Hiking

Today we went hiking. We have great mountains about 20 minutes away from our house so we decided to take advantage of them this morning. There is something about getting my children out in nature that brings our their talkative selves. Cooper ( 7 yrs. old) had some great one liners this morning. We had just started our hike around the lake and Coop announced, " hey mom that rock has a secret code on it." Now really it was graffiti but heck in our family it turned into a secret code. So darling. He just puts a smile in my heart. Ya know what i mean? Then a little bit later we saw a clover, and Horton Hears a Who has been on a bunch at our house, and I said," is there a speck on it? What if we live on a speck, on a clover?" Then Jeff (my husband) said," What if an elephant is carrying us through the forest?" Coop was quiet for a few seconds then responded," Well if we are on a speck Jesus is carrying it." Wow!! Those are the comments that make me want to cry. Sometimes I do but I've learned to suck it in as Cooper calls it. Still my heart is so delighted that God gives us moments that say," you're doing it right."

Well about half way through the hike we realized Coop was done so him and Jeff turned around and Savi and I continued. See Cooper got a new big boy watch last night that is water proof. He could no wait to take that watch on its maiden voyage into the lake. His watch also has a stop watch which I want to be excited about but some times its annoying. to be honest. All last night it was, "mom let me time you drinking your cranberry juice." " Dad let me time how long it takes you to walk from the clock to the couch" "Let me time how long it takes to drive there" " mom it took me 9:09 to eat my frozen yogurt." " I'm gonna time how long we take to eat lunch." If you haven't gotten the idea yet I could keep going. But to tell you the truth it delights my heart that he is delighted by his new watch. I pray that I delight God by enjoying the gifts He gives me like Cooper does from me. I pray that I linger longer with the gifts God gives instead of being quick to move to the next one.

Anyway back to Savanna and I. She lead the rest of the hike. And man is she part billy goat. She just is surefooted and quick. I am much more cautious than her. Could be my age but mostly I'm just clumsy and uncoordinated. Anyway she didn't once put her headphones in she just chatted with me. We talked about her work, and dreamed of camping trips and hiking to come. But what i noticed and delighted in was she would scale a down hill or bounce up an up hill but she would turn and keep an eye on me. Ready to help if needed and at that moment I felt like such a loved mommy. Even typing it my eyes are welled up. At 17 yrs old she has so much going on yet she still keeps her eye on me. Thank you Lord!! Blessed doesn't do justice to how I feel.

We had a great time together as a family this morning. It took almost no time planning and almost no money and fun was had by all. I tend to get caught in the everything is so expensive rut. But today god reminded me that His creation is Free for me to use and enjoy. I love that He gives good gifts.

Being REAL

So today God slowed me down on my walk/run. I'm getting older and today my knees said, "No Thank You" to running. So I walked. I was listening to a CD I haven't listened to before and a song came on that totally challenged me called Want to be Real. its by Chris August. He says, "I'm throwing out words I don't fully understand, I could be talking to myself but I don't think I am, Your always there saving my heart from the doubt inside." WOW!!! For me it made me stop and thank God for protecting me, mostly from myself. See I do doubt, I have a lot of fear, and I question everything. I realized this morning that my insecurity, doubt, fear, etc. live in my head, NOT in my heart. My heart belongs to Jesus and therefore none of this world's or Satan's lies can live there. And for some reason that made me feel better. I FINALLY feel like I can battle this. Its not in my heart, my most important organ and most precious gift. Its not there. So i just need to get control of my thoughts. Easy sentence to type BIG concept to figure out. But todays the day. We can... do this ladys. Why is it easier to pretend than to be real? why do we feel safer hidden behind our masks? Its fake girls. FAKE!!! I know it feels like protection but thats a lie we've bought. Our friends cant be praying for us and holding us up if they dont know what we need cause we are faking. So my challenge for you is to drop your mask! whatever it is.. husband, children, business, fear, make up. If your not sure what it is ask God to reveal it. He will! Hes not a God of secrets but He is patient and He'll wait on us. So lets make Him busy today cleaning up all our droped masks. Lets be real and see what He can do with us and lets invite our circle of family and friends into our journey. Its gonna be an amazing day!!

creativity

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Creation

Today on my walk, two lizards ran out in front of me. ICK!!! I don't like creepy crawly things. But as I continued on my way I was thinking about God (if you know me that happens a lot) and how much fun He must have had on creation. Sitting there thinking up all the different creatures. Big, small, water, air, ya know. And that turned into a God made me moment for me. And if I'm made in His image (which I am) them my creativity is important too. So is yours. So go be creative today!! Whatever that looks like for you. Whether that's folding your laundry different or reorganizing your closet or starting a quilt or finishing one :) (that's my issue, great starter, horrible finisher) scrap booking or trying a new recipe or playing play do with your children or planting some flowers. You have a creative side, don't ignore it.

