Weekend Review

Twas the weekend of goodbyes…

We spend Friday night and Saturday at the lake with my family. We had a good time just relaxing together and being together. Family is such a treasure and I love my family with all of my heart. I am so thankful for their love and support always always!! They have always stood behind me and believed in me and I am who I am because of it and I have the courage to do what I am doing because of it!! I am so very very thankful that God chose to share them with me they are treasures and I will miss seeing them every week so much!! But I will definitely be looking forward to Christmas to see them again if they cannot make it up to our new home before then! (Pictures from the weekend to come, they are on my families camera as mine is lame! So I have to wait for an email or thumb drive!!)

We will get to have dinner with them Thursday before we leave so it’s not goodbye with them just yet. (Oh boy that’s gonna be hard!)

Our last Sunday at our beloved church…

I thought I would fall apart completely but let me tell you this…

God is SO FAITHFUL!!

I realized weekend before last that I did not want to go into this with a grieving spirit. I wanted to go into this with a healthy spirit and strength and dignity. I prayed hard over it and God is faithful.

I feel like I handled myself very well this weekend!!

It was very important for me to make this okay for the kids, youth, and adults that I would be saying goodbye to this weekend.

I planned a party for my Sunday School class and we had a good time eating cup cakes and taking down the old decorations in the room and playing Simon Says and Hangman! Those games are ALWAYS classics!! We had fun and talked only lightly about my leaving.

In Children’s Church we sang several songs, played games, then Mr. Wonderful and I got up and shared a little bit with the rest of the kids about what we are doing and thanked them for letting us be a part of their lives and thanked our incredible pastors for allowing us to be a part of their ministry. I did cry during that part. Then we spent some time in worship and then…This is the part I cried the most…the kids with the sweetest lil hands and sweetest lil voices came and prayed for Mr. Wonderful and my. It was such a beautiful moment! Anytime children pray for me it breaks me completely!! I am so thankful for their prayers!!! Then our wonderful Pastors prayed for us as well. We are so thankful for their prayers too and so thankful for their support in this and for such a SWEET SWEET send off.

We were also very blessed with a basket of cards and monetary gifts. God is faithful. He used many yesterday to show us His faithfulness again and we are so thankful, humbled, and BLESSED! We feel very loved and cherished and missed already. It’s wonderful knowing what a great family we have here.

Sunday evening we had our small group meeting and had a great time fellowshipping with great people who have also supported us and encouraged us as we were jobless, in our new jobs, and now in our new adventure. A truly great group of people that we have come to love dearly! We will miss our monthly meetings with them as well!

That was our weekend! This week is full of goodbyes too, the big ones. Sheesh! I am praying for strength!! We work until Wednesday, Thursday is our running around day and packing day, Friday we will pack, load the truck, & clean the apartment. Saturday we are off. Our new journey begins at 4:00am.

We are ready, in spite of the hard moments, to see what God has in store for us. We trust and believe fully in our Faithful Heavenly Father, our Lord, our Provider, our Savior. We are ready to follow HIM!!

I’ll tell you this, were it not for knowing without a doubt that this is GOD’S will, I would not be brave enough to follow through with it. I know God has a plan and this is part of it and I want to please Him and be in the center of HIS will more than anything else.

Father I pray that we make you proud, that we make our families and pastors and friends proud that we make the kids and the youth proud. Father I pray that we stay in the Center of YOUR WILL no matter how hard it may be. Thank YOU for YOUR faithfulness!! I love you Father and I trust YOU. Be with us this week and all the weeks ahead for we cannot and do not want to do this without YOU!!

Saying Goodbye...

Wow is it hard.

I wanna do it with grace and strength.

Saturday Mr. Wonderful and I will be moving 9 hours north. This will absolutely be a brand new adventure.

God is calling and we are following.

It does feel good to finally be headed in a direction that leads to full time ministry. I can't wait to see what God has in store.

But first...saying goodbye...

I love my family, I am so incredibly blessed to have them, being so far away from them will truly be so hard. I love our church and it will be hard to be away from them as well.

But God is calling.

I can't wait to see what HE has in store for us. If it's this hard to follow it has got to be AMAZING!!

