Thankful.

Tis the Season to reflect on what we are thankful for.

I am Thankful for:

A Heavenly Father that loves me when I NEVER deserve to be loved.
Strength to endure from my Heavenly Father.
Family that loves me.
The wonderful Man that God brought in my life.
Salvation.
Worship.
Times of Laughter and Joy.
The Word of God.
Incredible Friends.
Girl time.
Chances.
Hugs.
Knowing I can Trust my Heavenly Father and that He fills all gaps.
Fun Road Trips.
To have a job.
To know I have a purpose..
Forgiveness.

I wish you All a very Happy Thanksgiving. Full of Joy, Love, and being Thankful for what we have. Not the material things, but the real riches of life. Love, Family, Time. I wish you all the best memories to be made and songs to be sung and the very presence of God to fill you to over flowing!! Have a great Thanksgiving.

Chicago.

Here are the pics from my trip to Chicago last week. Enjoy. (The descriptions are under each picture.)

This where we ate lunch 95 stories above the city. The Signature Room. Beautiful building, beautiful experience. Sorry I did not get a picture from the window up there. It was breath taking even with the fog.

Navy Pier. If it had not been raining we would have been on that fabulous Ferris Wheel you see in the background. There are only 4 in the world this large. (I definitely want to experience Navy Pier someday.)
Gorgeous Castle like building. This is the water works building. The only building to survive the Fire they had many many years ago.
A matching building across the street. The architecture was really incredible. This is Donald Trump’s Building. He is trying to build the new tallest building in Chicago. Notice the clouds around the top. These buildings were designed to look like corn on the cob. Ha. They look very cool. They are condos. Notice the cars parked at the bottom. Chicago River Walk. I have a thing for light posts. I liked this one.
The Stone Heads (Famous Merchants) across the street from the Merchandise Mart where our Chicago Showroom is.
The one picture I got of me in Chicago. In the car on the way back to the airport. We did not think we were going to make it back in time to catch out flight. (I snapped two pictures. My sales rep started waving at the cars behind us thinking they were flashing their head lights at her to get over. Ha Ha Ha. We had a good laugh when she realized it was me taking pictures.)

We had a good time and I did not get a picture of the three of us together since we were so rushed to get back to catch our flight. It was fun. My Sales Rep was a very gracious and fun host.

Thanks and Praise.

In so many ways...

I am so undeserving of His love, but yet He gives it so freely.

Father you truly are Wonderful and The Only worthy of praise and glory. Today Father I praise you simply because of how Wonderful You are. I understand very little of how wonderful you are but my heart is over flowing with Praise for You today. You are Worthy Father, You are Wonderful, You are Faithful, You amaze me everyday. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

How little I deserve to hear His sweet voice whisper direction and comfort in my ear when I am on the verge of completely falling apart. When I feel like I have done nothing right but only ruined everything, to hear His sweet and quiet voice whisper to me that Everything Is going to be okay. That is more priceless than I can tell you.

Thank You Father for speaking to me. Thank You for Your comforting words though I deserve none of them. When the situation you are comforting me about was caused by myself and myself alone. Thank You for Your Sweetest Voice. Sweetest Voice. Thank You Father. You are truly the Best Friend, Father, and Comforter I hae ever know and will ever know.

It is alright, just like you said it would be. Thank You for extending your hand for me to hold and for giving me Words and Hope. Hope that does not disappoint. I am not disappointed today. Thank you for helping me to trust and rely on You and to once again see that I need to stop trying to do this by myself and allow you to lead me. I ask for your continued guidance as I work out the rest of what lies ahead. Help me to trust you more and more everyday. Help me to once again find my way out and Father may YOU get all the Glory for it. May I learn this now so that this is not a battle I must face in the future. Thank You Father.

Father you fill all the gaps for me. I know there will always be gaps and that as long as I have You and trust you and seek You there in those gaps You will fill them. Thank You beyond words for that. I know that You are the only One who can love me completely and never hurt me. So when hurts come I know that I have You to turn to and You will extend your hand for me to hold. You will walk with me through the hurt as you have recently. Father I am filled with adoration for You today and Who you are. Thank You does not even begin to cover it, but it's all I have. I give you my Thanks and my Praise. Father I give you the Highest Praise. No other deserves any Praise. Praise You Jesus. You alone are Worthy.

