Week in Review

I am so thankful for the week that is behind us.
It has had its ups and downs but at the end of the day, I grew more confident in my paths towards Christ. It is amazing how much negative I can be when I try to resist the change that is happening in me.
On Saturday C and me took the children to a birthday party of a girl in J's class. C sat quite apart form the rest of mums and dads which gave him the chance to smoke and read the Saturday press, and to me the opportunity to read from Having a Mary Spirit: Allowing God to Change Us from the Inside Out.
On page 35 Joanna Weaver writes:

"With the Lord's help, we can have victory in the ongoing conflict between our Christ-controlled spirits and the parts of our lives still rulled by our flesh. But the victory is determined by whose side we take.
When John Michael and Jessica were small, I used an analogy I'd heard to try to explain this dilemma that even little children feel. "It's like you have a good dog and a bad dog inside you," I explained one night as I tucked them into bed after a particularly difficult day. "the good dog belongs to Jesus, and the bad dog belongs to the d---- (avoidance mine). They fight and fight. And they'll keep on fighting until you decide which one you want to win. If you feed the good dog, the good dog will win.But if you feed the bad dog, the bad dog will win".

It was one of those moments when things that were in front of your eyes and you couldn't see or understand, suddenly become obvious.
I cannot win this war that is raging inside my mind and my soul if I do not decide on whose side I am.
I cannot win if I try to have the best of both worlds.
I cannot live a spiritual and everyday life in Christ and still live with the old habits, the shadow comforts that I used to stuff my crying inner child ever since I remember myself.
That peace and order in my life that I long for, cannot happen if I refuse to let go of some of my previous ways.
What I think depends on what I read, what I watch, what I allow people to tell me and let myself hear.

On page 37 , "Convinction Versus Condemnation" she argues that Convinction comes from God, whereas Condemnation is of the Evil. And she says: Warning: What starts as convinction by the Holy spirit can quickly turn to condemnation from the enemy if we don't respond immediately with repentance. Be quick to obey and don't grieve the Holy Spirit, for He desires to help you".

I was seating there thinking that many of my troubles over the past few years came from my being what she describes on p.45 as a Discontented Spirit. "flitting from one thing to another in search of meaning , she starts projects but rarely finishes them. Disappointment with what isn't swallows the joy of what is (see Philippians 4:12).

Oh I know this girl!
I looked up the passage and it reads:

12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Oh yes! i am scatterd allright. Here and there, and nowhere. Trying to be Vogue-savvy, homes and Gardens savvy, Eco-savvy, Work- Home, Mommy, Self-and-others-help-savvy, you name it. But i end up being nowhere. And I am tired. In fact, I am fed up.

While i was at he party, C and I had a little talk and i rather hesitantly read to him the passage about the dog. "Is it Christian?", he asked, but he let me read it. So I pressed on my case, saying that perhaps we could help our children make wiser choices, as to who the frequent and what lifestyle they choose in their lives.
But all those concepts are new to me, and I wonder how do I manage not being judgemental when dealing with other people's behaviors that i would like my children and myself to avoid? Or does it not really matter at this point?

What I want to dwell on this week:

Making choices that comform to new person I want to become, asking what Christ would want me to do on this occasion, how He would want me to respond and act.

Have a great week ahead.

Week in Review

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life" (John 8:12)

I am glad this week is over. I have been under a lot of strain. C's parents were here, and, I don't know if many of you feel that there are people who weigh heavy upon you. This is what happens alot with my in-laws.
Anyway this is behind us now.

We spent a rather moody week. The children were busy with coursework. C's mother was cooking for us, a test to our digestion.
Work was OK, some difficulties with overdemanding customers, but I try not to worry too much and keep a cool head. There is a limit to how much bending one can do.

On Saturday we went for lunch with the children. We were planning to go to a nice Italian restaurant by ourselves, while the kids would be staying with C's parents, but since they left, we decided to go with the children anyway. They behaved themselves nicely. F had a delicious mashroom risotto, J had spaghetti with seafood, D , C and I all had meat, although we don't usually as you know. But that was really lovely cooked with light cream and whine sauce and delicious potato pie.
We then headed to the local Haagen Dazs. We were HD's first customers. The locals wouldn't go anywhere near it. The owner is a man our age. He lived for years in Chicago and when he came back worked for the company for awhile while it was establishing itself in Greece, then moved here and opened the local HD.

I spent the afternoon reading Having a Mary Spirit(Yes, I found it!).
Here are some underlines:

• My Marthalike tendencies were being tempered by the tender grace of God. Because I no longer felt as if I had to earn the Father's favor, I was finally able to enjoy His lavish love (...) I'm so glad we have a Savior who loves us just as we are, but loves us too much to leave us that way. After all, Christ's main purpose is to return to us the glory of God we were meant to reflect in this world. As author Donna Partow puts it: "Our task here on earth is to show the world an accurate reflection of what God is like. To show them, through our lives, who God is".

