Ok, this may not be as funny to others as it is to me... but trust me, it was hilarious as it was going down.
Set-up: When we walked into Susan's today, she is watching a dog for a few weeks. The dog wanted Sam's attention. Then the dog wanted to sniff Sam... a lot. Watch the video now. Sam just can't seem to get away from him.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Sam's Cuteness Continued
Sam's Cuteness Captured
I just realized I can't post the video on here just yet... that post will be coming soon. Just as soon as I can figure out how to read a micro SD card...
See this big knot on my head? Yup. I'm a trooper. I also fall down a lot.
I really like naked time. And giving daddy sugars.
Don't act mad at me for helping myself. You left them here.
We're friends.
"If the bunny touches my ball I'll slap him with a carrot."
Well this is all the pictures I can add for now... post #2 coming up!
Well this is all the pictures I can add for now... post #2 coming up!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Good Friday Belated Testimony Tuesday
It is Good Friday today. Hallelujah!
And while it is Good Friday to us (as it should be... Savior rescuing us from sin and saving our souls for eternity... pretty darn good) I bet it really sucked that day.
No, really. Think about it from Jesus' perspective.
You get beaten, scorned, spit on (and remember what dental hygiene was like then), and hung from a cross to die. I don't know about you, but this equals "Not Good Friday"... nay... "Downright Bad Friday." And we complain about Mondays?!
Now as a mother, I am COMPELLED to look at it from Mary's perspective. You think Jesus had it bad?! Mary had to WATCH her SON be TORMENTED, BEATEN, SCORNED, SPIT ON, then NAILED TO A CROSS TO DIE!
Want to torture me for state secrets?! Do anything mean to my son. Oh. My. Gosh.
I tear up just thinking about what Mary went through on that day. On every day after that.
I may be stepping on the toes of controversy here, but it is on days like today where I think the Catholics have it right. I know there are Protestants that say Catholics worship Mary. I have never seen it is as worship. I see it as reverence and honestly, sometimes the Protestants do not revere her enough.
I mean, c'mon people, Mary had kind of a big role to play in the whole "Jesus saving our souls" bit. Didn't she?
So to bring this post all back together, there has been a song on my heart to share on this blog. Many of you have heard it. Some may even know the story behind it. I urge you to listen to it again from the eyes of Mary (as it is not written from the eyes of Mary). Think about how she felt on this day some almost 2000 years ago.
This song is "Held" by Natalie Grant. She writes it from several perspectives. Extreme hurt felt by God's children. The first verse is about a mother who lost her baby at 2 months old.
There is someone reading this right now that is doubting Jesus's love for them. A person who has experienced terrible hurt or is currently experiencing terrible hurt. There is someone reading who is terribly afraid of experiencing this hurt. And there is someone else who simply does not believe.
Let God wrap His love around you right now. There is no hurt He doesn't understand and can't heal. And He does love you. So, so very much. Allow Him to love you. Please.
This is what it means to be held. And to know, that the promise was when everything fell, we'd be held.
I want to hug Mary and thank you for her sacrifice, as well as her son's. I am utterly thankful and humbled that I was found worthy of it.
Mary went to sleep that night dealing with the image of her son being tormented and killed. And I bet she was "held."
Happy Good Friday!
And while it is Good Friday to us (as it should be... Savior rescuing us from sin and saving our souls for eternity... pretty darn good) I bet it really sucked that day.
No, really. Think about it from Jesus' perspective.
You get beaten, scorned, spit on (and remember what dental hygiene was like then), and hung from a cross to die. I don't know about you, but this equals "Not Good Friday"... nay... "Downright Bad Friday." And we complain about Mondays?!
Now as a mother, I am COMPELLED to look at it from Mary's perspective. You think Jesus had it bad?! Mary had to WATCH her SON be TORMENTED, BEATEN, SCORNED, SPIT ON, then NAILED TO A CROSS TO DIE!
Want to torture me for state secrets?! Do anything mean to my son. Oh. My. Gosh.
I tear up just thinking about what Mary went through on that day. On every day after that.
I may be stepping on the toes of controversy here, but it is on days like today where I think the Catholics have it right. I know there are Protestants that say Catholics worship Mary. I have never seen it is as worship. I see it as reverence and honestly, sometimes the Protestants do not revere her enough.
I mean, c'mon people, Mary had kind of a big role to play in the whole "Jesus saving our souls" bit. Didn't she?
So to bring this post all back together, there has been a song on my heart to share on this blog. Many of you have heard it. Some may even know the story behind it. I urge you to listen to it again from the eyes of Mary (as it is not written from the eyes of Mary). Think about how she felt on this day some almost 2000 years ago.
