I hope you and your family have had a blessed Christmas!  We serve such a marvelous, miraculous, loving, forgiving, gracious God.  Our home was filled with laughter and relaxation Christmas day.  We received the Toy Story Mania Wii game.  Watching Elliott and Phoebe play this game was a hoot.  For one,  Phoebe does not like to loose.  We are working on that whole winner/loosing thing.  The funny part was seeing them hopping around swinging their arms, shooting targets.  The game is themed off the ride at Disney, which is 3-D.  It is really a fun ride, Natalie loved it.  The games and levels are things like, throwing pies, throwing balloons, catching fish from a pond.   Natalie received a Nerf gun.  We had fun with that.  Phoebe received a dog…yep the best kind.  They are called FurReal.  It came in a purse.  Doesn’t need to be fed, let outside or see the vet..awesome!  Natalie received lots of girly things..hair clips, lipglosses. 

As another year comes to a close I hope you take time to praise and pray to Jesus.  Praise him for answered and unanswered prayers.  Praise him for who HE is.  Praise Him with all your heart, soul and mind.  Be in deep prayer regarding the new year.  What can you do to make your walk with Christ deeper?  What can you bury to make you more like Christ?  Think about where Christ has taken you this 2009.  As you think about this I ask that you take 8 minutes out of your day and watch this powerful..and I mean powerful video.  My question to you is “WHAT WOULD YOU WRITE?”

Are tears running down your face?  Is your heart racing?  Do you know what you would write?  God is awesome!  He is in the business of redeeming lives.  How cool is that!!  We live in such an evil world and bad things do happen and we go astray,  but I know for a fact that Christ will always bring glory out of despair and hard times. We just have to allow him.  Be open and willing to where he leads.  Be obedient.  God is always there, waiting, hugging on us.  We might not feel it, but he is.  He cries when we do.  He doesn’t like to see us in a pit.  He wants to take us farther, grow us.  Will you allow him to do that in 2010? 

Have a great week.  If you can and are okay I would love to see what you would write.  You can do it anonymously!  Take a moment to Praise God.  Turn that worship music on, get out of your seat and raise those hands.  What do you think heaven will be like…come on..you know it sounds fun!!

Today is September 17, 2009.  Today is the 8 year anniversary of Natalie’s brain injury.  If you don’t know Natalie’s story than hop over to her site and read about it. 

I wanted to take a moment and say a few things about Natalie.  First, she is precious to me and I love her with my whole heart!  I absolutely hate that her life is like it is.  She has taught me so much.  She brings such joy to our family.  Here are some thoughts that come to mind,

Natalie,

you make me laugh when you laugh

you have more hair product than I do girly!

you are such a trooper, going through all the things you do

I know that you love Jesus

you are a testament to God’s love

you are the sweetest thing in the world and others fall head over heals with you within minutes of meeting you

your smile lights up a room

you are a GIFT

I go through agony when I know you are in pain and I can’t fix it

you are part of a bigger plan designed by Christ, be proud of it!

you are my cuddle bug, you always have been and always will be

I treasure each day I have with you

I trust that Jesus has a destiny for you and I can’t wait to see it come full circle

I so anticipate the day that we meet in heaven and you extend your arms and say “hi Mom”, GLORY!!  We are gonna be singing and praising the Mighty One!

I would give up EVERYTHING to have you healed and out of pain!

YOU BLESS ME!   I love you

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

You run this race because your reward awaits you!  I am proud and honored to be your mom.

I would like to introduce a great girlfriend of mine, Denise Coop.  Denise and I met through our kid’s preschool.  So, we have known each other for a short 8 months.  She has blessed my life tremendously and I am thankful for her friendship.  I was amazed when she started telling me about her daily quiet time with Christ and I wanted her to share it with you.

1. Why is quiet time so important to you?
Quiet time removes me as the central figure of my life and puts God on the throne of my life. It is my time with my Lord and Savior. I place my messed up, worldly, selfish self before the Lord so that He can impart  His TRUTH, GUIDE me, and  CHANGE me. I desperately want to be who He wants me to be. This only comes through TIME with Him and reading His WORD. Also, quiet time is not bible study time. I’ve had to make these two separate things in my life.

2. Where do you do your quiet time?
 In my office with a desk and chair.

3. What tools do you use…bible, highlighters, music,
 For a bible I use The One Year Daily bible – it is broken up with
passages from the OT, NT, Psalm and proverb for each day. I have a journal that is based on Becky Tirabassi’s journal. Over the years, I have changed mine a little bit from hers. Mine has a section for Praise/Thanksgiving, a section for Admitting /Change, a section for books I am studying, a section for requests. It is a big 3 ring binder because I journal 95% of my prayers, it helps me stay focused. Oh, I almost forgot COFFEE!!

