Full plate... isn't God great?

Ok, so it's 5:19 and I've been awake for about half an hour already. I woke up after having yet another bizarro dream. (this time someone had put their car in the ditch right outside my front door... I saw a guy approaching our home for help but I could see he was afraid of our dog - so I greeted him and immediately realized that there was something unusual about him. About that time - a small glowing open top bus appears in the wheat field across the road, people climb on and it vanishes into thin air.) I was glad to wake up to a shifting puppy so that I didn't have to be beamed up with this guy to some unknown dimension of the universe. ha ha. Please don't judge... I can't help that I dream this ridiculous stuff!! ;) This happens when I am exhausted. UGH... I really hate it. It's like my brain just won't stop.

Luke is, of course, out of town... so I'm lyin' in bed with my little fuzzy baby, Shoogs - and just thinkin' about all the things I need to do, how this will work out, how that will work out... wondering if it will rain Friday so that we can't set up for the reception early, etc. Then come the songs... I'm singing the songs in my head that I've heard the kids practicing for the last several weeks and that they performed last weekend at their dinner show. *sigh* Goodness, I wish I could be still. So then out of nowhere the song shifts, "I love you Lord, and I lift my voice... to worship you... oh my soul, rejoice. Take joy my King - in what you hear... may it be a sweet sweet sound... in your ear." I began to think about how my God is big enough to remove all this anxiety and just began to pray and ask Him to take it all away and to let my mind be still and my body be rested.

Still can't sleep - so here I am!!I open up my computer and realize that I hadn't closed out the last internet page I was on yesterday. I had typed in the search, "how much ham do I need to feed 100 people?" (decided to simplify my life and serve sandwiches at the reception rather than BBQ when we got home - great idea from my parents!!!) So the page displayed on my computer is from a cooking forum and I think, "oh yeah, I never did find the answer to how much ham I would need." I scroll down the page searching... and wouldn't you know that this is what I found:

"My plate may be full, but my cup runneth over"

Isn't that the truth? Someone had put this at the end of their post and it was given to me this morning as a reminder. Thanks, Lord!! :) My cup does run over. If you wanted to pray for me also, that would really be fantastic!

Have a great day everyone... I'm gonna spend mine reminding myself that I'm too blessed to be stressed. ;)

The same dream...

Lately I haven't been dreaming all that much at night, but last night I did, and had the same familiar dream that I've been having off and on for the last umpteen years. It's the kind of dream that leaves you feeling confused. I'm not sure how many times this same dream has frequented my sleep... but each time, I wake up wondering why I am dreaming this and why I keep dreaming it again and again.

I graduated in 1988, so.... yeah, it's been a looooong time since I've been a high school student. I loved high school, those were some of the best years of my life, but I've got to admit, I'm really glad that I've graduated and moved on in life. Yet... I keep having this same dream over and over. In the dream, I'm in high school and I'm wandering the halls looking for my class, only I don't know where to go because I don't have a class schedule. I don't know if this is the first day of school, the first day of a new semester... I have no idea, but I keep going into different class rooms and hoping that that's where I'm supposed to be, only to find out that I'm in the wrong class, or that I've missed the class several times and am very behind in my work or don't have the books I need, etc. So I somehow find the office, many times asking other students for directions - then ask the secretary for another copy of my class schedule - but to my dismay, I have no idea where the clasrooms are. If this weren't frustrating enough... sometimes in the dream I can't find my locker.

Either I don't know what my locker number is, or I know the number, but am just roaming the halls over and over looking for it and can't find it, or I finally find my locker, but then I struggle with the combination or I've forgotten the numbers so I can't get into it and the bell rings and I'm gonna be late for class. I've also dreamed that I didn't know we were having a test and I show up unprepared because I haven't studied. In my dream... I'm frantic, when I wake up... I'm exhausted and confused.

