You still make a difference!

I'm only one,

but I am one.

I can't do everything,

but I can do something.

And I will not allow the everything that I can't do

to stop me from doing the something that I can do.

I'm only one,

but I am one.

 

-Anonymous Poem

6 days and counting....!!

      Christmas is coming! I am so excited! My son is finally of the age to understand and enjoy Christmas, Santa, presents, and etc. It is more than that though.....

      This past Sunday at church was our children's program where they got to sing for everyone. Bubby had a line, and I was so excited! The were spelling out Christmas and what each letter stood for. Poor little guy had practiced his line for a week, and then Sunday he got stage fright.
     Then Monday I took my grandmother to see A Christmas Carol at Beef & Boards (a dinner and theater place). You have those moments where you realize that at sometime you forgot what it was truly about... Every year you watch The Muppets Christmas Carol and you know the movie front to back, but it's the listening. Are you listening to Christmas? Watching the play Monday I was practically bawling. How did I forget that the importance of the Christmas Carol?!  It's more than knowing that "Christmas is more than money"; it's realizing that this one man was not only condemning himself but hurting everyone around him and had the ability to save them. It eludes that if Scrooge didn't change his ways not only would he die, but Tiny Tim would die as well. The common thing at Christmas time has always been to remember that's it not about the money and buying presents but being with family and friends.... It's a step past that though. It's knowing that you make a difference to someone, to everyone. You matter and what you do to/for someone else matters even more.
     Monday evening when I got home with my son we watched A Claymation Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town (two of my traditions), and also Rudolph together. My next epiphany was during Santa Claus... At the end of the movie Santa has to pick just one day a year to make his gift run because it was getting to be too much. "They chose, of course, the holiest night of the year. The night of profound love, which was the perfect night for giving....Christmas Eve." There is also a cross hanging on their Christmas tree in that scene. I realized that I have yet to explain to my son the true meaning of Christmas Eve. At his age right now I know it will be simplistic, but it's the importance of knowing that everyone even Santa honors Christ.

This is always my favorite picture at Christmas time!

 

Christmas...

 

 Christmas morning the parents asked their little girl,

"Did you get everything you asked for?!"

The little girl replied,

"No, but it's not my birthday." 

 



God is Love

     A young boy carved a small sailboat from a block of wood. When the boat was

finished he couldn't wait to try it out. Racing to a nearby stream, the boy knelt on

the shore, gently slid the boat into the water and let it go. With a quiet reverence the

boy watched his precious boat gather speed as it floated away. Before he could react,

his boat was swept of reach. His precious boat was gone! The little boy frantically

looked until there was no light, but he could not find his boat. With a saddened heart

the boy headed home.

     Several days later, the boy was walking down the main street of town when he

saw his boat in the toy store window. He couldn't believe it! The boy ran inside to

the owner. "Mister, that's my boat," he cried. The owner, disbelieving said, "young

man, I just bought that boat. If you want it, you'll have to pay for it." Near tears,

the boy exclaimed, "please sir, I worked so hard on that boat, and then I lost it! It

really is mine." The owner shook his head, "nevertheless, I paid good money for

that boat. You will have to buy it if you want it."

     The little boy raced home, grabbed his piggy bank, and ran back to the toy store.

Dumping his piggy bank onto the counter he asked, "is that enough?" The owner

nodded and handed him the boat. The boy cradled the precious boat in his arms

saying, "little boat, you are twice mine! Once because I made you and once because

I paid for you."

     The boy ran home for his piggy bank, he didn't think about what it would cost him! He was willing to give it all to hold his precious boat again. In that essence aren't we all little boats? God created us and then He paid the blood of  his son, Jesus Christ, to get us all back.
     Do you think of your relationship with God that way? Doesn't God remind us of that every day... "You are twice mine!" God loves us. Just as that little boy loved his boat. Twice owned by God.
      God is love. (1 John 4:8) Love is not just a feeling, it is an action. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. (1 John 3:16) To know God is to understand love. Some days all you want to know is that you are loved and thought of... I will always remember this story on those days!

030613

Worth a read!

 My last class, Intro to Old Testament, our instructor brought in this book he was reading. It's one of those where you read a paragraph a day.  I love the book!!! (My instructor gave me his, lol.)

The author is awesome... Frederick Buechner. The book is called Listening to Your Life.

It is a compilation from all of the books that he has written.

