Feeling Vulnerable...

>> Friday, February 25, 2011

 All this week our family has been struck with the flu...YUCK!... That's right, 3 out of 5, down and OUT... not sure how I managed to function as wife and mom BUT my house IS still standing... notice I said standing NOT clean... the groceries are bought, the linens are washed and I am back on my feet again...


Then I let my mind wander... as I do QUITE FREQUENTLY... how in the world did WE end up with the flu... 3 out of 5 of us at that... I'm germ conscious, I load my kids up with vitamins, we stay quarantined from those we know have been sick, we eat as healthy as possible & drink our vitamin C, etc. etc. etc... No matter how combated we were our bodies were vulnerable somewhere & sickness crept in... it took over like the plague & it fiercely wiped us out... Somewhere along the way, in all my preparations to secure VULNERABLE areas, I MISSED a spot! YIKES...


How often do we leave VULNERABLE areas in our spiritual life unsecured... open freely for the enemy to creep in... we know for sure he prowls around like a lion waiting to devour us - attack us - WIPE US OUT!... he doesn't care how prepared we THINK we are... he's waiting and watching... ready to drag us down into a nasty-slimy pit... and destroy us... FOR SURE we are all vulnerable in one way or another... BUT we have been given POWERFUL tools to SAFE-GUARD the enemy from sinking his nasty claws in us...


1. Purify Your Innermost Places ~ Psalm 139:23-24 (ESV)
"Search me O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 
And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!"


2. Speak Life With Your Words ~ Proverbs 18:21 (ESV)
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
 and those who love it will eat its
 fruits."


3. Guard Your Heart ~ Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)
"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it!"




Let's start today claiming POWER over our VULNERABLE areas!







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Control Freak Breakdown

>> Wednesday, February 23, 2011


... this pretty much describes my feelings over the weekend!

Marybeth, my oldest daughter had a dance competition in Atlanta... once we received the news that her performance time had been changed to 8:20 a.m. we decided to leave Friday night instead of Saturday morning... this was PERFECT, we would already be in Atlanta... we could be at the convention center early... kiss her and wish her well before she performed... get a few pictures... sip on some coffee to ease the nervous jitters...

Much to my dismay it DID NOT go that way at all... we left the hotel at 7:15 a.m. with the impression that our destination was only 6 minutes away... upon pulling up to the EMPTY parking lot my heart dropped to my feet... we were at the WRONG convention center... we were directed to the right place with minimal directions... after 8 stops to ask, a NON-FUNCTIONING GPS & many wrong turns later...
WE MISSED HER DANCING!

I tried everything I knew to do... NOTHING was working... I just laid my head on the steering wheel and cried... disappointed that I was missing my girl dance... that my mother & mother-in-law were missing their only chance to see her and the weight of what was taking place was falling on me... we found our destination exactly 25 minutes beyond performance time & the reality that "Life Doesn't Always Go As Planned" had set in...


How many times do we go through LIFE thinking we have it all planned out... we place our hope and trust in our schedules, our agendas and our different forms of technology!

We have no control... we may have the freedom to make the choices... to be prepared & organized... to choose to forgive ourselves and learn from our faults instead of falling into the pit of self-pity & despair...
BUT we have NO CONTROL... 


Without deep dependence on God we give way to despair... without His presence  we give way to dependence in things that WILL fail us... without His positive we are left with our negative... without His direction we will ALWAYS end up lost...

WHO OR WHAT IS IN CONTROL OF YOU?

"For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God"
Romans 8:14

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WHO KNEW?

>> Friday, February 18, 2011

Who knew- that God would BLESS me with the opportunities that He has... no the stars didn't have to line up... He ordained my every step before time even began...

Heck yea, I'm striving for His BEST for me... I live my life in full pursuit of it... you know what?... it's not an empty journey... challenging at times BUT well worth the RIDE...

Seek Him with all your heart and you WILL find Him... and your pursuit of life... as far as I'm concerned it doesn't get any BETTER than that...

I hope as you awake to Friday and enter into your weekend that you find His FULLNESS... whatever the days may bring that your pursuit of Him will fulfill your pursuit of Life...



My pursuit this weekend will be loving on these cuties...






HAPPY FRIDAY!




Tab







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To Be" KNOWN" Is To Be "LOVED"

>> Monday, February 14, 2011

To be known is to be LOVED... 

Chris 
                          

I love how he loves Jesus... it inspires me to... I love his passion for the church and watching God use him in mighty ways... I love how he can't stand for his food to touch and that he gets disgruntled when he doesn't have your undivided attention... I love it that "Acts of Service" is his primary love language and science-fiction can grip his attention for hours... I love the humility he operates within when it comes to his gifting and the assured confidence he exudes when he knows he's right... I love it that he's open about his DISLIKE for cats and hanging pictures on the walls... he is "slightly" scared of bats (he he) and needs my protection... and I love that he loves me JUST the way God created me... 
He is known and he is loved... 



