Oprah

Say what you want about Oprah but her life is an amazing picture of the sovereign desire of a God who does more than we could ask or imagine. I am watching Oprah Presents Master Class and it is such a reminder of God's sovereignty in each and every person's life.

Did you know her parents were 'together' ONE TIME? She was unwanted. Her mother hid her pregnancy with Oprah. She was unwanted by her mother and father but obviously wanted by God. He desired her. In the master class she says 'God has a bigger dream' and her life is such a parable of that truth.

Jeremiah 1:5 says "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,and before you were born I consecrated you". When I read that passage I see a teenager having a self image crisis as I hear Jeremiah say, 'I am just a youth' and God replies 'Do not say I am just a youth'. Don't you love that? God tells Jeremiah, and me as I read this, that he is more than any 'just' because God has a plan for him.

I was wanted. My mom took a drug to keep from miscarrying me. Oprah was wanted. Her mom hid her pregnancy and probably would have welcomed a miscarriage. But both Oprah and I were wanted by a God who tells us that the word 'just' can never be attached to his plan for our lives. I believe that's true of every one of us.

Each of our lives cause a bigger ripple in the waters of life than we can imagine. Very few of us will have the impact of Oprah Winfrey but each one of us is more than our 'just' would tell us we are.

Depending on His Strength

I am writing this from the love seat in one of the counseling rooms. The room is dark and I plan to take a nap before my first clients. I worked until 9:45 last night and had an 8AM session that cancelled after I got to work. Also, I seem to be getting some kind of stomach thing which woke me a few times last night. Or maybe it was the bbq chips I had for supper at 2AM when I woke up and realized I hadn't eaten . . . maybe.

So, here are my thoughts for the day:

1. II Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.' I am counting on the power of Christ to rest on me today. And memories remind me that days like this are usually the most powerful in the counseling room.

2. It is important that I take care of myself so that I can run the race set before me. I think that means rearranging my schedule a little bit . . . ya' think?

3. I love my job. I love a job that has a love seat and a dark room. I love being able to depend on the power of Christ and seeing Him transform lives. I love that I can arrange my schedule to fit my life. I am so grateful.

I hope that you are able to rest today if you need to and that you find the power of Christ resting on you whether you feel your weakness strongly or only your humanity. Take care of yourself. It's important.

Serving and Other Ways To Be Yourself

One of my favorite toddlers just being himself

Sunday morning I worked in the two-year old nursery at our church. It was a blast. Besides just being overwhelmed by CUTENESS, I also really enjoyed the reminder of who we all are at our core. At two years old we haven't figured out how to cover up our true feelings yet and it's just all RIGHT THERE. If you want to take something from someone, you pretty much just take it. If you feel compassion for a friend, you offer them a toy. If you need to be held, you reach your arms up and whimper. If you want a cookie, you ask - as many times as it takes. I appreciate manners and boundaries as much as anyone but it was really fun to be surrounded by raw humanity for a while. When I left I was pretty tired but I found myself smiling throughout the day about cute things the kids had said and done.


When I mentioned working in the toddler room to a friend she said 'give me grade schoolers any day. Just don't put me with the toddlers or teenagers.' It was funny because grade schoolers stress me out more than toddlers or teenagers. I guess it's just a matter of finding your spot to serve. Each one of us has gifts and preferences and personality traits that find their expression in different kinds of service. I Corinthians 12 has a lot to say about finding your place to serve. It relates your place of service to the parts of the physical body. For me to serve with gradeschoolers would be like my foot trying to do crochet. It might be possible but it would be awkward at best. But when I am with toddlers and teenagers I am in my element, doing what I was designed to do. I feel a joy in that place that I think might be like the joy a runner feels on that 'runner's high' (which I have only heard of and NEVER experienced).


Have you found your place of service? When you do, you will find your happy place. It's worth the search.

This Weekend

We have had a fun and restful weekend. Friday night we took our girl out for a greasy burger. It rained buckets at exactly the time we were leaving the restaurant. Of course by the time we got to our house, in the safety and dryness of our garage, the rain had stopped but while we were walking to the car we might as well have been taking a bath.

She used the meal as an opportunity to attempt to convince her dad and I that it is reasonable for her to buy a plane ticket to Hawaii for a weekend trip so that she can check out the place she wants to go for missions next summer. She has a friend whose family is there for a month and has offered for her to stay with them. Seriously. She's planning to do missions in Hawaii. How do you get that assignment? And yeah. She thinks it's reasonable to just pop on over to check it out this summer. ha! I love teenagers!

Yesterday my hubby and I spent the day together shopping and having fun. Then last night we spent the evening with our adorable niece and nephew and my brother-in-law. We made gourmet hot dogs. Not really. We just grilled hot dogs and heated up some Wolf brand chili but it was fun. We hadn't seen the kids in a couple of weeks and we kind of like having them around. Cade does fun things like pointing a finger gun at you and expecting you to fall over - dramatically. I take great pleasure in obliging. He especially likes to shoot me while I'm cooking. Hmmm, hope he's not trying to tell me something. Calea does fun things like laughing that amazing little girl laugh that just melts your heart and makes you want to do whatever it takes to keep her laughing. Yes. We do silly things to produce that sound around our house. Totally worth it. My brother-in-law does fun things like bringing the kids to our house.

Today we had lunch with Mom and Dad. Mom is doing better all the time. She has her last surgery in about a week. We are all really looking forward to her being able to fully recover instead of recovering just enough to have more chemo or another surgery. Who knows? We may even take a trip together in the fall!

Tonight my husband has taken my son and some of his friends to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the NBA playoffs. Our daughter is at youth group and I'm home alone reflecting on a weekend well spent.

Tomorrow we all go back to our work weeks. We are ready. We have laughed. We have played. We have rested.

How about you? Did you get some rest and some laughter this weekend?

He's All Grown Up

I love this kid.



Who could resist that smile and those eyes? Not me!

We finally got around to getting his senior pictures done and Joy at Tapestry Photographs did such a good job! It's going to be so hard to choose. I keep having to remind myself that I can't just order every one that I like.

Look What I Did! #4 or 5

I got this table for $5 at our neighborhood garage sale.



Ignore the garage floor. I can barely keep my kitchen floor clean.

I thought it was a nice shape and for $5 if it didn't end up looking nice it was not big deal.

THEN I got a brainstorm. That circle was just begging for a monogram! I'm a little bit monogram crazy right now.

Here it is now!



It's actually still in progress. I plan to add another coat of orange paint, sharpen up the edges with a sharpie or a furniture marker, and apply a few coats of polyurethane.

But I just had to post my brainstorm now. I have no self control.

Update! Here is the finished project!