a no girl

It is right now 11:45am and I am just waking up due to a horrible fever, head cold type of thing.  My son, Gus, just finished his sickness of fever, head cold type of thing.  It really knocks you out.  The group left yesterday, so John is letting me sleep while he is doing things around the house to get caught up on life.  I have been literally in bed since 7:00pm last night.  Lots of thoughts have gone through my mind over the last 16 plus hours and this is what I have decided upon.

By nature, something I have learned about myself is that I have a tendency to be a "no" girl.  You know what I am talking about?  Every single one of us is either a "no" girl/boy or a "yes" girl/boy.  "Hey, can you help me out on Friday night?"  "Let me check, I might have something going on"  "Hey, I know a group is coming, can you bring some items over for me?"  "No, I think everything is full."  It is that innate self-preservation.  I mean what if my life gets so busy I don't have time for things I enjoy....  Hopefully some of you are connecting with this.  If you are also a "no" person, you are thinking, it is okay to be that way....   If you are a "yes" person (my sister-in-law, Beth) you are thinking, bummer you could really have so many opportunities to serve, but you miss out by saying NO.  As I have been laying in bed thinking and doing nothing, I have been thinking about the last 24 hours.  I have had a few opportunities to say yes or no to something and I really tried saying yes, but was not able to fully.....  On one of the occasions, I said yes and now because of that my husband is watching Sami and a little friend from school all day.  I was supposed to but I am sick, so he is doing it, and you know what?  He doesn't mind.  He actually pushed it because I said I would call and tell her no....  We were able to help this woman out who needed someone to watch her child all day.  The other opportunity was someone wanting help with a luggage situation, I wanted to say yes, but I was not able to.  BUT, the point is I am changing.  I learned a lot from seeing other people say yes and try to serve, try to help others, try to no limit their schedule.  I am learning if I make myself available I am actually creating space in my own life to be a part of someone else's answered prayer.  Does that make sense?  By John and I saying yes to moving to Nigeria, we are answering someone else's prayer, I am sure of it.  By not looking out for myself, I am creating more and more space for others, and learning to say "yes" more often.  Now, this is not easy for me, I am still a "no" girl inside, but I am wanting to become a yes girl and will just have to learn to fight the temptation.  I just love the idea more of being available for what God is doing....

Life is good isn't it?

God Bless.