Letting Christ Strengthen Me

      So, what do you do when you're feeling completely defeated and incapable of any abilities? What do you do when that moment strikes and you think "Did I bite off more than I can chew?" Or maybe you were saying to yourself “What in the world were you thinking that you could do this!?!?!”

Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

You turn your eyes up to the Lord and turn that defeated feeling over to Him. Then He will show you how strong you truly are because of Him!

I did that tonight when I was feeling pretty stupid for attempting this one particular task. I began to talk to God about it. Sometimes I do this by walking around the house picking up little out of place items because my brain will relax and speak more freely to Him. As soon as I did that, I felt that turn completely 180 degrees and realized, it's not that I'm not smart enough. It's simply I don't have the skills to complete the task so therefore, I need to ask and LEARN the skills so that I can complete my task in front of me.

Tonight I will rest comfortably knowing that tomorrow will be a new day and The Lord loves me unconditionally. I know that I will learn how to do this and it will be amazing once I get it finished! I pray for you tonight also, that if you are feeling defeated, you will turn your eyes to Heaven and ask for the strength that Christ gives you. Let that strength wash over you tonight so that when you wake in the morning you will feel refreshed and rested knowing that you will get this done!

Good night my friends!

Wow! What a Weekend!

     Do you ever have weekends that you look back on Sunday night and think “Did I do anything besides watch TV?” I love lazy weekends where we have nothing on the schedule but to just hang around the house. Our weekends are usually pretty quiet but filled with tasks around the house and grocery shopping but this weekend was nowhere near that! I’m thinking I might need a couple of extra days in my weekend to recover from my weekend!

Friday morning I made an offer to buy a house in town and they accepted! So hopefully within the next 4-6 weeks, we will be living in the thriving metropolis of Saint Jo, Texas! Of course, there’s a lot of work to do between now and then but the excitement will hopefully keep us focused on the prize!

Friday evening one of my nephews was getting married to his high school sweetheart after seven years of dating. The wedding was outside at a beautiful location outside of Celina, Texas called Chandler’s Gardens. As beautiful as the surroundings were, they could not compete with the commitment these two “kids” have for each other. A passerby could have seen their love but not only could they see it, they could hear it in their words to each other. After saying their traditional vows, they spoke their own vows. They spoke of the seven years they had spent together from when Curry was a freshman and Katy a senior. He wasn’t even able to drive to their first prom! Even after their years of being apart due to school and college, they never lost sight of each other! More important than their commitment to each other, they spoke of their love for Jesus Christ! It’s not often you hear people speak of their love for God especially in a wedding ceremony! I cried through the whole thing – not only because it was my nephew getting married but because of the amazing love they share for God!

Bobby & his cousin, Kaili were junior attendants

Curry's face was priceless when he saw Katy at the end of the aisle!

Playing with the boys - it looks like Bobby & Asher are talking

I got to meet my first great nephew at the weekend! He’s 7 months old but lives outside of Houston, more than 6 hours away. I’ve watched him grow through pictures but there is nothing like seeing and holding him for real! That boy is so precious and gave me the biggest smiles! I pray that even though we saw each other for such a short time, he will continue to feel my love for him no matter what! Saturday, we spent some more time with the family eating lunch and hanging out.

      The rest of the day Saturday, I spent working on the finishing touches of our laminate flooring we have been putting down. The kitchen was finished except for reinstalling the baseboards and quarter rounds. The master bedroom has two doors that open to the outside where I’m putting laminate flooring. It’s amazing to me that a smaller area like these can cause such difficulty but at least it’s almost finished!

One of the finished floor in the master bedroom

Sunday morning we went to church where I was teaching the Children’s Theater. This is always a special time for me where I get to bring the Word of God to children from kindergarten to third grade. The lessons are written out for the teacher and all I have to do is press play for each of the chapters on the DVD. But getting to see the kids learn about God and how His Word works in their lives is a blessing for me! It’s hard to miss out on the full worship service but knowing I’m making it possible for parents to actually hear what the message is in the service is wonderful! I only miss the service every 6-8 weeks and that’s worth the sacrifice! 

