Thank you!

I'm thanking ya'll in a post cause truth is...I have no idea how to reply to your individual comments. HAHA! I wish I could...but this brain can't seem to figure it out. I think it might have taken a summer vacation. Oh well, if any of you knows how I would love some help! :)
But until then...Thank you to all you sweet ladies who have commented on my posts! You have no idea how much all your delightful words have encouraged and blessed me to no end! I have read each one and each one brings tears to my eyes.
I don't know how many times I've asked the Lord, "How in the world can this bring you glory?? " And each time He gives me peace, but I don't understand anymore clearly than I did before. I leave those moments with a peace that I might never understand here on this earth, but that one day I will see with unveiled eyes and everything will make sense. But as I read and took in all your sweet words, I began to understand, even if just a little bit, how He is receiving glory through my circumstances and for that I am eternally thankful and overwhelmed and humbled. I'm so blessed.

Now on a completely different note...

Here is proof (as if you needed any more) that the Wood Pile runs a little on the crazy side ~ My boy is covered in calamine lotioned poison ivy and is drinking hot chocolate...in the summer...with a straw. He marches to the beat of his own drummer and I wouldn't have it any other way! I am in deep Momma-love with that precious boy!

Happy summer, ya'll! :)

This is STILL Me!

Tonight I was surprised, humbled, and blessed by this blog post by Lynnette Kraft over at Dancing Again, and it got me thinking that that post is almost two years old and I think you should know that...

This is STILL me, ya'll!

Actually...

this is me currently!
(please excuse the lack of makeup...just keeping real folks!) :)

And this blog post is still just as true and relevant to my life today as it was the day I wrote it. I still have alopecia. I'm still bald as a bug. I still have bad days, but the good far outweigh the bad. There are still days that I cry, but the days of laughter are more often than not. I'm still seeking the Lord for my worth and my identity...but to be completely honest, I still loose focus sometimes. There are still days when I throw a good ole pity party for myself, but they are becoming fewer and farther between. There are times when patches of hair will grow back and I'll get excited, but then it falls out again and I have to make a choice to believe the One who says He made me fearfully and wonderfully. There are still days when I'm not the biggest fan of the my reflection and on those days I struggle, but on those days, I still have to choose to speak God's truth to that bald girl that stares back at me in the mirror. There are days when it feels so unfair that the hair on my head, my eyelashes, and my eyebrows are not growing back, but the hair on my ARMPITS and LEGS do...I mean, come ON...Really? Such a bummer! But then I get kinda excited to shave cause it's been a while. :) (I know, I know...it sounds so very crazy to you...unless you've been in my shoes, and in that case you totally understand the celebration in that drended chore. HAHAHAHA!) There are still days I long for a full head of hair...but it's not everyday anymore.

This is still who I am. This is how God made me! I’m a wife to Lee, a mom to Hunter and Braden, a mommy to two babies in heaven, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a granddaughter, a friend, a niece, a cousin, a youth pastor’s wife, a singer, a songwriter, a worshiper and follower of Jesus Christ, and daughter of the KING of Kings; who is still bald! Is it the worst thing that could, or even has, happened to me? NO! Is it still difficult sometimes, as it would be for anyone? Absolutely! But because He is my Lord, I still worship Him always, in every season! I still trust Him in everything! He picked me up out of that dark pit and has given me joy and a new song!

Psalm 126:2-3&5-6

Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy....
Those who sow with tears
will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with them.

Wait Expectantly

Psalm 5:3 In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.

Psalm 27:14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. (NIV)

Psalm 27:14 Wait for the LORD; be courageous and let your heart be strong. Wait for the LORD. (HSB)

Psalm 38:15 LORD, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God. (NIV)

Psalm 38:15 I trust you, LORD. You will answer, my LORD and God. (NCV)

Psalm 130:5 I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in His word I put my hope. (NIV)

Psalm 130:5 I wait for the Lord to help me, and I trust his word. (NCV)

Micah 7:7 But me, I'm not giving up. I'm sticking around to see what God will do. I'm waiting for God to make things right. I'm counting on God to listen to me. (Message)

Micah 7:7 But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. (NIV)

Who To Marry

Marry the one that you have prayed over. Second only to your salvation, this is the most important decision you can make. Bring it before the throne of the Most High God.

The one you marry will be your partner in life ministry. Marry one who's life causes you to believe that together you are more effective for the kingdom of God than you could ever be apart.

Run hard after God with everything in you, keep a laser focus on HIM, then look to see who is still running along side you. Pick from there. Don't go backwards.

Marry one who's laser focus is the Lord.

Marry one who points you to Jesus and His unchanging Word, the one who makes you long for more and more of the LORD. Your relationship with that person should bring you closer to the Savior, not further apart.

Marry one who makes you hunger for Christ, believe in Grace, and experience the love of God.

Marry one who causes you to seek the Heart of God in order to know them better, because that's where they dwell.

Marry one who will fight along side you when life gets hard...and it will get hard.

Marry the one who you know will be praying for you when you ask them too.

Marry the one who, when life kicks you in the teeth and your hurting, you know they will drop everything to fall on their face before the Lord and intercede on your behalf, even if you never ask them too. Grab that one up.


Marry one who respects you, uplifts you, and encourages you.

Marry one who cherishes you.

Marry one who is love in action.

Marry a forgiver.

Marry a fighter willing to fight a holy battle.

Marry a gentle spirit.

Marry a peacemaker.

Marry one who's life lived matches their words spoken.

Marry one who makes you laugh like no one else can.

Marry one who makes your toe nails sweat. :)

Marry your best friend.

Settle for nothing less.

Wait patiently and expectantly. God's best for you will always be worth the wait. Always.

And when you find that one and you marry them....

Choose to marry them again everyday. Choose to love them everyday. Choose to fight for them everyday.


Choose to be that one for your spouse everyday.

Lord, thank you for my one. I am forever grateful!

Victory

1 Corinthians 15:57-58 "But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

Romans 8:31-39 (NIV) What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
....No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31-39(Message) So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture....None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.


Oh, victory in Jesus,
My Savior forever
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood

He loved me
Ere I knew Him
And all my love
Is due Him
He plunged me to victory
Beneath the
Cleansing flood

Think About These Things

A joyful attitude is contagious...so is a bad one...

Philippians 4:8 "Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse."(Message)

May my joy be contagious as I take on this day the Lord has given me!