Why Do I Struggle so Much When I Know What to Do?

Why do I struggle so much when I know what to do?

That is the question I have been asking myself a lot over the past few months.

And this morning God reminded me, 

I can't do this alone ~ He is here to help me each and every day.

Duh.  Now to pay attention.

To put action to what I know in my mind/heart.

This is not a "Start Over" for me.  It is another Ah ha moment.

You know, the first big AH HA was the mild heart attack on August 27th.

Oh I have been doing my exercising every day since Sept. 11th 

except for one day.

And YES I am proud of myself for exercising every day.  

As they say, no turning back.

Since 8/27 to 9/30 I have lost 8.6 lbs.

I have 16.6 more pounds to lose to reach my first goal.

And I will do it.

One step at a time, one day at a time.

In my time with the Lord I use a few tools.

They change over time..

Right now I am using the Open Windows, that I get at our church,

The Sanctuary by David Jeremiah,

and the Women of Faith Bible, which has a daily devotion for every day of the year,

and currently am doing a prayer/study with our friends David & Janet.

And as usual I am amazed how God brings each of the tools I use in my quiet time together.

This morning it began with the Open Windows devotion where I was reminded that 

...I have been Picked by God.  Chosen by God, Adopted by God.  

That's pretty darn special!  And we all want to feel special.

...I have a Purpose.  It is to LOVE one another.

He tells us that in John 15:17

We are not to choose who we want to love...we are to love one another!

All the time!!

...And God Promises to help me; I just have to ask.

Matthew 6:33

And that as I focus on changing my health to the better

I need to focus on

the inside as much as what I look on the outside.

I need to change how I look at food,

the food choices I make,

making good choices which begins with thinking 

good thoughts.

I remember one time in a counseling session with Tom how Ron said I was constantly rearranging our furniture, sometimes 4 or 5 times a week and how he just wanted to come home and find the couch in the same spot two days in a row.  I laughed because I loved to rearrange the furniture plus I knew the house was really clean when I did that.  Tom replied, Alice rearranges the furniture so often because I can't change the inside of my heart/my feelings/my thoughts in a split second and changing the outside made me feel good on the inside.  We have laughed many times over this because when we moved into the motor home there is no rearranging of the furniture.

Finding peace in my heart allows me to be peaceful on the outside.

What gives me Peace?

My time with the Lord, studying His Word

Being in quiet/serene surroundings ~ like yesterday on our hike to Waterfalls Trail 

(blog post on that to follow later this week),

sitting on the deck in the early morning hours, seeing God's beautiful creation

But most of all Peace for me comes from 

Being right with God, right in my relationships

Erasing the clutter/noise from my life.

Having Peace in my life helps me to accomplish the Purpose God has for my life.

And He Promises me that over and over in His Word

Sending the Holy Spirit to guide me and give me wisdom

Blessing me with friends and family who love me and encourage me.

And He helps me in so many ways

And for that I am Thankful!!

Thankful for a God who loves me, chose me and will never leave me to face this life alone.

Today my prayer is that as I take each step, do each thing I need to do, plan our meals and go through my day to make the choices God would have me to choose.

And I pray for

...our nation

...God to become real and important to those leading our country,

...my family and friends as they face different struggles in their own lives

and most of all for me to give Him the glory for all

He has done in my life.

Have a Blessed Day!!

Grand Jubilee at Grand Country Music Hall

One evening we decided it had been way too long since we had seen

Grand Jubilee so off we went.  What a fun show.

Jim Dandy and Mike Patrick

New South...what a great gospel quartet.

Matt, who is married to Jackie Brown, also a performer at the Grand Jubilee

Mike Patrick in a different outfit...not sure how many times he makes a costume change, but it is a lot!!!

Mike Patrick and Jim Dandy's Grandpa..he was a hoot.

Sorry it's blurry, but Grandpa making a funny!

Gene M. playing the steel guitar

Wayne Massingale on the fiddle.

Jim Dandy and Mike Patrick...lovin' that purple Mike.

Jim Dandy & Mike Patrick

Cher & Sonny??? or Jim & Mike???

And the show would not be complete without Miss Dolly (aka Jim Dandy) in attendance

Michael W. Davis on the piano, Wayne in the background and Larry Alred

And this time in orange!!1

Jamie Haage...what a blessed performer...here on the banjo

Jamie on the steel guitar

And on the drums

On the piano

And the fiddle.

 The amazing thing about Jamie Haage is that he plays all the instruments by ear

and does a great job on each of these instruments!!!

Jamie on the fiddle :)

Mike Patrick in red.

New South

And the finale!!!  

What a fun evening!!!

We look forward to going back many many times.

Silver Dollar City ~ Sept. 18, 2013

On one of our recent days off we decided to head out to Silver Dollar City for the Harvest Festival.

Lots of things to do.  

First up was watching the this kind ole' gentleman 

as he worked on readying logs for a new home on site.

Ron was overheard saying to no one in particular

 "I wish my beard would grow like that."  Hmmm, this wife says "No."

As we were walking around we saw this dapper gentleman wandering the grounds.

One of the shows we have wanted to see but hadn't had the chance was

Silver Dollar Saloon Musical

 I wish I had my camera out, because Miss Tilly (in the red dress) sat on Ron's lap.

You should have seen the smile on his face.

After the show as he walked up to her, Miss Tilly said, "Santa.  I want a horse for Christmas."  Santa, aka Ron, asked if she had been good.  "Hmmm.  No." She replied.

Here are the girls in action.

Afterwards we decided to check out the Trick Riders.

We were a bit disappointed that 

most of the acts were done on the ground with just a few horse/rider exhibits.  

Here is one of them in action.

Ron was drooling over the pork rinds so I stopped and bought him a bag.

This was not taken at SDC but that is how they came...in a big bag.

Here we are at different times playing with the camera.

Ron's favorite picture is the one with me laying my head on his shoulder.

I like the one of the two of us, second row, far right.

We had a lot of fun that day and plan to go back again soon.

Max Turns 15!!! Sight N Sound - Joseph

We love new milestones.  

On September 17th, our grandson

Mathew Daniel Marcus Dolata Workentin, 

AKA Max turned 15!!!

We wish we could have been with him to celebrate but it was not to be :(

We heard he had a great birthday.

So we had to celebrate his birthday without him.  We thought and thought and then remembered we had been offered tickets to see Joseph at Sight N Sound and that's just what we did.

Sight N Sound Theater.  Looks like a palace.

 We could not take pictures of the actual show.

The pictures below are of the lobby and different scenes of other shows.

This reminded us of Silver Legacy in Reno, NV where there were light shows in the ceiling.

Ron standing in front of Goliath.

The Lion and Lamb as we were leaving...the picture doesn't do it justice.  It was beautiful and peaceful.

We had a great time.  

We sat down on the main floor, 

next time we would like to sit in the upper section

to see all the action going on around the theater and not just what was on the stage.