Mind Boggling?

Today is our official last day of vacation. What started out last week as a "stay-cation" turned into a full blown week of wind, waves, and wooing.
Last Tuesday evening while eating out, we decided we were going to go away instead of staying home. We tossed around the idea of Gatlinburg, TN, but had just gone there for a quick trip a few weeks earlier. I had wanted to go to the ocean again since October, but just did not think it would happen. Ted quickly took matters in hand and made reservations for a hotel on Myrtle Beach. We had a splendid drive to the coast and checked in to a hotel that was way above our expectations! We walked into the suite, took in the view of the surf crashing onto the shore, and promptly extended our reservation for another night!!! What a wonderful week of fishing, shopping, dining, walking, exploring new places, and celebrating our 21 years of love and life lessons.


Yesterday at church, about 20 people got saved and assurance of salvation. These are people who have been church members and have been faithful and involved nearly their whole lives!
First, it makes you check up on your own salvation status, but secondly it boggles the mind that someone would either be satisfied for so long trying to pretend to be a Christian or "religious" without knowing FOR SURE! My heart aches for those others who just want to go to church and make others think they are saved and going to Heaven. In their desire to appear righteous, they are just sitting in filthy rags. I even know some who are NOT saved and seem to have no desire to be saved, yet will come to church and activities as if it's just part of their social life.


How I yearn for the light of God's truth to shine into their foolish minds blinded in darkness.

Do YOU know for sure that you are going to Heaven? How do you know?

Paris Amour

April 24, 1992-April 24,2013, no it's not an epitaph on some tombstone, it's the beginning and continuing dates on our marital journey of bliss.
Our vows have come true, better and worse, richer and poorer, sickness and health, until Jesus comes. If you don't care to do the math, Ted and I have been married 21 years today!!!!!
We both took vacations this week so we could spend time together. Yesterday, we went shopping and rejoiced how after all these years we are still very, very much in love and don't care who knows it or that we take time to show it (flaunt it, lol).

As we started today together, Ted made me breakfast and coffee and put together our new porch umbrella. Tammy gave me a tiara for my birthday, and I thought it would be cute to wear it today. Not sure how long I will keep it on, but it's reminiscent of the tiara I wore 21 years ago. Ted has been faithful all these years to make me the queen of his heart, and I am honored and humbled to be loved by him.

As my friend Kristi would say "MUSH, MUSH".

Happy Anniversary, SuperMan, I love you with all my heart and thank God for you every day!!!

Prayer Changes Things

There has been soooo much on my mind since my last post. I even went through what seemed like a mini-depression. Fortunately, God has amazing ways through His Word, and our church and His Holy Spirit to pull me out of the wallowing pit of despair that I plunged into. Since then, I am not stressed about the financial burden we have looming over us, I have committed Ted's job situation over to Him, and I have embraced the fact that someone prayed me into this position of employment. To know that you are put into places and positions for reasons where people need you and want you is humbling, but invigorating. I do not have God's big picture, but I can sure see how things are falling into place that will bring honor and glory to Him.
So, on this beautiful spring day, I want to shout to the Lord and thank Him for answered prayer and His peace that passes all understanding.

"Oh yes, I know prayer changes things,
When I was down on the stormy, raging sea,
I was lonely, sick, and full of misery,
But along came the Savior, and I know He rescued me,
That's how I know, yes, I know prayer changes things, changes things."
(adapted from the Robert Anderson song of the same title)

Just in Case

Nineteen years ago today, somewhere between 5:15 and 5:25 a.m., my second and final child was born. Coming just barely over a year after our first child, many people even now think they are twins. We named him Justin out of sheer desperation of finding a name that we both agreed on. For years, he struggled with his name partially because he did not think it was a name of quality or worth. He would beg that we would change his name to something else. On his 13th birthday, his great-uncle took him out for a birthday dinner, and the waiter was a really cool dude. His name was also Justin, and he, with great enthusiasm, informed my son that their shared name was a strong name that meant Just and Right! That started him thinking....
Our son soon became friends with another Justin at church who is also "cool" and "right". This too seem to make him think that his name was alright after all.