So full of Thanks and Praise today.

I love you Father. In Jesus name. Amen.

Psalm 103:8-14
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

Quick Weekend Update.

Ok so I just had the most amazing weekend.
From start to finish.
Our trip to Mobile was so peaceful and wonderful.
Filled with siblings, babies, laughs, food, Target, football, HG Tv, and hugs.
Sunday was a GREAT day too.
Sunday School went awesome. Discussion with some truly amazing beautiful girls.
Play practice went wonderful, only four more weeks left to practice then those amazing kids get to performe. They are going to do an amazing job, I cannot wait!!
We then spent the afternoon with my parents and had a Oh so yummy lunch and sat around and chatted for a while.
I got to spend some time with my lil brother which has been long past due, then some time chatting with Neesie and Dad.
To cap off the weekend Mr. Wonderful and I went for our Sunday Night Ice Cream stop where I tried the new Gingerbread Ice Cream with Peanut Butter - cause we all know you cannot have ice cream without peanut butter. Then we made a stop at Walmart and Target.

A much needed refreshing weekend. Now it's Monday and I have much work to do. So I am off to get caught up before my trip to the Windy City on Wednesday.

Sharing a learning.

It's Friday for me! Yay!

I am very excited about my weekend.

Mr. Wonderful and I are headed down to see his family. His parents took the day off Friday to spend time with us and his brother is coming to visit as well. It has been several months since I have seen them and I am looking forward to it. I love the drive down there. I have always loved traveling south. Something about that stretch of road makes me exceedingly happy. We will spend Friday with one set of parents and part of the day Saturday with the other set of parents. I think they all like me and are beginning to see how serious we are about each other. :)

Oh what a happy time in life right. A time I thought would never get here for me. I cannot wait to be engaged so that I can openly share plans and hopes and dreams. I feel silly doing all that before it's official for everyone that we will be spending the rest of our lives together.

Let's talk about that a minute...

Let me give you a little background...I no longer believe in divorce...you see I grew up in a world of divorce...but for me divorce is NOT an option. I think couples jump into things using divorce as their way out if it does not work out.

After I gave my heart to the Lord, my Creator, The One who formed me in my mother's womb, who already has my plan written out, after I surrendered my life to Jesus He showed me Truth.

He asked me not to date. He brought an incredible family into my life. In that time of singleness I began a journey of Healing and Learning. My whole outlook on family, marriage, and relationships changed.

Statistics say I would have grown up to have at least one if not many relationships end in divorce. But because of the Truth and Learning Jesus brought to my attnetion that will not be what happens in my life. Divorce is not an option.

In my time of singleness I learned that God created someone for me and all I have to do is wait for His timing. After all He knows much better than I do what is best for me and what the plan is. He did create me with a plan already in mind, and only He can see that plan fully. I only see pieces at a time as He allows and as I am ready to see. He is my Heavenly FATHER the superhero of all parents! So I learned that in His timing He would bring my mate and that I would know when it was The Time and The One. That my friends is exactly what happened. I could not have predicted the time or the way it happened either. It was ALL GOD. And know that I would not have even choosen to date had I not gotten God's okay first. I knew that the next person I dated would be the man I would marry.

So I waited for The One God created for me and His timing. There is no need to ever doubt if this is right I already know. God has reassured me again and again. Trust me I wanted to be sure, I asked over and over. Even though I felt I already knew I needed to hear it from My Creator a few times to make sure it wasn't just me doing this. God created us for each other. Divorce is not an option. Divorce is not necessary.

Are we perfect without any squabbles or challenges? NO! Who is? Noone. But we know this relationship has been ordained by our Heavely Father. We seek Him together everyday. We seek Him seperately everyday. We will choose for the rest of our lives to do what it takes to make the relationship work and keep it centered in Christ. Yes it will take work, yes it will take prayer, yes there will be difficult times, and YES we will be together for the rest of our lives.

