Merry Christmas...

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!  

I'm looking SOOOO forward to just relaxing over the holidays.  We, of course, will be having family gatherings. Denny's family will all be at our house Christmas Eve.  We then will be leading worship at the Christmas Eve service at 9p.  If you're close by and don't have a service that you normally attend on Christmas Eve then please join us at First Christian Church in Marshall!  It's always a special time as we gather and celebrate Christ's birth.  Christmas day we will celebrate at my Mom's house with my Grandmother and aunt's and uncle's and cousins.  Thankful for family.

Then I have all of next week off.  YAY!!!!  I'm looking forward to enjoying time with Denny and the kids, and just taking time to soak up God's presence.  So grateful for HIM, for who He is and for His presence in my life.

Hope you all soak Him up this holiday season!!

Memories and a Christmas Show

Tonight Denny was flipping through old photos when he came across this one and it brought back some fun memories!

A couple of years ago, our family along with Tim and Jennifer Wood and their boys, made a trip down to Nashville to see our friends Matt and Christy in the Louise Mandrell Christmas show at the Opryland Hotel.

We had such a GREAT time hanging out together.  The only downside is Ezra was not feeling well.  For those of you who might not know Ezra, he's the little guy in the very back being held by Tim.   As I recall Ezra had a touch of the flu which left him sick at both ends, if you know what I mean.  But thankfully, by the time we arrived to the show, Ezra was feeling MUCH better.

When we arrived at the show, Matt, always being so friendly, said to us, "hey, hang around after the show and we will introduce you to Aunt Lou."

So hang we did.  We waited for about an hour after the show while Louise signed  autographs.  While we waited, our little guy, Josh, along with the Wood boys ran around the hotel like maniacs.  JUST as we were walking up to meet Louise, Josh, because he had ran around and got overheated, ran out the front door of the hotel yelling, "I'm gonna puke!"  Though at the time we didn't know if he was sick because he was overheated or because he had what Ezra had.

What makes me laugh is that I recall watching Josh head toward the outside door of the hotel, and Denny following quickly after him, and I remember thinking, "He can puke with Denny, I'M going to meet Louise Mandrell".  Ha.  What a GOOD Mom I am.

Just prior to Louise's assistant snapping the picture, Josh ran back in the door, and Louise called him over to stand by her.  So sweet. The snapshot memory was made, and he didn't puke on her shoes or nothin'.

Louise's Christmas show is WONDERFUL!! If you are looking for something special to do this Holiday Season, and Nashville's not too far from you, you might consider seeing it.  I highly recommend it.  And to anyone from our church who might be reading this, I know that Matt and Christy would LOVE to see friends from FCC Marshall.  You can find more info on the show by clicking on this link.

Distress: Do Prayers Matter?

Recently, while going through a season of distress, a friend reached out to me.  This friend is not in my day to day life, so she really had no way of knowing what I was dealing with, or going through each day...but God. 


She  reached out saying that God had put me on her heart and that she was praying for me, and is praying for me.  This happened about a month or two ago, and God has not changed my circumstances.  But what has changed is ME.  Through her prayers, God has changed me, and because of that, I am able to handle the situation I'm in much better.  I can see and feel the difference, because of her prayers.


In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul is talking about a season of distress and what helped him through, and here is what he says:


"8-11We don't want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn't think we were going to make it. We felt like we'd been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since he's the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he'll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing. YOU AND YOUR PRAYERS ARE PART OF THE RESCUE OPERATION—I don't want you in the dark about that either. I can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God's deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played such a crucial part."


Maybe you've been praying for yourself, or someone else, and you feel as if your prayers don't matter.  Be reminded today, that God hears your prayers, and your prayers make difference.  Your prayers are part of the rescue operation.  Keep praying!! 

Distress: Painful but Good?

Here are some definitions of distress:

1.  Great pain, anxiety, or sorrow; acute physical or mental suffering; affliction; trouble.
2.  That which causes pain, suffering, trouble, danger
3.  A state of extreme necessity or misfortune

Who likes being in distress?  Yuk.  It is uncomfortable, unpleasant, and generally never a fun place to be.  But as ugly as distress feels, can it be a good thing?  Yeah, it can.  It is good when it turns our hearts back to God.

In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul says this:

"I know I distressed you greatly with my letter.  Although I felt awful at the time, I don't feel at all bad now that I see how it turned out.  The letter upset you, but only for a while.  Now I'm glad...not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around.  You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him.  The result was all gain, no loss".

"Distress that drives us to God does that.  It turns us around.  It gets us back in the way of salvation.  We never regret that kind of pain.  But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets."

