joy

Comfort from Community (Five Minute Friday)

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Sharita

Good morning, America! (Or should I say “world?” Fun fact: 7 Days Time ministry has grown and we actually have legit and semi-regular readers in other countries. Thanks for that one, Jesus!)

Anywho, today is one of my favorite blogging days of the week. That’s right– it’s Five Minute Friday. Top three reasons why its my fav?

  1. Less pressure to get it right (or at least “perfect”)
  2. It is a great conditioning tool and change of pace from normal posts (AKA: I write for 5 minutes flat… and don’t have to come up with a topic of my own)
  3. It’s on Friday. So what’s not to love??

Every week, I link up with The Gypsy Mama… She gives us a prompt, then we go to town with our writing. Today’s prompt: “COMMUNITY.” 

Annndddd GO!

It can be found in person. It can be found online. Sometimes it shows up out of no where. Other times you gotta be more intentional.

Community is a beautiful thing.

As an army wife, finding community right where we are sometimes requires a bit of… uh…. creativity. And a lot of help from Jesus. Fortunately… He never fails us in that department.

Already in our marriage, my beloved and I have experienced a lot of challenges– not necessarily with marriage, but just life in general. Separations by duty, crazy hours, moving, life purpose limbo, miscarriage… The list continues.

But every time we have walked through something less than awesome, Jesus has been with us… as have other people in our community.

You know God is creative when He brings you to a community where we can dress like this... :-) Rocking the 80's!

We find the greatest comfort from our community within the body of Christ. What  a blessing those folks are to me! Also, I find incredible community online. You wouldn’t believe (Ok maybe you would) the kind of cheerleaders and supporters that have helped me walk through some of these challenges that were strictly from an online/blogging/commenting connection.

God is mighty and powerful. He is also INCREDIBLY creative. He brings community right where we are through a variety of avenues. We simply have to have our eyes open and be willing to rejoice in that blessed comfort of our community– regardless of how it comes into our lives.

STOP

Man, that never gets old! Such a fast-writing adrenaline rush. I feel like I should write a few more paragraphs to cool down.

But I won’t. (That’s the great thing about Fridays… One and done, baby. No overthinking. Love it.)

So as I sign off, I am curious– where do YOU find community? Do you have to seek it out or does it seem to fall in your lap? I would love to hear your Jesus community strategy– leave a comment here. 

Ok, my dear readers… Have a B-E-A-U-Tiful weekend. Oh… and thanks for being such an incredible, loving and supporting community for this crazy lil Jesus writer.

You rock my world (and so does Jesus),
SGK

“You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.” –James 3:18 (MSG) 

Categories: 1980's, community, companionship, encouragement, Five Minute Friday, joy, Love | Tags: , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Joy in the Mourning

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Sharita

It’s the day after Easter, folks… This means that in addition to Easter candy going on sale today (YAY!) and most church workers being tired after working like crazy yesterday, lent has ended for another year.

What did your 40 days bring? Mine were… um… profound.

For Lent, I “gave up” worrying. (Read “Removal of the Worrywart” for the whole story.) Long story short, God told me to stop trying to control things and not to worry so dang much about stuff. So during Lent, whenever I worried about something, I wrote it down, crinkled it up and literally laid it at the foot of a cross in my living room. Then I would write a “Faith” statement to counteract whatever worry I had. I kept the faith statements in a jar and would give myself a “refresher” when the worries started to resurface.

Well, 40 days have come and gone… God has done a number on my worrywart of a heart.

But that isn’t the “profound” part of the story.

God grew my trust in Him immensely. Here’s the profound part: My two biggest worries actually happened in the last 40 days… and God carried me through it.

Not only did He carry me through it, but I am able to write about it. And find joy… in the mourning of it all.

My first fear was miscarriage and losing our baby. I kept writing it down, laying at the foot of the cross… and it kept coming back. When that fear became a reality 27 days ago, I felt as if God had answered my prayer to prepare my heart for this baby, whatever was to happen.  Now, don’t get me wrong– if Jesus Himself came down from Heaven and asked me if I wanted things to turn out differently, I probably wouldn’t hesitate to scream “YES!” before He finished His sentence. However…

With that biggest fear of losing that baby came tiny blessings… I now understand Matthew 5:4– “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” I lost something I held very dear– but Jesus never left me. Not for a moment. Yes, my heart broke… but our Father’s heart also broke as He watched His son die on the cross. In mourning, I became closer to my husband than ever. In mourning, I became closer and more dependent on Our Father than I have been in my entire life. In mourning… I found joy that only comes from Jesus.

