Grafted By Grace

James and Something New

2012-01-15T14:01:00.000-08:00

For several years, I have done Beth Moore Bible studies with a group of wonderful women. When Beth's new study James, Mercy Triumphs was due to come out, I kept debating over doing it on my own or inviting other women to a group study. Still undecided, I finally just asked for the workbook for Christmas and I would download the videos on my own.

After starting the study, I realized that this time around I needed to have this be just between me and the Lord. And I'm okay with that.

One of the challenges in the book is to memorize the entire book of James in 5 months. I have wanted to memorize large chunks of scripture, but somehow never pushed myself to follow through. Now I had the motivation.

Doing the study and memorizing the scriptures at the same time has made it so much easier. I have something to draw from and relate to as I go. Not to mention, that God clearly had a lot of work to do on me in just the first seven verses. Have mercy!

About the same time that I was getting ready to tackle James, I came across this link about memorizing Colossians on MoneySavingMom.com. Suddenly I didn't feel so 'alone' in my efforts and desire to memorize whole books of the Bible. Even if I was doing a different book over a different time frame, I could still apply many of these ideas to my own memory work.

If you think memorizing scripture is too daunting or that you just aren't good at memorizing things, I still encourage you to give it a try. I am always amazed at how quickly God starts working in my life and on my soul when I commit to memorizing His word. It truly is alive and active and will purify us and transform our thinking when we meditate on it throughout the day and night.

God will never allow us to put that much effort into His word only to leave us the same as when we started. What have you got to lose? Try it - you just might like it!

New Year - New Goals

2011-12-30T11:44:00.000-08:00

I am not one for New Year's Resolutions. But I do appreciate and need goals in my life. Last January when I made out a list of goals for for 2011, I honestly thought they would stretch me and push me, but that they were still very doable.

I had great intentions, after all I believe the buzz word on many blogs was "Be Intentional". I thought I had that. They were good goals. I had some specific goals concerning my marriage and children. I wanted to spend more time in the Word, memorize more scripture, read more, exercise more - and so on.

Each of my goals were clearly defined. For example, I wanted to memorize one scripture per week. Because it would be of my own choosing, I didn't see any reason why that could not be done. Well, that and several others fell far short of what I saw as the victory finish line.

I did read more books, so that was a plus. Although many of the specific goals were unmet, there were other areas that didn't make the list, but were greatly improved. And I learned something about setting goals in my life and what being intentional means for me.

If I don't have a specific reason attached to my goal, I will fail. I want to be in better shape, but doesn't everyone this time of year? However, the reason I want to be in better shape is to be healthy for my family and so that I have all the energy and strength I need to play with my grandchildren.

When I set the goal and have a very specific reason with it and then break it down into doable chunks, I have a much better chance of achieving it.

Some things also need to go. Just adding a long list of "want to-dos" in my life, without removing some other "don't-need-to-dos", I will probably fail again. For example, I do not need to stand in front of the TV mindlessly watching the Today Show before work. Instead, I could be going over my memory verses.

While that might be a small something, I realize there are bigger areas or more undisciplined areas in my life that need some sifting and sorting.

I'm still praying about my goals for 2012 and wanting to make sure that God is very much in the midst of them. And I'm very excited to see where He leads me.

Reading Goals from 2011

2011-12-29T11:15:00.000-08:00

Last January, I made a long list of goals for myself for 2011. One of those goals was to read and finish a variety of books. I have a terrible habit of starting a book or reading several at the same time and never finishing any of them.

So part of my goal was to actually finish a handful of books that I started years ago! I can honestly say I did that.

I also wanted to read some books that have been on our shelves for awhile that I just never could commit to reading. One of them, I started and decided that it was a waste of time in this season of my life. Maybe next year.

Another book, Cost of Discipleship, - well I'm still on Chapter 2. I have owned it for so long and I am determined to make it a priority to complete it before the end of January 2012.

Some of these books were on the list I wanted to read, some were given as gifts and some were just for the pure joy of reading. I also have a handful that are only half-way done. Here's what made the finish line:

You Were Made for More, Jim Cymbala

A Message from God, Retha McPherson

Total Money Makeover, Dave Ramsey

Just Give Me Jesus, Anne Graham Lotz

Intercessory Prayer, Dutch Sheets

Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri Nouwen

Organized Simplicity, Tsh Oxenrider

The Help, Kathryn Stockett

Battlefield of the Mind, Joyce Meyer

Discipline of Intercession, Ed Corley

Jimmy, Robert Whitlow

Whatever Happened to Worship, A.W. Tozer

24-7 Red Moon Rising, Pete Greig

Sacred Marriage, Gary Thomas

A Gift from The Sea, Anne Lindbergh

Eat that Frog, Brian Tracy

Quitter, Jon Acuff

Jesus Calling, Sarah Young

Her Mother's Hope, Francine Rivers (I still have 3 days to finish it)

I do not necessarily endorse all of these books, nor their authors. But I read them and therefore, they are on here. My goal for next year is 24 books. What did you read last year?

Operation Christmas Child -Looking Back and Looking Ahead

2011-12-28T08:12:00.000-08:00

For several years, I have wanted to participate in Operation Christmas Child and prepare shoe boxes of gifts for children. Lack of planning on my part resulted in zero boxes completed until this year. There are three different age groups for boys and for girls and so I thought it would be fun to do six boxes total. One for each category.

I had been gathering items since August when quality school supplies are dirt cheap. Along the way, I also picked up full-size toothpastes, toothbrushes and soap for free. After speaking with a friend who is heavily involved in Operation Christmas Child and learning that some children never have a toothbrush and others may share one toothbrush between fifteen or more children, I knew I would be putting extras in each box.

Then a few weeks before Thanksgiving, I headed out on a Saturday evening to finish grabbing the other items that would go in the boxes. I had some thoughts of what I wanted to get, but I also prayed that God would lead me to specific items for each box. I wanted the boxes to be special and personal for the child receiving it.

That night, I finished packing the shoe boxes (well, actually they were plastic storage boxes I purchased for.74 each at Krogers). Printed off the mailing labels, signed up to receive a notification of what country our box was sent to and sealed them up to take to the drop-off center.

So far we have received a notice of at least one box going to Zimbabwe and one box going to Mali. Only God could have made that possible. I have always had a special place in my heart for Zimbabwe and hope to visit there someday. My husband has regular interaction with a church that sends hospital supplies to Mali.

I mention this ministry now because it is a great time of year to get toys on sale or other items marked down for clearance. Their website has a very easy to follow list of instructions and ideas for what can and cannot go in each shoe box.

Personally, I am going to make a list of the items that I plan on putting in next year's boxes so that I can have it with me when I am out shopping. Some items I may not get until after I have prayed specifically for each child, but other items will be pretty standard for our boxes and I can grab those throughout the year.

Shoe boxes can be filled fairly inexpensively and will bring immeasurable joy to the child who receives it.

The Sound of Christmas Dinner

2011-12-26T13:23:00.000-08:00

A little over 24 hours ago, I had the distinct privilege of sitting down for Christmas dinner with the people I love most. My mother continued the decades long tradition of making the Christmas ham, which my brother declared that everyone must eat or they don't get to open presents. There were bowls full of stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry salad and so much more. An endless feast if you will, where the bowls seem to fill as fast as a spoonful is removed.

Among the food, there is another delight. I stumbled upon it this past Easter. With great anticipation, it is something I came expecting to indulge in during the Christmas dinner. I was not disappointed.

After the food is initially passed around the table, the conversations continue while everyone partakes of the provisions offered them. And then it appears, if you silence your thoughts and your words, you will hear it.

So that is what I did. I didn't concentrate on the words of conversations or even what was on my plate. Instead, I allowed the cadence of sentences, the soft crumple of napkins, the rhythm of breathing, the subtle thud of bowls being placed back on the table, the clanking of silverware upon a plate to form one of the most beautiful serenades you can imagine. With the familiar smells of home-cooked foods from my childhood as the backdrop, there before me was a melody as sweet as one performed by any orchestra.

You know how your heart swells up with joy when you hear beautiful music. That is what happens in that moment for me. The sounds of the voices of my parents, my spouse, my children and other extended family all coming together in that one brief moment before children become restless and the dessert is passed. It is there that the sound of Christmas dinner is at its finest. It is there that blessings from God come to life in a new and personal way and I am forever grateful for that holiday music.

What's the Price?

2011-10-31T17:32:00.000-07:00

For the last few years, I have been diligently working on saving money and buying ahead with the use of coupons and sales. It has been a blessing and a discipline in my life. Not only have we saved a great deal of money, but we have been able to bless others.

In the last year, as I have read comments posted on some of the websites/blogs I regularly visit to find good deals, I have seen an increase in people complaining that they aren't getting just about everything for free. As a result of people abusing the system, the stores have also started tightening the restrictions and regulations associated with coupons and other sales. Ultimately, someone has to pay. Either the consumer pays or the company pays. When both sides play fair and act respectfully, both sides can come out with a pretty good win-win situation. When one side (the consumer in this case) starts demanding all of their 'rights' and taking on an attitude of entitlement, both sides quickly lose. Additionally, those with the attitude of entitlement cause harm to everyone else in the long run.

There are many arguments to be made about companies, greed, abuse of systems, etc. This is not the forum for such discussions, but rather a place to stop and reflect on our own attitudes. I confess that there have been times in my life when I had the entitlement attitude and I am embarrassed to think of how I acted. Truth is - I'm not entitled to anything, but I am called to be thankful for everything.

In every area of our lives, there is a price to pay when we start believing that we are to get everything for nothing. Such an attitude is like gangrene in any community, church, relationship or business. It spreads and it is ugly and eventually it kills what once was healthy and growing.

Perhaps we would be wise to consider the words of Paul in the New Testament: 1 Timothy 6:6-8 "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that."

May we keep our priorities in order and our eyes on Jesus. May our hearts and attitudes be a reflection of who Jesus called us to be in all situations. He paid the price for our sins and we certainly weren't entitled to that!

"Be joyful always; pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

My Weekend Getaway

2011-09-06T17:11:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, the sound of waves gently crashing against the shore. The birds singing in the distance. The cool breeze gently blowing in the windows. Life is good. But wait . . . I'm in Ohio and it is three a.m. and there isn't a beach with gently crashing waves anywhere near here. So what could that sound be?

It is the sound of the alarm clock on the nature setting going off two hours before I have to get up. It is the same sound I hear soon after there are little feet running down the hallway to Nana and Papa's bedroom. A little Simon spent some time with us this weekend and as I was cleaning yesterday I apparently bumped the alarm to the "on" position and it came on playing Simon's favorite tune on the alarm clock. At least it was the gentler of the two he usually picks. When he pushes the other button the cd player will crank out some worship music and he and I will dance to "I'm Trading My Sorrows" or "Yes Lord, Yes Lord, yes, yes, Lord - Amen".

We never seem to get past the first two songs, because by then his attentions have turned to something else in the house and off we go. Or maybe it's because at 19 months he really doesn't have a lot of sorrows to trade and so he can quickly move right along.

I've been working on rearranging my time lately so that it better reflects my priorities.

After all, it will be all too soon until shoes like this fit his feet.

And who knows what paths he will take in life.

I just want to make sure I don't miss a moment of it. Thank you Jesus for the gift of this little boy - yes, yes Lord- Amen.

Overcoming Disappointment & Other Life Stuff

2011-07-08T10:58:00.000-07:00

Ever felt disappointed? If you said 'no', then perhaps you might want to check your pulse. I think it is human to be disappointed sometimes. Discouragement just might be Disappointment's cousin and Frustration would be their best friend. Some of these ugly relatives have tried to move into my house lately. They aren't welcome, no matter how many times they let themselves in the front door or park their bags at the back door.

Maybe you can relate to one of these statements:

"Honey, the washer sounds a little funny."

"Come here and take a look at this, the computer screen says 'critical error'."

"I'm sorry, your washer isn't repairable"

"Hey - why won't the air conditioning turn on? The furnace isn't coming on either".

"Looks like something ate through the wires in your truck (cha-ching)"

"While we were fixing the wires, did you know you needed to have __________ fixed also?"

"What's that noise every time you shift when you're driving the car?"

"You know that noise that it made while it was shifting, it's not doing that anymore. The gearshift broke in two."

"Bubba (yes that's his name) wants to know how much we want for the car"

"M'am - it looks like mice ate through the wires in your air conditioning unit."

"You need to come back next week for more tests"

"We can't tell for sure from the tests. We will have to do surgery in 4 days."

"Honey take a look at these spots on my back."

"You have shingles." (which makes you contagious to your grandson, which means you can't see him for awhile)

We have heard every single one of these and quite a few more in the last several months. While none of them were life threatening and God provided the means to overcome all of them, frustration and disappointment have been nipping at my heels for awhile now.

It would be so easy to sit here and think about the negative. Because let's face it, the negative seems to come up in one way or another on a regular basis at certain seasons/times of life. Sometimes it is like a slow drip, other times like a tsunami.

These are just reminders of why it is so important to stay in the Word and to keep our eyes on Jesus. If we don't, we are likely to find ourselves swimming in a cesspool of defeat and discouragement. Sadly, discouragement is more contagious than the shingles and can be deadly to our faith if we aren't careful.

In each one of those statements above, there was a blessing. Albeit, I'm still trying to figure out the blessing of the shingles, but I'm sure it's there.* If, however, we had taken a 'woe is me' attitude, we would have missed the blessings.

In addition to the blessings directly related to each of those statements, we have seen God's hand at work in ways that make us speechless. He is so faithful.

I pray that you will keep your nose in the Word and your eyes fixed on the One who came to give us life and to give us life to the full. (John 10:10) Don't miss the blessing in the midst of the mess.

( *After I posted this and sat down, God reminded me they could have been much worse. So there is the blessing.)

These Little Feet

2011-06-28T16:11:00.000-07:00

Oh the sweetness! These little feet belong to my grandson, Simon. We have a little ritual when he comes to visit Nana. I get out the ice cream and scoop some in a small bowl for the two of us. It's vanilla, because his Mommy says he can't have chocolate yet.

We start out with me sitting on the kitchen floor and Simon standing up facing me. I put the first spoonful in his little mouth. He likes it.

By the 2nd or 3rd bite, Simon has turned himself around and wiggles himself backwards up into my lap. If my legs aren't situated just right, he pushes them over so he can snuggle up real close.

We finish the bowl of ice cream in this position. It is all I can do not to feed him more than he should have. I don't want this to end.

Every time we sit like this and I look down at his little feet, I thank God for him. I pray that he will want Nana to tell him about Jesus - sitting just like this.

Changes

2011-06-14T18:17:00.000-07:00

Life is full of changes. Sometimes a change seems good, then it seems bad and then you look back and realize it was God and it really was good. Make sense?

This picture was taken almost 3 years ago from the back stoop at my grandma's house.That is grandma's clothesline against the backdrop of the sunrise over the field. Grandma never did own a dryer and maybe this view is why.

We were living there in transition between houses when I took this picture. We lived there for a year. I think I spent most of my time wondering why God wasn't moving us sooner. Sadly I spent way too much time complaining about it too. As I look back, I truly wish I had enjoyed the view and the blessings more. I was only seeing what I wanted to see and not what God wanted to show me.

How often do we get caught up in the act of the change or the inconvenience of the moment and miss the blessing?

A lot of things have changed in the last few months. Little did I know that God would show up so spectacularly and so miraculously in this time of personal transition in our lives. Just like living at Grandma's house, it hasn't all been easy. But I can say - it has all been good.

Blessed be His name.

Kim

For the Love of the Journal

2011-05-25T14:05:00.000-07:00

I have this love-hate relationship with my journal. I love to look back and see where God has taken me on this journey. I hate that I don't journal with regularity. I used to wonder what the 'right' way was to journal. After all, how could you or should you track prayer requests and answers? And what about the details that should be included? Should I just put in the big stuff or should I include things that really didn't seem so significant, but might be significant later. So my life with the journal has been a bit of hit and miss.

Journaling was probably never meant to be this difficult. For goodness sake, it is a spiral bound notebook with lined paper. It is mine to do with it as I please. I'm not doing it for a grade or for a project for school. No one sees it but me and God forbid anyone should see them after I die. They probably wouldn't make any sense to anyone but me anyway.

Monday night after our prayer meeting at church, I wanted to come home and look for something in one of my old journals. As I dug through them and found the one I wanted, I started reading bits and pieces of it. At first I was truly on a search for what I was looking for. But then it became more like a meandering journey of the mind through the past several years.

As I kept reading and perusing the pages that constituted a good portion of my life with Christ, I found something very disturbing. Don't get me wrong, there was lots of good stuff and things I am totally clueless as to why I would have written down at all. But what disturbed me the most was my waning faith.

There I said it. My faith was shrinking right there on the pages of my journal. I kept reading it and wondered what happened to the woman that started the journaling to begin with. If trials make you stronger and draw you closer to Jesus, then I should have been having large leaps of faith growth. But that wasn't what was there.

On the pages of the first journal I saw a "childlike, endless, God can do ANYTHING He wants" faith. I saw a faith that believed in and expected miracles. I trusted that if God said jump, well then, just jump and He will catch you. But then this "oh I am more mature in my faith, don't want people to think I'm strange" woman showed up. We share the same name, but I'm not nearly as fond of her. This person I had become was too logical, played it too safe.

Only one or two journals before that I was asking God to interrupt my life. To draw me so close to Him that I wouldn't question what He asked of me. I prayed for a dangerous, give it all to Jesus kind of faith.

Sometimes it is painful to look back, but sometimes it's absolutely necessary if we ever want to move forward as God intended. I am so incredibly thankful for my journal and for God allowing me to see the truth in it. If people think I'm strange then that is fine with me, because I would rather be strange and full of faith than 'normal' and faithless.

It's the Small Things

2011-05-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it is easy in our world of abundance to forget just how blessed we are. I fall trap to that way of thinking more often than I like to admit.

Sponsoring a child from Compassion this year makes me stop and look at life differently. When I take the time to prepare a small package of very simple items for him, it fills my heart with overflowing joy. Praying over the items brings me back to reality. It really is more of a blessing to give than to receive.

Christ calls us to care for the poor and to preach the good news to the nations. That doesn't mean that we have to go to another country to fulfill His calling for us. We can share the good news of Jesus Christ and help to care for the poor right from our own home. A little time and a little sacrifice is all it takes.

The Secret of Making Your Marriage Work

2011-05-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

"Always give more than you get" was what my mother told me over 25 years ago at my bridal shower. My mother had been married a long time and that advice has served me well. Sadly, I can't say that I always followed it. But by the grace of God and an amazing husband, our marriage has survived all these years.

My thoughts lately have been a lot about marriage and what really does make it work. We have seen way too many marriages end in divorce in the last year or so, while others are barely hanging on by a thread even as I write this.

Then I got an email this week from a friend who wanted me to call another woman about the difficulties that woman was experiencing in her marriage. I knew a bit about the situation they were going through and wasn't sure what advice I could give her that would truly help if she wasn't willing to do some hard work and see it through.

Here is the one thing I have learned over the last 25+ years, you really do have to be willing to give more than you get - or at least more than you think you are getting. If there was such a thing as 'elbow-grease' in marriage, you need that! Hard work and sacrifice and patience and prayer and love that goes beyond words.

Over the last several years, my husband and I have met with and talked to numerous people who are going through difficult times in their marriage. Sadly, the one thing we saw repeatedly was people who wanted their marriage to work, no matter how bad it had gotten, but they weren't willing to do the hard work to see it through. If just wanting your marriage to work was all it took, there wouldn't be a need for divorce attorneys.

There hasn't been a fix-all answer that I could ever give to anyone whose marriage was struggling. But this much I know, you have to be willing to sacrifice and put your spouse first, and in even greater amounts during difficult seasons.

Our marriage has seen a wide-range of trials, testings and blessings. We have survived difficult times when we weren't followers of Jesus Christ. We have survived difficult times when we were following Jesus with all of our hearts. We have seen lean seasons and seasons of plenty. We have walked through busy years of children and adjusted to the empty nest years. We have had difficult times that we share publicly and we have private trials that aren't always meant to be shared.

I say these things, because I want you to understand that it wasn't just because of one particular thing or lack of something that made it work. My husband and I have learned to press on and hold on and to give and bend and fight fair. We pray for each. We try to put each other first and yet I fail too often at this. We have learned to close our mouths and keep our negative words to ourselves when our flesh wanted to just say what it was thinking. We have forgiven 7 x 7 and then a thousand more on top of that.

