Day 145 - Thursday

Can't really get my thoughts together for a good journal entry, so it's just "Thursday."

I have a jumbled mind today. Lots of thoughts and things floating around in my brain. :)

Last night, we attended Wednesday night service. The kids went to their respective youth stuff -- minus my eldest as she stayed home doing homework -- and my husband and I sat in church service.

We're still studying Abraham. Last night, I learned about Melchizadek. I've heard the name before, read scripture about him, but never fully understood much about him. Now I know! Very interesting, indeed!

Which led to the topic of tithing. I had questions for the pastor: "Do you tithe on gross or net income?" "How does one go about tithing 10% of their income, when they hadn't been tithing in the past, their income just barely covers their bills," etc.

His response was to just start somewhere. And he said there's a scripture verse that says that the Lord will bless us if we are faithful in tithing.

I had posted on tithing previously, but haven't started. Christmas was here, extra bills for stuff, and well...that's no excuse.

Also on my mind is my mother's upcoming mastectomy and chemo treatments. I want to fly out to be with her for a week. It's quite expensive, will use up all of my savings, and I will use my only week of vacation time...which means I won't have vacation with my own family this summer.

But...this is something I feel led to do, go out to Mom and help her with bandages, with her sleepless, painful nights, with the house cleaning and cooking meals for her and my father. Plus, I ahven't seen my sisters and aunts/uncles/cousins in over three years. It's time to go.

My teenager is throwing a hissy fit over my being gone for a week. She, of course, feels "put upon" while I'm gone. She has extra chores, she ends up taking care of the toddler whenever I'm away, and the stress of my absence is at times overwhelming on her.

But she can pitch in and do her fair share so that I can take care of Mom. My teenager even made a very ugly remark this morning, "Mom, thousands of women have gone through breast cancer. It's no biggie."

Well, she will feel awful for those words later on in her life, I am sure.

So today, my mother is scheduling her surgery and chemo treatments, then I will schedule my flight out to her.

Lord, I pray for LOTS of things today: I pray for your peace during my absence, I pray that you would convict me strongly regarding tithing, that I may give to back to you...and I pray for your guidance in my family's lives. We need you so much! Amen.