Ratchet

  It has been a looooong two weeks my friends. I'm not entirely sure how I got by. Well, actually, I know exactly how. Jesus Christ and the strength he gives me. This past week we took our senior high group to camp. The trip started out a little crazy because we had a nail in one of the tires and had to get it fixed. That caused us to be pretty late arriving to camp. But we stayed optimistic and enjoyed the long car ride. So, we arrive at camp and get our stuff put away. Everybody is in a pretty okay mood. BUT THEN we met some of the activities directors for the week and everything changed. I think we all wanted to turn around and go home an hour after arriving. It took about a day and a half for that crappy situation to be taken care of and once dealt with we all started to have a great time. Our youth bonded and some of them made new commitments to the Lord. It was a pretty amazing week. I am completely exhausted but it was totally worth it. I'm glad we went. I will be taking a small group of Jr high kids in about 3 weeks. I hope that goes as well as the high school week did.
 I have to say that I am SO thankful to work with high schoolers. They are pretty incredible! I love them all. I am especially thankful for the bond that was kindled between me and one of my high school girls. She is a pretty amazing person. I'm so thankful the Lord got ahold of her and convicted and broke her. Its pretty amazing to watch the Holy Spirit work in someone you love so much. I'm praising Jesus for the relationship I now have with her and for the relationship she now has with him. I also met some awesome and somewhat ratchet people this week. I'm thankful for friendships and for people that love me and that I can love back. I'm so glad God created us to be relational.

I love that this week reminded me that I am still a work in progress but that God can still use me right where I am at. He still works through me for his glory. I don't always understand the way he works but my hope remains strong in him. My favorite memory verse from this week was 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 make straight your paths." What an awesome God we serve.

This week I was also reminded of how white I am. I had two girls in my cabin who were so good at reminding me. They are Hispanic and speak Spanish. They were always trying to get me to say Spanish words and no matter how hard I tried I still sounded SO white! It was a lot of fun though.

I think my favorite part of this week was hanging out with Martin, Natalie, and Lauren the last night of the week. Child, that's so ratchet!

Well I hope that you all have a superb week!

Struggles

 I have been on in a couple days. My mom was here visiting and we had a fantastic time! She is gone now and we are back to our normal and slightly crazy schedule.

 Today I am thankful for Jesus. I sometimes struggle with not having a desire to pray or be in His word. I'm thankful he is patient with me. I also struggle with pride. I don't want to say less of me and more of you during those times of struggle. So, again, I am thankful for his patience. I desire to have more of Him and less of me. I just struggle. I assume I'm not the only one. God is good though. He never gives up on me. I'm so glad he knows my heart. He knows what's going on with me before its even happening. Its reassuring he has a plan. Relying and trusting in him is hard but when I do things just go a lot better.

 Fathers day is tomorrow! Wow that came fast. I am so thankful for Paul. He is a great dad! Our kids adore him. He loves us so much. We have had some rough times but we have gotten through them and come out on the other side stronger. I'm thankful that the Lord has given us strength in those times and blessed our marriage. I couldn't ask for a more incredible husband. Our kids are still a little young to understand mothers day and fathers day. So, I'm going to take the day to make sure he knows what a great dad he is and how blessed we are to have him. I hope that everyone takes the time to appreciate their dads or husbands (if you have kids).

Have a superb day friends!

Convicted

  Today I read a blog about encouraging others. I pretty much NEVER do this. Its not that I don't want to. I just don't think about it I guess. Starting right now I am going to make an effort to think about it and make a more conscious effort to say encouraging things to people I know and people I don't know. I think that its a way to shine Jesus to people. There are so many times I go through the grocery store line and the checker just seems to be having an off day. In those moments I could get annoyed and agitated (which is totally what I usually do). Or I can say something kind to them. Imagine the impact we as Christians could make on the world with encouraging words to strangers.
Random story I just remembered: This morning I was walking into Walmart at 7:30 AM and I walked by an older gentlemen and he said good morning to me. But it was so genuine and friendly. It made me smile and it helped me to be in a better mood. So I guess that's proof that being kind and speaking kindly to strangers can make a difference. I wasn't even having a bad day but that just made it even better.

