Welcome to My World

2011 in Review

2011-12-31T11:37:00.019-05:00

2011 was a great year for our family. We welcomed baby Daniel, started Pre-school, and bought a new house! I can not even begin to write how incredibly blessed I have felt this year and the contentment that we have had as a family. It has just been an overall great year. The year started out with us living in an apartment and trying to survive the first trimester of pregnancy! We also experienced first hand the ice storm that hit Atlanta. The entire city shut down for almost a week. Both of our offices closed for 3 days and you literally could not leave your house. By mid week I was beyond stir crazy so I tried to walk to my car only to realize there was no way I could even walk in our parking lot! In February we decided Atlanta was for sure the place we were going to call home so we started the process of looking for houses. I do not remember a single thing we did in March other then continue to survive my pregnancy and I started to get REALLY busy at work!

In April we had 3 Easter Egg hunts (1 at Emma's school, 1 at our apartments, and 1 at my brother's country club). She was not a very good egg finder because she would let the other kids just pick them up if she thought they were going for the same one.

In April we made a trip to TN to celebrate my sister's 18th birthday. I love the below picture of Emma Kate.
In May we celebrated Mother's Day at the Melting Pot which is a true gift of love from Jeff. We used to eat there a lot then Jeff got sick one time after and now can barely mention the place without feeling sick again! He did a great job sitting through Emma Kate and I enjoying our fondue :)
We also took another trip to TN to celebrate Jenny's graduation.

In June we finally were able to move into our new home. It was a short sale and was touch and go for a few months on if we were going to get it or not. Two weeks after we moved in I caught our kitchen on fire! We spent the rest of the month with cleaning crews in our new home and replacing all of our appliances. In the end, it worked out to our advantage because we were able to do a lot of work to the house that we wanted to do it just happened on a much quicker time table then expected! We LOVE our home and I am so thankful to have a place of our own again. I also turned 31 this month and we had a fun date weekend attending the U2 concert in Nashville with some friends.
We had so much fun this summer playing outside and swimming in our neighborhood pool. It is an AWESOME pool with a water-park slide. By the end of the summer Emma was starting to swim by herself and LOVED to go down the slide by herself as long as we were at the bottom to catch her.

July continued with lots of swimming, I had my work baby shower, Emma attended a baby and me class, and I went to NYC for work. It was such a fun trip. While I was there I also went to see Wicked. I stayed on Park Avenue and so much fun exploring the city for a couple of days.
My feet looked this most of the summer.August was a big month for the McKenzie family. Emma Kate started Pre-School and LOVES it. At her parent/teacher conference her teacher raved about her. I was most proud of the fact that her teacher said she was a great friend and is always willing to help her peers out and is very encouraging to them.
We also did some more swimming and I hit what we call "contest" at my office. Part of hitting "contest" includes an all expense paid for trip to Cancun that Jeff and I will enjoy the week of Valentine's Day!

We ended the month of Aug. (Aug. 31st) welcoming Daniel Edward McKenzie into the world!

The month of Sept. was busying just loving on Daniel and playing at a local park.

October was another busy month that started with Emma Kate turning 5 years old! I have no idea how my first baby is 5. She is a true delight and keeps me and her daddy laughing and on our toes every day. I am so thankful for her. The below picture is her with one of her best friends Tia.

I also took doughnuts to her school on her actual birthday and read a story to her class.

In November we made our first trip to MS with Daniel so he could meet his great grandmother. On the way there we broke up the trip and stayed at the Enloe's one night. We celebrated Thanksgiving with my oldest brother and his family and the week after that I started back to work.

December was busy with all the normal Christmas festivities that I already wrote about on the post below. We had my family Christmas in Atlanta during the 2nd weekend which ended with a trip to the ER for Daniel. We attended both of our work Christmas parties. We had Emma's school Christmas program which was the talk of our house all month :) Christmas weekend MiMi and Paws came to stay with us to celebrate with us Christmas morning.
Our first Christmas as a family of 4
We are so excited about what 2012 has in store for our family. In this current season I feel beyond blessed and honestly can not think of one thing I would change.

December in pictures

2011-12-26T09:25:00.018-05:00

We celebrated Christmas with my family Dec. 9th-11th. Michael and his family came in Friday night and stayed at our house. We woke up Saturday and I cooked breakfast and then we went out to do some last minuet shopping. We picked up pizza for lunch and then headed to my oldest brother's house to meet up with the rest of the gang.

My siblings and mom. I am so thankful I have these guys to share life with. We are so different yet so much the same.

This year my mom decided to give each kid a target gift card so we went to Target and help the kids picked out the toys they wanted from Nana. It was fun because they got to shop with the rest of their cousins and Nana got to spend time with each of them. Emma Kate picked out a big bathtub for her dolls, a kitchen set that had a coffee maker, a mixer, and a blender, and some Barbie’s. Daniel decided he wanted a car set and a new toy for his car seat.

Jeff won this amazing sweater during dirty Santa and LOVED it! He had a tacky Christmas sweater party to attend with the youth a few weeks later.

The Thursday night before Daniel started coming down with a bad cold....thanks to his sister. By Saturday night it had gotten a lot worse so after we left my brothers we headed to the emergency room to make sure he was ok and his oxygen levels were where they needed to be. Thankfully after a chest x-ray we found out it was indeed just a cold and we went home with a little bit more of a peaceful mind but poor baby was sick for a good week after that visit. Look at how pitful those eyes look. It broke this mommy's heart. The following weekend Jeff and I had my work Christmas party. It was at a hotel in Dunwoody. It was fun but by that time I had caught what the kids had so I did not feel good at all.

Starting to feel better.
Morning Glory hair
Santa baby
Emma LOVES her little brother
Emma at her school Christmas program.
The last day of school was Grinch day in her class. Thankfully my sister was here so she could fix the Cindy Lou hair :)
December was FULL of family Christmas celebrations, both of our work parties, school plays, and me getting adjusted to being back at work. We were so thankful my sister was on Christmas break. She came and watched the kids for us for 2 weeks so our nanny does not start until the first week of January. We are looking forward to taking this last week of December putting our house back together and gearing up for 2012. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day post coming soon!

A new thing.

2011-11-07T11:46:00.005-05:00

I am sitting on my couch watching my sweet 9 week old sleep in his swing with my Bible open to my right and some hot chocolate to my left. In this moment I am exceeding grateful for my God and the journey he has had my family walk over the last 3 years. I remember 3 years ago not being able to fathom any good coming out of our situation. I looked around me and all I could see was destruction. Destruction of our home, our family, the student ministry God had entrusted us with, friendships, the lifestyle we knew, the security I felt, and the church I called home. The first night I found out my world had changed I drove to Atlanta to stay with my brother and his family. I barely remember the 3 hour drive. I remember being so thankful to God that Emma Kate slept the whole way (even though it was not her normal sleep time), and we arrived there safely even though I had not slept in 28 hours.

I remember being in their guest bedroom that night with my mind racing and my Bible open. I looked up every verse on divorce I could find! I wrote in my prayer journal begging God to protect Emma and the students at WWBC. I remember the Holy Spirit reminding me of my favorite name of God which is El Roi The God who sees. It was 3:00am and I knew I needed to sleep but every time my eyes closed they went places they did not need to go and my mind raced. I told God how much I needed His Word. I told God I was going to close my eyes but I believed even in my sleep His Word could minster to me. It must minister to me or I did not think I would survive. I closed my eyes with my hand on the Bible and had the best 3 hours of sleep I have ever had. I woke up and searched scripture again. I was desperate to find my way out but still be in God’s will. What I studied over the next few hours would be the glue I needed to stay in a marriage that was broken and with my limited vision beyond repair. It was in those hours I read about the “exception clause” and how God stated he put it there because people had hard stubborn hearts. I read how God hated divorce. I was comforted by the verses on justice and consequences for sins , and moved by a covenant keeping God who never lets me go. The Holy Spirit reminded me of things I learned when I studied covenant in the Saturday morning Bible study I attended. It only took one person to uphold a covenant. If I wanted to be like Jesus (and not hard hearted) then I would keep my covenant as Christ keeps His with me regardless of my sin.

I would love to tell you that because God had confirmed in me His desire for me to stay in my marriage that it was easy to do so. However, it was not. It was one of the hardest things I had to do. Not because I did not love my husband or believe in him but because it required me lay down my pride. My family’s situation was announced from the pulpit and our life was on display for all to see. I knew from the very beginning that there much more at stake then just the survival of my marriage.It was HARD. It was HUMILIATING. It was UNFAIR. It was UGLY. It was DEVASTATING. I wish I could say that I handled it with grace but I did not. I struggled. I struggled with my own sin of pride. I struggled with God and why He would ask us to walk down this path. I questioned MANY DAYS if I should stay. However, our God was so faithful and tender to me. It has been 3 years and we have had some speed bumps along the way but God has done an INCREDIBLE work in our lives and in our marriage.

I have the privilege right now of walking beside several women who are currently walking down the path I had to walk. It has been an honor to see God redeem my hurt by allowing it to minister to them. I have been reminded several times how far we have come and how much God has healed because they will ask me how I felt about something and I honestly cannot remember. In my journal from those early days I wrote “God I know that you said you can bring beauty from ashes. Right now I only see a bunch of stinking ashes set on fire by hell itself. I am trusting you and believing that I will see beauty and that I indeed will experience Psalm 126:6 “He who goes out weeping carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.” God has been so gracious to us and has redeemed our mistakes. I am thankful that we serve a God who never lets us go. He has given me immeasurable more than I can ask or imagine. I only asked for survival and at the time thought I was asking a lot! He not only gave me that but allowed me to experience Him in a new way, restored my marriage to something better than it has ever been, and gave me firsthand knowledge of His grace that is sufficient. We have been singing a song the last few Sunday's at church that I love...here are a few words:

"Kneeling on this battleground
seeing how much you have done
Scars and struggles along the way
But we can say never once did we walk alone."

God is currently doing a new thing in our family. I will not write about the former season anymore on this blog unless I feel God strongly urging me to.
The old no longer defines us.
The chapter is closed.
What was intended for harm God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done (Gen. 50:20).

God has written the story. May He receive all glory and honor for the ending.

Daniel Edward McKenzie

2011-10-14T21:33:00.004-04:00

This post is only 6 weeks past due but I have a new man in my life that is keeping me very busy! On Wednesday Aug. 31st at noon on the dot weighing 7lbs and 1 oz Daniel Edward McKenzie entered into our world. He has been a complete joy and very laid back just like his daddy. On Tuesday Aug. 30th I was on my way to work and started having pretty hard and active contractions. I decided to go ahead and go in so I could check off my to do list because I knew if it was indeed time that I would not be back in the office for 13 weeks. I timed my contractions all day and left work around 4:30. I had talked to my mom earlier that day and she decided to go ahead and come to Atlanta because she was pretty sure that I was going to be going to the hospital and indeed she was right!

At 3:00 in the morning I woke Jeff up and told him it was time to call the doctor. I spoke to the midwife and she told me to go ahead and come in to get the party started! We went upstairs to tell my mom and Emma Kate woke up and was SO EXCITED! We prayed together for the safety of mommy and baby Daniel and headed to Northside. We got to the hospital and settled around 4:00 and I received my epidural around 8:00. Once I got the good stuff Jeff and I just hung out and tried to rest. My mom took Emma to school and then headed to the hospital. She said Emma Kate was so excited and told EVERYBODY she saw that her baby brother was coming today.

At around 10:00 I started feeling some tingling during my contractions and it did not take long for the "tingling" to turn into full blown pain. They gave me more meds (PRAISE THE LORD!) and checked me again around 11:30. When she went to check me she said "Oh my....I see a head full of black hair. I think you are only going to have to push one time." Those words were music were to my ears and she was right....I pushed ONE TIME and Daniel Edward McKenzie joined our world.

For the last 6 weeks we have fallen more and more in love with the new addition in our family. Daniel has his daddy's laid back personality and is spoiled rotten. He nurses around every 3 hours during the day and has started to sleep 5-6 hour stretches at night. He wakes up between 3:45-5:00 for his middle of the night feeding. I know that those middle of the night feeding do not last forever but it sure feels like right now!!

When we went for Daniel's 4 week check up he weighed 10 lbs! The doctor said he was perfect and he is in the 50% of weight and height. I am so thankful to have a healthy baby boy.

Emma Kate is a great big sister. She LOVES "baby Daniel". She has to come into our room every morning and give him hugs and kisses before she leaves for school. She also reassures him that she will be back soon. When we pick her up she says " Oh baby Daniel you are so glad to see your sister aren't you? Did you cry for me baby Daniel? Were you so sad that sister was not with you today? "

Jeff is a great daddy and I love watching him take care of our children. They have no idea how lucky they are to have daddy who loves them, plays with them, and loves their mommy. Jeff is the perfect balance to our family.

