It's my time!

Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of this curse...The Lord will reply, “Look! I am sending you grain and new wine and olive oil enough to satisfy your needs. You will no longer be an object of mockery among the surrounding nations...Don’t be afraid, my people. Be glad now and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things... Rejoice, you people of Jerusalem! Rejoice in the Lord your God! For the rain he sends demonstrates his faithfulness. Once more the autumn rains will come, as well as the rains of spring. The threshing floors will again be piled high with grain, and the presses will overflow with new wine and olive oil. The Lord says, “I will give you back what you lost to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts, the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts. It was I who sent this great destroying army against you. Once again you will have all the food you want, and you will praise the Lord your God, who does these miracles for you. Never again will my people be disgraced. Then you will know that I am among my people Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other. Never again will my people be disgraced.

Joel 2:14, 19, 21, 23-27

I try to be considerate of other's feelings, and for that reason I'm restraining myself to an extent to say all I wish to say. However, the other day I read these verses in Joel and instantly I felt my Spirit Man jumping up and down. Y'all...the past several years have had many many growing pains. The Lord has taught us, used us, disciplined us, strengthened us, and guided us through and in so many different situations. Some were caused by God, some were allowed by God - but either way, He was glorified. And now is my time. My time to choose to praise the Lord on this side of it all. To sing his praises and declare LOUDLY and boldly that The Lord is good - his faithfulness extends to all generations! He has indeed restored the years. We see it, even as we are just entering this new chapter. And yes, there will be more tears, and growing pains, throughout this new journey but we rejoice because we have tasted and seen once more that the Lord is good. 


1 Chronicles 16:9
Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.

Psalm 40:3-4a 

He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what he has done and be amazed. They will put their trust in the Lord. Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord...

so many things!

It's been a while since I last blogged, but its because so many things have been going on! So here they are in no particular order:

1)We just got back from our Thanksgivemas trip to Memphis. Every year, we do Thanksgiving and Christmas together with my parents, hence Thanksgivemas. Usually we are there the week of Thanksgiving, but this year our friends Joe and Leann were in town! They're missionaries in Argentina,but they're on furlough for a while so we got to see their little boy and meet their baby girl! So. Much. Fun!! We got to stay with our friends Maria and Alex which was a blast and their dog Dorsey may have converted Andy into a dog-lover. And if that wasn't enough, my friend Natalie got engaged while we were in town so we got to celebrate with her! Talk about God's perfect timing - so great!

2)On a different note, that ever elusive puzzle that I was so excited about back in March - well the puzzle was completed today, but instead of being a beautiful picture of a sunset or rainbow or some other happiness, the picture was a big fat "NO" sign. It's frustrating for sure, but I know God knows better than me. His thoughts are not my thoughts; His ways are not mine. Some other good stuff is happening though so that's good. More on that soon perhaps

3)We got to hang out with a student last night who is just hurting emotionally. Her parents just split, her mom who she's living with doesn't get her at all, and she is doing her best to hang on until she graduates in early June. She called us out of the blue and asked to hang out - said she didn't care what we did, she just wanted out of the house. So we got mexican food and talked for a couple hours! Andy talked "geek speak" with her about video games, and it made me thankful for a husband that knows so much about so many topics so that the can effectively minister to so many! If you think of it, keep B in your prayers!

Thats the synposis of our life right now. Hopefully, I'll keep this up to date better now

Teenagers

"If we are to have significant influence of our teenage children we must have their hearts. Winning their hearts means gaining the opportunity to influence who they are, not just what they do."

This quote was found in this article that has been making a bit of buzz... good stuff in there. http://www.joshharris.com/2011/09/homeschool_blindspots.php
The article is kind of about homeschooling and more importantly about things to be cautious of doing as a parent - its not a negative towards homeschooling in my opinion. Certainly it's an article that any parent can benefit from whether homeschooling or not. But I don't have kids...so why was I reading it? The hubs sent me the link and asked me to look it over. He had gleaned some insights from it of things to be cautious of when we do become parents one day. So I read it. Good stuff. Wise words from a father who made mistakes and realized them only after his son was grown.

Anyway, back to the quote. As the wife of a Student Pastor, we work with teenagers weekly. In fact, I've been working with teenagers since I was a teenager myself. I have "kids" that I've watched grow up from middle school to now college and beyond. People can tell me I don't know what it's like to have kids of my own, and that's partly true, but I have known the heartache of trying to advise, teach, and encourage young people and seeing them reject it. I've also known the pride and joy of seeing my "kids" walk with the Lord and serve him faithfully! And in the middle of my working with teenagers the quote it true. If we don't have their hearts, all we do and say will fall silently. Until we have their heart, we will not be able to see life-change. It's hard to earn it. But it's so worth it when you can influence who they are and not just what they do. What a reminder to me to persevere with our students - to not give up and to keep working to gain their heart.