Every Promise

 

Psalm 37:25King James Version (KJV)

²⁵ I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

If you read my blog because you think I am spiritual, you should really find a new blog.
If you think in reading my blog you'll leave feeling inspired because I am one of those "got it all together" types of  people, you really should find a new blog.

I don't have it all together. I am not spiritual, I am so far from spiritual. I am not that perfect Pentecostal woman. I'm not a person you should look to for a good example. I will let you down.

I am more like, the person who is a mess inside. The daughter who wonders if maybe I am a step child, instead of a real child of the King. That maybe God loves me less than the perfect Christ like ladies I go to church with. After all I would love me less. I know me.


 I was taught that song as a child, "Every promise in the Book is mine. Every chapter. Every verse. Every line." I have sung that song to myself as an adult when my Faith was weak.
Yet when I was at my lowest, it wasn't. The scripture I clung too was like a mocking voice in my head that followed me everywhere. Every day instead of bringing me comfort, I would recall that scripture and it would torment me. I really felt like God had forsaken us. I felt like things were to that lowest point. Truly they were. And here again is that fine line of not being attention seeking or needy or wanting you to feel sorry for me and yet telling you how bad things were so you can see how BIG my God is...:)

  I was so tired of fighting the same battle. I couldn't even answer my kids when they asked me, " Mom it feels like God isn't hearing our prayers. Why doesn't He do something? Why are we going thru this?" The best I could give them was I know how you feel, I feel the same way and I have no answer for you. Pretty lame, the mother of 5 kids and I still do not have it all together.

Most nights when I finished my praying I was emotionally exhausted, not because I had some great revival and renewed Faith but because even after all the tears I'd cried and the words I said I still felt empty and hopeless.  It got to the place where I avoided praying because I just couldn't handle the emotional breakdown, I would pray and when I would start to feel that sadness and burden I would  tell God, "I can't go there. I can't pray about that. I can't open myself up to that hurt. I am doing my best to hold it together for my kids and if I start to talk about this...I can't do that. So you know what it is please fix it."  What Christian even prays like that?!

See I told you I am not a spiritual person...
My mind was saying  He hears. Every word. Every thought. Every tear.
My emotions were saying God doesn't love you.
 My doubt was telling me that song should say Every Chapter. Every Verse. Every Line. For Every body. Except you.
My circumstances was saying God has forsaken you.

I remember one day the kids wanted Gary and I to go swimming with them. So we did. It kinda was comical to me and I told Gary, " OH MY GOSH! Look at us! Living with my parents, 5 kids, both of us unemployed, yada yada , and here were are swimming in this pool like we don't have a care in the world! We're bums!" 

LONG DRAMATIC story short... one day I got a call for an interview. IT wasn't where I wanted but it was still a job. As I was pulling in the lot for that interview my phone started ringing, it was for an interview at the place I wanted. Pretty soon I got a start date. A couple months later Gary got the call from GM. And was hired rather quickly looking back. At the time it seemed to drag on forever. Honestly I'd like to put as much time as possible between us and those rough times.
During on of my tormented prayers that I thought God wasn't listening too, in frustration I just told God exactly what we needed. I remember asking for a job for Gary that could pay enough to support our family and then I said "well God, if you really want me to be honest we need a job that pays "this amount at the least", I mean yes any job would be nice but this is really our need." I remember crawling back in bed beside my sweet little baby, feeling just as broken and hopeless as when I first begin my prayer. Would you believe when God gave Gary a job it was for MORE than the amount I had told him in that prayer?!  It only started at the amount I had thrown out there...

I'd like to say that after that my faith was restored and I become a spiritual Giant but that's another post for another time... and this is me we are talking about.....until Part 2 I hope Part 1 leaves you with Hope and maybe a little faith in knowing sometimes life is hard. okay most times life is hard but no matter how dark and long the storm, God is always Good and that is the one thing I do know, beyond a doubt, no matter if I feel He leaves me, or if he Hears my Prayers, His goodness is something I can never question, never doubt. He's Good. He's Just. He's Merciful. He's Holy. He's Righteous.  I am the problem in my life but He is the solution. Always.