I am praying Daniel 2:14 "Daniel spoke with wisdom and tact." over my sweet little man and can't wait to see what God has in store for him.

Remembering....

2011-09-11T10:30:00.002-04:00

Today 10 years ago....I was asleep in my home when I was woken up by a blaring TV. It was Tuesday which meant that my dad, who was sick with Alzheimer's, was going to be leaving to go to Cracker Barrel with our pastor and a deacon from our church. It was not uncommon for my dad to turn to the TV up REALLY loud because he did not know how to work the remote. I ran downstairs grabbed it from his hands and went to turn it down. As I turned around and glimpsed at the TV I saw the smoke and realized that my dad was not having issues with the remote...he wanted to hear what was going on. I sat in the living with room with my dad, pastor, and deacon and watched in horror as the first tower was being hit. I remember the serious look on the three grown men faces as they watched. My dad and the deacon had both served in military so they watched with different eyes. I also remember looking at my dad and wandering how much he was comprehending and for the first time being thankful that he might not be completely understanding what he was watching.

The men stayed and watched the news for a little longer and then decided they were going to head out to breakfast. As they were walking to the car the 2nd tower was hit and I ran outside to let them know. They all came back to the house and we sat in front of the TV for the next 2 hours as we continued to watch that awful day unfold. The thing that I remember most about that day is standing in my living room watching the chaos and the uncertainty all around me but the Spirit speaking very clearly to me and saying " This did not take me by surprise. It looks like chaos but I am still in control."

I am thankful today for the many acts of bravery that we saw. I will watch and read all the stories to honor the men and women who lost their lives. I will pray for the families who lost a loved one and the sweet children who lost a parent that day. I am thankful for the men and women and who have fought and who are currently fighting to keep this country safe. I am thankful for my brother who is currently oversees and the sacrifices that his family make every day. I am thankful to be an American.

1st Day of GA Pre-K

2011-08-15T20:49:00.008-04:00

We have officially ventured in the world of having a child in "real school". Emma Kate started GA Pre-K on Monday and has LOVED IT! She was so excited for the few weeks leading up to "big school". She is going to the same church/school that she is in last year. Her classroom is just right next door to the one she spent all last year in. The only difference is they are in "real school" from 8:00-2:30 everyday. The week leading up to her first day the kids spent 30 minuets a day in their new classroom and with their new teachers. I was very thankful they did this because it helped Emma get geared up for her big transition. She woke up bright and early her first day and picked out our her outfit. She then came to my bathroom to put on some pink glittery lip gloss because every girl needs to be fancy for their first day of anything!

I love the above picture of Jeff walking into her school. He is such a great daddy.
Waiting outside her class for the doors to open.
Our big girl gearing up for her first day.
Emma Kate and her teacher Ms. Lindsey. We are so excited that Emma has Ms. Lindsey. She seems really sweet and I am sure it is going to be a great year. I am looking forward to watching Emma Kate continue to grow in wisdom and statue this year and watch anxiously to see what all God has in store for her and for her mommy!

Home Sweet Home

2011-07-24T03:14:00.014-04:00

As I mentioned in the June post Jeff and I moved into our new home the first weekend in June. We have spent the last month doing some renovations after the fire and now have everything complete minus some boxes left in the guest room! The house is 4 bedrooms with 2 and half bathrooms and is close to 2400 square feet. We have a great fenced in backyard and love the neighborhood pool. We have already spent a good bit of time with one of our neighbors and look forward to getting to know the couple across the street. They are around our age and have the cutest little 2 year old girl and are currently expecting their 2nd. We are hoping for a boy for a playmate for Daniel!

Emma Kate's room

This is our formal dining room which we are turning into an office. The transition is going slower then we had planned because of the fire. But hopefully we will buy office furniture soon and this empty room will turn into my home office! It is right when you enter our front door. When we moved in this room had carpet in it and we switched it out with hardwood.

The kitchen was my least favorite room and was so bad it made us almost walk away from the house. However, we changed out the flooring to hardwood and are in the process of switching out the appliances from white to stainless so it has definitely grown on me since we have done a few upgrades. The only thing we have left to do in here now is get a stainless steel refrigerator which we think we will get as our Christmas present to each other. You know you are old when you Christmas gifts start to include appliances :)

This is a picture of our living room looking in from our kitchen

Here is the other side of our living room. We have decided to only have a TV in the playroom upstairs and so far I have loved it! I don't spend nearly as much wasted time in front of the TV anymore and we have a clear divison between adult and kid space!

We are so thankful to have a "home" again and look forward to making lots of fun memories with our family of 4!

4th of July Weekend = U2 concert!

2011-07-23T11:17:00.003-04:00

Jeff is a HUGE U2 fan so we were very excited when we learned they would be Nashville in July. He has seen them live several times but I have never had the chance to go with him. I am not a big music fan but I was very excited about getting to experience the concert with Jeff since he had been like a kid waiting for Christmas as we counted down the days. We bought tickets the same day they went on sale and my man looked forward to that concert for close to 10 months. What we did not know at the time was that I would be 32 weeks pregnant and it would feel like it was 150 degrees outside! Even though I felt HUGE and it was VERY HOT we had such a fun time. We meet some college friends (see above picture) for dinner at Cheesecake Factory before the concert and had so much fun hanging out with them and catching up with everyone. My favorite part of the whole concert was just watching Jeff get so excited every time they would play certain songs and seeing the permanent grin on his face for the 2 hours they played.

The next day we went to hang out with our best friends Dan and Emily King. Emily and I took the kids to the pool while Jeff and Dan hit the lake. I do not have any pictures because we had not bought our new camera yet :( Around 8:00 Emily and I went hunting for the boys because we had not heard from them and was worried they might have had some boat issues. As we were pulling up to the dock the boys were pulling in. Good news was they did not have boat issues they were just having to much fun knee boarding and jumping off cliffs. I told Jeff there were some things in life he did not need to give me full disclosure on and the fact that he was cliff jumping was one of them ;)

The next morning we took our time getting up and packing and then headed back home. It was such a fun long weekend spent hanging out with friends and enjoying the summer.

June

2011-07-17T16:54:00.002-04:00

Well it looks like I am still only going to be updating the blog once a month! Despite my best intentions life just gets in the way of me being able to sit down in front of the computer. This month started out with a bang....or should I say boom :)

We moved into our house the first weekend in June. We have been so thankful for God's provision and His perfect timing in bringing us to this house. We LOVE it! It is the perfect house for our growing family. We moved in and had to wait a week before the gas was turned on. We spent the first week taking cold showers and eating out! The gas was turned on on a Thursday but I did not get a chance to cook my first meal until Sunday night. Jeff was at church leading his 9th grade guys small group and I thought I would be a great wife and have dinner on the table for him when he got home. Instead what happened was I had some fire trucks in our driveway waiting for him when he got home!

As I was preheating the oven I started to smell something that just did not seem right. I have never owned a gas stove so I thought it could be normal but called a few people to check just in case. Everyone seemed to think it was fine and more then likely was just the oven cleaner burning off. However, when the oven finished preheating and I opened it to put our food in....flames were coming up from the bottom and the top of the stove was black! I grabbed Emma and my phone and called 911 for the firemen to get here! Thankfully, there was only minor damage which mainly consisted of our stove being completely burnt and a section of our carpet with a black burn hole on it. The worst part was the MESS that was created from what the firemen used to put out the fire. We had dust EVERYWHERE!

I have never been so thankful for homeowners insurance in my life. We had a cleaning company come out that specializes in fire damage and they spent a week at my house cleaning. In the long run it was such a blessing because they pick every single item up and personally clean it. My house or the things in it will never be that clean again! Because of the hole in my carpet insurance also paid for the replacement of it. We decided to take the opportunity to go from carpet to hardwood so we paid the difference and went ahead and got hardwood all throughout our bottom floor. We also got the opportunity to get a new stove so we started the process of changing all the appliance to stainless steel. At this point the only thing we have left to switch out now is our refrigerator. The kitchen fire caused a lot of little inconveniences in our world for around a month but in the long run we got to make changes to the house that we love and would have never done so soon!

This month we also had 2 different sets of friends come visit us from Alabaster. I was still without a stove so we could not cook for them (trust me they were not sad about that :) ) but we had a lot of fun anyway. We went to the pool and just had fun hanging out at the house. At the end of the month Jeff spent close to a week in Florida with NorthPoint Student Ministry hanging out with his small group guys. Emma Kate and I really missed him but was glad he had the chance to go. They took like 1300 students which is something I can not even begin to imagine!

Jeff also received a promotion at work this month! The best part of his new role is he now will work normal hours and NO MORE WEEKENDS! We are super excited to get our weekends back and have already planned 2 different parties with friends at our house in July since Jeff will be here!

Coming soon....July update :)

Lots going on in the month of May

2011-05-01T11:05:00.004-04:00

I am now 23 weeks pregnant and still feeling pretty good! I have lost 6 lbs but feel like I am going to catch up the next few visits because I am hungry ALL THE TIME! This past weekend we went to Lebanon for my sister's 18th birthday and go back in a few weeks to watch her graduate. We also have an official contract on a house here in Atlanta! We started the process in March but since it is a short sell it took until now to get everything in place. We had the inspection done on Friday and will close on the house the 27th of this month. The house is going to be perfect for our growing family. It has 4 bedrooms and a loft upstairs that we will use a playroom. We are in the process of buying new bedroom and living room furniture so I have had a lot of fun shopping lately! In all the excitement God's goodness over my little family has not been lost on me for a second. This past year the verse "abundantly more then I can ask or imagine" I have seen played out in my life. When I am still long enough to reflect on what the Lord has walked us thru I am blown away but His goodness and faithfulness to me.

We are having a......

2011-04-17T20:30:00.002-04:00

BOY!!!!! We had the big doctor's appointment on Friday and found out this sweet little baby that God is currently knitting together in my womb is a BOY! We are so excited to add a little boy to our family and a bit overwhelmed about all the new things we need to get since everything we had for Emma Kate is very much girl! Emma has warmed up to the idea of having a brother and has even told me a few times that she really did not care what the baby was and is just ready to be a big sister. I think she is ok with the idea of a boy because while we were still in the doctor's office she told me " It is ok mommy you can always give me a girl with the next baby!" The doctor said everything looks great with the baby and he is measuring 10oz. I have lost a total of 6 pounds and some days look really pregnant and some days you can not tell at all. It is the strangest thing! I am officially 20 weeks and 2 days and the due date has held steady at Sept. 3rd. I love being pregnant and am so thankful for the opportunity that I have to carry this little boy of mine. I am praying that even now God plants a love for Him so deep in his heart and even from a very young age he will be mighty warrior for the kingdom.

Creation Story told my Emma Kate

2011-03-26T21:30:00.002-04:00

Emma telling us about the Tower of Babel

2011-03-26T21:23:00.001-04:00

Crazy little thing called love

2011-02-26T10:50:00.005-05:00

Over the last few weeks I have been reflecting on God's goodness not only to me personally but the goodness He has displayed in my marriage. The small audience that reads my blog for the most part are my personal friends.They know my story because they walked beside me/us a little over 2 years ago when infidelity rocked my marriage. They then helped me pack up my house and say goodbye to a life I loved and friends that I still miss. They stood next me as I made new friends in MS and started to build a life there. We lived there for almost a year and I can honestly say I am so thankful for the friendships that we made there. We had rebuilt our life and were about to buy a house when I found out that trust had breached again, this time just in the form of conversations but still breached. My friends stood beside me again and offered me a place to stay and safe haven to explore my feeling and thoughts. I moved to Atlanta without my husband and started the process of figuring out what life would look like as a 30 year old single mom.

In April of 2010 if you would have asked me if there was any way my life would look like it does now and that I would have the peace that I do I would have laughed in your face. I not only know that my God can do BIG THINGS I have seen Him do BIG things but even still to heal my heart seemed out of the question. However, that is exactly what He has done. I will even go as far to say that not only has God moved mountains in my marriage He has healed my marriage.

The funny thing about healing is I can't tell you the exact time that God started the process of healing in fact it was just over the last few weeks that I have realized what a great place our marriage is in. I have even had the privilege of walking beside a close personal friend as infidelity rocked her marriage and tonight get to go sit beside a friend of friend and share life with her as she has just started the journey of sorting thru her life when everything that made sense before is on longer sensible. God has used those 2 instances to show me how far Jeff and I have come. Never in a million years would I have felt like I would be ready to share wisdom with another woman who now is walking in my shoes down a path she never thought she would explore. I have prayed that God guards my heart from the old yucky feelings that can surface if I allow them. So far HE has been faithful and not only has protected me but more then anything in those conversations instilled in me a peace that continues to tell me " You see Lori, I do and I have made all things new in your marriage."

