Greater Love.........

It's Spring and with that comes all of the toil and struggle of nature to bring forth the leaves on the tree's, the flowers and it sometimes is a reflection of the struggle we are in.

Today's devotional is really a continuation of my last blog over a week ago, but at the same time, it comes on a day that shows God's true love, His greatest sacrifice for us.........The Rssurrection. Greater love has no man than he lay down his life for his friends. That is what Jesus did for us. There is no greater sacrifice, no greater love. He sought us, pursued us, fought for us, died for us, and now He romances us. Where would I be if He had never done any of these things? Lost for sure.

I am humbled, thankful, and in awe of how He made us in His image. The Man and the Woman each with their own distinctive attributes, yet all of those attributes are still God, still His reflection. How He see's us, what He see's in us even if we don't recognize it ourself. Sometimes as a woman, you begin to wonder if the way you are feeling is a weakness or insecurity. I mean, you have the media everywhere spinning their view of how a woman should be, should look, should talk like, etc. And then you learn more about God's attributes He has placed in you...how He made us to be, and you realize you're not weak, or insecure.....you just desire the same things God does. I love you Jesus.

"Can there be any doubt that God wants to be sought after? The first and greatest of all commands is to love him (Mark 12:29–30; Matt. 22:36–38). He wants us to love him. To seek him with all our heart. A woman longs to be sought after, too, with the whole heart of her pursuer. God longs to be desired. Just as a woman longs to be desired. This is not some weakness or insecurity on the part of a woman, that deep yearning to be desired. God feels the same way. Remember the story of Martha and Mary? Mary chose God, and Jesus said that was what he wanted. “Mary has chosen what is better” (Luke 10:42). She chose me.

Life changes dramatically when romance comes into our lives. Christianity changes dramatically when we discover that it, too, is a great romance. That God yearns to share a life of beauty, intimacy, and adventure with us. “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jer. 31:3). This whole world was made for romance—the rivers and the glens, the meadows and the beaches. Flowers, music, a kiss. But we have a way of forgetting all that, losing ourselves in work and worry. Eve—God’s message to the world in feminine form—invites us to romance. Through her, God makes romance a priority of the universe.

So God endows Woman with certain qualities that are essential to relationship, qualities that speak of God. She is inviting. She is vulnerable. She is tender. She embodies mercy. She is also fierce and fiercely devoted. As the old saying goes, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” That’s just how God acts when he isn’t chosen. “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not share your affection with any other god!” (Ex. 20:5 NLT). A woman’s righteous jealousy speaks of the jealousy of God for us.

Tender and inviting, intimate and alluring, fiercely devoted. Oh yes, our God has a passionate, romantic heart. Just look at Eve." (Captivating , 29–30)

God's Heart for Relationship

It is funny, but I was just talking to the Lord about this very thing this week. How He created me as a woman to be the way that I am, to have the heart that I have. I was talking to Him about true love, that He is the meaning of true love and how saying "I love you" or "I love this or that" is used almost as slang everyday, instead of from the heart, heartfelt (out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks). As a very anointed guy once taught a while back, we say I love you way to easily. Do we really "love" what we say we do, or is it just a phrase. Like in the song Chasing Cars, "those three words, are said too much, their not enough." I have heard those three words come out of the same anointed worship leaders mouth in his expression of love for God, and it totally enveloped and changed the entire place because you could tell, you could feel, you could see it was from a heart that truly loves God. That can not be faked. When we truly fall in love with Him, there is a true love that just wants to come out, to flow out of us and the more time we spend with Him in that intimate relationship, the more we want to express that love, the more saying the words "I love you" means. Do we really love Him, or is it just said out of habit. God has truly given us a heart, a capacity to love more than we ever thought we were capable of. I have learned that the more I have sought God, the more I have come into intimate relationship with Him, the more capacity He has given my heart to love. Sometimes I feel like it is going to burst. Even though I have not experienced the marriage relationship....yet, I now have a better understanding of the love and relationship God wants and intends between a husband and wife. I now understand better how it is an extension of our intimate relationship with God, that true and pure love.......The Triangle. Todays devotional is confirmation to me of what the Lord and I have been talking about this week. He has given us all His attributes, and the capacity for relationships, whether it be husband and wife (the ultimate manifestation and example of our relationship with God) or friends, or our relationship with our amazing and awesome Savior Jesus Christ. I never realized, until this week, how much God made me in His image. The very things that as a woman I desire, He desires as well. It totally opened my eyes to Him in a new light, and made me fall in love with Him even more. He has filled me with a love and a capacity for love like I have never known before. I just wanted to share.................

John & Staci Eldredge (Captivating)
"The vast desire and capacity a woman has for intimate relationships tells us of God’s vast desire and capacity for intimate relationships. In fact, this may be the most important thing we ever learn about God—that he yearns for relationship with us. “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God” (John 17:3). The whole story of the Bible is a love story between God and his people. He yearns for us. He cares. He has a tender heart.

Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! (Isa. 49:14–15)
I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. (Jer. 24:7)
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. (Matt. 23:37)

What a comfort to know that this universe we live in is relational at its core, that our God is a tenderhearted God who yearns for relationship with us. If you have any doubt about that, simply look at the message he sent us in Woman. Amazing. Not only does God long for us, but he longs to be loved by us. Oh, how we’ve missed this. How many of you see God as longing to be loved by you? We see him as strong and powerful, but not as needing us, vulnerable to us, yearning to be desired."
(Captivating , 28–29)

Clay & RyLee.....shopping for the reception

Clay & Rylee shopping for the wedding reception

RyLee and I went shopping today for all the stuff we need for the wedding reception. Their wedding is coming up next month and we had a great time putting it together. Clay joined us for some last minute decisions, but what he really came to look at was the Gas Grill! It was such a "Clay" grill! I love you guys so much!

Softball and Beautiful Weather

Pics with the kids

I was out at Jason & Maci's house Friday and we practiced some softball and the kids were there to help. Mr Titus was ready to be a big boy trying to walk, and Faith was cheering us on and Jeremiah was being catcher for us (when the dog was not running away with the ball). It was fun and the most amazing weather!

The Great Stories...

OK, I know just putting John Eldredge here is not my words, but when you read this,it says it all. I don't know how to improve on what he has said here. I can only tell you that it is truth and this is how we feel. This is what we long for. This is where we want to live. To have my eyes opened by this book and know that those hearts desires, those things there that the world would tell you is only a fairy tale (because they are cynical and have lost sight of their heart)and know that it is from God, lets me know more about how God created me, created us. Lets me know how much He loves me, lets me know that I am not crazy.......and no amount of criticism will change my mind. It is His plan and how He created us to walk in it. I choose to walk in it......His plan. Thank you Lord for showing me my heart~Your Heart.

"Every man wants a battle to fight. It’s the whole thing with boys and weapons.

And look at the movies men love—Braveheart, Gladiator, Top Gun, High Noon, Saving Private Ryan. Men are made for battle. (And ladies, don’t you love the heroes of those movies? (Yes we do!) You might not want to fight in a war, but don’t you long for a man who will fight for you? (Yes we do!) To have Daniel Day Lewis look you in the eyes and say, “No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you”? Women don’t fear a man’s strength if he is a good man.)

Men also long for adventure. Adventure is a deeply spiritual longing in the heart of every man. Adventure requires something of us, puts us to the test. Though we may fear the test, at the same time we yearn to be tested, to discover that we have what it takes.

