Faith grows even as time flies...

I must start by saying that I hate to come up with titles. They always seem sooooo cheesy! As cheesy as it is, I hope it sums this blog up okay. Anyway, it's been awhile but I have formulated many blogs in my mind, I just haven't had the time to actually type them. Life seems to get busier and time really seems to fly with each passing second. I can't really complain, though. Life is going pretty good right now.

We recently got rid of our DirectTV (which I loved), so that's been an adjustment. We will be able to get local channels and such, when we get a converter box and the required cables but again, time... and money (or lack there of). Again, I can't really complain too much. This has given us more time with the boys and each other. Also, we haven finally gotten our money's worth out of our Netflix subscription.

With the tv-free time, I've been able to read a little bit more. I'm currently in the middle of the book of Daniel (in the Bible, of course) and also, When Christ Comes by Max Lucado. The man speaks on my level. Both of these have spoken to my heart so much. The faith and trust that Daniel had, as well as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. From the three men being thrown into the fiery furnance and Daniel into the lion's den, they trusted God and his will. I often feel as if I don't have enough faith. I can't imagine having enough to face hungry lions but them I'm reminded of this verse:

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." ~Matthew 17:20


So, I pray and have faith that my faith will continue to grow. And isn't it awesome to know that Jesus prays for us.

Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ~Romans 8:34

My Turn around

Well, it looks like I'm having another late night with this blog. I hope this doesn't become a habit. I sure hope I make sense and don't run this thing all over the place. It's late, I'm tired and very hungry. That doesn't make for good focusing. However, I can't sleep and I feel the Lord has laid this upon my heart to share. My first blog back was pretty much my testimony. This one is about the start of this new journey. I haven't shared this first part with anyone, except maybe my mom and husband.

Back in April, a young man died in a tragic car accident. It's every parents worst nightmare. He was barely twenty and his mother's only son. I babysat him for a summer, way back when, and his family is dear to my heart and many others. It was, and still, such a heartbreaking time for so many.

During his funeral, we heard many funny and wonderful stories about his life. But something that stuck with me the most was how he would pray over his meals, even at work, by himself. It was such a quick and simple part of his life, but what a witness it was. I've never really done that, much less teach my child to do that. His parents instilled in him a love for God and it was evident in him taking the time to thank God for a simple thing as lunch. This got the conviction ball rolling in me. Casey and I had been saying we needed to get back into church. I even said something to the extent of "I know where I stand and where I'm gonna go, but we need to do it for the kids". (Don't I feel arrogant and stupid because little did I know what the Holy Spirit had in store for me...)

I knew I wasn't setting the example for my kids. How could I expect them to love God when I wasn't showing them how to love and obey him myself? So from that point, we decided to get back into church. It was kind of a slow process but we encouraged each other and felt the love that was in our church and haven't been the same since! :) Dylan was saved this summer and I just pray that God keeps his hand on him and he continues to grow in faith and love for the Lord. And for Deacon, as well. I was saved in October and Casey re-dedicated his life. I truly feel our family is now on the right track and I believe the Lord used that young man's life and his family to help me see what I was missing and get my family where we needed to be. I hope and pray that my family can be a witness for the Lord, like they were for us.

Thank goodness God allows u-turns. They're called mercy and grace.

A New Beginning.

I haven't blogged in awhile. This could be a long one, so I'm just gonna jump right into it.

I can't sleep tonight. I've got a lot on my mind, but, surprisingly, it's good things. I think I'm going to take this blog in a new direction. I'll (try) to update with what my family and I are doing, but really, we are pretty boring. Honestly, I'm not sure where I'll take this blog or where it will take me, but we're both willing participants. Okay, so much for just jumping right in. I'm going to start out with my testimony.

I gave my life to Jesus on October 18,2009. I was shocked! Let me back up and give a little background info. I was born in Hot Springs, AR. I've pretty much been in church (on and off) all of my life. We started out Presbyterian, then switched to Baptist, when I was around 6 or 7. At the age of 8, during vacation Bible school, I repeated a prayer that our preacher said and got saved. I was baptized the following Sunday. Now, at the age of 8, I really didn't know what I was doing. I knew it was the right thing to do but had no understanding of what being saved really was.

When I was 11, we moved to Alabama. Hated it but that's another story and lifetime ago. My parents found us a warm and loving church here. I was about 12 or 13 and like most Sundays, the preacher asked "if you were to die today, do you know where you would go?". I panicked. I didn't want to go to hell. At this point, I realized that I didn't understand much at 8 and that I need to go up and get saved. So I went, I got baptized again.

Skip ahead 14 years or so, and we have October 2009. I'm at the same church, although I'd been to a couple different ones between then and now. (You always find your way back home.) The preacher who baptized me for the second time is back as our temporary preacher, until we call a new one. He is preaching a series on what every Christian should know. One thing every Christian should know is if he or she is TRULY saved. That sermon knocked the wind out of me like no other. I was shocked! That still, small voice they talk about was moving and thunderous. I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. I was shaking, sweating and tears were filling my eyes. When the invitation was given, I didn't really know what to do. I'd been baptized twice, surely it stuck one of those times. I went to go down the alter but another family had gone up to join the church. This, unfortunately, gave me the opportunity to change my mind about going up and gave my pride a chance to sink in.

