Straight to my heart

A woman that I love and respect wrote this. I pray the Lord will speak to you through it as He did to me.

The Power of the Word

All of us have things (fears, insecurities, strongholds, etc. etc.) that we deal with on an ongoing basis or at least a season basis. We all start thinking about losing weight more seriously in the spring as we think toward that beach vacation, right??? We deal with feelings of loneliness or despair at holidays or birthdays possibly?? We deal with fears associated with a certain family relationship or event? I could go on and on with the scenarios, but the bottom line is that we all have "things" that we deal with, work through, or just endure until it is over.
Just this past month I have had to grab hold of the Word like I haven't had to in a long time. My thoughts and fears of childbirth once again began to wrap around my neck like a noose and try to strangle out anything I had conquered before in this area. I had so many people praying for me which was awesome. On my own though, I had to dig in and find a place of peace with God in my mind, my heart, and my spirit. This is not always easy to do because we have an enemy. Did you hear me? We have an enemy. His plans are to totally disarm us and to tuck our tails and run with fear. This is exactly what David was doing in 1 Samuel 21. He was running....running for his life from King Saul at this time. He was one scared young man and rightly so. The fear is real, no doubt. It is just what we do with it. David comes to Nob to the priest and starts asking for food for he and his men. Ahimelech, the priest, informed him that he had no bread there other than "The Presence...." the holy bread. Ha Ha Ha. This makes me laugh out loud. There is nothing we can feed ourselves with, no magazine articles, no Dr. whoever book, no "think myself happy" that will feed us and satisfy us rather than the presence of God, the very bread of God Himself. Then David asks if the priest has any weapons there. Ahimelech's response to this question is somewhat astounding, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah is here;...." What??? Come on!! The very weapon that David had used once before to cut off the head of his enemy, not to mention the enemy of his family members and his nation. The weapon, the sword we have is The Word... "it is living and active, and sharper than any two edged sword, it penetrates even to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Hebrews 4:12 And the beauty of it is this....we have used it before, many times I'm sure, to defeat the enemy. We know it works, we've seen the fruit of it, we've seen the power of it. I encourage you today, my sisters and friends, to use this weapon. Read it, memorize it, meditate on it, quote it to yourself and to the devil, quote it to your children and husband. It will begin to renew your mind and brighten your outlook. It will empower you to know that you can rise above these thoughts, feelings, and circumstances. I know for me it was such a lifesaver these past few weeks. It took me from turmoil to trust within hours. It took me from pessimism to peace. It is a mighty weapon and all we have to do is take it up and use it

Just for smiles

This video will forever warm my heart. I have had a crazy week this past week, and I could watch this over and over again to laugh and be joyful.



And this is the recreation (recreation? re-creation? help!) of it. How incredibly fun.

Eww Mommy, blood!

It is 0900 here in the South on a cool, rainy day. T-Pup crawled into our bed around 4 this morning, thus sending me to the couch. I must confess when I walked into our bedroom at 8:30, it was dark and cool and you could hear the rain hitting the windows... I was slightly envious it was him that was still sleeping and not me.

Yesterday while I was making his breakfast he said to me "Momma, do you know I like to drink maple syrup out of the refrigerator when you're not looking?"

Hmm... that explains the excess bouncing the last several days...

Later we were reading in the Bible. We have the Big Picture Story Bible and really enjoy it. T-Pup loves for us to read the Easter story...over and over again. Last year I thought "I really wish we could read something else"but then got convicted... what better to read over and over again besides the story of Jesus rising from the dead?! As our Bible says, He is our forever king.

I continued reading yesterday about when God's people come to understand.

Jesus opened up God's holy book
that had been written long ago.
He started with the books of Moses
and then the Prophets and the Psalms.
He showed them everything
that was written there about him.

So then we get to the next page...

In it were many word pictures that proved
he must die to pay the penalty for sin.

"Mommy! What is that? Why is there blood?" Well bud...

Wow. I studdered through it somehow, but how do you explain the blood of the lamb as atonement for sins to a 4 year old? I eventually said "Jesus' blood covers all of the things we do wrong" but was quickly interrupted with "But I don't like blood!" I hope it wasn't a cop-out, but I told him I knew it was hard to understand now, but one day it would make more sense.

