I love my job!

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

I know it's been a really long time but I'm back! Things have been to crazy bust lately, which is honestly the way I like it. I have never had so much going on at one time and not felt stressed. Only the Lord can give me the strength to get it all done and I know I'm walking in His will if I'm not overwhelmed. God is so good!

So I think I've mentioned it before but I recently became a Mary Kay consultant. I love it! Honestly there is nothing like it! I never thought that I would ever do a job like this but it's been so fun to get out of my comfort zone and meet new people. Beyond financial rewards I'm discovering what great spiritual rewards there are in doing this. Money is great but making someone feel good is priceless!

It's so satisfying to plant seeds in women who need the Lord, or need to feel beautiful and special! I love having the opportunity to develop relationships with women from all different kinds of situations. Sure there are moments when yes I really wanted to make a sale or needed to, but if I planted a seed, showed a person Christ's love and made them feel special I know that the Lord is going to honor me for this!

I know that to some the sale is most important and there are moments where I may be a little disappointed. But I know that I will be more successful in my business doing it the way the Lord wants me to do it. When you are living for the Lord, His ways often don't look the same as the the ways of the world. I'm trying to remain mindful and obedient because I know I'm going to be blessed! I'm already blessed!

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The last couple weeks have definitely been different! The Lord has been working on me so much the last 2 weeks I'm a little worn out. I know He's always doing things in us and we are always changing but I think sometimes we are like a construction site with bulldozers and jackhammers and other times we are like a car getting a touch up paint job or our oil changed. I've definitely been bulldozed and jackhammered lately. It's a good thing, but I definitely hasn't been painless.

The Lord keeps reminding me of hurts that I have been carrying around. Some hurts that I had buried so deep because I thought that was the only was I could survive. If i couldn't see the hurt and could forget about the hurt, it wasn't there. I just started reading a great book and I recommend it to everyone called "The Bait of Satan" by John Bevere. It's talks about the spirit of offence. It's amazing the hurts that people carry around and some of us don't even realize that is what it is. But it manifests in our lives in negative ways.

Well God has gone out of his way to remind me this week of things I would rather forget. People I wish that I could erase from my past. Of course, if I don't see them, or talk to them, or have contact with anyone who has contact with them, I am safe and I'm comfortable living with the hurt that I have buried soooo deep. Well God has made me very uncomfortable! And honestly I didn't really like it at first. I thought that I was done with the demons in my past. God is doing a New thing but apparently that means dealing with an old thing first. I thought at first it was unforgiveness but I have forgiven. It's hurt! It's deep painful gut wrenching hurt. Sometimes emotional things can be literally painful, and this is.

But the Lord didn't remind me of this hurt to punish me or to let me suffer. He wants to take the hurt and fill that place with His love. Some one close gave me this word recently. The Lord wants to fill all of me with His love and His Spirit and so He wants to get rid of those hurts to make more room for Him. That's so incredible! All week long even in my dreams last night I was reminded of those that I would rather forget.

We had an incredible service at our church and the Holy Spirit wouldn't even let me get through the church service without getting the message that the Lord had for me. I'm on a new journey and I need to look to God. I don't need to listen to what others are saying! Stop looking at myself in the mirror and look at God! I only have inklings of God's plan for me and my family, but he is getting me ready for something. I don't know what it's gonna look like but I know it's gonna be good!

Friendship

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

A two post day! God has really downloaded some stuff into me today. It's amazing the things God uses to teach us things. A revelation about forgiveness can lead to getting a new understanding of friendships.


God has a way of putting people in your life for a season a a few if your lucky for a lifetime. I have come to realise that even if they are going to be there forever it doesn't mean they will always play the same part in your life. Getting married changes your friendships and so does having kids. The last I learned recently.

Having twin boys was the most wonderful most difficult thing I have ever done in my life. My husband would agree. When things slowed down after the boys were born I felt like I woke up one morning and had no friends. I know it is pretty normal to feel isolated after having a child especially when you go from working to being a stay at home mom. I felt abandoned for, a while so surprised that my friends (the few I had) were so distant. Granted some of that was the enemy telling me that no on wanted to be around the mama with twins.

