Some Prayer Needed

Well, I shared with you all yesterday how the Lord was teaching me that without that love relationship with him, then nothing in my life would be right. Well, today I was reading one of the lessons and came across this verse from Philippians:

"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and staining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Chirst Jesus." Philippians 3:13-14

The part of that verse that just really jumped out at me was "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead," There is so much in my past that I need to FORGET. Not forget so much as to forget how God brought me through it, but to forget and not cling to it and allow it to "destroy" me. That is exactly what Satan wants. (and it was pointed out to my by my dear hubby this afternoon)

Not that all of these things have happened to me (but a few of them did) but Satan wants us to never forget being hurt by a loved one, being raped at a party you knew you shouldn't have been at, hurting your self or someone you love, having that abortion, having sex before you were married......and the list could go on and on and on.

As long as we hold on to those things, Satan will do his best to use them against us, I know I have been there recently (am there now). But God so loves us that he wants us to forget those things. He wants us to remember how HE brought us through those things so that we can give Him the glory.

I ask for your prayers because there are some things that I really need to "forget"! There are things I need to do to change the way I see myself and others around me. I want to see them and myself through the eyes of my Father in heaven and not with a tainted screen of sin! I will pray for you too. We all need it I'm sure!

Have a great weekend.

DQ

Something The Lord Taught Me Today

This week at the school where I teach we are doing a mock version of the TAKS (our state's exam). Well, teaching special education I sometimes end up with either a small group or no group and get "stuck" observing. This time I had no students the 1st day, 3 the second day, and 1 today. After the kids are finished with the test they can watch a movie or read a book or something as long as it is quiet. So during that time I got caught up on the study we are doing with a group of youth at the church, Experiencing God (Youth Edition). I had done the "grown up" edition back in college. And even started it once again a couple years ago. So when Carlton asked me if I wanted to come out with him and some others to do this one with the youth I decided it would be a good idea.

I love how God does things. With all that has been going on with me lately, what I read today was SO at the right time. Let me tell you what it was...here it is straight from the book:

"The call to love God with all one's heart is expressed throughout the Old Testament. The essence of the New Testament is the same. Quoting from Deuteronomy, Jesus said the greatest commandment in the law is: "Love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all you soul and with all your mind and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30). Everthing depends on this! Everything in your Chirstian life, everhting about knowing and experiencing God, everything about knowing His will, depends on the quality of your love relationship with Him. If that is not right, nothing in your life will be right."

Oh my gosh!!!! That slapped me right in the face! With all the struggles I have been having, with all the "problems" I seem to have with insecurities, all of that is a reflection of my relationship with Him. I had to stop immediately and pray to ask forgiveness from Him for not seeking that "love relationship" he desires from each of us.

Another quote was "A love relationship with God is more important than any other factor in your life." I know that you, just like me, already know that, but a reminder is always nice!

I hope that this was something you needed today!

TRUST

Trust

That has always been a word that for some reason has been very difficult for me to put into action.

But why???

I was talking to my dear hubby about this just the other day. I keep looking back at family history, and I see things like divorce, extra marital affairs, abuse and the list goes on. Many of that I was directly affected by.

My grandfather had an affair that ended up with a “wife and two kids” in another town while he was still married to my grandmother.

My grandmother left that marriage and entered into many different marriages/relationships that contained abuse and ultimately ended in divorce. (Until she met my Pappy that is!)

Both of my parent’s siblings have all been divorced (at least once). Some of them were abusive to their spouses.

My parents were divorced, remarried, separated and now working on getting back together.

Male cousins sexually abused female cousins in ALL generations.


Hmmmm…….now I see where the issue lies. A lot of "junk in my trunk". Well, my dear blogging friends, it is now time to “dejunk” that trunk. All this junk has done nothing but leave me feeling insecure and down right paranoid at times. It has caused many “problems” with the hubby and I, and many times has almost caused me to loose a friend or two.

Here are just a couple verses that I am going to start living by:

Psalm 37:3-4 “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Psalm 56:4 “In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?”

Proverbs 29:25 “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.”


Do any of you have special verses dealing with trust that you live by?

Excellence Award

A friend of mine from college that I reconnected with through blogging has given me this award. Her name is Liz and you can check her blog out here.

This is my first award! All I know is that I am to pass it on to 10 other blogs. That is really hard for me since I love all the ones I go to on a regular basis. I will list 10, but you can go to any of the ones on my sidebar....actually, I need to add some more that I have been "lurking!"


Here you go in no particular order:

Rachel Anne at Home Sanctuary

Lisa at The Preacher's Wife

Katherine at Raising Five

Janna at Reproductively Challenged

Angel at The Voice of Adventure

Alana at An Undeserved Life

Daisy at Our Family Blog

Lisa at Lisa Writes (a new one for me)

Brooke at The Mail Girl (although she has been a little MIA lately, heehee)

Bloggy Giveaways (my favorite giveaway spot!) (although I haven't won anything there yet)

There you have it........althougth there are many more!!!

