Putting Out a Fleece

Gideon was basically a nobody.  He was self proclaimed least in his tribe, which was the weakest of all Israel.  Yet one day he received a word from the Lord that he was a mighty warrior and he would be used to bring down the Midianites that had tormented Israel for years.  He didn’t receive this as a proclamation from a prophet in front of the entire people if Israel, or even in front of the leaders.  Instead he received this word from an angel sitting under a tree.  He was all by himself.  No one was there to encourage or support him.  He had to choose to believe what God was saying for himself.  As I’m sure many of us do when we receive a word from the Lord, he doubted.  

I don't have walls, I have a median...

I’m in Baton Rouge this week with Team Bohl, six of my favorite people!  The thing about seven people being in a three bed room house is that someone is going to have to share a bed.  Being that I am the only single adult in the house that leaves me sharing a bed with a kid.  I’ve been sleeping in London’s room and mostly sharing the bed with her.  Now I’ve been on many a youth trip and shared many a bed with other girls.  If there is one thing there is an unspoken rule that you should not touch the person you are sharing the bed with.  Not only should you not touch them, you should not cross the invisible median in the middle of the bed.  This invisible median assures you won’t accidentally touch each other in the night.  Well if you’ve ever shared a bed with a child, particularly one under the age of 10, you know they have yet to learn the rules of bed sharing.

Disappointment

Is there ever a point when it’s okay to be disappointed?  I ask myself this question as I fight feeling disappointed.  Part of me says my pending disappointment is irrational because I should have expected it.  There was that small voice in the back of my head that said, “Don’t get your hopes up.”  Why did that still small voice say that?  Was it God warning me against impending doom or because lack of follow through by others, or at least one person, has been a common theme in my life for 30 years?

Three Little Words

I spent this past Sunday afternoon with two of my girls, Ashley and Rebecca.  While we were out and about having a fabulous girlie time Ashley felt the need to tell us how much she loves us and appreciates us and our friendship.  It was such a wonderful moment and throughout the day we each kept saying, “Aw, I love you guys!”  

Bury the Hatchet

There's an interesting phenomenon in life – hurt and offense. There is a good amount of time dedicated to these topics in the scriptures and basically how to guard your heart and get over it! We are not permitted to hold grudges and offenses. We are commanded to forgive, let go, move on....

Integrity

Thursday night was the first meeting of The Living Room, a Bible Study at my house for those ages 20-35.  We're studying Ephesians and specifically started with chapter 1 verses 1-14.  Paul starts by introducing himself and then begins to get caught up in a bigger story.  One about God's blessings and the inheritance that awaits all of us.  Before we read this portion of scripture the study guide we are using gave an illustration of a bigger story overshadowing other things in life. The example was of a man who waited for a bus that was late.  He got irritated when he began to tell his family about the ordeal and before he knew it was complaining about the government and how soon there would be an election and he could vote for someone that would fix the bus system.  The issue at hand was the late bus, but the man's frustration over the late bus was overridden by the bigger story, his frustration over a government that he felt was failing.

WANTED: Mouse Killer

Last night after an evening of hanging out with the girls over at the Lovett house I came home and was unwinding a bit before going to bed.  I sat down to journal and catch up on the happenings of Facebook over the last few hours.  Suddenly I heard a ruckus coming from the bakers rack.

Blessed Beyond Measure!

Today I had lunch with Rebecca.  Okay, yes it was the second time this week and maybe I could still sit and talk to her for another five hours and still not run out of things to say.  I can't help it!  She's one of my besties! 

Summer Time!

Even though I hate the Florida heat there is something about Summer that makes me happy.  It must go back to all of those summers as a child and the fun and adventures they held.  It's been quite some time that I've been a grown up with a job that doesn't take a summer break, but I still remember those amazing days of summer.  Even when I had a summer job I still managed to enjoy every bit of my summer vacations.  I remember when I wasn't working I would stay up all night reading, watching TV, listening to music, talking on the phone and then sleep all day.  Summer in Ohio often meant it was still cool enough in the evening, and as it would have been for me the middle of the night, to open the windows and enjoy the amazing summer air.

A Day In the Life

I tend to feel this pressure to only blog about revelatory moments in my life, or when I'm struggling with and overcoming something.... you know in order to help others do the same.  However, back in the day when my blogging consisted of filling up my Myspace Blog or the Notes section of my Facebook or my Live Journal or my Blogger account I didn't care so much.  I wrote about any and everything going on in my life.  Now however, paying for hosting I feel like I have to make it mean something.

This is what you get!

If you feel like people should keep their struggles and emotions to themselves, rather than share what they are going through, then you should probably stop reading now.

