Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Friday, February 14, 2014
Life is A Date!
Several years ago i went to a winter breakfast tea for the women in our church and someone asked the question to a panel of women... what do you do spice up your marriage? Several answered saying that they spend time together going on a date once a week or tried to get out of town once every few months but the best answer i have ever heard was from our pastors mother Judy Hopper when she said Life Is A Date. You don't always have money for all those things but when you spend your life together... talking about what God is doing in your lives, serving others together, eating meals together, praying together, laughing together now that is a great life! i will never forget it. So.. Life is a date... how are you spending your life with your sweetheart? It cannot just be about the gifts,the chocolates or the nights out. Your whole life together is just that... together.
Anyway, back to Vday! i thought i would share with you some of the fun things i have done in the past and hopefully either give you some ideas or at least laugh!
so... here are some ideas.
1. One year i bought flannel shirts and embroidered i Love you in the collar and the cuffs. He loved that!
2. My go to gift when i am uncreative is cologne.. i love a man that smells good!
3. A down comforter
4. New sheets
5. New pillows
6. a poster with conversation hearts and candy bars
7. i bought each of us journals to write love notes to each other in... i have way more entries to him than he for me but i still write in it...
8. scavenger hunt in the house for a gift... or me!
9. go out for dinner but as we get older and have kids we usually get take out and eat it with candlelight after the kids go to bed
10. Valentine Pajama party with friends and have Breakfast for Dinner!
But this one takes the cake... read on....
i keep seeing on Pinterest this Valentine idea Love in a Jar and it reminded me of what i did one year. OK so long before Pinterest i did this project. you write 365 things you love about your Valentine and write them on hearts of pink, red and white papers. The thought being that you can read one for every day of the year. i got a cute jar and decorated it up and put my notes in the jar. This took forever... i have no problem thinking of all the things i love about my hubs but to write them all out and in good handwriting and some were a paragraph some were a work or a sentence but still.. very time consuming... i thought... boy he is getting my time, creativeness and my love all wrapped up into one gift and a little chocolate on the side... His favorite is the Reece's hearts (really he likes the eggs better but one holiday at a time right? although i saw the eggs today while at the store). i was so excited to give it to him. He acted like he really liked it and it was a great day. WELL...... about a week later, after he had gone to work i walked into our bathroom and what do i see but every single one of those notes in the trash and an empty cute jar! i was so upset! All the Work.. i spent hours doing this for him and he did not do what the instructions said... i know... men don't read directions...i should have known...haha! Men! i cannot help to think... here he was reading all these while he was taking a smash!!! (smash is pats word for it... sorry! ) Poo!!! Yuck! it just made me crazy.
Now i look at this crazy story and know that he knows i love him...but after a few years i started to see that i was doing something for him that really i probably wished he would do for me. i was giving him something in one of my many love languages but really he would have been happy with me ironing his shirts or making his favorite dinner and watch a basketball game with him. Our personalities are TOTAL opposite. i think on this now and really it would be pretty cool to sit and read 365 things that my love loves about me all at once. (not while taking a smash). He did love the gift, just not how i wanted him to love it.
Isn't that just like me and God? He gives me such great gifts with anticipation of me opening it and using it for His great Glory and i just take it all in at once and don't cherish it everyday... i just want to appreciate these Great Life Dates God gives. Savor it and learn from them. It is about the Giver not just the gifts. Of course the greatest gift ever was given to us in Jesus His son!!!!
For God so LOVED the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOEVER believes in Him, will not perish but have ETERNAL LIFE! Jn.3:16
Tonight... we are heading to Next Door Pizza for dinner and hang out at Starbucks sharing earphones and watching Passion2014 in Houston live stream before we catch a movie... we haven't had Friday nights to ourselves in years let alone go to a movie on a weekend evening...
So my friends... Life is a Date! Love well! Love hard! and Love with out expecting anything in Return.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Not so Super Bowl!
We were getting around to go to church. Our girls were at Nana Koontz house and sweet baby Noah was at our friend Melissa's. i told Pat i wasn't feeling very good and i was going to lay down. This isn't very normal for me...i love going to church...we had some news to share! As i laid down pain became intense. My shoulders were killing me. i had not experienced this pain!!!
i asked Pat to call our sweet friend an OB nurse and ask if something might be wrong...she told Pat we needed to call an ambulance and get me to the hospital as soon as possible...she said it sounded like internal bleeding or a possible tubal pregnancy that burst.
