Sometimes I'm thick-headed

Tonight God showed me that I don't have it all that bad. He used a movie shown at church, 2 blogs, a conversation and a facebook message. All in the span of about 4 hours. Apparently I REALLY needed to learn that lesson tonight.

Once again, I'm up way later than I want to be

It's like the computer sucks me in! I'm headed to bed at 10 o'clock and then it's, "let me check my facebook real quick" followed by 2 hours of blog reading and mindless web surfing. Seriously! How does the computer do that??

Anyway ... since I'm on already I thought I'd update you all on the "Life Overhaul" progress. It's slow. Because I pretty much lost all of my motivation very quickly. But last night and tonight I've made myself work on downsizing. I finally admitted to myself that my room is always a mess because I have too much junk. The thing is I've already downsized at least twice since moving in. How does one person accumulate so much stuff?? A lot of it is scrapbooking supplies for my hobby of collecting scrapbooking supplies (really - I very rarely scrapbook) so the past two nights I've been sorting through that. Yes it took two nights. And I'm still not done. I'll have to post some pictures of the stuff I'm getting rid of. There's a lot of it!

My mom did some downsizing tonight too. There are bags all over our living room as proof that we were both trying hard to get rid of stuff (the bags are of the stuff we're giving away, in case you were wondering what bags had to do with anything). The poor woman is trying to get rid of some of the stuff we kept from my dad, but I'm being very reluctant. Maybe I should just pick a few meaningful things and let her donate the rest. ... I'll work on that.

Now I am truly going to turn off the computer and GO TO BED! Hope you all have a great day!

My Heart's Desire

It is way late and I should have been in bed hours ago, but instead I've been reading a very inspirational blog about a family that has 10 children (more than half of them are adopted). It's amazing what God has done and continues to do in this family! They have had a lot of tragedy and illness in their lives, but through it all they have been faithful to the Lord and continue to say that He is blessing them and loving them in supernatural ways.

I think the reason I love reading this blog so much is because that's what I want - a giant family made up of biological and adopted children. I want my house to be filled with giggles and love and organized chaos. I want to rescue orphans and give them love, a family and the knowledge of the wonderful God that created them. I want to get no sleep because I'm taking care of children, not because I'm reading about somebody that does (I know, I know - it's my own fault). I want to partner with a godly man to raise warriors for Christ. Warriors that will have a heart for the "least of these".

That's what I want. It might not be what I get (which will be ok too - God's ways are always higher), but it's what I want.

How God is beginning to teach me to be joyful ...

I just need to start off by saying that my God is faithful! Even when I am not faithful to Him and I fail - He is still faithful. He is right there waiting to pick me back up and help me start again. I am so incredibly grateful for His unending love!!

My last post was about the overall lack of joy in my life, something that I had been struggling with for a while. Well, God is amazing and has brought about some wonderful things from that blog post (and the subsequent prayer times). For one thing - through a comment made on my last post (thanks Judy!) and a verse given to me during my quiet time I have come to understand that in order to be joyful I must rejoice in my salvation and praise my Savior (interesting that I just posted about a sermon I heard on praise ... God works everything together). This is something I've begun to work on more diligently - praising God through the good and the bad. Telling God how fantastic He is while I'm driving to work and thinking about all the wonderful things He's done for me while I'm falling asleep. I can feel God slowly filling my joyfulness tank :)

An amazing friend of mine (who also happens to be a marvelous mentor) posted a sermon on my facebook page after reading my last blog (still haven't watched it yet - I should get on that) and another wonderful woman in my life saw it and decided to read my blog as well. I've been talking to her about joy and God since then and I can tell something awesome is going to come out of this "new" connection. I can't wait to see what God will do!!

I have a tiny (in length) testimony to share: A close friend of mine has begun digging into prayer and what it means and how God uses it to work in our lives. Last night she sent up a quick prayer for something that she needed God to do. This morning God answered her over and abundantly. He is so faithful to teach us! Praise the Lord!! :)

Where's the joy?

