Turning the Finger

One of the big pulls for coming to Raleigh was our old church, Vintage. A super hard part about moving is trying to find a new church so when we realized that was already taken care of, we knew we had no excuse not to move forward with God's plan for us. 

The teaching pastor at Vintage has a true gift for words and it shows each Sunday morning as he steps up to the front. This past Sunday was no exception. The series we just wrapped up was entitled "The Awakening" and challenged the church to come alive for God. It has been a great series and the final sermon came from Isaiah 57:14-16. While Pastor Tyler hit a lot of fantastic points what stuck with me was his emphasis on our tendency to find fault in everyone and everything around us without ever looking inward. 

I am so guilty.

I am quick to blame others for their faults, but am slow to call out my own. I mean, who wants to focus on their own issues? That would be no one. Our pastor pointed out that no one is perfect but Jesus. Ouch. You mean I'm not the perfect mom because I manage to have supper on the table each night and keep my kid alive during the day? You mean my kid isn't the perfect toddler because they didn't scream all the way through Target like that other kid did? (Side note-my kid was totally the screamer last week. I feel you, momma in the grocery section). The answer is no. None of us are perfect so before we start to point out the flaws in others we should remember that we are just as flawed.

Shifting my focus to this mindset has already been helpful. Instead of immediately calling people out (always in my head-this chica hates confrontation!) I immediately ask myself, "why are you so upset right now? What if you were in their shoes? Are you the one who should be called out right now?". And the list goes on. Instead of pointing the finger at every one around, I should instead turn the finger to myself. 

If you made it this far, thanks for letting me ramble about my sinful heart;-)

A Vision

Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom's instruction.

-Proverbs 29:18

So often we think we have a vision for our lives and so often God shows us that His vision is greater, but man, is it hard to just let God's vision be our vision. Am I right?? My vision straight out of high school was to become a childhood nutritionist and save all the little children of America from childhood obesity. God showed me through Chemistry 101 and a stint as an Orientation Counselor that was not what He had in mind for me and led me to a path in education. My vision for our family was knocked off its axis in a big way when we lost Emerson mid-way through our pregnancy. And now God is working to change the vision He has for our family's future in ministry. 

Since college David has felt a calling on his heart for something more; something beyond the day to day, 9-5, engineering plan he set out for. God opened doors through the Community Group ministry of our old church to show David the gift he has for preaching. When we moved back to the Charlotte area God led us to Hope Church and many opportunities to serve and use our various gifts-David in the Community Group ministry and me with the kiddos. Over the past four and a half years God has used His vision to lead us down paths we never really saw ourselves going down. David's heart for ministry never wavered, though. He continued to feel a pull for something more and recently has felt that tug even more so. 

So, what does that mean exactly? Good question. If God lets you know, will you let us know? ;-) Currently, we are praying big prayers and asking for God's guidance in our lives. We are asking for His vision to become our vision, and to clear the haze of uncertainty right now. We are praying for wisdom and words, as well as provision for His plan. 

Would you please join us in prayer?

Special thanks to SheReadsTruth for pulling on my heart in a big way yet again!

Dedication Sunday

This past Sunday we had the true honor of dedicating Amelia Grace to the Lord. We were fortunate enough to have many of our family able to gather with us on this special day at Hope Church. How many? There were 25 of us on stage praying over that little girl. Yea, I think it's safe to say she is blessed:-) A few pictures from the big day:

 Four generations.

Amelia Grace wearing the same gown I wore on my baptism on her dedication day!

 Uncle Bird and Aunt Ashley

Aunt Mandy, Cousin William, and Aunt Abby

Hanging out with Gigi and Pop Pop!

Snuggling with her great-grandma, Oma

Hanging out with her great-grandma, Grammie

There are other pictures out there that I haven't gotten my hands on yet, but these are just a few to give you a glimpse of all the love surrounding AG on her big day!

Weekend Shenanigans

I just love the weekend, but then again who doesn't?? A couple days to catch up and breathe after a work week are always so nice and this past weekend was no exception!

We kicked Friday evening off with a dinner date to a local favorite, Afton Tavern, where we saw a few friends from church. Not to mention we were able to chow down on delicious homemade chips. Don't worry, Nugget got all his/her veggies with a salad;-) After supper we headed home to watch "Prisoners", which David had been talking about seeing for a long while. I didn't know much about it, but figured it had Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhal so it couldn't be all bad. Holy canoli. I'm still having nightmares!! It was so realistically terrifying I still refuse to go into a dark room almost a week later. It was a good movie, but don't watch it alone!

The next morning we woke up early and headed into Charlotte to visit the newest location of Tupelo Honey Cafe. We fell in love with this place (and their biscuits!) in Asheville and I've been dying to go to the new location since it opened in December. We used David's upcoming birthday as our excuse and joined his parents there for a delicious breakfast. Sorry about being such a bad blogger and not taking pictures. . . it was all gone before I thought about it!

Afterwards we headed to the South Park area of Charlotte where David's mom and I went shopping for some maternity clothes (!) at a great maternity store down there. Being pregnant in a completely different season has posed some challenges already. A lot of the maternity clothes I bought when I was pregnant with Emerson will be good for another month or two, but then I'll start needing warm weather clothes, which I have none of! Even though I can still fit into the majority of my clothes, there is definitely a bump poking through and things are getting tight.

That afternoon called for a nap. I didn't sleep well the night before (an unfortunately common occurrence!) so I snuggled down for a bit before Nugget woke me up in need of nutrition. Around that time my oh, so sweet friend (and maid of honor) Kelley came by with her new fella! Kelley works an amazing job at Outward Bound helping kids from all walks of life, but sadly that means we don't see much of her. That just means we have to make the most of the time we have together!

Sunday was fairly uneventful compared to Saturday. We headed to church where the worship band rocked it out before some of the guys from church played flag football in honor of the Superbowl. I headed home to catch up on school (the work of a teacher is never done. . .) before the big game. We were so excited to see the Seahawks pull out such an amazing win! 

Circling Prayers

Our church is beginning a six-week long campaign following the path of Mark's Batterson's The Circle Maker. 

Heard of it? Batterson challenges readers begin "praying circles around their biggest dreams and greatest fears" with full and complete faith in God. What a beautiful concept.

The first sermon in the series focused on praying bold prayers and avoiding weak, vague prayers. How often do we ask God to take care of us or our family without praying for deep specifics? God wants to answer our prayers. He wants to hear all that is going on in every crevice of our hearts, but if we just skim the surface we are limiting the possibility of our relationship with Him.

Our pastor challenged us to write down our biggest prayer and circle it. He asked us to get specific and deep with God. It didn't take me five seconds to decide what prayer I wanted to circle; the prayer that is constantly on my mind and heart:

A healthy baby at the end of a safe, full-term pregnancy.

I am writing this prayer down and circling it. I am getting specific with God and asking Him for not just a blessed family, but specifically a healthy baby whom we are able to meet when he or she is ready to join us in this world.

What prayer would you circle and get deep with God?