Don't stop to think. Just be.

As most single people, I am asked the following questions on a regular basis:

"Are you happy?"
"Do you not want to get married?"
"What is wrong with you?"
"How is it that you are single?"

Now, I try to be nice when answering these questions...but I really just want to tell these nosey individuals to kiss my ass and get out of my business. However, my usual reaction is to politely laugh and answer with a generic response.

What defines happiness? It is different for everyone. We don't look alike and we don't act alike, leaving me with the conclusion that our fulfillment for happiness is different.

John the Baptist said, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30) Once we soak in Christ and realize just how good He is, then we shall feel the peace and happiness that we all seek. Living a life lost in Christ is a good description of being happy. This is not to say bad times will not occur, but when they do, you better prepared.

Sadly enough, people try to look at you instead of themselves. My dad has given great advice through the years. During this season of my life with major decisions needing to be made, I can't help but to think of him telling me...Pray. A lot. Do your part of the leg work. Then follow what gives you peace. You will see then that you are happy.

"Lord, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God." Psalms 38:15

Like Bob Marley says, Don't worry, Be happy! In your marriage, job, singleness, or hobby...find it. And smile. This journey called life can be scary but praise the Lord for His salvation and love.

And always remember, Bruster's Birthday Cake Ice Cream can help out with happiness...Amen!

"The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." - 1 John 2:17

Wow. Powerful. Everlasting.

Decisions can be tough to make. Some are big and some are small. There are those that really don't matter. Some decisions bring change. And I'm a firm believer that change is good.

During this season in my life, I am making decisions. All I have decided to do is to follow His will. And that is enough. Be faithful. Be firm. Live forever.

Oh, the things you will do...

It has been awhile. Lots has happened. Lots hasn't happened. I'll do my best to catch you up.

I was in Denver, Colorado for 3 weeks out of the past 7 weeks. I love it out there. Here are a few snaps from the trips.

Changes are happening in my life daily. I don't mind it one bit. I finally have moved past things and enjoying my life and what all is to come. It doesn't get any better than that. Pictures are good. Here are more....

I filmed my first deer hunt. It was a great experience. However, I'm not the best camerawoman!!
I took this sweet young man hunting. He harvested his first deer. It was a great weekend.

Play. Eat. Laugh. Pray.

Prayer Warriors...

Prayers needed. She now has 2 spots in her heart that are leaking. Surgery will happen soon.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jaimemills


God bless her beautiful heart...

Desire

I did it. I got an HTC Desire. Too much money for such a small brain (like mine). Surely I'll figure it out...one day. As for now, I will sit and look at it wondering how I'll ever figure it out!

If you need a pick-me-up in the Jackson area...CS's Peanut Butter Pie will work.

God bless us all, one day left in this week!

Big Baby Pete

15 months old. Over 3 feet tall. Weighing in at pounds.

Yep. That's my nephew. Peter. Or as I like to call him, Big Baby Pete. He still calls me "Cracker". We're working on being politically correct on that...but there is just no changing it at this current time. We won't be going out in public for a little bit!

I'm going out there in a month...and I can't wait. Here are a few updated photos of the big, wild man himself!

This Peter after his great fall. He broke his sweet little leg. But the Bronco orange cast seems to help him feel better!

He is a great help to Leslie when she is baking cupcakes. He makes me laugh!!!!
His big toe is funny!

He knows he is funny!

Coolest Man I Know

How amazing is our Lord? He's a pretty cool dude. Lately, I have had many hurting friends and family members. As humans, we often cause our own pain. We stumble. We fall. We go down the wrong road. We are lost. Pain can also come to us through things we cannot control. Take my sister, Jaime, for instance. Brain tumors and a weak heart are things she can't control. Sure wish we could.

I don't like hurting. If you like it...let me suggest you go and talk to someone. However, I do like knowing that pain can cause one to draw closer to Christ. That is always a good thing. Pain leads to prayer. Prayer leads to strength. Strength leads to hope. Hope leads to facing the world with your head held high. Facing the world makes you long for Him. It is a beautiful, twisted, confusing, mind blowing situation. AND I LOVE IT!!!

