Absolute, Complete, and Total RANDOMNESS!

The South Carolina Gamecocks made history this weekend!! I know most of you don't care, but in case you do, you can read about it here.

I haven't had Starbucks or Mountain Dew in 9 days now. I've been having the worst withdrawal headaches!!! But I'm trying to save money!

I wanted to shout-out to all of you people who read, but don't comment--Hello New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Alaska, Colorado, South, Central, East, and West Texas, Tuscaloosa, Florida, Philippines, Georgia, Iraq, Newfoundland, South Carolina, Tennessee--I think that's it. Anyways, you know who you are, and thanks for reading. Don't be shy; you can do it--leave a comment sometime!

My computer was down all morning. I couldn't get into the system for work, couldn't go online, couldn't even get my email. So I played on Microsoft Paint. Here's what came of it:

Anyways, obviously, the computer's back up now, so I have lots to catch up on. I will try to collect my wandering thoughts into some kind of sensible, organized post for tomorrow.

Weekend of catching up

For the first time in quite a while, I actually am staying home for the weekend! Hopefully I will get to catch up on some much-needed beauty rest!! I'm going to relax and get some things done at home that have been screaming for my attention for quite some time--practicing music, cleaning, paying my bills, putting summer clothes away and breaking out the winter ones! =)

I hope everyone has a good and profitable weekend! Let's decide to honor God as much as we possibly can on this weekend where everyone else is honoring Satan, witchcraft, death, and horror. Pray for protection of God's people. That's all I'm going to say. Thanks.

Children's Ministries

In their eyes, I’m not just someone else at church,
I’m the one who first brought them to Sunday School.
In their eyes, I’m not just another Christian,
I’m the one who taught them so much Bible.
In their eyes, I’m not just a cool “grown-up”;
I’m the one they want to be just like.
In their eyes, I’m not just singing songs on the bus,
I’m the one showing and giving them God’s love.

Lord, they think too highly of me.
Oh how I don’t want to let them down.
To give up would be so easy,
But I can already see their frown
As I fail with my responsibility
And fall face-first in the ground.
All their hopes and dreams would die.
They would second-guess their faith;
Look up in the sky
And wonder why they even try.
Lord, I can’t bear to see them go awry.
I represent the only stability they know.
The only place where they grow
Where love and laughter flow.

So Lord,

In Your eyes, may I not be just another child
May I be a child in whom You find delight.
In Your eyes, may I not be the wandering sheep,
May I stay close to Your side.
In Your eyes, may I not be a quitter,
May I run my race to the end.
In Your eyes, may I not stand before you in tears of regret,
May I hear “Well done, my child, welcome home.”

And then, may I turn and see,
Still proud to be following in my steps,
These children who thought the world of me,
Coming to meet their Savior
Who they have served so faithfully.
Lord, help me to be strong.
I’m overwhelmed by the responsibility.
Every time, before I do something wrong,
Let me see their faces
And choose in light of eternity.

A Prayer For ????

Lord, somewhere today is someone
Whose soul will one day be one with mine.
I pray Your presence will be real to that one;
That with Your love his life will shine.
Calm his fears; dissuade his worries;
Give him a peace that comes only from You.
Help him make decisions that will
Make his heart more wholly Yours.
Protect him from tragedy, harm, and
Evil darts of the wicked one.
Develop within him a deep, burning passion--
Passion for pleasing You, for purity,
For the souls of the lost.
Let him see You, Lord, and then
Fall in love with Who he sees.
Continue shaping his character and
Build him into a strong husband and father.
Keep his thoughts and his heart
Free of distractions from You,
And lead him to me
When Your time is right.
Thank you, Father.

Quick time out...

I wanted to take a quick time out to say I had forgotten how beautiful Texas is in my 3 or 4 years of absence! And how much better the Mexican food is there!!! Wow! And how Dr. Pepper is a staple item for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything in between! Oh, and seeing the Lonestar State flag absolutely EVERYWHERE. It was beautiful. We ate at Mercado Juarez Mexican Restaurant--it was awesome. For those of you who live in Texas, forgive me, I know you are used to all these things, but for me, it brought back many memories of being in Texas as a kid to visit family, and cherishing every minute of it. God Bless Texas!

(P.S. Dahlia, FYI, these are bluebonnets!)

Contradictions

Ever felt joy and sadness at the same time?
Ever wanted to scream and laugh together?
Ever hoped and gave up in the same moment?
Ever been angry and grateful for the same thing?
Ever want to sing and cry with the same breath of air?
Ever wished to be alone and surrounded at the same time?
Ever asked God for death and grace to live in one prayer?
Ever wanted to remain bitter and grant forgiveness towards one person?
Ever loved deeply and hated incessantly with the same heart?
Ever felt motivated and discouraged by the same thing?
Ever been attracted to and repelled by a single individual?
Ever want to leave and stay at the same time?
Ever been relieved and stressed in a single moment?
Ever met with failure and success over a single happening?


