Traffic Report

Do you have a morning and evening traffic report on the radio where you live? Here in Birmingham we have one for the morning rush hour and then the evening rush hour. You will hear things like "All lanes on 59 north are closed" or "280 is a parking lot" and then sometimes you hear "65 south has a wreck in the right lane and 65 north is moving slow due to rubber neckers." About every 15 minutes or so you hear these traffic reports. They warn you where the roads are moving slow and give you alternate routes you can take to avoid the delay. Now, sometimes you get stuck in a delay trying to avoid the delay but all in all it is a pretty good thing to have when you live in a major city like me.

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Not only do we have the traffic reports on the radio you can turn the t.v. to your favorite local station in the mornings and the evenings and they provide a traffic report as well. Before you even walk out of your door heading to work in the mornings you know what areas to avoid and how to manage your commute. Pretty ingenious, huh?

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Wouldn't it be great if we had a "traffic report" for our lives? What if we were told things like "Your teenager is going to act like a 5 year old today, don't go anywhere" or maybe "Your roof is going to have a major leak during the next rain storm, get it fixed right now." Wouldn't that be cool?!?! But, then again, if we were told what was up ahead on our life's journey we wouldn't have faith. We wouldn't have to depend on God. We wouldn't have to be submissive to God's will.

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Job 36:15 says "But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction." He delivers us from our suffering and he speaks to us in our affliction. Did you catch that? Our sorrows, our struggles, our suffering...guess what...that is our "traffic report"!

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The struggles and trials that we go through come to us only through God's hands. Everything is filtered through him well before it comes to us and as we are going through that rough patch he is right there to deliver us if we will only ask him. 2008 will end in only a few short hours and 2009 holds hope of many promises, a bright tomorrow and unknown happenings but just keep in mind that when a struggle comes your way this new year and things aren't as smooth as you had hoped, just remember that you are in the midst of a "traffic report" and call out the name of Jesus and be delivered!

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Happy New Year!

It is War!

I’ve never been much of a fighter. I’ve always had a sassy mouth but never been the type of girl who could back it up. Well, my children may disagree with that statement but as far as the outside world is concerned I’m all bark and no bite! I do not like confrontation. It makes me sick to my stomach and just the mere thought of having to be involved in some sort of confrontation will make me physically ill. When I get mad about something regarding the school, I tell Shane why I’m mad and then tell him to go to the school and explain to them why I’m mad because I can’t bring myself to go. When I get myself all worked up about it, I start to cry. When a principal is sitting across the desk from a crazy, out of control, sobbing Mom who is trying to make him understand how her precious baby has been wronged...it is sort of hard to take her serious!

But, just like every other woman in the world, if I feel like one of my babies (and that includes Shane) is being mistreated this ole bird gets her feathers in a knot. I will claw your eyes out over my kids, my husband, my parents and yes, even my sister, her kids and her husband. I can talk about them if I want to but girlfriend you better keep your mouth shut about them. When I get to fussing about Shane or the kids I expect you to sit there like a bobble head nodding up and down, up and down and never agreeing with me verbally! Are you like that? Phew, I can get myself all worked up just at the thought.

It is amazing to me how much we have to fight each day though. Believe it or not each and every one of us are in a battle every single day of our lives. Maybe we are in a battle with our husbands over bills and money. Maybe we are in a battle with our teenager because well, they are a teenager. Maybe we are in a battle with our boss because of unfair treatment. Maybe we are in a battle because it seems there isn’t enough time in the day to get everything done and we are constantly spinning in a circle. Maybe we are in a battle with the cashier at the grocery store over the price of an item. Maybe we are in a battle for our lives due to an illness. Maybe we are in a battle due to the loss of a loved one and we are heartbroken. Everyone you see on a daily basis is fighting some sort of battle in their life. But, have you ever stopped to think that you cannot win the battle that you see with your eyes?

I’m talking about the spiritual battle that is raging all around us every single day. There is a spirit of anger, frustration, fear, grief, unworthiness, poverty, hate and many others to the point I could not possibly name them all. But, they are there in the fighting stance with swords drawn just waiting on you.

"Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." Ephesians 6:11-18.

Did you catch that part? "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood"! It is "against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil." Let that soak in for a minute! Mutter on that. Is anybody hearing me today? Our STRUGGLE is NOT against flesh and blood! We are fighting a battle that our eyes cannot see. We must not focus on what we can see but instead focus on what we cannot see. We have the best weapons in this battle! We have the stockpile of ammunition. What does the enemy have? Only what we allow him to have!

Friends, I am challenging myself and challenging you to fight THIS battle this year. When you feel as if you are fighting a losing battle please stop and step back, catch your breath and examine what battle has your attention. Are you solely focusing on the battle you can see or are you focusing on the spiritual battle that you cannot see? Put on the armor of God, take up the shield of faith and extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one!

Holidays...

I love the holidays! I love the smell of fresh baked goodies! I love children's eyes as they open up their gifts. How they treat each gift like a new found treasure. I love getting together with family and friends. I love the feeling of love and compassion that floats in the air. But, in the blink of an eye it is gone.

I took our tree down yesterday and tucked away the nativity scene. In just a few short hours it looks as if Christmas never even existed at my house. Everything is back in it's place and it is back to the "ole grind" I guess you could say.

My pastor has been preaching on God's providence alot lately. Of how God is in control of every little detail of our how lives. Even the little bitty things that we often don't think about. As I drove to work this morning I began to think about the upcoming holidays for 2009. I had a wreath that I left hanging in my living room and simply replaced the red bow with a white one. Kristina and I tossed around ideas yesterday of decorating this wreath month after month with whatever holiday that fell during that time and just enjoying a little bit of holiday spirit all year long. As I began to think about Valentine's Day, Easter, the 4th of July I began to see God's providence in our calendar.

January - New Years...Here we are just a week after Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus when he throws in a day for us to "resolve" to change. A day for us to think about what choices we are going to make in the upcoming year, what type of life are we are going to lead, what type of stand are we going to take for him.

February - Valentine's Day...A day of love! I know we use this day to show love to each other. Kids exchange Valentine cards, husband's buy their wives flowers, wives buy their husbands....what do we buy them? Huh, never thought about it. Anyway, moving on, here is a day devoted strictly to love! But, I believe this day is providentially placed on our calendar to remind us that God loves us!

March - Spring begins...At the perfect moment God creates a beautiful picture of flowers, colors, smells, wind, the sun shines brighter and you just can't help but have a smile on your face. Just when you think that you are in control, God changes the seasons to remind you that HE is in control!

April - Easter...A time to remind us of his death and resurrection. A time to celebrate the ultimate sacrifice. A time that is providentially placed on the calendar at just the right time to remind us that HE is the way, the truth and the life!

May - Mother's Day...This one really stood out to me! How amazing is it that Mother's Day follows Easter? A day to honor mothers is providentially placed after a holiday when a mother lost her child to save this world!

June - Father's Day...A day to honor our Fathers. A day that reminds us that our heavenly Father loves us more than our earthly fathers can even imagine. See, after a time to remind us of his resurrection and a time to honor Mothers he quickly brings our minds back to THE FATHER!

July - Independence Day...Now, go figure this one! Independence Day! Yes, this is a day that we celebrate the independence of our country but maybe, just maybe this day is providentially placed on our calendars to remind us of our very own independence from sin!

August - School begins...Now, I love my children more than life itself but let's just say...I am so happy when school starts back! Just when parents can't take one more day of hearing "I'm bored" God sends them right back to school! =)

September - Autumn beings...Oh the beauty that is Autumn! The wind is crisp, the leaves change colors and yet again God reminds us that he is in control. He controls the seasons, the heavens and the earth.

October - Halloween...Maybe others look at this day as a day of evil but I like to look at it as a day of choice. God gives us a day to choose how we will live our lives. Will we follow the crowd and decorate with witches and evil or will we choose to stand apart and decorate with harvest and celebrate the upcoming holiday of Jesus' birth.

November - Thanksgiving Day...A day to prepare us for celebration. This holiday is providentially placed to prepare our hearts and minds to be thankful for everything we have, for everything that God has given us and thankful for God sending his son Jesus Christ to save us.

December - Christmas Day...Jesus' birth! Oh what a day! This wonderful day is providentially placed at the end of the year to bring our focus back to HIM. Back to the day when Jesus was born with the purpose to die on the cross to save us from sin.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life!" John 3:16

God's providence...day after day, week after week, year after year. He is in control!

O Holy Night

O Holy Night is my favorite Christmas hymn. There is something so moving about the words of this song. With this being my last post before Christmas I just want to share the lyrics with you. Please focus on each word, each line, each verse. Let it sink into your heart and take a piece of it with you this week remembering Christ is the reason!

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
'Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! O, hear the angels' voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother.

And in his name all oppression shall cease

Sweet hymns of joy, in grateful chorus raise we

Let all within us praise his holy name!

