Throwback Thursday 2

I had a lot of fun incorporating "Throwback Thursday" into the bliggety blog last week.  I thought I'd try it again!

This post was originally posted in December of 2012 (here) when the blog was a brand new baby.  I still love the encouragement that I felt when she sent it to me.  I still love the sentiment that it brings in.  I still feel the same way.  I still put out the same offer.  Anything making your heart sing lately?  Send it my way!  I'd love to hear about it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your Singing Hearts Again!

My bestie sent this to me via Facebook and I have to admit, I kind of loved it!  (126)



What I think that she was referring to when sending this and saying that it reminded her of me (so flattered!) was the post here about Giving.

Thank you friend!

If you have something that is making your heart sing, please send it to me or comment on any post on here and I would love to share it!

He is Good. All the Time

This post is one that I have taken days to write.  Over the span of two weeks.  It is a post that I wanted to walk away from, come back to and see if I still liked the message as it was being conveyed.

I recently experienced what turned out to be a minor legal incident.  Long, (long, long) story short, I made a mistake regarding the speed limit and a local school zone.  In my minivan.  On my way to teach children at a school.  I know, how do I get myself into these situations right?  Rather than get a ticket, I received a court date.

I put this on TBMB this week but felt it was also good here!

I try to be very honest here on the blog, but sometimes in blog/social media land, it's easy to paint a picture of "all is well"  and "nothing ever goes wrong."  It is my goal to have a little corner of this vast internet, and to make my corner a bright, happy, inspiring place in the midst of the darkness that the Internet (and world) can sometimes be.  It is not my goal to paint a fake picture of perfection.  Today's story is a prime example.

So, the legal incident:  At first I was ruined.  Useless.  Pouty.  Nervous.  Yikes.  I had no idea what to do or expect.  No control whatsoever.

I don't believe that God creates "pain", (and no, this does not compare to most of the pain out there) but I do think that he is really good at using situations like this one to make me (maybe you?) a better person.

You see, I had no other choice but to try out this "give it up to God" scenario that I've always heard about.  What does that mean anyway?  Give it to God.

Well, in this case, I think it meant:

"God, Kelly here.  I messed up.  I'm not asking you to swoop in and fix my problems like a genie or something, (although, it wouldn't upset me if you did).  But I do want you to know, that I feel like you've got me and I trust you.  Whatever happens here, please be with me and guide me.  Show me that you are in control here and help me to put it into your hands, whatever that means."

This didn't all come out right away.  It wasn't some bright light moment.  It first came the next day when I prayed with my in-laws about it.  After that, resources began to pop up.  People who knew what they were talking about in situations like this one.  People who could tell me what the day was going to look like and worst case scenarios.  Sermons about bad things happening to good people.  Personal bible time that reflected verses of God's promises.

Somewhere in that process my prayer became:

"God, Jesus promised rest in Him. (in Matthew) Please just keep me and my over-thinking ball of anxiety brain calm.  Help me find rest in you"   Whenever I got worked up about it after that, I remembered this moment and felt calmer.

The day finally came.   I was nervous, yes, but I wasn't going to lose it.  I was ready to accept that I made a mistake and that it would be okay despite potentially bad outcomes.  I think that that is what God did for me.  He prepared me, he calmed me, he had me, and I was keenly aware of that in the moment.

God didn't promise that I would have a perfect life.  In fact, it's the opposite.  He said, you WILL have hard times.  Those are not going to go away, that's life.  (that's not a direct quote).  But God does promise that He has me and loves me.

I don't think that the answer to prayer here was to just fix it.  I think that the answer to prayer here chalks down to worship.  Did I sing songs to God in the court room?  No.  That's not what I meant.  But I feel like my understanding of the fact that He is God and I am not was really deepened.  And that is what I believe worship means.  (which on a side note, also really allows me to understand Job a little better.)