Paying attention

So today on my run (and I use that word lightly) I heard a song by Carrie Underwood called "Just a dream." Its about a fallen soldier's funeral. I found myself praying for a woman I've never met. Her husband served our county and also was in law enforcement when he lost his life in the line of duty. The reason I know her story is she is a good friend of a kindred sister to me. Isn't it interesting the way the body of Christ works. When we pay attention God can bring about a song, thought, book, movie anything really and lead us to pray for someone. I want to be that girl that pays attention. I want to pray for people in their victories, saddest time and everywhere in between. I believe I am and you are blessed when we carry our sisters in Christ. Yes it cost us something... sometimes tears and heart ache but sometimes a great big Woohoo!!1 Paying attention!!!! that's all it is.

This Mountain

OK so I kinda just brushed over the whole mountain thing. So I'm back partly to continue on the topic but mostly cause I'm still circling it. I think we all probably have that thing that we tend to circle and obsess over rather than deal with it and move on. So mine is I think mean things about myself. Things I would never call anyone( out load at least) I call myself. And the fact is that I would be totally offended if anyone else called me the things I call myself. Last year with the whole brave word, Self talk was part of the process God and I went through and I had gotten a good handle on it but now...Yikes. So as I picture my figurative mountain it reminds me of my son Cooper. When he was 4 his great grandpa died. Now Cooper had only met him once when he was 8 months old cause my grandparents lived in Canada but he talked about Great grandpa Stainger as if they were long lost buddies. Anyway we had had a conversation about how powerful God is and I had said" if God wants to move a mountain he can just by thinking it in a different place." anyway a couple days later Coop and I were driving by some mountains and he was curiously looking out the window into the sky. So I asked," What you lookin at buddy?" and his reply is so him. He said," Guess God is just spending time with Grandpa Stainger today cause I don't see and mountains flying through the air." I feel like crying right now because the truth is God gave me and you the power to move mountains too. So why the circling? I think its gonna take some time but lets face it I want to be moving in a direction. I hope your mountains are more like hills and that God revels them to you and you also decide to go a direction instead of circling until it becomes a mountain. GO find the direction God has for you and be BRAVE in it!!!!

new year, new beginnings

Well here i am again please don't hold your breathe between posts cause my track record tells you you'll die from lack of oxygen. :)
New years always make me what to reinvent myself but this year I'm just gonna revamp this me. Just in case you don't know i am a chicken. Fear is a driving force in what i do or don't do. But last year God gave me a word... BRAVE. All He was asking was for me, full of fear, to just do. And the do was up to Him. So I did and wow was my year amazing but also hard and if I'm honest sad at times. But I finished 2010 a different girl than I started it. Hooray for me!!! ( I'm learning how to cheer myself on instead of putting myself down and that's my attempt)
Now we are in 2011 and I started the year off by asking God what my word was this year and instead He gave me a verse. Now the verse won't make sense unless you know the back story so here it is...
Dec. 26Th I'm out with my sister in law and we are having great conversation while driving on the freeway. The traffic comes to a stop so she stopped but the car behind us didn't. So we're in an accident not horrible but we are both having headaches and seeing chiropractors to put our bones back where they go in hopes the headaches with stop. But for me it is the emotional trauma that has shaken me most. My anxiety is at an all time high. Afraid of everything, depression has set in, irritability, insecurity, you name any negative though and I'm probably having them. Last year BRAVE helped me put those thoughts away but the accident unleashed them. So my chats with the Lord have been," HELP!!!" Now in the way God does He has gently been saying counteract those negatives with positives. Such as, anxious vs. peace, insecurity vs. security, hopeless vs. hopeful, cranky vs. joy. You get the picture but then He went on step further and instead of a word I got a verse. Here it is... "The Lord said, " you have circled this mountain long enough, turn and go north"" Duet.2:2. I just have to laugh and ask did He put that in the bible just to give it to me in 2011? And was He giggling as He did? Not meanly but in a watch this kinda way. Loving that He could make me laugh when I want to cry but being strong enough to handle my tears. I don't know but I sure hope that God chats with you all in the same way cause this girl finds delight in the fact the my Heavenly Father finds my worthy of His smile and a verse from His book. Look for your verse, its in there.