This really is the most exciting time. God has brought The One and He has promised to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us a hope and a Future. How awesome is THAT!!!

God is good and wants us to have the best. We often jump the gun and short change ourselves. I remember last summer reading a story in the bible of a people God sent to take a city, but He gave clear instructions not to take the city but do not plunder the city. However there was one who did plunder the city and take goods. The next battle was no the victory they had been promised because this one had disobeyed. They found him out. I can't remember exactly what happened...I believe he was killed or exiled. However after he was found out and the items removed, the people began to have victory over the city they were trying to take. God said they could plunder this city. It had FAR MORE for the people to receive than the previous city. The point is...when we obey the first time, though it may not make sense right away or though it may not be easy. There is a MUCH BIGGER reward God has in store. We don't know that ahead of time and will never know that ahead of time. We must simply TRUST. Yep...TRUST. Trust and Obey. Nope it's not easy. It's Simple but not Easy. The greatest thing...When we fail and we will fail...God is Gracious, Forgiving, and Loving. What more could we ask for really.

Jesus is my life for the rest of my life.

Father may I always choose to obey and trust You, no matter how hard or how much I do not understand. In Jesus name. Amen.

Dreams and Visions

Anxious feelings dissapated
Trees make me happy
Christmas music makes me gleeful
Zaxby's is my favorite
Hallie is clean
Headed South earlier
I have Holiday dreams & visions floating in my head

This time of year alway makes me reflective and hopeful of the future. I am flooded with thoughts and dreams and hopes of family and traditions and memories to be made. I cannot wait to start my own family and begin building traditions and making holiday memories.

I have a few memories of the holidays. Most of my best ones are from recent years.

I love Communion on Christmas Eve
Decorating Christmas Trees
Drinking Egg Nog
Christmas lights that sing and dance to Christmas tunes
Thanksgivings where the family actually comes together to eat at the same time and is pleasant to one another.
Sweet Potato Casserole
Sitting around the table listening to family chatter
Playing outside in the yard with my little nephew
Left Overs

Many of these memories are one timers. But good memories none the less. I just cannot wait to continue these memories and to begin creating memories.

Fall Breezes, Bright trees, & Christmas music creates in me this reflective hopeful dream filled person. I love it.

Things.

I voted!
On time for work.
Plans made.
Outfit picked out.
Chicago here I come.
Have peace.
Stood up.
Increasing Faith.
My Hope in His Word.
Have great friends.
Still In Love.
God is SSOOOO Good.
Thankful today.
Joyful too.
Listening to Christmas Music.
Planning packing in my head.
Ready to head home for the day and start packing.
Need pants sewn.
Loved.
Ready to start climbing instead of just clawing.
Psalm 130.
Believe.
Weekend needed.
Teaching SS Sunday.
AH!
Loving the time change.
Trees are beautiful.

That is my bit of randomness and realness for the day.

Oh my Father, You are so Good. Thank you for your goodness and love. Your unfailing Love. I never want my life to be without you Heavenly Father. I love you with all of my heart and Iknow exactly where my life would be without you and I never wanna be there. Thank you for your Word, for faithful friends who Love YOU, for your Hope, for your presence. I give you this day and all that is left in it. Lead me and guide me. In Jesus Precious name. Amen.

Prayer. For it's all I have today.

Father you see me, my heart, my strengths, and my weaknesses. Thank you for loving me unconditionally even still. Strengthen my weaknesses and give me wisdom, for I know it is a treasure. Father I love you and I want to be all that you created me to be. I know I have much work left for you to do in me. Help me to endure and never give up. I love you with all of my heart. Give me an unwavering faith in you. Help me to see past myself straight to you and you only. Draw me close to you my Lord. Thank you for your words to me today, for your calming peace given to me straight from you. Thank you for being faithful to me when I fail to be faithful to you. Thank you for speaking when I do get around to listening. Father you are the most incredible part of my life. Without you I am nothing and I have nothing. Thank you for all you are Father. Thank you for all you are making me to be. I love you Father. In Jesus' name. Amen