Two things that will help you live a better life...

How is that for a catchy title!! Who doesn't want to live a better life right?! I lead a Mom's support group/fellowship group at my church. I felt called to start it in the Spring of 2005. With my knees knocking and my toes shakin' in my boots...I started it. God has blessed me with the group ever since. There are many woman that come each week. They are from different backgrounds in every sense of the word. The church is a Catholic church but the group is made up of so many different denominations. It is wonderful!! Wonderful! Each week we get together and have some coffee, some treats of some kind, and I "do" a lesson of some sort. Often I feel lead to speak about a book I just read. Recently we have been going through a book that moved me in such wonderful ways... Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyers. For anyone reading this, if you have not read this book, I urge you to give it a try. It's good stuff! Anywho, we are on Chapter 15 which is basically about having the mind of Christ. What is that about?! Well, in order to live out the wonders that God has promised us, a Christian needs to be aware of HOW she is living. What does she think about? What comes out of her mouth? What is in her heart? (for out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks Matt 12:34) It is easy to get caught up in daily life. The world is a powerful place. Does it have power over you? Well, if you are a Christian, it should not. The reality is.....whether a girl is a believer or not, the world sometimes grabs a hold of us and doesn't let go. For me, I need to be reminded of what the Word says, what God promises me... in order to shake free of the "world" and live the life of abundance that is promised me. (see John 10:10) In Chapter 15 of this book, here are two things that really helped me to THINK about what I was doing.....also it gave me something that I could have major control over....and DO....with the result of actually living happier....be happier. I dare you to read on and then try it!!

1. Practice exhortation!! (oooo...that is a big word...give me a dictionary = 0 I )

This basically means (yes, I had to look it up too!) be an encouraging person. Some people are very gifted in this area. Some people, not so much. Do you encourage people in your life? We all have our own circle of people. Each person needs encouragement in some form or another. As a mom, encouraging my kids is serious business. I can't say I was very encouraged as a child but I know for sure that I MUST encourage my children. This is something that not only feels good to the receiver, it also feels good to the giver. Not only that....we are called to do this as a Believer. Yep...we are. Ephesians 4:29 talks about building others up according to what THEY need. Key word...THEY. This does not say, according to what we think they need. Doing this requires paying attention to what another person really needs at any given moment. For example...you see a mom who is really struggling in the store with her two year old. Now, I know that being on the edge of freaking out on our kids is something WE have never done, but I have heard stories of OTHER mom's doin' this....(wink, wink) What can we do at this moment? We can give her a quick touch and maybe say...."don't worry mom, it gets better" or maybe say something crazy like..."hand in there mom". She probably will feel some comfort cause at that moment, she will not feel like she is the worst mom on the planet, or that she is not alone. Maybe don't even address the child issue...keep an eye on the situation and when a quiet moment comes, maybe comment on how she looks. (please keep in mind, if she looks like she has not showered yet, her clothes have spit-up on them and her hair is somewhere under a ball cap...maybe not the way to go) Does she have cute shoes on? Are her nails pretty? Something!! You get my drift right? Try to think back to a similar moment in your life...how would you have felt if someone noticed you in some positive way. There is so much more to the "EXHORTATION" thing that God tells us about but that is a bit of it.

