Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Praying For Our Husbands

My husband Josh just graduated with his masters degree in hopes of going into administration. Our family is so proud of him. He is hopeful that a job opportunity will become available for him. In the meantime, I am praying for God's will in my husbands life. He knows my husband more than I do, he knows our future, he knows where He can put Josh that will bring Him glory. I actually emailed Josh today and told him that I want us to pray together tonight about this... then an awesom email pops up. It is a beautiful step by step for praying for our husbands. I love it and wanted to share it here.

http://reneeswope.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/PrayingForMyHusband.Head2Toe.pdf

I pray that this will bless you and in turn bless your husbands.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

A Child of God

The David study has touched my heart very much this week. The virtues that David possessed our some of the many virtues that Jesus Christ possesses as well.
1. He has shown me kindness
2. He has initiated a relationship with me.
3. He has accepted me completely.
4. He has shown me His calming Spirit.
5. He delights in my restoration.
6. He DESIRES for ME to be His DAUGHTER! Wow, me?
That is just so hard to comprehend, that God seeks you out in a crowd, yells your name and says, " Yes, you!!!! I desire for YOU to be my daughter."

This challenges me to also seek a heart like His. A heart that shows kindness, is an initiator of meaningful relationships, accepts others completely, shows a calming spirit, delights in the restoration of others and above alllllll else, desires a relationship with my Father in Heaven that calls me HIS.

I hope that you are blessed today by the video below. During this Thanksgiving holiday, I pray that you give thanks to the one that calls you "daugther".

Monday, November 14, 2011

Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas

I am getting so excited for Thanksgiving. For those of you that know me, you know how much I love to cook. It is a part of me. My mom and grandma are the same way... my sis just likes to look at cooking magazines and have someone else make the recipe:) Below are some great recipes for your family for Thanksgiving dinner. I would so appreciate if you would leave a comment telling me your favorite must have dish at Thanksgiving. Also, do you plan on making anything new this year???

Thursday, November 10, 2011

A Life That Will Inspire You

I am sitting here in front of my computer with tears pouring down my face. You will soon see why. This morning I received a message from one of my beautiful friends, Meredith Murrey. She shared with me a story and a message from a woman named Denai Vaughn. She was a women very close to my age that had a heart for God. She was a woman who lived out generosity. You can find more of her story on Meredith's blog, http://www.murrayfive.blogspot.com/

This woman lost her life yesterday instantly in a car accident. A year ago, to the day of her death, she left a video message about Outliving Your Life. She had lost many friends that day to death and her message was a message of hope. She reminded all of us to share our life with our families and our friends TODAY! Not waiting for a wedding or a funeral to share how much we love them. She challenged everyone to live today with the goal and passion of leaving a legacy. This woman and this video has touched me in a way that I don't know that I can describe with words. If you do anything today, take the time to watch this video.
 To all of you that are reading this, I LOVE YOU! I am blessed beyond measure for the relationships in my life. To my children Sawyer and Ava, thank you for giving me more joy than I will ever deserve, thank you for teaching me lessons and for loving your mama even when I am not too pretty. To my husband Josh, thank you for sharing this life with me. I am grateful that God gave me a husband who I love, who embraces me and who I can say is and forever will be my best friend. To my mom, dad, step-parents, brother, sister, Kayt, Mitch and Greyson... I LOVE YOU! Let this be a lesson to us to spend more time together. To stop and take the moments to appreciate eachother in our lives. To Mops, Pops, Jason, Trina, Kaitlyn, Kelsey, Wesley, and Breck... thank you for loving me, thank you for being in my life and I want you to know how much I love you. You are my family too. To my friends, thank you for loving me through the good and the bad. Thank you for celebrating the joy in my life and thank you for wiping the tears through the broken times. And to my loving God, thank you for never leaving me, for giving Your Son as an example. I want to leave a legacy that makes you proud. I want to walk into Your gates and hear you say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Monday, November 7, 2011

Generosity

Our church is currently doing a series, "Practicing Extravagant Generosity". I have really enjoyed it. Pastor Mike talked about a scripture from Matthew that I want to put on my mirror to read first thing in the morning as a reminder of why I am really here.
" Make your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do and praise your Father in heaven."
Matthew 5:16


The more I thought about that verse, the more I thought about my children. I don't want Ava and Sawyer to grow up thinking that they live in a "me" world. I want them to grow up knowing that God has called them to help others. God uses us to meet the needs of His people. What a responsibility but also what an honor!!! Over the weekend, my beautiful friend Nikki led our children in an awesome project. She bought all of this food and created a mock grocery store in her living room. The kids had a grocery list and went around shopping for our items. They put these items in a box that would be taken to a mission for families that need it. It was beautiful to watch. Nikki, thank you for creating a fire within me and reminding me that my children need to show generousity, and their mother does as well. We can be generous with our time, with our finances, with our forgiveness, with our compassion and with our love. Below I have included a few ideas to do with our kids over the season... I found these ideas on http://www.blissfullydomestic.com/

  1. Prepare and deliver a meal to someone in need. Your local church could help identify a recipient if you don’t know someone already.
  2. Prepare a care package for an overseas soldier. These men and women are often especially homesick during the holiday season. A care package is a sweet pick-me-up for them.
  3. Gather some of your old books that are in great condition and deliver them to a local children’s hospital.
  4. Sort through old toys for items that can be taken to Goodwill or Salvation Army.
  5. Make some Thanksgiving crafts to deliver to a senior center or veteran’s home.