Prayers For Lucy

Dear Fellow Believers,
Please join in the agreement that this sweet little girl will be healed in the name of Jesus. May our Father, our Healer, touch her with His healing power right now and my her test tomorrow be a report of this healing from Jehovah-rophe.

"God is Jehovah-rophe. This name means 'Jehovah heals.' God alone has the remedy for the healing of mankind. The Gospel is concerned with the physical, moral, and spiritual healing of all people. Exodus 15:22-26" per The Navigators

Wishlist Wednesday: Large Wooden Spool

I want to make my outdoor table out of one of these jems. I love it.

Start From The Start

The best way I know to get where you want to go is to really assess your starting point. Today, as I was reading a book about Agape love I began to assess my reality in comparison with the Word of God. The results were to be desired but the prognoses is promising.(smiles)

1 Corinthians 3:4-7:
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, it does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

My reality compared to 1 Corinthians 3:4-7:
I am rarely patient, I am sometimes kind, and jealous quite often. I brag even when I when I am only half-way successful and I am completely arrogant when I am fully successful. I often act unbecomingly. I almost always seek my own. I allow myself to be provoked. I have a bank account of others wrong doings; with a pretty high interest rate. I rarely rejoice in unrighteousness and I do love the truth but I don’t bear many things. I believe some things but doubt the others. I will hope for things for a while but then lose hope. Then I will try to hope again. This cycle is exhausting. I endure at a moderate level.

My Swap Meeting

I had a pretty interesting Easter this year. I didn’t get to go to church in the morning because my mother and I were flying home from Georgia. On the plane I began crying and did not finish until the duration of the trip, both flights. I pulled a tank top out of my carry on and used it to wipe my tears. I tried tissues but my need surpassed their performance ability. As I was coming to the realization of my complete and total depravity a portion of a song titled Trading My Sorrows, sang by Darrel Evans, keeps replaying in my head.

“I'm trading my sorrow.
I'm trading my shame.
I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord.”

I have hit an impasse in my life. There is one area that I have done all I can do. I have even tried to “fake it ‘till [I] make it”. After so long, you just have to conclude that you are just faking. So, as this verse keeps replaying in my head I began to correlate the similarities in my current personal life inventory and the components of the transaction in the song. It looks to me that I am a superb candidate for this offer. I have an abundance of sorrow from my own shortcomings and my accounts of shame are of tremendous proportions.
By the grace of God we land on time. (It had been thundering and lightening the majority of the day in OKC.) I told God I WAS getting to night service and we were going to do some swapping. I was running a bit already and then my car battery died. I laughed: No dead electronic is going to stop me. I figured that it would still be dead in three hours, so off I go in my mom’s tricked out ride. Upon arrival I greeted a friend, set my belonging in the back, and made a bee line to the front. The way I saw it I had a business transaction to conduct. If my Father wanted these things HE COULD HAVE THEM! They are just poisoning mine. Similar to AIDS, they are not killing me themselves but they were monopolizing all my resources and energy. They leave me with no room to endure ANYTHING else as evidenced incidences like snapping at my mom for not getting a good photo of me on the bungee jump thing when she AND another person got great photos of my brother. It sounds silly when I type it but this is my reality. I can not even handle small things like this.
So I stood there and cried again. I kept asking God, “What can you take? What can I give you?” He was faithful to show my a few scenes rather quickly. It is my belief that He would like these things gone just as much as I do. I was more than happy to hand these circumstances over because I had glanced at them in my heart before and I have never seen anything so disgusting before in my life, either in the natural or my mind. NEVER.
Praise God for the Easter Miracle and looking forward to the joy of the Lord in my life.

Quote of the Day: 4.25.11

"I don't follow my dreams. I chase them down and make them give me everything they've got"
-Shala Peeples

As you probably already know I like to dance to my own beat. Things are done a bit differently in my world. One of the things I take the most pride in are "my holidays". They are technically holidays for everybody but I like to recalibrate the importance of each holiday as I so desire. When it comes to April 22 I ,as M|A|R|R|S would say, "Pump Up The Volume". I love Earth Day. It is in my top 5 days of the year. Most people make resolutions once a year but I make them three times, New Years, my birthday (my new year), and Earth Day. This helps to keep me focused on the fact that we need to be CONTINUALLY resolving to better ourselves. This year I have a only one resolution. To me it will be huge because it will require that I make extra trips to... wherever you take this "stuff" to recycle. Maybe my first resolution should be to find out where one would take these items to be dropped off. Hehe. Just kidding.

Drum roll, please.

I RESOLVE TO RECYCLE GLASS AND ALUMINUM.

Here is a list of past Earth Day resolutions:
Recycle paper.
Plant flowers.
Use reusable bags at stores.
Pick up trash every time I see it and I can wash my hands shortly after.
Never litter.
Repurpose as many items as possible. (I try to be careful not to become a hoarder though. Hehe)

Love Don't Pay The Bills or Get You Free Stuff, But Coupons Do

So the past couple of weeks I have been trying to get things together for my family to come see my place after my graduation. No biggie right? Doing it without spending money? Quite the challenge. Bring it on!

Step One:
Find an awesome coupon from Target and purchase what your doctor makes you buy regardless of possession of said coupon.


