True(ish)

{ February 2, 2009 @ 12:59 am } · { Growing in God }
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Our pastor at LifeChurch.tv is doing a series called True(ish).  It’s the best series he’s ever done, in my opinion.  It means a lot for me to say that because I think every series he’s ever done is just outstanding.  But this one is so important because it deals with the gray area that we all live in.  There is truth, lies, and the area in between that we choose to accept.  I’m going to give a quick synopsis of yesterday’s message, much of which is taken directly from the talk notes we fill in while he’s speaking.

53% of American adults believe if a person is generally good, he’ll go to heaven.

43% of born-again Christians agreed:  “It doesn’t matter what religious faith you follow because all faiths teach similar lessons about life.”

57% of evangelical church members said they believe many religions can lead to eternal life.

SERIOUSLY!?  I heard these statistics on a news show (Dateline, 20/20, one of those) several months ago and was absolutely shocked.  If Christians are buying into this bologna, it’s no wonder that non-believers are confused!  If believers are picking and choosing which parts of the Bible they want to believe, why bother believing any of it?  If part of it is a lie, then ALL of it is a lie.  That’s just how it goes.

Here are a few points he made:

1.  Just because you’re sincere doesn’t make what you believe true.  (He referenced the really awful singers on American Idol who truly believe they are great singers, but clearly aren’t.)

2.  There is truth in many world religions, but all world religions can’t be true (For example, Buddhism doesn’t have a supreme deity, but Islam does.  Both cannot be correct.)

3.  Discovering and living truth matters more than anything else in life.

He also asked us to take a close look at Jesus…to look at what He taught (Luke 6:27-29), the miracles He performed (Mark 6:2), the resurrection (Acts 3:15), and His claims (John 14:6).  Jesus claimed to be the way, the truth, and the life…he also claimed to be the ONLY way to get to Heaven, the only way to get to the Father.  If this is not true, he was either the world’s greatest liar, a complete lunatic, or he was truly the Son of God.  If he was a liar, he would’ve either been caught at some point, or have come clean when He was being beaten and crucified.  But He didn’t do that.  Why?  Because He was speaking truth.

I have many dear friends and family members who are not believers, and although they are under no obligation to believe what I believe, my heart breaks because I have seen what Christ has done in my life and the lives of those around me.  God is so good, and I just want them to have a TASTE of the joy and peace that I have.  I will continue to pray for them, and also for those who are believers but are living in the gray area.  I cannot change their hearts, but God can.

If you would like to watch this message, and I would HIGHLY encourage you to do that, please visit http://www.lifechurch.tv/message-archive/watch/trueish/3.  Hope you will make the time–it’s well worth it.

Four more days…

{ January 24, 2009 @ 3:56 am } · { Pregnancy }
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…til my due date.  Wow.  It’s gone so fast; I can hardly believe that it’s almost time to add a third person to our family.  Her room is ready, the car seat has been installed and inspected by the fire department, and I’ve purchased the last minute stuff that I think we’ll need.  The hospital bag is packed with the exception of some things that we’ll have to add last minute.  We have the call lists ready to go, too.  Now it’s just a waiting game.  People keep saying, “I bet you’re so ready to not  be pregnant anymore.”  Truth is, part of me feels that way, but part of me has thoroughly enjoyed this whole process and isn’t in a hurry for it to end.  God’s timing is perfect, so when that moment finally comes and it’s time to head to the hospital, I will know it’s the right time and will be eager to get going.

I have no idea what to expect after she arrives.  Plenty of people have told me what it’s going to be like, but I think it’s one of those things you really can’t grasp until you’re there.  I know we’ll both be plenty tired, and I’ll probably be emotional from changing hormones, and there will probably be lots of times that we just sit there and stare at her, wondering if she’s really ours and being amazed at everything that had to happen to get her here.

I’m planning to post pics on here soon after she’s born.  We will have WiFi in the hospital room, so it should be easy to upload them and get them posted.  Most of you who read this will either receive a text message or a phone call…or an e-mail at the very least.  My list is fairly comprehensive, so hopefully I don’t leave anyone out.  If so, I’m sorry!

Don’t know much else for now; will write more again later on.

Valance

{ January 20, 2009 @ 1:18 am } · { Everyday Life }
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I have successfully completed the valance for the baby’s room.  It didn’t take as long as I thought it might, and turned out pretty much as I hoped it would.  So I am very happy. :-)   I had to create the pattern myself, because the pattern we’d bought didn’t actually include anything for the valance I wanted…it showed the picture, but didn’t have any instructions for that one inside.  Anyway, I am posting a picture of it, because it’s the first thing I’ve sewn in who knows how long, and one of the few things that’s actually turned out right!  I definitely made a few notes to self for next time (I’d do the pleats differently, and make it a tad wider), but overall, not too bad!  Who knows what I’ll attempt next!?  (You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.)

37 Weeks; Oh my goodness!

{ January 6, 2009 @ 7:11 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Okay, so obviously I haven’t really been inspired to blog much lately.  Probably because most of my days are the same.  I don’t go out much, so there isn’t much to rant about.  Things at home are calm and comfy, which doesn’t make for a must-read blog.  Things are still going very well with my pregnancy, so not much to write about there, either.