My second fear was my beloved husband recycling Ranger School– mainly because I didn’t want him to miss any more of the pregnancy than required. God has a plan with that as well… because Brandon did end up as a Darby phase recycle, which would be a 7 week extra wait due to Best Ranger Competition coming up. But once I told Brandon about the loss of our little one, he decided to come home to me immediately. He told me that it wouldn’t have mattered if he was going to recycle or not– he was going to come home to deal with what we were facing.

The worries with Ranger school were also realized, but under the circumstances were a blessing as God brought us through it. Oh, and did I tell you that God also planned out that Brandon would make the promotion list way sooner than expected, the day after the miscarriage and the day prior to Brandon withdrawing from Ranger school. To me, it was affirmation that God has Brandon’s career in His hand.  I guess God knows what He is doing after all, huh?

I can’t help but feel a little bit like Mary  when she discovered that Christ was gone from the grave. When she saw that empty tomb, her mourning turned to confusion… then to joy as she discovered Christ’s incredible plan. Praise the Lord, for He is Risen! His promises hold true and we can fully depend on Him– no worrying necessary!

What did you learn during Lent? Did you grow closer to God? I would love to hear your feedback. Comment here. 

I have laid my fears at the foot of the cross… and I will continue to do so. That cross will stay in my living room as a constant reminder of God’s promise, plan and purpose for our lives. God removed the worrywart in me… and helped me to find exceptional and unexpected joy in the mourning.

Rejoicing for He is Risen,
SGK

“Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well.  I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.” –Jeremiah 31:13

As promised, I set fire to my worries at the conclusion of lent. I've given them over to God... For good.

Categories: blessings, Christ, cross, dependence, faith, glory, God, joy, lent, promises, worry | Tags: , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Creatively Crafty

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Sharita

I am not a crafty person. I don’t mean the kind of sneak-crafty but I rather Pinterest crafty. Unless God Himself comes down from heaven and suddenly blesses me to paint neatly and draw straight lines, you will never see any of my “work” on Pinterest (or any other cute-crafting site for that matter.)

For some of you who know me well, you might dispute the claim above. But let me clarify– while I am not crafty– I am creative. I do believe there is a big difference. In my case, I can use limited resources to reach a goal in a unique way… but that doesn’t involved crafting a super cute wreath that anyone would ever want to hang on their front door.

I do like attempting to craft– at least in a creative kind of way. It can be a stress reliever and really gets me pumped up about life. But I have to have a goal, usually involving other people. Let me give you an example.

My creative side got motivated on Monday afternoon. (Mainly because I want to procrastinate on anything that required writing and/or dish-doing.) I had been thinking about doing something for the girls in our Foxtrot company (I am Family Readiness Group leader) for several months. Apparently, Monday was the day.

So I got to work. As FRG leader, I pretty muchly have zippo for a budget, so my goal was to make something close to free-ish. I rummaged through my box of random, leftover craft supplies. Talk about a box of craziness. Ribbon, acrylic paint, puff paint, super glue, fake googly eyes, felt, toy army soldiers, scraps of material, pipe cleaners… You name it.

It took a little while to figure out how I was going to make them all a legitimate copy of the Drill Sergeant Spouse’s creed for little to no moolah. (Plus it was late in the afternoon and I wanted to avoid the store if at all possible.)

I found cream colored and silver shiny cardstock leftover from our wedding invites. I was out of black printer ink (naturally) so printed in blue. But I wanted this little project to look “army-ish” and last I checked, “cream” wasn’t exactly an army color. I dug around in my paint… Had green acrylic paint… Only brown puff paint…. but no black. Sigh.

Fortunately I remembered my elementary art days that black paint comes from mixing random colors together… So I grabbed the brown, green, red, blue and yellow in hopes of creatively achieving my mission.

I wanted to give the background paper a camo look. Sponge painting. But we didn’t have a sponge. (Seriously– this is how my “craft” projects usually go.) I dug around under the sink and found a green SOS pad. I chopped off an end, went to work mixing and dipping paint.

