tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28593345813975805602024-03-05T09:03:50.707-06:00Pearls and GraceSibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.comBlogger346125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-49810637515323014022017-02-26T18:54:00.001-06:002017-02-26T18:54:06.959-06:00The Pearl Event 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello, sweet friends!</div>
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I wanted to pop in and share our save the date for The Pearl Event 2017! We can't wait to see everyone again this year! More details, tickets and speaker announcements coming in the next week or so! I hope to begin posting again soon! I've missed writing here so much! Lots to share! </div>
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xo,</div>
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Sibi</div>
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-86356592696061403382016-03-09T15:04:00.003-06:002016-03-09T15:04:42.716-06:00The Year Of Promises Fulfilled ~ 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello, sweet friends,</div>
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I hope that you are doing well!</div>
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I've missed each one of you and this space here where we share community and encouragement! </div>
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Edie Wadsworth from Life in Grace, refers to the past year as "The year I broke up with blogging."</div>
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I would say that is true for me as well. Although I've never blogged every day- or even every week,</div>
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This past year, I unintentionally broke up with blogging and focused any and all time with our family and with writing away in the midnight hour for what will hopefully become a book of hope and encouragement for others one day.</div>
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By His grace, I've also been creating flower arrangements for people and have loved every minute of creating something beautiful. It is such a passion of mine and something I did for years before growing our family. Flowers are my love language...<br />
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The days around here are filled with high activity and a heavy workload! I am doing my best to keep up as He is teaching me how to Mother our 7 children in new ways. Everyone is growing and thriving and grateful! </div>
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I wanted to thank each one of you who have reached out and asked about future posts and written words of encouragement to me.<br />
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It has meant so much and I am so looking forward to posting again more regularly.</div>
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2015 was a very full year with beautiful days and some really hard days too. I know I will write about the beauty and the broken pieces of those days as He leads me to...</div>
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He always brings beauty out of our broken things. </div>
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<b><i>We are praying and believing that 2016 is the year of promises fulfilled.</i></b></div>
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He is such a good Father. </div>
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He rewards. </div>
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Redeems. </div>
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Renews.</div>
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Restores.</div>
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Above all we can think, hope or imagine. </div>
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I am so incredibly grateful for His promises.</div>
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So happy to be back in this space again and to connect with each one of you! </div>
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And for those who have asked, I will share in a separate post about the upcoming Pearl Event!<br />
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xoxo</div>
Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-83734736549407425072015-05-10T18:31:00.001-05:002015-05-11T09:00:32.059-05:00A Love Offering <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A Mother's Day love offering of words from my heart to yours.</div>
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To every woman waiting. Hoping. Praying. Searching. Longing. Yearning. Wishing. For pink lines and signed papers. For tiny feet and bonnets with ribbons. For baby showers and nursery decorating. For the sounds of heaven to keep you up at night.</div>
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He sees you. He loves you. He knows.</div>
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To every woman who misses and grieves and wishes for just one more day with Mama. Who would give anything to have one more moment. One more chance. One more opportunity.</div>
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He sees you. He loves you. He knows.</div>
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To every woman who is raising her children alone. For the heavy load. For the burden you carry. For the pain that cuts like a knife. For the weight that keeps you on bended knees, praying for every need to be met in the lives of your children. For the times that you have been dismissed or rejected or judged or overlooked. For the Mother's Day that lacks in acknowledgment and gifts and flowers and cards and special photographs.</div>
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He sees you. He loves you. He knows.</div>
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To every woman who has been undone beyond anything a human heart can comprehend. Unraveled at the very core of her being. Who has carried life in her womb only to lose that precious life in the end.</div>
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He sees you. He loves you. He knows.</div>
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To every woman who has carried life and sacrificed through circumstances beyond any understanding and who chose the selfless act of placing their life gift, their love offering, into the arms of another woman and whose gift made someone else a Mother.</div>
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He sees you. He loves you. He knows.</div>
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For every woman who cannot do today. Who just cannot. </div>
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Who cannot bear to even blink or breathe or gasp for air because of the pain of all that this day doesn't represent for your heart. For all that never happened. And never will. For all of the love that was withheld. For all of the wrong that was done. For all of the good that was never shown. For all of the places and spaces inside that lack and ache and will not surrender you peace. </div>
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For all of the Mother Daughter dreams that never came to pass. For the prodigal Mother who will not relent. For the prodigal daughter who will not come home. For the wedge of hopelessness and despair between you. For the weeping and the wailing. For the midnight hour that holds your heart hostage. For all of the love that was never offered or given or spoken or felt. For all that never was and never will be. For all of your golden childhood that was stolen from you. For every bow that was never placed. For every strand of pearls you were never given. For every day you were never celebrated. Photographed. Blessed. Loved. Cherished. Adored...</div>
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He sees you. He loves you. He knows.</div>
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And He is a God who will restore. He will redeem. He will renew. He will repair. He will offer you a recompense and restitution and reconciliation above anything that you can think, hope or imagine. He is a Father who loves you and sees you and He knows it all, beautiful friend. He is well able. He is more than enough. He can fill every crack and broken place. He can can heal every crevice of injustice. He can give you something to hope for. To believe in. He can heal your heart to trust again. To breathe again. To love again. He is the One who reveals things so that He can heal things. He holds you in the palm of His hand and He has such extraordinary purpose and plans for you, His beloved Daughter.</div>
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He sees you. He loves you. He knows.</div>
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"You are the God who sees me." Genesis 16:13</div>
Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-29928920155964445082015-03-30T11:46:00.001-05:002015-03-30T11:46:48.293-05:00You Are God's Magnum Opus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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You know the feeling well. </div>
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The one where hurtful words by another have overwhelmed you and you've allowed those words to carry your heart to a place where it does not belong. </div>
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And with all of those hurtful words hovering over you and with all of life's demands and with all of the many ways in which you are needed and hurried and overwhelmed every day, you have forgotten one small thing.</div>
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<b><i><u>You are God's Magnum Opus.</u></i></b></div>
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<b><i><u>His masterpiece.</u></i></b></div>
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Which is no small thing beautiful friend.</div>
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There will be people who will want to convince you otherwise.</div>
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<b><i>But His voice has to be the loudest in our lives.</i></b></div>
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Louder than any well meaning family or friends. </div>
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Louder than the critics. </div>
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Louder than a hundred people combined.</div>
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If we do not know the truth that is God's word and <i><u>who He says we are</u></i>, we will be tempted to believe the words of other people.</div>
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Their voices will be the loudest.</div>
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And we cannot allow the brokenness in other people to reduce us, intimidate us or confine us.</div>
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You are not the sum total of someone else's definition of you.</div>
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And you cannot spend your beautiful, amazing, incredible gift of a life operating out of hurtful words that someone else has spoken over you.</div>
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We have to know the truth about who we are in order to come against anything that doesn't line up with His word.</div>
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And His word is overflowing with truth about who we really are.</div>
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Read this...</div>
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<b><i>"For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He has planned for us long ago." Ephesians 2:10</i></b></div>
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This is truth.</div>
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You are God's masterpiece.</div>
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You are His magnum opus.</div>
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His beautiful daughter. His beloved child. You are His heart song. You are His gift. You are His crown jewel. His indescribable gift.</div>
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<i><b>You are regarded as His most important work.</b></i></div>
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<b><i>Please do not allow anyone, ever, for any reason, under any circumstance, to convince you otherwise. </i></b></div>
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Not ever.</div>
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Write these words down and read them every, single day as a reminder.</div>
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And when the enemy comes in like a flood to try and tear you down and tell you otherwise.</div>
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Remember this </div>
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<b><i><u>You are God's masterpiece. His magnum opus. His most important work.</u></i></b></div>
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If you are surrounded by people who may be telling you otherwise...</div>
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You may need to kindly remove yourself from those people and get alone with God and His beautiful and life-giving words and allow Him to teach you the truth about who you really are.</div>
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<b><i>You are amazing and incredible and brilliant and creative and beautiful and inspiring.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>You are unique and full of wisdom and hope and faith and goodness and kindness and gentleness.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>You are an extraordinary gift of love to this world and please, don't ever forget this.</i></b></div>
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Know that you were created on purpose FOR purpose- no matter how you came into this world.</div>
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You are a beautiful and extraordinary masterpiece knit together by the Master Himself.</div>
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Walk in this truth today.</div>
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-47967640154482860912015-03-25T21:24:00.000-05:002015-03-25T21:24:31.692-05:00The Other Slipper<div>
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I took my daughters to experience the new Cinderella movie this weekend and I cannot even begin to communicate how powerful this movie is and how much we all loved it! It is so beautifully told and was filled with so many biblical undertones that we can hardly wait to see it again.<br />
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This is truly the remarkable story of Esther.<br />
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Their stories mirror one another again and again throughout this movie.<br />
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Esther was originally Hadassah.<br />
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Cinderella was originally Ella.<br />
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Name changes are very significant in the bible. <b>They are marked moments.</b><br />
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They were both orphans too.<br />
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Cinderella's voice was the key to her destiny.<br />
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She didn't need a man to save her.<br />
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She saved herself.<br />
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No one knew who she was. She was a nobody.<br />
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Just like Esther.<br />
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<i><b>God always uses those whom others would consider a "nobody" in a tremendous way.</b></i><br />
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There will be obstacles.<br />
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There will be pain and suffering and hardship.<br />
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There will be some who will be jealous and envious of your calling and your anointing and your gifting. There will even be some who will want to try and keep you hidden away and excluded and locked up in some type of attic, thinking that by using their power they can stop the call of God on your life.<br />
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<i><b><u>But they can't.</u></b></i><br />
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</b></i> <i><b>Absolutely nothing can stop God's plan for your life. </b></i></u><br />
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Everyone has "a person" in life. Some of us will even be blessed with more than one person.<br />
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Cinderella had a Fairy Godmother in this fairytale.<br />
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Esther had her uncle, Mordecai.<br />
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This person is appointed to partner, help, assist, give, sow, connect you, etc.<br />
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You will see this theme all throughout the bible. And in everyday life too.<br />
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Talk to anyone who is successful and fulfilling purpose.<br />
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<b><i>Someone helped them. </i></b><br />
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</i></b> <b><i>Someone with a great platform and tremendous influence gave them an opportunity, made a connection for them, called in favors, opened up doors for them, etc.</i></b><br />
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You cannot open the first few pages of a single book without reading countless acknowledgments of people who helped the author in some capacity.<br />
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<i><b><u>If you haven't met your person yet- you will. We all will.</u></b></i><br />
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Everyone has a significant person who is ordained by God to help usher us into our destiny by orchestrating things that we couldn't make happen if we tried.<br />
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<i><b><u>The longer the delay- the bigger the blessing. </u></b></i><br />
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</b></i> </u><i><b><u>The greater the suffering- the bigger your person and your purpose will be.</u></b></i><br />
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The most powerful part of the movie for me was the scene when The Grand Duke brought the palace guards and the slipper to the home of Cinderella and the Step-Mother had her locked up in the attic.<br />
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After everyone tried on the shoe and they started to leave the house...<br />
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<i><b>They heard Cinderella's voice.</b></i><br />
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<i><b><u>They heard her singing from the attic because even in the midst of great suffering she refused to remain silent.</u></b></i><br />
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Just like Esther.<br />
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<b><i>"For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14</i></b><br />
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When the captain questions both The Grand Duke and the Step-Mother and realizes that they are lying and clearly hiding the chosen one from the King...<br />
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The King (Kit) actually jumps off of his horse and orders the captain<b><i> to seek out the voice.</i></b><br />
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He knew that he could not be trusted and so he stayed behind pretending to be one of the guards.<br />
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<i><b>The Kinsmen Redeemer appeared just in time. </b></i><br />
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As Cinderella makes her way down the stairs to Kit, she begins to doubt herself. Her identity, her status and everything she feels she is lacking.<br />
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She has no idea if he will accept her for who she really is or not.<br />
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But she is full of great courage and presses on- even in the midst of fear.<br />
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"Will you take me as I am?" she asks him.<br />
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And of course He does.<b><i> He loves her for who she really is.</i></b><br />
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Your commoner/nobody status given to you by the world does not matter to the King of Kings!<br />
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He loves us just as we are and He has great purpose for every one of us.<br />
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<b><i>Kit offers her the other slipper because it belongs to her and it belonged to her all along.</i></b><br />
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When something belongs to you- every person in the world can try it on and attempt to make it fit their life- <b><i>but it will not fit.</i></b><br />
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They can try and talk like you and write like you and create like you- but it will not fit.<br />
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<b><i>Because it is yours.</i></b><br />
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</i></b> <b><i>It belongs to you.</i></b><br />
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<b><i><u>It is your voice and your were not created to remain silent. </u></i></b><br />
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Walking in who you were made to be will unlock your destiny.<br />
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<b><i><u>Even a voice locked up in the attic can be heard when purpose is attached to it. </u></i></b><br />
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Your voice is the key that will unlock greatness. <b><i><u>Have courage and use it.</u></i></b><br />
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Painting, dancing, singing, drawing, cooking, building, writing...whatever it is.<br />
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But do not remain silent!<br />
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If we focus on overcoming our circumstances and refusing to be defined by them- and focus on allowing God to shape our character- "have courage and be kind," then when it is time, everything else will be added to us.<br />
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I thought about the years of suffering Cinderella endured.<br />
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And there was absolutely no one who helped her for many years.<br />
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How many of us have experienced this same story?<br />
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<b><i>But God. Genesis 50:20</i></b><br />
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At the appointed time, a person was prepared to help her.<br />
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And all of those years of suffering and all of those years of harm and hard things and unfair things that the enemy meant to use to destroy her, were used for her good in the end.<br />
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Additionally, the glass slippers are so significant for me.<br />
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In the bible days people gave a shoe to signify that they were keeping a promise. To confirm that their word was good and true.<br />
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<i><b>"Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel. " Ruth 4:7</b></i><br />
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During my very first speaking engagement in July 2004, I shared my testimony and taught out of the book of Ruth and gave my shoe as a sign to a woman in the audience <b><i>that God is a promise keeper and that His word is true. </i></b><br />
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<b><i>He is.</i></b><br />
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When Cinderella's step-mother smashes her glass slipper, she is devastated.<br />
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<i><b>But she has no idea that the King has the other slipper.</b></i><br />
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<i><b>Our King has the other slipper beautiful friends. His word is good and true.</b></i><br />