This song is "Held" by Natalie Grant. She writes it from several perspectives. Extreme hurt felt by God's children. The first verse is about a mother who lost her baby at 2 months old.
There is someone reading this right now that is doubting Jesus's love for them. A person who has experienced terrible hurt or is currently experiencing terrible hurt. There is someone reading who is terribly afraid of experiencing this hurt. And there is someone else who simply does not believe.
Let God wrap His love around you right now. There is no hurt He doesn't understand and can't heal. And He does love you. So, so very much. Allow Him to love you. Please.
This is what it means to be held. And to know, that the promise was when everything fell, we'd be held.
I want to hug Mary and thank you for her sacrifice, as well as her son's. I am utterly thankful and humbled that I was found worthy of it.
Mary went to sleep that night dealing with the image of her son being tormented and killed. And I bet she was "held."
Happy Good Friday!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Testimony Tuesday: Forgiveness of a Child
I've decided to start putting the topic in the heading. Mostly for me. You're welcome.
This week's lesson, word, what have you is one that was just pretty much laid on my heart. I'll share with you the sequence of events as it happened to me.
I read this verse today about a "childlike heart":
Mark 10:15
Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
Translation: Adults... get over yourselves.
That sounds harsh, but that is exactly what I see in this verse. I'll put it into a day to day interaction for you.
My son loves me. He thinks I am amazing. When he is upset, he wants me to hold him. He loves to play with me. He comes to me when he is hungry. He wants me to hold him when he is hurt or sick. When he accomplishes something new, he wants me to know about it first.
And that is what God wants from us. God should be the first person we go to when we are upset, hungry, thirsty, hurt, or sick. We should celebrate with God first when we accomplish something new and exciting. We should spend time with God not only when we need something or have something to be excited about, but also, just because He is our Father.
Which brings me to forgiveness.
This part was just laid upon my heart because I am so guilty of this.
When I tell Sam "No", it makes him mad. He cries and sometimes has a fit. But within 5 minutes, he is showing me something he found under the couch. He forgives just as quickly as he gets mad.
Why don't adults do this?
I know why. Because we are jaded. We are sick and tired of people treating us badly, repeatedly doing the same things to us. Or we are baffled at how moronic some people can be. And, how did they even think any of that was okay?
Have you caught yourself saying this...
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Or how about this one...
They may have gotten away with it this time, but they will never cross me again!
We are all guilty of thinking these things, professing these things, even preaching these things. And yet, that is not what God wants from us.
Just as we should have faith like a child, we should forgive like a child.
There isn't a verse in the Bible that I know of that tells us being angry is a sin. It is what you do with that anger that is the problem.
So when people anger you, be mad. But be quick to forgive. Forgive like our Father forgives us.
Do you not think Jesus was not treated badly while on Earth? And yet, he forgave. Every time.
Do you not think Jesus is steal treated badly even unto this day? Even after all He has done for the world? And yet, he forgives still. Every time.
Matthew 6:15
But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Luke 17:4
Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.
I urge you to let go of the unforgiveness in your heart right now. Seek the strength from your Father if you find yourself holding on.
Happy Tuesday!
This week's lesson, word, what have you is one that was just pretty much laid on my heart. I'll share with you the sequence of events as it happened to me.
I read this verse today about a "childlike heart":
Mark 10:15
Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
Translation: Adults... get over yourselves.
That sounds harsh, but that is exactly what I see in this verse. I'll put it into a day to day interaction for you.
My son loves me. He thinks I am amazing. When he is upset, he wants me to hold him. He loves to play with me. He comes to me when he is hungry. He wants me to hold him when he is hurt or sick. When he accomplishes something new, he wants me to know about it first.
And that is what God wants from us. God should be the first person we go to when we are upset, hungry, thirsty, hurt, or sick. We should celebrate with God first when we accomplish something new and exciting. We should spend time with God not only when we need something or have something to be excited about, but also, just because He is our Father.
Which brings me to forgiveness.
This part was just laid upon my heart because I am so guilty of this.
When I tell Sam "No", it makes him mad. He cries and sometimes has a fit. But within 5 minutes, he is showing me something he found under the couch. He forgives just as quickly as he gets mad.
Why don't adults do this?
I know why. Because we are jaded. We are sick and tired of people treating us badly, repeatedly doing the same things to us. Or we are baffled at how moronic some people can be. And, how did they even think any of that was okay?
Have you caught yourself saying this...
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Or how about this one...
They may have gotten away with it this time, but they will never cross me again!
We are all guilty of thinking these things, professing these things, even preaching these things. And yet, that is not what God wants from us.
Just as we should have faith like a child, we should forgive like a child.
There isn't a verse in the Bible that I know of that tells us being angry is a sin. It is what you do with that anger that is the problem.
