THE WAY I FEEL

I'm getting so excited...each Saturday, before Mother's day, the Children's Ministry at our church has a mother/daughter tea. A person can buy one ticket, two, three or even a table of 8 tickets and invite their friends. The money goes toward the children's ministry at the church. A person can sponsor a table and decorate their table however they choose, using china, crystal, silver, melamine, plastic, paper or however and/or whatever they choose. The table should be decorated around the book theme chosen for the tea or one they have chosen for their table. These books, chosen by individuals for their table, should be children/tween type books and not very long. Reason being...they will be read at each table during the tea.

Alix and I both love this tea. We go ALL OUT for our table. In fact, we love it so much, each of us, now, have our own table instead of having a joint table to decorate. We say it's for fun...but we really go for blood, hoping to be the BEST table in the room. Not too competitive!

My book this year is The Way I Feel by Janan Cain. It's a very short, chipboard children's book with a great message. It only has 16 pages with mostly pictures and a few words on some pages. It's really bright with beautiful colors. It's kind of wacky, funky and adorable. I'm so excited to plan fun ways to express the book through the table decorations. I've included pictures of the pages to give you an idea of the book's material.

Silly is the way I feel when I make a funny face

and wear a goofy, poofy hat that takes up lots of space

I'm, shaking because I'm Scared , all alone in the dark at night.

The thunder and lightning crash and roar! Hold me close and turn on the lights

The smile you see upon my face as the sun shines in the sky

shows the world that I feel happy, and my mood is soaring high.

Sometimes I feel so very sad and really don't know why.

Instead of playing and having fun, I cry and cry and cry

Angry is how I feel right now, I shout with a mighty roar.

I mostly want to frown and growl and stomp upon the floor

I'm bouncing like a rubber ball. I'm more excited than I can say!

It's really hard for me to sit when I'd rather jump and play

"I did it! I did it!" I shout to the crowd.

Getting dressed by myself makes me feel proud!

As you can tell from the pictures, the colors are bright and bold, the pictures are funky and the ideas for a fun table could be fantastic. I've had the book a while and read it several times. Each time I read it, feeling words stand out more and more to me. They make me think of times when I have felt silly, scared, happy, sad, angry, excited and proud. Each of us experience these emotions from time to time. Some of us experience some more than others. No matter what, when we experience these emotions, we should always remember they are God given. And we should always remember that God knows exactly how we are feeling (even when we think we are showing no one else our true feelings - God knows our hearts).

I remember a very stressful time in my life. It had been a tough year for our family. I had depended on our Lord to care for us. I knew if he could heal a blind man who had been blind from birth by spitting in dirt to make mud and place it on his eyes, or if He could bring Lazarus back from the dead, or if he could feed 5000 people with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish, or if He would love a newly wed couple so much as not to embarrass the family by making wine out of water for their reception when they had run out ...I knew He loved our family and could provide for us. Now even though I knew all this...there were many moments of weakness when I was afraid/scared. In fact...dearly afraid. But God knew. He wasn't angry. The emotions I had were all a part of the personality he gave me. Yet it is how we react to these emotions that He cares about. We can let things like fear grip us and paralyze us or we can trust Him an move forward.

The same goes with emotions like happiness or being excited. We can even let our excitement over worldly things take our thoughts/focus away from Him or our trust in Him.

Emotions are not bad, they are God given, but they should be used in ways that would glorify God. So today, I am thankful for emotions...for the silly emotions when I play with my grandchildren and they will feel the love God has for them through me. I am thankful for the scared emotions when I know that the only place I have to look is up because God is in control of every situation. I am thankful for the happy emotions when I feel joy as I praise God for what He teaches me about Himself and the happiness I feel for the gift of the wonderful spouse He so lovingly chose for me. I am thankful for the emotion of sadness/grief, at the loss of a loved one or the health of one close or the unfortunate experience of others - especially when I realize they do not know the love of our heavenly Father to turn to - thankful because it gives me the opportunity to intercede in prayer for them. I am thankful for the emotion of anger - the Godly anger when injustice is done to another and is not glorifying to God. I am thankful for the emotion of excitement, when I witness the rebirth of an individual coming to know the Lord Jesus as their Savior. And I am thankful for the emotion of pride, not in myself, but for loved ones, because my Lord has worked in them in some way, accomplishing in them a talent, a work, a relationship or whatever that only could be accomplished through Him.

So today...I am thankful for the emotion of a grateful heart...it could only have come from God's Holy Spirit, teaching me, counselling me, enlightening me with each emotion I experience.