2. Develop a thankful mind

Back to Matt 12:34. If our hearts are truly thankful....then so will our mouths. The question is, are we thankful? R u?? If we are complaining often, nagging about something, getting feisty about something...chances are we are not thankful. Now, you might be saying....yes, yes I am thankful but....when my husband does this .......or yes, but when my kids........ Hold on!!! I used to be a person who said just that. What I realized was happening (praise God!) was deep down I was thankful but I was letting the yuck of the complaining steal my joy. LETTING my joy be taken right away from me. Good grief! It takes practice but when I actually thought about all the things in my life that I needed to be thankful for, it was so hard to be grumbling and complaining. Here is a small list of what I am thankful for.....I have three healthy children, I have a husband that comes home after work, I have a husband that has a job!, I have a dog, I have a car that turns on when I turn the key, I have money to pay for my car, I have a closet full of clothes, I have a frig full of food,....the list goes on and on. I have been at a place in my life (after a horrible car accident)when I could not walk, I could not lift a spoon to feed myself, I could not wipe myself..... Now, I ask you, don't wait till something that drastic happens to cause you to be thankful for the small and probably the big things in your life. Scripture often talks about how God wants us to be thankful. He asks us to practice being thankful. I love Hebrews 13:15 which talks about "offering up a sacrifice of praise to God". God knows us sooooo well!! A sacrifice of praise? What is that all about? Well, as Joyce Meyers talks about in the above mentioned book, God knows that often in our lives, being thankful is hard. Sometimes very hard. When things are going peachy, it is easy to be thankful. When things are going horrible....not so easy. Right? God challenges us to offer up praise, sacrificially praise, during the not so great times. How does this do any good? This is what I think....by giving praise to God, even when things are not great, His power is unleashed. God is able to do a work in our hearts. He is able to lighten our load spiritually. When He hears the praise from us, scripture tells us WE bless God!!! We bless HIM!! How cool is that. Our Lord is delighted with us and our devotion to Him. Delighted with our understanding that He is in charge. Once we die to this, He can then do a work in our hearts that is like no other. Here is another thing to think about when it comes to being thankful. Do we actually thank others in our lives when they do something nice for us? When was the last time you thanked your husband for something? Anything? Well???? You will be amazed at how wonderful a quick little thank you makes your husband feel. It may take a while for it to sink in cause I am going to guess not many of us say thank you very often. Also, thanking our kids is something that we really need to do!!!!! How are our children suppose to learn HOW to show appreciation if they never see it acted out in! Think about that for a minute. Being thankful is not something that just happens in a child. If we show them some appreciation, they will learn how it is done. They just might show some appreciation back to us when we least expect it. I guess the bottom line question I need you to ask yourself is two fold. 1. Are you a wife/mom who feels unappreciated? (i will guess yes...or atleast sometimes yes) 2. How much appreciation do YOU show others in your life? This goes back to the principle of reaping and sowing. If we sow seeds of appreciation, God promises us we will reap those rewards. Now, the harvest is never reaped in the same season it is sewn...ask any farmer. BUT if the seeds are sewn, the reaping will follow. Think about it!

I am challenging you to try doing these two things and see if your heart is any different. See if your joy comes back....in the midst of some yuck that might be huge or really small, see if you can get some joy back.

Time for a....MAKEOVER!!!

Okay....I am back in the land of the living after taking care of really sick kids. Here goes...

I was listening to the radio this morning and was really moved by a topic that Chip Ingram was speaking on. Mr. Ingram has a talk radio show on a station in my area called Moody Radio. This is syndicated and I would highly recommend trying to find this station in your area. Moody Radio is full of wonderful speakers, with several different speaking styles. You are sure to find one that you connect with. God has used this station to really speak to my heart on several occasions.

Chip was talking about the show Extreme Home Makeover and how it relates to us as Christians. This got my attention. I love to decorate and redecorate. I love to paint, wallpaper, rearrange furniture, re-do something old...you name it. I love it. Now, this might be just a part of my slight OCD nature but if you give me an empty room or a blank wall, I get very excited. Crazy...I know. Just humor me. What does any of this have to do with God? With Christianity? Glad you asked. Let's start with understanding why a "makeover" is such a cool thing. Now, don't kid yourself. Everyone loves a makeover. Whether it is a redo of a room in your house, a redo of the entire house, a hair cut, new make-up, a new outfit....getting a do-over is such fun. Am I right? Even guys can relate to this concept....take my husband. He has a "man cave" that is all MAN! It has an obnoxious sound system, a poker table, war "collectibles", you name it...it is all testosterone. Every once in awhile, I will clean it up for him. Keep in mind, this is not often but set aside for those times when I feel like being extra nice to him. When I unveil all my hard work ( or even unveil the hard work that I have paid someone to do), he is always thrilled. It all seems fresh and new. Everything is in it's place and you can see the floor again! Mind you, he could live happily in the filth and grime but when it is clean and neat, he seems to think of it as brand new again. Makeovers are a wonderful thing. Whether they are minor or extreme, they are a great thing. We feel like we get a fresh start and this feeling often bleeds over into all aspects of our life. I have come to understand that Christ wants to do a makeover on US! Some scripture that speaks about this concept can be found in Ephesians 2:1-10. I love these verses. Why don't you go to it and let's discuss it. If you don't have a bible....consider getting one. I would recommend an NIV version. The verses are a bit easier to understand than the old stand by, New King James Bibles, but it does not digress too much from the original text. (also, it comes in lots of pretty hard and soft covers. Being 110% girl, this speaks to me! ) These verses can be found on your computer too. Just google the verses and go from there.....con't reading once you have read the verses........................................................................................................

