God Stop Friday

I've known since Tuesday what I wanted to share with you this week. In fact, I've avoided posting so I didn't slip up and tell you early!!

The women's ministry team I'm part of (Freedom's Call) has an event this Monday, Sept. 22 in Charlotte. It is the first time since I've joined the team that all five of us have been at an event together. To say that we are excited is an understatement. God has done quite a bit of work in all five of our lives over the last year preparing us for our "now". It is a year of testimony that sends me to me knees each time I think about it.

Jill our teacher, asked the worship team earlier in September if any of us still had our wedding dresses and more importantly, could we still get into them!! Well I'll have you know....I do and I can...here's the proof!!



THIS is a God Stop in and of itself, but this isn't what I'm about to pop out of my skin to tell you! (Maybe pop out of the dress...!)

At the end of Jill's teaching she wanted one member to sing "Beauty for Ashes" and for one of us to come out in our wedding dress.

Well.....I could get in, but walking around was another story :) Things, ummm, change after babies. ;)

Anyway...Monday night we came up with a really cool thing to go on during the song, took a video of it and felt like it was awesome. We had chills just watching it.

Jill loved what we had come up with, but still felt like we needed someone IN THE DRESS. SO...

We began to pray. Since we were less than 7 days away from the event, renting a dress was out of the picture.

One of our worship team members (the girl that will actually be the main character in this drama) was running errands with her husband on Tuesday. While he stood in the LONG line at the tag office, she ran across the street to a thrift store just in case they had a dress we could use.

They had three. (Understand, Amy is about an inch shorter than me. Dresses that fit us don't exist!)

Of the three dresses only one was anywhere close to fitting her so she grabbed it to try on.

It was perfect! It would slide over her "bag lady" clothes she would begin this drama in. PLUS it was pretty, I've seen it and it is very pretty!

She looked at the price tag $69.

$69 she didn't have.

Then she noticed a strange yellow sticker on the tag. She asked the clerk what that meant. This was her response...

"For today that dress is .99"

99 CENTS GIRLS!! 99 CENTS!!!!!

When she checked out she wound up paying $1.05 for a wedding dress.

Now...do you think it was any coincidence that Tuesday was the day THAT dress would be marked down? I don't. That was nothing but God Almighty showing off for Freedom's Call.

He was our Provider once again.

I can't wait to see what He does in Charlotte on Monday night!!

Situations

I haven't posted in several days. Don't get me wrong I've wanted to, but for whatever reason, I did not feel as if I could. These are a few of the things that have been occupying my heart since Friday:

Hurricanes, cancer, epilepsy, crohn's, suicide, divorce, abuse, financial distress....

These are all things that are on my prayer list. Some were added in the last day or two.

Each one of those words represents a person and/or a family I care deeply about. When I think of these words, a face pops into my mind. A few of those faces wake me up in the night.

With everything in me I want to "do" something. Something that my human hearts says is more than praying. I feel helpless because there are somethings I just can't fix.

You probably "got" this concept a long time ago but, I'm a slow learner! (My parents will verify this!) When we pray we tap into power and resources we can't begin to understand. I wonder if we will ever really understand just how powerful our prayers are?!! Why do downplay prayer? Why do we act as if it's the last thing we can do? It's the BEST thing we can do!!

So tonight as I look at all those situations and see those faces affected by these life altering circumstances, I am thanking God for being God. I'm thanking Him for loving and caring for each person as if they were the only one on the planet.

He is able. He can handle it. He is it. And I am humbled that the great I AM hears me when I talk to Him. He HEARS ME!! He HEARS YOU!

God Stop Friday

My, now real life, siesta Patty hosts God Stop Friday each week. It's designed to be a post to document something God has done for you this week. I think of it kind of like a virtual Stone of Remembrance.

You know that last night we had a Bible study here at my house. It was such a sweet time. I knew almost from the point Carol asked me to lead, what it should be on. After a couple days of praying, God confirmed it.

I began to pray that God would bring only the women He wanted here. I would rather have 3 women who really want to seek Him than 15 who just want to chat and talk shopping. NOT THAT THERE IS ANYTHING WRONG WITH TALKING SHOPPING, I just knew that this night wasn't going to be that type of fellowship.

So anyway, Carol calls me around 4:15 to say that it looked like it was only going to be the two of us plus Amy and possibly our friend Amanda. I was completely okay with that because as I said, I had asked God to bring who HE wanted. Was I disappointed that more ladies weren't coming? Yes. But I was trusting Him.

