Seven Random Things...

Okay ladies... if you don't already think that I am crazy enough, I have been tagged by Tracy at My Cup Runneth Over to tell you seven random things about me...

So here goes,

1. I am somewhat anal (should I have said that word here??) about certain things...

I don't like trash in my trash cans, especially the bathroom trash cans.
I can't stand to have dirty clothes in the dirty clothes baskets.
I can't stand to have cup rings on the glass-topped coffee table.
I can't stand to have anything on my kitchen counters.

Now, I know that those things would make you think that you should be able to walk into my house and it is always clean... but that is not the case. Just look in any corner, and you will find multiple cobwebs and dust bunnies.


2. I left a Sonic bag in my car overnight with the onions that I scraped off my burger in it... and I don't even have to tell you what my car smells like right now. I also don't need to tell you that I asked for my burger WITHOUT onions.


3. My husband loves to cook out. He is the official cook for all of our family get-togethers. He loves to cook BBQ ribs, shrimp, pork chops, roast, chicken, etc. If it can be cooked out on the grill... he cooks it. The crazy thing is that I don't ever eat it. I don't like it. If he cooks hot dogs, I will have one without the bun. I will eat the burgers... with a bun. Which leads to a different random thought...


4. If the hot dog is bought in a dive... I was going to say restaurant but that is not where you usually buy hot dogs... I want the bun and the fixings. But... if it is cooked on the grill, I just want the hot dog cut up with NO bun. (you asked for it....)


5. My little email man just announced that I have a new email. It is another comment on my last post about our book study. That makes 20 comments.... the most I have ever had. I had to get up a do a little jig. What is it about comments that make us so happy?? So... if you are reading this you need to be sure to leave a comment, but try to be nice. I know that I just exposed myself as totally crazy.


6. I hesitate to even tell this one... but if you have been to my blog enough, you know that we have a problem with kittens. I know that it can be easily taken care of... but if you have been to my blog enough... you know that spending money on the cat is not an option right now... With all that said.... Momma kitty just had 5 more kittens on Friday, the best part... is that she had them on my husband's sock shelf. That will teach him to close the closet door.


7. I really want to learn how to design blogs. Not so that I can make money... (that would be gravy) but because I want to change mine way too often. If I ever learn how... you will probably have to stop by at least once a week to see the "new" look.


8. I know that there were only suppose to be seven... but I just wanted to add that even with all of these crazy "things" about me.... One thing that is not crazy is that I love my Lord. He has been so good to me. I want to have all of Him on this side of eternity that I can possibly have. We are on a different level recently.... and I think that I really love it. I have become a little like Job ( I said a LITTLE like him)... no matter what happens, I will continue to love and serve Him. I also long to be real. To allow God to use what I have been through for His glory. ALL of it.

These are the people that I am tagging.... come on guys... it is fun.
The rules are to share seven random things about yourself, then tag seven friends. Be sure to visit their blogs and let them know they’ve been tagged.

Have fun... I am tagging...
Lelia at Write for the Heart
Regina at Grinder's Switch
Beverly at Momma's Blog Log
Pamela at PinkShoeLady
Kelley at Aroma of Joy
Susan at Runner Mom
Pamela at In His Graces

And to anyone else that wants to play along. Let me know if you post, I will want to come by and see if there is anyone crazier than me.

Yes to God Tuesday... on Thursday again

This is part of a book study going on over on Lelia's blog. This is our first week... so if being REAL is something that interests you... or if you feel like God is calling you to stop pretending.... why not join us?? We are currently reading and studying Lisa Whittle's book called Behind Those Eyes, what's really going on inside the souls of women. This is a subject that is very dear to my heart. I want to not only be real before God, but to be real before others so that they can see God's power.

