I was reading a tweet yesterday from a woman who struggled with an eating disorder. It embarrassed and frustrated her so every day she told herself, “Tomorrow, I will begin to address this and heal.” She told herself that for twenty years before she finally did something.

We are faced with situations all the time which need our attention and we justify waiting. People won’t get a housekeeper in to help till they get the house clean. I never understood that, because…isn’t that what you’re getting the housekeeper for in the first place? People won’t lose weight (myself included) because we’ll just wait till after Thanksgiving or after Christmas, or…or…or… The list goes on and on. 

Faith. Faith can be a huge struggle. A lot of churches don’t seem to really welcome you till you look more like they do. Till you act more like they do. But what if you’re a jacked up dysfunctional human like so many of us? “Oh, I’ll go to church when I conquer this addiction.” “I can’t go to church…I don’t have good enough clothes to be seen with those nice people.” “They don’t want someone like me down there.” That’s the same as the housekeeper theory. It doesn’t make sense.

Mr. FixIt and I went to church last night for Christmas service and Pastor Justin gave three simple tips for getting started on whatever issue you are having…no matter how difficult it is. 

1. Start where you are.

 You don’t have to be a certain way or get to a certain place to get started. Just start…exactly where you are in the moment. 

2. Use what you have. 

 Do you have a talent or skill? Use that. Use it to work or to reach a goal. Use it to bridge a gap between you and others. 

3. Do what you can. 

 You don’t have to go on a mission to Africa or build a rocket ship. Lift people up where they are. Serve in whatever capacity you can. My mission is writing this blog and speaking to church groups. Yours might be knitting prayer shawls or painting a house for a shut-in. 

These three steps can be used in every day life in every situation. From raising your kids to volunteering in retirement. Let’s enjoy the holidays, help others where we can, and plan on changing our little corner of the world in 2019. One builds on the next till we can’t help but lift each other up and make this a better place to live.

One way Mr. FixIt and I are going to increase our giving is a great idea I learned from Larry at the bowling alley. We see Larry at church often and he’s such a selfless giver. He told me he looks at all his $1.00 bills. In the circle on the left side is a letter. He saves the “J”, “G”, and “B” bills. Jesus, God, and Bible. Then he places one between each page of a bible and when the Bible is full, he presents it to the Pastor and they pray over it. It has become a ministry for him and Larry is now filling his fifth Bible. We picked up a Bible last night at church because we realized we need to start where we are, we need to use what we have, and we need to do what we can. 

We went out to dinner after church and we were figuring the tip. Mr. FixIt was pulling out some ones and he found a “J” bill. I put my hand out and he smiled as he handed it over. We have our first bill in our Bible! ❤️

“In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.”

Psalm 5:3 NIV