When I was fifteen years old, right before Roman and I started dating, I went on a week-long mission trip to Peru. For anyone who is not well versed in geography, Peru is located on the West side of South America, right next to Brazil. My school partnered with Compassion International and we traveled down there right before Christmas to deliver the children's Christmas gifts paid for by their sponsors.
Two things you need to know about me:
1) I have always known that I have been called into some sort of missions, ever since I can remember. Whether that means I am a missionary overseas or a missionary in my hometown.....I've just always known that.
2) I have always loved the Spanish language. It is so beautiful to me. I caught on so quickly in high school. My #1 regret is that I went to college for Accounting rather than Spanish. I think if I had been listening to God when it came time for me to pick a major then I probably would have gone for Spanish....but that story is for another post. Back on track. Just know that I love the language so much that even though its been four years since I took my last Spanish class, I still dream in Spanish on a pretty regular basis. Which is actually quite rare...normally after that long of a time period you forget almost everything you learned. I have not. (A sign, perhaps? haha)
So when my high school teacher announced the words "mission trip" and "Peru" at the start of my tenth grade school year, I jumped all over that one. My parents heard endless pleading by my adorable fifteen year old self to please please please won't you please let me go I promise I will raise the money and that I'll stay safe while I'm there so please please please please!?!?
It didn't take long for them to say yes. Thank God I have godly parents.
We knew right from the start that I was meant to go, within just a few weeks of me sending letters to sponsors, I had already raised the money I needed.....and some people still had not responded yet. Don't quote me on the number, but I believe by the time we left for Peru I was $1,500 over what I actually needed. That turned out to be so great because we were able to use that money to buy extra supplies and gifts for the kids.
I never knew how big of an impact seven days in a different country could make. I remember flying into Lima (the capital of Peru). I remember getting our bags and walking outside....getting my first taste of the country that would still touch my heart seven years later. I remember the smells....the smoggy air of a city filled with beat-up cars that could probably burn a hole into the ozone layer all by themselves. I remember the people....some with friendly faces, some with faces filled with pain. A pastor in Lima was there to bring us to his church...they were going to feed us breakfast before we got on an eight-hour bus ride to Huaraz. I quietly sat in the bus.....just soaking in the culture around me. Looking at the billboards, the people, the cars, the buildings, the scenery.
I remember that Pastor's tiny church with that tiny kitchen. I remember the taste of the best orange juice I have ever tasted in my whole entire life (I'm not joking-I wouldn't drink orange juice for years after I got home because American orange juice is nasty in comparison to theirs).
The bus ride up the mountain was filled with beautiful scenery.....and very interesting passengers. I couldn't tell you which city I enjoyed the most, because they both touched my heart. But Huaraz was the most beautiful place I've ever been....a good-sized city tucked away in the snow-capped mountains of Peru. We stayed in the Hotel Santa Cruz. It had high walls surrounding it to help keep us safe. The food was glorious. The hotel itself was beautiful.
But it was not the scenery or the hotel or the food that made such an impression on me. It was the people.
Thousands upon thousands of beautiful people. They worked so very hard, just to put a little bit of food on their tables inside of their mud and clay homes. Their houses were stacked right next to each other, as far up the mountain as you could see. They walked on dirt floors...not fancy hardwood or tile or carpet. They had no electricity. They had to walk to the closest pump for water. Yet they smiled when they saw you. They swept their dirt floors and lined up their shoes in a row and invited you into their tiny homes and offered you food to eat. They would introduce their children.....and probably other children that they have taken in after a family member died.
They sang so loud in church. They would clap their hands and dance. They walked for miles....just to go to a church service. Rain or shine, they were there. Hungry for God. Aching for His hope. They didn't complain about what color the walls were or whether the pews were comfy or not. All they wanted was to meet with God in that tiny building.
I saw face after face. I met church workers and pastors. We traveled a couple hours away to minister to a city even more destitute named Yungar. And again.....we were greeted with smiles and energetic children.
We gave away Christmas gifts to the children in all three cities. A bookbag with some shoes and school supplies inside. So simple....yet so gratefully accepted by every one of them. I can't tell you how many times I cried while watching these precious kids get so excited over a pair of shoes and some pencils. I can certainly tell you that I cried for a long time on the bus ride back to Lima.
Lima was bustling with energy, yet wrecked with pain. Drugs and sex trafficking was a growing concern. Houses were literally stacked right next to each other for miles. It was hot (Lima is a desert climate). It was dirty. But another city managed to capture my heart. I met a little girl named Josalyn. She fell in love with my blonde hair and white skin that turned pink if you pinched it. I sat there for hours with her in my arms. "Como se dice en espanol?" (How do you say this in Spanish?) I would ask, and then point to an object. She would reply, and then return the question "Como se dice en engles?" and then I would tell her. It was a fun game to her....me asking her what things were called in Spanish and then her asking me what they were called in English. And every time she would repeat the English word over and over like it was magical.
She cried on the last day when I left. Her little arms clung to me and she made me promise I would come back one day and see her. She pulled her hairbow out of her hair and gave it to me. .......She gave something to me. This little girl that had worn the same outfit for two days in a row because it was probably all she had gave me her hairbow. That made me cry too. I quickly pulled the one out of my hair and gave it to her. She smiled and clapped and showed her friends. I waved goodbye from the bus...and then I cried again once she was out of sight.
The last day we were able to go shopping for a few hours before we had to board our plane and go home. I told our group leader over and over again that I would one day return to Peru....maybe even live there one day. I bawled my eyes out when our plane lifted off the ground to come home. I cried again when we landed in America. The orange juice tasted awful on the plane.
This morning on my way to work, the clouds were broken up and the sky was orange as the sun began its slow ascent. For some reason, it took me back to that country. Things like that happen all of the time. I'll see a Hispanic child in a store or catch a scent in the street that will yank me back seven years to a tiny town tucked away in the mountains of Peru. I'll see a little girl and wonder how Josalyn is faring in such a harsh country.
A friend of mine was able to go back to Peru in 2010 and actually got a picture with Josalyn....she was just as beautiful as I remembered her.....and my friend said she was speaking excellent English. That warms my heart and gives me hope that she will have a better life than those before her.
Some of the memories are starting to fade, which makes me sad. I can't remember all of the pastors' names that we met. I can't remember the name of the hotel we stayed at in Lima. But I believe that even if I forget some of the specifics, the impression that country made on me will never fade.
Peru helps keep my perspective in check. It's hard to complain about your car when you've seen people walk for miles on treacherous paths throught the mountains in Huaraz. It's hard to complain about your government when you've been to a country where the government won't help its own people that starve to death.
I still hope to go back one day. I would love to take Roman with me so he can meet some of the people I met seven years ago. I hope that one day I can return. I don't know if God will ever call us to that country as missionaries. I think that right now He has our hearts planted in our current city...a broken city inside of a broken country. But a piece of me will always belong to a country 3,100 miles away.
And today, I miss that country very much.
"And this gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." ~Matthew 24:14
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
A Whole Lot of Stuff!
I took an impromptu vacation from writing for the last few days. So bear with me because this is probably going to be a super duper ultra long post.
Last time I posted, I was getting ready to leave for a Leadership Conference. I was expecting to learn some things about how to be a better worship leader that weekend, but I think it is safe to say that God took our expectations and blew them out of the water. It was as if the whole Conference, from the sermons down to the people we talked to, was designed specifically for the leadership of our church. Roman and I learned so much, and that was great in and of itself, but several people in our leadership experienced prophetic words from the Lord over the ministries in our church. Even the sermons on Friday night and Saturday afternoon seemed to be crafted specifically for us. It was just plain awesome. We all left energized and ready to come home and get our hands dirty with some for real ministry in our community. The weekend was topped off with an amazing worship service on Sunday morning at our church. And then yet another prophetic word was given to our Pastor on Monday from some random guy in a restaurant.