Choosing marriage is not an easy choice when trust has been broken. I read the Bible many times over trying to find my way out. Even though I knew staying in my marriage was the right thing to do and that God would honor the obedience it was HARD. However, I am so thankful that I chose marriage. I can not imagine my life without Jeff. Even though the past 2.5 years has been filled with many many many hard things.......even though we still grieve the things that were lost, we grieve them together. When we walked down the aisle 8 years ago we never imagined we would be where we are today but knowing what I know now.....I still say "I do".

I do choose to walk this life with my husband even when it is messy.
I do choose to remain faithful to my commitment to my covenant marriage.
I do choose to remember that love keeps no record of wrongs.
I do choose my husband. I choose our life. I choose to trust in the covenant maker.

"They are no longer two but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." Matt. 19:6

11 weeks

2011-02-11T20:17:00.002-05:00

Even though I am still feeling pretty yucky we have had a fun week at the McKenzie house. On Thursday we got to see Baby McKenzie for the first time. There is nothing like seeing your baby for the first time and seeing that heart beat! Our technician was FABULOUS and was so good with Emma. Emma was more excited then anyone to see " my baby butther or sister". The technician gave Emma the first picture and wrote "hi Emma" on top and told her the baby was talking to her. Emma proudly took it to school and showed all of her friends. She has held pretty tightly to that picture over the last 24 hours. We could see the baby kicking around in my belly and Emma was very concerned that it was hurting mommy!

Some of my favorite Emma sayings over the last weeks have been:

"Mommy how is God making that baby in your tummy since He lives in your heart? That is a long way for his arms to reach?"

Something I was watching on TV made me cry and Emma came up to me and said " Mommy repeat after me....this is the day the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it."

As I was rocking her to sleep one night she said, " Mommy I wish you would not have married daddy.You know why mommy....because I want to marry him when I grow up."

Jeff and I both had today off and had such a fun date day. He took me out for our Valentine Day lunch date, we watched a movie, took a nap, and just enjoyed spending the day together. We have a fun double date planned tomorrow night with some friends and will be attending Married Life Live at NorthPoint. Everything NorthPoint does is always so good and fun so I am very excited about another date with my husband tomorrow!

Feeling Yucky

2011-01-15T19:26:00.002-05:00

I am now around 7 weeks pregnant and am experiencing the pains of the first trimester. Overall I am just really really really tired. I feel nausea most of the day and just overall feel BLAH. I feel really sorry for my husband because my hormones are raging and I am really sweet one second and not so much the next!

Emma Kate continues to love the idea of being a big sister and is pretty sure that we are having a girl. She still thinks we are naming the baby Sara Lindsey Sara McKenzie and rubs my belly constantly. She often pretends that she has a baby in her belly and ask me ALL THE TIME when we will we go to the hospital. We get to go to our first doctor's appointment on Tuesday and we all 3 are very excited about getting to hear the baby's heartbeat and see the baby for the first time.

I am counting down the weeks until this first trimester is over but at the same time trying to remain thankful for all the aches and pains. I know what a high privilege it is to carry a child in my womb. It is one of the reasons I love being a woman.

Snow Day!

2011-01-10T22:32:00.005-05:00

Atlanta saw 6 inches of snow today which closed Emma's school and both of our offices. It proved to be a fun day of playing in the snow, making strawberry cupcakes and strawberry cookies, cuddling on the couch watching some movies, and now ending the day watching the National Championship game. Jeff and I also spent some time today making an offer on a house here in Atlanta! Looking/buying a house has made Atlanta seem a little more like home. We have not been able to officially make the offer due to the weather but look forward to moving forward with the offer once we can get out again. Emma's school is already closed for tomorrow and there is a good chance that Jeff will get to be home with us again.

2010 In Review

2010-12-31T21:58:00.004-05:00

2010 has been a whirlwind year for us. I have lived in 4 different houses and 2 states!

Jan.: We lived in Olive Branch,MS and I stayed home with Emma Kate and worked 10-15 hours a week.

Feb.: We found out that we had to move out of the house we were renting so we starting to look for a house to buy in the Olive Branch/Hernando area. Jeff started a new job.

March: We found a house we LOVED and started the buying process. Towards the end of the month we had a major hiccup in our marriage and Emma Kate and I left MS.

April: Emma and I spent Easter in Alabaster and was loved on by my sweet friends there. We then made our way to Atlanta to start over.

May: Emma and I spent the month living with my brother. I also spent a lot of time finding childcare for Emma in Atlanta, setting up a new work routine, and rebuilding my relationship with Jeff.

June: We spent the first week of the month on family vacation at the beach in a beautiful house. Jeff moved to Atlanta and we moved into an apartment. I turned 30!

July: I received a promotion at work and was asked to run our direct placement business in Atlanta.

Aug.: Jeff and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. It was truly a milestone to celebrate and an event that would not have happened without the grace of God over both of our lives.

Sept: Emma started Pre-K at a new school and is loving it. We also spent a fun family day at Stone Mountain Park.

Oct.: Emma turned 4! Ms. Sandy, Caitlin, and Miss Jordan came down to celebrate. Later in the month we spent the day at a farm and had a lot of fun learning how to milk a cow and see cattle being herded.

Nov. : Jeff went to play with a band from MS so he dropped me off in Alabaster for quick visit on his way to the gig. We also had some of our old students (who are now all in college) come for a weekend visit with us in Atlanta. We spent Thanksgiving at his parents house in Hernando. We left Emma in Hernando so we got to spend the whole week after Thanksgiving with just each other.

Dec. : I went to Deeper Still in Birmingham the first weekend in December. Other then that first weekend we spent every weekend after that celebrating Christmas. The 2nd weekend we did Christmas in Atlanta with my entire family. The 3rd weekend Jeff's parents came to celebrate Christmas and Jeff's 32nd birthday. We spent Christmas weekend with my brother and his family as well as my mom and sister. Emma was so much fun and it was topped off with snow! We also found out this month that Emma is going to be a big sister!

2010 was full of a lot of changes but the one thing that never changed was the faithfulness of our God. We end the year being able to see His hand across all things and thankful for His continued provision over us.

Emma Kate is going to be a big sister!

2010-12-30T20:07:00.002-05:00

We are celebrating some exciting news at the McKenzie house....we are having another baby! Emma Kate is beyond excited and is going to be such a great big sister. Here are some of her statements over the last 24 hours.

"Mommy you sure do have a lot of people in your body. You have Jesus in your heart, a baby in your belly, and all the food and water you have had today in your belly. How do you have room for all that?"

I was drinking water with my dinner and she said "mommy the baby does not like water the baby only likes milk. I know because I only drank milk when I was a baby and I did not like water at all."

"Why is the baby naked in your belly? I think you should buy some clothes for her?"
(We do not know what we are having yet she just wants a girl! :)

"Is it time to go to the hospital yet?"
(Nope we still have 9 months to go!)

"Can the baby's bed be in my room? When she cries I will either call for you to help me or just put the baby in bed with me. The baby will love sleeping with me."

Emma has rubbed and kissed on my belly non stop! I do not know who the nine months is going to be longer for....me or Emma.

White Christmas Day 2010

2010-12-26T11:34:00.001-05:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T21:48:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to jump on and wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I have a few posts brewing in my mind and heart but tonight is not the night to write them.

Today was a great day at the McKenzie house. Emma woke up around 8:00 and she opened her presents. She is at such a fun age and really loved everything she opened. She was even quick to tell me she saw one of the dolls in our closet that was wrapped under the tree! It is good thing that "Santa" only brings her stocking and mommy and daddy bring everything else because we would have had some explaining to do :) Jeff and I were not going to exchange presents so I was not expecting to have anything under the tree. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find 2 presents under the tree for me! I am very excited about both and thankful for a sweet husband who knows my love language.

Today I have a lot of things to be thankful for. However, I am most thankful for "The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John. 1:14

Emma Kate

2010-07-23T08:53:00.002-04:00

Emma Kate,

I have had the privilege to stay home with you for the past 3 years. A month ago I decided to go back to work more on a full time basis and you are now in school 3 days one week and 4 days the next. However, today I get to stay home with you again and take a breath to just be your mommy. We started the day snuggling and talking about how you are not a baby anymore but my big girl. You loved listening to me list all the things you can do now that you could not as a baby. We said things like "now you can walk and you used to be able to only scoot, now you can drink out of a big girl cup and you used to only be able to drink out of a bottle, now you eat everything and you used to only to have milk" and the list went on and on! I am so proud of you and the little big girl you have become.

You have quite the imagination and talk non stop. When I say you talk non stop.....that is EXACTLY what I mean :) A few nights ago as you were praying you said " God I know in the past that I have told you I just want to be a mommy but I changed my mind. I still want to be a mommy when I am 20 but then I want to be a doctor when I am 60. I want to do both ok????" When you were talking to Ms. Sandy yesterday you decided that you and Kae Kae could open a practice together but you would need to wear gloves before you helped the patients. Last night you decided our living room floor was the ocean and you proceeded to jump from the chair to into the ocean while holding your nose. You just came into the room with your bathing suit on and told me you were going to the ocean again and needed me to blow up your floats.

You did not think a lot about your school but it has grown on you and now you love it. You have a lot of friends there and really like Ms. Marie. On Friday you get your face painted so you have asked me if you go for a little while today to do that. Your most favorite thing to do right now is go to the pool. You have come a long way this summer in your love for the pool. You now can jump off the side all by yourself and LOVE IT when mommy and daddy throw you in from the side. Your second most favorite thing is going to get ice cream after dinner. You had only been awake for a few minuets when you started negotiating with daddy about getting ice cream when he came home from work today.

Your mommy and daddy love you very much Miss Emma Kate McKenzie and count it our highest calling to get to be your parents.

Some Random Thoughts

2010-06-01T10:09:00.002-04:00

I am currently at the beach with my entire family enjoying a week in the sun! We are staying in a beautiful house living a life of leisure. Due to the unhurried pace of the last few days I have had time just to sit back and reflect on the last few months. Here are my thoughts:

1. I am thankful.

I am thankful I have friends who love me well and will take me in on a moments notice.
I am thankful I have friends who will pray for me and will hold me accountable to the right standard not just the easy one.
I am thankful that I serve a God who loves me and knows me and meets me right where I am.
I am thankful I serve a God who sometimes gives me clear answers and direction.
I am thankful that I serve a God who more often just whispers for me to fix my eyes on Him and trust that He is good.
I am thankful for the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of someone who I love dearly. I have seen them become a completely new person and love as Christ loves the church.
I am thankful that God has proven Himself faithful to me time and time again.
I am thankful for the sweet friendships that God allowed me to have in MS and know that some of them will last a lifetime and not just for a season.
I am thankful for the men that God has placed in my husbands life.
I am thankful for restoration.
I am thankful for a God who indeed makes all things new.

2. I am excited.

I am excited about moving into our new home when we get back.
I am excited about starting over again in our new state.
I am excited about getting plugged into our new church.
I am excited about having my family under the same roof again.
I am excited to enter into a new decade (my 30's) in a few more days.
I am excited about my husband's new job.

3. I am anxious.

I am anxious about the possibility of working full time. I have been offered 3 full time jobs in the last month. This last one is exactly what I want to do long term but would mean that Emma Kate would have to in daycare 5 days a week instead of 3. I am torn about what to do. My heart's desire is to be a stay at home mom and nurture Emma as long as can. I know that I am the only mommy that she will ever have but my company has plenty of people to do the this job. However, I am still torn. Is it an opportunity that I am supposed to take? I was not looking for it...it found me. Or is this just another time that God is asking me to trust Him.
I am anxious about history repeating itself. In the end if it does then I know I will be ok. God has been faithful to me time and time again. I have no reason to doubt He will not be faithful to me again. He is my strong tower. My Prince of Peace. The Unchanging One.

Getting the hang of couponing!

2010-02-09T20:18:00.004-05:00

Over the last 6 months I have really been trying to figure out the whole cutting coupons thing! In the past I had dabbled in them and used them if I remembered, but now I am cutting with a purpose! In the past I cut them because I thought it was fun to save a few dollars here and there but now I have a whole new perspective. I spend the time going to couponing sites and cutting/organizing coupons mainly because I want to be a good steward of the money God gives me. It has been so much fun over the last few months seeing my saving increase. This year I even downloaded an Excel spreadsheet so I can track what I save on each of my visits. For the month of January I saved $285.91 using coupons which was 38.5% savings for the month. My goal is to save a minimum of 50% off my bill for the month.

It takes a little bit to get the hang of the whole couponing thing. You have to figure out what stores accept what coupons, who doubles, where can you stack, etc but in the end it is well worth it. For me anyway it has been worth the $285.91 that was saved last month! For example take my Target trip today. Today I saved $31.33 at Target and received 4 things FREE!