If you are reading this, then you were given one more day. Do good today. Walk it. Talk it. Be it. His plan for us has just begun. The moment you finally fall into His arms and rest in His hands is possibly the best feeling we'll ever feel on this earth.

God is good but life is still hard. Follow. Allow. He can. One day your tears will be wiped away. Do good. See good. Be good.

Going somewhere?

Knowing Where You’re Going will Keep You From Making Bad Decisions

Donald Miller. Yep. Him again. Reading through this blog...couldn't help but to tune into this one. Couldn't have said it better myself.

What to do with your life? Big decision. Know where you are. Who you are. And where you are headed.

I am weak. But He is strong.

I have been pondering the issue of strength and weakness lately. I wonder if the moments of our existence that are played out on this stage known as life, if what I am see and experiencing daily, are strengths or weaknesses? For example, if a man falls for the seduction of woman or a bottle of empty promises, then realizes he has sacrificed everything dear to him for a fleeting moment of pleasure, do we consider his weakness that lead to his downfall or do we consider the strength that it takes for him to admit his wrong doings and desire for repentance? What about a child whose actions cause parents to loose faith and trust in them? As time passes and the hard lessons are learned, is that child always going to be considered a wild card, untrustworthy or can their foolish actions be put behind them and forgotten?

I think it is human nature to first act on emotion and play out the hand that is dealt. Hope of a positive outcome is more often than not, just hope, but it is not what guides our actions. It is the stress and hurt and betrayal we experience that tend to dictate how we deal with the valleys in life. Time does heal all things, but it does not erase the memories. And when our backs are up against the wall, we often remember the sting of past events and it weighs in on our decisions.

As Christians, we are called to a higher level of tolerance, acceptance and ultimately forgiveness. The weakness displayed in our lives reiterates the fact that we are human. Though created by our Lord God, in His image, we bear the burden and responsibility of free will. Having failed us in the Garden of Eden in the first days of man's existence, free will, will forever be our downfall IF it is not handled with guidance from God. I am one of "those people" who is guilty of acting out of emotion rather than counseling with my Lord first, admitting that sometimes I KNOW what God would want me to do, but instead I chose to handle it my way for for the sake of instant gratification. This has always been my weakness, and as a daughter of Eve, it is in my genes and it takes far more effort to rebel against it than not. It is easy for me to justify anger with hurt, or the lack of trust with the memory hard life lessons learned. I am not the first, nor will I be the last. I am in good company when it comes to misbehaving children of God. Take King David or Jonah for instance.

But God does not see things the same way I do and thank goodness for that! For if my Lord handled me in the same manner that I have handled life, I don't think I would be here today. I am sure he would have thrown his hands up in the air and said, "I give up, you are hopeless and not worth my time or effort." But His love is immeasurable. It is greater than any emotion we know. It is, I believe, unconceivable. To love all of mankind, regardless of the choices they make or the pain we inflict on each other and the world as a whole, is beyond our comprehension. Yet as a child of Christ, personally I rely on this inconceivable notion that my Lord LOVES me......he loves me.

So back to the question, are our downfalls and/or our acknowledgments of then, demonstrations of strength or weakness? I believe they are both...at the same time. For when we are at our weakest moments, God is at his strongest. Through our failures, He is made great and we can only see His true glory, grace and mercy when we are at the lowest point, on our knees looking up.

The pain we experience and inflict can be more than we can bear, but its not for God. And when our soul feels slightly lighter, when you see a mere glimpse of hope, a flickering light, get ready, because God is getting ready to claim the glory and redeem our failures into a blessing. That's the wonderful thing about our Lord. Any struggle we endure and then give unconditionally to Him, He can restore with hope and trust and love in you and those around you, stronger and deeper than it was before. Don't be afraid of your failures, be afraid of pride that might keep you from recognizing them. Don't dwell on the loss, instead lift your eyes and claim the healing that was made yours by His death on a cross. Your suffering was your choice, so was his. But the difference is He paid the price for the consequences so that you could have a second chance to get it right. Your weaknesses and failures cannot sentenced you to eternal death and condemnation if you're a child of God. He has defeated the enemy and will not allow your pain to claim His glory. Give Him the mistakes of life as well as the praise, for just as the Bible teaches us, God's glory in all situations is far greater than our own.

