Resolutions...

Are you a believer of New Years Resolutions?
It does seem like a logical time to assess where you are, where you'd like to be, how you'd like to get there, etc. but did you know that most reports indicate that we fail at these annual resolutions roughly 85% of the time? On top of that, we tend to fail by the end of January!

WHAT?? You mean I'm not going to lose that weight or read the bible more or attend church regularly or not snap at my kids or get out of debt?
Well, I personally want you to be in the 15% who succeed at whatever it is you resolve for 2012. But, you don't have to wait until Sunday to make a change. If you want a change, get started today. There is absolutely no time like the present and we aren't promised tomorrow, anyway!  I've read some valuable articles on how to achieve changes in your life..whether you begin today, Sunday, or next month. Let me know how you're doing 2 weeks from today, one month from today and even 3 months from now.

• Work on only one major goal at a time
• Get an accountability partner or group
• Celebrate milestones
• Write it down and look at it daily
• Commit for 1 month...that's how long it takes to establish a new habit
• Keep a journal
• If you slip up, start over. 
• Constantly lean in to God for support and encouragement. He is our greatest source of inspiration!

You can do whatever it is that you set your mind to ~ be blessed and make it happen!
Amy

Shining Stars

It's the day after Christmas and I must share that it was the most meaningful one I've ever had. In the past I would always get all caught up in all the worldly trappings of the holiday. But this year I really prayed for a blessed family time . The plan was for us, my husband, me and my 2 grown kids to go do our traditional santa visit on Christmas Eve at 3pm then to our church service at 4 and then dinner reservations at nice restaurant at 6pm. You see, I like plans...they have to go the way I want in order for things to be right & I admit I have had a hard time dealing with when things don't quite happen correctly. Now this as the first time our kids have gone to our new church with us, we shared with them to just come with an open mind and heart. Our son was all for it, which really surprised me but our oldest was a little hesitant and I sensed her negative attitude but instead of me reacting to it...I PRAYED and bit my tongue! Huge miracle there!

Our first stop at Santa went off without a hitch...the kids took their traditional picture..our 22nd one. I have all of them displayed every year...it's great to see and they still love doing it. Although we do still bribe them with a nice steak dinner afterwards!

So the next stop was church, we pull in and the lot was full but not overly full but oddly no one else was walking in, we were a little early at 3:30 but hmmmm? As we approached I could hear our pastor speaking and asked someone what time was the service....he said 3! Yikes! I messed up the days, I looked at the service times for the 23rd not the 24th but in my defense it did say Christmas Eve services but I still goofed! Now in the past this would of sent our family in a tail spin and we would of blown off church to make our dinner reservation. Instead I took a deep breathe, prayed and said lets go in and sit in the lobby for the next service which was not until 5:30pm. My son was totally ok, said that's ok Mom everyone makes mistakes. Wow, did my 18 year old really just say that to me? Now my daughter was visibly NOT too thrilled but we preceded to go sit in the lobby on some comfy couches and enjoy the people coming and going and listen to the carolers. It gave us a chance as a family to sit and be still and a chance for my kids to take in this new type of church environment. My son was saying he was excited as he was watching the pastor on the tv monitor my daughter on the other had, who I had strategically placed on the other side of my husband, was whining...she was cold, so I offered her my scarf, she was hungry, so bought her a brownie. She had the I just want to get this over with attitude. I knew the enemy was hard at work to get me frustrated and knew he was at work with her to keep her from opening up her heart and mind to the new expierence.

Instead of getting all flustered, I held on to my husband's hand and prayed to just be a good example of Christ to them.

Finally the doors opened for the service, needless to say it was amazing. God released me from all my anxiety and the Holy Spirit filled ALL our hearts! My kids could really relate to the message, it was something they never really could get before at our traditional church. I posted to the link to the service if your care to listen. It was just dead on about how we should be stars to others to the bring them to Christ and NOT shooting stars...blasting religious bander, which I've so I have done with my family in the past. Do as I say, not as I do!

I have never felt so blessed with my kids and husband. Although, I deeply miss the Christmas' I've spent with my parents as they were always a part of our traditions. I am now so blessed to have the opportunity to create a new meaningful Family Christmas tradition with my own little family.Now I'm the matriarch and my husband the patriarch and we now prayerfully take on the responsibility to be shining stars for Christ in the lives of our children!