I trust YOU Father. We will follow! Thank you for calling. I am honored.

Announcement...

Now that everything is official and finally all out in the open I can officially announce that…

Mr. Wonderful & I are moving to Missouri.

We are very excited to follow God’s calling and go back to school. I will be attending an Assembly of God College to obtain a degree in Children’s Ministry while Mr. Wonderful will be attending the state university to obtain a certificate to teach math.

How multifaceted our Faithful Heavenly Father is! My sweet husband will have to help me pass college math. He will surely get good practice teaching on this wifey as she strives to pass this go ‘round!

God has blessed us with the most amazing and supportive families any two people could ask for. Our amazing families have supported us through our wedding and now they are supporting our decision to move north and pursue our dreams. We just simply could not ask for more. We are loved and very very blessed to have our families in our life. We love you all so much!

God just works in amazing ways! He has put every piece into place and has held our hands through all of this. We are very excited to embark on this new journey.

We know that this will not be easy but we also know that our God is Faithful and that He will see us through. We believe that the next two years are going to be years of an immense out pouring of God’s Spirit in our lives as He builds us up to prepare us for full-time ministry. We believe that we will have everything we need & that God will continue to be Faithful and provide all we need from jobs to strength & peace, to wisdom and endurance.

It will not be easy for us to leave our families, friends, and church but we know that this is the plan that God has for us and we know that we will learn a lot through it and that this is indeed God’s will for our lives. It is bittersweet, but more sweet than bitter. Our families, friends, & church are so incredibly loving and supportive and we appreciate that so much. We could not do it without you all!!

So pray with us as we embark on the next leg in our journey of life. A new city, A new task, A new direction, A new church, A new dance & A different time of our lives. We truly believe that this is going to be an amazing & wonderful adventure and we are open to everything God has in store for us.

Father we can’t wait to see what you have in store and how you will work everything out. We love you and we trust & believe in You and we are beyond Thankful for your many many many many blessings. We are so undeserving but you love and bless and prove yourself to us over and over anyway. We are truly humbled at all you have done and @ all you are doing. We love you. In Jesus name. Amen.

I cannot tell you how often I will get to give updates as I believe our lives are truly about to speed up quite a bit as we work and go to school. I will update when I can though.

Photo catch up...in random order

Tater love the new furniture. I love this face.

I luvs my Tater!!

Our new to us sofa. Craigslist!

New chair.

Skating.

Ooohhh goodness I love this face.

Hanging on the Quad at the ADay game. April 2010

Our view from North End Zone.

Serious Business. My handsome Hubby.

Khloe @ ADay game.

Chelsi @ ADay game.

CHEESE BISCUITS!!! We LOVE these.

My new hair. We were headed to the Barons Game.

My new hair. Spring 2010.

Flowers my sweet hubby picked for me on his way home from church. :D

Our JBQ teams!! I LOVE these kids!!!

Trotters @ JBQ Spring 2010

Thankful

Ø My Heavenly Father & His Love & Faithfulness

Ø My Wonderful, Incredible, Unbelievable Husband

Ø My Family & their love and support throughout the years

Ø Our Tater, he’s a sweet kitty and adds so much to our lives, he’s so darn cute

Ø Our jobs – they pay the bills

Ø The Beauty of our life…it’s not always Beautiful like we’d expect but it is indeed Beautiful

Ø That God is not done with us yet – He’s only just beginning

Ø That time is winding down as I am so Ready to get started on this journey

Ø That when things fall apart and we can no longer control them God simply says FINALLY now I can do what I’ve been trying to do all along

Ø For moments that sustain us

Ø For encouragement

Ø For Sunshine

Ø For the Thankfulness I feel in my heart

Ø For the realization that we are truly Blessed with so much

Ø For the ability to run & for a hubby to run with

Ø For my marriage – I waited so long and wondered if it would ever really come – It came & I love every minute of it – God is SO faithful

Ø For Prayer – It shakes foundations – it too is BEAUTIFUL

Ø For a church body that has taught me SO much

Ø For our home & how good it feels to be there

Ø For friends who I can pick right back up with where we left off as we all have busy lives and we all understand that

Ø For our new sofa & chair – they are just what we were looking for & we were so Blessed to find at such a Steal

Ø For the way God works things out because He can see the bigger picture & I cannot

Ø That I can give HIM all of my concerns and anxieties and He will work them out & I will be surprised at how He does it & I will feel silly for spending too much time being anxious over it

Ø Many many other things i.e. grocery shopping, freshly washed laundry, a clean house, Strawberry candles, a back door that is functional, DVR, wireless internet, journals, a rounded shower curtain rod, and just many many more.

