waiting for my 'Click'

I started blogging for many reasons--one being that I have a story to tell and know there are so many women (and men) out there who are experiencing many of the same heartaches and struggles that I am. One of my life’s goals it to help make a difference in people’s lives. It is my hope and prayer that you may find yourself somewhere between the lines of my story and know that you are not alone!

We all need encouragement, it’s been scientifically proven somewhere I’m sure. Today I wandered from my normal blog sites and came across Amy’s post about how God can change everything in an instant, a ‘Click’ moment; He alone can work miracles. I encourage you to also link up to her blog: http://www.dustyandamy.com or go there to read others’ stories of miracles and hope. My story is different from those on her blog, however; I am still waiting on my ‘Click’ moment. I know there are many of you in the same limbo. So, for those of you who do not know my story (and those of you who do!), here it is:

I was raised in a Christian home--I was that kid who started going to church 9 months before I was born. Like so many I knew the ‘right’ answers, all of the Bible stories and that when the doors to church were unlocked I was going to be there. I ‘knew’ church. I enjoyed it. It was the only think I knew. In no way am I ungrateful to God for putting me in a home that put Him first; the Lord only knows where I would be today if it weren’t for that.

But...

Also like so many brought up in the church, I wandered off for a little while. I went down several roads that I knew I shouldn't, made mistakes that were avoidable and allowed those who did not have my life and well-being in their best interest influence me. I knew better. I was miserable. Isn’t it funny how when we are miserable we press harder into the source of our miserableness and farther away from the One who is our Everything?

Thankfully I had many family and friends who never gave up on me and continued to pray for me. About 2 years ago I had an ‘Aha’ moment where I recognized that I could no longer do it on my own (recognizing that I was attempting to do life on my own was a hard step, too) and I went running back to Him. It wasn’t easy, talking to Him did not come so naturally and making time for Him took practice. And that is exactly what I prayed for for many months, ‘Lord, I want to want You; give me the desire to get to know You on a deeper, personal level.’ And He did! I am so thankful and look forward to everything He is going to teach me.

All those years of wandering and searching I thought I was ready to take on a marriage, a career, kids, etc. Looking back I can see that I was nowhere near ready for a Click moment. God knew what He was doing; imagine that! He knew that I was not ready for any commitments; I couldn’t even commit to Him! I am so thankful! This isn’t to say that I haven’t shed mine and your fair share of tears; none of it was easy. Sometimes God has to shake our world up to teach us.

With all of that said, I am still waiting on my Click. In this past month I have come to a place where I can honestly say that I am at peace with where God has me and am confident that one day, sooner or later, He is going to shake my world up and Click!

football, greyhounds and junk

I spent most of my weekend with my special friend, Traci, her husband, and family. She and I go way back and I love her to death. (Even though she introduced me to a friend this weekend and said, ‘We have been friends for too long.’ Ha!)


On Friday night we headed out to Adam’s football game (he coaches the defense); I got to ride there with the Water Boy! Traci’s nephew, Henry, is one of the water boy’s for the team. All I could think was how much less Coke 0 I would drink if I had a water boy to follow me around all day!


I thought ringing obnoxious cowbells was just a Mississippi State thing, but apparently not! Traci had all the fixings to make my very own cowbell for the game. Look how cute it turned out! Unfortunately it did not look so cute by the end of the game; mine, of course, ended up broken on the track. That didn’t stop me, though. I quickly downloaded an MSU cowbell app (don’t tell my dad!!!) and was able to participate in the raucous for the remainder of the game. Ha!


After the game we sped home (well, it’s debatable how fast we were actually going; the speedometer was broken!), got into bed as soon as we could and slept ‘fast’ for 2.5 hours. For some crazy, hair-brained reason we decided it would be a good idea to join a bunch of ladies (elementary school teachers!) on a bus at 4:00 a.m. for a day trip to Canton. Oh my! I can only imagine what was going through Adam’s head when he dropped us off at the Greyhound; I love to shop, but 4:00 AM?!?!?!?!?!

4 hours and 52 women later we arrived at Canton with our shopping carts wheeling. It was an awesome day. We walked around Canton for about 8 hours taking in all that we couldn’t afford and getting ideas for the day when we can. Ha!

