HE uses the kids too

So in my last post I mentioned how I teach Sunday school at church. I enjoy it very much.  Now that's not to say that I don't have moments and times when I say, "God, are you sure you got this right, are you sure this is where you want me?"  Not because I don't enjoy it, but because often times I feel unqualified and I worry if the kids are interested or getting anything out of my lessons.  

Just this morning while getting ready I was doubting it all.  Just felt so unsure. See when I do things, I want there to be an end result, I want to make a difference in lives, touch them in some way, even if it's only one.  And today I just wasn't feeling that I was doing that at all.

I get there, we get our lesson going, we start the craft. As we are finishing it up one of the kids tells me that he is glad I am there and that he feels I was put there, that he is getting so much out of my lessons and that what I am saying and teaching them is as he put it "touching my heart" Y'all I felt so incredibly calm and relieved.  I was so proud and happy. Proud of me for saying yes, proud of me for trusting, proud of him for having the courage and consideration to give a compliment and convey his true feelings.

SO y'all God will most definitely use kids to speak to us.  Don't ignore the words of a kid, cause ya never know what the message is.

Transformation & Saying YES

The past two years have proved to be the most trans-formative than all the other 29 years.  When I think of how this is even possible all I can say is growing in Christ.  It was two years ago that I rededicated my life to Him.

It has been almost a year since I said yes to serving in the Children's ministry at church.  It has been one of the best things I have ever decided to do. Lord knows I have had my moments of doubt, not because of them, but there have been times when I felt like I really didn't have anything to give the kids, nothing to teach them.  It's is going great and so many cool things are happening.  Children's ministry is  lead by one of the sweetest, most Godly women I have ever met. 

It has only been a little over a month since I said yes to leading a connect group.  I am excited about this journey. Getting together with people who have become friends and sharing our lives. Amazing stuff.... 

God is showing me so much stuff and giving me revelations about things I have been avoiding. Very very recently He has told me that I need to consider how important my family is.  I get so busy with my three and me that I don't leave much time left for seeing family. I am in the process of changing that now. I have to make the time.  I really should be more thankful.

Also I am realizing that I have to make time to get healthy. I have avoided and put that off long enough.  There has to come a time when I decide to choose life, health, and feeling good over cokes, junk, and feeling bad.  So I say Yes to getting it together. 

Mackenzie said yes to main stream school, no more home school for her. She returned in January and has decided to go back 7th grade here she comes. Bittersweet.

Eyebrows, shaving, placement testing, new roof & 31

Yes my friends. All that in one week.

Let me start with the placement testing. My daughter has been home schooled since 4th grade. She has now decided in 6th grade that she wants to go back to school. After visiting the school she is sold. Tomorrow is her placement test. I know she'll do fine, but she is a nervous test taker. (like her mother) So prayers needed for smooth sailing & peaceful transitioning from doing her school work at home with mama to learning with kids her age.  I was talking to my daddy today and we both realized that this is the first time except for a 9 month period(pregnancy with Braden) that I will be home alone without a kid. MacKenzie had just started school when I was pregnant with Braden. He went to kindergarten this year.

Eyebrows, this comes into play because since she has been at school with kids her own age(apparently middle school means I am to cool to look uncool) she has realized that the uni brow she has been sporting must go. So we plucked her eyebrows tonight. OH and I gave her a lesson in shaving her legs. Whewww if these are the changes we are making for middle school I don't wanna know what I am in for the first week of high school.

So we ended up having to get a new roof. They finished up repairing the water damage on the inside yesterday. SO in a weeks time for two days all I heard was constant hammering. Then two more days the smell of paint fumes, my living room and kitchen torn completely apart. 

Lastly, I turn 31 in the morning. Seems like just yesterday I was turning 30. I don't dread turning another year older. I see it as a gift from GOD.He has blessed me with more time to enjoy all the people that HE has given me. Another year older means a little more wiser.

Did I hear that right?

It's those moments when I am not waiting on or even expecting an answer to a prayer that perhaps it's answered and I don't even realize it.  I can't tell you how many times I have prayed and told God, please give me an answer.  Sometimes I hear him right away and sometimes I am like well I reckon I'll have to wait until you are ready to tell me.  So then time goes by, I get busy doing paperwork or I turn the TV on to catch up on something. Then I hear something that speaks to me in a way I needed to hear it. immediately I am like "I wonder if that's my answer!?