It took a while, but the Lord helped me cultivate new friendships and I have grown so much spiritually and emotionally. It also forced me to rely on my husband more which is something I desperately needed to learn to do. Thank the Lord I have such a patient husband willing to listen to me!

Something that took me a while was to forgive and understand why friends were so distant. It seems like things changed so suddenly out of the blue and I was hurt. But now I understand. God uses things like this to change us. We need change in our lives to grow. I don't know that I would be in the place that I am right now spiritually or have the freedom I have if I wasn't forced to do things different. If i hadn't found myself lonely would I have ever connected with some amazing women of God? Would my marriage be as good as it is now with my husband and I closer than ever before if nothing had changed?

Talking to a friend today I realized that God has been working in her just as much as He has been working in me. Neither of us really know why things got so distant but we both know it was good for us. God always has a plan for things. I often forget he's always at least two steps ahead of me and He knows what it looks like at the end. The Word says
"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28
It's something I need to remember.

Forgiveness...it ain't easy!

“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses." Mark 11:25

It's amazing how hard forgiveness can be sometimes. No matter how hard you try whenever you hear a person's name you can still feel that tightening in your stomach. Through tears and anger and prayers I really thought I had found forgiveness. But is it really forgiveness when you can't look someone in the face and not think about all the hurts they caused. I guess I can say I don't hate that person anymore and I don't think about them or worry what they think of me. Not that I have never been curious. Small hurts are one thing, but when the hurts completely change your life it's not easy to forget.

I once heard a Pastor preach about forgiveness and he talked about "The Wal-mart Test." If you can walk through Wal-mart and you see that person who hurt you and walk up to them and say hello, and ask how they are doing, then you have forgiven them. If you see them and run down the other end of the isle praying they don't see you, you truly haven't forgiven them. Well that has stuck with me because I failed miserably. I have actually done that in Wal-mart in the past. I guess maybe we all have.

It's a hard truth knowing if you wont forgive someone the Lord wont forgive you. It's not that I haven't tried. Maybe I need to start praying for them again. When I first got back in church I worked really hard at forgiveness. I guess after a while of praying for these people and saying I forgave them that I just decided that was it. I did it and I was done. I did it and I would just forget about them. It's easier to fell like you have forgiven someone if you never see them again. Unfortunately people you want to forget about have a way of popping back in your life here and there. Maybe not in a big way maybe just a letter or facebook but it's enough.

I was reminded today that I have not forgiven someone as much as I thought I had. That disturbs me a bit. I wish that I could just say poof and all the people that hurt me so badly would just be far enough away that I wouldn't have to face the fact that in some way it still hurts. It makes me mad that in some way these people still have power over me. And I give it to them! It doesn't hurt the person I can't forgive it hurts me!

So today I am facing this again! I am going to forgive and pray for the people that I have so much trouble forgiving. I'm going to pass the Wal-mart test! I want to forgive because I want to be Forgiven! This is hard but God's grace and mercy will get me through!

A mother's struggle

I think as moms we all have days that honestly, for a moment, we want to kill our kids. Not that we are actually going to kill them we just feel that way. I mean they aren't doing anything different today as they were doing yesterday but today it's driving me insane! You know for a while I had a lot of guilt about that. I mean honestly twin babies can be really tough, but they are a blessing from the Lord. Something I begged God for! How could I possibly be so selfish that I need to get away from them for a while, or feel like if I have to clean up vomit one more time I'm going to lose my mind! Anybody know what I'm talking about?

But you know the Lord sees us and meets us right where we are at. He put people in my life that I can call and be real with. I can tell them "you know what I'm done! If I don't get away from these kids I'm gonna lose it!" Then they say, "you know what? I understand! Bring them over and go somewhere. I've got this under control! "And of course, at some point, I get to return the favor. It took me a while to get to the point where I didn't feel like a terrible mom when I had to ask a girlfriend to give me a sanity break. But you know the Lord put these people in my life knowing that I was going to need them. Isn't it so awesome that God is willing to do that for us! That he doesn't want us to struggle so he makes a way for us to get what we need!

I wonder how many women are like I was. Ashamed to say that they need a break. We are not created to live this life trying to deal with things on our own. Even though most of the time people may think we are superwoman, we are still human and not perfect. Most moms I know try their best to be super mom, but eventually we all get tired or aggravated or hormonal and need a moment to breath and remember why we chose to do this in the first place.