I fought this for two weeks. It never left my mind and it felt like I had a knot the size of Texas in my stomach. I tried to justify my salvation and convince myself that I was indeed saved. I even went up to rededicate my life. I thought that would give me peace... it didn't. That night, I was lying in bed and it felt like a boulder fell on me. I knew that I was lost. I'd never truly given my life to the Lord. I went up, again, the next Sunday and I gave it all to Him. I was also baptized for a third time. :) Y'all, I couldn't ignore him any longer and I am so thankful he didn't give up on me! He WILL get your attention. He got mine!

My wish and HOPE is that everyone I know can feel the joy, love and peace that I feel. I've always believed in Jesus, that he is our Savior and that he loved us, but there is a big difference in believing with your head and with your heart. For whatever reason, that connection was broken, until recently. Now, my eyes have been opened to His love and to so many amazing things and I haven't even scratched the surface, which is truly exciting!

Does this mean that I don't have bad days? Of course not! I had one today but knowing that the Lord is right there with me and that He truly cares for me and loves me, makes things not seem so bad. I recover much easier. Does this mean I don't sin? Definitely not! I'm still going to sin and on a daily, if not hourly, basis. But, I should keep a short account of my sins. I'm learning, and I'll share more about this on a later post, that when we are saved, we have two natures. One being our old nature and the new being Jesus. It is an everyday decision to let Jesus lead you and not your old nature. It's a constant battle but I'm sure I'll write more about that later (this is getting super long). God's love, grace and mercy is so amazing. I'm not sure we will fully understand just how amazing until he comes back for us (which I believe is very soon)!

I hope that whoever reads this continues to read this and follows my journey. We all need love and support. If you aren't saved or aren't sure, I hope you will search your heart and consider all that Jesus sacrificed for us. It's a precious gift and the best that you could ever receive. And what better time, then when our Savior was born.

Romans 5:8-9 (New International Version)

8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!

Gravity Wave

This is a video of a gravity wave. We had it happen in our area and it caused lots of wind and there were numerous trees knocked down. I seriously thought that our big pine tree was gonna come down but thankfully there was no damage here. I think the video is pretty amazing.

Bedtime Prayer, Storms

Tonight, I was lying in bed with Dylan and we were saying our prayers. I always say mine first, just so he can get an idea of what to say. This is what he prayed tonight:

"Dear heavenly father, thank you for letting momma lay with me, forget us our sins and bad things are bad things. Amen."

I thought is was funny and cute, maybe because I'm his mom.

********************************

Today, we had some pretty bad storms come through. My babies were at my mom's and Casey, Cory and I were at Smokey's. We heard on the radio that there was a tornado on the ground just a few miles outside of town, headed our way. We had been kinda slow up until this point. As soon as the tornado sirens went off, we got super busy. Now, I'm usually not the kind to turn away business, but it was hailing (sp?) and the wind was a-blowin'. It was not pretty outside. I couldn't believe people were out in that mess. Of course, I guess it could be said that our food is just that good. People will brave a tornado for our food.

A new perspective

You must be thinking "oh my gosh, she blogged", or maybe not but that's okay. This weekend, I went to a funeral for a young man that was taken way before his time. His family is very dear to me and my family. We used to live down the street from them, went to church with them and one summer I babysat him. It's just so heartbreaking. There were a lot of things said this weekend that has really stuck with me and I can't seem to get them out of my head. I am a Christian, though not the kind I should be, and I don't often talk about my beliefs, at least not on here. I suppose it hasn't really come up, but something a preacher said this weekend keeps playing over and over again in my head. For some reason, I feel it's important to share. It's a simple truth but I think it's pretty powerful. I hope I haven't built it up too much. So before I do, here it is:

"For Christians, this world is as close to hell as they will ever get. For the lost, it is as close to heaven as they will ever get."

Just something to think about.

Baby Deacon Part 1

Ok, so this is way late but I thought I'd try to get some blogging done and tell y'all about baby Deacon. So let's start with the day he was born.

I had to be at the hospital at 5 am and was told to shower before I came, so I was up at 3 am. I was pretty calm and not really nervous or even excited (I kinda felt bad about that) but that would soon change. At 4:15, Casey and I headed out for the hospital. When we were about five minutes from our destination, Faith Hill's new Christmas song, "A Child Changes Everything" came on. I thought it was pretty appropriate and, of course, teared up.

We arrive at the hospital on time and sit in the waiting room until almost 6:00. I didn't think I was ever going to be taken to my room. We get back there and they start preparing me. I had my main nurse and there was another one helping her. They both looked younger than me, which kinda felt weird. Anyway, the helper nurse was doing my IV and I don't have luck with those and didn't on this day either. She had to remove her first attempt and moved it to my hand. I couldn't help but cry. I hate needles as it is and it really did hurt but you could tell she felt bad. Once she had it in, she left and I never saw her again.

Soon, my doctor was coming in and we had our little chat. He asked me one question though that kind of threw me off. He asked (in a very serious tone) "What are we here for this morning?". Ummm... "to get this baby out" I said, unsure of what exactly he wanted. I felt like this was some kind of test. It was as if he was making sure I was psychologically ready to have this baby. I was and even if I wasn't, he was going to anyway!

Long story short, the surgery went just fine. It was a little scarier this time since I wasn't drugged up like I was with Dylan. I was scheduled to have surgery at 7 am and Deacon was born 7:04. I can't believe how fast it was. Once they reached the baby, all I heard was "wow, what a big head" over and over. Guess it was a good thing I had a c-section. He weighed 8 lbs 9 oz and was 20 1/2 inches. He was a big boy. He was perfect and beautiful. I (of course) fell instantly in love.