The ambulance and paramedics came...it was very icy outside and terrible weather. They came to my room and i could hear them saying they had no radial pulse...i was saying in my mind but never out of my lips...i can hear you...i am alive!!! Nothing. They kept trying and said they could not transport until i had a pulse. Finally something faint ...they had a hard time getting me down the stairs on the stretcher and down the icy driveway. They took me to the hospital. i sat in the ER forever. In & out of consciousness. They were waiting for a sonogram technician to get there from the ice...I lost over 2 liters of blood. i was dying. i was only 35. i had 3 kids and one on the way...
The whole church (Liberty Baptist at the time, now Abundant Life) it seemed turned out to the hospital on this very icy day. Many praying...the Silbers brought food for everyone...i laid in the ER waiting. Then everyone came in to see me and passed by me like i was in a coffin...my friend Tammy bent down and her face was drained of color and she kissed me on my face...i knew i was about to die. Our baby was no longer alive.
i remember thinking...how will Pat do THIS? His father and grandfather had already passed away, now his wife? What about my children? Would he continue to Trust God or be angry? It was all too much!!!!
What was most on my mind was that i was just starting to "get it". i want to be clear...i still don't have it all together but God has given me such a gift and my life has been changed! i was just seeing things with a more eternal prospective and i was seriously afraid, not in the sense of fear but a godly fear of meeting The God who created me, God, The creator of All! You see, He knows me. Inside and out. i had wasted so much time the years i had been privileged to live. i had so many opportunities to share Jesus with others...so many opportunities to Serve others to Love others...what had i been doing with all these 35 years? Why hadn't i used every opportunity to share what i knew? What in the world did I have to give? What crowns? What wood, hay or stubble was going to burn at His feet? Was anything good to give Him? It was more than i could fathom. i was empty...scared...nothing. Funny that is exactly where He wanted me.
i started begging Him to let me stay...to be a better mommye, wife, friend, servant. (i had no idea what i would seen Him do in the next 13 years. He totally blows my mind!). The nurse in the room heard me arguing with Him or saw the restlessness and struggle i was in the middle of. She came near to me and my first thought was...i have to tell her about Jesus! i was not going to meet Jesus and waste these last few minutes of my life. She told me to rest...she did not tell me i wasn't going to die...i continued to ask her if she knew Him...i fell out of consciousness again...later i found out she asked the group to pray for her sister who was sick...she must have seen belief...she must have seen Jesus in me...Oh Praise THE ONE!
i was out...apparently i died on the table twice...with no blood transfusion from the hospital but a true blood transfusion from God Himself. Honestly, my Doctors said that i truly was a miracle. When i went to the doctor the following week they all clapped. They couldn't believe i was alive. He let me live...He gave me a new life. i was Born again as a young girl but He was renewing my life! Wow!
My life has been different ever since! i chose to live with purpose! Even to this day...i look back and see...my kids loving Jesus...my husband and i started teaching college students Sunday School...starting a ministry beyond our dreams! Just like Him! He was equipping us for something greater! Being accountable to these students has proven to be such a joy and humbling experience while He is equipping me for whatever the future He has for me! Honestly i cannot wait to see these next chapters He has written for me! Oh yes, i am still desperate for Him...I do not live in the dessert but am living in a great promised land! i have had the privilege to disciple many. i have been able to share my story many times. I've got to watch my husband being obedient to God in his job situations...a police officer, teacher in the inner city, now a pastor! i always said after going to bible college i would NEVER be a pastors wife! i don't look at myself that way...i'm just a gal who has chosen not to waste her life! He is ever changing our lives...i am entitled to NOTHING...we now are serving the Great Senior Citizens in our church! They have so much to teach me...to mold me even more! He gets the Glory from my life...fullness and freedom come when we lay our lives down and He deserves EVERYTHING! i know He is not done working on me...and whoa!!!!! There is much work to be done but really, i just want to love people genuinely with purpose! it is never too late to quit wasting your life no matter how old we are!
So every Super Bowl i always remember that He has given me life, and i am to live it for Him! I have so many scars in my life of time wasted. Let's be done with that!
Who's with me?
Louie Giglio said this, "Heaven is going to be a great celebration because we all have scars and i will stand with THE ONE who's scars and wounds triumphed all mine!" i just want to Sing...really loud! Thank you Jesus!
Monday, January 13, 2014
Reach. Grow. Reproduce.
Yesterday...can i say it was a beautiful day you look forward to...middle of January and 60 degrees. Perfect! Thank you Lord for the break!
Yesterday, The Lords Day...listening to my pastor teach on the beginning of the early church in Acts. He spoke on being Fruitful. Multiply. Fill the earth. Or a modern way to say it, Reach. Grow. Reproduce. My heart races when i hear these words ,which is often. To grow and reproduce the things we know and believe about Our God is one of the greatest things we as a Christ follower can do.