Finally, every man longs for a Beauty to rescue. He really does. Where would Robin Hood be without Marian, or King Arthur without Guinevere? Lonely men fighting lonely battles. You see, it’s not just that a man needs a battle to fight. He needs someone to fight for. There is nothing that inspires a man to courage so much as the woman he loves. Most of the daring (and okay, sometimes ridiculous) things young men do are to impress the girls. Men go to war carrying photos of their sweethearts in their wallets—that is a metaphor of this deeper longing to fight for the Beauty. This is not to say that a woman is a “helpless creature” who can’t live her life without a man. I’m saying that men long to offer their strength on behalf of a woman. (Side note from Tammy-we sing the song "....I need you Jesus to come to my rescue, where else can I go" and so it is....truth. We do desire for Him to rescue us from our lives that we have dug ourselves into, lives that He did not design for us to live in the way we are living them; but my point is, even as we sing that song can't you see where He designed us women to want to be rescued, and how He designed the men to come and rescue? His attributes placed in our hearts from the very beginning.)

Now—can you see how the desires of a man’s heart and the desires of a woman’s heart were at least meant to fit beautifully together? A woman in the presence of a good man, a real man, loves being a woman. His strength allows her feminine heart to flourish. His pursuit draws out her beauty. And a man in the presence of a real woman loves being a man. Her beauty arouses him to play the man; it draws out his strength. She inspires him to be a hero." (Captivating~John & Staci Eldredge , 17–18)

I had forgotten.................

OK, I read this today and yes, I had forgotten that I had learned this. I repented. I realized it is so easy to go back into habits that we have formed over the years. Back into what is comfortable, even though it brings us pain. I don't want to be there. I am so thankful we serve a God who loves us enough to remind us of the things that we have learned and then forgotten. Because He wants to help us, He wants us to be blessed in every area of our lives, especially in relationship with others. Here on this earth we only have each other. It's hard enough as it is without our relationships being strained and less than what God intends for them to be. So girls, if you have not read Captivating, do yourself a favor and read it. If you have, re-read it like I am, so you can fully become the Captivating Woman God has created you to be and thus be your True Self. I pray this reminder helps you as it has helped me. Jesus, I thank you for loving me.
"Awkward Love"
Honest communication in love is the only way to live and grow in friendships. There are ebbs and flows. There may be real hurt and disappointment. But with the grace of God firmly holding us, it is possible to nurture and sustain deep friendships. We are designed to live in relationship and share in the lives of other women. We need one another. God knows that. We have only to ask and surrender, to wait, to hope, and, in faith, to love. We must also repent.

For a woman to enjoy relationship, she must repent of her need to control and her insistence that people fill her. Fallen Eve demands that people “come through” for her. Redeemed Eve is being met in the depths of her soul by Christ and is free to offer to others, free to desire, and willing to be disappointed. Fallen Eve has been wounded by others and withdraws in order to protect herself from further harm. Redeemed Eve knows that she has something of value to offer; that she is made for relationship. Therefore, being safe and secure in her relationship with her Lord, she can risk being vulnerable with others and offer her true self.

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable . . . The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love is Hell. (C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves)
(Captivating by John Eldredge, 181–82)

We have to fight for our Life!

We are in a War, in a Battle and if we don't get that then we will not understand Life. We will misinterpret 90 percent of what is happening around us and to us if we fail to see that there is an enemy to our soul, to our heart and he wants to destroy us and our hearts desires. Jesus said the He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. I know you have heard me quote that here before in this blog. Sometimes it's hard to believe that God’s intentions toward us are abundant life! That's because the enemy does not want us to see that or believe it! It's even harder not to feel that somehow we are just blowing it. Worse, we will begin to accept some really awful things about God. I know the enemy has been trying to convince me of that lately. He has been applying pressure. So the battle rages, the fiery darts pound, our armor is singed and dented. We get weary, sometimes very weary. That is what the enemy wants. He sends his propaganda in many forms and says "why don't you give up?" "God does not care about you. He is withholding your hearts desire from you because you're not good enough, or have not earned it!" Blah, blah, blah. We have all heard his propaganda and sometimes we have even believed it....... for a moment.

Most people get stuck at some point because God appears to have abandoned them. He is not coming through. In a quote from John Eldredge he said "Speaking about her life with a mixture of disappointment and cynicism, a young woman recently said to me, “God is rather silent right now.” Yes, it’s been awful. I don’t discount that for a moment. She is unloved; she is unemployed; she is under a lot. But her attitude strikes me as deeply naive, on the level of someone caught in a cross fire who asks, rather shocked and with a sense of betrayal, “God, why won’t you make them stop firing at me?” I’m sorry, but that’s not where we are right now. It’s not where we are in the Story. That day is coming, later, when the lion shall lie down with the lamb and we’ll beat swords into plowshares. For now, it’s a bloody battle."

It sure explains a whole heckuva lot. I know many of you have seen this battle, have experienced these attacks. We won’t understand our life, we won’t see clearly what has happened to us (or is happening to us) or how to live forward from here, unless we see it as battle. A war against our heart. Don't give up! Don't give in! Fight for YOUR LIFE that Jesus came and went to the cross to give us! I am preaching to myself here as much as anyone. I felt that I could not be alone in this and I wanted to share with you all and encourage you as well. Don't let a root of bitterness into your heart. I know, when that happens we begin to look at God as if He has done something to us, withheld from us instead of the one who is bringing us through this battle.

2 Chronicles 20:15,17,20,21,22 "Thus says the Lord to you, Be not afraid or dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's." " You shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord with you..." "And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high." " Believe in the Lord your God, so will you be established; believe His prophets, so will you prosper." "....he appointed singers to the Lord, and those that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and said..Praise the Lord; for his mercy endures for ever." "And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mt Seir, which had come against Juda; AND THEY WERE DEFEATED!"

You and I are more than conquerors! We are strong in the Lord and in the power if HIS might! We can do ALL THINGS through Christ (the anointed one and His anointing)which strengthens us! We overcome by THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB and THE WORD OF OUR TESTIMONY! I love you all.........Tammy

Discontentment vs Desire

I was reading some devotionals this morning and searching the scriptures about this subject and decided to write my commentary rather than cut and paste what the devotionals said. So here goes...........
In 1 Samuel 22 we see where there were those under the reign of Saul that were discontent because the scripture tells us that they went with David because they knew there was something more, something better than where they were. In Proverbs it tells us that the desire of the righteous shall be granted (10:24, 11:23). Proverbs also tells us that when we desire for something, and it finally comes--"is sweet to the soul" and "a tree of life." (13:12, 13:19, 18:1).
We have also read where the word tells us to be content, Phillipians 4:11, 1 Timothy 6:8, Hebrews 13:5. So many think that to long for or to have desire contradicts the Word of God........but this is not true. Who put that desire there? This is a matter of the heart. Does the desire line up with what the Word says about you? With what He says He came for you to have? (John 10:10 The theif comes to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came that we might have life, and that more abundantly). Are we living in the more abundantly or have we just settled for all of the stealing the enemy has done to us? Are we living life to the full as this scripture says, or, are we just putting up with the enemy killing and destroying our lives, our hearts desires placed there by a Living, Loving, Live, Warrior God who say's "Fight for it, don't let the enemy rob you of what I came to give you, what I won back for you. Abide in it."
At the end of the day, when all is quiet and we are alone...we know there is much more than where we are. It nags at us. There is discontent because we know there is more to this life, more that God has called us to than where we are sitting at the moment. We are not discontent because we think God has not provided for us, blessed us, is leading us in this process.....we are discontent because God has shown us and is saying "I have so much more for you, don't stop. What does my word say, what does it show you, what have I placed in your heart?" Most of the time when the desire is too much to take, we bury it....we get into the business of life, serving, activities, because then we don't have to deal with it or think about it......until night comes, and we are in the quiet of our room, and then the nagging comes back, the calling is there, our heart starts to beat louder! We keep seeing 'glimpses', it keeps showing up in our 'dreams' when we are unguarded and God can get through to us. Even though we sleep, our desire doesn't. It IS who we are, it is the essence of the human soul, the secret of our existence. No human greatness has ever been accomplished without it. Desire fuels our search for the life we prize. The same old thing is not enough. It never will be.