Now, if after reading the scripture, all you heard was the Peanuts cartoon teacher...wha wha...wha wha wha.... don't worry. For all people, understanding scripture is a tough thing. So often, I will read a verse and think, "what the heck did that just say!!" Other times, I will say, "oh...I get it!" My dear friend, that is precisely why I listen to Christian radio, read Christian books, go to bible studies, etc. All in an attempt to allow God to speak to me in a way that I understand. It's a good thing!

Okay, what these verses say to me is God is sooo wanting to do a makeover for us, in us. He wants to show us, that regardless of what we have done, where we are in our walk, he wants to get at every part of our souls and do a complete makeover. Some people are at a place where they abuse alcohol or drugs. Some people struggle with depression, some people deal with verbally abusing their children, their spouses....the list goes on and on. Some people just want to simply have more good days than bad days. All this, is what our Lord wants to get His hands on and do a complete makeover on. Why? Why little ol' me? Well, besides because He loves you and me madly....let's look at Eph 2:7. It says.... in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. In order to explain this, I think there are a few comparisons that might hit home. In every makeover show, whether the change was to a home or a person, the end result is a look of shock. It is a look of awe. Right? On the best ones, we find ourselves in awe too!! We don't even know this person or we have never seen the home in real life but the transformation is remarkable. REMARKABLE. We long to see the "before" again so we can enjoy the change that has occurred. Know what I mean? I love the ones where it is a mom that has had a makeover and her kids see her for the first time and they start to cry. Love those. They can feel the happiness that their mom feels. I too start to cry. I also used to cry when people would win a frig on The Price Is Right so I might not be a good measuring stick for this kind of thing. = 0 ) God aches to do this for us. If we allow him to transform our lives, we will be a living testimony to his power. People in our circle of life will be effected by what we have become through the power of Christ. When a Christian is truly being a Christian, when she is living her life in a way that is following God and all that he calls her to do and be, it can not help but draw attention. For example, someone might say of a person that they have known for years..."wow, what is up with Sally. She has changed. She seems so happy." or "Have you seen Joann lately? She is glowing. I am not sure what is going on with her but whatever it is, it is working." I am not talking about the "holier than thow" people that most of you might be thinking of. So often this is what is conjured up when God and Jesus are talked about. Christians don't have fun. They don't drink, they don't swear, they are boring!!! WRONG! Now, I am not saying I have a trucker mouth and I drink like a fish but my preconceived notions of what being a Christian was like is nothing close to what I have come to learn and KNOW what the real meaning is. I have certain convictions about what God is calling me to do/be. Other Christians have other convictions. It is not my place to even think about what others are doing or not doing, and judge them on it. I have enough trouble figuring out my own self! Plus, I have laundry to do!! I need to let God work on me. When I do this, he fixes me in ways that make me happier than i have ever been and the "fixing" allows me to actually love on others too. It is like a side-effect that is actually a good one! Yeah. I am not kidding.

I think that it is important to really understand what our Lord is longing to do. He wants to renew YOU. He wants to show you how you can be a great mom, a great wife, how to get past hurts and abuses, how to move on from a loss, how to overcome adversity....all this. If we allow him, if we chose to let him in to our soul, he will do an extreme makeover like we have never seen before. I have allowed Him. I continue to allow Him cause this girl needs all the help she can get! Can I get an Amen?!