Carol and I hung up and I began to pray for one lady in particular. She's been on my mind all week long and I felt in my heart that she was supposed to be there.

I began to pray that God would move whatever mountain was keeping her from coming. Then I asked if she was to come, that He would work it out for her husband to come home earlier than normal and tell her to go ahead.

I sat out five plates, five forks and five glasses, not knowing who was going to show up.

Carol and Amy arrived, Amanda arrived and then in casual conversation Carol says that this other sweet lady was going to come.

I told them what I prayed and then Carol went on to tell us that our friend had called at the last minute to say that her husband came home a little early and told her to go to Bible study if she wanted to.

HELLO GOD!!!

He used her to remind me that YES! He hears and answers our prayers. Sometimes faster than others, but He does answer!

These five ladies blessed my socks off last night. We had a great time of fellowship and they made the Bible study come to life for me.

I will remember this particular Bible study as the one where I couldn't concentrate and felt SO inadequate...BUT I will treasure what God did between the five of us in my living room. He really is Alive and Active, we saw evidence of that Thursday evening.

Just a Quick Thought

Tonight is Bible study at my house.

Here is one of the things we're going to talk about...

God did not deliver us (forgive, save, restore) to stay in the same spot. He delivered us from something to take us TO something.


Oh and that word I referenced here is Promise.

I wish I had thought of this earlier, but I didn't. Even if you NEVER comment, and I know who you are, ;) would you please leave me a comment and tell me about one of God's promises that has been "life" to you. I would love to be able to read a few tonight...with my real life siesta's.

Have a great Thursday!

What Shelly the Turtle Taught Me

Our weekend was over so fast and we had a hard time getting started this morning. About the time we were all ready to just go back to bed, I looked out the window and "Shelly" was back.

Shelly is a turtle that Chad found in the street in front of our neighborhood last week. He brought it home to squeals from Emma who has ALWAYS loved turtles. (in fact her favorite dress as a toddler was a sweet little bishop style smocked dress with turtles around the neck...too cute)

So anyway, Shelly escaped from our backyard last Wednesday while we were all at church. There were many tears. Emma expressed her grief by drawing a picture of the turtle crawling in the grass and writing this above her..."Shelly. We lost her." Oh the drama.

Back to this morning, I looked out the loft window and saw Shelly, or one of her cousins, hanging out in the road in front of our house. I jumped out of my chair and said "GIRLS!! SHELLY is out there!"

In not time, we all found shoes and were sitting with this turtle on our driveway. Emma asked her all sorts of questions. I wasn't convinced that this turtle was the same one that Chad had brought home, but the girls were "absolutely sure". They kept saying that's her mark, we KNOW that this is Shelly. Well okay, who am I to argue with these two...and after the first 45 minutes of school, I really didn't have the energy to argue!

We sat there for quite sometime just watching this turtle. Bless it's heart it was scared to death. I asked Chad later if "Shelly" from last week had a specific mark on her belly. He said, yes and that he had shown it to the girls. They were right. They had spent very little time with this turtle but they knew there was something special about her.(or him)

I was reminded that there are times when we, as Christians are drawn to each other. We may not know each other very well BUT we recognize the bond we share, the Holy Spirit. That was made clear to me tonight.

We came home from an errand to find the entrance to our neighborhood blocked by firetrucks and police cars. Our hearts sank as we realized that a horrible accident had taken place, the car that was so badly damaged was our across the street neighbor.

This family is the type of neighbor you want to have. So it was very disturbing for the girls to see his car like that.

I've suspected for sometime that they are believers, we seem to leave on Sunday's about the same time...I see her with her Bible, but we have never had a conversation long enough to find out for sure. (I'm really a little embarrassed to say that to be honest)

This post is so long, I'm sorry....but I've got to share what happened.

Anyway...we got home and had several of the neighborhood kids in our yard. Chad and I were doing some yard work when I saw her pull back into her driveway. (She had been at the entrance with her husband waiting on the ambulance to arrive) She hurried in and shut the garage door, I just prayed.

It wasn't anytime and that door went up again. I caught her attention and walked over to find out that her husband was already on his way to the hospital and she would meet them there. When I asked "can I do anything for you?" Her only response was "pray". I stepped closer and said "Can I do that right now with you?"

Her tears said enough. I took her sweet little hand and began to pray and you know what happened?

