No TV for a MONTH?!?!???

Today is the first day of my 30-day no-TV challenge time. It’s really weird how I have an odd mixture of feelings about doing this.

On the one hand, I am SO excited to be able to turn off that attention sucker and do some of the things I have been wanting to do for a long time. I already have plans to spend some time in study and prayer, of course, and I want to follow some of the studies I have found when planning for a BSF-free summer. Then of course are the crafts I want to complete … I laid aside the prayer shawl I was working on never to get back to it. I want to work on it again, get it finished, and start the next one. I’d like to have 6 of these completed by the beginning of November. And if I want to sell purses at the craft show this year, I’d better get on those. I have a new bird feeder on the patio, so that will be some great entertainment. There are so many books to read, things to write, subjects to study. I feel almost like a kid the night before Christmas morning!

Then there is that scared feeling – the one of, “What am I going to do for noise when I am alone every night? Am I going to be able to resist the temptation to watch? What do I do this coming weekend when I go to mom’s? And how am I going to feel if I somehow manage to complete the 30-day challenge successfully? Does that mean I was a TV addict?” I was reading some of the comments people left at Nancy Leigh DeMoss’ site about the challenge. One of the things I honestly did not think about was noise in my apartment during this time. Right now, from the time I get home until I go to bed, the TV is on the entire time. And sometimes I sleep with it on! That noise and “companionship” is always there. I am going to fiddle with my stereo tonight (the one I have so far only used to pipe sound through when I watch a movie) and see if I can pick up my favorite radio station for noise.

I’m wondering, though, how difficult it will be to be in a noiseless atmosphere. I don’t know that I have ever done that for any great amount of time. This is going to be a really interesting time, I think.

I started the morning with a Psalm after my shower – I decided I DEFINITELY want to spend this next 30 days getting into the habit of studying a Psalm a day in order to grow closer to the Lord and learn His attributes. The study Laura taught us in the BSF seminar about how to study the Word on our own was so miraculous – basically you read a Psalm a day, write down the attributes of God found in that Psalm, then pray those attributes back to God, thanking Him and praising Him for them. I have been so excited about growing closer to God and learning more about Him. I am looking forward to this study so much.


@>~~>~~ New Subject ~~<~~<@


My dad and brother were here over the weekend. It was an interesting at times, frustrating at times, just plain fun at times weekend, and when it was all over, I was so glad they came.

My father has decided that rather than stash away all of his money, he wants to give me part of my inheritance now by giving me a significant down payment on a house. So, for about two years we have been discussing it, house hunting, etc. It’s been frustrating at times because our M.O.s on something like this are so different. For me, I go looking at houses with my real estate agent, I see one I really like, I am ready to move. My dad, though, is chronically (as he puts it) hesitant to “pull the trigger” on it. He waits and waits and analyzes and looks for something better, etc. Well, this trip was first planned for us to go house hunting. This will be the third serious effort I have put into finding a new home, and sure enough I found the third home I liked (the first two, because of hesitancy on dad’s part, got away). Then after we spent the morning with the real estate agent, found the one just right for me, talked about it, etc., he says “I’m not sure it’s not too early to be doing this.”

Man, oh man.

I’m learning patience, that’s for sure.

My brother and I had a pretty decent time together. He and I have a lot of hard feelings between us, and I’ve been trying to sort those out and rectify them on my end, but again our operating systems are very different in this. I’m very typical female – let’s air it all out, talk about it, apologize for what has been done in the past, and make a sincere, serious effort moving forward to fix those things that were broken. His way of doing it is let the past be past, don’t talk about it again, not even to apologize, and go on.

There are still some things he does that really get to me, though. One example is his lying. He told a whopper of a lie to the real estate agent Saturday when we were riding from house to house. His motivation for lying I cannot understand because I have never been in his position in life. However, what he lied about was something that involved me and a huge sacrifice I made for my mom very recently. He had told me in the past that he had told this lie, and I was really hurt at the thought that he would tell someone what he did. I felt like it completely devalued what I did. I didn’t say that to him, though, and told him that when you build something on a lie, it is bound to fail because it is not built on the faith that God will do what is in His plan. Rather than letting Him do His work, you are trying to do it yourself and your way – and it just don’t work that way! He agreed and we had a good conversation about it at that time. Then to hear him repeat the lie Saturday, and for no good reason than to make himself look better in the eyes of someone he may never see again in his life – well, it took everything I had in me to bite my tongue and not say something to him about it.

Obviously I do not know how to handle this situation with him. I’m going to need a LOT of help from the Lord with this.