As far as court goes:  The day went better than expected.  I am very impressed with the judge in the short time that I spent in the room.  He seemed very understanding and appeared to show discernment (not just with me).  Maybe that's why he's a judge.  I am responsible for a (pretty hefty, no pun intended, but not as bad as it could be) fine as well as driving school.

This situation wasn't good.  But He is.  All the time.

Message

Do you ever go to church and leave there thinking that there is no way you can take the information you got that day and NOT do something with it? (315)

That thought process was one of the reasons that I started this blog in the first place.  I was fueling up every Sunday at church and needed a way to get out into the world and actually apply or show, or even process through action, what I was/am still learning.  (More info on that here.)

This Sunday was one of those for me.  This Sunday our church was discussing the disciplines of service and stewardship, or as it was defined when you  put those together: generosity.  

www.bridgepointonline.org

We were challenged with the question of how we approach those disciplines.  I was reminded that I GET to serve, I GET to give, I GET to go to church on Sundays.  Not I have to.  What good is it to serve and love others with an attitude of obligation?  It accomplishes things, but is it really serving it's real purpose?  Is it really showing why I love?  Does my service and stewardship reflect a partnering with God?  Because if it did, there's no way I wouldn't be jumping up and down with the opportunity to do it.  (316)

I needed this reminder.  I needed to ask myself:  "Am I living a generous life?"

Then (and this is one of my favorite parts) we got to go over a story that I've heard my entire life, but with a fresh perspective.  (Mark 6:  Feeding the 5,000).  When the disciples were saying that the people needed to eat, Jesus told them to go feed them.  When they didn't have any food, Jesus said, GO and see the food.  Go first, then see. (This was very, very paraphrased, that's why I put the Mark 6 there.)  

God is so generous and so in control.  That information and reminder gets me pumped to GO and see, and to live generously.  Just thought I'd share :) (317)

My Inspiration Today

445

These are words that I am clinging to today.  I am a huge fan of finding inspiration through scripture.  Even small ones like this.  I love to pick verses to apply to different parts of my life.  I even pray verses specifically for my children.

Having said that, I feel that a lot of confusion is sometimes created when reading bible verses all by themselves like this one.  I feel that that is where many misconceptions and different interpretations come into play.  I should say, that this contributes, there will still be different perspectives.  Kind of like the verse that talks about it being harder for rich people to get into heaven than a camel going through the eye of a needle.  Without context that verse has been torn apart and misconstrued and put into a lot of weird places.

Either way, allow me to share this, Matthew 5:6 is coming from the Sermon on the Mount.  Basically, Jesus has been baptized, met some of his disciples, was tempted by Satan during his fast, and began his ministry.  He actually spoke these words in a section of the Bible (in the Sermon on the Mount) called the Beatitudes.

I feel that Jesus came and rocked the world.  He really shook up a place and time where religion had taken over and worship was being misplaced by rules and statuses.  He says a lot of things that aren't necessarily easy for strict law followers to grasp.  Things that this girl sometimes often has to revisit and put in check.  Things like, instead of an eye for an eye, turn your cheek.  Etc.

Now that there is a very (very,very, very) short and detail lacking Kelly version of a context I want to get to my point.  This verse is inspiring me today.  In a world of busy and crazy, I start to question what I am hungry and thirsty for.  What are my priorities?  For crying out loud, how many priorities am I going to have before nothing is a priority anymore?  What are my motives?  Are they focused on righteousness?  Jesus?  Others?  or are they focused on Kelly?

Oh, and don't forget the comma.  The Bible is so good at adding "so's" and "therefores" and commas.  Sometimes these also lead to misconceptions.  People stop reading and don't read really good parts!  Just like the bus driver tells us about the Pigeon driving his bus, "Don't forget the comma!"

This time the comma is the best part, this time it's a promise folks!  "for they shall be satisfied".(446)  Sigh.  Swoon.

How I am taking this today is:

"Kelly.  Hunger and thirst for righteousness.  This is how you will be blessed.  I promise, you'll be satisfied."