Happy Birthday, Justin, may you live up to your name of what is Just and Right in the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Standing on the Promises of God

My recent blog posts have been geared towards the burden we have looming over us, and how God has given me assurance on a daily basis that He is taking care of us. My sister emailed me a week or so ago to let me know that she had found one of the songs that our church choir sings on YouTube. That song stuck in my mind since she called it to remembrance. This morning, our choir sang it!
Tonight, a precious lady came to church who has pancreatic cancer with a discouraging prognosis. When I first heard the news about her situation, the song our youth choir sings "He knows my Name" came strongly to my mind. I even shared with a fellow church member how that song just resonated through this situation. Tonight our youth choir sang that song! It was like God was reminding me that He knows her name, but He knows Mine too!
Then each song from the special music selections crescendoed with God's promises that He will never leave us or forsake us! By the time our associate pastor got up to preach I was crying tears of peace and victory. That would have been enough even more then enough, but the message was on "Standing on the Promises of God"!
If you read my previous posts you would remember that God gave me a promise a day, today it was God dumping over the bucket of promises and dripping them all over me!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRXABJdfb-k is the web address to watch Tammy and our church choir sing of the promises of God taped a few years ago. My sister tells me that she thought she saw my mother in law who is in Heaven now singing with the choir. What a legacy of the promises of God!
No, I am clueless how God will meet our need, but He sure has made it possible to thoroughly trust Him for it!

Nuggets of Hope

Last month, we found out that an upcoming burden was NOT going to be easily resolved in the way we had hoped. In fact, Plan A and Plan B both fell through with an overwhelming "thud"! Once again I fell to the knees of my heart in desperation and "wrestled" with God about the issue. God does NOT owe us anything, and we can't demand that He take care of this need. With my struggle and daily worry, I finally asked God to just remind me that He has this taken care of for us. As I prayed for His will whatever that might entail, He has on a daily basis give me reminders of His care for us.

Sometimes, it's a verse in my devotions, a thought from a message on the radio as I drive to work, it even came in a friend's email one day. Every time I go to church, God has given me a passage or nugget of hope to hang onto including last night. Just His faithfulness in caring about my concern has showed me that although I have no way of knowing how this situation will be taken care of, He knows what He is doing. He cares that I am worried.
How can I express my peace from God above to those of you that have never felt those nuggets of hope that He shares with His child when burdens seem so overwhelming?
You may scoff and say that I am looking for hope wherever I can find it and grasping at straws. No, these have been very obvious words from my Heavenly Father when I felt so overcome by worry and stress. It's in the pits of despair that they have come to me, when I wasn't looking for hope-because it just seemed that no matter what we did nothing was going to work.
It has been very evident that if this burden is to be taken care of, then it will only be by the miraculous hand of God. We have tried everything we could possibly think of and nothing worked. Just this journey to the deadline, learning to listen when God speaks has brought me hope.
Nuggets of hope are more precious then gold....

The Daze of our Lives

Alright, so yes the title is tonally similar to a show from yesteryear. Our lives right now seem to be going by in a daze. Trying to capture daily memories and treasure them has been my latest endeavor. Life is soooo short, I really don't want to let it go by at warp speed without anything to value. The boys' work schedule is very disjointed, my schedule never lets me get bored, and Ted's schedule is frenetic.
With this being the case, there are often late night soccer tournaments in the kitchen, or speed dating with my husband
(rushing to a date with him before he speeds off to work).
This type of family disarray was never what I had hoped the future would hold, so I am purposely forcing myself not to worry as much about housework and concentrate more on building relationships with my loved ones.

Today could be a day to spring clean the house, but the sun is shining, the roses on the table are whispering, and the basket of chocolate has been upended for easier access, I think I need to make myself take a day off and enjoy the little things instead of the dirty things.

Life is but a vapor, but what is done for Christ will last.


Just a shout out to my sister- yes, at the moment we don't seem to be sick although many people we know are suffering the flu and various ailments.

Happy birthday to my nephew Jordan, and Justin will turn 19 in a few short weeks.

Oh, and next week I have been called for Jury Duty!!!! Wow, but I will save all those for another blog post.

Someone please put the brakes on, the scenery is going by too fast!