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<b><i>He is a promise keeper.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>There is greatness on the inside of you.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>He has a purpose and destiny for each one of you that is a perfect fit for you.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>His promises are "Yes and Amen."</i></b><br />
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<b><i>He will restore the unfair things. The painful things. The wrong things.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>He will redeem and renew.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>He offers recompense and restitution.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>He is a restorer and a repairer.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>He is the Kinsman Redeemer and He has the other slipper...the one with tremendous purpose and destiny attached to it. </i></b><br />
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-5683847641547304412015-02-25T17:36:00.000-06:002015-03-06T17:42:36.334-06:00The Pearl Event IV 2015 ~ Speaker Bios<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRXaAUp4zKuyC0N39jrR5AQZj5dJ3yI1Ni4lmj7XJKDO8tbI6wzFGUoMhRQS5U69MB5hDLw8Uj6ianvxgBibYy4dR0tbxmrHsu4EQy93QYu4Fg7tfu-tQfVk6sCUk2Nd0kMjn9yseltCc/s1600/PG_WEBFLYER+v2+white.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRXaAUp4zKuyC0N39jrR5AQZj5dJ3yI1Ni4lmj7XJKDO8tbI6wzFGUoMhRQS5U69MB5hDLw8Uj6ianvxgBibYy4dR0tbxmrHsu4EQy93QYu4Fg7tfu-tQfVk6sCUk2Nd0kMjn9yseltCc/s1600/PG_WEBFLYER+v2+white.png" height="640" width="408" /></a></div>
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Good Morning Glories,</div>
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We are so looking forward to seeing you all in April! </div>
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Thank you to all of you who have already purchased your ticket! </div>
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Our hearts are so expectant with what He is planning to do for each one of us! </div>
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Here are the hashtags to use for TPE.</div>
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#thepearlevent #thepearlevent2015 #hispearl #butgod</div>
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<b><i>Here is the link to purchase your ticket.</i></b></div>
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<a href="http://www.thepearlevent2015.eventbrite.com/"><b><i>www.thepearlevent2015.eventbrite.com</i></b></a></div>
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We have added lots of answers to FAQ's as well as pictures from a previous event and links to wonderful hotels and restaurants, etc. ! </div>
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I wanted to share about the speakers today and link to their blogs and social media platforms, so that you can connect with them before the big day.</div>
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I am overjoyed to introduce these amazing women to you... </div>
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Lissa Whitlock</div>
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Speaker, Blogger and Photographer</div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/lissawhitlockphotography">Lissa Whitlock Photography</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.keepitsimplekeepitfresh.blogspot.com/">www.keepitsimplekeepitfresh.blogspot.com</a></div>
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<a href="http://instagram.com/inallthesethings">@inallthesethings</a></div>
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<i>My name is Lissa Whitlock, I've been married for 18 years and have two beautiful daughters. My oldest is a teenager this year, she is such a JOY. My youngest one is our tiny 11 year old that we refer to as our little peanut who is full of energy and keeps us laughing. I met my husband at church, I sang in the choir and he played in the orchestra. He often told everyone around him, including his mother, that he was going to marry me and I didn't even know his name yet! It turns out he was right, and 18 years ago I became Mrs. Whitlock. I would love to say that our life together has been all flowers and rainbows, but unfortunately we've known some tough times. I remember 6 years ago sitting in my brother's house as a lost woman. I had been a stay at home mom for so long, that I had lost who I was called to be and had no idea what my interests even were. He and his wife encouraged me to just start trying new things; I tried making jewelry, took a part time job, and other things that didn't take. One day, I found myself back in school in my 40s pursuing the art of photography. I took every class offered on the subject thinking that I would go into food photography. When I graduated I started getting requests to take photos of families and children around me without having ever dreamed of starting this type of business. I always say that this work belongs to the Lord because I didn't start it; He did, and he continues to bless me through it! Some days have brought tremendous stress because there is much to learn when doing something for the very first time. It has however also brought great moments of triumph! This is most certainly the hardest thing I've ever done, but God is teaching me who he's made me to be through it all. I could not do this without my husband, he's my dream maker, my right hand man and best friend! He pushes me to continue on every time I get discouraged and want to give up! </i></div>
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<i>When I'm not working on my business, my favorite ways to decompress are cooking, nesting around the house, going to coffee, taking long walks, and opening my home to encourage moms around me. My heart constantly years to travel all around Europe! I love the sunshine and always prefer to be outdoors! </i></div>
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<i>Walking through some hard years have taught me total dependence on the Lord. I've finally learned what it means to live as His daughter and every day He teaches me more and more about grace! I lived a long time trying desperately to do everything "right," checking boxes and living to please those around me. I thought I had it all together until one day my life crashed around me and I realized that all of those rules and checked boxes didn't save me from anything. In the deepest pit of my life I met Jesus and he's the one who changed my life and I love to encourage others around me with my story!</i></div>
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<i>My husband is my very best friend and we've grown together over the last 18 years! I could not do this life without God first and then Neal right by my side! I'm so blessed to be able to share a little bit of my heart with you and I hope you'll find yourself encouraged! </i></div>
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Stephanie Holden</div>
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Speaker and Blogger</div>
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<a href="http://www.stephanieholden.blogspot.com/">www.honeyholden.blogspot.com</a></div>
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@honeyholden</div>
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<i>Stephanie is a southern girl through and through whose been married nearly 26 years to her high school sweetheart, Nick whose also her pastor. They have raised three incredible daughters who are now all married to some pretty cool guys and she has three cute grandchildren who call her "Honey". After the dust settled on all the DIY wedding projects that kept her busy for the past five years, she learned to not merely endure the dreaded empty nest season but to actually embrace it. You can often find her enjoying Sunday naps with her man, group texting her daughters and driving across the country to hang out with her grandkids. She has learned the importance of being intentional when it comes to family, keeping everyone as close as ever even though they are all miles a part. She shares about these things on her blog, The Honey Pot, sprinkled with her love for fashion and her recent journey to a healthy lifestyle. Whatever adventure you may find her up to, her aim in all she does is to share the love of Jesus and the hope she has found in Him.</i></div>
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Rebecca Lyons</div>
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Speaker and Author</div>
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<a href="http://www.rebeccalyons.com/">www.rebeccalyons.com</a></div>
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<a href="http://instagram.com/rebekahlyons">@rebekahlyons</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Freefall-Fly-Breathtaking-Journey-Meaning/dp/1414379366/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355603374&sr=8-1&keywords=freefall+to+fly">Rebekah Lyons is the author of Freefall to Fly: A Breathtaking Journey Toward a Life of Meaning. </a></div>
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<i>She is a mother of three, wife of one and dog walker of two living in Nashville. She’s an old soul with a contemporary, honest voice who puts a new face on the struggles women face as they seek to live a life of meaning. Through emotive writing and speaking, Rebekah reveals her own battles to overcome anxiety, depression, and consumer impulses—challenging women to discover and boldly pursue the calling God has for them. As a self-confessed mess, Rebekah wears her heart on her sleeve, a benefit to friends and readers alike.</i></div>
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Tiffini Kilgore</div>
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Speaker, Blogger and Shop Owner</div>
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<a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHouseofBelonging">House of Belonging Shop </a></div>
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<i>Tiffini Kilgore wants you to know that you are not alone in your mess! </i></div>
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<i> After growing up in a broken home, she married at the tender age of sixteen. </i></div>
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<i>Divorced and with three small children, she married again. The years that </i></div>
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<i>followed held two more children, another broken marriage, chronic disease, </i></div>
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<i>major surgeries and living in cycles of abuse. Life's pain drove her to Jesus </i></div>
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<i>and her journals. Together, she and God began transforming her pain into </i></div>
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<i>passion by writing a new story for her life -- one of healing, forgiveness,</i></div>
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<i> Today, Tiffini is a mom to five -- four grown children and one teenager still </i></div>
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<i>at home -- and a grandma to five. She and her husband will joyfully celebrate</i></div>
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<i>their 20th anniversary this year. An entrepreneur by trade and an encourager </i></div>
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<i>at heart, she is reaching out to share her story in hopes that the faith and hard </i></div>
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<i>work that rescued her will encourage and inspire others to embrace the art of </i></div>
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Cherish Pinson</div>
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Speaker and Blogger</div>
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Speaker from The Pearl Event III</div>
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<i>Cherish Pinson is the author of Southern Soul Mates blog, where she shares her faith, love for all things Southern and coastal, and all things creative. Cherish is from Georgia where she graduated from UGA in 2009 with a degree in Fashion Merchandising. She is the owner of The Pink Flamingo, a Lilly Pulitzer Signature Store in Macon. Cherish also loves decorating, designing, gardening, cooking, the beach, traveling and her Pug baby, Pearl. She considers herself an old soul, yet a modern day belle who believes in hospitality, manners, pearls and monograms. Cherish is passionate about encouraging women and shares the Word of God and her testimony at women’s events. Her story is adorned with mercy, forgiveness and unconditional love from the Lord. It’s a story of true redemption. Her message is one that is a source of tremendous encouragement to women. “I am broken yet God is relentless in mending me. My past and my brokenness do not define me, my salvation does. He is my Father, and proves daily that He is the only constant I will ever have, and really and truly, He is all I will ever need.”</i></div>
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<i>Cherish is the wife of a veterinarian and practice owner, Brandon, whom she absolutely adores. They own Animal Medical Clinic of Forsyth in Forsyth, Georgia. </i></div>
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<i>Together they share a passion and life mission of serving Christ through business ownership and veterinary medicine. They have been married almost 9 years and have 4 dogs and 3 cats. </i></div>
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Sarah Cantrell</div>
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Sarah is the mother of two precious babies on this side of Heaven and two babies on the other. </div>
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She is the wife of a wonderful man and an absolute lover of Jesus and His people. Sarah's testimony of faith in the tragic loss of her twin boys has allowed her the opportunity to communicate the love of Jesus through her story. The story of His unfailing, lavishing love, comfort and redemption. In her spare time she is actively involved in her church and community and enjoys planning parties and spending time with family and friends.</div>
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Jennie Hundley</div>
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Speaker and President of Three Strands</div>
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<a href="http://www.threestrandsinc.org/"> Three Strands </a></div>
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<i>I had not planned on placing my son for adoption. I could not imagine leaving the hospital without MY baby! I already had a 2 year old son and could not imagine telling him I “gave away” his brother. But my reality was that I was in a very physically and emotionally abusive relationship. I realized I could not bring another precious baby into this life I was living. When I was about 5 weeks away from giving birth, I met with Sarah Jensen, the director of Adoption Center of San Diego. She listened to my story, and my fears. She told me about open adoption. I had never even heard of it. I realized in speaking and crying with her, that it was time for me to start making positive choices in my life! It was the hardest and most gut wrenching decision I have ever made, but the best decision I could have made for everyone involved. My Grandma wrote a quote on a notecard for me during that time in my life: “A life can only be truly changed when courage becomes more important than convenience”. Placing Liam did take great courage! That decision gave me the strength I needed to leave the abusive relationship, to realize I needed to be the best mom I could be for my 2 year old, Brian. That decision started me on a path of making selfless choices. I now am married with 3 sons. I have helped launch a nonprofit to serve BirthMoms called Three Strands. I am so thankful that I now have the opportunity to share my story of hope and redemption with other BirthMoms. I want to help them realize that they are heroes. They do not need to live in shame! I am so thankful for all God has done, and is continuing to do in my life!</i></div>
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<i>Prior to launching Three Strands, I devoted my time to caring for my family. I also spent some time caring for young children as a preschool teacher.</i></div>
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Stacy Coleman </div>
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Founder and Director of Three Strands</div>
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<i>Out of great pain, an even greater passion was born!</i></div>
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<i>During our 7 year journey to become parents, we had the unfortunate experience of coming very close to adopting a baby boy after bonding with him, feeding him and loving him for two days. Unfortunately, we did not leave the hospital with that precious baby boy due to Social Service intervention beyond our control and beyond the control of the BirthMom who desperately wanted us to care for her baby boy. The pain was so great in my darkest moment and yet, I felt the strongest connection I’ve ever felt with this BirthMom. For it was in that very moment, my indescribable pain turned into an even greater passion for his BirthMom. My focus shifted from my great pain and loss to hers. She was also leaving without a baby, but her story was one of going back into the same environment with no support and no family to love her through her time of grief and loss. She would still experience all of the physical changes and emotions of having a baby and yet somehow go right back to bartending and taking care of the 5-year-old she had at home, while alone and with no other options to make better choices for her life and that of her son.</i></div>
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<i>In that dark moment, in a hotel room in Oklahoma City, flat on my face through the tears, it all came together like a movie being played out in my mind. My previous work and relationships with Dave Ramsey (Financial principals), John C. Maxwell (Leadership principals), Florence Littauer (Personality Profile training) and my knowledge of the Strengths Finders testing was ALL FOR BIRTHMOMS! THAT was my defining moment! I could choose to wallow in the greatest pain of my life OR choose to walk into an even greater passion that was birthed inside of me! I was simply to be a conduit to bring these amazing life skills and opportunities to BirthMoms to make better choices; to provide them with the option to choose a different path. Why was I given these opportunities in my life? Why was I working with these leaders in their areas of expertise? Why was I provided with an amazing foundation, loving parents and life skills to pursue my sweet spot in this short time I have on earth? I believe it was so that Three Strands would be birthed in order to see BirthMoms served, loved and honored for choosing life and making the brave, selfless choice of providing the best for their child when they were in a place in life that they could not.</i></div>
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<i>We serve BirthMoms as they realize their value in the Three Strand cord of BirthMom | Child | Adoptive Mom. Without two very brave amazing women who are the BirthMoms of my two boys, I would not be given the incredible gift of being a Mom today! We will turn the light shone us, the Adoptive Moms, to the real heroine in the Three Strand cord – the BirthMom!</i></div>
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<i>Prior to founding Three Strands, I was Vice President of Conexus Group, a company my husband and I ran for 8 years and worked for Dave Ramsey and John C. Maxwell.</i></div>
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Becki DeVries </div>
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<i>Becki is originally from Seattle, WA where she grew up and polished her singing at a young age. After graduating high school in the Pacific NW she moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music as well as a degree in voice from Belmont University. Before graduating she was already super busy singing writer demos and Background vocals on Amy Grant’s record. About two weeks after graduation she moved to LA where she was playing clubs, writing songs and becoming a highly sought after session singer working with Producers such as Dennis Matkosky, Guy Roche, David Frank, Desmond Child, Darrell Brown and Cliff Magness. Her Major Label record vocal credits include Hilary Duff, Clay Aiken, Delta Goodrem, Amy Grant, Meredith Andrews, All Sons and Daughters, Desperation Band, Lulu, Holly Valance, Capitol Records Kids Country Hits 1,2,3 (leads and backgrounds) and several others. Her national TV exposure includes the Emmy Nominated NBC Today show theme “It’s a New Day” (Lead and backgrounds) as well as American Idol and All American Girl. Feature film credits include the song “Alive” (lead and backgrounds) in the film Flicka (20th Century Fox) and the soundtrack. Her National commercial singing credits include Tresemme, KFC, Atlantis Resorts Bahamas and many more. Her vocal arrangement credits include Jump 5’s “Beauty and the Beast” Disney release as well as the A-Teens (UK). In addition to her session singing/songwriting career Becki has also found herself leading worship all over the US, Europe and Uganda. She has released an independent worship record called Make a Way and most recently a Worship EP called Pictures and Frames. Currently she is a signed songwriter to Watsky Music Publishing, develops artists, is a mother of two and lives in Nashville.</i></div>
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-60210193637073696232015-02-16T14:28:00.003-06:002015-02-16T15:05:09.841-06:00He Repairs With Gold<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The idea that we can be better off for our brokenness is a hard concept to grasp while we are </div>
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<i><b>The thought that He can use it for our good and His glory- is just slightly overwhelming.</b></i></div>
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But the scriptures tell us this very thing. Found in the eighth chapter of the book of Romans.</div>
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"And we know that <i><b><u>in all things God works for the good </u></b></i>of those who love Him and who have been called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28</div>
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I have both experienced it and wrestled with it.</div>
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Sharing my heart with the Creator of heaven and earth, that there is no way, that any of this is going to be used for good. </div>
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<i><b><u>This.</u></b></i></div>
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The thing that catches our breath and causes us to feel deep grief and sorrow and pain from the sheer thought of it. </div>
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The things that have happened that cause us to be bent over double emotionally. </div>
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We couldn't make it right if we tried. And oh how we've tried. </div>
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But He can.</div>
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He makes good on all of it.</div>
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<i><b><u>Actually he makes it all gold.</u></b></i></div>
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<i><b>When we hand over the cadence we've constructed within our own lives and stop trying to heal our own brokennenss with our own definitions of healing and attempts at trying to right the wrongs...when we surrender to Him.</b></i></div>
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<b><i><u>He repairs with gold.</u></i></b></div>
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<i><b>And in exchange we walk away with healed brokenness and freedom.</b></i></div>
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<b><i>I learned that the Japenese have an art form for this.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>It is called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi">Kintsukuroi or Kintsugi.</a></i></b></div>
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<b><i>It means this, <u>"To repair with gold."</u></i></b></div>
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<b><i><a href="https://blog.etsy.com/en/2012/cracks-and-the-art-of-repair/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Image from Etsy shop here</span></a></i></b></div>
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I cannot tell you how much I love this.</div>