Can I just say....I love it when God moves? I mean, when He really just moves and does some big works in people? I suppose that all of the prophetic words can be summed up into one sentence: The time of testing and hardship is over, and now God will be reaping the harvest.
Hallelujah a zillion times over. We are so ready to dance in that River. So be prepared to read about some amazing works of God in the very near future.
In our personal lives: both Roman and I started our new jobs last week. And we both L-O-V-E them, which is great. I have to admit, it is really weird for me to wake up and actually be happy about coming to work. I had gotten so used to waking up every morning with the "ugh, do I really have to go??" attitude. And an even greater miracle? I'm getting to work on time, even though I have to be here at seven now instead of eight. Let me give you a moment to pick your jaw up off the floor.
As a wife though, it is so great to see my husband energized and excited about his job. His happiness truly makes me happy. So even though I'm already learning more about Verizon's phones and plans and everything else than I ever really wanted to know, I will happily listen to my husband gush about how much he loves his job and why. It's just so great to see how happy he is.
And while we are having all sorts of happy dances, let's add one more: we unpacked our last box this past Saturday. Oh happy day, we are officially moved in and all that grand stuff. Everything is pretty much where we want it, I just have a little more organizing in my office to do. It's so nice to finally have everything unpacked and not wonder "which box is that thing in because I really need it..." anymore.
Our labor day weekend was pretty awesome. I celebrated labor day by personally doing absolutely no labor at all. Seriously, all I did was hang out with my hubby and our family and friends and be a total goof-off. And it was glorious. And I also slept a whole lot this past weekend. But oh wait, I do that every weekend. :)
Oh. My. Goodness. How. Could. I. Forget.
Our precious Dukey-Face turned a whole year old this past Wednesday!! *sniff sniff* Our little baby is growing up! And for all of you people wondering, yes, we had a birthday party for him. Yes, I baked him a dog-friendly cake. Yes, we tried the cake (it was gross). And yes, I took lots of pictures...which I will post at a later date because I don't feel like getting them off of my phone right now. Yes, we are crazy and yes, we don't care.
That pretty much sums up the past ten days of our lives. That wasn't too bad, was it? But wait, I'm not finished yet. Let's have a not-so-quick dive into what's been on my heart lately. Wives, this is mainly for you.....but for my non married-female and my male readers, feel free to keep reading.
Two things....
#1: Something that has really gotten under my skin lately is the vast number of women I see that lord over their husbands. Over the weekend, I noticed a very large amount of women walking in front of their husbands, telling them what to do...what to look at....where to go....nagging them to hurry up....blah blah blah....and I saw a bunch of men with their shoulders slumped staring at the floor. It was seriously pitiful. I quickly turned to my husband at one point and said something like this: "Please don't be one of those zombie husbands who never stand up and take the lead. If I ever get too bossy, please please please tell me. Because I don't want our marriage to ever look like that."
I'm not saying that we women need to keep our mouths shut and allow our men to walk all over us. But can we please not degrade their masculinity? Can we please allow them to be men and take the lead? We direct every aspect of their lives and turn them into glorified housewives and then get mad when they aren't "manly" enough for us. God created them to be the heads of our households, and I've gotten awfully tired lately of seeing families out of order. I guess it's weird that I'm not on the "Go Women" Team, seeing as how I am one, but I'm sorry....we are different. We have different purposes within the family. We need to respect how God designed the family and take our place, so that our husbands can stand up and take theirs.
Unfortunately, I am not blameless in this area. There have been times when I have been disrespectful to my husband. There have been times when I have tried to make him look silly or degrade his authority in public. But thankfully, God has convicted my heart in those situations and is teaching me to not be that way. It's hard, especially in a society that tries to put men and women on the same platform. But it's also very necessary for us to take our very different roles in our marriage (yet equally important) in order for our marriages to function as they were designed to.
#2: This one I am also guilty of. It may make some of you squirm a bit (especially if you are a family member)....but just bear with me here. It seems to be quite a trending topic in all of the Christian marriage blogs I follow, which tells me that it must be a pretty big problem. In fact, I can look at the divorce rate in America and tell you that it's a big problem. So if it's something I've struggled with, then I can probably bet that at least one of my readers struggles in this area as well.
Ladies, stop withholding yourselves from your husbands.
Hear me out....m'kay? I'll try to say this tactfully. And let me just confess right now, pretty much everything I'm about to say are things that I've learned from other blogs. So I'll be sure and post the links to those blogs so that you can read more for yourself if you would like to learn more.
I'll start off by saying this: men are wired differently than we are. Roman and I have been reading and studying and talking a whole bunch about this issue lately. In his words, the main needs of a man are: food, sleep and sex. (Ladies, we actually need sex as well....we just don't realize it sometimes.) Men are not animals for needing sex. It does not make them "dirty" or "sex addicts". That is just the way God designed them. So with that being said, as wives, we are the sole sexual source for our husbands. Do you want your husband to remain pure in your marriage? Do you want him to desire you and only you? I would think all of us do. So don't keep yourself from him!
Now please understand, I am not saying that if your man is addicted to porn or having an affair, then he is innocent and it is all your fault. So please do not take it that way. But what I am saying is that we can't expect for him to remain faithful to us if we deny one of his most basic needs in life.
One blog put it this way: women need communication like men need sex. Would we be happy in our marriage if our husbands went for weeks at a time without speaking one word to us? No? Then we can't expect him to be the happy, communicative, attentative husband we need and desire if we make him wait for weeks at a time to re-connect with his wife.
I think this largely goes back to my first point: if we constantly reject our husbands in the sexual realm and then we put him down in public and lord over him....we end up with a husband that eventually loses pretty much all aspects of his manlihood. Do we really want that? I don't think so. I think at our core, us women still desire to have that husband that makes us swoon and romantically pursues us. We still want our man to desire us and to be there for us. But we can't just ask him to be all of these things for us while denying his needs. It just doesn't work that way.
So if this is something that you struggle with, then begin praying two things: One, that God would help you to see sex as the true gift it really is. Sometimes women struggle with sex because of past abuse or mistakes they made before marriage, and we need God to tear down those strongholds in our hearts. We have given into the lie that sex is dirty and not to be enjoyed. Ask God to change your mindset! Two, ask God to heal any hurt in your marriage that you unknowingly may have caused. We women do not understand this, but it literally breaks our husbands hearts when we reject him physically over and over again. We need to ask for God's forgiveness and for His healing so that we can have a fresh start in this area.
After going to God in prayer, we then need to open up the lines of communication with our husbands. Talk to him about what you're thinking. Ask him what he would like to see change. Give him an opportunity to share how he feels without fear or retaliation. I promise you, even if you have a generally quiet man, start the conversation with the statement "honey I want our sex life to improve" and I'm sure he will be open to talking. Let him know that you want things to be different and then figure out how to make the change happen. You'll probably shock him to his core with words like that, but trust me, it will mean the world to him if you recognize this issue and acutally make changes to fix it.
I will probably revisit this topic some more later this week, because I feel like it's a great big huge issue in marriages and these few paragraphs don't even really scratch the surface. One of the best quotes I've read so far (not sure where, sorry) is: "Satan's biggest deception is to get couples to have a whole lot of sex before they get married, and then get them to stop after marriage." So. True. .......... So. Sad.
