Passed Over

We all know about the first passover spoken of in the book of Exodus.

Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. Not one of you shall go out the door of his house until morning. When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

~ Exodus 12:21-23

This time when I read the passage it leaped out at me--Jesus is my passover lamb. In this case in Exodus, the angel was coming to smite those who had done wrong. But God commanded the Israelites to put the blood of a lamb on their door so that they would not be killed along with the Egyptians. Think about it--even from that time, thousands of years before the Savior, God was giving signs for us. The Israelites would never even understand the significance of what they were doing at the time. Jesus's blood has protected us, God's chosen people, from being punished along with the unbelievers.

I have heard that before, but this time it really meant a lot to me. And here's the part I didn't notice. In Psalms 34:20 it says, "not one of His bones shall be broken" talking about Jesus. Then in Exodus 12:46 God says not to break any of the bones of the passover lamb. Whoa. Isn't it so amazing how God uses these things to speak to us, thousands of years later, just to remind us how mighty He is?

God is my Helper

God is my everything.

God is all-powerful.

God is all-knowing.

God is always loving.

God is ready to give me His words.

God provides for my everyday life.

God gave me a wonderful family.

God gave me an amazing guy.

God gave me beautiful friends.

God always watches out for me.

God is always ready to help me obey Him.

God protects me from harm.

God gives me the little things that I don't even need.

God knows what I do need, and He's never left me without it.

God always loves me.

God always forgives me.

God sent His son for me.

God does not lose His temper.

God is always there for me

God always hears me when I talk to Him.

God always pays attention when I talk to Him.

God does not just ignore me.

God is faithful to tell me what is right.

God always wants the best for me.

So why then...

do I be selfish?

Why do I be disobedient?

Why do I forget to be grateful?

Why do I snork around when things don't go my way?

Why do I be impatient?

Why do I sin?

Why do I not pay attention to God like He pays attention to me?

What I do not want to do, I do.

LORD, help me always to be alert to You. Thank You for loving me.

When the Knight Finally Comes Part 2

Second post done! Here is the continued chronicle of the Great Efum Entrance...


One day Efum came over after church. We had fun talking, studying, playing around. Then he randomly said, I'll be right back, and went out with my dad for a minute. Needless to say, I was rather curious. They came back from the garage after about 5 minutes and I thought, "What could they possibly have talked about in that short a time?" After a little while Efum left to go home and eventually my parents casually sat down on the couch, where I was writing. I was sitting on the couch writing and Mom and Dad both sat down with me. Oh boy. Dad, being the good straight-to-the-point kinda dad he is, got straight to the point. “Well, Ethan asked today for permission to court you.” Before I could say anything we heard Laney scream from the bathroom and then she ran in with a huge smile on her face. My brain just emptied in shock. The parents asked me what I thought and I said I liked the idea of courting Efum. Daddy said he did too, and that he and Mom had been praying about him and had had their eye on him for awhile. Whoa! How neat I thought! We called his dad to schedule a date where we all could talk about it. “I just need to make sure his idea of courting is the same as ours” my dad said. I knew very well that he thought the same as we did about courtship--as a pure, lasting relationship that is not easily thrown aside. I knew my dad was prepared to give Ethan permission. And I think I was in shock, but it was a different kind of shock than I have previously experienced. Before this I would suffer lack of appetite and shakiness due to shock, but now it felt like my mind had just been wiped. It felt like walking out of the ACT. I had only one rational thought for two long days—that I knew I would court Efum. That God wanted that. For some reason I imagined God kind of doing the universal “I-know-something-and-I'm-not-gonna-say-anything-about-it” face. Trust me, I'd gotten to know that face REAL well that past month or so on God and several other people that had suspected Efum's intent. I really wanted to think or feel something--I wanted to be excited, or maybe ditzy--but my head just could not wrap my itself around what was happening...this had certainly never happened before.

Finally, two days later we were in the car on the way to Efum's house. I still wasn't able to think, though I knew very clearly what was going on and what I would be committing to. That was all God—emptying my brain, yet keeping necessary content intact. We pulled up to the house and Dad prayed in the car. It made me feel a little less jittery and nervousish. We got out and knocked on the door. The only thing I remember seeing at the time was Efum standing in the hall waiting for us. Mom, Dad, Efum, his parents and I all went and sat in the living room and small talked for awhile (I don't remember a single thing that was said then, my stomach was freaking out). After a short while, Efum and I were dismissed with his big brother Caesar so the parents could talk alone.  Then I talked with his wonderful parents while he spoke with mine (it was fun hearing each other's sides of the story at this part, even though the same thing happened). We talked about what we thought courtship was all about, and our views on marriage and commitment, etc. THEN....a knock at the door. *GASP* Butterflies invaded my whole insides and stayed there. Before I knew it I was outside walking beside Efum with our moms walking far enough behind to see, yet not hear. Efum said, "I've gotten permission from your dad, but I need to ask you personally...do you really want to court me?" Well YEAH!  I had waited my whole life to be asked that. I knew how special and important it was. I said, “yes, I'd love to”. I had finally met my knight. He had finally come for me.

When the Knight Finally Comes Part 1

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, my knight came to sweep me off my feet! His name is Efum. My Efum to be exact. God sent him to me with a label and a pretty bow :) I have decided to tell the story in parts, as I had no idea I would ramble on so much when I first got started :) So, without further ado...

I have always wanted to be a Mommy. Ever since I was playing with dolls as a little tyke I wanted to have my own babies. I always wanted to get married. My sister and I would dress up and play wedding (the groom consisting usually of a boy doll or eventually our poor toddler brother). But of course, the true meaning of marriage was hidden beneath all the floofy, too-large play dresses in my six year old mind. I didn't even think about what getting married really was.

That changed as I started getting older of course. I eventually came to understand that marriage is a life commitment to someone--a covenant. A vow before the LORD to love, honor, and obey a special person with your whole heart, unconditionally, pleasing the LORD for your ENTIRE LIFE. Matthew 19:4-6 is what Jesus says on the subject..." 'Haven't you read,' he replied, 'that at the beginning the Creator "made them male and female," and said, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh"? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.' " Once two become one flesh, they cannot be separated without ripping apart. The movie FIREPROOF illustrates it with salt and pepper shakers glued together.