"And now, isn't it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God?  You're more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible.  Looked at from any angle, you've come out of this with purity of heart.  And that is what I was hoping for in the first place when I wrote the letter."   (2 Corinthians 7:8-13 MSG)

Are you in a tough place?  Do you feel that distressed feeling?  Allow that to drive you to God, not away.  I'm remembering this for myself today, and also encouraging you.  Sometimes it takes seasons of distress for us to really stop and sink deep with God.  And out of that distress a deeper relationship with God is created, and in addition to that deeper relationship, we are changed from the inside out.  As the scripture states we become more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible, and have more purity of heart.  This is good.

In your distress, draw near to the Lord Jesus, and even if He doesn't change our circumstances, He changes us, and this is good!  When we turn to Him it is all gain, no loss.

Joshua's Birthday/Joshua's Baptism

Joshua's Baptism-YAY!!!!  So proud of our boy!!

Joshua's Birthday!!!  He wanted strawberry icing.  I said, "you realize, then, that you will have a pink cake right?"  He's comfortable with his manhood.

All About Josh

This weekend, for us, is all about Josh.  His birthday is Monday, so this is his birthday weekend.  We started something a long time ago that has now become a tradition.  The family member who is having the birthday, gets to choose most of what we do for the weekend.  We will typically eat out a couple of times, and they get to choose the location.  So Josh has planned his weekend.


Tonight we ate at Subway, which is one of his favorites.  Tomorrow he is having a friend over, and then later in the day he wants his family (grandparents) to come over and help celebrate his day.  Sunday, he's getting baptized.  He thinks it will be neat getting baptized this close to his birthday, and I agree.  I'm thrilled to both hear, and witness how excited he is about being baptized.  His teacher said that he has been talking about it at school.  And I've also heard him mention it to several people.  As I wrote in a previous post, it is so much fun walking this walk with him.  We are so thankful that God blessed us with his life, and thankful that the Lord has invited us to walk through life with HIM.

Miss Anything Else, but Don't Miss My Voice

Our eight year old son, Joshua, wants to be baptized.  He initiated it.  He has set the date. He is telling people about it, and he's been talking about it a lot.

What I love most about Him talking about it, is that when he refers to it, He does it mostly from a "relational" stand point.

Last night, before bed, He was talking about hearing God's voice.  He brought that up, not me.  He said from His little eight year old heart and mind something to the effect of "I think I'll have more conversations with God once I get baptized."  He then said, "I think that sometimes during the day, I'll just stop to listen."  Then He followed that up with,  "How will I know if I'm hearing His voice in my head, or if it's just my thoughts?"

I thought to myself, "Great thoughts, and great question."  I told him that the more He gets to know Jesus, the easier it will be to recognize His voice.  I also told Him that God would never say anything that would go against the Bible, like He probably would never tell you to go hit your friend as hard as you can, and hurt them just for the fun of it.

But the truth is, and I will talk to Josh more about this too, don't most of us struggle sometimes with knowing whether something is our own thoughts, and knowing if it's Jesus?  And I do think it has become easier to discern the more I've walked with him, but there are still those times that I have to say, "Lord, is this me, or is this you."  Quite frankly, that's one of the determining factors for me.  If I have to stop and ask that question, then most often it's God.

There's a lot more thoughts I have on this, and a lot more I'd like to share, but I have to prepare for a mtg this morning, I just wanted to throw this out there because it was on my heart this morning, AND because I'm reading a book called "Come Away My Beloved" by Francis J. Roberts, and what I read this morning went right along with my conversation with Josh, and I loved it, so I wanted to share.  I read this:

"Miss anything else, but don't miss my voice. Other voices may introduce disharmony, but My voice will always bring peace to thy heart and clarity to thy thinking.  For ye shall hear My voice behind thee saying:  This is the way, walk ye in it, when thou turnest to the left hand or to the right."

May we stop and listen today.

A Few Things I Would Miss If I Left Our Church

I'm not planning on leaving our church, but if I did, it would be things like this that I would remember about our church, and things like this that I would miss:

1.  Travis Beltz and Mike England standing in the congregation and calling praise team member's cell phones right after we start worship.  They think that's funny.  :-)  We have had to LEARN to make sure our cell phone are OFF!

2. People, on more than one occasion, not letting me out of the sanctuary.  (Travis) The praise team leads during 2nd and 3rd services.  In the 3rd service the praise team is dismissed prior to offering.  I stay and play the keyboard through offering, and then leave during the sermon to fellowship with the rest of the band. That is, if someone is not standing on the outside of the door, holding it so I can't get out. :)

3.  Getting stuck in our bathroom behind the stage.  enter at your own risk.  You might not come out.  ha. (the door sticks)

4.  I miss Karen Keim's Sunday School class.

5.  And even now, though I am there every Sunday, I miss having the chance to sink deep, ONE ON ONE, with  people in our church.  Those conversations would typically happen in Sunday School or on Wednesday nights at Bible study, neither of which I have been able to attend in recent years due to scheduling conflicts of ministry duties.