That is what I am pondering over today.  I hope it inspires you.

By the way, Dictionary.com says this:

right·eous

  [rahy-chuhs]  Show IPA

adjective

1.

characterized by uprightness or morality: a righteous observance of the law.

2.

morally right or justifiable: righteous indignation.

3.

acting in an upright, moral way; virtuous: a righteous and godly person.

4.

Slang. absolutely genuine or wonderful: some righteous playing by a jazz great.

Encouragement and a GIVEAWAY!!!

Encouragement is SUCH an important gift.  I was just talking to someone today about how important it is to actually share encouragement rather than hang on to it.

In a world (and an Internet) where everyone is seemingly so interested in sharing their negative opinions despite the reaction of the recipients, it is so refreshing to receive some good news, some "way to go's" and some "you are specials... Really!"

Look at this:

Or perhaps this:

Or if you're like me, look at my favorite:

You might be thinking, "Okay Kelly, these are pretty, but what do they have to do with encouragement?"  Well first let me inform you that these are all pictures of books.  I wanted you to see them before I explained them so that you could judge them by their ever-so-adorable covers.  Now I'll tell you what they are.

Kristen is the lovely and inspiring mama behind the also lovely and inspiring C'est Si Bon Blog (link). 412 She has inspired once again by coming out with an (obviously) amazing line of scripture books.

Kristen has personalized verses for special occasions (babies, weddings, anniversaries, every day, etc.) and puts people's names directly into the verses.  I have to say that I have been praying verses with my guy's names in them for quite some time now and it really does leave an impact!  Talk about encouragement!  How poetic it is to be using ancient life guidelines that are still so applicable today!

In her words:

"it is so good to encourage one another.

it is so good to love one another.

it is so good to be a true friend.

it is so good to celebrate one another.

it is so good to comfort one another.

it is oh. so. very. so. good.

and what better way to do all of these good things

than by sharing the Word of the Lord with one another.

each book is hand crafted using high quality chipboard albums.

luxe paper. & beautiful embellishments.

the pages are overflowing with scripture. with the recipients name entered in.

"for God so loved Baby Patrick, that He gave His only son . . ."

such a powerful way to remind ourselves of the promises we stand on.

i just love how personal the scriptures become when we add our name in."

(Link)

If you love these books and have someone in mind that you'd like to encourage with scripture, then I really encourage you to go and visit her Etsy shop (here) or to go and check out her blog where she really dives deep into the makings that go behind each gorgeous book. (link)

Now that you've done that I can tell you that this is where the "Giveaway" title of this post comes from.  Are you ready for this?

Ten Thousand Reasons Blog and C'est si Bon are proud to announce a first!  413  We are putting together a giveaway Scripture Book to one lucky reader!  Yes!  You can have the chance to get your very own scripture book if you follow the guidelines below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck to everyone!  Thank you for encouraging me!  Now go and encourage someone today!  

The Message

Source

   
"I am going on an adventure!" was my favorite line and part of the entire Hobbit movie that came out in December.  Bilbo is pummeling down the Shire Hill and he yells it out as he runs by his "comfortable" hobbit neighbors.  It is so exciting!  

I feel that I have been called into an adventure in life (295).  I also feel that everyone is or can be sent on an adventure.  My personal adventures right now include my family, my job, this blog, and some projects that I have going on.  I get into such a rut sometimes with my day to day but then I forget that it's all supposed to be an adventure!  

Writing my blog has really helped me with this.  It forces me to look at the positives of the day to day joys.  (296)

I was failing.  Poopy diapers, spit up, complacency, laziness, selfishness, and all things that made life feel mundane were getting the best of me.  Once I stopped making it about me and focused on this adventure that I've been given as well as the people that I share it with, both my perspective and my life changed!

All of this goes into our newest Message series at Bridgepoint Church.  We're talking about movies and how they can parallel into our lives.  This week was The Hobbit.  

