Good Friday

All over my Facebook news feed, it seems that America is in a social war. Red and white pictures are everywhere: equal signs, crosses, two men, two women, a man and a woman…..if you do not know what I’m talking about then consider yourself lucky. Because it’s everywhere.

I thought about writing a blog post over all of it. In fact, I wrote one on Wednesday, hated it….wrote another one yesterday and hated it too. It’s not that I didn’t have much to say, quite the contrary! Both times I wrote almost two pages and I probably could have written another two or three. It’s just, I don’t know. It didn’t feel right for me to post it.

Today is Good Friday.

But you would never know it if you looked at the fighting on Facebook. It seems that Christians are too busy arguing over marriage rights to remember…..Him.

Redeemer.

Saving Grace.

King.

Lord.

Friend.

Don’t get me wrong, it is important that we stand up for what is right. But it’s also important to stand up for what is right while still showing love and mercy to the lost. And more important than anything, we need to share Jesus. We need to share the knowledge of His sacrifice. His mercy. His love. His grace. His forgiveness.

Today is Good Friday. Just over 2,000 year ago today my Savior died.

He was mocked. He was beaten. He was broken. He was tortured in the cruelest way. He deserves to have our respect and our obedience every day, but particularly over the next three days as we “celebrate” Easter. Because the story doesn’t end with His death, it was just beginning. Three days later He conquered death and rose from the grave. He restored God’s relationship with mankind by conquering our sin and gave us the opportunity to spend an eternity with Him as long as we commit to follow Him the rest of our days. We no longer have to walk in shame and guilt. We no longer have to face the eternal consequences (death and suffering) of our iniquities. How wonderful!!  

I wonder what would happen if all of my Christian Facebook friends started flooding the news feeds with Scripture? If everyone proclaimed the saving gospel of Christ and nothing else over the next three days? No status updates about homosexuality. No game requests. No “like this if you ____, share if you ____” statuses. No updates about what you ate for dinner or what dress you plan to wear on Sunday. I wonder if the world would start to realize that Christianity isn’t a dead religion. That Christians actually do care about their Savior. I wonder if it would make them a little bit curious. Perhaps some of the negativity we so often see on Facebook would fade away as the love of Jesus floods across the world online.

I’m going to do it….and I would love it if you joined me. It’s only for three days after all, surely it cannot be that hard to post about only Jesus for three days. And I suspect that it will start to change and soften our hearts as well as we search for Scripture to post and as we proclaim the gospel to the world. Isn’t that our main mission in life anyways?

“But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed.”  ~Isaiah 53:5

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  ~John 15:13

Second Grade Throwback

So a few days ago, Roman's mom found some of Roman's papers he wrote from Second Grade. They were *ahem* precious, so I decided to share them with you. But I can't just share them and keep my opinions to myself. *wink* So let's travel back in time and explore my husband's second grade mind....my comments will be in italics.  :)

On School...

If I had my own school, I would be the prinsubul. I would inerdus myself. I would get to know all the children. I will know the teachers, too. I would walk aroud the school.

Because, you, that is all the "prinsubuls" do anyways.

How was your weekend?

This weekend I

Interesting. 

Popularity....

What can I do to make my friends and teachers like me more? I can be more nicer to them. Be quiet in class. I will do better whan I'm doing my work.

Apparently, Mr. Roman had an issue with being quiet in class. His words, not mine.

I have a dream....

I have a bream that one day this natin will be very clean, and the pepole in the world will cuiut puluetin the world. I have a Second dream, that every person in the world will do there best. I have a Third dream evrey dity will be my frind. I have a drieam that evrey baby will be bron. I have a dream that every person in the hole world will be clean.

Pretty good dreams there. Kinda makes me wonder how many of his classmates didn't smell good though?? 

Popularity Revisited.

I will have to play with them a lot and they might be my friends. I would like to have more friends. I would halp them sound out words. If they can't read and I will help them because I love helping my friends read. 

Perhaps you should learn to spell first?

