HAPPY MONDAY!

To Be Like...John

Was thinking about John the Baptist today. "The Baptist" was not his last name. But, what he stood for and how he served The Lord was so intertwined with who he was that it became his name.

Is your service like that? Has your skill, talent, or service for The Lord become so well know that when people say your name they say your skill, talent, or service too?

If not, it's never too late to begin your story. According to Ephesians 2:10, God already wrote it for you, He's just waiting on you to tell it. :)

How have you started making steps to walk in the direction you know God intended for your life? 

I'd love to hear about it. 

Yep! They said that!

I post on Facebook a lot of the funny, deep, thought-provoking things my 4 YO and my 7 YO say.

People message me all the time telling me how they enjoy my stories about my sons. So, in a shameless effort to encourage my blog following, and to lessen my FB postings, I  thought it a good idea to include those sayings here periodically with their own consistent title..."Yep! They said that!"

This is the first of that new and infinite series. Enjoy! :)

Jacob: Remember we have Christ in our hearts. He lives in us.

Hud: Well, you're not going to heaven because you tease me. Teasers go to hell with the devil, their father.

Jacob: Mommy!! Do teasers go to hell or heaven?

Me: Remeber the "helmet of salvation" we talked about with God's armor from Ephesians 6 last week? Salvation covers your thoughts. Once you accept Christ in your heart, you're going to heaven. However, think of heaven as an amusement park. There's so much to do, and what we do on earth determines where we'll be in heaven. If you tease others, Jacob, that's not very nice so, you'll get in , but you won't be able to ride the rides.

Hudson: Yeah, in heaven, I'll be riding the rides, and I'm gonna look over and wave at you at the door where all the teasers are!

LOL

A Quick Thursday Ditty: It's all about today!

Yesterday is gone!

It didn't last!

What happened matters not...

It's in the past!

So...

Let it stay there.

Today and tomorrow's all you've got.

Get up and get moving.  Get started on those goals.

Huh? What?

No, I don't know how!!!!  You'll figure it out along the way.

But, you have to get started NOW!!!!!

Happy Thursday!  :)

Having All You Need

What do you see in this picture? A stick and a few toys? Look closer...do you see it? Believe it or not this is a magnificent story of robots, daredevil planes, fighting ninjas, and a daring rescue.

But, it was laid to rest for a moment while my boys took their bath.

I took a picture of this because I heard the vivid story come to life while I was cleaning the kitchen after dinner.  And, once the boys had gone to take their bath, I was shocked by how few items they had used to create such a vivid, imaginative, and daring tale.

Five little items.

I then thought of my big goals for this year.  I mean they are HUGE!!! Only two goals, but each will stretch me to limits I never thought imaginable.

Staring at my sons' toys I thought about how ill-equipped I initially felt aiming for such high goals, but God showed me through His word how others (in faith) simply began with what they had, and He provided all they needed to accomplish His will.

Moses - all he had was his staff.  God showed him how his staff could be a tool of power, and even brought his brother to him to assist him.

Hannah - all she had was her promise.  God honored it, and her baby boy became the counselor to kings.

A Clean Sweep

This is just one section of the many leaves my sons and I raked up this past Sunday.  There were more beyond the fence in the driveway, in the front yard...basically EVERYWHERE!

I took a picture because this is what I encountered the DAY AFTER I had just gathered the same amount of leaves!  Now, initially, I thought raking/sweeping leaves is an effort in futility, but I'm one of those weird person's who loves the mundane (think washing dishes, vacuuming) because it is the perfect time for me to pray and commune with God. This was one of those times...

As I swept, and swept, and swept, God began to show me how my initial reaction to sweeping leaves the day after I had just raked and swept is much like how the Christian walk feels at times--an effort in futility. Let's say your being a Christian who's trying to follow God's precepts and live a life worthy of the faith you profess represents the broom.  And, let's say the continual mocking of your faith, wickedness you encounter, and the advancement of people around you who don't follow the Lord represents the leaves.  You are seemingly the continual lone frontrunner constantly working to clean up around you that which you know needs tidying.  Yes, it's hard work. Yes, there are many more of them than there is of you. Yes, you wonder if your efforts are futile and your energy is wasted.  Yes, the very thing you cleaned up yesterday may return ten-fold tomorrow....sweep anyway! Do it anyway!

