Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Well I haven't blogged in about 4 months and a lot has changed. We found out in early October that we are expecting our first child. This blessing is due June 17, 2011. Yay!!! The day I found out I was pregnant, I actually thought that I wasn't but 3 tests later I was for sure I was. I got a card for Colby and some flowers and gave them to him when he got home. He had no clue what the card was going to say and he was soooo surprised. I told him in the card lots of sweet mushy stuff and then this: "So on this day...a week and two days before your 30th birthday... I just wanted to tell you... that I'M PREGNANT!!!! Happy early birthday!!! He was so surprised. (Yes we had been trying but he just wasn't expecting the card to say that cuz I made sure that it was a surprised so that he wouldn't guess before reading the card). We had to keep it a secret until that Friday night because that is when we took my parents and his mom out to dinner and told them. In order for them to be surprised we said that we needed to get together early for Colby's birthday because we would be so busy the next week so they were not expecting this surprised at dinner either. It turned out great and the grandparents are very excited!!!

So as of today I am 15 weeks pregnant. I have been very blessed so far as to not have had very much "morning sickness"...just some nausea here and there, tiredness and headaches but nothing I couldn't deal with. Almost 4 weeks ago I had my last doctor's appointment and we got to hear the heart beat. Of course the good news was that we did hear a heart beat. That is the sweetest sound I have ever heard. You see...I am a nurse at a children's hospital and I guess you can say that I have seen everything and have come to realize that life is fragile and God is the ultimate creator and sustainer of life. Right now, I am trying to not worry (because the bible says that is sinful) and just place my faith in God that whatever comes our way is His plan for us. I can not wait to find out if we are having a boy or girl. As of right now, I will be 20 weeks at the end of January so that is when my doctor will do an ultrasound but I have a friend who knows someone that does ultrasounds and we might get to find out next week. (Trying not to get my hopes up in case it doesn't work out) I'll keep everyone posted. Just the thought of finally seeing the baby on the ultrasound monitor and finding out the sex of the baby makes my heart skip a beat :)

We recently purchased the crib and dresser which I love but now I have a problem on my hands. I found out yesterday that the reason we haven't been able to order the bedrails for the crib that will turn it in to a full size bed later on, is because the bed rails might be discontinued... I am so disappointed because that was the point of getting this "convertible" crib so that we won't have to get more furniture later on. I'll have to investigate next week about this HUGE problem I now have on my hands. So today is Christmas Eve...I must get off here, get ready for the day, make some broccoli casserole, and wrap some presents.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matt 5:3

Okay so here goes...I hope for anyone that has been reading my blog that I am not confusing you. The last post I tried to quickly wrap up the last book that I just finished. I talked about the next book I have started called The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace.....loving this book!!!! I am also starting to read another book called A Beautiful Offering by Angela Thomas. At first starting out I didn't think I could read/do both books. I was originally just reading the one by Angela Thomas since that is the class I would be doing with the deacon wives at our church then I realized that they were offering this other book as a class on Wednesday nights which was a book I had already thought about reading. I am already learning so much and so excited that all I can say is thank goodness I have a blog because I want to share the things I am learning.

So hear goes.... tonight I am going to talk about a few things from the book: A Beautiful Offering. This book is about the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount and puts it in to a perspective that helps us with our lives we are living today. The above scripture(title of the blog) was the first beatitude discussed. I loved it when the author said this How gently he teaches us that even in our brokeness, this life can become a beautiful offering to God. He said, first thing that when you are poor in spirit, when you are broken, when you are completely empty and without resource-especially then you are blessed. She said the verse could be translated like this: Your life is a beautiful offering to God, even when you are poor in spirit, because then you are very close to the kingdom of heaven. She also said that when everything is gone that makes more room for Him and every time there is more room for Him, you are blessed.

This author made it a point to state that many of us that grow up in christian homes or become a "christian" think life will be great after that. We think we will be happy forever, no trials to come, and singing our christian songs by the campfire but life does continue and God says...In this life will be trials of many kinds and that's where the brokeness comes in. But right here in scripture God says that we are blessed because of that. He loves us and knows we are not perfect. The author says Brokeness comes to us for many different reasons and a lot of times because of the choices we make. We look around us and know that it's not how we dreamed it, but here it is, and it's all in a million pieces. It becomes obvious that this life isn't going to be put back together like a puzzle. Somebody is going to have to start over. Wow!! Isn't that awesome that we can start over. That first means praying to God and asking for forgiveness, then turning away from the choices that got us there in the first place and sometimes means still having to work through the scars left behind. I always try to remind myself that when life is not going great, God is working every piece of it for His glory. That gives me hope for better things to come.

