McKinley Point Academy

By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. ~Proverbs 24:3-4

• Sep. 7, 2008 - Personal Stuff

Things have been very busy here. School this year is more teacher intensive. My new housekeeping plan is not working since we added school to our days.

Our "regular' activities are sneaking away my time and then you add the extra stuff...
The boys have scouts on Monday nights. I have Bible Study on Tuesday nights. We have home group on Friday nights. We are starting the Financial Peace course by Dave Ramsey on Sunday nights for 12 weeks. Mei has Girl Scouts on Friday afternoons. Both kids have Enrichment through our homeschool association twice a month on Tuesday afternoons. I host a monthly Saturday crop.

Then there is field trip planning for our homeschool association - once the initial push is over, it should slow down.

I am helping to plan a ladies' retreat for church. We are covering the highlights of the book As Silver Refined by Kay Arthur. I have several presentations to prepare. The retreat is less than 2 weeks away.

My Creative Memories business is taking off. In fact, I am meeting with someone this week about them signing up as a consultant. It is good to make money, but it too takes my time. On a side note, I devoted this past Saturday to scrapbooking and got 22 pages done in my 2007 album. Yay! That was May through September! See, even consultants get behind...

Our neighborhood women's club starts meeting this month. I am responsible for updating and printing the neighborhood directory. At least that is over by November!

I am feeling overwhelmed. Then there are blog posts to write and blogs and emails to read. No wonder one of my friends enjoys limiting her involvement in things.

Then there are all those projects around the house waiting to be done...

I would like to start a new Bible-based study called Character Makeover. Christian Women Take Root is starting it on Sept. 22. I think it can be really beneficial and yet, it might take too much of my time right now. More prayer needed here! If I do this, I plan to blog my daily thoughts on my blog in CWTR, so come join me there to read it.

God gave me the answer today. It is the same answer he showed me months ago. I needed to be reminded once again. Spending time with God and obeying the Spirit develops the Fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Gal. 5:22 & 25. I feel the need especially for self-control and so I recommit to spending time with God this week.

So did you like this blog post? Tell me if you want to read this personal stuff or not...

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• Jul. 23, 2008 - I saw God today...

Last night while eating dinner, I noticed this bird, in the picture, on my deck railing. She was flapping her wings as if to dry them or to stretch them. As I watched, a Carolina wren flew up to her with a seed in its mouth. It gave the seed to her by putting it in her beak. Then the wren flew back to my window feeder and got another seed. It flew back to the bird and fed her again. This happened several times. The bigger bird tried to fly to the feeder but was unable to land there. Although the bigger bird could fly some, I think its flight was limited. Finally they both flew off.

Female of unknown species

Carolina Wren

I was amazed to see how the little bird was looking after the big bird. It was clear that they were different species. It reminded me how we are to care for one another and of how God cares for us. It was cool!

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience....And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:12 and 17

I shared this story with my mom and she thinks the big bird is actually a baby cowbird. The cowbird mom lays her eggs in another bird's nest and then the other bird raises her young. Doesn't sound right does it?

Anyway, the wren was happily doing her job of raising the cowbird. Sometimes things don't go the way we planned, yet are we willing to do our best -- and feed the baby that really isn't ours?

Oh, Lord may it be so with me.

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• Jul. 17, 2008 - God and Squirrels

I was reading some older blog posts and realized I didn't blog my follow-up to the squirrel story. Here is what I wrote on June 16.
****
The squirrels have annoyed me for the last time - I hope! About 2 months ago, I bought a window bird feeder and we have really enjoyed it. Then the squirrels found it. They come up on the deck and climb my window frames or the French door frame. I tried using the red pepper powder but they still eat it. So I moved it to another window in the family room, away from the deck. Well, the squirrel jumps off the deck railing and most times makes it. Today he knocked down the feeder just minutes after I had filled it.

It is now on the window over my sink. I don't think he can jump from the railing. I will not be able to reach the window from the outside unless I use a ladder. However, since my windows tilt in for cleaning, I should be able to refill it from inside the house. We will see....

Otherwise, I may have to use a second story window - except we are not up there enough to enjoy the birds...

