Paisley is having a giveaway!

Thanks to Allison's blog I was able to hear about a giveaway from a local store (Cleveland, TN) is having. Paisley is giving away a stamp but hurry you have to enter before Feb. 22nd! I haven't had the chance to go to Paisley yet but can't wait. I keep telling my hubby I want to go there. We have even driven by it but realized it was closed.

I am definitely going to go after checking out there blog today! You can visit too

http://paisleymonogram.com/blog/

Thanks so much Allison for sharing about this giveaway and store!

A Quiet Place

Can you see the bench hidden in this picture? During my November trip to Williamsburg, Va I looked through the shrubs and branches and this is what I saw..................

a bench hidden in this beautiful place

I imagined what it must look like in the Springwhen all is in bloom.............
I wondered if anyone ever sat on that bench and
...........dreamed
...........prayed
...........wondered
...........rested
............enjoyed the peace

I longed to sit in this place. However, short of me knocking on the door and asking some complete stranger if I could set on the bench in the backyard, it was not going to happen. So I simply snapped this picture of this quiet place as I walked back to the bus pick up (for those of you wondering there are some people who live in houses around Colonial Williamsburg, I believe this was one such house).

Looking back over this picture reminded me of a book I recently reread parts - A Place of Quiet Rest. It is by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. It has personal reflections of Elisabeth Elliott, Kay Arthur, Vonette Bright and others. The foreword is written by Joni Eareckson Tada - my favorite author. The subtitle reads - Finding Intimacy with God through a daily devotional life. When I originally purchased the book I thought the book cover was beautiful and serene and I liked the title. I didn't notice the subtitle. I was pulled in by wanting rest.

"The Fragrance of Devotion"
"The product of a daily devotional life will bear fruit in our own lives, as we experience an ever-deepening intimacy with the Father. Sadly, many believers never enter into the joys and fullness of this life of oneness with the Father. ..........
Time spent alone with Jesus each day will order our hearts and grant a sense of direction, enabling us to live purposeful, useful lives, directed by the power of the Holy Spirit, rather than being driven by the expectations and demands of others. ............ The fruit of a devotional life will also be manifested in an ordered, peaceful life..................."

As I reflected on these comments (Chapter 12 Cultivating the Garden of the Heart) I will tell you it is evident when I do not have that peace or that order it is often because my priorities are out of sorts. It is because I have been so busy doing ministry I missed that time spent with the Father. Something He continues to teach me is I am to be "directed" not "driven". As I ask myself about what fruit is showing up in my own life because of my daily devotional time with my heavenly Father, I ask you to think about this also!

Do you have a "spot" of quiet rest? Mine is my big green chair, what about you?

Busy, Busy Week

I realized I haven't written here in quite some time - it has been busy. Here are some things that have consumed my time this past week-

1 Grandparent's Valentine Party
4 basketball games
3 funeral homes
2 theming meetings
1 meeting for new building
1 lunch with a homeschool family (very yummy)
1 lunch with another children's minister
1 mom's group meeting
1 benefit dinner (Jaxson Kidd Memorial benefit dinner- a child who died from our church)
2 meetings - coupon class
1 computer meeting
2 VBS meetings
1 staff meeting and staff lunch
phonecalls and emails
I am sure there was more but that is all I can remember without my calendar

Hmmmmmm it has been a busy week!
I'll post on some of the above at a later day!
Just wanted you to know I am still alive!
Just a little tuckered out!
Hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day!

So disappointed

I am so sorry if you listened to me about sending Christmas Cards to Recovering Soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C. I sent two boxes and they were ALL sent back as not able to deliver. No real reason was given- I will have to try and find out. Sorry if you did waste postage on this- it was a nice thought anyway.

Anyone know why they would not accept these?

Just what the Great Physician Ordered

Well it has been a little while since I posted. To be honest I have been a little discouraged for a variety of reasons. Really the only one I can mention here is just I feel I have personally been under attack by Satan. I also feel other staff and church members have been under Satan's attack too. I feel this has been happening because so many great things are taking place where I serve on staff. I really have been challenged over the past two weeks that I have not spent enough time on my knees praying specifically for a hedge of protection around our church and specifically my co-pastors as well as the other ministers I serve alongside with. You know Satan always knows how to attack us too- he knows our weaknesses and what distracts us. I shared with someone recently the only way I know to thwart of his attacks is on my knees and claiming the Victory Jesus has already won!

