Dusting and dumping, in a nutshell, describes my second job...I am cleaning offices for a corporate office in Holland. I've been there since March and this will also be my full-time summer job! I wouldn't recommend working 70-75 hours a week, but I couldn't risk being without employment during the summer months! So, as exhausting as it is, I am counting my blessings and am very thankful that God has provided, yet again!!
Besides the incredible amount of fun that dusting offices, window sills, can lighting, and dumping approx. 3oo trash buckets nightly (well, we alternate jobs every other night), the downside is that it gives a person way too much time to think!!
In March, I started out great! Great attitude, life was going smoothly, and I was using my "alone time", as I worked, to pray for family and friends while I cleaned!! It was awesome! But as exhaustion sets in, so does negativity and resentment! Satan is really good at getting us when we're weak.
My "prayer time" has done a complete "360", and instead of praising and thanking God for all His blessings and interceding for family and friends, I began throwing myself the biggest pity party you've ever been invited to!! Blame, criticism, and synicism have crept in and for about the past 3 weeks I've gone from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other; sometimes all in one night!! I find myself resentful, sad, angry, happy, excited, lonely, and wondering what on earth is wrong with me?!! Am I becoming premenopausal (that sounds like fun!!) or am I just plain exhausted, emotionally and physically? One minute I'm in the valley, the next on the mountaintop! Or have I fallen into the trap that Satan has set for me in this time of weakness?
This is not at all what God wants for His children. He commands us to be content "whatever the circumstances"! Thankfully, He is a loving God, and He does understand what I'm going through.
I asked God to help me get control of my emotions and to help me stay focused on His promises and the many blessings He lavishes on me each and everyday.
My devotions this morning said, "God's standard is to
live moment by moment victory!"
Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ". 1 Cor.15:57 "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us." Romans 8:37I cannot have this victorious life in my own strength. The secret of living victoriously is in the power of the victory provided by Christ.
"This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." 1John 5:4It is time to quit fighting my battle with worry, stress, self-pity and criticism! It is time to dust off the dirt and dump the garbage of this sin in my life with the rest of the trash!! Time to commit my failures and defeats to Him, who is Christ, my Lord, and allow Him to claim the victory that is HIS!!!
"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him." 2 Cor. 2:14Thank you, Father, that your mercies are new every morning! I am in desperate need of your mercy and grace right now. I praise and thank you that you hear me and know exactly what I need, even before I ask. In Jesus' precious and holy Name I pray, Amen.
Just a few more finishing touches and, mostly decorative, and the project will be finished! But it's definitely time to be put to use!! It was a lot of fun and I hope to have lots of beach bums coming to visit!! The BEACH sign was made by my neighbor Katie! She just graduated from Holland High and this was a project from her art class that she offered to give to me! It's just perfect!
I've finally discovered my hidden treasure! When Tyler, the name of the "sandman", delivered my "beach", he informed me that the sand was from a dune that he owns up in Ludington!! I was so geeked!! I have so many amazing memories from there when I was growing up; and now I have a little tangible piece in my own backyard that will be a reminder everytime I look out the window!! Now comes the "fun" part of filling in where the sod once was!!
I was able to get a little bit shoveled before I left for work tonight, and then worked on it again when I got home, by "security light"!! It's a slower process than I expected but it will definitely be worth it!!
So please stop by, everyone, anytime, and spend a little time in Ludington!! lol I have lots of landscaping/decorating ideas yet that I want to add, like an old wood dock for sunbathing, beach grass to line the fence with, and some other surprises that you'll just have to stop by to see!!! I should have the sand all in place by Sunday, hopefully!!! I'm so glad the weather is cooperating!! What a blessing indeed!! Have a Happy 4th!! Thank you to all who serve and protect our freedom, and a special thank you to the ones I am so privileged to know; Carolynn Czepiga, Scott Johnson, John Wilson, and Karl Palmberg; the friends I met from AZ that went to Ghana with us!! God Bless you all!
Day 1 - Began removing the sod today! It's taking a little longer than planned as the wheelbarrow decided to get a flat tire, hence, the pile of dirt you see! At first I was really frustrated, not only did I think I would have to go get the tire repaired, but then there would be the added work of shoveling the dirt back into the wheelbarrow to be moved to the appropriate spot
! Ughhh! Then, I had a revelation!! The back part of my yard is sloped slightly so that when it rains, my yard fills with water all the way to the clothesline pole that you see in the center of the yard. So, landscaping expert that I am, had been wondering where I could get some fill dirt, for free, of course, (who wants to pay for dirt, right? Beach sand is different, justifably so!) And now, that "thorn" of a wheelbarrow, provided me with the idea of raking the dirt into the back part of the yard, thus preventing the flooding!! While I will still have some unintended extra work to do, it will be serving a great purpose!! It's all in one's perspective!!
I continue to create my "little island in the city" (hee hee!) I will come across a real buried treasure!! It can't hurt to dream! It's quite possible that a rich dutchman, from long ago, buried a bag of gold coins in a pair of wooden shoes in my backyard and forgot to take them with him when he left! Anything's possible!
Mmmmmmm.....Coffee!! One of my favorite things!! Hot, cold, frozen, flavored, coffee-flavored ice cream, candy, so.....why not "gourmet" coffee pops!! 
