OK, so I get an email from Facebook saying, “You haven’t been back to Facebook recently. You have received notifications while you were gone.” (Naughty me!)

So I click on the link. Ask trusty Roboform to fill in the password etc. Didn’t work.

Strange. It always did work. It worked on Tweetdeck.

So I click around some other ways and FINALLY get into Facebook. (Somehow, don’t ask me what finally worked.)

So, where are these friend requests? Not a clue. I click Friends and see I have some Suggestions. I click on some people I know I’d like to be friends with. Every time I click, I have to

type two (difficult to read) words for verification. If it takes 20 seconds to type in those 2 words (more for the less readable ones), for those 35 people I’ll spend 12-15 minutes just sending requests.

Then they have to go and try to do what I tried to do above. Just to “connect”?

BTW, I still can’t find the people who have requested my friendship.

Can someone please tell me why Facebook is so popular?

If you want my updates, to go twitter.com/DianeEble please. Twitter I can handle.

Now, why am I bothering to write this?

See if this next snippet gives you a clue.

My husband came home from work telling me they got a new copy machine at the office. One that takes special training to figure out. One that needs a MANUAL to figure out how to use. He still hasn’t been able to do the (formerly simple) task of making a copy to then fax to someone, though the machine is supposed to do it.

The old machine worked just fine, he says. He’s not the only one who can’t figure out the new machine, by the way. Everyone is complaining about it.

Do you see anything these two situations have in common?

How about uncritical acceptance of technology that sucks time and does not measurably add anything to one’s life? In fact, that adds frustration and stress.

So here’s my humble theory of why the economy is in shambles: We’re all too busy trying to figure out and/or keep up with technology that we can’t get any truly productive work done!

The main thing is, we’re not asking ourselves the right questions BEFORE we jump into The Next Cool Thing (like whiz-bang copy machines or the latest social networking thing that EVERYONE uses, after all).

Don’t get me wrong. I use a lot of technology and what I use makes my life measurably better. Like Roboform, Evernote, my XSite Pro software that allows me to create websites quickly and easily. Two weeks ago I got new software that I LOVE that truly helps me be more productive. I don’t know where I’d be without these great tools.

But always I ask: “What will this REALLY do for me, and what is the REAL cost in terms of time and energy?”

Another question: “Does this ‘fix’ what ain’t broke?” (Sorry about the grammar, but sometimes slang is more effective.)

Are you asking the right questions? The economy depends on you! (LOL)

It’s been very frustrating, but enlightening.

Frustrating because, of course, so much of what I do is dependent on being able to hook up to the Internet. Whether it’s research, email, Twitter, connecting to the various accounts that allow me to get my work done, I must be connected or I’m “up a creek without a paddle,” as the cliché goes.

It’s also been an enlightening experience because

it’s caused me to consider what I’d do if connection to the World Wide Web were permanently severed. It’s made me ponder the nature of most of my work now–dealing with information, connecting with people and networks through technology.

I’ve been trying to recall what life was like before all this technology. Can you recall what it was like not to have any email to check? Not to have to deal with dozens if not hundreds of emails in my inbox, not to mention Twitter and Facebook updates? Not to have to figure out cable connections and computer settings and how a modem and Linksys box are configured? (When did the word “configure” even enter into my vocabulary?)

Time has felt different these past few days. It feels like there’s more of it. Funny how much time slips by when you’re online.

So what did I do instead of the work I would have done? I cleaned out clutter. I attended a wedding and a graduation party, relaxing with friends. I bought some flowers and would have planted them, if it had not rained. I called a friend. I cooked better meals. I took my daughter shopping for clothes.

I also went to the library and used public access. (Unfortunately, it was closed most of the weekend, since it was a holiday.)

What I couldn’t do: pay my bills (I do it online), research for new waterbed mattress, update Twitter and Facebook, read my emails (I trust my friends understand), listen to a teleseminar and catch up with the training I’ve been trying to get to for weeks, and get much of my work done.

Ah well. There are gifts and blessings in everything, I believe. I’m pondering what the gifts in this experience are, but I think I’m getting close.

In fact, I recall a verse from the well-known Psalm 23: “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” Emphasis on “makes me.” These past several days, I’ve been forced to “lie down” and the pastures have, in fact, been green.

So for that, I’m grateful. The “abundant gift” has been rest of a sort. I guess God knew I needed it.

However, the REAL picture behind the scenes is revealed in some verses I just append” to read in today’s Scripture selections in The Two-Year Bible (which I LOVE but is unfortunately out of print).

This was today’s passage from the book of Daniel. Daniel saw in a vision a man, who is probably Jesus (the description parallels that of Jesus in the book of Revelation). This man comes to Daniel after he had been praying in great anguish over the devastation of Jerusalem, which was a result of God’s judgment on his people for abandoning him for other gods.