For the past two weeks I have used a phrase quite a bit- "Let's call it what it is!" If it is petty, call it petty. If it is squabbling, call it squabbling. If it is gossip, call it gossip. I think you get the picture. I became very aware of this two Sunday's ago when my Sunday started off - well just all wrong. It wasn't anything major, it was little things. I allowed it to make me snippy (which is never good and I have to ask for forgiveness). About half way through my morning - midway through our 2nd service (we have 3), I realized why things were going all wrong. You see at 11 a.m. in Kid's Church I was going to be presenting the Gospel and giving kids an opportunity to respond. It hit me! Satan wanted nothing more than me being all tore up, my focus diverted, and he wanted things to be haywire. I just started praying that God would prevail. That He would settle all things down especially me. You see, we don't often give an invitation- since we started Kid's Church two years ago we have only had one invitation. So................
At the invitation I gave the 116 children a chance to say they knew needed to
Admit they were a Sinner and ask God to forgive them
Believe they Jesus was God's Son and He died on the cross for their sins and
Commit their life to Him.
We had 4 boys do just this.
I then asked children who had already accepted Jesus but never had been baptized to raise their hand. I saw a sea of hands- 33 of them as it ended up. I had them go to the back so we could right their name down. I asked them to talk to their mom and dad and I would be following up.
I am not for high pressure on children- I never want anyone especially a child to have a false sense of security pertaining to salvation. I knew some kids were young that came (Kindergarten) and most likely were just wanting to know more.
As I have followed up that has been the case- some are just curious and we have affirmed it is awesome they want to know more about knowing Jesus.
However, quite a few of them have made decisions. In talking with parents it has been exciting that many of them did go home and talk to mom and dad (I still have several to get in touch with). I have left a lot of messages.
At our church we require children to take the I'm A Christian Now class before they can be baptized. I am offering a class this Sunday and I have 19 signed up - I am so excited! Normally my classes are much smaller and I do them on a monthly basis.
Anyway............... in calling one family newer to our church, they asked if I would meet with them and their son. He keeps insisting he has asked Jesus in his life and due to him being a kindergartner they were not sure if he really understood. Well I met with them today. It reminds me there is no magic age in which a child can understand......... He definitely understood but was a little confused on one part. Bless his heart he was asking Jesus in his life a lot because he keeps sinning. I find this is not unusual - we often are not very clear that this is a one time decision and what you should do when you sin after accepting Jesus. Well we got all that straight and I shared he needed to pray one time and when he sinned after that he needed to ask Jesus to forgive him for that specific sin. In asking him if he was ready to pray that one time- he answered yes. I asked him if he wanted to wait until he got home with mom and dad or if he wanted to pray now. He said now. He then proceeded to pray the most precious prayer asking Jesus into his life. It was hard for me to hold back tears and of course his mom and dad were very teary eyed. After all they just witnessed their son make the most important decision he will every make.
I was reminded by the Great Physician that this is what is all about. This is why I do what I do. This is why I need to claim Victory over Satan everyday. Satan wants to prevent God's kingdom from being built as well as rob me of the joy of my salvation!
Oh that childlike faith......................... It will never grow old getting to hear someone utter the most precious words ever to our Heavenly Father!

A Busy Weekend.........

Have you ever wondered where your weekend went? Well, for me that can be because I either a. got nothing accomplished and realized I did nothing but read, watched movies, played games, etc. OR
b. had great fun doing lots of different things but didn't really accomplish all I had on my "invisible" TO DO list.

I made the comment to my husband that I didn't get anything I intended to get accomplished done this weekend. I began to wonder why........... As I recapped my weekend I realized what I accomplished this weekend can't be "checked" off a TO DO list but is vital in my life.
So you may be wondering what is so vital in my life and kept me busy??? Well I spent time with friends and family this weekend.........