Here is what I can tell you, though.  I am now going to the doctor weekly.  This reminds me a) That I have to really watch what I’m eating, which I’ve done an okay job of doing lately, and b) that our daughter’s arrival will be here very soon.

That second part is both exciting and terrifying.  I think I’m starting to feel a little apprehensive about it, simply because I’ve started to have strange dreams at night.  For those who don’t know, I’m doing this one with no drugs.  God will be there to help me, as well as my second-to-none support partner (that would be Ben), and hopefully my mommy (if she can get there in time).  So I know I can do it, but I also know it’s going to hurt like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.  Hard to look forward to that part. :-)

Anyway, doesn’t do any good to worry about it, so I don’t.  If my subconscious wants to worry, well, there’s nothing I can do about that and I’ll just have to tolerate the strange dreams.  So I just focus on looking forward to her arrival, and seeing Ben hold her in his arms for the very first time.  For some reason I look forward to that even more than holding her myself. 

Here is a pic of me on New Year’s Eve, about 37 weeks:pictures-046

Nikki

{ December 22, 2008 @ 10:53 pm } · { Everyday Life }
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Me with Nikki, Thanksgiving Day 2008

Me with Nikki, Thanksgiving Day 2008

Well, despite having a wonderful year, a healthy pregnancy, a new home to call our very own, an amazing husband and family, and pretty much everything else being great, too, I was mentally preparing for something awful to happen.  Not expecting it to happen, because I’m no pessimist, but it seems to me that God allows bad things to happen when everything else is great to enable us to better be able to handle them.

So last Monday, I got a phone call from Dad.  My cousin, who is nine days older than me and basically the sister I never had, had endured a few tumultuous weeks.  They proved to be too much for her to bear.  She suffered from bipolar disorder, which I hate to admit that I know very little about.  What I do know is that in the end, that was her death sentence.  Her funeral was Friday.  Up until Friday, I tried to keep reminding myself that she was gone.  It just didn’t seem possible.  We went to the funeral home on Thursday evening so see family and to, well, get a dose of reality.  I stepped inside the funeral home doors, and that was as far as I could go.  Luckily her husband was right there, so we stood there and talked to him for about fifteen minutes or so.  I kept glancing down the hall where I knew I would eventually have to go, but I was putting it off as long as I could.  After all, at this point I was holding it together pretty well.  On some level I knew I was going to break, but I’m stubborn and I didn’t want to give in.

Then I saw my other cousin, who is also my age (we were the Three Musketeers), start walking towards me.  As soon as we got our arms around each other, I broke down.  Hard.  We stood there and hugged each other and cried for the longest time.  I finally was able to start to pull myself together again (or so I thought), until I saw my aunt.  That started another waterfall.  After that I just let go of my pride and cried pretty much the whole time we were there.  It felt good to finally let it out, although it still seemed so surreal.  The funeral the next day was more of the same, but it helped me to start to understand that she is really gone.

Tomorrow is her son’s sixth birthday, then comes Christmas, then her husband’s birthday next week.  My heart breaks for her husband, her kids, and her mom.  My heart breaks for me, too, though.  She will never meet my daughter.  I will never hear her infectious laugh again.  Or see her with her hand on her hip, head tilted, giving me a hard time for wearing heels when I’m eight months pregnant.

Here is the good in all of this.  Last January, when my grandmother’s health was failing and we knew her days were short, several family members were spending a lot of time visiting Grandma and Grandpa.  My cousin was one of those, as was my mom.  She started asking my mom a lot of questions about her faith, and she decided to accept Christ.  So knowing that she is no longer in pain, and that she is whole and complete and perfect…that makes me very happy.  I will miss her terribly, but I know I will see her again someday.

Hiccups

{ November 25, 2008 @ 7:06 pm } · { Pregnancy }
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I woke up last night (this morning) around 2:30 for my nightly trip to the bathroom.  After I laid back down, I could tell Ladybug was awake.  A couple moments later, I felt this rhythmic movement.  After it continued for a bit, I realized she had hiccups!  It was the first time (that I’m aware of) she’s had them and also the first time that I’ve had any idea of how she is positioned in there.  I could only feel that movement on my right side, so I deduced that she was curled up sideways with her back along the right side of my stomach. 

For some reason, that was one of the sweetest moments in my pregnancy so far.  I wanted to wake Ben up so he could feel them, too, but I refrained.  It was just so amazing to be able to put my hand on my stomach, and know that it was also right on her little back.  After the hiccups stopped, she moved again so I’m back to not knowing exactly how she is situated in there.  But for those few minutes, it was pure bliss.