This too shall pass

I have three sick children at home today. High fevers, lots of coughing, a dash of vomit and a sprig of multiple trips to the potty. My kids are somewhat past the age of "not making it" to the bathroom. Praise be to God! But, I certainly can recall the sleepless nights due to healthy kids and then the horrific sleepless nights due to UNhealthy kids. For me, the moments of having to step away from a "mess" to avoid vomiting, are mostly over. Again, praise be to God! Good times....Good times!! Now that I have your stomach turning.....(sorry. It is important to conger up feelings with graphic words)...I want to encourage all mom's who walk through days in a zombie-like-state. My youngest child is only 6 and my oldest child is 10. It TRULY seems like forever ago when my life was a blur. Not the morning after a really fun party blur but the I have young children and will never sleep again blur. I DO recall though....the time of the crying babies, the awake at 2 am toddlers, the carpet cleaning at 3am. It really seems like such a long time has passed since those days. In reality, those days and nights were NOT THAT long ago. Now that I have gone through it and can say I survived, I am feeling the need to encourage all mom's out there. I feel for you, I am sending supportive hugs from a far and I am here to tell you... this too shall pass. Do what you can to just get through the "not so fun" moments of parenting. As my children were all home sick, I felt a twinge of panic. I had sooo much to DO! Errands to run, mommy chores to do...I had a schedule to keep!!! Well, reality is, all that had to be put on hold. Nothing terrible would happen if I did not get the dry cleaning dropped off. If the house got a bit dirtier, the world would continue. If I had nothing prepared for dinner, no one was going to starve or think me less of a mom or wife. All those expectations have been placed on me....BY ME!! I took this opportunity to do a little laundry (which is what I find myself doing EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE anyway) and spend the day with my children. We took naps. Pretty much most of the day, we took naps. Once the Motrin was on board, they all felt better for a few hours so we watched some movies. How much longer in the whole scheme of things, will I be able to watch Barbie and the Diamond Castle with my children? I am going to steal these moments while I can. I had a wonderful mentor in my life that gave me permission to do just that. Since her soul saving advice, my life as a mom has gone much better. I am a more joyful mom. I can only do so much and once I stopped putting so many expectations onto myself, life went on with much less stress and MUCH less yelling.
Now, this blog has a Christian base to it so how does all I just wrote tie into scripture? I have come to understand that EVERYTHING in life....EVERYTHING...is addressed in some way or another in scripture. That seems too amazing to be true but so far, it has been true. In the book of Titus... a small book in the New Testament, Paul writes to his pastor friend. Oddly enough, this pastor's name is....Titus. (now you will be prepared when you finally get on Jeopardy!) Any who, Paul talks about how the older women are to encourage the younger women. Those that are more experienced are to "come along side" the ones that are less experienced. God is asking us to be like this. We are His ambassadors. I don't think this passage has as much to do with age as it does with life experience. I am so thankful that I had/have Godly women in my life. So often, I find that I really need someone to lean on. God was/is soooo involved in my life in this way. He brought such wonderful, caring, knowledgeable women to my path. Now, sometimes it might be a woman who is older, but sometimes it might be a woman who has older children. She can give her thoughts on child issues simply because she experienced something I am currently going through. Sometimes the support is coming from a woman who is further along in her Christian walk. I think the passage in Titus speaks to all this. What a glorious God I serve. He has reached out to touch me at each bend in the road. He has encouraged me, through scripture and through other Godly women, that this too shall pass.

Everything old is new again.

