Wisdom in Doing Your Best

Here are a few quotes about doing your best and becoming all you can be and what the Bible has to say on the subject of doing your best:

Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news.

The good news is that you don't know how great you can be!

How much you can love! What you can accomplish!

And what your potential is! --Anne Frank

God does not judge us by the multitude of works we perform, but how well we do the work that is ours to do. The happiness of too many days is often destroyed by trying to accomplish too much in one day. We would do well to follow a common rule for our daily lives--

"DO LESS, AND DO IT BETTER"--Dale Turner

Go out and change the world. The more you study, the more you should have
A GOAL you should be pursuing;
A DREAM your should be launching

A PLAN you should be executing;
A PROJECT you should be starting;

A POSSIBILITY you should be exploring;
An OPPORTUNITY you should be grabbing;
An IDEA you should be working;
A PROBLEM you should be tackling;
A DECISION you should be making. ~ Anonymous

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it, you will land among the stars.--Les Brown

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me."--Erma Bombeck

People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered (including me).

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down

by the littlest people with the littlest ideas.

Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs.

Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

People really need help, but may attack you if you do help them.

Help them anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you will get kicked in the teeth.

Give the best you have anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway. -Kent M. Keith

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord and not for men. --Colossians 3:23

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who handles the word of truth. --2 Timothy 2:15

Peek-A-Boo

Promise I am alive!!!

Been a little while and I wanted to catch you up on some things that have been going on! So many things... so little time...

Actually, that is false.

I have SO enjoyed the time away from work to focus solely on getting my life back and starting a new track! I said on my status for FB not too long ago how much I realized that time really IS the greatest resource. I am seeing that for myself in that I finally feel like I have some time. Everyone is so busy and I am so glad that I have the opportunity to take some of that precious resource and put it toward some things that I am so excited about!

A few places you might see me this month around town if you live in the Houston area ...

• December 10 - Northeast Christian Academy Christmas Program "Lindsey's Gift" at 7 PM
• December 12 - Scott Chiropractic - Open House at 10 AM - Noon
• December 18 - Kings Harbor Outdoor Concert - 7 - 10 PM (I go on at 9 PM)
• December 20 - Grace Reformed Baptist Church (tentative)
• December 24 - TBA
• December 27 - TBA

Y'all come out and visit if you are in town! Bring your friends and family! Introduce yourself and let me get to know you guys! I can't wait to see you!

I'm sooo glad to be in Houston right now! It has been a very long time since I have been able to enjoy the holiday season (rather than just a few days before) with family. What a blessing!

Three Days More...

I spent time up at work today and got a lot finished with regards to packing up boxes and getting a few things organized. I also provided keys for a scatterbrained colleague and a conversational partner for one of my crazy friends who is also looking at 5 days more. What will these people do when I am not there to borrow keys from and provide witty banter?

I suppose they will continue to find someone else to provide for those exact things.

Everyone is replaceable.

That is sometimes hard to hear. There is the knowledge that life will continue on as normal at the clinic and there will be many lunches and conversations I will miss out on. It is sad to me a little. I trust that my time there at Vanderbilt is now over because He is moving me on to a different place where He will grow and stretch me, probably more than I could ever imagine.

Honestly, I'm nervous.

But it is amazingly exciting what the Lord is going to do in the next several months!

Please pray for me as I am continuing this journey that the Lord placed in my heart when I was a girl of 6, singing from the top of my lungs "Lookin' For Love In All the Wrong Places".

Hey, you gotta start somewhere!

News Continued...(In More Than 22 Words)

Well, you knew I couldn't just give you 22 words. :)

I did it and here are my thoughts a few weeks post resignation letter...

I feel certain that there will be bumps and bruises along this new trail I will be travelling. I feel certain there will be times where I miss the consistency of a 9 to 5 job. I feel certain that there will be many times where I really miss the great people I work with now and those that begun the exodus a while back. I feel certain that there will be some serious struggles with financial needs and a very tight budget. I feel certain that there will be some lonely times being essentially by myself and not in a big office with lots of wonderful colleagues with stimulating conversation and great camaraderie.

BUT...

I also feel certain that this is something that I HAD to do. This is something I wanted to do. I feel certain that this is the right timing at last. I feel certain that this is a huge leap of faith for me and one that will most definitely increase my dependence on the Lord in hundreds of ways. I feel certain that no matter how crazy it looks, how desperate it feels, how impulsive it appears, I know that I know that this is what the Lord has called me to do right now and upon reaching that decision, I have felt nothing but peace ever since.

