The Miracle of Friendship

There's a miracle caled friendship

That dwells within the heart,

And you don't know how it happens

Or how it gets its start...

But the happiness it brings you

Always give a special lift

And you realize that friendship

Is God's most precious gift!

~Author Unknown

Christmas!

Well, I kept thinking I needed to do a Christmas post. But I kept putting it off, figuring that something exciting might happen that I could write about. And it happened! I was enjoying the day... had finished opening presents, and was visiting my brother and sister-in-law. We were playing games, eating good food, etc. Suddenly, someone (I don't remember who... maybe me? Probably not though.) looked out the window to exclaim "It's snowing outside!!" Needless to say I was very excited, and ecstatically happy!! I've never experienced a white Christmas! Everyone laughed at me, saying it was only a white Christmas if the snow stuck, which it wasn't. I argued vehemently against that, saying that since there was snow, and it was Christmas, it was obviously a white Christmas. I didn't have to argue too long, though, because soon enough it began to stick. So being the amazingly (in)sane person I am, I grabbed a camera, put on my very thin shoes and sweatshirt, and headed out to document this momentous occasion. You can enjoy the fruits of my labor. =)

Snow and Christmas lights! YAY!



I was kind of trying for a Narnia-ish affect. I think I kind of succeeded!



Learning...

I've been learning quite a few things lately. First, and probably most important, true forgiveness is extremely difficult. Well, maybe not the forgiveness part. But the forgetting about an offense after forgiving it is hard. I have seen so many examples in my life (especially recently!) where I've forgiven, but continued to remember and think about the problem. So I'm beginning to wonder if things make a lasting impression, or scar, when they happen. If you forgive, the scar can heal properly. That's not to say it'll definitely disappear completely. Some may, but others may not. However, if you refuse to forgive, it gets infected and festers painfully. I don't know... just a challenging thought.

The second thing I've learned recently is that I really, really can't stand it when one of "my" kids (a.k.a. my nieces or nephews) is in pain. I was at my sister's house last night, and my niece had a pretty nasty cold. Around ten in the evening, she woke up sobbing her eyes out. The fact that she wouldn't stop crying made my heart genuinely hurt. I extremely dislike not being able to make things "all better" for the people I care about that are in trouble or hurting. Which I guess can be a good thing. But sometimes the pain it causes me is quite annoying.

One last bonus thing I learned! I found that for me, nine-tenths of the joy of Christmas is in finding the perfect presents for my family and friends. I absolutely love the satisfaction of finding the "perfect" present and anticipating the joy it'll bring the receiver. For me, that's definitely the best part of the gift-giving aspect of Christmas. How about you?

There's always a little truth behind every "JUST KIDDING"

A little knowledge behind every "I DON'T KNOW"

A little emotion behind every "I DON'T CARE"

And a little pain behind every "IT'S OKAY"

Pretty much sums up how I'm feeling right now. Prayers would be appreciated!

Last night I got scared. We're not talking someone jumped out at me and startled me. I'm talking a weird feeling in the pit of your stomach, and shaking you're scared so bad. I was in the car with my brother-in-law, heading to my sister's house. We were stopped at a traffic light that's at the bottom of a hill. There were quite a few cars stopped because of rush hour, and we were at the back, near the top of the hill. A car came speeding over the hill, not expecting any cars to be in front of him. He saw Ray's car and tried to swerve, but still hit us pretty hard. Thankfully, my brother-in-law is quite collected in the middle of a crises, so he let off the brake and coasted into the turn lane next to us, to absorb some of the shock. But I hadn't seen it coming at all, so I was only aware of a very loud noise, and a big jolt. Yes. I was scared.

I guess the good thing about it was that nobody got hurt. There are so many ways that it could've ended worse. I spent the entire time that they were filling out an accident report thanking God that He is gracious. So that was my excitement for a while. I really wouldn't mind if I never feel that scared again!

I was at AWANA tonight (if you haven't heard of it, look it up!), teaching my very small class of two-year-olds. One of them is new, having come for the first time last week. He made me laugh, though! He was very sad and wanting to see "Mama". At one point we went outside to run around. In order to get outside we had to walk through the lobby where his mom was sitting. As we were walking, he was very inquisitively asking "Mama?" over and over. I was a little worried that if he saw his mom, he would run to her, then throw a fit when we tried to take him away. However, he walked right past her (we're talking two feet away with her to the left and front of him!) without even noticing her!! Like I said, it made me laugh.

