I was reading my sweet blog friend Stephanie's post today and immediately knew that I had to share the good things going on in our life too.

 

Sometimes I feel like I don't want to be too personal on here. I mean I know this is MY blog, so it's usually about ME, ME, ME, but really this blog isn't about me.

It's all about what God is doing in my life and that's the biggest message I want you to get from this.

To God be the glory.

 

I told you about the time God provided us with a FREE building right?

If you haven't read it yet, I'll wait.

Go check it out here.

 

Amazing right??

 

As you might also remember several months ago, Teddy took a HUGE leap of faith and left his well paying state job to go out on his own and start up a heating and cooling business. Our major source of income gone. We had some savings, but it went quickly. We have some here and there work but not much. I wish that I could say I leave it all up to God and never worry about our bills would be a big fat lie.

I do know that God is taking care of us. In fact people have come out of the woodwork and helped us here and there. We know that God is doing that.

He put dear friends and family in our lives to help us and we are forever grateful for that.

There are months when we aren't sure how the bills are going to get paid, but they do.

I complain about dirty dishes, but it means we're eating. We haven't missed a meal yet.

Even our chickens have started laying eggs again!

God has literally provided us with everything we need and then some.

He allowed us to go to the C3 conference in Dallas, stay in a nice hotel and even drink a few Starbucks!

I mean is He an awesome God or what?!

 

When life starts feeling desperate and you aren't sure which way to go. Look up!

Get out the greatest and most popular book ever written and flip thru the pages.

The Bible tells about His love on every page.

 

God is with us.

He is in this life with us.

He is working behind the scenes, gathering just the right people at just the right time to take care of you.

Don't be frustrated. Be thankful.

Be thankful for the right now, exactly where are you.

There truly is value in your struggle.

And instead of asking "why me?", just ask God to open your heart so that you can see the value in your current situation and thank Him for His works in you because He is preparing the way for us and taking us to great heights.

You can be sure of this!

 

" Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him."

Jeremiah 7

 

" Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

Matthew 11: 28-29

 

We are still waiting for the appraiser to finish his paperwork for our building. Our goal is to be in that building before Easter, but God's timing is really what we're going for.

We could really use your prayers and support as right now we are still meeting at the fairgrounds and have to set up and tear down each Sunday. Being in our own building will be such a blessing.

In the mean time we are praising Him for what He has already worked out for us and the fact that we have a building to worship in is amazing in itself.

 

I hope you have a GREAT week!

 

Back Roads Are For Driving

Every once in awhile my man will have an errand and need to go for a little drive down a dirt road somewhere.

And every once in awhile, we just drive down a dirt road because we can :)

I never knew the significance or joy that could be had while driving down a dirt road with your hubby in his old pick up truck.

We sometimes grab a Sonic drink, hold hands and daydream about our life on the farm someday.

There truly is something so wonderful about it.

And don't let me misguide you, our Subaru Outback has made many a trip  down dirt roads too.

A couple of weeks ago after some snow we took such a ride.

I like to really soak in the environment and the scenery.

I never grow tired of seeing the barns and cows in the field. Something I didn't grow up seeing and can appreciate so much more now that I'm not so "citified". :)

Even on a gloomy day our countryside is beautiful.

 

Sometimes a person just needs to get out of their regular environment and into nature.

Something that doesn't always come natural to me, but a much needed break.

 

 

I recently read in my "Jesus Calling" devotional by Sarah Young this excerpt that is so perfect:

" You are feeling weighed down by a plethora or problems, both big and small. They seem to require more and more of your attention, but you must not give in to those demands. When the difficulties in your life feel as if they are closing in on you, break free by spending quality time with Me. you need to remember who I AM in all My Power and Glory. Then, humbly bring Me your paryer and petitions. Your problems will pale when you view them in the Light of My Presence. You can learn to be joyful in Me, your Savior, even in the midst of adverse circumstances. Rely on Me, your Strenth; I make your feet like the feet of a deer, enabling you to on the heights."

 

Habakkuk 3:17-19

" Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strengthy; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights."

 

In all of our circumstances, BIG and small, we MUST celebrate Him.

If you are spending only a small part of your day with Him, you will only get a small part of Him.

If you are devoting a BIG part of your day with Him, you will get a BIG part of Him.

 

Take time today to enjoy the small things, because each thing is a blessing, sometimes in disguise.

 

We recently got back from a trip to Texas that literally changed us.

We were so blessed to attend a conference called C3 in Dallas at Fellowship Church.

I will be blogging about that soon!

 

It's cold and icy here in our little corner of Arkansas today.

I hope you are warm and cozy wherever you are.

 

Have a great day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brand New Church Salem- Temporary Home

This past Sunday was our first official Sunday for Brand New Church Salem campus. We met in a building at the fairgrounds instead of my living room.

To say we were excited would definitely be an understatement!

 

We met up at the building on Saturday along with the help of Sonic Happy Hour and a late night pizza run. Because really, what brings people together better than Jesus and food? Can I get an Amen?! :)

 

 

The guys worked hard plugging in wires, connecting this and that, setting up mikes and speakers.

And because we are classy ( and also frugal right now ) we used a sheet for our projector screen. It worked perfectly!