Be Blessed my friends...shine bright! - Deb

Oops!...I Did It Again

Remember that song from Britney's younger days?

I remember it AND I lived it out this past week. Away with the family in a setting not necessarily conducive to what has become my pattern of normalcy, I dropped the ball and had a big OOPS. In an effort to keep everyone happy, I became so entangled in that pursuit that I completely dismissed my need for daily time alone. Without that time to just sit, pray and listen, I created a space where the enemy could (and did) take residence.

I did it again. When I should have been the most spiritually prepared, I instead chose to rely on my own defense while hoping that everything would just work out somehow. I can't blame my husband for not supporting me, I can't blame my kids for anything, I can only recognize that I controlled my priorities and my priorities were them. Not time with God. Yep. I did it again.

In the past, this setback of my own doing would greatly affect me. Today, however, I'm going to pick myself up, dust the dirt off of my backside, and get moving. I can't keep everyone happy BUT I can position myself to have all that He needs me to have. It's not my job to keep the peace; it's my job to keep my peace.

Have you had an OOPS lately? So what? Get up. Let's try again.

Not a part time Christian...

So I wrote this long blog pouring out my heart over a week ago, it took me a couple hours and I finally go to post it and instead of editing it, I accidently deleted it! Uuugh! I thought well, maybe God really didn't want me to share all that about myself here, that it was too long and really not that good. Well, since then, life has been tough, ya know the enemy really working hard to pull me away from the path. So this morning in my time with the Lord, I found the blog I wrote in a notebook, read it, prayed it, gave to God....so now I reveal my truths here for those who care to read it. Maybe it will bless some, it blesses me to share it.

Not a part time Christian...

It just amazes me now how much of my life I have wasted being a "part time Christian". sure, I grew up going to church every Sunday, did all things I was supposed to do. Then on Monday morning I was right back in the trappings of the world & wondering why God let bad things happen to me. I always felt so unworthy, insecure and unhappy and I could never figure out why. I surely was not meant to be a holy person but I tried. I know God had blessed me with so much in my life, a loving and devoted husband and father to our 2 great kids, parents who loved and supported me the best they could my entire life. Yet still, I felt so empty, lost and that nothing was ever good enough. Something surely must be wrong with me! So I blamed others for my unhappiness or situations. If only....I could lose 10lbs, I had more money, I had a bigger house....THEN I would be happy!I tried everything I could think of to understand God's plan for me. I worked hard, I became the perfect wife (in pictures) I joined numerous bible studies, therapy, read tons of self help books and even tried medications but nothing could help my misery I felt deep inside me. On the outside, no one would ever know. People always commented on my perfect family & my perfect life. I was so good at faking it.

Then it wasn't until last year when my whole world was shaken when I experienced the deaths of both my parents. Sure everyone has to deal with loosing their parents but until it happens to you just never know how it will effect you. You see, I put so much of my happiness and unhappiness into my relationship with them. I depended on them way too much. My mother's passing was a total shock, she was the caregiver for my alining father for 4 years and surely she was not suppose to go first. My father passed 3 months after her and it was a true blessing. I was there by each their sides as they passed and at that moment of death I felt God's presence with me like I never had before. I felt HIS awesomeness, HIS grace, HIS mercy, HIS love, finally I got it! I prayed everyday for God to continue to get me through the great grief I felt but as time went on my heart just would not mend.

The pain became to great to bear and I did something I thought I would NEVER do......I GAVE UP ON GOD! I turned my back on Him, I built a wall around my heart because loving so much was just too painful. I gave up hope that I would ever be the same and I never wanted to feel the pain of loss again. I became a totally self absorbed person. I felt I had worked hard enough raising my kids, being wife and now I deserved to do whatever I wanted to be happy. I believed all the lies of the enemy and I let them destroy me and my marriage. My husband and I could not be in the same room without arguing, it became ugly. We could only stand each other if we were partying heavily .

I became a person I did not recognize. I could not look into the mirror. I could not look at pictures of my parents or children. I turned away from everything my parents instilled in me and everything I tried to instill in my children. I broke ties with family and friends. I just wallowed in the mud .

