What? It's CHRISTMAS, and I Still Have Daisies For a Background?!

Have you ever gotten away from something, and the further behind you get the less likely it is you will ever finish that project? Well...that is me with this blog. I have really been considering just shutting it down, but my children will look over my shoulder and say, "Mom, you really need to update your blog!", "Mom, it's Christmas and you still have Daisies on your background!" Then my dad sent a request this morning, so for my beloved Bopps, I will blog.

During the summer while I was going through the valley with my broken leg, I really did not feel like putting my heart out here on the blog. I knew exactly what the Lord was teaching me, and it is personal and I still will not share it. However, I am glad to be on the other side of that lesson!

I am healing well, my last visit there was significant bone growth! I go back February 21st for one last x-ray, and to be released (hopefully) from the Dr. I am now wearing shoes on both feet and only have a slight limp, and swollen, painful ankle in the evenings to show for my summer.

Today, I am up early to cook for Friend Day at church. It is a sentimental day for me. Read here to understand why.

I will strive to blog more, or I will talk my dad into getting on Facebook, one of the two.

Blessings to you all!

The Rest of the Story! Double WOW!

If you read the post before this one, you know that the balance on the hospital bill was $500.00. If you look at the date on the check, you will see that this check was written yesterday. Before we or anyone else (other than the hospital) knew the balance, but guess who did? God!

This check was given to me tonight, it comes from a sister church in the area. It is a true showing of Christ-like love for this church to reach out to us. What an awesome God we serve!!

We are so blessed!

WOW! Good News!

JD just came home for lunch with the mail. He said, "I have some really good news, and some not so good news, which do you want?" I said, "the not so good first".

The not so good news is that we were supposed to close on the house tomorrow morning, and it has been moved to next week. Not horrible, but definitely a downer, as we have been dreaming of a big celebration tomorrow.

The really good news is that the hospital where I had the surgery gave us a discount.

Our bill was $25,635.73.

We received a bill today that said we had a credit of $25,135.73. Our new balance is $500.00.

Is God good or what?!

September, Then and Now

I have been reading in Romans during my quiet time for a week or so now. Yesterday, I came to chapter 12. I memorized chapter 12 as a teen for a school project, and was thinking it would be fun to see how much of it I remembered...about the first 4 verses...

Yesterday was our anniversary. We have been married 14 years. I have read of people who "divorce" the first years of their marriage after an affair, remarry and start over. Leaving all of it behind them. I understand this in some respects, there are aspects of my marriage before that bring back bad memories with them. Knowing that if we had done some things different, we would have never had that failure in our otherwise good marriage. However, there are very sweet memories in those years too. We talked last night about my pregnancies and our newborn baby years, of memories too sweet to just "forget".

While I was reading Romans 12 yesterday, I was thinking about the verses, the chapter starts out asking us to be "a living sacrifice", it moves into our spiritual gifts, the gifts given to us to do the specific work God has for each of us, the last verses of the chapter are titled, "Behave Like a Christian" in my version. We could break down each verse, and spend all day in these verses. I came to the end of the chapter, the picture above is a picture of the verses in my Bible. I felt at first as if I had been slapped. I do not remember finding these verses in dreadful 07 just weeks after finding out about the affair. I did not expect to be confronted with that date on my anniversary. Those are memories I try to put far from my mind.

Then I read the verses again. God did not mean to slap me, but to show me that we had overcome evil, that we don't have to hold on to vengeance, it is His, and He will repay. I look back at these three years, and I see God's hand all the way through. He has restored my marriage & family stronger than we ever were before, not perfect, but strong. He has gently guided us back into ministry for Him, sending the right people at the right times into our lives.

I wrote this letter for my church this week...church members you are getting a sneak peek...

Dear Church Family,
I just want to write and say thank you. Not only because you have taken such good care of us since I broke my leg. Thank you for being obedient to the Lord when you called us here as your pastor family. You have shown such grace to us, loving us like your own right from the start. I have said over and over that it was like coming home. It feels so good to know you are where you belong, and I pray that each of you in our church family feel that way too, you belong with us, and without you we are missing a piece. You all make it very easy to love you, and we do love you! Thank you all for the cards, emails, meals, the love offering, and especially those of you prayer warriors out there praying faithfully for us each day. You have made these hard weeks much easier for us! Please continue to pray for your pastor & his family as we continue to strive to serve our Lord with our heart, mind, body, & soul!
Love to all,
Heather

Thank you Lord Jesus for overcoming evil with good!

Perspective

So, here's the new cast. The picture doesn't do it justice. It is Florida Gator colors, and I think it's pretty awesome! I had been dreading yesterday's appt. all week. The last one was very painful and this one was guaranteed to be bad also. It's not like you can tell yourself it's not going to hurt when the nurse tells you that each staple will feel similar to having a bee sting and you have 18 staples. Then she informs you that a few will be worse than that!

Well she didn't lie! It was painful, and having the new cast put on was the most pain I have been in to date.