There have been many people that have invested in my life..i am more than blessed. These are just a few that were on my mind while hearing the message yesterday.
i'll never forget my 6th grade year. Winchester, Indiana is where we lived at the time. i was loving life. We had an old house with a small apartment that we rented to a gal just out of college we called Sheila Woman! She found these iron on transfers from the Women's Day magazine and she made my mom, me and sis T-shirts with this iron on with a big yellow rose and the word Woman underneath. We walked around calling each other by our name then Woman...i cannot think of Sheila and not say Woman! This Woman! Seriously, She invested in me and valued me as well as other tween-age girls in the neighborhood. She was always having us over and having a bible study just for us! She was a multiplier! A true discipler! She took the time to invest in us.
My freshman and sophomore year in High School we lived in Omaha, Nebraska and went to this awesome church that had a young college graduate that wrote music and lead worship at our church...mind you this was the day & age when our churches were just singing hymns or the occasional Gaither song. She introduced me to Amy Grant and many more up and comers of that day. Her Name was Margie Howell. She led Music from the piano and was totally led by the Spirit. i was drawn to Him! i could tell she loved Him more than her music...i wanted to be like her, know Him like she knew Him! She asked me if i wanted to be in this singing group called " The Breath of Life" ummm...Yes! We practiced each week but not just singing. She taught us that the words we were singing were to Jesus! We should mean what we are singing! This were lessons that have proved Huge in my life. Her example was truly a life changer in my life! She has invested in so many lives! Thank you is not enough!
My parents announced one day during my 6th grade year that we were moving to Minnesota. i was devastated... This was a time in my life when you are really making relationships... Starting to understand the draw to God and how He was definitely shaping me for my life in these informative years.
i remember sitting on the steps of our porch memorizing Psalms 1 so i could go to an amusement park, Kings Island. My parents really did invest the right things in my life. Life was not about us but about making Him Famous! i come from a legacy from my parents as great disciplers even to this day they serve Him selflessly. Putting Him before themselves.
Kim came from the neighborhood on the other side of the railroad tracks. Literally! My parents rarely let me go to her house unless i was walking her home...i had no idea why. Little did i know my home was a safe place for Kim...where we prayed before we ate, talked about Jesus. i even think Kim may have gone with me often to Sheila Woman's apt. For tween bible study! My mom gave me a bible to give to Kim and asked me to highlight verses that i had memorized. i remember dreading doing this. Thank you mom for asking me to be a part of giving her this bible. We moved and took off for Minnesota.
Many years later, our first year of marriage, i got a letter from Kim asking if she reached the right address and if i was her 6th grade friend. She gave her phone # and i made the call. She told me of how she wanted to jump in our moving truck and come with my family and how she ran away that day. There was much abuse in her home. A great family took her in and treated her as family to this very day! She proceeded to tell me thank you for the bible...that she read it and came to know Jesus! My heart was blessed...just like God to show Himself to the one who was seeking him. He cared so much for her and for me to hear of this seed He grew into a strong tree that continues to grow in Grace! i got to see my friend get married to a man that loves Jesus. Through fb I've watch her grow as a mother, teaching her children about Jesus...transferring what she has learned through bible study and prayer.
i was in tears the other day when Kim posted on her fb a blog from her daughter Mylie a college student who also loves Jesus...proclaiming His great name! Here it is if you want to read. http://mylienicolewinger.wordpress.com/2014/01/07/when-chick-flicks-dont-cut-it/
I am blessed beyond measure to see the fruit of giving a bible to a friend in 6th grade even when i was shy to do it! His Word NEVER returns void!
We are called...Reach..Grow...Reproduce!
i guess my thought pattern is how pivotal it is to invest in young peoples lives with a genuine love! A real life where others can see Jesus?, We can see how He uses us to advance His Kingdom! Thank you Sheila Woman, Margie, Mom and Kim for investing! i love You! i am in debt to you! He really is everything..we are nothing!
Friday, January 10, 2014
Fly...freedom!
Last year....wow what a year. i have been reluctant to write...so much in this messy brain. I have like 15 things i want to blog about but the time it takes to organize thoughts to pen is great! Last year can be summed up for me in a few words...individually meaning one thing, collectively meaning a much bigger thing. Here are the words...
