Sitting in the rain

It's been raining a lot the last couple of days. As I sat in my car, with it running and the rain coming down on the roof, I thought about life. And how we sometimes seem to be in this protective bubble. It's the vehicle He's given us to live life, and He puts His protection around us, while the rain pours down.

So, why do bad things happen to good people? I think, what happens is sometimes we get out of the car. We decide that we want to do something our way, and we do it. We put ourselves in the rain. God is just sitting there, thinking, "Why won't you hear what I'm telling you My child? Don't get out." But, being the stubborn children we are, we get out and do things our way. When it doesn't work, we get back in the vehcile, and ask God for forgiveness.

The cool thing about all of this is the fact that He does forgive us.

EVERY SINGLE TIME!
Our God is a God of not just second chances, but third, fourth, fifth chances. He loves us so much, that He will take the mess we caused by doing our own thing, and make His will come into play anyway.
He's just cool like that.

Life got you down??

I've been in touch with my sister in law just about all week. She is terribly miserable, and totally totally hates Iowa. (No offensive to anyone who lives there or is from there.) We are just southern belles, and it's hard to take a lady out of the south and turn her into a mid-western chick.

One of my close friends, and a sermon I heard today at church via video of Perry Noble really hit home with me. When life has you down, don't sit and look at your situation and think it's hopeless. Because isn't God bigger than our problems?

In Scripture there are several times when Jesus brought people back to life. Today, I learned about one, that I guess I'd either never read or forgot about... and the way Perry described it was cool!

Luke 7:11-15 (New International Version)

11Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a "large crowd"went along with him. 12As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a "large crowd" from the town was with her. 13When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her and He said, "Don't cry."14Then He went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" 15The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

If you realize these were two crowds of people heading towards each other. As Perry said it, one was frustrated, the other anticipating Jesus' next miracle. So, when He first told her not to cry, and told the young man to get up... the town crowd with the mom probably thought, "This guy is crazy", but the crowd behind Jesus might have been thinking, "Can He really do something like this?"

Each were looking toward Jesus at the moment, and what happened? A miracle!

This is what we need to do. Stop focusing on our problems. God is bigger than any problem we'll ever have! Period. He just is. Don't like where you are living? Look to Jesus. Heart broken and torn apart? Look to Jesus. Marriage on the rocks? Look to Jesus.

Don't let life get you down. We are only here for a little while anyway, remember? Focus on what's positive and what God has done in your life, then look with anticipation at what He's about to do!

Just another bump in the road of life....

My new profile picture is of me and my Sister in law, Jenny. (We are married to brothers) I've known Jenny for 16 years now. She's been one of my very best friends. She is the youngest of 7 children. She has 4 sisters, and 2 brothers... however, she still found time for me. I gets me "Sister" birthday cards too.

Jenny is one of the nicest, friendliest, most caring, lovable people you'll ever meet. She is geniune, and the real deal. She has a heart of gold. I am honored to have her in my life.

She has just moved to Iowa. I am very sad. I have enjoyed having her in my life all of this time. I've enjoyed watching my nieces grow up, and get to spend time with them, but now, that will have to be on the internet... after I teach Jenny how to use it.

I don't understand why God allows people to move in and out of our lives. I'm sure, as time goes on, He'll be kind enough to reveal to me why He's allowed this huge change. But for now, I'm sad and wish she hadn't of left. I miss her already.

So, here I am, wishing she'd never left, but looking forward to a December trip to see them. Maybe we'll even get to see some snow while we are there. I am praying for God's protection over her, my brother in law and nieces. I know He has a plan, but sometimes, it's hard being hurt during one of them.

The main thing here for me to remember is just that. God has a plan... and it's not a plan to harm me or Jenny, it's a plan to prosper us. He knows what's best, and if we trust Him, we'll make it!

Roots

Yesterday my family and I went to High Falls State Park in northern Georgia. We took a hike in the woods next to the water falls, which by the way were beautiful!

All along the way, I kept seeing things that made me think about God and stuff. The first thing I noticed were roots of the trees all along the pathways. It annoyed me at first, because the roots made it hard to walk. I thought, "I wonder why these roots are showing.. why aren't they covered so it's easier to walk."

Then the thought came to me that we should all be "showing our roots". If we are Christ followers, and believers, aren't we supposed to let people see our roots? Shouldn't we be showing them Christ in our lives? We are to love people, and tell them how much God loves them. We need to tell people that their value as a person DOES NOT come from any human on this earth. People can make us happy, but only surface happy. God is the only One who can fill that inside happiness that we are all longing for.

If you are a Christian, are you showing your roots?

Sacrifice

The dictionary describes "sacrifice" as :the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim.