Although God graciously sustained our marriage even when we weren't living for Him, I can't help but direct troubled marriages back to the Bible to be your guide. Are you personally living as the husband or wife that God called you to be? When you look in the mirror do you see the husband/wife that God intended you to be or something that looks more like a version that has been modified by the world's standards?

Sadly there are times when you can do all the right things and the hard work and pray and sacrifice and a spouse will still choose to leave or will continue an abusive or addictive lifestyle that is unhealthy for you to remain in. The fallen world in which we live is still a reality today as much as it was in biblical times.

But there is hope if you are still married, even if the problems seem too much. As my mother said "always give more than you get". You might just be surprised at what you get in return.

Unlimited Potential

2011-04-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

Turning points in our lives can cause us to revert and focus on weaknesses or they can catapult us into new possibilities. There are many places we can land in between those points, but I am praying that the turning points in my life will catapult me straight into the middle of God's plan and purposes for my life.

Several events lately have caused me to pause and to begin reevaluating my own relationship with the Lord and how to use my gifts. For that matter, I am even having more discussions with God about what gifts and talents He gave me versus the ones I want or the ones I think I have and don't. That will be another post perhaps.

Anyway, if I look at things through my own limited understanding, I will find myself . . . limited. If, however, I sit up and take note of how I see God working in miraculous ways, I find that the limits are the fences and walls I have built in my own thinking.

A couple months ago, I wrote about sponsoring a child through Compassion. Within just a few short days after that, God saw fit for me to meet a man from Rwanda personally. The man walked straight into my office at work. I love the way God does things.

Here's the beautiful part of what I learned about this man. I don't know exactly how he became a believer in Jesus Christ, but he did. He read his bible. And he took God's instructions personally. The bible told him he was to go and reach and teach the world for Jesus Christ. He thought to himself that he would be unable to teach the world about Jesus because he did not know English and so many others did. So he taught himself English.

He also went from teaching a handful of people in an untraditional style of church to leading a church of over a thousand. I forget the exact figure but it was as a lot! No marketing. No advertising. No formal education in the Word. Just preaching and teaching. Right there in the middle of Rwanda.

He is here because his country now has certain requirements that he must meet. I have no doubt that he will do that in record time so that he can get back to preaching the Word and leading people to Jesus.

What would happen in our lives if we began to take God's words of promise and instruction a little more literally? God said it and so I must do it. God promised it and so I must expect it. God forbade it and so I can't do it.

Our potential and power is unlimited when we remember where both come from. May the turning points in my life cause me to tear down the walls of limitation with the truth of God's word and to wait with expectation for the unleashing of his power and provision in my life to do what he called me and created me to do.

I pray there is also a part 2 to this story. I couldn't help but wonder about the timing of meeting this man. So I very boldly printed off what little information I had about the child we were sponsoring and asked the man how close he lived to the boy's village. Turns out he lives only a couple hours away from there. Perhaps someday God will use this man to show my husband and I to the village where Mucyo lives. You just never know.

Your Spouse First

2011-04-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

Two very different conversations that took place in the last 24 hours really have me thinking about marriage and how we treat our spouse. In the one conversation, a person basically stated they were nice to people who weren't family. The indication was clear that you can treat family like dirt, as long as you are nice to strangers. This was in the presence of their spouse. The second conversation was one relayed to me that concerned a couple where at least one of the spouses vacations without the other.

Here's the deal. The person you are married to - where exactly do they rate on your list of priorities and time? Do you put them before yourself and others?

I remember several years ago, probably 9 or so by now, when my husband and I were having a very rare night of dinner alone at home without the kids. It always seemed like we rarely had time to talk when the kids weren't there or something wasn't going on. However, on this particular night, it seemed like within 5 minutes we had covered what we needed to talk about. And in my own mind, at least, there was this very eerie feeling that I didn't really know my spouse. And what would happen to us when the kids moved out?

We had just finished moving into the home we had built. We had full-time jobs. We didn't have financial problems. We had been married a long time. We had two teenagers. But our marriage seemed to be held together by stuff as opposed to substance.

That night was my wake-up call. Although things are very different now, I still remember it as though it was yesterday because I never want to feel that way again.

I often hear people say that you and your spouse should go out on a date regularly. I believe this is especially true when you have little people at home. But when it is just the two of you there, I suggest you take time to talk. You can catch up on what is going on in your lives and other things. But then, take time to talk without the TV, the movies, the dinner guests, or other distractions.

Without a doubt, I believe that your spouse is to be your first ministry. Before the church, before the children, before anyone else. Do you minister to your spouse? I'm not talking about doing ministry together, which is a great thing. I'm talking about ministering to them in ways that show you love them and that they matter to you.

At the end of my days, can I say that I loved my husband well? Will he say that I loved him well?

Have You Prayed for Your Husband Today?

2011-04-05T17:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, if you are a man reading this - Have you prayed for your wife today?

Seriously, have you prayed for your husband or wife today? Years ago when our marriage was still far from God and my husband was not yet a believer, the one thing that God taught me was to pray for my husband. Trust me - it was all God. I just prayed.

I firmly believe in the power of prayer, but I had no idea even where to begin or what to pray. I had no real understanding of the Word and the power of praying scripture. I just prayed from my heart and usually it was at least three times a day.

I got up early in the morning, set my timer for 30 minutes, and just poured my heart out to the Lord. Then again on my lunch break I would read the Word, pull out a book I purchased that gave me some direction and pray through the written prayers in it.

On my way home from work, I prayed. I prayed for time. I prayed that God would do a miracle. I prayed for help in how to answer my husband and how to treat him. I prayed God would help me with the housework so that our home would be inviting. I just prayed. No magic sentences or right order of words, just a pure heart that wanted God to work in my marriage.

Truthfully, I wanted God to fix my husband so that our marriage could be fixed. But what happened was that while God did do a mighty work in my husband's life, he worked on me first. If God had actually answered my prayers in the order I wanted, I would never have been the wife my husband needed. I was too spiritually immature.

Sometimes I thought God wasn't moving fast enough. As I look back, God moved really fast.

One of the most encouraging things my husband said to me during those early months was when he told me that he could tell I was praying for him. I didn't have a clue and I asked him how he knew. His reply wasn't so much that he could tell when I was, but rather he could tell when I wasn't!!

Marriages can be extremely messy and I don't know any that don't have problems from time to time. So whether your marriage is at the top of its game or on the last rung of the ladder of hope - pray.

God designed marriage. He hears you when you cry out to him with a sincere heart. If things are going well, pray for your spouse. If things stink, pray for your spouse. There isn't a thing that you can't take before the Lord. He already sees and knows exactly what is going on.

One of the greatest answers, aside from salvation for my husband, was when God answered my prayer that my husband would have godly friends in his life. I wanted my husband to have godly men who would speak into his life and that he could hang out with. God answered.

Do you pray for his friendships, for his job, for his health, for strength to resist whatever temptations he may face? Do you ask God to bless your husband in specific ways? I can't encourage you enough to pray for your spouse. Don't wait until tomorrow - start now.

Another Child!

2011-03-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting three months to be able to write those words. For some time now, I have had a deep desire to sponsor a child through Compassion International. Kenny and I had talked about it and agreed over two months ago that we believed God was leading us to this commitment. Then somehow life got in the way and we never sat down together to choose the child God would lay on our hearts.

Well today was the day. His name is Mucyo Done and he lives in Rwanda. He is 5 years old and although we have never met him, he won our hearts over with nothing more than a picture. Reading his story only confirmed what we felt in our hearts. My feet may never hit the ground in Rwanda, but my prayers and support can impact someone who walks on it every day.

As if God laying it strongly on my heart wasn't enough, this video just made the commitment and desire stronger.

Thank you Lord for opportunities that are beyond our understanding.

Great Cake to make for those you love

2011-02-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

Many years ago I got this cake recipe from our local newspaper. I have no idea who the original person was that shared it. All I know is I have never had one single piece of this cake go to waste. We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day at our house, but my husband and I are going to dinner at our friends' house tomorrow night with several other couples. I am making this cake to take for dessert. But it would make a great cake for a Valentine's celebration or really just make it because it is chocolate and yummy.

Since I am always looking for new recipes that are tried and true through the years, I thought maybe someone else might be too. So here it is:

Double Fudge Sheet Cake

2-layer chocolate cake mix (prepare according to package directions)

2/3 c. shortening

1/2 c. butter (softened, but not melted)

1 14 oz. can Eagle Brand milk

2 tsp. vanilla

1 16 oz. can DUNCAN HINES* chocolate frosting

Prepare the cake mix. Bake in greased 11 x 16" jellyroll pan at 350 degrees for 15-20 min. Do not over bake. Cool.

Beat the shortening, butter, milk and vanilla together until fluffy. About 10-15 min. ( If you make this cake in high humidity or in the middle of summer, I suggest cooling your can of milk in the fridge first. If the filling still seems to want to separate while you are mixing it, stick the bowl in the fridge for 15-30 min. and then start beating it again. It should not separate.) Spread over cake. Chill until firm.

Soften the frosting in the microwave for about 1 minute. Stir. You can pour it directly out of the frosting can, but I like to take a spoon and drizzle it over the cake to make sure I don't have big globs. Yes - use the whole can.

IMPORTANT: You can use a different brand than Duncan Hines, but the consistency in the frosting is so much better with the Duncan Hines. Go generic and sale on everything else if you want, but don't skimp on the frosting. I have 3 cans of another name brand chocolate frosting in my cupboards, but stopped this morning to buy Duncan Hines and it wasn't on sale either!

Keep the cake refrigerated. Serve generously to those you love.

Oh So Happy

2011-01-30T15:38:00.000-08:00

Life has been . . . hmmm - Interesting would be the right word to describe our life over the last several months. Some details I have already shared on here and others are just too personal. But in the midst of it all, God has been there and has been gracious and oh so very faithful to His Word and to watch over us.

This weekend was one of the most enjoyable and peaceful I have had in many months. Saturday was our grandson Simon's first birthday. WOW. What an absolutely amazing blessing his birthday party was. I will post pictures later :). But beyond the cake, the gifts, and the pictures was the blessing of having Simon's other grandpa and grandma at our house for this event. I am so extremely grateful that God has blessed Simon with grandparents who love and adore that little boy, but are also followers of Jesus Christ. Most of Simon's aunts and uncles were here and his great-grandparents. If you know anything about our family, this is no small feat and nothing but a miracle!

As the birthday party was taking place our 20-year old deep freezer had died and our food was slowly thawing. Oddly enough, I wasn't freaking out with worry as everyone was gathered in the living room celebrating that little boy. And God was so sweet to me in all of it, because although the food was not frozen solid, it wasn't spoiled and thawed completely, so we were able to salvage all of it. After the party ended, we headed off to our local Lowe's (which I dearly love) and purchased a new freezer. Brought it home, plugged it in and then our old freezer had decided to give us its very last best effort by kicking on enough to get us through the night while the other freezer cooled in preparation. To truly appreciate this, you must know that it is only the peace of Jesus Christ that did not cause me to panic, worry and stress for those 24-hours until the food was transferred from the old to the new.

Words will never be able to describe my joy from being in church this morning. While we dearly love our church and the people there, the last few years have been difficult during transitions. The church has been in transition and honestly so have we. I don't know if the church has understood the transition it is in any more than I understand the transition God has had my husband and I in. But whatever the case may be, today was one of the sweetest moments I have had there in a very long time. I can't explain it, I just know that my heart overflowed with absolute joy as I left there today. Not just an emotional in-the-moment kind of joy, but a deep inside me joy. The kind that penetrates the depths of your soul. I left happy. A spirit-filled happy.

My husband is on the phone with a dear friend right now. I hear the faint voices through the door as they talk about what God is doing and sharing scriptures that God laid on their respective hearts. I can hear the dryer quietly running through the laundry room door, my vanilla wood-wick candle is lit and you can hear the faint sound of the wick burning. The Starbucks has been brewed and the coffee pot is full. It is dark out and the house is relatively quiet.

God has been so good to me. No matter how difficult things have been, God was good and faithful through it all. And that is enough to make me Oh So Happy.

Will I Ever Learn?!

2011-01-25T15:19:00.000-08:00

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9 NIV

This is the verse I am currently memorizing. In fact I just wrote it from memory. It's in my head, but clearly hasn't soaked all the way through.

Does God ever lay something on your heart that you don't quite understand and then you go seeking confirmation and direction and input from man? I tend to suffer from the "need-to-know-all-the-details-now" disease on a regular basis. But guess what - if God laid the word or thought in my heart then He is the only one with all the details. Not man.

I wholeheartedly believe that God can and does give others words of affirmation and confirmation to something He has stirred within us. It has happened for me personally and can be of great benefit when kept in proper perspective.

But sometimes God lays something on our hearts or in our thoughts that is from Him and will be fully revealed by Him alone. If I don't understand it, well maybe it is because "His thoughts are higher than my thoughts".

This happened to me in the last 24 hours. God laid something so heavily on my heart that I knew it was from Him. But it didn't make a bit of sense. As I searched the scriptures, I still wasn't finding clarity. Read the commentary - no flashing lights there either. No billboards with explanations on the way home. No angels appearing before me. Nothing.

So I started looking for answers from people I know. Got nothing there either. Do you think that maybe God was not just speaking to me, but teaching me a lesson as well about the verse I am memorizing?

God doesn't always make sense this side of heaven. That's why they call it faith! It didn't make sense that Jesus would raise Lazarus from the dead when Lazarus had been dead for several days. It doesn't make sense that Gideon would go into battle with only 300 men. The list could go on and on. God's ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

Sometimes He gives us a word or places something in our heart that makes absolutely no sense and then we are just to wait and seek Him for answers, clarity and direction.

So I find myself asking for forgiveness for not trusting him. My lack of faith, my reliance upon self and my lack of patience all played a part in my not trusting God to lead me in this.

I am praying that God will still speak to me in this and allow me to learn from my lesson. The scriptures tell us that if we ask for wisdom, we will receive it. But we must have faith.

Perhaps God is reminding me to "Be still and know that I am God", Psalm 46:10a. I need to trust Him more. Talk less, listen more. I am thankful that His thoughts and ways are higher than mine or any mans. I want and need to know that my God is so much more than I could ever imagine. He is more powerful than I understand and more gracious than I could ever fathom.

So I wait - after all He is worth waiting for.

Fighting Back

2011-01-24T07:59:00.000-08:00

I have managed to crawl off the couch, take a shower, eat two pieces of toast and stay upright. It's a good day. 24-hours ago my husband and I had each assumed our positions on either a couch or love seat and stayed there for the day. The flu bug had hit our house. I felt it coming on earlier that morning and so I took the proactive approach of making sure the bathrooms were well stocked with toilet paper and that there were extra liners for the trash cans. The 7-Up was in the fridge getting cold and we had enough medicine that neither of us should have to head out to the drugstore. I have vivid memories of how horrible this junk hit us just one year ago and I was not about to find myself unprepared this time. Thank God it wasn't half as bad as the last round.

While the flu is something that seems to be going around and hitting lots of people (like my daughter, son-in-law and grandson), our turn with it just seemed to come at a point that I wasn't spiritually or mentally prepared for it. When I am sick, my mind tends to have irrational thoughts and I worry more than usual and then I believe it adds to my feeling sick.

Earlier this week, I had already let all kinds of doubts and worries distract me. Our truck decided to just stop running. Thinking that it was just an old-dead battery, we headed to Wal-mart to get a new one. Praise God that my husband had saved the warranty/receipt from the last one and we were able to get a $30 credit toward the new one. However, that wasn't the only issue and so we had to have it towed to the garage to get fixed. Tow bills stink. But I am so thankful for the mechanics who were able to check it out and fix it for under $200 within about 24 hours from the time we had it towed there.

All of this came at a time when I felt like a blanket of doubt and worry were going to swallow me whole. If you ask me what I am worrying about or doubting, I don't even always have words for it. It is just a tactic that the enemy loves to use with me. Many times when I say what I am worried about out loud to my husband, it just sounds well . . .dumb. I worry about dumb stuff that I shouldn't worry about at all and have absolutely no basis for worrying about.

As I rolled over this morning to make a phone call to the doctor for another matter, I decided to first check one of the blogs I follow. I was having a small pity party about the fact that it seemed like either my husband or I have had something physically wrong for three months! We are healthy, we are active and this was clearly becoming a distraction in my spiritual life. Interestingly enough, her post was similar in nature to how I was feeling. A certain amount of sickness and other problems are to be expected in this life. But sometimes it is more than that. Sometimes it is a series of spiritual attacks.

So I decided to fight back on all levels today. I did the practical things like wash all the blankets that were now germ infested, took a shower, took some medicine, called the doctor, ate some toast and had something to drink to re-hydrate myself. I shut off the television. I turned on a praise and worship cd in the basement where we have our bible studies and another one in our bedroom. I grabbed my scripture memory cards and started to say them out loud.

Earlier this month my husband and I had made some intentional decisions about exercise, caring for our souls and bodies and committing to give beyond where we have in the past. We set out some specific goals for the year for scripture memory, scripture reading, and other ministry opportunities. I truly believe that those goals and decisions will allow us to redeem the time in our days that the enemy loves to steal from us. I also believe that it will strengthen us spiritually as individuals and as a couple.

Sicknesses, broken down vehicles and a host of other things tend to get me off track. So today I am fighting back on the earthly seen level and on the spiritual unseen level. I am not going to allow the enemy to steal my peace, my joy or my time with the Lord. I am trusting in the Lord to strengthen me and to protect me and my family. I will do my part in prayer, in bible reading, and other spiritual disciplines. I will be a good steward of all that the Lord has blessed us with. But ultimately, every breath I take, every dime I have, everything I possess, belongs to the Lord and came from Him. He knows my needs and He will meet them.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33

Thank you Jesus!

Someone Lied

2011-01-22T08:31:00.000-08:00

The little girl with the wire-rimmed glasses and way-too-curly hair was very much loved by her family. So love wasn't what was missing. Plenty of food, a warm house, close family, church camp and Sunday school. Seems that life was complete. But somewhere in life the little girl with the wire-rimmed glasses and way-too-curly hair always felt that she needed to live up to Someone's expectations and that somehow she never did.

Someone made the little girl with the wire-rimmed glasses and way-too-curly hair feel like she wasn't pretty enough or smart enough or popular enough. Someone seemed to follow the little girl around and no matter how good she did in school or how many friends she had - Someone told her that wasn't enough.

So the little girl with the wire-rimmed glasses and the way-too-curly hair decided that if Someone thought she should be more and do more and could live up to Someone's impossible expectations - well then, that is exactly what she would do! So little girl set off in life to please Someone.

Someone told her that if she acted a certain way the boys in school would like her. Someone lied. Someone told her that if she had more money and worked more hours that life would be perfect. Someone lied. Someone told her that looks, stuff and achievements determine your value in life. Someone lied.

Someone didn't bother to tell her that her true value and worth was determined by Jesus Christ. Someone should have. Someone always made her feel discontent. Someone should have pointed the way to true contentment in the Truth of Jesus Christ.

Someone didn't seem to be very interested in making sure that the little girl with the wire-rimmed glasses and the way-too-curly hair was secure in who she was because God made her that way. Someone felt that if Someone could just keep the little girl with the wire-rimmed glasses and the way-too-curly hair focused on Someone's unrealistic expectations, then she wouldn't have time to focus on The One and Only God who would set her free from the lies.

Someone seems to lie to lots of people - not just the little girl with the wire-rimmed glasses and the way-too-curly hair. So who do you listen to? Someone or The One?

Committing to Him

2011-01-01T13:08:00.000-08:00

Today is January 1st. The day when many people will start their New Year's resolutions. Unless I am mistaken, it often seems that most people tend to make the same resolutions from year-to-year. Somehow in the middle of the year (or sooner), failing has become acceptable because January 1st will come around again and we get to start over.

I'm not one to make resolutions. This year I just want to finish something. Instead of starting a new bible study workbook, I'm going to work toward finishing one of the three I have started in previous years. Instead of starting over in Genesis in an effort to read through the Bible this year, I'm going to keep going right from where I left off last year and pray that I circle all the way through over the next 12 months. I truly just want to move forward and draw closer to God.

Paul tells us to keep on in the race. To press on and persevere. Don't quit. Although God's mercies are new and sufficient every single day, I don't think God wants us to keep going back to the starting block when we fall or get off track or get tired and just stop. Get up! If you can't get up, call out to God for help.