He will never forsake you

A few  weeks ago I found myself alone with Blaine. That doesn't happen very often and when it does I almost feel scared like "Can I really do this on my own?!" Lol! He is after all the youngest of 5, how did I have kids before I had kids?
So I did like they told me to do at the hospital, I brought Blaine into the bathroom with me while I showered. His contentedness of course only lasted thru the wetting of my hair. The whole time I showered I talked to Blaine, "Blaine, it's okay, Mommy's almost done, Mommy's just taking a shower, Blaine here I am, I'm right behind the curtain, Can you hear Mommy Blainey Boo, just a few more seconds"  . It seemed the more I talked the more frantic he became, until finally I finished my shower.
I pulled back the curtain to find him screaming like he is being murdered and frantically kicking those little legs waving his chubby little arms with clenched fist in the air and sad little tears running down his red face. He was perfectly safe, right where I had placed him knowing he would be. I felt so sorry for the little guy he looked so pitiful, I started trying to get him to look at me by talking "Oh Blaine, mommy has been here the entire time, I know you couldn't see me but I was right here, watching over you making sure you were safe, I was right behind the curtain"...

Right about then I felt hot tears burn my eyes and start blurring my vision and no longer was this about me comforting my baby. I felt like God was saying, "That's you Jamie, you have been so frantic and scared wondering where I have been, feeling alone, freaking out over this storm, thinking just because you can't "see" me that I am not there, but I am, I have been."
I have been in a panic and it has gotten worse, the longer the storm has lasted the more I felt He wasn't near. Just like Blaine I have been screaming and panicked and when He didn't make everything okay. Blaine was calmed by the sight of mom and being held in my arms, I guess I need that reassurance, knowing God's got this too.... like he always has.



                                                            Deuteronomy 31:6
"Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you."

"God Won't Let Me"

Ethan & Jadyn went to bed the other night and Ethan took Jadyn's bandz she had made. He wouldn't give it back even though she had already made him one. In the argument/battle that followed she came away these awful red marks on her arms, (even two days later,) from Little Dennis. He, not a mark on him. So here she is so mad at him and hurting from his biting, pinching scratching. He waits a few minutes then,  crying he handed her the bandz saying, "Here Jadyn, God won't let me Keep it!"  As you can imagine this was like one of those gas on flames apology! I guess God was okay with him beating her up....

Just another child

Two things happened today that stuck in my mind.
Jadyn came home from school telling me about a new child in her class. A special needs child there because she wasn't being treated nicely in the other classroom by her classmates. It bothered me so much that we humans are so cruel to those that need kindness and love.

When I went to get supper (yes take-out) I was listening to 93.3. A caller was saying how much the Christmas music meant to her every year. She said 3-4 yrs ago her special needs son wanted to hear Christmas music and the station was the first to play it that year right after Halloween.3 weeks later their son died. Every year they listen and how thankful they are for the good memories to sum it up...As the lady is telling the story, her voice breaks and you can hear the emotion and the grief coming thru.

I immediately thought of the two situations. A mom loves her child, while others may only see a disability, or a burden or a tragedy a mother sees... her child, the child she loves.  Just as God loves His children...Look at us, we come to Him broken, emotionally disabled, our mind scared from Life. Not one of God's children are whole, not one of us perfect, yet HE LOVE US. To Him and by Him we are not outcast, not strangers, not abandoned, not forsaken. We are no longer on the outside looking in, we belong.

I am so thankful that I am His. That to Him, I am just another Child....

