You Have Entered... The Uncomfort Zone...

The Loaner Car......

Well... first off... I would like to be thankful for this loaner car while ours is being fixed. I am very grateful for having it. Now lemme tell ya all about it! I call it... "Our little red loaner sardine can". Basically... you have to oil yourself down to get out of it... and put a jack under your bottom to lift you up off of the ground! It's a little bit little. It has four doors... but still! It is an older Toyota Corolla. Well... you might be thinking... "That sounds big enough... what's the problem?" Well... the problem is... you should see how funny it is to watch three :) LARGE people get out of it all at the same time!! I can imagine someone skinny and well put together thinking... "How did they all FIT in there?"... with a look of pure utter amazement across their face. It is kind of not what we are comfortable with and used to.

Our car... is a BiG PhaT GrAnNy CAr! We have a white (with taupe leather interior) ((let me quote the insurance papers here))... 1998 Buick Park Avenue Ultra 4 door sedan 6 cylinder SUPERCHARGED 3.8 liter engine.... ((can I hear the grunts?? OOOHHH OOOHHH OOOHHH...(as Tim Allen would say)... hehehe)). I consider it like driving around in a spa. One of those kinds with all the luxuries you can imagine. It has heated seat warmers... air conditioner that gives ya poose gimples... cd player with concert surround speakers... radio controls in the steering wheel... heated mirrors... a compass in the rear view mirror... and the mirror puts a shade over itself "invisibly" to dim the lights of the cars behind you...the headlights come on and go off automatically...power this... power that... ahhhhhhhh..... BUT... I AM THANKFUL FOR THE LITTLE RED LOANER SARDINE CAN!!!

I am definitely out of my comfort zone when I am in the can. Mainly because of the seatbelt connector digging into the cheek of my butt!

You know the saying about fish in fish tanks? They grow bigger with the size of their environment. For instance... a gold fish in a five gallon fish tank... won't grow as big as a gold fish in a 55 gallon fish tank. See the similarities? Same thing with my house.... I always wanted a larger place to live... so I could have more space! HA HA HA. My BiGGeR house... is wall to wall full of STUFF! So... did WE get bigger because the seats of our car were more cushy and a bit larger? Hmmmm... interesting. I think this is a thing that I shall ponder for a while.

We get out of our comfort zones in many situations in our lives. Even like when we know God wants us to move forward somewhere that is basically unknown to us at this point in our lives. I know that God wants me to be thin. (*point #1... I have never really BEEN thin.) I have imagined it. All my life... ever since I can remember realizing it... when I have dreamed about myself... I have seen myself as thin... but I have never been there for real. So... it's a little uncomfortable going through the process of losing the weight. I have never done it in such a large quantity before. I have 300 pounds to lose. EEEEWWWWW!

I think I would be completely out of my comfort zone getting up in front of alot of people... but I know that one day... that will be in store for me in one way or another. I used to get panicky around alot of people because of what they might think about my size. I could almost feel like I was being cornered when I was in a group of people... and had trouble breathing... and would sweat profusely. School was always HORRIBLE for me. I was extremely delighted when I was finally out.

I have managed to find my little space when I am around people. I have had my co-workers in tears of laughter in the breakroom before. I tend to take an uncomfortable situation and find lots and lots of humor in it. ((like when I had to manually pump Rich's heart with a little hand pump... to know what it would be like if his heart pump ever quit... I asked him first... "How fast would you like for me to pump this Rich?")) I know that might be a sick kind of humor to some... but you just HAD to be there!

I know that we are taken out of our comfort zone sometimes because we need to learn something that will be of value sometime in our lives. I believe if we do not learn from these times... then our time is being wasted. If you stay in an uncomfortable situation without learning from it... you will never move forward. I am learning that I need to rely on God for spiritual comfort during times of stress. I tend to like to "do it all myself"... which... by the way... never works!

I am learning to be thankful for everything that I have. No matter how big... or how small. Nothing that we own as far as material possessions... can go with us when we die. The proof of that for me... is sitting all over my house. I have carted around some of my mother's belongings with ME! And when I die... Someone else will have to cart them around with them! I am thankful though... for those things. The material possessions we have can be comforting to us here on earth. They can make life seem easier. (Having a nice car for instance). God gives us the ability to have things to make life easier on this earth... but what we should really work toward are the things that we CAN take with us... the treasures that we can honor God with... like love... and honor... and forgiveness... and faithfullness... and goodness... and kindness... and compassion... and all of the intangible things in our lives... like our souls. Our soul is what makes us who we are. Not the car we drive... or the clothes we wear... or the STUFF we collect.

Matthew 6:19-21 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share our comfort."