The next chapter focused on the scripture from the Sermon on the Mount. You are the salt of the earth......You are the light of the world. Matthew 5: 13-14 This means that as followers of Jesus/ God we are to be light in the darkness of the world. I will leave you with this. It was a little passage written at the end of the chapter I read tonight set up like a poem but didn't sound like a poem. Seems like a collection of thoughts.

It's never to late to become.

It's never to late to change.

You haven't been away too long.

His forgiveness can still cover your sin.

His love can heal your wounds.

Your life isn't too broken for Him.

As long as you have breath, it's never too late with Jesus.

He doesn't expect your offering to be perfect. He never said that it would be easy. Move toward Him, and watch Him supernaturally make you into salt and light.

Stay the path.

Let Him pick you up when you've fallen.

Face in His direction.

You may have given up on God, but He has never given up on you.

Go be the city(the light). Go be the salt.

I hope you are blessed by these thoughts as I was when I read them tonight in the book. Have a blessed weekend (it's almost here).

~Julie

New Book: The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace

Wow! What an amazing day! Where to start is the question..... First I will start by talking about our anniversary weekend. We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary this weekend with a quick weekend getaway :) I had to work the weekend before our actual anniversary so we waited and celebrated this weekend. Colby planned it all and every step of the weekend was a surprise. We had an excellent time and were able to just hang out together without any distractions and enjoy new experiences together. We left Saturday at noon and ate at the Old Spagetti Factory in Louisville. From there we headed to our hotel to check in. We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel in Indiana on the Ohio River. For the afternoon we just hung out and went swimming at the hotel. For Saturday night, Colby had made dinner reservations at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for 9pm. It was so awesome because when we got there the sun was starting to set. On Sunday we ate at Denny's for brunch and then headed to the Louisville Slugger Museum (a place neither of us has ever been). Then we sat on a park bench on the Ohio River and enjoyed the Sunday afternoon breeze. The Belle of Louisville just happened to be coming down the river and turned in front of us and headed back up the river. I, of course, got tons of pics. We went to Derby Dinner Playhouse for the evening to see the show Ring of Fire. Again, we both had never been there. The food was good and the show was great! We got home around 10:30 Sunday night. We enjoyed our small weekend getaway!!!

So flash forward to today......I was at home today. As many of you know, I had been reading the book A Woman After God's Own Heart. I finally finished today and it was an amazing book. This book has definitely challenged me to prioritize my life and organize my life as to be an effective follower of Christ and effective helper to my husband! There is much more to this book than that but the priorities are to be as follows when prioritizing your day: #1 God, #2 Your Husband, #3 Your Children, #4 Your Home, #5 Your Spiritual Growth, #6 Your Ministry Activities, #7 other activities. Having this outline to plan my day by has really helped. In the morning you can sit down and write out your plan for the day by putting each thing in the appropriate slot. In each category you ask the question: What can I do for ______ today? Example: What can I do for my husband today?...... I HIGHLY recommend this book to any woman that is struggling to find out the purpose of her life as a child of God and as a wife if you are married.

So now I will move on to the next book I am about to start reading. Our church has discipleship classes on Wednesday night and has classes that are taught based on various books. I am so excited to read this book. It is called: The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace. I got the book tonight and read the first two chapters. Wow! If only I had read these two books right before or shortly after getting married. These two books would have been very beneficial in helping with my walk with Christ as well as being a godly wife to my husband. But I am a firm believer that now is never to late to start. So here I am. The author in the book asks some very hard questions: Am I doing the good works God intended for me? I am very excited to see what else the book holds. I am ready for this journey! I am excited to see God working around me. I am excited to see prayers answered. That is all for tonight. There is so much awesome info in this book I would like to share but I just can't narrow it down right now.....maybe b/c it's late. Anyway, I plan on posting more about this book and another book I will be reading for a different class that I am taking with the deacon wives at our church. I will leave you with some pics from this weekend.

Saturday Lunch: Good Food and Cheap too!

The Louisville Skyline from our hotel room

Saturday Night Dinner

Louisville Slugger Museum


The Belle of Louisville turned around
in front of us and headed back up the River.




We saw the show Ring of Fire!