Just like people who make resolutions to eat healthier, exercise, etc., I need discipline in my life. Spiritual discipline. I become spiritual mush when fasting, prayer, bible study, memorization, worship, solitude and other disciplines are not a regular part of my life. Anxiety sits at the edge of my life waiting to take over when I am not grounded in the Word of God. I know this and I know that I can't rely on my own good intentions and actions to get me through.

In the last month God has also allowed a series of things to happen in our lives that have made me give up control (like I actually had it anyway!) and to rely on Him. In December I had great intentions of taking this blog in a new direction, but I confess I hadn't really prayed about it or sought God on His plan for it.

Then my husband became extremely busy at work and was working very long hours. The long and stressful hours started and his back went out. Our morning devotion/prayer time together was the first thing to go. There just wasn't time if he was going to get through the day. He wasn't sleeping, he was in pain and rest seemed more important than getting up early and spending 20 minutes in prayer together.

My husband's back gradually got better and within less than 24 hours a previous shoulder problem that I have suffered in the past came back. Preparing for Christmas and just sleeping through the night seemed to be huge mountains to overcome. Our morning prayer time still hadn't returned.

One trial after another then surfaced in our lives only days before Christmas. Trials which made me realize that perhaps this year our Christmas gifts would be under the tree in the store bags and that Christmas cookies would not be found in this house. I had to let go and refocus on what mattered and what was important. And I am thankful for God's timing in it all.

All this to say, that New Year's resolutions will come and go. Lord willing, our lives will be filled with joys and trials, with difficulties and blessings over the next twelve months. There will be days when I will wonder why I can't hear God speaking and days when I am overcome with the sheer joy of His presence in my life. Days of suffering and days of abundant blessing.

My desire is simply that each day of this year is one in which I draw closer to God. I want to seek Him more, spend more time together with Him, enjoy the practice of spiritual disciplines and seek to please Him. When my life is grounded in God and His Word, my life will change without a single resolution being made.

Commit to the LORD whatever you do and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3

May your year be filled with the presence of the Lord in every single day!

Grace to you,

Kim

Feeling Overwhelmed? - Part 2

2010-12-04T17:06:00.001-08:00

Sometimes life can leave you feeling overwhelmed. In my own life there are currently three areas that I know I need to work on in order not to feel this way. I am being very intentional about simplifying and de-cluttering in my own home and daily schedule. While there are some things I cannot control, there are some areas that I can certainly make drastic improvements in.

Last year when I started doing the extreme couponing, which I prefer to call being frugal and getting great deals, our cupboards quickly began filling up. Lack of food is certainly not a problem at our house and giving it away helps me to be generous to those in need.

While this is certainly a blessing and not a problem, there are two areas in need of my attention: 1) Coming up with healthy, cost-effective, time-efficient recipes that incorporate what I have purchased and 2) shopping on the reduced budget while adding more healthy foods to our diet.

We have cut our food, toiletries, medicines, paper products budget in half which is fantastic. But I learned last week just how important it is to pay attention to your health and what you put in your body.

When I first wrote about being overwhelmed and becoming a frumpy-lumpy toad, I was gaining over one pound per day. It wasn't from Thanksgiving gluttony, because I tried to watch how much I ate. It wasn't from anything hormonal that I knew of. But by Thursday night, I was becoming really concerned.

Earlier that week I had a serious sinus headache that I couldn't seem to get rid of and so I kept taking over-the-counter medication for it. The medicine wasn't doing a thing for me. Then it hit me, my husband had read that one of the possible side-effects of the medicine was unexplainable weight gain! I stopped taking it and within two days all the added pounds were gone and so was my headache.

All of this to say that it made me very aware that I need to be intentional about what I am putting in my body, what kind of exercise I am getting and thinking about how I want to live out my days on this earth. What I do or don't do today to take care of myself will have an impact in the years to come.

God calls us to be good stewards of our resources and our bodies and it is my desire to honor Him with both. How we feel physically and how we take of ourselves can have a huge impact on whether on not we feel overwhelmed in life

What Happened to Christmas

2010-12-03T15:22:00.000-08:00

Feeling Overwhelmed - Part 2 is going to have to wait until tomorrow. And since I didn't include Christmas on the list of things that overwhelm me, this will just have to be a stand alone post.

For several weeks I have been mulling over and discussing with my immediate family the desire and need to do things differently for Christmas. Somewhere over time and generations of traditions passed down, Jesus didn't seem to be invited on Christmas day.

I followed along with what I knew and then by the time I realized it really needed to change, I felt too guilty and too intimidated to make the bold announcement that we were no longer going to follow the handed down traditions of way too many gifts and no Jesus.

As I type this, I keep thinking that I am probably the only one going through this. But that's a lie from satan. I can be sure somebody else is right there with me even if might look a bit different.

Tonight was the final moment for me as I talked to someone about Christmas and shopping, etc. and half-way through I started thinking "I cannot believe I am having this conversation". There wasn't a chance that there was any room for Jesus by the time all the details of gifts and errands and money was discussed. I think I may have tuned the person out with my own thoughts, so I hope they didn't say anything I will need to remember later.

The secular world has made Christmas into a 'Happy Holiday' and a consumer extravaganza. The "Happy Holiday" has become all about us.

I want to give something to Jesus for Christmas this year. What would please Him? Something beyond a gift to the poor, something beyond extra food to the food bank. How does Christmas truly get turned back around to be about Jesus when the flying wrapping paper on Christmas morning would be enough to lose a baby in?

As I continue to think about what it might look like to take a stand against all the commercialism in heightened form, I can't help but think about the kings in the Old Testament who knew that to stand up for what was right would cost them something materially, but the eternal gain would be so much greater.

Sometimes we just need to do things differently and recapture the true meaning of Christmas in our homes and in our lives.

Feeling Overwhelmed?

2010-12-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

In the last few weeks, I have found myself feeling increasingly overwhelmed. You would think that I would then rattle off a long list of all the responsibilities and activities going on in my life or health or financial concerns. But that's not the case. My feelings of overwhelmedness (my own word) stem from three areas in my life that I can clearly name:

1. Too much stuff in my life and an increasing need and desire to simplify like never before.

2. A sedentary life in my mid-40's which is making me feel like I am going to turn into a frumpy looking toad if I don't do something.

3. A plateau in my spiritual life that needs to be recharged.

In the last three years we have moved twice and hauled off bags of stuff to charities and to the trash. Our kids have moved out taking most of their stuff with them. So you would think we would have less stuff. Not so. I think it multiplies like the dust under the couch.

As I walk into my closet, the clothes are spilling off the shelf and the shoes are falling off the shoe rack. Yet every single morning I find myself wondering "what will I wear to work?" Well, let's see - there are the pairs of jeans that are not going to ever fit again and by the time they do they will be so out of style they could pass for something vintage. There are the shoes on the floor that were probably in style in the 90's or are so worn out they are not worthy of being worn any longer. Not too mention the umpteen other pieces that I'm never going to wear again. Stuff!

I am a pile-prone woman by nature. So if left to myself, I will die in the middle of random piles of stuff in my house. I don't like it. I like a clean, well-kept house. But when you have too much stuff - you get piles. And as the piles continue to steal the space in my house, it also steals my contentment and I feel overwhelmed.

So I am currently a woman on a mission. A mission to get rid of stuff and to do it with intentionality. As I cleaned house tonight, I made sure to take the extra 10 minutes or so and actually go through two piles of stuff in our bedroom and either throw it out or find a new place for it. I opened a drawer to put some cds away only to discover a brand-new 2009 calendar. The calendar and most everything else in the stack went into the trash.

My goal over the next 30 days (yes, right in the middle of the Christmas season) is to go through every drawer and cupboard in my house and get rid of anything that needs to go. If it isn't being used, isn't necessary or will never be used - it needs to go somewhere else.

You know those bottles of lotion under the bathroom sink - the ones that have just enough in them to keep, but not enough to really make you use it? Yep - I have a little collection right there beside the face cream. So I am going to start using it up before I open a new bottle. I may smell like a mixed-fruit basket by Christmas, but at least there will be less clutter.

Tonight I lit all the candles in the house. No - they do not all have different strong scents. Some are just pretty. I like candles. I like the smells. I like the way they make my home feel, especially in the winter. Sadly, I have spent most winters not using them like I want to. Instead, I put them out, pack them up for a season, get them back out and move them around the other candles in the boxes that I never burn either. Life is too short not to burn the candles. If I burn them, there is less stuff to store and more enjoyment in the use.

Life is full of stuff. It can either overwhelm us or give us pleasure. My desire is to truly simplify in every area of my life. By simplifying I will be able to focus more on my family, other people and my own relationship with God and the ministry that he has called me to.

Tomorrow I will write about #2 and the sedentary life of a wife in mid-life and the changes that need to be made to honor God in all that I do.

I Stand Amazed

2010-11-16T16:04:00.000-08:00

Tuesday's are my favorite. For three years, every Tuesday night I was involved in a women's bible study at a camp. Every other Tuesday night a group of men were meeting at our house for prayer and bible study. Very seldom was I home when all the men converged on our basement.

Then God took a different turn with the women's bible study and so now I am home every other Tuesday night while the men meet here. I have been blessed over and over and over again in so many ways by what I experience on those Tuesday nights.

Tonight was no different. The front porch light was off and most of the men enter through the garage. As I sat in the office, I heard footsteps on the porch and a knock at the door. Since the 'regulars' know to walk in the garage and find their way around, I figured this might be someone new.

I went out to the living room, opened the front door and I don't know who was more shocked me or them. They were expecting to come to a men's bible study and here was some woman answering the door and not a man to be seen. (They were in the basement - remember?) My shock was that these two young men, with bibles in hand, couldn't have been more than 25 and I am guessing younger.

Honestly, I hate to admit this, but I thought they were lost. They were the youngest men I have seen come to bible study at our house. As a good hostess, I offered them coffee and they just kind of looked at me funny. I'm not used to that reaction to an offer for coffee, but once I got over myself I showed them to the basement.

Then I think I hummed right out loud the song "I Stand Amazed". It might not have sounded like that to an untrained ear, but Jesus knew. He knows what tune I'm humming even if it really sounds like a poor dog yelping. It's the heart that counts and my heart was beltin' out a tune of joy and praise.

Because I truly do stand amazed at how God works. I pray that those two young men bring their friends and that they shed new light into the lives of those men who aren't, well, in their 20's anymore. And I pray that those more mature fellas feed into those young men and encourage them in their walk with the Lord.

There is much to be gained when more than one generation of godly men gather together to seek after the LORD. Much to be gained when they bow before God in prayer.

As an interesting side note. Charles H. Gabriel, 1856 - 1932, wrote the original version of this song. In his biography, it says that "Settlers in that area (Iowa) often gathered in the Gabriel home for singing sessions and fellowship." My husband and I might not ever write songs, but we believe in gathering often in our home for fellowship. And we invite people who can sing. It's good for some things to stay the same.

Consider the Homeless

2010-11-08T16:00:00.000-08:00

All day today it seemed that my thoughts and prayers kept returning to those who are homeless. I'm not exactly sure why, but I know that God kept laying it on my heart to pray for them today. And so I did. I have friends who have been homeless. They are without question some of my favorite people in my life. Their lives are rich in many ways that someone who has never been homeless would never know. I am blessed to call them my friend.

On my way to and from work every day I drive past two houses not far from us that sit empty. One I am not really sure why it is vacant and the other one most likely a foreclosure based on the way it was left. These houses have also been sitting empty for quite awhile now with no "for sale" signs in the front yard. I don't know what happened in either case. But then I started wondering, what a difference it might make if all those houses that have been sitting empty for so long could be used to house all the people who have been homeless in the last year. Just wondering.

This Bloomberg report stated the following:

"About 18.9 million homes in the U.S. stood empty during the second quarter as surging foreclosures helped push ownership to the lowest level in a decade."

Fox news reported this:

"Overall, 1.56 million people spent at least one night in emergency shelters or transitional housing, the report said. One-third of those individuals were part of a homeless family.

Volunteers counted 643,000 homeless people, sheltered and on the streets, during one given night in January 2009, the report said."

It seems to me there a lot more vacant homes than there are homeless people. I know there are many more factors to consider, but sometimes I get tired of rationalizing away hope. Sometimes it's just good to consider the homeless and consider how we might make things different.

The $5 Giving Challenge

2010-11-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

For the last several weeks I keep hearing "be generous", "be generous", "be generous". God just seems to be telling me the same thing over and over and over. The Scriptures are full of commands and instructions on being generous. Somehow I have felt as though God has a very specific purpose in pushing me to be generous beyond our regular tithes and offerings. As I have continued to seek God's instruction as to what He desires, there is something that has come to mind that I am really excited about.

After many months of couponing, sales, stockpiling and playing the drug-store game, my cupboards are overflowing. There are bags of items waiting to go to the homeless shelter this week. There are items bagged and ready to give to a Christian pregnancy program for new moms. We regularly give out of our cupboards to others as well.

So this week I am going to start something new: "The $5.00 Challenge". The goal is to take $5.00 and with the drug-store sales, Kroger deals and coupons get as much food or other items as I can to donate to food banks, homeless shelters or others. In other words, the challenge is to see how much I can get for my $5.00 by spending wisely and taking advantage of sales and coupons.

So far I have purchased: (2) full size Secret deodorants; (1) Oil of Olay Quench Body Wash 23.6 oz; (1) Oil of Olay Ultra Moisture Lotion 11.8 oz; (4) cans of Campbell's Select Harvest Healthy Request Soup - 18.6 oz each; and (1) can of sliced peaches. Total spent: $3.07

Krogers is having some amazing sales this week so I will most likely grab more groceries that are on sale. I can get another 4 boxes of name brand cereal for $1.96 total which would finish out the $5.00. For the $5.00 invested, I was able to purchase $29.49 worth of name brand products.

"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each many should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

Just doing what I love so that others might benefit and giving all the glory to God.

Blessings to you

Kim

Less is So Much More

2010-10-31T16:35:00.000-07:00

For months now I have been mulling over thoughts of living a simpler life and what that might look like. I tend to get excited about something, want to just 'get going' and then realize that it might not be very realistic in the long run. But a simpler way of life just keeps drawing me back.

When we moved three years ago, I remember feeling such shame over all the stuff we owned. It just didn't seem right. I felt horrible guilt as I watched our dear friends hauling out load after load after load of material objects. I swore that I would never be burdened by that much stuff again. So we got rid of a few things. Well actually we got rid of a lot of things, but it was few in comparison to what was left.

We moved into our current home and I felt reasonably okay with what was left. Not great, but not guilty any longer. Funny though. The rooms are beginning to shrink again with things that we (I) hold onto just in case we might need them someday. I come by this honestly. I remember my dad wanting to keep the spring off of a broken mouse trap once because you just never know when you might need a spring that size. My mom threw it out. So this is not all my fault, it is in my DNA.

A little over a year ago I started seriously couponing and stockpiling and while that has simplified our finances and allowed us to bless others, it has not necessarily simplified our storage. So currently, I am focusing on some new ways to shop, save and share as Ellie Kay says. God calls us to be good stewards of our finances and material possessions. God also calls us to be generous and to share, as well as to save for the future so that we are not a burden on others.

Throw into all of this the fact that in the last two weeks, my i-pod just quit. Worked fine and then didn't work at all. Four days later my cell phone just disappears from cyberspace. The phone worked, but somehow my phone number got lost in space. Seriously. My phone and my number could not find each other. After three days of on again and off again with the phone, our computer crashes and is eaten alive by a nasty virus. I have two words for you "back up". Needless to say we are paying for not having backed up all of our digital pictures and files. They are recovered, but there is a price to pay. Alas, I just got off the phone with our internet provider because our internet was not working properly.

As I climbed back behind the TV to get to the modem for the internet and I once again looked at all the wires and cables and dust, it just reminded me of how complicated life got in trying to be more efficient. Exactly when did this happen?

So into the office I went to find a book I recently got from the library. "Freedom of Simplicity" by Richard Foster. I really want to just write out the entire first two pages here for you to read. But how about just a small taste of what Richard Foster has to say:

Contemporary culture is plagued by the passion to possess. The unreasoned boast abounds that the good life is found in accumulation, that "more is better". Indeed, we often accept this notion without question, with the result that the lust for affluence in contemporary society has become psychotic: it has completely lost touch with reality. Furthermore, the pace of the modern world accentuates our sense of being fractured and fragmented. We feel strained, hurried, breathless. The complexity of rushing to achieve and accumulate more and more threatens frequently to overwhelm us; it seems there is no escape from the rat race.

Interestingly, Richard Foster wrote this book in 1981. Somehow when I look back on my own life, 1981 didn't seem so complicated to me; which tells me that there is something even far more simpler than I can imagine.

I don't believe there are easy answers or a one-size-fits all answer to living a simpler life. Each person or family faces different situations or challenges and must seek God's direction for them personally.

However, I have found a few things to be true. By changing my spending habits, thoughts and routines, spending less has resulted in us having more. Less on my calendar has resulted in more quality family time with my husband and children. Less ministry obligations has resulted in more personal ministry. Perhaps less really is so much more.

The Blessing of Noise

2010-10-31T09:50:00.000-07:00

I believe we may have the noisiest dishwasher known to man that was ever manufactured in this decade. Seriously - for something that looks so sleek in its stainless steel decor, it is loud - really LOUD. Please understand I love my dishwasher. Several years ago, we had a quiet dishwasher and I thought I would be more frugal and do our dishes by hand. Certainly didn't want to waste the electric. Then we moved. And our house didn't have a dishwasher. In fact, the water pump was known to just stop at random and we didn't even have water. On top of that the sinks were really small and not very deep and so the dirty dishes would quickly run onto the counter if not done quickly. Oh how I longed for a dishwasher then!

We moved and God blessed me with another dishwasher and one of the stainless steel line. Oh happy was I. I am not all about looks and having the latest gadgets, but this was just nice and already part of the kitchen. We had an open floor plan again, which means for us that the dining area and the living room and kitchen all open into one another. Exactly the way I like it. We had a house once where the kitchen was completely separate from the other living areas and I hated it. I always felt like I wasn't able to participate in all the family fun. So this house, with this floor plan and this dishwasher was a grand gift from God indeed.

However, this dishwasher causes just a few complaints from various family members who either live here or come to visit for any extended period. Quite frankly, I try to arrange the washing of the dishes around our schedules of guests or other quiet time. Personally I think it's loud too, but I am just really, really grateful to have it.

As I loaded up the dishwasher today and knew that I would be running it during the football pre-game shows, it occurred to me that the dishwasher should be a constant reminder of the overflowing blessings in my life. Because you see I can't run it when:

1. Our grandson Simon is here and he is napping.

2. Our children are here and we are having family dinner and good conversation

3. The men's bible study is meeting at our house

4. The women's bible study is meeting at our house

5. We are watching TV (translated to mean: thankful we have a TV and have eyes and ears to watch and hear it)**

6. We have company

7. We are spending time in the Word of God and seeking silence

And I am blessed that I have to run it because:

1. We have had food to eat

2. There is fresh, hot banana-blueberry bread cooling on the counter

3. There are coffee cups to wash after having shared it with my husband

4. There are extra dirty dishes because our children have come to visit and eat with us

5. There are extra dirty cups from the fellowship of bible study groups

6. We have coffee to drink from the cups :)

7. I have a mixer and mixing bowls to use to make desserts

8. I have pans to wash that were used on the blessing of our stove

9. We have electric to make it run

10. We have the hope of another meal to put on the plates

Oh Lord that I might see the blessings in the midst of the noise.

**My husband tells me this is not true - that I won't be watching TV, but will be napping, which may or may not be true, but will definitely be likely.

Stages of Life

2010-10-23T18:35:00.000-07:00

My daughter recently asked "when do mom's actually get to sleep through the night"? Simon is only 9 months old and his sleep and eating patterns change, which means that Jillian and Shane don't always see many hours of continuous sleep sometimes. She asked this of me about a month ago when she knew that I had been up during the night praying for my children.

I always figured that whatever age my kids were was the most difficult, especially the pre-teen to teenage years. While there were plenty of good and wonderful things, there were also lots of fearful times and trying times. For example - the first time you let your 16-year old drive in the snow to school or the first time they start dating someone or when they head off to college or . . . or . . . or. The list could go on. You get the point.

And then I had adult children. Yep, that's what happens if you see them through the teenage and college years and you all live to tell about it without having strangled one another. No one tells you about this stage. You just don't hear about it. When our kids lived at home, I knew if they came home safely and were in bed. I knew if they were eating and had enough money (they'd ask for more if they didn't). I knew they were warm and healthy and had what they needed.