Chapter One The Truth Hurts

I can remember sitting with a group of women in a Bible study... they all seemed so perfect and put together. They invited me to go to a Women Of Faith conference with them. While we were there... I remember one girl in particular, she talked about her struggle with post partum depression... she even admitted that she had an abortion earlier in her life. I just stood there. I also struggled with post-partum depression... only... it never went away. I listened for a long time... waiting and watching for everyone else's reaction. I couldn't believe it when they responded in love. Later that same year... she stood up in front of our church on "Right to Life" Sunday and announced to the whole church that she had an abortion. She talked about the struggle that went on afterwards. She talked about her desire to use that horrible decision to help others keep from making the same choice. I was amazed. I had spent years thinking that Christians were suppose to be "perfect", or "better than that". And if you weren't... well... you needed to keep it to yourself so that no one would know. That way... you wouldn't have to worry about being rejected or judged. I mean after all.... we want to be liked and accepted.

Then, I can remember going to a women's conference with a new friend just about a year ago. Chonda Pierce gave her testimony about her recent struggle with depression. She was very candid. She made a joke about no one being able to pry her anti-depressants out of her hand. I just sat there. The next morning as my new friend and I sat waiting on the conference to start... one of us made a comment about what Chonda had said about her anti-depressants... it must have been her... because I remember saying... "I feel that same way." She just looked at me and asked me if I took anti-depressants... only to then confess that she did too . We laughed at the fact that at the hotel the night before, we both took our medicine in privacy. At that very moment.... things changed in my heart about being real. We both shared the same struggle... yet we had kept it to ourselves. We weren't using our struggle for God's glory. We went on to talk about hiding things from others. We both admitted that there was something in both of our lives that we would just die is someone else found out about. Shame... isn't that the enemies game??? After much beating around the bush... I confessed mine to her. She didn't even fall out of her chair. She didn't even get up and go sit somewhere else. She still let me ride home with her. After that day... our relationship changed. She knows exactly who I am and what I struggle with. And I know who she is and what she struggles with. We are real. Not fake. Being real has spilled over into most of my other relationships as well.


Lisa said,

"... we as women, often lead others to believe we are someone other than who we really are."

"We cover our weaknesses and heartaches with immaculately groomed clothes and manufactured conversations. We impersonate the females we want to be-- carefree, fun loving, deeply spiritual, genuinely caring, supportive, capable, strong, assertive, put together, and ridiculously happy- rather than the women we really are."


Wow!! How true is that??

Lisa offers a small reason why we may do this,

"We lack honesty and authenticity, and our past experiences lead us to believe it is in our best interest to keep our true feelings hidden"

Lisa says,

"Make no mistake about it: women are yearning for something real. We're hungry for truth and authenticity. We crave honesty."

... until we find it, we will have to be currently satisfied with looking perfect, appearing happy, portraying confidence, and sounding spiritual to make ourselves feel better and get more people to love us. Lisa actually used the word "she" instead of "us" and "we" in the above statement... but I think that we so perfectly fit into that sentence.

I think that if we are all hiding behind a "perfect" mask... all the time dying inside... we are not only hurting ourselves and the people around us... We are breaking God's heart too. He longs to display His power and love through us... the real world needs to see a REAL God make a difference in other real peoples lives.

I cannot wait to continue in this study... next week we will look at "Ms. Perfection". Anybody??

And... I just have to add, maybe I should go ahead and read the chapter on Ms. Perfection since I will be leaving to go for a teacher conference about my middle school aged daughter in just a few minutes. The enemy has taken every single opportunity to remind me of what a terrible parent I am... that is why my child is disrespectful. I guess it will be a little hard for me to go in and portray Ms. Perfection, huh??

AND

when she got out of the car today at school, I said, "just pretend like you like them." "you can pretend that you are trying out for a part in a play... being the "good" student." "Smile... do not let them know that you are angry about anything!!"

