Things that Go Bump {God-Sized Dreams}

Here is Holley's challenge for this week: take this “do what you can” step for your God-sized dream…Find a way to pay it forward. You’ve been encouraged in your God-sized dreams by your sisters here the last few months. How can you spread that encouragement forward by investing in other dreamers? It can be small and simple or BIG and wild. 

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The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. 
He will take great delight in you;in his love he will no longer rebuke you, 

but will rejoice over you with singing.”  

                                                                                                 Zephaniah 3:17

The quiet of the night was suddenly awakened with terrorizing cries.  I sat straight up in my

bed.  There was a moment of confusion before I sprinted down the hallway.  Reaching the doorway of my 5 year old’s bedroom I saw him in his bed, on all fours and turning in circles like a dog chasing his tail.  Not knowing what was happening I slowly approached him and quietly called his name.  

The screaming continued.  The ‘tail chasing’ continued.  I realized that even with all the chaos he was sound asleep. This went on for about five minutes and eventually he quieted down, covered back up and was the house was peaceful once again.  What had just happened?  Maybe it was a bad dream?  Maybe it was just something he had eaten?  These were the thoughts that went through my mind.  
     
However, when I knew there was something more when this scene played out night after night for a full week.  A couple of nights we found him in other rooms of the house.  As a worried momma I called his doctor, asked other moms and searched the internet.  All resources took to the same conclusion: night terrors.  There isn’t much we could do while they are happening except ensure he did not hurt himself.  Finally, after about 6-9 months he seemingly outgrew them.  

Now at 24 he has little to no memory, besides our stories, that those almost night episodes ever happened.  So many times as we slowly take steps to follow our God-Sized dreams we might find ourselves in a tizzy. We have our eyes wide open but unable to see what God is doing behind the scene. However, just as I watched over Anthony, He always has a watchful eye on us.  He is there to protect yet even though He may not save us from the ‘terror’ itself.  No, instead He allows us to fight through to grow and eventually leave it behind.  

Today God the Father is watching over you.  He is there to  encourage you, direct you and yes, even protect you from yourself sometimes.              Rest in that fact but then move forward.

What part of your dream has you in a tizzy?  

I would love to pray for God to give you comfort and direction.

Amy 

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Because I Said So {God-Sized Dream}

Holley's God-sized dream challenge for this week was to tackle the "why" behind our dreams. Why is our dream worth pursuing, fighting for and seeing through no matter what happens? 

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I love playing with children. I like to get them all stirred up then send them home for their parents to handle but 2 weeks ago while volunteering in the church nursery God confirmed that working with children is not my calling.  
Since my children are 24 and 20 years old it has been a while since I spent any length of time with 2-3 year olds.  I had forgotten how many times you hear the question, “Why?” 

“Don’t put that in your mouth.”

“Why?”

“Don’t throw the toys.”

“Why?”

“Don’t climb on the table.”

“Why?”

I gave what I thought was clear answers to each of their whys but my replies just brought on more and more whys.  Finally, I did the only thing I knew… I let my mother's voice come out of my month and said, “Because I said so.” 

I knew that they did not need to put the toys in their mouth because it was not spotlessly clean and they might get sick. 

I knew that if they threw the toys they could hurt another child. 

I knew if they climbed on the table, they might fall.

In other words, I knew what was best for them in these situations.

So when I saw Holley’s challenge: Why is your dream worth pursuing, fighting for and seeing through no matter what happens? 
I was taken back to my nursery experience came back to my mind along with the sting of conviction.  I know that God has called me to share His redeeming love with women in order for them to see that there is freedom for the bondage of their past sins.  So why is my dream worth pursuing ? So why is my dream worth fighting for? So why is my dream worth seeing it through?

Because they are worth it, those women that are still listening to the lies in their heads that tells them they are not enough. 
The ones that have heard they are not pretty enough. 

The ones that have heard they are not smart enough.

The ones that have heard that they are not skinny enough.

The any that have heard they are not ________ enough.

They are all worth it to me because we are all worth it to Him.

This seed of a dream that God placed in my heart years ago is worth me pursuing after, fighting  

for and seeing through simply because He said so.  Just like I knew they instructions I gave the toddlers were their best, His instructions to me are always for my best.

What is God calling you to do that you just need to step out and do simply because He said so ?  