As I was reading this I thought how much modern life is a reflection of the evil-one. How much all the greed, the strive, the sorrow, are results of his dominion over so many people's lives.

• The Law outlined in the Old Testament serves an important purpose:It illuminates the sin in our lives. But that's all the LAw can do. It can show us what's wrong with us, but it is absolutely powerless to make us right. By itself it is incapable of bridging tha chasm that sin made between Abba God and His children-the gaping crevasse in our souls that leaves us forever lonely, forever removed from the only love that can make us whole.
• It wasn't until Paul was blinded by the Light of the World and knocked off his spiritual high horse that he was released by grace to be all that he could be.

Comment: I rebel alot. My I-know-better self finds ways to bring me obstacles in leting myself follow Jesus. It makes me resist. My new-age, self-help etc, readings spring back to mind and want me to stop being weak and submissive. It takes effort to go back to reading and understanding what I read, and let it sink in.

• Further down I read: "Because Satan hates God so much, he hates God's children. So his favorite passtime is whispering lies to us. Lies that tell us we're enough on our own...or that God could never love us". Ms. Weaver quotes Brother Lawrence and his book The Practice of the Presence of God, and how "he began conversing openly and honestly with the Lord. Looking to Christ rather than to his own character for strength, Brother Lawrence flung himself entirely upon God's mercy and grace".

I am not familiar with the book and never heard of its author before, but I can witness that it does take time to allow God into my life. (read this? I'll leave it as it is;"allowGod!!! How egotistic!). It takes me time to believe that God will be willing to listen to my little trivia, stop and listen and sort them and me out.

• "When I shared Oswald Chambers' term personal whiteness at our women's Bible study a few years ago, one of the ladies began to laugh. She'd just been to the store to pick up paint for her living room and discovered there were approximately 586 shades of white to choose from. You could spend a lifetime trying to get just the right shade. And some of us do just that! But-praise God-we don't have to! "Though our sins are like scarlet, " God promises in Isaiah 1:18, "they shall be as white as snow". Christ offers us a fresh start. A clean slate. A "personal whitenedd" so white that the human mind cannot comprehend, but only receive it. It doesn't come through our striving, our internal grubbing and external scrubbing. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can make us trully new. Only the mighty power of God working within us-the same power that raised Christ from the grave-can change us from the inside out. You see, God doesn't want us whitewashing our tombs. He wants to raise us from the dead".

On Sunday afternoon we watched a lovely DVD, Miss Potter, on the life of Beatrix Potter. I loved it. Did some washing up, and cooked for Monday. A rich, healing weekend. Praise to God. Have a lovely week ahead.

Week in Review

First of all I would like to thank everyone who stopped by and commented on my posts this week. You bring me encouragement and comfort, you refresh me and you warm me with your kindness and insights. May God bless you all.

This was a rather good week, not least because of all the love and prayer I have been showerd with. My treatment seems to work to some extend, in that I do not burst uncontrolably into tears in the midst of a conversation, for example, but I still find dealing with people a strain.
I did consult with my endocrinologist who had no idea what was happening to me, and we have decided that I should call him when I feel ready. One doctor at a time, you have to wait for your turn.

Psychologically, for awhile I was ready to fall back into the pit, when we learned that the father of a very good friend of ours, a Greek expat from Latin America, suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed on the left side. It is tragic because his son cannot visit him right now, and I have been asking C to arrange for a visit to the Athens hospital where he is right now.
There are some people that cover you with kindness and appreciation and I just hate seeing people like these suffer or even go. I have known this person for so many years and he has always been there for me. He came to Greece some twenty years ago and he has everything pretty much in perspective. A generous man. I pray to God that he should recover and that his son may come and see him.

As far as I am concerned I am pleased to say that I managed to control myself, to stop the emotional tide, and pull myself together before things got out of hand. I didn't want to call my doctor, I wanted to try on my own and I managed OK.

One of the best days of the week were two afternoons that I walked our eldest, F, who is 12 to her afternoon English class. We walked side by side. She was relaxing her pace for me to catch up with her, and she talked to me about her anxieties and fears, without my even asking. She was also tender with me although she is entering the rebelious years, and she just makes my heart yearn for her and I so much want to support her. F will be seating her First Certificate exam in December. I insisted that she took both the Michigan and the Cambridge ones, although it means extra fees, just to make sure that we have the local bureaucracy covered. Then she wil hopefullyl be able to move on to the Proficiency and be done with the paperwork proving her ability in English.
Right now she is reading Farmer Boy from The Little House series, and I am glad she is relaxing.