But then they grow up and move out. That's when you inherit a whole different set of concerns and prayers for them. I can't quite explain it, but you just want to make sure everything in their life is good. It is usually best if they don't tell me about a mean co-worker, customer or other mean adult in their life, because I have discovered the Mean Mama in me rises to the surface and wants to have a word or two with anyone who would dare insult or hurt my children or their feelings. I know that is very mature of me, but it's the truth. Don't mess with my family.

Then there are grandchildren. I watched my daughter and son-in-law feeding Simon tonight. What fun! As he opened his little mouth with great expectation of the next bite of baby food. He would open and there they were ready, able and prepared to meet Simon's needs. I am so extremely grateful for every part of that.

But something within me wondered what a mother must feel like if her child is hungry and she can't feed him. I thought about Hagar sitting in the desert with Ishmael and how she had nothing for him to eat and was forced to put him under a bush and wait for him to die. God saw them in their desperation and rescued them.

While I want everything to be right in my children's lives, I sometimes forget the abundance of blessings that surround us and the great gifts and comforts with which we live. God sees us. All the way home tonight from our daughter and son-in-law's house, I kept thinking about how God must feel about us. If I take offense when one of my children is offended or hurt, how much more so will God look after his children when the enemy attacks. If I am up at the wee hours of the morning and night praying for my children, how much more so is Jesus Christ who sits at the right hand of God and lives to intercede for us. If I delight in watching my children and grandson and spending time with them, how much more so must God delight in spending time with us.

I am continually amazed at what God teaches me about my relationship with Him through my relationships with my children. Isaiah 49:25b says: "I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save". The LORD "will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom." Isaiah 40:28

While I will fall asleep and am not always able to contend with those who contend with my children, I am so thankful that the Lord won't grow tired or weary and that He will fight for us. To God be the glory forever and ever. Amen!

P.S. Found this quote after I wrote this post. I think I'm going to post it all over my house!

"AS A MOTHER, MY JOB IS TO TAKE CARE OF WHAT IS POSSIBLE AND TRUST GOD WITH THE IMPOSSIBLE.”--RUTH BELL GRAHAM

When I Grow Up I Want to Be A . . . ?

2010-10-19T15:41:00.000-07:00

Remember as a little kid how everyone would ask you what you wanted to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a teacher. In second grade our teacher made us draw pictures of what we wanted to do when we grew up and I drew a math teacher. As a child, I would head to the basement of our house and pretend I had a classroom full of students as I taught them math and worked out the problems on the chalkboard. Once I tried to impress a group of adults in high school by telling them I wanted to get my Ph.D. in computer science. I had no idea what that would involve, but it sounded good. Being a professional figure skater crossed my mind, but I don't ice skate. In sixth grade I thought I wanted to be a back-up singer for someone famous - like K.C. and the Sunshine Band. But I can't sing. Oh and I'm not a teacher either.

A few weeks ago, I turned 45 and I am still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. My math is still pretty good and so I would say I am at mid-life. My grandmothers lived to either be 90 or close to it, so I am at the half-way mark. Plenty of time to decide if God blesses me with many more years.

Except here is the problem, if I want to follow God and his leading and be obedient there is a good chance my ideas for my life probably aren't going to line up the way I think. Goodness knows they haven't in the last 7 years. I think one thing and God points me a different way.

But there are a few things that keep coming to mind. I want to be intentional. I want to be intentional in the time I spend with my husband and my children and grandson. I want to be intentional in my relationship with Jesus Christ. I don't want a mediocre life.

I want to simplify and take time to rest. I want to pursue Jesus passionately, but not burn out. I want to live with a bold faith, but remain humble. I want to be the church and not just go to church. I want to encourage other women in their walk with the Lord and in life - marriage, kids, money, and all the other stuff. I want to be frugal and give generously. I want to pray more and trust God more. I want to have a grateful heart, not a greedy heart. I want to memorize the scriptures and live life like I have.

Occupation? Well that's just a title. What I do for a living when I grow up and who I am when I grow up aren't the same. Jesus was a carpenter - that's what He did. Who Jesus was - well that's different. I want to be like Jesus.

Connect the Dots

2010-10-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

As a child, I loved connect-the-dots books or any word game books. There are six years between my brother and I, so it was kind of like being an only child in many ways. Since I grew up during a time when you had to actually get up and turn the knob on the tv to change the channels and it actually shut off after the late-night news, technology was not something that I was entertained by. We lived in the country and so my imagination, books and word games were my best friends. To this day, I love to play games, do word search puzzles, and read. I must confess that while I am pathetic at sports, I will fight fiercely to win any word scramble game at any and every bridal and baby shower I attend; thus I have won some great gifts over time. I will promptly take a picture of my latest win and text it to my daughter because while she knows I am quirky that way, she loves me and understands.

For me there is just something thrilling about putting the letters together in a word game or the pieces together in a puzzle. I like the challenge of it. You may not think there is much challenge there, but I guess it depends on how you look at it. I can look at a puzzle or word game and nonchalantly put the pieces together and just relax as I do it. Or I can look for a pattern in the puzzle and see how it might go together or challenge myself to do it faster or more creatively. Both ways are fine and cause me to use my brain cells, which is also good.

So, you may wonder - what's the big deal about puzzles and connecting the dots and word games? Nothing. Except that today God used the analogy between connecting-the-dots activities and His Word to teach me something in a practical way.

One of my scripture memory verses in the last year or so has been 1 John 3:21-22 (NIV) Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.

I have prayed this back to God and have held onto it tightly as a promise from my Savior. However, I have never felt like I truly understood it or had fully captured the power intended in it. Something was missing for me. And today, I was able to connect-the-dots.

I am currently reading "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" by Jim Cymbala again for the second or third time. In his book, he referenced Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

And there it was - the missing part of the puzzle so to speak. Do what pleases him - what pleases him is having faith. Okay, part of the verse dots are now connected. Now what about obeying his commands. I have a book titled "Devotional Classics" which is a compilation of devotions and writings from people like C.S. Lewis, Dallas Willard, Martin Luther, etc. One of the exercises in it references Matthew 28:16-20 where Jesus tells his followers to "obey everything that I have commanded" and then you are instructed to go through the Gospel of Matthew and list all the things Jesus commanded. Upon doing this, you are told that your list will be "a mosaic of what the basic Christian life should like according to Jesus." That's the other part I needed to know for the scripture in 1 John. Exactly what has God commanded me to do?

The Word of God is a lot like connecting-the-dots sometimes. Each scripture, each word, each passage is a part of a bigger picture. When we are able to, through God's grace, start putting the pieces together and connecting the scriptures to each other, we will find a more intimate and powerful picture of what life in Christ is to look like.

So that is what I am going to do next. Make the list of the commands in Matthew. It will be in an odd sense like a word search game. You know it is there, you just need to study it and search until you find it. I love the way God works!

Scripture Memory

2010-10-03T16:28:00.000-07:00

I have my verse for this time memorized. I memorized it the first day (October 1st). Posting it has been a little more difficult because God is holding me accountable to this one like no other.

Psalm 34:1 NIV I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.

Extol means to praise lavishly. This is more than a simple thank you Lord and acknowledgment of who He is and what He has done. Praise lavishly. Just let those words sink in a bit. How often do I lavish praise on the LORD? At all times? Not even close. His praise will ALWAYS be on my lips. Always? But what about when life gets hard or things aren't going well or my feelings got hurt or I'm scared? What about then? Is the praise of the Lord on my lips when life is difficult?

For some reason God has really impressed upon me that I am not just to memorize this scripture, I am to live it. It is to become a way of life for me. I realize that we are to apply all of the scriptures to our life and live our life according to them. But I also believe that God speaks to us individually through the scriptures at different times according to the work that He is doing in us.

I am thankful for this scripture and I am thankful that God is drawing me closer to Him through it. What are you memorizing? What scripture is God using in your life right now?

Needin' to be cleanin'!

2010-10-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

My husband and I got home Thursday night after a few days away for our 25th anniversary. I am excited to tell you about that later, but today I NEED to clean house! Okay, I WANT to clean house, but I also need to. Can someone please explain to me where all the dirt and dust comes from when you aren't even home?

We are pretty good about getting home, unpacking, putting stuff away and getting the laundry done. But today I am looking at my house thinking that I will go nuts if I don't clean it before I go to bed tonight. I am pretty serious about observing the Sabbath as much as I am able, so cleaning tomorrow isn't an option.

Our totally adorable grandson, Simon, has been with us since yesterday which only magnifies the dirt that I see lying under the kitchen counter and everywhere else. Not because he did anything, but now that he can crawl all over the house I notice every crumb on the floor that he could put in his mouth. Thankfully he can't climb yet or he might get stuck in a cobweb. Fall in Ohio means a lot more cobwebs in and outside of the house and ours is no exception.

Maybe it is a control issue, but I prefer to think of it as good stewardship of what God has given us and that it needs to be taken care of. All I know is this, I will be a cleanin' fool before I go to bed tonight. Thankfully my husband is great about helping when I get in this mode. And he has his own obsession - clean windows. Oh how I praise God for that because I hate washing windows.

Yep - life is back to normal and it is good.

Growing Up

2010-09-30T16:50:00.000-07:00

Do you remember being a child and something bad would happen and you knew that your mommy or daddy would just take care of it? You knew that you could just go to sleep and in the morning it would all be better. Life sometimes seemed complicated as a child, but most of those complications weren't really that complicated. Our perspective was just much different because we were children.

Then we became adults and somehow we had to suddenly learn how to take care of the complications in our own lives. There are far less "just go to bed and it will be better in the morning" scenarios. I'm not talking about being tired or having the flu. I'm talking about the serious stuff. Over the last 20+ years of being an adult, I have faced plenty of trials. Sometimes I really did just want to go to bed and pretend that everything would be better in the morning. Other times I went straight to denial. If I don't acknowledge it, then it isn't really a problem is it? Those are two very adult-like, responsible ways to handle life - not!

Eventually God taught me to take everything to him in prayer and to persevere and see it through. God would do his part, but I needed to not give up or give in. I needed to continue in fasting and prayer and hold on to the promise of His Word. It wasn't always easy and still isn't, but God has been faithful.

But here's the deal - sometimes I still want to go to bed and not deal with something difficult. I want to just pretend this isn't happening and then it will be better. And that is a lie. Nothing is impossible for God and no one or any situation is out of God's reach. God, however, needs me to stand firm and to continue to bring it to Him in prayer. I need to trust God and his Word and hold fast to the promises that He has given me. I need to see it through. Things may not go the way I want or hope and well, that's okay. God's plan is perfect and right and greater than I can fathom or imagine. I have also learned over the years that sometimes the answer we seek will cost us something. It isn't always just an "ask and get it" policy. God desires our obedience and sacrifice as we follow after Him and seek His blessings and provisions. This is part of growing up in our faith.

As I sought God in prayer this week, I found my way into Psalm 107. It was either by Divine appointment that I landed there or a complete accident. I prefer to believe Divine appointment, because it was exactly what I needed to know and hold on to. Praying scripture has never failed me and I am trusting once again that God's Word will hold true and powerful in every possible way.

No matter what our age or situation, we have a Father who hears us and is able to do exceedingly more than all we can ask or imagine; a Father who is able to do the impossible. We have a heavenly Father who hears our prayers and praises and can save us in our time of need. Whether you are praying through something in your own life or interceding for someone else, may you persevere in prayer and be strengthened by His Word in your time of need.

Grace and blessings to you

Kim

Countdown to 25

2010-09-27T17:07:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow my husband and I will celebrate our 25th anniversary. Later this week I will post more about that. But this weekend, we had the opportunity to be somewhere having breakfast where there were several older people - older couples to be exact. It was such an incredible joy to watch them. I could have easily gone up to all of them and asked them to tell me their story. I wanted to know how long they had been married, what trials had they survived, how the met and on and on. I like being married and keeping my husband happy, so I refrained from going around asking personal questions of complete strangers.

But it didn't keep me from people watching and smiling as I did. Little old ladies and little old men opening doors for one another, waiting on the other to come along as they moved about. Watching them eat breakfast together. How much fun to see them eating the same foods, as they though over time their choices had grown to be similar. Lovely older women with their jewelry just so and their lipstick on just right. After all, they still wanted to look good for their man. The men were opening doors for the women and waiting on them to sit down before they started eating. There is something endearing about the unspoken way that couples who are at that stage of life and after many years of marriage somehow just know what the other wants and needs. No words were necessary.

The last 25 years have been anything but boring. The next 25 are going to be better. I pray that God allows us to grow old together gracefully and that He is gracious to us. One of the joys of growing older will be the blessing of growing together.

No Regret Thursday

2010-09-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

God has given me plenty of things to list this week that I do not regret. The lessons have been plentiful and my head about hurts from the various ways God is speaking to me and teaching me and refining me. I never regret it when the Lord purifies and sanctifies my soul. If you smell something burning right now, that would be the dross the Lord is removing from my soul as He has allowed me to walk through a bit of fire this week. Okay, if you really do smell something burning perhaps you should go check. But here is this week's list of things

I DO NOT REGRET

1. Being obedient to the Lord

2. Eating way too many shrimp at Red Lobster last week

3. Being obedient to the Lord even when things don't turn out like I thought they would

4. Being obedient to the Lord when the enemy tries to mess it up

5. Choosing Jesus

6. Not shopping at Wal-mart

7. Resting in the Lord

8. Waiting on the Lord

9. Eating Starbucks ice cream

10. Not giving in to gossip

2 Corinthians 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

So what do you Not Regret?

Grace to you,

Kim

What's for Dinner?

2010-09-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

I have been in an absolute slump lately as to what to cook for dinner. Tonight was no different. On top of that, I needed to cook something that would yield some leftovers for tomorrow night. When all else fails, cheeseburgers and french fries will work just fine. I had hamburgers already in the freezer that were in patty form from a previous meal I had prepared for. So this was going to be simple. Homemade fries and burgers on the grill.

Thawed the hamburgers. Heated the oil for the fries. Grabbed the matches to light the grill. We have a gas grill, but the starter quit working and so you need to use a match. Turned on the propane tank, turned the first knob on the grill, lit the match and threw it in. Turned the three other knobs to "on". Then checked to make sure that everything was lit properly. Hmmm - what is that in the corner of the grill? A pile of grass? Why would my husband or son put a handful of grass in the corner of the grill? Were they trying to startle me in some way that they would find funny? Were they just being lazy and threw it in the corner of the grill instead of the trash? I leaned in a bit to see what it was or what it smelled like? After all I had already reasoned it was not a bird's nest due to the location in the grill. So what could it be?

Then it happened. Not something I could have ever imagined and nothing that my husband or son could have set up to make me scream. There they were popping out of the top of the grill - baby mice! Now lest you think that I should have rescued them, I am a country girl through and through and mice are not something you rescue. You will have to visit another blog to find that.

I am still trying to overcome the sight of mice popping up out of my grill and running off the deck. If you are wondering did I still cook the burgers on the grill? Are you kidding me! - Frying pans work just fine.

No Regret Thursday

2010-09-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday, which I am now thoroughly convinced rolls around more often than Monday. The list could be long this week of things I don't regret. Some of them are not meant for posting and some will have to wait until next time, unless they get bumped. I am seriously hoping that next week I can tell you I don't regret all the shrimp I ate at Red Lobster with their "All-you-can-eat shrimp" deal. But here is this week's list of things

I DO NOT REGRET

1. Spending time with my grandson Simon

2. Letting my grandson pull my hair while he 'smooches' my cheek

3. Taking a season of rest from the regular bible study routine

4. Not posting "I Do Not Regret" posts for the last couple of weeks

5. Making sacrifices so that my husband and I can get away together

6. Any of the family vacations we took with our children

7. Staying up really late to play games and spend time with my son, daughter & son-in-law

8. Buying used Bible Commentaries

9. Baking cookies - even if they don't last long!

10. Memorizing scripture

My verse for this time: His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3 NIV

2 Corinthians 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

Grace to you,

Kim.

The Gift of Hunger

2010-09-13T14:42:00.000-07:00

Living in a culture where we can have whatever we want to eat at any hour of the day or night, we tend to take for granted the idea of hunger. After all, we often satisfy our hunger before we are even hungry. I know that hunger can also be associated with all sorts of difficult and negative situations, such as poverty, eating disorders, etc. But for one moment, let's look at hunger as a gift from God.

Without hunger, the scents and smells coming from the local bakery of fresh baked bread would not hold the same meaning for us. Without hunger, where would family dinners and family recipes fit into our life? Hunger actually gives us much pleasure. In our hunger, we appreciate a good meal. We desire to grow vegetables, bake pies, use our hands and minds for creative meals. Hunger makes us depend on God even if we never acknowledge it. Hunger causes our senses of sight, smell and taste to come alive. Hunger awakens our sense of hearing as we hear the steak cooking on the grill. Every part of our being can enjoy a good meal or a favorite food that we haven't had in a long time. In our hunger, we may desire foods that are associated with pleasant memories. Hunger in its proper place is a gift from our Creator.

In our hunger, we appreciate the end of a fast. The Last Supper would have seemed so different if people were not gathering to eat. Manna from heaven, ravens providing food for on-the-run prophets, sacrifices of the last oil and grain and so much more would have little meaning for us if we did not have the gift of hunger. Hunger provoked the blessings and miracles of the loaves and fishes. Hunger required obedience. The gift of hunger allows us to fast. The gift of hunger brings to life the miracles of the Old & New Testaments.

The gifts of God come in so many forms that we tend to overlook or take for granted. My prayer is that God will continue to open my eyes to see the multitude of blessings that fill our daily lives that so often remain unnoticed.

Time to make dinner. My husband is almost home!

Blessings to you,

Kim

Just a Little Breakdown

2010-09-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

Time to get back in the blogging ring and up the posts a bit. If you have ever read this blog before, you probably know I love the whole saving money/coupon clipping thing. Some people tell me it isn't worth the time. Here's a little run down from today, thought it might inspire any coupon skeptics:

Started the day with a shower (shampoo, conditioner, body wash and razor - free). Put my contacts in. (Contact solution - free). Washed face with name brand face wash. (Free) Brushed my teeth. (Toothbrush and toothpaste - free). Applied name brand moisturizer to my face and another brand of eye cream under eyes. (Both free after rebates and coupons) Loaded up the hair with name brand styling foam (less than .50 for whole bottle). Almost forgot - name brand deodorant applied before getting dressed. (Free)

Breakfast for me was actually leftovers so that doesn't count. However, it very easily could have been a bowl of name brand cereal (choosing from one of about 10 different varieties in our cupboards). All of them free or under .50/box.

For lunch the three of us had buffalo chicken salads. Lettuce (.60 - manager's special at Kroger's) Shredded cheese (.25 - used about 1/4 cup from a package that cost $1.00 on sale) Fresh sliced mushrooms. (.25 - manager's special was .50 for 8 oz. only used 1/2 package) Tomatoes - free from garden. Chicken breast ($5.37 for 3 lb bag courtesy of my daughter's savvy shopping - used 2 chicken breasts so about $1.75 for lunch) Name brand hot sauce to make the chicken "buffalo style" (free). Name brand ranch dressing. ($1.00 for whole bottle - hardly used any)

Spent the afternoon in a beautiful setting of large oak trees, warm sunshine, the scent of Fall, and a blue sky with large white clouds. (All free courtesy of God). Furniture to sit on the deck - paid cash with savings from grocery money after using coupons and snagging a 70% off outdoor furniture sale at Target last summer. Feeding of the soul - free from the Word of God.

Baked 3 dozen oatmeal craisin cookies. ($1.75 total cost for ingredients after stocking up on name brand craisins for $1.00 per bag on sale this summer) House filled with aroma of fresh baked cookies. (Free)

Supper for three - bowtie pasta with name brand pasta sauce and sausage stuffed banana peppers and cream cheese/sausage filled jalapeños. Bowtie pasta (.25 - used 1/2 of the box and the whole pound of pasta was .50) I stocked up on pasta during previous sale at Krogers. Pasta sauce ($1.00 for 1/2 jar of $2.00 total cost. We are very name brand loyal on the pasta sauce, however, so this could have been cheaper). Banana peppers and jalapeños - all free from our garden. Name brand cream cheese to stuff jalapeños - free from Kroger mega event and catalina deals. I stocked up on the cream cheese after making sure to check the expiration dates. The sausage was $2.50 (could have gotten this cheaper, but I didn't want to wait for the sale). I mixed up the whole pound for the peppers and only used half of the mixture. So when the other peppers are ready, I will pull the remaining sausage mixture out of the freezer and be ready to go.