****
So it was up there about 2 days when it got knocked down - again. Now they are jumping from the other deck railing. I thought about putting it on the window one further away from the deck railing, but didn't get around to it. The following Sunday morning I was reading and praying when I heard this awful noise in the kitchen. The squirrel was on the window I was going to try next, looking around for the food.

I had been doing a study on listening and obeying God. It talks about taking everything to God, so I did. My prayer went like this - Dear Father, I am so frustrated by those squirrels. They keep eating all my bird seed. I really enjoy seeing the birds and Lord, what am I going to do about those squirrels? The birds are your creatures Lord and I love them. Then I waited....

Then the answer came - Beverly, the squirrels are my creatures too. So the feeder is back where we started. The squirrels can get to it without knocking it down. The birds can reach it. I can reach it...

And yes, the squirrels come, but the birds do too. Thank you Lord for helping me to see that you care about all of your creatures. Just as you care about all of your people, may I also care about everyone as you care about them.

The feeder...

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• Jun. 25, 2008 - Wedding Pictures

Finally, as promised. Here is our wedding picture. We were a young 23 and 22 years old. Want to hear a funny story about my first husband and my second husband?

Way back before the big day, James and I were both living in Kentucky. We wanted to have our wedding in Michigan. Of course, the requirements for wedding licenses were different in the two states. Michigan required blood tests and an exam by a doctor. After some searching, we found someone in Ky. willing to give us the proper blood tests and send them to my childhood doctor in Michigan. In talking to my doctor, he said that he examined the bride but only talked to the groom. So he really didn't need to see my dear hubby-to-be. So I went to Michigan a week before the wedding (a 6 hour trip). I was to see the doctor on Monday, take the forms to the court house for the license, pick it up on Friday, and get married on Saturday. James was driving up with friends on Friday.

So Monday, the doctor does his thing and as he is signing forms he says: wait, I can't sign James's form because he has to sign it front of me. Well James is in Ky with no way to get there - a friend driving up from Georgia to be his best man was picking him up. So there is no way to get a license before Saturday. I call the minister that is to marry us and explain the situation. I beg him to marry us anyways, because after all - who is the true authority of marriage - God or the law? He agrees to marry us without the legal paperwork with the promise we will get married legally later.

James arrives late Friday afternoon. We have rehearsal on Saturday morning, play mini-golf in the afternoon, and get married that evening. Everything goes off as planned. Sunday afternoon we load up the car with the gifts and drive back to Ky. Monday morning we go the court house to apply for a marriage license (there is a 3 day waiting period). That afternoon we head off on our honey moon - a camping trip through the mountains of Ky and Tenn.

The following Monday we pick up our license and after work we go see a Justice of Peace. One of our friends that was unable to go to the wedding comes along as a witness, The Justice's wife is the other witness. The guy has glasses as thick as the bottom of Coke bottles. James and I are laughing the whole time. We take our wedding rings off - hand them over for the ceremony and then put them back on. Poor Justice. We did not explain what was going on to him. We just stood there and laughed.

And oh, James forgot to tell his parents about it. A friend of his rode home with his parents and on the way, casually mentioned that wasn't it a shame about our wedding not being legal? I can't imagine how the rest of that trip went...

So I married my first husband on June 11 and my second husband on June 20. We celebrate the 11th. James enjoys joking about my first husband. He has been a wonderful husband to me for 25 years.

Wanta know one of the coolest things about him? I can't sing - I have no idea if I am on pitch, on key, etc. Not once in 25 years has James ever said anything to me about my singing. James can sing. Now that is something to endure!

So here we are 25 years ago:

And here we are just 2 years ago. James was tickling me when Paul took the picture. This is one of my favorites of us. Sorry, our recent pictures have not been as good.

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• Jun. 9, 2008 - Frogs - One of God's Wonders

We set our frogs free today except for the smallest one. We are going to keep her for awhile. Mei named it Mei so it must be a her. They really seemed ready to go.

Jump! Jump! You are free!

Last Friday, we attended a dance recital that several of dear friends were in. My dear friend Jill has two daughters that participated. This past January, her daughter Erin asked for prayer in guidance in picking a song for a dance solo. It was right after I had asked God what it meant to glory him. He answered by saying this next song on my MP3 player was how. It was "In Wonder" by the Newsboys. I almost cry every time I hear it now because I know it is from God. I suggested it to Erin. I could just see her twirling to the song in my mind.