I can't imagine why I would have this dream over and over. It's probably been more than a year since I've had "the high school dream" - but I think it has to mean SOMETHING. All I can figure out is that maybe I'm confused about the direction my life is going, for real... or... ??? I just don't know. I did a search on this subject and it turns out that many others have had this same type of dream. One website said that dreaming about not being able to find your class represents lack of guidance in your life. It said that dreaming about not being prepared for tests represents the stress and pressure in your life. Hmm.... Not sure if the person that gave this insight knows what they're talking about or not, but I guess I can kinda buy into that.

Coincidentally, I am seeking God's guidance on some important matters right now, and I have found myself feeling a bit stressed and anxious at times, - but I'm not fearful or frantic. I know that God has a plan for my life and he will reveal that to me in HIS time. I trust him completely, he has proven himself faithful time and again. I do find it interesting that yesterday the pastor preached on "a new direction". "Forgetting what's behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal." (Phil. 3:13-14) I think that is so fitting for what I'm going through now. I can't say much more about it right now, but promise I will share more just as soon as I can.

Funny how God speaks to us through the word and other people, maybe even through dreams. Maybe the high school dream was a reminder that I don't have to KNOW the schedule, it's ok to search and seek. (I already know that God knows the plans he has for me, to prosper and not to harm me, to give me hope and a future. Jer. 29:11) Then today I read something in psalms that really spoke to my heart and encouraged me, "May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious, and will lift up our banners in the name of our God." (Psalm 20:4-5)

I am seeking God's direction and asking him to give me the desire of my heart, trusting that it is the plan he has for me as well. When this time has passed... I truly believe that I'll be lifting up banners in the name of God and giving him all the glory for what he has accomplished, shouting for joy at what my God has done. :)

Brainstorm

My brain truly does work like this, sad, but true ... these thoughts are all swirling around in my head, consecutively and constantly:

Wow... I'm having a good hair day! :)

• 
  Geesh, I wish the wind would STOP already!
• I sure wish today was June 1st.
• Hope Ciara remembers to drop off that scholarship application after school!
• I don't wanna walk across the yard to go let mom's puppy out today in this wind.
• Ooh... Y&R is on!
• I'm hungry.
• Those beef and mozzarella sandwiches were awesome last nite.
• I'm cold.
• I should go put on a sweatshirt.
• I wish the housekeeping fairy would stop by, my house is in dissaray!
• I think I might spend too much time on the computer??
• Sugar needs a bath.
• Yup, there's still a load of clothes in the dryer, maybe I can take care of that while I watch Y&R! YES!
• I'm so glad to be back in touch with some old friends - thank you facebook.
• Today's my brother's birthday - 35!
• Hope my brother finds a job soon.
• Praying I'll get a call for an interview on that administrator job I applied for with the disabled transportation organization.
• Wonder if Brandon got his make-up work done before school today.
• How did Ciara's journalism grade drop from an A to a B+? Writing is her THING.
• Not feeling like gettin' up at 5 a.m. to get Brandon on a bus in the morning for the cattle judging ag trip. (blech)
• Luke flies out again tomorrow... this time to Dallas. Hope he has a safe trip - gonna miss him again.
• Thursday night, "Survivor" AND "The Office" - oh yeah!
• What shows are on wednesday nites?
• Graduation... I hope everything works out with the reception and food and ... and ... and.
• Prom, got the dress, got the tux, what will we do with Ciara's hair?
• Why don't my kids want their parents at afterprom? (perplexed expression) :S
• I miss living in Newton.
• What to do with the business?
• I need to make a trip into town to run errands and ship an order... don't really wanna in this wind. Ok, so I won't... I'll do it tomorrow, it'll surely be nice tomorrow.
• I want SPRING! (today would be good)
• Wish my man didn't have to work so hard.
• We need to have a date soon.
• Aww... puppy looks so cute curled up on the couch.
• I should really be doing something constructive, like perhaps placing that supply order.

Ok... I better scoot. But you can be rest assured the storm will be goin' on in my brain all day. :)