Lately I have totally lacked motivation.  No matter what time I go to bed, how much sleep I get, I'm flat exhausted.  I haven't been to the gym in a shameful amount of time and all I want are carbs... ever.  I also seem to be drained of any creativity.  It was as if my well had run dry.  A couple of weeks ago I finally had a moment of clarity.  I put all of the pieces together and realized that I was experiencing all of the tell tale signs of depression. 

The Adventures of Turning 30!

I spent more than a year dreading turning 30.  My tongue would get stuck on the back of my teeth anytime I tried to say the dreaded word.  In all honesty I was afraid that 30 would come and go without any real celebration.  Now that might seem silly, but considering birthdays have always been a big deal for me, and this was a BIG ONE, it was a legitimate fear from my perspective.  I asked Rebecca if I could turn over planning of my birthday weekend to she and Ashley.  She gladly accepted the responsibility.  As much as I wanted to ask what we were doing I didn't.  And I tried not to give too much input along the way.

Just Another Manic Monday - This is the Day the Lord Has Made!

It's Monday, and like most people I know the weekend, though good, was more tiring than restful.  Consequently I thought long and hard before I got out of bed and committed to going to the gym.  Even the prospect of coffee already in the pot wasn't much of a motivator.  Turning 30 was... and so was the thought of trying to develop more discipline in my life.  Now I'm faced with trying to make this a productive day despite my lack of motivation.  I did manage to dwindle down the emails in my inbox, and honestly if that's all I really accomplish today I will consider it successful!

Love doesn't cost a thing... or does it?

Back around Valentine's Day I started writing about love.  I was pondering how we love others and if loving others the way we receive love, instead of how they receive love, is love at all.  Well, I got about knee deep in the blog and got stuck.  Not so unusual.  There are lots of 1/2 written blogs in my repertoire. 

I Gotta' Have Faith

I recently joined an online book club.  It's awesome because there are about 100 people reading different books and then talking about what they read.  It's fun to see how everyone felt about the different characters and situations.  Also, because different people are reading and discussing different books you get an idea of whether or not you want to read it. 

The last few days...

Recently I have been repeatedly confronted with opportunities to loose my cool, and at times have held onto it by a slipping thread.  At the beginning of February, during our Ministers Summit, I attended a workshop about Emotional Intelligence, or EQ.  EQ is basically emotional maturity.  The ability to control your emotions.  It's not just being a grown up by the numbers but by the attitude.

Did you bring your lampstand?

One night we were setting up for our Friday night webcast that we do in conjunction with CBN and someone said that we should do worship more like someone else.  Let me tell you, that was the wrong comment to the wrong person at the wrong time.  I let them have it, and got quite a look of shock from the other person standing by.  I said, "We are not so-in-so and even if we do so-in-so's songs we will not be them.  We are unique just like they are unique, and if you don't like it you can leave."  If you haven't figured it out yet I am as loyal as the day is long, and if you dare mess with someone or something I love you will see the timid side of me fade away in a blaze of righteous indignation!

What's for dinner?

I love to host get togethers at my house.  Last summer we started doing Sunday dinners where everyone would pitch in $5 and come have an amazing home cooked meal and great fellowship while saving money!  (I may be a little biased because I cooked most of them.)   The invitations started out rather open as long as we knew who was coming so that we would have enough food.  However, I quickly started to narrow down the guest list based on the grateful versus ungrateful participants.  

Walk It Out....

My blog has been silent for almost a month.  It's not that I haven't had things to say, or even tried to construct a blog.  On the contrary, I've attempted two.  However, I never got to the point of finishing either one.  In fact I have a whole list of blogs that I would like to write, but they haven't come together yet.  Here's a thing to understand about my blogging process.  Some come easily.  I sit down and it is as if the words flow directly through my fingers to the page with little effort.  Then there are the times when I labor to collect the myriad of thoughts going through my mind into one cohesive flow.  It's the latter that usually end up being really great, but possibly taking months to write.  For instance my blog "Whatever It Takes" was six months in the making.  Also, I don't want to make my blogs so long that no one wants to read them.  Sometimes there are just so many things I want to say on a subject that it overwhelms me.  I've thought of breaking those things up into a series, but then that overwhelms me.

I Got a New Attitude

A year ago I made up my mind to get in shape.  30 was looming over a year away and I wanted to feel better when I turned 30 than I did a few months before 29.  I started by walking here on campus in the mornings.  When summer started to roll around it just got too stinking hot and the opportunity opened up for me to join the gym with a few of my friends.  Throughout the summer we were hard core, sometimes doing 2-a-days and challenging each other to be there every morning.  As Summer ended and we welcomed fall and the peace and quiet that comes with the tourists going home, schedules got crazy.  Our morning workouts had at some point shifted to evenings after work, but with only Monday and Thursday evenings free that didn't leave me much time to hit the gym.  Then the conference season started and that really threw me off schedule.  I stuck to it as much as I could, but wasn't pushing myself the way I wanted to.