A Limerick A Day to Keep You On Your Way February 15 Who are you listening to?

February 15

Who are you listening to?

There once was a demon, smooth as honey.

Accusing me I was wasting my time and money.

Paralyzed I wept,

I’m so inept.

Jesus laughed, “Don’t listen to that dummy.”

The days all planned out.  You have several hours to spend time in the Word, listen to hear God speak and then write up some amazing blog.

Okay let’s get real.  IF you have a day off like I did today, due to some cold symptoms, you still want to be as productive as possible.  You don’t feel completely at ease knowing you are losing money by not working but satisfied you did the right thing by not spreading germs to your clients.  The thought of sleeping a little late is comforting too.  And you just know you are going to take advantage of every precious moment.

Really, someone has to text me before 7 a.m.

I reach over and try to see who is.  Be sure to turn the brightness down on your cell phone or your eyes get really mad at you.  And make sure you know where your glasses are.  If it’s my grandson I never get mad.  No he’s too loveable.  My daughters, well okay.  But this was my friend. Surely her message could have waited at least until 8.

Fully awake now.

Well that means I have to check my email, facebook and the link she sent me.  Now it wasn’t all downhill.  By 9 a.m.  I managed to completely check out what my friend had sent me and apply to an event she invited me to.  We were both home today not feeling well so that led to a few more texts. I was all caught up on email and fb notifications.  I had been to the bathroom twice…too much detail.

Another friend sends a text.  Something else to listen to.  Oh but it was good, really good.  I read the Word along with it, took copious notes, engaged in some serious warfare and felt all fired up. IT’s going to be a great productive victorious day.

Better eat now.

It’s getting late. I need to do the other things as well, write and do another Face Book live. I am in a 30 day Face Book Live Challenge.  Today is day 8.  I feel like I can really do it! God has been speaking all day. No stopping me now after all the input so far.

Let me check my email and Face Book again.  Well I have to answer a few people.  Plus my business mentor has given us some more tips on posting.  That requires a different type of ad.  Only a minute or so should be needed.  About 45 minutes later I finally got it out there.

Lunch time now!  Late lunch at that.  How did that happen?

Today I also thought it would be a good to use a product I bought the day before.  I labored over spending the money even though I had a decent coupon for it.  Great marketers know how to get you to spend money.  I’m working on it, marketing that is, so I can spend more money.  If you bought two hair color boxes you got $4 off and with my coupon it would be another $5.  That’s almost a free box.  Well if you bought 3 you get $8.  That seems pretty good because I can give one to my daughter who also colors her hair.  She will be grateful.  Send her a picture of what I think she likes and yes we are all set to go pay.

Crafty marketers.  They know we love bargains. We  don’t always read them well.  It’s not $8 off, it’s $8 store money. This way you go back and spend more.  What does a store do with the customers who bring their stuff back but still get the store bucks?  It must still somehow work out in their favor.  But my gray hair is saying, “Don’t even try it!”

SO back to making this a purposeful and productive day.

I have no idea how it got to be 3 p.m. before I finally mixed up the hair color.  I still made good use of the time while it was processing.  I answered a phone call, another email, laundry, and Face Book of course.  I jumped in the shower and rinsed my hair out.  I knew it!  Why did I bother?   My gray hair is so hard to cover; even when I spend real money at the hairdresser it is a challenge.  I figured I would just be a little more frugal this time since I missed two days of work and generally this is a slower season as weather always plays a factor.

I spent $28 on 3 boxes of hair dye and it was eating at me.  I couldn’t get past the feeling that I wasn’t worthy of spending money on myself when there are other bills that need to be paid.  But this just rammed it down my throat…the gray hair was still there!!! Are you kidding me?  Not only did I spend the money and get no results…I mean I was being really frugal…I had some processor left over from before so I could use this one box of hair color for two applications.  I am being a really good steward of my money, right God?  So why are you doing this to me.  I now have wasted my time and my money.

The smoothness of the enemy’s lies sometimes taste so sweet to us because we have tasted them before and they feel right.  They feed our twisted truth and justify our self-inflicted guilt.  I was feeling so good about my FB ad and my warfare prayer that surely things were going to progress now.  Finally a breakthrough was coming.

Even as I stepped out of the shower it began, this feeling that seemed to come out of nowhere but one I am very familiar with.  It is a feeling of an underling fear that something is off.  I physically begin to feel weak and fatigued.  I immediately think I ate something I should not have.  When that isn’t the case, and it wasn’t today, then a little more anxiety shows up.  Something bad is about to happen and I caused it. Fortunately today I caught it right away. It was….

Fear of success.

What if today you have a killer Face Book live?  What if today your boosted ad brings you a boatload of new people?  Fear!  You can’t handle it.  You can’t do it.  Remember you are supposed to rest today.

Sickness has been my comfort zone for a long time. Headaches seem to be the specialty.  They rob me of so much wasted time.  Just another reinforcement of wasted money and wasted time.  I am starting to get paralyzed as I feel the need to go lay down.  “When I get up I will be fresh and able to just do it.”

Oh thank You for intervening.  Thank You for both my friends “interrupting” my day. Thank You for being with me in the warfare prayer.  I am fully convinced because of those things I was intune with You reminding me I purposed this year to do it. The do it of whatever You lay on my heart and not shrink back.  When I don’t shrink back then Spirit comes and does what I can’t.  It is fearful and intimidating to get on Face Book Live and share a story, an experience, something about your business or something God has said to you. Today was no different accept I was aware of the demonic presence that tried to take me down again.  I needed to command those lies of feeling inept with the truth that I can do all things through Christ Jesus.  I am worth spending money on. It may look like I wasted time today and perhaps there could have been more productive moments but I celebrate all that has been accomplished for this day. I am not inept. I am a daughter of the Most High God. My savior has paid the price by His precious blood and together we laugh and say, “We aren’t listening to the dummy.”

Open our ears Lord to what the Spirit is saying.