Why? Because your presence, your efforts, swept away those leaves hanging around THAT day--no matter that they would return tomorrow.

Life Words: Day 4- "Clearly Seen"

Love

This is my final word...for now.  :)  It is so amazing to me how a small activity can stretch you and give you a greater outlook than what you had before.  Searching for words in their untouched, natural state started off as a fun game with my sons, but became a personal challenge to stretch myself and an opportunity to understand the Lord a little better.

Huh? How did looking for words stretch me and help me understand the Lord better?

Well, I'm glad you asked! :)  It was hard y'all!  Some of the letters took forever!  And, I at times became like the boys with, "We can't find 'E'!!! Mommy! WE DON'T SEE THE LETTERS!!!!!" Then something amazing happened...I prayed.

Life Words: Day 3

Faith

Can you see it?

Life Words: Day 2...

Hope (from the Science museum)

Can you see it? Okay, so my abstract "p" was a stretch, but it works! :)

I think I've found my new calling... :)

I recently read an article about finding words in nature with your children.  A while back, the boys and I read a picture book by a photographer (whose name I've forgotten :(  ) who found letters and numbers in random items.  It was amazing!  This project reminded me of that book, so I decided we could look for letters in a word on our various excursions.

This, our first one, was at a park. The word is "Thanks!"  Can you see it? I posted our findings to Facebook, and now it's just become a thing!  So fun!

The "T" shot is my favorite.  I just think that's an absolutely fabulous shot of the boys playing together. My second favorite is the "!". Some tweens were having cheerleading practice, and it was so awesome to see an exclamation point!

1 = 5; "Where, O death, is thy sting?"

I went to a funeral this past Friday of someone very special to me.  He was like a father to me, and he was just a great guy! As I stared at his body--like I have stared at the frame of many others I've buried--I couldn't help but have a flood of memories. There lay the frame of a man which was the antithesis of his character.  There lay a silent frame. Mr. T (as I affectionately called him) was always full of life and making me laugh.  There lay a cold frame. Mr. T was literally warm and figuratively warmed everyone who was blessed enough to be in his presence. He looked so much like his lively self I kept expecting him to sit up any moment and make me laugh!

I have a funeral ritual that I began almost twenty years ago when I lost my close cousin.  I take home one of the plants from the funeral just to keep and take care of in honor of the person I loved and lost (with the family's permission of course). When I brought Mr. T's plant home, I watered my other plants...one being a plant I brought home from Mrs. T's funeral, who preceded her husband in death a year ago.  As I watered the plants, I began to knead the soil and pray for the families connected to the love one of that particular plant. And I cried. But, then I glanced over at my smallest plant.

A Prayer Revolution

³ And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

⁴ And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.

⁵ And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

⁶ And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

⁷ The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. [Revelation 8:3-7]

And there it hit me!  BOOM! The power of prayer.  Did you catch it?  Read the scripture again. 

The Courage of Faith

courage - M.E. corage, fr. OF cuer (heart), Latin cor -more at heart
 "mental or moral strength to resist opposition, danger, or hardship...implies firmness of mind and will in the face of danger or extreme difficulty."                          
                                                            -Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary

     The summer of my junior year in high school I determined that I would reinvent myself with each new school year.  I would have a new theme of fashion that I wanted to go with.  So, my senior year, I became (or so I thought) the cute prep.  I got rid of my glasses, began wearing contacts and more makeup, began working out fervently, and sporting the long preppy ponytail look.  Then, the next year I decided upon the cute collegiate look for my freshman year in college (a term and look only I could define)...and, so on and so on. 
     As I've matured and grown in my Christian faith, I still reinvent myself each year, but it no longer relates to fashion. I now focus on becoming more of a conduit for the truth of God's word.  And, God with his holy humor obliges me.  :)  However, this year is different.  This year God has modified my little personal game, heard my prayers of "going deeper" and given me his own version of reinvention.  He's given me a theme...and, that theme is COURAGE.