As promised, here are the links for those that are interested:
hotholyhumorous.blogspot.com
tolovehonorandvacuum.com
missionhusband.wordpress.com
missionwife.wordpress.com
unveiledwife.com
"My lover said to me, "Rise up my darling! Come away with me, my fair one! Look, the winter is past, and the rains are over and gone." ~Song of Solomon 2:10-11
Last time I posted, I was getting ready to leave for a Leadership Conference. I was expecting to learn some things about how to be a better worship leader that weekend, but I think it is safe to say that God took our expectations and blew them out of the water. It was as if the whole Conference, from the sermons down to the people we talked to, was designed specifically for the leadership of our church. Roman and I learned so much, and that was great in and of itself, but several people in our leadership experienced prophetic words from the Lord over the ministries in our church. Even the sermons on Friday night and Saturday afternoon seemed to be crafted specifically for us. It was just plain awesome. We all left energized and ready to come home and get our hands dirty with some for real ministry in our community. The weekend was topped off with an amazing worship service on Sunday morning at our church. And then yet another prophetic word was given to our Pastor on Monday from some random guy in a restaurant.
Can I just say....I love it when God moves? I mean, when He really just moves and does some big works in people? I suppose that all of the prophetic words can be summed up into one sentence: The time of testing and hardship is over, and now God will be reaping the harvest.
Hallelujah a zillion times over. We are so ready to dance in that River. So be prepared to read about some amazing works of God in the very near future.
In our personal lives: both Roman and I started our new jobs last week. And we both L-O-V-E them, which is great. I have to admit, it is really weird for me to wake up and actually be happy about coming to work. I had gotten so used to waking up every morning with the "ugh, do I really have to go??" attitude. And an even greater miracle? I'm getting to work on time, even though I have to be here at seven now instead of eight. Let me give you a moment to pick your jaw up off the floor.
As a wife though, it is so great to see my husband energized and excited about his job. His happiness truly makes me happy. So even though I'm already learning more about Verizon's phones and plans and everything else than I ever really wanted to know, I will happily listen to my husband gush about how much he loves his job and why. It's just so great to see how happy he is.
And while we are having all sorts of happy dances, let's add one more: we unpacked our last box this past Saturday. Oh happy day, we are officially moved in and all that grand stuff. Everything is pretty much where we want it, I just have a little more organizing in my office to do. It's so nice to finally have everything unpacked and not wonder "which box is that thing in because I really need it..." anymore.
Our labor day weekend was pretty awesome. I celebrated labor day by personally doing absolutely no labor at all. Seriously, all I did was hang out with my hubby and our family and friends and be a total goof-off. And it was glorious. And I also slept a whole lot this past weekend. But oh wait, I do that every weekend. :)
Oh. My. Goodness. How. Could. I. Forget.
Our precious Dukey-Face turned a whole year old this past Wednesday!! *sniff sniff* Our little baby is growing up! And for all of you people wondering, yes, we had a birthday party for him. Yes, I baked him a dog-friendly cake. Yes, we tried the cake (it was gross). And yes, I took lots of pictures...which I will post at a later date because I don't feel like getting them off of my phone right now. Yes, we are crazy and yes, we don't care.
That pretty much sums up the past ten days of our lives. That wasn't too bad, was it? But wait, I'm not finished yet. Let's have a not-so-quick dive into what's been on my heart lately. Wives, this is mainly for you.....but for my non married-female and my male readers, feel free to keep reading.
Two things....
#1: Something that has really gotten under my skin lately is the vast number of women I see that lord over their husbands. Over the weekend, I noticed a very large amount of women walking in front of their husbands, telling them what to do...what to look at....where to go....nagging them to hurry up....blah blah blah....and I saw a bunch of men with their shoulders slumped staring at the floor. It was seriously pitiful. I quickly turned to my husband at one point and said something like this: "Please don't be one of those zombie husbands who never stand up and take the lead. If I ever get too bossy, please please please tell me. Because I don't want our marriage to ever look like that."
I'm not saying that we women need to keep our mouths shut and allow our men to walk all over us. But can we please not degrade their masculinity? Can we please allow them to be men and take the lead? We direct every aspect of their lives and turn them into glorified housewives and then get mad when they aren't "manly" enough for us. God created them to be the heads of our households, and I've gotten awfully tired lately of seeing families out of order. I guess it's weird that I'm not on the "Go Women" Team, seeing as how I am one, but I'm sorry....we are different. We have different purposes within the family. We need to respect how God designed the family and take our place, so that our husbands can stand up and take theirs.
Unfortunately, I am not blameless in this area. There have been times when I have been disrespectful to my husband. There have been times when I have tried to make him look silly or degrade his authority in public. But thankfully, God has convicted my heart in those situations and is teaching me to not be that way. It's hard, especially in a society that tries to put men and women on the same platform. But it's also very necessary for us to take our very different roles in our marriage (yet equally important) in order for our marriages to function as they were designed to.
#2: This one I am also guilty of. It may make some of you squirm a bit (especially if you are a family member)....but just bear with me here. It seems to be quite a trending topic in all of the Christian marriage blogs I follow, which tells me that it must be a pretty big problem. In fact, I can look at the divorce rate in America and tell you that it's a big problem. So if it's something I've struggled with, then I can probably bet that at least one of my readers struggles in this area as well.
Ladies, stop withholding yourselves from your husbands.
Hear me out....m'kay? I'll try to say this tactfully. And let me just confess right now, pretty much everything I'm about to say are things that I've learned from other blogs. So I'll be sure and post the links to those blogs so that you can read more for yourself if you would like to learn more.
I'll start off by saying this: men are wired differently than we are. Roman and I have been reading and studying and talking a whole bunch about this issue lately. In his words, the main needs of a man are: food, sleep and sex. (Ladies, we actually need sex as well....we just don't realize it sometimes.) Men are not animals for needing sex. It does not make them "dirty" or "sex addicts". That is just the way God designed them. So with that being said, as wives, we are the sole sexual source for our husbands. Do you want your husband to remain pure in your marriage? Do you want him to desire you and only you? I would think all of us do. So don't keep yourself from him!
Now please understand, I am not saying that if your man is addicted to porn or having an affair, then he is innocent and it is all your fault. So please do not take it that way. But what I am saying is that we can't expect for him to remain faithful to us if we deny one of his most basic needs in life.
One blog put it this way: women need communication like men need sex. Would we be happy in our marriage if our husbands went for weeks at a time without speaking one word to us? No? Then we can't expect him to be the happy, communicative, attentative husband we need and desire if we make him wait for weeks at a time to re-connect with his wife.
I think this largely goes back to my first point: if we constantly reject our husbands in the sexual realm and then we put him down in public and lord over him....we end up with a husband that eventually loses pretty much all aspects of his manlihood. Do we really want that? I don't think so. I think at our core, us women still desire to have that husband that makes us swoon and romantically pursues us. We still want our man to desire us and to be there for us. But we can't just ask him to be all of these things for us while denying his needs. It just doesn't work that way.
So if this is something that you struggle with, then begin praying two things: One, that God would help you to see sex as the true gift it really is. Sometimes women struggle with sex because of past abuse or mistakes they made before marriage, and we need God to tear down those strongholds in our hearts. We have given into the lie that sex is dirty and not to be enjoyed. Ask God to change your mindset! Two, ask God to heal any hurt in your marriage that you unknowingly may have caused. We women do not understand this, but it literally breaks our husbands hearts when we reject him physically over and over again. We need to ask for God's forgiveness and for His healing so that we can have a fresh start in this area.
After going to God in prayer, we then need to open up the lines of communication with our husbands. Talk to him about what you're thinking. Ask him what he would like to see change. Give him an opportunity to share how he feels without fear or retaliation. I promise you, even if you have a generally quiet man, start the conversation with the statement "honey I want our sex life to improve" and I'm sure he will be open to talking. Let him know that you want things to be different and then figure out how to make the change happen. You'll probably shock him to his core with words like that, but trust me, it will mean the world to him if you recognize this issue and acutally make changes to fix it.