This brings several things to my mind. First of all, think of all the things we sacrifice for our children. Time, sleep, money, rest, food, etc... the list could go on and on. When we become parents, it's not about us anymore. I caught the last half of the new show "Baby Borrowers" last night... I think it's a great way to keep teens from having babies, put them in real life with a child that needs them 24/7 and let them actually experience parenthood.

Jesus did the same for us, as our Heavenly Father. He sacrificed His life, and gave it on the cross for us. In our place. So we wouldn't have to. He realized it wasn't about Him at all, and He did what no one else on earth could do for us! What would have happened if He'd changed His mind and wanted life to be all about Him? I don't really want to imagine if He'd changed His mind, and became selfish and decided we weren't worth it.

That's really the key here too though. We were worth it to Him. Aren't our kids worth it to us? All the sleepless nights, the time spent at the ball field when you'd rather be at home resting, making sure they are at school on time, making sure they eat good meals, etc. Sure sometimes we get frustrated with our kids, I"m sure God gets frustrated with us too. But the truth of the matter is, WE ARE WORTH IT! God loves us with a stead fast love. Like no other! Our value doesn't come from any human on this earth. It comes from the One and Only who made us and created us to love Him.

If you are stuck in life, thinking your value comes from someone on earth, and your self esteem is shot, please hear me out. God loves you more than any human ever could. You are worth a lot to Him! Enough that He gave His Son to die for you! That's what I call sacrifice!

Saturdays are for resting

This has been a terribly busy week. Our middle son, Andrew, made the Pee Wee All Star league after the regular season was over. The games started last Sunday, on Father's Day, and went through Thursday. We played every day! It was terribly hot, even at 6pm in the evening.

I am still waiting to hear from the coach about going to State competition. We were fourth in our league, so we shouldn't be going, but one of the teams backed out, and offered us a place to go. The coaches have been trying to build a team of 12, since some of our players are unable to go.

After such a busy week, I'm learning that it's ok to rest and not do much. That's what we are all supposed to do anyway, right? Take a Sabbath.

Also, I'm learning that my kids eat too much. Especially with them home for the summer! And, they fight too much too. I wish I could wave a magic wand and keep them from fighting.

Here is what I've learned over the last two weeks

Man, this has been one heck of a two week period! I have learned a few things.

I need to pray and let God lead when things get tense and I get stressed. I haven't been handling that well at all. Our printer at work had a $4,000 part burn up last week. We found out what was wrong on Monday and everything just snowballed wrong from there. We just got it fixed Wednesday of this week. Then, yesterday, it was giving me trouble, and I freaked out again. I've got to stop doing that. I just need to go with the flow and let God lead.

Death really doesn't have an age. Last Monday, on June 2nd, my daughter's 6th, birthday, a teenager here in Lee County was killed in a car accident. Two of his best friends where seriously injured. It has been hard on a lot of people. Sunday is Martha Anne's birthday too. She would have been 12 this year. Her parents are going out of town to get their minds off of it all. I can't even imagine how they must feel. Death isn't cool at all. However, there is hope when you are a Christ follower, you have a promise of seeing that loved one again in Heaven...so sometimes, that helps.

I've learned that heat can be very draining. My middle son is on the Pee Wee All Star Team and we've had practice pretty much every day for two weeks. It's REALLY hot already here in south GA. It seems to get hotter earlier each year. Being in the heat has made me really tired.

My brother in law and sister in law have sold their house, and were moving to Iowa, but now they don't know where they will move. I was upset about the whole thing, then started getting used to the idea. Since it snows there, my husband said that we could fly to see them just after Christmas. I've never even been in enough snow to make a snow man, so I was excited. Then, they said that Iowa wasn't the answer. So, I'm praying with them, that God will send them to where they can serve Him. No one but God knows where that is right now. I don't really want them to leave. Jenny has been like a sister to me for the last 16 years. I have two nieces who I adore that I wouldn't get to see but a couple of times a year.

My dad is loosing his hearing and has to get hearing aids. He's not even very old.... he's like 58 or so. His health has been bad for a few years now, but he still hangs on. I had a babysitter for the summer, but it didn't work out, and he's going to keep the kids. I hope he can handle it. They really enjoy being around him. He's taught all three of them how to play chess. They "call dibs" on who gets to play against him first! Can you imagine? Most kids aren't even interested in a hard game like chess. He taught them how to play last summer when he kept them some.

We've got an extremely busy weekend ahead of us! I have a wedding tomorrow, Rick and the kids will go to my Grandma's family reunion. Then we've got a birthday party at 3pm, if we make it. I wanted to go see Kung Fu Panda tomorrow afternoon. Then, on Father's Day, we play our fist All Star game, at 2pm. Middle of the heat of the day! That, of course, is after a morning of church. So, it's safe to say by Sunday night, I'll be crashing and tired.

So, I guess this is a update blog on things. I know it sounds like ramblings... oh well guess that's ok too, huh?

What are you doing this weekend?