Jamie

Surviving the storm

Growing up, out of all my youth group, I was probably the one most would have picked to self destruct the quickest. And let's face it, I was the one I would have picked for sure.
I sometimes look back in confusion, wonder and a with remembered fear, maybe like a person who goes thru a tornado. When I look back it's like I can still see the storm going on behind me  picking up what remains of the house I left behind, I can see where I would be if I hadn't made it out in time, and I shudder in fear.
I can see friends I love dearly still being ripped apart by the fierce winds and I think, "How are you still there? I seen you ahead of me, with the survivors" yet somehow they are right back in the middle of it.  I can see the damage that this Storm has caused them. I see how they try to protect themselves and now their own children, yet the great storm of Life still rages on. I watch helpless, as the wind rips apart their family,and they are pulled their separate ways. Their children suffering from wounds to deep to see. They themselves, barely recognizable in appearance, actions, thoughts. Some have told me, "Don't ever come here. I am miserable. It is an awful place to be, and I can't get out. Don't ever backslide. I never thought I would be here. I want to get out." so many heartbreaking cries for help, and yet when I hear the survivors call out warnings, I see some make it to safety, only to watch in horror as they run straight into the Tornado, something calling to them only they can hear,  trying to grasp something they thought was of value, running after what they think they can't live without. When they do get what they are chasing, it was not what they wanted. But now, they can't get away from it.
 I see a child, no, I see children, many children, daily, who thru no choice of their own are in that storm and are suffering from it's cold heartless wind, with nobody to love them, nobody to care. Nobody to bring them in from the storm wash them, feed them take care of their most basic needs, and never their emotional needs. Nobody because mom and dad are caught up in the storm and never notice nor care about their most precious possession.
I look into the storm and I see those who have no idea they are in a life threatening  Storm, because they are so busy chasing the thrill the storm offers to notice it's danger. To them it has become the normal, it has lost it's threat, because it's all they have ever known.
 Yes, I do shudder in fear when I feel the cold wind, because I remember what it was like to be helpless and hopeless within the deadly storm. My heart breaks for those still in the storm.

If you asked how I made it out, I would have to say, God. There is no other way.

Be Ye Transformed, by the Renewing of your mind

Romans 12: 2 
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind


I am sure everybody knows how a caterpillar changes from his wormy disgusting body to a beautiful delicate butterfly. I thought I knew until we start researching it more for Children's Church.
I found we don't fully know what happens. Researchers and scientist disagree but, in reading so many different takes on Metamorphosis I can tell you, in my own humble opinion, exactly what happens....a Miracle. 
First you have that gross little caterpillar, that looks like a fat worm.

It eats and eats and shed it's skin several times until at last it looses interest in food , wonders around till it finds a branch (or something similar) and creates a "Silk Pad" think double sided tape. Caterpillar then hooks his feet into the silk pad and hangs upside down in what is called the "J-Cycle".

The skin cells form the exoskeleton of the pupa, and when that last skin is shed, the "pupa" is revealed

Start of skin shed

Skin gone and Pupa revealed

 T

Inside the Pupa , many things are happening.   Here is one scientists take.

"They start growing really rapidly and differentiating into the different tissues, so that literally the entire internal contents of the caterpillar — the muscles, the entire digestive system, even the heart, even the nervous system — is totally rebuilt. It's like you took your car, you took a Ford into the shop and left it there for a week and it came out as a Cadillac."

Read it for yourself!

And finally, A beautiful new creature is born....a miracle of Re-Birth.








It been several weeks since we did this lesson for the kids but in rereading all the information, I once again feel humbled and hopeful in my heart. at the likeness of our own soul to that of the Caterpillar/Butterfly.
~ We are born into this world a Sinner, we wonder around looking for "food" to fill our soul. That emptiness we all try to fill with fleeting pleasures. Only to find we grow more "hungry"  we lose hope in ever finding  peace for our troubled heart. Like that caterpillar who loses interest in food.