The End of Hope

Did the title of this week's blog throw you?  In reading the title, did you immediately expect a topic of gloom?  Good.  I did that on purpose.  I wanted to get your mind ready for the journey of words God took me on this week.  It's powerful!  And, God in His infinite wisdom knew I would need to be encouraged today.  So, He encouraged me as I was studying to encourage you!

You see, the blog this week was actually to be about forgiveness...or so I thought. 

Are you a 7 day friend?

In the book of Job, Job was a man who was "blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil" (Job 1:1).  Because of Job's walk with the Lord, Satan asked God's permission to strike everything Job had that God might see Job curse him without God's hedge of protection around him.  So, in one fell swoop, Satan took his oxen and donkeys (working through the Sabeans), his sheep (through a fire from the sky), his camels (working through the Chaldeans), and his 10 children (while at the oldest son's house)...all in one day!  [see vs. 2 to get an idea of how much of a loss that was]  Then, while Job was grieving his losses, Satan asked permission from God to affect his body. So, he afflicted him with sores from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head.


But, this post is not about how through all of that Job never blamed God (which by the way, 1:22 tells us is a sin...interesting), his "patience", or even the advice from his friends.  This blog is about friendship. "Huh?" You say? Yes, friendship.

Perfection Through Pain

I had a Homer Simpson moment the other day.  You know, the one where you go, "D'OH!!!"  While washing the dishes, I reached across the stove to pick up a pot to wash while the tea kettle was whistling.  Now, I knew the tea kettle was on.  I saw it, and I heard it, but my mind was somewhere else.  As soon as I realized what I was doing, the steam from the tea kettle got me!  And, boy did it ever! 
After screaming, I noticed the burn.  It was a perfect circle.  I was amazed that although I did not touch the mouth of the spout, the steam burn was in the exact shape of the mouth of the spout...a perfect circle! 

I then thought about the purpose of pain.  I thought about how we as Christians believe we should not experience pain because we are followers of Christ or that somehow God has forsaken us because of our suffering.  Where does that belief originate, I wonder?

Keep your "saltiness"...

Was cooking squash the other day, and as I was seasoning it with salt, my love affair over the years with understanding the many attributes of salt came to mind.  As I sprinkled the salt, I noticed the randomness of how the sprinkles fell upon the squash.  Immediately, Matthew 5:13 came to mind. Jesus states, "You are the salt of the earth.  But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?  It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."

I then saw the salt as Christians sprinkled here and there, and the squash as the "great big world" we're placed in. 

New Format!

I'm changing my blog format.  I'll keep what it once was in the archives, but God is leading me on a different direction.  I want to use my blog to specifically encourage believers.  Now, I'll still have journalings of the amazing things my kiddos do, but only as it relates to encouraging believers.  Life is tough, and if you don't get any encouragement from anyone else, you can get it from me.  Right here as we journey this Christian walk together!

Hope you enjoy the new direction!  Be encouraged saints!

On being a writer...

tryin' to find an agent. yes, i'm about to enter THAT world. been thinkin' about what makes a writer. is it the ability to say something well, to say for others what they wish they could say, or is it just the ability to say well what others wished they would have thought to say?

i consider myself a writer, but i've been pondering how i reached that conclusion. i've had a few articles published in my church's former magazine, and have written some great papers in college and grad school. but, do those things make me a writer? obviously i think so. :)

i've been a writer all my life really. i remember the joy i felt upon receiving my first diary at nine yrs. old. it had a lock and everything! i still keep one, but of course since i am now a grown-up, it is a "journal." but, i think the POWER of the written word (sayin' something AND sayin' it well) became apparent to me when i was getting a post-bac teaching certification in english when i was 24, and a racist english teacher accused me of not writing a paper because the "diction and syntax were too good" (yeah, she really said that to me). she really made me realize just how well i could write. so well, in fact, that it would appear i didn't even write it. :)

so, i'll include you on my journey of getting published. i have so many books in my head just waiting to be birthed that are sooo tired of gestating in the crevices of my mind.

first stop, picture books. yeah, picture books. my sons are my muse and my reason why. stay tuned...