Now for the perspective. As God always does, He showed up yesterday morning.

First, I have to say that dreading & worrying are two different things for me. Yes, I was dreading the appt. but, I did not lose sleep or make my family miserable this last week. (Those for me are sure signs of worry) I constantly asked the Lord to help me through, and relied on Him, knowing that He never asks us to go through more than we can handle.

On the way to the appt., I was sitting in my middle seat listening to the radio. The Jeremy Camp song, This Man, came on. Here is the first verse and chorus.

In only a moment truth
Was seen revealed this mystery
The crown that showed no dignity He wore
And the king was placed for all the world
To show disgrace but only beauty flowed from this place

Would you take the place of this man
Would you take the nails from his hands
Would you take the place of this man
Would you take the nails from his hands

I was overwhelmed with love for my Savior. I thought about how I dreaded the pain of that visit for one week. I knew that I would hurt, but it would only be about 30 minutes tops. I wouldn't be giving my life, suffering agony, humiliation, separation from my Father, and ultimately death.

Wow, put like that a few bee stings are like nothing aren't they?! To further His point, God allowed a man who I am assuming had been in a terrible car accident to be sitting exactly in my spot when J pushed me into the waiting room. He had casts on both legs and one arm. It made me think that although this has been very hard, really it could be so much worse. Then...after my appt. we were walking through W-Mart and a lady walked up to me, she was limping and using a cane, she said that it had been 4 years since her accident. She had broken both of her legs and it was obvious she would never be the same.

I am expected to make a full recovery.

I am grateful!

Blessings!

Sacrifice

I have been down for 3 weeks tomorrow. Today, I lost it for just a little while. I was crying, and feeling useless, sick, stuck in a chair, unable to help J get ready for his dad to come in tomorrow. Just really feeling sorry for myself. I even posted a pitiful "ugh" on Facebook hoping to get some sympathy from my friends. (which I got)

My night, last night, consisted of sleeping from 10-12, waking up miserable, tossing and turning (as much as you can in a recliner) moaning, and asking J to please wake up and move Eli out of our bed and help me try to sleep in it. That move occurred at 1:45. Then I laid there until 2:30 at which time I finally fell asleep. Wide awake and in pain, I had to wake J up at 7, to help me to the restroom. I decided I might as well go back to the recliner and let him sleep awhile. I needed to take some Tylenol, and therefore needed something in my stomach. I asked nicely for some cereal, and I heard him getting it ready for me. He knows that I only like the little spoons when I eat cereal. There were not any clean, and I heard him washing me a little spoon. He didn't say a word about washing the spoon, being exhausted, which he is, he didn't say anything about NEVER getting a whole nights sleep for 3 weeks. About taking care of my potty chair. (I would never do a #2 in there...sorry if that is too much info, but I'm just sayin.) He just gently got me arranged in my chair, got my breakfast, ice water, medicine, the remotes, and asked if he could do anything else for me. He told me he loved me and went back to bed.

This is just one very small example of the sacrifices that J has made over the last 3 weeks. In our almost 14 years of marriage, I have never been down like this. When I had my babies, my mom was there to take care of things until I got back on my feet. He has been down a few times, his stomach ailment, a dirt bike accident, a broken arm, etc. During those times he has been a wonderful patient. Now, he has been a wonderful caretaker, much better than I ever was to him. I hate to admit it, but it has surprised me.

You see, I am a doer, I like to do (almost) all the work around the house. I have never asked him to help out with things like laundry, cooking, etc. Typically, he comes home to a clean house and a warm home cooked meal, and I even make his plate & cut his meat. I don't know why, I just do. And, I love it.

In the last few years many things have changed in our marriage. We have both learned how to love each other better than ever before. One of the things J tells me often is "I love you fervently, and I am going to be by your side taking care of you until the day I die." I have to admit that I have struggled w/ believing that he would really "take care of me". I still have insecurity issues from the past hurts, and often I need to be re-assured. I will look him in the eyes, and ask, "are you sure your in love with me?" Honestly, I can not be told that enough.

One of the lessons God has taught me these last 3 weeks is that J IS going to take care of me. He has spent these weeks hovering over me. Lifting me off the chair, EVERY time I had to get up, bringing my med's and water, making mine & the kids plates before his own, sponge bathing me, doing laundry, dishes, vacuuming, cleaning toilets, putting on my sock & shoe, helping me in and out of the van, emptying my throw-up bowl, caring for/loving our kids, adjusting the pillows under my leg, and many, many more things. He has done all of this patiently, and lovingly. He has not once lost his cool, or made me feel inferior, or like a nuisance. He has told me over and over that he loves me, and right now I am what is most important.

I just want to say, Thank You, J.D., I think you are wonderful!

Mil Besos!