Her dance was accepted and she danced it for me and the audience on Friday night. It was so beautiful. Erin came up with the dance herself. Her sister helped her with the closing movements, which Erin forgot - so she made up her own movements for the end. That is my favorite part because it seems more worshipful and personal. I was quite a way back in the audience so I got some heads in the pictures, but here she is... A wonder of God... Thank you my dear sweet sister in Christ.

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• Apr. 25, 2008 - I AM PURPLE!

I always said I am purple. There is no skin color difference - we are all purple. I have a friend that claims purple does not exist because he can not see it. But it is there - it is the color we all are underneath our skin. It is the color that makes us one.

I do know I am NOT GREEN! Okay, enough with the green stuff. I have decided I am anti-green because of all the advertising. Everybody is Green now! First there was organic - which I can hang with. Now it is green - green cleaners, green cars, green companies, and even green video game manufacturers. Let's all put the word GREEN on our product so that everyone that buys it will feel good about themselves. Yuck!

So I am purple. I am a purple person doing her part by saving not one, but two blue recycle bins of recyclables from the big land fill every week! And one of those is just all that junk mail that keeps coming to my house!

I have used organic based cleaners for the past 17 years! Where have the rest of you been?

We cut our water bill in half in the past 4 months by getting a front loader washer and by not flushing all the time. We also catch the cold water in a bucket while the shower is heating and use that to flush with. We take quick showers. If I indulge in a full bubble bath once or twice a month, then we use that to flush with for the rest of the week. We just got a rain barrel for watering our outside plants.

We have programmable thermostats to keep the house warm and cool effectively. We turn out lights. And some day when all those incandesents burn out, they will be replaced by fluroscent ones. We track our water, electric and natural gas usage from month to month and year to year. We are down! Yeah!!! More money for pizza!

When my dh remembers to empty our collectors, we even carry organic matter out to the compost heap. Old moldy bread, apple cores, etc. go flying off the deck - gotta feed those deer, squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, and other critters that live in my backyard.

So am I against saving the environment? Heck, no.

I am just anti-GREEN! I AM PURPLE!

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• Mar. 20, 2008 - What I thought of Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt

I was looking over my old posts and realized I had not followed up on this book.

First, let me say I like Anne Rice's writing style. I enjoyed her early vampire books until they got too violent and over-the-top for me. So I was eager to see how this read. I still enjoy her style of writing.

I had read reviews of Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt that questioned the accuracy of her story. It is fictional, but she claims to have based it on the Bible, the Apocrypha, Roman Catholic doctrine, and the opinions of writers she thought were believable.

I like her Mary and Joseph a lot and thought they were believable. However, I don't agree that Mary was always a virgin. Nor do I believe that James, the brother, of Jesus was from Joseph's previous wife. I believe he was Mary's son, Jesus's younger brother. If you can get around the issue of who James' mother was and his birth order, I thought her James quite believable.

I didn't like her many aspects of her Jesus. Her Jesus, at age 7, does not know who he is. No one will tell him what happened at his birth and so the book is about his quest to figure that out. Because he doesn't know who he is or what powers he has, the book opens with him accidentally killing a bully. To me that is sin and the Jesus I know did not sin. There are other examples, but that one was the most offensive to me.

I do have a good recommendation for the author's note at the end of the book. It is her story of how she came to writing about Jesus, how her research restored her faith in God, and her conversion. It is interesting. The paperback version has an additional update on the emotional impact of her conversion and answers some of the more frequent questions she got from readers.

So get the book from the library and read her testimony. That part is cool. Go to Amazon.com and pull up the book to read the other reviews. Then read the story if you are still interested.

I am on the second chapter of the newest book, Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana. So far, I like what I have read. If her description of the culture, people's attitudes and actions are correct, then it really does shed some light unto some Bible passages. For example, there is a scene where two young boys are stoned by the community without a trial and without anyone but the rabbi questioning if the reasons are true. In her story, Jesus has not reveled himself yet, so he is silent and does nothing. If the people of that time & place were really that quick to stone people for sin, alleged or otherwise, then Jesus being able to stop the stoning of the woman caught in adultery was pretty amazing.

Look for a full report when I finish the book.

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• Oct. 11, 2007 - I am Pooh!