Value...Placing VALUE on others
Love...Loving people like God the Father loved His Son Jesus. John 15
Less...He must increase, i must decrease. Phil. 2
i must say these have been hefty lessons to learn and since it is the beginning of the year a new word has been emerging....one that builds on the past words....once a word has such impact they just stay with us....i like that! The word is Metamorphosis...my husband & i prayed for a fresh word this year and of course he uses this scientific word being that he used to be a science teacher...i like the more simple...Transform.
Of course he spent time telling me all the ins and outs of the caterpillar to the butterfly and i have been thinking...what part of this process am i? There are 4 stages...the egg, the larva (caterpillar), the pupa (chrysalis) and the adult (butterfly).
Side note...when my sister Cassi & i were younger we would try to get our little brother Zach to believe that the caterpillar was really called a capilitter or callapitter...seriously when writing this i could not remember the right pronunciation. Haha!
Ok so I've so been the caterpillar ...walking to and fro eating up what i can, learning much about Gods great creation, learning life's lessons...it's hard being a catapillar. Did you even know that this furry little creature sheds it's skin 4 or 5 times in his little life span? Just like us...shedding the old man for the new. 1 Corinthians 5:17 says, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things passed away, behold all things become new! What comfort!
You never know when you could be eaten up or stomped on...when our oldest daughter Franke was little we went to the zoo and on the sidewalk was the most beautiful caterpillar, colorful and fuzzy...she walked right up to it and stomped on it...guts and all...i was horrified knowing the outcome of this soon to be butterfly...pat and i sat her down and explained that not all little creatures needed to be stomped on...some needed to grow up and be beautiful butterflies...just like her... God was preparing her right then to grow and mature and someday Fly for His great purposes...she is graduating this May...oh my...that is just TOO much for this momma! i will never forget that day...but by all means we can still stomp on spiders, mosquitos, and other pesky insects....right?
This next season called the pupa stage is just like the word sounds...i find myself in & out of this stage...this is a season of divine change...of renewal...a time of listening...being still...waiting. i must say that growing hurts sometimes but i know the great plans HE has for me are IMMEASURABLY More an i could ever ask or think...i don't just say that lightly...i actually know it! i BELIEVE it! i wonder if the caterpillar knew? The best is yet to come....listen to this verse with fresh ears...i have also heard it about a million times...let these Words breathe on you...they came from God Himself...
Romans 12:1,2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Sometimes the cocoon is for re wallpapering our minds...some redecorating has to take place. Not thinking of what could have been but what will be...what secrets God wants to reveal to us...a sacrifice for His Renown!
Sometimes the cocoon is for re wallpapering our minds...some redecorating has to take place. Not thinking of what could have been but what will be...what secrets God wants to reveal to us...a sacrifice for His Renown!
So does being in a cocoon mean that I will be transformed? The cocoon is stifling, uncomfortable, cramped, not enough air but just enough to survive. i don't like it...but i am willing to do GO through the process if it will make me more like Jesus and if i kneel to Him and beg Him to transform me. YES! i am asking this year for Him to bring on the transformation in so many ways...some i will share with you and some are just secrets with HIM. He is my favorite!
i remember as a child catching butterflies in jars with breathable lids and just staring at them...i could never bring myself to keep them...i knew they needed to fly...i felt freedom watching them fly out of the jar...i think God takes great delight when we allow Him to take us through this process of molding us...
i remember as a child catching butterflies in jars with breathable lids and just staring at them...i could never bring myself to keep them...i knew they needed to fly...i felt freedom watching them fly out of the jar...i think God takes great delight when we allow Him to take us through this process of molding us...
i challenge you...will you allow Him this year to change your life...to Renew? To Metamorphosis? Soar, Fly?
i cannot wait to share with you my seasons of flying... The butterfly stage....it is a reflection of the verses in Phil 2 about working out salvation in fear and trembling...i am choosing to do it a little scared knowing the outcome are some beautifully wings ( i hope orange, pink blue & black) that will take me to heights i cannot imagine...FLY!
if you are interested this is a beautiful short film of the caterpillar to the butterfly.
if you are interested this is a beautiful short film of the caterpillar to the butterfly.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Polka Dot & Dot to Dots
One time in a bible study I was doing we were studying in the
first chapter of James where it says, “My brethren, count it
all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the
testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience
have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking
nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who
gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But
let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the
sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man
suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is
a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
The study leader was Beth Moore and she brought
up an interesting fact that the word Various in the Greek is poikilos. She said that it looks
like a word we get Polka dot from and means “more than
one; individual and separate. I just
thought it to be a fun thought and wrote that in my bible. Here James is talking about the different
trials that we will go through in our lives… many different types and shapes
and sizes. Now, nobody likes to go
through trials. They are painful and
they stretch us. I have been through a
few in my life and so far I see that during that time I am more desperate for
God. I need Him. I grope for Him. So often when things are going well I tend to
get off focus and seem to do whatever I want and not seek Him. You see… if we don’t have testing or
hardships how will we learn patience and lack nothing? He is enough for us. We just have to ask for wisdom.. He says “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or
imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” Eph. 3:20.