A Mission Trip, VBS, Sinuses, Summer Camp, and a Broken Leg

I don't think I mentioned it here, but July was scheduled to be an action packed month. It did not disappoint. We started out with a Youth Group from Jacksonville, FL coming to stay at the church for a week. I believe there were 19 teens & 7 adults. We had a wonderful time with them! In the mornings they ran a day camp for the children in the area. In the afternoons we went canvassing in our area. We took groups of 3, door to door, down dirt roads, and up main highways and asked hundreds of people a few questions about what they looked for in a church and how they believed they would get to heaven. We saw 1 lady accept Christ during the canvassing, and have MANY prospects to follow up with for our church. At the end of day camp several children went forward to be saved and will be following up with J.D. Most exciting of all for those of us who know him, on the last night we had a Youth Rally and one of the JAX teens went forward and accepted Christ. It was a very moving night as many of us had prayed for him through the week! Also after the service one of our teens prayed to accept Christ. J.D. & I and several others from our church were with them from early morning until late at night each day. It was exhausting, but, I LOVE being exhausted while serving the Lord! I love to get in on the action, not sit on the sidelines and watch.

That group left on Saturday, on Sunday after morning church we finished the decorating for VBS and started our VBS that evening. What a week we had! I worked with the teens this year and we had a great turn out. We started the week with around 20 and quickly grew to over 30. That is a lot of teenagers running around our church! There were 5 teens that went forward to accept Christ. The first day we had 45 total in attendance, and it steadily grew and topped off at 94 on Wednesday. Family night was Friday and we had a great turnout of parents come to see their children sing. It was so good to have all of those new faces in the pews!

I started feeling sick on Friday, and by Saturday I knew I had the bug again. Saturday was J.D.'s birthday. We celebrated by having a quiet day at home, playing games, napping, and grilled steaks for dinner. Michael, Katie, & Sara Beth had already left for children's camp which started Saturday, but our family had plans to meet them on Sunday afternoon. We did go up that afternoon, I still was not feeling well so I just stayed a few hours and drove back home. That was one of the longest nights ever. I had not stayed alone in a house for a long time and for sure not out in the country where I heard every noise! Monday was uneventful, I went up to camp with the kids in the afternoon, they were having a great time and J.D., Michael, Katie, & Sara Beth were doing a great job of keeping them busy & teaching them more about Jesus. That evening they took them to the community pool and I left partly because I didn't feel well, and mostly because watching those little kids jumping off the high dive was worrying me sick! I don't like heights, and, I kept worrying about them bumping their heads on the diving board or something else.

Tuesday, I picked up around the house, then headed for camp. I was really debating going because by then I was really feeling lousy. I started taking some antibiotics and decided that if the rest of them could tough it out I could too! Within an hour of getting there, I was coming out of a closet, stepped on an air mattress, lost my footing, caught my right foot on the doorway, twisted my leg and heard a snap. I immediately started hollering for J.D., it took a little while for them to find him and I was in shear panic mode by the time they did. I had my first ambulance ride to the e.r. where the xray's showed I have a spiral fracture in the lower section of my right leg. I don't want to be a whiny butt, however, this is the most pain I have ever been in. One day of it would have been comparable to having my children but we are in day 3 now and I definitely would have preferred child birth to this! Plus I would have something sweet & cuddly to hold right now. :)

I'm going to wrap this up for today. I am going to see an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow, and if I am up to it I will post the results, and some lessons I am learning tomorrow afternoon.

I would appreciate your prayers!

Blessings,

Unnecessary Bondage

God wanted to thump me on the head this morning, and I thought I would share the lesson with you. I was working in the kitchen peeling and chopping apples for a salad, and my mind was wandering. I began thinking about how scared I am to go back to the city where the affair happened. It is only about 25 minutes from me and would be convenient for several things, but I have refused to go back. (I can barely drive by on the highway without anger & tears surfacing)

Anyway, I was thinking about how I feel in bondage to this fear. Meanwhile, Missi was scratching at the front door to be let in. It is a rainy morning, and I was putting it off because I would have to dry her off. I got my cutting done and went to let her in. While I was drying her off, I undid the leash. I finished drying her and walked away. She would normally follow me wherever I was going, but this time she just continued to sit on the towel. I walked into the kitchen and called her and then went back to work. I checked a few minutes later, and she was still just sitting there. I tried to bribe her off the towel with her favorite bear and she wouldn't budge. It was then that I saw the lesson, that leash was lying there beside her, she was free, but had no idea. I decided to take her picture. (look closely and you'll see the leash laying by her) Then I called the kids in, they continued to try to get her to come, she had to be picked up by Karlee and moved before she would realize she is free!

How many of us are sitting in bondage to something God has freed us of?

II Corinthians 10:4-5 "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."

Revival

Here are some lessons I have been learning the last few weeks. Revival is not an event. It does not start on Sunday morning and run through Wednesday night. It is an action that takes place in our hearts.