4. What time of day is your quiet time?
 around 6am – My goal is to get it in before kids and husband are awake.

5. If you could assist someone with coming up with their own quiet time, what would you tell them?
Ask God to create a burning desire for a quiet time in your heart. If it doesn’t come from Him it won’t last. I recognize that quiet times are extremely personal and always changing based on our busy lives. From a technical position, I’d probably read Becky Tirabassi’s book the 21 Days to a Burning Heart Contract with them first. Then start them out small with just praising God through His Psalms. If they are totally on fire, I’d do the whole journal.  Ultimately, in the beginning having a quiet time for me was about obedience and discipline and a desire to turn my life completely over to God. I had never EVER done anything like this, to be a stay at home mom and still get up at 6 am just doesn’t make sense… so you know the desire was and is given by God and not of me. Making the decision to do a quiet time is the BEST decision God has ever blessed me with. The time I give Him is always doubled throughout the day.

6. What happens in your life if you miss a quiet time?
 You don’t want to know! Depression hits. Discontentedness. Grumpy.  Complaining. Yelling. No patience. No peace. JUDGEMENTAL. I act like I am in charge. Opposite of the fruit of the spirit. Basically, it is a very very ugly day.!!

7. How long is your quiet time?
 Depends, I try to wake up early enough so that I know I have 30 minutes of uninterrupted time. After that is based on who interrupts me first.

8. What drove you to desiring a quiet time with God?
A person (I think Beth Moore) once said that in Isaiah 43, it doesn’t say IF you pass through the waters or IF you walk through the rivers or IF you walk through the fire… it says WHEN. At that moment, I decided I was going to need as much of God as I could get because this life is hard, He is eternally good, and I want to hear Him say, “Well done!” at the end of mine.

 WOW, Denise that is awesome.  Thank you so much for inspiring us and bringing a whole new way to go about quiet time.  I admire you and your diligence.  You are a women devoted to living her life in the will of Christ.   

Denise wanted to leave you with a scripture that has moved her heart and soul recently.

Psalm 90:14   Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, so that we may sing for joy to the end of our lives.

That is what we are called to do.  We NEED God to satisfy us.  We are called to be joyful in whatever comes our way.  There is a difference in joy and happiness.  Joy fills your heart no matter what you are doing or going through.  Happiness comes from your circumstances.  There is a difference!! 

I hope these two interviews have shed some light on quiet time for you.  It is crucial in our Christian walk.  It takes things to a whole new level.   Are you willing to go there with Christ?  I hope so…

Today was a great day.  I went to aerobics, which was grueling after being on spring break last week and Easter on Sunday.  I payed for every piece of candy and sweet I ate!  

I than went to lunch with a dear friend.  It was so nice to reconnect and chat.  It was like we hadn’t been apart.  She is such an incredible women and loves the Lord with all her being.  She is a wonderful mentor, full of  joy and life.  It is contagious when you are around her.  I thoroughly enjoyed our visit. 

Than I got to spend some time shopping…ALONE!!  Yep, you read right.  It was so nice to go to the stores I enjoy and take my time looking around.  I went to our local christian bookstore.  I browsed and browsed.   They had the movie, ” A Night with the King”  on sale.  If you have not heard of this movie it is about Esther.  I was doing the Beth Moore study on Esther and a friend told me that this movie was a  good portrayal of the book.  So I bought it.  I will let you know how it is.  I also bought the CD from newcomer Kari Jobe.  She has a remarkable voice.  It is really good.  

I love praise and worship music.  Music is my connection with God.  I get so emotional with music.  I can be driving down the road and a song come on…before you know it I am sobbing and singing as loud as I can.  I can be in my kitchen cooking and hear a song on the radio that stirs me and before you know it I am turning it up loud, singing along.  My kids have developed a love for music and Phoebe, my 4 1/2 year old loves it loud!  When we are at church and the praise/worship team sings or the congregation sings, Natalie laughs.  We say that is how she sings to the Lord.   Music brings joy to my heart.  Now, I am not musically talented at all, but I believe that  Christ looks at your heart.  Who cares if you can’t carry a tune.  He wants to hear those praises from you and he looks at the motives! 

So, who do you enjoy listening too?  I have many groups and artists that get me going but here are a few:  Third Day, Sara Groves, Erin O’donell, Mandisa, Amy Grant, Hill Song, my new fav..Kari Jobe,  Gwen Smith.  Let me know some of your favorites.  I am always looking for new music to sing praises to our King!!  

Psalm 146:2 (New International Version) 

 ² I will praise the LORD all my life;
       I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

You train for marathons and races.  It is not easy.  You know what you have to do.  Be in shape.  Run with all you got.  Focus on the finish line.

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