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I hope to find a special piece like this one day, to display as a stone of remembrance. A reminder of His healing power. A testimony of how He works even our brokenness together for our good and His glory. </div>
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For all of those who are wondering how on earth any of the suffering you are currently walking through could ever be used for any good at all...wondering if any of the suffering will ever make any sense...the hope is that the truth of His word will bring encouragement. </div>
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<i><b><u>There is a high value placed on brokenness.</u></b></i></div>
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As a people, we are cracked and broken with unmet needs and unhealed hurts. Our hearts are held together with hopelessness and despair. We are surviving circumstances and situations and disease and illnesses that require of us that which we never imagined.</div>
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There are marriages that ache so much it hurts to even breathe. There are families that are ripped apart with offense and unforgiveness. There are friendships and relationships and business partnerships where evil and wrong doing and hidden motives were the intention from the start and we are left feeling betrayed, to say the very least. There are the hard things that we carry every day that we can't even talk about because it is just too painful.</div>
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<b><i><u>We ache with the weight of it all.</u></i></b></div>
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And we are all cracked in one way or another.</div>
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Somehow we still have to do life. We still need to work and provide and hold our families together...</div>
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But there is a high value placed on brokenness in God's word and <i><b>His word is a healing balm.</b></i></div>
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<b><i><u>He is a God who heals. Who restores. Who renews. Who offers us an imaginable recompense.</u></i></b></div>
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Thankfully, He tells us that He will make it all gold.</div>
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<b><i><u>Our God is the original mastermind behind the art of Kintsukuroi.</u></i></b></div>
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We have to surrender our broken pieces and unfair things to Him.</div>
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It is time sweet friends.</div>
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And watch as the Master repairs with gold...and makes us more beautiful for it.</div>
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"Then He brought them out with silver<u> </u><i><b><u>and gold</u>. </b></i>And among His tribes there was not one who stumbled." Psalms 105:37</div>
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"You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz, the diamond; The beryl, the onyx, the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; </div>
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<b><i><u>And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you.</u></i></b> On the day that you were created, they were prepared." Ezekiel 28:13</div>
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"And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, <b><i><u>and test them as gold is tested</u></i></b>. They will call on my name, and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are My people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is my God.' " Zechariah 13:9</div>
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"He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi <b><i><u>and refine them like gold</u></i></b> and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness." Malachi 3:3</div>
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"So that they proof of your faith, <i><b><u>being more precious than gold </u></b></i>which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." </div>
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1 Peter 1:7</div>
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"But He knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, <i><b><u>I will come forth as gold.</u></b></i>" Job 23:10</div>
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"Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours." Isaiah 61:7</div>
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"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. " 2 Corinthians 4:7-10</div>
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-63706634596365173282015-02-10T08:24:00.000-06:002015-02-10T08:24:51.028-06:00The Pearl Event IV ~ Chattanooga<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbe7hR8WKjQOuxWqGyYLQx26LUIdVQFGf27x3KKlTW3R-W1ygrHAprfcjm6mLghN4OGwj6fown_C0A5tcEdWVaixNWSmG17CowXL9pNssogDNhhbn838tenMeFsOK8dTmQw3qTKxXCFZk/s1600/PG_WEBFLYER.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbe7hR8WKjQOuxWqGyYLQx26LUIdVQFGf27x3KKlTW3R-W1ygrHAprfcjm6mLghN4OGwj6fown_C0A5tcEdWVaixNWSmG17CowXL9pNssogDNhhbn838tenMeFsOK8dTmQw3qTKxXCFZk/s1600/PG_WEBFLYER.png" height="640" width="408" /></a></div>
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Good Morning Glories,</div>
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I am equal parts honored and humbled and overjoyed to share this news with you all today! I share with great faith and legs shaking that He has orchestrated and organized and gathered together an incredible Pearl Event for you all this year. </div>
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It is going to be worth the wait!</div>
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<a href="http://www.thepearlevent2015.eventbrite.com/">So for all of you who have asked, the early bird tickets will be released today at 10:00 a.m. (CST)</a></div>
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<b><i>These women.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>They are vessels who pour. Who serve. Who love. Who give.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Who sow into the hearts of women.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>They use their platforms and social media influence for good and for the kingdom.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>They are encouragers and lovers of God's word.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>They are truth tellers and have hearts full of love and humility.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>And their stories...their "But God" stories of hope and faith and redemption and recompense.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>You all are going to be so blessed.</i></b><br />
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We have some of your favorite bloggers and writers joining us this year. A Pearl Girl from each of the last two events and some new and very special friends!<br />
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Our theme this year will not come as a surprise if you've been a reader here for very long.</div>
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I've written for years here about my two favorite words in the bible and I am so grateful for</div>
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how God can truly use every, single thing we've been through, for our good and His glory.</div>
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These women have some of the most incredible "but God" stories you've ever heard! </div>
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<b><i><u>Glorious Impossibles!</u></i></b><br />
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I will share more later today in a separate post but wanted to announce the event and leave a link to<br />
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the ticket page for those of you who have been waiting for the next Pearl Event!<br />
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<b><i><a href="http://www.thepearlevent2015.eventbrite.com/">We have a limited number of discounted early bird tickets and then once those are gone, the remaining tickets will go to full price, so if you want to join us this year, please get your ticket right away!</a></i></b><br />
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Here is the link.<br />
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<a href="http://www.thepearlevent2015.eventbrite.com/">www.thepearlevent2015.eventbrite.com</a><br />
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Cannot wait to see you all in April! </div>
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-20243046081930989612015-02-07T15:54:00.001-06:002015-02-07T15:54:09.490-06:00Rewrite<br />
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<a href="http://www.madebygirl.com/?product%7C493"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Print by: Made By A Girl</span></a></div>
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For those of us who want to rip pages out of our story, He offers us a better way.</div>
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He offers us a rewrite. </div>
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A new story. <i>Not a perfect one.</i></div>
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A new one that is filled with hope and redemption and recompense and restoration.</div>
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I love this scripture found in 2 Samuel 22:25. (MSG)</div>
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<i><b>God rewrote the text of my life <u>when</u> I opened the book of my heart to His eyes.</b></i></div>
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I've written about this one little word before, but it is so powerful and found so often in scripture.</div>
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<i><b>When.</b></i></div>
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We are hoping for a new story, a better story, without sometimes even realizing that the author of it all is the One who holds the pen. Who carries the script. Who redeems. Who renews. Who restores.</div>
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<b><i>And Who Rewrites.</i></b></div>
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Ask Him for this today. </div>
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Write it down in a journal and date it.</div>
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And watch as the pages of your life are rewritten with hope and new beginnings.</div>
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Rewritten where He is the main character and we are His beloved. </div>
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There are pages of my story where unforgiveness was the leading character.</div>
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<i>By His grace, He rewrote a story of love and forgiveness and redemption in that area.</i></div>
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Maybe there are pages of your story where loss and failure and heartache were the leading characters.</div>
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He can not only give you new pages, not only new chapters, but an entirely different book altogether.</div>
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In a completely different category.</div>
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He specializes in this and is glorified in our lives in these ways.</div>
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I'm trusting Him for some very special rewrites in my life right now. </div>
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The pages that I had filed away out of fear and unbelief.</div>
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<i>He wants our pages sweet friends.</i></div>
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<b><i>He wants the ones that we have tossed over in the corner. The ones that we've ripped to shreds</i></b></div>
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<b><i>and thrown in the trash. The pages of our notebooks and dream books and "maybe someday" books. </i></b><b><i>Pages that we've filed away. Pages that we have dog eared and highlighted and marked up with hope. </i></b><b><i>He wants the pages that are labeled disappointment and despair and hopelessness too.</i></b></div>
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<i>He really wants those.</i></div>
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Because He is the One who can do the unthinkable and the unimaginable.</div>
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He can restore the years the locust have eaten.</div>
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Every, single one. Even the ones where we think, there is "no way" this circumstance, this situation can be redeemed or restored.</div>
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<b><i>Even those.</i></b></div>
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We can take the limits off and set our pride or disappointment or frustration aside, and extend whatever we have tried to pen for ourselves by simply and humbly asking Him for a rewrite.</div>
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His story is always better...always.</div>
Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-78046602775516173182014-12-24T17:02:00.001-06:002014-12-26T00:30:03.586-06:00A Christmas To Remember<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIBKge8VSpWPUzu_t9OYRVtCrvrzUDjIoybzHQpAGgYYV9rOY2PJRxJoZpf1FZufud2AfqTibXxdomQzvQPx5aB5qXScUhcj6dtdFod_MkYZ2vYNPM7G4EtA7-GTn-yp2y3EL2PdBeGBs/s1600/549b43818841c9cb610e9203.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIBKge8VSpWPUzu_t9OYRVtCrvrzUDjIoybzHQpAGgYYV9rOY2PJRxJoZpf1FZufud2AfqTibXxdomQzvQPx5aB5qXScUhcj6dtdFod_MkYZ2vYNPM7G4EtA7-GTn-yp2y3EL2PdBeGBs/s1600/549b43818841c9cb610e9203.jpeg" /></a></div>
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I remember those Christmases the most. </div>
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The ones where I stood in between heartache ten feet deep and grief and shame that ripped through my soul like a tidal wave of what felt like the entire world against me.</div>
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I even considered that life was this painful because I wasn't supposed to be in it.</div>
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Sorrow that cuts to the bone and marrow will do that to a person. Will unravel a person. Will break us open and bring us to our knees in the darkest corner of our soul, howling in the midnight hour with the pain of just trying to do life - all wrecked and messed up inside and wishing that life could please be gentler, kinder even, just once.</div>
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But even still...</div>
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<i>I would look at those beautiful brown eyes staring back at me and the absolute sheer perfection that called me Mama...</i></div>
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And I held her and loved her and sang over her and let the tears fall as I watched her sleep and brushed those gorgeous curls and told her while she was sleeping how sorry I was.</div>
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<b><i>For everything.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>For the mama she had. For everything I was. </i></b><b><i>For everything I wasn't.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>For the 1.99 Happy Meal we had to share and call it dinner.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>For the trailer. For the pipes that froze. For no running water. For no electricity multiple times. Too many times. For the cabinets that were bare. For the empty fridge. For the car that barely ran.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>For the smocked dresses that weren't in her closet and the pink bows that weren't in her hair. For lacy turn down socks I didn't have the money to buy. For new patent leather shoes that weren't on her feet. For</i></b><b><i> the few dollars of a paycheck on the 15th of December that was all I had to give her some kind of a Christmas. </i></b></div>
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<b><i>And for the wedding band that still wasn't on my left hand.</i></b></div>
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And every year I would wish that it was <b><i><u>the </u></i></b>Christmas to remember. The one where I was happily married with a house full of babies and siblings for my Macey girl. And enough money to pay all the bills and buy all the presents and still keep the electricity on. The one where we baked cookies and decorated gingerbread and wrapped gifts and watched real ballerinas on a real stage.</div>
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I would look at other mothers through the eyes of comparison and wonder what on earth they had that I didn't. How they were able to make it work or capture the heart of another or even how on earth they were married, divorced and married again?</div>
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I couldn't for the life of me figure out the formula.</div>
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And then the holidays would unfold each year.</div>
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And during the holidays we had to share our daughter.</div>
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Every, single time I would plead with a God that I didn't know, that the drop off wouldn't kill me.</div>
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That He would help me.</div>
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That He would hold me up.</div>
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That the missing wedding band didn't identify me. And the trailer park and eventually apartment complex we called home didn't define me as a mom who loved her daughter less.</div>
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The empty car seat and barbie on the floor board of our car after the drop off would send me into a whirlwind of sorrow and despair and a sudden need <i>to pull this car over because I can't drive it while slumped over the steering wheel- emotional breakdown.</i></div>
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I was a failure. By every definition. </div>
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And if I didn't know it enough myself, I had an army of people waiting in the wings to tell me so.</div>
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But the years wore on and I learned a few things.</div>
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I learned that Christmas in a trailer, or a tiny apartment with no heat, or with only a gift or two under the tree- if there was a tree in the first place, or a left hand without a wedding band for any number of reasons, or the painful drop off- pick up with our children, didn't mean that it wasn't a Christmas to remember. </div>
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Or that we as parents had failed.</div>
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Because the King of Kings was conceived in the womb of a young teenage unmarried girl and was born into an absolute mess of a place without heat or running water or crown molding and magnolia wreaths.</div>
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God set it up that way.</div>
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<i><b>We have a Savior who knows. </b></i></div>
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Because He has been there. He lived it.</div>
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<i><b>I learned that no matter what our circumstances, it's always a Christmas to remember, <u>Him.</u></b></i></div>
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And we can hold up our emptiness or our empty bank accounts or empty trees like an offering by measuring everything we don't have and everything that isn't the way it should be or <i><b>the </b></i><i><b>way we think it should be...</b></i></div>
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Or, we can kneel down, in a tiny apartment floor, in a drafty trailer, or in a big beautiful home and say to the Author of it all....</div>
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Thank you for the breath in my body to praise Your Holy name.</div>
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Thank you for the freedom to worship You any time, any place, in any way that I choose.</div>
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Thank you for waking me up this morning. For another day. For another Christmas.</div>
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Thank you for this tree or a single gift at all.</div>
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Thank you for a small bite of food. Thank you for the ability to eat and taste.</div>
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Thank you for the ability to visit a church and see the candles and hear the music and worship You.</div>
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Thank you for my precious children and for the ability to hold them and tell them how much I love them whether it is on Christmas Eve or Christmas day or any day.</div>
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And we can thank Him for the wedding band on our hand, or the one that isn't there this year for any number of reasons or for the one that has yet to circle our ring finger at all. </div>
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<b><i>Because married, divorced, single, single mom or single dad- </i></b></div>
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<b><i>It is still a Christmas to remember, <u>Him.</u></i></b></div>
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<b><i>And the God Who loves us more than we can even fathom, inhabits the praises of His people.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>We can revel in His glory while we watch our child sleep or while we share a two dollar meal because He has made us in His image. In His very likeness.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>We can still revel in His goodness even if our house, bills, holidays, friendships, relationships, marriage, etc. is not what we dreamed about or isn't what we hoped it would be, because He promises us that He will use every single thing we have gone through, for our good and His glory. </i></b></div>
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<b><i>We can still revel in His very nature to love us and to draw near to us because His word says that He is close to the brokenhearted.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>We can still revel in the fact that it is Christmas, whether there are gifts or trees or not. Whether we have a house full of family or we are standing completely alone. Because the God of heaven and earth has promised us double honor for our former shame and that He is the author of our lives and we are to trust Him with the pen....</i></b></div>
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From someone who has been on every side of the holidays known possible, I write these words.</div>
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I write them to give you hope, to point you to the One who created you and to remind you that no matter what, it is still a Christmas to remember.... Him.</div>
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May you feel the wonder of His love above all ...</div>
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Merry Christmas sweet friends.</div>
Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-83172635453155501602014-12-03T14:33:00.000-06:002014-12-03T14:43:42.474-06:00He Still Can<br />
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Right there in the scriptures I see my own heart just as plain as day.</div>
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That place in the middle of Mark chapter nine where the Father of the young child says to Jesus,</div>
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<i>"I believe; <b><u>but help my unbelief."</u></b></i></div>
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We can sometimes find ourselves in this very place, when the end of the year is drawing to a close and our hearts begin to panic and we look back over the last 11 months and see that <b><i><u>it</u></i></b> hasn't happened yet.</div>
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The breakthrough. The restoration. The recompense. The restitution. The redemption in whatever areas we are praying for.<br />
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<b><i>We <u>have</u> believed.</i></b><br />