For me, revival started the first week our church met in one of our member's home, the 16 of us bowed our heads and poured out our requests to the Lord together. Hearing my sisters & brothers ask for brokenness and healing, started the conviction in my own heart. I have been wrestling with a personal sin for a couple of months now. I would ask the Lord to remove it. I was expecting Him to do something about the situation. I knew I had the sin, I was sorry I had the sin, and I wanted God to remove it WITHOUT surrendering my heart to Him. I wanted the sin amputated, and I did not want to have to go to the hospital or cooperate in any way to have the surgery done.

Our time of meetings this week was set up just for the church body, I am not saying that visitors were not welcome, only that it was supposed to be a time of getting our hearts right and ready for the next big thing God has in store for us. It was not a pack the pews and see how many people are saved event.

I find myself feeling like a limp dishrag so far this week. It is over, and I gave myself physically, having a lot of company and such, but more importantly emotionally, allowing God to speak directly to me, piercing my heart with His two-edged sword. (Hebrews 4:12)

Witnessing the new enthusiasm in my church family, I am so excited to see what God is going to do in us and through us!

Would you like to share your last personal revival experience in the comments? I would love to hear your experience!

Blessings,

A Question

One of our Youth Leaders asked the question, "How does uncompromising faith in God make life "worth it"?"

This was my answer:

God has brought me through many storms since I have been a christian. During this time my faith has been building to what it is today, although I am sure I will learn many more lessons before I die, I am at a place in my walk with the Lord where I can honestly say that I trust Him and His decisions for my life. When I was a young christian, J.D. & I went through a very hard couple of years where everything seemed against us. Our babies were fussy or sick so we weren't getting much sleep, J.D. had a strange illness that caused him a lot of pain and me a lot of work to keep up with the house and kids alone, then we had a huge amount of Dr. bills which almost drove us to court, during this time God was working on me and teaching me that He alone is in control. That I can trust Him even in the midst of the worst times of my life. What I also learned is that with the faith I have in God, I have enough. Even when I thought I couldn't go on, He was right there beside me carrying me through. I had enough love, support, peace, and comfort.

If I did not have my faith, life would be miserable! I would say that uncompromising faith in God is not only "worth it" but it is the only way to have joy in our lives!!!

How would you answer the question?

The Gift of a Cow

I feel like this post is going to be all over the place, so get ready...

I have to say that since November 1st, our first official Sunday, I have been busy. I can not tell you how much I have enjoyed it! It is so good to be back in the center of God's will doing what He called us to do. It feels like after a long time in the desert, we are swimming in a refreshing pool.

This morning I had a sweet gift from God.

To understand this, you have to have a little background on me. I LOVE animals, all animals, I always have. God speaks to me often through nature. Also, I have always wanted to live on a farm. I grew up thinking that I would definitely marry someone with land, and animals...especially horses.... Then I fell in love with the biggest city boy you have ever met, and he doesn't even care for most animals. Go figure! Then being a pastor's wife, I felt destined to never have my dream. Parsonages are usually in town next to the church. Even owning our home, J would not be interested in keeping up land.

Well, to my surprise, my parsonage sits on a little hill overlooking a dairy farm full of cows. The best kind of farm because the animals aren't even raised for slaughter!! (not that I'm against that, it just makes it easier for me to name them) :)

So, now I am going to tell you a little about my week. We have a dear deacon in our church, he is a founding member of the church, and he has become most peoples father figure or Papa, depending on your age. He and his wife are those people who draw others to them in an instant bond. He has been in the hospital this last week, on a roller coaster ride of tests and cancer diagnosis, with a heart attack thrown in just for fun. They have reversed the cancer diagnosis, praise the Lord. It has been a busy week of hospital visits.

On Wednesday, I had a call that a dear friend had passed away. He was 92 and lived the sort of life we would all be proud of. He was a war service hero, a good husband and father, served the Lord faithfully, and had a great sense of humor. His wife died a year and a half ago, they had been married for 62 years when she passed. I know that he is home with his Savior and his love and I am happy for him.

Also on Wednesday, I had the privilege of sharing my testimony and just answering some questions for a dear lady in our church. It was a joy to be used by God in this way. She was saved that afternoon. There were many people in the church who shared with her and had been praying for her. She stood before the church yesterday and with tears of joy shared her salvation. What a wonderful Savior we have!

This morning I awoke to my dog barking. I got up to let the little one out and check to see what was going on. I looked out the back door and within feet of the fence was a brand new calf and her mama. She was just learning how to use her legs, stumbling around. Her mama was licking her and she was sniffing around her mama. I just went out and sat on the back deck and watched the miracle before my eyes. Nursing was one of the best things about being a new mother to me, and watching that baby learn to suckle was so sweet. It is a beautiful morning here, after having freezing temperatures with ice and snow, then fog and clouds for a few days, it is gloriously sunny and even warm enough for me to sit out there in just my nightgown. I just had a special time of thanking my Lord. He has given me so many gifts in the last two years. I know that they are abundant blessings for obedience, and I am grateful!