I can't speak for any but myself,  I was miserable in my sin, I knew right from wrong. I couldn't sleep at night, my mind was always in a turmoil always unhappy with myself, my life...just completely miserable. No matter what I tried or thought would make me happy, it never did. I found myself no longer caring what happened to me or what I did because, I had lost interest in living.


Yet when Jesus came into my Life  I  "shed" my old skin and become a new creature in Christ. A true miracle occurred, I felt clean inside. I felt peace and even joy. Even outwardly I was different there was a smile that went from my face all the way into my heart. For my pain, He gave me healing, 

 my sleepless nights, He gave me rest for my weary mind He traded His Love, for my bitterness

took my troubled heart and gave me Peace,  as for My orphaned soul, He made me His Child

The old man inside had died and the miracle of Rebirth had taken place in my heart. 

 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

 He created each of us  with the desire that we would be His, with the potential inside of us to be more. 
The emptiness you feel, is God's place in your Heart. It can only be filled by Him.

There is none like You, No One else can touch my heart like you do

                         I could search for all Eternity long and find There is none like you.

Picture Day at school!

Beauty and The PEST!

Jadyn & Ethan!

Author day at School!

Yes I am aware this is upside down....I don't know why as it is right side up on my computer!
So stand on your head and you can see Ethan with Author Brian Cleary, who was at their school today!

Cayden's First Deer....plural

Cayden shot his first deer this Youth season. He shot his 2nd deer 60 sec later....you'll have to ask him for the story, I am a little confused. I did get that he was shaking so badly from an "Adrenalin Rush"  that he wasn't sure he would be able to shoot it! He was so cute to hear him tell it....lots of excitement for him that day! He is such a good boy (when he is not pestering his baby Brother)!
I don't care if he shoots a deer or not I am proud of him! He has a good work ethic and somehow manages to make good grades in spite of being Dyslexic. I have spent many days crying and worrying over his Learning Disability and how it would effect him. I am thankful to say as of today, it has only made him Stronger as a person, and as a student. I love this boy so much!

The pressure to Conform...

For children's church we have been going over
Romans 12:2
Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.

We spent several lessons on how we conform to this world. We used the chameleon as our "Conformer".

The chameleon camouflages himself to fit into the world around him. We talked about reasons we may want to change ourselves to be like the world around us. Peer pressure, fear, bulling, and just simply because a lot of us want to make others happy, we want to be liked. So we try to become somebody we aren't.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Many times we as adults get so wrapped up into trying to fit in that we lose ourselves, we forget who we really were before we started making so many  changes in our search for that sense of belonging. Inside we are still the same and yet for all our changes and all our conforming to other ideas of what we should look like, act like, do and think, we are never happy.
Things don't have to be a sin for us to feel that pressure to conform. As an adult I feel pressure to conform. Something as simple as weight  is a huge thing for most women. If you don't believe me, gain 40 lbs and see how differently you are treated, then lose those 40lbs and observe again...everybody has a different response to how you look and most people have no 2nd thoughts to telling you their opinion good or bad, when your fat or skinny. A lot of people probably don't even realize it but some treat you differently as well. This is just one thing I can relate to as my weight is always up or down. I feel that pressure all the time. I go to bed with it, I wake up with it....it follows me everywhere. I don't need you to tell me I am gaining weight and refer to my looks as you would a tragic accident...I do all that myself.

Another way we as adults feel pressured is providing the best for our kids, keeping up with the friends of our children to make sure they aren't singled out, bullied or that they may feel a sadness for not having what their friends have. Clothes, houses, book bags, Electronics, vacations, you name it. I imagine this is even more of a burden for men than it is most women as men are the main providers in most homes.