I love the church family.  Which in all seriousness doesn't look much different than a regular family.  There are good times, hard times, happy times, sad times, goofy times, annoying times....but doing life with my FCC Family is a special gift to me.

You Are Never One of Many to Me...

"You are never one of many to Me. You are precious and dear to My heart, yes, even as a very special treasure. For I love you more than you can ever comprehend, and I long to gather you in My embrace and hold you close to My heart. Do not hold Me at arm's length because you have a sense of unworthiness. Have you not read that the redeemed are brought near by the blood of Christ? Your sins are not covered: they are washed away!! They are not only forgiven: they are forgotten!!"

Adapted from "Come Away My Beloved" by Frances J. Roberts

I read this today and loved the way the writer reveals the heart of God.

"You are never one of many to me."

A Quick Trip...

As I type this I am driving, okay not driving, riding in the van on our way home from Nashville.

Denny and I had a GREAT time last night in Nashville at a fundraiser for S.E.E.K. a ministry that helps people in Kenya. We had been talking about wanting to get away for an evening, just the two of us, when we received the invite to this event. It was an excellent benefit put on by Barbara Mandrell's daughter Jaime.

We got to see our friends Matt and Christy again. We always love hearing Christy sing, and Matt was tearing up the mandolin (impressive).

We also loved hearing Mike Farris and The McCrary Sisters. Oh my. SOOOO incredibly talented. I had never heard of them prior to this, but obviously others have, because Mike has won a Dove Award. Which is probably the most prestigious award given to Gospel Artists.

And I also THOROUGHLY enjoyed watching my musical hero, Barbara Mandrell, enjoying the evening. If there was a "congregational worship leader" present, she was it!

I haven't heard any totals, but I know that there was a lot of money raised. Glad we traveled, and got to be a small part of God's plan for this ministry.

Here's some pics from the evening.

Mike Farris and The McCrary Sisters

The Mandrell Sisters...still lookin' GOOD!

Matt and Christy

In Need of Something Real

I have found myself in a bit of a funk lately. I would love to tell you all about it, but I haven't quite figured it out myself. I can't "label" it. I'm not sure why I find myself at this place. I'm not sure how to describe it. But in the midst of the "funk" I've yearned for something real, and I CAN describe what I mean by that.

I've yearned for "real". Real stories of God, not in Bible days, but in modern day, and how He's moving in the lives of His people here and NOW. I haven't just yearned for it, I've been desperate for it. I'm not sure why that desire manifested itself, I just know that it has burrowed it's way into my heart.

What I love about God and the way He works is that HE knows what we need, when we need it. I hadn't told anyone about how I was feeling. To be honest, I hadn't even had any long discussions with God about it. But one day this week I was sitting at home watching TV, when I felt a stir in my heart and I said to God, "I need something real Lord."

About that time Denny said, "I want to read you a story from the book I'm reading. I think you'll like it."

To be honest, my first thought was a sarcastic "Great. Denny's gonna read me a story."

Denny came into the family room and sat down and started reading. He hadn't spoken three words before my tears began to flow. I felt God's presence immensely. I got up from my chair, trying to hide my tears, and turned off the TV so I could give HIS story my full attention.

Denny began reading a story to me about a man named Richard Stearns. He was the CEO of Lenox a company that sells China and dinnerware. One day a friend who worked for World Vision was speaking with Richard, and he said something to this effect, "Richard, World Vision is in need of a President, and every time I pray about who it should be, you come to mind." Richard, basically said, "I'm not interested. I'm not the man for that job."

I'm not going to tell you all the details, but in short, the rest of the story was about the incredible way God revealed himself, in the next six months or so of Richard's life, through people and circumstances, until Richard knew that he WAS the man God wanted to lead World Vision.

I was teary eyed through the whole story as Denny read to me the MANY ways God revealed himself in the here and now. A modern day man. A modern day God. And as Denny read, my faith increased.

But it didn't stop there, God continued to give me more stories throughout the week of how HE is showing off in the lives of modern day people....and in doing so He showed Himself greatly in my life by fulfilling my desire for something "real".

I'm so thankful for Jesus. Thankful for the personal relationship that He has invited us to have with Him. Thankful that the relationship is REAL. That He answers when we call to Him. That He met me in the middle of my "funk".

How is it that you need Him today? What "real" thing do you need? May you call on the One who has proven himself faithful for generations.

