Trust, Joy, Miracles!

I have been incredibly blessed to get to know some fantastic women in Arkansas who spend countless hours sharing their lives online. Tell me what you want to know about, and I can probably find a woman in Arkansas who is blogging about it! Parenting, Marriage, Family, Food, DIY, Travel, and so much more!

One of the things I noticed at the beginning of the year was people sharing what their focus word was for the year. Different people may call it different things, but a focus word is a word that you are going to keep in front of you for the year. Something to help keep you focused on a goal you have or a habit you want to form (or get rid of). It isn’t really a new year’s resolution, but an effort to make your life better in some way this year.

Karen over at Tings Mom wrote about her word being less (Be sure to go read her post). Less stuff, less technology, less stress!! I could definitely latch onto that word too, but God has been putting different words in front of me.

Now that it’s the middle of February, I’m going to share my focus word(s) for this year (better late than never). There were three constant themes that kept recurring for me in January and I kept trying to decide on one to use as my focus word, but I just couldn’t shake any two of them. They all three are sticking.

Trust

Over and over again I am confronted with situations that have been overwhelming to me. Situations that I could not control and could not change. In the midst of that I kept hearing “trust me”. Sermons, songs, advice from friends all reminding me to keep trusting in the Lord and I will be ok. Trusting God is an ongoing journey for me. Not because I don’t have every reason to trust Him, but because it is a process of letting go of your human will and emotions and letting Him be in control.

 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

Joy

A friend of mine said a few weeks ago that her prayer for everyone this year is that their journey would be a journey of joy. I immediately said, count me in!! I haven’t shared my whole story on this blog and likely never will, but the last few years have been full of tears and sadness. I am ready for some joy in my life. This year I am going to seek out in my own life what it means to have the Joy of the Lord and for it to be complete.

If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. John 15:10-11 (NIV)

Miracles

How many of you know that, as Christians, we serve a supernatural God? We serve a God who has the power to change situations and circumstances, but do we really believe that He can and will? I hear story after story of people being healed, delivered, and set free. I am ready to see myself and the people around me, be healed, delivered, and set free.

I know that God can and will, because He has done for so many people before me. I wrote a blog post a while back about this (you can read it here). Not only can we see miracles through the stories from the Bible, but people living and breathing and walking around today have amazing stories to tell.

This video is of Sister Martha Tennison preaching a mother’s day service in Adrian, Michigan. If you ever get a chance to hear her preach in person, don’t miss it! She will have you laughing and crying all at the same time and I promise you that you will leave changed in some way.

This entire message is on trust, but there is a story in this video that starts around 18:40 into it. It is a story she tells often of 16 red roses. I encourage you to watch the entire thing, but to get my point, at least skip ahead and listen to that story.



For Moses and the Israelites, the miracle was in the Red Sea. For Noah, the miracle was in the flood. For Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the miracle was in the fire. For Lazarus, the miracle was in death. And for Missy, the miracle was in 16 red roses and a man she had never met before.

God is in the miracle working business, and I believe that if we trust Him we will see miracles happen this year!

For me this year is about trusting God completely, finding Joy in Him, and not only seeing the miracles happen, but by my trust and obedience, being able to be a part of other people's miracles.



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Family Life Meet Up

I was blessed to be a part of the Arkansas Women Bloggers Meet Up that was hosted by Family Life. This was the first day in a long time that I truly noticed divine connections and I knew God was orchestrating something for His glory!

The first thing I noticed before I walked in was a large monument outside the door. It read, “Dedicated by Families who want to give God all the glory”. While there is a business side to running a ministry like Family Life, I never once felt like I was in a business. Everyone we met was friendly and I felt genuine love from each and every one of them.

The day began with a tour of their beautiful facilities. When you come into the front door, you enter into a beautiful rotunda. One wall has the mission statement on it and the other has Psalm 127:1, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it”. Throughout the building there are photos on the walls. One wall has a timeline of their ministry on it, which I thought was really neat.