Ran a dishwasher full of dishes after lunch and filled it again after baking cookies and dinner. (Dishwasher detergent free from a great sale at drugstore earlier this year) Washed remaining items by hand. (Dish soap free with coupons and sale at drugstore)

Heading back to the kitchen to make a pot of Starbucks coffee. ($3.98 for 12 oz package manager's special at Kroger, used $1.00 coupon on purchase for a total of $2.98 for 12 oz of whole bean Sumatra). Cost of coffee for the evening - .50.

All of these deals were from using coupons and pairing them with great sales at a grocery store that doubles coupons, along with using rebates and drugstore chain deals. Yes, drugstore chain deals was what you just read. Drugstores are typically higher priced than your national "W"store. But if you watch the sales, rebates and learn how to effectively use their promotions, you will never pay for basic hygiene items again (or at least you will get them for pennies on the dollar). When was the last time you got anything free from the national "W" store?

Total for 6 meals, 3 dozen homemade cookies, one pot of Starbucks Sumatra coffee and all personal products for 3 people today: $7.60

Feeding of the soul also provided my current verse for my Scripture Memorization:

You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me;

you stoop down to make me great. Psalm 18:35 NIV

Remembering that it is God whom I seek to please and God who sustains me helps to keep my daily perspective in order.

Praise be to God and blessings to you

Kim

Sometimes

2010-09-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it is okay to not answer emails or blog or send timely thank you notes or promptly respond to text messages. Sometimes it is okay to lay our agendas aside and to lay our people-pleasing standards aside and all that we deem important and do what is important. Sometimes we just need to listen and be available and be Jesus as best we know how.

No Regret Thursday

2010-08-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

There are honestly days when the little regrets could just trip me up. You too? As I thought about what I would write today on No Regret Thursday, it seemed that the list of things I truly wanted to write about were all regrets. I have had to ask God to take my negative thoughts captive and replace them with truth and thoughts of blessings. The regrets might be factual, but that does not mean they need to run wild through my mind causing me to miss ALL that God has done in my life and the opportunities he has provided. So for today:

I DO NOT REGRET

1. Not having blogged since last Thursday's Do Not Regret post

2. Having a difficult conversation with someone I love

3. Taking a nap on Sunday

4. The time I spend with my husband

5. Being over 40

6. Observing the Sabbath

7. Any time I spend with the Lord

8. Being passionate about worship and expressing myself during it

9. Having a good cup of coffee and drinking it before bed

10. Unlimited text messages

2 Corinthians 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

So what do you Not Regret?

Grace to you,

Kim

No Regret Thursday

2010-08-19T13:41:00.000-07:00

How ironic that after I posted "No Regret Thursday" I regretted posting it and almost deleted it the next morning. Even before I went to bed that night, I had second thoughts. After all, I was convinced I was the only one with such thoughts of regrets. Thankfully, God saw my doubts and allowed some people to affirm that I am not the only one and that it does somehow matter. So today I shall continue with my list of things I don't regret. Please feel free to post a comment with the things you don't regret.

I DO NOT REGRET

1. Not having a Facebook account

2. Cutting coupons and the time it takes

3. Choosing to do "Called to Belong: A Worship Event" for a second time

4. Saying 'no' to the things of this world to follow after Jesus

5. Selling our last house while waiting for God's direction

6. Having a women's bible study

7. Packing my husband's lunches

8. Driving cars that are paid for instead of ones with large payments

9. Cooking meals for my family

10. Writing the last blog about not having regrets!

2 Corinthians 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

Grace to you,

Kim.

Called To Belong, Dr, Seuss and a Memory Verse

2010-08-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

With "Called to Belong" only a week away, life has been even more hectic than usual. Monday night was our next to last practice and we had a time of the choir members sharing testimony of God's faithfulness in their lives. It never ceases to amaze me how God can take such a mixed-matched group of people and all their brokenness and trials and make such a beautiful portrait. If we never had the worship event, Monday night was worth the time we have taken in preparation. Just to hear the heart of God's people and their gratefulness to such an amazing and Almighty God is blessing enough. He truly is more than enough for all that we will ever need or go through.

Tonight I was meeting with the other couple we are leading the event with at the theater where it will be held. We were meeting to go over the technical stuff and other miscellaneous details. I am all about details - however, I am also like a little kid at times and not paying attention when I should be. As we were going from area to area to determine what was needed and how it would go, we were walking onto the stage where they had just torn down the props from the Seussical and were preparing for the Big Daddy Weave and Selah concert this weekend. I saw the large black pipe hanging down that the curtains were being hung on. And then I saw the props from Seussical - I love Dr. Seuss. There were drawings from the different books and props that included what looked like cotton candy and sodas with straws and the elephant from the Dr. Seuss book and . . . SMACK! another black bar. Then there were stars and not the kind you get autographs from. Yep, walked right into the bar that was at the same level as my head. Hit it square on and they heard the smack in the sound booth. (good to know how well the sound carries I guess) I am proud to say I did not cry, but I did call my friend the nurse after I left to find out what symptoms to watch for in case I had a concussion. Not a wimp, but I don't ever remember hitting my head that hard before. I firmly claim there was a goose-egg on the top of my head. My husband said it was more like a robin-egg. No matter the size - my head and neck and pride are quite sore at the moment.

In the midst of Called to Belong practices, bible studies, theater meetings, church, and life - I need to get my memory verse posted that I am currently working on. Sometimes I love to look for a verse that I feel fits right where I am and what I need. Tonight, however, as I opened my bible this one just stood out and it is sticking out to me like I truly need to know it right now.

You are my portion, O LORD; I have promised to obey your words. Psalm 119:57 NIV

Seems to me to sum up a whole lot in those few words.

No Regret Thursday

2010-08-12T14:56:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but way too often I find myself running through a mental laundry list of regrets. If the list is long enough, I will feel like I went through the washer and ringer or worse yet like I had a good emotional scrubbing on an old-fashioned washboard. I know I am not alone in this. But here is the deal, what I regret is in the past and can't be changed. It is over and done with. Don't get me wrong, there might be some things I need to make right. I might need to make some apologies or confess some sins. But overall, I cannot change the past. I cannot change what I did or did not do. I can, however, choose to not live in that place and instead move forward in life doing things I won't regret - choosing to do things that I will be thankful for and rejoice in.

How many of you remember the children's song "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush"? Well, each day of the week was given to a particular task and Thursday was to "mend our clothes". Today is Thursday. Not holding onto regrets and constantly looking back is a great way to "mend our souls".

Instead of listing all the things I regret, I'm going to list the things I DON'T regret. Feel free to comment with your No Regrets list. Each Thursday I am going to post this list. So start keeping track throughout your week of what you do not regret. It's a great way to keep our focus on God and the blessings and to remind ourselves to live intentionally.

I DO NOT REGRET

1. Marrying my high school sweetheart

1b. And staying married for nearly 25 years

2. Having our daughter

3. Having our son

4. My daughter's wedding

5. Being a grandma

6. Not being perfect

7. Not eating the donut last night that looked oh-so-good

8. Not cleaning my house last weekend so that I could spend time with my family

9. Taking a different job with less pay so that I could have more time at home and less stress

10. Eating the Starbucks ice cream straight out of the container and never looking at the calories

2 Corinthians 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

Grace to you,

Kim

Dreaming of Coupons

2010-08-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

Okay - everyone who knows me, knows I have a thing with coupons and saving money. In addition, if you are near me long enough I will tell you about them. I try really, REALLY hard not to, but I can't seem to help it. It is just beyond my imagination that you can get free groceries and save that much money. I have tried to not blog about it any more than I have already. But last night just beats all.

Around 10:20 p.m. I realize that my husband's men's prayer/bible study group is not going to be over probably any time soon and so I head to bed. Get ready for bed, flip on the TV to Everybody Loves Raymond, tilt my fairly new bifocals down on my nose enough so that I can see the TV and here come the commercials. The truth is that I don't really watch the show. I think I will, but after about 3 minutes in bed, I reach up and take my glasses off and roll over to go to sleep. So the thought of the commercials filling my last few minutes of awake time was a little irritating. But I was going to hold out.

And then I saw it. Up on the left hand corner of the screen of our tiny TV was a blue button just like the one that normally displays when you are to do something between the satellite and the TV. I could make out from where I was that it said "select". So I pushed "select" and lo and behold (drum roll please) coupons to be gotten from the TV screen! Yep, you read that right. You push 'select' it takes you to another channel where you can then navigate your way through to get a coupon for the item that was just being advertised. Sadly, I got all the way through only to not have the channel on our main satellite receiver so I could not receive the coupon. It was for some Kellogg's product and they were going to send me the coupon. No strings attached.

Seriously that is brilliant advertising! Almost makes me want to watch TV.

Out of Egypt

2010-08-10T16:14:00.000-07:00

A couple years ago my daughter introduced me to the song "Painting Pictures of Egypt" by Sara Groves. I was going through a difficult and emotional time and she thought that it might describe just how I felt. She was right. Although I knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that I was being obedient to all that God had asked, and wanted nothing less than that, my heart ached for the familiar and the comfortable. I like being content.

It is easy to be out of a setting or situation and look back and only see the good or the bad and never the true mixture of both. I don't know anyone who is still drawing breath that doesn't have both good and bad of some sort in their life. They may not choose to acknowledge the good or the bad, but they are there at different times and in different forms.

After the Israelites were rescued from captivity and bondage and slavery and taken out of Egypt, they frequently looked back during difficult or uncertain times and asked that they be allowed to return to Egypt. Somehow looking back made the slavery seem almost desirable, because they had forgotten how horrible it was and only remembered whatever good there might have been in it. While the season I longed to go back to certainly was not bad, I will never know what might have happened had I chosen to stay in the familiar and not be obedient to God. As my daughter also will say "they were romanticizing the past". As odd as that might seem to us now looking back several thousand years, I don't think we are really that far removed from the possibility of falling back into our slavery and bondages of sin or strongholds if we don't continue to keep our eyes on the Lord and in His Word. Our knees to the earth also help to keep our feet from walking down a dirt path in the wrong direction.

I'm not really sure what the actual moment was or even now how I knew, but in the past few days I have finally realized that I am no longer desiring the things of the past that I gave up three years ago. While they were good and I am oh-so grateful for every opportunity and lesson that God afforded me during that season of my life, I am even more thankful for the opportunities that lie ahead.

Scripture Memory

2010-08-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

A better title for this blog might be "called out". At the beginning of the year I started posting the scriptures I was memorizing and asked others to join me. After a relatively short time my posts for updating were often a day or three later than they should have been. So instead of being disciplined and/or just confessing my weaknesses in posting - I quit posting about scripture memory. I might also add that satan was more than happy to put thoughts in my head of "who cares what verse you are memorizing anyway" or similar thoughts. Maybe no one in blog world cared what verse I was memorizing, but God did and so did the enemy. The memory would draw me closer to the Lord and honor Him. The scripture memory would also increase my weapons of warfare and ammunition against the enemy.

Although I continued on, I have to confess it was not with the same commitment as if I had been posting them. So here I am several months late and 5 days late for this month alone. But this is the verse God has laid on my heart for this time around and oh how desperately I have needed it!

So do not throw away your confidence;

it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when

you have done the will of God, you will receive what

he has promised. Hebrews 10:35-36 NIV

A little ironic huh?

Feel free to post a comment with the verse you are currently memorizing. I will update scripture memory again on August 15th. I only say that for my own accountability. (thank you Beth)

The Maze

2010-07-25T12:38:00.000-07:00

Many years ago our family went to Myrtle Beach for vacation. My sister-in-law had told me about this really cool place to visit that was a maze called the Rat Race. You would actually enter the maze and have to find your way out on your own after encountering dead-ends, mirrors and various turns; all with absolutely no written or verbal directions. The walls of the maze went from the ground up to a height high enough that you could not see over them. You need to understand that it was about 90+ degrees outside and black pavement underneath. I was a mom with two younger children. Being directionally challenged only added to my absolute hatred of this 'game'. I love mazes, I love challenges, but I hate feeling like I am trapped and there is no way out and I can't get my children out or find my husband either. After finally verbally asking for help, someone from on top of a roof of the business will give you verbal directions to help you out. Once out and my near-panic-attack had subsided we grabbed blue snow cones from the concession stand. You can figure out what happened next. I clearly still bear the scars of that day!

Recently I have felt like I am still in that maze. Running into one dead-end after another, making no visible progress, unable to see where I am going or how far I have to go and suppressing panic-attack wannabes all along the way. Worse yet, no one is shouting from the roof with directions that will make the journey shorter or more clear. This post is not a pity party post. It has come as the result of some soul searching.

I have found myself frustrated - a lot - lately in a a lot of different areas. Most of them just really aren't meant to be shared. Some are personal goals and desires and others are spiritual. But whatever the case, here's the deal: I have no one to blame and no 'maze' to complain about that would be stopping me from getting out of the rut or to end of the tunnel. I think in some areas I just simply stopped, sat-down, and have been waiting for God to do something to get me out of this funk. God, on the other hand, did all he needed to do and has been watching to see if I will get up and move in some discernible direction. I might make a wrong move, but at least I will be moving and I am certain that God will let me know when I am heading in the wrong direction whatever it might be.

I just need lots of time in His Word and in prayer. Neither of those have ever failed me. The last few weeks have been unbearably hot and humid here. Praise God that he has at least allowed me to be in the comfort of air-conditioning while I seek out some answers and not in the middle of some black-pavement, high-walled, no-breeze, pathetic human maze.

P.S. And right now my precious grandson is on his way to my house with his parents. That has absolutely nothing to do with this post - but a grandma has ever right to talk about her grandchild whenever she pleases. Amen?!

What are you expecting?

2010-07-13T17:57:00.001-07:00

Expectations can cause great anxiety, or fear, or disappointment if misdirected and misused. We set ourselves up from time-to-time to fail with unrealistic expectations of ourselves or others. In particular, we can pull a family member or spouse right into a huge trap of unexpressed expectations that leave them wondering "what did I do?" as we politely tell them through tears what they "should have done". I for one have cried and pouted when my husband didn't come through like I expected on my unvoiced, un-communicated, all-in-my-head unrealistic expectations. Goodness knows the number of times my feelings have been hurt over the years - yep all because of expectations. My expectations of myself or others can trip me up if not kept in check. Of people, I tend to expect an awful lot.

And then there are the expectations we have of God. Do we really, do I really, expect miracles and signs and wonders from Him? Far too often, I believe, our expectations of God look very similar to what we could probably accomplish on our own if God didn't show up at all. We don't expect much of Him and therefore we get what we expect. If we approach God with totally unrealistic expectations, then we have approached him with the right idea. God is very much into making the unrealistic a reality. Case in point - unrealistic to expect a man dead and buried for 3 days to be raised from the dead and walking among the people. What about expecting God to fill empty oil jars with a never ending supply of oil. Or how about if we expected God to heal the sick or bring our prodigal home? Do you expect God to restore your broken marriage? Can you really expect God to meet your needs? Is it expecting too much to ask God to free you from anxiety? Have you fully expected God to deliver you from every single stronghold you have and forgive you completely? Is there an expectation that God can take away the addiction or make a way where this is no way? We talk about it. But deep within our hearts, do we really expect God to do anything about it or is just a nice wish.

If we say we want to live a life filled with the presence of God and walking in His ways, then perhaps we ought to expect more of God. God has far exceeded my expectations and goodness knows I have a whole other list of immeasurable expectations that I have laid at His feet and am just waiting for Him to amaze me with his power and grace. God is able to do exceedingly MORE than all we can ask or imagine. He said so. So expect BIG things from God. Take those insurmountable, unrealistic expectations to God and wait. He can do all things, including surpassing your unrealistic expectations him.

Two Men Two Paths

2010-07-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

I live in Ohio - one mere hour from Cleveland. So the LeBron James news and anticipation of his decision is all over the news and the newspapers. I actually saw LeBron play when he was still in high school. I probably should have paid more attention to the game, but to me he was just another kid on the basketball court and I was rooting for the other team anyway. As the media-hype tells us, tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. (exact time unknown) the big announcement will be made as to whether LeBron stays in Cleveland or goes to another city to play for another team. The sports world sits at the edge of their seats in anticipation. I imagine some are even losing sleep tonight over it all and others are wildly making bets on LeBron's life decisions. Millions of dollars beyond my imagination are at stake for many in many different ways. I don't have the exact figure, but I was awestruck when the Cleveland Plain Dealer posted the amount of money LeBron was worth in revenue to the City of Cleveland. The number of followers on his Twitter account was downright insane after only a very short period of time. In 24-hours, LeBron will will let the world know where he is going.

This week another man is traveling from Ohio to North Carolina and then on to Texas. North Carolina is where his family is. He's going home for a visit before heading out to Texas. No one is tweeting about him. His car is running on the grace of God and he was thankful for $25.00 to put towards getting his brakes fixed before the trip. He doesn't have a job yet. He isn't deciding what city he will go to in the next few days and weeks. He isn't worried about it either. God told him to go to Dallas. That was all he needed to know for now. He sought God and God gave him direction. No hype. No media frenzy. No one making bets on whether he will make it. Men are praying for him and trusting God that he will make it to Dallas, Texas. Everyone who meets him just loves him and you won't find a happier or more thankful soul. In his words "God is goooooood!"

So tonight, two men will lay their heads down to sleep. Somewhere deep within them a stirring will take place of who they are, where they came from and where they are going. Both men are poised to change peoples lives. Only God knows where each of them will end up.

Obedience or disobedience?

2010-07-05T12:24:00.001-07:00

The more people I have talked to lately, the more I keep hearing about how busy everyone is and how distracted they are. They say they want to be less busy or more focused or more disciplined, but somehow the busyness binds them up and defeat seems to set in. I totally get it! In order for me to truly hear from God, I need less on my to-do list and more time on my knees. This is a hard task for me. I love the Lord, but I am also hard-wired with a permanent never ending to-do list in my brain. Shutting down that list and just sitting and listening to God takes a lot of discipline on my part.

Lately, I have been really battling with God over what he has or has not called me to do. Please understand it isn't that he asked something of me that I'm not willing to do - I'm just seeking clarity and trying to lay my own personal and possibly selfish desires aside for His plans for my life. I want to hear him clearly and obey him passionately and completely.

God has been directing me to a lot of scripture recently concerning obedience vs. disobedience. I'm not talking about doing good things vs. doing 'bad' things. I'm talking about obeying God and doing what He tells me. There are lots and lots of good things we can do. There is a never ending list of things we could do that seem right and even in line with the Word of God such as caring for the poor and widows, reaching out to the lost, helping the sick, etc. God has not called each of us to be all things to all people. He has a specific and unique calling for each of us. And that is where the obedience and disobedience come in to play. Sometimes being obedient means saying 'no'.

Am I being obedient to God? Period. 1 John 3:21-22 says "Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask because we obey his commands and do what pleases him." So am I obeying his commands for my life?

Deuteronomy 28 lays it out boldly concerning obedience and disobedience. In the book of Haggai the people were so busy being about their own business and not doing what God asked of them that blessings were withheld, resources withheld and the House of the Lord was a mess. The people were so inwardly focused on their own lives and their own to-do lists and their own plans that the house of the God was being neglected. This is the kind of obedience vs. disobedience I am talking about. Have we taken the time to seek the Lord and inquire of Him as to what we are to be doing? Or are we just being busy doing something because that something seems better than nothing?

G-r-r-r-r-r-r-r

2010-07-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you try to do something in a hurry and aren't paying attention. Blog colors change and you can't get them back. Words appear on top of other words where they aren't supposed to be. Funny colors show up and your original colors have disappeared from the world-wide-color-wheel. Gray lines surround areas where there are to be no lines. Lines that are to be there have vanished. And sadly I won't have time to fix it all until this weekend.

This is like a mismatched, wrong sized outfit that you can't change out of fast enough. With high-water pants besides and a big fat stain on the front to go with it.

Saturday's coming and hopefully so is a full dose of grace from God for the technologically challenged soul -that would be me.

Crumbs on the Counter

2010-06-30T14:08:00.000-07:00

I have the most forgiving kitchen counter top. The dark colors hide almost everything. I love it. But one thing I discovered that I don't love is when I get down at eye level with the counter. Yuck! There you can see every bread crumb you missed. Every spot of dust in the corners. Every sticky spot that didn't get wiped up. It looks like I didn't bother to wash it at all. I will wipe it again and take another eye level inspection. Almost every time there will still be something I missed that needs another cleaning.