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Christ is the Lord, let ever, ever praise we

Noel, noel! Oh night, oh night divine!

Noel, noel! Oh night, oh night divine!

Noel, noel! Oh night, oh night divine!

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"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2:8-12

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Merry Christmas to each and every one of you!

Silent Night

Have you ever thought about the world after you are dead? Have you ever thought about the possibility that your actions, your words, your efforts will inspire someone or something to endure for future generations? Have you ever heard the story behind the Christmas hymn Silent Night?

In 1818, a church in the Austrian Alps had to perform their Christmas drama on December 23rd at a private home because their organ wasn't working. On his way home, the assistant pastor, Josef Mohr, found himself on a path that took him up on a hill overlooking the village. While he was standing there gazing at the town he began to think about the Christmas drama and a poem he had wrriten about Christ's birth. He decided the poem would make a great carol for his congreation the next night at their Christmas Eve service. The next day he went to see the church organist, Franz Xaver Gruber. Gruber managed to come up with a melody to match the poem. Gruber and Mohr performed the carol at the Christmas Eve service using a guitar. Nearly 50 years later the song was translated into the English language.

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I wonder if Mohr had any idea that his poem, his idea, his song would touch as many lives as it has? I wonder if he even fathomed that his song would be sung for many generations after him by millions of people? He simply used his talent to be a missonary.

"..for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments." Exodus 20:5-6

Many times we think of missonaries as being people in far away lands but that is not always the case. The life we live everyday is a misson field. Mothers have been called to be missionaries to their children. Wives have been called to be missionaries to their husbands. Employees have been called to be missionaries to their co-workers. We are all missionaries. We are all writing a song to be sung by future generations. What song are you writing?

Judging

What a title, huh? I never cease to amaze myself with stupidity some days! I'm driving into work this morning (which I must say was a breeze after a 2 1/2 hour trip yesterday due to an interstate accident) when I pull onto the main four lane highway. This highway runs between Birmingham and Jasper and is the main artery that I have to take to get to the interstate. I live on one side of the county near the Jefferson/Walker County line but work on the entire other side of the county near the Jefferson/Shelby County line.

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As I pull across the first two lanes of traffic and wait for traffic to clear the other two lanes so I could merge I noticed a little black car behind me. This car was about to have a come apart it seemed like because it was taking me so long to merge. I drive a big truck so I am not able to just whip in and out of traffic like this little car could.

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I had no more pulled into the first lane when this car came flying around me and I glanced over and recognized it as being a car I had seen numerous times in my church parking lot. I know the lady who drives that car quite well as she helps with our youth group. "Hmmm" I thought "I will remember this if my kid ever wants to get in the car with her!"

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I continued to watch this car as it buzzed in and out of traffic, cutting people off and not using their blinker! Man I hate it when people don't use their blinkers! If you're going to cut me off at least give me the courtesy of a heads up and let me know! Puh-leeze! The crazier this car drove the more judgmental I got (as if I had never driven that way before!). "I can't believe she is driving like that! What is she thinking! Does she not think people will see her and then she'll expect parents to actually allow their children to get in the car with her! How dare she?!?!?"

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I had no more finished 'dropping the gavel' I guess you could say when a thought struck me...the lady at church who drives a car like that has a convertible. A convertible?!?! What?!?!? No, that is her! I begin to almost argue with myself. I sped up trying to catch this car (driving like she was of course) and the closer I got I began to realize that this car was a hard top and not a convertible. I pressed on and as soon as I got beside the car and glanced over it was a MAN! It wasn't the lady I attended church with!!! You want to talk about being humbled and feeling ashamed of yourself!

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A red light was fast approaching and I hung my head down and begin to beg God to forgive me for being so judgemental and thinking I was Queen Sheba or something. I drive like a crazy woman all the time and never think twice about if a church member or fellow parents sees me. I have even joked about the way I drive and warned parents in a joking way about the way I drive. Funny how I was so quick to judge this person!

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Isn't it funny how quickly we point out the sins of others but we don't point out our own sins? I wonder if that is because we are scared of what we will uncover if we begin to tear ourselves down layer by layer. Matthew 7:1 says "Do not judge, or you too will be judged." I do believe that it is time that I begin to take a long hard look at myself and judge myself every single day, all day long and leave the judgment of other people up to God! What do you think?

Why?

Why do banks have their pens on chains? I mean they are storer of money and they are worried about if customers are going to take their pens! You mean to tell me there is a security system in place to ensure that the pens at the bank aren't stolen?!?!?

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Why does Donald Duck not wear pants but when he gets out of the shower he has a towel on? Do the animation people seriously think that we don't notice he never wears pants?

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Why does Goofy walk on his hind legs like a person but Pluto walks on all four paws like a dog? What makes Goofy so special that he has human characteristics but Pluto is just a dumb ole dog?

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Why do we speed down the road but as soon as we see a police car we hit the brakes? Do we seriously think that hitting the brakes will avoid us getting a ticket? I think when the officer sees the nose of our vehicles touch the highway from us hitting the brakes so hard he automatically shines the radar gun our way! Sure fire indication we are speeding!

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Why do we fuss with our children or our husbands on the way to church and by the time we get there we are so irritated we can't see straight but when someone asks us how we are doing we always reply "I'm fine, how are you?" when we really want to pull someone's hair out strand by strand.

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Why do we answer the phone and say "Hello?" when we have caller i.d. and we already know who it is? Why don't we just say "Hey girl, what's going on?"

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Why do we get frustrated and fuss while sitting in stand-still traffic because of an accident thinking of how late we are going to be to work or think about how inconvenienced we are instead of thinking of the poor family who has just lost a loved one in the accident or how someone's life has just been turned upside down because of the accident?

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Why do we discipline our children for breaking our rules, for not following directions, for being smart mouths but we break the rules by speeding, we don't follow directions given to us by our bosses and we are rude and hateful to the lady checking us out at the grocery store?

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Why do we try to handle our own problems when we know that we are the ones who messed everything up in the first place and if we would just let God be in control things would be the way they are supposed to be?

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Why do we push God away in the tough times and want to blame him for our pain and suffering when he is the one who can give us comfort and love?

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Why don't we pray in the good times and only seem to pray when we are worried, sick or at our limit?

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In Revelation 22:13 God says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." When life is throwing you curve balls and you feel like you are standing alone, he is the One True God! When your children are making you crazy, just remember that he is the One True God! When your boss is making you completely understand the phrase "I'm about to go postal!" remember he is the One True God! When you want to question every aspect of your life just remember he is the One True God!

Thank Goodness for Defrost

Seriously, I don't think it is EVER going to quit raining! And the fog! Good gracious I have never seen so much fog in my life! I am beginning to think that we were all uprooted one night and carefully placed in Seattle, Washington without our knowledge! Rain and fog, rain and fog that is our daily forecast right now. But, I'm thankful for it as well. In years past we have had such a rain drought every year that I am almost positive we don't have that problem right now. Shoot, we may even have an overage for next year?!?! I don't know anything about that sort of stuff but it fun to talk about anyway.

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I was driving to work this morning doing the usual stop and go, brakes and gas, fast and slow and in between sitting still I was reading my Sunday School lesson. Look, when you are stuck in traffic you learn to make the best out of those quiet moments! My lesson for the week is continuing on with the Christmas story out of Luke and I'm reading and thinking and praying and my windows and outside mirrors keep fogging up. I click defrost for a few seconds and then the traffic begins to move. I lay my Sunday School book down and drive a whole 100 yards it seemed like and traffic stopped again. I picked my book up and continued reading when I glanced up to see what the traffic situation was to only find my windows and outside mirrors fogged up again. Defrost! This continued on and off as I read my lesson. When I was finished reading I began to pray specifically for some things when my windows fogged up yet again. Defrost! On this click of the defrost I began to thank God for my blog. I thanked him for using this blog to teach me daily and how I stand amazed at how much I have learned from him in such a short time when all of a sudden...you guessed it...my windows and outside mirrors fogged up again! As I reached over to click defrost it felt as if God spoke to my heart and said "Sin is like the fog. It fogs everything up so you can't see, but I am the defroster!" I started grinning from ear to ear and began to think.

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God is the defroster! Hmmm, how about that?!?! Sin is everywhere. It loomes over us like a dark shadow day in and day out. We struggle to stay away from it but at every turn there is something there to tempt us. We pray, we go to church, we surround ourselves with Christian friends but that sin is still out there lurking just waiting to fog up our windows. We all trip and fall. We all sin but isn't it wonderful that God can defrost our windows for us! He can wipe them clean so that we can clearly see once again and continue on our path. The Lord says in Isaiah 1:18 "...'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow'..." See...he is our defroster!

I Promise!