So when people anger you, be mad. But be quick to forgive. Forgive like our Father forgives us.
Do you not think Jesus was not treated badly while on Earth? And yet, he forgave. Every time.
Do you not think Jesus is steal treated badly even unto this day? Even after all He has done for the world? And yet, he forgives still. Every time.
Matthew 6:15
But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Luke 17:4
Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.
I urge you to let go of the unforgiveness in your heart right now. Seek the strength from your Father if you find yourself holding on.
Happy Tuesday!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Testimony Tuesday
This week's Testimony Tuesday has been a bit of a struggle.
After a lot of thinking/praying/meditating/obsessing over it, God kind of led me to share a personal story this week.
Last semester, I was struggling with my job. Not in a "I hate my job" kind of way, but in a "I can't seem to get ahead! Why can't I get anything done! I'm failing at my job!" kind of way.
I had these thoughts for several weeks and it seemed like I was constantly working and just not getting anywhere.
One of my staff members randomly showed up in my office one day to ask how I was. I was honestly fine. There was nothing going wrong that day, I hadn't been upset that day... everything really was fine.
So I told her that. She then proceeded to shut my door and tell me that God had a message for me.
To say I was confused would be a massive understatement. I actually thought to myself, "She must be mistaken. There's nothing going on right now."
But, she went on. She opened with a prayer. Then she took me by the hand and proceeded to tell me the following (I have left out A LOT because it just isn't pertinent to the message today.)
God wants you to know that you have been placed here at UALR for a reason. You have supernatural strength in family, harmony, and compassion. God opened up this place for you here to utilize those strengths.
God wants you to know that you are not failing at your job. There are evil spirits in this office trying to distract you and discourage you from fulfulling your mission for Christ.
God also wants you to know that when you feel those nudges from Him to pray with students, that He is providing the protection for you and stop ignoring Him. He knows you are leery of mixing work and religion but He will protect you and is providing you these opportunities.
Your office has been established as a place of peace. Sometimes people find themselves here not understanding exactly why they came.
As I said earlier, she went on diving into some really personal information that I honestly didn't even realize was an issue until she gave me God's message. I cried and cried and cried. And I was so encouraged.
I know everyone doesn't get that sort of message from God. I truly believe God communicates to people in many different ways depending on the person's needs at the time. And as I stated earlier, I didn't have the foggiest idea that I needed that.
What is my point in all of this? Other than... look how great God is!?
Spiritual warfare is real. It is kind of a taboo topic to talk about. But who am I to avoid a taboo topic?
We prayed together that day and rebuked the spirits from my office. I was then told this would be a constant battle because of the work God is doing at my job. Every day I am to come into my office, pray, rebuke any spirits, and go on about my day. And I am telling you, it has worked.
People do find themselves in my office for no apparent reason. They have since I've worked here. I just chalked it up to, "Well I'm pretty awesome. Who can blame them?"
Turns out, I am awesome, but that's not necessarily why they are coming. And I'm only awesome because God made me that way. Ask anyone, before I was seeking God, I wasn't a whole big hoopla of fun to be around. At least, "peaceful" wasn't a way to describe the experience.
---------------LONG PAUSE-----------------------------
The long pause was to denote a break in this blog post where I had a conversation with a friend. This friend has been searching for a mission opportunity for a while now. And was so very excited about an opportunity that recently presented itself. She had time to get really excited about it, only to find out she didn't qualify for that particular opportunity.
And this broke her heart. She was terribly upset about this "lost" opportunity. And she had just recently come around to begrudgingly trusting God and letting go of her disappointment.
Enter today. Today, I hung out with her for lunch, and we worked together on some things, and were working on some things via chat and I just got this sense that she was struggling. I couldn't put my finger on it, and she insisted she was fine (which she tells me when she isn't so I believed her).
All of the sudden God had a message for her through me. I typed it. It was simple:
God is telling you to trust Him fully. He has an experience beyond your imagination planned for you.
Now, to reiterate, to my knowledge, she had given her trust back to God and accepted that the "opportunity" wasn't the right one.
She cried. And cried. And realized she wasn't trusting God. And it was a beautiful moment to her. I'm so thankful for that.
Even as I type, God is revealing to me that evil spirits were bringing her down. That is the thing with the devil. He will use anything, even Godly matters, to bring down someone on their mission for Christ. Anything!
So while you may think I sound crazy, but I assure you, spiritual warfare is real. Is it something you are struggling with? When you feel frustrated for no reason? When you can tell something just isn't right and you don't know what?
The devil is scared of God given talents and missions. And he will use everything in his power to keep you from using those talents and completing those missions.
