Standing vs. Falling

Wow, it's been awhile. Our family had a wonderful Thanksgiving and looking forward to Christmas!!!

We are all back in the swing of things including school for the girls. The girls had some catch up school work because of the extra day we had to take due to weather. But Wednesday, Hannah came home with a story to tell. She started explaining, "Today, we started watching a movie and I had to ask the teacher if I could do something different because of the cussing in the movie. The teacher didn't understand because she said there are only 4 or 5 words. I told her that it would be hypocritical for me to justify even 4 or 5 words because; where do you start drawing the line? She told me that I could write a 3 page paper." I was watching Hannah to see if she would expect something of me, but she seemed confident in her decision. A mom's heart wants to defend her children and yet I felt God gently letting me know that Hannah is no longer "renting" her salvation. She is now owning it. I was not to do a thing but to let her know how proud I am and that she did the right thing. In a moment Hannah decided to take a stand for something so she wouldn't fall for just anything. I pray God blesses you Hannah beyond your understanding.

Eph 6:10 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand;"

Love you Girls and my wonderful Husband, Dan!!!!

The Top of the Family Tree

I have been thinking a lot about Heaven lately and it excites me so much. I feel a closeness of that appointed time when Jesus will part the clouds and come for His family. But am I doing all that I can to make sure the family of God is growing?

I love getting together with my family over the Holidays and I've been making calls to see if everyone is able to make it. Through this my thought life has been bombarded with people that I know, who may not make it to Heaven. Am I really showing others through my actions that I want them to be in Heaven with me at that big "Family Reunion"? Do I look past the rejection that I might feel when I reach out to them in love? Does the reality of Hell place an urgency for me to act now? My prayer is, change me Lord so I can feel the same way you feel......"that none may perish." I would like to personally challenge us all to diligently do whatever it takes to invite people into a relationship with the "Guy at the Top of the Family Tree"....our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!!!! I since a party coming:)

Mistake

Something went wrong with my computer so it didn't finish my last post on Nov. 11th..Following your Heart vs. Guarding your Heart. I finished it. Didn't mean to leave you hanging! Oooops!

Following you Heart vs. Guarding your Heart

Because of a family tragedy, the death of my very loved nephew Jason, I did not have the opportunity to share with all the lovely girls who were at the Signature Conference in Columbus Oct. 31st-Nov. 1st. So, I thought I would do a small portion of what I would have shared through this blog.

I was going to share on "Following your Heart vs. Guarding your Heart." The Bible says in Jer. 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand?" Also, in Prov. 14:12 it says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."
So apart from God the human heart is selfish, evil and corrupt leading us to destruction, our heart is not good by itself we need God to invade it because He made it. God is the only one who can completely understand us. He understands that we are relational because He made us that way. He knows which amazing man you are to be with in a lifetime commitment of marriage but most girls get anxious and find it hard to wait. Philippians 4:6 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything present your requests to God." Pray ladies, pray!!! What makes you anxious? Is it speculations? Does anyone like me? Does he like me? Will he call me? Does he think we have potential for the future? Is he the one? Well.......he might be, but only time will tell and it is not your job to pursue him anyway. This is nothing more than sinful anxiety. Trust God and he will unfold his plan for you in His time, remember follow God's heart not Mr. amazing's! The moment some of you meet a man, you snatch your heart out of God's hands and toss it at the new guy. How about trying this approach-you meet a man, he's reeealll cute, and you like him. Your heart wants to follow his and it's all aflutter ready to leap out of your chest. Place your hand over your heart and whisper to it, "Calm down," and put it back in its secret place. And then say this, "God, I think I really like this one. What do you know about him? Is he the one for me?" You can do this ladies, I know you can because God is the Man. I know that there are some here that have followed their heart without regard for God's and you haven't guarded your heart. You may be thinking, "I've made so many mistakes, my heart has been bruised and banged up and I'm not perfect....but Jesus thinks you're to die for!!! God will heal your heart and place it back in its secret place to be kept safe. Dance with God....He'll let the perfect Man cut in!

Some more ways to "Keep a Healthy level of Insanity"

1. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.
2. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
3. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."

Have fun this week with these and let me know if this has opened any doors for you to witness!

GPS

Dan and I are saving for a GPS. We always try to go to all the electronic stores on "Black Friday" (the day after Thanksgiving), to get some good deals. It is a family event and we will go to stand in lines as early as 1:00 or 2:00 Friday morning. We bring our dvd player w/dvd's of course, music, food and some hot drink. Bundled up and ready to brave the cold we all talk, laugh, and discuss our future "cheap finds" with excitement and anticipation. Dan has been checking out which brand of GPS is the best so we can be confident in our purchase and also we want it to have a good reputation of getting us where we would need to go. As I am doing the budgeting for this it dawned on me that we are purchasing a Global Positioning System. Wow, think about that for a moment. Those of us who have Jesus Christ in our lives have the ultimate Global Positioning System and it doesn't cost us a thing or does it. I truly believe in these last days that we will have to navigate the grey that is all around us through the head lights of the Holy Spirit and the vehicle of God's Word. Matthew 24 :9 tells us, "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me." That sounds like it will cost us "big", are we ready to pay that price? I am very confident in the Global Positioning that I bought into by faith and I know that He will always put me in the right direction if I am willing to listen to Him. Also, as Christian Believers we need the Lord's direction in this election, so vote your position in Christ.

Leading!

Leadership- there are so many ways to "Do leadership," but I am going to first concentrate on ways to "Be" a leader. Today was our leadership meeting for our youth and we are going to learn from the life of Paul how to "Be" a leader. We will study on how to sharpen our character qualities and spiritual gifts. I then believe that our "Doing" will be exactly what needs to be done. I want us to review what a leader is from the core of who God made us to be. Now, I do believe that there are leadership practices that are necessary and have to be done. Study, order and structure are important to God and it is vital that we implement our leadership plan and then execute it. Today the first two qualities of a leader that we examined were: being trustworthy and taking initiative. Lord, help us to be the kind of Leaders that you need us to be in this time of cooling off as Matthew 24 speaks of.