So, as far as waiting for that certain someone went, the Disney movies were enough to convince me that I did not want a prince. Some girls always talk about waiting for their "Prince Charming". I feel sorry for them—what is a prince but a rich and spoiled brat who has a lot of people to do his bidding, just because he can sing and can have any woman he wishes with a snap of the fingers? Sorry prince people—you aren't my type. Even as a little girl, I dreamed of one day belonging to a knight. A knight works and trains for the sole purpose of defending damsels in distress. I noticed that if knight wanted a lady he did not resort to singing and kissing her while she slept—he usually had to slay a dragon to save her or perhaps outwit an evil wizard. He worked for her. He won and earned her heart, he did not play with it using flowers or fancy music to wheedle her into loving him. He even wore awesome shiny armor and weapons, how great is THAT? Okay, so maybe my view of the prince species is pretty bleak, but my regard for knights was always so intense it made up for it! Even as a little girl I wanted to wait for the perfect knight to come and sweep me off my feet. I always sat wide-eyed during medieval history lessons.


One Christmas Eve when I was 14 I think, Daddy called me into the living room after bedtime hours. The coffee table had egg nog glasses and was decorated pretty with a tablecloth and candles. My parents and I sat down and talked about boys, purity, and the heart. I knew what it all meant—we had had the conversation before. I got my purity ring that night, when I gave my growing-up heart to my Daddy for safekeeping. I didn't think much about it being a difficult thing at all—eventually my knight would come, ask my daddy for my heart, Daddy would give it to him, happily ever after, the end. I went to bed that night as a happy little girl.

A year passed. I truly started growing up. I learned that it is impossible for dolls to keep their rightful place in a girl's heart. I learned that chocolate truly does positively influence a girl's hormones. I learned that mood swings were real. I learned whole new aspects of God. I grew closer to Him. I made amazing friends. I learned that boys get tall amazingly fast, and that girls get curvy. I also made a more unpleasant discovery...boys were, for the most part, total jerks! This puzzled me—how could any of these ever be true knights? What if knights really did not exist, as some said?

Then the move to Colorado when I was 15. Pain and suffering. Just about the worst year of my life. So many hard things about it for the whole family and it's a long story. It was in Colorado that I grew up (some of the way :) )and became who I am today. But one thing gnawed at the back of my mind for the whole almost three years that we lived there. “How could the LORD bring me a knight HERE?” As it turns out, not only is Denver very bad at producing men worthy of second notice, but it's apparently also incapable of producing men of marriageable age at all. Though that was simply a personal observation. I had guy friends in church who were all at least ten years older than I. I had guy friends in the homeschool group who were at least five years younger. Absolutely NOTHING in my age range at all. But actually, I did not mind. Every Meggy friend in both Arkansas and Colorado knew that Meg was the last chick to walk around needing a man. I knew it too. Sure I wanted a knight, but that was way far into the future. I wasn't thinking about it, though according to my Arkanesian sources, every teenage girl was getting a little too interested in the abundant supply of the opposite sex. I just rolled my eyes. Looking back, I see how fortunate I was that the LORD took me out of the company of any future suitors and put me in a place that was bereft of men. I was not even able to ever be tempted, but the whole time I was hearing of my friends' man experiences and learn everything I needed to know from safely across the country. I do not even want to know what the LORD must have saved me from, and I am so thankful and blessed for my time in Colorado.

Then we moved back. All right LORD. It's hard to move of course, and I would miss many things about Denver, but Arkansas was always home to me. But I wasn't sure then why we had moved there and then back again. I knew it was of God, but his logic remained a mystery to me.

Literally as soon as we returned, guys started showing slight interest in me. But thanks to the fact that I had been in a man-free place for a few years and studying (from a safe distance) the drama in man-central, I knew the drill by now. I had my excellent brother jump on their case and scare them all away with menacing glares in person and death threats on facebook. They left. Shabang, that was easy. As a side note ladies, if you don't have an older brother about you, improvise. Little ones are pretty handy as well for this kind of thing :)

Then a friend of mine offered an English and Creative Writing class (to this day I tell her that this whole thing is mostly her fault :P). My mom asked me if I wanted to take it and I loved the idea! In that class was a boy I had not seen for years, and had certainly never spoken to. I knew who he was from seeing him in his father's Hebrew class years before, and the same thing that happened then was now happening in this writing class years later—God was pointing him out. It was like the feeling of someone just randomly pointing at a person, slient and expressionless, leaving you somewhat confused about what is going on. I ignored it at first, but every week I felt it more and more. This quiet man with a beautiful smile, a silent laugh that warmed me right to the soul, soft and sweet brown eyes, and a passionate love for his Savior kept being brought to my attention. Finally I just threw up annoyed hands. “LORD...what are you wanting? You're just pointing and telling me nothing else! You've never done this before, what is the deal with You lately?” But no answer. I rolled my eyes and ignored it some more. Apparently I wasn't doing anything I shouldn't, or not doing anything I should do—God would have told me if that was the case. So I shrugged and put it away. Now I think God was trying to wait on His own timing, but couldn't stand the beautiful secret and wanted to give me a hint ;) One day my big sissy randomly told me that she heard that Efum wrote novels. “NO WAY!” Said I. “That's awesome!” Ever since moving back I had been without my writing buddy...I had been spoiled and now I was dying for another one. I asked Efum if I could read his stuff. He agreed and I delightedly read and critiqued his amazing first novel. He in turn read some of my things, encouraged me so generously, and helped me out in so many ways. We wrote a short story in a group together. We kept getting onto the same writing teams. Somehow we got to talking. He shared his testimony with me and I was blessed and amazed. He inspired me to love my Savior even more. Simply talking to him made me praise the LORD. Not to mention he made me laugh. I then figured that God must be pointing because He knew that Efum would be an amazing friend to me. People started telling me that he and I should get together, because we were a perfect match. I started getting teased, but didn't pay any attention. I knew that if he ever asked to court me I would agree because of his amazing character, but I was trying not to think of him that way.


How does this story end? Er, continue? Stay tuned my fans! More to come! :D

Oh the Faithfulness of God!

Can you believe the love and faithfulness of our Savior? It sounds cliche, but guess what? It's not.

"Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands." ~ Deuteronomy 7:9

"O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago." ~ Isaiah 25:1

"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us" ~ Psalm 67:1

LORD, thank you for your plans and your perfect faithfulness in carrying them out for my good. I trust you and love you more than anything. Please keep me in your plan.

Captured by TOBYMAC

From his great new album....

