Let's go swimming

I loved John's sermon on Sunday, "Become What You Believe". Many things that he said hit home with me. One thing that really hit home with me was when he talked about the two different ways we can enter a swimming pool. We can either tip toe down the steps trying to "ease" into the water, or we can just "cannonball" on in. And it's the same way when God is calling us to do something.

For the past several months, God has called me to do something, and I've been tiptoeing around it, trying to get a "feel" for the water. When John preached his message, I realized that I need to just jump in.

Due to various reasons, I hadn't had a real good quiet time this week until today. This morning I woke up and said, "word of God speak to me". I could not wait to get in the Word of God. I felt the need to be "washed" by it, by Him.

Remember, I hadn't had a good quiet time since Sunday, and I found it interesting that God picked up right where He had left off with me. He brought up the same subject, and reminded me of what He had previously said to me through John on Sunday.

This morning I read 2 Timothy 2. It starts out like this, "So, my son, throw yourself into this work for Christ." (emphasis mine). Hmmm...or as John said, "cannonball in". It's time to enter the water. It's time to throw myself into what He's been calling me to do.

That's where I'm at...how 'bout you? Is there something God keeps bringing up for you to do?
Let's go swimming...

Snow Day!!

Here's some pictures from our outdoor fun last Sunday...

Creamer Counseling

There's a problem in our house. I've seen it coming on for a while. I've monitored it, and have patiently waited to see what would happen. It's with my husband, and I'm pretty concerned. He seems to have this addiction to coffee creamers.

I used to think it was neat that every so often he'd bring home a different flavor, but now he has so many that we can't fit milk into the fridge. What's weird is, we almost ALWAYS go grocery shopping together, and I never see him buy these. I shared that with him the other day, and I asked him "when are you buying these?" To which he replied, "on my lunch hour." Hmmm...I thought, just like an addict. Being sneaky in order to satisfy his coffee creamer craving.

I can think of alot of things that sound like fun to do on my lunch hour, but buying creamer isn't one of them....bizarre

Let me share with you some of the flavors that are fighting for position in the fridge. We have hazelnut (that one's actually mine), cinnamon vanilla creme, coconut creme, vanilla caramel, and pumpkin pie.

Actually, now that I've looked at all the flavors, it kind of makes me want to have a coffee party...ya'all could come over and sample the festival of flavors, and hopefully use them up, so that the milk would fit comfortably in the fridge again! :-)

I'm currently looking for a good creamer counselor. The Spiritual side of me wants to say, "Honey, turn to Jesus, not to creamers...He's the only one that can truly satisfy...

disclaimer: This post is in no way intended to bash my husband....just havin' a little fun with a real life situation :-)

Week At A Glance

Here's some fun things we've done this past week....
Tuesday night we had dinner at my Mom's for Denny's Birthday. His b-day is January 9th, but it seems like we celebrate our birthday's for about a week! Wednesday, we took the kids to see the Harlem Globetrotters, they LOVED it! Friday we went out to eat with some friends. Saturday we had dinner with Denny's parents, and then they came out to our house to play with the kids.

Some not so fun things...
One of my uncles died this week. We had his funeral Saturday morning. It was actually one of the best funerals I've ever been to. The speaker was Gene Siverly. He was incredible. I was extremely blessed by his message. He did a great job of telling about the life of my Uncle Dale, as well as ministering to the people who were in attendance. I, for one, was greatly ministered to.

Now for THIS WEEK...We cancelled band practice tonight due to the Colts game...GO COLTS! I know, our priorities are probably a little messed up, but our head audio/video guy, Chris Scott started whining about it first of last week...(just teasin' Chris). Actually I wanted to watch it too, and it worked out best because Shane (acoustic guitar player) couldn't be there either.

Tomorrow night, I'll go into the studios to begin working on a new Praise Team CD. We recorded our night of praise in November, but due to scheduling conflicts with the studio, we're just now getting started with the "mix down" process...All prayers would be greatly appreciated as we work on this new CD.

For those of you in the Marshall area, we're having Longaberger basket bingo on Thursday night at the high school. This is a fund raiser for the Marshall Autumn Fest. WE NEED YOU!!! I don't remember what time it starts right now, but if you're interested, e-mail me, and I'll get you the info.

Last but not least, the long awaited for "ladies night out" at First Christian Church. 7pm Friday night. No need to be a member at FCC, just grab a friend and come on out...you do, however, have to be female :-)

Devotion

Hey!
I added a devotion to the "devotion" page of my website. It's titled "Duty Calls".

Heart Check

This morning in my quiet time, I had a fun, kind of "aha" moment as God was teaching me through his word. My question to you is this? Have you ever had times where you opened up God's word, and you just seemed to get nothing out of it? Or you pray, and your prayers seemingly just hit the floor? This morning, I was reading Matthew Chapter 13...and it says this...

10The disciples came up and asked, "Why do you tell stories?"
11-15He replied, "You've been given insight into God's kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn't been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That's why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they're blue in the face and not get it.

