The First Blessing

My family and I celebrated yesterday.  We celebrated some of my favorite food and the beginning of this project.  It was great to have a late family meal at one of our favorite restaurants while we visited and watched the Olympics.

Later in the evening I had my favorite treat--a Wild Cherry Mudslide from Spangles.  Mmmmm...   This is the closest thing I've found to the "Brown Derby" that was served at the local drive-in of my hometown when I was a kid. (If you are ever in the Wichita area, I recommend that you give it a try!)

It was a great evening with my family.

I also found out that I have my first donor.  One of my husband's colleagues at work pledged to donate $1 for each day that I am successful in abstaining from any food other than water and my daily portion of Numana.

Not only that, but he shared the project with his small group from his church and they are praying for the success of this project.  That is an amazing contribution for which I am very grateful!

I went to bed last night in a state of excitement and fear.  I've been surprised at the fear I have felt in the face of this challenge.  But, I slept well.

God talks to each of us in different ways.  Although this may sound a little bizarre to some of you, those who know me and have heard the story of my call to ministry know that God has used Bruce Springsteen throughout my life in some very...err...instrumental....ways.  That's a whole other (and fascinating) story.

With Bruce in concert this year, I've found myself listening quite often to some of his live recordings.  When my kids started expressing their boredom with the same old songs over and over again in the car, I assigned my youngest son (a young teen) a favorite--Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.

What does this mean?  Well, every time he is grumpy or needs to get pumped up for a swim meet, I'll say, "You just need to hear your favorite song, don't you?"  And I'll put it on...and make him involuntarily smile.  Or...when it comes on randomly when the kids are in the car with me I'll say, "Oh...it's your favorite song!" And then I will turn it up.  It is one of our little jokes.

One day I took my oldest daughter shopping and actually heard her humming the song.  Ha, ha!  Success!!

Well, this morning my husband's alarm went off at it's normal 5:00 time. The song playing on his clock radio?  You guessed it, "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out".

Coincidence, you say?  Hmmm....when was the last time you heard this song on the radio.  To be honest, I don't remember ever hearing this song on the radio.  Ever.  It was a live version (not the same version I have) of a song that came out in 1975.  Although most people have heard of the song, "Born to Run" (the title track of this album), not nearly as many know this song.

But, it woke me up this morning on Day 1.

Encouragement from God.  What a blessing!