silly would that be!  He was just doing what dogs do, and he happened to admire my garden.

The rosemary will replenish itself.  To be honest, it needed a little pruning, anyhow.  I took the broken branches and tied them up with jute and hanged them in my kitchen to dry.  I will be enjoying some fresh dried rosemary in pot roasts this fall.  And the daisy?  The nursery worker told me to leave what was unbroken, albeit flattened, as it may surprise me and perk up.  Sure enough, this morning, two purple flowers opened.   It’s going to make it after all!

“Lord, please help to slow me and show me another side of situations I find myself in.  There are so many times I stress over things that are not even worthy of my energy.  Please help my eyes and my heart see the positives, so that I may enjoy the full blessing of your love through all situations and opportunities.   Amen.”

That little black dog now serves as a reminder to shake off the small stuff.  That is indeed a blessing.


 

30 May

A Happy House

Posted by Sherry in Not Food.

We have the happiest house on the block.
It’s true!  Confirmed by our 9 year old.  His basis for this proclamation?  The multitudes of flowers that light up our yard.  And he is proud to announce to anyone this most important fact.

Imagine how my cheeks flushed as a neighbor down the street told me of how my son demanded to her children that “they do not have a happy house, because they don’t have any flowers in the front yard.”

This got me thinking:  Wouldn’t it be great if we could tell from the outside what people are like on the inside?

The truth is, flowers on the outside does not necessarily indicate that there is peace and happiness on the inside of a house.  You know where I’m going with this.  Chances are you know many people who are like this.  They put on a happy face and  show – whatever it is they believe is an ideal representation of happy – but on the inside, they are really unhappy.  Sometimes, they are really crying out for happiness in their false displays.

A life without Christ, no matter how beautiful the flowers, will fade and die in due season.  They are annuals.  Their beauty is but short-lived.  But a life filled with Christ will yield far more beauty than just a season of flowers.  A life in Christ is perennial.   It’s forever!  The dictionary tells us that perennial means lasting for a long or infinite time.  It is this life that makes a happy house.

I need to be clear in my explanation of this one to my 9-year-old, so he doesn’t start calling out people who planted Petunias this spring!

 

25 May

God’s Word First

Posted by Sherry in Not Food.

When I arrived at work today, I opened my car door and my Bible fell out onto the pavement.  I thought, “How nice!  God’s word is ahead of me even before I put my feet on the ground.”  What a great reminder of how God’s word – his message – is like that.  I was reminded of the verse that says “If God is for us, then who can be against us”, and I stepped out of the car and into my day.  God’s word is the only weapon we need to shield us, the only tool we need to help us, and the only language we need to reach others.  I’m so thankful my Bible hit the ground this morning.  🙂

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