When you find yourself caught in this struggle, stop and pray. And pray hard. I was told once that when rebuking spirits, you have to be loud because they are hard of hearing. I think that just draws up the passion. But do it.
A few verses for encouragement:
Luke 10:19-20 "Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. But don't rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven."
Romans 8:38 "And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow-not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love."
Happy Tuesday!
After a lot of thinking/praying/meditating/obsessing over it, God kind of led me to share a personal story this week.
Last semester, I was struggling with my job. Not in a "I hate my job" kind of way, but in a "I can't seem to get ahead! Why can't I get anything done! I'm failing at my job!" kind of way.
I had these thoughts for several weeks and it seemed like I was constantly working and just not getting anywhere.
One of my staff members randomly showed up in my office one day to ask how I was. I was honestly fine. There was nothing going wrong that day, I hadn't been upset that day... everything really was fine.
So I told her that. She then proceeded to shut my door and tell me that God had a message for me.
To say I was confused would be a massive understatement. I actually thought to myself, "She must be mistaken. There's nothing going on right now."
But, she went on. She opened with a prayer. Then she took me by the hand and proceeded to tell me the following (I have left out A LOT because it just isn't pertinent to the message today.)
God wants you to know that you have been placed here at UALR for a reason. You have supernatural strength in family, harmony, and compassion. God opened up this place for you here to utilize those strengths.
God wants you to know that you are not failing at your job. There are evil spirits in this office trying to distract you and discourage you from fulfulling your mission for Christ.
God also wants you to know that when you feel those nudges from Him to pray with students, that He is providing the protection for you and stop ignoring Him. He knows you are leery of mixing work and religion but He will protect you and is providing you these opportunities.
Your office has been established as a place of peace. Sometimes people find themselves here not understanding exactly why they came.
As I said earlier, she went on diving into some really personal information that I honestly didn't even realize was an issue until she gave me God's message. I cried and cried and cried. And I was so encouraged.
I know everyone doesn't get that sort of message from God. I truly believe God communicates to people in many different ways depending on the person's needs at the time. And as I stated earlier, I didn't have the foggiest idea that I needed that.
What is my point in all of this? Other than... look how great God is!?
Spiritual warfare is real. It is kind of a taboo topic to talk about. But who am I to avoid a taboo topic?
We prayed together that day and rebuked the spirits from my office. I was then told this would be a constant battle because of the work God is doing at my job. Every day I am to come into my office, pray, rebuke any spirits, and go on about my day. And I am telling you, it has worked.
People do find themselves in my office for no apparent reason. They have since I've worked here. I just chalked it up to, "Well I'm pretty awesome. Who can blame them?"
Turns out, I am awesome, but that's not necessarily why they are coming. And I'm only awesome because God made me that way. Ask anyone, before I was seeking God, I wasn't a whole big hoopla of fun to be around. At least, "peaceful" wasn't a way to describe the experience.
---------------LONG PAUSE-----------------------------
The long pause was to denote a break in this blog post where I had a conversation with a friend. This friend has been searching for a mission opportunity for a while now. And was so very excited about an opportunity that recently presented itself. She had time to get really excited about it, only to find out she didn't qualify for that particular opportunity.
And this broke her heart. She was terribly upset about this "lost" opportunity. And she had just recently come around to begrudgingly trusting God and letting go of her disappointment.
Enter today. Today, I hung out with her for lunch, and we worked together on some things, and were working on some things via chat and I just got this sense that she was struggling. I couldn't put my finger on it, and she insisted she was fine (which she tells me when she isn't so I believed her).
All of the sudden God had a message for her through me. I typed it. It was simple:
God is telling you to trust Him fully. He has an experience beyond your imagination planned for you.
Now, to reiterate, to my knowledge, she had given her trust back to God and accepted that the "opportunity" wasn't the right one.
She cried. And cried. And realized she wasn't trusting God. And it was a beautiful moment to her. I'm so thankful for that.
Even as I type, God is revealing to me that evil spirits were bringing her down. That is the thing with the devil. He will use anything, even Godly matters, to bring down someone on their mission for Christ. Anything!
So while you may think I sound crazy, but I assure you, spiritual warfare is real. Is it something you are struggling with? When you feel frustrated for no reason? When you can tell something just isn't right and you don't know what?
The devil is scared of God given talents and missions. And he will use everything in his power to keep you from using those talents and completing those missions.
When you find yourself caught in this struggle, stop and pray. And pray hard. I was told once that when rebuking spirits, you have to be loud because they are hard of hearing. I think that just draws up the passion. But do it.
A few verses for encouragement:
Luke 10:19-20 "Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. But don't rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven."
Romans 8:38 "And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow-not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love."
Happy Tuesday!
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