Fear

Fear - what a nasty, scary word.
With lots of meanings:
Noun: An unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.
Verb: Be afraid of (someone or something) as likely to be dangerous, painful, or threatening: "farmers fear that they will lose business".
Synonyms: noun. dread - fright - apprehension - funk - awe - alarm
verb. be afraid - dread - apprehend - funk - be afraid of

Fear of change.
Fear of heights.
Fear of spiders.
Fear of sharks.
Fear of being too close to someone.
Fear of loud noises.
Fear of big dogs.
Fear of snakes.
Fear of the dark.
Fear of being alone.
Fear of...

The list could go on and on and on....

Throughout your lifetime you will have many fears, but the one thing that will remain is your faith in God. Through our trust in our faith in God, we don't have to fear what we are facing. Feed your faith and your fear won't stand a chance...read the bible, pray, read devotionals, turn to those hymns/songs that life you up.

Proverbs 3:5-6 New International Version (NIV)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,and he will make your paths straight.

Mark 4:35-41 New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Calms the Storm
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

If Jesus is on board then the storm is outranked!!

Time to turn that fear over to the Lord!! So I guess that means my fear of ... SHARKS should be out the door.

On a more serious note - its time to turn that fear of being alone over. Trust in what the Lord is doing in my life right now as a single person!!

What are you afraid of?

Hurtful Words

Many people say: "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." I would like for one person to say that they haven't been hurt by words spoken by a family member, a friend, and acquaintances, or even someone on the street who doesn't know you.

Proverbs 12:18 Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Proverbs 15:4 The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.

We can't control what others say about us, but we can control what we believe. It may be hard to let the words roll of your back and develop a "shell" but instead of believing in those words it time to believe what you know is true.

Many times we have no "filter" on what comes out of our mouths, but we should always think about if our words can be hurtful to those we are saying them to. Life taking words or life giving words?? I choose to use life giving words. Think about what I am saying, always put a positive spin on things.

Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Words have power - what power does the words coming out of your mouth have: life taking or life giving??

Summertime

Summertime - the time of the year that I can hardly wait for year after year. Summer brings: heat, humidity, beach time, friends, family, vacations, relaxation, and so much more!! This summer I am affectionately calling: The Summer of Concerts!! Mega ticket purchases, Brothers of the Sun (Tim and Kenny), followed by and ending the summer/early fall with Carrie Underwood.



*A little Thompson Square, Darius Rucker, and Lady Antebellum to kick off the summer!! :)

This summer gave me a BRAND NEW NEPHEW!! Welcome to the family, Channing! Aunt Hehe loves you so much already!! Take a look at this cutie!!!


Of course, I have spent a little time with him and his big sister - she is so rotten! I believe that she is going to be one smart little girl. My sister and brother-in-law are doing a great job raising her!! She is so stinking cute, ornery, bright, and funny that once you get to know her great BIG personality at the age of 2 1/2 you won't be able to wait until she is 16! HA! Another year or two and she will be able to come and have a "vacation" from mommy, daddy, baby brother, grammy, and pappy!!!

*If you could have only seen her riding this horse (no hands, butt off the saddle, and mouth talking the whole time)!

So here's to our summer!! May you have a blessed summer with fun, sun, heat and humidity, friends and family!!!

Relay for Life

This past weekend was our Relay for Life event here in the county. Words can NOT describe the event in all of its glory. If you have never had the chance to visit and support your local event, I would recommend that you do. The luminaria walk and the survivor lap are two of the most moving parts of the events.

During the survivor walk (this kicks off the event), survivors are there supporting each other. Hands are being held, arms are linked, there is a feeling of celebration, as they realize that they are able to celebrate another birthday. Yet, there are tears too, as they walk and talk about those who have fought the battle but lost. I believe that for me, the most moving part of the survivor walk was seeing a teacher at our school who is battling cancer walking with about 7 of her students around the track. Those students were united with her every step of that lap - they were walking with arms around each other the whole way. For that one moment nothing else mattered other than them showing their teacher that they loved her, that they supported her, and that they were there for her. Then there was a special walk for the child who recently lost the battle. There is nothing like seeing 20 kindergartners wearing matching shirts, walking proudly, shouting for their friend who is no longer with them. I know that I didn't have a dry eye after watching them take that lap while listening to his favorite theme song.