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<i><b>We<u> have </u>prayed.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>We <u>have</u> trusted.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>We <u>have</u> been patient in affliction.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>We <u>have </u>offered up a multitude of a form of worship called <u>a sacrifice of praise</u> in the midst of painful circumstance after painful circumstance.</b></i></div>
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Some of us have been disappointed so many times that it can feel like <i>hope deferred</i> on steroids and despair has threatened to take up permanent residence in our hearts.<br />
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And we can believe and know for certain that God is good, <i><b>because He absolutely is</b></i>. That He is faithful and true. That He can do above all we can think, hope or imagine...</div>
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And yet sometimes <b><i>the years of waiting can bring on a tidal wave of unbelief in our hearts.</i></b></div>
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I think<b><i> the longer we've been waiting </i></b>on the breakthrough, the harder it can be to simply believe that <i><b><u>HE STILL CAN.</u></b></i><br />
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<i><b><u>That He has not forgotten.</u></b></i></div>
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<i><b>The longer we wait for the promises to be fulfilled, the heavier the weight our hearts can feel.</b></i><br />
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<b><i><u>Wait = Weight.</u></i></b></div>
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<i>But He reminds us in His word what all of that really means.</i><br />
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<i>"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, <b><u>is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory</u></b>, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen." - 2Corinthians 5:16-18</i><br />
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<b><i>Wait + Weight = The weight of glory.</i></b><br />
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This is the good news.<br />
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<i>In Mark Chapter 9</i></div>
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A Father is hurting over a serious situation with his son and he brings his son to Jesus for healing.</div>
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Jesus asks the Father, <b><i>"How long has this been happening?"</i></b></div>
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And he answered, "From childhood."</div>
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The Father goes on to explain in some detail about the circumstances surrounding his son and says to Jesus, "<u><b><i>If you can </i></b></u>do anything, please have compassion on us and help us." - Mark 9:22</div>
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<u><b><i>"What do you mean, 'if I can'?" Jesus asked.</i></b> </u> ~Mark 9:23 NLT</div>
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Jesus then says <b><i>"Anything is possible if a person believes."</i></b></div>
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The Father replies, <i><b>"I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!" </b></i>Mark 9:24</div>
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The scriptures tell us that the very next thing that happens is that Jesus immediately helped his son.</div>
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<u><i><b>It was important for me to see that Jesus wanted to know how long it had been and he also spoke directly to his unbelief by asking him, "What do you mean, 'If I can'?"</b></i></u></div>
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<b><i>Jesus is concerned with how long we have suffered with our circumstances.</i></b></div>
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<i><b><u>And sometimes the only way we can overcome our unbelief is by receiving the breakthrough.</u></b></i></div>
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Each time He answers or moves on our behalf- <b style="font-style: italic;">our faith increases. </b>Those situations become stones of remembrance in our faith walk, where we can look back and remember <b style="font-style: italic;">and know </b>that no matter what it looks like, <i><b>He is for us and not against us.</b></i><br />
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<b style="font-style: italic;">Even if it takes years. </b></div>
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I hope these words bring encouragement and if you are waiting and wondering if He still can, I pray that these words are a healing balm for your heart today.</div>
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<i><b><u>"What do you mean, 'If I can'?"</u></b></i></div>
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Heal your body?</div>
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Restore your soul?</div>
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Redeem your circumstances?</div>
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Open your womb?</div>
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Heal your marriage?</div>
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Restore the years the locusts have eaten?</div>
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Replace your lost income?</div>
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Renew your mind?</div>
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Open up opportunities?</div>
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Heal your circumstances?</div>
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Give you the desire of your heart?<br />
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Help you in that situation?</div>
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Move in that adoption process?</div>
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Bring your daughter home?</div>
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Give you an incredible spouse?</div>
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Teach you my word?</div>
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Help you in raising your children?</div>
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Reveal myself to you in a new way?</div>
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<b><i><u>He still can. </u></i></b></div>
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<b><i>He is well able to do above all we can think, hope or imagine.</i></b><br />
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<i><b>"Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 5:16-18</b></i></div>
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-81448160515174684332014-11-25T13:02:00.001-06:002014-11-25T20:50:18.197-06:00Then By All Means<br />
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<b><i>Honey filled words</i></b> spilled forth right there in the middle of my day through a dear friend recently.</div>
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They sounded foreign and uncomfortable and hard to receive, as beautiful as they were.<br />
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<i>Sometimes honey words sound foreign to us when we've spent the day beating ourselves up with our own words.</i></div>
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Or when we've allowed someone else's words to take root and replace the truth of our own.</div>
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<i>Brokenness can do that to us.</i><br />
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It can leave us unable to hear the truth because we've heard so many lies about who we really are that when the truth comes in like a flood, it feels foreign and we can't receive it.</div>
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<i><u>Brokenness can leave us with limited capacity for truth because the words that have nearly destroyed us take up all the space.</u></i></div>
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And if we do not replace those heart wrecking words with truth soon, they can take root.</div>
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<i>And they can tangle us up in a world of hurt to the point that we can begin to live and move and have our being out of the words that were spoken out of someone else's brokenness.</i></div>
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And if we do not have a foundation and platform of truth and love and goodness called <i>love letters from the King</i>, to stand on, then our hearts will either move into some form of agreement with the lies or hit full tilt mode, called, <i>they must be right, so why am I even trying to do this?</i></div>
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This is when He sends in the encouragers.<br />
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<i><u><b>The encouragers come in like a flood and tear down everything that is not from the Father with the truth of everything that is from Him.</b></u></i></div>
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And God was so kind to me that day in the midst of my inner turmoil.<br />
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He graciously sent the encouragers by way of two precious friends to call and ask me why on earth I wasn't writing. </div>
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I answered that I was busy with the baby and family and such.</div>
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<i>Crickets.</i></div>
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They know that I've had lots of babies and that still, I<br />
write and they know my heart behind the writing.</div>
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I don't write for myself and I don't write for others.</div>
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<i><b>I write for Him.</b></i></div>
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<b><i><u>It is the way that I worship Him. </u></i></b></div>
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<b><i><u>But sometimes the very thing we were created to do is the very thing that people will use against us to keep us from doing the very thing that God has called us to do.</u></i></b></div>
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And so, eventually, I shared how a friend told me months ago, that I wasn't a writer.</div>
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And that because I admired her and she had a long list of credentials, it crushed me.</div>
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And it silenced me.<br />
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And every time I would sit down to write, I would hear those words over and over again.</div>
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Never mind the viral blog posts or beautiful words of encouragement from others.</div>
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Never mind any of that.</div>
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All I could hear were her words.</div>
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Even though I somewhat knew what she meant.</div>
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<i><u>She meant perfection. </u></i></div>
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<i><u>Because you won't find a shred of that anywhere on this blog.</u></i></div>
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<i>The God I love and adore,</i> <i><u style="font-weight: bold;">the One whom I write for,</u><b> </b>d</i><i>oesn't require that from me. </i></div>
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So I write what He leads me to and how He prompts me to write and<i> I do my best not to worry with someone else's definitions of "writer."</i></div>
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<b><i>I just write.</i></b></div>
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And from everything I've read in His word, <i><b><u>He always uses the least likely people.</u></b></i><br />
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I am so grateful for the kindness of those friends who spoke truth and life and encouragement to me that day.</div>
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Their honey filled words helped me to start writing again and also reminded me of one of my favorite quotes.<br />
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<i><b>"If you hear a voice from within you say, 'you are not a painter,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." Vincent van Gogh</b></i></div>
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I believe that this not only includes negative self talk but also refers to the voices of others who choose to use their words to tear down gifting in other people.</div>
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<b><i><u>No matter how many voices we have in our life, His voice has to be the loudest.</u></i></b></div>
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And the more we do the very thing He has called us to do and the more we fill our hearts with His words, the louder His voice will be and the easier it will be to move past words that do not line up with the truth from the One who tells us...</div>
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<i><b><u>In me, you live and move and have your being.</u> Acts 17:28</b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<i><b><u>My sheep know my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.</u> John 10:27</b></i></div>
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So today, if you find yourself conflicted over whether or not you can write or sing or dance or teach or paint or pastor or create or instruct or parent or cook or fill in the blank with any number of calling and talent and gifting...</div>
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I hope your heart will remember these words and <b><i>by all means...</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Paint</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Teach</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Train</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Write</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Speak</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Mother</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Father</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Pastor</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Lead</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Sing</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Dance</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Cook</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Bake</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Create</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Encourage</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Arrange</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Orchestrate</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Because the body of Christ needs you beautiful friend.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i><u>Yet who knows if you have come into the kingdom for such a time as this? Esther 4:14</u></i></b></div>
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-48241137441153674712014-10-22T10:42:00.001-05:002014-10-22T10:42:47.379-05:00Grace Abounds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn6L2ngIysUXsgmwktBATSUHk-046M7iv4nMKOlkpOokKh52cF_Qk9q0DucvvIZEZTLw97CE-4LvQn_6Gs3Rql417GceohyaLRXNptWVJlJEcyiXN9_JgInxKbbd33z4XjRfv_zuXl6Ik/s1600/IMG_3568edit2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn6L2ngIysUXsgmwktBATSUHk-046M7iv4nMKOlkpOokKh52cF_Qk9q0DucvvIZEZTLw97CE-4LvQn_6Gs3Rql417GceohyaLRXNptWVJlJEcyiXN9_JgInxKbbd33z4XjRfv_zuXl6Ik/s1600/IMG_3568edit2.jpg" height="456" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.melaniemphoto.com/">Photograph credit: Melanie M. Photography</a></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Hello beautiful friends,</span></div>
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I wanted to stop in and post a quick note and a picture of the Prince with his sisters.</div>
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<i><b>Swoon.</b></i></div>
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We are all absolutely smitten beyond words with Wells Henry Worth and can hardly get a thing done, with the love fest going on over here- and the work load!</div>
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I am doing my best to manage the hustle and bustle of our busy family of nine people.</div>
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Somehow, by His unimaginable goodness and grace, I've managed to birth a bouncing baby boy and along with my husband, get five children registered for three different schools, get them all out to purchase clothes and shoes and various school supplies. We've taken all of them for haircuts and physicals and dentist appointments, attended all of their open houses and parent teacher conferences and managed decent school pictures for everyone as well as getting one ready for band and one ready for football, all with a newborn in tow. We have also managed to survive a series of strep throat sickness with two of the children and asthma attacks with one of the children. Most of which happened the day after the baby was born. Our oldest son gave us a good scare that day and had to be rushed to the ER clinic. </div>
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I won't even get into the scary car accident we were involved in with five of my children in the car with me just a few weeks ago.</div>
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We are all fine thank goodness. So, so grateful for that. </div>
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But it has been a lot to manage to say the least. </div>
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I'm so thankful for His grace. </div>
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His grace is sufficient....</div>
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Our Macey Girl is doing well and has been living on her own and supporting herself for a long time now, but we never stop being Mama, do we? Our children need us differently once they are grown and I do my best to make myself available without smothering or hovering over her life. I'm still learning. Still making mistakes but still trying! I love her more and more and do my best to demonstrate my love for her even though we aren't under the same roof any more. Sometimes that is a floor move at her adorable apartment or a pumpkin candle and a little love note left on her door step or even a Sunday night dinner at our house with the nine of us- <i><b>my favorite. </b></i></div>
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I'm learning to meet the ever changing needs of seven precious children and navigate a new normal here the best that I can. I have certainly made my share of mistakes but thankful that He gives me the grace to do this. </div>
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<b><i>Grace abounds.</i></b></div>
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A big family isn't for everyone but when I look at these longed for, prayed for, hoped for babies- all I can see is love.</div>
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<i><b>And I can't find a thing in the world wrong with love.</b></i></div>
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Just messy beautiful, trying hard, learning and growing and forgiving in a family <b><i><u>motivated by love.</u></i></b></div>
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I think that's all He asks of us....</div>
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<b><i>That we love.</i></b></div>
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I'm so looking forward to writing again and have missed you all so much!</div>
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I have a long list of notes to post here soon, written in some kind of 3:00 a.m.- I'm nursing a baby handwriting- but here's hoping.</div>
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I hope you all are enjoying a glorious fall and that your homes are spilling over with the plumpest pumpkins this season!</div>
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Big Hug...</div>
Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-83997677581033228462014-08-05T13:04:00.000-05:002014-08-05T13:04:04.965-05:00Crowned<br />
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Morning Glories,</div>
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Lots of excitement in the air here at our house!</div>
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We have been blessed with a beautiful new baby boy!</div>
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I am incredibly humbled to introduce you to Wells Henry Worth...</div>
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"Wells Henry" has a big, beautiful name with lots of meaning and purpose.</div>
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He was crowned on July 15, arriving two weeks early, weighing in at 8 pounds and 10 ounces and is healthy and whole and has absolutely captured our hearts! </div>
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We are so in love with this sweet boy and all of the children are over the moon excited about their new brother.</div>
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My mama heart is grateful and thankful and humbled beyond words.</div>
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Will try to share more words and pictures soon. </div>
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Right now we are soaking in the sounds and the fragrance of a scrumptious newborn baby in our home again.</div>
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Nothing compares with this gift. </div>
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Big hug to you sweet friends.</div>
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-88991228316524648582014-06-15T11:06:00.000-05:002014-06-16T08:38:19.196-05:00Watermarked<br />
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He missed everything.<br />
<br />
Every single moment. Every single opportunity.<br />
<br />
He missed every dance recital. Every birthday and every Christmas morning.<br />
<br />
Never once so much as a phone call, a letter or a single card or gift.<br />
<br />
Never one apology, or single attempt to make amends.<br />
<br />
I have no idea if he was even there the day I was born. If he was happy or sad or disappointed.<br />
<br />
There is not a single picture. No tokens from that day and barely anything from those years.<br />
<br />
Those years that define you.<br />
<br />
<i><u><b>And those wounds cut deep when you are a daughter with a missing piece.</b></u></i><br />
<br />
Each time I would see a Daddy with his daughter- it cut deeper.<br />
<br />
<i><b>There was no room for healing when the wounds sliced straight to the bone and marrow.</b></i><br />
<br />
Daily. Hourly.<br />
<br />
And the enemy would whisper my entire life.<br />
<i><br />
</i> <i><b>See...you just aren't worth it.</b></i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <b><i>Even your own Father could see that.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br />
</i></b> And so I would live my life without the posture of worth. For many years.<br />
<br />
And because the enemy was so set against me ever discovering anything even close to worth and because he was so set against me ever discovering the one true Father- where I would unveil my true identity- he did not hold back in this area of attack.<br />
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<i><b>Not by a long shot.</b></i><br />
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There were seven years of my childhood - stolen in part by a new man who would never come close to the role of a Father.<br />
<br />
But who instead caused more suffering.<br />
<br />
More pieces.<br />
<br />
As if those things weren't enough.<br />
<br />
<i><b>There would be more.</b></i><br />
<br />
And the enemy would whisper for years....<br />
<br />
<i><b>See...You just aren't worth it.</b></i><br />
<i><b><br />
</b></i> <i><b>Anyone can see that.</b></i><br />
<br />
By the time I was ten, there was a new Father figure.<br />
<br />
By the time I was twelve, he had promised everything under the sun.<br />
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<b><i><u>Including adoption.</u></i></b><br />
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There were words about being a Father to me and how we were going to be a family.<br />
<br />
There were notices out in the paper, that an adoption would be taking place, giving my birth Father<br />
