Serious About Faith. Light-Hearted About Life.
Welcome to another week of our Everyday Jesus link-up. Be sure to link-up below this post, comment on your neighbor’s blog and share with your friends… Because Jesus is everywhere, every day!
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Yep. It’s true. I am Type-A to a T.
I plan. I dream. I achieve. I like details.
And sometimes, I get a bit ahead of myself.
All too often, I find myself in the next more than the now. [Read more…]
My eyes are a little blurry and my throat feels tight. I feel my pulse quicken. The urge of feeling overwhelmed is slowly growing.
So many things on my list. So. Many. Things.
I am a sanguine. (No, that isn’t a personal insult.) My personality as a sanguine means I love interacting with people.
It also means that I sometimes suffer from what I like to call “Shiny Squirrel Syndrome.” [Read more…]
Have you ever been in a food fight? You know, one of those summer-camp-type-mashed-potato-sloppy-joe-flying-nobody-gets-punished food fights?
If you have, I would love details. (How was clean up? Who got in trouble? What is the correlation between jello consistency and air time?)
I have never been in one of those kinds of food fights. (Perhaps I need to put that on my Bucket List…)
However, I have been engaged in my own kind of food fight for the last two decades.
I talked a lot about my ups, downs and continual breakthroughs over at Wives of Faith in Fat Free-dom. I am so grateful for how God is opening my eyes (and heart) to the spiritual holds that food has held over my life.
And friends, the revelations keep on a-coming. [Read more…]
Welcome to another week of our Everyday Jesus link-up. Be sure to link-up below this post, comment on your neighbor’s blog and share with your friends… Because Jesus is everywhere, every day!
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Parenting is one crazy ride.
One minute you are laughing so hard you want to cry and the next minute you are crying because, well, parenting.
It is kind of exciting to think that I have been blogging long enough to share a few “Commandment” series blogs of parenting, like 10 commandments of Pregnancy for the Husbands, for the family/friends and strangers of pregnant gals, commandments for the preggos themselves and even 10 Commandments for New Mamas. [Read more…]
My face is red. My hands are shaking. My stomach hurts. Suddenly, my right eye literally starts to twitch.
I slam down my fork on the table.
“THAT’S IT! I. AM. TAKING. A. NAP.”
My husband calmly looks at me and lovingly responds, “Good. Enjoy your time. Take as long as you need.”
Well. THAT didn’t have the intended effect. But whatever. Bedtime for mama.
I used to think that rest was a sign of weakness. C’mon, I should be able to go on forever, right? Jesus will help me get there. Rest is for sissies. I am strong. I am not a coward. [Read more…]
In all of my years of growing up and all things leadership-like, I have experienced the gamut of team-building activities.
From indoor obstacle courses made out of office equipment, to building the “world’s tallest tower” from random craft supplies within a give time frame, to creating commercial jingles, I have learned and enjoyed most.
Key word: Most.
I have never been a huge fan of the outdoor challenge courses, especially in my younger years. I was clumsy (still am) and heights are not my favorite. Fortunately, my optimistic, go-get-em attitude would pull me through each experience.
Except for the trust fall. I. Despised. The. Trust. Fall. [Read more…]
Welcome to another week of our Everyday Jesus link-up. Be sure to link-up below this post, comment on your neighbor’s blog and share with your friends… Because Jesus is everywhere, every day!
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Painful confession: (Don’t worry. I won’t judge you if this makes you judge me for a split second. I still love you.)
I don’t like preschoolers.
Do I think they are cute? Yes. And I grateful God created them? Absolutely. Do they add joy to this world? Sure.
Are they my primary area of ministry? No. No, no, no, no, no.
This was recently reaffirmed– the hard way.
After some prayer (and admitted procrastination) I volunteered to help with Vacation Bible School. Although tiny humans are not my fave area of ministry work, I figured that I could handle a week of either doing skits or registration or even being a crew leader to some elementary kiddos.
I completely forgot about the preschoolers.
So you can probably guess what happened next: I got voluntold to lead/wrangle/herd 10 preschoolers for 20 total hours during the 5-day Vacation Bible School adventure.
And friends, it stretched me more than I have been stretched in ministry in months.
I tried to remain at peace, to find the joy, but it was so much work. And chaos. I don’t do well with chaos.
And licking. So much licking.