Interesting.

If my bed turned into a boat I would

We think he panicked at the idea of his bed turning into a boat, so he just stopped writing this one.

Anger Management.

When I get mad I'm angry.

True story.

"Light Makers"

Light comes from meny things. The sun makes it own light. It is a giant ball of fire. The sun is a bright light. A candle makes its own light. It is not a bright light. It's a bim light. We do not see the sun's light at night. How do we see at night? We see with light bulbs.

A scientist in the making....


So there ya have it folks. We had tons of fun reading through his notebook of writings and old school pictures. It's always fun to go back and find hidden treasures like that. 

And oh by the way, happy Friday folks!!

"Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land."  ~Psalm 37:8-9

The Mercy House

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post called “Let’s Get Technical”. In that post I reminded all of you about the list on the right-hand side of my blog with my favorite bloggers. I also introduced a new link to The Mercy House, with a promise to tell you more about this link later.

Consider my promise kept.

The Mercy House is a non-profit maternity home in Kenya. It was founded by Kristen and her husband from Texas back in 2010. The purpose of this home is to aid pregnant girls living in extreme poverty. Most, if not all, have suffered extreme abuse in their lifetime and come to the Mercy House broken and ashamed. The Mercy House provides them with medical care and a place to live. But they do so much more than take care of basic needs. There they learn life lessons, such as how to be good mothers, as well as other skills so that they can begin to earn their own income. When they are ready, they are released back into society with the ability to support themselves. But most importantly, they learn about Jesus Christ and His saving grace.

I love the story of Mercy House. Kristen went to Kenya for a short mission trip, and God broke her and her husband’s hearts for the young girls in Kenya. He placed a Kenyan woman, Maureen, in her path who also had a deep desire to reach out to these young, frightened teenagers. Out of much prayer and fasting, the Mercy House was born and it has become something so much bigger than Kristen ever dreamed possible. Mercy House is now home to sixteen precious faces-eight girls and their beautiful children. And I’m sure as God continues to grow this ministry that they will help many more.

Kristen writes about The Mercy House as well as all other aspects of life over at wearethatfamily.com. I encourage you to click over to her blog and learn more about The Mercy House. For those of you who would like to help support this awesome ministry, I’ve provided a link over in the right hand side. This link takes you straight to The Mercy House Shop where you can buy all sorts of items that are hand-made by the girls in Kenya.

Like I said, I absolutely love the mission and the heart of Kristen and The Mercy House. And with Mother’s Day right around the corner, why not buy something from The Mercy House Shop that will also go to support a great cause?

Note to the folks in the back: This is not an affiliate link. Just wanted to tell all of my awesome readers about a great ministry! :)

Psst: If you are reading this on a cell phone or tablet, you will need to scroll down to the bottom and click “View web version” in order to see all of the links on my blog.

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  ~Micah 6:8

Weird Wednesday: Merry Marchmas

Just when you think you have absorbed all of the awkwardness in this photo, you realize she is holding a goat.

Zooey Davechappelle....there are no words

I love this kid.

"Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord-with the first of them and with the last- I am He." ~Isaiah 41:4

Cleany Cleany Clean Clean

Friday afternoon before I left work, I cleaned my desk. It’s strange now…I sort of miss my dust bunny friends.

………

NOT.

It’s just weird not having that fine thick layer of dust all over everything.

Over the weekend I cleaned out, washed and vacuumed my car. I was scared for a minute there that I was going to get lost in the pile of jackets and napkins in my backseat, but I survived. Whew.

I also washed and put up every piece of laundry in. my. house. (Five loads, people. Five. Loads.) I then proceeded to clean my entire house. And I’m not talking about just putting things up and washing my dishes. Oh no, that’s much too novice for this over-achieving young adult. I dusted. I cleaned out the fridge. I scrubbed the countertops. I cleaned the bathtub. I cleaned the shower. I cleaned our bathroom as well as the guest bathroom. I wiped down our leather couch. I vacuumed. I even lint-rolled the comforter (there is still dog fur….just not as much.)