The Call........The Fortress

I went down to The Fortress last night in Nashville to The Call and saw some friends there (Josh and Tyler). Jeff Deyo led an amazing time of Praise and Worship. God truly moved in an amazing way. There was a great anointing there. He is calling us to a more intimate relationship with Him, a closer walk, to worship and to bring as many with us as we can. As we were in worship, praying and singing God kept speaking Jeremiah 29:11 to me. He also kept sharing with me about 2 Kings and the Shunamite woman and the resurrection of the dream.

There will be one of these nights on the first Sunday of every month, and then a huge Praise and Worship and time of prayer in the Titans stadium on 7/7/07. You definitly want to be there.

What Role Are You Playing?

I wanted to share today's devotional from Ransomed Heart below. This is so very true. I have learned that I have so much to learn, but I want to live from my heart. It is hard and takes courage to be open (not hiding), to be vulnerable (it opens you up to possible hurt), to be real and honest with The Lord and with others (not striving to be in control). I truly want to be me, not put on a false self, but be the woman God has created me to be, the one He is constantly working on. That is what I have tried to do through this blog. It truly is about Jesus, loving and serving Him from the heart which in turn makes you want to love and serve others from the heart. I don't know if anyone reads these blogs, I rarely get a comment, so I have no way of knowing. But I do hope, in some way, it has touched peoples lives and that they have been drawn closer to Jesus, closer to His heart, become more intimate with Him, opened their heart more to Him and to others because of some things that have been shared here. Oh how I love Him, the one who saved me, the one who gave His all for me, the one who filled my heart with love to give and to share............Tam

John Eldredge - The Sacred Romance
"We come into the world with a longing to be known and a deep-seated fear that we aren’t what we should be. We are set up for a crisis of identity. And then, says Frederick Buechner, the world goes to work:

Starting with the rather too pretty young woman and the charming but rather unstable young man, who together know no more about being parents than they do the far side of the moon, the world sets in to making us what the world would like us to be, and because we have to survive after all, we try to make ourselves into something that we hope the world will like better than it apparently did the selves we originally were. That is the story of all our lives, needless to say, and in the process of living out that story, the original, shimmering self gets buried so deep that most of us hardly end up living out of it at all. Instead, we live out all the other selves which we are constantly putting on and taking off like coats and hats against the world’s weather. (Telling Secrets)

Think about the part you find yourself playing, the self you put on like a costume. Who cast you in this role? Most of us are living out a script that someone else has written for us. We’ve not been invited to live from our heart, to be who we truly are, so we put on these false selves hoping to offer something more acceptable to the world, something functional. We learn our roles starting very young and we learn them well." (The Sacred Romance , 84–85)

Beauty and the Beast....The Transformation

Todays devotional from Ransomed Heart.........
"Now Beauty feared that she had caused his death. She ran throughout the palace, sobbing loudly. After searching everywhere, she recalled her dream and ran into the garden toward the canal, where she had seen him in her sleep. There she found the poor Beast stretched out unconscious. She thought he was dead. Without concern for his horrifying looks, she threw herself on his body and felt his heart beating. So she fetched some water from the canal and threw it on his face.

Beast opened his eyes and said, “You forgot your promise, Beauty. The grief I felt upon having lost you made me decide to fast to death. But I shall die content since I have the pleasure of seeing you one more time.”

“No, my dear Beast, you shall not die,” said Beauty. “You will live to become my husband. I give you my hand, and I swear that I belong only to you from this moment on. Alas! I thought that I only felt friendship for you, but the torment I am feeling makes me realize that I cannot live without you.”

Beauty had scarcely uttered these words when the castle radiated with light. Fireworks and music announced a feast. These attractions did not hold her attention, though. She returned her gaze to her dear Beast, whose dangerous condition made her tremble. How great was her surprise when she discovered that the Beast had disappeared, and at her feet was a prince more handsome than Eros himself, who thanked her for putting an end to his enchantment.

It is the deepest and most wonderful of all mythic truths, unveiled here in the original Beauty and the Beast, written by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. The Transformation. A creature that no one could bear to look upon is transformed into a handsome prince. That which was dark and ugly is now glorious and good. Is it not the most beautiful outcome of any story to be written? Perhaps that is because it is the deepest yearning of the human heart." (Waking the Dead , 55–56 John Eldredge)

Learning to Wait

This is today's devotional from Charles Stanley. Man I hate to wait. I thought I was a patient person, and I am much more than I used to be, but not nearly as patient as I could be. When God shows me something, I get excited, and I am ready to go! Ready to act upon it right now, He doesn't have to tell me twice. Even though He loves my zealousness, sometimes that is not what He wants. It is a process and He is trying to teach me something in that process.

READ | Psalm 25:20-21

"What are you and I to think when God withholds His answer to our prayer? Most likely, you've wondered about this at some point. As creatures bound by time, we can find those ticking seconds very frustrating.

God doesn't see us simply in the here and now. He perceives the big picture all at once-where we've been, where we are, and where we're going. And, He knows the exact impact on our lives of every little decision, action, or blessing.

Does God want to bring something into your life that would absolutely destroy you? Of course not! He knows what may be a tremendous blessing later could completely devastate your life now. For this reason, He often pauses to give you time to prepare for that blessing.

Learning to wait on God is difficult. Patience successfully demands at least three things from us. First, we must be sensitive to Him. That is, we must nurture our relationship with the Father so we can hear Him when He tells us to wait. Second, we must trust His judgment. Does God know more than we do? Of course. Then doesn't it make sense to trust Him? Finally, we must be obedient. If we try to accomplish something alone after God tells us to wait, then we're headed for disaster. God blesses obedience, even obedient waiting.

The Lord doesn't operate in a vacuum. He works within His relationship with you. Never forget He is actively walking with you, even when He withholds an answer to your prayer. It doesn't mean He's not there. It simply means He's looking out for you even more." (Charles Stanley)

Random Thoughts and Pet Peeves

TV
You know, since I have been home during the day, I have seen some TV that I have not had time to watch in a very long time. There are some shows that are funny, and don't get me wrong when I watch TV or go to a movie, I like to be entertained; But, for a long time now I have seen TV shows especially undermining the family and especially the Father role. This really, really ticks me off big time! I see show after show where the wife is the only smart one, and very smart alec to the Dad in front of the kids, which in turn causes the kids to view the Dad as some dumb, stupid moron to be made fun of. And the kids do just that! And what does the Dad do, just take it. We don't see any Wild at Heart examples on TV. That is not God's plan. Girls, don't for a moment think that what you see on TV is the way it is supposed to be, don't model that, that is not God's heart! Read Song of Solomon, get Tommy Nelson's CD's and listen for the practical knowledge of what God has intended between Husband and Wife and the family as a whole. Guys, don't take it! Don't settle for the TV example. You are a warrior at heart, God made you that way! You are the head, to be the Priest of the home! Ephesians 5:20-33. Society may tell you that is not the way it is today, but God never changes, His word never changes. It is still as valid and relevent as it ever was. Believe it or not, there are still some of us girls that do still want it God's way! There are still those of us who want the guy to be Wild at Heart, be the priest of the home, take the lead and the headship. I truly mean it! Not just saying it to hear ourselves talk, but we really mean it! Does that mean we will still get exasperated with one another, still not understand one another at times, still have to work through difficult times.......you bet! But the Whole package God has intended it so worth it! Let me hear from you and what you think! Please don't tell me that you guys like for these girls to treat you like dirt.....put you down and pretty much act like a "witch". I see so many girls doing that to their guys and I can't comprehend it. You know the bible tells us out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.......
CHANGE
There are things in my life that are changing. There are certain ministries that I have been a part of for a while. My role has been diminishing for many months now, but it is a God thing. God is getting me ready for the next stage, next chapter in my life. Moving forward to the next adventure. Wherever I go, whomever He has me with, the one He gives my heart to; I want to make an impact for Jesus and walk in the destiny he has for us. Serving God makes you flexible. I am used to change, some has been overnight, some has been very slowly. It could be missions, music, serving, praying for others....I'm flexible. One thing I do know, my heart is so about Praise and Worship. I truly love to worship Him, I love to harmonize and sing His praises. It has been in me for the past 12-13 years to be not only a follower of Christ, but to be a worshipper of Christ and to lead His people into His presence, into the throne room of God. That holiest of holies where you stand in awe of Him, in His presence where you are totally abandoned to Him and He can then do the things in us that He needs to do.....Surrendured.
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
I love being outside in the sunshine. I love nature, hiking, horseback riding, canoeing, volleyball, kickball, the mountains, the water, I love it all. I so enjoy the handywork of God. We have had some beautiful weather for February. Today is so pretty. The flowers will be coming soon. I love flowers. I love the stars and just sitting out there looking at them and talking to my Lord....my best friend. I can tell Him everything and He listens and talks with me too. That is something that I want in a husband.....a best friend.