"Call to me, and I will answer you...." Jeremiah 33:3

(the book Denny read to me from was "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns)

BTW, in case you're wondering, yes, Denny is still a Children's Advocate for Compassion International, but we obviously support all who help those in poverty.

25 New Questions

My friend, Mary, tagged me on Facebook with these 25 questions, so I thought I'd play along and answer them too!

1.1.21. ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT? Uh, shaving my legs? Maybe? Not sure. Can’t really think of any scars. Just emotional ones. Ha.

2. DO YOU SNORE, GRIND YOUR TEETH, OR TALK IN YOUR SLEEP? I don’t know, I’m asleep. "Denny?" Denny says “no”.

3. WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO? Primarily Worship Music. My favorite recordings are live worship services. Though I love a variety of styles of music. If I’m not listening to worship music, I’m typically listening to country music. But I'm havin' a hankerin' for some Gladys Knight right now.

4. WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW? “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want” ha.

5. WHAT DO YOU MISS? Knots Landing. Ha. I don’t know, what do I miss? Hmmm…missed stopping at that red light today. Tee hee

6. DO YOU GET CLAUSTROPHOBIC? Yes, actually, I do. And then I go into a panic attack and it’s all downhill after that.

7. THE LAST THING TO MAKE YOU CRY? An e-mail I typed to some friends this week

8. IF YOU COULD EAT ANYTHING RIGHT NOW, WHAT WOULD IT BE? McDonalds Fish Fillet

9. FAVORITE COLOR OF ALL TIME? pink

10. SAY A NUMBER FROM ONE TO A HUNDRED: 55

11. FAVORITE QUOTE? Can I put a scripture? “call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things, things that you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3

12. FAVORITE PLACE? Home

13. MET ANYONE FAMOUS? Yep. Spent a couple weekends hangin' out with Jeanne Cooper (Katherine Chancellor from the Young and Restless) I’ve met Barbara, Louise and Irlene Mandrell. Rupert from Survivor. Had a brief conversation with Beth Moore (Bible teacher) one time. Travis Cottrell. Lisa Whelchel (facts of life)…

14. FIRST JOB? First real job? Was a teller at a bank.

15. DO YOU THINK EVERYONE OUT THERE HAS A SOULMATE? Hmmm…don’t know.

16. HAVE YOU EVER HAD SURGERY? no

17. WHAT DO YOU GET COMPLIMENTED ABOUT MOST? Hmmm…don’t know.

18. ARE YOU A JEALOUS PERSON? Not typically, but it sneaks up on me every once in a while, and I have to nip it.

19. WHAT ARE YOUR NICKNAMES? Well since my given name is Melissa, I’d have to say my most popular nickname is Missy. Quite a few relatives call me Missy Jo, My Grandma nicknamed me Greta , friends at work call me “donk” and others call me “Miss-I”.

20. IF YOU HAD A SUPER POWER WHAT WOULD IT BE? I had to ask my 8 year old what he thought. We decided it would be to fly.

21. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW? Since I work at a CBS Affiliate I should name all CBS Shows. Ha. I do like the amazing race (and many other CBS shows). But to be honest, I’m in a season of life that is busy enough that I don’t do “appointment” TV. The only TV show that I ever really watch fairly routinely is Anderson Cooper 360.

22. WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO DEAL WITH YOUR ENEMIES? Love them

23. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Don’t really have a favorite ice cream flavor. I do like butterscotch Sundaes.

24. FAVORITE SEASON? Let me just name my least favorite - winter

25. WHAT’S ONE THING YOU’RE WORKING ON? A new CD

Let me know if you play along and answer the questions too. I'd like to read your answers!

Nice to be "Off"

Vacation. I love it.

We've been on vacation since July 2nd, and I have SOOOO enjoyed it. We actually did a "staycation" this year. In January, we made a commitment to ourselves to pay off some debt, so when it came time to plan a vacation, we went back and forth on what to do, and decided to stick with our commitment, and we stayed home. That was just one of the reasons.

Another reason that I looked forward to a "staycation" was I didn't want to think. I didn't want to think about where we were going, how to get there, what we had to take with us etc, etc. Our family has had a really busy life the past 9 months and I felt that we simply needed "down" time.

I started feeling myself slip into the "off" mode about a week or two prior to vacation. For instance, e-mails that I would normally answer, didn't get answered unless they demanded a response. Sorry.

The only thing that I was not looking forward to about staying home was, I didn't want to cook. But God took care of that. On Friday, July 2nd, we had a check in our mail for $400. We figured since the timing of the money came exactly at the timing of the vacation, God was wanting us to have a little extra cash to enjoy extra "vacation" things. So we ate $400 worth of food and gained 300 pounds. ha.