At dark, the stadium lights are turned off and the track is lined with bags saying "In honor of" and "In Memory of". The stadium then takes several quiet laps - to remember those who have fought the battle and lost, and to honor those who are fighting RIGHT now, or those who have fought the battle and won!

My Saturday morning facebook status sums up the event very well: home from Relay - been up for over 26 hours and not really tired....running on the high of seeing survivors hugging, holding hands, supporting each other, of seeing a class of kindergartners show their support for a classmate who passed away from cancer, of seeing name after name who have fought a hard battle and lost to this nasty disease. Cancer has no boundaries and it is awesome to see a community come together and fight back together. My teams theme for the night: Cancer is Cruisin' for a Bruisin'!!

I have no more words but I leave you with a picture or 2!!!

Easter - a time of reflection and rejoice!!

First of all Happy Easter!!

So Thursday my small group had dinner together, worshiped, went through an Easter message (Seven moments of Easter) and took communion together. What a great discussion we had - it is amazing what happens when you get a group of women together who love God and want to share what they think, know and want to learn with each other. For all of you out there in blogger land here are the point and scriptures we studied:
1. Jesus' victory in the garden of Gethsemane guarantees us his in our personal struggles. Matt. 26: 36 - 46 and Luke 22:39 - 44.
2. Peter's denial of Christ teaches us to prepare for moments of weakness. Matt 26: 69 - 75 and John 21: 15 - 19
3. The crowd's response to Pilate teaches us to not be influenced by our surroundings. Matt. 27: 11 - 26
4. The Crucifixion teaches us that we can learn from Jesus' attitude toward suffering and sacrifice. Matt. 27: 27 - 44
5. The crucifixion teaches us that the one who cries out in despair trusts in God. Matt. 27: 45 - 50
6. The resurrection teaches us not to fear and to replace fear with FAITH. Matt. 28: 1 -10
*notice TRUST in 5 and FAITH in 6. Key points I think!!!!!!
7. The resurrection teaches us to focus on our mission and to rely on God's promises! Matt 28: 10, Matt. 28: 19 - 20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:47, John 20:21, and Mark 16:7

So to all my friends who were giggling, I mean watching the experience intently, while I was TAKING NOTES using the light from my phone to write...hahaha I have the last laugh as I actually have notes from Seven Mile Miracle - granted they are all over my notebook where I was having trouble seeing where I was writing. But being the person I am, if you are reading my blog you will also have them.....
Each mile along the road uses a key word that shows us the steps on our way to our miracle of being a follower of Jesus.
1. Forgiveness
2. Salvation
3. Relationship
4. Abandonment
5. Distress
6. Triumph
7. Reunion

May God open our eyes to the full extent of his forgiveness.

God will open our eyes to the persistence of his presence.

May God open our eyes to the victory of SURRENDER.

Christianity isn't spelled: DO it isn't spelled DON'T, it IS spelled DONE!! (You've done my will).

My prayer for you: May God bless each and every one of you this Easter season and may your eyes be opened up the full extent of his forgiveness and to the victory of surrender.

Here is a video that sums up Easter for me: Making All Things New

Catch UP Blog

Spring Break is FINALLY here!! I am so looking forward to relaxing and not doing anything work related for a whole week. Work has been crazy busy and I have been lazy about blogging!! To my faithful readers - I am so sorry!!! I vow to be better starting NOW! So here are a few things I've done since I was on here last....

FIRST in February:

Daytona - wow, that is all I can say - such an exciting, fun, rain filled trip!! Would I do it again......YES in a heartbeat!
Next track to visit: Las Vegas, Phoenix, Texas, or Talledega, I would be happy with any of those!!!


Then came some events in March:

Casting Crowns - aww yeah!! Floor seats to see the one and only Casting Crowns!! THANK YOU Dana and David for choosing to go and for inviting me!

This last one is a given and needs no introduction:

and......

I'm working on a blog about a book I am currently reading....be on the lookout!!!

Week 4 of 2012

Wow where did the month of January go??? That is my question. Oh well!!! So the highlights of week 4:
1. It's over...
2. a weekend ahead to read, do school work, and just enjoy friends.
3. catching up with friends.

That's all I got - sorry. Coming soon a blog - a long one - just giving you a warning!!!