Friday night I helped celebrate my sister's birthday- She is four years younger than me! She wanted to go to Olive Garden so we had some great Italian food. My mom, dad, two sisters and my husband celebrated. I also got to say Hey to my cousin who works at Olive Garden. A great dinner. On the way home my hubby and I decided to go see what all the fuss was about the movie- Henry Horton Hears a Who! It was a great movie. I will write about it another time- several great lessons or as my mom would ask- "What was the moral of that story?" (you do realize every story has one - tee hee).

Saturday I slept in and it felt great. I haven't been able to sleep in for a while (that is another story for another day). However, I went to my 2nd cousin's wedding- it was gorgeous. They are a neat couple that God really has His hand upon. The pastor told a neat story about them- My cousin was a senior in the youth group and her new hubby was a youth teacher (he is about 4 years older- maybe a few more but not much). Anyway, he went to the pastor and shared he wanted to ask her out- the pastor told him no because he felt that would be inappropriate with her still being in the youth group. The pastor shared what maturity he saw in him as he did as the pastor asked and waited. Well now about 2 1/2 years later the pastor stood with them as they became husband and wife. WOW! Not many men would even ask the pastor for that matter. They are a godly couple and it will be exciting to see what all God does in their lives. Their reception was really beautiful too- the food was yummy. Matter of fact I had a dip with cream cheese, pineapples, pecans, etc. in it--- I got to find that recipe. I really liked it!

I ran some errands and then headed for dinner. Some family friends had asked for whoever could from our two families to get together for dinner. We had a great time catching up (we missed our annual Christmas get together this year). We ate, laughed, talked about the old times, and talked about all that was going on now. It was great fun.

It is great to be with family and friends. I encourage you to remember the importance of these relationships in your life and put away the TO DO list and enjoy life. Yes, the laundry is still piled up, the dishwasher still needs to be emptied, the stack of papers are still beside my bed, the toilets didn't get cleaned and the garage is still a mess BUT I decided at the end of this life- no one is going to concentrate on how much I don't like to clean house but more on the PEOPLE in my life and how I lived life with them! SO have fun - remember it is about PEOPLE. After all I did get the number of a housekeeper to hire this week........... I know that would be splurging but I believe I would feel less guilty about being "busy" on the weekends, it would make my husband happier and it would ALLOW me to surround myself with people at my HOUSE because it would be clean. (ok cleaner)

Post Game is my Favorite

Well, today in our Monday staff meeting we were talking about THE GAME. You know the Lady Vols vs. LSU Tigers. It was a great game to watch. My nice, quiet hubby was animated as usual. You see he is passionate about UT anything but especially THE LADY VOLS. Well okay back to staff meeting - let me add that I am the only female on the ministerial staff. Well we were all talking about how tired we were- and one guy said yes, I feel asleep. Well I made the comment that I took a little nap and then woke up for the ending and the post game. I said, "Matter of fact, Post game is my favorite part." Well it was very obvious they thought that was the craziest thing they had ever heard. They laughed and said uh? Well I began to ponder on why I like the post game ......
- I love the emotions of BOTH teams- I best like watching the team who won. I do feel like the team that lost emotions tell how passionate they are about "THE GAME". BUT the winning team gets to realize that passion!
- I love seeing the coaches celebrate and love it when their family is close by. I mean don't we all know behind every good coach their is a GREAT spouse - they are a team! And even though only one "WINS" they both really do though unspoken- normally that coach hugs, celebrates, includes, etc. a family member or spouse.
- The post game interviews tell a story- normally what hurdles were overcome, triumphs are acknowledged, goals are met, I could go on but you get the picture.
- I love the Pros because they not only won a national championship but get to proclaim 'I'm going to DISNEY WORLD (which is my ultimate favorite part).

I could go on but for a million reasons The Post game is my favorite part...... there is also a spiritual application to this but more on this later.
I also can't wait (another time when I am not so sleepy) to write on some thoughts on what our passion really is!

Hope you had a great Monday! I am still reeling from the excitement of last night but can I tell you spiritual warfare is all around- I feel that is because Satan didn't like what happened on Sunday! I remind you Jesus has ALREADY won the VICTORY! Stand a victor not a victim!
God Bless and I pray you have a great Tuesday!