Our new addition

{ November 20, 2008 @ 8:19 pm } · { Everyday Life }
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I’ve been watching and waiting for the perfect deal to come along.  We bought a recliner to put in a corner of the living room so we can rock the baby and feed her there.  I realized not too long after that if we had a tiny table to put next to it, I would have a handy place to store burp cloths, and be able to put up a lamp so I could read at night.  I found the perfect thing on Craigslist yesterday, and I was able to go pick it up earlier today (thanks, Shamale!).  I knew I was going to buy it, but didn’t realize it was going to be in such great condition!  The lady I bought it from even polished it for me!  It perfectly matches the rest of the wood we have in the living room, and looks just right next to the recliner.  I’m pretty easy to please, thank goodness, but this little purchase totally made my day — I am so excited about it.  Here is a pic of it so you, too, can appreciate how adorable it is. :-)

Tiny Table

Tiny Table

Precious Moments

{ November 13, 2008 @ 6:04 pm } · { Pregnancy }
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My tummy tenant is quite the kicker.  Day and night, night and day.  As I’ve already told several people, I suspect she is trying to figure out how to escape.  It would really not surprise me at all if she came fairly early, for no reason other than impatience.  I don’t know how much you can tell about a baby by how they are in utero, but Ben and I both suspect that she is going to be quite a lively baby.  I predict she’ll be walking by nine months just because it will get her where she wants to go faster. 

I will not be disappointed if she is a week overdue and doesn’t walk until she’s a year old, but I just think she has a determined spirit which will drive her to accomplish things sooner.  Time will tell, I guess!  In the mean time, I delight in all those little movements.  I laugh out loud sometimes as I watch my belly move about nonstop for several minutes.  I guess she eventually wears herself out, because then all is calm for a while, until she is rested enough to start all over again.

So many people have told me to enjoy my pregnancy, that I will miss this once it’s over, and I think they are probably right.  I’ve had such a great pregnancy so far that it has been easy for me to enjoy it.  I have yet to utter the words “I wish she’d just hurry up and get here!”.  Maybe that comes later, but for now I am content feeling her inside me and hoping she is happy and comfortable in there.

Lukewarm

{ November 13, 2008 @ 5:04 pm } · { Growing in God }
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Nobody likes lukewarm coffee.  Hot coffee?  Yum.  Cold coffee?  Yes, please!  Nobody likes lukewarm anything, really.  The new series at church deals with this very topic, and it’s one that is very close to my heart, so I’m going to write about it on here, too.  After all, not everyone who reads this goes to my church (www.lifechurch.tv, by the way…and if you don’t live here, they have internet church, too, so no excuses!). 

There was a poll (Gallup, I believe) that came out earlier this year that stated that something like 95% of the population believes in God.  Most of them even call themselves Christians.  But if you dig a little deeper, just a little, how many of them are actually followers of Christ?  Very few.  Most people profess to be Christians, but ask them what the last thing was they did to deepen their relationship with Christ.  Watch them stutter and stammer while they try to come up with something.  Ask them when the last time was they opened their Bible OUTSIDE of church.  Ask them when the last time was they shared their faith with someone else. 

Most people get so caught up with everyday obligations that they either forget or neglect to nurture their relationship with Christ.  But really,  what else in this life matters?  Absolutely nothing.  I heard a quote some time ago that has really stuck with me.  Martin Luther once stated, “I have so much to do that I shall have to spend the first three hours in prayer.”  He knew the importance of spending time with the Father.  He knew that everything else wasn’t as important, and that if he started his day correctly, that everything else would fall into place.

I have noticed on the days that I get up and before I do anything, sit and read my Bible and spend some time with the Lord, my whole day is better.  Even when things go wrong, they don’t get to me like they do on other days.  I have a more positive attitude.  I have a brighter outlook.  Yet, despite that knowledge, there are still days that I end up placing higher priority on less important things.  I guess that is part of growing in God–still messing up, but recognizing it and trying to do better the next time.  NOT giving up and saying “well, if I can’t do it right all the time, I’m not going to bother…” 

Revelation 3:16 clearly shows us God’s opinion of lukewarm believers:  “So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”  We learned at church last week that the Greek word for spit also means to vomit.  So He would rather vomit us out of His mouth than to have us be lukewarm.  Powerful words.  So take a look at your life.  Are you lukewarm?  What are you going to do about it?

29 weeks

{ November 10, 2008 @ 9:12 pm } · { Pregnancy }
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Well, once again time has gotten away from me and it’s been quite a while since I posted my last update.  I guess I haven’t really been inspired to write about anything in particular.  However, I would like to give everyone a quick update on the past few weeks.  I had two baby showers two weekends in a row.  Mom threw one for me in the Tulsa area, and then Sam and Melinda did one for me in OKC.  Both of them were wonderful.  Ben and I are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family in our lives.  We have spent very little on baby stuff so far — just bought the crib and the changing table — everything else has come from friends and family.  We’re both blown away.

It’s hard for me to believe that in six short days I will be THIRTY WEEKS PREGNANT.  It just boggles my mind.  Being in the thirties just makes all this even more real.  I am posting a picture that we took a little over a week ago when I was 28 weeks.  Quite a difference from the last one I posted!

Other than working on the baby’s room and trying to get all the gifts put away and thank you notes written (which is DONE, by the way!), there has not been a whole lot going on.  Mom and I went to a women’s conference at church this weekend, which I will write about more later (probably), and that is about the only non-baby thing I can think of that’s been going on!

I will write more again later — hopefully this week!!!

28 Weeks

28 Weeks

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