This is my new best friend! I LOVE this stuff.......I know many of you probably already know the "healing power" of body butter, but me and my cheap self have just discovered it! I have suffered so much from dry skin for YEARS and recently my hands have gotten terrible, and my feet........the hubby has been known to describe as "caveman feet". (I know......how dare him!)

Anyway, a friend told me that I needed to get something with Vaseline in it or some body butter. Then I went to Walmart and saw both things in one. SO I "splurged" and got this. I will never buy regular lotions again. Body butter is the way for me! This one is unscented and that usually means it stinks, and although it doesn't "stink", it doesn't smell that great either. So I will be looking for some better smelling stuff the next time!

Valentines Gift

WOOOHOOO!!!!!!!

There is only one man that I would absolutely die to see in concert and there he is. And my sweet hubby got me tickets to see him on VALENTINES day in Houston at Champion Forrest Baptist Church......

I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!

Where do I belong?

Today's Small Thing over at Rachel Anne's was titled "Where Do I Belong?"

I really like this one. I do this sometimes with the kids at the dinner table. Actually my line of questioning is more like; "What did you do at school today?", "What was your favorite thing about school today?", and "Did you have a good day?"

But now I am asking you......for those who stop by to leave comments and if you are a "lurker" (and I know there are some) then let this be your first comment. Originally the questions had a blank where I put "scripture" and "your life". You could do the same thing on your blog, just change the words a little, or keep them the same! Get to know those "around you."


What's your favorite scripture?"

"What do you love about your life?"

"What is your favorite memory?"

"Tell me something I don't know about you."

Timothy's Sweet Teacher

I MUST tell you the sweet, thoughtful thing that Timothy's teacher did for him the other day.

Timothy has had this "thing" for a while now about giving me an astronomical amount of hugs and kisses before I leave him in the mornings. IF for some reason I leave and he doesn't think we have hugged and kissed enough, then he gets very upset and many times cries and runs after me......very disturbing at times.....

Anyway, the other morning was one of those times and this is what his sweet teacher did for him........she grabbed an empty jar that has a lid on it and told him to quickly blow all his hugs and kisses into the jar. Then she put the lid on it and told him that when I came to pick him up that afternoon he could give me all those hugs and kisses. (I know...I was amazed at this quick thinking, and sweet thought.)

SO, when I got there that afternoon to pick him up she said, "Timothy, don't forget!"....and she reached for the jar. Then she told me what had happened that morning. She handed him the jar and as she was helping him open it, she said, "Get ready to catch all those hugs and kisses Momma!" So I wafted them in, breathed deep and said, "Oh, I love these hugs and kisses!"

You should have seen the look on his face! It was one of pure joy and happiness!

I thank God for this sweet young lady. I thank Him for leading me to this place for my children! They truly love my kids!

100th Post

Well, I didn't know that if you start a post on a different date, that when you publish it it will publish on the dated you started the post.....hmmmm.

Anyway.....the other day I started a post for my 100th entry. You can find it here. Sorry it didn't get put in the correct place.....but oh well!!!

My Kitchen and a Christmas Present

My dear hubby is picking up on my desire to make our home "presentable" and to make it a Sanctuary. For years now we have only had one picture that SOMETIMES hung on the wall. It is a huge Betty Spooner picture that has some names of God on it. A beautiful picture, but the only one and I say sometimes hangs, but if it is not hanging it is leaning. Like now, it sits on the mantle and leans on the wall. I have seen this done and like it, so we are trying it.

Anyway, this Christmas my dear hubby got me 3 of the 4 pictures below. We had one that Carlton had gotten at our last church as a going away gift. It had been in a closet since we moved into our current home. The picture didn't turn out so well, but they say Faith, Hope and Love, and the bottom middle one says Amazing Grace. I know they are just materialistic things, but the day we hung them I looked at my dear hubby and told him that the house already felt "comfy" just by adding this little touch in the entry.




Now for the kitchen.....I love my kitchen. It has white cabinets (which I sometimes don't love), stainless steel sink and appliances, and island with a JennAire stove top, new hardware, tile and marble backsplash and marble countertops. The first two pictures are of my CLEAN kitchen. It is beautiful from this angle. (sorry the pictures are a little dark)

Oh, did you see that bowl of fruit Company Girls??

But then there is this part.......the part I just can't seem to get control of.....the built in desk with the shelves above and the fridge! I had neatly placed some things from my grandmother, and others in those shelves. However, everytime I "clean" up around the kitchen, or the living room and I find things that I don't have a "place" for, they end up on this desk or on the shelves!!! Then there is all the stuff on the fridge. I like a little something on the fridge, but the kids want ALL their stuff on the fridge. What do I do with it all??? We really did want doors on those shelves, but that hasn't happened yet, and until it does, I really need some since of order here. Do you have any suggestions???