Then there was an area that displayed some of their resources. One display had Barbara Rainey’s Ever Thine Home collection displayed. Beautiful items created with the idea that Christian homes should be a place where when people walk in there is no doubt in their mind that the family living in that home is a family that is serving God. But it isn’t just about decorating your home. The Ever Thine Home collection is designed to help teach your children about different things from the Word. For example, there is an entire collection of hanging ornaments that have the names of Jesus on them. They come with a book with stories and information to share about each of the names of Jesus.

Barbara Rainey also spoke to the group while we were there. Her heart for the home and family is evident. I have heard the name Dennis and Barbara Rainey and Family Life for as long as I can remember. I have listened to Family Life Today and my husband and I have attended a Weekend to Remember Marriage Getaway early on in our marriage. I never would have imagined meeting Barbara in real life. She is such a gracious and sweet spirited woman. I am so glad that I was able to meet her.

For me personally, the best part of the day was talking with Tracey Eyster, Founder and Executive Director of MomLife Today and Author of Be The Mom. She is an unbelievable blessing to anyone who crosses her path. She is genuine and has such a heart for moms and families. In the few minutes you are around her, she will encourage, uplift, and challenge you all at the same time. I know that only Tracey will understand this, but I will never look at Macaroni and Cheese the same way again!

Speaking of Macaroni and Cheese, the food was amazing too!! It was prepared by some wonderful folks at Family Life just for us. What a blessing they were. The picture I took shows all the goodness, except for the desert. I totally forgot to take a picture of that before I dug into it. It just looked so great the picture slipped my mind. It truly was an amazing day and I am so blessed that I was able to be there!

Best Tasting Swag Ever

I learned an enormous amount this past weekend at the Arkansas Women Bloggers Conference. I am still thinking through everything and will continue to post my thoughts as I process it all.

Along with all the learning, we also came home with lots of swag (goodies). I just have 4 words for all of you who are reading this… Biscoff European Cookie Spread!!

Whoever invented this stuff was genius!! Basically, it is like peanut butter but it is made out of cookies. Biscoff's website gives information about how it came to be if you are interested in reading that.

According to Biscoff, Walmart is the distributor for Biscoff Spread here in Arkansas. When my swag jar is gone, I will definitely be looking for some more.

Arkansas Women Bloggers Conference 2013

This weekend I attended the 2013 Arkansas Women Bloggers Conference. It was the first time I had ever attended this conference and I am so glad I was able to go. I have to be honest, I was a little nervous about going because I didn’t know anyone and I’m not good at making friends. It takes time for me to get to know people and feel comfortable being around them so I assumed it would be a somewhat awkward weekend for me.

Partially, I felt this way because I’m a little different. I know, shocking to hear, but I am. I don’t always fit in well with groups and I usually feel very out of place. I am overweight, I don’t wear makeup, and I don’t usually dress up at all. The email we got that mentioned dress said to be comfortable but just wear a cute top since people would be taking photos. Comfortable and cute top are an oxymoron to me. I did wear some jewelry on Friday, but that is rare for me. I guess it was my small attempt to try and fit in a little bit.

What I found when I arrived and continued throughout the weekend, were warm welcomes and absolutely no judgment. No one cared what I was wearing, and nearly everyone I came in contact with spoke to me like they had known me for years. It was truly refreshing!

Multiple speakers throughout the weekend mentioned the fact that we were not competing with one another, but we were a community. We supported each other and helped each other grow. This was so true. People were openly willing to share what was working for them and what they were doing with their blog. The session speakers were wonderful and extremely helpful.

I will likely post more concerning this conference as my mind processes the things I learned, however, I want to give two shout out’s before I end this post.

The first is to The Park Wife. Not only did she do an amazing job coordinating and putting this amazing weekend together, she saved me from the BIGGEST horse fly I think I’ve ever seen. I got up to try and get it to fly away and it wouldn’t budge. The Park Wife saved the day (I’m not scared of bugs, I promise, it just wasn’t moving)!

The second shout out is to TEAM 7!!! Jacqueline Wolven, Sarea Clark, and Allyson Twiggs Dyer were amazing! So glad I got to meet them and work with them on the “Big Event”. Oh, and did I mention that 4 non-cooks won 2^nd Place!! Jackie’s secret ingredient was brilliant and taking risks and cooking with candy pays off!