We cleared our schedules of all responsibilities, including worship leading. We commited ourselves to nothing, and only did things we wanted to do. We joked about our house being a condo and our pool being the beach, and we did what we would do if we were at the beach. We swam every day, read books, soaked up some sun, ate out, went to the movies, ate out, went to a theme park, ate out, went shopping, ate out....you get the drift. Now that I think about it, I haven't done my hair since July 3rd. Poor Denny.

Anyway, all that to say, I have thoroughly enjoyed my family. I have thoroughly enjoyed turning "off". Escaping. Resting. Playing. Only doing what we wanted, when we wanted. I pray that if you need rest, that God will grant you rest as well.

Tomorrow....back to real life.

A Lesson From the Ants???

As I arrived home from work yesterday, I was on my cell phone, so instead of going immediately into the house, I stood out in my driveway in order to finish my phone conversation in peace, avoiding the excited barking dog inside my home.

It wasn't long before my eight year old was running up to me freaking out because there were ants in our dining room. A lot of ants in the dining room.

I walked in the house to find an almost perfect line of ants scurrying back and forth from our front door through our dining room and into our kitchen. Yuk. We had bad storms here yesterday, so my guess is that they were taking cover in our home. As gross as it was, it was truly a site to see, so I called each child into look at them!

I looked for some bug spray to get rid of them, but I couldn't find any. Thankfully, not long after, Denny came home and finished up ridding our house of ants.

Leave it to our God to make a "lesson" out of this.

I woke up this morning, opened up my Bible and chuckled as I read this passage of scripture:

"Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and be wise! Even though they have no prince, governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? I want you to learn this lesson: A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest...and poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber." Proverbs 6:6-11 NLT

This doesn't mean that we can't take time for rest. Rest is GOOD. But it is a reminder that hard work is also GOOD. And we shouldn't have to have someone standing over our shoulder telling us to work hard. Take a lesson from the ants. They know that there is work to be done in order to live well.

I enjoyed sharing this passage with each family member as they woke up this morning. And simply because of the timing of it, they all took it well too. :)

This Boy...

This boy wants to write songs with his Mama.

He has been BEGGING me.

We wrote a song together this past summer when Josh was just seven. He had been asking me to write with him, so one evening we finally did it. He was so cute. He wanted to write about God. So I said, "okay, write down what you want to say about God, or to God."

After thinking for a minute, he looked up at me with a somewhat defeated look and said, "I don't know what to say."

I said, "Well, how 'bout that be your first line...'Lord I don't know what to say.'"

He got a big grin on his face and said, "okay!"

And we were off to writing our first song. I was totally AMAZED at how into it he was. He wasn't just concerned about the lyrics, but also about the structure of the song. He would say things like, "I think we need to sing the chorus twice here." I didn't even know he knew what a "verse" or a "chorus" was...but he did.

First we wrote the words, and then we put it to music. Even musically he had an idea of where he wanted the song to go, and I tried my best to honor where he was taking it.

We ended up recording the song, and I was really pleased with how it turned out. The style, to me, sounded very high school musical-ish. Which is quite fitting for his age. If you'd like to hear it I'd be happy to e-mail it to you. Just drop me a line at melissa.milbourn@gmail.com

I tried getting him to sing the whole thing, but he was too shy. So I sang the verses by myself and he joins me on the chorus. I pray that he overcomes his fear because he is an awesome singer. Would you join me in that prayer?

My spring has been really busy, but life should be settling down a little bit over the summer. And I'm really looking forward to writing with Josh and further discovering just how God has gifted him. The only thing I dread is he is very bossy. Ha.

Matters of the Heart

I've been out of the office and on the road the past two days, which has given me much time to "think". That can be a dangerous thing. :-)

I have had something on my heart for a little while now, and I can't shake it. That's how the Lord seems to work with me. It's not a new thing for Him to do. In fact, yesterday, as I was driving, I was recalling that He has dealt with me this way since I was in high school. He has called me to intercessory prayer, and He will call some "thing" or some "one" to my mind, and I pray for them until He says we're done.

You would think I'd be use to it by now, but every time He does it I tend to go into a mode of trying to understand what He's doing. Trying to reason it out. And when I can't reason it out, I either have to process it or I can repress it. So today as I was driving I was thinking, "I'm just going to repress this." Ha. "I'm going to make it go away." But, as soon as I thought that I knew it wasn't the right choice.

When I got home tonight I read my friend Mollie's status on Facebook, and I understood it completely because it was exactly where my brain had parked itself today as I pondered my current matter of the heart. Mollie's status said this,

"Matters of the heart cannot be reasoned away. They can only be repressed or processed."