a legal chance to claim me.<br />
<br />
He did not respond.<br />
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There was a wedding, a court date, and a legal name change.<br />
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<i><b>And the Father line on my birth certificate would be replaced with the name of a new Father.</b></i><br />
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A better one.<br />
<br />
My saving grace.<br />
<br />
My recompense.<br />
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My hope redeemed.<br />
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<b><i><u>Or so I thought.</u></i></b><br />
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Every, single little girl dream inside me would come to a crashing halt.<br />
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I will spare the details because they are between my heavenly father and me.<br />
<br />
But the enemy came in like a flood to destroy me through this man.<br />
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I finally relented at the tender age of fifteen with a suicide attempt.<br />
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My world was just too painful to breathe anymore.<br />
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The rejection and abandonment wounds as wide as the ocean is deep.<br />
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I'm sorry to share that I would also be completely rejected and abandoned by this new Father as well.<br />
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<i><b>Wounds like that will threaten to kill a girl. A daddy leaving. A daddy harming. A daddy destroying.</b></i><br />
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And the enemy would whisper...<br />
<br />
<i><b>See....you just aren't worth it.</b></i><br />
<b><i><br />
</i> <i>Even your adoptive Father can see that.</i></b><br />
<br />
I wish I could say that the pain associated with the word Father ended there.<br />
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But the enemy was relentless.<br />
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I would go on to search for the love I so desperately needed and wanted and ended up a single mama at the age of eighteen years old and would continue that path for the next ten years.<br />
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<i><b><u>By His grace He gave me an indescribable gift of a daughter that to this day, I will tell you I do not deserve.</u></b></i><br />
<i><b><u><br />
</u></b></i> And with that gift in my arms, I would go on to endure still, even more heartbreak.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Because nothing stirs the aching Father wound like having a child of your own.</b></i><br />
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And so I searched for him. The birth father that started twenty something years of heartache.<br />
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By His grace, I found him.<br />
<br />
Shortly after, I would drive a long way to meet him in the state penitentiary.<br />
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<i><b>I wondered how many daughters had gone before me, being searched and frisked and put through security to wait in a holding room for two prison doors to open to meet the man who missed it all.</b></i><br />
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To meet the man who decided they just weren't worth it.<br />
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I can't even begin to describe the emotion that gripped my heart that day.<br />
<br />
It was fear and pain and wonder and hope and years of worthlessness.<br />
<br />
It was dread and sorrow and suffering and unanswered questions that cut so deep it hurt to breathe.<br />
<br />
I got my answers when one of the first things he said to me was this.<br />
<br />
<i>"What happened to your face?"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I remember fighting back tears and being so confused I could barely stand.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"My face?"</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"You have so many scars and marks on your face."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"Your face is all marked up."</i><br />
<br />
I remember feeling like I had been punched in the stomach a gazillion times, to put it lightly.<br />
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Years of acne with only being allowed to use soap and water had left their damage.<br />
<br />
I died inside that day.<br />
<br />
Down to my core, I died a thousand deaths.<br />
<br />
I would go on to be abandoned <i><b>all over again </b></i>by the man who started it all.<br />
<br />
And the enemy would whisper...<br />
<br />
<i><b>See, I told you that you just aren't worth it.</b></i><br />
<b><i><br />
</i> <i>Even your own birth father doesn't want you- not even twenty years later.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br />
</i> <i>No one does. </i></b><br />
<i><br /></i>
There is so much more sorrow in this area of my life, <b><i>but God, </i></b>in all of His graciousness gave me a sweet husband, who is not perfect, but who longs to lay his life down for his family and from the first part of our courtship shared his heart with me about his dream of a big family of his own to love one day.<br />
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We are both humbled- daily.<br />
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That the God of the universe, the author of it all, would trust two very broken people, with the hearts of children of our own, is especially overwhelming to me.<br />
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That He would entrust me with the raising of sons.....<br />
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To call me to the enormous task of the raising of boys into amazing grown men who will be purposeful and intentional and lead their families with love in the admonition of the Lord is just enough to keep me on my knees for the rest of my life- in complete and total gratitude and humility.<br />
<br />
Tears.<br />
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<i>Today when the enemy tries to come in like a flood with memories of the past and tries to convince me that I'm simply damaged goods </i><u><b><i>and that I'm too marked</i></b></u><i> up to be of any real purpose in life...</i><br />
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<i><b>I punch back with everything that I am with one powerful word.</b></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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<i><b><u>"Watermarked"</u></b></i></div>
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Webster's definition is : "a faint design made in some paper during manufacture, <u><i><b>which is visible when held against the light </b></i></u><i><b><u>and typically identifies the maker."</u></b></i></div>
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I love this part-<u style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Which is visible when held against the light and typically identifies the maker.</u><br />
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After years of struggling with these things and trying to find Father God in the midst of such untold sorrow and suffering, as well as walking through years of inner healing and forgiveness....<br />
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I now speak the word.<br />
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<i><b><u>The truth that is the living, breathing and sharper than any two edged sword - gospel.</u></b></i><br />
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<i><b><u>I hold up my circumstances and situations to the light.</u></b></i><br />
<i><b><u><br /></u></b></i>
<i><b><u>And I can clearly see the mark of my maker on my life.</u></b></i><br />
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Maybe you were abandoned or rejected as a child, teenager or even as an adult. Maybe you've never even met your birth father. Maybe your Father tried to destroy you in the most unthinkable and unimaginable ways. Maybe your Father has passed away and this day represents a tremendous loss for you. Maybe this day is painful because of how it highlights all of the good that you never received. All of the Father's that did show up and did pour out and did invest. <b><i><u>The ones whose daughters were worth it.</u></i></b> Maybe it represents and magnifies what you've never had.<br />
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<i><b><u>Maybe this day is the rehearsing of a death of what should have been and never was.</u></b></i><br />
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You have a Heavenly Father who knows and who understands and who longs to fill every heartbreaking wound with His immeasurable love and healing power.<br />
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<u><i><b>"For in me, you live and move and have your being." Acts 17:28</b></i></u><br />
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You are not your circumstances.<br />
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The unfortunate series of life events that you have survived, do not have to define you. What seems missing in our lives, is really a beautiful opportunity for the Father to step in and fill every place where there has been a void.<br />
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<b>When there is loss or less or not enough, we simply have more room for Him.</b><br />
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He will restore.<br />
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He will give a recompense that there will not be room enough to receive.<br />
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He is no respecter of persons.<br />
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He did it for me, <b><i>with years worth of Father wounds a mile deep.</i></b><br />
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He will do the same for you beautiful friend.<br />
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So today, if the enemy tries to whisper. Tries to stir up those painful things. Tries to convince you that you are worth nothing. Tries to make a mockery of who you are in Christ, even.<br />
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You tell him this....<br />
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<b><i><u>I'm watermarked with the mark of my maker.</u></i></b><br />
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<b><i><u>I'm marked and set apart and loved and cherished and adored by the author of it all.</u></i></b><br />
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<i><b>Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he'd made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.</b></i><br />
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<i><b>In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. <u>When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.-</u> Eph. 1:3-14</b></i><br />
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<b><i>From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. </i></b><br />
<b><i>Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Gal. 6:17-18 </i></b><br />
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For those of you who struggle with this day, for any number of reasons. I pray that these words and this video are life-giving to your heart this morning.<br />
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I'll leave you with the amazing Priscilla Shirer and the most beautiful truths today.<br />
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The spoken word.<br />
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Brace yourself.<br />
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-12458776829597134382014-06-12T10:56:00.001-05:002014-06-12T11:03:23.412-05:00The Birth Of A Baby And A Book<br />
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Morning Glories!</div>
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I wanted to pop in and write a quick update post this morning. I hope that you all are enjoying the start of summer with your beautiful families! I don't usually write posts like this about our family-but since it's been a while, I thought I would just write a quick update. </div>
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I missed the month of May completely here due to the many end of the school year activities with this many children, as well as quite a few celebrations within our own family.</div>
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Our sweet baby is due very soon and I have officially hit the uncomfortable stage and have found it increasingly more difficult to sit for long periods of time at the computer to write.</div>
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But oh how I love to write. I think about it constantly and have notebooks in my purse and the car and all over the house so that I can jot down pieces of new posts and book chapters as He gives them to me.</div>
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I have some encouraging blog posts brewing and have been busy trying to work on the book proposal in the very few spare minutes of the day that I have to do so. </div>
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My sweet husband built a giant dry erase board to hang in the laundry room so that I could just run in and write down pieces of the book as well as blog post ideas quickly before I forget them. It has helped so much! </div>
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I have named this year the year of birthing a baby and a book! I'm still praying that every word would be His and that He would move and speak and encourage in every way imaginable.</div>
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We've been busy trying to prepare our home for a newborn and have moved our youngest out of his crib and into a big boy bed and moved kids around and tried to get everyone settled and happy before the arrival of our newest gift. It has been floor move city over here! </div>
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We've potty trained yet another little one and have spent almost every afternoon at the pool. We have four really great swimmers now and one who's coming along nicely but who still wears "water muscles!" Also, no swim diapers this summer!! Freedom!</div>
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This is the first summer that we've had like this and it has made such a huge difference for our family! </div>
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My dear friend Amy recently got married in the same church where we were married 14 years ago and it was the first time we had attended another wedding there since our own. It was so incredibly beautiful and also very moving for me as I never dreamed the next time I would stand at that same alter it would be to do a reading for the ceremony of a dear friend. </div>
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God is just really amazing. </div>
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<i>This is a quick snapshot of baby and me before the ceremony. Hopefully it's technically not a selfie since I'm carrying our little one :) </i></div>
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Happy summer to you sweet friends!!! I will post again soon. xo</div>
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-73780561484971412102014-04-23T10:38:00.002-05:002014-04-23T19:59:17.076-05:00If You Remain Silent<br />
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If we were to sit and have coffee together, I would listen. </div>
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I would listen for ways to encourage you.</div>
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I would listen for giftings. Wisdom. Talent. Hidden treasure.</div>
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And I would do my best to encourage you <i>not to remain silent any longer.</i></div>
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I would do my best to help support you and figure out a way to help you out of the </div>
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silent, fear, frozen, denial, pick somebody else, mindset.</div>
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I would tell you this.</div>
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<b><i><u>God didn't create you so that you would remain silent.</u></i></b></div>
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He created you with incredible creativity and wisdom and ideas and gifts and talent and abilities.</div>
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<b><i><u>To speak.</u></i></b></div>
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As women, we can speak any number of ways.</div>
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For years, I thought I was supposed to be silent. The voice that God had given me was buried under years of pain and abuse and worthlessness.</div>
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And so I spoke through creativity without even realizing I was using my God given voice.</div>
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Through flowers and styling and event planning and photography and then through words... I spoke with exclamation marks by using beauty and making people feel loved.</div>
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Doubting every bit of it the entire time.</div>
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Even when my favorite magazine called to feature my work.</div>
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I still doubted.</div>
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And wanted to remain silent.</div>
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And so I gave those things to Him and focused on speaking through motherhood.<br />
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Learning years later, that we don't always have to choose. </div>
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Sometimes, He gives us more than one way to speak. More than one voice. More than one platform.</div>
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You may have read the book of Esther. If you haven't. You must. You must. You must.</div>
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<b><i>Esther will rock your world. </i></b></div>
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There are at least 50 sermons in that book of the bible.</div>
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One of my favorite pieces of scripture of all time is found in the book of Esther, Chapter 4:14</div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;"><i><b><u>For if you remain silent at this time</u>, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. <u>And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?"</u></b></i></span><span class="p" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;"><i><b><u><br /></u></b></i></span></div>
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Did you know that God will speak through you? Through your words? Your art? Your parenting?</div>
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Your marriage? Your music? Your landscaping business? Your catering business? </div>
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Your platform and ministry? Your books? Your photography? </div>
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He uses vessels to speak and teach and minister to the hearts of His people.</div>
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In my years of listening to the hearts of women, I've found the following to be true.</div>
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<b><i>We remain silent because of guilt.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>We remain silent because of fear.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>We remain silent because of our own insecurities.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>We remain silent because of an abusive or controlling person.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>We remain silent because of self doubt and worthlessness.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>We remain silent because of spiritual abuse.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>We remain silent because of fear of failure.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>We remain silent because of fear of rejection.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>We remain silent because of limited resources.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>We remain silent because of past criticism.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>We remain silent because we are waiting on perfection.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>We remain silent because we are waiting for permission.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Just to name a few.</i></b></div>
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So today I wanted to leave you with something to encourage you.</div>
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I wanted to leave you with a pretty, pink permission slip from your heavenly Father.</div>
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"Who knows but that you have come to your royal position but for such a time as this?"</div>
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God did not create you to remain silent beautiful friend.</div>
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He created you for such a time as this.....</div>
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If you are waiting on Him or waiting on perfect or waiting on everyone to cheer you on first....</div>
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You don't have to remain silent any longer.</div>
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Step out in faith today. Ask Him for courage. He is faithful to send the confirmation.</div>
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Peoples lives will be changed and blessed and transformed because you chose to walk in your called, chosen, anointed and appointed royal position and speak....</div>
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-77512881823746645762014-04-22T11:43:00.000-05:002014-04-22T11:59:58.463-05:00Love and Splendor<br />
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<span style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;">...and provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. ~ Isaiah 61:3 </span><span class="p" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 13px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;">We can spend much of our life creating our own plans and dreams and goals and many, many times, the Father simply has another way. He has a better way.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;">It doesn't always turn out like we thought or hoped or asked or prayed.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;">Sometimes there are years of pain and suffering and sorrow involved.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;">But He is purposeful. Intentional. Careful with His people and in the end He is faithful to display His love and splendor in the most beautiful ways.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">One of the areas that I struggled with for many years was trying to grow my family.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i>We have three babies in heaven.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">There was a season that I thought- it would never happen. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">My dream of a house full of baby boys and girls.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I wanted to wake up every day with a bed full of scrumptious babies and step on hot wheel cars and barbie shoes on my way to get my morning coffee.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I longed for tea parties and dance parties and bed time stories and flash light tag and apple bobbing and too many pictures to even mention.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I dreamed about finding R2D2 in my coffee cup and scooting dinosaurs and naked barbies out of the way in the shower.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I couldn't wait to carry and labor and deliver and nurse a precious life.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I wasn't sure what He would give us or how He would bless us or even if He would, I just knew that we wanted more children and a big family and our pastor prayed for that very thing during our wedding ceremony.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Motherhood had stolen my heart and captivated me at the tender age of 18 years old.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">It was my calling.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Certainly not <i>perfection</i>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Certainly not without falling short and plenty of mistakes and some really hard days.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">And definitely not without clinging to Him on a daily basis for wisdom and guidance.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">But motherhood....</span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">With all of its<b><i> love and splendor </i></b>is what makes me weak in the knees and keeps me close to Him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Our dream has never been to have a big and fancy life.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">We dream in children and family and lots of tiny feet running through the house and sleepless nights.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">By His grace, I am overjoyed and humbled and honored to share our news. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">We have been sweetly blessed again....</span></span></div>