I saw this on LadybugKim's blog. Kim was Kanga, which I thought I might be, but I am Pooh! Click Here to take the quiz. Leave me a comment and let me know which character in the 100 Acres Woods you are.

p.s. I even went back and changed a few answers and I still came out a Pooh.

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• Sep. 21, 2007 - My get away...

I am off to a scrapbook weekend today. I can't wait! I am hosting 7 other ladies in a 3-bedroom condo. We will eat M&Ms, stay in our p.j.s and crop to we drop!

I'll blog about school when I get back.

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• Mar. 22, 2007 - Are you a FUN mom?

Okay, today I just feel like writing. Moms are many things, but one thing I think they should be is FUN!

What does that mean? I don't think moms should be serious all the time. I think we need to remember what it is like to be a kid and have fun. Yes, we have to discipline and disciple our children. But I also want to be remembered as a FUN mom. So what do you do to be a FUN mom?

Some of my favorite things to do:

-- when returning the shopping cart to the cart corral, have your child sit down in the basket and hang on tight, look both ways, do a count down, and then run them to the cart corral. Just be sure to stop before you run into the other carts! I once had a young man in the parking lot say, "Gee I wish you could have been my mom!"

-- staying up as late as they want on Friday night, if we don't have a commitment the next day.

-- blowing all the eating rules for special occasions like birthday sleep-overs -- yup, load them up with candy and soda and let them stay up all night.

-- climb on the rocks, swing on the swings, pretend I am 10 again.

-- teach my kids goofy things like how to hang a spoon from your nose and gargle Jingle Bells.

I saw a book recently called 101 Secrets a Cool Mom Knows. I read some of things to my kids and asked if I was cool since I do some of them. My oldest just smiled at his silly mom.

So what do you do to be FUN??? Post your response here!

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• Jan. 22, 2007 - Seven weird things about me

I was tagged by lindygirl.

THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the 7 weird things about you. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 7 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 7 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says you are tagged in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

Here we go:

1) My initials growing up were BAR, which is okay, until - remember those preppy sweaters and shirts from the early 80's where the last initial is big and in the middle? Yeah, I would have been a BRA.

2) When I got married, I could have been a BAG, but I had had enough. Now I am BRG.

3) I am mostly shy, until you dare me to do something outside of normal. Yes, my husband and I have been the only couple on the dance floor many, many times. He loves to dance and if I won't dance with him, he will find someone that will.

4) I gave up (okay, they laid me off) a middle management job and salary to become a SAHM (almost 5 yrs ago) and now a home school mom (this is my first year hs-ing). Who would have guessed I would love it so much?

5) My kids gave me this one - I sometimes wear my slippers when I go pick up my son from ps.

6) I actually enjoy eating sushi, escargot, and calamari.

7) My kids said I can't remember their names all the time - but they don't realize that is normal for parents! So instead here is #7 - I have weird toes. They all look okay except that the little toe on each foot is less than 1/2 as tall as the toe next to it.

And there you have it!

I tag: Bakermama, My Best Friend in Texas, Lisa G, Mommy4Cs, alisarussell, mamato12, Chinamom1.

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• Oct. 31, 2006 - One Hundred & Fifty Things

I got this from Kari's blog and was suprised how many of these I had done. So here are my answers!

The object of this list is to highlight the things that you have done. Feel free to borrow this and complete it on your blog.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain - okay parts of one using a path
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped - Always wanted to do this - maybe some day

11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment - in the middle of a sermon with my friend Tina over her husband snoring!
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse - in grade school using box with a hole
34. Ridden a roller coaster - last Spring I rode the Hulk at Universal Studios not once, but twice with my 15 yr old son!! Also did #31 at the same time.
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day

38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer - temporarily when our computer broke and we had to transfer data from one to the other - and hey it even worked when I installed it all on my own!
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk - must of done this in college!
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign - sort of - I was with someone that did this.
46. Backpacked in Europe - in England while in college
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach - would love to but my hubby finds the ocean scary at night!!!
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland - on a business trip with hubby
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero

58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football - mostly I stood around on the field while playing with the cute guys from my dorm
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China - in 2003 when we went to get my daughter!
67. Started a business - Creative Memories
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken - well, he broke my heart at the beginning, but then he stopped fighting it and we have been happily married for 23 yrs!
69. Toured ancient sites - Studied in England one summer - saw Stonehedge, Cantebury Cathedral, etc.