But then a thought struck me. Aren't we a bit like that? We're so busy "looking" for our goal that often times we charge right past it. What if we just slowed down and enjoyed what was happening, while it was happening? Maybe we'd even run into our goal, or realize that we were focused on the wrong goal. So I would challenge you to slow down and enjoy what's going on. (Unless you're trying to get a two-year-old past his mama!) Take time to occasionally reevaluate what your goal is. Is it something like money or just getting done with school? Or is it something more worthwhile: a personal relationship with God, fun with family, or impacting the lives of those around you? I know I tend to aim for the wrong goal, and in the process miss so much going on around me. Don't be like that!

Today was amazing! =) There's nothing that quite beats a good two hours of hard work followed by a bowl of peppermint ice cream! My dad, brother, and I spent the morning/early afternoon trimming the bushes all around the house. While it doesn't sound like a big deal, the job was rather extensive. It's been quite a while since we did any hedge trimming! This was followed by the aforementioned ice cream. Then we got the fun of hanging Christmas lights.... Thankfully this year we had a minimum of burned-out bulbs. ;)

All afternoon as we were working, I kept being amazed by my brother. Something he's always struggled with has been sticking to a job until it's done. Especially when it might not be the most pleasant job in the world (like moving poky holly branches!). But he's been attending ALERT for the last year, and it has definitely made a change in his work ethic. Today I got to see him tackle the task before him with vigor and enthusiasm. It was definitely fun to witness!

Oh, here's a random extra you get today. I was playing volleyball last night, and a sudden and disturbing thought struck me. When playing volleyball, you don't actually score. The other team makes all your points, and you make all theirs. Think about it... it's when YOU mess up that the other team gets a point. Yes, their good playing may have helped, but still. This revelation totally caught me off guard, and made me laugh the rest of the night. (And today!) I know that you are now a much better person for having learned that, so please try not to laugh too hard! =)

I was reading in Zepheniah today, and was struck by several verses. For those of you who (like me!) might tend to forget to read all those books at the end of the Old Testament, let me give you an overview. Zephaniah was written warning that the day of the Lord was near, and those who didn't repent would be judged. Most of the book is predictions of judgement, but the last six verses are a beautiful promise to Israel.

However, the verse that jumped out at me was chapter two verse eleven.  "The Lord will be awesome against them; for He will famish all the gods of the earth, and to Him shall bow down, each in its place, all the lands of the nations." It's so easy to look around at our world today and think that everyone has forgotten about God. Even if that's true now, it won't always be!

A quote I heard once that made me laugh, and then on second thought made me really happy, has to do with this. "See, the devil thinks he's going to win, but I've read the end of the book, and God wins!" In other words, everything is going according to plan. This helps me be able to let go of things that are worrying me. So my challenge to you? If you're upset about how the world is going downhill, or how bad things are getting, go read the end of the Book. =)

Ever been upset about something happening to someone else? I have that problem a lot. Especially when it comes to my brother. Weird as it is, I'm pretty protective of him, even though he's older than me. Anyhow. Yesterday I was a bit upset over something going on with him. Then I remembered a little lesson a friend taught me earlier this year.

She told me that taking up offenses for others is a form of judging. If we take up their offenses for them we're making assumptions about the person or situation that is opposing them. I hadn't ever really thought about that before. But it kinda makes sense, doesn't it? We tend to hear one side of a story, and draw conclusions based on that. However, if we heard the entire story from all parties involved, we would often come to a different conclusion. Interesting thought... and something I wanted to share with you.

All I can say is that I'm very glad that God has blessed me with a friend enough older than me that she can give me advice like that. Even when it's not something I want to hear, what she tells me is normally what I need to hear. So I guess you can also go away with the thought that good advice comes from unexpected places: keep your ears open!!

Since we're nearing Thanksgiving, I thought I'd put up some pictures of fall. :) All of these were taken at Mt. Nebo. Sadly we don't get this much color here in Texas.

I love fall. It's such a gorgeous time of year! =) Hope you enjoyed looking at these as much as I enjoyed taking them.

"I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. 
So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air.-  Nathaniel Hawthorne

The past few days have been a bit on the rough side. I have bounced back and forth from silly and happy to frustrated and upset. Things went on a rollercoaster from being just peachy to having an argument with someone to getting super mad at someone else to being excited about hanging out with friends. I know, I know.... I sound ridiculous. But that is my last two days in a nutshell.

I guess the most important thing I've had to remember again and again in the last few days is that even when I can't see the reason for things, God can. Isn't that neat? When I feel like everybody hates me and I'm never going to figure out how to fix that (a.k.a. having a pity party!), or when I'm hurting for someone else, HE knows what's going on. He knows if the problem is because of my attitude (which it is about 90% of the time) or because of something else.