So as it stands on this cloudy Monday morning: My car is clean. My house is clean. My desk at work is clean. I showered this morning, which means I am clean too. I even fixed my hair today, put on a dress, AND I’m wearing lipstick. HOLY CRAP WHAT IS GOING ON??!?? 

O.o

My life should not be this organized on a Monday morning. If it makes any of you feel any better, I was still late for work this morning….despite having my lunch ready the night before and having my clothes laid out. Feel better? No? Love me anyways.

“But all things should be done decently and in order.”  ~1 Corinthians 14:40

Come Sail Away.....

Dude. It’s Friday.

*runs in circle flapping arms like a chicken while screaming at the top of her lungs*

I just did all of that in my head….not in real life.

ANYWAYS. So I told all of you that I was going on a cruise, and although I will not publish to the Internetz exactly when we are going, I will tell you that we are going pretty soon.

That is, as long as Carnival gets their crap together and stops breaking their boats. For realz guys, what’s going on??!?

Today I read on the news that ANOTHER Carnival ship is having issues. What was my response? “Holy crap which ship is it? I’m going to be SO ANGRY if it’s mine and they cancel my cruise.” *Immediately clicks on headline and sighs with relief after confirming that it’s not. my. ship.*

Enter phone conversation:

Mom: Sarah, are you SURE you want to go on a cruise??

Me: Even if I didn’t, it’s too late for that. I would lose every bit of my money if I cancelled now with the cruise being so close.

Mom: ……..I don’t want you to go.

Me: I’m going.

Mom: Don’t complain when your ship breaks.

Me: Let it break. That just means I don’t have to go back to work for a longer period of time.

Mom: ................you're crazy.

And yes, that seriously is my logic. Once my ship gets a good distance away from the Americaz, I do. not. care. if it decides to break. Because at that point, I am on the ship. I am  not at home. And it will be longer before I get back. As long as we don’t hit an iceberg, then I’m good. And if we hit an iceberg in the Bahamas, I think we have bigger problems. Just saying.

The only thing I’m anxious about is leaving my dog. I hate leaving Dukey-face behind.

1) It makes me sad because he’ll think we’re just leaving the house and he won’t realize until later that we aren’t coming back for a while.

2) He is my child and I always worry about him when someone else is babysitting him.

3) I love my puppy dog and I’m not sure I remember how to sleep in a King sized bed without him hogging half the mattress.

But besides that, I’m super duper exicted and can’t wait. I want to go ahead and pack my suitcase but it’s not even close to being time for that yet. Now if Carnival can just stop breaking their ships so my mother will calm down, that’d be great. If it didn’t cost so much, I’d make a collect call to her halfway through the trip so I could prank her…

Me: MOM, our ship just broke down and I’m stranded in the Bahamas. Put Duke on a plane, stat! I’m never coming home and I want him here with me.

Mom: ………..I can’t believe you just did that to me. I nearly had a heart attack.

Me: MWHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! K, love you, bye!!

*click*

I’m fairly certain that would make me seem really immature though, which I’m totally not. I’m like the mature-est person I know.

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”  ~Isaiah 41:10

The Wilderness

There was a time in my life when I just KNEW he was the one for me. I prayed that God would lead our hearts together. That our friendship would grow into something more. These were the pleadings of a thirteen year-old girl who sincerely thought she had found her soul mate. But…..God did not act. He did not orchestrate some grand relationship that would make fairy tale characters jealous….at least, not with the person that I thought He would. Fast forward a few years, and He would introduce me to someone much better….the man He had specifically picked out for me to spend the rest of my life with. How grateful I am that He did not give me the desires of my heart at thirteen years old! If He had, I never would have met my husband and I am positive that I would not have been as happy as I am today.