Have you ever felt like that...like you could stare til doomsday, and not get it? I have. Jesus says that if our heart is "ready", insights and understanding will flow freely...BUT if there's no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears..

Let me liken this for a moment to satellite TV. When there are no obstructions, so to speak, between the satellite, and your television...the picture you see is crystal clear. But as soon as a storm comes in, your television reception either goes out completely, or becomes very fuzzy and unclear.

If we're not hearing God clearly, or understanding His word clearly, it may be time for a heart check. What, in my heart, is keeping it from being ready to receive all that the Lord has for me? Am I harboring bitterness, am I being unforgiving toward someone, is my heart full of pride? Those are just some of the things that could be messing up our reception.

Let's say that you have NO idea why you're not "getting it". I've been in that situation too. What's neat is that's exactly how I went before my Heavenly Father. I said to Him basically, "I'm not gettin' it...and I don't know why." and guess what? He met me there at that place, and revealed to me why I wasn't receiving a fresh word from Him. If that's where you're at, I encourage you too, to take it to the Father. It is His heart's desire that we operate as one with Him...He wants us to have clear reception...Have Him do a "heart check" on you, and give you the diagnosis.

The Golden Globes

I turned on the TV this morning to see that the "Golden Globe Awards" are in the news. Everytime I hear of that particular award show, it brings back a fond memory...thought I'd share.

Several years ago, we (WTHI) brought in Jeanne Cooper, the lady who plays Katherine Chancellor on the Young and the Restless, to do a "meet and greet" at the grand opening of a local furniture store. My friend/client, Kim, actually had the idea.

The grand opening was in May, and Jeannie packed the place. People were lined up for hours to meet this actress. Kim's idea proved successful!

I had the honor of hosting Jeannie for the weekend. That was fun! Probably the coolest part of that for me was having the opportunity to speak with her about faith, about Jesus. It was neat to hear where she was at, spiritually speaking. Though we didn't spend alot of time on that subject, that's still one of my favorite parts of that particular weekend.

Anyway, for whatever reason, Jeannie took a liking to us, and invited us to come out to LA, and visit the set of Y&R with her. So we did that. It was Kim, Laura and David (Kim's sister and nephew), and myself. We had a blast! It was so much fun hanging out together, and seeing LA, and meeting the stars of Y&R as Jeannie took us around and introduced us to everyone. It was also really cool to see the filming of it. To see the actors doing their part, and the camera men capturing it from various angles. The whole trip was really neat.

We were out there, either the week prior to or the week after the Golden Globes took place...I don't remember for sure which it was. We stayed in Beverly Hills at the same hotel where the Golden Globes take place. All the "talk about town" while we were there was the "Golden Globe Awards". Which is cool, because now I have the yearly "marker" to remind me of that fun trip!

The Great Negotiator

Last week I had sales training on how to negotiate. During the training, the speaker asked, "who's the best negotiator you know?" I turned to the other sales reps and said, "my five year old..."

He is amazing. I was reminded of it tonight as he was negotiating with me over how many games of Mario Kart we were going to play. The conversation went something like this...He said "five". I said, "two". He said, "how 'bout three games of Mario Kart, and then we'll play Cars". I settled on three games of Mario Kart.

I think I'm gonna send him in to buy my next car. I'm sure there's some way I can temper it so he'll work the deal for me. I'll tell him something like, "I'm sorry son, you can't play nintendo until this man agrees to sell me the car for $500 less." Then I'll turn the boy loose on him.

This Morning

This morning, I attended an event at church called "improve your serve". To be honest, I really didn't want to go...I mean I REALLY didn't want to go! I was tired, and on the edge of burn out. We were literally gone from home every day and night this past week (except to sleep). Yesterday I was praying "Lord help me, I just want to stay home!" However, I did feel compelled to attend this special service, so I went.

Tim, our youth pastor, who is also an excellent musician, led worship. So I was able to just go and chill. Because I don't get to just "be still" during worship very often, I chose to just be still. I barely even sang. I just stood there with my eyes closed, listened to the voices singing, and soaked up the presence of the Lord. There's a scripture, Zephaniah 3:17 that says "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing"

That scripture came to life for me as I worshipped this morning. As tears began to roll down my face, that's what I felt...that He was rejoicing over me with singing. People don't always know what we need, but God does. I left there feeling full. As you enter into church to praise and worship, know that people may not always meet you where you're at, but God always will. Choose to enter into His presence, and come out refreshed. This morning He quieted me with His love...and I'm thankful!

Da Blog

Well, here's the blog comrades. I had the chil'n help me pick out the name. I think my daughter suggested approximately 400 different names in a one hour time period. She had some REALLY good ones. I've obviously gone with "reaching for you"...but I might switch that to "Heart and Throne", which was one that she thought of. Here are some of the other names that were submitted from my children...

The 13 year old's suggestions were: "Braveheart", "multi-purpose pray-er" and "fruit loops"
The 5 year old thought I should call it: "Tom & Jerry" or "power rangers"

Just last night I had a WHOLE list of names that they had suggested, but of course being a sanguine...I've already lost that :-)