Reality Check with Ann Downing...

I’ve just had another birthday…and I say “Yeaaaaaaaaa…I’m still here!”   Seriously, God help me please to always be grateful for yet another day.  On those worst days, they are a big deal…life is precious.  As long as God is alive, so am I…..HE SAID THAT!    I have a good friend, AnnieB, who each year, in referring to my birthday, says she wants me to have a birthday present from her in honor of my Mama for giving me birth.  Now, that’s a special “gift” indeed!   I want to purpose this next year to give my life as a gift to Jesus…He gave me my second birth.  I am alive physically because of Mama….am alive spiritually because of Jesus.  Now….THAT’S LIFE!!

We’ve all heard and used (I'm sure!) the phrase, “When it rains it pours.”  We're usually referring to the onslaught of challenges, frustrations, and aggravations we've come to term as "attacks on our daily lives"... and they are! Remember the little girl on the box of salt who is standing under her umbrella?   She reminds  me of what we must look like when the world rains heavily on our parade.   We’re trying to protect ourselves from all the things that force us to our knees seeking God’s mercy to help us get through the day.  To be honest, today has been one of those "seeking" days for ADM.  I'm thankful our Father reminded me of a verse I memorized from the King James Version a long time ago, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him”.  Isaiah 59:19b I’m thinking that the “flood” of challenges that have entered our lives today can’t hold a candle to HIS standard ...

Yesterday, as I sat quietly inside working away at the daily business of Downing Ministries, I heard the buzz of lawn mowers off in the distance, a typical sound for Wednesday, and continued on with the task at hand.  Suddenly, I was jolted from concentration by a very hard something that bounced off some part of the house; thankfully, not a window!  The mowing never stopped, and I'm still not 100% sure what got flung or where or what it hit.  I only know that it most definitely did! As I gathered myself and determined that there was no way to know if the flying object hit my house, the neighbors house, or if it even hit a house at all, the thought occurred to me that life is a lot like the act of mowing.  The person doing the mowing pushes or rides the machine all over the place basically oblivious to the consequences of their actions, except for the shorter grass which is their intended goal.  In this example, think of mowing as decision making.  We ...