Time.....

I recently came to the realization that it is November.  It's two weeks until Thanksgiving and less than a month and a half until Christmas and the year 2012. 2012, seriously???  Where has the time gone?  As we have entered the birthday season in our family (5 of the 7 kids have birthdays between now and the end of the year,) it gets me to thinking.  I'm getting to a point in my life where I can remember something that happened in the past and realize that I can say that it happened 15 years ago.  In fact my memories go back even further than that to 18 years ago.  So hard to believe.  When I was a little girl I never could imagine life past the point of being a little kid.  Ages like 16, 18, 25, and 40 seemed so far away.  Now as I've gotten older, the age of 40 doesn't seem to be so terribly far away.  It's amazing how your perspective changes as you get older.  Once I get on that track it isn't a far jump for me to make to start thinking about what I have accomplished in my life.  I don't have a guarantee that I will see the age of 40, 25, or even next week.  Have I made an impact on the people closest to me??  If I died tomorrow would they would be able to say that I made an impact?  If  they could say that I had made an impact on them what kind of an impact would it have been?  You can make a lasting impact on someone and it is an impact that is not a good impact.  Adolf Hitler made a lasting impact on millions of Jews and their families.  If I make an impact on someone I want it to be an impact that is one that is a reflection on my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I want people to be able to say that they saw the power of Christ reflected in my life.   I want them to be able to say that my actions and my words showed evidence of my relationship with Him.  Our culture has made it look that life is nothing more than following your dreams and living your life to the fullest. I want my life to be different than that.  I want to live a life that follows the plans God has for me not the ones that I think will make me happy.  I want to live my life to the fullest, for God and not according to the poor expectations of myself or others.  At the end of my life however long or short it may be I want it to be able to say: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."  


Psalm 39:4-5

O LORD, make me know my end 

and what is the measure of my days; l

et me know how fleeting I am! 

Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, a

nd my lifetime is as nothing before you.

Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJULo_zW9hA

Blessed be the name of the Lord

I heard the song "Blessed be Your Name" by Matt Redman last night and it set me to thinking.  I love the parallels that this song makes.  It really made me realize how easy it is for me to praise God when it seems like things are going in a way that I perceive is good.  But when something that I perceive is"bad" happens, the easiness of praising God goes right out the window and the "Why God mentality" sets in very quickly.  I think it happens so easily because many times we associate praise and blessing with being happy ,singing a song, with a smile on our face. I'm not saying that praise and blessing can't be that but I think when we have the mindset that that is what it is we miss out on so much.  Praising and blessing God should be a daily lifestyle.  If we get to where we are in that attitude daily and hourly it will be a lot harder to slip out of when difficult circumstances come our way.  I think that living a life of praise and blessing in every day life is what enabled Job to say this in Job 1:21 after he received the news that his ten children had died: "And he said, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."  Job wasn't jumping up and down, dancing and singing this.  He had just torn his robe and shaved his head.  He wasn't able to comprehend why God had allowed this to happen nor would he be able to comprehend any of the other things that would happen to him.  He did see and know that God was still in control no matter what the circumstance and he was able to acknowledge and praise God for that.  I pray that God will enable me to act this out in my own life better than I do.  It isn't by any means an easy thing to do but, I CAN do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnWKehsOXu8

A very random jumping post.

Hello Readers,

I apologize for the long gap in between posts.  I've been saving all of my thoughts for one long rambling post.  So if this seems random to you, it is.  There are just some things I need to get off my mind.

The first thing I'd like to do is to give all of you below the age of 18 a little of my ancient wisdom.  ENJOY where you are at in your life.  It doesn't last long.  I wish so much that I was still a little girl.  Life was so simple and sweet.  The biggest thing I had to worry about was whether or not my brother was going to be my "husband" or a "play dog"!!  I know how much people talk about how great it is to be grown up but it is really not all it is cracked up to be.  It is hard to know that the decisions you are making in your life have the ability to impact far more than just the rest of your day or week.  The decisions you are now making have the ability to impact future generations.  That is a very scary thought.  So, while I am not disowning adulthood I do want people that are younger than me to realize that they need to enjoy every fleeting moment.  Try to live every moment of time for God and you will not have regrets.