I will probably revisit this topic some more later this week, because I feel like it's a great big huge issue in marriages and these few paragraphs don't even really scratch the surface. One of the best quotes I've read so far (not sure where, sorry) is: "Satan's biggest deception is to get couples to have a whole lot of sex before they get married, and then get them to stop after marriage." So. True. .......... So. Sad.
As promised, here are the links for those that are interested:
hotholyhumorous.blogspot.com
tolovehonorandvacuum.com
missionhusband.wordpress.com
missionwife.wordpress.com
unveiledwife.com
"My lover said to me, "Rise up my darling! Come away with me, my fair one! Look, the winter is past, and the rains are over and gone." ~Song of Solomon 2:10-11
Friday, August 24, 2012
Watch Your Words
There are very few things that I get fired up about. Some of them include abortion, homosexuality, and abuse of both humans and animals. Okay, I lied. I think I get fired up about more than what I'm admitting. That's besides the point. But you want to know the one thing that will really get that fire burning? People talking bad about my Pastor, my Pastor's wife, my church, my husband, and just overall shaming the reputation of our God.
It's ridiculous folks. I am tired of it. My Pastor and his family have been tired of it for a long time. And did I mention that it is 100% sinful and is compared to witchcraft? No? Well it is. If you don't believe me, look it up. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 15:22-23 that rebellion against God's authority is witchcraft. And guess what? Our Pastor has been placed in authority over our church by God Himself. So when you talk bad about him and his wife, you are in exact rebellion against God, which means you are practicing witchcraft.
Satan is so very cunning. He can deceive us quickly if we are not on our guard. He is the master at deception. And he has made many of our past (and probably a few of our present) church members believe that they are doing the will of the Father by coming up with rumors and lies and spreading them like poison among our town.
I have held my peace. I have cried out to God with all of this mess in solitude. I have not addressed the issue while leading worship. I have not addressed the issue in my blog. I have not addressed the issue on my Facebook account. I have not mentioned the issue to anyone outside of the church staff and my family. I have kept quiet, not out of fear of what others may say about me (because believe me, Roman and I have had our own share of lies and insults hurled at us through all of this), but I have kept quiet because I did not want to stir the fire. I did not want to give people any fuel or make matters any worse.
That was very wrong of me. I have repented of that. Unfortunately, by keeping quiet and not publicly standing up for my Pastor and his wife, I have become as guilty as the ones whose mouths are running in the first place. I refuse to be in that boat of rebellion. I refuse to have my heart and my life open to that witchcraft and that demonic presence. I refuse to be in rebellion against my God. Which is why you are reading these words right now.
And please understand me, I do not hate or dislike anyone who has left our church, or anyone who is still at our church in any way, shape or form. I love them, I pray for them, and I hope that God opens their eyes to the trap they have fallen into. But at the same time, when such wickedness abounds, it is up to the people of God to call it like it is and expose the truth.
So here is the truth. God placed our Pastor and his wife in our church for a specific purpose. He has given them a heart for this community and a vision for our church. Yes, they are still humans so they will still make mistakes. But they have not done anything immoral, they have not disobeyed God's calling, and they have led this church in an awesome and mighty way. They are the best Pastors I have ever served under, and it is my hope and prayer that I get to be on their ministry team for the rest of my life. Seriously.
Sweet people, can you not see that God wants to do something mighty with our church, and that Satan is throwing everything he has to keep it from happening? Can you not see that at this moment in time, he seems to be succeeding? He has taken people, good people, people with a great calling on their lives, and twisted their hearts away from God and away from His calling. He has taken this group of people by a subtle deception which grew into an outright rebellion. There is still hope for them if they would just repent, but for now it is up to us to close our ears to their deceptive words. The enemy will keep talking as long as we are willing to keep listening. So stop listening!!! Stand up for God! Stand up for truth!!
I dare you...seek the face and the heart of God. Truly dig deep into His Word and ask Him to show you His heart. Stop listening to all of this crap and turn your ears towards Him. I can 100% promise you that if you do, He will tell you these claimed "revelations of God" that are being spoken are false and are coming straight from the mind of Satan. And for goodness sakes, speak up and tell some folks the truth!!
I do not know how to make this anymore plain to you. God has a vision and a mission for the city of Camilla. He has given it to our church. But He will not hold it here forever. If we cannot shut out Satan's work in our hearts and run after God's plan for us, He will take the vision to another church. His blessings will fall from our lives. He will turn us completely over to the enemy. There will be no miracles. There will be no prophecies. There will be no work of the Spirit. There will be no growth. There will only be gossip. Lies. Deceit. And ultimately spiritual death. Remember, witchcraft cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. So do we really want to keep going down this path?
I am tired of the only "news" being who else has left the church and what new rumors are spreading about our leadership. I want to be talking about the miracles of God and how He is moving in our church!! I want to see His presence flood our worship services and take over our hearts. I'm tired of seeing our church stuck in this crap. And I can promise you, our Pastor and his wife are even more tired of it than I am. So let's all go take a shower and get cleaned up so we can talk about more pleasant smelling things. Please??
God will not wait forever. And I can tell you now, the clock is ticking and there is not much time left before He moves on. So repent. Watch your words. Guard your ears. Guard your hearts. Seek God. And let's get some work done.....there is so much work to be done.
"But Samuel replied, 'What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to His voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.'" ~1 Samuel 15:22-23
It's ridiculous folks. I am tired of it. My Pastor and his family have been tired of it for a long time. And did I mention that it is 100% sinful and is compared to witchcraft? No? Well it is. If you don't believe me, look it up. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 15:22-23 that rebellion against God's authority is witchcraft. And guess what? Our Pastor has been placed in authority over our church by God Himself. So when you talk bad about him and his wife, you are in exact rebellion against God, which means you are practicing witchcraft.
Satan is so very cunning. He can deceive us quickly if we are not on our guard. He is the master at deception. And he has made many of our past (and probably a few of our present) church members believe that they are doing the will of the Father by coming up with rumors and lies and spreading them like poison among our town.
I have held my peace. I have cried out to God with all of this mess in solitude. I have not addressed the issue while leading worship. I have not addressed the issue in my blog. I have not addressed the issue on my Facebook account. I have not mentioned the issue to anyone outside of the church staff and my family. I have kept quiet, not out of fear of what others may say about me (because believe me, Roman and I have had our own share of lies and insults hurled at us through all of this), but I have kept quiet because I did not want to stir the fire. I did not want to give people any fuel or make matters any worse.
That was very wrong of me. I have repented of that. Unfortunately, by keeping quiet and not publicly standing up for my Pastor and his wife, I have become as guilty as the ones whose mouths are running in the first place. I refuse to be in that boat of rebellion. I refuse to have my heart and my life open to that witchcraft and that demonic presence. I refuse to be in rebellion against my God. Which is why you are reading these words right now.
And please understand me, I do not hate or dislike anyone who has left our church, or anyone who is still at our church in any way, shape or form. I love them, I pray for them, and I hope that God opens their eyes to the trap they have fallen into. But at the same time, when such wickedness abounds, it is up to the people of God to call it like it is and expose the truth.
So here is the truth. God placed our Pastor and his wife in our church for a specific purpose. He has given them a heart for this community and a vision for our church. Yes, they are still humans so they will still make mistakes. But they have not done anything immoral, they have not disobeyed God's calling, and they have led this church in an awesome and mighty way. They are the best Pastors I have ever served under, and it is my hope and prayer that I get to be on their ministry team for the rest of my life. Seriously.