We feel pressure in other areas of parenting, are we to easy on our kids, are we to hard on them, how is other parents handling the same situations?
 We worry that our kids will be embarrassed of us for the way we look or dress, are our clothes nice enough, is our hair fixed just right,  on & on.
For those of us who don't believe in cutting our hair we worry that people will think we are some type of alien with bulging head bumps that we cover with this huge mass of hair, or if we wear our hair down you run the risk of being petted like a dog by complete strangers, or if your really lucky like me complete strangers will come up to you and say "Do you know you need a hair cut?!"  We worry other women will think we are gross or that we aren't clean or don't try to keep up with ourselves because we don't visit a beauty salon and cut off dead ends, if you don't believe me you should see the looks I get when I wear my hair down and the comments... For those that cut their hair, I am sure you deal with the after thoughts of did I get it cut good enough, if I get it cut at Great Clips will I look like I laid under the lawn mower, is this cut out of style, or coloring and perming.... all these ridiculous things we as women do because we feel that pressure to measure up to some other person's standards of beautiful.
I worry Gary or close friends might look at me to long and really see all the flaws in me, you know kinda like Gothel after she goes from "magical" to "downright creepy"! Like her age just hit her all at once! BAM with the UGLY/AGE stick!

I know ...your thinking I have really flipped and need some OCD meds ASAP! Some of these worries are funny and sometimes I admit I have had a good cry over hurtful remarks but always a good laugh afterwards when God speak peace to my mind and his Love clears away all the  firey darts Satan throws my way.
Some of these things are so petty and so ridiculous, but aren't they all?  I think the bully in our lives  today and always, is Satan. He may use others to make you feel this way but, don't ever doubt he is behind it all! When we stop and take a moment to think rationally instead of rushing thru the day...

I know that no matter what I look like on the outside,or how other perceive my physical body,
I am fearfully and wonderfully made in His image.
 Psalm 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

My earthly possessions great or small, matter not in the bigger picture of life, nor do they define me and God does not place my souls value on my credit score great or small.  
Matthew 6:19-21

19Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

20But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

I am a good parent as is my husband, we may not be perfect but we love our kids and do the best we can for them they will survive if they don't have Miss Me jeans, Hollister clothing, no it doesn't hurt for them to have those things and yes they like when they get them but  God never commanded me to dress them in name brands He did command me to love them, to protect them, to provide for them, and to discipline them.

 Proverbs 22:6 (KJV)

• Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. 

A lot of my battles are of the mind for, after all my decision to follow Christ has been made. My standards and biblical or personal convictions may not be yours but they most assuredly are mine. There is something inside of me that won't let me bend them a little or break them, or toss them aside, sometimes I have like a pouting child told the Lord, "THAT'S IT! I QUIT! I REFUSE TO FIGHT ANY MORE!" that is the moment when spiritually, He carries me until I am strong enough to walk again, the moments that in my weakest He is my strength, and that stubborn streak I have is only strengthened and I can't just walk away, I can't quit...and I am thankful for that. At the same time it means my mind is where Satan attacks me...if he can get me to doubt and fear long enough, He will have a greater chance in the battle for my soul.

 2 Corinthians 12:10 

• Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 
  
  Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)

• But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
  

 PSALMS 28

6Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.

7The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

8The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.

I could add verse after verse of God's promises but I will stop here ;)
 

Thanks to my faithful readers! I hope your are encouraged ;)

I will have to finish up on Transforming at another time!

Love,

Jamie 

So these are just a few of the things I may struggle with and I am sure you can add to it, feel free toshare in the comments as your struggle may not be your own. After all....I am a very private person and sharing my inner thoughts and struggles is not an easy thing for me to do....you should at the least do that same! lol!

For Davie Boggs amusement....