Today I am just really Thankful. Thank You Faithful Heavenly Father!

Weekend Review:

Friday:

We went to Hallmark to get a few gifts for sweet people who helped with our wedding. Terribly & Embarrassingly late gifts. But better late than never!!

We ate at Moe’s which I never liked before but have begun to love!

We went grocery shopping – which is one of my favorite things to do!!

We can home and put away groceries & then changed into our running gear and hit the track for a great 2 ¼ mile run!

Saturday:

I got up and studied for Sunday School. We learned about being “Living Sacrifices”.

I worked on wrapping gifts and writing Thank you notes to go with them.

When Mr. Wonderful woke up we cleaned out our clothes closets and the hall closet. I felt so accomplished!

We headed out to run errands: Mr. Wonderful dropped me off to get a much needed long past due hair cut. A new look! He headed off to return a shirt at Kohl’s, clean the car, and have the windshield filled (a rock hit it last week and made a pit), and to fill the car up with gas.

We headed back home to get ready for an evening of Baseball and Mr. Wonderful’s college friends. We lost the game but got to hang out with fun people and see fireworks.

We were supposed to run when we got home but it was way past my bedtime so we just went to bed.

Sunday:

We headed to church where I gave one gift away first thing. I taught my sweet preteen kiddos about being Living Sacrifices while Mr. Wonderful when to his Sunday school class where they are doing the book “Crazy Love”.

We were both in big church this week so we worshipped with the adults. Sadly I had the beginnings of a headache and did not enjoy holding my head up for the sermon but it was still good.

We had a nice Mexican lunch with my brother before heading home for a much needed nap! I was pooped and had a nasty headache.

Woke up late for small group but went anyway. We were the only ones to show (our group is struggling a bit), but we had fun playing Mexican train dominoes!

Went by my parents to drop off some clothes we borrowed on Easter and visited with My Neesie for a few minutes.

Then we headed home and ran a mile before bed.

That was our weekend start to finish! It was a very nice weekend aside from the nasty headache I had yesterday! It’s nice to have clean closets and a clean car! Lot’s more cleaning and reorganizing to come in the near future :D!!

Assuredly Not!

Hebrews 13:5 (Amp)

…For He God Himself has said,

I will not in any way fail you

Nor give you up

Nor leave you without support.

I will not, I will not, I will not

In any degree leave you helpless

Nor forsake you

Nor let you down

(or Relax My hold on you)!

Assuredly Not!

If there has ever been a time in my life that I needed this kind of assurance it is now.

God is Faithful and He has proven that to me time and time again.

I will continue to trust Him.

It sure is good to have this reminder straight from His love letter to me.

This past and current year have probably been some of the most stressful in my life.

But again God truly is Faithful and over and over again He has shown His Faithfulness to me.

I know that we will continue to see God’s Faithfulness. I want to always acknowledge it as well.

I think acknowledging the good in our lives as God’s hand increases our Faith.

It’s easy to get prideful and want to give the credit to ourselves or others but ultimately it is God.

It is God who places people in our lives or blessings in our lives or favor in our lives.

When we belong to Him, it is Him who provides.

We belong to Him. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.

My Husband and I love our Faithful Lord and we seek after Him.

We will acknowledge His work in our lives and not give credit to ourselves or others or this world.

In doing so I believe our faith will be increased and God will continue to be faithful to us because we are willing to give Him the credit that ONLY HE Deserves.

John 1:16

“From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.”

Hebrews 11:1

“Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

The verse from Hebrews at the top is absolutely true.

Yet it does not mean that we won’t face hard times, that we won’t shed tears, that we won’t feel at times as if the very world itself is crashing in around us. We simply must remember that in those times God is teaching us something, strengthening our faith, our walk, and preparing us for what only He knows lies ahead. Just like any parent would equip their child for things to come.

