Birthday celebrations

The birthday celebrations are going all month long. My mom planned a full day of fun things for us!  We all met at her house and started off to the Escape Room. It was a dinosaur room and was very tough. I think we were trapped in the first room for almost 20 minutes so that put us way behind. We did not escape and were probably 10 steps away from even being close to escaping, but we had fun a lot of fun!!

After the escape room we went on a boat tour of the Trinity River in Fort Worth.  We were able to hear a lot of history about the city, see some wild life and great views of the skyline. Mom even made hot chocolate for us to drink while we cruised along the river.  The weather could not have been more enjoyable.

After the boat cruise, we went to a little Italian restaurant.  All of their food was made from scratch and was absolutely delicious.  By far, the best Italian food I have ever eaten!!  Then we went home for cake and presents.  The whole day was filled with so many wonderful activities and memories!  My mom always knows how to make the birthday guest feel loved.

About a week later Amber gifted me tickets to see Mercy Me!  We went out to dinner and then went to the concert at Dickie's Arena.  It was such a good concert with great music.  It was the perfect gift and a fun sister's weekend!

Good bye 30! Hello 40!

As I look back over the 3rd decade of life, I am not sad to say good bye. It was a hard decade. I turned 30 alone, left with a toddler and 8 month old trying to piece together my shattered life as a single mom, but the Lord covered and protected me. I said good bye to my 30’s in much the same way, as I was in a car accident on my last day of 39. We were all blessed to walk away with only minor injuries.

It was a hard decade, but, wow, how it has grown me!!

 I am not the same. Every piece of it changed me for the better!

As I arrived at school a little shaken and out of sorts, my coworkers had the most wonderful surprise waiting for me. My room was transformed into a hot mess, all expressing their love and adoration toward me and my oldness!  Then, I spent the evening enjoying good food and laughter with my family!  It was the perfect way to ring in this new decade and I am excited to see what the Lord has next. He spared me for a reason and for that I am thankful!!

Fresh perspective

I’ve always loved running, but a few years back my running turned into a second quiet time with the Lord and now I crave that intimacy with Him more than the actual exercising. I always tell my friends that if I ever send you something during one of my runs you know it’s of God. I just seem to hear so clearly during that time. Today’s run was one for the books!!

I’ve been struggling with the church start we felt led to start; doors are closed or not opening fast enough or fires are burning out...So many unanswered questions and over the last month or so I’ve felt my passion fade even through the prayer and fasting and obedience. Today on my run I heard the song Slumber by Need To Breathe and so many of my thoughts collided together.

The lyrics that got to me say “All these victims stand in line for crumbs that fall from the table, just enough to get by.”  Every time I hear those words I think of all the believers that simply go to church on Sunday and hear the message and never open their Bible the rest of the week. They live week to week on the regurgitated words of someone else and, like the song says, it’s enough to get by but not enough to move forward, to take ground for breakthrough!

Breakthrough!!  It’s coming!  You can see it all over the news and social media!! God is up to something and we, as believers, need to step it up!! As I hear the stories of the celebrities coming to the faith and making radical moves to draw others in...that excites me!! I think maybe I’ve lost the fire to start a church because of the fact that in the last days we are going to need so much more than a building with members, which doesn’t excite me at all!  I want to see revival and unbelievers questioning and seeking and finding freedom. Not that churches are bad but perhaps we don’t need to start another one. Something has got to be different!

Eschatology has always intrigued me and I have studied it for awhile now. As I watch the recent political moves being made and read and study and learn from others concerning Ezekiel 38, I again get fired up!  To think that a man who prophesied between 592-560 b.c. spoke of events I potentially am watching play out is mind blowing!! Talk about connected to the Bible!! And if, in fact, we are in the end times it puts everything into perspective! I truly believe God doesn’t need anymore churches but rather those seeking intentional relationships with unbelievers. If we only have a few years or decades left we need to be intentional. We need to learn to feed ourselves. Hebrews 5:13 talks about how infants need milk but solid food is for mature Christians.

So if you’re a believer I challenge you to make some bold moves. If Jesus were to come rapture His church tomorrow would you have any regrets?!?  We are called to not be uninformed and to stay alert, so research what is happening and read your Bible and ask for heavenly wisdom. He tells us the harvest is plentiful, yet the workers are few.

If you are unsure of the whole Jesus thing I challenge you to ask questions, seek answers, strike up a conversation with the Creator of the universe and listen and watch as He makes Himself known to you.

This is an exciting time we live in and as much as the devil wants to distract and busy us and beat us down with insignificant drama, we know the Lord wins the victory! I will continue to pray continually and strategically with my hope being that as disciples of Him, we can bring a multitude of souls with us as we cross over into Heaven!!

You can find some great videos and articles concerning all this online but here are a few to get you started...
HERE
HERE
HERE
And HERE

Teenager!

Troy is a teenager!!  We started his day with donuts and ended his day at church with cake and presents!  He even ran a cross country meet during the day and placed third in the district!  He had a busy day, for sure!!

This year he didn't really want a party so he decided he would ask Papa to take him and a buddy fishing.  Of course, my dad jumped on that opportunity and he and Troy and Michael spent a Saturday on Lake Waco catching all the big bass they could!

Troy was also extremely blessed to be taken to New Mexico by his grandparents for the Hot Air Balloon Festival.  He missed a day of school, drove to the metroplex and flew into New Mexico.  He spent the weekend riding the sky tram and watching the hot air balloons.  The pictures he took were so good and it looked like they had an amazing time.  What a special and memorable birthday for him.

From baby to teenager...

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

6 years old

7 years old

8 years old

9 years old

10 years old

























11 years old

12 years old

13 years old

Good-bye Globe Life Park

Today was the last Ranger game in Globe Life Park. We started with lunch at the new Texas Live venue and then headed over to the game. Nolan Ryan threw out the first pitch and the game was full of videos replaying all the highlights from the stadium over the last 25 years. I definitely have a few highlights of my own!

Richard and I had one of our very first dates in this stadium. It quickly became “our place.”  We now go to Opening Day every year and try to go to several games throughout each season. 

We were there when we were soooo close to winning the World Series!! 

And lastly, our wedding! It was the perfect spot to say I Do for us! 

This stadium will forever hold some of my favorite memories and I’m so glad we were able to make one more today as we said good-bye to Globe Life Park.

Enlarging opportunities

Over the last 8 months Richard and I have been in prayer for our next steps for following the Lord’s leading toward bringing something out to Axtell.  You can read a little about that  HERE.  As the months have passed I kept wondering if we had missed something, but the Lord said to be still so I tried my best to be obedient.  He reminded me over and over that just because I am still does not mean He is still. Then, in April we were approached by my ex-husband’s new father in law with an idea.  He was losing his youth pastor and thought maybe Richard could come on staff to help train his existing youth employee and also share his own wisdom in church planting with us and help us take our core group and get them connected well within the safety of his church before going solo out in Axtell.  We prayed about it and felt the Lord leading us to join in that partnership.  So as of August 15th, Richard will join the staff out at Crossroads Fellowship! 

I love the Lord’s faithfulness to us when we are faithful to Him.  We could have easily disregarded the word of “be still” and plowed ahead with our own knowledge and forced something to come about, but I am so glad we didn’t. I feel a peace about this step that I haven’t had since January and it’s a great spot to be in!! I am so excited to see the opportunities the Lord leads us to that we would have missed had we not been patient...the new friendships, the new wisdom we can tap into, the knowledge we can impart to others around us. The pieces are slowly moving and I’m glad He is in charge because I would have already messed it up good!!  Praise Jesus that He knows!!