How did I do this???? I am glad you asked! The first thing I did was look at my favorite sites. My personal favorite are:
www.hip2save.com
www.couponingtodisney.com
www.faithfulprovisions.com

These ladies work so hard and do a great job to help me save money. They each have Target post about what is on sale this week and the best coupons to use. I read thru each of them and then figured out which coupons I had. I made my list, gathered all my coupons, and headed to Target. Now, all together I probably spent around 30-45 minuets doing the above. That is a good chuck of time but you could also look at it like I paid myself $31.33 for less then an hours work! I had coupons for everything I bought except the pink marshmallows that were thrown in for my 3 year old (not pictured)!

My total before coupons was 47.55
After all my coupons $14.22

My free items were:

Double Stuff Oreos (I became a fan on facebook when they were having a special promotion so they sent me 3 FREE coupons)
Olay Body Wash (In Sunday's Paper there was a coupon for buy Venus razor get Olay body wash for free)
Venus razor- This normally cost 9.99 but Target had them on sale for $6.99. I had a Target coupon for $4.00 off and then a manufacturing coupon for $2.00 which dropped the price down to .99. However, I had an overage of .99 on something else I bought so that made the razor FREE!
Herbal Essence hair gel(Sunday's paper had a buy a Herbal Essence shampoo, conditioner, or styler and get a styler product for free. This coupon did not have "excludes trail sizes on it so I purchased a .97 cent travel size conditioner and got the styler which normally cost $2.99 for FREE!

Items I had to pay something for:

Johnsons Bubble Bath and Body Wash is normally $4.39 I paid $1.39! I had a $2.00 Target coupon and a $1.00 manufacturing coupon
Pedisure Nutripal drink is normally $4.99 I paid $1.99! I had a $3.00 off manufacturing coupon.
Boost Kid Nutrition 6 pack chocolate milk is normally $9.79 I paid $4.79! I had a $3.00 Target coupon and a $2.00 manufacturing coupon. I almost did not get it because that is still a lot to pay out of pocket but since it has immunity boosters in it and my child LOVES some chocolate milk I decided it really was just .79 a drink so that was not to bad.
Post It Notes are normally $2.59. I paid $.59! I had a $1.00 off Target coupon and a $1.00 of manufacturing coupon.
The Aqua-Fresh Toothpaste came from WalGreens not Target. It is normally $2.19. I paid .24 cents! WalGreens has in store coupon making it .99 cents and then I had a manufactoring coupon for an additonal .75 cents off!

The simple breakdown is I paid around $9.00 for everything in the picture! In my opinion it was well worth my time! I am excited about continuing to learn how to navigate this coupon world and everyday becoming a better steward of God has entrusted my family with.

Bear Hunt

2010-01-28T19:42:00.002-05:00

From the mouth of a 3 year old

2010-01-28T10:45:00.000-05:00

Here are just a few of the conversations I have had with Emma Kate over the last 24 hours.

Emma: Mommy go do your Bible Study and I will go do mine.
Me: Emma you can not read so you need mommy to help you do your Bible Study.
Emma: Mommy I know how to talk to God. I do not need your help. I am just going to tell Him something I already know about him like you know how he made everything. Then I am going to sing. I do not need your help. Now you go talk to God and leave me alone!

Emma: Mommy I dropped my princess shoes and want to be a princess so can you get them for me?
Me: I will get your shoes for you baby but guess what? Did you know you are princess because you have a kind heart not just because you have princess shoes.
Emma: I know that mommy but the princess shoes help too!

Emma has to take 100 things with her when we go somewhere. Her stash normally includes 3 purses and a wallet and then several loose things in her hands. Today when were leaving to go to Starbucks she had her cell phone, a calculator, and a bracelet. I told her that she could only take 2 things so she needed to decide what would stay here. She then proceeded to put her bracelet on her wrist and said "Now I only have 2 things in my hand mommy but I get to take all 3 with me."

Walking thru the Word...Catching Up

2010-01-22T09:39:00.004-05:00

I have decided it is WAY TO HARD to try to get all my Bible Study in for the day AND write about all of it on the blog! So moving forward I am just going to hit the highlights of what I learned/thought was interesting. I have read Gen. 27-35, Psalms 11-15, Matt. 5:13-6:24, and Acts 7-8

The Gen. section is all about Jacob, who happens to be one of my favorite characters in the OT. I love him because he wrestled with God and taught me it was ok to do the same! I love the fact that I can ask God anything I want and He is big enough to handle it. It has given me great freedom in my walk with Him once I understood it is ok to ask Him "why". He can handle me telling Him that I don't understand and quiet frankly do not like His plan! God does not have an ego problem and is not turned off by our questions to Him or about Him.

Psalms 11:7 "For the Lord is righteous, He loves justice; upright men will see His face."
I loved how this verse went along with the whole theme of wrestling with God. Regardless of what are questions are to God, we ALWAYS have to go back to His righteousness. When I am in the middle of a wrestling match I think of and say aloud to God Dan. 9:14 "The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything He does." Even when I don't understand or even agree I can rest in the fact that indeed my God is righteous in EVERYTHING He does.

Matt. 5:13-6:24: In these verses God calls me to be salt and light. The thing about salt and light is they will ALWAYS change their surroundings. He then really steps on my toes and calls me to love my enemies. Can I just tell you that is a TOUGH TOUGH thing to do! He even goes as far to say that "even pagans love those who love them". I have by no means got the whole "love your enemies" thing down. But I do know the more I pray for my enemies the more I start to see them thru the lenses of Christ love and not my hurt.

Acts 7 & 8: Acts 7 gives us a great overview of the Old Testament. Acts 8 is just crazy to me. v. 39 "When they came up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away and the eunuch did not see him again but went on his way rejoicing." WHAT??? Phillip just disappeared...and then later it says in v. 40 "Phillip however appeared at Azotus and traveled about , preaching the gospel in the towns until he reached Caesarea." So then scripture just causally tells us that Phillip reappeared at so and so and went on with his life! That is some crazy stuff.

Beauty Shop

2010-01-22T09:20:00.003-05:00

One of Emma's new loves is to play "beauty shop". Emma becomes "the lady" and you have to call to make an appointment because she is so busy. After you view the pictures you will understand why people stand in line a long time to get their hair done by her! Our good friends Ms. Sandy and Kae Kae came for a visit earlier this week and both got their hair done by "the lady" You know someone has to love your child very much to allow the torture they both went through!

Thanks for coming to visit Ms. Sandy and Kae Kae. We love you and are so thankful for your friendship!

Small Enough

2010-01-18T09:35:00.002-05:00

I came across this song on a blog that I read frequently and LOVE IT! I am not a big fan of the music that goes with it but thought the words were SOLID. I am so very thankful that we serve a God who is small enough to bottle up my tears and big enough to part the red sea!

Smal Enough
By Nicole Nordeman

Oh, great God, be small enough to hear me now
There were times when I was crying from the dark of Daniel's den
And I have asked you once or twice if you would part the sea again
But tonight I do not need a fiery pillar in the sky
Just wanna know you're gonna hold me if I start to cry

Oh, great God, be small enough to hear me now
Oh, great God, be close enough to feel you now
There have been moments when I could not face Goliath on my own
And how could I forget we've marched around our share of Jerichos
But I will not be setting out a fleece for you tonight
Just wanna know that everything will be alright

Oh great God, be close enough to feel you now
All praise and all honor be to the God of ancient mysteries
Whose every sign and wonder turn the pages of our history
But tonight my heart is heavy and I cannot keep from whispering this prayer

"Are you there?"

And I know you could leave writing on the wall that's just for me
Or send wisdom while I'm sleeping, like in Solomon's sweet dreams
But I don't need the strength of Samson or a chariot in the end
Just want to know that you still know how many hairs are on my head

Oh great God, be small enough to hear me now

Walking thru the Word Days 8-10

2010-01-11T13:05:00.003-05:00

I have done relatively well keeping up with what I am supposed to be reading but not so well on putting it on the blog!

Gen. 21-26, Ps. 8-10, Matt. 4-5:12, Acts 5-6

Gen. 21: I love v. 1 and 2 "Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age at the very time God had promised him." I am so very thankful that God is gracious....gracious even after we laugh when he reveals His plan to us! The thing that really struck out to me in those verses was a little phrase found in v. 2..."at the very time God promised". God is going to do what He has promised. Not only that He is going to do it at the very time he promised it....not before or after but the very time He promised. The problem is God's timing is not my timing and I would much rather Him fulfil a promise sooner then later! However, I am thankful that His ways are not my ways and His thoughts are not my thoughts. His timing is perfect. He is gracious and He is going to do what He said He will do!

A new name is also revealed of God in this chapter...El Olam....The Eternal God.

Gen. 22: Can you imagine how Isaac must have felt? Do you think he walked away from the being strapped down on an alter with his dad holding a knife over his body with the same lessons that Abraham did? I wander if he was a little, ok... a lot mad that his dad would do such a thing. Scripture does not us anything about Isaac's response to the whole scene. I wander want Sarah's response was when they came back to camp and she heard the story?

Another name for God that is in the chapter is Jehovah Jireh...The Lord will Provide.

Gen. 23: Death of Sarah. She is buried in Cannon which is important later.

Gen. 24: v. 24 God answers Abraham's servant prayer "Before he had finished praying" Don't you love those answers that come without waiting!
v. 27 Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master..." Yes Lord, prasie Your holy name that I can say you have not abandoned Your kindness or faithfulness to me either! I don't understand Your kindness or Your faithfulness to me but I am so thankful it.

Gen. 25: Death of Abraham. v.21 is a beautiful picture of a husband's headship and love over his wife "Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer." Husbands have the potential to bring so much good to their wife when praying for them and over them. Later in Eph 5:26 it talks about husbands making their wives holy by cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.
Women, are you allowing your husband to take his rightful place of authority over you? Men, are you taking advantage of the privilege you have to serve your wife by praying for her and leading her in the Word?

Isaac and Rebecka had been married 20 years when Jacob and Esau were born. We learn Esau is a skilled hunter and Isaac's favorite child. Jacob is quiet and stays around the house. Rebecka favors him.

Gen. 26: Isaac repeats the sins of his father and lies about his relationship with Rebecka and says she is his sister. v. 11 is another disturbing verse in scripture.

Psalms 8: 3-4 " When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him.?"

Psalms 9:10 "Those who know your name will trust in you, for you Lord have never forsaken those who seek you."

Psalms 10:14 &17: "But You O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you, you are the helper of the fatherless."(v.14) "You hear O Lord the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry." (v.17)

Matt. 4: Jesus is tempted. He begins to preach and call his first disciples.

Matt. 51-11:I love the promise found in verse 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." There is not one second my study of God's Word that is wasted! He promises us that if we run after Him and study His Word.....He will fill us!

Day 6 and 7 of Walking Thru the Word

2010-01-08T23:28:00.002-05:00

So this one blog post will have 2 days worth of my time in the Word. I have kept up with doing it daily but have had a hard time time finding time to read AND post!
The segments for the last 2 days are Gen. 15-20, Psalms 6-7, Matt. 3:13-4:11, and Acts 4.

Gen. 15: If you have done any type of Precept Study then you know that any 1st mention is important. In. Gen. 15th we come across 2 first mentions. v.6 is the first time the word believe is mentioned and also the first time that "cutting covenant" is seen.

Gen. 16: I LOVE v. 7 "the angel of the Lord found Hagar." I am so very thankful that we serve a God who is in the business of finding us in our desert places. I also love the 2 questions that she is asked: "Where have you come from and where are you going?" I think it is a great thing for us to ponder. This chapter also holds my favorite name of God, El Roi, The God who sees me. Only God alone knows how many times I have thanked Him that HE indeed is the One who sees me.

Gen. 17th: We learn the sign of the covenant is circumcision. My take away from this chapter comes in v. 23 "On that very day".....Abram had immediate obedience. He did not wait he simply heard from God and then obeyed! May I have the kind of faith that displays immediate obedience....even if it involves pain!

Gen. 18th: I would love to know the time lapse between chapter 17 and 18. If you know please leave a comment or your thoughts. The exchange between God and Sarah in v. 15 cracks me up!!

Gen. 19th: This is a very disturbing chapter all around. When I studied The Patriarchs by Beth Moore I remember this being a VERY somber week. I will say though that I am thankful that the Word of God does not leave out hard stuff.

Gen. 20th: Abraham does it again and says that Sarah is his sister (which is a half truth) but God protects her and no harm is done to her.

Psalms 6: v. 4 "Turn, O Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love."

Psalms 7: v.17 "I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.

Matt. 3:13-17: Baptism of Jesus

Matt. 4:1-11: Temptation of Jesus

Acts 4: I love the fact that God uses "unschooled ordinary men" v.13 to do His work! The apostles prayed for boldness to speak the truth. I love the community of the first church.

I would love to hear your thoughts on any of these verses or on what God has been teaching you over the last few days!