Then… I didn’t have glue. (Super prepared, can’t you tell?) I had used all of my rubber cement on the last crazy project but failed to replenish my supply. I made a frantic phone call to a neighbor asking about the glue situation. She was confused, but said yes, she could solve my adhesive issue. (Whatever happened to just borrowing a cup of sugar?)

Long story still long, I was able to create this makeshift masterpiece, thanks to the laminating efforts of my husband and his buddy. (Apparently army guys are experts at hand laminating stuff… They got really excited about helping me finish this project until my husband’s friend stopped mid-lamination and mumbled something about doing arts and crafts. I sweetly reminded him that they were drinking beer as they laminated, so it was still very manly. Problem solved.)

The final project wasn’t perfect. But they were made for my Foxtrot girls with love… It made me think about how God made us– we aren’t perfect  but we are made with love. I am so thankful that God made me creatively crafty.

Thankful for Miscellaneous craft boxes,

SGK

“Live creatively, friends…” -Galatians 6:1 (MSG) 

PS: Have you done anything super creative or crafty with limited resources lately? Share it here! Maybe it will be my next “project.”

Categories: accomplishment, army, challenge, creation, Drill Sergeant, joy | Tags: , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Fresh Cut of Joy

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Sharita

Annnddd… It’s Monday.

Before you pull a Garfield the Cat move by grabbing a big pan of lasagna, pulling the covers back over your head and muttering “I hate Mondays!” hang with me for just a second.

I’m not a big fan of Mondays either. I have grown to tolerate them, but honestly, what choice did I have? (Turns out employers are not super big supporters of employees who desire to boycott Mondays on a weekly basis. Just kidding.) I have learned to embrace Mondays (and every other day for that matter) because I seek to find new, fresh little cuts of joy in everything around me.

All throughout God’s word, we find reminders to REJOICE, no matter what our circumstances or what day of the week it is. I have discovered that my pup Sweet Justus is the exact opposite of Garfield that cat. (Although I am sure if I gave him a pan of lasagna, he would be thrilled. I guess we will never know…)

Justus, true to his puppy nature, finds joy in EVERYTHING. It doesn’t matter if I have left for 14 seconds to take out the trash, he is so overcome with joy when I come back from the house, he greets me like I am returning from a year long deployment. If I even say the word “treat,” his eyes perk up, tail wagging… Pure joy.

And last week, Justus rejoiced with me over accomplishing a simple, mundane task. We finally mowed our grass.  Check out the video for the celebratory demonstration. (Sorry it’s not better quality… but it was very spur of the moment.)

I couldn’t help but laugh and get pure joy from my pup AND my freshly cut yard. What if we possessed an attitude like Justus to celebrate God’s little blessings everyday? Why don’t we do a happy dance every time we run the dishwasher? Or praise the Lord for an alarm clock that wakes us up to go to a job that provides income for our family? Or maybe we can rejoice in life’s challenges, no matter what it entails, because it gives us a chance to grow closer to God?

Rejoice today. Thank God for whatever technology you are using to read this. Give Jesus a figurative high five for allowing your car to start this morning. Match those seemingly hundreds of pairs of socks with joy knowing that you have clothes to wear.

Or perhaps you should go mow the grass… Then take a deep breath, smelling that new smell, and run around your yard (shouting and barking optional) to celebrate your FRESH CUT OF JOY.

Celebrating His Gifts,

SGK

“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24

Categories: blessings, celebrate, excited, gifts, God, joy, praise | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Giving Heart: Christ-mas, Christ-More

Posted on December 26, 2011 by Sharita

It’s 5:45 am… I throw back the covers and my eyes pop open. It’s go time.

I swing my feet over the side of the bed. Oh, that floor is cold! I creep out of bed, down the hall, and take a deep breath. The moment of truth…

There, in the gentle glow of Christmas lights are piles of presents. Santa showed up and he did not disappoint. I grab the nearest gift with my name on it and violently shake it. Nothing. Dang. It’s probably clothes. Socks. Maybe even underwear. Sigh.

Yes, I have grown up and matured over the lasts couple of decades. I still love receiving the gifts, but now I love the family time even more… Especially since I am married to a soldier. That’s a whole new level of not taking that time for granted!

God designed my heart to give. I love giving presents and showering people with love, sometimes in the form of “stuff.” Each year at Christmas, I would go all out thinking, marinating, pondering strategerizing, and planning what I deemed were “perfect gifts.”