Since you don't have Facebook ;)

I am a first grade teaching assistant this year. Today while at school, the kids were having trouble focusing on what the teacher was teaching. She got them all on track when a spider made a grand appearance on the "chart paper" hanging from the ceiling ( long paper hanging like a clothes line in the air) We tried to just ignor the spider but it was huge distraction for them...and me as well so I asked if she wanted me to just kill it. We decided that would be best.
With all 25 students sitting there criss cross apple sauce and quiet for the first time that afternoon ,I take off my shoe to hit the spider and I realized, "I can't smash a spider on a free hanging paper". I removed my other shoe thinking "Okay I can just put a shoe behind it and smash the shoes together."....such a blonde moment... next thought, "Omigosh that spider is huge! If I miss it will fall ON TOP OF ME ....and I will become..."indecent & hysterical" so I carefully eased my shoe behind the paper and the spider starts moving I quickly hit the paper and the spider starts falling...as did I.
 I was trying to move back and my feet got tangled in the rocking chair the teacher was sitting in as I grabbed the chair I thought,
"Oh I'm fine" then I fell back with my arms holding my upper body and I honestly don't know what happened with my legs...I thought "Okay I got this"
I landed on my butt and was thinking "Ok, it's over"
NOPE NOT YET next thing I knew, I was flat on my back. The kids are all  laughing so hard as is the teacher.  I jump back to my knees because I don't know where the dumb spider is and there it is in the  containers....I hit those stupid blocks so many time and the spider still lives...
My butt is so sore tonight, but as the teacher said, " Maybe we can write a story about that on Tues.!"
 That wasn't quite what I had in mind for helping them learn how to take everyday life and tell a story...but looks like I was more helpful than I ever thought possible.

A bit of random

For those that like to read about our lil' Dennis, aka Ethan, here's one for you.

He spent the day with a friend Sat. while there, they had a family Bonfire. The friends grandma came to the Bonfire. I guess she has a very strong dislike for the word "poop"...so much so that she doesn't even use it even when the sometimes necessary topic comes up. She refers to it as "out the back" . Of course Ethan was doing something and said " Oh, poop!" Grandma gasped in shock and asked him, " WHAT DID YOU SAY?!!" Ethan apologetically corrects himself with, "Poop Nuggets!"   yeah....I don't know how it happens but somehow my boys have a way of shocking the best of ladies. I remember Cayden and Tre` shocking Sis. Jane a time or two. For the record nobody here says "Poop Nugget" well....that I have heard... besides Ethan.

I was feeling pretty homesick Sat., visiting Dayton and Dryden Road on Friday night, knowing Seth & Sarah and family, mom and dad and Holly & Jeff and family was all in Dayton, trying to squeeze in a years worth of catching up into a few hrs and knowing I could never catch up with everybody.  I miss being at DRPC and "Bev & the girls" just everything (I could go on and on but it would take to long) about Home. The Lord must have heard my heart because Sunday night we had the best service I can remember having at Full Gospel in the almost 3yrs we have been here, I felt spirit and service wise I was back home at Dryden Road church...I guess having one of my BFF's (well kinda like 2 but don't tell Michael I am so fond of him) in service with me didn't hurt any! I am glad that God cares about the small things, the things and feelings nobody else would care about at all.


I don't really have much else for you all so I will just end here!

Broken but I'm Healed

Found this song by chance today, it stirred many emotions and memories. 

How many times have I went to church needing "something", for me that could be different daily! It seems I depend so much on God, for so many areas of my life. Honestly there have been time I have left as broken as when I came. I have wondered how that can be, God is not changed, He has all power, He wants to be my Healer so why am I not healed. Looking back there are many reasons why I didn't get what I needed when I needed it. 

Among them, I didn't want to let go of that hurt, I wasn't in the church (not a building but spiritually speaking) I needed to be in, I let others hinder me, I listened to Satan's lies, I gave up to easy....many other reasons. All of them have to do with the human aspect. Never has it been that God wasn't willing, that God wasn't reaching for me, or that God didn't love me.

Sometime I have hung onto the HURT that had me broken, I have used it as a shield to protect myself from getting hurt again by life or people, makes no difference, really I was afraid to let go of it for fear that

it would leave me vulnerable. or worse still that other would see I was hurt or that they had hurt me...