On my way back I stopped there and then, sat and read the evening prayer and a couple of pages from the Mary book. It is amazing how one can have a retreat anywhere, even of it is in a street. After that I lost the book. I do not know what to make of it. Either "someone" does not want me to keep on reading , or God wants me to stop and do the Bible study. I am not sure. I've still got the Mary heart book. I'd like to share with you a few lines that I find particularly interesting.

"It is hard to imagine the Creator of the universe wanting to know us. We feel so unworthy. That's why many of us persist in thinking that we must earn our way to heaven, that only the superspiritual -only the Simeons of this world - can really know God. Burdened with the weight of our own spirituality, we struggle beneath a load of self-imposed obligatons: "I have to do this..." or "I can't really know God until I do that..." We can spend so much of our lives getting ready to know God or backing away out of fear of displeasing God that we never get around to enjoying the Living Room In timacy Jesus came to provide. (...)

When we couldn't reach up to heaven, heaven came down to us and welcomed us into the Living Room through the doorway of Jesus Christ. That is the good news of the gospel. The way has been made. The priice has been paid. All we need to do is come"
(p.66)

Workwise it was an OK week, nothing exciting. The factory is trying to catch up with orders after the fire. I still do not want to think about it, and how silly they were to be without security or insurance. They are at about 30% effective but they hope to be at 50% this week an dto reach previous production levels by the end of october.
Work projects are pretty scarce, I suppose it has to do with the political uncertainty and the economic measures that the re-elected conservative government is going to propose regarding retirement and pensions. We do have some orders for beds and a chest of drawers so I hope that these will help us keep our heads above the water, especially with the private schools all three children attend. But we really couldn't take it any longer with the public system. Or lack of it. Especially the so-called progressive propaganda...Ugh.
Honnestly I think that Greeks living abroad are better Greeks and love Greece more than those living in the country itself. Which is a pitty. It mainly has to do with governments and politics, and the lack of self-esteem.

C's parents came over on Saturday. They will be staying with us for the next 10 days. Not the right time, if you ask, but I have decided I am gonna handle it, keep my mouth shut as always and wait for the storm to pass.
There is another thing that impressed me. C's mom bought the girls a Monopoly which unlike our previous old fashioned wooden one, is electronic. All transactions are operated via credit card (V+I*S=A). Isn't it gross for people to be introduced to plastic money and possibly become addicted to it from such a young age? I really would like to make the thing disappear!

Our house isn't doing much progress. I think I'll begin posting photos to attract some benevolent vibes from the universe, and for me to be able to see some progress. We probably won't move in before Christmas, and that means we'll have to wait till Easter, after the rains stop.

Thank you for stopping by my Week in Review. Have an enjoyable week ahead.

Week in Review

So, another week is coming to an end. It has been a busy week both at home and at work.
At work we have stocked up in our new jute rugs (which I'm going to post about next week at the Happy Turtle), and we will be receiving our new colorful throws next week.
I have received three phonecalls following my first advertisement at the local magazine. Let's see what happens.
In the homefront, the children have been spending the last days of the summer break with us. They play board games, they read and I let them play with the computer.
F will be starting English on an everyday basis in order to sit her first exams in December. I am a little worried about her, with her going to Secondary School for the first time. But on the other hand, it is going to keep her busy. She has been quiet and worried this week. She is sad that the summer is over. I think she fears the unknown...
D has been like a butterfly as always. She promised to do better at school this year. She finds it hard to deal with language-related lessons, but she loves maths. I think I might have to accept this.
J will be going to Primary School for the first time. I am grateful we have found this school for him and D. Although D is a rebel, as most "sandwiched" children, I read, J has a soul much like F's. He is obedient and kind, and I think he will appreciate the Christian climate of the school.
Tuesday is the big day, then. We plan to close the shop in the morning in order to attend the Agiasmos. That is when children and teachers are sprinkled with holy water, to start off school blessed.
Today the owner of the kindergarten that J attented is christening her baby son. The invitation reads something like:

"Attention, Attention!
The dive will not be repeated,
Be all there, young and old,
to see alittle dolly drenched like a duckling".

Next week there is a general election here. C does not want to vote. He says all parties are equally bad, promising and then lying to the people. I would like to vote, but I am not going to fight over it.

We shall probably be heading for the weekend to our Best Man's in Thessaloniki. It is the last vacation we get before winter starts.

Have a lovely week ahead.
In my personal schedule for next week:
A new haircut and color on Tuesday and Wednesday.
I hope to be able to book an appointment with my endocrinologist before we leave, otherwise I'll book for the week after. And I must have a look at my eczema. I have been doing some chores at home and my hands are rebelling. I must book an appointment with my homeopath, too, for this week or the week after.
I am also going to set up a menu plan for Monday and publish that recipe for the olive oil cake I made last week. It's delicious.

A lovely and useful habit, dear Annie hosts Week in Review. Thank you, Annie!