Today, I will go to the funeral of my dear friend, then we will head to the hospital where our new dear friend will go through an extensive surgery. It will be a long day, but I will carry with me how personal God is in my life. When we are aware of His presence, walking closely with Him, there is nothing better.

Blessings,

We've Got Talent

Yesterday

I have been thinking about yesterday all day today. I want to write about it, but I am not sure I can do it justice. I will try though.

Yesterday was Friend Day at our new church. One night very soon after we moved here, I had a list of ideas for J. We were busy and I didn't get to rattle them off to him until late that night. One of my ideas was to have a Friend Day in December complete with a Christmas message and a meal. He said that sounded good, but it might be too soon to try to pull something that big off. At first he thought we should wait until the spring. The idea quickly grew on him and he set it in motion.

I share with you that it was my idea because it was so special to me to see God's plan in action yesterday. I know that God put that idea in my head, so I am not taking credit for it. My point is that because I brought it up, and J took off with it, then the people stepped up and did the work, we had a very successful day yesterday.

Our congregation has been running between 80 and 100 people lately. J set a goal of 125 for Friend Day. Our people got out and invited and we had 145 in church yesterday morning. A record for a Sunday morning at the church!

When we were singing, I felt overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit's power. I tried to look around to see who was there and just enjoy the sight of a full auditorium but my emotions would take over and the tears would start. I have said it before, I am hard headed and God has been doing overtime to affirm to me our decision to come to this church.

The day started out with 3 baptisms. One teenage girl who was recently saved in Youth Group, and a married couple. This man and his wife have both come to the Lord in the last few weeks. (I was there when she knelt and accepted Christ and it was so wonderful)

J preached a sermon about Jesus, he covered His fulfilled prophesies, birth, life, death, and resurrection. The message was powerful. I am praying that those that were there who needed to accept Christ would not be able to get it out of their minds this week. I think we will still see results from our peoples obedience in the weeks to come.

The meal was overflowing with good food. There was plenty for everyone with enough to spare for the evening meal as well. We are even freezing enough extra ham that will feed us (the church) for our New Year's Eve party.

After a short afternoon, we had a White Elephant Party at 5 p.m. It was a lot of fun and just a great time of celebration after such a super day.

My sister was the only person that was not a regular attender of the church that was there and this is the comment she had for those at the church.

YourSis said...

Tell your church family that we had a blast at the party. I heard a lot of warnings about how ruthless it would be. I hate to ruin any hard-nosed reputations but I think I saw more selfless acts than selfish ones. Iris and I chatted excitedly all the way home. Thank them for a fun time for us.

I hate to say it but I do agree with her...mostly...:)

I have had a few of you tell me that you try to comment on the blog and it doesn't show up. Here is what to do...Before you write your comment click on the down arrow that says Comment as and choose anonymous then write your comment and if you'd like, be sure you sign your name so I know who you are, after you write your comment, click post comment. Part of the fun of a blog is comments so if you are trying I would love to hear from you!

If you are still having problems shoot me an email and I'll try to help.

I hope you have a wonderful evening!

Blessings,

Thankful

I am thankful for~

My Heavenly Father! Who has restored our ministry to us. Serving HIM is the ultimate satisfaction.

My husband! He is a hard worker, who loves the Lord and his family.

My children! They are both the best in their own unique way.

My family! We are a tight knit group even though most of us live far apart.

My new church family! It is so good to feel like I belong somewhere again.

My new home! I love almost everything about it, especially the kitchen.

New friends! I have been needing you.

How about you? What are you thankful for?

Come on, you know you want to comment and tell me! :)

Psalm 75:1
"We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks! For your wondrous works declare that Your name is near."

Blessings,

Out Of My Box

Last Thursday I was awarded this!



Let me tell you this class was WAY out of my box. I was blessed to be given Lori as a partner, because, she felt the same way I did about avoiding the camera. (There was a man from the local newspaper there)

I can't wait to see the write-up about our church group taking a self defense class. I will try to post a copy here for all of you who don't belong to the church. (unless I am in it) :)

I did learn some good moves that I think I could use if I had enough adrenaline flowing through me. We also had a really great time and our instructor was very patient with us as we giggled our way through it. Talk about breaking in your new pastor's wife right. First wash her feet, then beat her up a bit. I wonder what they will do to me next?!

Here is a picture I took Sunday night before church. Doesn't the building look warm & inviting? Well, it is. There is family waiting inside.

This picture is unedited as I do not know how to use any photo editing...that is exactly what it looked like!

I hope you are having a beautiful Tuesday!

A Beautiful Washing

Last Tuesday night Gayla & Lori had invited all the ladies in the church to a special service. That was all that we knew about it. I saw them arrive early and was really wanting to go over and fellowship with them. I just did not have peace about doing that. I stopped and prayed for them and the service and proceeded to make some bacon wrapped jalapeno's. (I thought we were bringing finger foods, but that was the week before...oh well)

When I went into the auditorium there were chairs set up in a semi-circle. I thought it interesting when all the ladies were there that each chair was filled. It turns out that Gayla & Lori had covered each chair in prayer as well as prayer walking the church.