Rain! I mean it has steadily been coming down! I think it has rained almost every day or at least every few days for the past few weeks! There is a house in my neighborhood that has a pond in the front yard and just a few shorts weeks ago that pond looked awfully pitiful but now the water is all but over flowing. I went to Wal-Mart to buy a few groceries at the end of last week and as I was walking to the truck I kicked water into my shoe! It isn't really all that cold outside to "feel" like Christmas but it sure does "look" like Christmas with all the dark clouds. I have always wanted a white Christmas but to my recollection I do not think I have ever seen one but God gives me rain!

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I was driving to work this morning at a whoping speed of 35 miles per hour. I'm not sure if you have to drive on an interstate to get to work every day but driving on the interstate at 35 miles per hour (sometimes slower than that) will seriously make you want to scream. You can see brake lights for miles in front of you and you glance at the clock and you know there is no way you are going to make it on time so you might as well just enjoy the ride because there is nothing you can do about it.

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So, as I'm rolling down the interstate I begin to think about how long it has been raining. I was wondering when it was going to stop, wondered if the rain was bringing in some cold winter weather, wondered if the guy in front of me would EVER take his foot off the brake...you know...just wondering. I begin to think about God's promise in Genesis 9:13 "I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth." Not only did God just promise to never flood the earth he gave us a rainbow to remind us of his promise.

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Naturally, my mind started racing thinking about rainbows and God's promises and how he gives us a visual. Like the cross! John 19 is the story of Jesus' crucifixion. In verse 17 it says "Carrying his own cross..." Aren't you glad that God created us to be "visual" people. Can you imagine what life would be like with something to look at as a reminder? Every time it rains and I see a rainbow I smile because it is as if God is just gently touching me and reminding me that he is there and his promises are real. When I see a cross I feel a tug in my heart because I know that Jesus died on a cross for ME! I was in the front of his mind as he died. Me! Little ole' ME! God promises to be with us always, protect us, guide us, love us, build a mansion for us and I know his promises are true because I have seen the rainbows....I have seen the cross!

Not My Thing

Thank goodness the weekend is over! Kristina had to perform five shows in one weekend! Phew, she is worn out (a little grumpy too)! The play was amazing, funny, a tear jerker and just had a little bit of everything that anyone would want in a performance. Shane and I went to the Friday night show and just because it was so good, I went again on Sunday.

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So, Friday afternoon at work I was running through my mind everything that needed to be done in order to make it to Kristina's 7:00 curtain. Work was crazy and I was worried I wasn't going to make it out of the office on time, traffic was a nightmare and everything just seemed like a blur. I dug through my purse, got my cell phone and called the house.

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"Hello?" Gabe answered.

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"Get your clothes changed, teeth and hair brushed and go on and get ready" I instructed. With Gabe, you have like a ten second span there from the moment he picks up the phone to the moment he is no longer listening to you. I cannot chit-chat with him immediately I must and I repeat I MUST give instructions first. The first sentence of a phone conversation with Gabe is really all he hears anyway. After that you get "Uh-huh" or "Okay" or my favorite "I understand." When Gabe says "I understand" he is not listening to you in the slightest bit. If you ask him to repeat what you just said he will quickly reply "I don't need to repeat it because I understand!" Oh, that boy is a mess I tell you!

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So, anyway, he intrupts me and says "Ugh, why do I have to do all that?"

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"Kristina's play opens tonight and we have to go get something to eat before we head to the auditorium." I probably said it gruffly because he replied back with "Okay, okay, okay!"

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"Now, you better be ready when I pull into that driveway" I continued.

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"Umm, Momma, I'm not really into the theater arts so I think I'll just stay home!" He said.

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Not into the theater arts?!?!?!? He's 12!! He don't know what the theater arts even is! I sat there for a second, let his words sink way down deep into my head and I burst out laughing. He sat there snickering and he finished, "Please, Momma, don't make me go!" I ended up allowing him to stay home because you know, he's not into the theater arts anyway! (heehee)

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As I sat at my kitchen table this morning to read my Bible I flipped open my Sunday School book and noticed that my scripture for the day was from Luke 2:8-12. This week's lesson will be about the Christmas story! Oh, I was so excited! I love that story! I bowed my head and hastily said a prayer for God to give me a word that I can use today. I glanced over to my Bible and I read "Prove by the way you live that you have really turned from your sins and turned to God." I sat there for a second and re-read the beginning of the verse. This isn't the Christmas story I thought to myself. I glanced over to my Sunday School lesson and read the scripture printed on the page and it was most definitely Luke 2:8-12 which is part of the Christmas story. Back over to my Bible I went and suddenly I realized that I had read Luke 3:8. I sat amazed at my wonderful God! The word I needed to receive today had nothing to do with the Christmas story but it had everything to do with encouragement.

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I get worn down and discouraged sometimes because I have people who are very close to my life that are not Christians and I see them struggling and hurting and I know the answer. I know the key to their problems, their heartaches and I know that my God is just waiting on them. But, they do not want to listen. When I try to witness or encourage them with scripture they get so frustrated and it is like they just shut me off and don't listen. I learned today that I can be a witness to them simply by my actions and showing them that I have turned from that life and turned to God. God has renewed me and made me new. He has not only healed me but healed my broken family and he is the answer! But, for those people who think God is "not their thing" just prove to them by the way you live that God is your thing and he most definitely can be their thing.

Frustration!

It was one of those weeks. If it could go wrong at work, it went wrong. It is the end of the year and let me tell you that attorneys get in high gear at the end of the year. Everything has to be done and it must be done RIGHT NOW! We have had several secretaries out of the office for the holidays and the work has just been never ending. I'm not too sure if you happen to know an attorney but if an attorney gets stressed...guess what...their staff gets stressed! haha

In the midst of work drama, Kristina is in a school theatre production. Her hours have been crazy and we have been burning up the streets getting her home from practice late every night. We believe in having our children do chores around the house and naturally her chores have been neglected because she is either not home or when she is home, she is doubling up on homework so I have been trying to pick up the slack for her. I'm not too sure if you have children but if your child gets stressed...guess what...their Mom gets stressed! haha

To add to the pot Shane was beginning his first week of day shift. Shane works for an auto manufacturer and they work a two week swing shift (2 weeks days/2 weeks nights). Rotating to the night shift does seem to affect him but rotating to days just does him in. We live a little over an hour from his plant so he must wake up in the mornings at 4:00 in order to get dressed, get his stuff together and make it to work before the assembly line starts moving at 6:30. Needless to say, he is a little grumpy his first week of days. I love that man but it sure is hard to show him love sometimes during this week. I don't know if you have ever had a grumpy husband but if your husband gets stressed...guess what...their wife gets stressed! haha

After crying tears of frustration off and on this particular day I bowed my head and prayed a simple prayer for some strength to continue the day. I opened the internet on my computer, pulled up biblegateway.com and typed in Galations 5. God is so good in that he just took over my fingers and sent me to just what I needed to read. I made my way down to verses 13-15. "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other." Wow! I surely needed to read that at that very moment. It is so easy to jump in the fire of frustration, stress and grumpiness when everyone around you is swimming in that pool. It is so hard to love others when all you get in return is frustration, words of stress and anxiety or short and snarled words of anger. But, these verses reminded me that at these times, when you just can't seem to find love, just love them through Jesus. When it all breaks down that is the only way we love anyway. GOD IS LOVE! Plain and simple, love them like Jesus!

The Secret

I would be sitting there doing nothing when Gabe would walk up and say "Tell me a secret!" He was probably every bit of 3 years old and loved secrets. I would whisper little things like "I love you" in his ear and we would giggle and snicker like I had just told him the secret to life. I would no more whisper into his ear and he would put his little hands on my face, turn my head and whisper in my ear. But, his secrets were jabber, not even words. He would cup his little hands around his mouth and say "Psss, psss, psss" and I would jerk my head back and say "No way!" and then we would laugh and carry on. This game would continue for hours.

Kristina, being the prissy one, would always get so mad because she wanted to know the "secret." I would tell Gabe that he better not tell my secret and he would cover his mouth with his hands and snicker to the point his entire little body would shake. He would get a gleam in his eyes and pop those big hazel eyes back and forth as if he was looking for a secret agent. "Tell me!" Kristina would demand while stomping her feet. After a few minutes of getting her all fired up I would eventually say, "Come here." She would walk towards me, arms folded across her chest and bottom lip poked out. I would cup my hands around my mouth right next to her ear and I would whisper "I love you!" "Ugh, Momma! That's not even a secret!" she would complain!

Oh how times have changed. I have watched my children's interest change and grow. Secrets now consist of who is dating who and which girl in the class is the prettiest. Secrets of a kiss stolen in the school hallway and what grade someone made on a test. Even though they are 16 and 12 I still cannot help but tuck my kids in at night. Of course, I wait until they are asleep because can you imagination the humilation they would feel to know they were tucked in by their Mother! Oh the shame!! haha But, every night, as I tip-toe in their rooms I bend over them and whisper in their ears "I love you!"