The saying, "everything old is new again" is so true. More true than I every imagined. You might be asking...what on earth is she talking about? Well, here goes. What does that saying even mean? I take it to mean that things of the past come back around again. Things that have been tried or lived out before, often come back around. Actually, this is partially what it means to me. I will get to the deeper meaning, the more important meaning, in just a bit. This saying came to mind as I was on my way home from sin city. Yes, Las Vegas. The trip was to be 5 days long and I was with my dear husband. He had a work conference to go to. We had been to Vegas a few times in the past and were looking forward to the trip. Several days of sleeping in, nice hotels, shopping, yummy food....alone time. As a busy mother of three, this is like heaven. All you mom's know exactly what I mean! Even though anyone with a pulse knows Vegas is the capital of all things "ungodly"....I was excited about lattes at 10 am, warm weather, fancy restaurants and spending some time with my husband. The thought of actually completing a sentence without having to stop midway to wipe a tushy is what makes for a good day in my world. I was excited about the possibilities. I was fine with overlooking the "sins" of the city. Well, as we made our way to the hotel, I could not help but feel overwhelmed. Truly overwhelmed. The lights, the sounds, the views....shoot....the crazy cab ride to our hotel was throwing me into panic. It was sensory overload. Now, I am not saying bad or good....just SO MUCH! Watching the people going to and fro (I've always wanted to use "to and fro" in a sentence! hehehe). The people-watching was the greatest. Where were all these people going? Why were they here? Do they live here? Visiting? Is that guy independently wealthy or is he spending next months mortgage payment at that blackjack table? The entire city is something to behold. If I could sum up what I was seeing in one word, I think it would be excess. Everything was excessive! There were zillions of hotels within a few mile radius, each hotel had thousands of rooms, every hotel had several restaurants, every restaurant had prices that could save a third world country, each lobby had something significant in it which set it apart from the other hotels ( like a 50,000 gal. fish tank, replica of the Cysteine Chapel, an indoor rain forest...ya know, the usual), and the stores....how many handbag stores does one city need! These were just a few of the mention ables. As the sun fell, the crowds increased both inside and out. However, whether is was 10am, 10pm or 3am, the basic flow did not change all that much. One thing that was noticeable was the attire being worn and the "informational brochures" being handed out along the sidewalks. And by "informational brochures" I mean pornography. I had been to Vegas before and knew that people were allowed to pass out fliers, cards, etc...basic advertising....on the street to people passing by. This advertising was essentially, baseball card-sized pictures of women in various "positions" with contact information on the flip side. People passing these out were in no way obtrusive but the streets were littered with small pictures of naked women. I could not help but overlook that fact that these women, mostly very young women, were also someones little girl. It made me sad. How did they end up on the street, in this way. The skies were lined with house-sized billboards of topless and bottomless women. (Having a string on/in your tush and stickers on your boobies, does not count as being clothed in my book.) Also, as the "clubbing" crowd started to emerge, I found it hard to tell the "ladies of the evening" from the girls just out to have fun. Truly...this was remarkable. Again, very sad. I thought to myself, "apparently, some girls think that if you don't SHOW your breasts, boys will think you don't have any." What does this have to do with "everything old is new again" and my blog which is Christian at it's core? Good question. Most of my words up til now are definitely filled with critical, sarcastic and somewhat judgemental tones. One might even throw hypocritical tones in there too. As I think back to my "bar" days, my early 20's, my pre-coming-to-know-God days (important note: I always BELIEVED in God...I just never KNEW him til my 30's), these people I just described were MY people. I was just like that. Maybe not as extreme as many of them but similar in many aspects. The descriptive words I used were done to be humorous even though some might not "get" my humor. Please hear me....humor was the intent. In reality, all that I witnessed was seen through eyes filled with sadness. I wanted to know WHY these girls were dressed like this? What was their home life like? Did they have children? Were these men married? Were they here just having fun or was this their 3rd straight day at the blackjack table? Were their wives wondering when they were going to come home? Was there a worried wife/ves somewhere that is sure her husbands entire paycheck was just lost in one hand of poker? I did not know. But I could guess....yes. The excess was so extreme that I could not help but think....our world is going to H- E -(double hockey stick) in a hand basket. Most likely, it seemed that the hand basket was a Gucci clutch that was waaaaay over priced. Again, back to my "everything old is new again". Our world is going in the wrong direction but it is nothing new. As I have become familiar with scripture, I have learned so much about the time when our Lord was on this earth. More specifically, I have learned lots about what big cities looked like, what the people were like in these cities. Let's take a look at two cities from biblical times. Corinth and Ephesus. You may or may not know about these places. They might be more familiar to you if you heard them like this....Paul's letter to the Corinthians and Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Paul, a disciple of Christ, writes letters to the people of these two cities. Corinth was know as a city of complete debauchery and moral depravity. This was the depiction of Corinth by people who believed in God AND those that were considered pagans (ones who did not believe in the One true God). The craziness was carried out by all. There was a huge temple to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. This temple had thousands of priestesses who were basically "religious" prostitutes. They lived and "worked" in the temple and came into the city at night to offer their services to men living in and visiting the city. Incest was also a big thing in Corinth. So, by just this brief description, one could say this was quite a party town. Ephesus was not much better, just a bit different in it's murkiness. This major city was full of religious hypocrites that did not follow scripture and thrived on myths and superstitions. There was also a huge temple to the Greek goddess Artemis or Diana. Human sacrifices were common place in this temple. Sounds great huh! After learning scripture, the happenings of Las Vegas in 2009, don't sound so "new". The truth is, Las Vegas IS nothing new. All this "debauchery" has occurred before. Nothing that is happening, can happen, will happen in our day and age is new. Everything old is new again and everything thought to be new is old. God is never surprised by our humanity. He is never shocked by the actions of those that know Him AND those that do not know Him. Scripture tells us that God is the same yesterday, today and always. This brings me much joy. I take comfort in knowing that the God I love, has seen the scenes of Vegas before. He loves every single person there...no matter what he/she is up to. He wants them to come into His fold. He thought the same way regarding the lost people of Corinth and Ephesus. Without their obedience to His word and the spreading of the gospel during those times, my knowledge of Christ would not look like it does today. It is truly an amazing God we serve. He reaches down and gives me comfort by showing me He has seen all this yuck before. He gently tells me not to worry. He kindly instructs me to love Him and show others in MY world, His love. I can do that!! I can do that. Being aware of my inadequacies, my sinful nature, my shortfalls, I find it humbling that God trusts me....even counts on me to show His love to others. With this, I can enjoy my trip to Vegas. I can enjoy the "recharge" of sleeping late, eating yummy food, enjoying the uninterrupted company of my husband and do my part, however small, in showing kindness to whomever should cross my path. No matter how scantally clad or intoxicated they may be.