Sweet people, can you not see that God wants to do something mighty with our church, and that Satan is throwing everything he has to keep it from happening? Can you not see that at this moment in time, he seems to be succeeding? He has taken people, good people, people with a great calling on their lives, and twisted their hearts away from God and away from His calling. He has taken this group of people by a subtle deception which grew into an outright rebellion. There is still hope for them if they would just repent, but for now it is up to us to close our ears to their deceptive words. The enemy will keep talking as long as we are willing to keep listening. So stop listening!!! Stand up for God! Stand up for truth!!
I dare you...seek the face and the heart of God. Truly dig deep into His Word and ask Him to show you His heart. Stop listening to all of this crap and turn your ears towards Him. I can 100% promise you that if you do, He will tell you these claimed "revelations of God" that are being spoken are false and are coming straight from the mind of Satan. And for goodness sakes, speak up and tell some folks the truth!!
I do not know how to make this anymore plain to you. God has a vision and a mission for the city of Camilla. He has given it to our church. But He will not hold it here forever. If we cannot shut out Satan's work in our hearts and run after God's plan for us, He will take the vision to another church. His blessings will fall from our lives. He will turn us completely over to the enemy. There will be no miracles. There will be no prophecies. There will be no work of the Spirit. There will be no growth. There will only be gossip. Lies. Deceit. And ultimately spiritual death. Remember, witchcraft cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. So do we really want to keep going down this path?
I am tired of the only "news" being who else has left the church and what new rumors are spreading about our leadership. I want to be talking about the miracles of God and how He is moving in our church!! I want to see His presence flood our worship services and take over our hearts. I'm tired of seeing our church stuck in this crap. And I can promise you, our Pastor and his wife are even more tired of it than I am. So let's all go take a shower and get cleaned up so we can talk about more pleasant smelling things. Please??
God will not wait forever. And I can tell you now, the clock is ticking and there is not much time left before He moves on. So repent. Watch your words. Guard your ears. Guard your hearts. Seek God. And let's get some work done.....there is so much work to be done.
"But Samuel replied, 'What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to His voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.'" ~1 Samuel 15:22-23
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Oh Happy Day
Two things:
1) Roman finished moving the rest of our house today
2) I have my last day at work tomorrow
Please excuse me while I dance around my cubicle.
Okay fine, all I did was wave my arms around for a hot second before anyone walked by my door. I'll dance better at home, m'kay?
Back to #1. Roman was able to get the rest of ourjunk stuff this morning before he went to work. So now we just need to do one more walk through, clean it up a little bit, yank up the fence in the backyard, and then we can turn in those set of keys. Yippee! Now we just have the ungodly task of unpacking all of that mess. And no, I will not be pulling an OCD stunt tonight by staying up until five in the morning unpacking. I learned my lesson. I'm sleepy now. And I have to go to work tomorrow. In fact, I'm actually considering not doing any unpacking tonight at all. I sort of just want to rent a movie, eat some chocolate, and camp out on the couch. Me is sleepy. We shall see.
Now to #2. Tomorrow is my last day in my current job, and I couldn't be happier. Seriously. These people have been driving me nuts this week because everyone realized I was about to be leaving so they all went "Oh My Goodness we have to get Sarah to do _____ before she leaves!!!" And they pretty much have waited until today before their brains processed this tiny little fact. My. Phone. Won't. Stop. Ringing. Right now I am suffering from 'spreadsheetitis', which is the awful effect of staring at spreadsheets for eight hours straight. Having spreadsheetitis results in the over-consumption of all things unhealthy, to include chocolate, diet coke, and ice cream. Please consult with your doctor before you begin treatment for spreadsheetitis, as it could result in a momentary lost of vision, a feeling of confusion, and even loss of memory in regards to what the sun looks like. Take it slow people, recovery takes a while.
So thanks to my current place of work, I will be here late today, early tomorrow, and I will probably gain another five pounds from the amount of chocolate and diet coke I consume over the next 24 hours. I suppose that's why I'm so sleepy and why I don't feel like going home to unpack. My brain needs a moment to remember what planet I live on and what 2 + 2 equals.
All I know is, tomorrow afternoon I will definitely be saying the whole TGIF thing, and I will totally mean every word of it. And then I will pack my stuff up, move to my new cubicle, and kiss spreadsheets goodbye. And I will not even be a little bit sorry. But until then, I need to go find a chocolate bar. Please excuse me.
"Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."~Matthew11:28
1) Roman finished moving the rest of our house today
2) I have my last day at work tomorrow
Please excuse me while I dance around my cubicle.
Okay fine, all I did was wave my arms around for a hot second before anyone walked by my door. I'll dance better at home, m'kay?
Back to #1. Roman was able to get the rest of our
Now to #2. Tomorrow is my last day in my current job, and I couldn't be happier. Seriously. These people have been driving me nuts this week because everyone realized I was about to be leaving so they all went "Oh My Goodness we have to get Sarah to do _____ before she leaves!!!" And they pretty much have waited until today before their brains processed this tiny little fact. My. Phone. Won't. Stop. Ringing. Right now I am suffering from 'spreadsheetitis', which is the awful effect of staring at spreadsheets for eight hours straight. Having spreadsheetitis results in the over-consumption of all things unhealthy, to include chocolate, diet coke, and ice cream. Please consult with your doctor before you begin treatment for spreadsheetitis, as it could result in a momentary lost of vision, a feeling of confusion, and even loss of memory in regards to what the sun looks like. Take it slow people, recovery takes a while.
So thanks to my current place of work, I will be here late today, early tomorrow, and I will probably gain another five pounds from the amount of chocolate and diet coke I consume over the next 24 hours. I suppose that's why I'm so sleepy and why I don't feel like going home to unpack. My brain needs a moment to remember what planet I live on and what 2 + 2 equals.
All I know is, tomorrow afternoon I will definitely be saying the whole TGIF thing, and I will totally mean every word of it. And then I will pack my stuff up, move to my new cubicle, and kiss spreadsheets goodbye. And I will not even be a little bit sorry. But until then, I need to go find a chocolate bar. Please excuse me.
"Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."~Matthew11:28
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Movers, Start Your Engines....
We have switched from a "let's get everything moved in as quick as we can because we want to" frame of mind to something more along the lines of "let's get everything moved in as quick as we can because we want to get more than five hours of sleep at night".
This is really our first time actually 'moving'. When we got married, we had our house two months before the wedding so we were slowly putting things in there. So after the wedding all we had to add was our clothes, a bed, and *shablam* we were done moving. Needless to say, this whole moving thing has been quite the experience for us.
So here's a quick round-up of some of our experiences:
Nastiest thing I've found while moving: It was really gross. It begins with "roach" and ends with "guts". In. the. bottom. of. the oven. Under my extra pizza pan that I never used. I made lots of faces. And then I scrubbed the pan. And then I made more faces.
Coolest thing I've found while moving: Never realized it, but I had a really big huge glass baking dish. It was pushed to the back of the cabinet so I never really saw it. Totally going to use that thing to make a casserole or something for the next church dinner.
Most ridiculous thing I've found while moving: A tooth. Roman's tooth, to be exact. I found it. In a bag. Inside a shoebox. It was a molar. And it was nasty. Of course, Roman still thought it was cool.
Things we've had to come to terms with while moving: Roman is a shoebox hoarder. I promise I have found at least fifteen empty shoe boxes in the back of our guest-room closet. And will he let me throw them all away? No. Why? Because we may need them one day if we move.........even though we aren't using them now. Hopefully he will be on the path to recovery soon.
Revelations I have had while moving: I have entirely too many clothes. And shoes. I've found stuff that I'm pretty sure have only been worn once. Can someone say "yard sale"?
Most annoying thing I've had to deal with while moving: My stupid knee. I finally got to where I could walk up the steps somewhat normally yesterday afternoon. But seriously, not being able to get down on the floor to pack and unpack makes for a very aggravated lower back by the end of the day.