1 Corinthians 12:26-27 says "...the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." I love the first part the mystery. You know the secret is that God has chosen YOU! When we are born again and I say that firmly because when we accept Christ as the Lord and Savior of our lives we are completely a new creature. Everything about us changes. Our tastes change. The social settings that were once acceptable are no longer, our friends change, things that were once a big deal now seem to just be ant hills. Our bitterness, our anger, our hatefulness are gone! He transforms us and we are new creatures in him. But, the greatest secret of all is....it isn't even a secret!! He is Lord, he is Emmanuel!

At The Right Time

Have you ever tried to rush something or someone? I have! I have regreted it, but I tried it and for some reason I have had to learn my lesson the hard way numerous times. Kristina is the type of person that cannot be rushed. You don't push her. She was born six days late yet she walked before her first birthday while others were just beginning to crawl. She hid behind my legs in social settings and as she outgrew what my legs could cover she hid behind my back and my left arm. When she is nervous about a place she will lift my left arm and slide behind it and place my arm on top her as if to shield her from the world. But, she will walk on stage in a pageant or in a theater production like a pro. Never thinking twice about those around her. Driving has been no different. One moment she is on and drives like she has been driving since the day she was born but then tomorrow she is running mailboxes over. Shane gets so frustrated with her and he tries to push her and rush her and I just smile and tell him "Give her space, don't push her so hard, she will do it WHEN SHE IS READY!"

But, when Kristina is ready...she is READY! When she finally made her appearance into this world she was more beautiful than I could have imagined. Even though she walked earlier than other children she seemed to fall more and harder. She has just recently begun not hiding behind my back or under my left arm but she still must always know where I am in a crowd. If she cannot see me she will come find me or she will send me a quick text wanting to know my location. As long as she knows I am there, she is comforted. And driving will come to her as well. In her own time. One day she will wake up, put the keys in the car and drive like a pro from that day forward. (Relax! Because of this, she doesn't have her license yet so the roads are still safe for the time being! haha).

Kristina was never the "ugly duckling" but she did go through an "awkward" phase. Her arms and legs didn't seem to fit her body. Her big, huge blue eyes were twice as big as the rest of her face. Her hair was stringy and wouldn't cooperate with any sort of hairstyle. But, as she has starting maturing into a young woman she is absolutely gorgeous. I know, I'm a little prejudice but she is breathtaking. She came into her own, in her own time.

I truly believe God gave me Kristina to remind me time and time again that he is the one in control and that he will always be right there with me but he will do things in his own time. Often times I want to rush God. I want to pray for a situation and I want it right then. I don't want to wait, I am praying right now! I need it right now! But, oh when my prayer is answered it is so much better than I could have ever imagined! God's timing is perfect. I never understand why I am going through a storm while I am paddling to stay above water but when the seas have calmed and the winds have died down I completely understand. Why? Because he calmed the winds and the rains in his time not mine! It says in 1 Peter 5:6 "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time." Did you catch that? In due time. His time. When he is ready.

I don't know what is swirling around in her life today as you read this. I don't know what frustration or aggravation you are dealing with. But God knows. God knows the storm that is raging in your life and for whatever reason he has placed you there with a purpose. And, he will deliver you from that storm in his time when he is ready.

Roots Before Branches

I tell you what....my Grandma (my Daddy's Mom) had a green thumb. That woman could grow anything. I remember being told a story of how she had gone to visit one of her five son's in Minnesota one Summer. Upon boarding her plane she instructed my Dad to place a package she had coming in the corner of her house and she would handle it when she got back. The package arrived just as she said and per her instructions my Daddy tossed the package in the corner of her house and it stayed there until she returned home several weeks later. Upon her arrival home she opened the package and to my Daddy's amazement it was an oak tree. It was a sad, pitiful, DEAD tree now! My Grandma was not worried in the slightest. She took that tree into her backyard, planted it and I have you know that to this very day that tree is still thriving in the backyard of that house!

I remember as a child my Grandma would come and stay for several weeks at the time. You always knew when she was there because you could smell the scent of fresh baked bread for miles down the road it seemed like! And, she resurrected my Mom's dead flowers. Oh, my Momma loves flowers but bless her heart she kills them. One time, she killed a cactus. Another time, she killed an air plant! Yes, an air plant! How do you even begin to kill an AIR PLANT?!?!? Well, I need not laugh because this "black" thumb was passed on to me. I love flowers but I kill them. I know nothing about them. When I was a kid I wanted to be a florist. How funny is that? I love to arrange flowers and decorate with flowers but to grow them......not my cup of tea I guess you could say. I don't know enough about the roots of the flowers, shrubs or trees to make them grow into the beauty they are meant to be. But, with gardening you must have good roots to have beautiful flowers, perfect shurbs and thriving trees.

Same is true with our lives. Without roots we are nothing. We might randomly sprout a twig here or there but we aren't full, complete, to our potential. God's word is our roots. We must hide God's word within our hearts to grow our roots so we can have full thick branches. In Psalm 119:11 it says "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." We must read and retain God's word. We must protect it in our hearts like a precious treasure so no one can ever take it. We must do this because one day we will be in a situation where a storm will rage, winds will roar, lightening will flash and without the deep roots of God's word hidden within our hearts our branches will crack, break and fall into sin. Trust God to be your gardner and grow deep strong roots in his word! You must have roots before you can have branches!

A Bow

Can you make a bow? I can't. I can barely tie my shoes! I have never been a bow maker. I see these gorgeous bows that people have on their mailboxes, banisters, inside their homes and when I hear they made them I just want to stomp my feet because I can't do it. I have tried and tried but bow making is not my specialty. Honestly, I can't even pick out ribbon that good. If you came to my house and demanded that I give you a ribbon, you would be out of luck. We would have to take a pre-made bow, tear it apart and only use the sections that didn't have staple holes in them! Seriously, can't make a bow.

So, they invented these new gadgets called "bow makers." Yeah, I'd like to talk to the guy who invented that because the bows I make on this alleged "bow maker" look awful! I can't get the ribbon to pull together right and I just end up with a sad, pitiful bow. My bows, they are the ones for Charlie Brown's sad little tree.

But, my Mom can make a bow. She makes gorgeous bows. They are full, flowy (if that is even a word) and just breath taking. I love to watch her make them. She will get that ribbon going in every direction and she twists it somehow and then grabs some more and before long what was once a straight piece of flat ribbon is now puffed up and intertwined to make a gorgeous bow. I love to watch her make them. She does them with such ease as if she has been making bows her whole life. Amazing this talent that she has.

But, you know what? Not everyone can be a bow maker. Some people, have to be the bow hangers. That's where I come in. I go to my Mom's house and she whips me up a bow and I'm all over it when I get home. I can look at a basket or a post and know just what size bow needs to go where and exactly how it should be positioned. I can bend the laces of the bow and place the streamers just so to where it looks as if the bow was made just for that spot. I can move bows from place to place and re-use them over and over again season after season. I have the talent of bow hanger. That's MY job!

So, naturally, I'm thinking about bows today. I have them everywhere at my house and see them everywhere with it being the holiday season. They are on mailboxes, banisters, fence posts, packages and I have even seen a few on some cars. I began to think about bows as an analogy for talent. Did you know God has designed a talent specific to each one of us? In Romans 12:6 he says "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us."

Do you know what this scripture says to me? It says that God creates some people to be the bow maker. They have a way with their hands and can twist and turn and pinch and hold and take something that was just laying flat on a roll and turn it into something beautiful. Something that others can admire and enjoy. You often don't know who made the bow. You see them hanging everywhere but you just aren't too sure who the "bow maker" is but you appreciate their work nonetheless.

Then, God creates others to be the "bow hangers." They take the wonderful work that the bow maker did and work with it, mold it, shape it, place it in just the right place so that everyone can see it. If the bow needs to be re-used, they will dust it off, move it from place to place constantly encouraging it to be all that it can be. They never undo what the bow maker did because they know that they cannot recreate the bow itself but they can take what was done, hang it with pride and watch day after day as this bow adds beauty to the world.

And last but not least God creates those to be "the bow." The bow's job is to be the image that everyone recognizes. The bow knows that just a short time ago it was simply a piece of ribbon wound up on a spool with nothing to do. It waited patiently for someone to pick it up, run loving fingers through each piece and mold it into what it knew it could one day be. Once it was formed into a beautiful bow it knew that God would place a bow hanger in it's life to place it in just the right place time after time to be enjoyed by all. It knows that as THE BOW it is in the spotlight. But it never forgets the bow maker nor the bow hanger. It's gift from God was to be in the front of the crowd, to shine each and every day and it takes this talent and does it to the best of its ability.

God has given each of us a talent to glorify and magnify him. Are you the bow maker? Are you the bow hanger? Or, are you the bow?