Amy 

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Bent, Broken, Mended {Five-Minute Friday}

Today I am joining my friends and Lisa-Jo again for Five Minute Friday. If you’re new here (welcome!) the rules are simple: Write, don’t edit, link your post to her page, and then share the encouragement like wildfire. You can do that, I know you can. 
The prompt this week is:  Broken

"I didn't do it. I didn't touch her. I wasn't even outside with her."  My son was screaming as he came running down the hall.  His little sister was following close behind crying the big tears I am hurt kind of cry.  As I got closer to her I realized the her was curved like a bow and was already swelling. I was able to calm her down enough to find out that she had walked outside to get her shoes from the trampoline but fell and landed on her arm.  That evening

ended with a trip to the ER, a nice heavy plaster cast and instructions to follow up with our regular orthopedic doctor the next day (yes we are the type of family with a regular ortho doc -- he is on speed dial).  Dr Russell snapped the X-ray up on the screen and pointed out two different problems. First the inner bone (Radius) was broken and it wasn't a clean break. He promised me it could be mended but would take 8-10 week in a cast.  Now on to the second problem was the outer bone (Ulna).  This bone was not broken but it was bend.  He advised us that they would watch her growth until the age of about 13 (she was 7 at the time).  If the bone did not straighten on its own then he would have to surgically break the bone and cast it to repair.  

I have never broken a bone in my body but I have been broken.  I have been knocked-down, beaten up and broken-hearted.  In my younger years I allowed the father of lies to break me by the whispers he spoke in my ear, the thoughts he put in my head and the distorted image he caused me to see in the mirror. Then God, in His grace and mercy, reach out and placed people in my life that point me to Him.  Those broken places were mended. However, there

were still a bents.  I was still bent but worry. By fear. By the unknown. After years of being just

bent last year I was 'surgically' broken by the Great Physician.  Things that I thought I had under control because out of control.  The fear, worry and unknown became to much and I just had to hand myself over to Him.  He carefully placed a cast on this break by placing friends, prayer, and most love in my life until I was mended.  I am sure there are or will be new bends to come but I know He can heal all.


PS.  My daughter's arm did straighten out on it's own and there was no need for surgery.  At least not on that arm but that is a different story for later.

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Times Change {God-Sized Dream}

Holley's 'do what you can step' for our God-sized dream this week is to write a post sharing "a typical day in your life like right now? How can you see God’s hand in the middle of the “small” and ordinary too?" 

A typical day ?

Ummm

If you had asked me 8 or more years ago I could have given you an almost minute by minute schedule of all my days.  As a mother of school age kids my days started early prepping the day by packing lunches and double checking backpacks.  The evening were spent either at the football field, softball field, wrestling gym, dance studio or volleyball court.  Then after the sun had long since set my time was split between making sure one child was taking a bath, while another was doing homework and trying to get something thrown together for dinner.  This is just the week days and the weekends didn't allow for much slow down.  From sporting events to house cleaning to trying to navigate a few friendships filled my Saturday. Sunday was church and family time.  Then you mix in spend the night parties, birthdays and holiday there were many times I just felt like running away.

But I was the momma so I didn't think that would work.

Now that was before August 2011.  Major changes happened in a short time.  My husband and I became empty-nesters.  Our son moved out one weekend, our daughter the next and even our neighbors moved the next.  Talk about a change.  We went from the hustle and bustle of a four person family back to just a couple.  Mike and I have never really been alone - together.  We lived with my in-laws when we were newlyweds as we built our house.  Our son was born 6 months before we moved into the house.  So see we have always been a family not just a couple.

So my typical day has slowly been developing over the last 15 months or so.  Instead of sitting in the standing cheering their games I sit by the phone awaiting their phone calls.  I no longer look across the table to see their face but now look at their Instagram pages to see pictures.  I no longer sit on the edge of my bed with them to hear about their day but I slowly scroll through Facebook post to stay up to date.  

At first it was sad to see the younger days gone but God is teaching me so much as we all continue to process this change. I am learning that the verse, "train up a child" is so true.  God has shown me just how much louder my actions spoke/speak than my words.  He has also shown me how much peace comes when you know that your children walk with the God as they are grown.  

If you are a mom of young children I advise you to cherish the moments as they come but do not begrudge them growing up.  