So it is with my spiritual life. When I just look over the surface of things - it looks pretty darn good. Camouflaged by the various designs of life. But when I bend down and humble myself and take a closer look. There are sticky spots that need tended to and washed with the Word. Dust in the corners that I neglected when I got too busy. Crumbs that seemed too tiny to bother with, but are still there even if you can't always see them.

And after I clean up the surface, if I get down on my knees and look down that's where I see what has piled up right there under my feet. Under the counter. The stuff that just gets dropped or even kicked under because I'm in too big of a hurry to deal with it right then. Just because I didn't deal with it or clean it up doesn't mean it isn't there. Some of it I can see from where I am standing. But some of it can only be seen when I get down low and bow my head down.

Our whole perspective on godliness and cleanliness changes when we change our posture. Standing upright - looks good. Bending down a bit - oh my! On my knees will be a completely different view.

My life - like my kitchen - I want to be clean and open for inspection. I don't want to just kick it under the counter or hide it in the corner. Because here's the deal, until or unless you clean up the dirt and the sticky stuff, it is still there. Denial of it or ignoring it does not make it go away. It will never self-clean. Neither will our spiritual lives. Jesus wants to wash us with His Word.

Who wants company when their kitchen is a disaster? No woman I know wants anyone to see it a mess. Who do we tend to stay away from when our lives are neglected? For me I stayed away from other Christians. I didn't want them to know.

Whether we deny it, ignore it or clean it up - is up to us and probably will depend on the level of our knees and eyes when we stop and take a good hard look.

Be blessed today.

A Little Down Time

2010-06-29T19:11:00.001-07:00

Where on earth did 18 days go?! Since I can only seem to account for some of it, I will share what I remember in the midst of the whirlwind.

Had the amazing privilege of spending some time with my grandson, Simon, while his Mommy was in school working on her Master's degree and his Daddy was helping at basketball camp.

Spent time with our children over the Father's Day weekend. - Always LOVE that.

Went to a graduation party for my dear friend, Angela, who got her nursing degree. Go Ang!

Went to a baby shower for my sweet friend, Kristy. I am so extremely happy for her and her husband.

Heard our dear friend, Wayne, preach at our church this past Sunday. And how sweet it was. Not only did Wayne get to preach at the same church where he came to know Christ, but his friend came forward to accept Christ after Wayne preached. Love how God uses the seeds to produce the harvest.

Then there were three practices for Called to Belong worship event that is coming up on August 28th. Glory to God for His mighty hand in that.

Tonight was a little me time. With my husband having the men's prayer group/bible study tonight, I decided to head on out to Rite-Aid and VOA for a little bargain shopping. Spent a total of $1.98 at Rite-Aid for 8 hair products, 24 rolls of TP, 2 shaving creams, 1 deodorant, 1 toothpaste, 8 bags of M&Ms, 6 packages of some other unmentionables (since I know there are some men who read this) and then to the VOA for a new (never worn) pair of shoes, 2 dresses, 6 tops (1 with the tags still on), 2 adorable scarves to go with the dresses. It was 50% off night! Oh and a new book! Entire night - less than $28. Not too bad.

The next few days are looking a lot less busy - Praise God. So perhaps there will be something more worthwhile coming from this blog by then.

Finding Your Own Way

2010-06-11T17:04:00.001-07:00

I have found myself over the years to be directionally challenged. I have gotten better with time - especially after you have enough times getting lost. But there is still something within me that tends to get sidetracked every once in awhile. It happened again this week.

Last year I didn't get lost out of sheer fear when I went to deliver precious items to my husband at his men's retreat . So when he headed off this weekend for the same destination I was determined to make sure he had everything he might need.

Sadly, he had me run an errand for him on Wednesday and I found myself calling him to figure out how I could have missed my turn. Mind you, I was traveling within 30 miles of our home, had been to this particular store numerous times in the last year and a half and there was no snow on the road - no detours either. He redirected me and I managed to find my way home all by myself!

Here's the thing - all the times we had driven to this store, my husband was driving. I was merely the passenger. If the ride had been over an hour, then I could pass it off on sleeping while he drove. But this wasn't the case. I was wide awake admiring the scenery. Because my husband was driving though, I didn't need to pay close attention to which turn he took.

So what gives? Interestingly I think our faith is kind of like this. We can ride on someone's else's experience, prayers, faith, bible knowledge, etc. for a time. But the day will come when we need to know how to navigate and move forward on our own. I can't ride on my husband's, my pastor's, my mentor's or for that matter Beth Moore's faith and get very far. They lead me, direct me, teach me, give direction and encourage me. However, their faith is their's - not mine. I had to make it my own or I may very well get so lost that I find myself heading in the exact opposite direction God intended. Can anybody relate?

God has given me multiple opportunities to learn and grow and test my faith-teeth over the last several years. I have no doubt that he has given you multiple opportunities as well. So jump on the offer and let God lead you on your own personal journey with Him. You won't be disappointed!

Simon, Simon and the hot dog vendor

2010-06-06T16:40:00.000-07:00

It was a first in my life this weekend. First for my husband too. Our first grandchild, Simon, had his first overnight visit at our house.

Babies grow so fast that you don't dare waste a minute not appreciating each phase for it will quickly pass. The most precious moment was getting Simon out of bed this morning when he woke up. I had forgotten how wonderful those very first few morning moments are. It all came flooding back and I am grateful for it. What a blessing to have this time. We are going to be having a blast over the years as Simon comes to spend the night with Nana and Papa.

But before Simon ever arrived for the weekend, I was attending the Ashland Theological Seminary graduation where our dear friend Reggie Cureton was graduating.

I remember the first time I ever met Reggie and over a short period of time he became an acquaintance of my husband also. But the defining moment of his friendship in our family was the day he showed up at the hospital to pray for Kenny after Kenny had been admitted for what we thought were heart problems. It wasn't long until Reggie became a regular at the Tuesday night men's group that meets at our house. I love Reggie's testimony - he was a hot dog vendor for many years until God got a hold of him. He sold all he had and committed to attending seminary in Ohio. Moved far from his family and friends and trusted the Lord for provisions and wisdom. God provided both. And God provided a wonderful friend for my husband as well. I can hardly write this without crying because I know in a few weeks Reggie will be leaving for Texas.

God has blessed us with a grandchild and good friends. I am trusting he will bless us with more of both over time.

My Favorite Bible

2010-06-02T17:08:00.001-07:00

In 2004, I purchased my very first NIV translation bible. I fell in love with it. Couldn't stop reading it as the words popped off the pages in a new way. Over the years it became ragged and the binding fell off and the words somehow got smaller on the pages.

So God blessed me with a new bible a couple of years ago. Same words - bigger letters. I laid my old bible on my nightstand and haven't really used it much since I got the new one. But tonight I picked it up and my heart stirred. This bible and I have been through some life together with Jesus. I have actually slept with it holding it to my chest during difficult nights. There are tear stains, coffee stains and life all throughout its pages. Not just the lives of those we read about, but my life. The highlighted verses are rich in meaning to me. I think I just needed to be reminded yet again of how faithful God is and how much He and I have been through.

When I flipped open the pages tonight, I was also amazed that the words got bigger as it laid there on my nightstand. Or perhaps it was just the bifocals. But whatever the case may be, it will always be my favorite.

Can't choose - so here they all are

2010-05-31T14:13:00.000-07:00

I have now typed in no less than 5 different titles for this blog and started in on as many topics. Since I can't choose which area is stirring my heart the most, I figured I would include all of them in a shortened version.

1. Within me is a Missionary Wanna-Be. I recently watched a dvd from my son's mission trip to Mexico several years ago. I want to go. My friends tease me that someday I really will head to Zimbabwe. I've never had the privilege to go on a missions trip. But someday . . . my passport is ready and waiting Lord.

2. Moral Failure. Seems like a politically correct, nice way of saying - you got caught in your sin. What bothers me most about this statement is that I think too many Christians aren't standing up for what is right and true. After all, we don't want to offend anyone and who are we to tell them right from wrong. While I agree in part, I also think that we are doing a great disservice to not take a stand for what is right and wrong. More importantly, can the world tell us apart or are our morals too blurred to know Who and what we really stand for?

3. Pray it like you mean it. Have our prayers become wishy-washy? Do we constantly pray asking God for something and then toss in the "if it is according to your will Lord" just in case God doesn't answer the way we wanted.

4. Coupons. The more I use coupons and the more I save, the more I am convinced that it is a great way to be good stewards of God's money. I am sure God has a ministry in this for me, just haven't seen it yet.

5. Sacrificing for time with God. I have been guilty way too often and regularly of not sacrificing the time I need to spend with the Lord. Sleeping in. A few more minutes on the internet. Really need to text those people back. God has really placed a renewed burden on my heart to be saturated throughout every day with his Word and worship and prayer. Be intentional about it. Pursue it. Crave it!

6. The Word. Exactly what excuse do we have for not being in the Word and reading it and knowing it and memorizing it?

7. Sorting it out. Trying to sort out all of the passions, desires, midnight prayers, etc. and figure out exactly what God is saying and calling me to. I was hoping/praying for the catapult forward and instead I feel like God is calling me back to where I started. Obviously, from a new standpoint. Hmmmm . . .

I wanna go here

2010-05-10T16:43:00.000-07:00

What sits beside your God?

2010-05-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

I love the Old Testament -the whole thing! Falling in love with the Word of God over and over and amazed at it all. It thrills me and blesses me and convicts me all in one sitting. One of the stories that just grabbed me this week is from the book of 1 Samuel, Chap. 5.

Short summary (Kim's version): The Philistines have captured the ark of God and have taken it home with them. They then proceed to just plop the ark of God down beside their god Dagon in Dagon's temple. They leave the ark of God beside Dagon and when they return in the morning there is Dagon flat on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD. They pick it up, set it up and leave again. Return the next morning. Same thing. Dagon is flat on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD, but this time Dagon's head and hands broke off.

Even stone, lifeless, powerless man-made gods must bow before the LORD. There isn't room in any situation for any idol to stand as though it is equal to the LORD. And God will see to it that it doesn't stand. One day we will all fall down before the LORD, whether it is willingly or unwillingly, every single knee WILL bow. You can be sure of it.

But I had to stop and also wonder how many times do we believe that we can bring God into our lives and just sit Him (figuratively speaking) beside the other idols and gods we have allowed in our life. As though somehow there is room enough for both God and our worship of other idols (money, materialism, fame, pride, TV, internet, shopping, etc.). We want God. We want him in our life. But we are not willing to get rid of the things of this world that God has called us to lay aside. You can laugh at the thought of bowing down to some stone or metal figurine, but we bow down to man-made idols every single day if we are not careful.

Sadly, the Philistines still chose their lifeless, headless, handless god over the living all-powerful God. Instead of removing the broken god in their lives, they chose to remove the ark of the LORD. How blind must they have been. They knew there was power in the ark of the LORD. They saw their god defeated and fallen, but it was the ark of the LORD and the presence of God they chose to get rid of.

I pray that God's presence is prominent in our lives and that we do not fall for the lie that someone or something can ever sit in equal prominence to God. He alone is worthy of honor and praise.

7-day recap

2010-04-29T16:06:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life is full of stuff - just stuff. Sometimes it is serious. Sometimes it's not.

This is just some of the good stuff in my life over the last few days.

April 23: Rock through the window of our car - not so good

Zero deductible on comprehensive insurance - good stuff

April 24: Our son-in-law got sick - not so good

Spent time with our grandson anyway - good stuff

April 27: Away from my husband - not so good

Women's bible study - good stuff

April 29: Finally taking Easter pics off camera

Find picture of my son with his nephew - good stuff

April 29: Watching how I eat - not so good

Starbucks released new ice cream flavors - good stuff

(Seriously - Starbucks ice cream is soooooo amazing!

And it would be wrong to not end with dessert)

A Front Row Seat

2010-04-19T18:27:00.001-07:00

Every so often God allows us a front row seat to His marvelous and mysterious ways. I've had the privilege of being in the front twice recently. A couple months ago my husband preached his first sermon. The church we attend makes dvds of every service and offers them for sale. We certainly weren't buying them and handing them out - except at the threat of our daughter who did get a copy.

But tonight my husband got a phone call from a family member who told him that another family member got a copy of the dvd and that they got it from so and so and so and so. And on the story went. For a wide variety of reasons, we didn't tell any of them that he was preaching or that he had. Interestingly enough all of the people who either watched it or got a copy would never have set foot in church at this point in their life. One of them that we are certain watched (or will watch) the dvd would have only watched it out of curiosity because he knew my husband way back "when". He might have watched it so that he could make fun, but the Word of God is living and active and will accomplish what God desires and achieve the purposes for which God sent it. (Isaiah 55:11) The other people we know that told us they watched it also were not going to probably set foot in our church to hear the Word of God. But God has a purpose. It's His Word and it will go forth as He intended.

My husband preached the word that God gave him. How easy to think that it was for someone in the sanctuary that day. How like God to have the purpose of Kenny's preaching be for someone outside the walls of the church building who needed to hear it and this would be the only way they would.

I don't know God's purposes and I won't pretend that I do. However, I love imagining all the various possible scenarios and the whys and hows and what-ifs. Sometimes God allows me the front row seat so that I will stop thinking within the confines of my finite mind. The front row seat allows me to see a God who is bigger and grander and more powerful than I could ever hope to imagine.

It is His Word for His purposes for His people in His time in His way. May we never sell God's power and work short of all that he intends it for. So in case you are thinking that so and so will never set foot in church and hear the word of God or the message of salvation, think again. God can send his word out any way and any time He chooses. You can count on that.

Scripture Memory and other Randomness

2010-04-18T12:30:00.001-07:00

Do you ever look at the calendar and wonder "Where did the time go?" I have felt a bit like that. For four weeks in March, I spent my Saturdays at team meetings for an Emmaus walk. The next weekend was Easter and our daughter, Jillian, and son-in-law, Shane, and grandson Simon came to spend some time with us. Went to church on Easter morning and then to my parents for the evening for Easter dinner. Had a fabulous time of prayer with a group of women on Tuesday, cooked like a mad woman on Wednesday before heading out on Thursday for 4 days on the Emmaus walk. Monday prepared for Tuesday as we started a new women's bible study this week and then spent the next couple days playing catch up. Saturday was the groceries, errands, cleaning house and meeting in preparation for Called to Belong. Sunday church. Nap! And now here I am.

In the midst of all the busyness of life, I have found myself contemplating quite often that I do not live out of the place and mindset that God wants me to. Physically speaking, I know that I am not taking care of my body the way that God would desire. I am also not relying on him to help me. If I keep thinking I can do it on my own, I am setting myself up for failure. I like food and hate exercising way too much to have any success at getting in shape. Viewing my body as God's temple and dwelling place helps me to realize that I am taking care of something that is actually important to God.

There are also those times when I know that I am not viewing situations properly from a biblical standpoint and not allowing God to shape and control my thoughts. When that happens, my fleshly anxiety and worry take over. Guess what - I then tend to eat to comfort my anxiety and worry and the roller-coaster ride continues. I know that the Word of God is true and powerful and there is not other place that I would want to turn for truth and direction.

My memory verse for this time around seems to fit well with both of those places:

1 Corinthians 3:16 (NIV) Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

Praise God for the victorious living that comes from living under His authority and power.

Called to Belong - some more

2010-04-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

In 2008, God called us to be a part of this:

And in August 2010 - we are doing it again! More details will follow in the days, weeks and months to come. But for now, I had to get it out of my system and let it be known. May God be worshiped in the same powerful way all over again.

Scripture Memory

2010-03-31T16:00:00.000-07:00

One of the books I am right in the middle of today is "Generous Living" by Ron Blue. I expect to finish it by Friday. It is just that good. Over the last several months, we have been trying to tackle some old and new expenses and get them paid off asap. I hate debt. So doing everything possible to be good stewards of everything that God has given us and pay off expenses and cut back on grocery bills, etc., I find myself still giving but without the same amount of joy. That is not a place I want to stay. Over the years since we started tithing and giving offerings, God has blessed us in unspeakable and unimaginable ways. Not once has He ever disappointed us - imagine that!

Reading "Generous Living" has renewed my sense of giving with joy and doing it for all the right reasons with the right heart. Just like God to provide a verse that I find will provide me with even more motivation:

Psalm 37: 26 They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.

Generous living blesses others, blesses me and my children. I praise God for his perfect plans and perfect and abundant provisions.

Happy Box Day to Me

2010-03-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

I came home after bible study Tuesday night to find boxes. First there was this one:

It is a fabulous baking dish that I won on a blog give-away from Gigi at In the Throne Room. Thank you so much. Stop by and tell her 'hi' and see what else is happening there.

And then there was this one:

And inside was . . . .
Our next bible study workbooks and dvds. I am so totally excited. We will start this study on April 13th. The life of David will be anything but boring.

How much fun is this. Baking and bible studies - two of my favorite things.

The Clampetts Get a Car

2010-03-23T06:29:00.001-07:00

The time had come. Our vehicles were getting to the point that something needed to be done. So after much prayer and putting it off as long as possible, two weeks ago we finally broke down and did it. Kenny & I, aka The Clampetts, headed off to Brook Park to check out a used car. Car buying for me is almost like a root canal, but at least you have something to show for it when you are done.

Up until this particular trip, most of my car buying experiences involved old coffee in cheap Styrofoam paper cups while we sat on straight-back chairs covered in orange vinyl with a slight rip in the seat where the foam would stick through. And quite frankly I am fine with that. It is one of the joys of small town living. You knew you would be taken care of and could generally trust the salesman. I was also happy that the profits weren’t increased so they could have nicer furniture. Times have changed (not to mention prices!) since we last bought a used car seven years ago.

Most of the ‘shopping’ occurred on-line thanks to my diligent husband. So on a very dreary and misty Saturday we crawled into our 1997 Acura with 237,000+ miles, a slightly large ding in the front and a smattering of rust spots and headed to Brook Park. We had officially stepped into a different world than what we were accustomed to. After bringing the car in from the lot and drying it off for us, we were handed the keys and told to take it for a spin and come back whenever we wanted. Hmmm. Test-drive over we returned and were then escorted to the coffee bar and lounge area. Please note above my previous experience. So to now be offered fresh-brewed Starbucks, fresh baked warm cookies and a comfy couch where you could gaze upon the salt-water aquarium made me a bit nervous. I honestly was looking for a donation basket to put in money for my coffee. People don’t just give you free Starbucks for cryin’ out loud. Ultimately, we bought the car and headed home. We still have the 1997 Acura; after all it might be good for another 100,000 miles. May I also mention it is paid for and gets 37 mpg.

Fast-forward to yesterday. I am still trying to figure out all the buttons and switches in this car. It might be 8 years old, but that is still far newer than anything else we drive. This country girl understands quite well vehicles that don’t have power windows or automatic transmissions; so 5 buttons on my rear-view mirror left me in a quandary. The mirror seemed to have a funny tint and I was hoping one of the buttons would change that. Driving along, push the first button. Nothing. Push the second one. Nothing – oh wait. Is that a voice I hear? A woman repeatedly saying “Pardon, pardon”. Yep. On-Star. Who knew!

Scripture Memory

2010-03-16T03:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Scripture Memory day. Do you see a recurring theme here? I seem to post this the day after I was supposed to. Good grief. Once again there are two verses I really want to do this time. The multi-tasker in me says "go for it". The realistic me says that if I choose both I won't fully memorize either one of them.

The one thing I have noticed lately is that I seem to have parts of verses memorized. I will be using them in prayer or my devotions or when ministering with someone and realize later it was only a small part of the whole. I feel like I am missing out on the fullness and power of the verse by not actually knowing and using the entire thing. One of those verses has been Romans 8:37. I often say that we are more than conquerors in Christ - but there is more to it and I want the fullness thereof. So this week is:

Romans 8:37 "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

Blessings on your day and your scripture memory.

Audio Blog

2010-03-09T19:26:00.000-08:00

Sometimes a blog is meant to be heard. I don't have the technology to do that. So I pray that something in this will make sense. It is 10:30 p.m. I arrived home from our women's bible study about 30 minutes ago. Checking email, grabbing a snack - and then you hear it. The men's group in our basement that meets at our house every other Tuesday. Singing. Singing praises to God. This week there is even a guitar.

If you had told my husband that someday he would be singing worship songs in his basement with a group of other God-seeking, God-fearing men after they had spent time in prayer - well, up until the last few years, he probably would have just hit you for suggesting such a thing. Not that he's violent, he would have just thought you had lost it and needed some sense knocked into you.