Looking for THE MAN

The anticipation for Christmas had been building for weeks. We had just celebrated Kristina’s 3rd birthday and Christmas was just icing on the cake. She was 3 weeks old her very first Christmas and the last few years the excitement had just been growing each and every year. This was the first year that she actually believed in Santa and understood.

Every night before bed for weeks we would talk about Santa and how he was coming and count the days until he arrived. We talked about the toys she hoped she would get and how excited she was and with each night the anticipation grew more and more until finally Christmas Eve arrived.

When she woke up on Christmas Eve morning she immediately began bouncing off the walls. She was so excited! I really don’t think excited even begins to cover her emotion. All day long she rattled on about Santa coming. We watched cartoons about Santa, baked cookies, told stories, just basically had a typical Christmas Eve with a 3 year old.

As she hurried off to bed I said "Now, go right to sleep so Santa can come!"

"Yes ma’am" she said almost like a solider answering his commander. She scurried into her room, jumped into her big girl bed and before long she was out!

As soon as my eyes popped open on Christmas morning I woke Shane up, threw on some warm socks and while Shane went into the living room to get everything ready I went and woke Kristina up.

I bent over her little angelic face, kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear "Wake up precious, Santa came!" She flung back her covers, jumped up on her bed, slung the window blind back and started looking out the window.

"Where’s his sleigh?" She questioned.

"What?" I said. "What are you talking about?"

She jumped off her bed, ran into the living room and started looking around. "Where is he?" She said in the most defiant tone I had ever heard.

Shane and I looked at each other in total confusion. She propped her hands on her hips and with her hair sticking up in every direction imaginable she looked right at me and said "Mommy, you said Santa was coming and I want to know where he is!"

Oh no....it was all becoming clear to me now! "Oh no baby, Santa couldn’t stay, he had to go take toys to all the other kids but look what he brought for you!" I took her by the hand and walked toward the Christmas tree showing her what all Santa had left for her. Well, she was not having it for a second. She folded her little arms, held her head down, poked her lip out and said "But, that’s not what you promised me! You said Santa was COMING! And he’s not here!" Her eyes welled up with tears and she collapsed with her back to the tree.

Shane and I did everything we could to console her and explain how it worked. We showed her gifts from Santa one by one. When that didn’t work we started giving her gifts from us to open but she refused. She simply sat there, head hanging low, eyes full of tears repeating over and over "But you said Santa was coming!" It didn’t matter how many times I went over the "rules of Christmas" she didn’t care. In her precious little mind she had thought all these weeks that Santa was coming to visit her.

As the day ticked on, she refused to open gifts at anyone’s house. When someone asked what she got for Christmas from Santa she would quickly respond "Nothing, he didn’t come!" All she wanted was Santa himself. The gifts meant nothing to her! She wanted the real thing.

Do you have the real thing or do you just have the idea of the real thing? So many times people walk through this life thinking their good deeds are going to get them to heaven. Others think their money will be their golden ticket. Many believe that because they have been to church every single time the doors were open since they were born they will be grandfathered in there somehow but that is not how it works. In John 14:6 Jesus says "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Oh, dear friend, if you do not know him today is the day for you to get the real deal, the real thing, get the man himself! As my pastor always says, it will take you 5 minutes to make Jesus the Lord of your life and a lifetime to live it out. Don’t waste your talents, your energy, your life, even the day at hand on anything but the Father!

Don't Waste Your Trials

I walked into the sanctuary and sat on the back pew. I arrived at church right as it was starting for Wednesday night service and tried to almost "slip in" as quietly as possible. Our Wednesday service consists of three different moments. We begin by allowing anyone who feels led to share a praise. Tell everyone something wonderful that the Lord has done for them. Next, we go into prayer time. You can add someone to the prayer list, pray specifically for a need or simply pray with other church members. After prayer time our pastor begins to give a short devotional. Tonight was a little different in that my pastor recently has been diagnosed with cancer. He brought to our special Wednesday night service ten ways he has learned to not "waste" his cancer. As he went over each item, one by one, I began to see how he was not only showing us ways he was using his cancer as a tool but he was also showing us how to not "waste" our trials. I was so moved by these words that I just felt compelled to share them with you today.

1) You will waste your trial if you do not believe it is designed for you by God.
"Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?" Job 2:10

2) You will waste your trial if you believe it is a curse and not a gift.
"So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1

3) You will waste your trial if you seek comfort from your odds rather than from God.
"In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we learned not to rely on ourselves, but on God who can raise the dead." 2 Corinthians 1:9

4) You will waste your trial if you refuse to think about death.
"Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom." Psalm 90:12

5) You will waste your trial if you think that overcoming the trial means staying alive rather then cherishing Christ.
"For to me, living is for Christ, and dying is even better." Philippians 1:21

6) You will waste your trial if you spend too much time reading about your situation (ex.: researching the internet for an answer) and not enough time reading about God.
"Oh, that we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know him! Then he will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring." Hosea 6:3

7) You will waste your trial if you let it drive you into solitude instead of deepen your relationships with manifest affection.
"Now I am sending him home again, for he has been longing to see you, and he was very distressed that you heard he was ill. And he surely was ill; in fact, he almost died. But God had mercy on him - and also on me, so that I would not have such unbearable sorrow." Philippians 2:26-27

8) You will waste your trial if you grieve as those who have no hope.
"...I want you to know what will happen to the Christians who have died so you will not be full of sorrow like people who have no hope." 1 Thessalonians 4:13

9) You will waste your trial if you sin as casually as before.
"I used to wander off until you disciplined me; but now I closely follow your word."
Psalm 119:67

10) You will waste your trial if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.
"But before all this occurs, there will be a time of great persecution. You will be dragged into synagogues and prisons, and you will be accused before kings and governors of being my followers. This will be your opportunity to tell them about me." Luke 21:12-13

Wow! I was amazed...I am still amazed at these "things." As my pastor began to explain each "waste" I began to examine my own short comings and thinking of how I tend to become defensive and question when I go through a trial. This list will be placed in my Bible as a reminder to not waste my trials.

You Didn't Tell Me That

Back at work after the Thanksgiving holidays is tough. (Sigh)...I was struggling!! I could not focus, did not want to be at work, thoughts of being at home, curled up on the coach with a cup of hot chocolate admiring my Christmas tree were dancing in my head. I watched as the clock ticked by ever so slowly all day long. About ten after three the phone rang. I glanced over and recognized the number as being my house.

"Hello?" I said.

"Uh, Momma, I’m home!" It was Gabe. He calls me every day when he gets off his bus to let me know that he made it home okay, had made it inside okay and we would "discuss" his day. I use the word "discuss" lightly because having a son and a daughter has really taught me the major difference in the way boys and girls "discuss" things. When Kristina calls me it takes her 30 minutes to just tell me what everyone had on that day at school and then the next 30 minutes to tell me what she ate for lunch. I have to save the rest of the details for when I get home or otherwise I would never get off the phone with her. But, Gabe, he’s different. He talks non-stop about nonsense but when it comes to important things, like, well, uh, school, he doesn’t give many details.

"How was your day?" I started with my normal questions.

"Good, good."

"What did you do today?" Staple question number two.

"Work" he responded. See...NO details!

"You got any homework?" Staple question number three.

"No ma’am." He said in a huff. He was ready to get me off the phone so he could go play his Playstation.

"How did you manage not to have homework today?" I asked.

"Momma, you just worry about you and I’ll worry about me" he said, all but snickering. I sat in silence for a minute and before I could say anything he said "Breathe, Mom, I was just kidding! I finished it already."

"Boy, you better be glad you said that over the phone because if I was at home right now I would..." He interrupted me with his laughter and our conversation continued on.

"Hey" I said "Do we have hot dogs in the fridge?"

"No ma’am" he answered without hesitation.

"Did you look?" I asked.

"Oh, no ma’am," he said "you didn’t tell me to look!"

Boys! They will wear you out most days! As the time slowly ticked on by I couldn’t help but snicker to myself about mine and Gabe’s conversation. I was telling the story to a co-worker when she said "Well, Lori, you didn’t tell him he had to look!" We had a good laugh and I returned to my desk.

Hmmm, I didn’t tell him to look. That thought kept going through my mind over and over. In Deuteronomy 4:29 it says "But if...you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and all your soul." It amazes me that God knew that he would have to tell us to look for him. We would not automatically seek him out. We know that God holds the key to everything, every answer to every question, every solution to every problem. We know way down in our knower that he is the Almighty but for some reason, we have to be told to seek to look.

Have you ever thought about a child's faith? A child doesn’t question the presence of God. A child doesn’t need God proven to them, explained to them, shown to them. We are born with the knowledge that God is all around us. But, as we become older we seem to question him and question what we know to be true. Or, that was the case with me. As I became a teenager, then grew into being a teenage mom and wife, and then on into being a selfish adult I began to question my life, my choices, my everything and as Shane and I began going to church and getting involved I kept being told about seeking God, searching for God, finding God and oh the day when I finally did that!