I got a few little things, mostly stocking stuffers and Christmas gifts. It’s hard to believe it’s already time to start thinking about Christmas gifts and decorations!!! I feel like I just packed up my tree from last year!

A few things I LOVED:

I am so into over-sized, silver flowers right now. I especially like the cube z's and the added dimension; it reminds me of the rose from The Beauty and The Beast!








I thought this chest of drawers was SOOOOO cute! They had several pieces painted to match this set. I'm thinkin' I have chest that is already black; adding zebra stripes wouldn't be too hard!!!

This sign is too PERFECT!

station of service

While looking for employment in my field(s) of interest I have been blessed with a job at a local company that owns several Shell stations in the area. Normally my duties involve answering the phones, data entry, some light (extremely) accounting (NOT my knack!) and about 17 Excel spreadsheets all opened on my desktop.

Yesterday, though, I took it to the streets, or pumps, I should say! As a promotion for our business and the new partnership between Shell and Kroger we gave away gasoline to those who came through from 10:30 to 12:00. It was crazy! A local radio station, Red Bull, and several others were out at the event as well. The weather was perfect and we got our picture with Kevin Harvick's Nascar car!!!


The station has 16 pumps; so for one and half hours I manned Pump #9. Now I know that pumping gas for complete strangers does not sound like a lot of fun. But I am here to tell you that it was one of the best experiences I've had in a long time. Seriously!

The Lord calls us to serve others and to have a servant's heart. We can serve in so many ways: holding open a door, staying late to help finish a project, reaching out to someone in need, to name a few. And that's exactly what we did yesterday; we served others. Sometimes it is hard, though, to serve others with a smiling face. We've all been there. You go to help someone pick up their spilled bookbag and receive little to no thanks. You go the extra mile to fix a problem only to receive angry customers in return. BUT, you also will come across that person who is in the darkest of places and your simple act of kindness makes their day.

After an hour of pumping I had seen the whole spectrum of customers: expectant, thankful, distracted and cheerful. At 11:32, however, I had a lady pull up in her minivan. This lady made my whole day worth it. With tears in her eyes she told me that she had $60 in her checking account to last her for the week. I noticed 2 car seats in the back and can only imagine what $35 worth of free gas could buy for her family. Another spurt of tears and emotions flooded over when, after starting to get out of her car to pump her gas, I asked her to sit back down and let me pump it for her. I wanted to hug her so bad and just talk to her but with cars backing up I had to let her drive off. Her gratefulness stayed with me, though. See, I had a hand in giving her something that wasn't even mine to begin with and that meant more to her than anything else possibly could have at that moment.

This is exactly how God works. He uses us, His servants, to pass along His free gift of eternal life. It's not always easy, it's not always glamerous, and it certainly isn't always the 'cool' thing to do. But it's the right thing to do; it's what Jesus has called us to do.

Colossians 3:23-24 says "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an interitance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." (NIV)

You never know who's life you're touching or who is watching you for an example. Let's look around and see who we might serve today.

B90X wk 2: perspecitve & meaning

My church is currently participating in The Bible in 90 Days challenge or, as we have termed it, B90X. The challenge takes the Bible and divides it into 90-12 page-a-day reading assignments. Sounds intense, right? I am here to tell you that it is!!! While this is not an ‘in-depth’ Bible study and does not dig deep into any particular portions of truths it does dig wide! I am pretty excited and determined about the challenge as I have never read the Bible cover to cover. To help us in our challenge, the church has organized a class that meets once a week to recap the week’s readings together. So, on Thursdays (the end of a reading week) I am going to be sharing something or some things that I have learned during the week. This will serve many purposes: to keep me accountable, to help me really focus as I read, and to encourage you to do the same thing and read the Bible in it’s entirety.

The Bible in 90 Days : Cover to Cover in 12 Pages a Day

The first two weeks (we are two weeks in) covered Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus AND Numbers. There is some heavy stuff here! A friend of mine who is also doing the study asked me last night what I have learned this past week. I told him that it is my educated opinion that the author of Leviticus would have greatly benefited from Control+C and Control+V (Copy and Paste) commands. Ha! But seriously, everything is repeated 12 times.