Until my darkest hour....when God blasted me back to reality when my husband demanded a divorce! For 3 days straight we argued until a miracle occurred....God moved us to our knees and together for the first time in 28 years we prayed for our lives! God's mercy, love and grace filled our hearts for the first time. HE told us to pen our eyes and look into our own and each others hearts and that HIS love is there and that only through HIM will we be at peace and find the true love and happiness that HE so wants us to have!

Call it being saved, called it conversion....it's all GOD'S AMAZING GRACE!

So that was over 3 months ago and our lives have totally changed. I'm not saying it's been easy but through choosing to live as a Godly couple together everyday we are making it happen one blessed day at a time! All our truths of our past have been revealed and every scripture we read makes sense and encourages us daily. we realize it will never be an easy path and that being a Christian is not merely a part time job but rather a dedication of ones entire life!

Thanks for reading....be blessed my friends, I so am! <3 Deb

"But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly; the Lord will hear when I call to Him." Psalm 4:3

"for those who honor Me, I will honor and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed."

1 Samuel 2:30

The Greatest of These is Love

The LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” Jeremiah 31:3

This past weekend, I was driving with my daughter, one of her roommates, and her mom, and we got into a discussion about dating relationships between young people that intensify too quickly. Facebook allows me to see, all the time, kids not yet or barely old enough to drive who are telling their girlfriends and boyfriends that they love one another, and that growing trend troubles me. Even more alarming for a conservative mom like me are the parents who (in my opinion) rush their children's relationships along by taking their sons or daughters' sweeties with them everywhere, even on family vacations, probably not thinking about how this might blur appropriate boundaries and make it even harder for kids to end unhealthy or dissatisfying relationships when the time has come. They've grown attached to entire families, instead of just one person, and we've grown attached to them! I worry about our daughters most of all; they dive into romantic relationships heart first and worry about the consequences later. Today's average teenage girl feels she is somehow "less than" if she doesn't have someone special in her life by the time she's in high school, and Lord forbid she go through college unattached!

Our culture is love-starved, but it's not for lack of trying. We throw the "L-word" around like a blanket on a cold, rainy day. I'm not casting stones....Believe me, I'm just as guilty as the next person. Look at a few of the things I often say that "I love..."

• the beach
• a bargain
• putting on PJs right out of the dryer
• Jason's salad bar
• Mango-Pineapple Smoothies from McDonald's

Doesn't the word lose something when its trivialized like this? Shouldn't we be teaching our kids that love is of tremendous value, just as they are, and that both deserve to be handled respectfully? It seems to me that we should also mention that, although it will probably come to them more than once, real love does not come along a hundred times in a lifetime. Is there a better way to help them understand love than to teach them about God and encourage them to pursue Him passionately? His love is unconditional; it is perfect; it is sacrificial and selfless; it is the only thing that will fill the void that causes us to sometimes feel worthless and alone. We really are so unworthy, but He loves us anyway, and when we seek Him first, His love just pours into and out of us. I'm convinced that that's the love the world is looking for, the love our sons and daughters crave.

Maybe I'm over-reacting....I'm guilty of that, too. Since I do have that tendency, I'd love to know what you think about the topic. Feel free to leave a comment if you think I'm way off-base or if you've learned something relevant from experience that may benefit the rest of us. Thanks!

~Maria

Perspective Priority

I love it when God gives me the same theme over and over and over.  I really know it is Him reaching out to me and I really start paying attention and letting it soak in... hoping transformation will come and take me over.

In the recent weeks, "perspective" is what He has been showing me again and again.  It started as I began to read, "One Thousand Gifts," by Ann Voskamp.  It smacked me in the face and left a sting that sunk to the heart.  Our perspective is powerful... so very powerful and is something so easily overlooked.  "Eucharisteo" and the knowledge of it transformed Voskamp right where she was.  I don't even know for sure how to pronounce the word but I fell in love with it and the gift it brings.  It's the central key to abundant Christian living.  It's hard to put flesh on it sometimes.  It's hard to live out sometimes.  It's hard to remember sometimes.  It's hard to see sometimes.  But it is where the rich beauty of Christ abides.  Thanksgiving.  Giving thanks... in EVERYTHING and AT ALL TIMES.  Sounds so simple and yet as I watch God walk her through it and I take small steps towards it, I fail again and again.