How ironic it is that we, as parents, get so frustrated that we have to spoon feed our kids with instructions and I, myself, have said numerous times that I should write a manual for my children with specific instructions on how to look for something without being told. God, the Almighty Father, did just that for his children! He gave us a manual with complete instructions and reminds us time and time again to seek him, to find him because he is right there just patiently waiting on us. Makes you wonder if some days he wants to slap his hand across our foreheads and say "You should have had a V8!" (heeheehee). Hope you have a wonderful day! Seek God today, find God today, love God today, love like God today! =)

Let It Snow...

Oh guess what? The local weatherman forecast the possibility of some snow flurries and I have been ecstatic all day long! I’m a huge snow lover but could never live up north because that is just entirely TOO MUCH snow for me but just the anticipation of the possibility of snow makes me smile and get all giddy! Every time I hear the forecast of snow my mind begins to fade back to a little over sixteen years ago....

Shane and I had been dating for almost a year. He had proven to me time and time again that he was a young man of his word. To a point it drove me to insanity but at the time, I didn’t know how to appreciate that wonderful characteristic. Too bad we don’t learn these things until we are older! The weatherman was forecasting snow in the Birmingham area and I, a snow lover, was beside myself. I was 17 years old and absolutely bouncing off the walls with excitement. Momma and Daddy were probably well up to their limit with me because just by the mere mention of snow I turn into a two year old. Constantly looking out the window, opening the door to peek outside, begging the sky for a few flakes to fall.

Shane and I lived about 15 minutes apart by car. He worked at a local grocery store just down the road from his neighborhood and this day, he had to work. He had called me before he left for work and his last words to me were "I’ll see you tonight when I get off!" "What?" I asked. He continued, "I have promised you all winter that IF it snowed I would be there with you so we could share OUR first snow together!" I turned all but twelve years old at this point and sheepishly laughed and said "Okay." As the day slowly ticked away I watched the skies looking ever so closely for the sign of a snowflake and then all of a sudden around dusk, BOOM, there it was! It was SNOWING!! I started squealing and jumping around like a complete kid. I was clapping my hands and running in place and mumbling words like I had never spoken the English language before. Before long the snow began to accumulate. Oh, it wasn’t much, maybe ½ inch or less but it was still accumulation.

Around 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. I realized that I had not heard from Shane. He had not called to tell me that he was off work and safe at home. I had no more thought about calling his house when I heard a knock at the door. As I walked towards the door all I could see was eyes peering back at me because everything else was covered up. I opened the door and there stood Shane!! I said "What in the world are you doing here?" He grinned and said "I promised you I was going to share our first snow with you and here I am!" I looked around him to see how he had gotten there because he didn’t have a car at the time and there was not an extra vehicle in the driveway. "How on earth did you get here?" I fussed. "Ummmm....well....I walked part of the way, got a ride a little more of the way, and then finished up the rest by walking!" I slapped his arm, gave him a hug, then slapped him again! "It is way too cold for you to be walking to my house!" "But," he whispered "I love you forever!" After we picked my parents up off the floor from utter shock that he had walked to my house, my Dad called his parents, agreed to let him spend the night in our extra bedroom and when we woke up the next morning, we made a snowman together and shared OUR first snow as a couple.

As I have sat and looked out the window of my office building today just praying to see a few snowflakes this story has been on my mind. The unfailing promise of a teenage boy to love me forever has been just that...an unfailing promise! We have been through some rough times, we have done a lot of stupid things, said a lot of stupid things, made a lot of wrong choices but at the end of the day we have stuck it out. Our love has endured!

At these thoughts I naturally became curious. I opened up biblegateway.com and typed "love endures forever." Did you know that the Bible references "...his love endures forever" in 43 verses? Wow! His love endures forever! How great is that? Do you know how long forever is? Can you even begin to describe love that endures forever? It is sort of like describing the taste of water, isn’t it? God will never fail you nor will he ever let you down. How do I know this? Because HIS love endures FOREVER!!

He is EVERYWHERE!

As I sat in the pew the speaker introduced a video of a woman named Janet. The speaker was from Alabama Teen Challenge and had brought a group of young women to our church to share their testimonies. The video was of a woman who shared her testimony at Alabama Teen Challenge's 50th anniversary. She began to speak about being raised in a Christian home, making wrong choices as a teenager, being deceitful, living a double life it seemed. She began to talk about her experience with drugs and the awful pit she was in.

As the video finished a young woman stood up, took the microphone and began to share her story. She was also raised in church, was from a divorced family, grew up to be a "normal mom," had two children, was living a normal life when she miscarried a baby and then was diagnosed with cancer. After being healed from cancer she found herself sterile and began to earnestly pray for another child. After four years, God answered her prayer and she became pregnant. Within a few weeks of her due date she left the doctor's office with the news that she was ready to deliver any day. As she drove home she was involved in a head on collision that left her temporarily paralyzed and she awoke from a coma to find out that her unborn son had died. At this point she became an alcoholic.

Story after story that was told I began to relate. Although I have never struggled with a drinking problem or a drug problem I have struggled with valleys, depression, hopelessness, despair, rejection, humilitation, disappointment, heartache and loneliness. Haven't we all? Tears poured down my face as I listened to how these women have not only over came their addictions but how they have turned their sight towards heaven in the process. It was a very moving service. Tears filled the room. You could hear sniffles and you saw parents looking at their children knowing that it could be their child standing up there or it could be their child that was lost in the same situation not knowing how to get out.

As one Mother stood to share a parent's story she spoke of how she could feel the prescence of the Lord as she walked into Teen Challenge with her daughter. As they began to pray for her daughter she could feel the Holy Spirit right there with them. These words sent chills over me and as I type this once again I have chill bumps. I began to realize that God is EVERYWHERE! I know in my mind that God is everywhere but to actually begin to try to wrap my mind around that overwhelmed me. Throughout the day at work, driving home in my truck, sitting at my desk, walking through the grocery store, sitting with you while you read this blog. He is there. He is everywhere! I try to grasp that concept and just as soon as I almost get there, I stand amazed once again!

It says in Zephaniah 3:17 "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save." I could list verse after verse where we are told that God is with us. But, this is my favorite. Not only is he with us but he is mighty to save. After you catch your breath and try to wrap your mind around the very fact that he with me, with my children, with my husband, with you, with your children, with your husband, he is, well, EVERYWHERE at the exact same time please take a moment to thank him! To serve him! To worship him! To love him!

Thank You

The moment the doctor said "It's positive" my heart began to beat faster than she could count my pulse. Every emotion, every thought, every fear came rushing over me. It was the day before my 18th birthday and I just learned that I was pregnant. Scared and in somewhat of a fog I drove to Shane's house and standing right there on his concrete front porch I gave him the news. We had been dating for about a year and a half and even though we were both in denial we both knew deep down that I was pregnant. My visit to the doctor was just confirmation. I told my parents on my 18th birthday (yeah, that's a birthday for the history books) and within a few weeks Shane and I were married and set to live a crazy, unusual life.

Sixteen years ago today it was Thanksgiving Day. I don't remember much about that day other than waddling around talking to belly saying "You were supposed to be born 3 days ago!" She finally made her glorious arrival 3 days later on November 29th. I can remember sitting in the hospital room while Shane slept holding her and thinking "Okay, kid, its me and you. I have no clue what I'm doing here and you're gonna have to help me out!" She looked up at me as if she knew what I was thinking.

The first night at home was a nightmare. She cried, I cried, she screamed then, well, I screamed! My Mom and Dad stayed in their room while I did it on my own. I'm sure there were so many times my Momma wanted to come out there and say "For the love, Lori, give me the child and let me do it!" But, she never did. My Momma always let me figure things out on my own. She always let me make mistakes, try it my way and never gave me her opinion unless I asked. She is still like that and I try and try and try to mirror myself after her. I fail, but I do try. After 3 or 4 hours of continuous feeding, diaper changing and tears I was at my wits end because Kristina was still crying. I held her in my arms with her head in my hands. I looked directly into her eyes and I said "I don't know what's wrong with you! Tell me!" Without batting an eye, she turned her head to the side and began to projectile vomit! I mean it went EVERYWHERE!! I had no clue how one little bitty baby could produce that much vomit. I'm not sure what made my Mom finally come out of her room but as she helped me clean it all up (see, that's my Mom, she is always there to help clean the mess) I began telling her what had happened. She looked up at me in the dimly lit living room and said "Precious, did you not burp her?" Burp her?!?!? Oh yeah, oops I forgot that part!