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I Do It Me Self

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

My daughter has always been strong and very independent.  I believe her first sentence was, "I do it me self." There were many times that I tried very hard to teach her something or show her a better way to do something but she did not want you to show her. She just wanted to do it herself.  One particular occasion not long after we have hardwood floors installed in our large family room her older brother was trying to teach her how you run, dive on a pillow and slide across the slick floors.  She had watched him do it a couple of time so when he was explaining to her that she had to be sure to keep the pillow in front of her she didn't listen.  Instead she takes the pillow from him and yells. "I do it ME SELF."  Then She took off full speed down the hallway.  She held the pillow close to stomach and dove.  She didn't slide near as far as he did.  It wasn't because she was smaller.  It wasn't because she didn't run fast enough.  The reason she stopped so suddenly was because her face, chin first, was planted hard into the floor.  She hit so hard it busted her chin open to the point that required stitches.  See the instructions Anthony was trying to share with her was to be sure that she held the pillow high enough on her chest to protect her face.  Because she thought she knew best.  Because she would not listen to instructions she suffered and still carries the scars today. (Now lest you think I am picking on Samantha I can assure you that I have stories for the future on Anthony too.) 

Really Samantha is no different than we all are.  There are so many times God tries to give us instructions.  He tries to warn us.  What do we do ?  If we even bother to acknowledge Him then we simple repeat Samantha's mantra "I do it me self." We try in figure out the solution to the problem, the way out of a situation or we simple hope it all goes way.  In our key verse we are reminded that if we trust, lean and submit to Him then He will direct us in the way we should go.  He will lead us down a straight path without all the twist and turns we take on our own. 

Dear Lord,
Today I pray that each one reading this post will make time to be still before, hear you speak and follow your instructions.  May they find peace in the fact that they can turn it all over you and do not have to do it all me self. 
In Jesus Name
Amen

Time to reflect :  In what area of your life do you continue to tell God that you can handle without Him?  Are you willing today to let Him teach you a new way ?

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How Bad Do You Stink?

“Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” John 11:3

Last month a group of youth, along with the youth director and his wife, went on a mission trip to South Carolina. Now if you have never been in Southeast weather in the middle of July then I am not sure I have the words that can describe it to you. Some words you might hear used are hot, humid, sweaty, sticky and miserable. Theses teens along with a few adults spent a week in Walterboro, SC walking the streets to witnessing in the neighborhood and doing home repairs on a couple different houses. Upon their return home they took an hour one Sunday night to share with the church about the work they did and the people the talked to. I was so proud to see a group of young people beam as they talked about serving the Lord. However, it was something the youth director’s wife said that made me think. She talked about how hard they had worked in the heat and how bad the smell was on the van ride back to the host church each evening but that it was also a sweet smell of love. That statement made me think, “How strong is my smell?”

I thought about when Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with the oil. I visualize that once Mary had finished that she would have brushed her hair back and left the room. As she walked down the street – for days to come - the aroma of the spikenard would drift through the crowd. The strong smell would cause people to ask questions. Question like, “Where is that smell coming from.” “Why would she have used so much of costly oil?” In fact, Judas did ask this exact question because he considered her use as being “wasteful” and not of any value. I also imagine there were some in SC that questioned why a group of youth would have given up a week of their summer to work hard in the heat. To sweat. And to stink so badly. However, to God the body odor of those kids was as pleasant of a smell as the finest perfume. Both smells came from love, devotion and service.

So how bad do you stink? Do you smell strong enough that would cause other to ask questions?


AMY

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Guest Post: Tricia Russell

Today I am so excited to have my friend, Tricia Russell, guest post for me today. Tricia is in the process of compiling stories of how God has brought her family from the back side of the desert through health issues with both her children among other things. She agreed to go ahead and share one of those stories here today. Be sure to leave her a comment here to encourage her in her book writing.

Isaiah 43:2 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”

