So I had this thought....

As I was blow-drying my hair this morning. I was thinking about how many times I have been so unsure of stepping out and being obedient in what I felt like God was asking me to do. I was so terribly unsure, and absolutely doubtful. And I was thinking back through some of those times, a thought occured to me, you should always trust the One with the plan.

When you were little and your family took a road trip, did you ever try to direct your mom (or dad) on which way you thought they should go, where to turn, what exit to take?

Those of you who know me well, know that my husband has an affectionate nick name for me - "Kristen-Kristen." I have given him so many back seat, or passenger seat, instructions in our relationship, he finally branded me as his own personal GPS navigation system. So instead of Tom-Tom, he asks his Kristen-Kristen.

That was a total digression from my point, but it came to mind, so I thought I would mention it.

Back on topic now....

I would be willing to bet that very few of us, if any, were brave enough to correct our fathers on the direction he should take on a road trip. And so if we are so unquestioning of our earthly fathers, trusting that they know where they are going and how to get there (which is a real faith act, considering they may not have had a clue!) - why is it that we are so quick to question whether God's way really is the right way?

Why must we incessantly ask God to speak more clearly, repeat Himself or turn on the neon exit signs? Why is it so difficult for us to trust that He holds the map? Not only that, but He made the map for goodness sake!

We question Him at each turn, wanting to know why we went right when left looked so much easier.

God helped me see the big picture on this yesterday, He helped me see that my questioning and constant doubt is a testimony to how in-control and powerful I believe Him to be.

So let's all stop talking to God as though He does not have our best interests, our eternal good, in mind and let's trust Him and take the paths He directs us on, knowing that if there was a better way, He would have shown us.

When pride comes then comes disgrace...

This week in Living Free, we are studying that one of our priority missions as Christians should be to glorify God. In fact, it should be the main mission of our lives. And Day 3's study started out with a very pointed and painfully truthful scripture found in Proverbs 11:2,

"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom."

I don't know about you, but my pride is not typically a topic that I am fond of discussing with anyone, but least with my God. He is the person that my pride works directly against, and to be completely truthful with you, it brings me shame.

And I love that today, God has pointed out to me that when I'm full of myself, that is the moment of true disgrace.

This week we also glanced at Isaiah 66:2 -

"This is the one I esteem, he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word."

I love how all throughout His Word, God faithfully reveals to us exactly what it is that He is calling us to. Not sure what to do, how to behave, what to say? Turn to His Word and let it cut you right to the bone in areas of your life that desperately need to be cut out, thrown away and burned.

So today Lord, I am stepping down off of my high horse. I am stepping out of the spotlight.

I am so thankful that You love me and accept me, that You have redeemed my life from the pit, and that You have placed my feet upon a firm rock. And I am yours, wholly yours, please take control.

My Funny Dog Story

Since everyone else writes about funny things that their kiddos do, I thought I would add a funny thing that my dog did yesterday. Zoe to be exact.

Yesterday morning, I got up, turned on the shower and started brushing my teeth. The next thing I knew, Zoe had jumped INTO the shower! Yes, that's right, our dog is so smart we don't even have to bathe her ourselves, she does it all by herself! What a big girl! :)

Fireproof

Yesterday my husband and I decided to go see a movie. Neither of us had a desire to go back to work and so we headed over to the Grapevine Mills Mall and decided to have an afternoon movie date.
We headed into the theatre to watch Fireproof, I'm sure that most of you have heard of this movie. I recommend it completely - keep in mind that its not the glitzy glamoury style of Hollywood, but the story is great!
So check it out!
Here's a link to the website for the movie:
www.fireproofmymarriage.com

Letting the sunshine in...

Today has been a DAY! In every sense of the word....go ahead, use your imaginiation! But I had to share with you something I just read on Beth Moore's blog. She wrote, "God has overruled my weaknesses with His power and faithfulness."

I don't think that I have cried so much in a single day in MONTHS. MONTHS I tell you! And I know that some of you may not be surprised to hear that I cried about something, it was quite a surprise to me. Because, dear ones, I have been having serious discussions with the Lord over the past several months regarding my tendency to shed a tear at the drop of a hat.

And I will tell you that God has so honored my prayers to not be so stinkin' emotional about every single little thing that happens. But there are still some days when I think to myself, who turned on the faucet??? This is absolutely ridiculous!

And today was one of those days.

My morning did not start off with my usual Wrex snuggle, instead I woke up to Zoe barking her head off at the garbage truck.

