Gemstone

Side note: My blog posts are usually more in the entertainment category. This one might be more considered in the informative category. If you would like to skip the informational part…skip to Section 2. BUT everything makes more sense if you read it in entirety. Enjoy.

SECTION 1.
Sitting in my long Graduate class at Belmont, my classmates and I took turns doing presentations on different disabilities. Mine was on Intellectual Disabilities, and I feel like I did a pretty great job if I do say so myself. After I went, next it was Tommy’s turn. Tommy did an entire presentation on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Most of us have heard of or may even have kids with ADHD. Usually boys have it and they are easily diagnosed due to their acting out. I’ve always viewed ADHD symptoms as the “hyperactivity” part of ADHD. A little boy who cannot sit still or follow directions could possibly have ADHD. There is a huge amount of girls who have ADHD, but they are never diagnosed. They are usually not diagnosed because they do not cause much trouble to get noticed. They are usually better behaved. Here are some parts of ADHD that we typically leave out: it is hard to focus…you may daydream a lot…impatient…a child with ADHD may be easily distracted …they can detect every noise…they want to blurt out noises or words at inappropriate times…they cannot sit still…they want to stand…their mind goes back and forth from one subject to the next quickly (a different form of Hyperactivity).There are so many different symptoms and factors to ADHD. Personally, I realized that I had a ton of trouble focusing in school. I cannot work if the air conditioner is making a loud blowing noise. Any noise can make it hard for me to stay focused. I would be sitting in class as a child and the teacher would ask me a question. I would not know how to respond because I was daydreaming and not paying attention. In church it doesn’t matter how hard I try to focus, my mind is constantly flip flopping from different subjects. I constantly hold back yelling or blurting out things all the time. Those who know me well think, “You don’t hold back. You just blurt out whatever is on your mind.” That might seem true, but I am actually holding back a lot more that I could be blurting. Anyways, long story short…I realized after this presentation and a little more research that I have ADHD.

It made me feel better knowing that I have ADHD. It’s like I finally understand myself. Although I now know, I still cannot be fixed.

I tell you that story to tell you this story…

SECTION 2.
A Jewish proverb by F.A.T. City (shortened with my words)…

A great King found a magnificent gemstone. It was a gorgeous red gemstone that was as big as the head of the guards. He brought it back to his kingdom to show his people. His people were in awe of the beauty of the gemstone. A poor boy came up to the king, “Your majesty, may I please hold the gemstone?” All of the people of the land were yelling to the king not to let the boy hold it. “He’ll drop it and ruin it!” yelled the king’s people. But the king did not listen to them. He thought it would be great for this boy to experience holding something of such great value. So the king handed the gemstone to the little boy. The boy held it up and saw his reflection in the gemstone and was in joy of this gift. He began to handover the gemstone back to the king when all of his sudden, he dropped it. Silence fell among the crowd. The king quickly picked it up and examined it. The gemstone had a huge scratch all down one side of it. The king was kind to the boy, but quickly went to his thrown and cried. The beauty of the gemstone was no more.
He decided to take it to professionals around the village. Many tried sanding or rubbing the scratch away, but it never worked. He went from place to place and no one could get rid of the scratch. Just when the king was about to give up, someone told him of a place far away that could fix the gemstone. So with one ounce of hope left, the king traveled a far distance to fix the gemstone. He met a man at the door, and the king asked, “Can you please make my gemstone beautiful again?” The man at the door said, “Yes, I can, but do you trust me?” The king said, “Yes, I trust you. Do whatever you need.” The man at the door took the gemstone over to his work station. He got out some of his tools and sharp rocks. He began to scrape the gemstone. He scratched it up back and forth. The king’s guards were ready to retrieve the gemstone, but the king said, “Stop! I trust this man.” The man continued scratching the gemstone. Finally, the man handed it back to the king, and said, “Now, it is beautiful again.” The king looked at it and the scratch was now turned into a beautiful rose. The gemstone was even more beautiful than it was before. The king was grateful.

This proverb was read to us in my classes for Special Education. You cannot get rid of a person’s disability, but you can embrace it and make it beautiful. I have ADHD and I cannot be fixed…I have learned how to live with it, and make it beautiful…BUT it got me thinking even more.

We all have sin. It’s our disability or disorder in the world. Many times we cannot hide it. We cannot rub it away or “fix” it. We cannot run away from it or get rid of it. We feel ugly and disgusting with this mark of sin. So we go to our Lord and Savior, and we ask, “Lord, can you make me beautiful again?” Our sin does not disappear or rub away, but with the blood of Christ that covers us completely, we are once again… beautiful.

Has the blood of Christ made you beautiful?


Thanks to F.A.T. City, Webmd.com. and the presentation from "Tommy".

He Loves Us - A Father's Day Tribute

Everyone was screaming, "RUN!" I was doing everything I could to get my 10 year old roly-poly body to move as fast as it could. I was running from 3rd base to Home plate. The outfielder from the other team was throwing the ball home. I just had to beat the ball. I heard my Daddy yell, "GET DOWN! SLIDE!" Intensity filled me up inside, and I ran as fast as I could and slid (or more like crashed) into Home plate. Lying on my back with the catcher holding the ball the entire ballpark fell silent as the Umpire yelled, "SAFE." Woo Hoo!!! An uproar came from the stands, and I had a huge smile on my face. I made it Home safe. I scored for my team.