One sunny Saturday in August, my 5 year old son was attending a birthday party at a relative’s house. All of the kids were running around, climbing up the steps, and jumping off the edge of the porch. He had done this a few times, but the last time he was slow standing back up. He complained about a hurting knee but went right back to playing. By Monday, he was in severe pain and complaining with his knee hurting to the point that he was crying. I made a doctor’s appointment for the next day, but the doctor was puzzled by my son’s pain. He ordered x-rays just to check. He called me to the hallway to show me the x-rays, and he circled a gray area on his femur bone. He told me it was some type of cyst but it didn’t look like cancer. I couldn’t believe it. My perfectly healthy child had a cyst inside his femur bone but it didn’t look like cancer. I fought back tears and tried to stay calm for him. We were given an appointment to see the orthopedic specialist for the next morning. We spent the rest of the day trying to absorb this shocking news. We arrived early for the appointment. More x-rays were taken. The doctor came in a sat down beside my son, looked straight at us, and said he has a unicameral bone cyst. Basically it is a fluid filled cyst inside the bone usually near a joint that wears away the bone normally resulting in a broken bone. Jumping off the porch should’ve broken his leg but God had other plans in mind. His jump was actually a blessing in disguise because if we had not found the cyst, it would’ve worn through the bone and his leg would’ve broken into. The cyst was very close to his hip joint which caused some concern that his hip could break. We were told not to let him put any weight on his leg at all, not to let him get on his knees, and not to allow any pressure at all on his leg. We were then sent straight to Children’s Hospital to be admitted and have surgery the following morning. The ride to the hospital was chaos. We were still trying to absorb all we had been told and prepare ourselves for what was ahead. All through the day phone calls came in by the dozens, many visits, and most importantly prayers. This was truly a test of faith, but God who is so gracious to us so much more than we ever deserve, sent all those calls, visits and prayers to help us get through. I could feel the strength and love coming from those people. He was scheduled for surgery early on Wed, August 11, 2004. I didn’t sleep very much the night before. I just couldn’t understand why this was happening. This should’ve been a day of celebrating his first day of Kindergarten but instead he was having major surgery. I woke up early and just started to cry. My thoughts soon switched to being upbeat for him and trying to make the best of our situation, but in the back of my mind I was struggling. He was taken to surgery and we were led to a small waiting room. The waiting was hard, but we knew God was in control. I knew God had a plan for this even though I didn’t understand why and had been watching over him all the time. God had protected him from breaking his leg and hip. Even though our circumstances had caused chaos, God had provided peace in the middle of the storm. I found this quote which fits perfectly “Peace - it doesn’t mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the middle of those things and still be calm in your heart knowing God is in control” (Unknown). Peace definitely reigned in that waiting room that day. He did come through surgery fine and recovered. We faced several other storms with his leg but God was there every time supplying our every need.

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How Are You Walking

“Train up a child on the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

My brother and I had been stuck in the house all afternoon due to a typical southern afternoon thunderstorm. We had not been on our best behavior and we were driving our mother crazy, so as soon as the skies cleared up she declared it was time for us all to go out on a family walk around the block. Dad noticed that the Jeffersons had a tree down in their yard, however as we got closer we realized it was more that just a downed tree. The leg of the Jeffersons’ beloved German Shepherd, Shadow, was pinned under the large pine. As dad began to try to free Shadow, my brother ran to get Mr. Jefferson. Soon they were gently putting her in the truck and rushing her to the vet’s office.

“Will she still be able to have her puppies?” I asked my mom.
She replied “I don’t know. I just do not know.”

See Shadow was due to have puppies just any day and we had been promised the first pick of the litter. We waited for what seemed like forever before we got a phone call from Mrs. Jefferson. She let us know that there was good news and bad news. The good news was that they had four new little fur balls to raise, but the bad news was Shadow was in surgery to have her hind leg amputated. Dr. Killen was unable to save both the leg and the puppies. He assured the Jeffersons that the momma dog would be able to teach herself to walk on her three legs. Sure enough in just few weeks after the accident, Shadow was using her front legs to walk and then hop on the one hind leg. She would get a little stronger and walk/hop a little farther each day. After eight weeks, Mrs. Jefferson called to ask if we were ready to pick out our puppy to take home. We made the short walk down to her house and she called the dogs out from the doghouse. Out came Momma with her unique stride and followed closely by her babies. The closer they got to us I notice that the little ones were walking with the walk/hop style just like Shadow.

“Why do they not walk on all four legs like they are suppose to?”
“Well, they walk the way their momma does.”

I was reminded of this story one night recently because in a little more than a month I will do one of the hardest things a parent has to do -- I have to take my daughter two and a half hours away, drop her off at college and drive away without her. As I think about this life transition, I wonder if I have I told her everything she will need to know. Have I told her all the dos and don’ts that will keep her safe? Have I told her enough that I love her? Have I told her how to iron without burning the dorm down? Have I told her this? Have I told her that? I was thinking of all the things I need to tell her when God reminded me that it is not about what I tell her but the way I have walked before her. The one thing I know I have shown her is that God loves us even when we walk on three legs instead of all four.

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Is this a last-first event ?

