ugh...

oh man, i woke up this morning so tired and kinda queasy all over again. i had the stomach flu this weekend while i was on a gig, and it was not pretty. i'm feeling it again in my stomach this morning, so it was really hard to get out of bed.
needless to say, i missed most of joyce meyer's show.
but the 10 minutes that i did catch still had something in there that grabbed me. there were clips of different people, probably at her convention or church, and this one woman with the sweetest smile said, "I WANT IT ALL. I WANT EVERYTHING GOD HAS TO OFFER ME."
that is so what we deserve. it all. and that got me thinking about a question i had tried to answer earlier this weekend. it was in a book called, "strong women, soft hearts," by paula rinehart. great book. (am i a self-help junkie, or what?). anyway, the question was, "where in your life do you sense yourself holding back, playing it safe? why?
and here's what i wrote in my journal ~ i'm just wondering if anyone can relate...
"nowhere, and everywhere. i try everything and have the guts to do anything. but every single chance i have to become great, i stop short. i go 80% and then stop. why? i so have the guts to go all the way. i have what it takes ~ i know it. it's like i'm afraid of imbalance. but people can be great and successful and be completely balanced too. i don't get it."
i'm ready to do the work and follow through with the blessings God has prepared for me. i'm making a vow by saying this!
this all reminds me of the prayer of jabez. amy introduced me to this book, and it's super powerful. the prayer is in the Bible and is really the only little blurb about jabez. his name meant pain, so he prayed this prayer to overcome his own name:
"oh Lord that you would bless me
and enlarge my territory,
that your hand would be with me,
and that you would keep me from evil,
that i may not cause pain."
i pray it everyday and my life has changed immensely. it's okay to pray for blessings and it's okay to receive those blessings. you're not being greedy or selfish! God is dying to bless you with more and more. be prepared to receive more blessings than you feel like you deserve, and way more than you expected. that's how it works. this isn't like a Christmas wish list. you don't even know what could be a blessing to you!
gotta go spread my germs, i mean blessings, to some high school voice students!

facts vs. truth

good morning ladies!!!
when i wake up at 6:30 to watch joyce meyer on tv, the look of my day completely changes. i have more energy and my heart is in a more joyful place all day. i have always craved a logical understanding of the soul, and that's what joyce brings to me. she said one little sentence this morning that really got to me...
she said to a guest she had on the show, who had been sexually abused, "i am so glad that you have learned the difference between facts and the truth."
cool! who knew these two things could be separated? the facts may all point to sorrow and despair: you may have had a horrible year financially and you don't know how you're going to afford Christmas. or maybe there is a person in your life who has caused you to lose hope or faith in people (i'm reading about that also). or, in my case, i should be at rock-bottom after everything that has happened to me and all the changes in my life. but the TRUTH? God has all of this in the palm of His hand. i am where i am supposed to be for a reason. the fact is, my whole world has fallen apart. but the truth is, i have been spared and get a second chance at life! God loves me and is taking care of my future, no matter what happened in my past, my recent past even!!
the facts may be screaming at you to stop having hope, faith, joy, peace, love, trust. but the truth is: God wants you to have all those and will give those to you if you ask for them. can't trust men? trust God to keep your man trustworthy and believe in God to give you the strength to trust your man. He created your man and loves your man even more than you do. i'm so sick and tired of all the "facts" about men. they can't be faithful, they only want one thing, all that hoo haa. i'm going to look at the truth ~ God wants me to have a faithful, honest, Godly man. I mean, he created some pretty wild animals ~ surely he created a Godly man!!!!
fact: you have $200 in your checking. truth: God knows no boundaries. i used to think how cool it would be to live in the days of the Bible, when miracles happened like the five loaves of bread feeding all those people, 5,000 was it? well, miracles like that happen all the time these days! if you are not on unemployment right now, a miracle has happened to you at some point. that great job or that credit card cut-up party that motivated you to start paying off debt. or a family member stepping in to help with a surprise tax year (thanks mom!!). those are modern-day miracles right there...
so, the facts may be telling you to worry about germs, cancer, infidelity, money, etc. all that crap on 20/20. but the truth is that God is running the show, and worrying is just getting in His, and your, way. YEAH!!!!!!

oops!

hi ladies! are there in fact any ladies out there reading these silly blogs of mine? well, i lost my username and couldn't figure out how to log on. typical sarah tannehill. and it's funny: i'm probably more anal than many people i know. i have a file with usernames and passwords, account numbers, to-do lists, to-not-do lists, you name it. and it's still not fool-proof for this fool.
it's just as well that i didn't have my username ~ i'm sort of drained of any strong words. although it has been a very exciting week, it's also been a hard one. starting over is difficult. i thought by now i'd have a family, a career, a home. but this is not a race and i have to just go along with what God wants for me, rather than how it looks (and feels) to me right now.
anyway, i could really use some prayers, ladies. i so appreciate it...