What??? Did I just give my daughter permission to be fake?? I guess I did.... I do believe that they are some times that you need to keep your real feelings to yourself. Like when the principal asks you what you think of him.... It is best not to answer, "I don't think I need to answer that right now". Arghhhh! Especially when you just told him that you do not like your new school... or your teachers.
What was the title of this chapter??? The Truth Hurts.... and it does.

The REAL thing works

Guys, I am so excited... and I am going to try to peck this out so that you can make a little sense of what God has just done. I think that most of you (all 5 or so) know how important it is to me for people to be real, especially the church. I think that many Christians spend most of their time trying to pretend that their lives are perfect... so that no one will know the truth; and that is that we are all far from perfect... and all the while, others live completely defeated because they know they can never live up to the "perfect" that they see in others. Feeling like they need to pretend too... so that no one will "find them out" So everyone just plays the game. Make sense??

Anyway, I have been very real about the financial struggles that I am going through with my family. They are not really pretty... but they are what they are. I would hate to think that my family would go through this, and it be for anything other than God's glory.... so....

Several months ago, I had dinner with a friend that I had not seen in a long time. We spent time talking about what was going on in our lives... and in the lives of our families. Things seemed to be going great for her family. I began to tell her all about our financial stuggles and the hard times that we were going through. I was real. I was honest. I also spent time telling her what these times had done for my Christian walk. I was so excited about what God was doing. I knew that God was calling me into a deeper relationship with Him. I knew that no matter how bad things got, that I wanted to be exactly where God wanted me to be. Those are the times that we grow to love and trust Him more than ever before. I told her that I didn't want anyone's pity... that this is exactly where I wanted to be because this is where God wanted me to be. We talked about His plan. We talked about how perfect His plan is... even when it doesn't look like our plan. My friend told me that she was struggling in her Christian walk.... she hadn't been in the Word, she hadn't been spending time in prayer, she was still bitter about losing her mom.... and she wanted things to change. She knew that it wasn't that she didn't have time... she had plenty of time to read other material....

I encouraged her to stop reading the other books, to read her Bible for at least a few minutes every day. I told her that my favorite thing to do while in my prayer time is to journal... that maybe she should try it. We agreed to be in contact over the next couple weeks to see how things were going. I have to confess that I feel like I failed her on this... I didn't call her as often as I should have... but I did talk with her several times. We emailed back and forth, and I began to see a real change in her talk. I began to sense that she was back on the walk that she wanted to be on. I sensed a real difference in her attitude about life. I was overjoyed for her. I was so glad that she had been honest with me about what was going on. Wow, it really helps when we are real.

Today... I recieved another email from her. She wanted to let me know that her husband had just called her to say that he had been laid off. Her email was sprinkled with such hope, faith, and trust in the Lord. She asked for prayer. BUT not for him to get another job quickly... but that they would be open to God's plan and His guidance. Well... what do you know.... I quickly sat down and emailed her back. I talked from experience. I told her that she needed to take her concerns to the Lord and not to her burdened husband. To minister to him. Not to let him see her fear. He would take it hard enough... that how she handled this would make all the difference in the world to her hurting husband.

Do you see that???

In God's great wisdom... at the exact same time.....

He allowed her to struggle in her spiritual walk,

He prompted her to seek help from someone she hadn't seen in a long time,

He had allowed our finances to go down the drain,

He had pulled me into such a deeper relationship with Him,

He had filled my heart with such joy and peace over our situation,

He had given me a full heart so that it could overflow to her,

ALL THE TIME KNOWING....

That her husband would be laid off and that I could use my experience to minister to her.

What if we both had played the game... pretending to be "perfect"?? Wouldn't things have turned out different??

Real is where it's at!!

That is another reason that I am so pumped about doing the next book study hosted by Lelia at her blog, Write From the Heart. It is about being real. How about joining us??

God uses us when we are real. I know that I have said this before... God can't use a bunch of perfect pretenders to reach a dying world... he needs real people to see a REAL GOD redeeming a bunch of real people.