Our biggest mistake we've made while moving: Well, it's really totally my mistake. I failed to realize that with moving comes lots of eating out and lots of extra driving. Which means we have way over-spent on our budget for the week. Thank God that we were able to save up some money this past summer, otherwise we'd be in a mess. Oopsie.
Our biggest argument we've had while moving: ............................we haven't had one. I'm really proud of that too. You could say we argued over whether we were going to hang up our little hook in the new kitchen for a dishtowel, but it wasn't really an argument. It was more of a discussion where we both thought the other person was being silly. And then we made an agreement in under 90 seconds because we knew we were both just really tired and OCD. And then we ate a bowl of cereal. Cereal is a lifesaver when you are moving. Or broke. Or both.
Moving definitely teaches you some stuff. Like how to wad up newspapers good enough so that all your glass stuff don't break. Or like how you shouldn't save your molars in shoe boxes. Or like how to budget better for when you are moving.
One thing is for sure: we've had some good memories in our double-wide trailer, but after finding the huge squashed roach in the bottom of the oven, and after constant reminders of how bad the air conditioner works compared to our new home.....we can't exactly say that we are sorry to be leaving this house. As we are working and seeing all of the gritty details of our trailer (like the mold we found after moving our washing machine....or the mushroom we found growing in our way-too-moist bathroom), we just get more and more thankful for our new place.
But seriously guys, if anyone wants to volunteer to give us a foot massage, we would totally love you forever. Just please don't talk about shoe boxes while you massage our achy feet. Or roaches. Or molars.
"But You, O Lord, are a shield around me; You are my glory, the One who holds my head high." ~Psalm 3:3
This is really our first time actually 'moving'. When we got married, we had our house two months before the wedding so we were slowly putting things in there. So after the wedding all we had to add was our clothes, a bed, and *shablam* we were done moving. Needless to say, this whole moving thing has been quite the experience for us.
So here's a quick round-up of some of our experiences:
Nastiest thing I've found while moving: It was really gross. It begins with "roach" and ends with "guts". In. the. bottom. of. the oven. Under my extra pizza pan that I never used. I made lots of faces. And then I scrubbed the pan. And then I made more faces.
Coolest thing I've found while moving: Never realized it, but I had a really big huge glass baking dish. It was pushed to the back of the cabinet so I never really saw it. Totally going to use that thing to make a casserole or something for the next church dinner.
Most ridiculous thing I've found while moving: A tooth. Roman's tooth, to be exact. I found it. In a bag. Inside a shoebox. It was a molar. And it was nasty. Of course, Roman still thought it was cool.
Things we've had to come to terms with while moving: Roman is a shoebox hoarder. I promise I have found at least fifteen empty shoe boxes in the back of our guest-room closet. And will he let me throw them all away? No. Why? Because we may need them one day if we move.........even though we aren't using them now. Hopefully he will be on the path to recovery soon.
Revelations I have had while moving: I have entirely too many clothes. And shoes. I've found stuff that I'm pretty sure have only been worn once. Can someone say "yard sale"?
Most annoying thing I've had to deal with while moving: My stupid knee. I finally got to where I could walk up the steps somewhat normally yesterday afternoon. But seriously, not being able to get down on the floor to pack and unpack makes for a very aggravated lower back by the end of the day.
Our biggest mistake we've made while moving: Well, it's really totally my mistake. I failed to realize that with moving comes lots of eating out and lots of extra driving. Which means we have way over-spent on our budget for the week. Thank God that we were able to save up some money this past summer, otherwise we'd be in a mess. Oopsie.
Our biggest argument we've had while moving: ............................we haven't had one. I'm really proud of that too. You could say we argued over whether we were going to hang up our little hook in the new kitchen for a dishtowel, but it wasn't really an argument. It was more of a discussion where we both thought the other person was being silly. And then we made an agreement in under 90 seconds because we knew we were both just really tired and OCD. And then we ate a bowl of cereal. Cereal is a lifesaver when you are moving. Or broke. Or both.
Moving definitely teaches you some stuff. Like how to wad up newspapers good enough so that all your glass stuff don't break. Or like how you shouldn't save your molars in shoe boxes. Or like how to budget better for when you are moving.
One thing is for sure: we've had some good memories in our double-wide trailer, but after finding the huge squashed roach in the bottom of the oven, and after constant reminders of how bad the air conditioner works compared to our new home.....we can't exactly say that we are sorry to be leaving this house. As we are working and seeing all of the gritty details of our trailer (like the mold we found after moving our washing machine....or the mushroom we found growing in our way-too-moist bathroom), we just get more and more thankful for our new place.
But seriously guys, if anyone wants to volunteer to give us a foot massage, we would totally love you forever. Just please don't talk about shoe boxes while you massage our achy feet. Or roaches. Or molars.
"But You, O Lord, are a shield around me; You are my glory, the One who holds my head high." ~Psalm 3:3
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Can I Get an Amen?
As if God had not already done enough for us this month.....
I finally have the great pleasure and excitement to announce to you guys:
*insert multiple happy dances here, lots of clapping and hollering, and maybe a few tears of joy*
He got the call yesterday afternoon. So now that all the interviewing is over and he's hired, I'll tell you where he will be working: Verizon Wireless. If any of you do not know Roman, then please know this: even though this is not a forensic science job, he will still be more than happy here. Why? Because my husband loves technology. I'm pretty sure he knows more about phones than the manufacturers do. Okay, maybe that's a little too much....but the man loves some phones and tablets and computers and stuff. So he will definitely fit right in. And I'm definitely about to hear more than I want to know about Verizon's phones and all the cool features they have. But I'm okay with that. And the best part? After he gets trained he will be working less than five miles from our new house.
Can I get an amen?
Roman's truck gets horrible gas mileage. Currently he works thirty-five miles from our new house. Which means we get the pleasure of putting almost 70 bucks worth of gas in that gas-guzzling monster every week. So even if he got paid less than minimum wage (which he won't be), it would be a major pay raise just because our gas expense is about to greatly go down.
Is my God good or what?
It's kind of funny how God works, because this whole year we have been dreading the month of August. Why? Because if you remember, Roman and I had agreed that if he had not found a full-time job by August, he would return to school to take one more class that he (unknowingly) possibly needed for his "dream job". This is what going back to school meant to me: cut in hours at his part-time job which meant a cut in pay which meant back to excessive couponing, late nights of studying for him which meant less free time for us, buying another darn $150 book, increase to the student loan, and a definite five more months in the trailer with the cruddy air conditioner. Not to mention the fact that we had just graduated and were enjoying not being in school, so Roman was just really dreading going back. Get the picture? So it's really funny that God picked the month of August (which we were looking at with dread) and turned it into (by far) the best month of our married lives.
Let's do a little recap on the awesome-ness of God in our lives in this grand month of August:
Here's where I'm going to get all preachy and stuff, because I think this is one thing that God wants me and Roman to be open about through all of this. The #1 reason we believe that God has moved in such a mighty way this month is this: we have paid above and beyond our tithes in 2012. Even when we were having to get a student loan to pay for his last semester, even when we had to ask my parents to buy us groceries, even when we were transferring money from our savings account and credit line to buy gas, we paid above and beyond our tithes. Not because we expected something in return from God, but because we wanted to be obedient and give something back to our God who does so much for us.
