His Love Endures Forever

To Him alone who does great wonders.

His love endures forever

Give thanks to the Lord of lords

His loves endures forever.

Who by His understanding made the heavens

His love endures forever

Give thanks to the God of heaven

His love endures forever

Psalm 136:3-5,26

What a day!

It was quite the special day today. I turned 35 years old and I can't believe it! How in the world can I be 35? I awoke this morning to a round of Happy Birthday from my beloved groom Tim and my two sweet ones, Justin and Sarah. To open my eyes to this joyous chorus and breakfast in bed was quite the start to a wonderful day! We have a tradition in our family to read our cards and open our gifts in the morning-it's delightful. They were so thoughtful. they each spent time making a card and "put their hearts on paper". They gave me the cutest green purse-it's adorable, and they also got me a big kiss full of chocolates. Simply delicious. Tim took the day off of work and spent the entire day with me. We took the kiddos to school and literally had the whole day to ourselves. Isn't it amazing to have a conversation without absolutely ONE interruption? We commented several times today how amazing it is to complete a sentence. With that said, we spent a lot of the day in rich conversation. We went shopping and pooled both of our birthday money together (Tim has a birthday in a week and a half) and bought a new digital camera. One of the kids who shall remain nameless dropped ours a while back and its just never been the same. So, we went from store to store because of course I had to get the best price and the best quality that our budget would allow! I can say that we are both quite pleased with the result as you can see from the above pictures. We had a nice leisurely lunch at Chipolte'

and came back home for a little R&R before going to pick up the kids from school.
It was a really lovely day~
Tim made my favorite salad for dinner at my request and then we watched the movie "Amazing Grace". From what I saw of the movie, it was really well made. In the middle, another one of our sweet ones who shall remain nameless suddenly remembered that they had spelling homework that needed to be put in ABC order. (35 words no less!) Just between you and me, I really DISLIKE ABC order!

When we finally went to tuck the kids in bed, we discovered that a land mine had blown up in their bedroom. Well, I am exaggerating a bit, but I tell you, it was a MESS! I wish I could say that I was a sweet as my day was, but that was not the case. Sarah ended up in tears and Justin started singing our family theme song, "I Cry Out"-I'm not kidding. I usually sing that song myself when I'm at my whits end and am about to lose it, but he beat me to the punch. I actually said, "Justin, that's really not helping unless you really mean it". He assured me that he meant every word. Who can blame him, it was after 8:30. The evening did end on a positive note with sweet goodnight kisses and prayers at their bedside. Tim and I finished watching Amazing Grace and I most likely will go back and watch it again.

It really was a lovely day today. I thank God that I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband, sweet children, good friends, and a Mom, brother, and sister who really do love me-quirks and all.

Most of all, I am so thankful that God saw fit to create me to love and worship Him. I rejoice that He drew me to Himself at such a tender age of 15 years old. I thank Him for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; not one hair is upon my head that He has not numbered, and not one of my days have come to be without His knowledge. I pray that the next 35 years of my life-God willing-will exude joyous songs of praise for His unfailing love, proclamations of His faithfulness, and lips full of testimony of His grace and goodness.

And, with out a doubt-I am certain that I am blessed.

Tuesday's Trip Down Memory Lane "Late to School"

While doing laundry today, I had a random memory fly across my mind that gave me a good chuckle!

The year was 1987. At that time, my older sister Dawn and I took the city bus to high school every day.

{Now, in order for you to fully appreciate this story, you have to know a little bit about our personalities. We are very different from each other. I have always erred on the cautious side, and she-has not}

It was a typical morning; the bus pulled up and Dawn and I stepped aboard and found our seats. As we were riding along, I happened to take notice of a gentlemen sitting behind the bus drivers seat. I instantly became alarmed when I noticed the shot gun that he was holding in his arms. I also observed him occasionally leaning forward and speaking quietly to the driver. In my mind, we were toast! Without a doubt, I just knew we were being "bus jacked". I nudged my sister in the side and very quietly and firmly informed her that the man in the front of the bus had a gun and that we were going to pull the cord and we were going to get off that bus RIGHT AWAY! I believe her response was something like LOUD laughter and a abrupt "shut up".

I continued to stare at the man while my making my emergency escape plan. I elbowed my sister again and insisted, "We must get off this bus immediately or we are going to die!" This went on for another five minutes as we bickered back and forth.

At this point, our stop was another 4 to 5 miles down the road, but I didn't care. I finally informed her that if she didn't pull the cord to get off the bus, I would. I can't remember who finally pulled it-most likely it was me. The ding sounded (like heavenly bells to my ears) and the bus began to slow down. It pulled over and I began my hasty exit as my sister begrudgingly followed suit. I specifically remember going out the back door of that bus and breathing the fresh air of freedom.