The second thing I want to share sort of ties into the whole age thing.  I have come to a transition stage in my life. I have to decide whether or not to go to college, get a job, or stay at home.  The difficult thing about these decisions is that the thing I most want to do with my life is something I can't do anything about.  I want to be a wife and that hasn't happened yet.  So, in this season of waiting for "Prince Charming" (and it really hasn't been that long of a season), God has been showing me a lot of things.  One of those things is that we girls really need to pray.  Not only for our future spouses but for all of our Christian brothers.  They face a monumental task in rising up to be leaders, and face tough battles on every side.  I've talked to so many girls who are in the same "predicament" that I am in as far as finding "Mr. Right".  Some days it gets downright depressing to think about the lack of men.  It is becoming an increasingly bigger problem with Christian girls.  They are ready to be wives and mothers and step up, ready to launch into their roles, but there is an obvious shortage in the field of available men. But the thing that God has shown me is that while I had time to worry about all of this and time to  focus on the "reasons" why men aren't ready to be married, I wasn't spending enough time in prayer for anyone except my future spouse.  And while that is not a bad thing, I need to look at the big picture.  The big picture is that there are more guys out there than just "mine."  It is so important to lift these men up to the Lord in prayer.  And not just the young, single ones either.  We need to be praying for dads and grandpas.  They are the ones who have the job to shape these guys and evidence is looking like there is some issues in the area of shaping.  That is why they need our prayers, ladies.  Our culture has been so thoroughly steeped in feminism and bad views of manhood, that it is getting increasingly harder to be a man, let alone a man who wants to be the best kind of real man there is: a Christian man.   There are so many battles to fight to win in the war.  I am not letting guys off of the hook saying this, either.  They have a responsibility to grow up and be godly leaders but let's give them all of the help in our power.  Let's help them fight the battle using the best tools we can.  Prayer and the power of God's word!!!

My wildlife adventures

Anyone that knows me very well know that I am not an avid fan of the great out of doors.  I am getting better as I get older and have made great leaps since I moved to Virginia due to the fact that my room is so quiet that it really bugs me and I like to see and hear something besides my four walls and silence.  Well, the Virginia wildlife is trying to revert me back to my old ways.  I was sitting out in front of my dorm the other night and looked down and sitting there beside me was this "thing" that looked like a cross between a snake and a worm with antenneas.  Needless to say I freaked out.  One of the reasons I don't like the outdoors is all the scary bugs, insects and snakes.  But, I was trying to overcome my fears and realize that I am like 20 times or more the size of all these things I am scared of.  Back to the story.  I tried to get a picture of the "sworm" (sworm: a combination of the word snake and worm) but it was too dark.  I just let it go and decided to prematurely end my time outside that evening.  A few evenings later I was out walking and came across another "sworm" on the sidewalk.  So I decided to call my mom who lives 1,000 miles away to see if she had any ideas.  She did.....take a picture.  It was too dark to get the true accuracy of this thing.  I was unwilling to go to bed without discovering the identity of this thing that was greatly interrupting my peace.  So mom then asked if I could put the "sworm" into something to ask someone what it was.  I remembered that I had a styrofoam cup in my room.  After leaving the "sworm" strict instructions not to disappear on me I ran into my room and got a styrofoam cup, paper bowl and spoon.  I figured I would be able to get it into the cup with at least one of those tools.  After I got outside I tried to get the "sworm" to crawl into the cup without my help.  Mind you that by now my heart is rapidly beating and my stomach is in knots.  Since the "sworm" simply would not go into the cup without my assistance I decided that I must give it to him.  I got my bowl and tried to push him in.....He stuck to the sidewalk.  I applied more force and in he went.  Off I go to ask the security guards what is in my cup that has a bowl on the top.  It isn't a very far walk to the building where security is but it seemed like 10 miles.  I kept my mom on the phone for moral support until I got to the building.  As I was walking over I barely lifted the bowl to check on the status of my prisoner......He was almost to the top of the cup.  I very quickly set the cup down on the stairs I was climbing and hit the side of the cup until the prisoner gave up his climb.  After hanging up the phone I went to the security desk and told the two officers there that I had something in the cup and that I didn't know what it was.  One of the officers took the cup and very gently lifted up the bowl and said....."Oh, that is just a slug."   Up until this point I had never seen any slug except a tiny little one.  This one was like 3-4 inches long.  After getting my heart rate to slightly decrease I was able to go to sleep knowing what it was that had me so scared.  The next night I decided to face my fears once again and brave the wild.  As I was walking along the sidewalk I saw something and thought to myself "that looks like a snake, stop it you are just being paranoid."  I was not just being paranoid.  It was a real snake.  For those of you that don't know me I'll just share a small fact with you.  I HATE snakes.  They are so awful.  But there was one laying right in front of me.  I am quite proud to say that I didn't freak out.  I sat and watched the snake for about 15 minutes and determined that it was a non-aggressive, non-rattle snake.  No, I didn't go get a cup to put this one in.  My latest fright was a couple of nights ago.  I was walking around the lake.  There is this tiny stream you have to step accross.  As I went to step across I heard this rustling and something pops up.  I just knew I had come across a snake in his lair and I was getting ready to die (I've always just known that if I ever step on a snake or a snake touches me I will die from just sheer fright).....Then I saw the rabbit hop off into the trees.  Stop, breathe in,breathe out and keep going.  After all those frights I am just a little nervous.  I am not giving up though.  I WILL conquer the fearsome wilderness.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th to all of my readers!!  I just wanted to share this article about the 56 great men who, on July 4th, 1776 voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence.  Later on August 2nd, 1776 these same men signed this great document.  The article has some great info.  As you are enjoying a picnic and fireworks with your friends and family don't forget the sacrifices that have been made so that you can do so.  Have a great day with your friends and family:)  God bless!! 