This is worth the whole book:

                    "Israel did not want to be a holy nation. Israel wanted to be a nation like
                    all other nations, a nation like Egypt, like Syria. She wanted clout. She
                    wanted security. She wanted a place in the sun. It was her own way she
                    wanted, not God's way; and when the prophets got after her for it, she got
                    rid of the prophets, and when God's demands seemed too exorbitant, God's
                    promises too remote, she took up with all the other gods who still get our
                    votes and our money and our 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. energies, because they are
                    gods who could not care less whether we are holy or not, and promise
                    absolutely everything we really want and absolutely nothing we really need."  
                                                                        -Frederick Buechner, The Clown in the Belfry

 

WOW!

Was he really talking about Israel a couple thousand years ago or is he talking

about America today? Or my co-worker? Sometimes even me!

 

Hello! Hello!

 Wow!! It has been a busy a month already, lol.

I apologize for not writing, but I had a few Saturdays to get through.  Starting in October I had a children's fall party for our church, then my personal Halloween party, then my last two classes for school, and finally our church's craft fair! Whew!

 

I must say that the Lord is AWESOME!!

Our Fall Party for the kids at church was amazing! My last two classes were awe-inspiring. I loved my instructor and I learned so much. Kind of bummed that I have to wait until the end of January for my next class to start. (Intro to Theology!!) Then the craft fair did good! (I'm glad it's done for another year though, lol.) Several months worth of work for a seven hours of a day, lol.

 

Hard to believe that I'm already planning towards the New Year... Yikes!

Got Thanksgiving and Christmas....both sides of the family will be here for Christmas!

Then I really wanted to do a New Year lock-in at the church for the kids, but that may have to be on the agenda for next year, lol. Too late to plan that I think. I am working on the finishing touches to hopefully start a women's study/get together group at church on Saturdays. Patiently waiting on my class schedule for January & February. My son's birthday is the end of February, and to round out March.... planning a Breast Cancer Fundraiser bowshoot at our club and then my wonderful husband's birthday!!

 

I am so excited lately I cannot stand it, lol.

God is good all the time...

November is...Diabetes Awareness Month!

      

I am a Type 1 diabetic!

Which means that I will have to take insulin the rest of my life. T1 specifically is an autoimmune disease were my pancreas has stopped producing insulin for my body. Insulin breaks down sugar, and sugar is in almost everything we eat.

I was diagnosed when I was 16, and it was a long struggle to come to terms with it.

Diabetes can do bad things to our bodies if not taken care of properly.

I blacked out and totaled my dad's truck, and it was truly a miracle that I walked away alive. I spent 2-3weeks in 3 different hospitals over a 4 month span which resulted in my medical withdrawal from a college and career I had waited my entire life for. In two of those hospital stays I about died, and in one I was in a coma for 3 days. My insulin pump- which I depend on to keep me healthy- has quit which put me into the hospital. While pregnant with my son I had a seizure.

 

Through all of that God has stood by me and protected me.

If I look at all that and can't believe that He kept me alive for a greater purpose then I have nothing.

 

So I challenge you to the Sock It To Diabetes Challenge!

#SockItToDiabetes

Take a picture of your socks, post it with why or who you are doing it for,

and challenge 3 other people!

I am doing this so that one day we will have a cure for diabetes!

The King and His Maiden

A parable by Soren Kierkegaard titled, “The King and His Maiden.”

Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden. The king was like no other king. Every statesman trembled before his power. No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all opponents.
And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden who lived in a poor village in his kingdom. How could he declare his love for her? In an odd sort of way, his kingliness tied his hands. If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes, she would surely not resist—no one dared resist him. But would she love him?
She would say she loved him, of course, but would she truly? Or would she live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life she had left behind? Would she be happy at his side? How could he know for sure? If he rode to her forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her. He did not want a cringing subject. He wanted a lover, an equal. He wanted her to forget that he was a king and she a humble maiden and to let shared love cross the gulf between them. For it is only in love that the unequal can be made equal.
The king, convinced he could not elevate the maiden without crushing her freedom, resolved to descend to her. Clothed as a beggar, he approached her cottage with a worn cloak fluttering loose about him. This was not just a disguise—the king took on a totally new identity—he had renounced his throne to declare his love and to win hers.

An awesome parable about Jesus and his love for us!

Paul described it this way:
[Jesus] who, being in very nature God,
Did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
But made himself nothing,
Taking the very nature of a servant,
Being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled himself
And became obedient to death –
Even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
And gave him the name that is above every name,
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
In heaven and on earth and under the earth,
And every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
To the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:6-11)

*Shared from Sharon Jaynes.

Hmmm...

"If we don't know what God has done for us yesterday we won't call on Him today, and our children won't call on Him..."
-Manafest

Christian vs. Terminator (???)

A wonderful morning of new things!