Yes to God Tuesday

Well... once again my Yes to God Tuesday post is on Wednesday. This is the final chapter of the book study that we have been doing over on Lelia's blog. We have been going through Lysa Terkeurst's book, What Happens When Women Walk in Faith. This book has really been great. God has taught me so much as I have read this.... He seemed to have me right where He wanted me to be for each chapter. Imagine that.



Chapter 20 Every Promise Fulfilled

In this chapter, Lysa reminded us of God's imperfect people and His perfect plan. How God could take a nothing and through obedience make it into a something.

God promised a great nation would come through a childless man named Abraham.

God took what was meant for evil and turned it into good as He took Joseph from a life of betrayal and prison and made him the second most powerful man in the world.

God also took Moses and all of his excuses, and used him to lead His people to the Promised Land. He even SAW God.

Then, God used Joshua to lead His people into the Promised Land.

Her description of Joshua tells us...

"his determination and absolute obedience to God. He threw aside all his human reservations and followed hard after God."

Oh... to have absolute obedience to God. That is what I want. My spirit is willing... but my flesh is so weak.....

She then compares Moses' call and Joshua's call...

"Moses looked for reasons that he couldn't do what God called him to do.
Joshua must have known his calling had very little to do with his qualifications."

If I would just take that to heart. What God is calling me to do is dependent upon Him fulfilling it through my obedience to Him. Not on anything that I can muster up on my own.

She also said,

"Did Joshua's confidence come as a natural by-produce of his personality? I don't think so. If confidence came naturally to Joshua, I don't think God would have had to tell him to be strong and courageous over and over again. No, Joshua's confidence was steadfast because he was confident in God's promises."

The more I study God's Word and the more I know God... the more I realize that I have to depend on the trustworthiness of God and His promises. He is the promise keeper. He just asks me to be obedient and willing to do what He calls me to do. It sounds so easy.

Lysa then said,

"God gave the children of Israel victory and placed their fears under their feet. Joshua's obedient heart inspired his followers to become quick, obedient people."

It will be God that gives me victory... not me. And then to realize that my obedience or my lack of obedience will be what determines my followers' path. Oh my... I want my children to see me be obedient to God, to despite all odds that are stacked against me. I want them to realize that it is God that brings victory... lest they try it in their own strength all of their lives. That will bring such frustration and misery. I need to learn from Joshua. I have got to learn from Joshua.

I have to say again, this book has been right on the money. God has met with me on each page. I am grateful that Lysa was obedient to God and penned this book, so that we could learn through her experience of walking in Faith. If you are interested in what this last chapter or this whole book has meant to others, just click here.


We will be starting a new book study next week. I cannot wait. It is the book that is on my sidebar. Why don't you just grab a copy and come along?? Sign up here. There is nothing like studying with your sisters. We learn so much from God and from each other.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

For someone that is not a cat person... this is my second post in a week about something I have learned from my cat. Maybe cats should rank higher on my list.

My cat never ceases to amaze me. I will start to walk out the backdoor, and there will be a dead mouse or a dead lizard waiting on me on the steps. I have seen this more times than I would like to tell you about... but it still catches me off guard everytime. Why in the world would she think that I would be impressed by that?? Yuck!! I have been told that she is proud of the job that she has done and wants me to see it. She is bringing her best offering to me.

One of my worst nightmares came true one day when she brought her offering inside to me. The main problem was that the lizard wasn't completely dead. My little one and I were the only ones home. We screamed like a bunch of girls... we stomped our feet, waved our arms, and tried to call my husband home to help... but finally we had to put on our brave girl panties and take care of it ourselves. Together we were able to sweep it up onto the dust pan and scream all the way to the door to throw it back outside. It took us about an hour to recover.

As I thought about this the other day, I realized that I often do the same thing to God. I take pride in something that I have done, and I drag it to God and want Him to be impressed. Oh, look... I spent two hours in my prayer time today, I continue to tithe to dispite our financial problems, I have a Bible study at my house, I serve in my church, I , I , I , I ....