I remember as a child in school getting to do the dot to dot
pages. You know, the ones that start with 1. And then you go
to 2. And connect all the dots till a
picture appears. I think that is what James
could have been talking about. God has
already written our story… He has it all mapped out with each number to connect
to the next dot…we cannot see the full picture till all the dots are connected
but it is a great picture once perfected and completed. It is our job to ask Him for wisdom and to
believe His plan… I want to receive all the things the Lord has planned for my
life. I don’t want to skip any dots or
go the wrong direction. Next time you go
through a difficult time.. think of the polka dot.. .they always makes me happy
Let’s all take the time today to ask God to be joyful knowing that
all this faith testing is producing a great picture of the life He has already
have mapped out for us when we choose to believe and walk in obedience. ! I am always remembering that verse Mark 9:24
that says “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.”
Just pray this! He will answer!
Gals, He loves us so… He
makes beautiful things out of us! What a
picture of beauty you are!
Saturday, September 28, 2013
If the crown fits...
Yesterday, we had the opportunity to watch our oldest daughter live out many high school gals dream. She was nominated for Homecoming Queen by her peers. On a side note... i was homecoming queen at my tiny high school along with king Dan Smith who was king. i wrote the previous blog post about this dear friend. This was a much greater honor for my sweet daughter who goes to a very large high school. i would like to say... i think she had a very huge blast today! She is so full of fun and light!
We have been a scurry all week preparing... trying to find a dress... or did i mention 2 dresses... some of the candidates had 3 or 4 dresses! Shoes... that match that were not going to break the bank and going to the store for the millionth time because i kept forgetting something... on of which was candy to throw at the parade.
We met at the school and our friend Debbi Carter let us use her lime green Volkswagen bug. Frankye looked so cute as her dad and i drove her around downtown Lees Summit. I will never forget the faces of the people and the cheers for Frankye as we passed onlookers from past and present teachers to the kids that she cadet teaches and grandparents and friends. It was a bit overwhelming for this mom. Can you even imagine what it would have been like to be God watching as His Son Jesus was walking in the crowds on Palm Sunday? Seeing all the people glorifying His One & Only Son? i felt a tiny bit of that...She was stunning... that smile lit up the whole downtown! His light was shining!
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
The crown of rejoicing: 1 Thess. 2:19, 20. To those who faithfully are witnesses to the saving grace of God and leads souls to Jesus. This crown has also been named the soul winner's crown. It seems to indicate here that God will be giving a crown to those who have been witnessing to others and leading people to Christ
Telling others about the grace of God, telling others about Jesus, is the greatest thing that you can do for someone while here on this earth. When you help someone to be led to the Lord, you have just been used as a vessel of God.
God will judge you by your willingness and desire to be used by Him to witness to others, not necessarily on how many actually get saved, because we are to water and He gives the increase. There are many Christians who are simply too busy to be willing to be used by God to try to lead others to the Lord. God can fit opportunities for you in your life to witness and work for Him if you allow Him to. Some could be your unsaved friends, family members or co-workers, etc.
so... if the crown fits...
Let us all live our lives knowing we are heirs of THE KING! The crowns that we earn those rewards here on earth we can cast at His feet one day! Oh may i then in HIM be found!
Reminds me of one of my favorite old hymns.
Crown Him with Many Crowns
- Crown Him with many crowns,
The Lamb upon His throne;
Hark! How the heav’nly anthem drowns
All music but its own!
Awake, my soul and sing
Of Him Who died for thee,
And hail Him as thy matchless King
Through all eternity. - Crown Him the Lord of love!
Behold His hands and side—
Rich wounds, yet visible above,
In beauty glorified.
No angel in the sky
Can fully bear that sight,
But downward bends His wond’ring eye
At mysteries so bright. - Crown Him the Lord of life!
Who triumphed o’er the grave,
Who rose victorious in the strife
For those He came to save.
His glories now we sing,
Who died, and rose on high,
Who died eternal life to bring,
And lives that death may die. - Crown Him the Lord of heav’n!
One with the Father known,
One with the Spirit through Him giv’n
From yonder glorious throne,
To Thee be endless praise,
For Thou for us hast died;
Be Thou, O Lord, through endless days
Adored and magnified.
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