Here is a video glimpse of what happens at the Love Life Conference.

This is from this years conference. It really gives you a different insight.

 

 

 

 

If you have not ever been- you should go! At least once, it is moving to be with that

many Christian women!

Love Life 2015

Got Questions?

     This morning I read this really good article from gotquestions.org. It's a good article and a good website. Even after 5 years following Christ there are articles on this website that are for the mature Christian. These articles can be very helpful, especially like the one I read this morning.

http://www.gotquestions.org/overcome-temptation.html

    

     They are not just beneficial for ourselves to take to heart, but also we encounter people who ask these questions of us as Christians. Sometimes we're not sure how to answer these, or even where to start looking for the answers.

 

     I have the website listed over here to right >, under my bio. It is worth it to check it out daily. :)

Suggested Read...

     So I found this free book on Amazon for my Kindle (I do that a lot)! It's by Stormie Omartian, and it's called 7 Day Prayer Warrior Experience! It's a very short book. I just started it, and it took me about five minutes to read from the beginning to the end of day one. It talks about putting on the Armor of God in Ecclesiastes and praying for yourself and others. If you have a Kindle or Kindle app, it is worth your time to get it and read. I will be reading it for the next 6 days!

                         Here is the link for you:      7 Day Prayer Warrior Experience

Food for Thought

“The Bible is not a book for the faint of heart -- it is a book full of all the greed and glory and violence and tenderness and sex and betrayal that befits mankind. It is not the collection of pretty little anecdotes mouthed by pious little church mice -- it does not so much nibble at our shoe leather as it cuts to the heart and splits the marrow from the bone. It does not give us answers fitted to our small-minded questions, but truth that goes beyond what we even know to ask.” ― Rich Mullins

for King & Country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   Thursday night was amazing!!!!!!!!!!

 

     I went to the for King & Country concert with my best friend Cindy! I loved it! If you have never seen them- you must! I love their music and have been wanting to see them for two years.  

     I had so much fun!! The whole experience at the concert was just awesome! First off- I was shocked by the amount of adults/older generation that were there. I wasn't expecting that generation there. Second- I was moved by how many teenagers were there also, lol. That sounds like I didn't expect anyone to be there. It's just that sometimes in today's world you wonder about the next generation. (That's left for another day though.)
     During the Q&A someone asked what they would say to teenagers who are having problems staying strong in the face of our world.... Joel's advice was this: 'Know the truth and pursue the truth. "What is good, what is right, what is true..." Follow the truth as closely as possible, and lean on those who know the truth.'  I wish I had someone who said that to me when I was I high school. It is something that I will hold on to. They are a really good band. They love God, value family (their parents, and Luke's wife and son travel with them), and they are huge supporters of Compassion International. I will definitely see them in concert again!


     I first found for King & Country on youtube when I was searching for Christian music and they just released their video for "The Proof of Your Love"... life changing! The song and the video are life changing....you should watch! ;)
 

Sunday School

     It was my Sunday for our Jr.-Jr. Church (ages 5 and under). It definitely requires patience when working with toddlers, lol.  I had 3 kids three years old and under, and we tried to learn about Moses and his staff!
     We took wooden spoons as our staffs and then we colored snakes on the other side for our serpents. We had some pretty good looking staffs!

A little music....

Every time this song comes on the radio goes up!

This is my current favorite and really speaks to me right now!

 

 

Awesome Weekend!

      Saturday was my first day of CLI (Church Leadership Institute)....amazing! I enjoyed it so much! My teacher is funny, and I'm the youngest one enrolled but everyone in class is incredibly friendly. It's kind of mind blowing to be in a class with four pastors. I learned so much in my first day, lol. I'm pretty sure I have a sermon put together, lol. It's nothing like when I went to college at Evansville, but in a way it kind of is. 9am to 3pm is basically a note-taking, discussion-group with lunch for an hour and a couple of hot chocolate/bathroom breaks! My class is Intro to Old Testament, and we covered quite a bit of Hebrew. It's very cool to realize how the entirety of the Bible works together to reinforce itself. Just the Hebrew meaning of the names (people, places, and events) alone is that wow/duh factor, lol. It was so much fun, and I'm kind of bummed my next class is three weeks away.