Walking Thru the Word Day 5

2010-01-05T23:18:00.002-05:00

Today's segments were Gen. 12-14, Psalms 5, Matt. 3:1-12 and Acts. 3

Today in the Gen. segments there was a lot of talk about "pitching your tent". If you have not seen the YouTube video of the poor pastor who mixed up his words when he was preaching about "pitching your tent" you so need to find it! If you have already seen it then get your giggles out now and then read on!!

Gen. 12: v8 "From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an alter to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord." When Abram was at a crossroad and had to go east or west (good decision or bad decision) he pitched his tent and called on the name of the Lord. Oh how I long to be still and learn to just wait and call on the name of the Lord when I do not know what direction I should go. I am a doer so I tend to run all over the place trying to figure out a solution instead of just being still. A little over a year ago I was in a situation where I had a decision to make. Was I going to go east or west? I am so very thankful that God brought this verse to my attention exactly 2 months before I even knew I would be going somewhere! Another verse that was and still is a great reminder to me is Is. 30:21 " Whether you turn to the right or to the left your ears will hear a voice behind you saying This the way-walk in it."

Gen. 13 and 14: v.12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tens near Sodom. There is one little word in that verse that is a great warning for us. Isn't Lot so much like us. He did not (as of v.12) actually go live in Sodom just near it. He was not really going all in, he just wanted to be around it. He liked flirting with sin/danger. Just like us, the whole near thing wasn't enough and in Gen. 14:12 we find out that indeed Lot has moved in to Sodom. One of the things that is most frustrating to me is that Satan really has not changed his ways or his methods to tempt us and the sad thing is he does not have too! We still want to flirt with sin and think when we get to deep we will stop. I do not know who said it but I love the quote " Sin will keep us longer then we ever intended to stay and cost us more then we ever intended to pay." I do not want my first response to be "Where is the line?" I want my first response to be "Where is Christ?"

v.18 Melchizedek.....I think Melchizedek is just going to be one of those people that I will not ever fully be able to wrap my head around this side of heaven! I have spent months studying about him and still really do not know anymore then when I started! If I ever complete Percepts Hebrews I hope to get a little glimpse but he is most definitely on my list to ask God about!

Psalms 5 v3 " In the morning O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my request before you and wait in expectation." I posted this on facebook earlier today and will include it here. I am very good at the laying my request out before him part but not so much the waiting in expectation. I long to have an expectant heart. I 100% believe that God can do anything I ask but my attitude while I am waiting does not match my belief. Instead of being anxious for an answer I long to be able to wait expectantly. My Lord does hear and He will answer. The difference is not the outcome but my heart during the process.

Matt. 3:1-12 The verse that really sticks out to me is verse 8 "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance." I also want to look into a little more exactly what a "winnowing fork" is. I know it has something to do with separating wheat but I want to dig a little more.

Acts 3 Peter and John heal the beggar at The Gate of Beautiful. I love verse 12 when Peter says "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you?" Don't you think God wants to say that to us today?! I know that He wants to shake me sometimes and say "Lori why does it surprise you that I came through on your behalf? I am who I say I am. I can do what I say I can do. You are who I say you are. The Word of God is alive and active in you. God holds the entire universe together by His powerful Word (Heb. 1:3) yet we do not think He can handle whatever it is that is currently rocking our world. When we hear about miracles today....are we surprised or do we say "well of course that happened because look at our God!"

Just take an umbrella!

2010-01-05T12:12:00.002-05:00

I try to read a Bible story to Emma Kate every day. I tell her that I am doing my quiet time and when I am done we will do hers! Today her story was on The Flood. I was a little worried because I did not want to her to think that everytime it rains it means she is going to die! When it started talking about how Noah and all the animals had to get in the ark and everyone and everything not in the ark would die.....I started getting a little worried and wandered how I was going to explain this one. Well my child, in true Emma Kate form, looked at me and said,

"Mommy, it is ok I will not die when it rains because I have an umbrella!"

So there you have it.....take an umbrella when it rains or you will die :)

I would love to hear your ideas on how you teach your little ones about Jesus. What do you do with the hard stories? I never never want to water down the truth of God's Word but I want to be able to teach it in such a way her 3 year old little mind can understand. How do you do that yet stay true to what it says....like not leaving out the oh by the way everyone DIES that is not in the ark!

We always pray when it is over and today I thanked God that He still keeps his promises and for the beauty of the rainbow, and then prayed for Jeff since it is like 2 degrees outside! When it was her turn she prayed, "Jesus, thank you for my umbrella, and that I got to go to church on Sunday, and please make it warm for daddy so he has a good day. Oh wait....I want it to snow so don't make it warm because I really like snow but I want daddy to have a good day...oh gracious I don't know what to pray so AMEN!"

Day 4 of Walking Thru the Word

2010-01-04T21:25:00.002-05:00

Today's segments were Gen. 9-11, Psalms 4, Matt. 2:13-23, and Acts 2:22-47

Gen. 9: Noahic Covenant
Gen. 10: Noah's line
Gen. 11: v.5 "But the Lord came down" I love the imagery of that! I wander if they could hear that what did it sound like? What will it sound like when the Lord comes in all of His glory to get us? Why did He come down? Because back in 9:1 God told them to "Be fruitful, increase in number, and fill the earth." They decided they liked all being together so God came down to do what He had already told them to do......SCATTER.

Ps. 4: v.8 "I will lay down and sleep in peace, for you alone O Lord make me dwell in safety."

Matt. 2:13-23: Two different prophesy are fulfilled in this section....the first was that Christ would be called out of Egypt (Hos. 11:1) and the 2nd is "He will be called a Nazarene."

Acts. 2:22-47: v.23 "Jesus was handed over by God's set purpose and foreknowledge...."
That is a big verse to mull over!
v.36 "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified both Lord and Christ." Praise you Lord that you indeed are BOTH Lord and Christ!

Day 3 of Walking Thru the Word

2010-01-03T22:18:00.002-05:00

Today's segments were from Gen. 5-8, Psalms 3, Matt. 2:1-12 and Acts 2:1-21

I am down to the wire today with only 2 hours left but I guess better late then never!

Gen. 5: Gives us the line of Adam. I particularly like v.22 because it talks about Enoch "walking with God" The only other person that I know of that is said to "walked with God" was Noah in Gen. 6:9. When it refers to the later Patriarchs it says they "walked before" God but not with. I find that to be very interested and one day want to look into that some more!

Gen. 6: God tells Noah about the flood and in v.18 says He will establish a convent with Him.

Gen. 7: v2 "Take with you seven kind of every clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every unclean animal, a male and its mate." This is the first time that I have ever realized that he took more then 2 of some of the animals! Am I the only one who has missed this???!!!

Gen. 8: v.1 "But God remembered Noah......" Do you think that Noah thought God had forgotten all about him? I do. I have been in situations where I have felt like I was obedient but the flood waters kept coming and they did not seem to be receding. I have asked...."How long God until you come through on my behalf? How long will I feel so rocked by the waves? I have asked do you remember me Lord? I am thankful that just like Noah....God started the process of showing me the dry ground and reminding me of His covenant with me. How fitting that the next place we go is.....

Psalms 3 v.3-4 "But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head. To the Lord I cry aloud, and He answers me from his holy hill."

Matt.2:1-12: This section is where the Magi come and present Jesus gifts and then being told in a dream do not return to Herod but go a different a route. I may be taking some liberates here but when I read this I thought how true that is today.....When we have a TRUE encounter with Christ we don't go back to what we know or what we intended. We are CHANGED! What else is there to do other then lay gifts at His feet and turn aways from what we know?

Acts. 2:1-21: Pentecost

Day 2 of Reading Thru the Word

2010-01-02T21:23:00.004-05:00

Today's segments were Gen. 3-4, Psalms 2, Matt. 1:18-25, Acts. 1:12-26

Gen. 3:3 Satan led Eve to be careless with God's Word and she said that Christ said something He did not say. He did not say they could not look at it just that they could not eat it! This one verse really motivates me to be a true studier of God's Word so I can rightly divide the truth of God. It is one of the reasons that I am a strong believer in corporate bible study. If you do not study the word of God and are just relying on what other people tell you His Word says how can you ever rightly divide the truth? God desires to speak personally to you. Are you letting Him?

Gen. 4:7 "If you do what is right will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you but you must master it." This is a great reminder to me that sin is knocking at my door. There is an enemy and he will do WHATEVER it takes to distract me from God's purpose for me. I can not be idle in my attack. I have to live on purpose and be on guard. The only way I can master sin is through the Holy Spirit that lives inside of me. I must continue to study God's Word so that I will know what His will His for me His good and perfect pleasing will. (Romans 12:2)

Psalms 2 Great reminder that God has complete control over the "kings" we have here. It reminded me of the verse in Daniel that speaks about how God sets up kings and deposes them. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. (Dan. 2:21)

Matt. 1:18-25 Birth of Jesus Immanuel CHRIST WITH US! I love thinking about this in conjunction with John 1:14 " The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Acts. 1:12-26: This is where the disciples choose Mathis to replace Judas by casting of lots. It is the last time in NT that casting of lots is mentioned. We never hear anything else about Mathis that I know of in scripture but scholars think he took the gospel to Ethiopia.

Day 1 of Reading Thru the Word

2010-01-02T21:00:00.003-05:00

My segments today were Gen. 1&2, Psalms 1, Matt. 1:1-17, and Acts 1:1-11

Gen. 1 Creator God
Gen 2:7 "The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." I love the phrase "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." God is the life giver and has breathed life into me on more the one occasion.

Psalms 1:2-3 Is one of my favorite verses. It reminds me that when I delight in the Lord and meditate on his Word "I will be like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever I do will prosper." I long to be so planted in the Word of God that I can not be moved by circumstances.

Matt. 1:1-17 Genealogy of Jesus

Acts 1:1-11 Jesus ascended into heaven and told his disciples to wait on the Holy Spirit.

I am also going thru a prayer journey called Whispers of Hope by Beth Moore. I am on day 24. My reading for that was in Exodus 16. I have had a love/hate relationship with the book of Exodus over the last 2 years. I have followed closely the wilderness journey of the Israelites and have many posts below this one talking about that journey. My favorite things she said in today's segment are "We are far less likely to be obedient when we are not in need." I am very sad to say that I have seen that to be so true in my own life. The times that I have sought God with my every breath were the times that I needed Him more then that breath! It is so easy for me to overlook my time with Him when all is well in my world.

She later goes on to say that "God is so faithful. So daily." I love that! The dailyness of our God. He did not just come once and die and for our sins and now is out of the picture.
He is our DAILY God.

Happy New Year

2010-01-02T20:50:00.002-05:00

So I am really really bad at keeping up with this blog as noted since I have not posted since July. Some of the reason is due to privacy issues but most of it has to do with documenting life other places! However, I am going to try to jump back on the bandwagon! We have had a VERY laid back last 2 days. Football has been on our TV constantly and I have only left the house once in 48 hours! Today I even took a 3 hour nap....it was pure bliss!

I have created my goals for 2010 and cleaned the house but other then that I have had a very unproductive 2 days. Here are my goals in no particular order.

1. Loose 20 pounds with 10 of those pounds gone by May for our beach trip.
2. Clean my house once a week.
3. Be a better steward of everything God has given me (family, money, body, etc.)
4. Read thru the Bible in a year. To do this I am following a plan I found on line that has you in 4 different books a day. You read 2 OT and 2 NT excerpts each day.

I think most of this blog will be about my journey through God's Word this year as I document my thoughts each day. It will give me a place to keep up and be accountable even though I don't think anyone reads this except me!

Tenderness of God

2009-07-17T23:17:00.003-04:00

I have had few seasons in my life with Christ that He very clearly was displaying a certain characteristic of Himself to me over and over again. For example, when my dad was dying the FAITHFULNESS of God was the recurring theme in my walk with Him. The faithfulness of God is something that I have held very tightly to over the last 5 years since my dad's death. The faithfulness of God is something that I have reflected on, thanked Him for, and continued to see evidence of in my life. However, in this new season, He has sowed a new attribute of Himself deeply in my heart. When I reflect back over the last year I think the reoccurring theme for me will be the TENDERNESS of God.

God has displayed His tenderness to me in several different ways. I have been on a wilderness journey with Him over the last year. Just like the Israelites He CHOSE the wilderness for me to draw me closer to Him. He wanted me to see the Red Sea part and experience His intimacy at Mt. Sinai. I have been studying about the Israelites journey through the wilderness since last August. God has been so faithful(there is that word again!) to me to allow me to see Him and His purpose for my journey through the examples we are given in Exodus. I have written several post about how I relate to the Israelites more then I care to!

Tonight when I was in God's Word I went to Hosea 2:14-23 and fell on my face before God thanking Him for His tenderness towards me.

"Therefore I am going to allure her; I will lead her in the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came out of Egypt." (Hosea 2:14-15)

I know that God is a God of justice but I also know that He is a God of grace. He has brought me to the wilderness to show me His great love for me. I am so thankful for Psalms 3:3

"But You are a shield around me, O Lord. You bestow glory on me and lift up my head. To the Lord I cry out and HE answers me from His holy hill."