Winter Jam 2007

Winter Jam 2007

Tonight several of us from The Loop and church went to the Winter Jam concert downtown. There was some good music (Sanctus Real, Jeremy Camp, The Following). What I liked most was the invitation for people to get saved, make Jesus Lord of their life, the emphasis on winning souls. We had a great time. I really liked Jeremy Camp's songs. That was the first time I had seen him in person. I got some good pic's just click on them. SCC was there too (Steven Curtis Chapman). There was a surprise visit by The President of the United States (well an impersonator).

Killing Desire May Look Like Santification......

Wow, I had to share this. God has truly been talking to me about how I look at Him. He has continually asked me to "get real" with Him and my heart. He has asked me to examine what is in my heart. What is my true hearts Desire? What is it I am most Passionate about, what is it that He keeps bringing me back to over and over again? What is the Core, what is it He has called me to do? What is it that I Love? Where is my Desire? He has shared with me not to bury that Desire, not to settle for something less than all that He has promised, all that HE has put in my Heart. Not to dim that Passion because He put that Passion and that Desire there! It is His nature which He has placed in us! He has asked me if I will Dare to believe Him. It is His Passion, His Desire and I DARE to Believe Him for it! I Dare to Believe Him for the Impossible! That is what He is looking for! He has asked me if I will Dare to Trust Him! (Malachi 3) Jesus, I love you.......

"You may recall the story Jesus told of the man who entrusted three of his servants with thousands of dollars (literally, “talents”), urging them to handle his affairs well while he was away. When he returned, he listened eagerly to their reports. The first two fellows went out into the marketplace and doubled their investment. As a result, they were handsomely rewarded. The third servant was not so fortunate. His gold was taken from him, and he was thrown into “outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” My goodness. Why? All he did was bury the money under the porch until his master’s return. Most of us would probably agree with the path he chose—at least the money was safe there. But listen to his reasoning. Speaking to his master, he said, “I know you are a hard man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it” (see Matt. 25:14–30 NLT). He was afraid of the master, whom he saw as a hard man. He didn’t trust his master’s heart.

The issue isn’t capital gains—it’s what we think of God. When we bury our desires, we are saying the same thing: “God, I don’t dare desire because I fear you; I think you are hard-hearted.”

Even though we may profess at one level a genuine faith in him, at another level we are like the third servant. Our obedience is not so much out of love as it is out of carefulness. “Just tell me what to do, God, and I’ll do it.” Killing desire may look like sanctification, but it’s really godlessness. Literally, our way of handling life without God. The deepest moral issue is always what we, in our heart of hearts, believe about God. And nothing reveals this belief as clearly as what we do with our desire." (The Journey of Desire , 57–59)

Passion or Indifference?

This is today's devotional from the Eldredges. To be indifferent or passionate, there is no choice for me. I have always been passionate about everything I do, for the most part. This is no different. Life is too short to not live it with passion, espcially in marriage. It is your heart, your life you are sharing, if anything it should be passionate. Don't settle for anything less than God's best.....He gave us the passion, and we serve a passionate God!

"I thought of the last story we have from the life of the prophet Elisha. Jehoash was king of Israel at the time, and he went to visit Elisha on his sickbed. He knew that without the help of this great prophet, the future of Israel was looking dim. Enemies were closing in on every side, waiting for the kill. Elisha told the king to take in hand some arrows.

And the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated [your enemies] completely . . . But now you will defeat [them] only three times.” Elisha died and was buried. (2 Kings 13:18–20)

That’s it? What a strange story! Why was the old prophet so angry? Because the king was nonchalant; he was passionless, indifferent. He gave the ground a whack or two. His heart wasn’t in it. God says, in effect, “If that is how little you care about the future of your people, that is all the help you will get.” In other words, if your heart’s not in it, well then, neither is mine. You can’t lead a country, let alone flourish in a marriage, with an attitude like that. To abandon desire is to say, “I don’t really need you; I don’t really want you. But I will live with you because, well, I’m supposed to.” It is a grotesque corruption of what was meant to be a beautiful dance between desire and devotion." (The Journey of Desire , 56–57)

Unbelievable!

This is the world [God] has made. This is the world that is still going on. And he doesn’t walk away from the mess we’ve made of it. Now he lives, almost cheerfully, certainly heroically, in a dynamic relationship with us and with our world. “Then the Lord intervened” is perhaps the single most common phrase about him in Scripture, in one form or another. Look at the stories he writes. There’s the one where the children of Israel are pinned against the Red Sea, no way out, with Pharaoh and his army barreling down on them in murderous fury. Then God shows up. There’s Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who get rescued only after they’re thrown into the fiery furnace. Then God shows up. He lets the mob kill Jesus, bury him . . . then he shows up. Do you know why God loves writing such incredible stories? Because he loves to come through. He loves to show us that he has what it takes.

It’s not the nature of God to limit his risks and cover his bases. Far from it. Most of the time, he actually lets the odds stack up against him. Against Goliath, a seasoned soldier and a trained killer, he sends . . . a freckle-faced little shepherd kid with a slingshot. Most commanders going into battle want as many infantry as they can get. God cuts Gideon’s army from thirty-two thousand to three hundred. Then he equips the ragtag little band that’s left with torches and watering pots. It’s not just a battle or two that God takes his chances with, either. Have you thought about his handling of the gospel? God needs to get a message out to the human race, without which they will perish . . . forever. What’s the plan? First, he starts with the most unlikely group ever: a couple of prostitutes, a few fishermen with no better than a second-grade education, a tax collector. Then, he passes the ball to us. Unbelievable. (Wild at Heart , 31–32)

Again we see that God is a Risk taker. He took a risk by giving His ALL for us. That's His nature, and He has placed His nature in Us. Shouldn't we be after God's heart, take risks, give our ALL for each other? Wouldn't the results be one great adventure after another? THE ULTIMATE RISK THAT ANYONE WILL EVER TAKE....IS TO LOVE

Bowling Blast!

The Loop Bowling Pics

About 25-30 of us from The Loop had dinner at La Mariachi and went bowling tonight despite the weather. We had a great time, and everyone hammed it up for the camera. Our team had the last lane and Buck even got credited for a strike when he went down the gutter. Now that's the way to keep score! It was cold, and the roads were icy, but it was a good time.

God is a Risk Taker..........What About You?

In an attempt to secure the sovereignty of God, theologians have overstated their case and left us with a chess-player God playing both sides of the board, making all his moves and all ours too. But clearly, this is not so. God is a person who takes immense risks. No doubt the biggest risk of all was when he gave angels and men free will, including the freedom to reject him—not just once, but every single day. Does God cause a person to sin? “Absolutely not!” says Paul (Gal. 2:17). Then he can’t be moving all the pieces on the board, because people sin all the time. Fallen angels and men use their powers to commit horrendous daily evil. Does God stop every bullet fired at an innocent victim? Does he prevent teenage liaisons from producing teenage pregnancies? There is something much more risky going on here than we’re often willing to admit.