How do I offer thanksgiving when my son and daughter are fighting for the 30th time today?  How do I offer thanksgiving when she is back talking me for the 20th time and I am losing grip by the moment?  How do I offer thanksgiving as I watch children suffer and wait... wait to be wanted... wait to be rescued... wait to be loved and to know love?  How do I offer thanksgiving as I try to get two kids out the door to school on time and the dog vomits all over the carpet?

Then it smacked me again in my devotion, "At His Feet," by Christ Tiegreen.  He explains how the crucifixion of Christ "appeared" to be a tragedy, the darkest and worst day in history.  It appeared as if the enemy had won.  He goes as far to say that the enemy himself even thought he had won.  BUT God had another plan... and Christ's death was a necessary part of it.  It was a plan of redemption, salvation, justification, love personified... freedom... the path to life everlasting. The day was one of the most powerful and God filled days of the universe.  However the disciples didn't know it.  Mary didn't know it.  And Satan didn't know it.  There was no thanksgiving. Only despair, mourning, hiding.  But Christ knew it as did the Father.  They had the correct perspective.  And it changed everything. 

Perspective.  C.S.Lewis says it very clearly: "If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and it's not so bad."
Perspective.  Such a deep word... with deep power.

One of my prayers is that I see things with my spiritual eyes and not my physical eyes.  This helps me keep the right perspective.  But can thanksgiving also keep my perspective where it needs to be to experience and reflect the life that God has prepared for me?  Can I stand with hands open and receive His gifts... whatever they may be... and praise and thank Him no matter what?  Can I keep my hands open as Abby struggles with seizures and give thanksgiving in that... in that moment that I am given... that she is given?  Can I keep my hands open and keep receiving the moments when all I want to do is run and scream and hide?  Can I be transformed by eucharisteo?  I am going to try.  Voskamp had enticed me to try and I will begin my journey of counting my one thousand gifts on January first on my blog, One Beautiful Life.

I want my perspective to become saturated with thanksgiving.  I want it to become thanksliving.  I want transformation.

"The quiet song of gratitude, eucharisteo, lures humility out of the shadows because to receive a gift the knees must bend humble and the hand must lie vulnerably open and the will must bow to accept whatever the Giver chooses to give.  That whenever I am parched and dry, I must go lower and kneel low in thanks."  Ann Voskamp, "One Thousand Gifts."

Wow, I Am Late

Well, here I am, grandmother of three, over-employed and in love with life. My name is Peggy and I am chronically late. Go ahead and sign me up for the 12 step program because I would certainly benefit. I am so honored to be a part of this blog experience and it has been on my mind daily while trying to pick the perfect time of "peace" to sit and write thoughtfully. For a play on words, I was also looking for a piece of time. Funny how that works. As I sit here, of course the clock is ticking before I have to get ready for a doctor's appointment. Time, time, time..we can address that later.

About me...

I am so incredibly blessed to be married to the most wonderful man I know for the last ten years. It did not come without God's hand, as you will learn. I had an early and rough start to this thing called marriage and it was something I had definitely decided "I" would never do again. However, I was able to exit that phase of my life with my incredible son Adam, my faith and my positive outlook. I was positive that I wouldn't do that again. I was a happy and productive, uncomplicated "single mother of one" for a large part of my adult life and as usual, the best laid plans of mice and women are laughed at by God... or something like that. With those "later in life" marriages comes the many challenges you are faced with "step; ex-step; ex-step-inlaw; ex-in-law; step-in-law ex.....WHAT?? Are we related?? Of course we are, grab a plate and sit down for dinner!

My personal hope is that my contribution to this blog with my crazy perception of life, and my unfathomable love for my Father God will benefit others and help me to grow in my personal journey. I need to get there before I grow up. Love to you all!!

I leave you with this....

