Super Bowl Party

My church hosted a Super Bowl Party again this year with a Chili cook off and a dessert bake off. Graffiti (the youth group I lead) wanted to enter into the bake off so they voted on a cake a few Sundays back. I brought what I baked that morning and they iced it and added the letters. It didn't win, but it was a great bonding experience. When we began teaching the youth 2 years ago we averaged 7-8 kids, now I am up to 30+. It's amazing what God is doing with those kids, and I am honored to be apart of it.







Oh and here is Teague's faux hawk! He is so handsome!!

Addendum

After thinking about my last post I had an addendum to my thoughts. My last line said that God waits, just as I do. This is untrue.

God pursues.

I am reading a book by Max Lucado called 'A Gentle Thunder' and God showed me He is not idle in my situation, even though I feel like I am. Here is what Lucado writes,
"God will whisper. He will shout. He will touch and tug. He will take away our burdens; He'll even take away our blessings. If there are a thousand steps between us and Him, He will take all but one. But He will leave the final one for us. The choice is ours. Please understand, His goal is not to make you happy, but to make you His.
Consider these verses in John 1:38-43
Jesus turned...
Jesus asked...
Jesus answered...
Jesus looked...
Jesus decided...
Jesus found...
It's clear who does all the work. He may use a sermon or a conversation or a song, but it is He who calls us."

Wow, a God that runs after us all the time, even when we turn from Him over and over and over. His love for us is so great and I am so thankful that He doesn't sit and wait, but rather uses whatever means necessary to get our attention and bring us back to Him.

Questions

I have days where my mind races. Alot of questions, none with real answers, and everyone of them points back to God. My most recent round of questions started like this...
"Why does this hurt so bad? When will it stop hurting? If my complete trust is in God should this be hurting at all? Will God do the one thing that I want so that I will stop hurting?"

I then hear from Him, "I am hurting too."

It never occurred to me that the decision that was imparted on me, was also imparted on God. I know the Bible talks about being a lukewarm Christian and how this angers God.

Revelation 3:16
"So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

But what about turning completely away from Him? Many days I feel Him empathizing with me in the way that He is being rejected too, and not just currently, in my own situation, but by many today and many in the past and future. I know He desperately wants those relationships with Him repaired.

Does God cry?

I know God is God and can do anything, but at the same time in His true love for us He gave us volition, a choice, our choice. He will not force Himself on anyone, as He is a Gentleman. I bet His heart aches much more than mine. So the answer to the question "Will God do the one thing that I want so that I will stop hurting?" is, it's not up to God. He sits and waits just as I do.

Dancing

Here is Troy and his latest "dance" to his favorite song, the opening of Go Diego Go. He is pretty acrobatic!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Purple flowers

Thinking back, every boyfriend I have ever had has always given me purple flowers of some sort. Purple is my favorite color and lavender roses are just so beautiful, but receiving purple flowers of any kind is so special to me.

As the boys and I get situated in our new surroundings we have gone exploring a few times, looking for new parks and trails to walk on. We headed down one path with a park in site pretty far up ahead and, of course, Troy blasts off on his bike ahead of me. I take that time to enjoy my surroundings in quiet as I push Teague in the stroller, while keeping an eye on my super hero on wheels ahead of us. It was a gorgeous day, cool and sunny, but no need for a coat. As I walked, the grass was green, the birds chirping, the sun warm, but then I noticed...one single purple flower. Against the green grass it was brillant and stood out. I smiled as my heart warmed and I knew it was from God. The entire path ahead was peppered with these purple flowers. I fought back tears and savored the moment quickly as Troy was loudly calling out to me, "Hurry up, Mom."

We deviated off that path and onto another, no flowers. To the park with the swings for Troy to play, no flowers. Until it was time to leave and we returned to the path to take us home and again I enjoyed my gift. It amazes me that God knew I would walk that particular path and decided to surprise me! I picked a few and brought them home in an attempt to keep them alive as a reminder. They were withered within a few hours, but I know I will never forget how special God made me feel on our walk that day.

He is the Author and Creator of romance and love, makes me wonder what He has planned for Valentine's Day?!

TnT

After writing Troy and Teague over and over the other day I decided to shorten it to T and T, and after saying it, it came out as TnT. Here are a few pics of my dynamite boys!



Teague driving


Troy and Bodie sliding

Family fun!