http://usff.com/usff/sacredhonor.html

One of my readers gave me several different topics so I picked one and a favorite one at that.  This reader asked me to share about how it has been for me to be the oldest in a large family.  What I have learned from that experience.  So here goes.  I am the oldest of 7 kids.  I have 4 sisters and two brothers.  I love being a big sister.  It is an undescribable experience to those who haven't had the privilege.  What 's a little different for me (and several of you) than some is that I am the oldest.  That is a big responsibility and sad to say I have failed in many ways.  When I was younger I never realized just how much my siblings imitated what I did and my attitudes.  When I had a bad attitude it reflected in their attitudes.  The bad thing was that I was getting to where I had bad attitudes more than I had good ones.  Of course when you are spending a large portion of your life in a bad attitude, when someone makes you mad you NEVER think that it could be your problem.  You wonder why everyone has so many problems and why they aren't getting them fixed.  You sit there taking specks out of their eyes when you have a giant tree in your own.  And that giant tree is well rooted in pride.  When I finally realized my own issues it took quite some time to break old habits.  Even now I see those habits trying to creep back up.  When they do I can usually trace it back to not spending enough time in God's word and in prayer.  Let me tell you an important pieceof advice that applies if you are a big brother, or sister, the oldest, the middle, the youngest, or an only child. Making the daily habit of grounding yourself in the Word and prayer will be most important habit you ever form.  You will have a harder time starting other bad habits if you are in daily fellowship with God and if you are confessing your sins daily.  Satan has a harder time getting a foothold for an attack.  You don't have to do 5 hours of study just be faithful in small amounts of time and it will be easier for you to make it longer as time goes on.  When I finally started doing that the arguments I had with some of my siblings didn't seem to be such important things to argue about anymore.  The sad thing is that I didn't realize a lot of these things until the last couple of years.  So that means around 18 years of my being a big sister were wasted years that I could have been being a good influence.  Now I wasn't sitting on top of my siblings beating them up or anything like that but the issues of the heart I was miserably failing in.  They didn't see me modeling an attitude of joy when I was working, they didn't see me working as to the Lord not as to men and they didn't see me using my tongue as a tool not a weapon.  So if you are a big brother or sister I pray that this will help you to learn some things while you still have time.  God Bless:)

Welcome to my blog!!

Welcome!!  I am glad that you stopped by.  I created this blog for more than one reason.  First, I want to practice my writing skills which are limited at best.  So bear with my mistakes and feel free to advise me:)  Second, I wanted a place besides Facebook to share some of the things that are important to me.  If you have any suggestions for a topic feel free to comment and I'll see what I can do.  Thanks for stopping by.  God bless :)