The Lord has been preparing me for 30+ years for this time in my life. Not that the before now, was not useful in an of itself but it served as a training ground for me and what is in my future. I believe that the Lord is preparing us for our future and does not expect us to dwell in the past. There have been broken hearts, broken families, financial crises, illness, changes, new beginnings, births, growth, change, transformed relationships, restored hearts, financial provision, healing and undergirding it all is God's faithfulness. He has never failed me yet and I don't expect that He will start now.

A good friend told me one time that it is one thing to run from something and quite another to be running toward something. I feel most definitely like I am blazing a trail toward God's best for my life right now. I know it will take lots time, effort and energy and most importantly, the favor of God. I am willing to move forward in this next chapter with excitement and dreams (and a little fear, honestly) with my knees to the floor and my face to the sky.

I think now, I am ready.

So... here I am - ready and raring to go!

Tune in for the joy that happens on the journey! It's gonna be fun!

News (In 22 Words)!

I have some BIG news....

I've resigned effective November 4th.

I already truly miss GREAT people.

I could NOT be any happier!

The Choice

Today, I had an evaluation that lasted from 9 AM until 2:35 PM.

I am fried, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I have heard every detail of this particular family's life down to each intravenous needle used to perpetuate a heinous drug habit, places to put the needles, manipulation of family members that would make your blood boil and one of the most unhappy mothers who have had to sit back and watch her children make poor choice after poor choice and then reap the consequences of a life time of bad choices.

I have felt so many different ways today from frustration, to pity, to empathy, to insignificance, to hopeless, to bold. This was a boulder of dysfunction and the poor mother was holding on for dear life, being rolled over hundreds of times per day and yet as it was her family, she could not bring herself to let go.

She said she grew up in church. I am not sure if she still attends regularly but her husband does not lead his family into worship each week.

In a situation like that, what do you do? Do you cry with them at the expense of your daily productivity? Does counseling the family come across as perceived arrogance when you have no CLUE what she deals with on a day to day basis? Do you encourage? Do you send them elsewhere where someone else can take care of it. Do you stay as far away from The Truth that you know will change their very lives in one single moment?

Or do you tell them about ...

Jesus

The Creator of all life

The Father to all children

The Judge of all courtrooms

The Rebuilder of everything that is broken

The Shepherd leading us beside still waters

The Burden Bearer of all things weighing us down

The Supplier of our every need

The Almighty Mediator between God and man

The Comforter in all sadness

The Prince of Peace in a house of chaos

The Healer of all illnesses, addictions, mental instability, emotional brokenness

The Friend that sticks closer than a brother (or husband, or child, or sister)

The One and Only Savior who came to save those who were lost.

What do you do?

Do you really have a choice?

Speech Pathology Magic Words

Attention all SLPs:

An actual quote out of my mouth today to a mother as I was conducting a diagnostic assessment on a child with a tongue tie...

"In this particular case,

talking with his tongue tied is about as effective

as tweezing your eyebrows with salad tongs."

Tell me no stories, I tell you no lies.

An Answer to Prayer

There has been an answer to prayer that I shared on here a while back in this post. Actually, there have been three answers to specific prayers from that post.

First of all...

our whole department got RAISES across the board!

Do not fall over.

Do not call personnel.

Just go with it.

The second and third miracle are too personal to discuss here in this public forum but I have to tell you that God has orchestrated details to come together in ways that I could have never imagined. Two of them happened within 7 days of each other. I am so blessed. I knew the Lord would completely take care of this situation and He, once again, has shown Himself to be more than faithful with my life and my heart and the things that I care about.

He is so good to me in all things. I cannot imagine my life without knowing the Christ. I don't know how to explain powerfully enough the difference it makes in your life when you depend on something else bigger than yourself. The security and the relief that comes from trusting that the Creator of heaven and earth loves me and knows exactly what I need is unmatched by any job, any relationship, any amazing event, any circumstance, any opportunity. Period. And I look to find substitutes - every day. Haven't found anything that fulfills like Jesus does. Nothing even close.

My life is not perfect. It will never be perfect and it will definitely not look like anything I dreamed it would look like. Yours won't either. It will, however, look like the exact picture God had of your life when He thought of you. He has your days numbered before you ever came to be. He says that His ways are higher than our ways. He is crafting the tapestry of your life, intricately weaving the delicate threads stitch by unique stitch, each section taking on a beauty that could only have been envisioned by the One who sees the potential in us, who loves us and created us to be faithful to Him.