At the moment, it didn't matter that we were a good 2-3 miles from our regular bus stop, I was just so relieved that we weren't still on that "hi-jacked" bus. Well, relieved that is until I saw who got out the front door-it was the man with the shot gun! No lie, apparently I rang the bell at exactly his stop! I immediately started running across the street into a residential neighborhood. I was zigging and zagging like there was no tomorrow. Finally, after a block or two of huffing and puffing, the gun carrying man was no where to be seen. The only thing that either of us could figure was that he apparently lived in the neighborhood.

After walking an extra 30 minutes to school or so, Dawn finally stopped yelling and laughing at me.

We were late to school that day.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths".

I have known Proverbs 3:5-6 for a good number of years. I have memorized it, sang songs to it, and lately, I have been meditating upon it. Two particular ideas in the verse have really ignited my interest;

• Trust in the Lord with all your heart: I think I might ponder this for the rest of my life. What does it look like to fully trust Him with all of my heart? To me, it means that I let go of the neat and tidy compartmentalized life where I choose to obey in some instances and pretend that I don't know that I am disobeying in others. It is the stepping on your toe's kind of obedience; what goes into my mind, what I watch, what I read, what I listen to, what I eat. To quote my husband Tim, "Its putting everything on the table" and allowing God access to all areas of my heart. This is most certainly a day by day, minute by minute transformational process. ( Might I add that this is only done by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and abiding in Him- 1Corinthians 6:20, John 15)



• In all your ways acknowledge Him: To me, it's proclaiming what He already knows, He's on the Throne. He is Creator God and I am His creation. He's my Potter and I am His clay. Acknowledging that He's sovereign God and that not one circumstance that takes place in my life or this world is a surprise to Him. He is in all things, above all things, He is God. There was no other before Him and no other after Him. This "acknowledging" brings me to a place of surrender.

Is there anything better than His Word?....I think not!

Lilies of the Field~Do Not Worry

Matthew 6:25-33

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barn, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about your clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed line one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown in the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day enough trouble of its own."

To Be Busy at Home

Things have been entirely too busy around here! October was completely over scheduled. And with mostly good things; visiting family, work related events, trainings, PTA, kids activities, church activities, etc. I don't know about you, but I get really cranky when I over crowd my schedule! Not only do I get cranky, but my whole household gets turned upside down. Laundry piles up, (not hard to do at our home), things get terribly disorganized, and let's not even talk about the bathrooms! And when the house is a mess, frankly, I don't want to be here and no one else does either.

Recently, I took a day off; I declared a "mental health" day, I forwarded my emails, my voice mail, and made a point to "check out". I was praying and crying out to the Lord about my messes; the mess at home and the mess that I was feeling on the inside. I asked Him what I should do about several situations-one being Sarah who was having a tough time. I said, "Lord, how can I pray for her? What can I pray to help her?" Titus 2:3-5 popped into my mind and it reads like this:
"Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, to be busy at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled." (Emphasis mine)

"To be busy at home", boy that phrase hit me right between the eyes. Funny, when the scripture popped into my mind, I thought it was going to say something like "children, obey your parents", but really it was Missy-be busy at home! That took a couple of minutes to compute. A few thoughts ran through my mind like, "How will that help Sarah?" and "That isn't very fun...." But, I asked! So, right there I asked the Lord to help me to be busy at home. And since, I have been asking the Lord daily to give me a heart to be busy at home. For me, it is really so tempting not to be busy at home. There a fifty-million errands to run, stores to be shopped for all of those spectacular bargains, friends to do coffee with , parks to be walked at, and of course work to be accomplished.

But, because the Word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double edged sword; piercing to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and discerning thoughts and intentions of the heart {Hebrews 4:12}, I was certain and am even more convinced today that what needs to be continually changing is the attitude of my heart. To go deeper; for me to be busy at home equates to being still. It's about making our home a peaceful refuge for the family and all that enter. When I am busy at home, I am more likely to dig deep into the Word and care about the things that matter to God. When I am running around like a maniac, I am being enticed by this world. There is an ever so subtle shift that happens in my spirit and I find myself chasing after things that don't really matter. It reminds me a lot of 1 John 2:15-17:

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father in not in him. For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and pride in possessions-is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. "

In everyday life, it might look like saying no to the urges that comes over me, such as checking out my favorite store when I don't have a need to be there, stopping myself from surfing mindlessly on the Internet, having lunches back to back days with girlfriends, and even turning OFF the media with in the household for extended periods of time. And it saying yes to allow for God ordained interruptions, taking time to sit and be still, and rejoicing that I am learning to treasure Christ all the while folding my 5th load of laundry for the day.

Today, I am crying out to the Lord to change my heart and allow my heart to reflect His priorit ies and I pray that He will order each of my days. My prayer is that at end of every day, I will lay my head upon my pillow and know that I love and treasure Jesus Christ more at that moment than when I awoke in the morning. To the praise of His glorious grace!