Marybeth



I love her smile and her quirky sense of humor... I love how she becomes the character when she reads a book and knows EVERY word to EVERY song... I love how she only embraces your hugs when she is in the mood and that she tenderly loves those who aren't easily accepted by others... I love it that she looks just like her dad and yet she is an old soul just like me... I love it that we are total opposites and RESPECT each other for it... I love it that she is comfortable in her own skin and knows the one who created her... I love her love for dance and her determination to always be her best... I love how she respectfully allows me to be her mom before being her friend... I love it that she listens yet voices her opinion... I secretly love it that she calls me "tabby-cat" in a defiant kind of way and I LOVE being her mom...
She is known and she is loved...




Topher
I love it that God created him "special"... I love how he kisses with a strong embrace and that everyone gets to come to his birthday... I love his attachment to his stuffed animal "doggy"... I love it that he watches Shrek in Spanish and that he wishes he had REAL power in his hands... I love his passion to learn and his confidence that he can do anything... I love it that he doesn't like to be called little and that he thinks I'm the BEST mom he's ever had... I love how he corrects your speech when you are trying to correct his... I love how he eats enough for 10 yet never seems to get full... I love how music sets his soul on fire and life is abundantly- simple to him... I love how God thought enough of him to make him like He did...
He is known and he is loved...

Grace
I love how strong she is... I love how life is at her finger-tips and how she lets her imagination run wild... I love to hear her play school through the crack in her bedroom door and watch her passionately play basketball... I love how her sense of fashion is edgy yet her heart is pure before the Lord... I love that she is so much like me that we often need time-outs from each other... I love how "RIGHT-NOW" she wants to live with me forever and that she desires to let God lead her life always... I love how she thinks that moles are gross and that you should always smell good... I love the way she loves me and the way she admires me... I love her soul and everything about her smile... I love her compassion for people and her desire to help others at all times...
She is known and she is loved...



To be loved is to be known and to be known is to be loved...


YOU ARE KNOWN... YOU ARE LOVED...


O Lord you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
For you formed my inward parts; knitted me together in my mothers womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Psalm 139:1-4,13-14




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I'll Have What She's Having...

>> Monday, February 7, 2011











I WILL HAVE WHAT SHE'S HAVING...


Not in a  pearl- cadillac escalade, dolce & gabbana, frozen concoction kind of way...

 In an over indulgent culture we are hard pressed to stay a float... to rise up out of the sea of enticement and live beyond OURSELVES...

He wants our every desire... our every thought... our every belief... To live beyond ourselves and become NOT OUR OWN...

Does your life entice others to desire NOT what you have but to know the ONE you have... to get drunk on His love & to "store up" TREASURES in heaven... to make every moment count beyond empty satisfaction...


... charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. (1 Timothy 6:17)






Tab


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Her Season to Dance

>> Thursday, February 3, 2011


For everything there is a season; a time for every matter under heaven..
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Life is so FULL of many twist & turns.... ups and downs... in & outs... certainly there are seasons of joy and laughter.... often followed by seasons of refining and pain... This verse, growing up, didn't pull at my heart strings like it does today!

Though I still consider myself in some of the prime years of my life... I have certainly lived long enough to slowly slip into my season to plant only to be rapidly yanked into a season of pruning... followed by a season of silence that lead to a season to speak...
That's HARD but that's REALITY! Why... because GOD said so!
A part of the process that makes us MORE like HIM!

This is HER season to dance... my little brown- haired, blue-eyed G...
My child who is stubborn but gentle... strong-willed but FULL of courage... giddy but WISE!

I cannot begin to re-create this season BUT I never want it to leave... I find myself asking God to let it STAY... to give me her weeping/tearing/mourning seasons so she can have the dancing/laughing/loving seasons... after I speak this I am QUICKLY reminded in my spirit that it's the HARD seasons that usher us into the BEAUTY of the good seasons! 

Where are you... are you embracing the season you're in?







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>> Tuesday, February 1, 2011



Over the weekend my family and I watched the secretariat... it was a very good movie filled with great inspiration... it is based on a horse CHOSEN by his owners who fulfilled high aspirations...  this horse, not liked by all but loved by his owners, achieved the highest in his circle... many would say he beat all odds from sickness to lack of experience... he attained the GREATEST prize not achieved by many... when he crossed the final finish line there was a GREAT reward awaiting him and an embrace by the ones who believed in him the most...


As simple as the concept, my heart couldn't help but reflect upon this... we have all been created for the race of life that God intends for us to complete in Him... it is a race that only we as individuals can run and only we as individuals can complete... my race isn't your race... if I try to complete yours I will NOT attain my ultimate prize... let us run with endurance and fight the good fight... life is hard and sometimes the RACE is long but there is an ultimate prize waiting across that finish line, that only we can claim... 


"Do you not know that in a race all runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it!" (1 Cor. 9:24)


"...let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with ENDURANCE the race set before us... looking to Jesus!" (Hebrews 1:1-2)


Run it... believe it... receive it... achieve it... and ULTIMATELY attain it!... it's yours... it's what YOU were created for! 










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