Just wondering if I am alone in these contradictions of life and feelings...

Off and Running Again

Well, I head to Dallas in the morning. I still don't feel like I've recuperated from last weekend's adventures. All these weekend trips should end sometime soon....well, probably not till after the holidays, but that's okay. It's fun, and I'm single, so I'm allowed to travel all over, right?

Anyways, as always, I'll post pictures when I return.

I've added a link for the Prayer List in my sidebar. Feel free to go there and add any burdens on your heart, so other believers can be praying for you. And don't forget to pray for the other requests mentioned while you are there.

Talk to you all Monday.

Oh and for those of you who are too lazy to read the prayer list, keep my church's Sunday services in your prayers. We are having a big evangelistic outreach service, and are praying for many souls to be saved. Thanks.

Check point: Motivation

Last night I was considering why I strive to do right; why I serve the Lord, and the Lord showed me that in some areas, yes I am motivated to do right, which is good, but that motivating factor should be better. So I began to consider different things that motivate people, and grouped them into four main categories.

First, the fear of man. Some people do what they do because they are scared of what will happen if they don't--scared of being found out, being caught, being shown to be not genuine. It's not that they really want to do those things, but they base their security on what others think of them, and therefore do these things to make their image look better to others. Just for an example, some people date for this reason. They don't really love the person and enjoy spending time with them, but they are afraid of what people will think if they do not have a boyfriend/girlfriend, so they date out of fear of man.

A second motivation can be love of man. This is closely related to the previous, but slightly different. A person motivated by love of man does things for others to recognize him. Praise, prestige, his image, fame--all these things are what keeps this person going. If you think about it, this could also be labeled as love of self, because why does he love the praise of man so much? Because he loves himself. He is very proud.

The fear of God is a third motivating factor. Now, this is not a bad motivation. The Bible constantly instructs us to have the fear of the Lord in our lives (in Proverbs especially) and in Hebrews says "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God." and "Our God is a consuming fire." Now people can take this too far, and not realize that God is a personal God and wants to get to know each of us personally. You have to balance all of God's attributes to have a proper perspective of Him. A person motivated out of fear of God does what is right because he is scared of punishment from God if he does wrong. Again, this is not horrible, but there is better...

The final and best motivation is love of God. The unsaved can be motivated to do right by all three previous motivations, but this one, they lack. As sinners saved by grace, and made the children of God, this is the highest motivation we can have, and is the one we should seek to have. We should want to do right and serve the Lord out of love, because of all He's done for us. "For the love of Christ constraineth us...that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again." II Corinthians 5:14,15.

Think about different areas of your life. Why do you do what you do?

What are you waiting for?

God is such a great Father. This seems to be a reoccuring theme with me--that God loves to give His kids good things. I'm sure there are several reasons why I keep coming back to that, but I'll spare you the analysis!

Anyways, there were three small areas recently that I just gave over to God, and said "I can't do it. I can't make happen what I want to happen. So I'm leaving it in Your hands to work out the way You see fit." God worked in all three situations and blessed me with answers and plans even greater than I could imagine--all three within 5 hours of each other yesterday. Wow. It' s like God was saying, "What were you waiting for? It's about time you trusted Me to work this out. Look, all you had to do was test Me, try Me, and prove Me, and of course, I'm true to My promises. I will come through for you. Now isn't this much easier than beating yourself up, trying to handle things on your own?" Yes, Lord, of course, it is. Thank you. Help me to trust You sooner and more often with problems and difficulties.

Waiting on the Lord

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said, “Child, you must wait!”

“’Wait?’, You say, ‘wait’!” my indignant reply.
“Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is Your hand shortened? Or have You not heard?
By faith I have asked, and am claiming Your Word.

“My future and all to which I can relate
Hangs in the balance, and You tell me to wait?
I'm needing a ‘yes’, a go-ahead sign,
Or even a ‘no’ to which I can resign.

“And, Lord, You promised that if we believe
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And, Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply!”

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As the Master replied once again, “You must wait.”
So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut
And grumbled to God, “So, I'm waiting… for what?”

He seemed then to kneel and His eyes wept with mine,
And He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.

“All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want—but, you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint;
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint;

“You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there;
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence were all you could see.

“You'd never experience that fullness of love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You'd know that I give and I save… (for a start),
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

“The glow of my comfort late into the night.
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that’s beyond getting just what you asked
Of an Infinite God, Who makes what you have last.

“You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that ‘My grace is sufficient for thee.’
Yes, your dreams for your loved ones overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss! If I lost what I'm doing in you!

“So, be silent, My child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.
And though my answers seem terribly late,
My wisest of answers is still but to wait.”

author unknown

Peace out!

I'm heading to Connecticut first thing in the morning! That's okay. You don't have to pause the whole "blog-world"! I'll catch up when I get back. =)~ Anyways, yes, I know, the sarcasm is a bit much today.