Have a good week friends!

Walkin'

Peter can walk. Listen at the end....he says "flash card". He is a big boy! Les is about to have her hands REALLY full!

Music

I love it. I truly do.

The link below is to a song that will speak to anyone. Been there, done that moment. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnpl_2BKXAE

Rocky Mountain Boy

I love my nephew. He stole my heart right away. Then he owned my heart when he put down 2 pancakes, 1 banana, 2 slices of cantaloupe, and a glass of milk. Growing boys must eat.

The other day his daycare teacher found rocks in his diaper. I'm sure he'll be ok. Yes. I find this extremely funny.

The moral of this story is...When you have rocks in your stomach, you must go through the pain to get them out. Then you can chomp down on some pancakes. Glorious!

Right from Wrong

1985 was the year I thought I was going to die. As you can tell, I didn't. I can't remember exactly what I did so wrong. All I can remember is fearing for my life. I saw dad coming towards me with his thick, brown, leather belt. He tells me to turn around and bend over. Now this the point when many kids would scream or cry. Not me.


Just as soon as I bent over, I turned around and grabbed the belt out of his hand and hit him with it. Realizing what I did, I panic and run. Luckily, I had neighbors that loved me. Mr. and Mrs. T were their names. They were old. They gave me Coke in a bottle everytime I went over there. Yep. That is where I ran to.


Mrs. T, knowing I did something wrong, invites me inside and offers me a Coke. I gladly take it, thinking I won this battle. I now know what my father was doing...He knew where I ran to and that more than likely I was enjoying my Coke. Being the man that he is, he waited.


It was 10 minutes later and I hear the knock of death. He found me. Scared again, I hide in the closet and beg the T's to act like I wasn't there. Hidden in the closet, I can hear their conversation. Dad asked if I was there. They tell him no. I hear footsteps coming towards me. He opens the closet door and I burst into tears.


I find it crazy that I have no idea what I did wrong. All I know is I messed up. I had to suffer the consequences. That is life. We get to make decisions. We get to pick which road we go down. We get to choose right from wrong.

Try to make wise decisions. Try to listen to what He tells you. Try. It is hard. But do it.

Happy Wednesday!

Yep. 5K is creeping up on me. August 7 is almost here. Gotta keep running!

Personal Challenge

I believe in having goals. I believe in sharing dreams with others. I believe in having personal challenges set for yourself. The night of my 28th birthday, in the mist of it all, I sat down and made a personal challenge check-off list.

Here are a few tid bits of my challenges:
1. Run in 4 events (first one is August 7...oh my!)
2. Travel to 2 new places
3. Save more money than I did last year
4. Learn a new hobby
5. Find a church that fits me

These are just a few. And I hope to check these things off by my next birthday. That would be nice. I'll keep you updated on my progress. And hopefully I can still breathe after August 7!

4 Day Challenge

4 Day Belief Challenge - Dr. Gary Smalley

If you are struggling with things like pride, anger, unforgiveness, selfishness, lust ... Dr. Gary Smalley encourages us all to take the Four Day Belief Challenge! In areas where we shouldn't let our heart and mind wander, taking those thoughts captive and surrendering them to God. It starts by memorizing these four commands of Christ through these 4 verses (Dr. Smalley says to think upon these things 7-14 times a day and see the difference it makes in your life) :

1) Matthew 5:3 - Blessed are the poor in spirit. Instead of being boastful and arrogant (pride), be humble.

2) Mark 12:30 - Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength

3) Mark 12:31 - Loving your neighbor as yourself. Serving others, instead of using others for our own gain and pleasure.

4) Matthew 5:9,10- Trials are not bad. Thank God for the pain.


I am on day 3. So far, so good. No matter what the trial in your life is and how big it seems to be...you can find comfort in Our King. May we all be humble, loving, and faithful.

Happy Birthday

I'll be 28 tomorrow. Yippy. The days leading up to my birthday have been less than pleasurable. I love a good birthday but this will is different.

As I learned many things within the past few weeks, I will say that the most important 'life lesson' from these few weeks is this: Trusting people is hard. But do it. People will hurt you. Don't hurt them. When you say I love you. Mean it.