I'm Your prisoner by choice

I will rest at Your feet

And I'll only lift my voice

When You want me to sing

It's the beauty of Your covering that's stealing my heart

And it's the mystery of You that tears me apart

If I should die before I wake

I pray the Lord my soul to take

And if I should get a peaceful sleep

I wanna wake at my Father's feet

All I wanna do is get into You

You got me captured

By Your love

All I wanna do is stay here with You

You got me raptured

Can't get enough

Let's go

The sun's on the rise

The sleep's in my eyes

The dew's on the ground

The night is disguised

There's hope in the air

I'm fresh off a prayer

The blue mountain bean is clearin my stare

I make recompense

It's all making sense

Like blood in my veins

You're my sustenance

A moment of trust

Your gift is my gust of wind

Til we meet again

So faith, don't fail me now

If you touch my heart

You can feel it pound

So faith, don't fail me now

You got me, and You won't let go

Possession

These past two weeks, I've come to realize something about myself.

I am, in one way, like a dog.

Our ginormous deaf great dane likes to lean up against his people--mostly my dad and sister. He'll lean, or go between their legs, or otherwise touch them to claim them as his people.

Well I've discovered these past two weeks that I do it as well, when people that are not my possessed people are around. Especially ones I don't know very well, even on neutral territory. I have to be touching one of my sibs or Mum or Dad when I'm standing next to them, or I grab one and hug him quick as he walks past. And if we're at home and someone is in the house with us, I definetley always have to know where Daddy is at all times. I never even realized I did all this until we had someone over for lunch after church for a couple of weeks. Now, thinking on it, I see that I do it even when the person that's over are good personal friends of our family. Unless it's my Wingboyz, my Bekah or my Emy (cuz they count as "in my possession") I'm hugging on my people when others are around. I think it's equal parts "claiming" as the Dog Whisperer would say, and having the feeling of protection by this person I'm touching. I asked my sibs if they'd noticed my touchy instincts and they all said, "Oh yeah, you totally do it. Not that I've ever thought about it, cuz I'm kinda used to it, but yeah you way do it". It's all struck me as rather curious, since I've never thought about it before either and I've been doing it for years.

But in our women's Bible study at church jumped out at me--God has a possessive circle too! He's territorial and has a clear sense of what is His and whose He is. Ya know how I know? Just look at how He loves to introduce Himself--"I am the LORD your God", "I am the God of your fathers", "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob", and of course "You will be my people and I will be your God". He does it an AWFUL lot. And He says that He is a "jealous" God, which is not a sinful envy, but I think it means more to the extent of what we're talking about here. It's fun to have found a whole new way in which I relate to the LORD, and it is SOOOOO wonderful to know that I am His and He is mine! :D

And on another note...well, don't you just LOVE my God? I've been praying for no rain these past two days, since we have a huge, unreschedulable picture shoot outdoors today. It was supposed to rain just as we were getting started, but I've been asking Him to hold back the rain all day, and so far the chance of rain has gone down to 10% :D Isn't it amazing how God loves us enough to care about these little things? :)

I wanted to post a poem...

But then I realized that I don't have the rights to it anymore! I won it's publication in a poetry contest! :D It felt cool to just now remember that I couldn't post it up here, I must say :) Oh well, I'll post something else :)

Have you ever been only SLIGHTLY offended by someone? I mean the kind that leaves you half chuckling, half horrified, wondering if you are angry, then thinking you aren't, then that you are depending on what time of day it is. Usually that sort of offended is brought on by a person who has had the habit of offending you before, or at least half offending you many times. After many offenses, anything iffy said by that particular person makes your automatic reaction to be, well, offense. Whereas if any other person said that same thing you would have thought it truly funny, or true, or not even paid any attention. BUT *gasp* that guy said it!!!! Now you just HAVE to think the worst of it!!!!

I had never much thought on this topic before, until a good friend brought it to my notice. Of course it is a true fact, at least for me. After all, that person had said/done whatever before and it was offensive, so why shouldn't I be offended now? But this reaction is sin. Each new offense should be treated as the first one, since the others were so forgiven.

Ephesians 4:32 ~ "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

Matthew 18:21-22 ~ Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

Matthew 6:14-15 ~ "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

That last one's a little scary huh?

One cannot write alone...

Writing a novel is a team effort :) I am writing the dedication for Of Shattered Things before I turn in the final copy, and had sooooo many people to thank. I'm sure I didn't cover everybody!

Thank you to:

My LORD and Savior, for giving me the passion and ability to write, and for being with me through every paragraph.

To my parents, for always encouraging me in my writing and giving fun ideas. I love you both!

To Christen Krumm, for being such an excellent writing teacher and for making sure I get my chapters written whether I wanted to that week or not. Thanks for everything Christen.

To Ethan Riley, for his amazing editing and admirable forbearance in having to read this whole novel in it's
rough state, and for always being ready and willing to give ideas, advice, and fight scene tips. Thank you,
Mighty Wordsmith.

To Laney, for being my ear to brainstorm in and my partner to word war with. Love you, bug.

And finally, for the original idea for this story and for always being a friend, I'd like to thank my sweet, talented Cherise Mabb...

I mean, Alena.

 

 

The LORD has declared it not good for a writer to be alone, and hence He has given me all these wonderful people to be helpers for me :) Thank you for all of them LORD, and for being with me Yourself! :D

Proverbs 2:1-11

My son, if you accept my words

and store up my commands within you,

turning your ear to wisdom

and applying your heart to understanding,

and if you call out for insight

and cry aloud for understanding,

and if you look for it as for silver

and search for it as for hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the LORD

and find the knowledge of God.

For the LORD gives wisdom,

and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

He holds victory in store for the upright,

he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,

for he guards the course of the just

and protects the way of his faithful ones.

Then you will understand what is right and just

and fair—every good path.

For wisdom will enter your heart,

and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

Discretion will protect you,

and understanding will guard you.

Mr. Sneakypants

One bad day, David had to flee from Saul to escape his ill-founded wrath. He went to Ahimelech the priest to ask for supplies and recieved bread and the sword of Goliath.

After he escaped, Saul pitched a fit as his officials. He sat under a tree and screamed, "Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? Is that why you have all conspired against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me, as he does today."

But one fellow, Doeg the Edomite, had been skulking in the shadows of the temple when David had been there. He stood up and said to Saul (I assume in a Grima Wormtounge kind of voice), "I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob. Ahimelech inquired of the LORD for him; he also gave him provisions and the sword of Goliath the Philistine."

Saul growled in anger and sent for the priest and his whole family to come before him. When he beheld a line of the priestly family standing before him and said, "Howdy there, priest. Why have you given my enemy provisions, and thus put yourself against me, your king?"