I begged God to remind me of these truths when I feel like I am wandering aimlessly through the wilderness. I have been reminded that God showed up in a very powerful way to all the Israelites, not just Moses, when they were at Mt. Sinai. Here is the thing....Mt. Sinai was the farthest place south of their "promised land" that they could be BUT that is where God spoke to them individually. Do you believe you are so far away from where God's "promised land" is for you that there is no hearing His voice? Be encouraged fellow traveler when we think we are at the farthest point from our destination....God's plan for us......just maybe we have a Mt. Sinai coming our way. Do you believe that God wants to speak to you? Not just your pastor or your favorite Bible Study teacher....but to YOU! His Word is living and active. Will you allow Him to speak tenderly to you...even if it means He takes you to the desert?

"Come let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us., He has injured us but He will bind up our wounds. . After two days He will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in His presence. Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth. "
Hosea 6:1-3

Lord thank you for speaking tenderly to me. Thank you for being my hope in the middle of a storm. You have indeed been the lifter of my head. You have heard my cry and have continued to prove Yourself faithful to me. I want to acknowledge You. I know that as surely as the sun sets you are coming back. I believe everything You say about who You are and who I am in You. I think you for your grace that even though I have sinned against You....even though I have acted like a harlot.....you still allure me and speak tenderly to me and long to make me like Your Son.

Reflection of my 28th year

2009-06-10T12:53:00.004-04:00

Today I enter into the last year of my 20's! When I think over the last year my immediate response is to say "Adios 28- I will not miss you AT ALL!" But upon further reflection I think I just might miss 28. It has been by far my toughest year. I have had almost everything I hold dear ripped out from under me. My marriage took a hard hit this year, I lost the security of a comfortable ministry (is there even such a thing....and if so maybe we should double check it!), the security of a comfortable income, and the security of a familiar place with friends I love and could always count on! I have lost a lot but in the process I have gained more of Jesus. Jesus has proven Himself faithful to me time and time again. When I felt like my world was crumpling around me, which has been often this past year, His Name has been my strong tower (Proverbs 18:10).

Thank you Jesus for loving me through all of my complaints and grumblings. Thank you for choosing the wilderness for me. You wanted to take me on a journey where I would know without a doubt You are enough.Your grace is sufficient. The journey has been tough but You have been my constant guide- my ever present help in my time of need (Ps. 46:1). I am excited to continue the journey with You and know that even you if choose the wilderness it is for my greater good and Your glory will be center stage. I choose you Lord- I trust Your plan and your purpose. I rest in the fact that You do indeed make all things all new.

"I have heard of You by the hearing of my ear; but now my eyes have seen You." Job. 42:5

Want to be more like Jesus and less like the Israelites

2009-05-12T12:05:00.003-04:00

Lord,
Thank you for Your Word and how it speaks to me through your Holy Spirit. Your Word is living and active, sharper then any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Heb. 4:12). You have proven Yourself faithful to me over and over again yet I look and act more like the Israelites then your Son. As much as Your discipline hurts I am thankful for it because I know Heb. 12:10 tells me it is for my good so that I can share in Your holiness. Lord forgive me for my unbelief. You have led me out of a bad situation. You have given me glimpses of refreshment and rest like you did for the Israelites at Kadesh Barnea. You have worked upstream for me and was already working things out even though I could not see it with my physical eyes like you did for the Israelites at Adam when they crossed over the Jordan. (Joshua 3). But so often, in fact more often the not, I find myself wallowing aground in Meribah and Massah (Ex. 17:1-7) grumbling against You because in a particular moment I don't see a way out. You have proven Yourself true to me over and over and over. You have shown me that indeed You do make all things new. Lord I beg of You to grow my faith- grow my belief. I don't want to doubt or question You just because my world does not align the way I think it should at any given moment. Give me more of You Jesus and so much less of me. My heart is deceitful above all things Lord and can not be trusted but You CAN. May I fix my eyes on You Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith, who for the joy set before You endured the cross, despising the shame, and set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb. 12:2). You are able Lord to turn this crazy woman who falters around in unbelief into a mighty warrior of Your Word. Because of Your work on the cross I come boldly to Your throne and approach it with confidence to receive mercy and find grace. (Heb. 4:16).

Pick up your sword

2009-04-05T14:37:00.002-04:00

I finished Esther by Beth Moore last month. In one of the video sessions she mentioned Deut. 33:29 and the Holy Spirit keeps bringing me back to it.

"Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is your helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you, and you will trample down their high places."

Before hearing this session and looking closely at this scripture I have always defaulted to the verses that talk about being still and letting God fight for you. Even in Deut. there are 2 places that talk about God fighting your battles.

"The Lord your God who is going before you will fight for you as He did for you in Egypt before your very eyes" Deut. 1:30

"Do not be afraid of them, the Lord your God himself will fight for you." Deut. 3:20

I have never been one to just think my job was to sit around because God just did all the work around me and for me. I have always believed that we must play an active role in our walk with Christ. Please understand me when I say that. I do not mean that God needs us or that He does not just work things out for us. A great example of this is found in Philippians 2:12-13.

"Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purposes."

The beginning tells us to "work out our salvation" implying it is something we are to do but then the next verse it says it is God who works in you to will and act according to His good purpose. So do we play an active role in it or does God just do it. I think that it is both. We are not called to just sit on the sidelines. God desires us to play an active role. There is a fine line between complete dependance on God and complacency.

So back to Deut.33:29. I believe there are times that God calls us to just sit back and let Him fight for us. However, I also believe there are times that He wants us to pick up our sword and SWING IT. I believe that most of the time we choose to faulter to the Lord will do it for me because we don't understand or believe that the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ lives in us and empowers us to do whatever we are called to do. We have no concept of what it really means that we are a child of God, an heir to the throne. " Who is like you a people saved by the Lord?"

May we not boast in our own strength but in who we are because of Christ. What are we saying to the world when we cower from our enemies? The reason I believe that at times we are called to pick up our sword and fight is found in the last part of the verse. "Your enemies will cower before you and you will trample down their high places." I have underlined the word you in my Bible because it is referring to me not Christ. I will trample down their high places. Now I won't and can't trample down their high places without Christ for "He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword"

Lord, thank you that you not only fight for me but You also empower me to fight. I know their are battles that You want me to sit out and just watch You fight for me but Lord I also believe there are times that You want me get in the battle and swing my sword. I am a child of God and Your Spirit lives in me. Because of that I am capable and do not have to shrink back in fear. Please Lord give me wisdom to know when to be still and let you fight and when to pick up my sword.

"Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. "

Ephesians 6:17

Emma Kate Highlights - March 09

2009-03-28T19:28:00.002-04:00

Author Unknown

2009-03-26T23:40:00.001-04:00

He is the First and Last,
The Beginning and the End!
He is the keeper of Creation and the Creator of all!
He is the Architect of the universe and the Manager of all times.
He always was,
He always is, and He always will be...
Unmoved, Unchanged, Undefeated, and never Undone!

He was bruised and brought healing!
He was pierced and eased pain!
He was persecuted and brought freedom!
He was dead and brought life!
He is risen and brings power!
He reigns and brings Peace!
The world can't understand him,
The armies can't defeat Him,
The schools can't explain Him,
and The leaders can't ignore Him.
Herod couldn't kill Him,
The Pharisees couldn't confuse Him,
and The people couldn't hold Him!
Nero couldn't crush Him,
Hitler couldn't silence Him,
The New Age can't replace Him,
and Oprah can't explain Him away!
He is light, love, longevity, and Lord.
He is goodness, Kindness, Gentleness, and God.
He is Holy, Righteous, mighty, powerful, and pure.
His ways are right,
His word is eternal,
His will is unchanging,
and His mind is on me.
He is my Savior,
He is my guide, and
He is my peace!
He is my Joy,
He is my comfort,
He is my Lord, and
He rules my life!
I serve Him because
His bond is love,
His burden is light,
and His goal for me is abundant life.
I follow Him because
He is the wisdom of the wise,
the power of the powerful,
the ancient of days,
the ruler of rulers,
the leader of leaders,
the overseer of the overcomers,
and is to come.
And if that seems impressive to you,
try this on for size.
His goal is a relationship with ME!
He will never leave me,
never forsake me,
never mislead me,
never forget me,
never overlook me,
and never cancel my appointment in His
appointment book!
When I fall, He lifts me up!
When I! fail, He forgives!
When I am weak, He is strong!
When I am lost, He is the way!
When I am afraid, He is my courage!
When I stumble, He steadies me!
When I am hurt, He heals me!
When I am broken, He mends me!
When I am blind, He leads me!
When I am hungry, He feeds me!
When I face trials, He is with me!
When I face persecution, He shields me!
When I face problems, He comforts me!
When I face loss, He provides for me!
When I face Death, He carries me Home!
He is everything for everybody everywhere, every time, and every way.
He is God, He is faithful.
I am His, and He is mine!
My Father in heaven can whip the father of this world.
So, if you're wondering why I feel so secure, understand this...

He said it and that settles it.
God is in control,
I am on His side,
and that means all is well with my soul.
Everyday is a blessing for GOD Is!

Hebrews 1

2009-03-23T23:04:00.002-04:00

What we learn about Jesus from Hebrews 1

Heir of all things (1:2)
The world was made through Him (1:2)
He is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His nature (1:3)
Sustains all things by His powerful Word (1:3)
Made purification for our sins (1:3)
Sits at the right hand of God (1:3)
Is better than the angels (1:4)
All the angels of God worship Him (1:6)
He is the Unchangeable One. (1:12)

Lord I praise you because You are these things and so much more. Please let me never settle for just a basic understanding of who You are, may I never be satisfied with just milk Lord but in the same breath may I never overlook the simplicity of the gospel and get bogged down in theology. I want to press on towards maturity as Heb. 6:1 commands me but I need your discipline to keep my eyes fixed on You the author and perfecter of my faith (Heb. 12:2). When theology gets in the way Lord remind me of Emma Kate who simply picks up Your Word, turns the pages, and says, "Mommy do you know what this page says, it says Jesus loves me."

Let Us:

2009-03-23T10:47:00.002-04:00

Part of our homework this week for Hebrews was to write out all the Let us phrases in the book of Hebrews. As much as a moan about all the detail stuff that is required for Precept studies I always come away very thankful that I chose to do it!

"Therefore since the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us, be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it ." Heb. 4:1

"Let us, therefore make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience." Heb. 4:11

" Therefore since we have a high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess." Heb. 4:14

"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Heb. 4:16

" Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death and of faith in to God. Heb. 6:1

"Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water." Heb. 10:22

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for He who promised is faithful." Heb. 10:23

" And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." Heb. 10:24

" Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Heb. 10:25

"Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Heb. 12:1

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb. 12:2

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe." Heb. 12:28

"Let us then go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore." Heb. 13:13

"Through Jesus therefore let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise- the fruit of lips that confess His name." Heb. 13:15

Today let us be encouraged that He who promised is FAITHFUL to complete the work He has started in us. My prayer for me is that I do run this race with perseverance with my eyes fixed on Jesus because He indeed is the author and perfecter of my faith.

Blog Lift!

2009-03-22T22:25:00.002-04:00

So I have been on a blog hiatus for awhile but now I am back! The sweet ladies at http://thesiestafiestablog.blogspot.com/ gave my blog a face lift :) Thank you so much Holly. I love it and look forward to actually using it more now! I am currently studying Hebrews so there will be a post in the next few days on what God has been teaching in His Word.

Trust

2009-03-22T20:37:00.004-04:00

Orginally posted on Aug. 17, 2008

I don't know if this will ever be published but I need to sort out what the Lord had been speaking to be about. I have found, for me, it helps to just write it out. I say that only to give you the warning up front...if you are reading this it was not written to make sense or to be free from errors....I am simply writing to solidify in my mind what the Holy Spirit is saying.
I am currently in a season where God is requiring A LOT of trust from me. My heart and my mind can not seem to catch up with each other to believe the same thing at the same time! I feel like I am being blown in every direction by a wind that I can not control. I long to just get out of the boat and on walk 0n water but just when I think I can do it.....doubt sets in and I sink. I have not been calling out to God about my situation, because if I am real honest, I don't think I want to know His will.

What if what He ask is to hard?

What if I don't want to?

What if I already know what He wants but I just don't agree?

Today, God has used the sermon this morning by Andy Stanley and my "homework" from No Other Gods to speak truth in my life about the trust issues that I am having. This morning Andy talked about The 5 Things that Grow your Faith. However, what really spoke to me was just little side note he mentioned about the fall. He said that everyone talks about how the fall happened when Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit. In essence when people say that they are right. However, the fall started to happen when Eve questioned God. Satan planted the seed that God could not be trusted. Satan told Eve, " For God knows that when you eat of the fruit your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil" (Gen. 3:4) Eve for just a moment questioned if she could really trust God or not. Did he really want what was best for her and Adam? Could God be trusted to follow through on His promises? His point was Eve's downfall to did not start with the bite. Eve's downfall started when she stopped trusting that God was good.