Then he [the man in the vision] said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, коли под наем

I took my 13-year-old daughter in for her routine sports physical. It was time for a couple of shots as well, the doctor said.  After the second one, Christine slumped off the table and fell straight on her head.

After she rested some, drank juice and ate  a couple of candy bars,  we left.  She insisted she could go back to school. I got her excused from P.E. and went home, expecting a call.

It came soon enough. She was nauseated, really felt bad. Took her home. Called doctor, reported symptoms, including tingling on one side of her body. “Take her to the ER,” they advised.

Thankfully, the hospital is 3 minutes from our house. Four hours later, we came home. CAT scan normal, just a head injury.

What’s unnerving is that one year ago to the day almost–on Labor Day weekend but a Saturday–I had a mini-stroke and was in the ER myself.

The point: You never know what might happen in a day.  Even ordinary, “boring” days can be a gift, when you consider what “eventful” might mean.  I wish today had been more “ordinary.”

One other thing. A day like today completely blew apart my “to do” list–things I wanted to accomplish. Too often, that is how I define a “successful” day.

But perhaps God intended other things for today. Things like being there when my daughter needed me. Anticipating her needs, helping her feel cared for when she was feeling weak and helpless  …  as God cares for us.

As Janet Penley says in our book, MotherStyles: Using Personality Type to Discover Your Parenting Strengths, “Forget the busyness models of success. Each of us needs to come up with our own yardstick for success in mothering and in life–one based on our values as a mother, a woman, and a person. One that honors the small, everyday, private, spontaneous, and inwardly signifcant acts of life. We need to give ourselves credit for things loike closeness to family and friends, fostering independence, helping others, making beauty, enjoying life, loving fully, showing kindsess, tenderness, and compassion. ”

Perhaps it was a  “successful” day after all.

But I’m grateful, of course, that all seems to be well with my daughter.

If the rest of this holiday weekend is on the boring side, well–I won’t complain!

Let me tell you a little story, and you be the judge.

I went on my walk today, as usual. As usual, I prayed as I walked.

I was praying about a particular person who often irritates me. It’s because of a certain mental issue this person has (it’s diagnosed and everything, so it’s not just in my head).

This “condition” causes my friend–and me–a lot of problems. So, I was praying that God would fix this condition, or at least let it not be a hindrance today.

No sooner had I prayed, “God, fix this person,” than words formed clearly in my mind: “I do not fix people, I only love them.”

Stunned, I stopped praying for a moment. Then I asked, “But isn’t this a problem? Don’t people have real issues, things they need to be healed of?”

More words came: “Love heals.”

“What about sin?” I asked. “Surely sin breaks us, and we need fixing then.”

“Love cleanses as well.”

So I’m left to ponder these words. God doesn’t fix people, he loves them, and the love heals and cleanses.

Are these God’s words, do you think?

I do. I believe the Holy Spirit whispers into our soul at times.

One of the ways I recognized that Voice is I never would have thought the words on my own. Also, often, I’m not at all comfortable with them. That was certainly true in this case.

I like to fix things–and people. Another thing that happened when I prayed that God would “fix” my loved one, was a strong sense of how prideful that request was.

This other person needed “fixing,” but not me?

This is how God speaks, and works, at least in my life.

He answers me in prayer, through words that form in my mind that are consistent with Scripture. (Can you think of any verses that talk about God fixing people? Plenty about God loving, healing, and cleansing.)

He convicts me of my own sin, gently but clearly pointing out the real problems I need to focus on (i.e. issues in my own life, like my pride, rather than changing other people).

And as he shows me more of who he is, he also shows me how I am to be. He loves people, and so must I. If I love well, healing may well occur.

Other prayers were answered in this brief conversation. (Another thing I notice when God speaks: He’s never verbose.)

The more I pondered the words I’d been given, the more I saw they answered not only about my issue with my friend, but also a seemingly unrelated prayer, about how to simplify my life.

The answer is love. Love simplifies things. Loving others is the answer to many issues.

I welcome your comments on how God speaks to you.

IN THIS ISSUE:
  * A Timely Reminder
  * Don’t worry-Pray!
  * Name of God of the Month:
    Good Shepherd
  * Images of God ss Shepherd
  * Perspectives
  * Abundant Gifts to Relish in October … and more!
 

You haven’t heard from me in a while, mainly because I’ve been super busy launching a book (MotherStyles: Using Personality Type to Discover Your Parenting Strengths) and a business (helping people get their books written and published).

Concerning the latter, I thought it would be very useful to go to the annual Christian Booksellers convention this week in Denver to renew my publishing contacts. Gene goes because he works for a publisher. I would have been able to stay with him, no extra charge. Time away from the children, together!)As an author, my publisher could get me in. The kids had friends they could stay with for a week. My only expenses would be for transportation. Surely God would provide that.