Ahimelech threw up his hands. "What are you talking about?" he said. "David was always your right hand man! If he's now your enemy, leave me out of it, because I have no clue what you speak of."

"Suuuuuuuuuure you don't." Saul looked at his guards. "Kill them all"

But the guards would not touch the priests of the LORD--they knew it was wrong, even though their kind had commanded it. So the king next turned to Doeg, the skulking one. "Kill them!" he screamed.

So Doeg smiled, and murdered the priest of the LORD and his family. One son of the priest escaped to tell David what had happened, and David said, "That day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, I knew he would be sure to tell Saul."

For some reason I had never noticed this guy before. Didn't remember him. But I was quite intrigued by what I found. This man evesdropped on David and the priest, told Saul, then murdered the LORD's anointed priestly family. I also wonder what all he had done before this, to earn such a reputation in David's eyes.

"He who plots evil will be known as a schemer. The schemes of folly are sin, and men detest a mocker."

Proverbs 24:8-9

Pray for me...

My heart is not 100% right towards a particular person. We shall call him/her "Sydney" because it is a guy and girl name and I have no friends named Sydney. Sydney is not someone who is close to me, nor would it be exessively GOOD if Sydney was close to me. The two of us don't cross paths very often, but it's not like I don't like Sydney. He/She just has some things that he/she does that require me going away from my fun to take care of he/she is doing. It is nessecary action and I don't really have a problem doing it. But my heart is not having the best attitude towards Sydney right now, because I know Jesus wouldn't think this way or make any form of jokes about it. It's really no biggie, just please pray that I wouldn't think/feel this way or accidentally make others feel this way either :)

A thought from my Bible study...

Remember when Isaac calls Esau in and tells him to go out and do some hunting so that he can bless him? Rebekah overhears and says to Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 'Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.' Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies."

This was a complete, boy-you-do-as-I-say thing. It was all her idea. Jacob obeyed, their scheme worked, and then (who knew) Esau found out and was SUPER MAD. He decided to kill his brother, but Rebekah found out about this too, and made yet another plan. She sent for Jacob and said, "Your brother Esau is consoling himself with the thought of killing you. Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. Stay with him for a while until your brother's fury subsides. When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I'll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?"

Did anybody catch anything funny in that? Who did she put all the blame on? I had never caught this before I did this study, but she put all the blame on Jacob for tricking Isaac! She had probably not even told Isaac it was her fault and apologized--instead she is even tricking herself and writing things off as not her fault when they get tough. I bet if somehow, someway the whole steal-the-blessing operation HAD run cleanly and nobody was furious or anything, she would have taken all the credit. Just a hunch... this girl has a few problems :)

Happy Birthday to my Marchies!!!!!!

First of all.....LANE TURNED 16!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The best-looking of the Tagg gals is growin up *sniff sniff* Lane and I have been through thick and thin together, and the funny thing is that we've done it all pretty much getting along. We don't remember any downright FIGHTS we've ever had, except when we'd beat each other up trying to get the Barbie we both wanted. I used to could beat her up whenever I liked, but we quit that when we were like, 5 and 7. She'd probably stomp me out now, I'm on my not-so-strong side right now :)

And now.....JAHJAH TURNED 9 TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! No matter how old he gets, he's still my baby. However, he is just now getting too heavy to have on my lap for long periods of time :( He was the first baby that I was really old enough to "baby", so I got really good at changing his diapers and such. He called him "Mwamwah"...a slur of "Meggy". He's in TX right now and I miss him on his birthday especially :( Talked to him this morning on facebook and then on the phone! :D

Last but not least, MY CUZ MACE IS TODAY AN ADULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That boy and I did some wickedly crazy things as kids. What's scary is that it still tends to sneak out of us when we get together :P He would think of the bad idea to begin with, then I would be the brains of how we could carry it out. I miss living in CO and actually being able to see him.

How come we all have to GROW UP? :)

A cool passage, and something to think about if you have a minute

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

~ Romans 8:18-21

This is one pretty passage! Our creation is subjected to pain, wrongdoing, and frustration (kinda like my post below). It's like our world is trapped in a pit. But our hope is to freed and drawn out of the pit, into glorious cleanness and freedom! Praise God that He would call us His children and see fit to save us for no reason!

Also, I've a prayer request. I have this short story in my computer. Tis 4891 words long, and is called, The End Date. The long and short of it is, it is my baby. My favorite thing I have ever written. God really helped me during the writing of it and gave me some great ideas. I think I even cried while I wrote it (doesn't ever happen). Everyone that read it loved it, or said they did, and I thought it was an excellent story.

So I entered it in a Christian short story contest. Paid the entry fee, sent it in, waited patiently for the results. But no emails or phone calls. When I went on the final date to see who the winners were there was no awesome Meggy-written story...it was...a western. Are you kidding me?! And to add insult to injury, the contest people sent me a little book of all the shorts and poems that had won money that year. There was a painful lack of Meggy in that book, I noticed.

So now I'm looking for more contests that maybe will see the value of such a story. But there are problems all over the place. I want a contest that will take my story with it's current wordcount, have a good grand prize, not have an INSANE entry fee (it gets a little nuts), and give my story a shot even though it's Christian. There's always a problem. Good money-winning ones want 1500 words. 5000 worders charge a $50 entry fee. Christian ones want your publishing rights. This list goes on. Also, all contests want previously unpublished work. Say I entered my story somewhere and got like, honorable mention. I'd get like $50 and then it would be published and it would no longer be mine--no making any more money off of it or nuthin. See what I mean? This little fact makes me scared that, when I DO find a good contest, I won't win enough to be worth it. And with secular contests I know that they will be hesitant to publish such decidedly Christian material to their magazine or whatever...so even if I was better than the others, someone else might get picked and I'd have wasted my money to get in.

So, lots of fears and failures. I really want the best for this story and don't want the whole thing to come out a flop. It's probably just my own pride that doesn't want to take honorable mention and lose it's publishing rights. Still praying about what to do with it as I read it over and let others read it.

A Smart Little Guy

Watch this vid, it won't let me put it up here because this is not facebook... http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/boy-s-911-call-thwarts-attackers-18549401

Scary huh? Thank the LORD that nobody was hurt and that that kid and the guts to grab his little sister, the phone, and run to hide. Well done little buddy.

It made me think...do our littles know 911? It also made me thankful for our little peephole on the door so we can see who it is before we answer. It doesn't seem like the gunmen wanted to kill anyone, they probably just wanted money or the flatscreen TV. And they would do all that evil to get it. LORD, redeem this fallen world where children have to call 911 to be saved from their neighbors.