Three little things. Seems easy. It isn't. At the age of 28 I feel like I am starting all over. This is not a bad thing. I'm thankful the bad is gone and I can, once again, be faithful in knowing that good is up ahead.

Bring on 28. I'm ready.

P.S.- Miller lost his buddy. He is lost without him. So far I've lost...my wallet, leg of a chair, and a shoe. Must find him a new friend ASAP!!!!

Mower and Life

Life brings about changes. For me, change happens often. So I learn to adapt and push through.

A big change happened in my life last week. One that I didn’t see coming. And not a change that I wanted. Though it happened and I could do nothing it still hurt. The change hurt me. But as time passes, so will the hurt.

I love to laugh. Laughing and smiling are two things I’m fairly good at. I’m about to tell you a story that sums up my life. Smile. Cry. Laugh. Learn.

Peter (nephew) was in MS all week. We had a blast together. Unfortunately, the time came for him to fly back to Denver and for me to cut my grass. I have a small 20” push mower. Not new. Not fancy. But cuts the grass.

I tried to cut my grass one night while Peter was in town. I couldn’t get the mower to crank. Me being the problem solver that I am (not with all things), I tried to figure out why I could not get this mower to crank. I figured it out. It needed new oil. I buy the oil and pour it in. The mower still will not crank.

A few days pass and the grass is super tall. I tell my dad about my mower situation and he suggests that I need a new spark plug. I get home and 30 minutes later, I figured out what a spark plug is. I twist off the old one and head straight to Lowe’s. They nicely sell me a new spark plug that I installed. I crank the mower. It cranks, however, I was highly embarrassed because of the large smoke cloud following me. I let it smoke for 3 minutes…cut one row without seeing where I was going…and I turn the mower off. Upset.

Enough of this. I was not about to continue cutting my grass with my mower smoking up the neighborhood. How many have guessed the problem? Yep. The mower needed a spark plug but it also had too much oil. I figured this out and 3.5 hours later my lawn was freshly cut.

Like life, sometimes we need a new spark plug. Something new. A change. Other times in life, we need to just keep things fresh and refueled like the oil. Whichever way you prefer to look at it, life is about working. Working at your job. Working on your relationships. Working on your faith. You get the picture. So change the oil and keep going or get something brand new in your life.

The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. And you never know the “if’s” in life when you don’t try. My yard looks good. My mower just needed a little tendin’ to! (I really should pay someone to cut my grass!!!)

Encourage

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24

I wanted to share these verses. They spoke to me this morning on different levels. Hope they encourage you too!

We go through ups and downs. And yet, He will see us through.

4 letter word

Pathetically enough, I watched the movie Valentine’s Day this weekend. Hollywood really makes things ‘work for the best’. Not a single actor in the movie ended up alone. Magical.

However, there was only one part of that movie I agreed with: Love is a feeling. We all need feelings. And love is the best feeling.

I believe in love. I believe it will and can happen for anyone. I believe one day I will have a strong, long-lasting love with one man. I believe in staying together and working on your relationship every day.

I am single. Never been married. However, I have many friends that are married, divorced, single or widowed. We each have our own story. All stories are worthy of telling.

I have come to a point in my life that some big decisions must be made. I can’t help but to think about the man that showed me how a husband and father should be. My dad. He is a great man. I am his youngest girl and we have a special relationship.

Over the past few days, dad and I have had the opportunity to talk about life, work, relationships and love. How blessed I am to have a father that cares so much. His advice is never selfish or harmful. His love is never fake. And his hug is always comforting. Happy father’s day dad! I love you.

Love.

Another day...

My job is different. More than likely, it is different than yours. I like my job. I like being outside. I like animals. I like exploring new thing. Here's what I've been up to lately:
Turkey hunting in Kemper County. 10.5" beard and 1" spurs. Great story if you have the time.

Fishing in Jones County at Lake Bogue Homa. Great place to go fishing...lots of fish!!!

I went with the crew to tag alligators at the Reservoir. This gator was almost 13 ft long.

I find these things neat. Not everyone would. That is what makes the world go round. Get outside soon. It is about to 90+ degrees...so hurry up. Hot is no good.