I have learned other, more important things, though. Take the life of Joseph, for instance. While I have not been thrown into a cistern by my siblings (no funny business, you two) I have felt alone and sometimes find myself wondering if God has forgotten me during this season of my life. As it would happen, I am also currently reading Wilderness Skills for Women by Marian Jordan. (If you have not read it, I highly suggest you put it on the top of your ‘To Read’ List.) I just finished the chapter titled “The Wilderness of Rejection’. In this chapter, Marian uses the story of Joseph as an example of ultimate rejection. (Genesis 37-50)

Wilderness Skills for Women, Marian Jordan, Book - Barnes & Noble

In a nutshell, Joseph was hated by his brothers and, at the age of 17, was sold into slavery. The years following this were not so glamorous, either. Joseph was taken to Egypt--where he grew in favor of Potiphar--but was then falsely accused of seducing Potiphar’s wife and thrown into jail.

Now I seriously doubt this was the life that Joseph had seen in his future. Do you remember 17? I do...I was starting my Senior year and getting ready for the Homecoming dance. Now granted, Joseph was given a brightly colored and ornamented coat by his father, but I hardly think it was anything like homecoming dress shopping with your mom at Macy’s.

Joseph’s story does not stop in jail, however. After 2 years time, he is remembered by the baker, interprets Pharaoh's dreams, is named Commander in Chief of Pharaoh’s administration and saves his family from famine and starvation. God had a MUCH bigger plan; every circumstance in Joseph’s life was used to play out His perfect plan. And Joseph recognized it, too! Check out his perspective recorded in Gen. 45:4-7:

“4Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come close to me.’ When they had done so, he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.’ “

Wow! To be able to recognize your purpose in God’s plan is amazing and I have made it my daily prayer that I am able to do the same thing in my life.

I just LOVE how Marian puts it in black & white on page 44:

>If Joseph’s brothers never sell him to the Midianites, then Joseph never goes to Egypt.

>If Joseph never goes to Egypt, he is never sold to Potiphar.

>If he is never sold to Potiphar, Potiphar’s wife never falsely accuses him of rape.

>If Potiphar’s wife never falsely accuses him of rape, then he is never put in prison.

>If he is never put in prison, he never meets the baker and the butler of Pharaoh.

>If he never meets the baker and butler of Pharaoh, he never interprets their dreams.

>If he never interprets their dreams, he never gets to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams.

>If he never gets to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, he never is made prime minister.

>If he is never made prime minister, he never wisely administrates for the severe famine coming upon the region.

>If he never wisely administrates for the severe famine coming upon the region, then his family back in Canaan perishes from the famine.

>If his family back in Canaan perishes from the famine, the Messiah can’t come forth from a dead family.

>If the Messiah can’t come forth, then Jesus never came.

>If Jesus never came, you are dead in your sins and without hope in this world.

What seemed like rejection truly was God’s protection.

Ok, now go read the rest of the book!

Unfortunately I missed last night’s class. BUT my friend Will shared with me some of what I missed. And what he shared. Was. Awesome. I have to pass it along!

Genealogy can be a boring thing to read but for some reason God felt it important enough to list them out in Scripture. So we read:

Adam begot Seth who begot Enosh who begot Kenan who begot Mahalalel who begot Jared who begot Enoch who begot Methuselah who begot Lamech who begot Noah. (Paraphrase of Genesis 5)

Okay, thank you. Now look at these men and their names’ meanings:

Hebrew.........English
Adam..............Man
Seth................Appointed
Enosh.............Mortal
Kenan.............Sorrow;
Mahalalel........The Blessed God
Jared..............Shall come down
Enoch.............Teaching
Methuselah.....His death shall bring
Lamech...........The Despairing
Noah...............Rest, or comfort.

Now, by adding a few articles conjunctions, read the genealogy like this:

Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing rest, or comfort.

Wow.

summer recap pt. 7: r & r

This brings me to my final recap of the summer, I promise! This one was completely different from the others in several aspects: I was responsible for NO ONE, I FINISHED a book, there was NO in-flight/bus restroom facility and NO name-tags!!! This, my friends, was a much needed and appreciated vacation :) My family (minus one sister and plus two grandparents) set out for the beach!

