21 Years & Still Madly in Love

Friday will be our 21st anniversary. God has been so good and I am so blessed to have David in my life! He truly is the love of my life! I could go on and on because I love him so much! This weekend we celebrated our anniversary early and went to Barnsley Gardens. It was probably the most relaxing 20+ hours I have had in a long time. The area was so calm and serene. There weren't many people there + we weren't in a hurry to get anywhere + and it was just the two of us = Amazing Time!

God's Faithfulness

This week I have been consumed with God's faithfulness. I am humbled in a spirit of gratitude.

But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Psalm 86:15 NIV

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. Duet 7:9 NIV

For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD. Psalm 117:2 NIV

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:5

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV

For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. Psalm 33:4 NIV

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91:4 NIV

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them, the LORD, who remains faithful forever. Psalm 146:5-6 NIV

But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. 2 Thess 3:3 NIV

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23 NIV

My Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday and it was amazing! My kids are the sweetest. They made breakfast for me, my favorite blueberry pancakes, and they wrote out happy birthday in pancake! It was very cool! I had lunch with two great friends! Got emails, phone calls, and facebook wishes from lots of friends. It made me feel super special! It was a great birthday!

Random Thought for Today

If you quit dwelling on the things that you don't like about a person, you might actually learn how much you like the person. It's not always easy, but true.

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." Luke 6:37 NIV

Thankful Thursday

Well, I guess I'm jumping on the bandwagon! It seems like a great idea to continually remind yourself of the things that you are thankful for, especially in this time we live in! So here I go.

I am thankful for my husband, the love of my life, who loves me just as I am!

I am thankful for my sweet girl, Jessica. She continually amazes me!

I am thankful for my boy, Alex. He keeps me smiling!

I am thankful for my church and the awesome opportunity God gives me in allowing me to serve there. It has truly been an amazing blessing!

I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for a mother's unconditional and never ending love! I am thankful for my sis and the relationship we have now! I am thankful for my dad, even though we don't have the best of relationships. I am thankful for my Smith family! I am thankful for a humble father-in-law who loves Jesus with every breath he takes. I am thankful for a mother-in-law who has taught me so much over the years, who still loves me, inspite of me being me. I am thankful for a sister-in-law who inspires me to be a better person. I am thankful for the rest of the family, each and every one. It's a big family. I could go on and on. But I can't fail to mention the newest edition, Haven. I am thankful for the joy she brings and the reminder she is of how good God is!

I am thankful for my friends!

I am thankful that I continue to remain cancer free! Yea!

I am thankful that I have a nice warm bed to sleep in every night and food to eat.

I am thankful for the journey, the things God has allowed me to go through to shape me into the person I am today, good & bad.

I am thankful that God's love never fails and that His mercy endures forever!

Money, Money, Money

Money! Money! Money! This week at church we started a new series on money. It was a great sermon on the view of money. (You can listen to the podcast at http://www.viningslake.org/) Before & after the sermon I felt I already had a great view of money. I know it's all God's. I know that He has blessed me beyond measure. I thankfully give tithes & offerings because I know that it was God who blessed me with that money and am thankful that He allows me to keep the rest of it.

Then the election came & went. I knew in my heart probably what was going to happen, but was hopeful that God would not allow it to happen. But He did allow it and Obama was elected President of the United States, the greatest country on earth. I was so angry, and am still disappointed, about the results. (Stick with me!) It infuriates me to think that I am going to have to pay more taxes to help support other people who choose not to work and support themselves. I have no problem in helping those who are not able to help themselves, but I have big issues with helping those who ARE able to help themselves. Why should I work as hard as I do if I'm just going to give it all to the government anyway? I'll just let Uncle Sam take care of me just like everyone else. Another thought since I love my job, I'll just quit paying taxes. I don't agree with most of the policies of the government, so why should I give them my money to support it? You hear commercials all the time anyway about "Settle with the IRS for pennies on the dollar", which is another topic that I have big issues with, just rewards bad behavior. But Hey if bad behavior is what this country wants, they can have it!

After I had voiced my opinion, I started to read a few other people's opinions & then God spoke to me through their words. I felt REALLY convicted and ashamed of the way that I felt. Is that the way God would want me to feel and act? Is that how I as a child of God should feel and act? It is ok to get angry, Jesus did many times. Read your Bible, it's in there! But what exactly was I angry about? It does break my heart regarding the moral issues in this country & I know it must break God's heart to see the way people He created in His own image live. But if I am being totally transparent, the thing that makes me the most angry has to do with my money and what the government plans to do with it. (I know, I'm not perfect after all!) Pete quoted Ecclesiates 5:10 on Sunday, "Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless." NIV I never really thought of myself as one who loves money, as I am generous to the church and other causes, but I guess I had a little more of that "love of money" in me than I thought. We live in a beautiful home, drive nice cars, and don't do without the things we need. God has blessed us tremendously!! Need was the word there, I do without a lot of things that I want. I would love to dress like most of my friends, I would love to have designer purses and sunglasses, I would love to go shopping every time I felt like it, I would love to buy my kids whatever their heart desired, I would love to go out to eat anytime I wanted to, I would love to go the movies or do something fun with my family everytime I wanted to, I would love to have a pedicure every week, I would love to have a maid clean my house, I would love to decorate my house to the T, I would love to go to the spa occasionally, I would love to take several nice vacations with my family each year, I would love to have some cosmetic surgery (girls, don't we all?). To think that I can't afford to have what I WANT and then the government is going to take more of my money away, well it just really makes me angry. I know that's not how I should feel, because it's all God's anyway and He has blessed us with so much more than we even deserve!! So my prayer today is that God would first forgive me for the way I feel, forgive me for my love of money and stuff, and that He would know that I am SO thankful for all that He has blessed me with. I pray that we, the church, would unite as a family of God and let His love shine through us even though we don't see eye to eye on all the issues. I pray for our country, that God would radically move among His people to make a difference for His Kingdom! Putting oursevles and our desires behind us, and pressing on to the call of Christ!


