My God is bigger than a snow shovel...

A snow shovel. Yes, you may have had to think about it for a minute, but it's true... God is bigger than a snow shovel. I say this because lately we have had quite a lot of snow land on us in the good 'ol NY, and it just keeps coming. In fact it's still coming down hard as I look out the window now. Now for us (my dad, brother, sister and me), whenever it snows hard, we get to go out in the middle of the night or day (mostly in the night though) and shovel sidewalks all over the county. This is our job every winter and it's okay, but when it comes to those all nighters because of so much snow, it certainly gets tiresome. Before you know it, every thought that flows through your mind is a complaint. Little things become annoyances, and you make yourself miserable contemplating on everything that "annoys" you. I mean seriously, who wants to get up at 3 in the morning to go out in the cold, wet snow to shovel and tire yourself out?
   Well unfortunately, this is where I find my mindset all too often, and it's not good. I completely throw away the fact that God is sovereign and in control of everything. I know God won't give me anything that I'm not able to handle. But then I think in terms of my own power, and know that I can do it, it's just annoying and I just don't like it. But then the Holy Spirit puts that little thought in the back of my head reminding me that I'm putting my own selfish desires and wants before anything else. I am making myself an idol and just become miserable. If I were to see myself through another pair of eyes, I would say that I didn't really care about honoring God too much. Now that's a scary place to be! I don't want people to think that at all, especially someone who is unsaved. People should be seeing the light of Jesus shine through me, even when little annoyances come my way.
  
 1 Corinthians 10:31 "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

   You see, even when little things annoy us like having to go shovel a sidewalk, try and remember that God is bigger than the snow shovel that seems to be getting on your nerves. Let God consume your mind and thoughts, instead of a plastic shovel that will just make you miserable and your testimony not stand out among this world. Be a shining light, not a black hole of selfishness.

Toesicles

   Have you ever...
-Had your feet get so cold/frozen that you can't feel them at all?? And I mean so cold that when you put them in hot or warm water, it feels like they are burning off. Ever had that happen to you? Well unfortunately yes, it happened to me today.
   We had a really big snow storm come through the area starting last night, and it dumped a pretty big load of snow on us. Now when we get a snow storm, we have the lucky job of going out in the middle of the night (or whenever it's needed (which is most often in the middle of the night)) and snowblowing/shoveling and salting sidewalks. Lots of sidewalks. So last night we got a ton just within an hour, so we (being my dad, brother Matthew, sister Sarah and I) planned on going out in the morning... approx. 3:30 AM and we would get up at 3. Bleh. Well I went to bed and slept quite soundly which was nice. I woke up at 3:39 and was nearly somewhat overjoyed because I thought we weren't needing to go out because Dad didn't come get us up (btw... Dad coming to get us up is the que that we need to go). So with that thought, I got in my mind that we weren't needing to go so I set my mind to go fastly asleep. Well wouldn't you know, not even 4 minutes later, the light outside my room flicks on and Dad walks in saying it's time to get up. UGH! So much for going back to sleep! Well it took me a whole 5 minutes to mentally wake up, then probably another 2 minutes to physically sit up. Ha Finally, we got all ready and left. I was happy because I got to drive the big truck :) (Me and my bro took it while my dad took my sister) So that gave me a little inspiration. Well we were out until about 7:30ish then we came back to the house waiting for the next wav of snw to hit us. I hit the bed immediately. I don't even remember falling asleep. All I remember is waking up at 11:30ish. Eggs and toast were waiting for me to come make them, so I took up the offer. By now though, the second wave of snow had hit us and was in full affect. Soo, of course, we got dressed in our wet clothes and left for the second time around. Thankfully this time it was light out and we could see. But the downside was that it was windy and warmer. Now normally being warmer would be a great thing, but the snow was somewhat turning to slushy or just wet... hence, I got wet feet. Well, we were out until 4:30 this time and it didn't stay wam. It got colder, and the snow because not so wet.The feet stayed wet, and soon became a super cold wet. Well we got home and it wasn't like super terrible, but I decided to go plow our church parking lot. I useed an ATV with a plow on it and I plowed til dark. Well let's just say, the later it got, the colder it got. And my feet weren't exactly moving much, so they quickly became ice cubes. After a while though, I didn't really notice it too much. But, once I was done, it was like it all instantly hit me that I was an ice cube. What a feeling. I somwhow drove home feeling like a robot, and instantly peeled the clothing off and crawled in the nice and hot shower. :) Thank the Lord for hot water!! Well I was expecting an instant great feeling of warmth, but it was almost worse! I felt like the skin on my feet were literally burning off of my feet! Oh what a terrible feeling! It was bad. I ended up using lukewarm (almost cold) water, which was really weird and it somehow felt better! I don't understand, but it did. It ended up being a really long shower, but one of the best showers I've had in a long time. :) (weird to say... ha!) Gotta love hot showers! :D
   (So I have to say that felt like a really weird post to write. Ha)

Saturdays

   So I'm curious... what do people do on their Saturdays? I know my Saturdays usually consist of only a few things. That usually is sleep in as long as younger siblings allow, bring in fire wood via wheelburrow, go to sister's basketball games, go to movies, rent a movie, eat food, Drive around younger siblings who want to go spend the money that's burning a hole in their pocket, or of course the biggest thing... cleaning!!! To summarize it up though, it usually means cleaning a lot, and if lucky, go to the movies to see that movie that you've been talking about the whole week. Ha But I must say, the cleaning doesn't mean the minimum, or even the middle road. No way! Cleaning for Saturday means a complete, top to bottom, intensive, every detail, cleaning until it looks better than perfect (and that's not even possible!). Does this not sound like a lot of fun?! I must say that after it's all done it looks pretty good, but everything it takes to get to that point... ugh. Ha Just say outloud "craziness" and would have described our Saturdays in one word. :) Sooo, that's why I was curious what everyone else does on their Saturdays! I almost asked about Sunday, but I know that of course Sunday is Church and napping day. :)
   So now I'm really curious how everyone else's Saturdays usually play out. What do you do? What do you usually wish to do, buuut tend to not work out? I'm excited to hear all of your exciting (or not so exciting) stories or Saturday schedules. :)