I was talking to my mom today about all the loss and change that has been happening in our lives in the last year and a half and how much I have grown from it. Then I came to this realization - I've grown, but I've also lost the joy. I'm less joyful now than I used to be. Less positive. And that's really just not acceptable. But how do I get the joy back??

Life Overhaul

I am a messy, unorganized, procrastinating, pretty much always late, life full of clutter person. Always have been. I've always been that person and I've always been sick of being that person. So I finally decided - I'm done. I'm done losing important papers. I'm done rushing in the morning. I'm done basing my outfit choices purely on what is clean. I'm done barely being able to find my bedroom floor. I'm just done. So I'm overhauling my life. The next two months will be spent cleaning out my room and car, going through my boxes of "important papers", making a budget, figuring out how to eat better and making myself a workable schedule. With God's help by mid-April I will be a new woman!

I'll be posting pictures as I go (definitely afters, maybe befores too) so check in every once in a while. ;)

A Little Poem ...

I accidentally made this up tonight :)

Sometimes the only motivation you need
is the feeling you get when you succeed.

"Praise the Lord; for His mercy endureth forever!"

Have any of you ever read the story of the men of Judah vs. the men of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir? It's a crazy, amazing story! (read 2 Chronicles 20 for the full story) Basically, Ammon, Moab and mount Seir are in a war with Judah. The men of Judah are way outnumbered and cannot figure out how to get out of this battle alive. So what does their king do? He puts singers on the front lines. That's right - singers. He tells them to "praise the beauty of [the Lord's] holiness ... and to say, 'Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever'" (v. 21). ... Let's just pause and picture this for a moment - the national army of Judah is suited up and ready for battle. It's a battle they know they can't win, but they're going in anyway. And then, on the way to meet their enemies, their king stops all forward movement and appoints people to stand in the front lines and PRAISE THE LORD. Not exactly the tactic I would use, but clearly it works ... The very next verse says, "And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir ... and they were smitten." And this smitten does not mean in love, let me tell you that right now. Know how I know? Because when the men of Judah get to the watchtower and look out to see what they're up against - all they can see is dead bodies. Can you imagine the shock?? They're expecting to see 3 national armies, armed and ready to attack and kill, and instead they see dead people everywhere. That must have been an awesome moment!

What lesson do I take away from this? Be ready for battle, but remember to praise God through it all because ultimately He's the one that will bring the victory.

(this story was preached by Pastor David at Christian Assembly this Sunday while I was visiting - his sermon title was "Praise to God")

Acts 11:23

In this section of Acts, Barnabas is visiting existing churches. This is what it says about his "sermon" to the church at Antioch: "Who, when he [Barnabas] came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord." As I was reading this verse I was reminded of Genesis 2:24 ("Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."). As a single girl learning how to trust Jesus to be her everything, this verse made me very happy.

To cleave means "to cling to a person or thing closely". I've always thought it made perfect sense when talking about marriage, but I never thought about it within the context of my relationship with God. I love knowing that I can cling to Jesus closely and trust Him with my hopes, dreams, emotions and life. He knows me better than I know myself and He not only allows me to have a relationship with Him, He wants me to! What an amazing truth to live by!!

HappyLight 6000

My new favorite "toy". :)

Let me introduce you to the HappyLight 6000. It is a "powerful, compact Happy Light". According to the Verilux website:

 •Up to 6,000 LUX of Natural Spectrum® daylight lifts spirits, sharpens concentration and improves energy levels

•Helps recalibrate and normalize Circadian Rhythms for a healthy night's sleep

•Emulates natural sunshine to improve mood and well-being

•Sleek, space-saving design is ideal for home, office or dorm room

•Energy efficient bulb uses only 36 Watts to produce 300 Watts of Natural spectrum light

Doesn't that all sound awesome?? I've only had it for a few days so I can't attest to any of the claims, but I do know that just it's name makes me smile. (I also learned not to look directly at it, especially when you're first turning it on)