From that moment on I knew that me and Kristina were going to be just fine. I have made tons of mistakes over the past 16 years. I have made bad choices as her mother. I have given her bad advice, tried to control her, snooped when I shouldn't have and busted her when I needed to. The love that I have for my children is a love that is never failing. A love that never ends because it didn't grow a little bit over time, it was instantaneous. Even though I was scared to death the moment the doctor confirmed I was pregnant, in some weird way, I immediately loved her without knowing her. The day I took a home pregnancy test with Gabe and confirmed what I already knew, I immediately loved him. No matter what choices my children will ever make in their lives, I will love them unconditionally. No matter how many times I help them fix a problem, no matter who they date, who they marry, where they live, what job they choose I will love them.

In 1 Chronicles 16:34 he says "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." If we love our children as much as we do, can you only begin to imagine how much he loves us? I love the song Old Rugged Cross. O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me; for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above to bear it to dark Calvary. He loved us so much that he gave his son on Calvary for you, for me, for all. That is love that I cannot even begin to comprehend. So, tomorrow, as you are hugging your family, watching the parades, stuffing your bellies, be thankful for the little things. Be thankful for the things you so many times over look. Remember to love and remember to be thankful for love.

By Your Side

I was at work several years ago when the phone rang. "This is Lori" I said. I heard a sweet soft voice on the other end of the line, "Ummm...Mrs. Goodwin, ummmm, we need you to come to the school. I'm not sure how to tell you this, but...." At this point, my heart isn't beating at all. I can't breathe, my stomach has completely fallen to my feet and I can't even muster a single peep. The sweet lady continued, "Gabe, well, he, ummm, has a marble stuck in his nose!!" I sat there for a minute and I said "What?!?!?!?!?" I wanted to laugh but her voice sounded like this was a serious situation and I didn't want to seem like a bad mother but my mind began to race. A marble?!?!?!? "I'm on my way" I said. I went into my boss' office, slowly opened the door and trying to not laugh I said, "I need to go. The school just called and Gabe needs to go to the doctor." Yeah, that was a safe comment. How do you go about telling your boss that your child has shoved a marble up his nose? I'm still in awe of how my child (who was 5 at the time) was able to shove a marble (those things are pretty big) up his little, tiny nose!

I walked to the car almost shaking my head in disbelief and as I pulled out of the parking deck I called the pediatrician's office. I went through the spill with the emergency nurse (yes, to me, this was an emergency) and she said "Just bring him in." I wanted to say "Really, you think I should bring him in?!?!?" I just love the way doctors/nurses talk to you sometimes. Like what else was I going to do with him? Keep it shoved up there???

I pulled into the school probably on two wheels. Walked into the school office and there my precious baby sat. His eyes were red from crying and Kristina, in all her wonder, was standing beside him, hip on her hand. She was in the 4th grade and totally humilated at her brother. Gabe looked up at me and he said, "Mommy, I just wanted to know if it would fit." He burst into tears and just collapsed into my arms. Ms. Know It All (yes, you guessed it, Kristina) said "Gabe SHOVED a marble UP HIS NOSE MOM!!!" I looked at the school secretary who was doing absolutely everything she could to keep the situation calm and said "How did he fit a marble up his nose?" "Lori" she said "I found out it is a necklace bead, not a marble that you play with." Well, a little bit of relief washed over me. I finished up the normal check-out procedure and out the door we went.

When we got to the doctor's office they rushed us in pretty quickly to a room. A nurse looked up his nose, "Yep, there's a bead in there" she said and before long the doctor came in. He looked and muttered and looked some more and he said "Ma'am, I'm going to have to stick this tool up his nose to get the bead because he has it pushed nearly to his eye!" "WHAT?!?!" I said. "Well, it is either this or surgery so it's your choice." "No, no, this is fine, let's try this first." So, the doctor left the room to get his tools and I began to reason with Gabe. I was trying to explain to him what the doctor was fixing to do and how he needed to be real still and that baby looked at me with total fear in his eyes and he said "Mommy, I can be still and do right if you'll just hold me!"

Those precious words have been a secret between me and Gabe even up unto this day. When the world is starting to wear Gabe down he'll come and whisper something similar to those words to me, climb in my lap (even at 12 years old) and hold on for a few minutes and then, in a flash, he's gone again. It's like he just needs that reassurance that Mom is still holding him.

As children of God we often need that reassurance that he is holding us. In Matthew 28:20 he reassures us by saying "...And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Just as children need to feel our arms wrapped around them we need to fill God's love wrap around us. Sometimes I believe he wraps love around us through the arms of a child, a stranger, a sister or maybe our husbands. Or, sometimes, I think he wraps us in love with the wind from the ocean, the sand that surrounds us when we lay on the beach, the leaves from our trees that we rake up and then fall into, or maybe, it's that cup of coffee that warms us to the core. Always know that you are not alone and his hands are always holding you.

Calm the Storm!

We had just left the orthodontist’s office when I pulled into the parking lot for the grocery store. It seemed like every single parking space was full and we had to park way out by the road. As me and Kristina walked through the doors I thought "Oh, this will be fun!" The place was crowded. I pulled my list out of my purse, got a pen and took a breath. It was the weekend before Thanksgiving and everybody and their mother was there getting their holiday meal groceries. Me, I was too broke to buy the holiday food and was simply there to buy my weekly groceries and knew that I was going to have to wave the storm in a few days (the day before Thanksgiving) to get my holiday groceries.

Up and down the aisles I went. Meticulously marking off the items that I was there to get and after placing each item in the buggy I would flip my list over and manually add up my list. I knew I only had so much money and I could not under any circumstance go over that limit. People seemed to get frustrated with me for just standing in the aisle. I wasn’t in the middle in anyone’s way I was just pulled over to the side as close I could possibly get to the aisle itself. But, that didn’t matter to some women. Kristina was rammed in the back several times with a buggy, her foot rolled over and if these women were fire breathing dragons I think both she and I would be considered "crispy" about right now.

Kristina finally threw in the towel and asked to go look at cds in the electronics department and I felt so sorry for her I agreed. I began to look into my buggy, look at my list and flip the list over to see where I was money wise. There were several items that I needed that I knew I had accidentally missed but they were three or four aisles back and there was no way I was going to go back! No way!! I finished up getting about three days worth of groceries, grabbed Kristina and out the door we ran. As I walked in the house Shane began to ask "Did you get water?" "Nope!" I replied. "Did you buy a new mop?" "Ummm...sure didn’t!" I quipped. "Why not?!?!?!" I stopped for a minute, popped my brown eyes at him and said "That place was NUTS and I got what I could get and RAN!" He snickered and Kristina piped up, "No, seriously Daddy, you have NO clue!" We all began to joke and exaggerate what the store had been like and before long the irritation from my grocery trip was gone.

I woke up this morning with no story for my blog. I began to pray on the way to work which is pretty usual and then I looked at the clock knowing that I was running behind. "Lord, please let these cars get out of my way!" I said. I said it not really praying for it but just saying it to keep my patience. About that time, cars started changing lanes and it was if the road was all mine. I zipped through traffic like it was nothing. As I was walking into my office building the story of Jesus calming the sea came to my mind. The story is Mark 4:35-41. But, my favorite part is in verse 39. Jesus said, "‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm." First of all I am in awe of the "Quiet! Be still!" The exclamation marks really get me. He didn’t just quietly say it. He yelled it! You know, like we yell at our kids. I can just see him, standing there, finger pointing at the seas yelling "QQQQQQQQUUUUUUUIIIIIIIEEEEETTTTT! BE STILL!" And THEN it was completely calm! How about that? Just like that, it was calm. I bet it was faster than snapping your fingers or blinking your eyes! Poof!!! No more wind!

God can calm your storm. Did you know that? What we need to realize is he allows us to go through storms so we won’t forget that he is the one who calms them. It doesn’t have to be a life changing storm, although it can be, but simply driving through traffic, fighting the crowd while grocery shopping or heaven help us, shopping the day after Thanksgiving! He calms our storms. But, just remember, in verse 38,they said, "Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?". They woke Jesus up and asked him to calm the storm! So, when you find yourself in the middle of a raging storm, just catch your breath and ask Jesus to calm your storm!

Just a Recipe

Do you like coffee? Ewww....I don’t. I don’t even really like the smell of it. It seems awfully bitter to me and just, well, gross! I’m sure my Mom would hang her head in shame as the coffee addiction missed me somehow. My Mom, my Dad and my sister are all coffee drinkers but me, well, I’m a Mountain Dew drinker. I don’t like Starbucks, don’t like cappuccino, don’t like anything fancy and not too fond of anything hot. Girl, I don’t even like taking cough syrup because it feels warm going down my goozle!

But, I do love me some hot chocolate! There is just something about that drink that soothes my soul, warms my heart and makes me feel at home. I can be in a crowded mall, sitting in a traffic jam or running crazy through those zig-zag lines at the court house but you give me a cup of hot chocolate and it is like all of that disappears. Wonder if there is something in that drink that triggers your brain to slow down and just catch your breath? Mmmmmm....I can taste it just thinking about it! In my opinion, it is the drink of champions, the drink of snowmen and the drink of, well, ME!