Lately I've been in a poetry swing...

It's actually kinda cool. I'm not sure why this is, but poetry is sometimes a really cool and artistic way of getting a point across to the LORD. I'm not the only one--it worked for David! So anyway, last night I was working on this one, with currently no title...

Lord, you are my defender

From each and every foe.

You've defeated every enemy

That sought to wreak me woe.

But now I see a new tempter,

Her like I'vve never known.

The frightening thing is that her face

Looks just like my own.

True, she has poked at me before,

but she'd been easy to shelf.

She now, somehow, has horrid power--

This version of myself.

She makes me think of awful things,

She dirties me inside.

She makes my hands displease me Lord.

It's her I can't abide.

But my God is bigger than even this monster

And He keeps me in His sight.

I will not be held captive here,

He'll save me by His might.

Lord, set a watch over my tongue,

Allow no ill to exit.

Please stop my deeds from hurting those

Who can't and don't deserve it.

But most of all, please guard my heart,

And keep it as pure as the sea.

Suffer no evil to enter it--

Please save me Lord, from me.

So ladies and gentlemen, I am proof--even if you are no good at poetry, the Lord doesn't mind. I think he likes to hear it. Nobody take this one or anything, though it's probably not good enough for anyone to WANT to take... :)

Going to see a movie today with my dear sista and maybe some friends! :D

The new women's Bible study!

The women's Bible study at church kicks off tonight! I'm excited. We're going through a book called Loved By God by Liz Curtis Higgs. It is pretty and purple-blue and I have a pen that matches it, so it looks really pretty when I write in it :) This first week, we went over this story in Genesis 27...

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, "My son."

"Here I am," he answered. 

Isaac said, "I am now an old man and don't know the day of my death. Now then, get your weapons—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die." Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 'Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the LORD before I die.' Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies."

Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I'm a man with smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing."

His mother said to him, "My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me."

So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made.

He went to his father and said, "My father."

"Yes, my son," he answered. "Who is it?"

Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing."

Isaac asked his son, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?"

"The LORD your God gave me success," he replied.

Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not."

Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. "Are you really my son Esau?" he asked.

"I am," he replied.

Then he said, "My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing."

Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come here, my son, and kiss me."

So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,

"Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed. May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness—an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."

We dug into each of the characters in this story in depth. One thing I especially noticed looking into it--Rebekah tried to "help God out" by being deceitful and tricking her husband. Well, the LORD doesn't NEED any help from you madam, and you definetly don't need to SIN in order to assist him. And look back up at Jacob's only problem with his mom's plan. Astounding! I had never noticed that he never brought up the elementary question, "Mom, are you sure we're doing the right thing?" That boy was pretty much all in!

 

Tonight there is a group discussion and a video on it! Happyhappy!

The one that made me smile this morning

"This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all." ~ 1 John 1:5

Something about hearing this one on the radio when you're just waking up and light is peeking through the blinds is just awesome. Our God is LIGHT! The very nature of light. Before anything existed, He said...

"Let there be LIGHT!"

And there was.

And there is no darkness at all in our God. God cannot go against His nature--He cannot ever contain any darkness! We never have to worry about darkness or grief coming from Him.

I would like to take this moment to say...

The last couple days have been spent interviewing several of my big sister friends to put some more mustard in my book. The answers have been great and I appreciate all you girls! (Though you probably don't read this blog :P)

But the beginning of this project has showed me how woefully short I come from being the awesome, Christlike, confidante sissy I want to be. It also made me think of my adopted big sissy and all she is to me. So that's what I want to talk a lil bit about...

I have known my big sissy Bekah for about... 14 years now. We've been good friends with their family for just about as far back as I can remember. I held every sibling of hers that came after her...and her mother was even at the birth of many siblings of mine that came after me! We've come a long way and done so much together. We've talked about every book in creation from the time we were little to now. Most of my articles of clothing came from her while I was growing up. Then I moved to CO and left her here to deal with everybody. She did excellently, calling me and telling me about everything that was going on. Then I came back, and we've been closer than ever. We have lots of friends we're close to, but we two have stuck together even when other people got weird, grew up without us, or did something that made us sad. We share our griefs and victories. She keeps me focused on the Word, and snaps me out of it if ever she senses I'm losing concentration. She messages me just about every day. If she knows I'm sad (if I am, she pretty much knows) she makes sure to check on me extra. She calls me even though we live in the same state now, just randomly. She is always there to listen, and if there was ever an emergency when I needed her, she'd drop everything and come (I found that out a weird and funny way...she was kinda mad for a second :P). She's just like a big sister (or so I assume, since she's the only one I've ever had) and I can tell her anything without it being weird. She understands, even through my bad communication skills...she's used to it...

That's the kind of big sissy I want to be to the girls (Lane and Lou) who are closer to my age. I want them to be able to talk to me about anything they wish and to be a true friend to them.

LORD raise up an awesome big sissy in me and in all the world!

Our world is emptier than we know

Every bit of matter on earth is made up of atoms--the smallest particle of any element. EVERYTHING you can see and even stuff you can't is made up of these guys. They behave differently, making up different things, etc. But there is no escaping that atoms make up our whole world--everything we know.

But here is something very interesting to note. See the picture. Atoms are made up of a nucleus and tiny particles and electrons. Nobody is quite sure of theire precise looks because they are so tiny. But we do know that most of the atom is empty space.

Think of that! The Creator of the universe used these tiny building blocks to build earth...but it is mostly empty space.

This is just interesting to me.

All the Blessings of Life

I got this book for my Christmas :D It is called, All the Blessings of Life: The Best Stories of F.W. Boreham. Not too deep, never that shallow, always random, it is a buch of little snippets from his books and journals and such, just about a couple paragraphs each usually. This fact makes it the best book to have on the back of the toilet EVER. It gives you something to think about, but not TOO much to where you'd rather not have to mentally shovel through it just at that moment in the bathroom. Very good so far :D

The bit I read today was a little longer. It talked about a clean conscience and how it relates to sleep. Quite amusingly interesting. Boreham talked about the book Les Miserables, where Jean Valjean was robbing the good bishop whose house he was staying at. As he was creeping around and about to leave, he spotted the bishop sleeping. He quoted the book as saying, "The moral world has no greater spectacle than this, a troubled, restless conscience, which is on the point of commiting a bad action, contemplating the sleep of a just man". Then he talked about a scene in English history, when the Earl of Argyle was about to be executed. One of the traitor lords came up to the prison and asked to see his lordship. The man was sleeping peacefully, as if he didn't mind that he was going to be killed at all. The conscience of the traitor smote him and he ran out home to his family, saying, "I have been to Argyle's prison. I have seen him, within an hour of eternity, sleeping as sweetly as ever a man did! But as for me..."

Boreham wraps up his thought by saying, "(the church) has excelled in the production of heroic and magnificent sleepers. That is why I insist that every candidate for her membership should be searchingly questioned as to his ability to sleep."

Heeheehee! I found this interesting :)

Who Will You Be?

What do you want people to think when they think of you?

Will they think of the shabby stinky one who doesn't really care about them or what they're talking about? The lazy one with no aspiration?

Yesterday at the science fair I saw a kid that I'd seen only a couple of times before. He's somewhere in the 13-15 age group I think. Nothing special about him just by looking at him--average height, average weight, jeans and a mountain dew tee shirt...pretty normal kid. I didn't give him a second thought. Well, I was holding Bird's hand by Lane and Moose's display, and this kid holds out a bowl of popcorn to the Bird (part of his own display). "You want some popcorn?" he asks the Bird in a friendly sort of way. She had a bite and smiled all sweet and stuff, and he grinned and put the bowl back. I kinda tend to like people who are nice to my littles, so now this kid was now not just a kid--he was a nice kid.

But he was not done being a nice kid after that! I was in charge of lunch and drinks for everybody, and many of the kids would mutter, "ummmm....root beer please" when I asked them a question. But this guy came away from his display board a couple of times to the lunch room to help I assume his little sister get some pizza. He looked me in the eye and was nice and loud with his drink choice and said thank you. He and some other kids helped us clean up chairs afterward and I heard him call my Bird by her NAME. He must have heard one of us say it or something and remembered it. I was pretty impressed and I mentioned it in the car. J-dude said, "Oh, the kid with the green shirt? Yeah, he was nice, he helped me with my drink. The juice jug was REALLY full, so he poured it for me." K, so NOW I really like this kid, right? He presented himself very impressively and gave me reason to think well of him when I didn't even know him. That's the kind of impression I'm after when I'm with people--even if I don't know them!

But there's more to being impressive than just how you appear. It's also what you think about. What your dreams are. I've met boys who didn't really care about what they were going to be when they grew up, even if grown-updom was knocking at the door. They didn't have anything they cared about doing, and weren't even after any money really. No drive or hardworkingness. Girls do the same thing. Even if you are a girl who is not career-minded at all or doesn't need money, if you're not practicing to be a wife and mom one day than you are wasting your living time.

We are supposed to be people who accomplish things and do good to others in our occupations, as a witness to Christ. Let's be alert and think about such things!

Come to the talent show tonight, one and all! :D

Samuels

I was reminded the other day that I love 1st and 2nd Samuel and I haven't read them in a long while. So, I have started them again!

It all starts out with Samuel the prophet. His mum prayed for him, God gave her her wish, Samuel went to live in the temple to serve with Eli the priest, etc.

But during all this, Israel is at war with the Philistines. So the Israelites went out one day to fight the Philistines one day. They were expecting to win, but they were defeated and lost four thousand men to Philistine swords. So the elders of Israel (as in the wise, decision-making people) said to each other, "Why did the LORD bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the LORD's covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies."

So that IT may save us. IT. Not the LORD. They were treating the ark as like... "the Ring of Power" of something--some magic object that would save them. They didn't even take it as a SYMBOL of God's power and covenant. That wouldn't have been right either, but it makes more sense than "the Magic Ark". This sounds like the same thing using the LORD's name in vain to me.

Then what happened? It said the slaughter was great and the ark (that could not do a thing about it) was captured. 30,000 men died, and every other man fled to his tent.

The latest thing I'm praying about...

My mom and some ladies of our church were talking about different parenting books the other night. There are a great many, as we all know. I was just listening and thinking, maybe I should read a parenting book. I'm not a parent, but I work with kids in babysitting and with my own sibs. But then I thought maybe a parenting book still wouldn't be quite right for such a job as mine. I made an aloud wonder about the fact that there are a great many "parenting" books, but no "big sissying" books. This was met with the response. "You should write it! That would be perfect and it would sell!"

Hmmmm...would it? One part of me says I don't know if it's something I could do. I'm sure there are much better big sissys than me that should be doing it. I'm positive. But the other part of me says, those ones aren't doing it. And God has given me the most diverse set of little siblings to ever stick in one family. I have...

A quirky and gorgeous one who's always good for a story

A studly and goofy one in between kid and man

A flibbertygibbet who can think and do cool things

A quiet and loud at the same time one

One that just wants to have fun

A strange, surprising, cocky, and cute one

A precious baby girl with some bite

and

A small and serious one with a large vocabulary

The biggest thing I've learned with having eight, very different little sibs is how to generally get along with everybody. Living with such different personalities all the time I think has really helped me not just learn to get along with them, but with other different personalities outside the home.

I may just have to figure out how to transfer that from this thought, to like a big sissy study. If I did this thing I'd certainly need some help from my big sissy friends! Not to mention I have an adopted big sissy who's purty special to go off of a bit as well.

Just something I'm praying about...

Stomach Bug >:\

Does anyone have any idea how looooooooooooooooooog it takes for a stomach bug to trickle through an 11 person family?!?!? VERY frustratitating, especially when victim for some strange reason unbeknownst to me can't make it to the toilet. I may find out why this could be one day, but for now it is a mystery. LORD, send the stomach bug out so that none of our others have to have it! The way I've done the math, we're only about halfway through this thing. But these kids have LIVES to live! This stomach bug must not bring Taggs to a halt!

One thing comes to mind in this situation...let's all sing it together...

"Oh, God is bigger than the stomach bug!

He's bigger than a virus, or the germs that threaten me,

Oh, God is bigger than the stomach bug!

And He's watchin' out for you and me!

Watchin'...

Watchin'...

Watchiiiiiiinnnnnnnn'...

Out for you and MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Yeah!

One of those things that I would love to hear an insight about...

But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" ~ Jude 1:9

WHAT is going on here? What about the body of Moses? Why did the devil or the angel care? And especially how did Jude know about this? I would love it if there was some record of the fights that go on in the eternity realm...but what went on here?

Twas a nice, ripstickingful day what was warm today! :D

Show and Tell

Today I was prepping for teaching my co-op class. Today my boys were going to learn how to "show" things in their writing, not just "tell" them.

Example:

"Paul was very angry when he came into his room"

as opposed to:

"Paul's face turned beet red with rage as he stormed into his room, muttering evil things and kicking the furnature."

The first tells you about it. Very clearly and concisely. But you can't really understand exactly what happened until you read the one that SHOWS you about it.

So I'm getting all the prints and activities loaded up for class and I'm thinking about how this relates to sharing our faith. We can TELL about the love of Christ till our teeth fall out. But if we do not SHOW it--if it does not shine through us, how are people really to understand? That's something to admire about the disciples when they were telling their friends about Jesus after they had first met him. Their main line was, "Come and see!" They knew they couldn't fully tell about how amazing Jesus was. They didn't flounder for words or argue about how many good things possible could come out of Nazareth. They were ready to SHOW them their new master. Sometimes just words don't do it. Letting God's love show is what really counts. Has anyone ever noticed that our God is really really hard to try to describe? :)

Left Behind?

"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book."

~ Revelation 22:18-19

A curious thought occured to me when I read this last night. I thought of the Left Behind book series, which is a fictional account of the second coming and all the things that happen in Revelation. I wonder what exactly John means by adding and taking words away. I'm pretty sure the authors of the LB books were not right about a whole bunch of stuff. As fiction authors, they added this and weren't sure about that. But then it is only meant to be fiction. Though I wonder if making fiction of it is taking the prophecy too lightly.

Any thoughts?

A Real Pastor

Anybody ever had a pastor? Probably. But do you have one that goes beyond Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, who prays for you specifically and makes sure to check up on your life periodically? Maybe. But do you have one that still continues to be your pastor and do those things AFTER you've moved sixteen hours away and have another church and are technically under another pastor? Eh, no. You sure don't. That would just be ME.

Who knew when we walked into AHBC that it would mean this grand new thing called a pastor would happen? I'd had...I guess three real churches I remember clearly. I had enjoyed them all! The pastors were friendly and one in particular was a downright amazing teacher. I didn't really know any of them as a person, however. I didn't really know that it was possible to be able to go to one of them after the service and talk about what parts of the sermon eluded me or even how school was treating me or why the Colts were going to beat the Chargers. But in Alameda Hills, that is very possible. I'm not even sure how it happened that I was able to tell this pastor everything these things that God was doing in my life. He just made it his business to know what was up. I learned that even the things that were close to me that I wasn't that comfortable talking about were ok to communicate. After all, if he didn't know things how could he help or give ideas? Kinda like my mom and dad--they purty much know everything and sometimes it's good just that they know, and not even have any way to fix it at all. To an extent, it's the same deal with my pastor. I soon warmed up to sharing life's weirdities and hearing his always good input. He's always good for some teaching, advising, encouraging, correcting, and just to poke some fun.

I think this is what God meant the pastor of a church to be. Jesus did the same thing. He spent an awful lot of time talking to people. He was a teacher, a healer, a friend, a brother, all kinds of things. He talked to the people who didn't matter--Samaritan women, beggars, demon-possesed outcasts, and even lepers. In the same way, a good pastor is not just a teacher, but someone who takes an interest in the people of his congregation and is there for them if they need somebody. All that to say, I have a pastor like that. I can keep up with his teaching online, he emails little tidbits that make me smile, and he calls me when he suspects trouble, all in his work for Christ. I thank the LORD for pastors like that, and especially mine. Love you Les!

My Favorite Skillet Song

Skillet ~ Rest

Still, soft quietly spoken voice

That persistently calls my name

And quickens my heart to come

And I come

And I rest in the shelter of Your love

And I rest in the wonder of Your grace

And I rest in the shelter of Your love

And I rest in the wonder of You

Embraced in the promise of You

Is rest for the weary soul

Releasing all that is mine

I reach for You

Take all the old and You make it new

Eveything I give to You

You're the hope that can pull me through

Hallelujah

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

~ Matthew 11:28

 

Isn't amazing that our God can be run to as an escape from everything?

Too close of a call

Tonight while I was grieving the loss of the Superbowl, my friend Andrew and my aquaintance Chris were out driving. They missed a curve and their car flipped 2 1/2 times. Chris (the driver) was thrown from the car before the driver's seat was completely crushed. Andrew was still in the car and took a hit to the head, some bruised ribs, and some shock, but was able to call for help. I found all this out on fb and few really knew any details while I worried myself crazy while important people figured out what happened. Finally I ascertained that Chris is in the ER with broken ribs and other forms of very banged upedness, but they don't think there is any other damage. Andrew was released from the hospital and got to go home, and then got on facebook--a HUGE woosh of relief for me.

The entire thought and the unexpectedness of it all just made me sick. Amazing how the LORD protected them and kept them as safe as He did. This whole thing reminded me how quickly things change and how much I take for granted--even the things I love like my family, my own ability to breathe, and the tall, spiky-haired, elvish-looking indivdual who enjoys picking a fight with me. Thank you God for protecting Andrew and for again showing me how all-powerful you are. AND for reminding me that I need to show my appreciation for the people you give me in life, before it's too late for either me or them. Thank you for sparing me my friend, and continue to show your blessing and healing to Chris who is still in the hospital.

It reminds me of a song...

LIVE LIKE WE'RE DYING

by Kris Allen

Sometimes we fall down and can't get back up

we're hiding behind skin that's too tough

how come we don't say I love you enough

till it's too late, it's not too late

Our hearts are hungry for a food that won't come

we could make a feast from these crumbs

and we're all staring down the barrel of a gun

so if your life flashed before you

what would you wish you would've done

Yeah... gotta start

lookin at the hand of the time we've been given here

this is all we got and we gotta start pickin it

every second counts on a clock that's tickin'

gotta live like we're dying

We only got

86 400 seconds in a day to

turn it all around or throw it all away

we gotta tell 'em that we love 'em

while we got the chance to say

gotta live like we're dying

And if your plane fell out of the skies

who would you call with your last goodbyes

should be so careful who we live out our lives

so when we long for absolution

there'll no one on the line

Yeah... gotta start

lookin at the hand of the time we've been given here

this is all we got and we gotta start pickin it

every second counts on a clock that's tickin'

gotta live like we're dying

We only got

86 400 seconds in a day to

turn it all around or throw it all away

we gotta tell 'em that we love 'em

while we got the chance to say

gotta live like we're dying

Person reading this, I love you! Come see me so I can tell you so.

There is no one better to trust than our God!

If there is one thing I have learned in 18 years, it is that the LORD's plan is always the best plan.
I have learned that He will work everything out for me in the best way without making mistakes.
I love to be able to trust Him with every little thing that may come up in life.
And even when I don't understand His reasoning, I love that I can know it's a GOOD reasoning that won't ever fall through.
He brings special people and circumstances into life at just the right time, and helps me know what to do with them.
He's the kind of God that you can approach about ANYTHING. There aren't many humans that you can just talk to about ANYTHING. But with God, you can whine to at the end of the day about how you can't find your favorite lip gloss, praise about the beautiful day, and beg to forgive you after you've done something that displeased him. He listens to all of it as if He has nothing else to do.
He likes to make things a little interesting. His irony can make you laugh any day.
No matter what anyone else thinks of you, you are His child that he loves unconditionally.

So, with the bare bones of advantages up there alone, it would seem that God would be one we can trust--the one who will never leave us out to dry, even if everyone else deserts us.


"It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man." ~ Psalm 118:8

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD." ~ Jeremiah 17:7

"...the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory...O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You!" ~ Psalm 84:11-12
"Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust." ~ Psalm 16:1

"Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid." ~ Isaiah 12:2
"I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies." ~ Psalm 18:1-3
"Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name." ~ Psalm 33:20-21

When chatting to the LORD about the weather ain't small talk :)

Dear LORD, there are a ton of cool things going on this weekend--the kind of cool things that require good weather. But the Arkansas forecast is icy and cold and decidedly UNcooperative. Please tell the ice and rain and cold to be still and head off, just like You did when the storms were not friendly towards You and your disciples. Even the ice and the rain obey You! :D

Lahdeedaaaah....

For some reason today I haven't been able to focus very well...it's a wonder I got school done! I woke up late today after that certain sleep like you sleep when you're sick. Don't think I'm sick though! We've got the feast tonight, and we Tagggirlz made some plans afterward to have a date in our room and watch some of a new version of a Jane Austen (girly) movie. Hey that "Tagggirlz" looks kinda cool! :D Then I think I'll do some of the One True God study by Paul Washer and make sure to write things down and have some deep thought time. On that thought, the latest from that study.....

Washer is now focusing on the Self-Existence of God. In Exodus 3:14 God told Moses, "I AM that I AM". According to Washer this... "demonstrates that God's existence was not caused, nor does it depend on anything...outside of Himself. It is God's nature to exist, and so he simply IS--without effort." It's like the question, "When did God first begin?" He ALWAYS was, though we can't understand that.

Acts 17:24-25 ~ "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else."

This verse is Paul telling the men of Athens about the true God who was unknown to them. God needs nothing--another verse somewhere told the Israelites that they should not think they are doing what God needs done by offering sacrifices. He doesn't NEED sheep and oxen--He doesn't eat them. He NEEDS nothing! He is, just because of Himself

Driving!

I'm going to take the drivers test today!!!!! I think I have to take the written test and then wait 30 days to take the actual driving driving test. Pray for me people! This whole driving thing should be a good time, right? :)

"It's still that simple"

Yesterday I watched a Love Comes Softly movie and a girl was whining about everything being complicated and her grandma said something like, "Don't you wish it was just like when you were a child--you could pray to God and then leave it, fully trusting in him?"

"Yes!"

"It's still that simple."

Well of course it is! You know what really confuses me? I can NOT figure out why I ALWAYS forget that I can leave a matter to the LORD and not have to worry about it anymore or try to fix it! Besides just the forgetting part, you'd think I'd remember because my own ways of trying to fix things or make them better just don't work. I have a God who will take care of things while I just be still and trust him--and I forget?

1 John 5:14-15 ~ "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him."

Who knew it could be hard?

Isn't it safer to simply keep the heart locked up and barricaded completely?

To run the delicate romantic situations with one's head?

'Course I just love the dude friends in my life.

I'm proud to know some amazing, funny, talented, Christian, good-looking young men.

But why do we all have to grow up and let things get awkward and...FEELY?

Can't we all just stay friends like we were when we were ten?

I'd honestly rather, and not have to think about anybody THAT WAY.

Unless, of course, he was the real One.

Hopefully the LORD would tell me that without waiting around.

But if you are not the real One and you're interested in me...

I probably like you as a good friend something fierce.

But I hope you know I'd rather be friends the way we always have been.

That would be the hard part--if you felt that way, and you weren't the One, but you were a good friend of mine.

Then it would my job to shovel a trench between us, one that never needed to be there before.

I'd do the shovel work while being just torn up inside because I couldn't just be your friend like always.

I would dig.

I'd like you too much not to dig.

I wouldn't let you get into a relationship that I knew wouldn't work in the long run.

I'd feel bad you felt the way you did for your sake and do anything to make it go away.

I'd feel bad for my own sake, because things could never be the same as the short time ago when we were all children.

And you would not have a clue why I was digging trenches.

You would probably feel really hurt over it.

And that would make me cry a lot.

Even the using-head-only-Meggy would feel awful that you were sad.

So I'd pray for God to tell you that we just weren't right.

So you could be the one to tell me.

And then we could just be friends and that's all.

It would save me some pain and digging.

And maybe both of us some hurt.

Ya know?

Just thought I'd say.. in case anything ever happened that that way.

In short, "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax!!!!!!!!! Help me!!!!!!!!!!! I'm.................

FEELING!!!!!!"

Christ Works in ME

Philippians 2:13 ~ "For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."

This verse really got my attention this time around. I know I've read it a million times, but this time I sat and stared at it for like 5 minutes. It dawned on me that my simply WANTING to do God's will is, well, God working! Of course it is Him working when I actually DO His will. But now it smashed me in the head that I cannot will to fulfill God's purposes unless it is Him working in me! If God is not working in somebody, that person cannot wish to do the will of God.

An encouraging thought, is it not?

Haiti

We've all heard about it--seen all the headlines. The Haiti earthquake disaster. At least 50,000 people dead Many are more are injured, many are homeless, and all are effected. But I read a cool little blurb...

 "During the days following the the earthquake, hundreds of women were seen marching through the streets in peaceful processions, singing and clapping. On Sunday, 17 January, Haitians roamed the streets looking for church services to attend. Impromptu gatherings were held outside churches that had collapsed with a few attendees appearing in their best clothes."

It's easy (for me at least) to think that this doesn't effect me since after all, it didn't happen in the US or directly effect anyone I know. But can you even imagine how the people that were directly effected feel? People are STILL dying from being trapped under rubble and buildings. These are God's children, and it's selfish and sinful for us not to be concerned.

Pray hard my friends!