The beach, as I think I have mentioned, is quite possibly one of my favorite places on earth. One of my favorite things to do at the beach is to listen; there are so many sounds to be heard and rejoiced in! Start with the morning; what do you hear? Nothing! No alarm clock to wake you up! This sound is golden and sets the pace for the rest of the day. Kids splashing in the water; this is the sound of no worries and no homework. Friends catching up over sweet tea and grilled hamburgers; this is the refreshing sounds of time spent and memories relived. The waves crashing into the shore; this is perhaps the most beautiful sound of them all. It is the sound of God’s greatness and His beautiful creation.

There are many other things I love about the beach as well: the cool relief of the water, the laid back atmosphere, the food, relaxation, the liberating feeling of detaching your cell phone from your fist (you can’t take it in the water!!!), etc. I could go on and on and on.

Just when I thought that beach trips couldn’t get any better, my family stumbled across a hotel with the never-seen-before; a gem if you will. There, in the back yard of our hotel, was an oh-so-wonderful lazy river!!! I’m telling you it was AMAZING!!! Imagine getting up in the morning, ahem, afternoon, riding the elevator down to the ground floor, grabbing a tube and stepping in! Although you can’t tell it by these pictures, space in the lazy river was most coveted. (This was taken just before a storm.)


Mom and I probably spent 90% of our time floating around in circles. I think it was day 3 before I even remembered there was a beach on the other side of the fence. Ha!

As I said earlier, the food is another awesome part of the beach. We ate most of our breakfasts and/or lunches (some of us did not make it up in time to squeeze both meals in) in our condo as well as several dinners. On the nights we did go out, though, we had a hard time trying to choose a place to go!

One of our favorite places to eat at is Lambert’s, Home of the Throwed Rolls. This has some of the best and largest portions of good ole Southern cooking ever. I have found the best way to prepare for a meal here is to not eat for a week leading up to your anticipated dinner. I’m so serious! Before you even give your drink order you are served a heaping scoop of fried okra!!! If you enjoy being rolled out of the door by a bull-dozer this is the place for you to eat. I wish I could tell you I was kidding but I would be lying. And yes, they do throw rolls at you. If you don’t want a roll DO NOT make eye contact with the Roll Boy :)

This is post-food consumption; notice how we are standing with uncomfortably large spaces between us. This directly correlates with how big we FELT at that moment. You may also notice how I planned ahead by wearing a dress. Ha!



We found an Alabama car with Texas A&M cover in the parking lot! If I were to be honest with you I would tell you that the whole time we were standing by this car I believed that I was looking at an ‘A’ for Alabama. I might would even tell you that I was confused as to why I was doing my ‘Whoop’ thing and Andrew was doing his Sophmore ‘A-A-A-A-A’ thing while posing; but that would be embarrassing  Oh, and don’t mind the purple hair, he simply has a lot of school spirit.

Unfortunately it stormed a lot while we were there. It was probably a good thing, though, as we needed a break from the sun. This storm came in at about 94 miles per hour and had the lazy river cleared out in .8 seconds. Look at how cool it looks, though!


While there we celebrated my Grandmother’s birthday with hot fudge cake!!! My mom has a recipe for a secret sauce that when added to your out-of-the-box Pillsbury chocolate cake and square slab of ice cream turns into heaven in your mouth. Thankfully we did not celebrate by going to Lambert’s AND eating hot fudge cake in the same night! It was so special to spend G Thorn’s birthday with her!

We went shopping several different nights. There were 3 stores open in this particular outdoor shopping center but we were able to take some pretty cool pictures!


So long, beach, I miss you already :) I’ll be back as soon as I can!

summer recap pt. 6: rally and grace

I am a Jewelry Lady. (You think you know someone, right?!) I have been selling Premier Designs Jewelry since the beginning of 2010. I have not done as much with the business as I would have liked to; my immediate plan is to work on this!

This summer I got to go to the National Rally that was held in Fort Worth, Texas. The company has been celebrating it’s 25th Anniversary of Premier Designs all year! Wow! This made my first Rally experience extra special and exciting. It was so much fun!


So, for about the umpteenth week in a row I donned a name tag and shuffled through hallways with the rest of (what seemed) the world’s population! (Ok, maybe just Texas. Ha!) This week was enjoyable for several reasons. The one that comes to mind first, though, is not Rally itself but the fact that I was in charge of no one but myself! There were several times when our group would get separated and, as always, I was the tallest amongst our friends. At this point several of the ladies would look up at me and ask, “Are you making sure you can see So-and-So? We don’t need to lose her.” I have to admit that more times than not I answered with a “No.” Ha!