I have passed my love for hot chocolate onto my precious Gabe. He plans his night according to when he can drink a cup of hot chocolate. If I let him, he would drink a cup at dinner! In the past we would always warm water up on the stove or pop a cup in the microwave but my Mom recently brought a coffee pot over to my house. Yes, yes, the woman drinks SO much coffee that she had to buy me a coffee pot to keep at my house so she could have her coffee when she came to visit! It is sad, I know, she needs our prayers! (Just kidding!) So, me and Gabe learned that we could pour some water into that coffee pot and heat our water up for hot chocolate in a snap. We are like two hot chocolate addicts needing our fix waiting on that water to run through that pot. We have our cups out, the mix in the cup, spoons in hand and we just stare at it thinking "Come on! Hurry up!"

I tend to buy a box of instant hot chocolate mix every few days and decided the other night that maybe it would be fun if Gabe and I made our own mix. How cool would that be? I pulled out of the cabinet a container of cocoa, searched the label for a recipe but found nothing for hot chocolate. I searched the internet for an easy recipe for instant hot chocolate mix and found nothing. Oh, I found plenty of recipes for making it with semi-sweet morsels, milk, vanilla extract and so on but could not seem to come across a recipe for the powder stuff! I begin to ask co-workers if they knew how and no one seemed to know. I begin to think "Is this recipe a big secret like the Bush’s Baked Beans?!?!?! Is this a top secret recipe?!?!?!" I joked with a co-worker that I could probably find instructions to build a bomb easier than I could find a hot chocolate recipe! After a little more searching I did end up finding a fairly easy recipe that me and my little man are going to try out but as always, this got me to thinking.

How great is our God that he gives us an easy to find recipe for salvation. He doesn’t hide it, it’s not a day long search, it is just right there in front of us in plain view. Probably the first verse we all ever learned was John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." There it is! How about them apples? Ain’t God good? We go through life trying to complicate everything all day long, at every turn, making mountains out of molehills and just feeling all poor pitiful for ourselves thinking how in the world we are going to find our way out of a situation when we don’t have to search any further for the answer than Jesus. So, stop searching all the crooks and crevices and stop trying to complicate it all and just accept it, just accept him! He’s right there in the open and he’s waiting!

Everything Rides on Hope Now

Have you ever been at a place in your life where you think you just can’t handle one more thing? Decisions to be made are everywhere. Maybe you have had to discipline your child over something that you felt was ridiculous or maybe you had to decide to stay at your current job or move on to a new one. How about making the decision to put your beloved family pet down or making a financial decision for your family. Do you ever feel like you are just standing in one place juggling a bunch of balls? I do!

In one ball I have Kristina. She will be 16 in 9 short days. For those who have had a child turn 16 you know where I’m coming from. For those of you who haven’t experienced that yet, I can’t explain it. There are no words to even begin to describe it. In another ball I have Gabe. A pre-teen. He is trying to figure out where he fits in the pecking order of Jr. High School. What clothes does he like to wear? What type of friends will he have? In yet another ball I have Shane. He works in the auto manufacturing industry and for anyone who lives in the world today...enough said. And naturally in another ball I have my job. I work in the legal field for a defense law firm and guess who one of our biggest clients is? Yep, you guessed it, one of the biggest auto manufacturers in the world. Along with all of this I have the normal balls that I juggle on a daily basis just as everyone else.

My heart has been heavy these past few days and today was no different when I woke up. I got dressed, got the kids out of the house and headed out the door to work. I often pray on my way to work or some days I will turn on the local Christian radio station and worship the Lord in song. Today, I couldn’t seem to muster the strength to pray. I turned the radio on to the local Christian station and began to drive to work in somewhat of a fog. Within just a few minutes the DJ introduced a song by Addison Road called "Hope Now." As the song began to play wave after wave seemed to wash over me. A wave a hope, a wave of faith, a wave of strength, a wave of patience, a wave of peace, a wave of love. By the time the chorus started to play I had tears streaming down my face. "Everything rides on hope now, Everything rides on faith somehow, When the world has broken me down, Your love sets me free."

In Matthew 6:34 he tells us "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Do you know why we shouldn’t worry about tomorrow? Because HIS LOVE SETS US FREE! As the song finished I dried my tears, looked towards heaven and just smiled. I didn't have to say anything...he knew my heart. Isn't it amazing how he can speak to us in something as simple as a song? I have often heard people say, "I've never heard God speak to me." I want to take that person and shake them because has God not provided us with eyes to see him, ears to hear the wind or hear a song, sensation in our hands to feel pain as we dry a child's tears. Oh, he speaks to us...the thing is....do we listen?

Mix It Up

My due date for Kristina’s delivery was fast approaching and I was bigger than, well, a barn I guess. I can remember that I couldn’t tie my shoes or put on my own socks. I waddled around like a penguin and basically lived in sweat pants and t-shirts. I had a few maternity clothes that I wore when I left the house, which was rare, but I was more comfortable in clothes that did not touch my skin. I was not a happy pregnant person. Some women say they are the happiest when they are pregnant and I seriously just want to slap those women. I was miserable! I was huge, couldn’t breathe, my stomach always hurt, Kristina sat on top of every single organ that she could crawl around and find.

Shane and I lived with my parents and my Mom’s Mom, Grannie, came to stay with us so I wouldn’t be left home alone during the day and go into labor because let’s face it, I would have never fit behind the steering wheel! I will treasure those days spent just me and Grannie more than any picture, any card, any gift, any anything because it was just me and her. We talked and talked like two old friends. It wasn’t like grandmother - granddaughter. She gave me advice and we would tell stories and just laugh and laugh. It was the greatest time of my life. I asked her questions about my Mom and she would tell me secrets that sometimes I think I forget until something triggers my memory and then I grin as I can vividly remember her mannerisms as she told me the story. She was a robust woman during this time and when she would tell me a story she would flap her arms above her head and get to laughing so hard her entire body would shake. As she started laughing really hard she would throw her arthritis bent fingers over her mouth and quietly giggle. I see my own Mother doing some of these things now and I smile with pride because as I watch my daughter spend time with my Mom I know that she too will one day have sweet, precious memories of her grandmother.

So one day we were talking about cooking and I asked her why my Mom always mixed brownies with her hands. I told her that as far back as I could remember Momma didn’t use a spoon or a mixer to mix the ingredients she used her hands. My Grannie looked at me like I had bumped my head and she said, "Precious, I have no idea why she does that." I said, "Well, Leaner," (her name was Lena Mae Grimes but we called her Leaner for meanness) "she told me that she did it because you told her too!" Again, she cocked her eyes over towards me, looked over the rim of her glasses and said "Well, I ain’t never done it that way so we’ll have to ask her." We finished our day and chit chatted about all sorts of things until my Mom came home from work. Momma no more walked in the door and Grannie said "Helen, what’s this about you mixing brownies with your hand?" My Momma very proudly said, "Mother, you gave me a recipe for brownies years ago and it says AND I QUOTE ‘mix by hand’!!" Let me tell you, my Grannie threw her arms above her head waving her hands back and forth laughing hysterically. She said, "Helen, mix by hand means don’t use a mixer....it means....use a spoon!" Well, my Momma got to laughing and wheezing and I got to laughing to the point Kristina got to kicking so hard my belly started to hurt. That was a good day and a day that I will never forget! I still think of that day when I make brownies myself. Now, times have changed and my brownies come out of a box and I just add water and an egg but as I’m stirring I can still hear my Grannie laughing if I listen real hard.

Shortly after Kristina was born my Grannie’s health began to fade and even though she lived for several years past Kristina’s birth and even Gabe’s birth she just was never the same after that time. Many laughs and many tears took place during the life of my Grannie. She was a priceless treasure to this world. As Kristina’s birthday is fast approaching my Grannie has been on my mind. A co-worker of mine experienced a loss in her life and she has been sad. She has cried off and on at work and me, just being me, has tried to tell funny stories or almost ignore her pain just because I wanted to make her smile and laugh. But, ever so gently I felt like God touched my heart and said ‘sometimes you just need to cry.’ I love Ecclesiastes 3. If you ever wonder what to do at a certain time in your life, you can go here. Verse 4 says "...a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance..." I am notorious for wanting to be given the space to cry if I want to but often find myself not allowing others to do it. I want the space to be mad and deal with a situation but I find that I hover over my children and Shane when they are angry. This was a good lesson for me. My co-worker’s tears were a test...I failed it...but I learned. Many times we want to be selfish when we want OUR time but we often forget that other people, well, they NEED their time too. So, just catch your breath, laugh when it is time to laugh, cry when it is time to cry, mourn when it is time to mourn and girlfriend dance when it is time to dance!!