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Our children are just a tiny bit excited.....<br />
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A blue million pictures and gender reveal coming soon!</div>
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All photography by my dear friend <a href="http://www.teasleyphotography.com/">Meredith Teasley of Teasley Photography.</a></div>
Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-71567613298490013882014-04-22T09:42:00.001-05:002014-04-22T09:45:18.352-05:00And Peter ~ A Repost<br />
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Morning Glories,</div>
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I hope you all had a blessed Easter weekend. For those of you who didn't and who may be struggling with the whole Easter celebration,<b><i> this post is for you. </i></b></div>
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Because I know you are many....</div>
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I felt it was worthy of a repost.</div>
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And because there are so many thoughts published about Easter on actual Easter...and the days following this major holiday can be somewhat of a let down...</div>
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I felt it was important to post it after Easter.</div>
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<i><b>Because Easter isn't just a day. </b></i></div>
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<b><i><u>It is a gift. </u></i></b></div>
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And one that is available to each one of us, every, single day.</div>
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There are so many important pieces about that Easter morning many years ago, but nothing strikes at my heart and speaks to me with such volume as this piece of the scriptures.</div>
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<b><i><u><a href="http://pearlsandgrace.blogspot.com/2013/03/and-peter.html">And Peter.</a></u></i></b></div>
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After everything. The betrayal. The denials. Three times Peter denied Jesus. After all the wrong doing and after all of the falling short and all of the everything that just wasn't right at all...</div>
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Jesus knew that Peter would be feeling <i>less than</i>. And that He would be feeling really worthless.</div>
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I mean. Here the stone has rolled away. The resurrection has happened. Jesus is alive.</div>
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<u>And Peter is going to miss the miracle because of the shame of his past mistakes.</u></div>
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<i><b>But God wanted to make sure He didn't miss it.</b></i></div>
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He made sure by actually <b><i>calling for Peter by name....</i></b></div>
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The scriptures tell us in Mark 16:7 these words...</div>
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<i><b>But go, tell His disciples- and Peter.</b></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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<a href="http://pearlsandgrace.blogspot.com/2013/03/and-peter.html">The original post is listed below or you can follow this link. </a></div>
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I know many of you are preparing to celebrate the gift that is Resurrection Sunday this morning...</div>
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But there are some of you who have no desire to celebrate Easter today.</div>
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Or maybe you would like to celebrate this glorious day, but you feel too far gone. The space between you and Jesus is as vast as the sea. Too much sorrow. Too much heartache. Too much sin.</div>
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Or maybe there are some of you who just feel that<i> there is no way that a Holy God could love a girl like me.....</i></div>
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<i><b>This post is for you beautiful friend.</b></i></div>
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Read this...</div>
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"But He said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples- <i><b>and Peter- </b></i>that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you." - Mark 16:6-7</div>
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There are two words here for you this morning.</div>
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<b><i>And Peter.</i></b></div>
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After everything. The betrayal. The denials. Three times Peter denied Jesus. After all the wrong doing and after all of the falling short and all of the everything that just wasn't right at all...</div>
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Jesus knew that Peter would be feeling <i>less than</i>. And that He would be feeling really worthless.</div>
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I mean. Here the stone has rolled away. The resurrection has happened. Jesus is alive.</div>
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And Peter is going to miss the miracle because of the shame of his past mistakes.</div>
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<i><b>But God wanted to make sure He didn't miss it.</b></i></div>
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He made sure by actually <b><i>calling for Peter by name....</i></b></div>
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The scriptures tell us in Mark 16:7 these words...</div>
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<i><b>But go, tell His disciples- and Peter.</b></i></div>
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This is one of the many miracles that happened on Easter Sunday so many years ago.</div>
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<i>The stone was rolled away.</i></div>
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<i>He is risen.</i></div>
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<i>The guards never heard a thing. </i></div>
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<i>The angels appeared. </i></div>
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<i>The women arrived first.</i></div>
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<i>The angel spoke and gave directions.</i></div>
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<i><b>A request was made for Peter, whom they specifically called by name, to hear the news about the miracles.</b></i></div>
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The one who had denied Jesus. The one who had betrayed Him.</div>
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Jesus wanted Him to know about all of this right away.</div>
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Why?</div>
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Because He loved Peter. Because He was forgiven. Because He wanted Him to know these things. Because He wanted to reassure him and reach out to Him and let Peter know that despite all of it....</div>
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<i><b>Jesus still loved Peter.</b></i></div>
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And He still loves you.</div>
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He walked through that first Easter Sunday for all of us. Not just for the ones who claim to be perfect.</div>
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Or the ones who have been raised up in the church all of their life or whatever it may be...</div>
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<i><b>Sweet friend, the work of the cross, the suffering and the glory of it all- is for every, single one of us.</b></i></div>
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Today, while you are trying to decide if this post may be the Father gently wooing you unto Himself, I want to ask you if you would just repeat these two little words over and over again to yourself today.</div>
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<i><b>And Peter.</b></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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<i><b>And Peter.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>And Peter.</b></i></div>
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He didn't leave Peter out of the miracle.</div>
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He doesn't want to leave you out either. There are miracles He wants to do in your life.</div>
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And sometimes we know this truth but we just need to be reminded...</div>
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I want to encourage you to change Peter's name <i><b>to your own</b></i> and repeat this to yourself today over and over again. Anytime any negative thoughts try to fill your heart, just crush those thoughts by saying these two little words...</div>
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And Jane.</div>
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And Charity.</div>
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And Angela.</div>
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And Robin.</div>
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And Paige.</div>
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And Jill.</div>
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And Edie.</div>
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And Kim.</div>
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And Macey.</div>
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And Starr.</div>
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And Betty.</div>
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And Sheral.</div>
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And Di'Anna.</div>
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And Rachel.</div>
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And Claritza.</div>
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And Mel.</div>
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And Lizzy.</div>
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And Maria.</div>
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And Donna.</div>
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And Andrea.</div>
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And Jaimeson.</div>
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And Jacki.</div>
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And Hastings.</div>
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And Jennifer.</div>
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And Jenny Beth.</div>
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And Michelle</div>
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And Cara.</div>
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And JuJu.</div>
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And Maggie.</div>
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And Vickie.</div>
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And Karen.</div>
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And Lara.</div>
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And Emily.</div>
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And Julie.</div>
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And Rebecca.</div>
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And Ann.</div>
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And Amy.</div>
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And Danielle.</div>
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And Elayne.</div>
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And then call on His name....</div>
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<i><b>Because the same God who rolled the stone away over 2,000 years ago is here with us now and has rolled away every sin so that we could walk in forgiveness and love and hope and joy and grace and peace and the freedom to live life and life more abundantly.</b></i></div>
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Happy Easter to you beautiful friends. </div>
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Whether you are worshiping Him from the pew of a beautiful church or worshiping Him alone in your own home or wondering how to worship Him at all.</div>
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Please know this....</div>
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He loves you so.</div>
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<b><i>"They shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them as a man spares His own son who serves him." Malachi 3:17</i></b></div>
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-52712652922282432192014-03-25T12:51:00.000-05:002014-04-22T12:00:38.476-05:00When God Speaks<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdVaVfBro-0U-3JVet9iSPMJ9r6i_S4jgIeMskEe-rugBVjEpP-V0Vw8tbrSLDtsi_JEXqA5uAuuY7Ax_wa-6_KUEYpyhDUjHaCs9nK7LfQ8-fHVzBEqCBmckbRACZpd_XjVGf8SP9C80/s1600/f5f68837edfd0a87d65a03db91d1dbfd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdVaVfBro-0U-3JVet9iSPMJ9r6i_S4jgIeMskEe-rugBVjEpP-V0Vw8tbrSLDtsi_JEXqA5uAuuY7Ax_wa-6_KUEYpyhDUjHaCs9nK7LfQ8-fHVzBEqCBmckbRACZpd_XjVGf8SP9C80/s1600/f5f68837edfd0a87d65a03db91d1dbfd.jpg" height="233" width="400" /></a></div>
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Last year I walked through a season of overwhelming despair.</div>
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And so I took pen to paper and did the only thing that I know how to do when that feeling hits.</div>
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I wrote to Him.</div>
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I wrote and journaled and let my heart empty out the things I didn't have the courage to even so much as whisper in a prayer.</div>
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I shared with Him what I felt like were a series of mistakes that I had made during a really painful time in my life last year, as well as some really hurtful relational things that happened at the same time and I didn't know how to overcome them. I couldn't fix them. I couldn't undo them.</div>
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I also shared how unqualified and ill equipped I felt with anything regarding writing or blogging or ministry or marriage or the raising of children or even just life in general.</div>
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I highlighted my many mistakes, just in case He had failed to take note of them.</div>
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I also told Him that I honestly had no idea what He wanted me to do with The Pearl Event, with this blog, with the piles of notebooks filled with pages that could be books, the bible studies and teachings and lessons that I had been writing for the last ten years.</div>
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I shared with Him about how He needed to give it to someone else.</div>
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Someone more capable. Someone more qualified. Someone with ten degrees hanging on the wall. Someone with a huge realm of influence and big time platforms and blogs and callings. Someone with a famous husband or famous friends or the ability to just make phone calls and create backing and support and the like.</div>
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<i><b>I'm not your girl</b></i>, I told Him.</div>
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It shouldn't be <b><i>this </i></b>hard for <i><b>this </b></i>many years.</div>
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This feeling that overwhelms my heart every year of having to push through a giant wall of adversity and obstacles and doing the work of ten people solo to create an event to bless His daughters.</div>
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<i><b>I'm a Mama and it's all I've ever done and it's all that I know how to do and there are days where I fail miserably at just that.</b></i></div>
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Lots of days, actually.</div>
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So I felt that for now, I should just try and focus on getting that right. After 24 years of parenting, I am still trying to figure out the mystery of motherhood and the raising of beautiful children.</div>
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I flipped to the last page and wrote whatever I felt He was speaking to my heart.</div>
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<i>"I am the only connection you need. Stay connected to the source. I can make happen for you in a moment what it takes people years to achieve on their own." </i></div>
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And while I have never been nor will I ever be, the blogger who blogs with the "what's in it for me mentality" I couldn't help but wonder about what I thought He had called me to do, especially where The Pearl Event was concerned. I have spent the last six years blogging to give, not blogging to get.</div>
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Which is the complete opposite of most of the blog world.</div>
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But I have struggled as of late with feeling like a failure and with everything feeling really, really hard and even feeling like maybe I just completely missed it. Big time.</div>
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To create something from nothing.</div>
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One hundred percent grass roots.</div>
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Without mentors or huge influence or help or financial backing and with truck loads of naysayers waiting in the wings.</div>
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<b><i>It is not for the faint of heart.</i></b></div>
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And so after many years of trying and failing, in my opinion, on New Years Eve this year I gave it all to Him. </div>
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I carried it to Him, along with mountains of what I considered to be <i>failure of epic proportions</i> and I placed it at His feet.</div>
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I apologized for my failure and shortcomings and mistakes and for clearly not being able to execute whatever on earth it was that He wanted me to do.</div>
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I talked with a couple of faithful friends and shared with them that I was walking away from everything with the exception of my family.</div>
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It was time.</div>
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No more writing or speaking or blogging about Him. </div>
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No more encouraging others through His word.</div>
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No more ministry.</div>
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No more Pearl Events or anything of the sort.</div>
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I'm leaving all of that for the perfect people and the experts and the qualified.</div>
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And so on Jan. 1 this year I told Him these things and said these words...</div>
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<i><b>"Unless you tell me otherwise, I'm done." You have to do it Lord.</b></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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<i><b>If you want me to do anything else ....You have to do it, so that I know it is all You. I can't do this any more."</b></i></div>
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I then wrote a blog post about editing your life and home stuff and didn't write anything else for nearly a month.</div>
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I was too busy walking through a crisis of faith.</div>
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Evaluating the last 10 years I had sown into the lives of others. The years I gathered women in my home every Wed. to love on them and share His word. The years of Pearl Events. The six years of filling the pages here with post after post all for His glory. The countless, endless things - all in His name. </div>
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As well as rehearsing the mountain of mistakes I've made, which just so happens to be one of my spiritual gifts. </div>
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I recounted them one by one, and tried to make some sense out of everything as well as justify it all.</div>
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And then, in spite of all of my shortcomings and mistakes and my walking away on Jan. 1 this year...</div>
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<i><b>The Father came in like a flood.</b></i></div>
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He woke me up in the wee hours of the morning on Jan. 29th and asked me to write a post called <a href="http://pearlsandgrace.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-new-church-lady.html">"The New Church Lady."</a></div>
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To which I immediately replied with something along the lines of "NO WAY."</div>
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<i>There isn't anything about me that would qualify me to write something like that- I am not a good church lady when meant in a good way and I struggle and fail miserably and have made way too many mistakes and besides, those words have such a negative connotation attached to them. Those words make people <u>cringe</u>, Lord.</i></div>
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<i>Church ladies are notorious for excluding and judging and condemning and </i></div>
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<i>running the "Holy Huddle" at their various churches.</i></div>
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<i>Why would anyone want to read that? </i></div>
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<i>No way.</i></div>
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And He whispered and wooed and prompted and guided and led <i><b><u>and I relented.</u></b></i></div>
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And together we wrote. Just like we have nearly every post here these last six years.</div>
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And then because He is God and He is looking for willing and obedient and <i><b><u>not perfection.</u></b></i></div>
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<i><b>He sent nearly one million people here to read and share and forward that post- all in a manner of days.</b></i></div>
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And I went into a full fledged panic attack.</div>
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People from all over the country reached out in various ways, Pastors and leaders and clergy, asking permission to share it in their pulpits, and their Sunday School classrooms and with their bible studies and women's groups and in their newsletters and church bulletins.</div>
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They wrote and shared their own experiences and some even shared their own reasons for walking away from the church and ultimately from Him.</div>