I learned a lot about Premier and the foundation that the company started on. It is a Christian company that focuses on service. How cool is that? I think one of the coolest things for me was to see the missionaries that Premier helps support. There were at least 40 missionaries in attendance and we got to hear some of their testimonies of the work that God is doing in the lives of so many. Having recently gotten back from Scotland and Ireland I was really excited to talk to the two missionaries from Ireland! (And to indulge in their accents!)

Another high-light for me was the Point of Grace concert!!! I love this group of girls and have followed them from their beginning. Between my mom, sister and I we have all of their C.D.s, a few songbooks and, my most recent addition, their cookbook! (If you have never heard either one of their Christmas C.D.s you need to! They are 2 of my top 10 most favorite Christmas albums.)


The girls performed a lot of songs from their newest album, No Changing Us. I have since then bought and learned every single song on the disc! One of my favorites is Come to Jesus. The lyrics talk about God’s grace and how NOTHING is too big or too small for Him.



This is Denise; I love her! My mom and I got to meet her and Shelley in New Orleans during their Circle of Friends Tour. They are all such neat with women with hearts for young girls/women’s and music ministry.


Here is the cookbook in case you want to take a sneak peak! I haven’t tried anything yet but hope to very soon!

COOKING WITH GRACE COOKBOOK | Point of Grace: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Here are some sneak peaks of the new jewelry!!! They have some very cool new pieces and I am excited to say that I own and wear several of them!

Frivilous:

Pink Icing: (I'm in love!!!)

Eden: (I'm in love times 3!!!)

summer recap pt. 5: next level

This brings me to week numero 4 with the kiddos from church! Like the first two, Next Level Camp (grades 5 & 6) began and ended in the church parking lot. Our destination was Carolina Creek Christian Camp; we had fun, we were hot, and we worshiped Jesus!

My team counselor, Sarah, and I were blessed with 16 6th grade girls; every single one of them had a beautiful first name but wanted to go by something different. If it could be shortened and sounded good with ‘ie’ added on the end of it, you were welcome in our cabin. I considered going by Ellie for the week. Ha!

Our cabin name was the Poppin’ Porcupines. The camp pastor apologized to me for this name before camp even began, but there was nothing to be sorry for....we put the ‘Pop’ in Porcupines!!!! Sarah came super prepared and for that I am EXTREMELY grateful. Among her bag of goodies and wearables were choker necklaces that her sister-in-law donated to our group. They were awesome!!! They had a little picture of a porcupine, had our cabin name written in pink and a splash of zebra print in the background. Perfect!

Sarah also came prepared with porcupines that she and her daughter made. They were perfect for decorating our room with!

There is sooooooo much to do at Carolina Creek. Every day our group went through 5 rec rotations!!! To say it was hot is an understatement. If I had a nickel for each time one of the girls pleasantly reminded us that it was hot I would no longer need to search for a job. Ha!

The blob was a favorite. Have you ever blobbed?! The girls had a lot of fun blobbing each other; a few even overcame a fear of heights while there.


This floatation device was popular as well. I can’ t remember it’s name, but we all loved it. It kept the girls occupied and cool for quite some time.


We got to zip line!!! This was my first time and I absolutely loved it! This was hard for several of the girls, but with encouragement and support from our friends most of them were able to overcome their fears and enjoy (or endure!) the experience.


Ok, so this was kinda scary. I don’t know if I’ve ever held a bow and arrow but I can only imagine what accidents I might cause. Can you imagine 16 girls with bow and arrows in the grasp?!?!? Thankfully we made it out with eyeballs accounted for (38)!

Time for target practice!!!




The Poppin’ Porcupines on our last day together:
Our team is poppin’, yeah
Our team is poppin’, yeah
We’re the Poppin’ Porcupines
Praisin’ Jesus all the time!
Our team is poppin’, yeah, yeah,
We’re poppin’!!!




One of the greatest things about Caroline Creek is the staff. The camp hires young people who have a growing love for Christ, a passion for others’ and a love for sports (and heat!). We were blessed to have Robin as our counselor and guide throughout the week. We could not have done it without her!


After each rec rotation Robin sat us down as a group to discuss the activity and how we can relate it to our walks with Christ. It was so cool to see them ‘get it’.



Lessons Learned: