A little of this, a little of that

The past few weeks have been somewhat of a whirlwind - somewhat of being not in the mood to "write" - which is actually unusual for me...another unusual thing has been the lack of books I've read this summer.  I find myself checking out books at the library only to return them on their due date unread.  While this may be very common for some, this is extremley uncommon for me.  My normal routine would be to check out about 15 books at a time and have them read and turned back in long before the due date.  Last summer I read somewhere in the neighborhood of 75+ books - I love to read - what can I say?  My motivation has been lacking this summer though.  Perhaps, I have yet to find a new author that I enjoy - my favorites, (Karen Kingsbury, Francine Rivers, Mary Higgins Clark,etc) have all been read - as in every book that they've put out that I've found at a library!!

So - what's been going on these past couple of weeks?  Well - summer has been.  Grilling out with friends, spending time with family, and my favorite part - my birthday!!  Steve gave me a spa day for my 25th and it was absolutely fabulous.  That night we went out to AJ's with our friends Anna and Jason - great food and fun people to spend time with! 

I'm in my 15th week already - crazy how time flies - but it still feels like we've waited FOREVER to find out the gender - but it will be soon!!  We have our names picked out but we're waiting until we find out the gender before we reveal our names - we're super super excited though!!

A sidenote that I must add is how ridiculously blessed I am by my husband.  I fall more and more in love with him every single day.  If I had to pick a favorite thing?  Being snuggled up on the couch with my prince charming, talking about life - about God's word, how it's applicable, what He's teaching us...it's just the best thing in the whole world.  Marrying your best friend and getting the opportunity to spend your life with him serving the One you were created to glorify - is just pretty unexplainable.

A Weekend with Friends and Family!

We headed to Oxford Friday afternoon for our friend Brandon's wedding.  Steve and I have known "B" for about as long as we've know each other.  Our group could be found most any night of the week playing a game of Uno or Phase 10 and usually laughing hysterically at someone within our group.  We always had a good time and even all traveled to Maryland together to be leaders for a Disciple Now while Steve was there as youth minister.  Here's a picture from right before Steve left in 2005 -

Needless to say, we haven't seen B that much since moving to Fort Worth but were so excited about being able to be a part of his special day!  Congratulations B - we love you!!

After the wedding we headed to Baldwyn to visit with Steve's family, who I feel blessed to call my own as well.  My birthday is coming up on the 19th and we won't see them again till August and they surprised me with an ice cream cake - can't go wrong with that! Here's a pic with me and my mom-in-law!! And I'm including a picture of my 10 1/2 month old niece Kaylee - isn't she precious?

Sacrifice

This past week at M-Fuge, one of the days we talked about sacrifice.  It's something that has really stuck with me.  I always seem to associate "giving up" or "death" with the term sacrifice.  While I know this is common and mostly accurate - the Lord really spoke to me this week about how much more life we can have if we sacrifice.  How it's not really as much about giving something up as it is what it can add to our lives.  The camp focused on Hannah's sacrifice of her son Samuel.  How she had wanted a son for so long and once she had him, she gave him back to the Lord and His service.  It just made me start thinking that I wondered if she walked around after that talking about her sacrifice.  Is that how she would tell her story?  Or would she just talk about the blessing of doing what the Lord had called her to do? 

I think so often when the Lord calls us to sacrifice  something it becomes a worldly demonstration of our "dedication" to the Lord.  We talk about it with our friends or post it on facebook - anyone who knows us will know what we've decided to "sacrifice" for the Lord.  The Bible instructs us to not let our right hand know what our left hand is doing - I believe this is applicable in this scenario.  If the Lord is asking you to "give up" something then He's asking you to do that.  He's not asking you to talk about it with everyone you meet.  A sacrifice is something personal, something sincere, and always from the heart. 

The Lord also started revealing to me people that I've grown up thinking that they have made huge sacrifices in their lives.  As I went through them in my mind, I realized that these people never talked about their sacrifices or ever looked for a crowd to pity them or exalt them.  These people simply proclaimed the Lord's work in their life.  The sacrifice was not the focus - the focus was on the Lord, totally and completely.

The challenge that I found myself faced with was my focus - is it on the Lord or on myself?  Romans 12:1 says to present yourself as a living sacrifice - am I presenting myself in a worldly way or in a Godly way?  Those are truly the only 2 options, so it has to be one or the other.  My prayer is that I always point others to the Lord and that I never try to stand in the way of that.  That my selfishness and pride never attempt to shadow who He is in all of His glory.