Author: Tammy M Cardwell

Hard to Kill

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I don’t know much about palms, so when I saw how hard this one had been hit by a freeze I was concerned. A friend assured me that sago palms are hard to kill, and it would be fine. Sure enough, I noticed this past week that all this new growth had burst forth seemingly overnight.

Children of God are much like this. We’ll be hit with bad weather, and even hard freezes. There will be times in our lives when someone looking on from the outside might think we are done for, ready to be dug up and tossed. The Master Gardener knows better. He nurtures us and, sooner or later, we’ll have a burst of new life. We’re hard to kill.

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

A True Gentleman

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A young man I know was raised to believe a true gentleman opens the door for his wife. We laugh at times, when she is about to walk through a door with him near and we hear, “Wait,” but though I chuckle on occasion I find it precious and appreciate it as a woman.

Today in prayer, God told me to pay attention to them, that I can learn from them. I’ve been praying about a specific thing, you see, and today He told me it’s right outside the door. “When do I walk through the door?” I asked.

“When I open it for you,” He answered. “Wait for me, because you are my bride and I am a true gentleman.”

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

Small Beginnings

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There’s nothing like going public to keep you aware of what you need to be doing. Right?

Until this week, i have done nothing – no exercise – since the 5K. Honestly, i really hadn’t been doing much before, either. That has GOT to change.

I have two motivators.

Jack. I love my husband, and it’s a good thing i do because we’ve had a rough eight years and every one of the medical problems we’ve dealt with has been a direct result of his refusal to take care of himself. I don’t want anyone having to take care of me like I’ve had to care for him. Developing plantar fasciitis because you’re having to transfer a wheelchair-bound man? Seriously not cool. Thank God he’s doing so very much better; it’s taken WORK. Again, i don’t want anyone to have to work like this for me, especially not as a result of my own thoughtless actions.

God. He’s been on me a lot lately about stewardship. In the Word, my body is referred to as the Temple of the Holy Ghost. I’ve heard that verse quoted myriad times over the years, so many times it almost sounds cliche. But here’s reality. It’s true. God entrusted me with this body and He expects me to take good care of it. I haven’t been.

Starting now, i am going to do better.

My current goals are small, but I’ve learned that small beginnings are the ones you’re most likely to make. Here’s to walking into a healthy future.

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

There Is No Light Switch

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So… we’ve been in our new place almost a month, and every single day I go into my closet at least twice. Every single time, my hand goes out to flip the light switch.

Every

Single

Time

The problem? There is no light switch. I now have a cord to pull.

I’ve had nearly 30 days to change this habit – the way I reach out to turn on the light – yet I still consistently start by reaching in the wrong direction. It’s even a self-correcting thing; I MUST reach for the cord sooner or later if I want the light to come on. Yet still…

This has reminded me yet again that habits are hard things to break. Given this truth, I’ve made a decision.

I’m going to try really hard to not start any bad ones!

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

I Can Do All Things

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Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Today, with the help of God and the support of my nephew, I did one of those things. Without training for it, I walked a 5K in under an hour.

Perhaps this doesn’t seem a great accomplishment to you, but I was only hoping to do it in an hour and a half. I never dreamed that I’d be able to maintain less than a 20-minute mile.

I have an unofficial “I Can Do All Things” list. It’s an intentional attempt to push myself to do things I’m convinced I can’t/won’t do.

A few years back, I decided to join NaNoWriMo and write a 40,000-word novel in the month of November. I not only accomplished it, but I created something I genuinely enjoy rereading. Today I walked a 5K. I’m wondering if, next year, I might run it.

What’s next? Not sure. But I intend to keep reminding myself that, truly, I CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

#Jailbreakrun

#Ididit

What’s Your Motivation?

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I did an in-depth study many years ago and reached a very important conclusion.

WHAT I do is important. Getting into God’s Word, learning what He wants me to do, and making sure I do the right thing… Important. But even more important than WHAT I do is WHY I do it.

In other words, motivation is everything. God doesn’t just want our actions to be right, our appearance and performance to be acceptable; He wants our hearts to be right. I can go to church, hug my neighbors, raise my hands in worship, give liberally in the offering… but if my heart isn’t in it, if I’m only going through the motions so I’ll look good to others or satisfy some legalistic need inside of me, I’M WRONG.

And if I’m wrong, the only thing I need to be doing is getting right. It’s time for me to go to Him and ask for His forgiveness and help, to pray with the psalmist, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” [Psalm 51:10 (KJV)]

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

PS: The verse in the graphic is from the NLT.

To Those Who Have Lost Everything

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I cannot even wrap my head around the number of families who have lost everything to Harvey’s onslaught. I am surrounded by devastation as I sit in my minimally-affected apartment. To all of you, I want to say…

* I have been you.

* It will get better.

* Good can come out of the sorrow.

I clearly remember the day we moved into our new apartment with almost no belongings and exactly one piece of furniture. We’d lost pretty much everything and spent our first night lying on a blanket on the floor of an apartment with no electricity.

But we were both alive. We were together. We were going to make it.

I won’t lie to you. Every time I turned around in those early months I thought of yet another thing I would never see again and I’d hurt. I’d spend precious money on something I ought not have to be buying, and I’d get resentful. Christmas came around and I only got a tree and decorations because my boss pushed me to; I was glad I did.

But it did get better. As time went on, I discovered that my attitude was changing. I shifted from sternly telling myself, “Tammy, they’re only things!” to saying in wonder, “They really are only things!”

I’m not sure how to explain it, but at some point, maybe the next year, a day came when I realized I’d begun to feel positively liberated. As strange as it sounds, I’d been bound by stuff and had no idea. True, many of the things we lost represented memories, but a representative is not the memory itself-and the memories are still there.

Yes, I actually reached a place, after that forced downsizing, where I could feel grateful even for the loss. I… I can only explain it by saying I felt like I could breathe again-though I’d not known I was being suffocated at all.

When something similar happened a few years later, I walked down the same path again – hurt, anger, acceptance, forgiveness… This process has taught me that, as sure as we’ll one day cast aside our mortal bodies and not look back, we can have everything taken away from us here and come out better. I have – twice.

Well, I should qualify. With God, with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit, I have come out better. Without them, I don’t know what would have happened, but with them all things are truly possible.

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

What You Have

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You can tell I wasn’t preparing to share this, because my handwriting is terrible, but I HAD to share. See, SEE what God is telling Gideon in Judges 6:14 (NLT)

Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”

The emphasis, of course, is mine. 

How many times do we want to ignore God’s call because we’re not good enough, talented enough, outgoing enough, strong enough…? We feel like someone else would be better because THEY have what’s needed. But that’s not the way God does things. 

He wants us to bring Him what WE have. Yes, the strength Gideon had was minimal, but his strength wasn’t the point – God’s was. It was Gideon’s weakness that made room for God’s glory. 

Go. Go with the strength YOU have!

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

What is Memorial Day?

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In yesterday’s Bible reading, I came across Joshua 4:6 and its timeliness struck me. 

We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, “What do these stones mean?”

This particular memorial served two purposes. 

1.  It was to remind those who experienced that amazing, dry-ground walk through the Jordan River, so that they would always remember God’s power and how He’d moved on their behalf. 

2. It was a tool that would help them teach their children about God and their relationship with Him. 

What is Memorial Day?

1. It is a time to remember the truth that freedom ISN’T free, and that we owe a debt to those who ensured our freedom to live as we do today. At the very least, our debt is to remember. 

2. It is a tool, a time we should take advantage of to really educate our children, to help them understand more about this nation we live in and why we have it. It is our opportunity to introduce them to some who survived, and let their stories introduce our children – and us – to many who did not. Our children can’t remember, but we can tell them rather than letting them assume Memorial Day is nothing but a day for family reunions and hotdogs. 

Someone (George Santayana?) once said that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” 

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C

Sacrifice of Praise

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The worship service can be a challenge for me. At times I try to enter in, only to have my mind wander rabbit trails like an undisciplined animal. Today, as I faced this challenge yet again, I heard God say, “Lay it on the altar.”

“It” was the train of thought that currently demanded my attention. Rather than giving it space in my thoughts, God was calling me to sacrifice my right to pursue it; He was calling me to lay it on the altar. This, I suddenly realized, is a big part of the sacrifice of praise. 

Be they random thoughts, fears, plans, hurts… when we lay them before God, turning them over completely to Him, we make a sacrifice. We give up the right, at least for a time, to feel fear, to make plans, to indulge in hurts… For what is really a brief time, we sacrifice them to Him, giving Him all of our attention and praises instead. It’s not easy, but true sacrifices never are. 

Celebrating Jesus!

Tammy C