Have a Blessed Week! Julie :)

Keep Your Faith that God Will Move in Tough Times

Well, today is our 7th wedding anniversary! I don't feel nearly old enough to be able to say that but I feel very blessed to be able to say that as well. I am truely blessed with a wonderful godly husband. He is my best friend, encourager, listener, and shoulder to cry on. It has been a wonderful day. We went out to eat with my mother-in-law to Smokey Bones which was very yummy. I have a few pics but will post those later since they were taken with my husband's phone and I have to figure out how to get them on here. We will further celebrate our anniversary this coming weekend since I had to work this past weekend. I'm super excited because Colby has planned this and has not told me what we are doing yet! Well now I will continue on about what I have learned recently in my quiet time with God.

Today as I sat down to do my devotion and quiet time, I was very burdened about some friends I have been praying for! It seems as though I pray and I know that prayer is the most powerful thing I can do but my human nature takes over and satan begins to put doubts in my head. Doubts that fill my thoughts such as just give up praying because it's too late now and this will never work out for the good. But it seems as though when I am lacking the faith that God is there and that He hears my every prayer and already knows the plan, God reminds me very blatantly to have faith in Him because He does know the future and the plans He has for us and so I must remain strong and keeping praying diligently for my prayers are heard by the Lord and he will answer those prayers according to His will in His perfect timing. Today was one of those days that God used my quiet time with Him to remind of these such things.

The author of the devotional passage I was reading today was discussing how she had been praying for some friends that had walked away from God and lost there faith for some time. She was discussing how no matter how far away from God someone seems to be, God will use something, whether it be a person, a song, or a situation to draw them back to Him. She said she was reminded of the passage...Nothing is impossible with God. (Luke 1:37) The Lord will use all types of situations to lead a person back to Him. She continued with the passages....Follow me...My yoke is easy and My burden is light....I am the way the truth and the life...(Luke 5:27, Matthew 11:30, John 14:6). And so when I was done reading this devotional passage for the day, I realized that God had just given me a little punched to the shoulder so to speak and taught me for the day that I must have faith and continue to be committed and pray. He taught me today that He is in control and He already knows the outcome and will use any circumstance to work things according to His will. My job is to not worry but to trust the Lord and shut out the doubt that satan is using to continue to control this situation. I finished this quiet time today with renewed hope and faith in God. How Amazing!!!!! I thanked God today for sending messages like this to me in the perfect time that it is needed. It is in those times I am reminded that there is a God, He hears our prayers and answers them according to His will and is there in times when encouragement is needed in our lives!!!! I will continue to pray without ceasing! ( 1Thessalonians 5:16-18) The following is also another favorite verse of mine: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).

Have a Blessed Week,
Julie

New Computer: The Better to Blog With!

I now have a new computer. Yay!!!! Colby got me a new laptop for our wedding anniversary that is coming up. Our anniversary is August 16, 2003 and yep that means that this year we will be married for 7 years. That is why I changed out picture on the blog to a pic of us when we got married. I don't hardly feel like it has been that long. We have been through a lot together and still love each other more everyday. Marriage is definitely something that you have to work at in the bad times as well as the good times. I hardly feel old enough to have been married for 7 years now. It's easy to quit in the hard times and give up on a relationship but think about the greatest feeling when you do the hard work and persevere through the hardest of times and come out stronger in your relationship and also having honored your vows you made before God. Lately, I have been reading 'A Women after God's Own Heart and Colby and I have been doing nightly devotional time together. Two things have really stood out to me that I have learned during this time.

First, to have a marriage that lasts for years to come a person must know Jesus as their personal Savior. They must have Jesus ruling in their entire life because we are all sinners and when our focus is not on Jesus and our life is not focused on Him then we are focused on ourselves. This leads to a selfish attitude and life that is no longer pleasing to God and we have distanced ourselves from God. When all of this happens, it is reflected into our marriage and is often not a pretty sight! (Therefore whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them. Matthew 7:12) If you are married or have been married you could most likely think back and realize that most arguments and issues that have come about in the relationship are due to our own selfishness. When we are in turmoil with our spouse this becomes unconfessed sin in our lives and separates us from God which is just what Satan wants! Just this week I experienced this in my own life. Colby and I had a disagreement and it happened at the end of the night right before we did our devotion and prayer time. My feelings of being slightly mad actually made it hard to pray together with my husband because my heart was not right. It literally felt like I was separated from God for that period of time until I confessed that sin. The ultimate forgiveness experience in marriage comes when you and your spouse ask each other for forgiveness for the wrongs committed against each other and then actually pray together and confess those sins before God. (He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Proverbs 28:13) In our lives the priority should be God first, relationship with your spouse second and children third.

