Reason to Rejoice

I often hear people say that they wish they could go back and be a kid again.  I would not want to go back to my childhood to save my life.  It was less than pleasant much of the time.  The thing that got me through those tough years were people that God placed in my life.  I had so many amazing families that came along and made me feel just like their very own family.  I was in high school struggling through my business accounting class.  I had been attending a little church for awhile and I knew this sweet lady that went to church there was an accountant.  I was a little shy but I asked for her help anyhow.  I went to her house a few times for help and she was an amazing help with my accounting homework!  That was just the beginning of a wonderful relationship. When I was a senior in high school,  Audra asked me to move in with her.  She had two children - Rachael and Riley.  I would help with the kids and she would be like a mother (yet not nearly old enough to be) to me.  R

I was a good kid.  You know like the kind that is deathly afraid of getting in trouble and will melt when you give me "the look."  I am the one that would rather have gotten a spanking than to be told that someone was disappointed in me.  I was a very sensitive child.  Was I perfect?  Heavens no.  I was a child. I have children.  Three of them.  Little girls.  Rambunctious little girls who fight and then love like there is no tomorrow.  My dream growing up was to have little girls.  I am so thankful that God has allowed me to have these girls.  They annoy me to no end but my heart skips 15 beats anytime I think something is wrong with them.  Daily I question my ability to be a good parent.  Minute by minute I wonder if I am doing it all wrong.  I pray that at least some of the things their dad and I are teaching them stick.  They make me crazy and I love them like there's no tomorrow. I can never imagine leaving these kids behind.  Anywhere.  I cannot imagine lovi

Each year I try to make a post about the year before me and what I hope to accomplish in the coming year.  This  MIGHT be the only blog I posted the entire year!  Ha!  I would make a New Year's Resolution to do better, but somehow this is low on the priority list at this time in my life.  I love blogging but rarely find time for it. Anyhow, 2017 was a year of big things for me.  I quit working full time in April from a place that I loved in order to keep my sanity and change how I was treating those around me. Yes, I loved it but it was stressing me out to the point that I was taking out my stress on whoever came into my path. I went to work PRN starting in April but didn't really work on a regular basis until August.   I took my LCSW exam in July and passed it!!!!  YAY!!!  I now have the highest licensure that you can have a social worker.  That was 2 years in the making and I am uber proud!!   In October I took a full-time position at a hospital in the same system

Two days in a row!!!  Crazy, huh?!  :) I have started reading a book that one of my closest friends recommended:   Messy Beautiful Friendship .  I am on page 38 and I think it is one of the best books I have ever read.  This lady knows me.  I want to quote something she said in her book and show you how beautifully it tied in with my Bible study for today. "When I am disappointed with my friendships and I take time to dig a little deeper in my heart, I inevitably find that I'm looking for my friends to relate to me as only God can.  I want God to give me good friends and when he has, I've been prone to shove him aside for the attention, wisdom, and companionship of those friends, despite knowing that they were intended as gifts rather than replacements.  People are not fillers for a present God, and God is not a placeholder for future friends." (Messy Beautiful Friendship, Christine Hoover, pg. 38) She goes on to describe how God has the ability to love us

Have you ever started working out and you have those aches and pains and wonder if it is really worth it all?  Your trainer keeps telling you to push through and the results will show up and you will be pleased in time?  The burn and the pain that you are going through you somehow know will be worth it, so you just keep at it. That is kind of how life feels sometimes.  Right now my life is sort of in this painful, dull ache of a time.  I can't really pinpoint the actual culprit but I know that God is doing something.  He is telling me that, in the end, it will be worth it.  Each time my heart feels that stab, I just keep telling myself that there is some purpose in it.  When my happy gets bumped and my feelings are on the bluer side, I simply let out a sigh and know that it will all be worth it.  I have to confess that this type of thing is hard for this girl.  I am an over-thinker and highly sensitive.  I can't say that each time I am disappointed that I just brush it off.

You never change, you are the God you say you are; When I'm afraid you calm and still my beating heart. You stay the same, when hope is just a distant thought, You take my pain and you lead me to the cross What love is this, that you gave your life for me And made a way for me to know you And I confess you're always enough for me you're all I need I look to you, I see the scars upon your hands. And hold the truth, that when I can't you always can. And standing here beneath the shadow of the cross. I'm overwhelmed that I keep finding open arms. What love is this that you gave your life for me And made a way for me to know you And I confess, you're always enough for me You're all I need Jesus in your suffering you were reaching, you thought of me Jesus in your suffering you were reaching, you thought of me What love is this, that you gave your life for me And made a way for me to know you And I confess, you're always enough for me You're all I need Wha