Malachi 3:10 tells us to "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." I used to think that those blessings were financial and material. I know better. Sometimes the floodgates open with a group of singing men in your basement.

Intentionally Simplifying

2010-03-08T16:15:00.000-08:00

After 7 months of working toward two specific goals, I finally managed to meet both of them this week. The first goal was to observe the Sabbath. The second goal has been to cut our grocery bill in half.

On Sunday, we went to church and with the exception of getting gas and grabbing the Sunday papers, I truly celebrated the day by resting and focusing on God. If I had planned better, I would have gotten gas on Saturday. The Sunday papers - well they are only available on Sunday. I made a quick lunch and didn't bother with dishes until after supper, which we ate around 7:30 p.m. No laundry. No paying bills. No redecorating for Spring. Instead, I took a nap and rested my physical being. I spent some quality time with my husband and some quality time with God. No guilt for not being busy. It was amazing and I am so grateful that God has given us the gift of the Sabbath.

The second goal of cutting our grocery bill in half has taken me about 7 months, but it has finally happened for four weeks in a row. In the excitement of experiencing some financial freedom, I quickly found myself addicted to the savings. I refuse to allow the enemy to enslave me to something that is meant to be freeing and God honoring. So I have had to be intentional in some of my time management. Observing the Sabbath has actually helped with this. I would love to head out after church to grab this week's deals. Not this week though. I am trusting God that what I need will still be there later this week when I go shopping. Instead of making multiple trips, I am trying to get it down to one.

I am trying to be more aware and more intentional of how I spend my time and my money. It is too easy to become a slave to stuff and busyness. I know. While it might not seem like a big deal, every little act of self-discipline and self-control is actually freeing and rewarding.

If I want to lead a simpler life, then I have to make decisions that will help lead to that. I'm not looking to take extra stuff out of my life only to fill it with more meaningless stuff. I want all my priorities to be in order and I want my time with God and my family to be intentional and have quality. I'm learning to say 'no' in a lot of areas and be more aware of how I waste my time and how I want to actually use it.

God gave me enough time and enough resources. How I use them or misuse them is up to me.

The Bare Hair Facts

2010-03-04T16:27:00.000-08:00

After 40 some years of having people comment on my hair and give me their advice on how to do it, usually unsolicited advice I might add, I thought I would clarify a few things. I have had naturally curly hair my whole life. I expect I always will. It is thick. It doesn't want to be straight even if you use a flat iron. Thick, naturally curly hair tends to sometimes be big hair. That is just the way it is. Yes, I use inordinate amounts of styling foam and hairspray. Someone today suggested that the color I use for my hair was a good choice. That's good, because I don't color my hair.

Sometimes there are little clips in my hair - I know they are there. They keep my hair from sticking out in randomness and poking someone's eye out. The alternative is also that I will look like a unicorn if there isn't one in the top of my hair while I am growing it out.

My hairdresser just quit this week and now I will have to travel one hour each way to get my hair cut. That stinks. But it will be worth it. I have a theory. If you don't have naturally curly hair, you probably don't know how to cut naturally curly hair. She has naturally curly hair. My friends with straight hair want to give me great advice on how to style my hair. Let me explain further.

I had two deep wounding hair days in my life that still effect me. The first was when my grandma was watching me while my mom was having my brother. She put those little pink foam curlers in my hair - one side curled above my ear, the other side not so much. At the age of 6, this was not good. I also had a lady once give me exactly two layers in my hair. Hmmm - a mullet with the bowl cut look on top is the best way I could describe that one.

All through school I wanted to have haircuts like Dorothy Hamill:

And Toni Tenille:

I also thought any one of the Charlie's Angels haircuts would be just fine. But here's the deal, I still had curly hair. You just don't pull one of those styles off with this hair.

I'm okay with my curly hair. What I spend on styling foam, still doesn't add up to the price of a perm. I had one of those once too - another bad idea.

Scripture Memory

2010-03-02T03:29:00.000-08:00

On Sunday night, I knew exactly what verse I wanted to memorize and then never got to the computer to do this post. All set to do it last night, but after spending way too long in the dentist chair while they finished my root canal left me with a very sore mouth. I have found that scripture memory comes in very handy for times like that. As I laid there thinking that they were seriously going to pull my eye out through one of my teeth with my mouth crammed full of rubber stuff and metal and hands, I went to the scriptures to keep my mind occupied. It helps.

I chose this week's verse after reading it in a book on Sunday. In a nutshell, Elisha and his servant are all alone and they are surrounded by vast enemy armies. From the looks of things, they don't stand any chance of making it out alive and surviving the attack. Elisha tells his servant to not be afraid because those that are with them are greater than the army they can see. Ultimately Elisha prays for his servant's eyes to be opened so that he can see the army of God that is there with them. God's army is far greater and more powerful than the seen enemy.

Sometimes I need to be reminded of that and have a verse to hang on to. The enemy I see is not greater than God's protection over me and around me. I see earthly circumstances and situations. I pray that God will open my eyes to see Him in every situation. So my verse this week is:

2 Kings 6:16 "Don't be afraid." the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

The Sabbath is Faithful

2010-02-27T17:39:00.000-08:00

Sabbath. Rest. Sabbath. Rest. Sabbath. The words keep running through my head like a stuck record. They have been there swirling around in my thoughts for some time. I have been studying Leviticus for my devotions this month. Since I started studying this year in Genesis that means I have been reading about the Sabbath in Genesis, Exodus and now in Leviticus.

I wanted to study the Feasts of the Lord more in depth as I went through Leviticus 23. After reading about the Jewish custom of observing the Sabbath, I began to feel like I was putting in a 40-hour work week on my Sabbath. I'm not Jewish, but that doesn't make the Sabbath any less important or holy for this Gentile.

Fast forward to Leviticus 25. The Sabbath Year. Perhaps it is best not to go there until I have managed to grab hold of the Sabbath day.

Leviticus 26. Rewards for Obedience. Ahhh, this I want to soak in. First, do not make idols or set up images of stone and bow down to them. (my summation of verse 1.) Got it. Verse 2: "Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD." Hmmmm. Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD. Wow. Although a list of wonderful rewards follows in verse 3 for those who observe the Sabbath and revere the LORD's sanctuary, it suddenly didn't pique my attention as much. My desire was/is to pursue and come to a place in my walk with the Lord where I allow the Sabbath to be the gift that God intended it.

Every single week, God offers us the Sabbath. It is a spiritual discipline to observe it. It means that we have to deny self. Putting aside the tasks of the day or the things we didn't get done on Saturday because we were too busy and filled our day with more than necessary, is a discipline. Our human nature too often wants to get up, go to church, maybe take a nap or watch a ballgame and then get back at it. Our Sabbath might consist of the hour or two we spend at church. But God wants more for us.

The Sabbath is a gift to us from God. It is also a day for us to truly trust Him by resting in Him. The other six days of the week God gave us to get everything done. One day he set aside for resting. From Genesis through the New Testament, the Sabbath carries great significance.

As I wrote above, God has been so impressing it on my heart that my version of observing the Sabbath is not His version of my observing the Sabbath. Same for the resting. Then tonight as I was reading a book by Marilynne Robinson, I came across this sentence: "The Sabbath is faithful". Yes, the Sabbath is faithful. Every single week that we continue to draw breath, God gives us another Sabbath. 52 of them every single year of our lives. That is a lot. No matter what we do or don't do during the other six days, God faithfully presents to us the Sabbath. It is our gift to take and to receive and to enjoy.

The Important Things

2010-02-26T16:15:00.000-08:00

Life can get so darn busy. Places to go. Bills to pay. Things to fix. And all of that can make you frustrated and worry and sometimes lose focus. My daughter, son-in-law and precious little grandson Simon are on their way to our house in this terrible snow storm.

My husband is actually going to pick them up about 1 mile from our house after they were involved in a minor fender-bender on the way here. At first I want to be nervous, anxious - but then I praise God that they are alright. Now I am just ready for them to be home and for our son to get here from work. All the other stuff just isn't important when your family is out in the snowstorm. The piles of laundry, the mail to be sorted, the dust on the bookshelves, the shoes laying all over the place - it's just stuff.

And then as I was waiting for them to get here, I find out that my mentor's 6-week old granddaughter, Emma, is in critical condition in the hospital in Michigan. My friend is in China. I cannot imagine how hard it must be on all of them.

I am so extremely thankful that God is able to watch over it all and to provide comfort, peace and healing in the midst of storms and many miles.

Creepy Blog Followers

2010-02-22T17:16:00.000-08:00

Recently my husband and I have noticed occasionally we will have someone leave a comment or sign up to follow our blogs only to discover that when you click on their picture/comment you discover they are how shall I say 'a bit shady'!

I write this as a warning and heads up to others. I am not concerned with who reads my blog. I am very concerned about who decides to link up to my blog that others might then click on and find themselves in places of ill-repute. In addition, I have had more than one person who was also trying to promote books that flat out involved things contrary to the Word of God.

It is and has been and always will be our desire to honor God in what we write and represent. When people try to demean that or use us to draw others to sites that are basically evil in nature - well, they will be blocked and deleted.

If you have a blog, are you paying attention to who follows you and to who is commenting? I certainly don't know everyone who follows my blog or leaves comments, but I can guarantee you that I ALWAYS click on their picture and to the best of my ability make sure they are not trying to mislead anyone that stops by this blog.

I pray that God will use this blog to bring glory and honor to his name and His alone!

P.S. Let me clarify that this is not about the person leaving the comment or following, but about what they are clearly trying to promote and/or sell.

Called to Belong vs. Taxes

2010-02-20T17:26:00.000-08:00

Hmmm. You tell me which you would prefer:

A. Preparing figures and calculations for annual business and personal tax returns

or

B. Watching Called to Belong video (pics will help you get the idea)

So why am I doing taxes???????

What do you pray about?

2010-02-18T15:31:00.000-08:00

Prayer has been a huge part of my life since 2003. I have sought God, trusted God, cried my heart out to Him and believed Him for things way beyond my understanding. I have seen and been blessed by answers to prayer that were absolute miracles and could never have been completed or accomplished by man. God has supplied and provided so abundantly at times and in the most divine way that my husband and I just had to laugh out loud with joy.

At a financial turning point in our lives, God started sending us checks for gas well rent on property we hadn't owned in 12 years. The IRS suddenly owed us money from past tax returns. Someone decided to just increase the rent they were paying us on land they farmed because they suddenly thought they weren't paying us enough.

We witnessed God's hand fill our gas tanks, cause household supplies to last longer, utility bills to decrease and a multitude of other provisions.

God changed the hearts of family members, took away addictions and strongholds, opened doors for jobs, sold houses in record time in a bottomed-out market. You get the picture. Those are just a few of the hundreds of answers we have received.

Before you get the idea that I think God is just some "name it and claim it" genie in a bottle - you are wrong. I have also cried and cried hard to God about some matters that I am still crying out to him about yet today. I have witnessed healings and untimely deaths. I know full well that God is sovereign and that His ways and thoughts are higher and greater than mine.

But something that occurred to me yet again is how often do we really take "everything to God in prayer"? I do mean everything. Finances, marriages, children, utility bills, car repairs, grocery expenses, health, strongholds - just to name a few. How often do I personally figure I can just handle this one on my own? Or take it to God in prayer, only to try and fix things myself when God isn't doing it right away or the way I thought would be best? I then have a V-8 moment when I smack myself in the head and remember that every single time God has answered my various seem-impossible requests, it has always been in a way far greater than anything I could have ever thought to even consider.

I have learned to pray about everything. I have learned and am still learning that prayer truly does change things. And so I leave you with these verses:

Luke 18:1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

1 Thessalonians 5:17: Pray continually.

Matthew 7:8 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.

Be persistent and trust that God hears and knows - always.

Scripture Memory 2/15/10 (2 days late!)

2010-02-17T14:43:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know that scripture memory sign-up is to take place on the 15th and 30th of every month. Fortunately, my friend Tanya went ahead and posted her verse on a previous post. So here are my lame excuses and then my verse:

1. Could not settle on which verse to memorize for this time.
2. Still could not get one that I really felt compelled to claim this time around.
3. It snowed.
4. It snowed some more.
5. I had the melt down with the all out ugly cry as a result of the never ending snow!
6. None of those are good excuses, but they are all true.

There are actually two passages that I really want to memorize this time. I believe that God wants them under my skin and into my heart a little deeper. They both fit perfectly for some places that I am at in my life right now. But I am going to go with the passage from Psalm 51:10-12 this session.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. Psalm 51:10-12 NIV

For whatever reason or reasons I have been bending and reacting to circumstances from a fleshly viewpoint instead of from a steadfast spirit of the Lord within me and there isn't a whole lot of joy when I do that. I know the joy of salvation and my heart longs for a steadfastness in the Lord that keeps me from swaying to the storms of life. In particular, I am not interested in being swayed by a light and temporary 'breeze'. The Lord and I have been through some very stormy times and I know that he will sustain me. I want all of the thoughts and meditations of my heart to be pure in the sight of God. Just really wanting to live out this verse every day!

Maybe you are feeling the need to go here too. Maybe it will take the whole month to memorize the three verses and that's okay. Or maybe God has laid something else on your heart that needs to be deep within you - whatever the case, go ahead and post it. Accountability it a great thing!

What Does Love Look Like?

2010-02-14T11:40:00.000-08:00

It's Valentines Day. As I walked into Kroger to get a newspaper after church, there was a line of men at the floral department all with flowers in their hands. At CVS, there was a young man with a large heart shaped box of candy and a card waiting in line. It's Valentines Day.

My husband and I decided long ago that we were not going to celebrate these holidays. It made life a lot more enjoyable and simpler for us. No expectations, no disappointments. My husband is very romantic and does amazing things for me all year long. He brings me chocolate and Starbucks on a regular basis. If I only got them one day a year, I would wonder what he thought the rest of the year.

We are doing a series at our church involving marriage. Between that and Valentine's Day, I gave some more thought to what marriage and love really look like. We have been married 24 1/2 years. We dated for 3 before that, which means that we have been together since we were teenagers in high school. We have seen the best and worst of each other! - repeatedly. We have weathered storms that many a marriage might not have survived. I take no credit for that. When the worst came - God was at the center. It is only because our marriage is focused on God and each of us take our personal relationship with Him very seriously that we are where we are today.

But that aside, my husband shows me love in ways that far exceed anything you can buy in a store. For a man who gets sick the moment he even thinks someone else is getting sick to hold back my hair and hold up my head as I throw up all down the hallway - and then to clean it up - that is love. When my husband greets me at the door with a cup of fresh brewed Starbucks after I get home from work - that is love. Encouraging my frivolous pursuits and passions in life and never, ever complaining about them - that is love. After 24 1/2 years together, still desiring me and telling me so - that is love. Putting up with my snooze alarm going off every 6 minutes every single morning and not complaining -that is love. Telling me he loves me multiple times a day and leaving me love notes all through the house if he is going to be gone - that is love. Praying for me daily - that is love. Praying for our children - that is love. Seeking God and studying His Word so that he can be more like Jesus - that is love. Eating whatever I cook and telling me leftovers are just fine so that we don't have more dirty dishes - that is love. Making the bed every morning, picking up after himself and not complaining if I don't do the same - that is love. Changing the oil in my car, taking out the trash, folding the laundry, mowing the yard, shoveling the never-ending snow, going to work, supporting our family - that is love. Leading a group of men in prayer on Tuesday nights at our house instead of being out running around - that is love. Working through the tough stuff and talking it out - that is love. Sitting on the front porch just enjoying being together because we can - that is love.

Love looks different on any given day. But I never wonder if Kenny loves me. Our love and marriage don't look like anything you would see on a Hollywood screen or in a romance novel. Our love doesn't fit some Hallmark card or country love song. Our love is real and tough and tender and authentic and tried and true. Our love is focused on God and becoming more like Christ and keeping Him at the center of all we do.

So Happy Valentine's Day Kenny - I am madly in love with you!

So Many Books . . .

2010-02-13T12:26:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure what you might call it, but if there is a name for book ADHD - I have it. At any given moment I am reading three different books. I have been trying REALLY hard to read one, finish it, start the next. Not doing so well. On top of that there are several others that I am just dying to dig into. Some I have owned for awhile and others I just got from the library at work.

One of my inspirations for reading, outside of just loving it, is that I seem to think far outside myself when I read. My mind and thoughts grow and I am encouraged to keep learning, keep reading, keep pursuing the passions that God has placed within me. If it is possible to keep getting smarter after 40, well then reading is my method of doing that.

This week I started this:

I am actually reading it as part of an on-line discussion/blog group. I had no doubt that I had a long list of insecurities, I just didn't realize the impact they were having on my life. Without question, God will be speaking loudly to me through this book. Thank you Beth!

Then there is this one:

I believe that all followers of Christ need to raise their awareness of spiritual warfare. It doesn't mean that every believer is called to the same level of warfare or same level of involvement. But if Jesus Christ is your Savior, you are already involved in it. We need to know what we are up against.

Then there are these books that are calling my name:

Sacred Marriage, by Gary Thomas
The Feasts of of the LORD, by Kevin Howard/Marvin Rosenthal
Life Support, by Robert Whitlow

Did I forget to mention a couple bible studies? Yikes. Praise God for good books, eyes to see, a mind to understand and Starbucks to keep me awake!

Pioneer Woman to the Rescue

2010-02-06T12:42:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love taking care of my family and my home. I may not win an award for interior design and I will not be appearing on the Food Network any time soon, but I really do enjoy all the aspects of homemaking. (That includes cleaning) But lately, I have found myself in a "no idea what to cook for dinner" rut. Our cupboards and freezer are overflowing, but my mind is empty on ideas. And then God sent the Pioneer Woman to my rescue.

First, may I point out that her recipes are like a picture book with step-by-step instructions. Gotta love that. So I figure there is a good chance I will get something similar to what she is making in the end as long as I stick to things like salsa, bbq meatballs and crash-hot potatoes. The salsa will be a great date-night snack for my husband and I. The bbq meatballs and potatoes will be fantastic some night next week.

Next week our small group will start meeting again after a way-too-long break and I really want to try some new stuff out on them. They are fabulous like that - they won't complain, so long as it is edible.

I have got to get back to bible study stuff, but had to share the Pioneer Woman in case anyone else was feelin' the need to be rescued in the kitchen.

What's with PB&J?

2010-02-03T16:56:00.000-08:00

Within 48 hours: our daughter had given birth to our first grandchild, my husband preached his first sermon (twice) and my husband, our son and I all had the stomach flu. Seriously do not know how much more we could have crammed into that time frame. On top of that, after literally crawling off the floor and out of bed on Monday, I had to finish preparing for the first night of our new Tuesday night women's bible study.

Feeling spiritually, physically and emotionally spent - there just wasn't much left to offer in the way of domestic skills this week. Want to make something with items from the fridge? Well whatever you can make from the butter and milk, please have at it.

By the time Tuesday morning rolled around choices to pack for lunch and supper were not looking so good. Not to mention the fear of eating anything that might cause the stomach flu to revisit. So I did what every respectable woman would do, I grabbed the PB&J sandwich that was actually leftover from husband's untouched lunch the day before and threw it in my bag before heading out the door for work.

Here's the catch, I have never eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in my entire life. Not one single bite. Made 'em, served 'em, packed 'em in plenty of lunches, but never ate one. I made it through the day at work without getting sick again and decided that I would enjoy this first time delicacy on my way to the camp for bible study. After all, I am now Nana and how could I tell our grandson Simon that I don't eat PB&J. Pulled it from the lunch bag, gently (not really) unwrapped it, took the first bite and waited for the revelation that so many others have had. Thud. Nothing exciting. It was boring. Yeah, PB&J is boring. What is all the fuss about? Is there a proper way to make them and I don't know how? Can you ruin a PB&J sandwich? Should I have used strawberry jam instead of grape? Seriously.

Scripture Memory 1/30/10

2010-01-30T17:34:00.001-08:00

This is the part where accountability really counts for me. I want to just leave up the pics and post announcing the birth of our first grandchild, Simon. But thankfully there will be more of those in the days and weeks to come.

So my verse to memorize this week is actually part of our upcoming women's bible study.

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer".
Psalm 19:14 NIV

I have a portion of this verse hanging in my kitchen. There have been many days and occasions when the words should have been much lower and larger on the wall, if you know what I mean. I certainly have way too many occasions when the words of my mouth are not pleasing in the sight of my Lord. Those are usually easily recognizable and I feel an immediate conviction when my tongue speaks without my brain engaged.