It's true sometimes 20 minutes alone is enough for me to get collected and feel like I can make it again! I wrote this poem recently at a fine arts seminar at my church and it seems appropriate for this post:

4a.m jolted from sleep eyes blurry, running to the aid of my screaming angel only to be greeted by a sly smile. Anger is forgotten as my heart melts looking at the little miracle standing in his bed, begging for my attention.

A loud crash and I'm running from the kitchen to find my little boy grinning with accomplishment, covered in red juice and my carpet forever stained. I want to be angry but he's so cute standing there with his crooked smile.

I sigh, finally able to sit and catch my breath only to realize it's too quiet! Suddenly I see a flash of a baby giggling and running diaper in hand. Panic sets in as I dash after the grinning blur praying there is no mess.


There are moments I forget how I have been blessed. There are times when life is so hectic I forget the tears and desperation. The prayers sent up to heaven so that I could receive these two perfect blessing.

There are days I complain and wonder why me? When I know I just can't do anymore . But then they smile or laugh and I am reminded of the goodness of God. That I was chosen, Given this task as a mother to raise mighty men of God!

Always Something..

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

So I mentioned I just started as an Independent Consultant for Mary Kay. I'm really excited about it. I feel like this a definitely an opportunity from the Lord to help fill in the gaps in our income and also a great ministry. I love love love my sales director who is friend of mine and loves the Lord. I never realized how great it could be to work a business with Christian women. There is such a great level of trust there.

So this weekend I make my Debut as a consultant and my sales director is coming all the way from San Antonio to "debut me." Little did I realize that a couple at my church is getting married the same day and the same time. Of course I didn't realize this til after I sent a facebook invite to 70 people over half of which attend my church and are also more than likely attending the wedding. So now I look kinda stupid. Honestly there are so many weddings at our church this summer I can't keep up with the showers and parties and weddings. If I don't write it down I forget it.

I'm sure nobody thinks I did this knowingly but it still doesn't prevent me from feeling guilty about it. Not only am I not attending the wedding I also scheduled a party for the same time. jeez! I'm trying really hard not to sweat it. I mean we all make mistakes. This is just a way for the enemy to make me feel insecure about this party. I mean I know there are people who will come and if it's only a few that's ok. I expect people to go to the wedding before a Mary Kay party that's the right thing to do.

Now I'm going to try the rest of the week and not worry about this or feel guilty. God has a plan for everything and it's all going to work out the way he wants it too. Now if I can just get my house all cleaned and organized and keep it that way lol. I swear as soon I start cleaning up my children try their very best to make as big a mess as possible. Oh well.. "I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me!" Philippians 4:13 I just have to keep telling myself as I get rammed by Parker who has a pop up clothes hamper on his head an is spinning around the room.:)

Happy Daddy's Day!

I've always enjoyed Father's Day. I have a good relationship with my dad and an amazing husband who is such a good father to our two boys. This year has been a little different. My poor hubby, through no fault of his own, had to work today in this 100 degree heat. I really feel like the Lord used my lack of support from Micheal on a Sunday morning to show me just how much I depend on this incredible man. Nothing has been quite right today.

I'm not just talking about having his help taking the boys to church. But I swear it's quite a show to see me flying in 20 min late to worship team practice, hair flying around my head, no make up, covered with sweat pulling a wagon with 2 unhappy boys. As much as I tend to complain, I really can't do all the things I do without my husband. And I mean it should be that way, I'm just too independent most of the time to admit it.

The service this morning was wonderful but really half of me was missing. I know he's not overseas and it's not like I'm never going to see him again but it's a lesson for me. I spend so much time trying to do everything I tend to discount just how much he does for me. I'm always the first to say what a great provider Micheal is and what a fantastic father he is.

What I probably don't say enough is what a terrific companion he is and what a great man of God he is becoming. He is the sweetest most kind, loving man and most of the time I probably don't deserve to be treated as well as he treats me. It's amazing how blessed I am to have him. I know so many unhappy women and I do thank the Lord for such a great husband.

So I guess this a tribute the the wonderful man I married. The Lord knew what he was doing when he gave me to Michael!