Last year for Christmas, my beloved suggested that we do something different and forego the hoopla of dropping wads of cash and buying presents. He suggested we give something perhaps more thoughtful like donating our money to a good cause.

I flat out told him NO. Absolutely not. Negative. Nada. So we went with the “traditional” gift giving. It was great.

That was last year. Apparently God wanted to do a little bit of work on my heart… And I suggested we do Christmas differently this year.

So we did. And, it was also great, just like last year, only in a different way.  This week’s posts are all about giving… Not giving stuff, but rather giving a piece of our heart for Jesus. For the next several days, I will share with you the heart gifts that Brandon and I gave to our family.

The gifts weren’t much, but they were ones that will hopefully keep on giving… Just like that gift that God gave us when he sent His son to die on the cross.

Just because Christmas has passed for another year, doesn’t mean our Jesus heart of giving has to stop… Christ-mas is one day… But we can celebrate Christ-more all year long.

Never stop giving,
SGK

“But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you —see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” 2 Corinthians 8:7

Categories: Christmas, gifts, giving, joy | 1 Comment

Army of God: "AMERICA!"

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Sharita

Today’s army word of the day should come as no surprise to those of you who know me…

AMERICA!!!

Yes, I am an army wife… But I started saying this before I became a wife… I think Brandon got me started on it early during our dating relationship. And here we are, almost three years (seriously?!?) later. I also started saying it before that movie “The Other Guys” with Will Ferrell came out (he says it after he guns the gas petal… it was grand.)

But wait… Before I get to far into this post, I would like to make an announcement…

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!! (AMERICA!) <sorry, I’m getting carried away in my excitement>

The winner of our Happy Dance Celebration “Glad-Sharita-finished-her-masters-and-survived-to-post-her-100th-blog-today” Giveaway contest is…

Mr. Ryan Wilkerson!! 

Congratulations Ryan… I will be in touch with you ASAP to arrange delivery of your super-awesome prize package of 3 books (Share Jesus without Fear, Winning with People and Wild at Heart) and two “buttons” for office/desk/home entertainment (Easy Button and Panic button.) Thanks to all who entered. God blessed me with a fantastic turn out, which just makes my heart swell with joy and holler AMERICA!!

Let me chillax for just a second so I can explain the whole thing with “America.”  (Breathe… in through the nose, out through the mouth.) Ahhhh… Ok, now I am focused. Ish.

The word “America” in this context doesn’t necessarily mean anything patriotic (although it certainly can.) Rather, it can be an expression of excitement, which you probably already picked up on earlier in this post. It can also be used somewhat in the form of a sarcastic question (but yet obedience), like when I get some slightly jumbled info from the Army.

“So we have to do what when? Ok… <sigh> America.”

Oh, and there is a diction piece of this I should address– I don’t annunciate the word fully. I don’t mean any disrespect, but usually I say the word with such fervor it comes out ‘Mericah! I know I am not the only person that uses this phrase, but it is certainly one of my favorites.

So what does this phrase have to do with God? Well, it’s a sign or expression of joy. It is exciting. Even in times of question, I use the word “America” as a form of agreement (obedience.) When God does something awesome in my life (aka, masters, 100th blog, awesome husband, upcoming holiday block leave) I have a flurry of thoughts going through my head, usually in the form of “Praise the Lord!” “That’s awesome!” “Mericah!”

This last week of doing the giveaway and really focusing more on my blog has blown me out of the water. (Or, in this case… off the map.) It is amazing to watch God accomplish His will and to rejoice– we are a part of that will!! Here’s an example of “America” coupled with joy and obedience.

Yesterday I had a huge to do list to try and hammer out. After my morning work out and breakfast, I had my quiet time with the Lord… Then proceeded to “officially” start my 1000 Gift List (inspired by Ann Voskamp)

While that sounds like it took a while (I wrote down 100 simple gifts that God had given me) I ROCKED through the rest of my day’s list. I gave my first fruits (time) to God, and He gave it right back in ways I couldn’t imagine. WHOO! AMERICA!

What moments has God planted in your life lately that have excited your heart so much that you can’t help but get a rush from it? We are celebrating together… God’s gifts… blessings… and love… with an awesome expression… Praise the Lord…

AMERICA!

With a Full and Joyful Heart,

SGK

“The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance. In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds. At the blast of the trumpet he snorts, ‘Aha!’ He catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.” Job 39:23-25

Categories: army, excited, God, joy, Love | Leave a comment

Here’s to Kicking the Bucket… list (Part 2)

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Sharita

We have all heard that with God, all things are possible. 


