What's in a name?

Okay, so I posted a couple of weeks ago about the great loss in our family...our sweet dog Gracie having to be put "to sleep"...I always think of Paul telling us not to be ignorant about those who are asleep...yea, he was referring to death, too.

Anyway, my guy has been looking for a new dog since not long after Gracie went to the big dog house in the sky...or whatever happens to precious rottweilers that think they are lap dogs. Now this has made me wonder what might happen if I ever went to sleep...ya know...like that. I mean he couldn't hardly walk through the backyard without Gracie there. So if it were me, would the kitchen be the tough place? But alas, I digress.

Okay, so he finds several rescue rotts that he is interested in. One is named Ogre...no I am not kidding. The next one he is interested in...Fiona. I mean seriously. Even McKenna made that face where you know she is thinking..."What kind of wierdo..." She even said, "So what's the deal with the whole Shrek themed dog names?" Must admit, I was wondering too.

So Fiona came for a weekend visit. I'm sure we will be keeping her. She is very sweet and submissive, but last night get this. I am sitting on our bed and she can see me from where she is sitting in the living room. She looks in there at me and starts growling. Seriously. And then tonight she wasn't really looking at anything and she starts growling. What in the world? I've decided it is her name. So we're changing it. Actually we decided to change it before the whole growling nuerosis showed up. But Fiona? Seriously, who names a dog Fiona. Not us. Nope, we now have Minnie Pearl. Seriously.

Popcorn

No deep, passionate thoughts tonight. Just this. Jimmy burnt the popcorn. My whole house stinks. Ewwww. Stinky, smelly eeewwwwwww. Men should learn that the popcorn button on the microwave doesn't mean you can camp in the bathroom while it pops and expect it to come out perfect. Can I get an amen? God love him.

He showed up...again

I am sooo sleepy and about to hit the hay, but I just had to share something. I'll try to keep it short! Tonight was a Wednesday night so, of course, we had The Edge (youth worship). Jimmy wasn't feeling so great so he asked me if I would look over his notes in case I needed to pinch hit for him. He came back just as we were starting the praise and worship time, but about half way through the last song interrupted me (ie. my eyes closed, hands raised, praising like crazy) to tell me he was stepping out of the room. So I sang the words with a new fervency:

"Your will above all else.
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
To bring you praise.

Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Neverending
Your glory goes beyond all fame.

In my heart, in my soul
I give you control
Consume me from the inside out, Lord...

And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise
From the inside out
Lord, my soul cries out..."

I offered it as my prayer of surrender and asked Him to use me as His vessel.

Now my guy is very supportive of all that I do, but he doesn't sit and watch my Beth Moore video at home with me in preparation for our ladies' study and he definitely won't come to our actual group time! So imagine my shock when I flipped open his Bible, and see the title, "Where Is God?" WHOA. WWWHHHOOOAAA!!!! I had seen Beth's intro video for Esther twice now ~ where she teaches us about how important it is to know that God is there even when you can't feel Him. I stood up in front of almost 60 kids and said, "I feel Him here tonight." Then proceeded to explain with a quavering voice what I just told you. And thus, with NO preparation, I winged a 20 minute lesson on what to do when you can't find Him or feel Him, and how important it is for them to KNOW Him, not just settle for a relationship based on surface emotions ~ to know Him by the truth of His Word~His faithfulness, His promises, His enduring love. And so on...

Afterwards, several kids came to me and said how much they appreciated the lesson, how it spoke to them, etc...so...yea, I'm pretty much crying again 'cause I know that was all HIM. ALL HIM.

How good He is to us. How gracious. How loving. How cool. I don't ever want to get over Him. Be glorified, my sweet Savior.

Holy Smokes!!! - Literally

Okay, God has just been stoking my fire about our new Bible Study group. We started the latest Beth Moore study on Esther tonight. I have just about been inside out over the deal the last few weeks - Holy Smokes from a Holy Fire!!! Well, tonight we FINALLY got to get our feet wet.

And what sweet feet we are wetting!!! We had such fun as we introduced ourselves. I asked them to share either what brought them to this study, their most cherished beauty tip, or a great party tip. FUN!!~and funny!

Such an incredible, diverse, precious group He gathered tonight - younger & older, veteran Bible Studiers & novice Bible Studiers, single & married & divorced & dating & engaged, moms with young children & moms with new grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but all Jesus seekers. WOW!!!! And I'm thinking we will have a few others join us next week. There was already such a sweet spirit of fellowship tonight. Can't wait to see what He does with this study and this group.

Beth shared in the intro that the study would, in part, be a study about our destinies. Our personal destinies. I began to ponder the idea of Esther and her destiny...and ours. At the end of the session, I had the ladies close their eyes and envision the most beautiful starry night sky they had ever seen. I reminded them of God's promise to Abraham about his descendants outnumbering the stars. Then I asked them to find the brightest one in the night sky they were seeing. I told them THAT star was them. They are the spiritual descendants of Abraham and reminded them of the incredible spiritual heritage they have as a result. I reminded them that as a star in God's sky, they not only have a heritage, they also have an incredible spiritual destiny as well. I am so excited that I get to observe their sweet destiny unfold for these next 10 weeks!

Those who might read this ~ please pray with us and for us!
BE HUGE, FATHER!!! BE HUGE!!!

Happy New Year!!

Blessings to all eyes that might fall upon these words. As I type this, I pray - "Father, in Your infinite wisdom and omniscience, I pray that while I may not know exactly who might read this, or when, I do ask that because You do know, You will bless each one in the coming year with this simple request; one which I seek for myself. In finding our purpose, my Sweet Lord, I pray that love abounding will be the watermark of this year. Let us love You with abandon and each other with a love that looks like Yours. Becky, illustrated the perfect request, Lord, in her new calendar. Please, Father, more of You, less of me. In the MIGHTY name of our Jesus, Amen."