I can't believe the blessings that I have received at the perfect time only because He wanted to. I did not earn these blessings by any stretch of the imagination. They are gifts of grace, things I don't deserve but receive all the time. You have your own storehouse of blessings specific to your life. Are you receiving these blessings? Why or why not? He has them. They are sitting waiting for you to reach out and take hold of them. Trust and believe and know that He alone is God and when it is time, He will give you nothing less than His best. Nothing less. Ever.

Be blessed, friends, and know

that when God chooses to move,

you will know...

... I have seen it and it is amazing.

Simply.

It's Chilly Here... Better Grab Your (Strait) Jacket

I wish I could state in detail the regularity of ridiculousness of my Tuesday morning appointments. I mean seriously. The fundamental characteristic that must be present in order to get an appt with me is that you must be nuts. I must caveat here.... there are some very good friends who at one time, were perhaps scheduled for an appt with me on a Tuesday morning.



I AM NOT TALKING TO YOU.



I am talking to the people who leave me feeling like I need medication directly following the appt. I do not seek intentional friendship with these people. I try to keep my crazy friends separate from my crazy patients. There is a line and try to walk it carefully. That being said, let's continue on with my crazy life...



Chapter 36 - story #42



Last Tuesday, I was scheduled for an appt with a precious little kiddo. Precious, I say. Well behaved and clean. Cute as a button. I would totally take him to the park. His family... not so much. Characters in this story include precious little **Ethan (**Names have been changed to protect the guilty and myself.), Mama, and Granny Agnes. It is very important to note that Mama and Granny Agnes are related by marriage, there is no blood between them except bad. They are daughter and mother-in-law. Let the fun begin...



Every one transitions nicely to the room. Little Ethan is playing nicely. Granny Agnes needs to lay off the smokes. Mama needs to grow a backbone. This is strictly my initial analysis and they pay me well for it. There is enough going on in this evaluation appt that there is no way to cover the entire cock-a-maminess (I might have just come up with a new word?) so I will hit the high points. These are the TOP TEN actual quotes said...


10. (Christi says "Why are you here today?") "I don't know. Granny Agnes, why don't you tell 'er." - Mama, scared and insecure

9. "He ain't talked right." - loud and proud by Granny Agnes

8. "SHOCKING!!!!" - thought bubble quote by Christi

7. "Well, she don't keep no structure and let's just.... let's just say that.... let's just say that we's different in hows we growed up the kids. I just slap 'em and tell to get their _ _ _ _ together 'cuz I ain't got time for none a that nonsense." - Granny Agnes

6. "Wait, for real? Did you just seriously say that?" - thought bubble quote by Christi



5. "We's just not used to lettin' kids write on the walls with crayons and scribblin on the cabinets with markers. I ain't just not puttin up with that. I finally went out and bought some markers and crayons and colored with 'em on the walls." - crazy ole Granny Agnes

4. "I grew up depressed and a place where we just feel everything and I know I'm sensitive but they're just mean." -venting by Mama and answered by Granny Agnes with this... "Oh, we are not mean. You don't take care of your kid and I don't have the time. Well, YEAH we tell dirty jokes and we cuss at each other and we use some pretty hard language, but _ _ _ _, you've gotta be kiddin me that you're sayin we's mean!?!?"


3. "Well, she let's 'em just sit around and watch TV all day and then she don't get 'em when he plays in the plugs." - Granny Agnes the antagonizer



2. "That ain't true!!!! I grew up in a depressed family and I just don't think there is anything wrong with being nice sometime. And anyway, she takes Ethan's diaper off and tells him to go pi... I mean, pee on grandpa and she thinks its funny!!!" - Mama the indignant


And the number one quote of the appt....

1. "Well, that WAS pretty funny!!!" - Granny Anges, the unpaid comedienne of preschool programs all over the US.

These "ladies" almost came to blows and there were defintely tears present and I'm not talking about the kiddo's tears. I have never seen anything like this at all. Classic and yet so disturbing.

Comprehensive speech language evaluation:

$647

Value of my time wasted on this evaluation

because the child is totally fine:

in the $1000's

Value of honest and stunningly ridiculous material gleaned for my next show:

PRICELESS,

of course!!!