Gayla started off by saying that this was a foot washing service. Immediately, I thought about the condition of my feet. They had been in my socks & tennis shoes all day. My toe nails had chippy nail polish and had not been clipped in awhile.

Then Gayla started speaking, she shared with us that God had laid this on her heart to do a year and a half ago. She explained how she gave excuses and let her self get in the way of what God wanted her to do. She talked about how she had been miserable in her disobedience and that she was willing to do this hard thing that God had asked of her.

After sharing with us, she asked us to be in prayer for our fellow sisters while she was washing their feet. She knelt before the first lady and began praying as she poured water over her feet and washed them. I was so moved to see her obedient spirit and the ladies each being touched by her humility and prayer. I began to pray with her for my dear sisters. Some I knew and others I did not.

The Holy Spirit was so powerfully moving amongst us. I could feel His presence. All I could think was, this is so beautiful. Over and over I came back to those words. She is beautiful. As Gayla went from one of us to the other I forgot about what my feet looked like, I could not tell you what one of the other ladies feet looked like. I could only think about how our obedience is pleasing to our Heavenly Father. I do not believe there was a dry eye in the house.

If I had known that I was attending a foot washing service, I would have been very nervous. I would have for sure pre-washed my feet and clipped my toe nails. I may have even made an excuse not to go. I'm sure I am not the only one that was there that night that would have felt that way.

I would have missed out on a huge blessing! I am so grateful to Gayla for her obedience. This night made me search my own heart, looking for any area where the Lord has told me to do something and I have made excuses, or reasoned my way out of it.

So often when God asks us to do something, we listen to lies, we hear... you are going to look foolish, or, are you sure that is God telling you to do that. I can not think of one time when I was obedient that I looked back and said oh, I wasn't really supposed to do that, or man I really made a fool of myself. I have never had an obedience regret. I have had plenty of times where I let fear keep me from being obedient and regretted it in a big way.

This night was the start of a bond for me with the ladies of my church that I am looking forward to growing into great things for many years to come.

Thank you, Father, for allowing me to see the beauty of obedience through Gayla's life.

Blessings,

This, That...Part Two

Okay, so I left off yesterday with me realizing that my idea to get the dogs might make us late for church. Sure enough, by the time we were loading the dogs, it was obvious that at best we would barely get there on time. As we were driving back to the church, I called Michael to ask how J was doing. I assumed he would be panicking. Michael said they were just discussing that and J said he was okay, that a couple years ago he would have been panicked but he was more "laid back" now. I was very glad to hear this, I did not want to be in the "dog house". (pun intended)

While on our way back, the kids went over to the church. Tammy B. asked Eli what they should do about his dad being late? Eli replied, "I don't know, but don't fire him, I don't want to have to move again!" That's my boy!

When we got to the house/church we were late. J ran and put on a collared shirt with his jeans and I stayed to get the dogs settled. Gator is a big dog. He has never been chained at our house as we had a big back yard for him. He did not like me putting him on the chain. He started running and broke his collar within minutes of me putting him on the chain. I was chasing him and he was running wild. I could see that the church door was open and I was thinking...boy they will wonder what they got themselves into...a late pastor in jeans and then his large outside dog comes running down the aisle with the pastor's wife running behind. Well, thank goodness that did not happen and I was able to get him chained up. I got to church about half way through. I am sure I was a sight!

After church, we were blessed with a gift once again. We were given a gift card to Lowe's for the kennel we were in need of for Gator. I could write two paragraphs about what a blessing this was. I will condense it down to...this blessing was a consequence of obedience on my part. I wanted to conquer the dog kennel and was willing to spend money we didn't have to do it. I came to my senses and agreed to pray about it. God showed me AGAIN that he always blesses obedience.

Edited to add: Of course if the couple who gave us the gift card had not been obedient we both would have missed out on this obedience blessing!

When it was time to leave, we invited Michael for some breakfast for dinner and after we ate, Missi (the Pomeranian) got away. Michael got to join the family as we chased her down the road and around a barn and finally caught her.

Monday, I worked on unpacking and chasing the dogs some more. First Gator broke the leash that I had him tied with. Then Missi somehow squirmed out of her harness. Once again the chase was on. By the time Michael got there to take me to pick up the kennel I was about done in. (Somewhere in there, I had also run to Wal-Mart) What a wonderful thing to get it put up and Gator's big tail wagging as I put him in it!

I cooked a huge pan of spaghetti because I knew I wouldn't be home the next night. We ate and shortly after fell into bed exhausted!

Tomorrow, I will recap Tuesday and Wednesday. I am looking forward to sharing a beautiful experience I had Tuesday evening. Then get ready for a post titled, Out of My Box. (the story of last night)

Blessings,

This,That and the Other Thing

My last post was last Thursday, and it has been a non-stop week! I am just going to do a quick (ha ha) recap.