Thanks for the confirmation Jesus.

We can choose to repress it. Would that ever be the best choice?

I'm sure every situation is different, but I know for me, God doesn't lay something on my heart for me to say, "uh, I'd rather not take the time and deal with that."

And typically, to be honest, I'm never able to "reason" it away.

My only healthy choice is to go before the Lord and ask Him to help me "process" it. One step at a time. Not trying to get ahead of Him, not falling behind, but attempting to stay stride for stride with Him.

"don't be afraid, and don't worry: Haven't I always kept you informed, told you what was going on?" Isaiah 44:8 The Message

Where I've Been, What I'm Doing, How God is Speaking To Me

Holy Cow I haven't blogged since March 17th?!?! That seems like a long time.

Last weekend I had the privilege of leading worship at a women's conference in Buckhannon, West Virginia. I met some of the nicest ladies there. I felt very much like I was with family. Funny how the Holy Spirit does that...binds us together. I'm thankful for how God showed up in our midst.

This weekend we have had four days off. I'm thankful for that as well :-) It has been good to have an opportunity to catch my breath, and spend time with the family.

Yesterday, I was reading the Word when a scripture in John 18 caught my attention. Let me set the stage...the soldiers were coming to arrest Jesus. While doing so, Peter decided to fight for him, and he swung his sword and cut off the ear of one of the soldiers. Jesus tells Peter, "Put your sword away, shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?"

Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me? Sometimes God places us in situations that are difficult, and He does so for a reason. Often times our reaction is to fight our way out, when we should be trusting God to WORK THINGS OUT. When we try to bring things to closure prematurely most often it ends up in us sinning. Kinda like when Abraham wasn't getting his son in the time he thought he should so he had one with his maidservant.

Do we trust God enough to let Him work our our situations? Do I?

Lord whatever it is you're working out in my current situation or situations, I want you to complete it. I don't want to try to force my hand, or defend myself, or fight my way out. I want YOU to finish the work so that I may be mature and complete not lacking in anything. (James 1:4)

How do they do that?

okay, so there's this Chinese restaurant that I eat at every once in a while in Terre Haute. I'm probably there once a month. But not consistently. I might go once a month for three months, and then not go back for three months. That's why what I'm about to tell you impresses me so much.

Typically I eat at this restaurant by myself. And it's always the same waitress. As she escorts me to a table she says, "would you like to see a menu?"

I say "no".

She says, "would you like chicken and broccoli?"

"yes" I reply

waitress: "egg drop soup?"

me: "yep"

waitress: "egg roll?"

me: "yep"

she amazes me because she ALWAYS remembers what I order even when I haven't been in there for a while! That's impressive!

Which leads me to my next story, today I went to a different Chinese restaurant. I went there a couple of weeks ago with my friend Cathy, but today, I walked in by myself. I ordered, paid, and then grabbed a table. Then, Denny came in and did the same. So I was sitting at the table with Denny when the Chinese woman who took my order at the counter hollers out, "Missy..."

I looked at Denny and said, "Did she just call my name?"

Denny: "yep"

"Amazing". I replied

At this Chinese restaurant, you order at a counter and they take your name to call you when your food is ready. I had given her my name two weeks ago. And that's the ONLY time I had given her my name. She did not ask me today. I paid with cash, so she didn't see my name anywhere. How on Earth did she remember my name when she had only heard it one other time. Bizarre.

I wondered for a moment if maybe she just calls every female Missy. Ha. But when I picked up my food she had my name written on the ticket.

How do they do that?? I want to do that. I'm horrible at remembering names. And I know it's not just me they remember, 'cause I've dined with other people at the first Chinese restaurant that I mentioned and she knew what they like to eat too.

I think I'm going to have to ask them how they do that.

How To Put Groceries Away

by Missy Milbourn (ha)


I used to HATE putting groceries away. Abhor it. Detest it.

I didn't mind so much shopping for them, just putting them away drove me crazy.

Until...

I came up with this great idea. Picture a light bulb going off beside my head.

Now, the kids are involved. Every child has a "post". Will typically takes that pantry. Maren, the refrigerator, and Josh the snack cabinet.

I stand on one side of the kitchen next to all the groceries, and after I pull the item out of the bag, I then THROW it to the person at their post.

We've put groceries away this way for probably two years now, and so far I can only recall having one accident where someone dropped something and it broke. oops. (We all got in trouble by Dad).

So now, I throw everything except for what might break like eggs, or spaghetti sauce and such. (at least when Denny is looking I don't throw it.) ha.

And that, my friends, is how we put groceries away. You should try it. It makes it much more fun.

Stay tuned for more deep conversations right here.