Secondly, I have realized that God created me to be a helper to my husband.( I will make him a helper suitable for him. Genesis 2:18) God must have wanted to really teach me this one the last couple of weeks because I read about it in my book and also in the devotional book my husband and I are doing together. You see, in this day and time women are made to think that we are to have the power, no man is to rule over me and tell me what to do. So here goes the infamous verse that I am willing to take some slack over. Jesus said it in the bible and I'm sure he caught slack over it back then. (Wives, submit (or subject) yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. Ephesians 5:22) So if you really think about...if it's easy to submit to the Lord then this is what Jesus is asking us to do to our husbands. It means being a blessing to your husband instead of being recentful and nagging. It means putting your husband first instead of yourself. Now there may be someone who reads this and says ' How can I continue to be submissive, respectful and think of my husband when he doesn't think of me/not respectful of me?' Well first of all pray, pray and pray some more for your husband that God will change his heart because you certainly can't do that on your own. Also, in this situation I am reminded of a great verse in the Bible. (Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands to that even if they do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 1Peter 3:1-2) I shared this with a friend that was going through a hard time in her marriage at one point. She was about to give up. They had a lot of stress in their lives and I told her pray for you husband and I read this verse to her. Now obviously that didn't make things into roses and butterflies but it did remind her of Jesus' teachings and gave her hope to persevere through that tough time. Just think about the fact that if a person's husband is to be won without a word by the conduct of their wife (ehhhmmm, nagging) the wife's life has to be godly, her focus on God and her life right with God. I leave you with a few questions...... Is God the number one priority in your life? Are you taking the role as helper to your husband seriously and are you honored to have that God-given job? Are you submissive to your husband as to the Lord? Sorry if any guys are reading this as it was geared toward women mostly but if you pay close attention you too can learn from some aspects of this post.

Have a Blessed Day!!!

Julie

Short and Sweet Post tonight!! :)

Hey Everyone! I am just posting a short and sweet post as I call it tonight (well maybe not short). I need to go to bed shortly because I have to work the next two days. Booo!!! Anyways, I will post a much more lengthy post hopefully on Friday since I will have that day off. Yay!!! I posted last week about some books I am reading and well, I finished the one called 'Deacon Wives' in about 3 days. It was an excellent book and I am now on track about what it means to be a deacon's wife! So my husband and I continue to do the devotional together every night called 'The Love Dare: Wedding Edition'. This has been excellent because we have been purposeful in doing this each night together. We read the devotional for that night, pray together and do a question and answer session using a question or two from the back of the book. It's been really great and it's a time that we actually turn the T.V. off and hang out together. I am also still doing my quiet time/devotion time each day. Yesterday I was not feeling well and missed my quiet time in the morning, however, I did remember later that night. I will get into more detail on Friday about what I am learning from this time with the Lord and the time with my husband. I had told you all in the last post that I feel so hungry to learn more about God and about my walk with Him. So since I finished the book on deacon's wives I needed to find another book. I went to Lifeway Christian Stores on Saturday. I LOVE that store. Oh wait....I think I already said that in another post. Anyways, I found two books that I purchased. The one I am starting on first is called 'A Woman after God's Own Heart' and the other is called 'A Wife After God's Own Heart'. I am really excited to get into these books and learn more about how I can be the woman and wife God wants me to be. Well that is all for now.... I will hopefully blog on Friday. PPPLLLLEEEAAAASSSSEEEE feel free to leave comments at anytime if you read my blog. I have 2 followers right now (which I love them both) but I know there are many others that read this. You just have to set up a google account to be able to post a comment or if you are a Facebook friend you can comment there. I hope this continues to bless people because that is my purpose for doing this blog. Oh, and one final thing....I have an unspoken (huge) prayer request and it would be great if everyone that reads this blog will lift up a prayer when they read this!!!!

Have a great rest of the week,
Julie

Blessings this Past Weekend!!!!!

