Today I am closing a door from the past. A door that has been ajar slightly for over two years now and it has cost me way to much!! Today I get to close my credit card account for Loulu's in the Valley! I will spare you all the details but closing this means I no longer have to pay fees and I finally get to close my business bank account! Crossing this off my list brings me great relief. Last night I went to bed mediating on Psalms 73:28 "But as for me, I get as close to Him as I can! I have chosen Him and I will tell everyone about the wonderful ways He rescues me." As I was on hold with the credit card company I was asking God to "rescue" me from this burden. Contracts and business dealings get complicated quickly but He granted me favor by allowing me to close this account early and be done with it. So this is a huge praise for yet another way God rescued me!
Loulu's in the Valley's, my shop in Halstead, logo was drawn by one of my favorite artists, Mary Lee. It is of an old tricycle and a woman(me) pedaling it while wearing a knitted hat and flip flops. Symbolism is something that my mind seems to automatically figure out. I am a visual person and understand things better when I can put a picture to it. The tricycle symbolizes childlike faith to me. I used to see images of a little girl(me again) riding a tricycle through the valley and over the hills. Tricycles are supported on both sides. To me the little wheels represent your support system in life...friends, church,support groups, etc. My mentor and friend has told me many times just to pedal and let God change the gears. So I got to thinking, tricycles don't have gears. Tricycles are actually pretty hard to ride for long distances and they are really hard to ride when your a grown up!! You can't switch into an easier gear to go up the hill or a harder gear when going down. So if I am pedaling and "let" God change the gears then the ride gets easier. But if I'm riding a tricycle then God can't change the gears because there are none. I have been pedaling & pedaling & pedaling my tricycle the last 6 months in a desert not in a valley. My piggy tails have not been blowing in the wind cause I haven't been going down any hills or mountains. Deserts are flat which can be good cause I don't have to pedal up hill but they can also be sandy. I've never ridden a bike in sand but I have walked in it and it can get hard to move forward fast. Boy I could break this down into lots of different aspects of symbolism but I think I'll lose my point. The point is bikes can be modified. I know this for a fact because I own a mountain bike that I purchased in Colorado 1994. It was used as a rental bike...it has been around the block and up some mountains, even more symbolism in that My bike is not what it was in 1994. It was black but now it is pink. It didn't have shocks on it but now it does. My bike used to have an uncomfortable seat now it is nice and cushioned. My bike has been modified so I can ride longer distance and with greater ease. All this said but my bike has a flat tire right now and is unridable! I can do lots of things but I can never seem to fix flat tires! So my tricycle is mental, symbolic. It isn't real but imagined. I can picture it with gears if I want to! I can "let go and let God" change the gears on my tricycle but I must keep pedaling.
When I was pedaling my trike as Loulu it was different! My wheels were spinning and I was going up and down hills and mountains. One moment exhausted and another screaming with delight with my hands up in there giggling. Lilylu pedaling produces a different image for me. I am determined and I am not going up and down but I am pedaling through the sand and going straight!!! No longer wearing flip flops but mud boots! More will be revealed and I am excited to start sharing where God is leading me. "Forget all that- it is nothing compared to what I'm going to do! For I'm going to do a brand new thing. See, I have already begun! Don't you see it? I will make a road through the wilderness of the world for my people to go home, and create rivers for them in the desert!" Isaiah 43:18 But not yet-back to today, now!
The date today is the 12th of the month! I have spent my $100 on groceries for the month. I am feeling the challenge and actually loving it! My boys are in on this and think it is fun. It is teaching them value and gratitude! By the end of this month I should have my freezer from Loulu's plugged in and ready to stock. Pumpkin bread and soups have been cooking in my kitchen. My son is catching on and has started saving his trail mix bags from Aldi so I can refill them with my homemade trail mix. Reduce, reuse, recycle- a song they learned! Earlier I grabbed a reference book off my bookshelf. As I was browsing through it for an answer to a nagging question, I found a dollar bill. I laughed out loud!! I have found a five dollar bill in my garden, a one dollar bill in a book and a man at Aldi gave me a buggy so that's a free quarter! God has given me $6.25 which I have decided will be used for any other future food purchases this month. The thing that tickles me is that I get to share this with my children. They will hear of how our Father in heaven provides, cares and loves us! "How we thank you, Lord! Your mighty miracles give proof that you care." Psalms 75:1 TLB. I just got home from Nana's where I got 3 HUGE bags of free dog food for Levi and a free box of cuties(oranges) and a big can of pumpkin. God not only sends money from heaven but He uses lots of people to bless me as well!!
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