Happy Teague

Home is where your heart is

God continues to shower down blessings for me and the boys. We recently moved into a new home. Our new place has more square footage, for less money! Only God can do that! My parents came to help, along with the men in my church, the Band of Brothers. Once the men got there it literally took an hour for them to disassemble, load, get to the new place, unload, and reassemble. You would have thought they were professionals! And not one thing was broken!! I am so thankful that I was able to depend on them when my family needed it the most. Here are lots of pictures of the moving process and of the new house!! We love it!


Troy helping out

Some of the Band of Brothers

Some of the youth guys even came out to help.



Chris is always looking for a good time!





Here is the living room with a glimpse of my room, the kitchen and dining, and the office/sitting area.

The boys' rooms are both upstairs. Teague's room is to the left and Troy's room is to the right. Notice they each have a sliding glass door off their back wall that leads to their play room that adjoins their rooms together. What fun for two little boys!

Here is the play room, although I haven't had a chance to organize at all up there, I think it will be a great place for us to play together!




Getting organized!

My room is downstairs and once the boys are all tucked in bed, it's nice to relax and read or watch TV and not have to worry about being quiet.

My inbox

I have gotten into the routine of waking up before the boys and reading, praying, and checking my email every morning. At first it was just reading and praying, but as I prayed daily for God to use me each day in someones life I added checking my email to the list because I started to see God working through my inbox in such a great way.

It has blown me away the number of times that God has used my email to talk to me. I have been praying hard for a renewed word from God about my situation, just to make sure that what I have heard is still the path He wants me to take, within 3 days an email came across with exactly what I needed to hear to stay strong. A stranger reads my friend's blog and happened to click on mine and read my story. Her story was the same and she has offered so much help and advice and encouragement all because she reached out and emailed me. On several occasions I wonder 'who is this?' I open the email and they explain how they know me or where we met long ago and want to reconnect or just offer their prayers. It really is unbelievable. I now open my email with anticipation because I never know what God is going to do or who God is going to bring into my life or how He is going to use me in that relationship. When I get an email or a FB message that I'm not 100% sure of who it is, I now smile, because I wonder what is God up to this time? And I know it is a divine arrangement and I am honored He is using me.

One more round

Over the last several days Satan has really bumped up his attempts to bring me out of fellowship with God. But, each time something new happens I am quicker to realize it is Satan and therefore, able to respond to God in the way He wants me to respond...which is only making Satan even more mad.

I have never questioned the existence of Satan and God, as the Bible makes it clear.

Ephesians 6:12
We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world.

But I have never seen spiritual warfare so evident in not only my life, but in others around me, too. The pastor from TCAL in Mansfield made a good point. He asked those in ministry, "Are you ready to suffer?" I think Satan takes particular notice of those advancing the Kingdom and tries harder to tear them down.

To be honest, everyday I take a different stance. Sometimes I run and hide behind God and let Him do the fighting.
Psalm 46:1
God is our mighty fortress, always ready to help in times of trouble.

Other days, I take up the sword and fight too.
Ephesians 6:13-17
So put on all the armor that God gives...Let God's saving power be like a helmet and for a sword use God's message that comes from the Spirit.

As I continue to grow closer to God, everyday I fear less and less. God is so powerful and I have always known He is victorious over Satan in the final days, but He is also faithful and victorious over Satan in the present as well! I love the picture that is painted in Revelation 19:11-16...
I looked and saw that heaven was open, and a white horse was there. It's rider was called Faithful and True, and he is always fair when he judges or goes to war. His eyes like flames of fire, and he was wearing a lot of crowns...The rider wore a robe that was covered in blood and he was known as "The Word of God." ...From his mouth a sharp sword went out to attack the nations...

This description of God ignites something in me to keep pushing through!

Over the weekend, my best friend, Laura gave me a CD with a ton of songs she thought would uplift me and she was right!! One of my favorites is called "One more round." I couldn't find it on mixpod, so I will just share the lyrics.

Round one wasn't what I thought it'd be
Round two I'm struggling to breath
3, 4, 5, 6, 7 times I wondered why I stepped inside this ring

I may be knocked down and bruised
But I'm here to tell you
That I may be knocked down but not for the count
1,2,3,4
So take me one more round
I'll just keep fighting
One more round
You're messing me up but I'm still here

One more round I'll come out swinging
But I know that victory is when
I'm pushing through the pain that tries to feed me lies that I wont reach the end

I may be bloodied and so bruised
But I'm here to tell you
That I may be knocked down but not for the count
1,2,3,4

Please keep praying, because I'm still fighting!