“But forget all that- It is nothing compared to what I am going to do.
For I am about to do something new. See I have already begun!
Do you not see?” ISA 43:18-19

Monday Aug 16th was my daughter’s last-first day of high school. Tuesday was her last-first high school volleyball game. Tonight she is attending her last-first high school football game. This is all the beginnings of the end of her life as a high school student.
These times are both exciting and nerve wrecking.
Times of tears for joy and tears of sorrow.
Times to look both forward and backwards.
She will spend this year remembering back on all the good times she has had with friends over the last 11 years. She is also really starting to look forward to the next step in her walk of life.
As I have watched her through this process it made me look at my walk with God differently. Do I look for the next phase that God is bringing me into? Am I excited, a little nervous but excited, to let go of where He has me now in order to move on. My daughter is embracing each day of this senior year for all the last-first things that she gets to do and be a part of. God does not want us us to stand still… to become lukewarm. So He is always doing something new in our lives. He is always preparing us to graduate on to something else but we have to see it. We have to be willing to let go of where we are and step toward where He is taking us. We can embrace all of our last-first moments as long as we also move towards our first-first moments.

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Are you a Sword Fighter?

When my kids were younger they both love to sword fight. Anthony did it to act like Michelangelo, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle but Samantha just wanted a change to beat up on her big brother. They would grab up just about anything and swing it around like a sword, like a stick, cardboard wrapping paper rolls and the dollar store plastic swords. They would be running around the house wildly swinging whatever the sword of the day was and as long as it did not get to out of hand I just let it continue. However, eventually someone’s cardboard sword would bend and tear, the stick would break or the plastic would come apart. This disaster would leave one of my little ninjas unarmed and defenseless. All the weapon they were using were just cheap replicas of a real sword. A real sword that is forged of steal. A real sword that is hand crafted by a master blacksmith. A real sword formed just for the purpose of fighting and defending.

As I remember back to those day of the sword fights I think of how many time we as Christian find ourselves unarmed and defenseless against Satan. All because we try to use cheap replicas instead of using the real sword of the word. We try to fight Satan by simply pretending he is not there. We fight by repeating wonderful quotes from great teachers or preachers. We depend on others to fight for us because we know they have the real sword. We also try to fight with our sword, the sword of the word still on our hip in the sheaf .

How are you fighting the fight set before you ?
Are you welding around the true sword of the word of God ?
Have you pulled it out of sheaf?
Or are you just using a cheap replica ?

I have decided to spend more time this year to memorize at least 12 verses of scripture this year so that I will always have His sword with me ready to fight. If you would like to join me let me know so that I can be praying for you. I have decide not to post verses for us to learn together because I believe God puts different verses on our hearts in order to prepare us for the battles that He knows we will be facing in the future.

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Pebbles in his Pants

"Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. " ISA 43:4 ESV

Recently, I was going through some boxes that had a few of the treasures from my children’s kindergarten years and I found one of Anthony’s most prized possessions of that time: a rock. It was just a plain rock. It was not a precious stone or a shining crystal but just a simple rock. While I sat in his room holding the rock in my hand I felt the sting of tears in my eyes as well as laughter bubbling up in me.
When he was about 3 or 4 years old I would have to empty handfuls for playground pea gravel out of his pockets every evening when I would pick him up at daycare. This daily pocket checking/empting just became a natural part of our routine and then one day there was no gravel. There was none in the front pockets and none in the back pockets, none in the jeans pockets and none in the jacket pockets. I was so please and thought that we were finally past this “rock loving” phase.
Later that evening as I picked up his jeans off the bathroom floor one tiny piece of pea gravel fell and rolled across the floor, then another one and finally many more started spilling out of the cuffs of those jeans. I gathered up the all of his little treasures and went to his room to have yet another discussion with him. I questioned his fascination with these small, plain, ordinary stones. Why did he cherish them so much?
He lowered his head, looked back up at me through those cute little blue glasses and said, “Momma, each one is so special."
I replied, “But they are all same. Why do you have to bring them ALL home?”
“No, they are not all alike. Each one is special. See this one is brown with darker spots, this one is pink and shiny and this one is gray with lines on it……” He went on and on to list something exclusive about each one I held in my hand.
My eyes still fill with tears today remembering that story because it makes me some what understand why Jesus holds us so dear. All the marks, scars and imperfections we see in ours lives are the exact things God sees as our uniqueness that He will/can use for His glory. He hides us in the covering of His blood just as Anthony hid his pebbles in his pant’s cuff.

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High School Homecoming week

My daughter is a junior in high school this year and this week was homecoming week. I am not sure what the traditions in other places are but the area we live in celebrate homecoming week of the football season by different dress up days. This year Samantha's school had Pajama day on Monday. Since she just wore sweatpants and a t-shirt there are not any pictures. I do want to share pictures of the rest of the week.

Tuesday - Decades Day




Wednesday - Nerd Day




Thursday - Character Day



Friday- School out for weather so no dress up

The finally picture I want to share is so you can see just how beautiful she is.

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