Most of us do everything we can to reduce the element of risk in our lives. We wear our seat belts, watch our cholesterol, and practice birth control. I know some couples who have decided against having children altogether; they simply aren’t willing to chance the heartache children often bring. What if they are born with a crippling disease? What if they turn their backs on us, and God? What if . . . ? God seems to fly in the face of all caution. Even though he knew what would happen, what heartbreak and suffering and devastation would follow upon our disobedience, God chose to have children. And unlike some hyper-controlling parents, who take away every element of choice they can from their children, God gave us a remarkable choice. He did not make Adam and Eve obey him. He took a risk. A staggering risk, with staggering consequences. He let others into his story, and he lets their choices shape it profoundly. (Wild at Heart , 30–31)

Life is full of changes, ups and downs, joy and heartache, but adventure for sure. Life is not worth living without taking risks. There is so much out there that is worth the risk; True Love - sharing your life with the one God has given your heart to in one great adventure after another. There is Joy unspeakable, We can walk in the "exceeding, abundantly above all that we can ask or think." A Life worth living for sure. God is a risk taker........will you be too?

Please Pray......................

I just found out that I have been laid off of my job. I also have to find a new place to live by the end of the month. To say it has been a challenging week is probably an understatement; a little overwhelmed would be more accurate. I am not sure of what direction God has in store for me, but I know that I am in His very capable hands. I ask for your prayers for the doors to open where He wants me and to close where He does not. I always want His will and His plan and I am open to whatever He wants, I truly mean that. Thank you so much for your agreement prayers. To God I give ALL the Glory! Love, Tammy

The Loop.............great service!

Ok, I was down at The Loop for the second week in a row and it was definitly a great service. The praise and worship was great and God really spoke to me in through this message. It was the last part of a two part series...Meaningful Relationships. Bringing people into the Body of Christ and creating relationships in order for them to stay. The guest speaker this week was Chris Conlee from Memphis. He started with John 15:12-14 "This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you."

He talked about the 2 Great commandments "Love God, Love People" and how are we walking that out. If we come to great services, and the speakers are awesome, but no meaningful relationships are built, then people won't stay.

God's commandment isn't to KNOW more, but to LOVE more.
Independence from relationships is independence from God.

He talked about Excellence attracts people, but Relationship keeps them. Without friends, meaningful relationships, it is impossible to be happy, healthy and holy.
He said "What is more important than meaningful relationships? What is more difficult than meaningful relationships? What is more rewarding than meaningful relationships?"

God built the church on meaningful relationships. It is important to have Friend development rather than always having Self Development (speaking about all of the self help books out there).

The Information Age we live in has given us more information at our fingertips, more knowledge at our fingertips and we are lonelier than ever before. It has brought more Isolation from meaningful relationships.

Hebrews 10:24-25 This verse isn't about attendance, it's about relationship. It is far more difficult to drift out of friendship than attendance. Faithfulness depends upon connectedness. Friendships can inspire faithfulness or faithlessness. The church is at it's best when we build meaningful relationships.

You need God's people, just as much as you need God. You will not overcome problems without God's people. You can't reach your full potential without meaningful relationships.
Anyway, this was from my notes and it was really good. I can honestly say that I don't know when I have ever had a group of people make me feel so welcome and helping me to get plugged in. People I met last week looking for me this week, coming to sit with me, making sure I knew about all of the upcoming events. Emailing me to do lunch and stay connected. It is a great atmosphere that makes you feel like you are not going to fall through the cracks. If your single, check out The Loop on Monday nights in Brentwood. Starts at 7:30 and here is their link:
www.theloopnashville.com
Lot's of great events coming up, and they really want you to be a part. I have already been invited to 3 other events. When you see people practicing what Jesus did, it draws you and endears you. Love you guys!

Beautiful Snow!

Snow, Beautiful Snow

I woke up this morning and was surprised to see the snow. I did'nt watch any weather reports, so it was a nice surprise. I love the snow, it's beautiful, clean, pure. When it snows there's just this hush that comes over the area..........a quiet calm that says "slow down, take your time......enjoy the moment." Too bad it wasn't enough snow to build a decent snow man. I really want to go snow skiing this year. I just know it would be breathtaking!

I drove into work late this morning and I saw, in 2 different locations, Dad's that had taken their kids out snow sledding. It was awesome to watch the wonder of it. Pure joy and delight on those kids faces as they sailed down the banks. I wanted to jump out there and join them..........

Magnificent, Glorious, God's Doing, God's Design...

Taking a break from the Eldredges for a moment, I got this amazing article today from John Piper about Marriage. "Marriage is God's doing and it is God's design" Glorious! There is more to marraige, a greater purpose, than just what we see on the surface (but don't discount the "fringe" benefits that come with marriage either! That is part of it!) "Heaven come down to earth" as Pat Robertson said in the prophecy for 2007. Read this article and be so blessed. I pray the Holy Spirit will illuminate this truth to all of us and anoint us to walk in it for His Glory! Click on the title of this post and it will take you to the article.

The Point of All Living

"I love watching a herd of horses grazing in an open pasture, or running free across the wide, sage-covered plateaus in Montana. I love hiking in the high country when the wildflowers are blooming—the purple lupine and the Indian paintbrush when it’s turning magenta. I love thunder clouds, massive ones. My family loves to sit outside on summer nights and watch the lightning, hear the thunder as a storm rolls in across Colorado. I love water, too—the ocean, streams, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, rain. I love jumping off high rocks into lakes with my boys. I love old barns, windmills, the West. I love vineyards. I love it when Stasi is loving something, love watching her delight. I love my boys. I love God.

Everything you love is what makes a life worth living. Take a moment, set down the book, and make a list of all the things you love. Don’t edit yourself; don’t worry about prioritizing or anything of that sort. Simply think of all the things you love. Whether it’s the people in your life or the things that bring you joy or the places that are dear to you or your God, you could not love them if you did not have a heart. Loving requires a heart alive and awake and free. A life filled with loving is a life most like the one that God lives, which is life as it was meant to be (Eph. 5:1–2).

Of all the things that are required of us in this life, which is the most important? What is the real point of our existence? Jesus was confronted with the question point-blank one day, and he boiled it all down to two things: loving God and loving others. Do this, he said, and you will find the purpose of your life. Everything else will fall into place. Somewhere down inside we know it’s true; we know love is the point. We know if we could truly love, and be loved, and never lose love, we would finally be happy. And is it even possible to love without your heart?"
(Waking the Dead , 47–48)

"...For out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks." Luke 6:45 (NIV)
"Many waters can not quench love, neither can the floods drown it;..." Song of Solomon 8:7 (NKJV)

Don't Lose Heart.......My Thoughts

You know I love the Eldredges, God has used them, among others, to minister to me at this point in my life. I could post another excerpt from one of their books, but, I wanted to share about the heart, from my heart. Sitting here at my computer, listening to the shuffle of songs and messages that have played; "Atlantic" Keane, "Amazing Grace" Tree63, "Love is the Reversal" Starfield, "Head Home" Midlake, "I Love You" Massive, "The Favor Factor" TD Jakes, "I Hope You Dance" LeAnn Womack, "There is Nothing Like" United, "In This Camp" Midlake, "Lesson One" Lylas, "Concerning the UFO Sighting" Sufjan Stevens, "My Desire" Jeremy Camp, "Let It Flow" Jeff Deyo, "Somewhere Only We Know" Keane, "Seven Swans" Sufjan Stevens, "The Finish Line" Snow Patrol, "In The Name of Love" U2, "Track 13" Mute Math, to name a few. (Side note: listening to Sufjan Stevens is just a musical feast for the senses!) Anyway, back to the heart.