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They wrote and shared about their own church hurt and the countless ways they had been excluded and rejected from the very place that should welcome anyone with open arms.</div>
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And I wept.</div>
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Because I laid it all down and considered myself a great failure in every category and I walked away and told Him that I was done.</div>
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And He decided that wasn't enough...</div>
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I was then connected with a wonderful agent and by His unmerited grace, I am now officially with <a href="http://premierespeakers.com/christian/sibi_riffer">Premiere Speakers Bureau</a> and they will be booking any future speaking engagements and Pearl Events in various churches and cities.</div>
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And I wept.</div>
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Because I saw a glimpse of what He must be doing.</div>
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Because I never imagined that through this blog or through a small piece of my own testimony, He would speak with such volume.</div>
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And then, </div>
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<i><b>Because He is God all by Himself and there is no other ....</b></i>.</div>
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I was connected with a literary agent in Washington, DC. and by His grace, I am humbled to share that I am currently working on my first book proposal.</div>
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The agent will then pitch the book to various publishing houses in hopes of a book deal.</div>
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And that is when I nearly collapsed.</div>
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Because it feels so undeserved and so meant for someone else and also, so unbelievable.</div>
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This certainly was not meant for someone who has my testimony and who isn't a perfect church girl.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><i><u>But when God speaks.</u></i></b></div>
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When God opens doors.</div>
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When God moves.</div>
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When God decides and orchestrates and sets things up according to His purpose and plan, no one can deny it.</div>
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This much is true.</div>
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And so with all humility of heart and knowing full well the mountain of mistakes I have made in life, I am, by His grace, writing whatever words He asks me to, and I am praying that He would simply have His way, that He would move and speak and orchestrate in whatever ways He so chooses through the pages of this proposal and through any upcoming speaking engagements and Pearl Events.</div>
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I would like to ask you to pray, if you feel led to, that God would pour out His spirit and His great love onto the pages of this book proposal and that He would supernaturally enable me to write it.</div>
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<i>In between kissing babies and refereeing sibling arguments and folding loads of laundry and preparing lots of meals for our family, just to name a few things....</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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Thank you in advance beautiful friends.</div>
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With a heart in complete awe and wonder.</div>
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<b><i>"I created you with a longing in your heart that only I can fill." Psalm 90:14</i></b></div>
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-91323842031342091762014-03-06T10:32:00.000-06:002014-03-06T10:33:16.968-06:00The Centerpiece of Lent <br />
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It was the fortieth day or the last day of Lent several years ago and I happened to be standing at the checkout counter in our local grocery store and couldn't help but notice the lane right next to me and the commotion going on.</div>
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<i>Seeing how it's usually my lane where all the commotion is.</i></div>
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At least when I take all five of them into the store with me anyway.</div>
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But on this particular day, the commotion was one lane over from me.</div>
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The checkout lady laughed with the gentleman and made a comment about how he must just <i><b>really </b></i>love potato chips.</div>
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She was busy laughing and ringing up at least twenty bags of every type of chips known to man.</div>
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And gracious I love chips. </div>
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But what really struck me in that moment were the following words.</div>
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<b><i><u>"I gave up potato chips for Lent."</u></i></b></div>
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And as someone who has great respect for the Lenten season and with full understanding that it is customary to give up something, a personal sacrifice of sorts, during this beautiful season....</div>
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I couldn't help but think about the main thing. </div>
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The centerpiece of Lent.</div>
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The purpose and the reason and the whole point of these forty days.</div>
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Every, single thing during the forty days of Lent is to serve a greater purpose.</div>
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To strip us of ourselves and our own selfish desires and to press down the flesh.</div>
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For the "less of me and more of you" Lord purpose.</div>
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So that we can possibly even grow closer. Know Him more deeply. More intimately. More wondrously.</div>
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So that He can speak in some way and we will actually know His prompting, His leading, His guidance.</div>
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And for this.</div>
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<i><b><u>So that we can love more deeply and serve others in a more selfless way.</u></b></i></div>
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So I'm just wondering, if potato chips and the like serve as a hindrance in our walk and we give them up for forty days....</div>
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Why on earth would we ever take up the eating of potato chips again?</div>
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If we are really sacrificing and laying aside <i><b>real hindrances.</b></i></div>
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<i><b><u>Isn't everything we do during those 40 days really about what happens on the 41st day?</u></b></i></div>
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<i><b><u>And then every day after that?</u></b></i></div>
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<i><b>Are Diet Coke, chocolate, potato chips, shopping and Facebook the real hindrances?</b></i></div>
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<i><b>And if they are....</b></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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<b><i>If those really are the things that keep us from growing closer to Him which keep us from loving others well and serving others with the right heart and the right spirit....</i></b></div>
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<b><i><u>Why on earth are we standing in line to consume it all again on the forty first day?</u></i></b></div>
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<b><i>And if those things are not the real hindrances ...</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Which things are? </i></b></div>
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<b><i>Isn't that what we need to sacrifice and give up and lay aside....permanently?</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Do we really want to love others well and do life with a heart of servitude and be quick to listen and slow to speak and meet the needs of those around us? Do we really want to know the prompting and leading and guidance of His sweet spirit in our lives?</i></b></div>
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<b><i>These are just a few of the things I've asked myself this week.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Am I quick to just dismiss others when they hurt me or do I love others well- even in times of suffering in friendship and relationships? Am I careful with the hearts of my family members and loved ones? Am I any kind of an example of the love of Christ to my three daughters? Do I demonstrate His great love to my three sons? Do I love my husband well at all times, no matter what? Or am I quick to want to be understood instead of seeking to understand. Am I a voice of reason and love and compassion toward others or am I demanding and insisting on my own way? Do I handle conflict with love and kindness or am I looking to be right and to be heard? Am I serving others and encouraging hearts or am I showing up with my own agenda? Do I speak life over others or am I quick to complain and point out their shortcomings? </i></b></div>
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<b><i>I know for certain that there is more than forty days worth of flesh that needs to be stripped from my own heart and I want to be willing and obedient to lay aside anything and everything that serves as a hindrance during this beautiful season.</i></b></div>
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<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
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<b><i>May He be moved into the rightful position of centerpiece during the next forty days for each and every, single one of us sweet friends. </i></b></div>
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-60754196224801808492014-02-09T10:09:00.000-06:002014-03-03T11:16:42.110-06:00The Well<br />
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<a href="http://www.coleenverner.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photograph of The Pearl Event by Coleen Verner</span></a></div>
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To this day I can't keep myself from looking in car windows on my way into church each week.</div>
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<i><b>I'm looking for me.</b></i></div>
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Just in case she's sitting there.</div>
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Trying to decide whether or not to go inside.</div>
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Just in case she's in the fight of her life and wondering if Jesus is real and if God is who He says He is.</div>
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<i><b>Just in case she's trying to decide if love and hope and faith belong to her too.</b></i></div>
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I'm looking for me.</div>
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18 years old with a baby in a carseat and two different last names. Because things do not always work out like we dreamed they would.</div>
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I'm looking for me.</div>
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20 years old and can't get past The Scarlet Letter. The ugly words. The shame. The guilt. The hatred.</div>
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I'm looking for me.</div>
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22 years old who's tried to find Jesus. But who couldn't get close enough to see if there was a line drawn in the sand or not. <i><b>I'm looking for the girl who knows nothing but stones.</b></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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I'm looking for me.</div>
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24 years old who has found her Father for the first time in 22 years. Who had to meet him face to face in the state prison. Who went looking for answers to questions and who went looking for repentance and regret and hope that there was an explanation for why He walked away all those years ago and whose wondering if her Heavenly Father loves her the way her earthly Father never could.</div>
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I'm looking for me.</div>
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26 years old and who's wondering if every mistake she's ever made is what defines her. Who's wondering if the words others have chosen to use are true. Who's wondering if there really is a place and a space in God's kingdom for her.<br />
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<u><i><b>I look for her every Sunday morning. </b></i></u></div>
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<i><b>Because I know if I can get my arms around her....this is what she would say.</b></i></div>
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I already know that I'm struggling.</div>
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I already know I may not have made the best decisions.<br />
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But when I woke up this morning, I wondered if today would be the day.</div>
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<i><b>I wondered if I could have some of that water too.</b></i></div>
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But I don't know Him like you do and I don't trust anyone.</div>
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So when you shout me down with the scriptures, I can't hear anything that you are saying.</div>
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It falls on deaf ears and years and years of woundedness.</div>
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<i><b>I need you to be the scriptures.</b></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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<i><b>Don't tell me. </b></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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<i><b><u>Show me.</u></b></i></div>
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Show me in humility. Show me in kindness and meekness. Show me in love and patience and gentleness. Show me in authenticity and transparency. Show me in thoughtfulness and true generosity. Show me in honesty and faithfulness.</div>
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Show me how you draw from this deep, deep well.</div>
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<i><b>Remember that I am a daughter too.</b></i></div>
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I may not have been loved like you and raised like you and educated like you.</div>
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But I am a daughter too.</div>
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Maybe my past looks different than yours but if you use the scriptures to shame me and to judge me and to humiliate me and exclude me...</div>
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I will walk out of this church and never come back.</div>
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<b><i><u>You don't know what it took for me to get here this morning.</u></i></b></div>
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<i><b>It took everything.</b></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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I'm looking for the well.</div>
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I've heard that I can meet Him here too. But I'm afraid of getting hurt again.</div>
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Will you <i><b>lead me in love</b></i> and kindness and gentleness and patience and goodness?</div>
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Will you show me what following Jesus looks like?</div>
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Will you be honest and true and genuine and sincere with me?</div>
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<i><b>I can't match an image of perfection and a pretentious heart. I can't follow that.</b></i></div>
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I only know worthlessness.</div>
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But someone told me once that He loves me too. Someone told me once that the work of the cross was for me too. Someone told me once that my sins are forgiven and that the grace of God was my gift too. Someone told me that I could just show up here and He would meet me in a very real and beautiful way and that I could experience His great love in this place. </div>
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<i><b>I am looking for the well.</b></i></div>
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I am looking for forgiveness and for hope and for healing. </div>
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I am looking for the truth.</div>
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I am looking for a place to belong.</div>
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I am looking for Him.</div>
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Please be careful with me today.</div>
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I may not look like you and talk like you and live life like you.</div>
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But I am a daughter too.</div>
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<i><b>I've read it in His word......</b></i></div>
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"O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all of my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid your hand upon me.<br />
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high and I cannot attain it.<br />
<br />
Where can I go from Your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence ? If I assend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, "surely darkness shall fall on me," Even the night shall me a light about me; Indeed, the darkness and the light are both alike to You.<br />
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For you formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.<br />
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How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God!<br />
How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;<br />
when I awake, I am still with You." ~ Psalm 139:1-18<br />
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<i><b>Be Glorified Lord. Use These Words To Bring Change In The Hearts Of Your Daughters.....</b></i><br />
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-32633639376921686842014-01-29T12:02:00.000-06:002014-02-07T08:30:06.555-06:00The New Church Lady<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.elle.com/beauty/hair/how-to-get-model-off-duty-hair-bun?">Photo Source</a> - Joslyn Blair</span></div>
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<u>Updated February 6, 2014</u><br />
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<i><b>Beautiful friends,</b></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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<i><b>I wanted to thank you all for your extraordinary amounts of support and kindness with the post.</b></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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<i><b>He gets every ounce of glory and honor and credit. </b></i></div>
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<i><b>I wrote this post with the same heart. Just as I've written here for the last six years.</b></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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<i><b>For some reason, this post resonated with you...</b></i></div>
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<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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<i><b>I am amazed by Him. And by each of you. </b></i></div>
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<i><b>Thank you for sharing His words with the women in your life.</b></i></div>
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<b><i>I am incredibly humbled and grateful.</i></b></div>
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<i><b>I wrote this post with my normal readership in mind. </b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i></div>
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<i><b>I had no idea so many new people would read and comment.</b></i></div>
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<b><i>I want to try and bring understanding where I can.</i></b><br />
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<i><b>I am overwhelmed at the thought of our heavenly Father speaking to the hearts of His daughters through any words found on these pages. </b></i><br />
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<i><b>Thank you for your love, support and encouragement friends. </b></i></div>
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<i><u><b>I wanted to ask that you read the entire post before you comment. I would also like to ask you to please be kind when you leave a comment. This is an incredibly loving, supportive and Christ centered community of women. You will catch that if you visit here and read for very long. </b></u></i><br />
<i><u><b><br /></b></u></i>These posts are pieces of my personal testimony. They are experiences that I have lived through. And have helped shape and mold me. Like so many of you, I too am grateful that God allowed me to go through the years of really hard things. Compassion was born in my heart because of those experiences. Especially for the broken hearted and for those who fear that God does not love them, or<br />
worse, that He is angry with them.<br />
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This particular testimony is a good 22 or so years old. <i><b>But there is still life on it.</b></i><br />
Because this. This condemning and shaming and excluding and judging is still going on today.<br />
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Please remember that 22 years ago there was not a place for single mothers in the church.<br />
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You were either married or single. There was no divorce care. Grief recovery. Single mothers unite or whatever. There were two categories. Married and single.<br />
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Additionally, single mothers wore <i><b>the scarlet letter</b></i> on their chest. <i><b>It was a rare thing.</b></i><br />
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Unwed 18 year old teen mamas didn't exist.<br />
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<i><b><u>It was downright scandalous. Especially in the heart of the bible belt.</u></b></i><br />
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This post is not about every church in America. This is about my personal experience at that time in my life and how because of the way I was treated, coupled with years of heartache, <i><u><b>I walked away </b></u></i>for nearly a decade. I didn't walk away from my faith. I didn't have any faith at all at that point. I walked away from the church who misrepresented God's heart for me.<br />
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And this is still happening today.<br />
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No one can argue with that.<br />
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I agree with those of you who commented that you do not attend church for people- or to have people meet your needs. You go to church each Sunday to commune with God.<br />
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Me too.<br />