Psalm 133:1
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"

Jiminy Cricket

"Let your conscience be your guide"

I read a thought provoking sermon this morning from 1994. God works like that; He places words and people in front of us to confirm what we're thinking, to answer our questions, or to invoke change in our lives. He knows our needs.  
In a nutshell, the sermon is about how awry we can go if we allow our "conscience to be our guide". After all, our conscience is dictated by our environment and circumstance so it's a poor indicator or compass of morality, virtue, and integrity. For those of you who remember Jiminy Cricket....well, looks like he led us astray. Consider these points from the sermon that really spoke to me...

I might remind you that there are things we invite into our own homes on television that fifty years ago you would have had to go to a porno house to see. But the conscience of the American mind has adjusted to that in just a very short period of time.

The concept that conscience is something God builds right into us does not have any support that I can find in the Bible, but yet we do have a conscience. That conscience came from somewhere, and that somewhere seems to be from the education we have had from the time we were born, that it came from the absorption of the culture within which we are conducting our lives.

We have people on earth who feel it is their duty to kill people of other religions because their god requires that of them, and they think they are earning themselves rewards. I am thinking of those who are a part of the Islamic faith, and putting together others who are not Islamic. The mind—the conscience—under the influence of human nature is very adaptable, so we have to be careful of it.

and the most important thing I took away from this was...

"I will tell you what that progression backwards is. If we first go against our conscience we will regard with horror what we considered to be sin, and we will abhor ourselves. We will want to crawl into a shell, one might say. But if we allow ourselves to do it again, the horror will begin to change to something that approaches to merely having regret, or to just being a little bit sorry. When we are in that stage we may even be still trying to hide it. What will happen is that we will gradually begin to rationalize why we allowed ourselves to do it until finally we are justifying. The next stage is that we will begin to accept ourselves with very little remorse. And then finally we will get to the place where we do not even care, and we are totally its slave."

Many Christians, I believe, get confused between their conscience and the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Two different things....one has a 50/50 shot of leading you down the right path and the other is never wrong. Ever. 

So our challenge today might be to ask God to show us truth. Ask Him to make sure there aren't things in your life that you have a clear conscience about that are actually masked sin.

What do you think? Did this speak to you?  Read the entire sermon HERE.

Be blessed!

Amy 

First Things First

I had a couple of hours alone last night, so I took advantage of the time and wrapped presents. As I did, I thought about our Pastor's Sunday message and allowed the Holy Spirit to access the corners of my heart that I so often try to keep hidden. Tim spoke about Mary and, specifically, the text in Luke 1 known as "The Magnificat". This is it, in its entirety:

"And Mary said, 'My soul magnifies the Lord,
    and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
   and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him
   from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
    and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
   and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
    to Abraham and to his offspring forever." (Luke 1:46-55, ESV)

Prompted by Mary's song of praise to God who --and this point is not lost on me-- was about to turn her world completely upside down, I had to look at my own life and consider how much it "magnifies the Lord". If Mary, a young, pregnant teenager, could submit herself to God's authority and become a vessel for His glory, how is it that I so often do not? Whether it's the correct application of this verse or not, I found the answer I sought in verse 51. Am I alone here or can anyone else relate to having their thoughts more than a little "scattered" these days? Ladies, we're especially guilty of this one. Why is it that we are so much more concerned about how our homes look at Christmas than we are with how our hearts look? It's our pride that gets in the way of our ability to exalt our Creator. Let's face it...While we pride ourselves on our ability to multi-task, we simply cannot multi-prioritize. Only one thing can be our truest passion, and nothing is more worthy than Jesus.

Francis Chan asks a rhetorical question in his book Crazy Love. "Isn't it comforting to worship a God who cannot be exaggerated?" The glory of Christmas is the glory of God, and the only way the world will see it is if you and I put 'Worshipping Christ" at the top of our to-do list. Let's make Mary's song our own.

"'My soul magnifies the Lord,
    and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior..."

~Maria

Who's your girl?