It is key, central, the focal point for our existence in every way, at the very center of who we are. What is the first thing God deals with when we are drawn to Him to be saved, to make Jesus Lord of our life? The Heart. What is the first thing that is touched when we see someone hurting and want to help......the Heart. What can soar and sing when we see the face of and hear the voice of the one we love...........the Heart. It is the foundation, if you will, of our existence and yet seems to be so overlooked. Do we dare explore the depths of it? Because if we do, we will find things there that have been buried, or hidden for far too long, and we will have to deal with it. But deal with it we must or else we will never get to the fullness of life that God wants us to walk in. If we dare to explore its depths, we will find ourselves getting "real" with God. Admitting to Him, and to ourselves, those long overlooked desires, longings, adventures and realness that we know is there, but do not quite know how to walk in; so we just leave it there......dormant, untapped. But guess what? It keeps knocking, and keeps knocking, and you hear the voice that says "Let me out. Don't lock me away, don't ignore me, I am suffocating in here! I know there is more out there than what I have in here. Let me out so we can allow God to take us to it, to go find it, to experience everything He has made us for! Let's walk in the destiny He has for us." The Sacred Romance is taking place. He is wooing us, He really is. I can vouch for that.


I have found the more that I have explored the depths of my heart, the more intimate I have become with God, the more "real" I become with Him, the greater the desire has become. The desire to be a part of one great adventure after another, to be right in the middle of what God is calling me to do, right along side the one He is calling me to accomplish it with. Destiny being fulfilled. God is calling us to believe Him for the impossible, to believe Him for more than where we are, for more than what we know. To believe Him for supernatural miracles that so many need. He NEEDS us to go to the next level in HIM. He NEEDS us to complete His work, to walk in all that He has called us to do, and in doing so, we will experience great adventure after great adventure, with Him as our guide. Now that's life! That's living! He has caused a Revolution in my life over the past year, one that has changed me from the inside out! (love that song by United). I am not the same person I used to be.....Praise God! Life is a process and our Heart walk is a process.

I am not an expert, I can only share what the Lord has shared with me to hopefully encourage and be a blessing....so, I Choose Life, I Choose Love, I Choose to Trust Him, I Choose Blessings, I Choose the Joy of the Lord which is my strength, I Choose to Believe Him for the Impossible, I Choose to be a vessel that He can work through, I Choose to be a Blessing. I Choose to Get Real with Him, I Choose to allow Him to change me in every way He wants and needs to. I Choose to give my Heart to Him.....He knows how to take care of it and He knows who to give it to.

Shopping for a Wedding Dress :-o

Shopping for a Wedding Dress

Yes, it's true....my good friend RyLee who is marrying my good friend Clay in April, asked me to go wedding dress shopping with her on Saturday. It was a good time. I took lots and lots of pics......BUT......Clay's not supposed to see the dress before the wedding.......sooooooo.......I can't post them! Sorry Clay! But I did get a great shot of the little shop we were in, very vintage. Me, Charcy and RyLee and one with the Shop owner. RyLee found a beautiful dress, out of the 3 she tried on, each one got better and when she tried the third one on.........we all knew that was it! "The One". We shopped till we dropped, found the bridesmaid dresses and it was a very productive and fun day! When we left the shop, we ran into my good friend Tyler McGee outside in the parking lot filming some skaters.

God is a Warrior and...........

On the day Adam and Eve fell from grace, they ran off and hid in the bushes. And God came looking for them. He called to Adam, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9). Thus began the long and painful story of God’s pursuit of mankind. Though we betrayed him and fell into the hands of the Evil One, God did not abandon us. Even a quick read of the Old Testament would be enough to convince you that rescue is God’s plan. First with Noah, then with Abraham, and then with the nation Israel, you see God looking for a people who will turn to him from the heart, be his intimate allies once more.

The dramatic archetype is the Exodus, where God goes to war against the Egyptian taskmasters to set his captive people free.

Four hundred years they have languished in a life of despair. Suddenly—blood. Hail. Locusts. Darkness. Death. Plague after plague descends on Egypt like the blows of some unrelenting ax. Pharaoh releases his grip, but only for a moment. The fleeing slaves are pinned against the Red Sea when Egypt makes a last charge, hurtling down on them in chariots. God drowns those soldiers in the sea, every last one of them. Standing in shock and joy on the opposite shore, the Hebrews proclaim, “The LORD is a warrior” (Ex. 15:3). God is a warrior. He has come to rescue us. (Epic 61-62)

I am reminded of a song "I need you Jesus, to come to my rescue; where else could I go. There's no other name by which we are saved, capture me with grace....." We have sung this at church occasionally and it comes to life in this excerpt from Epic. God has been showing me about what it really means to "turn to Him from the heart", not just going through the motions, not just giving lip service, but, "to be His intimate ally." He has taken me to 2 Chronicles 20 over and over. He is truly a Warrior, He truly does fight for us, and we truly have His attributes. The Guys are created Warriors-in the image of their Father, to fight for and rescue us-his beauty. He has made the Girls Warrior Princesses at those times that it is needed......don't believe it? Let someone or something come against our man, and we will be on them or on it, standing with our sword, to fight-in a heartbeat, with no questions asked! God desires for us to be in intimate fellowship with Him, best friends with Him, allies with Him and so He has given this example of how it should be between The Warrior and The Beauty-Husband and Wife-Male and Female, as well.......to be continued---Tammy

Dinner with Friends

Dinner with Friends

Had dinner with some friends tonight. We had been trying to get together since Softball season ended........and finally made it! Jason and Maci Ashworth hosted and made the wonderful Mexican dinner. Their house is great! Their dog Bella loves all the attention. Doug and Melissa Herron were there with the kids, Jeremiah, Faith and Titus. The little man was not lacking for any attention. I loved making him laugh.....his giggle was infectious. I am looking forward to the day that I have some babies of my own to play with and make them giggle. A childs laugh is one of the greatest and most innocent things I know. So precious. Ryan and Andrea rounded out the evening. They love the kids and they are going to be great parents too! It was a good evening.

The "Heart" of the Matter....Who We Really Are

The Heart of God......Our Heart

We all share the same dilemma—we long for life and we’re not sure where to find it. We wonder if we ever do find it, can we make it last? The longing for life within us seems incongruent with the life we find around us. What is available seems at times close to what we want, but never quite a fit. Our days come to us as a riddle, and the answers aren’t handed out with our birth certificates. We must journey to find the life we prize. And the guide we have been given is the desire set deep within, the desire we often overlook or mistake for something else or even choose to ignore.

The greatest human tragedy is simply to give up the search. There is nothing of greater importance than the life of our deep heart. To lose heart is to lose everything. And if we are to bring our hearts along in our life’s journey, we simply must not, we cannot, abandon this desire. Gerald May writes in The Awakened Heart,

There is a desire within each of us, in the deep center of ourselves that we call our heart. We were born with it, it is never completely satisfied, and it never dies. We are often unaware of it, but it is always awake . . . Our true identity, our reason for being, is to be found in this desire.

The clue as to who we really are and why we are here comes to us through our heart’s desire. (The Journey of Desire, 2)

The Great Stories.....Born Into An Epic

Notice that all the great stories pretty much follow the same story line. Things were once good, then something awful happened, and now a great battle must be fought or a journey taken. At just the right moment (which feels like the last possible moment), a hero comes and sets things right, and life is found again.

It’s true of every fairy tale, every myth, every Western, every epic—just about every story you can think of, one way or another. Braveheart, Titanic, the Star Wars series, Gladiator, The Lord of the Rings trilogy. They pretty much all follow the same story line. Have you ever wondered why?

Every story, great and small, shares the same essential structure because every story we tell borrows its power from a Larger Story, a Story woven into the fabric of our being—what pioneer psychologist Carl Jung tried to explain as archetype, or what his more recent popularizer Joseph Campbell called myth.

All of these stories borrow from the Story. From Reality. We hear echoes of it through our lives. Some secret written on our hearts. A great battle to fight, and someone to fight for us. An adventure, something that requires everything we have, something to be shared with those we love and need.