Proverbs 17:1 Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting with strife.

Fall & Military Ball 2008

It was a beautiful day at the Smith's!! This is from our back yard.

I love the colors of fall!! Alex & Skip
Jessica - Military Ball 2008

Isn't she beautiful??

Friends

This week we went to Gatlinburg for staff retreat. I didn't know what to expect with this being our first one, but I had an AMAZING time! Our staff is such a riot that we can really go anywhere and have fun! We spent several LONG hours watching the dear in Cades Cove (54 total). We hiked 5 miles on Abram's Trail (and I made it!!). We ate some awesome steak and almost got thrown out of the Peddler. We took a really long detour on the bypass! Riddle beat everybody in putt-putt. We rode 4 wheelers up the mountain and it was actually fun, after I got past my nerves. Melissa & Hollie made me walk up this extremely steep hill. (Melissa said I would have a J-low bottom if I kept it up! ha!) We laughed together. We played together. We prayed together. It was an incredible time learning how much I love these people that God has allowed me to serve with!!

My girl

Well, we survived the Homecoming Dance!! Jessica had a great time and she was beautiful!! Today was an exciting day, Jessica got her Driver's License!! David's out now taking her on a driving lesson. I offered but she said it would be bonding time with her Dad. I am so proud of her! She is turning into an amazing young lady, so passionate to tell others about this great God we serve! She is such a blessing!!

Congrats!

Congratulations EB & Shake! It was a fun week! Love you guys!

My sweet children!!

Family

One of my neices, Elizabeth, is getting married this weekend, which means lots of family in town. I have had the best time this week getting to spend time with my precious family, something I rarely get to do. My neice is marrying into a great Indian family and I have really enjoyed getting to know the Indian culture. They love Jesus, love family, and love to have fun!! It has been a blast! We even got to do some Indian dancing! (You'll just have to imagine that, no pictures!) Here's a picture of Elizabeth at the Henna ceremony last night.

This is my great neice Haven. Isn't she beautiful? You don't get to see it here, but she has the most amazing smile. I love her name, based on Psalm 46:1, God truly is our refuge and strength!

This is a picture of Jessica & my henna artwork. Fun!

Love Encounter

I was first exposed to this song at Lit Conference sung by Seth Condrey (amazing singer). Thank you Cody & Katie for the opportunity to serve with you at Lit. May the seeds that were planted at Lit grow & multiply! I didn’t fully get the depth of the song until I took a moment to think through all the words.

“He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.”

Just picture this……. you are a tree. His love is blowing over you like a hurricane and you are bending beneath his love and mercy.

“When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, And I realize just how beautiful You are, And how great Your affections are for me.”

..… your afflictions being eclipsed by His glory. His glory overshadowing your afflictions.

“And oh, how He loves us so, Oh how He loves us, How He loves us so! Yeah, He loves us, Oh how He loves us, Oh how He loves us, Oh how He loves.We are His portion and He is our prize, Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes, If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.”

…..We are all sinking in an ocean of God’s amazing grace.

"So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss, And my heart turns violently inside of my chest, I don’t have time to maintain these regrets, When I think about, the way…He loves us, Oh how He loves us, Oh how He loves us, Oh how He loves.”

……I don’t have time to maintain the regrets in my life when I think about the way that He loves me!

Take a few minutes and listen to Kim Walker’s version of this song. It is extremely powerful. Please listen all the way to the end, I know it's long, but you'll be blessed. I pray that you have a love encounter with Christ.

It's ok......

I am learning more and more everyday that it really is ok……….
It’s ok to say no. It’s ok to leave the house without makeup. It’s ok if your car is dirty, oh yea, your house too. It’s ok if your son leaves the house in dirty clothes (I guess). It’s ok if you have to drive your kids all over the place. It’s ok for the refrigerator to be empty every now and then. It’s ok to not answer the phone. It’s ok to take a minute for yourself. It’s ok to have ice cream or chocolate cake (occasionally). It’s ok to play Rock Band like a rock star! It’s ok to love and befriend people who are not like you. It’s ok to not go to church on Sunday night, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and every other day some ask you to be there. It’s ok to love your husband passionately. It’s ok to truly worship with arms raised. It’s ok to minister to other people even if it cost you. It’s ok for you to be who God created you to be! It’s ok to not be perfect. It’s ok to be me!!