I guess the most important thing I'm trying to say here is that God is in control. Even if it feels like the world is falling out from under you, or you can't see a way out of the problem you have, He is there to help and guide you. The big thing is that you have to let Him. I often forget that. I take the "steering wheel" but then get mad at God because things are all wrong. Then I look down and realize just who is the one with the hands on the controls. Ouch. It's painful but necessary to do control checks occasionally.... in other words, almost every day!

Well, thanks for sticking around for my wanderings there. Sometimes it just feels better to get something off your chest. Not to mention that as I write things out I learn more about/from them. So, until my next confused and sporadic post, God bless!

Monday night, ALERT did a Veteran's Banquet to honor the men and women who have and are serving our country. Part of the evening's program was a Mixed Chorus that I got to be part of. It was really fun, but also neat to be such a blessing to the people who had come. Here's a couple of pictures. (Please forgive the fuzziness and bad lighting!)





The quintet consisted of (left to right) Kyle Horsman, Drew Ludvigson, Evan Tuuk, Jesse Boulden, and Keon Pendergast (my brother!)

Friday night I had the really neat opportunity to watch the Multiply simulcast by Francis Chan and David Platt. It was on discipleship, and was really challenging. So here's (some!) of my notes on it. Hopefully they're readable and understandable. If not, I apologize!

First Francis Chan spoke on conviction. Here's the main points I got out of that:

~ We tend to totally underestimate God!

~ I can't just be "convicted" by a message. I have to repent and change.

~ At the end of my life I want to be able to say "I completed my work on this earth."

~ I nead to learn from Scripture. People then didn't outline some in-depth plan of how they were going to reach out, they just called out to God and stepped out in faith.

~ I am here on a mission, so I need to live like it. That's easier when I think about the fact that my mission is guaranteed to succeed!

Then David Platt spoke on our call, from Matthew 28:16-20.

~ "I want to be part of something that can only be explained by the hand of God!"

~ We have to believe in the authority of Christ. His authority compels us to go and share His word, as well as giving us confidence as we go.

~ We have to obey the command of Christ. It wasn't just a command for the apostles, it's for EVERY Christian. (Every Christian is a disciple-maker.)

~ We have to depend on the presence of Christ. This mission isn't based on who we are or what we can do, it's based on who Christ is and what HE is able to do in and through us!

~ We need to not just receive the word, we need to reproduce it!

Finally, the two had a conversation about how they wanted to/are applying that.

~ As we help others encounter and follow Jesus, we will also be encountering Him.

~ We need to be equipping others to stand on their own feet spiritually by equipping them to become teachers and disciple-makers.

~ We can give those around us courage by encouraging them.

~ Always remember: Saying "I can't do this" is doubting the power of God!! (OUCH! this is something I really struggle with!)

So this was just what I got out of the teaching. Hopefully something in here will speak to you as well! I would strongly recommend looking it up online, if that's possible. (I don't know if it is or not....?) Oh, here's one last really cool thought: Discipleship = the intersection of community and mission. Something to think about as I come in contact with people everyday.

Really neat quote I found that I thought I'd share with you guys! =)

When you feel like you're drowning in life, don't worry: your Lifeguard walks on water!

Such a simple truth that we forget so often.

Today I faced a dilemma. I have a friend who's in a predictament. I was attempting to help this friend, and was struggling for words. It's a situation I've never been in, and will hopefully never be in. But it was really neat, because as I was talking, I was also praying. And it felt like God was guiding my words (the ones I wasn't messing up!). So I don't know if what I said was actually helpful, but it was really neat to have the feeling that I was saying what God wanted me to say. I've been straying so far from Him lately that it was nice to feel like I'm actually more "in-tune" with Him now.

Okay, if those ramblings didn't make sense, I apologize!! But here's something that should make sense (since it's not my words).

Tomorrow is never promised to anyone,

so dance until your feet ache;

laugh until your sides hurt;

 and say I love you to those you love,

 for tomorrow may never come.

Well late last night (early this morning??) I was having trouble sleeping, which is very unusual for me! I was laying there and got to thinking about my day/week. Long story short, I realized that part of the reason I was struggling was because in the last month I've really drifted away from God. So I decided to read my Bible for a while. God gave me several verses that spoke to me, but one passage in particular grabbed my attention. Here's a basic synopsis:

Matthew 8: 23-27 is about the storm Jesus calmed. In this story, I was the disciples. My boat was being swamped by a storm: circumstances that I can't control. When the disciples wake Jesus up, He rebukes them for having "little faith". Pretty much, I realized that I wasn't trusting that God was big enough to solve my problems. However, even though He had to rebuke the disciples, He also calmed the storm. In other words, God still cares about me enough to do something, even though I've been turning my  back on Him for so long. That little story, five verses long, convicted me a lot. I came out of that half hour of reading with a new dedication to the Master of the wind and sea who loves me enough to take my problems into His hands.