And while he certainly can do ANYTHING and achieve great miracles, sometimes we can rejoice in the small things… Like having faith to accomplish the potentially goofy things on our “Bucket List.” 
As promised, today I am sharing with you things that I have yet to accomplish on my Bucket List… Just writing down some these words fills me with such passion and excitement that I can’t describe it! Praising God for the “little things!”
One more thing to know– there isn’t a limit to how many things you can have… I still periodically add things as they come to me!
Sharita Lo-Quita-Jo-Mama’s Bucket list… Still “To do.” 
  • Go to Mardis Gras
  • Write a “real” book
  • Experience a Minnesota Winter
  • Go to Alaska
  • Donate a scholarship
  • Speak at an important event
  • Send my parents to Australia
  • Take little brother Dal to Disney World
  • Visit all 50 states
  • Visit all 7 continents
  • Own a house
  • Get a masters (In progress)
  • Get a Ph D??
  • Ice Fish
  • Sing somewhere “Famous”
  • Visit a tropical rainforest
  • Invent/discover something
  • Do a Pull Up
  • Have a personal library (in progress)
  • Go SCUBA diving/Snorkeling
  • Be Certified in CPR
  • Learn another language… fluently
  • See the Northern Lights
  • Host a Benefit event
  • Ride a motorcycle
  • Swim with dolphins
  • Own a boat
  • Pay off college (in progress… slowly)
  • Live in a foreign country
  • Visit 7 wonders of the world (1 down, 6 to go)
  • Put handprints/initials in wet cement (Tried twice… and failed. I got caught and they erased it)
  • Write a song
  • Go on a cruise
  • Skydive
  • Surf
  • Learn to ice skate– well
  • Learn to juggle– also well
  • Go on a hot air balloon ride
  • Whitewater rafting
  • Be hynotized
  • Drive coast to coast form Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon
  • Break glass with a hammer (why? Because I can)
  • Give a homeless person all my cash
  • Truly love someone who persecutes me
  • Visit the Black Hills
  • Be in a musical
  • Run a 5K in under 30 minutes (in progress)
Again, this list is not exhaustive– I just picked some random ones off my list.
I hope that after reading/marinating over this, that you might be motivated to start a bucket list too. It keeps me grounded and focused on the great gifts that God gives us an opportunity to experience. He empowers us to do these things…. So why not do it and Kick the bucket… list!!
One thing at a time, Sweet Jesus.
SGK


“He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.” –Psalm 18:33

Categories: excited, goals, joy, to do | Leave a comment

Mistaken Identity

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Sharita

Who am I?

This is a question I have pondered all my life. Some days the answer seems rather clear, other times I got nothing.  Somedays I feel as if I am 27 different people. I have always heard about having your identity in Christ. I honestly assumed that I did. But truly, I didn’t know what it meant until this last Sunday in church. I watched our healthy church support and love on a church leader who had to suddenly step down from his position in order to redefine his identity in Christ. It was an incredible act of obedience and courage. Amazing.

I got to thinking… Where does my identity lie? Then BOOM, lightbulb moment. The last few years have been God transitioning me to a place where my identity is found FULLY in Christ Jesus. My identity used to be within my friends and network. Well, life happens, we graduate, move to different states and poof, daily best friend time, gone. God was still my daily friend.  It used to lie in a career of making money. My first “big kid” job was a wake up call that sometimes the cash just isn’t worth it. I quit. But I was still a daughter of Christ.  Fell in love– he deployed, so my identity couldn’t solely fall as an army girlfriend (or not now as an army wife either.) But God romanced me daily.  My love of bragging about my leadership accomplishments? Oh snap, God calls me into ministry and humbles me to let Him guide me. He blessed my obedience.

“Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” –Matthew 5:48

It is not about what I have done or what I aim to do. It is about Him. The one, the ONLY thing in my entire being that cannot be stripped away by man or God is my identity in Christ. It is my own. He desires for me to identify with Him and allow my entire self to revolve around the cross on the hill. His sacrifice allows me to have a true identity… One that will NEVER be mistaken.

Do you have a mistaken identity? Where does your heart live? In what ways can turn more to Him, allowing Him to shine his light into your identity?

In Christ,
SGK

Categories: Jesus, joy, life | Leave a comment

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