Wow, it's been almost a month since I last blogged. Well I guess I am on a roll in that aspect though because it seems like I have blogged at least once a month since I started this. I have been busy but it doesn't seem like I have had much to blog about. Over the weekend I began thinking about the purpose of this blog. I have been also thinking about the purpose of my life, my marriage and my job. I know that there may be many who read this blog that are from many walks of life. I began thinking about this blog not only being about an update of my personal life from time to time but also thought about turning this blog into my thoughts from my daily devotional time that I spend with God each day by discussing what I have learned that day/week. I may not blog each day but maybe I will set a goal for each week at first. I am thinking about doing this so that maybe this can be a blessing in someone elses life. I feel like this would be a more effective blog in that way.

On Friday I went to Lifeway Christian Stores. I LOVE that place. Aside from being at church that is one other place where I feel the love of God. I would stay there all day long if I could because I love looking at all of the books and information from the bible as I try to find guidance in my life. I went in search a three things mostly. I wanted to find a great devotional book for my quiet time that I need to spend each day with the Lord. I also went in search of a devotional book that Colby and I could do together that would help us strengthen our marriage and give us guidance for a devotional time together. We had started a devotional time together and gradually simply forgot about it. And lastly I went to Lifeway to find a book to help guide me on what it means to be a Deacon's Wife.

All three of these books that I was looking for are reflective of areas I know I need help in to be able to grow in my walk with God. And of course all of these books put me right back into scripture from the greatest book of all The Bible. The devotional book I got is called ' Be still and Let Your Nail Polish Dry'. I have the hardest time doing a devotional(quiet time) in the mornings before I go to work because I have to get up so early. Those are the days that I need this time the most. The days that I work are filled with stress and time constraints and I really need to have this time BEFORE I go to work to help me get through the day!. The next book I got is called 'The Love Dare: Wedding Edition". Yes, it is based on the movie Fireproof. This book does say in the beginning that it is mostly meant for people that are in their first year of marriage. Well, I decided that didn't matter to me. We will be married for 7 years on August 16 of this year. I think this book will still be a very effective devotional time for us to do together for the next year. The last book is called 'Deacon Wives'.

Some of you may not know some parts of my life so I will explain. I have attended the same Southern Baptist church my whole life. Shortly after we got married (about 2 years after) our church deacons began talking with my husband and discussing the characteristics of a deacon in the church. A Deacon in our church means that he is a servant of the church and helps the people of the church with any needs they have. He is an extra hand to the pastor. The bible says there are certain qualifications he must have. Theses qualification are listed in the bible in 1 Timothy 3:8-13. So the deacons held my husband to these standards and decided that he had met these qualification. Being a deacon is not something to be taken lightly. It is a lifelong committment to serving the church people with any needs they may have. On September 11, 2005 Colby was ordained as a deacon in our church. This now made me a Deacon's Wife. What did that mean? Well, 1 Timothy 3:11 tells what the wife of a deacon is to be. I decided this week to get this book about being a deacon wife to better understand my role and what I can do to help my husband as he helps the people in our church. This has been an excellent book so far and very helpful. I am learning!!!

I share all of this because I know all too often in our lives we get caught up in the day to day happenings of life that really blind us to what we should be doing and that is having quiet time with God everyday. Our lives as so busy and before you know it the day has gone by and we have not even so much as said a prayer to God that day. Just last night with every intention of having a devotional time together which we had done everynight since last Friday, we sat down and watch T.V. and went to bed realizing later we missed our devotional time. We get distracted and then when trials come in our lives we realize how much we need God for strength to get through. But what we don't realize is that we need God everyday in our lives. We need to spend time with Him when our lives are going great before the storms of life happen!!!!! Then we will be armed for battle when the bad times come. Life happens and the bible says the storms will come (James 1:2-4, 12). I am not perfect and I am actually sharing all of this to show where God has been working in my life lately. Those areas are: my need for quiet time with Him, a devotional time with my husband and to learn how to be a deacon wife. After I am done with the book 'Deacon Wives', I plan on starting another book. I think this will be a good way to help me grow in my relationship with God. I am thinking the next one I may look at is a study by Beth Moore. I have never done a study by her but know that so many women I know recommend her studies and they all say that they grow so much in their faith and walk with Christ after reading her books. My soul is just hungry to learn more right now!

Thanks for reading and I hope if anyone is reading this they have been blessed in some way! These have been the thoughts going through my brain the last few days. There is more to come so I will do my best, like I said, to post at least once a week if not more.

I thought that I would share my favorite verse that got me through a lot last year and continues to be a reminder of one of God's promises to us:
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Blessings,
Julie