So, here we are on Monday, Memorial Day, May 26, 2014. Bobby and I are home for the day. The laundry is finished and put away. I’m working on the flooring while Bobby chills watching TV and playing with Star Wars Legos! Sometimes while I’m working I like to listen to podcasts from Dave Ramsey and let him inspire me on to staying debt free.

Beautiful Day

I wanted to share this song especially today because I have had one of the most glorious of beautiful days!

Friendship Church was the place to be Sunday, April 13, 2014! We watched NINE people be baptized! It is always a blessing to see even one person publicly declare their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior! But when you watch nine in one service, you are blessed immensely! There was a set of brothers whose father suddenly died recently. There was a young couple who had been baptized out of fear for “the wrath of God” but now have come to see the desire that God for them to be close to Him. There was a young mother who I lovingly call my “Next Gen Jen” (as in the next generation of Kirsten because I think she’s so much like me!) We also watched a mother, father, and their ten-year old son be baptized. The boy’s parents were beaming with pride for their son but their personal joy was even more spectacular! One woman had a story for so many of us to learn from. After being diagnosed with cancer and being hospitalized during her terrible side effects due to chemotherapy and radiation, she felt God calling her to His Side. She made one of the most difficult submissive decisions while in a hospital bed sick as could be! She turned her life over to God right there! From that moment on, she said her life hasn’t been the same! It has been wonderful because of God!

Beautiful! Blessed! Loved! Forgiven! I believe that’s what it’s all about! It’s about being forgiven of our sins because God sacrificed His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, on that cross for my sins and for yours too! God loves us that much! I’m amazed when I think about that love that God has for me and all my mistakes and sins! For that I’m grateful! If you don’t know Christ as your Savior, you need to NOW! He’s there and waiting for you to turn to Him and ask Him into your heart! Let Him come in!

Over the last couple of months I have been sitting on the front row with another dear friend and haven’t realized until now how many people there really are there and how many people our church can really seat. This Sunday, I have a new appreciation for the size of our church! I was in the sound booth this Sunday, covering the PowerPoint for my dear friend who had kept her granddaughter overnight. From that vantage point, you can really get a feeling for the amount of people that were there. The church was almost standing room only! As the service began, people were still coming in and couldn’t find places to sit. The greeting team was trying to help visitors find SEATS! Regular members who were used to the “regular” seats had to find other places to sit! (I hope no family was separated because of the lack of seats!) What a blessing that is to not have room for everyone!

We all worried and prayed the rain would hold off until the children were able to have their Easter egg hunt – and it did! All the children gathered at the doors of the front of the church to head across the highway for the Great Easter Hunt of 2014. When the doors were opened, our wonderful parking crew was waiting in the road to help them get across the street safely! One of my other dear friends was wearing heels and just couldn’t walk fast enough to get her three-year old to the hunt to satisfy me so I snatched him up and off we ran! Of course, I’m so out of shape I couldn’t breathe for ten minutes but it was so worth it when I saw the basket of eggs he successfully found!

And then came the FOOD! WOW! The food was all amazing and we feasted – especially on the fried chicken and desserts! Our wonderful pastor's wife works tirelessly on preparing the setup for these times! I'm not sure she realizes how much we appreciate everything she does in the background! Thank you for doing what you do! Once again, with so many people attending the service, we had difficulty with finding enough seats for everyone to eat. But necessity is the mother of invention, right? Tables from the Friendship Kids’ Room were brought out to accommodate a few more people – picture bright green round tables about a foot and a half tall with matching chairs!

My beautiful day wasn’t all about church because it continued the rest of the day thanks to the blessings of God. Saturday, I got my new battery for my riding mower installed and was able to mow the entire front yard for the first time this year! Finally! I did mow some of the backyard but I had a huge limb fall off during the last week so the upper portion will have to wait until after my neighbor comes this week to cut it up for firewood!  Within the hour of finishing the mowing, the rain came! More glorious rain that we need so desperately! My house might be a wreck but my yard looks fabulous!