The fact is, it's still a wonderful mystery to me.

What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

I pray it will always be a wonderful mystery to T-Pup, too.

Going Rogue

A goal of mine in 2010 is to read more... to read more in the Word, to read more with my children, and to read more on my own.

I am proud to announce that we no longer have cable television so that alone should help in my quest for more reading.

I've just finished Going Rogue by Sarah Palin. I'm pleased to offer you my thoughts of the book, as amateur as they may be.

I so appreciate Sarah. She has my respect as a wife and mother. I absolutely love that she never pretends to be someone else. Even back in the days of serving on the Wasilla city council she marched to her on tune. While on the city council and when she served as Mayor, the practicality she governed with merits respect. I've worked in my small life with 3 different campaigns on 3 different levels. There is a whole lot of brown nosing and compromise. Politicos on every level live in their own little worlds and I feel Sarah shattered those walls in every position she has held, even as the VP candidate with Senator McCain.

What I really respect was her decision to resign from her position as Governor of Alaska. She put her interests aside for the best interests of her state. She saw the bigger picture.

The main thing I dislike about the book is the name-game. Good qualities or bad, she lists many names. You can eventually differentiate the personalities of the "characters." I understand they are a part of her story... it just seemed a bit gossipy at times.

There is so much to learn from Sarah Palin. I hope there are more people like her in the world. I would now love to go to Alaska and just hang out with her for a week and see the state, so long as she didn't ask me to eat fish. I'd more than willingly try the moose and caribou though!

Please read the book and then I'd love to converse with you about it!

Up next I'll be reading Three Cups of Tea. I'm really excited about this one.

Thinking of Boston

We really had the best time. And with our freezing temperatures here, I know it's all the colder and snowier there than it is here. We watched this in front of Faneuil Hall. Precious memories!

As if...

This post is a ribbon wrapped around my finger, this is heretofore a reminder of the movies I want to see. I tried to remember my mental list of movies to watch last Tuesday night to share with Malerie and could only remember two...so...

Disclaimer: I am a chick.

Disclaimer to the disclaimer: I heart chick flicks.

• Time Travelers Wife
• Julie and Julia
• Love Happens
• My Sister's Keeper
  
• Land of the Lost
• Amelia
• Blindside
• Old Dogs
• Everybody's Fine

I realize a few of these haven't even come out in theaters yet, but I did want to document them before I forgot. Apparently when it comes to pop culture I have the memory of an 86 y/o woman.

Speaking of pop culture but not entirely speaking of pop culture (hmm?) I was talking to one of our youth last night (17 y/o guy). He called W and then wanted to talk to me and was asking relationship advice. I told him some things then to give the girl a call. He said she didn't have cell service at her house so I said "well call her home phone." He sounded as if he fell out of his seat he was laughing so hard. "Home phone? That's the first time I've laughed in days!"

Apparently I have an understanding of teen relationships like an 86 y/o woman would too. Do you think he would have laughed as hard if I told him my high school boyfriend and I talked on AOL back in the day? What a granny I am.

So, movie list is forever engraved on the internet. Any suggestions on any of them (or movies not listed) are more than welcome!

The Pioneer Woman

This summer, I was reading Melanie's blog and she mentioned she had been with The Pioneer Woman at her ranch. I didn't think much about it until she posted a photo of these cinnamon rolls. My mouth began to salivate and I knew I needed to find out more. Needless to say, I quickly fell in love with The Pioneer Woman's website and ALL of her many recipes. I made the cinnamon rolls and gave them out to different friends. They all called me later and proclaimed their new found love for me.

Needless to say, I'm baking those babies tomorrow to hand out as Christmas presents.

Ree's new cookbook came out last month and I quickly ordered it. She has been signing the cookbooks in various areas of the country and last night she made it to our neck of the woods.

My only wish is that we would have been the only ones there so we could have chatted with her the whole night instead of sharing her with 500* other people.

*Strictly a guess. More ideally would been 5,000 because of the crazy line... but I'm guessing between 500-600.

Anyway, it was a much needed girl's night out and I had a great time with great friends. Thanks Ree for coming to our neck of the woods! Hope you enjoyed my Punk's Christmas card!




Also... E and M both have better cameras than mine... hoping their photos are better!