Sweet people, please do not think I am being boastful of our faithfulness, because we have surely messed up in other areas of our lives. There were seasons in my own life where I would go over a week without opening up my Bible. There were seasons in my life where I would doubt God's love and allow bad thought processes to rule in my life. But the Bible is very clear: if you are not going to be faithful to God in paying your tithes, then you should not be surprised when your life is constantly a mess. We have to bless God first before He can bless us. And by bless God, I don't mean throw your tithes in the offering plate and immediately look to the sky and go "okay God, I did it, now bless me." I mean that we have got to be a people that rejoices in giving back to our Creator....a people that gives our 10% (or more) with a smile on our faces and joy in our hearts.
I will not lie to you, there were times when I signed that check with a prayer like this: "not sure how this is going to work Lord, but You see us and You see our situation." And did we ever miss a meal? No. Did we ever run out of gas while driving to work? No. Did we ever miss a rent payment or a utilities bill? No. So even though times were tight and we couldn't go on date nights regularly or shop for new clothes, did God take care of us? Absolutely yes. I can't count the number of times where God would make that gas in my car stretch farther than it should have, or when someone would offer to cook us dinner on nights when we secretly planned to eat cereal and sandwiches for dinner. He always always always always always took care of us in every situation. And in the month of August, He is just totally showing off. I picture God in heaven yesterday afternoon turning to one of the angels and going, "now watch this. I'm about to do something really cool" and then Roman's phone rings with a job offer and God just grins really big and then says quietly, "here ya go my precious son, I told you I would work it all out."
I cannot tell you that if you go above and beyond your tithes that God will bless you in the same way He has blessed us, because God works in each of us differently. Sometimes we get blessed spiritually. Sometimes we get blessed financially. Sometimes we get blessed physically. Sometimes it is all of the above. Sometimes we may not receive our blessings until we enter into heaven. All I can tell you is that you restrict the blessings of God in your life when you hold back your checkbook from Him and refuse to be obedient to His Word. And I can also tell you that paying your tithes gives you a strange peace that everything is okay....even when your checkbook says it isn't.
So that is my testimony. Again, I am not boasting about our faithfulness, but I am boasting about the faithfulness of God. He's been more than good to us in 2012, especially in the month of August. And I would be a total jerk if I didn't share it with the rest of the world, because we are not supposed to keep our walk with Christ to ourselves.
To be honest, at this point I don't even care that my knee looks like a balloon today. At this point I wouldn't care if God told me my knee would hurt for the rest of my life. I'm so excited about everything else that it doesn't even bother me right now. You know that's a whole bunch of excitement when a wimp like me doesn't care about knee pain. (haha)
Can I get an Amen?
"Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! But you ask, 'What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?' You have cheated Me of the tithes and offerings due to Me. You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating Me. Bring all of the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in My Temple. If you do, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies, I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put Me to the test! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies. Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies." ~Malachi 3:8-12
I finally have the great pleasure and excitement to announce to you guys:
Roman has found a full-time job!!!!
He got the call yesterday afternoon. So now that all the interviewing is over and he's hired, I'll tell you where he will be working: Verizon Wireless. If any of you do not know Roman, then please know this: even though this is not a forensic science job, he will still be more than happy here. Why? Because my husband loves technology. I'm pretty sure he knows more about phones than the manufacturers do. Okay, maybe that's a little too much....but the man loves some phones and tablets and computers and stuff. So he will definitely fit right in. And I'm definitely about to hear more than I want to know about Verizon's phones and all the cool features they have. But I'm okay with that. And the best part? After he gets trained he will be working less than five miles from our new house.
Can I get an amen?
Roman's truck gets horrible gas mileage. Currently he works thirty-five miles from our new house. Which means we get the pleasure of putting almost 70 bucks worth of gas in that gas-guzzling monster every week. So even if he got paid less than minimum wage (which he won't be), it would be a major pay raise just because our gas expense is about to greatly go down.
Is my God good or what?
It's kind of funny how God works, because this whole year we have been dreading the month of August. Why? Because if you remember, Roman and I had agreed that if he had not found a full-time job by August, he would return to school to take one more class that he (unknowingly) possibly needed for his "dream job". This is what going back to school meant to me: cut in hours at his part-time job which meant a cut in pay which meant back to excessive couponing, late nights of studying for him which meant less free time for us, buying another darn $150 book, increase to the student loan, and a definite five more months in the trailer with the cruddy air conditioner. Not to mention the fact that we had just graduated and were enjoying not being in school, so Roman was just really dreading going back. Get the picture? So it's really funny that God picked the month of August (which we were looking at with dread) and turned it into (by far) the best month of our married lives.
Let's do a little recap on the awesome-ness of God in our lives in this grand month of August:
- Found out Roman was not going to have to go to school (because we couldn't afford it). Even though this threw us for a loop, it was actually a blessing in disguise. No more school for him, no increase in debt for us, and it opened the door for everything else God did for us this month.
- I got a new job. Something we've both been begging God about for almost two years now. Three. Days. Left. Until. I. Start. Hallelujah.
- Moved into a new house. God totally took us by surprise by laying this house out for us. We weren't even looking for a house! (But we were sure praying about it!) In less than two weeks we saw the house, signed the lease, and started spending the night there. Have I mentioned yet that it has a dishwasher and a jacuzzi?
- Roman got a full-time job. We knew God had to do something big.....we actually couldn't quite afford the new house with Roman's current part-time job. Yet we knew God wanted us to live here so we stepped out on faith and did something really crazy that makes non-Christians (and some Christians) scratch their heads. And like He promised, He came through for us. Yay yay yay!
- God healed me of CMV in January.
- He then turned around and healed me of bells palsy in March.
- He brought Roman and I through college. We both graduated in May with honors.
- We went on a cruise in May to celebrate our two-year anniversary, our graduation, and our birthdays.
- Roman's part-time job allowed him to work almost full-time for the summer, which gave us some really great financial relief for a couple of months where we could pay down some of our debt and save a little bit of money as well. Which is good because we had to use some of those savings to buy some stuff for our new place.
- God revealed to me the true cause of my fatigue and overall moodiness: my birth control. I won't get into all of the details, but I will tell you that after I finished my last pack I did not start another one and even though it's only been five days, I feel so much better already. (But no, we are not trying to get pregnant right now, so don't get too excited)
Here's where I'm going to get all preachy and stuff, because I think this is one thing that God wants me and Roman to be open about through all of this. The #1 reason we believe that God has moved in such a mighty way this month is this: we have paid above and beyond our tithes in 2012. Even when we were having to get a student loan to pay for his last semester, even when we had to ask my parents to buy us groceries, even when we were transferring money from our savings account and credit line to buy gas, we paid above and beyond our tithes. Not because we expected something in return from God, but because we wanted to be obedient and give something back to our God who does so much for us.
Sweet people, please do not think I am being boastful of our faithfulness, because we have surely messed up in other areas of our lives. There were seasons in my own life where I would go over a week without opening up my Bible. There were seasons in my life where I would doubt God's love and allow bad thought processes to rule in my life. But the Bible is very clear: if you are not going to be faithful to God in paying your tithes, then you should not be surprised when your life is constantly a mess. We have to bless God first before He can bless us. And by bless God, I don't mean throw your tithes in the offering plate and immediately look to the sky and go "okay God, I did it, now bless me." I mean that we have got to be a people that rejoices in giving back to our Creator....a people that gives our 10% (or more) with a smile on our faces and joy in our hearts.
I will not lie to you, there were times when I signed that check with a prayer like this: "not sure how this is going to work Lord, but You see us and You see our situation." And did we ever miss a meal? No. Did we ever run out of gas while driving to work? No. Did we ever miss a rent payment or a utilities bill? No. So even though times were tight and we couldn't go on date nights regularly or shop for new clothes, did God take care of us? Absolutely yes. I can't count the number of times where God would make that gas in my car stretch farther than it should have, or when someone would offer to cook us dinner on nights when we secretly planned to eat cereal and sandwiches for dinner. He always always always always always took care of us in every situation. And in the month of August, He is just totally showing off. I picture God in heaven yesterday afternoon turning to one of the angels and going, "now watch this. I'm about to do something really cool" and then Roman's phone rings with a job offer and God just grins really big and then says quietly, "here ya go my precious son, I told you I would work it all out."