So here's my challenge for you... will you let God have your problems? Or will you be like the disciples and worry that your boat is going to sink?

Tonight has been a rough evening. As I was sitting and having a pity party, I heard Undo by Rush of Fools. It was definitely what I needed. Neat how God works like that, huh?

Here's the lyrics, in case you're interested.

I've been here before, now here I am again
Standing at the door, praying You'll let me back in
To label me a prodigal would be
Only scratching the surface of who I've been known to be

[Chorus]
Turn me around pick me up
Undo what I've become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, need Your help
I can't do this myself
You're the only one who can undo
What I've become

I focused on the score, but I could never win
Trying to ignore, a life of hiding my sin
To label me a hypocrite would be
Only scratching the surface of who I've been known to be

[Chorus]
Turn me around pick me up
Undo what I've become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, need Your help
I can't do this myself
You're the only one who can undo
What I've become

Make every step lead me back to
The sovereign way that You

[Chorus]
Turn me around pick me up
Undo what I've become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, need Your help
I can't do this myself
You're the only one who can undo
What I've become

Well, the weekend conference went fairly well, although extremely busy! But I survived, with the help of several of my friends. We did get to spend some "quality time" folding (and throwing!) sheets in the Laundry Room. Monday and Tuesday I was totally wiped out, but I'm starting to recover now. Or at least, I would be if I would quit staying up until all hours of the night. ;) 

Today I found out (once again) that two-year-olds can be challenging. One of the kids I had at AWANA tonight decided he did not want his mom out of his sight. For about ten minutes he cried because she was gone. Then I was able to distract him with bubbles. An interesting thought occurred to me... I'm a lot like that two-year-old! If something (or someone) is "taken away" from me, I tend to complain until I'm distracted by something else. Which led me to wonder... wouldn't life be better if every time I got frustrated by something I focused instead on helping someone else? It would serve two purposes: getting my focus off of me, and allowing me to share the joy of the Lord with others. Which then leads to the problem that in order to share my Savior's joy, I have to have it! That stresses the importance of my quiet time in the mornings - it's my time to dip into the well of my Lord's grace and strength and joy. 

Well, that bounced around from thing to thing, but that is just how my brain works. ;) Another Mt. Nebo picture for you! 

This is my dad, oldest niece, and oldest nephew standing at the edge of a forty or fifty foot drop. This almost made me nervous for the kiddos, but I knew Dad was keeping an eye on them... thankfully!!

The next two days are going to be crazy. I am on Custodial for a conference happening here. As I was working to prepare today, people switched things up on me, stuff got moved where it shouldn't be, and I generally got overwhelmed. As I was struggling my way through the day, I was about ready to get really mad at the world in general. However, things that several of my friends said reminded me to just roll with it and be flexible. I also realized that I was trying to do everything in my strength, instead of God's. Sometimes it's so hard for me to let go and realize that He is in control, even if my world seems like it gets flipped upside down. 

So that was really scattered and weird, but that's pretty much how my day has gone. Prayers for the weekend would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! 

Oh, and as a random extra, here's a picture from my trip to Mt. Nebo! =)

I just spent a four-day weekend at Mt. Nebo State Park in Arkansas. It was a very enjoyable time of hiking, watching sunrises and sunsets, and spending time with my family. The best part was yesterday. My brother, sister-in-law, a niece and nephew and I had been hiking. We had been on a rather steep uphill climb for quite a while. Finally it levelled out. There was a point (called Lover's Leap) that was a sheer cliff with an amazing view. We were standing there contemplating the gorgeous landscape when we heard something through the stillness. Listening a little closer, it was discovered that someone on a neighboring mountain peak was playing an Indian flute. It was amazing to stand there listening to the quiet strains of a song. That was one of the most enjoyable parts of my weekend. Another was exploring the ruins of several buildings that the Civilian Conservation Corps had built in the 1930s. I like learning history through things like that, rather than out of a book.

On a half-hour drive tonight, I realized (again) how easy it is to take joy in the simple things. After a slightly stressful night at a job I have trouble enjoying, I was driving home with a niece, two nephews, and a friend of mine. My nephews asked my friend to tell them a train story. Which he proceeded to do. However, the thing that was great about it was the fact that even though he is quite a bit older than them, he enjoyed the process of telling the story, and embellishing it with hilarious additions. Anyhow. All that to say - Take pleasure in small things!

Well, this is my first post! I'm not sure how well I'll do at blogging, so I apologize now if there are large gaps of time between my posts!

I never thought I'd do a blog, but then I realized that it such a neat way to be able to share my thoughts on things. You may not be interested in my thoughts, but if you are, they're here! =)