Oh, how easy it is to forget that God has our best interests in mind when answering our prayers! As Roman and I diligently pray over an area in our lives, I can say without a doubt that this has been the biggest test of my faith in my short 22 years of life. I have cried over this prayer, I have lost sleep over it, I have gotten angry at God and then angry at myself. Yet He still comes back with only one answer: wait. “How much longer??” my heart cries. “Why can’t You just give me a hint??” But sometimes, God doesn’t answer those questions. Sometimes, He wants us to be still and be patient and quit stomping our feet like a two year-old in a grocery store who wants that chocolate chip cookie RIGHT NOW.

We make a grave mistake when we tell new Christians that living for Christ is easy….because this faith thing is stinking hard sometimes. It’s easy to say things like, “Trust in God” and, “He will answer in His timing”. But when you are walking through a dark time of doubt and confusion, those phrases suddenly become much harder to live out.

Two things I have learned through this:

1) My relationship with God is not give and take. Just because I work hard in my ministries at church, try to be a good wife, pay my tithes, etc. does not mean that God is obligated to give me what I want. Our relationship is not a cash transaction. I give back to God out of my love for Him. He is not obligated to give me anything in return…after all, He’s already given me the greatest gift I could ask for by sending His Son to die for me over 2,000 years ago. Now thankfully, He delights in blessing His children, but often times those blessings come in ways we don’t expect. And many times God is blessing us by not giving us what we ask for, even though we can’t understand why.

2) God feels our emotions. He rejoices when we rejoice. He mourns when we mourn. It gives Him no pleasure to see our heart broken as we go through the pains of this earth. That is such a comfort to me…..to know that even though He may not send what I am asking for in this moment, He understands my thought patterns and is walking through this battle with me. I am not praying to an emotionless God that cannot see or understand my hurt, quite the contrary! My God sees. My God knows. My God understands.

Walking out our faith can sometimes seem impossible. There have been quite a few times over the past several months that I have wanted to just throw in the towel and walk away from God. Sadly, when faced with the tough situations, many Christians do just that. So if you’re in a place of “waiting” like me, I would like to encourage you to dig in deep and keep running after God’s heart. I will not promise that He will grant you every desire of your heart, because sometimes He may not. But what I can promise you is that He hasn’t forgotten you. He takes no joy in our suffering and He certainly does not plan to leave us behind. You cannot work hard enough for Him to get what you are asking for, and He is not punishing you for stealing that pencil when you were three years old. As hard as it may be….sometimes He just wants us to be still. Let His love satisfy your soul, even as you pray over the desires of your heart.

I’m not going to lie to you and say that I just sit around my house reading my Bible and singing worship songs every evening while I pray over this issue. I am not perfect in this “being still” thing….far from it! But it is perfectly okay for me to break down and cry. It is perfectly okay for me to ask God the hard questions (He can take it). It is perfectly okay for me take a day to stop and rest…to go get a pedicure and a diet coke…..to talk to a sister in Christ about my struggles…to write an insurmountable number of pages in my prayer journal. After all, He knows that we are humans with emotions. He knows that we have a finite mind and can only see a small pixel out of the picture.

One last thing: whatever it is you’re going through right now, it won’t last forever. It may seem like it will….it may seem like it already has. But I promise you, it won’t. One day our faith will be made sight. We will spend eternity with our God, and He will wipe the tears from our eyes and we will know a joy that never ends. And at the end of the day, no matter what comes my way in this life…even if I never get what I’m asking for, I know that heaven is a reality and that I have something to look forward to.

If you would like to read more about this topic, I encourage you to check out a re-post that Lysa Terkeurst had on her website today (this was totally for me this morning!). Click here to read her post.  Also, I am currently reading a book called “Pursued” by Jud Wilhite. This book explains God’s love for us in ways I have never thought about before, and it has been such a great help to me over the past few weeks. So check it out if you're struggling in your faith, it will definitely get your mind thinking!

I now leave you with one of my most favorite passages of Scripture out of the Bible:

“Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. In that day, declares the Lord, you will call Me ‘My Husband’; you will no longer call Me ‘My Master’”. ~Hosea 2:14-16