The parallel was that Bilbo was like me (and maybe you).  He was comfortable and boring and then Gandalf came along and invited him on a life changing adventure.  He fought it, but eventually went and it changed everything.  

This isn't the first time that this parallel has been made, but Jesus was/is kind of like Gandalf.  He came and invited (and I believe, still invites) everyone on an adventure that changed history.  

The preacher asked us 2 questions today:

1.  What adventure is Jesus calling you to? and
2.  What is He calling you to leave behind?  

These are the main points and thoughts that I took away from today.  The Message really inspires me.  (297)  If you want to see/hear for yourself, then wait a couple of days and then go to this link.  

THE Message

Happy Easter to you!

My personal Facebook status reads this today:

"His story changed History."

His story is about sacrifice.

His story is about rescue.

His story does matter.

His story can will change your story.

All of these poignant thoughts came straight from our message at Bridgepoint Church today.  If you want to hear it (in a few days when the video is up) then go here.  It's filled with a lot of factual information about Jesus.

At least we're all looking!

If you would like to see what our previous Easters have looked like you can go here or here

The Message (1/20)

I don't even know where to start today.  Seriously.  

This week has left me feeling motivated, but also, challenged.  

I think I'll start here:

It's not about me.  

The message was really involved and had a lot of really great things to learn in it, but the phrase that just kept popping up was the one above.  It's not about my ego, or me.  Apparently that is what I needed to hear today.  Does anyone else need that reminder?  I think I might daily.

You see, I love to share my story with you on this blog, but I don't want the message that I am writing about to be about me.  I want for you to see Jesus working.  

I want to follow His example in my blog, in my home, in my job, with my babies, while I'm driving, everywhere.  That is my challenge this week.  

Goodbye Control Freak Kelly, hello surrendered Kelly.

As usual, this is just a small piece of what I learned this week.  There was A LOT more to this message.  Heck, this wasn't even the main theme of today, just what I took home.  I want to encourage you to check the message out HERE

The Message

*Thank you for being patient with me on my small holiday hiatus.  This much needed time with my guys has been refreshing and wonderful.  Now I am looking forward to getting back to normal.  

Oh my heavens!  I know I say this every week but this week's message was a good one!  We just started a new series (today) called Blueprint talking all about God's plan.  If there was ever a message series designed for me, then this would be it.

Their words in my words: (AKA the condensed version)

• The plan= Follow Jesus
• Matthew 4:19 "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."
• Matthew 28: 19-20 Same plan, different time
• Are you thinking, "Ugh, follow Jesus?" That means the Plan= "believing and behaving".  Well, I have thought this before too, but in actuality that's not it at all!  In fact, Jesus wasn't even much for "behaving" when it came to the cultural and religious rules/norms.  He got in there and really mixed things up.
• Allow the message to encourage you to look at it like this:  The Plan= adventure and abundance 
• A step further:  Adventure goes along with amazement and a little bit of fear.  How popular is the concept of "Do something everyday that scares you?" Don't believe me?  Allow these pinners who have nothing to do with today's message or this blog to tell you:



Pinterest Source HERE



Pinterest Source HERE

Pinterest Source Here

There is actually a lot more to this message than I am even sharing with you here today.  If you are interested in hearing the message, you can go HERE

Source HERE

Message

Source

As you may or may not know, we've been working our way through the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" song.

Today we focused on the last words of the chorus:  "You get what you need".

It's okay to want things, but what is our greatest NEED?  We were challenged to confess what our greatest need was to the one who provided a way for our greatest need to be met.

In fact, we wrote this quote down:  "Through the gift of Jesus, God has provided a way for our greatest need to be met."  

I believe what we also discussed, the fact that God will come through.  Always.(138)  I think of that as a promise and I will use that to help me sort through my day, week, life and focus on what my needs are and who has already met them.  

As usual, if you'd like to hear it spoken better you can go here for the message.  