Friday, my sister, bro-in-law, and their kids came to the new house to help me. We had 2 full vehicles with what I thought was the last full load of things from the old house. HA! We had all of the clothes from the closets, all of the food from the kitchen, basically everything except what we would need through Sunday. (I thought)

We spent the day putting away and organizing the closets. If my sister said, "you need to pare down" once, she said it a hundred times. We do have a lot of clothes and I tried to get rid of a bunch but I definitely did not do enough to suit her! I do admit our closet is packed too close for comfort and we are going to try to "pare down" again.

My Bro-in-law spent the day doing handy man chores for me. It was so nice to move in and have my own curtains hung and all the doors closing nicely.

Saturday, I was supposed to clean up the old house and get it ready to move on Sunday. I started in one room and moved my way through the house and I was becoming overwhelmed with how tired I was and how much there still was to do. I realized I just could not get it all done. I also wound up with another whole van load to take up that night. I took that load up and unloaded it and put it away and then it was time to go to Light the Night.

It was my first time to go to a Light the Night. Our church family meets at a church member's house, the house is LIT UP with flood lights, there are games for the kids to play, we gave out bags of candy, cotton candy and popcorn. Each bag of candy had a tract with church info and the ABC's of salvation on it. It is a very popular house on October 31st! We passed out a little over 300 bags of candy that night. It was a fun night of fellowship and community outreach!

After driving around for awhile (and even going back by the house I was at) I finally got back home. (thanks to J who patiently dealt with his impatient wife and gave directions) Then, I fell into bed exhausted.

Sunday, I awoke early, and went through the house room by room AGAIN. I couldn't believe how much stuff was still there. Of course the bedding took up a lot of the space but I wound up with ANOTHER van full to take with me on my way to church. I was astounded by the amount of dirt you uncover when you move. I thought I had been cleaning the house....

For the next few weeks J is working full time at the dealership and so he is being creative with finding time to prepare his sermons. He had left very early to get to the church that day. He knew that he would have no time to study before the evening service with moving that day. I just barely pulled in on time for Sunday School.

There was an excitement in the air all morning! It was J's first Sunday to preach as their pastor. J said that he cried all the way to church that morning praising God for His work in his life and allowing him to serve Him in this way again. I knew that we would be singing my favorite song, Be Thou My Vision, and I knew that it was going to be emotional for me. Before we got to that though, I looked over at J during White As Snow and saw him tearing up and I was done for. I was past a few tears and on to ugly cry by Be Thou My Vision!

God has been so gracious to confirm our decision in doing this in so many ways. One of them was that Michael picked that song for our first week. For the last 2 plus years I have longed to hear/sing that song in church. The church we attended did not do it once. Michael said that it was the first time they had ever sang it there. Isn't God good?!

I know this post is getting long, sorry! It's not over yet! We were welcomed to the church with a wonderful gift. They are sending us to the Jacksonville Pastor's Conference in January! We are both so excited to go, J has been by himself and he says that it is a wonderful time of preaching and praising that can't be beat.

J preached a sermon on our Savior, that was wonderful, and after the invitation we joined the church.

Then we all headed downstairs for some homemade soup, rolls, dessert and fellowship. We are in a church full of good cooks and I will have to watch it! Moderation, Moderation, Moderation!

After that, we headed out to Gravette to pick up the last of the stuff at the old house. I was afraid we had too many trucks and some might feel like they made the trip for no reason. I did not need to worry, all of the trucks were put to good use. It really did not take long and the men had the trucks loaded up and we were ready to go. There was even a team in the house who wiped out the cabinets, cleaned the bathrooms, and vacuumed the floors. Praise the Lord!

Side note: Karlee has been babysitting for our next door neighbor's boy. They are a christian couple and have been going through some serious trials and so I have had her mostly donating her time lately. The lady came over Friday and asked me to come and look at something. I followed her and she took me to her grown teenage daughter's room and showed me the bed. It is a wonderful loft bed with a full size desk and shelves underneath. She explained that someone had given it to her as a blessing and they wanted to pass the blessing on to Karlee.
All I can say is WOW! It was a great lesson for Karlee to learn. She was not thrilled with me at first for suggesting she donate her time...you see she wanted to save up for new stuff for her new bedroom...the bed she received would have never been in our price range!

Okay, back to Sunday, we arrived at the new house and the men unloaded all of the trucks and trailer. The men who took down Karlee's new bed, stayed and put it back up. Praise the Lord! I would hate to know how long it would take J & I to figure it out! We had left our dogs at the old house so they would not get underfoot and I knew that we would both be exhausted after church so I suggested that we make a quick trip to pick them up. Somewhere along the way, I realized that we were cutting it very close to make it back on time for church.

I am going to leave off here and pick back up tomorrow.

I am heading out to Gravette this morning to put the For Sale By Owner sign out. Please pray with us that the house would sell quickly. I will tell you that God will get all of the credit for a miracle if it does because from the outside it looks like an impossible situation. Isn't that where He loves to show up though?!