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<i><b>But when you are broken down and beat up and heartbroken and lovesick and can't keep the lights on and when you are wondering if there really is a God because your life has been so painful it feels like there isn't one and if there is- He certainly doesn't love you. When it hurts to breathe and you do not know how on earth you are going to get yourself out of the mess you are in or how you are going to make ends meet or how you going to make it until payday.....you need someone to lead you in love and kindness right into the arms of a loving heavenly father.</b></i><br />
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Thankfully, we belong to an incredible church here and I'm not sure I have ever witnessed the love of the Father, amazing worship, the truth of the word and beautiful community in one place before.<br />
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It has been a healing balm to my soul- even all of these years later.<br />
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<b><i><u>God demonstrates His love for His people through His people.</u></i></b><br />
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And if people are intentionally hurting the already broken hearted- sometimes, they cannot find Him.<br />
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<i><b><u>They need to be led to Christ in love.</u></b></i><br />
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Not shamed and condemned and shouted down with scriptures.<br />
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<i><b><u>They should want what we have and we should offer it in a way in which they can receive it.</u></b></i><br />
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I love God's word.<br />
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And I spend a lot of time encouraging other women with the truth and love and hope and goodness and mercy and grace that is found within it.<br />
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It is living and breathing. <u><i><b>It brings life.</b></i></u><br />
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It will transform us.<br />
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It will draw us closer to Him.<br />
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But someone has to present it in love and gentleness. Otherwise it may fall on deaf ears.<br />
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I understand fully that there are amazing women who have gone before us and loved God's people and demonstrated the scriptures with such salt and light and fragrance that people would do anything to know the Jesus they love so much.<br />
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I am thankful for those women.<br />
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For those of you who mentioned that women do not need another "list" of what they should do or be, etc. I understand that. This is not a "to do" list.<br />
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That part of the post is simply referencing the character of Christ and may come as a surprise to some who commented but yes, it is actually biblical!<br />
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Yes. God loves us no matter what. He does.<br />
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This is not a list to try and earn God's love and to try and get into His good graces...these are traits that I have seen shifting in the hearts of women who want to be known for following Jesus.<br />
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<i><b>They demonstrate the scriptures with the character of Christ.</b></i><br />
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<i><b><u>I want what they have.</u></b></i><br />
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I want to love like that. I want to forgive like that. I want to place a high value on God's people and take off a mountain of expectations and just simply love them.<br />
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These traits are not about me. They are traits that I hope to aspire to.<br />
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They are the ways in which I long to love His people....</div>
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<b>*************************The original post follows************************</b><br />
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We had a group discussion with some church friends recently and this question was presented..</div>
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<i><b>Do you all feel that Christians are known more for what they stand against or what they stand for?</b></i></div>
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Everyone agreed that for the most part- Christians are known <i>for what they stand against.</i></div>
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As someone who has lived well over half of her life scared to death of Christians and especially the infamous "church lady" - I remember vividly what it was like to be unchurched and unsaved and un- everything.</div>
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<i><b>Like it was yesterday.</b></i></div>
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I wanted nothing to do with Christianity and the church and <i><b>their Jesus.</b></i></div>
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And I had a long list of reasons but they made it abundantly clear that there was a series of events I </div>
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had to go through before He would ever be mine.</div>
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It seemed as though I was living in the land of "you have sinned and you are going to burn in hell" - where I belonged mind you, and all of the church ladies were living life high on the hog by way of the front row and never having sex before their wedding night.</div>
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I can remember pulling into church parking lots again and again and sitting there bawling my eyes out as I watched married couple after married couple walk inside the holy doors of <i>we have it all together -sorry about your luck.</i><br />
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</i> <i>I never had the courage to actually go inside.</i></div>
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Then finally, I can remember it taking everything I had to walk in those dreaded doors one Sunday morning with my baby girl in my arms. I was an unwed single mama raising a baby on about $6.00 an hour and no support of any kind. I left the trailer that morning and looked at the gift that I didn't deserve and told her we were going to give this Jesus a try. <i><b><u>I cried the entire way there and wondered if I looked nice enough, good enough, clean enough, churchy-enough.</u></b></i></div>
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<i><b>I wondered if all of the perfect people would be able <u>to see me</u> past the missing wedding ring and the beautiful baby girl on my hip.</b></i></div>
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<b><i>I wondered if they would embrace me. Accept me. Allow me in- in spite of my circumstances and in spite of my mistakes.</i></b></div>
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I'm sorry to share that I walked into a sea of judgement and condemnation during that season of my life. </div>
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<b><i>And unfortunately it caused me to leave the church for nearly a decade.</i></b><br />
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<b><i>Because when you are struggling with the lie that is "there is no way that a holy God could love a girl like me." And you are hanging on by a thread because life has just been too much....</i></b></div>
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<b><i><br />
</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Every moment counts.</i></b></div>
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The way you are received and welcomed or not.</div>
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The way the caregivers receive your child with kindness or not.</div>
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The way a seat is made available for you or not.</div>
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The way you are looked down upon, questioned or<i> interrogated</i> by church members or <i>hopefully not.</i></div>
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The way someone took the time to speak with you or not.</div>
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The way you are shamed and condemned or accepted and loved.</div>
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All of those things and so much more are some of the reasons that people will give church and ultimately Jesus another chance.</div>
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<b><i><br />
</i></b></div>
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But one of the biggest reasons I walked away was this. <i><b><u> I didn't want what they had.</u></b></i></div>
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</u></b></i></div>
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They made it loud and clear to me <i><b><u>what they were against.</u></b></i></div>
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<i><b><u>But they failed to demonstrate what they were for.</u></b></i></div>
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I didn't want to be judgmental and critical and look down my nose at folks.</div>
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I didn't want to spend my time pointing out other peoples sin and making them feel worse than and less than <i>the thousand ways they already felt like a failure.</i></div>
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I've spent lots of time and lots of years with unsaved folks. </div>
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I've spent lots of time over the years listening to the hearts of the brokenhearted and the downcast and the overlooked and the shamed and those who have been cast aside by society.</div>
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And I've listened.</div>
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And learned so much.</div>
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<i><b>Mainly I've learned <u>what I want to stand for.</u></b></i></div>
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</u></b></i></div>
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I believe that God is raising up a new "church lady" in this generation.</div>
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<i><b>The following words are beautiful truths that I have seen <u>shifting in the hearts of women who want to be known for following Jesus.</u></b></i></div>
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She will truly have His heart and His eyes <u><i><b>to see sons and daughters</b></i></u> when she looks at His people.</div>
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She will be <i><b>a doer of the word </b></i>and not a hearer only.</div>
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She will refuse to judge and condemn and do her best to love people back to wholeness.</div>
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She will be a fountain of mercy and grace and one who will breathe life back into dry bones.</div>
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<b style="font-style: italic;">She will know that <u>it is the love of God that breaks every yoke.</u></b></div>
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She will be a living epistle of <i><b><u>love and humility</u></b></i> and will demonstrate the scriptures with kindness and gentleness and compassion. </div>
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She will give credit where credit is due.<br />
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She will point others to Him. She will give Him all the glory. All of the honor. All of the credit.</div>
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She will understand fully- the truth that is this. <i><b>If it were not for the grace of God- there go I.</b></i></div>
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She will reach to the back row and encourage and minister to the hearts of the women who can't get past the grief and sorrow of their own life. </div>
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She will look past circumstances and situations and appearances that look different than her own to see daughters of the living God who have yet to discover their worth.</div>
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The new church lady is looking for opportunities to be a blessing- instead of looking for her own opportunities.</div>
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The new church lady knows that the only way up is down. She knows that "humility isn't thinking less of yourself but it is thinking of yourself less."</div>
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<i><b>Graciousness is her hallmark. </b></i></div>
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Gratitude is her beauty treatment.</div>
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She is a woman of her word.</div>
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She is a worshipper. In spirit and in truth.</div>
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She is a prayer warrior and holds trust from others as <i><b>sacred</b></i>. </div>
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She is supportive of others and is not an opportunist.</div>
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She understands that to become the Proverbs 31 woman- you can't skip chapters 1-30.</div>
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<i><b>She is fully aware of her own shortcomings and seeks Him daily for His love and guidance.</b></i></div>
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She recognizes hopelessness and worthlessness in others and <i><b>speaks life.</b></i></div>
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She is an excellent listener. She listens with her head and her heart. She hears what is <i><b>not</b></i> being said.</div>
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She is a lifter. An encourager. A hope giver. </div>
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She forgives- fully. </div>
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She knows that the same grace that was made available to her- is also available to everyone else.</div>
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She does not gossip. She does not constantly brag or boast. <i><b>She speaks blessing.</b></i></div>
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She sees the best. Believes the best. Hopes the best.</div>
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She places a high value on God's people.</div>
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<i><b>She invests in the greatest investment in the world.</b></i></div>
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<i><b><br />
</b></i></div>
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<i><b>His people.</b></i></div>
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<i><b><br />
</b></i></div>
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<i><b><u>She is known for what she stands for.</u></b></i></div>
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<b><i><u>But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, good fruit, impartial and sincere. ~ James 3:17</u></i></b></div>
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<br />Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com183tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-88193713745186837712014-01-02T13:07:00.001-06:002014-01-02T13:09:20.526-06:00Edit Your Life ~ January 2014 Edition<div>
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<a href="http://www.theatelierblog.com/">Image here: theatelierblog</a></div>
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Gracious I love the first day of a new year.</div>
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I am all about new beginnings. Fresh starts. Clean slates. A chance to start new.</div>
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One of the ways that I have already prepared for the start of a new year was using one little word in a very big way.</div>
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<i><b>EDIT.</b></i></div>
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This word is our new best friend.</div>
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Less is more. Let it go. Simplify. Pare down.<br />
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I prefer the word editing the best since I am a stylist at heart!<br />
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I have already started the process of true editing a couple of months ago.<br />
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Things, papers, books, magazines, pictures, cards, toys, emails as well as unsubscribing to loads of things that just create clutter and noise in my life.<br />
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When things go missing, it creates a morning of chaos like you wouldn't believe around here and I start the day out feeling like a failure.<br />
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I am editing and organizing with great purpose and intention to create a calm and happy space for each one of us this year. <i>One room at a time.</i><br />
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Here is one category to start with today! </div>
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<i><b><u>THE PAPER SITUATION:</u></b></i></div>
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Clutter and tchotchkes makes me break out into hives.</div>
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Now please hear me, as a mother of six children, there is always clutter….</div>
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But it drives me to the brink and I am constantly fighting my way through it and trying to organize the best system for our family.</div>
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Sometimes, out of exhaustion, "my system", is to pile every single thing in the corner and go through those piles later, so that the rest of our space is clean and organized.</div>
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The kids artwork, school papers, mail, bills, magazines, all of these things within a family of eight people can be overwhelming.</div>
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So here is what I have found in my own search for helping to bring order to the house...</div>
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There are so many incredible and really beautiful options for organizing the home office that it will actually be something you look forward to doing.</div>
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Basically…I'm not sure how I am going to choose using a very small budget from all of the beautiful options below.</div>
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<a href="http://www.thecontainerstore.com/">The Container Store</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.ikea.com/">Ikea</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.poppin.com/">Poppin.</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.russellandhazel.com/">Rusell and Hazel.</a></div>
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You may actually need to belt out a couple of verses from the song <u style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Jesus take the wheel </u> while looking at their websites. :) </div>
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The good news for those of us on a tight budget is that you can also find some really beautiful and functional things at discount supply stores and even Goodwill! </div>
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I have found many a fine object at Goodwill and they even have .99 cent day.</div>
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I am not even kidding.</div>
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You can get yourself a filing system for under 1.00. Especially during this time of the year when everybody and their Mama is clearing the clutter. And then you can paint it gold and be the envy of all of your neighbors.</div>
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Throw stuff away. Give stuff away or donate it.<br />
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We have to be willing to let go of some of the old to make room for the new! </div>
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If you do not love it, get rid of it.</div>
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<i><b>Clutter blocks creativity.</b></i></div>
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And the world needs your creativity beautiful friends.<br />
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<i><b><u>Here's to the start of editing your life to make room for every good and perfect gift that God has for you this year.</u></b></i></div>
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<i><b><u><br /></u></b></i></div>
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859334581397580560.post-65157827754852039202013-12-31T09:59:00.001-06:002013-12-31T12:35:30.689-06:00There Is Wonderful Joy Ahead<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.pinterst.com/">Source: Pinterest</a></span></div>
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Happy New Year!!</div>
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We made it!</div>
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I am so grateful and so thankful for making it through this year. </div>
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I know there are many of you who feel this same way.</div>
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One of the frustrating things of walking through a really hard year, is that you will inevitably be surrounded by people who had their best year ever….</div>
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<i><b><u>Which is awesome</u>. </b></i>We all hope for years like that!</div>
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But it can magnify your really painful year.</div>
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And it may cause you to wonder what on earth you are doing wrong. </div>
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I know I have felt that way many times over the last<i><b><u> five</u></b></i> years.</div>
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This is when I cling to Him and hold on for dear life.</div>
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Many times, we aren't doing anything wrong, we are just walking through the refining fire. </div>
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We are being molded and shaped for purpose.</div>
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We are being set apart and taught by the Lord.</div>
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We are being stripped of anything and everything that would hinder His work in our life.</div>
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This process is really painful.</div>
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I don't know of an easy way to get through it. They call it<i><b> the threshing floor</b></i> for a reason….</div>
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But I do know that tomorrow is a brand new, beautiful start to a glorious new year and we can </div>
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do our very best to make it the best one yet! We can all make changes and lots of them.<br />
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I have a huge list of changes we've already started making. And we are also beginning to see <br />
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some fruit from our hard work and countless prayers over the last few years.<br />
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<b><i><u>There is wonderful joy ahead…. for each one of us.</u></i></b></div>
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I wanted to share this awesome video with you all. It was shared on FB this week from the beautiful Kristin Wohlust. Thank you again for sharing this Kristin! </div>
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I am not a huge sports and fitness fan but this video was so encouraging to me anyway. Just close your eyes and listen to the words! It sounds like a combination of coaches and pastors talking. Really good ones:) There are a blue million awesome quotes in this clip!</div>
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I hope it blesses you! Here's to a glorious 2014! </div>
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Sibihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14564044378590200281noreply@blogger.com3