Sometimes I have doubted God's abilities to heal. Mostly, I didn't want to ask Him for Healing only for Him to say, to me as he did to Paul

2Corinthians 12:8, 9

8For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

 

9And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

I am not sure I can bear to hear those words so there have been time I haven't asked, like a child who wants something but the fear of being told, "No" is greater than the desire. I have always been that child, and even as an adult I would rather not ask, than to ask and be told no...not really sure why! lol!

Once I learn to let go of every hindering thing in my Life, I have found God to be right there with Love like an ointment that heals and covers every hurt, with forgiveness that is the best medicine for a straying heart in pain, with grace and mercy for my starving thirsty soul, and with peace for my troubled and weary mind...and with His gentle spirit ministering to me, I feel myself become whole once again. The memories are there, the scars of past hurts yet, somehow there is renewed strength, there is hope once again and there is ...Healing.

Verse 1:
So you enter into this building,
You brought your burdens, brought your pain.
I have a message for you today,
That when you leave here, you won't be the same.

Verse 2:
So you tell me you've been to your physician,
Look at you there's been no change in your condition.
Reach out and touch the Master's Throne,
There's healing for your mind, your body, and your soul.

Chorus 1:
God can heal, He can deliver.
He can mend your brokenness.
He has a miracle to fit your needs,
Once you trust Him, you will receive.

Verse 3:
God knows about your situation,
But with every test and every trial there is revelation,
That God is able to supply every one of your needs;
He's here to touch you, heal you, He'll set you free.

Two of my favorite things....My kids and my yard!

 I know you thinking "Did she really take more pictures of her yard?!" The answer is , Yes! What else can I take pics of! I would promise this is the last one but I don't know if it keep looking more and more pretty I will have to take another one to share! ;)

In full Bloom! ;)

Porch with Some Yard decor from my mom

Some of my yard decor.....from my mom! ;)

Handsome little stinker!

All 4- the sun was a little bright for them! lol!

Ethan

Recipe: Stuffed Peppers

Wash,Core, and lay peppers face up on cookie sheet.

Sprinkle Garlic Powder, Salt & Red Pepper (for Spicy)

Sprinkle with Bacon and Cheese

Bake at 350 for 10-15 min.

Gary grows Fooled Ya Jalapenos, the have the taste of a jalapeno without the heat. So Yummy! So that is the peppers we use however you may use jalapeno, bells or sweet peppers with this recipe as well. Great for dieting to, I always  go light on the cheese & bacon for that reason. 
Here's the finished result :)

Yum!!!

A few more yard pic

2013 Sumer Flowers ;)

Here are some pics of our yard this Summer! Pictures never do justice to life, but you can always stop by to see for yourself! Cool thing about this years flowers most we grew from seed with the exception on the flower groupings in the ground along the front and two other plants, the sweet potatoe vine and another I forget the name to....imagine! :) Hope you like the flowers and they bring a smile to your face! I plan on trying to save the seeds if you want any Mamaw, just let me know!

Enjoying Summer

It's been nice being off work for the summer and the kids off school.
We are just enjoying whatever comes along. Kids went to Shady Springs Youth Camp, visited the Phillips family a few times, and now we are home for our own Camp meeting. I have a mountain of laundry waiting on me for today at a decent hour, and a migraine and sinus headache keeping me awake tonight....;)

There's not been a lot of anything going on. I did get my yard landscaping done. I do know that most people couldn't care less about my little boring life but if you are reading this blog and thinking, "Who really cares?!" obviously this blog wasn't written with you in mind....but my grandma, now she cares about my little yard.
So once again back the the reason I blog....;)

 Our house is yellow so I did last year's flowers in purples and pinks...