Promise

In the Circle Maker I learned a new strategy that has really helped me.  (130)  I don't "read" the Bible.  I pray through it.

This has seriously changed my outlook on the Bible.  So here's what I do, I read until something (or few somethings) really jumps out of the page at me.  I circle or underline it and focus on what it is trying to say.  I feel like those points that are jumping out at me are what I need to hear that day, so I pray them.

With this new strategy, I don't just read, put it away and go on with my day.  I focus in on that "prayer" and it has really helped me in my life.  It's become useful and applicable.

For example,

"Keep it up and don't let anyone intimidate or silence you.  I'm with you and no one is going to be able to hurt you."  (Acts 18:8 MSG, paraphrased:  131)

Ever since reading this promise I have been reminding myself of it and have been more courageous.  I have brought up things that were bugging me (and had them resolved like grown ups do), I have stepped out of my comfort zone when it comes to including people in my thoughts.  I have even blogged! (132)

 He is far bigger than my minor social anxieties that I am carrying around and that's a promise! (133)

A picture of a braver me!  Haha.  This isn't really related, I just wanted a picture!

The Message

I loved the message this week.  I realize that I say that every week.  I have been looking for a way to share what I'm learning each week for such a long time now.  I've left Bridgepoint feeling so motivated so many times but not totally knowing how to channel that motivation.  I am so glad that I have found it through this blog!  I get to share it, and I get to re-process it all by putting it out there in writing.

Here is the condensed Kelly version:

~ "People looking for God find that God has actually been looking for them all along."

Everyone has heard the famous John 3:16 but we focused in on the part where it says that God GAVE his one and only son- God gives to us.  God pursues us.  Take this famous portion of the Sistine Chapel:

Limp and relaxed hand= Adam.  Stretching hand= God.  All Adam has to do is lift his finger, God is doing all the work.

The question asked was,
                                                         "Are you open to being found?"

Pastor Tim said so much more so much better.  He also offered some insightful and comforting words in response to the horrors committed on Friday.

What stuck with me in particular had to do with the Homework (haha) assignment.  Here's what it was:

1.  Make a move
2.  Do hard things
3.  Invest in your private time with God

I've been thinking about this assignment all day (and I plan to continue to think about it and try to act it out) and what it means to me.  I felt ready to move after today's message.  I can't wait to see where I'm going to be going.

Challenge yourself:  Watch today's message at the website here.  See where it takes you.

                             

The Weekend: The Doozie of a Weekend

I told you it was going to be a doozie!  So, thank you for being patient with me on Friday.  Hubby and I had an ALL day date day!  (101)

He was presenting at the Florida FCR-STEM Teacher conference and I got to go as a teacher attending the conference. (102)  My teacher partner graciously traded Monday for Friday with me so that I could go (103).

Because he was a presenter and most presenters weren't from here, there was a discount on the hotel rooms (104).  We decided to make an entire day out of it and have a much needed "stay-cation".  We haven't slept an entire night of sleep in over 7 months so we were so ready!

We went to the conference, got all dressed up (105), and had dinner at a SUPER yummy restaurant (106).  Seriously, every bite I put into my mouth was the best thing I had ever eaten!  This dinner was paid for in deposited loose change that you can read about here.

                                   

We woke up the next morning and did a 6 mile run downtown.  (107) This is my favorite running place in the entire world.  Well, that I've run at.  We see the Dali Museum, the Pier, lots of water, lots of runners, just lots of pretty!  There was another scheduled run downtown that morning, but I really wanted to sleep in and just have a morning on my own time schedule.

Coincidentally (maybe), our watch beeped 6 miles right at our favorite post-run bakery! (108)  So naturally, we stopped for Almond Croissants! (109)

                                     

By this time, we were missing our guys.  So we went home to spend the day with them.  (110)  Our besties came over and took our Christmas Card pictures in cute outfits. (111)  I promise you can see later!