Well, as some of my "peeps" like to say,

Holla!

Be easy (copyright jimmy)

One

Two fangas (copyright lance)

I'm out

Peace, safety, health, love, contentment, and good grades! (copyright paul, amanda, and kristi)

See ya'! Seriously, I hope everyone has a great weekend!

(Remind me to tell ya'll sometime about the whole "paul, amanda, kristi" trio.)

Upcoming Weddings

This wedding song is dedicated to Candice and Greg, Josh and Jacki, and Jorge and Dahlia =), all facing marriage in the very near future!! Congratulations and best wishes to all of you. I love you.

I've always hoped to be loved
I've always looked toward this day
I had big dreams about the way
One would look in my eyes and say
"You are the one I love,
The one sent from God above." And

Right now, right this very moment,
My dream has come true
My prayers are answered in you
You hold my hands and say 'I do'
We promise to have and to hold forever
We promise to love and to cherish forever.
We pray we’ll honor the Lord together.
Right now, from this very moment I love you.

Many years will come and go
And hard times will try our hearts
But we will finish what we start
By God's grace we won't depart
The look in your eyes will show
That through all this you still know

Right now, right this very moment,
My dream has come true
My prayers are answered in you
You hold my hands and say 'I do'
We promise to have and to hold forever
We promise to love and to cherish forever.
We pray we’ll honor the Lord together.
Right now, from this very moment I love you.

And no single other soul
Will ever take this place you hold
Through all the joys and sorrows ahead
Each moment we’ll live the vows we said
So all will know this enduring truth. . .

Right now, right this very moment,
My dream has come true
My prayers are answered in you
You hold my hands and say 'I do'
We promise to have and to hold forever
We promise to love and to cherish forever.
We pray we’ll honor the Lord together.
Right now, from this very moment I love you.
--By Kristi Reese

The Five Senses

Sound of coffee beans being ground up in a busy coffee shop.
Smell of the rich, delicious coffee brewing and other wonderful sweet things baking.


Sight of that green and white sign and the cute little shop around the corner.

Taste, oh the taste...of richly blended gourmet flavors.

Feel--so refreshed and energized, you're ready to face the rest of the day!

Questions and an Answer

I find myself not being able to keep the "why's" out of my head...
Why is this happening?
Why is this girl suffering so much pain?
Why is a mother at such animosity with her daughter?
Why couldn't we find her sooner?
Why won't the mother let her live with us?
Why do things like this even happen?
Why hasn't the Word of God changed this woman's life yet?
Why are others so blinded to these atrocities?
Why can't anyone do anything about this?

But that still small voice inside of me keeps answering,

"Be still, my soul. The Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide.
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be sitll, my soul. Thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways, leads to a joyful end."
--Katharina A. von Schelgel

(P.S. I'll find out more tonight and update tomorrow. Thanks for all the prayers.)

Hurting

It sure puts a totally different perspective on things when you hurt for someone else more than you've ever hurt for yourself...

I may elaborate more later. Right now my heart is still too heavy. Just please be in prayer for a situation with a teenage girl at my church and Christian school.

"The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him." Nahum 1:7 (KJV)

I AM

I AM by Helen Mallicoat

I was regretting the past and fearing the future.
Suddenly my Lord was speaking,
"My name is I AM." He paused. I waited. He continued.

"When you live in the past with its mistakes and regrets,
it is hard. I am not there. My name is not I WAS.

When you live in the future, with iths problems and fears,
it is hard. I am not there. My name is not I WILL BE.

When you live in this moment, it is not hard.
I am here. My name is I AM."

*********************************
If you are anything like me, life is just not making sense right now. You're wondering how many more disappointments you can handle, and when everything is going to start "working together for good." I suppose, we should stop looking for things to make sense and work out for good at some distant time in the future, and see how God is working for good right now today. At the same time, we should also be careful not to limit God's working in the present by living in the past and not letting go of mistakes and disappointments that bog us down. This can be really hard to actually put into practice. I'm definitely sharing something that I need to work on myself...

October is finally here!

I am so excited because it is finally really starting to feel like fall. There are only 3 days left where temps will reach 80, and after that is just perfect weather. 70s during the day, and 60s at night!

Several opportunities have come my way to see college friends this month, some of whom I haven't seen in over 2 years!! A friend from South Texas is going to be here for the weekend, then I fly to Connecticut to be in my friend Candice's wedding, and then I go to Dallas, for Josh's wedding!!!

And I have my fingers crossed that I'll be able to see a special friend when I go to my grandparents' for Thanksgiving! Please pray for safety in all of these traveling endeavors!

Jesus said to His disciples in John 16 as He was headed to the cross, "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man takes from you." Things in this life are so temporary. I can't wait for the permanency of eternity. Life, joy, relationships, peace, righteousness, love, and praising God--just to name a few--will all be permanent! Isn't that comforting?