I have a really awesome Dad whom I call "Daddy". I don't call him "Pops", "Dad", "Pa", or "Father"...I am 27 years old, and I still call him "Daddy". There have been many times in my life that I had no clue what he was doing or why I had to do something, but he always had a purpose(well most of the time). My Daddy took my brother, my sister and I out in the front yard one Saturday. He laid down a blue tarp and got out the water hose. My Mama was smart enough to grab the video camera. The purpose of the day...He was going to teach us how to slide.
My siblings and I had to take turns running as fast as we could and then sliding into this blue tarp. There were many times that my sister and I would just keep running passing the tarp because we were too afraid to slide. Then there were times where we would run, stop at the blue tarp and just sit down really fast instead of sliding. I don't know why, but I have a fear of throwing myself down on the ground...others call it sliding. My brother was a natural and loved every minute of it, but I am pretty sure this is what my sister and I were thinking..."Why do we have to do this? I just want to go inside and play. This hurts. I'm getting dirty. UGH!" My Daddy took the time to teach us how to slide. He even gave us an example by sliding on the tarp himself. No matter how scared I was or ready to go in, my Daddy made me learn how to slide (the best I could) because he knew that one day I would need it. Why did he torture me? Because he loves me.

I go through periods of my life where I start treating God like a College Professor. I feel like I am in an auditorium of 500 students and there is a professor barking orders and giving out assignments. Sometimes the Professor is funny and cool, and other times he is really strict. When I get an "A" on an assignment, I am very thankful. When I miss an assignment or fail an assignment, I beg and plead for extra credit. Or sometimes I give every excuse I can hoping the Professor will change my grade. I have been feeling like this off and on for about 3 years now. I felt God calling me to be a Special Education Teacher, but nothing I did was working. I felt like God (The Professor) was closing every door that I tried to open. He kept failing me. I got mad at Him so many times. I kept saying, "Why are you putting me through this?" I tried everything and nothing was working.

Last night, I went to my Belmont Orientation. I sat through 2 hours of exciting information about the program I will begin soon. It hit me. I will be teaching Special Education in the fall, and earning my Masters. Out of all the programs I have applied for, this program is by far the best. I will be earning my Masters pretty much for FREE. After the orientation, I started the long walk to my car thanking God the whole time for this opportunity. "Professor, I am beginning to pass this assignment." I got in my car and when I started the engine, the radio was blaring, "Oh How He love us so, oh how He loves, How He loves us so." This is such a powerful song. My eyes began to tear up as soon as I heard the words.

God is NOT a College Professor. Sometimes I forget that God loves me. After 3 years of going through struggles of ups and downs, sometimes it would slip my mind that God loves me. When this song came on in the car I felt God saying, "Dana, I did not just give you extra credit. I am giving you this opportunity because I care about you and I love you. You are my child." It does take work to keep a relationship going, but I've been letting my relationship with God become work. So, whenever you're going through struggles, try not to forget the most important thing. God IS love, and He loves YOU. So remember this the next time you ask, "God, Why are you torturing me?" Because He loves you.

To hear this powerful song... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FxaUYjRtkc&feature=related

Just Claim It!

I farted in front of a boy...and that's not the worse part!

It was 7th grade English class, and we were watching the movie "The Outsiders." We had just finished the book as a class, and then we got the privilege of taking a couple of days off of work to watch the movie. I wouldn't say that I was popular in middle school, but everyone knew of me. I was the chubby redheaded cheerleader that the squad kept around to help lift the little girls and tell them whether we were on defense or offense in the moment of the game. The lights had been turned off for the movie, and I found myself in the center of boys. I have always had guys as friends (which is another story all in itself...always the best friend.)So here I am surrounded by all of these guys. Amongst these boys, was my 7th grade crush. Pause for the hallelujah chorus and the wind slightly blowing open his buttoned shirt. So dreamy.

Do you know those moments where you have held in gas so long that your stomach is beginning to hurt? I was beginning to have gas pains. My dreamy 7th grade crush was sitting right beside me, and it took every muscle I had to squeeze my buns together. Oh...oh...oh...My strength was giving out. I was trying to act normal. I would giggle at all the right moments, and comment at all the right spots, but inside I was about to explode. My buns finally lost all strength, and it happened. "pbtpbtpbtpbt!" Yep, that's right. It was the motor boat kind. The one that was so loud it made a clapping noise against the chair. Suddenly, the look of shock came on each guys' face, but they had no clue where it came from. I quickly slumped to a level that I had never slumped to before. I pointed straight in front of me to the boy who could not speak a lick of English. He quickly started shaking his head saying, "No. No me. No me." The guys did not care what the boy had to say. They started picking on him and laughing at him. I felt so horrible. The poor kid just moved here from some little country far away, he can't speak our language, and now these guys were picking on him all because of me.

This memory has haunted me my whole life. Although it might be funny, I so wish I would have claimed it. To know that I blamed something on someone else for a guy that ended up in drugs and with many Baby's Mamas, makes me so sad. This got me thinking...

There is nothing I can do about this now. I must move on from it, but sometimes that is the hardest thing to do. We do this with sin as well. Many times we continue to live in the past and live in our failure. This is also where Satan likes for us to dwell. Many times our past sins and lifestyle are holding us back from moving forward. From doing God's work. From living for Him. We are not suppose to forget, but maybe we should just claim it, learn from it and move on. Claiming something does not mean that there will not be any aftermath. If I had claimed my "toot", there would have been jokes made at me, fingers pointed, laughter and a fowl odor to live through. But soon enough, the people forget, the embarrassment goes away, and the odor is no more.

I started wondering what I needed to claim to God. What sins or parts of my past am I not claiming? What am I holding on to? What am I blaming on others?

Whatever it is, I must claim it to Him. I must let Him have it. Only then will I be able to serve Him wholeheartedly.

So I tell you, "Just Claim it!"