Then it was off to one of our favorite Christmas traditions, the Boat Parade Party!! (112)  We see great friends, eat great food, and watch decorated boats go by while listening to a trombone group playing Christmas Carols from the veranda.  It's the life!

Sunday we went here for church.  Here's what I mainly got out of it this week, but first a disclaimer:

This is much better said from the speaker's words and this is a message that I feel can very easily be misconstrued out of context, so I will do my best, but before getting offended, listen to how he says it so that it can make more sense in context.  You can hear/watch it here.

1.  You try the things of the world, you don't try Jesus.  In other words, you go all in with Jesus.

2.  Just like Yoda says, "Do or do not.  There is no try."  and yes, Yoda was actually quoted in the sermon.  Pretty awesome stuff.

3.  He made a really good example of the point talking about falling off of a cliff and having a hand reaching out to save you.  You don't keep grabbing around or trying other things, you LEAP for that hand and hold on tight.  But again, listen to how he says it!

We wrapped the weekend up with our sweet friend's 1 year old birthday party.  The whole family had a good time.  (113)

So what did you do this weekend?  Did you take an entire day off from all of your responsibilities?  Did you hear anything particularly insightful from a speaker?  Any Christmas parties or traditions?  Any out of control yummy food?  I would love to hear about it!  Really.

The Weekend

Weekends are so refreshing!  (86)

This weekend:

87.  Friday was per the uje with our Besties.  Only this week, we got to go to a Teppanyaki restaurant and     C got to see the FIRE!  This was all very exciting!
88.  This was followed by dessert, SharkTank, and
89.  CHRISTMAS TREE CAKES!

A personal favorite!

                                   
90.  L has a successful Magnet Fair to promote our school/place of work.
91.  I did a 6 mile run.  Haven't done one of those since about May of 2011.  AND
92.  I PRed (personal record-ed) on my time.  Woop woop.
93.  Perfect weather.  Perfect.
94.  Lots of Christmas fun, but I want to save that for another post.
95.  Some R&R with my guys.
96.  This week's message from Bridgepoint that can be seen here, or recapped below:
        a.  We started a new series called Socks, Ties, and Underwear
        b.  The theme of today (and the series) is "You can't always get what you want, but..."  This is from the    Rolling Stones Song, which was sung by the band today.  Fun stuff.
        c.  Point:  "What we want in life and what we actually need are rarely the same thing."

Now it's time for another week!  This one's a doozie, but I am very much looking forward to it!

Message

Our church is a huge place of inspiration for me.  I could go on about all of the things I like about it.  For now, let me just say this:  (please hear me out here)

Now more than ever before, I really feel that by going to church I am refreshing myself and refocusing so that I can truly take what I learn during that time and apply it to the rest of my week.  I feel like that (among many other things) is really what church is for (70). 

I don't feel like it's a special building to go to in order to show off my "holiness" to all other church go-ers, just to take the information that I've gotten from the experience, tuck it into my bible and leave it there for next week.  I'm also not pointing that finger toward anyone but me.

I don't know if that is a personal maturation thing or what.  I also know that I am nowhere close to perfect, but I am learning.  I am in process.(71)

"In process" is where I am going with this.  Today's message was all about enjoying the process.  I really want you to hear/see it for yourself so I am going to attach the link to our audio/video messages.  

If you are not in a place where you can or want to listen/watch, that's okay.  You don't have to.  Some points of the message this week that really resonated with me were...

1.  Enjoy the process

2.  Happiness is temporary, Joy is eternal.

3.  Happiness is always followed by because (I am happy because...)  Joy is in spite of.  (this was a big one for me)

4.  God is not concerned so much with what we do, but rather what is going on on the inside.

I hope that you can find encouragement here.  I would also love to hear about your week!  What is making your heart sing today?  Please, let me know in the comments section.

HERE is the link to the messages.  If this week's message isn't up yet, be patient, it will be.  :)