Anyway. I think it honors God when we encourage each other and strangers. Its a witness to the outside world and I think it totally glorifies God. I don't know about you but I want to shine Jesus in the world today. :)

Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up. Prov. 12:25

Have a great day friends!!

The choice is yours...

  To have a good day or a bad day? That is the question. I know that life can throw some pretty mean curve balls. But, I think the attitude we have when those balls are thrown is completely our choice. I know I don't always make the right choice. In fact most the time I make the wrong one. Today I am choosing to have a good attitude amongst the craziness that is my life. What choice will you make?

  In other news...I hate my shin. I also hate being injured. *trying to be positive* Okay, let me rephrase. My shin hurts and I really don't enjoy being injured. Especially when its for a dumb reason. But, I also really don't like attention. It seems that whenever someone gets injured they get a lot of attention. Some people enjoy this. I don't! I don't mind that people are making fun of me for what happened. Its a pretty good story. But other than that I'm not down with the attention being on me. I'm thankful I was able to play in our softball game last night. And I am thankful we finally won a game!! It was a good fun game.

  And in some other news...My mom flies in on Tuesday! Cant wait. We will be spending some time in Phoenix and then coming back up to Show low. I love it when family visits.


 Today I read Proverbs 3. So good right? Do not lean on your own understanding...Ugh. I do that all the time. There are so many things in life that I try to understand and I just cant. But maybe I'm not supposed to. Ya know? I'm thankful that God understands and I'm so glad he is sovereign and loves us so much. AND he is so stinkin patient. I would have given up on me by now. Thanks God!

Have a great day friends!

Living in shadows

  "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people wont feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." -Marianne Williamson

  This is probably one of my all time favorite quotes. I have to admit that I've never really believed any of it. My deepest fear was that I am inadequate. That I'm not good enough. That I have nothing to offer the world. I always felt so inferior to other people. So, I hid behind a fake smile. I wasn't my real self. I thought that if I was my real self people wouldn't like me. I think that a lot of us can probably relate to being fake at one point or another. I never really asked the question posed in this quote. Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Instead, I just simply said I'm not brilliant, gorgeous, talented, or fabulous. Like Marianne says, "playing small does not serve the world." She is right. But I think more than that, playing small doesn't really serve God. I am HIS child. How do I make manifest his glory if I'm shrinking back? I AM His child. He is apart of me. He created me to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous! And He created me to shine His glory in this world.
  Lately, I've found myself being real with people. I'm completely goofy, clumsy, weird, awkward, sometimes cranky, and crazy! But I'm God's. What I've learned through being myself is that I AM good enough. People do still like me. But I have also learned that sometimes people are insecure around me. And sometimes people DONT like me.That bothers me. But God made me who I am and I'm not going to shrink back. I love to have fun and be goofy and enjoy life. I try so hard to stay positive and surround myself with positive people. I also try very hard to love people. All people. That's a hard quest! But I think that's what God wants.
  So that's where I'm at. I'm just me. I'm trying to figure out my role in this world. And I just want to live for Christ. I want to be myself. No more hiding and shrinking back. I think its time to shine for the Lord!
  Have a great day my friends!!

Another try.

 So, here I am yet again. Another feeble attempt at blogging. Thanks to my amazing friend JE who encouraged me to get back into it. I don't have a lot of spare time. Well, actually, I really have none. Lets see where this new adventure of another shot at blogging takes me!
 I know you are wondering what I've been up to lately. I think the better question is what have I NOT been up to? Our life is complete insanity right now. Most days I don't know if I will have time to breathe. We are busy busy busy! And we LOVE it! If you didn't hear about Paul's new job yet, let me tell you about it. He is officially in full time ministry! He leads worship at our church and he now also leads the youth group. I guess I never really understood how truly busy families in full time ministry are. My gosh. When it seems like we finally have time to sit down and rest for a quick sec something ALWAYS comes up. Although it seems like this would be a rough life, its not. We love it. Its a fun adventure everyday. I'm sure I will write about it often.
 I think that's all I've got for now. I will try to blog on a regular basis! Goodnight!