She.did.too. And I mean P.R.A.Y. with me. I LOVE THAT!!!

That sneakin' suspicion I've had for the past two years was the HOLY SPIRIT saying...HELLO...YOU HAVE A SISTER ACROSS THE STREET....

I knew she was marked with the blood of Jesus, and I get the impression she had been wondering about us. Now we know and when Mr. P. comes home from that hospital, we are going to praise Jesus with them.

As I walked back across the street to my yard full of kids, I thought...okay what about that neighbor, and that one....what if they aren't marked or covered, by the blood of Jesus?

I've got some prayer walking to do......

Next week, I'm having the ladies from our Sunday School class over for dinner and Bible study. I'm really looking forward to it, this is what I LOVE doing.

I've been asking God what Bible study is to look like that night and I keep hearing one word. It's a word that began to resonate with me about two weeks before San Antonio. In fact, God gave me the word in a passage the morning I left for the Fiesta. Then to top it off, the word Beth taught on was closely related. I'm not going to elaborate too much just in case anyone from class is reading this!

In fact, Sunday morning in between services, a choir member that I don't know very well walks up to me with a plastic bag. She gives an encouraging word to Freedom's Call and then she looks at me and says, "I have something for you. I made this for you with the help of my grandson. It's a _____ box." (The blank is THE WORD I AM DETERMINED NOT TO GIVE AWAY!!!)

I know my jaw hit the floor. I explained to her that what she had put in this box was my primary love language and that I would treasure it. As she walked away, the tears, they were on the verge of rolling and the ugly cry was just about to make an appearance! I was so overwhelmed and honestly I just wanted to get flat before the Lord, but we had to sing one more time...

I say all this to remind myself that even when it feels like God is not moving, He is. He is active all the time. He is working out things even now. I want to live looking for Him and the work of His hands, but I also want to be used by His hands.

That sweet choir member blessed my socks off Sunday morning, I want with all my heart to do that same thing to someone today.

Labor Day

We have had a whirlwind of a weekend. It's Tuesday morning and we are ALL struggling to concentrate, so I've declared an early lunch and a nap for everyone.
I'm blogging instead of napping, what is wrong with that?!?!

Freedom's Call sang in our Sunday morning services. As soon as we were done in the second service, I jumped in the car and we headed to TN. We were in two cars and I had Emma with me...this is what we passed at one point.



As soon as we got into town, we began the visits. First stop was Chad's mom and her husband. The girls and Paddington were so ready to be out of the car so it was good for them to stretch their legs. (They walked up the hill to pet the donkey and to see all the goats on the adjacent property. I guess we could count that as a field trip?)

After that visit we headed to my parents to settle in for the night. Remember my issue with the brownies last week? Well...I opened the front door to smell coffee and this....


They were absolutely delicious. (According to Patty...I need the anointed orange Power T silicone baking dish. I'm going on-line to find it, you know here on the mission field in the backyard of Athens, GA I just won't find an orange Power T brownie pan!!)

Monday morning we did some shoe shopping in this little hole in the wall shoe store near my parents house. I was surprised that they had so many name brand shoes so cheap! I was headed down the aisle to the size 6's and something red caught my eye. I stopped and knew that I HAD to try these on...there were lots of cameras and my mother-in-law, who we ran into there, took a video...THAT will NOT be on here. So what do you think?





These were the strangest pair of shoes I have ever tried on, and I have tried on HUNDREDS of pairs of shoes. I could not tell which was the left and which was the right! I switched them a couple of times, and they just felt weird. I did NOT get them just so you know. They were just too much fun NOT to try on!!

However, after we had spent 45 minutes trying on red shoes...I did walk away with these...



My niece Morgan is modeling them and I had to bribe her with chips and dip to get them off of her feet.

We grilled steaks and enjoyed a long afternoon with family. It was nice to just hang out with no real agenda! However, our eyes and ears were glued to the weather channel most of the day. It was hard to enjoy our time together knowing that there were so many families unable to relax and enjoy each other. I'm so thankful that God took away some of that storm's power.

This is what I found in the back of my car as we began to load all our luggage...



They wanted to come home with us...and it was hard to say no. This was the first trip that have been able to say "Aunt Steffie", and that just melted my heart.

Coming home Chloe and I listened to a Beth Moore CD and had a really great conversation on living a Spirit led life..I want to share more of that when I have a little more time and can concentrate! We are off to finish up school and conquer the laundry pile from the weekend!