Now, to the OTHER meaning of this saying... "Everything old is new again". (this kind of blows my socks off. Bear with me and excuse my giddiness. God rocks! He really does.) In Revelations 21, we are told that Christ makes all things new again. It talks about how Christ will wipe every tear, he will take away all pain and sorrow. He will make ALL things new. Wow!! Let's think about this for a bit. God promises us, He will take all the things of this world...all the pain, all the loss, all the sorrow, all the hurt...and take it away! All that is old will be new again. (Selah) I challenge you to try and think of something in your world...in your life...that this scripture does NOT speak to. I will be bold and say that I think every human being has something...something...that Christ can get a hold of and "MAKE NEW AGAIN". Without Him, it is all just old and it has gone by. It can not be renewed. Christ challenges us to give it to Him so he can do what he does best. He can dry every tear and make all things new again. Amen? Amen.
(you may have noticed I used the word -Selah- in this blog. I love this so you may see it often. It is a Hebrew word that basically means: pause and ponder a while. It is used throughout scripture when we might need to think on something a bit. You will find it often in the Psalms)

My family is heading to my husbands grandmothers calling hours and funeral today. She was in her 80's and in such bad shape physically that her death really is a blessing. That old standby scripture...."though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil..." comes to my mind. Eight years ago I would of had no idea where that was in scripture. Graciously I know that those words are in Psalm 23. This is a typical reading at many funerals. I have come to love this verse. I think that having the word death in it, is the reason it is at funerals. I would like to challenge you to think of this verse for life rather than death. What does that line/verse mean anyway? This is what I asked myself a while ago. Understanding it has given me such comfort. A dear friend made a great analogy in order to help me see what this meant. Here it is...would you rather get hit by a truck or the shadow of a truck? Huh? Well, which? I say the shadow. I have actually been hit by a truck and it was no fun! (more on that at a later post!) Well, the belief in Christ, turning your soul over to Him is kind of like that. We will all go through times when we are afraid. This could be during life, during the sad times of losing a loved one, just the regular ol' day to day grind that sometimes gets the better of us, OR the actual death experience. This verse lets us know, that death...actually forever death will never get us. We will see it, we will feel it in a way BUT it will only be the shadow of death. The shadow of a truck hitting us might make us catch our breath, frighten us for a quick moment but we don't need to be afraid cause it's only a shadow!! Only a shadow. How many times does a child call for momma when the shadows in his/her life are scary? We have comfort for them when we point out it's only a shadow. Christ does the same thing for us. In life, He is there to reassure us that all those big scary times are nothing but shadows. Death can never really come to us when He is in our hearts. I don't know about you, but that gives me comfort in my today's!