There is a Story that we just can’t seem to escape. There is a Story written on the human heart.

A Story. An Epic. Something hidden in the ancient past. Something dangerous now unfolding. Something waiting in the future for us to discover. Some crucial role for us to play.

Christianity, in its true form, tells us that there is an Author and that he is good, the essence of all that is good and beautiful and true, for he is the source of all these things. It tells us that he has set our hearts’ longings within us, for he has made us to live in an Epic. It warns that the truth is always in danger of being twisted and corrupted and stolen from us because there is a Villain in the Story who hates our hearts and wants to destroy us. It calls us up into a Story that is truer and deeper than any other, and assures us that there we will find the meaning of our lives.

What if all the great stories that have ever moved you, brought you joy or tears—what if they are telling you something about the true Story into which you were born, the Epic into which you have been cast?

We won’t begin to understand our lives, or what this so-called gospel is that Christianity speaks of, until we understand the Story in which we have found ourselves. For when you were born, you were born into an Epic that has already been under way for quite some time. It is a Story of beauty and intimacy and adventure, a Story of danger and loss and heroism and betrayal.(Epic, 12-15)

The Buckeyes vs The Gators

The Buckeyes vs The Gators

People watching on Monday night for the bowl game was so funny. You have the Parry's, being from Ohio, and staunch Buckeye fans, versus Sonya, John, Jason, Andrew, Scott and Susan who were Gator fans! Some people take their football seriously. It was funny to watch the celebrating, the jabs, the craziness of it all. The food was great! And everyone had a good time. I don't keep up with college football, so it was people watching for me. Dixie got wings from Calhouns, I made some Salsa and Chili, and Stephanie made some great iced brownies and John and Jason brought the ice cream to go with them. Scott and Susan brought the spinach artichoke dip. Did I happen to mention that the food was great!

Our Heart Can Be Pure

According to the Scriptures, the heart can be troubled, wounded, pierced, grieved, even broken. How well we all know that. Thankfully, it can also be cheerful, glad, merry, joyful, rejoicing. The heart can be whole or divided—as in that phrase we often use, “Well, part of me wants to, but the other part of me doesn’t.” It can be wise or foolish. It can be steadfast, true, upright, stout, valiant. (All of these descriptions can be found by perusing the listings for the word heart in any concordance.) It can also be frightened, faint, cowardly, melt like wax. The heart can be wandering, forgetful, dull, stubborn, proud, hardened. Wicked and perverse. I think we know that as well.

Much to our surprise, according to Jesus, a heart can also be pure, as in, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matt. 5:8). And even noble, as in his story about the sower: “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop” (Luke 8:15). The Bible sees the heart as the source of all creativity, courage, and conviction. It is the source of our faith, our hope, and of course, our love. It is the “wellspring of life” within us (Prov. 4:23), the very essence of our existence, the center of our being, the fount of our life.

There is no escaping the centrality of the heart. God knows that; it’s why he made it the central theme of the Bible, just as he placed the physical heart in the center of the human body. The heart is central; to find our lives, we must make it central again. (Waking the Dead, 40-41)

Life.....it is a story........

We Have Lost Our Story

"And here’s where we run into a problem.

For most of us, life feels like a movie we’ve arrived at forty-five minutes late.

Something important seems to be going on . . . maybe. I mean, good things do happen, sometimes beautiful things. You meet someone, fall in love. You find that work that is yours alone to fulfill. But tragic things happen too. You fall out of love, or perhaps the other person falls out of love with you. Work begins to feel like a punishment. Everything starts to feel like an endless routine.

If there is meaning to this life, then why do our days seem so random? What is this drama we’ve been dropped into the middle of? If there is a God, what sort of story is he telling here? At some point we begin to wonder if Macbeth wasn’t right after all: Is life a tale “told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”?

No wonder we keep losing heart.

We find ourselves in the middle of a story that is sometimes wonderful, sometimes awful, often a confusing mixture of both, and we haven’t a clue how to make sense of it all. It’s like we’re holding in our hands some pages torn out of a book. These pages are the days of our lives. Fragments of a story. They seem important, or at least we long to know they are, but what does it all mean? If only we could find the book that contains the rest of the story.

Chesterton had it right when he said, “With every step of our lives we enter into the middle of some story which we are certain to misunderstand.” (Epic, 7-9)"

There Is a Larger Story

"Walk into any large mall, museum, amusement park, university, or hospital, and you will typically meet at once a very large map with the famous red star and the encouraging words You are here. These maps are offered to visitors as ways to orient themselves to their situation, get some perspective on things. This is the Big Picture. This is where you are in that picture. Hopefully you now know where to go. You have your bearings.

Oh, that we had something like this for our lives.

“This is the Story in which you have found yourself. Here is how it got started. Here is where it went wrong. Here is what will happen next. Now this—this is the role you’ve been given. If you want to fulfill your destiny, this is what you must do. These are your cues. And here is how things are going to turn out in the end.”

We can discover the Story. Maybe not with perfect clarity, maybe not in the detail that you would like, but in greater clarity than most of us now have, and that would be worth the price of admission. I mean, to have some clarity would be gold right now. Wouldn’t it? (Epic, 10-11)"

John Eldredge - Epic

Happy New Year Everyone!

New Years Eve 2006/2007

We had some friends over at our place last night and a good time was had by all. Great food! I made my Savory Sandwich Ring........mmmmmmmm.......savory. And I made the Touchdown Taco Dip! Yummmmm......yes Jason, I had 2 count them TWO homemade items and you had how many? Let's see..........Zero?!!!! Anyway, Jason did bring some good desserts, the cake was great with the buttercream frosting.........the Guava Bars..........not so much. Wes put together a good black bean/chili dip and brought one of my favorites.......black cherry soda! We had some snickerdoodles and brownies too, you know all that good for you stuff! We played Taboo, which can be pretty funny all by itself, but when it evolved into ShockBoo, it got hysterical. I was laughing so hard and I had tears rolling down my face. Jennifer had this machine with the two pads on it that you place on your muscles and then you can set the shock charges as low or as high as you need to relax the muscles. Well, this turned into our new "buzzer" for Taboo. Almost everyone (not me) held this in their hands when it was their turn to give clues and the opposite team was in charge of the shocks! Well, as you can imagine, turning it all the way up to 10 was a floor show all by itself! Wes' arms shot straight out in front of him and he could not bend them. If you had the pads in the palm of your hands, you could not open your hands once you were being shocked. Jennifer let out a blood curdling scream and almost killed Wes! Andy and Sean were crazy funny when they got shocked. Taboo will never be the same again. We watched Lady in the Water, and were scaring each other at tense moments. We prayed and toasted in the New Year with our Sparkling Apple Cider. A good time was had by all.

Thank you all for being a part of my life in 2006. I pray that this year is the greatest and best year of your lives so far. I pray that your dreams and hearts desires are manifested this year. May God Bless you exceeding, abundantly above all that you can ask or think, this year, and may He use all of us in a greater way, to touch more lives for Him for His Glory! I love all of you.................

The Girls Are Back In Town!

The Girls are Back in Town

My wonderful Hawaiian friends are back in town and we went out on the town tonight. We got dressed up in our best dresses and had a wonderful dinner at Red Lobster and then went over to Opryland Hotel to see all of the awesome Christmas decorations. It was quite spectacularous. Noni, Keo and Pomai were in rare form as the sisters three toured the hotel for the first time! Quite a treat for us all. We ran into my good friend Teagan and her boyfriend Chris. A magnificous time was had by all!

What Does Love Mean?

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, "What does love mean?" The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:
________
"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got
arthritis too. That's love."

Rebecca- age 8
_____
"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."

Billy - age 4
_____
"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other."

Karl - age 5
_____
"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."

Chrissy - age 6
___
"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."