I should have waited till the flowers were in full bloom to take a picture last year but was impatient!
So this year I am waiting but, I did the "Sherbert" color mix this year, Orange, peach, pink, yellow and white. I love this years colors even more! I will see if I can take a pic for you tomorrow and post it :)

I finally got to meet my niece little Madison this past week! I was so excited....so excited that I forgot her name. I was calling her Madelyn when I heard Jadyn and Reagan saying Madison, I said, "Guys her name is not Madison it is Madelyn." Then I called little Taylor, "Trailer". Seth was not happy with me. It was some consolation to know that I don't even get my own kids names straight and was calling Tre', Seth. I think it is the migraines.....;) Little Madison was sweet as can be and I miss her already!!!

I don't have anything interesting to share with you all....maybe next week or month or whenever ;)
Love you all!

Walking away....

I was driving down the road a few weeks back and seen a boy riding his bike on the sidewalk. As I came close to him he just completely wiped out! I can't tell you how it happened even though I was looking right at him (due to my fear of kids darting in front of me while I am driving....) one second he was riding and on top of the world the next blink of an eye he was laying on the sidewalk. I stopped and asked him if he was okay and he jumps up, gets back on the bike a little embarrassed but seemingly okay then respond with, "Yeah I am fine." I kinda laughed as I drove away, thinking to myself "I guess if you can walk away from it, your not hurt to bad." I stopped laughing immediately after that thought because I remembered how just the day before my own son had a bicycle wreck. He rode his bike down what the kids call, "Devil's Hill" .
(I won't even go into it, I don't understand why a person would even THINK about riding a bike down a hill with that name)

Prepare yourself....ready? HE WRECKED! Can you believe that?! Who would have thought?!

He comes home with his NEW jeans ripped beyond the wearing point, his knee was just awful looking dirt and embedded rocks, bloody and I could see it all....THROUGH THE HOLES IN HIS NEW JEANS....
He limps up to the shower, cleans up and we put some ointment and a bandage over it. I asked him of course all my mom question, (I didn't know I was such a "mom") what happened, where, what did you do, how did you get home? He tells me he was embarrassed over the wreck and didn't want the rest of the guys to know how much he hurt so he "walked away", and rode his bike home.
And I wondered if maybe the boy I seen wreck really might be hurt but was to embarrassed like my own son, to ask for help.

As I thought of those two bike wrecks a small voice said, "That's you. You think if you can get up and walk away from a wreck in your life that you must be okay. You tell yourself it wasn't a big deal just a small wreck that you will be fine and yet here you are years, months, days later and the wounds have become scars that sometimes without warning are ripped away by the smallest scratch or bump or another one of Life's wrecks."

 We walk away from Life's "wrecks. We think, if I can walk away, I'm not hurt, yet as time passes we realize something isn't right.
Memories of that "wreck" haunt us, emotions overwhelm, we have pain when we never realized we were hurt. What we thought was a simple scratch turns out to be a deep stabbing wound.
At times we know we are hurt but, don't want to be thought of as petty or immature so we keep that hurt to ourselves.
We are to embarrassed to admit we dumbly trusted somebody who told us "You go down Devil's Hill first then we will follow." And to embarrassed to admit we were hurt while doing so.
  Some of Life's wrecks,we know right away  hurt us deeply, yet also know it is best to walk away from them and mend those hurts in a safe place.

I guess my life lesson from two teenagers was this,"Just because you can walk away doesn't mean you aren't hurt no matter if you know your hurt and are hiding it, or you don't realize what happened till later."
As for a solution and an answer on how to heal those hurts....all I can give you is what you already know.What I firmly believe, what I know to be true ;)

Psalm 142:2

³ He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

 Natalie Grant "The Real Me"

Music Conference Summer 2013

This is for my family to see ( I doubt anybody else would care...lol)  as it is the only time I have ever sang with my little brother. I know it isn't the full song but it is a clip so you can kinda see a little I think we are at 2:35-9:28.

But there are many other guest vocalist on this video that you might enjoy. ;)
He has DVD's for sale if you would want to purchase one ;)

Love!
Jamie