It's a well known fact that I'm a bit of a Joyce Meyer fan...stalker. Whatever.  LOL

You see, I grew up in a home where religious faith was not practiced or cultivated. Neither parent had been raised in a church with the exception of my dad attending Sunday School when he was very young. It wasn't necessarily a traumatic experience for him, I suppose, but he was not led to raise his children with any faith.
In my mid twenties, I felt the first stirring in my heart that there was something more and I launched into discovery mode, eventually landing in an RCIA class and becoming a confessed Roman Catholic at a candlelight Easter vigil. Cloaked in a white dress and being baptized with a tiny sign of the cross on my forehead by my Priest who had a thick Irish brogue, I remember feeling as though I belonged. I attended mass regularly, I watched EWTN and Mother Angelica faithfully and our children attended catholic school. We were a Catholic family.
Then we moved to California and the nearest Catholic church wasn't down the street. Instead, it was located in the next valley and because our children were now heavily involved in weekend sports that included travel, our lifestyle began to encompass many activities but nothing close to weekly mass.
A couple of military relocations later (and a couple of churches later), we landed at our current church where I eventually became a staff member.
But in between the moves and the lack of church homes, I found Joyce while channel surfing. She became my link to Christ and to His word. I immediately "connected" with her.

Women have an innate desire to connect with other women. Now, that is definitely not a need that I thought I had at all until recently! But when you immerse yourself into a bible study written by a woman for women, then you start to really understand the importance of finding a female author/speaker/pastor that you connect with. They understand things about you that their male counterpart doesn't. No, ladies, I am not suggesting you flee from your male led church....love them, too!....I'm just suggesting that the discovery of a mature, Christ-centered woman can inspire and encourage you in a very tangible and different way. Here are some of my favorites....

• Joyce Meyer
• Beth Moore
• Taffi Dollar
• Lysa TerKeust
• Priscilla Shirer

Who have you found that inspired you? Who's your go-to girl when you need it?
Leave a comment.....we'd love to know!

Be blessed!
Amy

Humbled and here...

How exciting and humbling to be invited to share posts with an amazing group of God loving women!  I accept.  I am honored.  And I am here!

I am a growing daughter of the King of Kings.  I am in love with Him and desire to find more of Him each and every day.  The closer I get in intimacy with Him, the more sin bubbles up to my surface to be skimmed off!  The more I seek Him, the more I find Him.  The more I find Him, the more I seek Him.  It is a beautiful cycle that always leaves me wanting more!!!

I am a wife to one of the most amazing men ever and we just celebrated our 12th anniversary this past weekend.  What a testimony to God's love for us and for His love for the sacred union of marriage.  I am blown away when I recount the faithfulness and mercy and generosity God has showered into my marriage.  I am so very blessed.

I am a mother to three wonderful hand picked children!  The LORD has chosen me to be a mother to the motherless and how lucky am I that He trusts me to love these children for Him.  Each one has been such a beautiful picture of our very adoption into Christ!  It is NOT always easy.  But it is ALWAYS worth it!

I would consider myself to be pretty transparent.  It is my desire and brings me great joy to share with others the realness of my life and God's presence and hand in it!  NOTHING makes me happier and more blessed than someone being blessed or having their eyes opened to God in their own life from seeing Him in mine.  I shout from the rooftops... "The same God you see here is the ONE waiting to show off for you!"  It is also humbling to my knees to see how something ugly in my life can bring hope and encouragement to someone else.  Again, God is the very author of bringing beauty from ashes and He does it very well!

I can't wait to share this journey with you and I pray you are blessed in many ways.  I so look forward to "meeting" you here and hearing from you through your comments.

Much love...
Dawn

..and here is Debbie!

I just am so blessed to introduce myself to you all reading this blog. My friend Amy has been such great spiritual support to me the last year of my life and I am so grateful she was moved to invite me to join. I'm very happy to say that I am now a happy wife of 25 years....now that's not saying I've been happily married for all of them but now through God's grace, I am! I have two wonderful grown children, a daughter who is 22 and will be graduating from college this May. My son is 18 and will graduating high school and moving on to college. I was so fortunate to be a stay-at-home mom for 10 years and work at their grade school, first as an teacher's aide, then inspired I returned to college and became a teacher there myself. So many changes and challenges in life...we all have them! I look so forward to expressing how God has revealed the truths of my life's struggle to me recently and how I now see things through new eyes, through "HIS eyes" at long last! Nothing is impossible with God...I'm living proof!

Be Blessed not stressed my friends! : )

Out with the Mean Girls!