He concluded by saying " When you have absolute confidence in God, obedience is a natural overflow."

Now on to my homework. First, I must say that I am 1 week behind. I had grand plans to finish tonight because I am starting 2 new Bible studies and their homework begins tommorow! However, I felt strongly encouraged to untangle these things. Bible knowledge gets you NO WHERE without obedience. Back to tonights homework. She asked us to read Jonah 2-4:11. To be honest with you, I almost did not read it. I mean come on, I know the story of Jonah and I am trying to finish 1 week of homework in 1 night! But I knew it was short so I thought I would be a good girl, follow the rules, and read! The first verse that really stuck out to me was 2:8. " Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs." I don't have much to say about that other then....I have forfeited a lot of grace along the way because I simply could not/ would not let go of what was familar or easy and cling to THE ONLY ONE who can satisfy. Kelly (the author) started the homework by asking, " Do you obey God while not relating to Him? Have you surrended to Him while not trusting Him?" Ok Kelly....can you please watch my toes??
In Jonah chapter 3, Jonah obeys and Nineveh repents. You would think that the chapter would end. We have our happy ending with the pretty bow on top. However, it does not. God allows us to see a heart issue of Jonah's. Jonah is angry with God because God is going to show compassion to the Ninevites and he does not think they deserve compassion. God calls him out on it and asks "Have you any right to be angry" (4:4) At this point in the story Jonah is so mad he says it is better for him to die.

Seriously.

Kelly makes the following point, " Isn't it interesting in the midst of his obedience- or his ultmate surrender to God's directon-we can find a man who is so mad at God that he wants to die? I think the bottom line for Jonah was obedience without heart, surrender without trust."
A few paragrahps latter she continues, " God is not calling me to merely seek an answer from Him but to seek an answer with Him. To trust Him during the process of exploring His heart for my life decisions, not just to throw my hands up in resignation, sighing Thy will be done!"
That is when it hit me. I have been throwing my hands up and begrudgley saying, "whatever you want Lord" but what God desires from me is not to just follow His will and direction but to TRUST Him.

Like Eve, I been saying,
"Does God really want what is best for me?"

"Can He be trusted to work all things out for His good?"

I know the answer is yes....but do I REALLY believe it?

Then 4:10-11 brought it home for me.
" But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about this vine (the vine for me is my circumstance) though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more then a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

The Holy Spirit really convicted me that I am not concerned with the things that God is concerned with. Here I am worried about the vine (my issues) and God is saying those things don't matter. You did not make them succed or fail....I DID. Please get your eyes on what is important. MY PEOPLE. MY GLORY. MY RENOWN. The rest are just vines. They go and come. Don't get caught up in the vine (even though I gave it to you) Keep your eyes focused on what matters to me.

Lord, I long to trust you. I can say until I am blue in the face that You are good. I know that you have plans to prosper me and not to harm me. I know that You are all that matters. Please continue to speak to me through Your word . I want to be concerned with what you are concerend about. Teach me to take my eyes off myself and love what you love and hate what you hate.

I am...

2009-03-22T20:36:00.000-04:00

Orginally posted on July 1, 2008

This past Sunday in Life Groups (I teach 11th grade girls) we talked about who we were in Christ. I started the time together by asking them what label other people have put on them. The good, the bad, and the ugly. We made a list on the board. I have been thinking about labels lately because I attended Deeper Still this past weekend in Atlanta.

Priscilla Shirer made the statement that God is the only one who has the right to label/NAME ME. She then mentioned Rev. 22:4 that says, “ They will see HIS face and HIS name will be on their forehead.” I love the picture of when someone sees me the first thing they see is JESUS written on my forehead. It got me thinking about the names that I have NOW because of my identity in Christ. I turned to Ephesians and read all the highlighted parts through Revelation and came up with this list. The awesome thing about it is this is not an extensive list. I did not read the entire books just what I had highlighted! I hope you are blessed and find great encouragement in knowing who you are in Christ.

I AM A:
v Overcomer (1 John 5:5)
v Child of God (1 John 3:3
v Chosen (1Peter 2:9)
v Royal Priesthood (1 Peter 2:9)
v Holy Nation (1Peter 2:9)
v People belonging to God (1 Peter 2:9 Eph. 2:19)
v Stranger in this world (1 Peter 1:1 1 Peter 1:11)
v Forgiven (Hebrews 9:28 Eph. 1:7)
v Redeemed (Col 1:14 Eph. 1:7)
v Reconciled (Col. 1:22)
v Alive with Christ (Col. 2:13 Eph. 2:5)
v Hidden in Christ (Col. 3:12)
v Holy and Dearly loved (Col. 3:12 Eph. 5:1)
v Called to suffer (Philp.1 :29)
v Blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:13)
v Holy and Blameless in His sight (Eph. 1:4)
v Marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13)
v Saved by faith (Eph. 2:8)
v God’s workmanship (Eph. 2:10)
v Created to do good works (Eph. 2:10)

Can you imagine what my life would look like if I started living out those things? What if I/we started believing the names/labels that Christ gives us instead of what the world says? My prayer is I/we will STOP BELIEVING who and what the world says we are (good and bad) and start acting like an heir to the throne!
In the comments I would love for you to share some of your favorite I am…. statements

Dad

2009-03-22T20:32:00.001-04:00

Orginally posted on June 9, 2008

Dad,
In less then an hour it will be 4 years since you died. There are times that I feel like you have been gone much longer then that and times that I feel like it was just yesterday. I know that you have the hope of glory now. I know that NOTHING on earth will ever compare to being at the feet of the One who ransomed you. But just for a minuet I want to pretend that I can sit with you and just chat.

As I am writing this I can hear the waves playing in Emma Kate's room. The thing that I think hurts the most is I will never get to see you play with or love my children on this side of heaven. I know with everything in me that you would have LOVED Emma Kate. But I long to see your eyes as you watch her, hear you laugh at her antics, and then hear you tell me "Gut, you were just like her!" Emma has your eyes. She is in every sense of the word a true "Hobbs" baby.

If I had just a minute I would tell you that even though you were not a perfect man, you were the perfect dad. I can honestly say that I always felt loved and protected by you. Thank you for treating me like a princess. I grew up to be a self confident woman because I never had to look for my worth or acceptance anywhere else because you taught me what I was worth by how you treated and loved me.

If I had just a minute I would tell you that you taught me a lot about Christ. Even though you never were "a spiritual leader" in our home God used your life and death to teach me things about Himself. Here are just a few of the ways that God used you to deepen my understanding about Him.

I have no issue understanding and accepting God's unconditional love for me. I never had to doubt yours so seeing God as Abba Father comes very easy for me.

While you were sick I learned that God could handle my tough questions. Sometimes He answered them but most of the time He just grew my faith. We came to an understanding that even if I don't understand "why" I can trust that HE is good.

God taught me that His NAME is enough. No fancy prayers....just HIS NAME. He taught me that a few years before you died. Mom called and told me that they had spent the day trying to locate a facility for you. You had an episode and was kicked out of where you were staying until your medicine could be adjusted. I was driving and felt helpless.

I was scared for you.

I cried out to God and had to pull over because the tears were coming so quickly. I told Him that I did not know what I needed but I needed it fast. In a very audible whisper I heard, " Just say my name." So I sat in my car and started...
JESUS, SAVIOR, EL Roi (The God who sees me), KING OF KINGS, LORD OF LORDS, I AM, CREATOR, SUSTAINER, Jehovah Jireh (The Lord who provides), Hashem (The Name), Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and The End, Prince of Peace

I was drained from emotion so I just started saying over and over again.....Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus and there in my car on HWY 31 in Hoover The Prince of Peace flooded my soul. It was in that moment that I started to understand the power of His Name.

It was during your sickness that God taught me that my faith wasn't based on how I felt but on what I knew. I did not feel like God was faithful. I did not feel like God was good. I did not feel like God had plans to prosper me. The fact that I now understand that my relationship with Him has nothing to do with how I feel and everything to do with who HE IS has given me great freedom.

The day I found out you were sick I remember sitting in my student pastor's office and telling him I was afraid I would get angry with God and walk away from everything I knew to be truth.
God was faithful. He held on to me when I begged Him to let me go. When I tried to run He drew me closer to Himself.

So dad, even though you never led me in Bible Study or prayed over me, I learned a lot about God through of you.

If I had just a minute I would say:
*Thank you for taking me on dates.
*Thank you for coaching my softball teams.
*Thank you for "just because I love you" presents
*Thank you for passing your love of tea down to me.
*Thank you for passing your love of people down to me.
*Thank you for aggravating me.
*Thank you for waxing my car 3 times before you felt like it was good enough to give to me.
*Thank you for our trips to Mechams.
*Thank you for being fun.
*Thank you for sending me my first dozen roses.
*Thank you for buying me a pearl on every birthday. I had exactly 24 and you died 2.5 hours before my 24 birthday. I will always cherish it.
*Thank you for walking me down the aisle.
*Thank you for giving me the Hobbs eyes so I could pass them down.
*Thank you for indirectly teaching me more about God then I would ever have learned through a Bible Study.

I love you dad. I miss you as much today as I did on June 10th 2004.
Lori

John 12

2009-03-22T20:27:00.001-04:00

Orginally posted on Feb. 16th, 20008

We have started the 2nd half of our precept study on John. This morning we did the overview of John 12-21. It was hard for me because I am details person and I wanted to get in the details of the chapters. Thankfully, we will get to do that with each chapter in the coming months. God really has given me a love for the study of His Word. I have not always been there so I am so thankful for the times that I just feel like I can't enough! I started the detail work of John 12 this morning. God is so good to meet us and remind us of the same things over and over and over.

Here is what I learned and what God spoke to me about for my own life over this chapter.The chapter opens with Jesus in Bethany having dinner with some friends. How cool is that! Aren't you so thankful we serve a personal God. Mary goes and pours some expensive perfume over his feet and wipes his feet with her hair. Some people get upset about this because they feel like Mary should have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor. Jesus responds to them by saying, "It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but will not always have me." This got me thinking... Do I serve in ways that I feel like God is calling me to serve Him or do I serve in ways the crowd thinks I should? Do I listen more closely to the crowds (even the church) for what my response to Christ should be or do I go directly to the throne? Do I pass judgement on the way someone chooses to worship and think their gift would be better served another way? We have freedom in Christ. He has uniquely gifted each of us. How sad it must make Him to watch us only respond to Him in ways that we have seen or feel comfortable with. I want my worship, like Mary's, to be more out of overflow then custom.
And ladies and gentlemen...that gets through verse 8! :)

Glad I am a sheep!

2009-03-22T20:22:00.001-04:00

Orginally posted on Jan. 25, 2008

I am in a Bible Study on John. This week we studied John 10. In our homework we had to research sheep and shepherds and find out what we could about them. It directed me to Psalms 23 which is such a familiar passage but today the Lord was gracious to me and helped me see this passage in a whole new light. I think that I had read it so many times that I never stopped to think what it meant to me. Here is what I learned...

Psalm 23
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guide me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. "

Because God is my shepherd:
*I shall not want (v.1). He has already given me every spiritual blessing. I do not have to ask to receive it I just have to ask to use it! (Eph. 1:3)

*I can be content and secure. In Him I find my rest. (v.2)

*He restores my soul...reconciling me to Himself. He teaches me to be more like Him. He does this not so I can be "good" and people see that but He does if HIS NAME SAKE and HIS GLORY. (v.3)

*Even when I walk through hard times and I don't understand God's purpose or His plan, I will not be afraid because his rod and his staff comfort me. I am so thankful the Lord uses his rod to discipline me because that means he loves me (Heb. 12:6) but oh how I love His staff that comforts me. I am blown away that He is a Father that knows how to use both-that even in the midst of His discipline He give me comfort. We see a great example of this in 2 Sam. 12. God is disciplining David for his sins with Bathsheba and kills the son that was born to him and Bathsheba. However, in the process He restores David relationship with Him and gives him a new son.

*He gives me victory in the presence of my enemies (v.5)

*Goodness and love will be mine forever (v.6)

Another cool think I learned about sheep came directly out of our notes that Kay Arther gave us. She said.."Sheep have a tendency to run when they are frightened. A sudden noise, a sudden disturbance can cause them to panic, And when fear strikes, the sheep take off, running frantically in any direction, often into danger. The shepherd is the only cure for panic in the sheepfold. When the shepherd senses fear, he quietly moves among the sheep reassuring them of his presence. As soon as the sheep become aware that the shepherd is with them, the desire to run vanishes because FEAR HAS BEEN REPLACED WITH TRUST. "

My Great Shepherd had to come beside me this week and replace fear with trust in a situation that attacked my family. I am so thankful for his mercy and his provision. I will gladly be a sheep....because I know the GOOD SHEPHERD.