I prayed about it. I tried to earn extra. I even asked a couple of people to help me out. The money did not seem to be forthcoming, and I felt strongly that this was not something to put on the credit card, even if it was a business expense.

The day before Gene left for the convention, a friend called. After she told me about how God provided for her at the 11th hour, I mentioned my situation.

She said, “My husband has a voucher he got when he was bumped a year ago, and I think it expires this week. Let’s see if I can find it, and if it’s transferrable.”

She did find something. We each called the airline company, described the vouther in details, and were reassured that it was usable and transferrable.

I checked flights to Denver, thinking this was God’s amazing way of providing for me to go to the convention after all.

No flights to Denver available under that voucher.

I hung up, very disappointed. Then it hit me: I have a free ticket to go anywhere! Where did I want to go?

Portland, I decided. As in Portland, Oregon. I have two sets of dear friends out there I’d love to visit.

Called the friends. They’d love to have me! Portland is so beautiful now! We’d have so much fun!

But then I checked the airline again. No flights to Portland on that voucher. No flights to Seattle, either. At least, not through Nov. 8, when she stopped checking.

But there were flights to Miami. I have a cousin in Florida I’d love to see. Called her. Debbie said it would be a fine time to visit. We’d have so much fun…. “We’ll do whatever you want to do,” she said.

The Amazing God Story I thought I’d be writing was how God knew I needed a vacation even more than I needed to be at the convention.

But it was not to be….

When my friend, who had the plane ticket, went to the airport to transfer it over to me–a trip he did not relish taking–the airline told him it was not a valid travel voucher. Despite us having called the airline at least 7 times, describing every inch of the paper and being told it was indeed a voucher and transferrable, US Air told Bill it was not valid.

Case closed.

No vacation for Diane.

Did something wonderful come up for me this week anyway? Not yet. I stayed home, got a lot done. Today I’m taking a retreat of sorts. I will try to get something done that I’ve been trying to find time for for months. (Something that will benefit my Abundant Gifts readers.)

But here’s what God did, that I can recognize. The morning my friend called about the plane ticket, right before she called in fact, I talked to a neighbor. The neighbor was having a garage sale, and I stopped by on my walk.

We got to chatting, and she told me that in April, she lost her future son-in-law. He dropped dead of a heart attack one day. Her daughter, who is 49, was devastated. She’d finally found the love of her life, and was all set for a wonderful future. Jane and her fiance had bought a house. They were to be married this summer.

Within a week of that tragedy, my neighbor, Genevieve, also lost her 33-year-old mentally handicapped son, who lived with her. She lost a son and son-in-law, her daughter Jane lost a fiance and beloved brother. All within a week.

Genevieve told me that she and Jane have a strong faith in God, and that is what is getting them through. Her faith lingered with me. I returned later that afternoon and gave her a copy of Abundant Gifts.

Genevieve’s story framed my own disppointment with a new perspective. What was my diappointment in a missed vacation compared to the crushing disappointment of losing one’s love and a future that seemed a dream come true? Of losing the son one has cared for and lived with for more than 30 years?

In a strange way, God used their story to help me. Even though I felt very disappointed in not being able to take the vacation I thought I’d take, I felt an underlying peace and sense that God is in control.

He has provided miraculously for me in the past. This time he chose not to. I may never know why, or he may reveal it. Either way, I know he’s with me.

Life is full of disappointment. But it tends to evaporate when the presence of God is trusted.

Do you ever ask God questions?

I do, all the time. At least one per week, usually many more.

Last week, I shared with you a question I had. The question, “Why did Jesus have to die?”

At the time, it was a burning question. One I’d had for a long time. It’s not like I didn’t know the “right” answer. In my head, I did. But on a deeper level, on the level where you really know and never doubt again—on that level, I didn’t know.

But you know what? Much as I’d pondered the question, somehow, I’d never really asked it of God. Once I did, I had that deep, soul-satisfying answer I sought.

Within 24 hours.

I have heard it said that the size of the question determines the size of the results. The question of why Jesus had to die is at the heart of Christianity—a big question. The result was a deep sense of certainty, a renewed appreciation at the depth of my being of what the Savior of the world did for me. For you. For the whole world.

The answer was simple (most profound answers usually are). Though we can do much to “improve” ourselves and even the world, it’s not a question of being better.

It’s a question of a relationship with the Creator and Center of the universe, who is a personal Being and who is totally, utterly perfect in every way. That Being wants a relationship with the creatures he made in his own image.

Problem is, the creatures aren’t perfect. Many don’t care a whit about their Creator. Fact is, most of them want to be Creators themselves. And they’re very busy working very hard to try to make that happen.