And then I went and got dressed and on my way to work I realized that my shirt is something very Angela-esque - you know, Angela from The Office. (If you don't know who that is, then we obviously aren't that great of friends :) ) It has all kinds of ruffles on it, and normally I am a very conservative dresser, this is a little out there for me. And as I got out of my car at QT I realized how ridiculous it looks. Sure it was cute on the hanger, but on, nope.

I know that those may sound like sort of trivial things....so let me introduce you to the layers upon layers of what I would call "messes" that I keep finding myself, and people that I love, in lately.

It seems that every which way I turn, that area of my life is up in the air. And God has faithfully been giving me peace in the midst of some of the most trying and frustrating situations that I have ever experienced, but then at other times I feel like this season of life is NEVER going to end.

On Friday I came home, an absolute mess. And my ever-honest husband said to me, Has God left you? Has He taken His hand away from you? And I knew the answer was no. I knew that that would never ever be the case. So a big shout out to my husband who spoke the truth in love to me when I needed to hear it most. Anthony gently reminded me that I don't want to end up like the Israelites who died in the wilderness after whining, complaining and most importantly not believing that God was able to lead them victoriously into their promised land.

So today, as I am struggling against all of these crazy emotions, I am so so so very thankful that God in His mercy has overruled my weaknesses with His power and faithfulness. Today I really needed it.

Still Cloudy....

Some of you may have read a blog that I posted earlier today, Cloudy. I have deleted the original blog, after it was brought to my attention that some of what I said had been or could be misinterpreted. I have to be honest and tell you that, as my blog titles suggest, today is cloudy for me. I am finding so many things very upsetting, and discovering some deep seated feelings, frustrations and.....feeling absolutely overwhelmed by everything that is going in my life presently. Which if you know me, you know that includes every possible situation with every single person in my life being a jumbled mess.

So, you can probably imagine that finding out that my blog this morning was felt to be too much....it sent me into experiencing tidal waves of emotion - ranging from terribly hurt to I just won't blog at all anymore. You can see how long the latter lasted....

So if you are reading this, would you pray for me today? I am in a very cloudy place.

Okay, Okay....

So, I have been thinking for weeks that I really needed to start blogging again....so here goes nothing.

I have been home from Mexico (where I visited my Grandma, Uncles Bob & Jim, and my Aunt Sis) since late Tuesday night. I was both relieved and sad to be home. I really loved the trip, and seeing all of my dad's family. It was so much fun to be there to celebrate my Grandma's 90th Birthday. But most of all, I loved the people and the place. We stayed near Lake Chapala which is about an hour outside of Guadalajara. It was basically like the country here, there are a bunch of little villages (most of which were established in the 1400 and 1500s) that surround the lake. My Grandma's house is in Jocotepec and the house that my mom and I stayed at was in San Luis Soyatlan.
Truthfully, I am a little sad to be home. I am really wanting for Anthony and I to take a trip back at the end of the year, I think he would love it as much as I did. And the only reason I was excited to come home was to be with him again. That was really only the 2nd trip that I have taken without my husband, EVER.

While in Mexico, God and I really spent some incredible time together. He spoke to me so clearly and intimately on so many different things that I have been dealing and struggling with. He even revealed to me some areas in my life that I needed to address, some strongholds.

Which leads me to mention that this Saturday, tomorrow! We will be starting up our Ladies (but we're really a bunch of fun girls!) Bible study again. And we will be working through Beth Moore's study Living Free. I am excited to get started again, I have missed meeting every week together and having time to visit, encourage and love on one another.

But I do have to say that this year will be much different for me, because of a missing person. I want to cry just thinking about it, and really knowing that she won't be there has been very hard for me. Tough stuff. I guess I am just missing my friend, but I am so thankful that we got to hang out right before I went to Mexico - that was an extra special treat.

And one last thing before I go back to work, I know that many of my dearest friends have begun blogs recently too....and I am excited to read about their family happenings. But I feel kind of funny blogging because I don't have any cute little kid stories, I might have some hilarious Zoe and Wrex tales from time to time, but mostly I will just be sharing with you the work of God in my life, how I am seeing Him at work around Him and how He is stretching me, growing me, and making me new! How He is deepening my love for Him, His Word, His people and especially for my awesome, incredible, indescribable husband!

So yeah, I hope that you will stick with me, that you can follow my ramblings and that God encourages you through the work He is doing in my life!

So for now, think on this - "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct Your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6