Okay...I was listening to the radio and baseball spring training was being discussed. Now, this was a Christian station. You may wonder what on earth spring training has to do with Christian radio. Well, a wonderful analogy was made between living a Christian life and "the boys of summer" starting their spring training. These ball players, who make millions of dollars for playing baseball freakishly well, go back to the basics every spring. Every spring!! They work on the fundamentals of the game. They brush up on everything from catching, to throwing, to batting. Don't we need to do that too? For me, I find myself needing to go over the very basics of what God expects of me. God gently (sometimes not so gently) reminds me of this need usually when I start to get really full of myself. Yuck. All the Holy Spirit needs to do is remind me....just a little...of the NON-Godly mentality, actions, words....that can come from little ol' me. Oh boy, that is such a wake up call. After I get done having a pitty party, after I get over realizing I am a pile of poo (again), I get on with doing what God wants me to do. When I think of "the basics" of Christianity...I think of the big 10. You know, the Ten Commandments. Being raised Catholic, this is where my head goes. I have come to realize that many others don't think too much on the big ten. Well, I say, God wrote them in stone for us....maybe I should know them and live them out. With this, I turn to them in scripture. Where are they you ask? Well, if you are like me you were given a puffy covered bible with lots of gold on it when you got married. Praise the Lord, I now have so many fabu bibles I think I have lost count. Anywho, in the fancy dancy puffy bible, the big 10 are usually on the inside cover. As far as where in scripture can they be found...Exodus 20:2-17.

Here is my version of what the big 10 are...in order...minus the thee's and thou's...

1. Have no other gods. Just ME!

2. Don't have any gods of any kind! This means don't put money higher than me, don't put status higher than me, don't put your job higher than me, don't put a loved one higher than me....not even a hobby! I need to be at the top please.

3. Don't take my name in vain. (don't put my name into your vocabulary in a quick witted, flipant, non-caring way) Sadly, this one is very tough! So sad.

4. Keep the Sabbath holy. (set aside some time for just you and Me)

5. Honor your father and mother (even if they don't deserve it)

6. Don't murder anyone.

7. Don't sleep with someone that is not your spouse.

8. Don't take what does not belong to you...that is stealing.

9. Don't say untrue things about other people.

10. Don't desire anything that other people have. (don't try to keep up with the Jones') (this means their spouses, their car, their house, their jobs, etc)



Now, some bible versions have these listed a bit different. I think that everyone can agree in the general idea of them all. Right off the bat, I can see that there were years...years of my life where so many of these were broken on a regualar basis. Even the ones that seem like I should be able to say, check! No problem with the murder one. I did not kill anyone and I don't plan on it. Well, since I have become someone who actually reads scripture, I have learned that Jesus teaches us that if we have anger issues, if we have hatred in our hearts for someone, we have committed murder. (see Matt 5:21,22)WHAT!! You have to be kidding! I can't even cross that one off! Now, all this may feel like there is no hope. It may feel like all is lost so why try? Well, Ephesians 2:4-9 gives me hope. Such joy, such relief! I will paraphrase what it means to me....

Because our Creator, our God, is so full of love and mercy for us, he gave us Jesus. He gave us something/someone that could bring us closer to him. Even though we are such sinners, we are capable of such "regular" yuck all the way to horrible yuck, God still shows us mercy and love. By his grace and his grace alone, we get to be with God through our belief in Jesus, his son. None of our works can get us to God. None of our sins can remove us from God...as long as we stand with Jesus, God graciously loves on us and saves us. It is a free gift. A gift!! It can not be earned, we can't do anything "good enough" to receive this gift. It is his gift, to us.

My question is, will you take it? If no, please search deeper and consider it. If yes, have you been thankful today for that gift?
Yeah, i know...all that from the start of baseball spring training!

Can you believe this! I think God asked me to start a Blog!! Crazy.

Well, as crazy as it sounds...I think I am supposed to be starting a blog. And when I say "supposed to" I mean....I think God wants me to. Who would have thought that God was in on the hip world of blogging! = 0 ) Those who know Him, know that he is everywhere so I guess He can know about blogging? Right? Anywho, reaching out to more people and sharing what God has so graciously shown me has been on my heart for sometime now. So, in obediance....here I go!! Wish me luck!

I'd like to make sure that anyone (IF anyone) reading this knows I have some serious reservations about doing this. As I type, I am finding that my hands are shaking. How silly. Here are my issues with even starting this blog...
1. Am I even COOL enough to be blogging?
2. Why do I even think anyone would be interested in what I have to say?
(I think this worry is just a lie from the pit..so I will just address that later.)
3. I am thanking God for the creation of spellchecker cause He knows I will need it!
4. My biggest concern is that inflection, tone, personality, humor...often gets lost in translation when writing. My prayer is that I am always aware of that and God helps me to use words that give live, words that bring Him glory and that if anyone is confused about my intent, they realize that I ONLY WRITE FROM A PLACE OF LOVE.
Okay....here goes.