“Sometimes God uses the fight to strengthen muscles we’ll need at the next level in our lives. If yesterday’s wimp is going to become tomorrow’s warrior, something has to happen today.” (From a Blog I read last week)

Just like a good parent would not shelter their child from any and all danger because that would debilitate the child, neither does our Heavenly Father promise that life will be perfect and wonderful and neither does He shelter us from any and all danger. We must learn by experiencing things. God is a good God, and He will never give us more than we can handle but He will allow us to learn and grow so that we may 1. Grow closer to Him and 2. Become stronger in our faith and convictions and 3. Share that faith and Him with the world around us.

Randoms.

Randoms.

Spring.

Love.

Encouragement.

Happiness.

Enduring.

Ready.

Sunshine.

Home.

Jesus.

Flip Flops.

Hubby.

Family.

Journey.

Soon.

Ready.

Calling.

Trusting.

Learning.

Growing.

Sunshine.

Friends.

Jesus.

Worship.

Love.

Home.

Life.

Sounds of our lives...

So I was sitting in our lil apartment last night and I began thinking about all the nights I had sat there before alone. I sat quietly and listened. I heard the sounds of my sweet husband downstairs making us dinner (one that consisted of my favorite dish that he created – Spinach Casserole). I realized while I was sitting there that I had grown quite accustomed to the sounds of our marriage. The sounds of him making dinner or taking out the trash. The sound of ESPN on the television or the sound of the bean bag when he and Tater are ready for a nap. The sound of his snoring in the mornings or the sound of his shower getting ready for work. The sound of him doing laundry or working at the computer. The sound of his laughter (usually always directed at me). The sounds of him praying or answering Jeopardy questions. The sounds of our lives.

I can remember sitting in that same spot and the apartment being so still and so quiet. I can remember the lonely feelings that I felt wondering when it was going to be my turn to find my soul mate. I remember pleading with God to hurry up. I remember praising God and praying to God and Trusting God even when I felt the loneliness. I remember the only sounds were Tater and myself and the support of my family and friends’ encouragement as they waited with me.

As I sat last night in our lil apartment I remember once again how Faithful God is. Faithful to allow me the lonely times in my lil apartment and to allow me the proper amount of time to grow with Him and seek Him and find Him. How Faithful God is to bring my soul mate in His perfect timing and not my own. How Faithful God is to protect me from myself when even I could not do so.

My heart fills with Thankfulness for my Heavenly Father. My Father who knows best, who sees the bigger picture and loves me enough to hold back, discipline, teach me, and most of all to love me No Matter What, and No Matter how many times I mess up or don’t do things right or don’t spend enough time with Him, or don’t have the right attitude or words. True Unconditional and Everlasting Love. Yes I am filled with Thankfulness for my Faithful Heavenly Father and the many sounds he has brought into my life and for the many silences He has also brought into my life to transform me into who I am now and for the many sounds and silences He will bring into my life as I spend all the days of my life trying to serve and love Him as best as my lil human self can.

I am Thankful beyond words for the things and people that My Heavenly Father has blessed me with. I would not be who I am today without them all.

I am Thankful for my Heavenly Father, Husband, Mother, Neesie, Dad, Jared, Daniel, for our small women’s group, and my closest friends and too many others to name. I am Thankful.

Spinning & Standing & Going

Spinning

The world keeps on spinning & spinning

Some things simply repeat themselves

Others change willingly & unwillingly

Sometimes there are things that try to stand in the way

Knowingly or Unknowingly

But yet the world spins

For I (The Lord) know the plans I have for you (His child) says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

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Standing

Desire not to be caught up in the spin

But to stand in direct opposition

While the world blurs by

Standing as a clear force focused and bright

Holy (To be set apart)

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world (spinning) but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (standing in opposition as a clear force focused and bright). Romans 12:2

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Standing

Understanding comes & sometimes it doesn’t

Faith Stands

As the world spins at a rapid pace

Faith Stands

Sometimes I have Faith & sometimes it’s lost

In the spinning of the world

Desire not for Faith to be lost

But to always be Strong

Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

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Going

What matters in all of the spinning

What matters in all of the standing

What matters in all of the world

That is a question left up to us

Can we decide

Can we grasp

Can we free ourselves from the things standing in the way

Can we free ourselves from the spinning to stand

Can we Go and do the things He has for us to do

Not allowing anything to stand in our way

Are we that brave

Are we that strong

Are we that sure

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (that means all of His children). Romans 8:28

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God Flooding me with Peace...