Step Two:
Walk around the store stopping only at clearance sections. When you find perfectly good pillow cases that are only marked down so low because the package is torn yell, "BINGO" and put them in your basket. (Like, anyone was going to save that beautiful, precious packaging before someone came and ripped. Shesh.)




Step Three:
Go look at the other pillowcases just to give yourself the satisfaction of knowing you are getting such a great deal JUST because the packing is ripped. Yep, still there.


Step Four: Keep walking because you still have two bucks on that card, baby.


Step Five: Stroll to the women's department. When you find a $2.00 tank top in your favorite shade of pink yell, "BINGO" again and put it in your basket. Pay no mind to the people staring at the crazy lady yelling, "BINGO". They are just jealous of your terrific deals.


Step Six: Pay your $.85 of tax and be on your merry way.

So People Say... "Extreme"

Here is a real life quote from my bestest camp friend Amber Schultz:
"If you are not and Shala and you try to give her advice then it's not going work for her. It's not extreme enough."

Why thank you Amber, I think you're pretty extreme yourself.

Wishlist Wednesday: Could You Just Hold This For A Second?

I have been thinking about posting some of the outfits I wear on my blog. My BFF thinks I should so that's really all the "go ahead" that I need. It doesn't take much to win me over. So, to do that I need this beauty.

Monkey Business

Some days you just have to kick your feet up and laugh.

So People Say... "Hit Me With Your Best Shot"

While listening to music in my freshman art class in high school my art teacher looks at me and says, "This is your song".

True story Sinclair, true story.

Hit Me With Your Best by Pat Benatar:

"Well you're the real tough cookie with the long history
Of breaking little hearts, like the one in me
That's O.K., lets see how you do it
Put up your dukes, lets get down to it!
Hit Me With Your Best Shot!
Why Don't You Hit Me With Your Best Shot!
Hit Me With Your Best Shot!
Fire Away!


You come on with a come on, you don't fight fair
But that's O.K., see if I care!
Knock me down, it's all in vain
I'll get right back on my feet again!


Hit Me With Your Best Shot!
Why Don't You Hit Me With Your Best Shot!
Hit Me With Your Best Shot!
Fire Away!


Well you're the real tough cookie with the long history
Of breaking little hearts, like the one in me
Before I put another notch in my lipstick case
You better make sure you put me in my place."

So People Say... "You Know Who You Remind Me Of..."

I don't really know how to describe myself when questioned, however, sometimes there are conversations that are able to pinpoint exactly what I am trying to communicate. Here is one.

Me: "I use to love [Glee] but now it's too agenda focused for me. It makes the characters a little inconsistent. But a lot of people tell me Rachel reminds them of me. That could be taken two different ways but I choose to take it as 'well, she is the best'. I think Rachel would take it that way too. Thus further validating their point."

Julie: "LOL, I'm quite sure she would. She's my favorite character. I do get what you mean about their agenda though."

Patient

Sometimes you just have to get right to the point.

Mirriam-Webster's 4th definition of patient.
"Patient: pa·tient adj. \ˈpā-shənt\- 4: steadfast dispite opposition, difficulty, or adversity"

Rewind: 8.22.10

Almost 8 months ago I started driving home to go to church in Shawnee. Here are some quotes from "my homecoming service" on 8.22.11. It really set the tone for the next season in my life.

“We have to live with thankful hearts. Just make a commitment, a covenant with God today, ‘I will not go through a day not being thankful.’”

“Thankful people are active people.”

“Thankful people are people who want to bless others.”

“Every person has an inheritance.”

-Daniel Matthews
.CLICK HEREto find this amazing message in it's entirety.

My Thoughts On Golf

So here are some of my thoughts on golf... ok, just my thoughts on the players. (Stuff like this may have been how I got the nickname "T.V. Guide" as a child.

Since watching the Masters last year with the guy I was dating at the time I have come to love Phil Mickelson. Not because he is a stellar golfer (which he is) but because he has two daughters and his wife Amy had cancer but is in remission. That family dynamic endears them to me. They needed a win that year. Plus, I was just happy to see someone besides Tiger win. As far as I'm concerned he can just start "winning" with Charlie Sheen. Bubba Watson has ADHD and apparently uses the hyperfocus attibutes of it to excel in his game. Automatic love. I am so glad to see someone besides Bam Margera put a face with that disorder. And Nick Watney is just plain cute.

This is what happens when my employer sets my home page MSN.COM.

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Wednesday Wishlist: Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall, Who's the Fairest One of All?

It's this mirror, it is the fairest. This is a mirror from Pier1 that I have liked it for a while. But that was just it, I just LIKED it. Untill, I saw what Sara from August Fields did with it. The moment I saw her Master Bedroom was like my first day of eighth grade. You know what I'm talking about, when the cutie pootie from the year before stands before you showcasing his total transformation into the class hottie. What those three months did for that cutie is what this blue wall did for this mirror. I am now completely in love.

Quote of the Day: 4.5.11

This is my quote of the day...Maybe the quote of my lifetime.

“I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind.
Some come from ahead and some come from behind.
But I've bought a big bat.
I'm all ready you see.
Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!”
Dr. Seuss