I tried to cope by putting clever things on Facebook each day like:
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Never in my life have I been afraid to close my eyes to pray until I became a preschool crew leader at VBS. #TinyNinjasEverywhere!
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Yea, though I walk through the valley of VBS, I shall fear no preschooler…
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Dear VBS preschoolers: What’s with the licking!?
#KnockItOff #TimeOutsForEverybody!
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Need your help deciding on today’s most ridiculous Preschool VBS moment. (cast your vote below…)
A) that we actually had to utter the phrase “NO! Your tongue in YOUR mouth only!
B) During final worship, we almost had to bust the back of a pew because someone got their arm STUCK in the hymnal slot. (and screamed like a banshee in the meantime)
Voting starts… NOW!
(Sidenote: Yes, these two scenarios were from the same kid.) #AlmostFriday
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Just when I hoped our preschool VBS experience would end without a sex ed discussion…
My cohort: “Let’s not kiss our teachers, boys and girls. Save your kisses for mom and dad.”
Preschooler: “We can’t! If mom and dad kiss, they have babies!”
Me, whispering: “Quick, let’s change the subject! This will go south in a hurry!”
My cohort: “So what kind of pizza do you like, boys and girls?”
#CloseOne #AllTheMoreReasonNOTtoKissTheTeacher
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That is how I deal with stress. Humor. And it sort of worked.
But every single day, I had to pray for God to equip me for the self-control, patience and peace to execute my duties– and not get fired for yelling at someone else’s kid.
It stretched me so much. And since that time, it has made me GREATLY appreciate the fact that VBS is only one week a year. It is a perfect perspective giver in my everyday– because now, no matter what happens, at least I wasn’t chasing 10 sugar-hyped little people.
(Side note: For all of you out there who has the gift of ministering to our little youth– please know that there is a very special place in heaven for you. Jesus told me last week while I was muttering under my breath on restroom duty.)
Anywho, there is a purpose in this humorous/challenging experience. God stretches us with purpose, be it to open doors, close them or simply to bring us back to Him in our everyday. So that is today’s question: Where has God been stretching you lately? Chime in and leave a comment.
Just remember, dear reader– that the next time God stretches you, as long as you don’t have a preschoolers tongue on your arm, you are ahead of the game. #PassTheDisinfectant
Stretched for Jesus,
“We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what he said, doing what pleases him.” ~1 John 3:22 MSG
Loading InLinkz ...As I sit here and type this post, I have a little one-dollar metal sign propped on the left hand side of my roll top desk.
It says, “Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.”
I have been in possession of this sign for probably close to a decade. I acquired it before I was hardcore following Jesus in the days when I lived and breathed on achieving. It was all about me and what I was doing.
It is probably no secret that I was borderline perfectionistic.
But as I started walking closer with Christ over six years ago (for real this time) He began to reveal the major flaw in my quest for perfection.
Perfection leaves no room for grace. [Read more…]
I am a recovering Chicken Little.
No, I don’t have issues with feather tendencies or a waning poultry aversion. But up until the last few months, I have been living quite a Chicken Little life.
Everything in my world was very dramatic. Not like “OMG-No-You-Didn’t” dramatic, but “Oh-plans-have-changed-the-sky-is-falling-we-are-all-gonna-die!” Something like that. [Read more…]
Welcome to another week of our Everyday Jesus link-up. Be sure to link-up below this post, comment on your neighbor’s blog and share with your friends… Because Jesus is everywhere, every day!
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It is very interesting to think about the etiquette that has developed around all things technology in the last decade and a half or so.
Don’t have serious conversations via text message (because the lack of tone will likely equal unintended drama.)
Use complete sentences, even if U no it is EZer 2 write sumthin 4 sum1 like this lol.
If your Mama or preacher wouldn’t approve, don’t post it.
And please, use the proper capitalization– or lack thereof.
Let’s expand on the last one just a little bit. [Read more…]
It's been awhile since we have posted a fresh Factor of 7 here at 7 Days Time. We've done a few small ones over the last several months, but we wanted to share one of most recent random acts of kindness with you. Because it was fun. And hey, who … Interested? Read on...
So... let's get serious. (Well, not TOO serious.) Here at 7 Days Time, we have four coaching packages to choose from. As we work through your initial consultation call, together we can determine what package will best suit your coaching needs. … Interested? Read On...