Terri - age 4
_____
"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."

Danny - age 7
_____
"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss"

Emily - age 8
_____
"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."

Bobby - age 7
_____
"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,"

Nikka - age 6
_____
"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."

Noelle - age 7
_____
"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."

Tommy - age 6
_____
"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."

Elaine-age 5
_____
"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford."

Chris - age 7
_____
"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."

Mary Ann - age 4
_____
"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."

Lauren - age 4
_____
"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you."

Karen - age 7
_____
"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross."

Mark - age 6
_____
"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."

Jessica - age 8
_____
And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly
gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry"

Out of the mouth of babes..................

Christmas at Mom and Dad's

Christmas at Mom and Dad's

Well I just returned very late last night from East Tennessee where I have been since last Saturday. I spent Christmas with my parents and my brother and his wife and my sister and her two kids came also. It was a great break from the craziness of life. You can go home where things don't change much, and it just renew's you somehow. I did not have any access to a computer, so it was also nice to take a break from that as well. It was a nice Christmas, non eventful, low keyed, but great to be with family. Mom and Dad were so glad we were all there. We ate too much, watched too much TV (my brother got Mom and Dad season 3 of "Everybody Loves Raymond", and we pretty muched vegged. Kaitlyn was thrilled with getting a cell phone for Christmas and Mark was pretty pleased with all of his gift cards. Mom and Dad were surprised and very happy with the new bar stools and cushions that me and my sister got for them. Boy were those others on their last legs (ha!) Made a coconut cake, coconut cream pie, dressing, my sister made a pecan pie, Mom and Dad made the ham (it was yummy) and my sister in law made a great dump cake and cookies. Can't wait to get back in the gym this week! I ate way too many sweets! I hope you all had a wonderful, glorious Christmas! Be blessed!

Lazer Tag, Bumper Cars, Ice Skating

Family Fun Center

We went to the Family Fun Center last night and had a great time! We played Lazer tag......and hey! I didn't do too shabby! Beat everyone the first game at least. But I did pick a dream team to go into battle with! The Parry's boyz, Danny and Jonathan. Sorry about the "frendly fire" Danny! The guy let us play twice without getting back in line. It was great. Ice skating was funny to watch. There were so many people on the ice I decided to just watch......besides they had not "smoothed" the ice before everyone skated, so it was a mess. Jess & Trey were an ice skating couple with lots of great moves; and of course who could top Danny when he blew everyone away with his NSYNC moves to "Bye, Bye, Bye". Stuart was doing some pretty wild and crazy moves of his own, but I don't think they were on purpose :-O Bumper cars was a blast and they let us stay on twice. It was a good time. Everyone have a wonderful Christmas, I love you guys!

Christmas for Kids.....Kids for Christmas

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Christmas For Kids.....Kids for Christmas

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Picture this, over 350 under priviledged kids, on 63 buses from all around Nashville, at the Hendersonville WalMart, meeting up with 350 "Chaperones" to help them shop for their Christmas presents! Its was amazing! This was my first year to volunteer to be a Chaperone and I want to do it again next year. The kids were great. They got to spend $175.00 each for what they wanted for Christmas and we each had a child and a calculator to help them keep track and shop! I had Jadn and she was quiet, but knew what she liked and didn't like! We were able to help her get several sets of cloths, shoes, pajamas, CD Player, games, batteries, gloves, coat and more! What an amazing experience. The kids from church went to the Parry's this past weekend and Dance, Dance Revolution was a HUGE hit! It is so addictive! None of us could stop! Elliot and Stu were up until 2AM challenging each other. Karoke was another great favorite as everyone sang along with every song. Kids and Christmas, I love both. IT is like seeing things totally from a new perspective when you see it through the childrens eyes. Wonder of wonders.

A Beauty to Unveil

From John Eldredge 12/12/06

Is there any doubt that the God John beheld (Rev. 4:3,6) was beautiful beyond description? But of course. God must be even more glorious than this glorious creation, for it “foretells” or “displays” the glory that is God’s. John said God was as radiant as gemstones, richly adorned in golds and reds and greens and blues, shimmering as crystal. Why, these are the very things that Cinderella is given—the very things women still prefer to adorn themselves with when they want to look their finest. Hmmm. And isn’t that just what a woman longs to hear? “You are radiant this evening. You are absolutely breathtaking.”

Saints from ages past would speak of the highest pleasures of heaven as simply beholding the beauty of God, the “beautific vision.”

The reason a woman wants a beauty to unveil, the reason she asks, Do you delight in me? is simply that God does as well. God is captivating beauty. As David prays, “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may . . . gaze upon the beauty of the LORD” (Ps. 27:4). Can there be any doubt that God wants to be worshiped? That he wants to be seen, and for us to be captivated by what we see? (Wild at Heart)

But in order to make the matter perfectly clear, God has given us Eve. The crowning touch of creation. Beauty is the essence of a woman. We want to be perfectly clear that we mean both a physical beauty and a soulful/spiritual beauty. The one depends upon and flows out of the other. Yes, the world cheapens and prostitutes beauty, making it all about a perfect figure few women can attain. But Christians minimize it too, or over-spiritualize it, making it all about “character.” We must recover the prize of Beauty. The church must take it back. Beauty is too vital to lose.
(Captivating , 35–36)

The Many Faces of Christmas and Friends

I have taken a lot of pics over the past several weeks and just have not had time to download them. I have included several in this album. Christmas is a wonderful time of year. The lights, the hustle bustle, the wonderful fragrances, the smiles, the colors...............friends, life, love, wonderful memories. This is probably my favorite time of year. It is cold outside, the sky with the stars and moon at night are so clear and beautiful. I love giving and seeing the great expressions on the faces of those you want to be a blessing to......it is priceless. It's not about giving presents though, and not about getting them either. It is about relationships.......friendships.....creating memories that last a life time. Spending time with and sharing life with those that we love and care about..........creating those wonderful memories together. We only have right here, right now to create those memories, once now is gone, we don't get it back. I don't want to waste time when there are so many out there who need Jesus, who need a kind word, a smile, a hug, encouragement. We have such a great opportunity every day to touch someones life, especially those we care so much about, those closest to us. They are usually the ones we take for granted the most. Life is too busy, slow down and share yourself, share your time, share the love God has filled you with, with those around you. We can't love too much, we can't laugh too much, we can't hug too much, we can't say too many encouraging things to one another. May we all be the greatest blessing to others not only now, at Christmas, but throughout 2007. God is so faithful and loves us so much. I do love you all very much and I wish you much love, laughter, blessings and friends now and always.......................

(I am having problems with HTML, click on my profile, then click on Wishlist to get to my webalbums and view the latest album)

The Final Burden of Remembrance

When I consider all that is at stake in this journey I am on, how vulnerable are my heart and the hearts of those I love, I am moved to fall on my face and cry out to God for the grace to remember.

George MacDonald says it better in poetry:

Were there but some deep, holy spell, whereby

Always I should remember thee . . .

Lord, see thou to it, take thou remembrance’s load:

Only when I bethink me can I cry;

Remember thou, and prick me with love’s goad.

When I can no more stir my soul to move,

And life is but the ashes of a fire;

When I can but remember that my heart

Once used to live and love, long and aspire—

Oh, be thou then the first, the one thou art;

Be thou the calling, before all answering love,

And in me wake hope, fear, boundless desire.

(Diary of an Old Soul )

The final burden of remembrance does not rest on us; if it did, we should all despair. Jesus is called the “author and perfector of our faith” (Rom. 12:2). He is the One who put the romance in our hearts and the One who first opened our eyes to see that our deepest desire is fulfilled in him. He started us on the journey, even though we may for long seasons forget him, he does not forget us. I am always with you;you hold me by my right hand.You guide me with your counsel,and afterward you will take me into glory . . .My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

(Ps. 73:23–24, 26)(The Sacred Romance , 208–9)