Good Times

I had lunch today with my friend Cathy. I, seriously, wish we would have kept count of how many times we’ve had lunch together through the years. As we were standing in line at the Chinese restaurant I told her that I think I’ve had lunch with her more times than I’ve had lunch with my husband. She agreed.
We’ve worked together for 17 years at WTHI, and for three or four years prior to that at WTWO. We’ve probably had lunch a minimum of twice a week, darn near every week.

She went to Florida with me, several years ago, when I sang at a Garth Brooks Fan Club meeting. At least that’s what I thought I was singing at. Come to find out, Garth Brooks doesn’t have an “official” fan club. So, I’m not sure what it was that I sang at…but Cathy was there, and so were a hundred or so other people. And hey, we had a fun trip to Florida.

She also went with me to California when I felt God calling me to witness to our boss at the corporate offices. That was an interesting trip. I don’t think I’ve ever told that story here on the blog. That might be one for a later date. I was referring to my boss in California when I wrote this devotion.

Let’s see, what else have we done together? Together we wound up in the Hillary Clinton motorcade when Hilary came to Terre Haute. Cathy and I were right there with her, first face to face, and then in the motorcade. We thoroughly enjoyed waving to the people as we passed by. I’m so thankful that Cathy taught me how to give a parade wave.

She went with me on the strangest sales call I’ve ever made. Some lady who owns a business asked me to meet with her at her house. I wasn’t going to go alone, so I took Cathy for protection. What was I thinking? She only stands 5’3”. And she doesn’t carry a gun. The sales call that I felt was going to be strange, got even more strange as the lady asked us to listen to a radio ad that she had made. She wanted us to listen to see if we could use the same audio for her TV ad. That’s not the strange part. The strange part was the only place she had a player to play it on was in her bedroom. So, we went to her bedroom. Now, in hindsight I realize just how ridiculous that was. I don’t think I’d make that same decision again, but for whatever reason we said, “okay”.

We walked into her bedroom and her bed was up on a platform with 1970’s shag carpet all around it. She played the radio ad for us, and it was THE WORST AD I’VE EVER HEARD. The lady, who was my potential client, was standing face to face with me, talking to me, and my dear friend Cathy was standing behind her busting a gut laughing, but obviously she couldn’t make any noise or the client would know she was laughing at her. You know like those times when you’re in church and the person sitting next to you does something funny, and you’re trying not to laugh because church is quiet and to laugh would be very distracting, but it’s taking every muscle in your body to hold it back? That’s what Cathy was doing behind this gal’s back.

So, I’m looking face to face at my client, with Cathy standing in the background about to burst at the seams with laughter, and I HAD TO KEEP A STRAIGHT FACE. I thought, “if we make it out of this place without getting hurt, I’m gonna hurt her.”

When we finally made it back out to my car, we sat down, backed out of the driveway, and then exploded with laughter. I’ll never forget Cathy saying, “it is calls like that that KEEP me in this business.”

One time, before she got married, she had a boyfriend and they came over for New Year’s Eve. She hadn’t been dating him for very long, so I didn’t know much about him. After eating, we were traveling back to our house. As we passed the cemetery, I decided to tell them about the legend of the Gypsy. Those of you who live in this area know the legend that I’m talking about. How they say that because this one particular gypsy was buried in this cemetery, Marshall will never have a destructive tornado. (don’t worry Christian friends, I put my hope in God, not the gypsy). So anyway, I shared the “legend”, and afterward I guess I thought that the story needed a theme song, so I started singing “Gypsies, tramps and thieves” over and over again. When we got to our house Cathy pulled me aside and said, “would you STOP! HE IS A GYPSY.” That was his heritage. LOLOLOLOL. He never came back.

Picture me laughing.

Sorry Cathy, he wasn’t right for you anyway.

Ahhh…I’m not sure what made me take this trip down memory lane. Oh yeah, it was thinking about how many times we’ve had lunch together.

Good times.

How I Feel

This is EXACTLY how I feel.

Miscellaneous Missyisms

Random thought: I wonder how people handled the bright sun shining on snow prior to sunglassess. I think I would have had to stay inside.

Something you don't know about me: My socks very seldom ever match. They're always the same color, but never the same sock.

What I'm doing right now: Sitting on Joshua's bed watching him play Lord of the Rings, waiting for Denny and Maren to get home from her volleyball game, and keeping an eye on our dog who has been sick.

Current Favorite Worship CD: Free Chapel, The Power of the Cross

Getting ready to: go downstairs, get a bowl of Cheerios, and play Uno.

That was deep wasn't it?

Strange Alignment???

The planets must be in some sort of strange alignment, I'm just being goofy, but I say that because I've nearly read three books already this year and it's only February 5th. Typically I MIGHT read three books in 6 months.