      Sunday was a very good day as well! We had our church picnic after service by the local playground. Baptists sure know how to cook (says the diabetic, lol)!! Lunch was awesome, and if you went away hungry you had problems of your own, lol. After my husband, son, and I finished eating we walked over to the playground to try everything. It was awesome! The thing I love most about our church is that I trust every one of them to keep an eye on my son. Three years old- he loves to move! It's not just them keeping an eye on my son- it's that we all watch the kids no matter who they belong to. My husband and I were out there with our son, but it didn't take long for the rest of the kids to run out and play. I love the fact that the kids feel like they can play with us. I remember growing up, there were some adults who you could ask to play with you and there were some who didn't do that kind of thing. I am blessed that they know they can run out and play and hang out with us.
     After we walked home and had our naps, I finished painting the last of the blue for my son's Batman room! I'm so excited to be doing this for him- he is super excited as well!

Why Not?

Today is the five year anniversary of my baptism!! It was an incredibly special day, and here is something I wrote a couple of months after it...

     I distinctly remember the morning of my baptism. While getting ready at home I received a phone call from a friend. After the pleasantries were exchanged I was asked, "Are you sure you want to do this?" I said, "Absolutely."
     "Why?"
     "I have to do it."
     "Is someone making you?" he asked.
     I paused at this, because my response was so automatic it startled me. "No one is making me do anything. I need to do this, something inside me says it's right. It feels like something will be missing until I do this."
     "Why?"
     I asked him, "Why not?" I literally mean why not?!
     I know that I have needed God for a very long time. It is something that I struggled to learn growing up. For a long time I felt drawn to be baptized, but I never understood it. I just knew that it was something my family had done when they were little and that I needed it done. Then when I finally learned of it, I didn't want to do it publicly. Honestly, I was embarrassed and partially thought that it was something just between me and the Lord. Then it was explained to me that baptism is a public declaration of my love for God. It made me think some more (which I do a lot of). Love is all He asks for. John 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." I knew then that nothing would stop me from being baptized. God has loved through it all, more than once I know that God had to of had his hand on me to make it. I can give Him this! I have the need to do this, and it is my gift to give my heart to Him.
     I had to stop worrying about others opinions of my getting baptized. There were some close people that were not there for me on that day, but there was a hundred times as much happiness there with me that day. I had finally found that missing piece.

Does that answer your question?

Trivia

Here's something cool I just learned:

'Testament' and 'covenant' both mean the same thing in Hebrew...

'Covenant' means 'promise' or 'to promise.'

So the two parts of the Bible mean "Old Promise" and "New Promise."

Enjoy that food for thought!

Sunday's Sermon

     Yesterday was amazing at home as well as at church. My Pastor can always make my hair stand up, and yesterday especially got to me!

"Christians have accepted that because we are all yet sinners we have no right nor do we have any business standing up to someone else about their sin." -Shelly Zook

     It's so true, and that itself is so sad! Do you have that one friend or even family member that you don't bother to correct or try talking to because you know they will throw your own past back at you? I do, and it's actually a couple of family members.
     Being a Christian means we have a responsibility! We are to love and save the world, but that doesn't mean we back down or allow ourselves to be walked on! Be bold- loving, but bold. We do not sacrifice our morals to prove our love as Christians.
     How can we do this?! They will call us hypocrites or bring up that thing I did when I was a teenager... We have the power to do this because of Jesus Christ! He died for us. We are a part of the Kingdom of God! So why are we allowing guilt over something we have been forgiven for to control our witness and the saving of another person? Read it this way: We are ignoring our forgiveness from God so we can feel guilty and not help or witness to someone else... That sounds horrible. Is that really what God wants us to do?
     I am so blessed that I have a couple of best friends that call me out when I mess up, and that God forgives me. Being a Christian is not easy, especially surrounded by people of the 'the world'. Jesus said:

"If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet." -Matthew 10:14

     It is also mentioned in Mark and Luke. We are not asked or told to stand and accept it.
                                                          It really makes you think...

*Inspired from Pastor Shelly Zook's sermon "Regret-FULL."*

About...

     How can you be a Christian in today's world? Is it even possible? It is really hard sometimes for sure. The world is teaching us that it is okay to be or do anything we want- except to be a steadfast Christian. Sometimes you think about the Bible stories and think how can that kind of God exist today? "Things were different back then than they are today." No, I don't believe so. People have been the been the same for thousands of years.
     The past five years my life and choice to follow God have been incredibly challenged and incredibly blessed. Everyday I relearn how relevant the Bible is today in my life-in this world. Some people think that being a Christian is supposed to be easy, steady, and even unchanging...how wrong this thinking is. Being a Christian is about constant growth, change, and especially challenges.
     This is my growth in keeping faith and following God. In five years I have changed a lot as a person, and my goals/wants for life. No matter what we face it is all about keeping faith, praying, and allowing yourself to be changed for God's will in our lives! I pray this blog helps you in some way.