 

After a long day of getting things set up and lots of trips back and forth to our homes and Dollar General for this and that, we hit it hard early the next morning too.

 

 

We got the snack/drink table all set up. And my mom loaned us an olive green percolator from the 70's. Praise God it worked!

Starbucks never tasted so good!

 

And I had the sweetest little helpers who were so eager to stack up the fruit and snacks on the platters. But they were truly most interested in helping with the coffee.

And then once they had poured in the grinds and plugged it in- "Is the coffee ready yet?"

" How about now?"

Love that!

That's how we do it at Brand New Church Salem.

We teach the kids how to brew coffee:)

#futurebaristas!

#trainthemupright

 #notheydidnotdrinkanythatimawareof

 

 

And also because we like to keep things interesting, we made a few calls on our banana phones!:)

Hello!

 

The worship guys practiced (sorry for the blurry picture).

And things really started moving in the right direction.

 

 

 

 

But before all this happened, the devil really tried sneaking in to steal our joy.

 

You see the devil likes to do that sort of thing.
He thrives on darkness and ugly situations. And he really jumps at the chance to kick us while we're down or prey on our weakness and doubts. The devil does not want us to succeed in spreading the love of Jesus. He doesn't want everyone in Salem or any other town for that matter, to fall at the feet of Jesus and get saved from the flames of Hell.

He wants us to sit around in our misery, despair and brokenness.

What a jerk.

 

We were all tired and stressed and couldn't quite see the end picture. Things weren't going the way we thought they should and some of us were feeling down right defeated and ready to give up.

The devil LOVES that.

In fact he was probably giving himself a pat on the back.

 

But guess what?
We serve an awesome God who NEVER abandons us.
Especially when we are down and out and can't see the light, He still shines!

 

Romans 8:31 says it so perfectly.

"What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?"

 

Psalm 18:28-29

"You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. With your help I can advance against a troop;with my God I can scale a wall."

 

We had the upper hand in this situation. We chose to let the devil defeat us in that moment.

We worried unneccesarily.

We had our own expectations and weren't fully relying on God.
God is our constant companion! He goes before us to prepare the way AND He walks alongside of you.
There really could never be a more constant Companion.

 

Before the night was over,we came to our senses.

 

" For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lifet you up in their hands, so that you will not stike your foot against a stone."

Psalm 92:11-12

 

"The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace."

Psalm 29:11

 

He has brought us so far and already opened so many doors for us in Salem. And we are not alone.

He surely isn't going to kick us to the curb now.

What we really should have done is stop everything, got down on our knees and prayed to the ONE and ONLY God who is in charge of it ALL.

 

 

 

Are you struggling with something today? Or feeling defeated by life and circumstances?

I want you to know that I pray for each and every person who's eyes read this blog. I pray that somehow, someway it will brighten your day if you need it. Or it will be a resource of hope if you need it.

And if you ever want to ask questions or dive deeper into God's love for you, I would be so pleased and honored to chat with you.
The greatest gift is available to YOU 24/7, 365 days of the year.
And it's FREE.
No strings attached.
Who wouldn't want it?

You can leave a comment or find my email information on the sidebar.

 

For all of you reading this today, I have a small favor with a BIG reward.

Would you pray for our little town? Would you pray for our church who is ready to do BIG things in people's lives and in our town? Would you pray for strength amongst our church and it's leaders? And would you pray that people will flood the doors of our church seeking Him?

 

I am nearly in tears as I type this and think about how far I have come in my walk with God. I am so grateful to have this platform here to share His love with you in this very dark and depressing world.

Thank you for reading my little blog and for praying.

 

You mean so much to me!

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Virtual Coffee And A Quick Trip

Hello out there!

 

I'm joining up with the lovely Amy of Lucky Number 13 today.

She's does her Virtual Coffee dates on Tuesday.

You should join us?!

 

 

I'm on my second giant mug of coffee- Starbucks with cream and sugar please, and I'm ready to chat.

How have you been lately? Anything new?

 

Last week my mom and I made a quick trip to the Chicago suburbs to visit my grandparents.

And really, there isn't anything quick about it, but with good conversation, several Starbuck stops and a few pit stops we made it up there in about 10 hours.

And can I just say, it was FREEZING up there!

 

 

Burrrrr!

 

We were so glad to head south and back to warmer weather. Apparently living in Arkansas has made me a wimp to the cold.

 

And it wouldn't be a trip up north without eating @ Portillos.

 

And like the picture says- it truly is THE place to eat.

 

A Chicago dog with everything on it please.

Did you know that an authentic Chicago style hot dog does NOT have ketchup on it?

Instead they have fresh tomatoes along with onion, relish, a big dill pickle, celery salt and always on a poppy seed bun. Yum!

In my opinion it pairs best with a cold root beer. But that's just me:)

And please do not comment on the ingredients of a hot dog. Ok?

Thanks :)

 

When you are in the Chicago suburbs it's easy to get wrapped up in the hustle and bustle. Something I prefer NOT to do anymore.

 

 

But outside our hotel room window was this serene view.

 

 

But no matter where I am, this ALWAYS makes me happy!

Are you with me?

 

And so, that's about it.

 

Oh but wait.

There's this picture too:)

 

Say whaaaaaaaat?!!!!?

 

Happy Tuesday!