When I read books that I like, I like to tell others about them. So, here is what I've read:

"Learning to Live Financially Free" by Marybeth and Curt Whalen

"Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey

"Forgotten God" by Francis Chan

Yes, you see a financial theme with the first two. Denny and I KNOW that we need to be better stewards of our money. These books have helped immensely. I would have never expected it, in a financial book, but "Learning to Live Financially Free" really tugged at my heart strings as I read it. I found myself in tears on more than one occassion. I think it's partly because of the transparency in Curt and Marybeth as they tell their story. I think it's partly because of how they tell real life stories about God showing up in the midst of their "Financial" lives. God showing himself as Jehovah Jireh, our Provider. I felt God's presence strongly as I read this.

The other day I asked Denny if he had finished reading it, and his reply was this, "I'm almost finished reading it, but it's funny because nearly every time I read it I find myself teary eyed." So it's not just me, it has affected him the same way.

Total Money Makeover...I cannot say enough good things about this book. My only complaint is I wish we would have read it when we were twenty. We've told our kids that they will be required to read it before they leave home. It is so good in teaching such a smart, practical way to handle your finances. And I have to tell you, I'm not into studying the subject of "finances", but I could not put this book down.

Forgotten God...This book is on a favorite topic of mine...the Holy Spirit. The subtitle is actually"reversing our tragic neglect of the Holy Spirit". I love the way Francis Chan writes and teaches about the Holy Spirit. As we read through the Bible we see story after story of how the Holy Spirit spoke to people. He is still speaking. I love this book. From the same author of "Crazy Love" which is also an AWESOME read!

H.O.M.E.

Ah. Home. Sweet. Home.

You know, when I was younger, I used to look for stuff to do to stay busy. I don't seem to have that problem any more. Don't get me wrong, I love my life, but when I have an evening to stay home, I thoroughly enjoy it.

I can't tell you how long it's been since I sat and just chilled out on Facebook, or typed on my blog. Or read other blogs. While I'm chillin' there's stuff being neglected like toilets that need cleaned. Dressers that need dusted. Mirrors that need wiped down. But it feels so good to do nothing that all the other stuff will have to wait 'til tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after that. Ha.

If you're a Colts fan be sure and check your local listings for Colts Specials on TV next week. We've been busy at the television station preparing for all the hoopla. There will be special Colts programming on WTHI next Friday night, Saturday night, and of course all Super Bowl Sunday afternoon. I, for one, can't wait for the big game!!!

Thought I'd Share

In March I have the privilege of ministering through music at an event in West Virginia where Wendy Blight will be speaking. I happened to visit Wendy's blog this morning and saw that today through Wednesday she is on "Family Life Today" with Dennis Rainey.

I'm not sure if that airs in our market, but here is a link to a transcript of the interview. You can read along as Wendy shares her story.

Here also is a link to Wendy's blog.

In The Hard Places

As I type this I'm on my lunch hour, so I don't have much time to share my thoughts. But I wanted to pop in here and share this quote that I read by Dave Ramsey. He says this:

"Most people won't change until the pain of where they are exceeds the pain of change."

I read that and immediately thought "Wow". That is SO true.

It doesn't matter if you are referring to finances. Or weight loss. Or addictions. Or the way we "do" relationships. Or a number of any other varying issues.

I am convinced that this is partly why we go through "hard times". Because there is something in our life that God wants us to change. More often than not it's a behavior pattern, or maybe an "attitude" that we have, but it's something about the way we "do" life that needs changed. And so we come to this "hard" place.

Often times we first want to blame God for being there, but if we step back and look at things with "spiritual" eyes, we'll see that the very thing that we need to change is the thing that has been keeping us in some sort of bondage (relational, spiritual, financial, name your pain) and only in this "hard" place will we see it, and will we feel the pain enough to even consider enduring the pain that "change" takes.

I know that there are some who are going to read this that will think, "what on God's green earth is she talking about."

But there are others who will "get" it.

Listen, you are not in a painful situation without purpose. I promise you that. I promise you that God is not being unloving to you (or me). Oh my gosh no...it's just the opposite, God IN HIS MERCY has allowed it for a reason.

It may be to break free from what has been holding you back from having victories in relationships, finances, weight loss, health....

Or it may simply be that you have forgotten Him for a time, and He's trying to bring you back to Him.

Maybe He wants to prove us faithful, after all it's easy to have faith when all is going well.
Maybe it's to prove Himself faithful.

All I'm trying to say is we need to be open to Him in the hard places. Praise Him in the hard places. Trust Him in the hard places. Change for the better in the hard places. Grow spiritually in the hard places. Follow Him through the hard places.