tulips

The tulips I planted are just peeking out! Yea!!
Come on, springtime, do your thing :)

forgiveness in light of ignorance

Sometimes people hurt us with things they say or do. Sometimes those people do not know the whole story, and they probably never will. How can we forgive people when they throw us under the bus? When Jesus was hanging on the cross, He asked the Heavenly Father to forgive those people that were killing him because they didn't know what they were doing. They did not know the whole story, yet Jesus forgave them.

There will always be ignorant people. Some ignorant people are vendictive and some of them are just sweetly ignorant. Nevertheless, even though it is difficult, we can choose to forgive them. Why? Because God is a forgiver, and we want to be like He is.

powdered doughnuts

i'm sure you are familiar with the love languages. different things make certain people feel very much loved. well, i would like to add my own love language--the way i feel loved by God. it's called "God hears my prayers and lets me find great bargains!" cute :) really, i'm not kidding. here is an example:

tonight we are having about 60 kids over for our weekly high school journey group (that's another blog post!) i still have some snacks to cover, and so i prayed SPECIFICALLY as i walked into this little discount bakery store, and the first thing i saw was two huge carts of powdered doughnuts in bags for $1. then i went to kroger and found 2 liter pepsi for $1. you may think this is a coincidence, but it's not. i know that i prayed and i know that God heard me and answered my prayer. sometimes when i feel like He is far away, i remember that he cares about even those little things that really matter to me. He doesn't just care about my soul. He cares about me and my day. that's my personal love language!

free sample massage

A Chinese lady grabbed me a few days ago in the middle of the mall and literally dragged me to her massage chair for what she called a "free sample" massage. It was so amazing that Brian bought me the 10 minute massage. Before we knew it, all four of us had enjoyed mini massages in the middle of the mall. The boys thought that was the best thing ever! The next time you are shopping and walking carefree, beware of the free samples!

i read a new phrase today:

FAITH MAKES THINGS POSSIBLE........NOT EASY.

i don't want to share my stickers

Brian had the incredible opportunity to meet the little girl that we sponsor with Compassion International. Of all the amazing things going on in Burkina Faso, meeting Fatimata has been one of the many highlights of his trip! Before Brian left, I went to Target and got Fatimata some really cool stuff. It is like God just let me find tremendous bargains on little shirts and toys for a dollar or two. Because Fatimata has a twin sister, I bought some things in two's so she could share. I specifically bought a big page of tiny stickers and told Brian that these were for Fatimata to share with all the other Compassion girls.

I received a text from Brian when he met Fatimata. He put a sticker on her arm and on her sister's arm. The text said, "Fatimata is not very excited about sharing her stickers."

Isn't that funny?! What Fatimata didn't know at the time, was that she had been given a great blow-her-mind package that was far better than the little stickers she was hoarding! Sometimes we are like that, aren't we?! Tightly clutching what we think we own, when God, in His graciousness, has so much more for us that we have just not yet seen. I want to be gracious because God is gracious, and I want Fatimata to understand His grace and the joy of receiving and giving!!

happy times :)

I heard about a survey of people who were really sad or depressed. Although TV, food and alcohol seemed to help some people a little, guess what lifted peoples' spirits the most? Looking at their own family picture albums of all the fun things they had done together. :) Cool huh?