Have a great day!

Blessings,

A God Thing

The new church was in need of office furniture for the Pastor's office. J & our Worship Leader, Michael, have been doing a lot of research. They thought they found the answer for the desk off of Craigslist. They drove together to the house, the desk was nice and they were going to buy it. Then they tried to get it out of the room. They took the desk apart and removed the doors, it would not go out the door. J leaned to Michael and said, "I think God is trying to tell us something." They left without that desk.

They continued searching and found a set that sounded good. When they went to look J was thrilled with the furniture. When the man heard it was for a church he threw in an office chair and an all in one Dell printer, fax, copier. All for a very reasonable price! If they would have bought that other desk they would have had a very difficult time finding matching pieces and I'm sure it would have cost much more.

Now look at the picture. See how the book shelves and the hutch all go perfectly together? The bookshelf on the left did not come with the furniture J & Michael bought. A couple in our church has the exact same set of furniture! When they realized J would need the extra bookshelf they lovingly donated it. They have had that set for several years. Amazing isn't it?

That's what we call A God Thing!

Have a beautiful Monday!

You May Now Call Me Mrs. Pastor's Wife

I do have good news to share!

I am going to start at the beginning. A year or so ago when J was selling cars, a man named Jim came into the dealership and while test driving a car he started witnessing to J. J shared his testimony with Jim, and they became fast friends. A few months later Jim bought a car from J and he has continued to stop by the dealership often for fellowship & coffee.

A couple months ago Jim was visiting with J and when they were done he walked out the door, he turned around and walked back in and asked J if he would consider being an interim pastor or just filling the pulpit at his church. He told me last night he wasn't going to do this but decided he could at least ask.

Here is where God really kicks it up a notch. J had recently been recommended for a ministry position and so had just updated his resume. He knew that Jim's church would have no idea who he was so he handed Jim a copy just to show them he was a legitimate pastor. They called and we went there to fill the pulpit for just one Sunday.

Lately J and I have both been strongly feeling the hand of God moving us back into ministry. J has been supply preaching at quite a few churches. He also was in the interview process with this other ministry. Before this one we supplied at 2 other churches in need of a pastor. Both of those experiences would help us to discern the peace of our current decision. Although they were great churches neither one of us felt that we could or would be their next pastor.

From the first day we went to our church we were both excited. We did not know if they would ever call us back to even fill in there again but we had a feeling that they would. One thing you should know is that we do not give out J's resume unless asked for it. We want God to lead in every area of our lives and we have never just blankly given out his resume for a ministry position. They did call us back to fill in and asked if we would stay after and meet with the Pastor Search Committee.

That is what we did. It was two weeks before we left on vacation. While meeting with the Committee we shared our story. We knew that God wanted us to live with our lives wide open and that it would only affirm our knowledge of His will in our decisions. We were honestly shocked at how the wonderful people there accepted what we had to say and continued the interview. We would not have been surprised if they had said that concluded the interview and sent us on our way. We had prepared through prayer for that very thing. When we left we put it in God's hands and waited for them to call. It was a long 3 weeks later when we heard from them. This gave us a chance to be really seeking God and for me to come to peace with a couple of obstacles that I had standing in the way.

We met with the committee last Monday night. They presented us with an offer to come in view of a call the coming Sunday. (yesterday) We both agreed that J would not give them any decision that night to give us some time to talk it over and pray and have total peace about the decision. We still had the other ministry position open and we wanted to know that we were going in God's direction. The thing is that from a worldly standpoint we should want the other position. It would not be the 24 hour life of a pastor, the $$ was better, we would not have to sell our house, etc.

When J & I sat down to talk about it we were both in agreement. Our passion and heart's desire was to serve in this church. Yes the other opportunity was a ministry where we would be serving the Lord. (in a cushy way) But this is dig your heals in, hard work doing what God has called us to do. We both know from experience that there is no greater joy than serving the Lord while being in His will!

On Wednesday we both knew that we were ready to go forward with the church. We let them know and started anticipating what would happen. We knew that we would share our story of the affair and our restoration with the church before they voted. This gave me more than a few stomach aches last week.

Yesterday was wonderful! J preached in the morning, then the men had a chili cook-off, after that we went to one of the couples house for an afternoon of fellowship and fun. (and great chicken salad) I had fun getting to know a few of the ladies in the church and J had fun looking at potential office furniture. Last night J shared a short sermon and then he went into his testimony. I was asked to share also, so I stood with him and gave a brief testimony and answered a question or two. Again God's grace was so evident in the people we stood before. I believe because of our brokenness and theirs, God is going to do a mighty work in this church. After quite a bit of question and answer time w/ J, they voted us in unanimously. I feel so touched even now, by how loved we both felt, not only by the people but by our Lord.

Sunday, November 1st, is our first Sunday and I can hardly wait!

I know this was long but I wanted to be able to remember all of these details in the years to come.

Blessings,