While in elementary school, my daughter used to love slumber parties. They did, however, produce quite a bit of anxiety for her mom because it seemed that every birthday, despite my most carefully planned activities and detailed food menu with every request granted, one little guest was always the unlucky recipient of exclusion. No rhyme or reason ~ just the random cruelty of little girls. It would begin with subtle elimination from the secrets, games and team selections and, if not quickly recognized and tended to, could escalate into full blown disaster.   

Little girls can be…well, mean.

Teenage girls can be…well, awful.

The unfortunate reality to that truth is that little girls don’t always grow up. Women can be other women’s toughest opponents.

We’ve all been there, haven’t we?  Somehow drawing the short stick and not having any idea when the tides changed.

I propose this. It doesn’t have to be that way! We can actually align, support and include each other. Dare I actually suggest we might feel better about ourselves at the same time? Women chasing the heart of Jesus might need a reality check on this particular subject. Is there a woman at your office that could really use your authentic kindness, despite the fact that you don’t quite “get” her personality? Do you really need to roll your eyes (yeah, I mean even when no one sees it!) when the woman at the gym wears slightly inappropriate attire meant to draw attention? What about the lady next door who insists on dropping dog poop in your yard? Okay, okay....I'm working on it! (Honestly)

You see my point? Be an influence of good. Be an influence of grace.

Galatians 5:13  For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Ephesians 4:2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love

So, let's start here. One tiny step right here on this little blog. Women encouraging one another, praying for one another, laughing with each other and learning...always learning. Learning how to be more Christ-like and always chasing after the heart of Jesus.

On your mark....get set.....GO!!
Be blessed.

I'm On-Board!

I was in Columbia, SC yesterday when I read the message from my friend Amy that set this blog in motion. Either all 5 of us are leading seriously empty lives or God was the one driving the bus because, within a few hours, we'd all agreed to participate. That's how it is when God's in charge; everything just comes together, and then we're amazed at how easy it was. Don't you wonder if God ever says, "Well, Duhhh?!" Anyway...Kudos to Amy for being sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading and then having the guts to act on His direction. I know she, like the rest of us, doesn't lack for things to keep her busy. Some things, though, are just worth taking the time to do. Each of the five of us will bring something unique to the blog, but we share the fact that we're all seeking to have God's heart...to love like He loves, serve like He serves, to be wounded by the same things that hurt Him, and to encourage other women along the way.

Though there's nothing unremarkable about God, my journey with Him started rather unremarkably about 35 years ago. After all that time, it still humbles me to think that I have something valuable to offer Him and you. At best, I'm ordinary. Married for 22 years and mom to a 20 year-old and 16 year-old, I feel blessed just to find my car keys in the morning! I'm annoyingly introspective though and, through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, God has taught me amazing truths about Himself and His favorite creation (that would be us!). I'm really honored to be able to share some of these things with you here, but I'm just as excited about reading what Amy, Debbie, Dawn, and Peggy write. We'll all be going through the growth process together, being molded and shaped into more of His likeness. There's already a whole lotta prayer going on about what gets posted here, but I can promise you this: It's gonna be fun!

Maria

Let's Get This Party Started!

You're here and I'm so thankful you are!  You have probably stumbled here via a friend and on behalf of all 5 of the women who will be contributing posts here, I welcome you.
It's always best to start at the beginning so over the next couple of days, you'll be introduced to each of us before we actually start writing anything that is going to inspire you. Hopefully, in time, you will be inspired. As a Christian woman, I know that my faith is truly unending but that certainly doesn't make the walk easy every single day of my life. I struggle and seek encouragement from multiple sources, the most important of which is my BIBLE.  In addition, I look to my sisters in Christ.
We are going to share life with you. Our experiences. Our hope and our faith.

I'm a wife of 27+ years to my high school sweetheart. I'm a mom to 2 amazing soon-to-be college graduates and I'm hopelessly in love with my savior, Jesus Christ. It wasn't always that way but you'll learn more about that as we journey forward. By His grace, I am saved! The least deserved, to be sure.

I'm excited to speak into your heart and to hear your responses and comments. Let's all learn from each other! Be blessed! ~Amy