Deuteronomy 33:12 (emphasis mine)

“Let the beloved of the Lord (that’s us) rest secure in Him, for He shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves (that’s us again) rests between His shoulders.”

This verse brings me so much peace every time I read it. I have been meditating on it a lot lately because I want to be flooded with God’s peace and need to be flooded with God’s peace.

I love this whole verse it says so much in only a few words.

Let the beloved of the Lord…it calls us His beloved and that is TRULY what we are. I know I HAVE to be reminded of this ALL the time and I still forget and sometimes just can’t bring myself to believe that I am HIS beloved at all. I am though…WE ARE HIS BELOVED…all of us…righteous and unrighteous.

…rest secure in Him…It tells us to rest secure in God, gives us permission to rest secure in him. Now I don’t know about you but sometimes it’s like I NEED permission to rest in Him. It’s because I’m a fixer, but I’m really supposed to let Him be the fixer and to REST SECURE in Him. When I look back on my life since asking Jesus to be my life I can see the times I took over and really messed things up; but the times when I let go and let God are the times He was able to fix things. That makes me think; maybe if I stopped taking over so much God wouldn’t have so much fixing to do and could really do some neat things. Hhhhmmm food for thought.

…for He shields him all day long…WOW! Ok when I think about this part and the truth that there is a CONSTANT spiritual battle going on for my soul everyday this Floods me with peace!! You know our enemy NEVER gives up, he never stops his plot to win us over not for even a second, he is always up to something even when it feels like he has taken a break, that too is a lie he’s formulated and hopes we’ll believe. This part of the verse says that God SHEILDS HIM ALL DAY LONG…we need God’s shield all day long. We need to be looking for His shield too so that we can acknowledge Him and thank Him and praise Him for all He is doing. We need to be conscious of our Lord who is ALWAYS conscious of us. It’s so easy to go through our days and never acknowledge Him once. Last week I went a whole week without reading His Word one time. Sure I can argue about how tough the week was and busy and this and that…not once had God ever been too busy for me or you. Hhhhmmm…He shields him ALL DAY LONG.

…and the one the Lord loves…OH HOW HE LOVE US, OH HOW HE LOVE US…unconditionally, meaning completely without condition. Our little minds find that very hard to compute because that’s not how we love at all. This world doesn’t teach us to love that way…but God does. He loves us when we are lazy, mad, ugly, angry, sinning, bashing, gossiping, cursing, lying, hating, coveting, being jealous, being selfish, etc. The list goes on and on and on. The bible says NOTHING can separate us from the love of God…except OUR OWN sin. But then God stands ready to forgive and remove that separation. I can imagine his utter heartache until we finally allow the separation to be removed. OH HOW HE LOVES US.

…rests between his shoulders…another part that just absolutely FLOODS me with PEACE. I imagine a baby after being soothed and rocked to sleep laying on it’s mother or father’s chest…eye’s closed, mouth open, drool pooling, body COMPLETELY relaxed, not a care in the world. Fed, Soothed, Rocked, and RESTING BETWEEN HIS SHOULDERS. I imagine a time when I laid prostrate on the Kids Camp Chapel floor while chains broke off of me, while I RESTED BETWEEN HIS SHOULDERS. I imagine the moment I knew my husband was the one and I fully understood what God meant two years earlier when He told me that I would have to give my husband back to him, I see that moment when I wept tears of utter joy and pain as I realize that was happening in that very moment…and I RESTED BETWEEN HIS SHOULDERS. I imagine a time when sitting at my desk I felt completely calm and collected only days after an anxiety attack like no other and I was RESTING BETWEEN HIS SHOULDERS.

Yes I love this verse. It speaks to me. It was always meant to speak to me. God wrote it for me. God wrote it for You.

Deuteronomy 33:12

“Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in Him, for He shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between His shoulders.”