The meditations of my heart have been a different matter. It isn't that I intentionally ponder and meditate on things I shouldn't, but God has been shining a bright light onto the meditation of my heart lately. Even if I'm not speaking it, am I holding onto thoughts that might be displeasing to God?

For the last several days since I actually decided this would be my verse this time, God keeps nudging me when my thoughts maybe aren't so pleasing to him. I'm talking about thoughts that don't line up with truth of scripture or when I choose anxiety and worry instead of believing and meditating on the Word of God! I praise God for the convicting power of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Word of God as we meditate on it and let it all soak in.

So if you want to join me (go here for original post) in this year of scripture memory, just leave a comment with the verse written out that you will memorize, with which translation you are using and your name. We will choose our next verse on February 15th.

The Newest Addition to our Family

2010-01-30T04:32:00.000-08:00

Introducing Simon Ryan Humphrey

6 lbs. 15 oz. 19 inches

Graced our presence for the first time on 1/29/10

Shane and Jillian and Simon - the first family pic!

Kenny - with the new title 'grandpa'

Simon has already stolen his heart

Justin - first time uncle
Would have held Simon all night if we had let him
Has plans to spoil his little nephew

But I think, Nana gets to spoil him more!

What an unspeakable blessing

Welcome to the family Simon. You are already loved beyond words.

There Are Days

2010-01-27T13:14:00.000-08:00

There are days when:

1. You have been told you still need a root canal
2. You have been told you will then need another crown (cha-ching!)
3. Your husband also needs a crown (double cha-ching!!)
4. You are told that you may have to wait yet another day for your daughter to be induced to welcome your first grandchild into the world
5. You didn't budget enough in your Health Savings Account to cover so much dental work
6. You are wondering how great a vacation you could have gone on for the price you will pay your dentist
7. You believe your metabolism has officially shut down
8. It is time for dinner and you have no idea what you are making
9. You get the opportunity to invite someone to church who doesn't know Jesus and they say "yes"
10. You get to invite two women to bible study who probably don't own a bible and they say "yes"

The eternal ALWAYS outranks and outshines the temporal. Thank you Jesus!

Scripture Memory

2010-01-26T15:45:00.000-08:00

As a little girl I remember memorizing scriptures at church camp to earn points for our team. The more you memorized; the more points you got. I wasn't very good at sports and wasn't much help there, but I could memorize. 30+ years later I still know some of those verses.

Last year I signed up on Beth Moore's blog to memorize 2 new scriptures a month for a year. It was wonderful. The accountability of having to sign-in and list your scripture on the 15th and 30th of every month caused me to pay attention to whether I was actually memorizing or slacking. I have to confess it was fun to sit in church, hear a verse and immediately think "I know that one!". Made me want to learn more.

While there are a lot of reasons to memorize the Word and apply it, something really cool happened last year that has been part of my inspiration to keep pushing on. One night my sweet husband said or did something that upset me. My verse that week was 1 Thessalonians 5:15: "Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else." My flesh wanted to respond by paying back wrong for wrong. My heart and mind went to the scripture and my tongue stayed quiet. I immediately kept repeating that verse over and over and over in my head. It wasn't too long until my feelings of being wronged were gone. I honestly cannot tell you what it was that upset me, but I can tell you what stopped it. If I had answered in the flesh, I most likely would be able to remember what happened. God tells us that he will purify us with his word.

Although that group is not doing the same scripture memory idea this year, I have decided to keep it going in my own life. I could just do it and not post it on here. But I know my flesh too well, and after awhile it would be a verse here and there instead of at least two a month. I wanted to stay with the 15th and 30th because it is easy to remember and I am already in the habit of that. So although it is almost the 30th, I am actually posting my verse from this week and will start another on Saturday.

James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (NIV)

I need to remember that hearing the word and memorizing the word are not the same as doing what it says. This will undoubtedly be a great foundation for the rest of the scriptures this year. I am so excited to see what God has in store.

Feel free to join me if you like. Just list your verse, the reference and translation and your name.

So "What is God doing in your life?"

2010-01-25T16:00:00.000-08:00

I totally amaze myself and how I can go down a twisted path of thinking that is all in my head. Let's back track. I am walking down the hall at work. I see a co-worker who has been serving overseas for the last year. I immediately think "He's going to ask me 'what has God been doing in my life?' " I translate that in my own head to mean: "So what amazing and spectacular things has God called you to do?". Again, the only person talking is the voice in my head. I now want to avoid this person because I don't want to have this conversation with them. Whew.

I am stressed over an imaginary conversation that never took place. So, why? Because I have felt for quite some time like God has me on hold and isn't working a whole lot in my life right now. (I am not looking for rebuttal - this is a confession.) Somehow I have come to equate God working in my life with: future projects, future retreats, future plans and visions and excitement. Busyness.

For the last 7 hours I have been mulling this over in my head. I venture to guess that there are others out there who have had some similar thoughts. As the last few dishes were going in the dishwasher, God reminded me of what I am doing and what He has called me to do:

Bake brownies for the men's group that meets at our house on Tuesday night
Pray for a group of young women all expecting their first child (one of them is my daughter!)
Pray for some people going through a difficult time with cancer right now
Pray for a group of women that I will be meeting with for bible study on Tuesday nights
Minister to a wonderful group of women on Tuesday nights
Pray for and minister to my husband who is about to preach his first sermon on Sunday
Pray for some young men that are far from God and need to turn back
Pray for someone who is facing criminal charges
Build some relationships with the clerks of the local stores so that I can share Jesus with them
And that list goes on.

I don't say these things for any reason other than to bring glory to God and to remind others that God asks us to do things all the time. It is our interpretation and imagination that can mess up how we perceive this and what we do with it. Too often I minimize the tasks that God has given me.

So what is God doing in your life?

Waiting on a baby

2010-01-18T16:19:00.000-08:00

I have two children, so you would think that I would already have some understanding of what it means to wait with great expectancy on the birth of a child. But I have never had a grandchild, I have never had one of my children expecting a baby, so all of this is new. All of this is so very exciting.

Our daughter's due date is January 23rd. Suddenly I find that every decision I am making is based on the anticipated arrival of this little one. The car may need some work done. The dilemma: Can it wait until after the baby arrives or should we get it done asap in case we need two vehicles when the baby arrives? I am supposed to have a root canal and I am trying to schedule it around the delivery of the baby. Our next women's bible study starts in 2 weeks, so how far ahead should I prepare? Have all the bills been paid, is the laundry done, is the house clean? For cryin' out loud - you would think I was having the baby! I don't know if you can nest vicariously, but I feel like I am having full-blown nesting syndrome for my daughter. I just pray I do not have labor pains for her.

In but a breath, this little one will forever change our lives. I will instantly go from being a wife and mom, to the added title of grandma or nanna or whatever name the child chooses. A generation will be added to our family. There will be more birthdays on the calendar to celebrate and more stockings hung at Christmas. There will be more memories, more pictures, more laughter, and more prayers.

Little one, we anxiously await your arrival. We have been praying for you before you were conceived. We have been praying for you daily and many others have lifted you to the throne room of heaven seeking God's blessing and grace upon you. We don't know if you are a boy or a girl, but God has wonderfully made you and knitted you together in your mommy's womb. I pray that God will fill you with a desire for the things of God from the moment you have your first thought. I pray that your life is full of joy and laughter. I pray that you will pursue God all the days of your life and that you will serve Him and love Him well. I pray that you will always honor your daddy and your mommy. May you love others as Christ has commanded. May you receive the richest of blessings that God has to offer and may you use them all to the glory of your Maker. You have already consumed our thoughts and filled our hearts with love for you. Until I see you and hold you, may you know that you have been cherished and wanted and loved unconditionally all the days of your life. Waiting for your arrival with great anticipation -I love you, Nanna

On a Flight from Chicago

2010-01-14T17:43:00.000-08:00

Jeff Selph wrote a blog this week that is just irritating me - in a good/bad sort of way. It was a kick-in-the-pants sort of post where I realized that perhaps I have been waiting a little too much on God to open doors and make a way. There are some areas of my life that I do need to wait on God, but there are many others that I just need to get up and DO!

Inside of me is an evangelist just dying to get out. Not the obnoxious type, but the kind that genuinely thinks everyone should know about Jesus and that if I ask God he will point me in the right direction and make the opportunities happen. For example, several years ago I was in Chicago for a conference at Willowcreek Community Church. While at the airport waiting to return home, I really felt a desire for God to lead me to someone to sit next to that I could share the gospel with. Afterall, I could catch up with the others from church anytime and they already knew Jesus. So I prayed and as we boarded the plane, I kept praying and asking God to direct me where to sit that I might be able to share Him with someone. I was almost to the back of the plane and no audible shouts from the Holy Spirit. Finally realizing that about all that was left were my co-workers, I sat down. True evangelist at heart - my bible was out and ready. And God saw fit to use me anyway.

Not more than a few minutes into the flight, the lady beside me started a conversation and in her lap was a Hindu 'bible'. Her name was Pallavi and she was from India. She and her husband were living in Cleveland and commuting to Chicago every week for work. She had been seeking something more in her life and wanted answers, but hadn't found peace about these things yet. God opened the door wide! And in I went. My faith was fresh, alive and our testimony of God's grace and goodness and miracles was vivid and active in our lives. I could have shared 8-hours worth of flight time of testimony if God had allowed it. But seeing that He loves Pallavi as much as he loves me, he only gave us an hour together. I shared the love and miracles of God and Pallavi asked questions and shared her quest for truth with me. We landed in Cleveland, got off the plane, continued the conversation as we waited in the baggage claim area and then hugged good-bye. We exchanged email addresses and actually did the polite thing by emailing each other - once.

God has been repeatedly bringing Pallavi to the forefront of my thoughts lately. I prayed for her for a long time after we met and then I just kind of stopped. While I may have to wait on God for some of the ministry desires of my heart, I don't have to wait on him to witness to others. I emailed Pallavi right before I started this post. Who knows if she even has the same email address, but I figured it was worth a shot.

As long as I can remember I have wanted to share the love of Jesus with anyone - everyone. I have allowed life and critics and circumstances and naysayers to dampen my passion. Maybe it is time to start doing what God created me to do and to stop waiting. I pray there is a follow-up to this post concerning Pallavi. But if not, I pray there are more posts about witnessing to those that need to know Jesus.

I Talk to Myself

2010-01-12T17:12:00.000-08:00

Surprise, surprise, surprise. I talk to myself. My family has begun to just accept it. And I have stopped trying to stop. I think being an only child for 6 years was the beginning of a life destined to be filled with talking to myself. We were taught way back then to use our imagination. So I did. Apparently I just didn't have anyone to share it with.

So somehow it isn't a surprise that the next women's bible study we will be doing is Me, Myself and Lies, by Jennifer Rothschild. The back of the workbook says "Ever wonder what you should say when you talk to yourself?" I know what I say - but perhaps what I say and what I should say are two completely different things.

To add to the draw was the subtitle: "A thought closet makeover". My personal closet needs a radical makeover and just this week I seriously asked God to make me more fashion savvy than I am. It might sound shallow, but sometimes a girl needs a bit of help. I have kept way too many old clothes in my closet just so it looks like I have a lot. Sad, but true. And truth is, I have kept way too many thoughts about myself that also needed to go out in the trash with the 1980's fashions I still own. (You just never know when you will need that homecoming sweater!)

Sometimes we hold on to thoughts and things that people said to us 20 or 30 years ago (okay Jeanette and Susan - 10 years ago) and we find them resurfacing from time to time. Just this week my husband said the most innocent thing and out of nowhere it brought back something that was said to me as a young girl that still affects me to this day. I just don't generally think about it. But apparently I need to clean it out of my thought closet because it doesn't belong in my life any longer.

So, February 2nd - our women's bible study will kick back up. I have a feeling that God has something incredible and totally unexpected in this study. Can't wait to see how it fits! Can't wait to see how I talk to myself after this!

Anxiety

2010-01-10T13:28:00.000-08:00

Do you ever have anxiety? Sometimes I do. I don't suffer from full-blown panic or anxiety attacks and I am very thankful. But occasionally, there is this anxiousness that just wants to wash over me. Unfortunately, I can't explain why. I will just feel it coming over me without warning and without any discernible reason. Case in point, just took a nap, woke up and there it was lurking over me.

If you have never suffered an unexplained anxious thought or episode, I can't explain it to you. It just happens. When I was little they gave me little green pills to take care of it. However, I couldn't swallow pills, so the cure for the anxiety only increased it. I was 8. I'm not really sure why I stopped taking them or why the anxious thoughts went away, but they did. Maybe it was Jesus. That was about the same age I started going to church camp, which to this day I swear changed my entire life. Another blog for another time.

Anyway, memorizing scripture and prayer have been the greatest relief for me when it comes to the anxiousness. When the anxiety starts welling up in me, I either start focusing all my thoughts and attention on God and prayer or I start reciting scriptures in my head. Sometimes I have to say the same scripture over and over and over again until I feel it pass. I don't necessarily have a specific scripture that I use or one that is necessarily relevant to the anxiety I am feeling. Any scripture that comes to mind seems to work for me.

I'm not really even sure why I am sharing any of this. But I recently read on Anne Jackson's blog that the best way to blog is to be yourself and to let people see the real you. I do know that sometimes when you talk about the things that the enemy uses to hold you back and tie you down - it tends to set you and others free. Hopefully someone will take something from this and know they aren't alone.

The Unresolution List

2010-01-07T16:25:00.000-08:00

We have all seen or made a list of things we are going to different or give up in the year 2010. It's tradition to do this the first day or week of the New Year. So as we start the 2nd week of the New Year I thought I would list some things I am NOT giving up:

1. Frozen M&M peanuts
2. Coffee
3. Books
4. Time with my family
5. Time alone with my husband
6. Memorizing Scripture
7. Women's Tuesday night bible studies
8. Cutting coupons
9. Prayer
10. Believing God
11. Naps (I almost forgot to include this!)

I know, seems like an odd combination and not in proper order. The order is just really random. But that's okay, I'm learning how to not stress over details that aren't really that important. Please note that I did not include keeping stress in my life for the year 2010. So the list stays as is.

Ugly Packages

2010-01-06T16:08:00.000-08:00

Have you ever gotten a really ugly package? We did. Not too long before Christmas God delivered a personal package to us that was U-G-L-Y ugly. When it first arrived, I really, really wanted to give it back. I could not understand how God would want to us to receive a gift that appeared mangled, beaten-up and had a stench about it. It didn't seem like much of a gift at all. More like a bad dream where you wonder "is it over yet?". As life would have it, it was ours to keep.

So we accepted the ugly package. We looked it over. Checked it out from side-to-side, top-to-bottom trying to figure out what God wanted us to do with it. It was still ugly, but somehow after holding it for a bit, it wasn't quite as ugly. Actually, I became a little curious as to what might be in the package. Not so curious that I wanted to open it, but willing to sit in the corner, thank God for it and wait to see if something emerged from it.

Initially the packaged just started smelling worse. I thought if I could just put it outside for awhile - perhaps the theory of "out-of-sight, out-of-mind" would actually make the package disappear. Didn't happen.

Then something odd began to happen. The package started shedding its ugliness and we would see glimpses of a real gift - something valuable that only God could give us. Little by little, the ugly packaging was falling off. At first, I just stood back and waited to see if it would just turn back into something ugly. But it didn't. God began to unwrap our gift and to take off the ugly packaging. It seemed that only the Holy hand of God would be able to fully unwrap this gift. Human hands would only tarnish what was inside the ugly packaging. But Holy Hands - now that is something different. Holy Hands can take what appears to our human eyes to be ugly and distorted and mangled and make it into something far more beautiful and magnificent than we could ever imagine.

God is still unwrapping the ugly package. As he continues the process, something absolutely amazing is appearing from within. My heart is overjoyed at the amazing and personal gift God gave us - in some really ugly packaging.

So how about you - has God ever given you something that made you wonder "why" or "how" or "what am I going to do with this"? I'm not talking about material gifts. I'm talking about those life experiences that don't seem to make any sense in the beginning. They aren't pretty, they are hard and difficult and sometimes make our heart ache. But if given time and praise, God begins to unwrap the ugly package and inside we find the most treasured and wonderful gifts that remind us just how much God loves us. Don't discard the ugly packages - they tend to have the best gifts inside.

Resolution Alternatives

2009-12-27T12:55:00.000-08:00

I'm not into New Year's resolutions. I am trying, however, to live a life that often incorporates many of the resolutions people make. For those who are making resolutions or are just looking for help in their day-to-day life, I can personally attest to the following websites and organizations making a huge difference in mine. Maybe they will help you too.

1. Spiritually. Living Proof Ministries and Beth Moore's blog.
The blog in particular has done more for me spiritually and in my accountability with other women than I can possibly begin to explain. Even though I do not know these women, there is a connection through this blog and through the Bible verse memorization that has gone on over the last year. Can't wait to start again this coming year with the memory verses and with a new on-line study regarding insecurities women face.

2. Financially. Southern Savers and Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University
With the help and free advice of Southern Savers we have cut our grocery bill literally in half! Our cupboards are well-stocked, actually overflowing, with name brand items we need and use. Below is just one example of what I am talking about:
All of this only cost $2.18 total out-of-pocket and that includes tax.

The zero-balance budget from Financial Peace University is absolutely fabulous for helping to see where our money really goes and allows us to give, save and wisely spend our money without stress and confusion.

3. The House. Two simple words: Fly-lady or www.flylady.net
I started implementing the ideas from this website several years ago and was amazed at how clean my house stayed, how organized I was and unstressed my life felt. But two moves in two years put the Fly-lady routines in the closet for a bit. Although I was still using the basic concepts, I hadn't been fully utilizing the plans. Christmas is over, I have dug out my book from the closet and tomorrow I will start again. It is well worth it.

I pray that someone else is blessed and helped by these websites. They have been a blessing in mine and I have found each one of them to be all they claim and so much more.

Here's to a less stressful life!

A First Time for Everything

2009-12-23T12:16:00.000-08:00

I did it. Christmas cookies baked, cake baked, chex mix done, gifts bought and wrapped (all of them) and it is only December 23rd. Never in my 24 years of marriage can I say that I wasn't still wrapping gifts on Christmas day. Never. But not this year. I did it and it looks a bit like this:

Two of my favorite recipes for Christmas time.
Mule ear cookies and pistachio cake.

Yes that is extra "frosting" on the bottom - way too good not to just
pile it around the bottom of the cake.

And this is just one of the reasons I am done early. My 8-month pregnant daughter and son-in-law are on the way home to spend Christmas with us for a few days before heading to the Humphrey family Christmas. My son is home, my husband will be soon - lots of reasons to celebrate this season. Our first Christmas with a child expecting and our last Christmas without a little grandchild running around. I like these new traditions.

He is our Hope

2009-12-23T04:58:00.000-08:00

Christmas - a time of joy, of celebration, of anticipation. But what about for all those I know, or know of, that have gotten the cancer diagnosis, are losing their home, losing their job, have prodigal children, are facing unwanted divorce, can't see through the strongholds of addiction, have children with serious medical conditions, have lost a child, are facing arrest, struggling with their sexual identity, grieving the loss of loved ones - so what about them?

Jesus is our hope. It can be so easy to look at the hard and difficult and often unseemly insurmountable trials of life and wonder "is there hope?". It can be even more difficult at Christmas, because everyone else is happy or so it seems. Sometimes our trials are public and painful, sometimes they are personal and painful. But we all have trials.

Jesus is our hope. Christmas is the reason we have hope in this life. Without Christ, all of these things would be devastating beyond belief and we would and should give up hope. But Christ came and Christ conquered all of those things. This life and its trials are temporary, but Jesus is eternal. His glory is eternal.

Jesus is hope for the cancer patient and the parent of the prodigal.
He is the hope that springs eternal for the ones facing financial downfall.

Jesus is hope for the addicted, the lost, the hurting, and the lonely.
He is the hope for those that desire what is good and right and battle the inner struggles each night.

Jesus is hope for the struggling marriage and for those who have miscarried.
He is the hope that lives within us and has conquered the death we fear.

Jesus is hope that brings new life to those who know sexual sins.
He is the hope to the one facing an uncertain future for bad decisions made one night.

Jesus is hope to the family that can't find their child.
He is the hope to those that they think they are unforgivable, unlovable and without hope.

Jesus is hope to the teen who wonders "what have I done?".
He is the hope to the parent who wonders if their child will ever return Jesus.

Jesus is hope to whatever it is that you need hope for.
He is the hope that appeared on Christmas morning - the Savior of the world.