If you have time here are some other great scriptures that shows Christ as our shepherd.
John 10:11,14 Heb. 13:20 1 Peter 5:4 Rev. 7:17

I am...

2009-03-22T20:21:00.000-04:00

Orginally posted Dec. 3, 2007

I got this in an email this morning and thought it was SO GOOD. When we know who we are in Christ we make Satan's job a lot harder!

I KNOW WHO I AM
I am God's child (John 1:12)
I am Christ's friend (John 15:15)
I am united with the Lord(1 Cor. 6:17)
I am bought with a price(1 Cor. 6:19-20)
I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)
I am a personal witness of Christ (Acts 1:8)
I am the salt & light of the earth (Matt.5:13-14)
I am a member of the body of Christ(1 Cor 12:27)
I am free forever from condemnation ( Rom. 8: 1-2)
I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil.3:20)
I am free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31-34)
I am a minister of reconciliation for God(2 Cor.5:17-21)
I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)
I cannot be separated from the love of God(Rom.8:35-39)
I am established, anointed, sealed by God (2 Cor.1:21-22)
I am assured all things work together for good (Rom. 8: 28)
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16)
I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3: 12)
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)
I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)
I am God's temple (1 Cor. 3: 16). I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)
I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). I have been justified (Romans 5:1)
I am God's co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God's workmanship(Eph. 2:10)
I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected (Phil 1: 5)
I have been redeemed and forgiven (Col. 1:14). I have been adopted as God's child(Eph 1:5)
I belong to God
Do you know
Who you are!?

Loving Well

2009-03-22T20:19:00.001-04:00

Orginally posted Nov. 12, 2007

I am currently attending Loving Well by Beth Moore at my church on Monday morning. It is about God's perfect love for us and because:

1. God is perfect love.
2. Nothing can separate me from God's perfect love.
3. God pours His perfect love in my imperfect heart.
4. Accessed, I can love anyone through anything.

This past week in our journal Beth included the following questions/statements to reflect on.

* Do you realize thatI came to meet with you?
* Do you have any idea how much I love you? How taken I am with you?
*Do you know that I have never forsaken you nor will I ever reject you? I was there all along. I always will be.
*Do you realize I knew everything about you the day you were the conceived? I anticipated your life and planned for it.
*You do have an enemy, My child. But it is not Me. He wants you to think it is.
* I am for you.
* Do you think you need to prove yourself loveable to Me? Deep down inside are you trying to earn my love and attention.
* As you strive to love me more, do you realize the key to loving Me more is to let Me love move.
*Why are you resisting Me? Why are you running from Me?
*To whom have you compared Me, and with whom have you confused Me?
*I am not like them.
* I know what's happened, I know what is on your mind.
*I alone know the plan for how this turns out well.I alone know how to prosper you through us.
* My eyes and My affections are on you right now.
*Quit trying to be so strong. Let Me be strong for you.
* I love you unashamedly. Even now my banner flies over you. Everyone in the heavenlies knows how I feel about you. I'd leave you red-faced over My love for you...if you'd let Me.

Sweet sisters rest in God's perfect love for you today.

John

2009-03-22T20:17:00.001-04:00

Orginally posted Aug. 24, 2007

I am part of a Saturday morning Bible study at my church that meets from 7-9. I know what you are thinking....7:00am and yes I know that it is a sin to be up and out that early but our fearless leader is an early bird....and I mean real early bird like 4:30am. We started the group around 3 years ago I think and I LOVE IT. I was real worried about the early hours but I can HONESTLY say that when we don't meet I miss it :) I never wake up before 6:30 so I just put on a ball cap and head to church. The funny thing is a lady in the Bible Study saw me at church one Sunday about 4 months after we started and said, "I didn't recognize you without the baseball hat on!" Anyway I got off track....the real reason for the post is to share what I have learned so far in our new study. We just started doing a precept study on John. It is going to take us to May to complete the study on the book of John. For the past 2 weeks we have done an overview of the first 9 chapters. Part of the homework was to write out what the first 9 chapters say about who Jesus is. So here it goes.....this is what I have found the first 9 chapters say about Jesus.

Chapter 1
JESUS is THE WORD (v.1)
JESUS was there in the beginning (v.2)
JESUS all things came into being by Him ( v.3)
JESUS is life (v.4)
JESUS is the light of men (v.4)
JESUS darkness does not understand Him (v5)
JESUS enlightens every man (v.9)
JESUS own rejected Him (v.11)
JESUS became flesh and dwelt among us (v.14)
JESUS is full of grace and truth (v.14)
JESUS takes away the sins of the world (v. 29)
JESUS King of Israel (v. 49)
JESUS God's only Son (v. 14,18,34)
JESUS Lamb of God (v.29,36)
JESUS baptizes in the Holy Spirit (v.33)

Chapter 2
JESUS can perform miracles (v.7)
JESUS has a zeal for God's house (v.16)
JESUS knows all men and what's inside all men (v.25)

Chapter 3
JESUS God is with Him (v.2)
JESUS must be lifted up (v.14)
JESUS God's only begotten Son (v.16,18)
JESUS offers eternal life (v.16,39)
JESUS was not sent to judge the world (v.17)
JESUS is above all (v.31)
JESUS gives the spirit without measure (v.34)
JESUS everything is placed in HIS hands (v.35)

Chapter 4
JESUS ministered to women (v.7)
JESUS gives living water (v. 14)
JESUS knows everything about us (v.18)
JESUS seeks worshipers who worship in spirit and truth (v.23)
JESUS HE is spirit (v. 24)
JESUS His "food" is do to the will of the Father and accomplish His purpose (v.34)
JESUS heals the royal officers son sight unseen...just speaks and it happens (v.50)

Chapter 5
JESUS does nothing unless He sees His Father doing it (v.19)
JESUS God shows Him all things that He is doing (v.20)
JESUS gives life to whom He wishes (v.21)
JESUS in charge of all judgment (v.22)
JESUS all who are dead will hear His voice (v.28)
JESUS seeks the Father's will in judgment (v.30)
JESUS God bears witness of Him (v.37)
JESUS does not receive glory from men (v.41)

Chapter 6
JESUS can walk on water (v.19)
JESUS the bread of life (v.35,48)
JESUS came down from heaven (v. 38)
JESUS came not to do His will but the will of God (v.38)
JESUS will raise believers up on the last day (v.40,54)
JESUS no one can come to Him unless the Father draws them (v.44,65)
JESUS the words He speaks are spirit and life (v.63)
JESUS knew from the beginning who would believe Him and who would betray Him (v.64)
JESUS Holy One of God (v.61)

Chapter 7
JESUS from God and was sent by God (v.29)

Chapter 8
JESUS light of the world (v.12)
JESUS knows where He came from and where He is going (v.14)
JESUS His judgment is true (v.16)
JESUS is from above and not of this world (v.23,42)
JESUS speaks what He has heard from the Father to the world (v.26,28)
JESUS does nothing on His own initiative (v.28,42)
JESUS always does the things that are pleasing to God (v.29)
JESUS speaks the truth (v.45)
JESUS does not seek His own glory (v.50)

Chapter 9
JESUS light of the world (v.5)
JESUS gave sight to a blind man who had been blind since birth (v.7)

There is no sweeter name. Jesus is the ONE AND ONLY

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
John 1:14

10 months old

2009-03-22T20:15:00.000-04:00

Orginally posted Aug. 5, 2007

Today Emma Kate turned 10 months old. I have no idea where the last 10 months went. It really just seems like yesterday that I was in her nursery at 2:00 in the morning trying to finish a book wandering if I was really in labor! Since her birth I have kept a journal for her of letters that I write to tell her about what we did that day or just explain to her how I feel about being her mom. I normally write her a letter and then on the next page lift her up in prayer to our Heavenly Father. Tonight when I was writing I told her that there has not been a day that has gone by since she was born that I have not had to stop dead in my tracks and say to the Lord, " Lord why do you show me such favor?" She brings inexpressible joy to my heart.

You know there are things as a parent that you do because your parents did them and you are just passing on the legacy. My daddy passed away 3 years ago and every time I catch myself doing something he did it reminds me that he really isn't gone. One thing my daddy always did was aggravate...I know big shocker! He had a little saying that he would say it went like this...

I had a little girl
Her name was Lori Sue
She is so mean
I am going to put her in the zoo

I would get so upset and run to my mom and say, "mom please don't let daddy put me in the zoo" and then my mom would get on to my dad for getting me upset. Well, I have not made up any rhymes but I tell Emma Kate all the time that I am going to take her to the crazy farm! Since she is only 10 months old she has NO IDEA what I am saying or what it means but every time I say it I laugh to myself and think

I had a little girl
Her name was Lori Sue
She is so mean
I am going to put her in the zoo

Ok so here is the real reason I went down memory lane...today on Emma Kate's 10 month birthday she followed in the footsteps of her cousins. My mom always says.... insert your name here...how big do I love you? and then you are supposed to raise your hands in the air and say...."SO BIG"....Since day 1 of Emma's arrival I have said to her..."Emma Kate how big does mommy love you?" and then I would raise my hands in the air or hold hers up and say, "SO BIG"......well are you ready for this.......today when I asked her she raised her own hands up!!!!! I about lost it! When Jeff got home today we did it again just make sure it wasn't it a fluke and up her hands went...and again we went wild :) Then Emma was so excited that we were going crazy that she just kept lifting her hands!

Lord, tonight I am thankful that I had/have great parents and that I can pass on even silly things to Emma Kate that they taught me. I have no idea why you have shown me such favor and am amazed everyday at your grace. Thank you for Emma Kate. Thank you for the snuggles that I get, for the toothless grins that I receive, for the diapers that I get to change, for the feeling of overwhelming love when I check on her at night and she is so peaceful in her crib, for the mornings when she gets daddy's nose to wake him up, and the sweet way that she grabs for my hand when I am rocking her to sleep. I love you Lord and out of all the things that get passed down to her may I also pass down a legacy of belief in you

The Last Sin Eater

2009-03-22T20:14:00.000-04:00

Orginally posted July 20, 2007

The Women’s ministry at our church has been doing “Sister Chick Movie Nights” during the summer. In June we watched A Night with the King and last night we watched The Last Sin Eater by Francine Rivers. I read the book and finished just a few weeks ago so I would be ready to see the movie. True to form the book was better but the message of both is so powerful I would recommend you see the movie…just the read the book first!

Anyway, the point of the post is to say how thankful I am that Christ is my sin eater.
There is nothing I can do to save myself. I can’t be good enough, memorize enough scripture, or figure this life thing out on my own. The book of Isaiah tells me even my righteous acts are like filthy rags…

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. Is. 64:6

Christ is it.

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father without going through Him. John 14:6

Thank you Lord that you have paid the price of my sins…past, present, and future. You are all I need. May I always remember that my salvation is not free. It cost you something. I confess that I am guilty of forgetting I was bought at a price. Lord forgive me when my actions don’t match my beliefs. Keep me ever mindful that you came to set me free and to make me no longer a slave to sin but a slave to righteousness.

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Romans 6:18

Holiness

2009-03-22T20:02:00.002-04:00

Orginally posted on July 18th 2007

I am currently reading He Speaks To Me by Priscilla Shirer and she said something that I have really thought about over the past few days so I wanted to share. On the chapter on holiness she said:

" Some want the distinction of being Christian without the difference of being holy."

I know I for one am guilty of wanting the title of Christian without the work of being a disciple, and when I choose to miss out on the "work" I miss the great adventure of following Christ. Being a Christ follower has made me make some tough decisions and "miss out" on some things the world tells me I should be doing. I have had to draw my line in the sand about issues like drinking, what I choose to spend money on, language I use, TV I watch, etc.. The world and even some of my friends think I have missed out and I am just way to conservative. However, I would not trade my relationship with Christ for anything this world has to offer me. I have had to make decisions that were hard at the time and that even people I love may not have understood but my reward will be and has always been CHRIST. I never want to be satisfied with church attendance or the things that Satan tries to get us to go after other the CHRIST. I don't just want to be a Christian.

I want to be "set apart, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that I might declare the praises of Him who called me out of darkness into his wonderful light." 1 Peter 2:9In my quiet time I have been reading the book of John and today I was in John 15 and it reminded me of how I can be holy. Being holy does mean drawing the line in the sand about certain things but so much more then that it is remaining in the vine." I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:1-5I can do NOTHING apart from Christ. I cannot be holy on my own I have to remain in HIM. It is a lot easier to take the easy road and just be satisfied with being the "good Christian girl" but I am sick of that!!

Thank you Lord that you have called me to so much more then just to behave a certain way. So Lord I am begging you to continue to discipline me for my good so I can share in YOUR holiness."Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. " Hebrews 12:10