Scripture tells me in Isaiah 64:6...
"...all our righteous acts are like filthy rags..."

I wonder if it looks or smells like a dead mouse to the eyes and nose of God when I drag my accomplishments or acts to him in pride??

Micah 6:8 tells me what God desires from me...
"He has shown you O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

I want to be beautiful in God's eyes. If He finds me beautiful... it will be because I am acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with Him... not because I am dragging my filthy rags to His doorstep trying to impress Him.

Thanks again, Miss Kitty.

Ughh!! How could that have happened??

This is something that only my bloggy friends will understand... all of my bookmarked pages have disappeared. With my internet program... that is the same as my favorites. You know what that means??? There are probably some blogs that I love that I will never find again. UGHH!! How in the world can that happen?? One day they are there... and the next day I log on and "bookmarks" reads: EMPTY. I am so "under-educated" on the computer that I don't know if there is anyway to fix this?? If anyone out there know... please send me a message.

Also... If I read your blog, please comment on this post so that I can re-bookmark your blog. I can't believe this....... I have to go cry now...

Yes to God Tuesday

We are just about to finish our book study on Lelia's blog. We have been reading and discussing Lysa Terkeurst's book What Happens When Women Walk in Faith. If you haven't read this book... you are missing a huge blessing. God has met me on the pages of every single chapter. He has taught me so much through this book.

Chapter Eighteen A Promise Made is a Promise Kept

This chapter is about Sergei, a little boy living in an orphanage in Belarus. After Lysa saw pictures of the conditions that he faced on a daily basis... she began to pray for God to show her how she could help him. God began to stir her heart. Sergei came to stay with her family for 5 weeks at Christmas. When the time came for him to return to Belarus, they discussed the possibility of adopting him into their family... and he said that he would love to be a part of their family. So... they began the adoption process. Things didn't go like they had planned. Things were taking soooo long... They weren't able to have a lot of contact with him. She describes a phone conversation that she had with Sergei. She wanted so desperately to explain to him that they were not the hold-up with the adoption... it was all the red tape involved. She asked for an interpreter, but there was not one available. She remembers the lady telling her,


" There will be no interpreter as nobody knows English at Ryasno. But you will tell him that you love him, and that he will understand."

Wow! How true is that?? Love... the universal language. Lysa said...

"When I grieve over the bummer things in life and cry out to God, I can imagine God instructing the Holy Spirit to say something similar to me. "There is no way to interpret this event in a way she can comprehend, but tell that I love her, and that she will understand"."

That is so precious to me right now. That word picture brings me to tears. I so do not know what He is up to... I cannot comprehend the overall plan right now...but the one thing that I do understand is that NO matter what.... My Father loves me. I feel His love. I can smell His love. I can taste His love. I know it is there. His love is something that I can understand... whether I understand the situation or not.


Lysa then said,

"Even though the best answer seems to me to be having Sergei with us, truly the best place for him is where he can come to know God."

I am not where I would want to be... but I am exactly where I need to be so that I can come to know God more and more. I have come to almost like this place. A place where knowing God and His love is more important than anything else.


Chapter Nineteen God Brings Dreams to Life

To despite the quick living that we do these days... Lysa tells us...


"No shortcut or quick fix will help me become the woman God wants me to become."

Well... don't you just hate that. I love to take a shortcut. I love to find a quick fix to a problem. But I can't in this area. The process of getting to the end is the important part. It is the time that we learn to love and trust God like no other. My end... is to be the woman that God wants me to be. And... in this season of my life, I have decided that whatever path I have to travel to get there is the path that I will choose to take. Even the difficult path I am on now. I haven't really enjoyed it... but I am enjoying the benefits of knowing God and trusting God more. For that... it is worth the trouble.

This book has been wonderful for this season in my life. Just what I needed. If you want to find out what others found meaningful in these chapters, click here.