Does this ever happen to you? 

Living life...

New Year......... I am sure so many great things are on the way. Last year was awesome! I'd say probably one of, quite possibly maybe even my favorite year ever.  The # one thing on my mind us usually losing weight, blah blah...not this time.  What is on my mind and has been on my mind for some time now is living life. 

I am so guilty of letting to much time go by without doing all the things I want and even need to do. I am even more guilty of not spending time with the people that mean so much to me. They probably don't even know how much they mean to me. Two things in life are certain, death & taxes. So this year, no scratch that, from this moment forward I want to live my life as if there were no tomorrow.   We aren't promised tomorrow, really, we're not even promised the rest of today.  Each morning I tell GOD how much I love HIM & how thankful I am that HE has given me another day. May sound habitual, but honestly it's sincere.

I realized just a moment ago when I was logging in to write this blog that I spend more time thinking about life, and all the things I wanna do & accomplish than I spend working toward them. Crazy huh. I spend more time dreaming of what it will be like when I get my life together and go and do and see all the things, and people I want . What's more precious than silver, gold and all the money in the world? Time! And here I am giving it away like 4o going north. Yeap dreaming about that life and mine is passing me by.

Three more things I wanna share. They keep coming back to me so I must share.

  Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  

(This speaks to me so much because I can't tell you how many decisions I have made and mistakes I have made due to the fact that I NEVER stopped to consult with HIM and ask HIM what do you want for me? What is your plan for my life? I love you, you have created me specifically for_______ ________. I am getting it now. HE is showing me and HE is blessing me immeasurably.)

  Romans 12 ^1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. 

(This one speaks to me because it's for me about realizing that yes, this is MY life but it came from HE who created me, I should live it and honor it by living for HIM and Honoring HIM, and IF I do then I can't go wrong. He will work it all out for me.)

1 Corinthians 6 :19 Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body. 

(This one speaks to me because well......... we only have one body. Once it's broken down and unhealthy that's it.  Also how can we (I ) function at the capacity I need to in order to accomplish what HE has called me to do? Run a business, be a mom, be a wife, take care of a home that HE blessed me with?  The list goes on....... You get the point.

I hope you all are having a lovely start to a fresh new year.

A Word to share

Today is the last day of October? Where has it gone? Seems like just yesterday it was my daughter's birthday and her first Halloween all at once. This is my favorite time of year and also the part of the year that seems to zoom by the fastest.  January - March seem to drag. 

This year Braden was Mario. I really didn't like it at all.  I don't know why, I just didn't. MacKenzie couldn't decide on what she wanted to be so guess what she was??? Herself. We done things different this year. In the years passed we would always pick a subdivision and make our rounds, this year we stopped at a church and done the trunk or treating thing. I liked it much better. Braden got to play in some bounce houses. MacKenzie said that in the end she was glad she didn't dress up. She said, "mom, I am to grown up for this, so for now I'll enjoy watching Braden". Such a sweet girl.

This morning I had a very moving time with God. He spoke to me today and told me to share it with you all. I'll tell you what I think then I'll tell you what he told me.

When our kids are little they sit in our laps, talk to us till they are breathless. We get in the floor with them and play. Whatever we do is cool, it's fun. They feel connected and involved. They love the time. Well while I was meditating on all of this God told me in order to keep the strong bond I have now with my kids, as they get older, together my kids and I must decide on an activity that we like doing together. Something that is our thing, and we must make it a point to do it & do it often.  As they grow our activities with them will grow and evolve. We must give them memories and experiences that they will cherish and not just remember but pass down to their kids. Lots of people think an inheritance is money & possessions, to me it's something money can't buy and possessions can't be exchanged for.

It's Never to Late....

So who ever said "it's never to late to become what you might have been." was speaking the truth. All to often we fall down, but don't quite get back up again. Of course we don't get back up for a number of reasons.  One of them being because we are afraid to fail.  Afraid that success won't be ours for the taking. Another reason is because we are afraid those around us will make fun of us or say oh here she goes again.  Whatever the reasons why we do or don't do something is not and should not be up for debate or to be judged. You never know the reason, just decide if you are going to stand in support of that person and cheer them on. If you can't say something nice, remember don't say anything at all.

Well there is my 2cents for the day.