70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married-----June 11, 1983

73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark - my hubby says he is sure I did this

88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children - still raising!
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi - love it!
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read - the dude who wrote Anna Karinna, also read War & Peace for fun.
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair

146. Dyed your hair - temporarily orange for Halloween one year
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

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• Sep. 18, 2006 - My Top 3 Priorities

A fellow homeschool mom challenged us other homeschool moms to list our top 3 priorities. I shared them on her blog, but I also thought I would share them here. So here they are!

1) Love God and do his will for my life. This includes spending time with him via prayer, reading his word, and worship.

2) Love and serve my family by being the best wife and mom I know how to be. This includes making an effort to learn how to do a better job of being wife and mom by studying and reading the Bible, learning from others, and of course, lots of prayer.

3) Show the heart of God to my sphere of influence. My sphere includes my friends, my neighbors, my aquaintances at the places I frequent (fitness ctr, Kroger, bank, etc.), and of course, my church. This year God has shown me it includes the adoption Lifebook group I am leading and the local play group of moms with adopted Chinese girls. Just recently he showed me it also includes all the members of all the Yahoo groups I hang out in. You may never know how you might touch someone else's life by your actions and your comments!

In case you are wondering what I mean by "show the heart of God" to others, here is what I have recently come to learn that it means:

1) bless the people and places I influence

2) fellowship with them - listen to them

3) minister to their needs - in the name of the Lord

4) let them know the kingdom of God is nearby

Okay - now I just need to get busy and try for 100% in all of these areas!

What about you? What are your 3 top priorities?

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• Sep. 10, 2006 - God's Plan for my life

I participated in an AMAZING event this past weekend with my whole family. We attended Transformation NC, put on by Harvest Evangelism.

It was all about becoming marketplace ministers, where the marketplace is the combination of business, government, education. We learned how God wants each of us to show God’s heart and minister to those around us 24 hrs a day/7 days a week. Our real job of living for God starts on Monday morning when we go to work and goes through the following Sunday. The stories of how people have applied this are incredible! Whole cities and states are being transformed by Christ because Christians are willing to pray for and bless those they work and live with.

I have been struggling recently with what God wants me to do with my life. Since I graduated from college I have worked full-time. When we decided to have children, I continued to work. My last position was at a middle manager level in Information Technology at a large pharmaceutical company. I was proud of my accomplishments and my salary. But my heart's desire was to be a stay-at-home mom. Because I made more than my husband, I thought it could never come true. But God had other plans and four years ago I got laid off. My husband and I decided I should not return to work.

Since then I have really grown spiritually. I have learned that my self-worth comes from God and not from my position or status within society. I learned that being a full-time mom and wife is more fun and a whole lot less stressful than working full-time and being a part-time wife and mom. I love it!

But lately I have been listening and reading various things that are leading me to same question. Just what is God’s plan/dream/sweet spot for my life? What does God really want me to be when I grow up?

I can look back at my life and see that he is preparing me for something. Something big I think. But what is it You know those scenes from Lord of The Rings where they were in the dwarf caverns and there were those long narrow arches over the deep, deep crevices? I have thought for a long time that I am standing on one of those, about half way across. I can look back and see where I have come from. I can see all the stones God placed to get me where I am. But then I look forward I don’t see where I am going. I don’t know where the other edge is. Sometimes I don’t even see that there is a next stone to step on. I guess that is what faith is all about - believing God will provide the next step for me.

This weekend I realized that perhaps I was already doing what God had planned for me to do. That I am living my dream. At first this seemed unbelievable to me. But the more I think about it and pray about it the more it seems right. Yes, God has other plans for me that I don’t know about, but right now, right here – I am living in his will. I also think he is showing me a few more stones I will soon be stepping on. I am starting to see some ways that I can have a ministry that extends beyond my family and my church. I want so much to be part of something BIG for God. It is exciting!

Thanks for reading this far. Typically I am a quiet person that doesn’t share too much. But I thought God was asking me to share this with you. I hope it inspires you to ask God what plans and dreams he has in store for you. What does God want to be when you grow up?

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