Dah :)

For those of you who knew my Aunt Faye, you remember her being such a special lady. She was one of my best friends and I miss her so much.  I adored my Aunt Faye. I wanted to be just like her----she always seemed as if she had it all together......I just loved being with her, and I still remember all the things she taught me. I have many memories of my mom and I with her growing up. My mom was the timid one and she was the strong one. She always gave the advice and we listened!:) She normally did everything just right, but I remember one thing that she did wrong....this is too funny....Think back to when "duh" became a part of everyone's vocabulary. Well, Aunt Faye picked it up too, but she didn't get it quite right. Instead of saying, "duh," she would loudly say, "dah!" It was actually more like.....daaaaahhhhh! It was hilarious because no one ever told her the correct way to say it. Even still, when I am with my mom and duh seems to be an appropriate thing to say in our conversation, we look at each other and say, "dah!" 


This morning, just as plain as day, I heard....."dah!" God basically said, "Alana, how could you ever doubt? How many times do I have to tell you? I am right here, child!" It was awesome. Timmy left pretty early this morning to go to the Tattnall Campground for a men's retreat, but he left his devotion and bible open on the ottoman. If I am asleep when he leaves, he usually does this to share with me what he read for the day. This morning, I am not sure if this was his intention, but I was touched by the words that God revealed to me. I read Ephesians 3:20-21......Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen. This is a very fancy way of saying......daaaahhhh.....or at least that is how I interpreted it this morning. There is no limit to what God can do and even though at times we may feel discouraged, we don't have to feel this way. Ephesians 3:20-21 and so many other passages in the bible remind us of that. 


I haven't had time to blog in a few days, but every day, I have thought of the same thing to share.....I know it is something that someone needs to hear and it relates to what I wrote above. Timmy used to dip and it bothered me so much. First of all, I think it is disgusting, but besides that, it is also very unhealthy. When we first got married, this led to many arguments.....I would nag about him quitting and he would just get aggravated at me. I finally realized that my current methods of trying to get him to quit were not working and I told myself.....God is going to have to take care of this. So instead of doing it my way, I just began to pray that God would take the desire away from him. It didn't happen overnight, but eventually God did take care of it. Timmy, out of nowhere, came to me one day and told me that God had taken away his craving for it and he hasn't done it since. There are so many things going on in my life right now that I find myself worrying about.....maybe this is what I needed to be reminded of this morning. In my last blog post, I talked about how I journal my prayers. While looking through some of my old journals, I came across this one..... 


Lord, forgive me for not praying enough for my husband. I fall short so much. God, Timmy has a temptation.....an addiction, that my heart is weary over. I don't know what else to do, but pray. Help him to cling to the verse James 1:2. This is a trial in his life right now, but let him (us) to learn from it. God you can help him, no matter how helpless he feels. I know it is hard for him. I can't imagine because I have never had an addiction like this. Lord, I pray that you will strengthen Timmy to resist his temptation to dip. Stop his cravings before they come. Help him to rise above anything that erects itself as a stronghold in his life. Protect him, Lord, if he should refuse to quit. I can't make him, but you can decrease his temptation and strengthen his ability to say no. Help him to come to me for help. Protect him. Keep him healthy. Help him to think about those who love him as he makes the decision to harm his body. Thank you for your faithfulness, God. Amen. 

I'm not sure how long I prayed this, but it was quite a while. This is one time that I can truly say I handed over a situation to the Lord. I still remember the day that Timmy called me while he was at work and asked me to pray with him.  I was totally shocked. In his prayer he asked God to make the dip taste like poison in his mouth. From that day forward, Timmy has never dipped. He knows that God supernaturally lifted this temptation from his body. He tried long enough relying on his own strength only to fail time and time again. Praise be to God! The Lord truly answered my prayers for Timmy. This may seem silly to some, but this is a prime example of God's faithfulness and power. If anything, God has reminded me of that through this and I really needed it today. It is like God himself stated Matthew 17:20 out loud for me to hear. "You don't have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible."

 


Lord, help me to continually trust You. When I start to doubt, whisper in my ear, "I am God. I can do all things. How many times do I have to remind you of this? Dah!!!!"