I cannot tell you that if you go above and beyond your tithes that God will bless you in the same way He has blessed us, because God works in each of us differently. Sometimes we get blessed spiritually. Sometimes we get blessed financially. Sometimes we get blessed physically. Sometimes it is all of the above. Sometimes we may not receive our blessings until we enter into heaven. All I can tell you is that you restrict the blessings of God in your life when you hold back your checkbook from Him and refuse to be obedient to His Word. And I can also tell you that paying your tithes gives you a strange peace that everything is okay....even when your checkbook says it isn't.
So that is my testimony. Again, I am not boasting about our faithfulness, but I am boasting about the faithfulness of God. He's been more than good to us in 2012, especially in the month of August. And I would be a total jerk if I didn't share it with the rest of the world, because we are not supposed to keep our walk with Christ to ourselves.
To be honest, at this point I don't even care that my knee looks like a balloon today. At this point I wouldn't care if God told me my knee would hurt for the rest of my life. I'm so excited about everything else that it doesn't even bother me right now. You know that's a whole bunch of excitement when a wimp like me doesn't care about knee pain. (haha)
Can I get an Amen?
"Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! But you ask, 'What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?' You have cheated Me of the tithes and offerings due to Me. You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating Me. Bring all of the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in My Temple. If you do, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies, I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put Me to the test! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies. Then all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies." ~Malachi 3:8-12
Monday, August 20, 2012
What List???
If you read my last post, then you read about my nice pretty list. If you did not read my last post, then let me get you caught up: Roman and I are moving into a new house. We actually were able to get the keys on Thursday (instead of Friday) so we started cleaning/moving in on Friday. I had a list. A really nice long pretty list on what we were going to move on what day. A list that had us paced evenly so that we didn't get too tired or stay up too late. A list that had us spending our first night in our new home on hmmm....let's see.....Monday, August 27th.
Forget the list. We moved in this past weekend. We spent our first night in our new home on Saturday, August 18th.
It was crazy.
It was exhausting.
We still aren't done yet.
And oh yea, I hurt my knee really bad on Thursday (possible torn cartilage) so that made things really interesting. And then I hurt my wrist from using the crutches on Friday so that made things even more interesting.
All I have to say is thank God for our parents and family and friends! They are the only reason we were able to get so much done this weekend.
So here is a quick-ish breakdown of how things went this weekend:
As for our "children", Duke absolutely loves the house. He has so much more room to run and play both inside and outside. And Ralph and Lauren are in love with all of the windows. Anytime I'm looking for one of them they are almost always sitting in front of one of the windows watching the birds outside.
And yes, I have used the dishwasher. And it was glorious. It was also raining this morning when I left for work. But that didn't matter because my car was all nice and dry inside of my garage. So I wasn't even sad to leave for work because I was too excited about pressing the button to make the garage door open up.
And Roman found out we have a functioning doorbell. That has brought much excitement to the Casterline household. We are easy to please, folks. Truly.
Roman is supposed to hear something back about the job he interviewed for last Wednesday by this afternoon. So definitely be praying for that!
One last HUGE thank you to everyone that has helped us in this whole moving process. Especially our parents. If it hadn't been for everyone's help, this would have been our weekend:
Friday: Clean
Saturday: Clean
Sunday: Clean some more
Monday: Clean even more
Tuesday: Roman start packing while Sarah finished....cleaning
So again, thanks. We are definitely going to have to grill steaks for everybody once things calm down.
And for all of you that are wondering: no, we have not been following our whole "eat clean" thing. Moving=fast food for every meal because all of your stuff is packed up and you're just too tired to care. But I am buying more groceries this evening so hopefully this week we will get back on track. :)
"My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." ~Galations 2:20
Forget the list. We moved in this past weekend. We spent our first night in our new home on Saturday, August 18th.
It was crazy.
It was exhausting.
We still aren't done yet.
And oh yea, I hurt my knee really bad on Thursday (possible torn cartilage) so that made things really interesting. And then I hurt my wrist from using the crutches on Friday so that made things even more interesting.
All I have to say is thank God for our parents and family and friends! They are the only reason we were able to get so much done this weekend.
So here is a quick-ish breakdown of how things went this weekend:
- Thursday: signed lease and showed our parents and a few of our friends the new house
- Friday:
- Got power turned on at new place
- Marveled at how the air conditioning cooled the house from 89 degrees to 77 in under three hours
- Started cleaning
- Saturday:
- Spent a whopping 200+ buckaroos at Lowe's for things like new locks and a new sink faucet and heavy duty cleaning stuff
- Cleaned a whole lot more
- Moved our entire bedroom, bathroom, most of our closet, dining room, living room and some of my office
- Stayed up until 4:45 in the morning unpacking all of that stuff. Yes, I know....we are completely dumb. But we are also completely OCD and couldn't stand seeing stuff everywhere so we unpacked it all. And then we sat in our jacuzzi tub and let the jets massage our feet for us and then we slept for less than four hours before waking up and doing it all over again. Sounds fun, right?
- Sunday:
- Took a thirty minute shower in my new shower with my hot water heater that allows me to take a ridiculously hot shower for longer than 15 minutes. Hallelujah.
- Went to church. Praised God a whole bunch because we woke up that morning in our new house with a giant hot water heater and a dishwasher and a good air conditioner.
- Moved almost the entire kitchen, all of the pantry and all of the contents of our fridge (this took waaaaay longer than I thought it would)
- Moved some of the guest room and some of our music stuff and more of our clothes. Also moved the washing machine and the dryer
- Moved all of that stuff inside while it was starting to rain. Thankfully the only thing that got wet was Roman and his dad and the washing machine. Also thankfully, they were easy to dry off, unlike the guest room matress (had that gotten wet, but it didn't....so yay!).
- Went back for evening service. Tried really hard to stay awake. (not that the sermon was boring, it was actually really great...we were just delirious by this point. And sitting down automatically made our eyes droop.)
- Unpacked everything. Because we can't learn our lesson from the first time. But we did go to sleep at midnight, which is actually only thirty minutes past when we normally go to sleep. So I guess that wasn't too bad.
As for our "children", Duke absolutely loves the house. He has so much more room to run and play both inside and outside. And Ralph and Lauren are in love with all of the windows. Anytime I'm looking for one of them they are almost always sitting in front of one of the windows watching the birds outside.
And yes, I have used the dishwasher. And it was glorious. It was also raining this morning when I left for work. But that didn't matter because my car was all nice and dry inside of my garage. So I wasn't even sad to leave for work because I was too excited about pressing the button to make the garage door open up.
And Roman found out we have a functioning doorbell. That has brought much excitement to the Casterline household. We are easy to please, folks. Truly.
Roman is supposed to hear something back about the job he interviewed for last Wednesday by this afternoon. So definitely be praying for that!
One last HUGE thank you to everyone that has helped us in this whole moving process. Especially our parents. If it hadn't been for everyone's help, this would have been our weekend:
Friday: Clean
Saturday: Clean
Sunday: Clean some more
Monday: Clean even more
Tuesday: Roman start packing while Sarah finished....cleaning
So again, thanks. We are definitely going to have to grill steaks for everybody once things calm down.
And for all of you that are wondering: no, we have not been following our whole "eat clean" thing. Moving=fast food for every meal because all of your stuff is packed up and you're just too tired to care. But I am buying more groceries this evening so hopefully this week we will get back on track. :)
"My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." ~Galations 2:20
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