2.27.2011

BBS: Week 1 Discussion Questions

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The Pursuit of God
Chapter 1: A Heart Devoted to God

Where did the story take place?Lazarus and Mary’s sister, Martha’s home

And what was going on? 
Martha and Mary were preparing for Jesus to come for a meal

Who were the people present? 
Martha, Mary, Jesus and the Disciples

How did Martha act...and why?  
Martha was hurried and overwhelmed with busyness in preparation for Jesus’s visit. She ended up snapping at Mary for not helping her.
And how did Mary act? 
Mary stopped what she was doing to sit quietly at the feet of Jesus to listen to Him speak.
What were Jesus’ words to Martha? 
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

And His words to Mary?
That she had chosen what was better.

********

List out 5 actions I can take to put worship at the top of my to-do list:
1. Start spending quite time with the Lord, every day.
2. Keep a journal and jot down what is on my heart.
3. SLOW DOWN! And refrain from being caught up in the busyness of life.
4. Consciously stop and ask God “What would you have me do here?” when I am confronted with something difficult.
5. Choose spending time in the Word even if I would prefer to do something else.

Write out what I will do daily - just for this week - to... cease my busyness, stop all activity, set aside secondary things...
I will have quiet time, every morning.
I will read one Psalm every night.
I will verbally and prayerfully give everything to the Lord each day - I will trust Him.
I will spend time with Him before sitting down to watch TV.

Look up the word “priority” and write it out simply here:
Something given or meriting attention before competing alternatives. (This one was a straight copy and paste because of the last part. Emphasis added by me. Uh, wow...) 

Look up the word “worship” and write out the definition simply here:
Reverence offered to God

Can I think of an area where I'm consciously settling for good when I know that a better and best choice are available?
Yes, I can think of several things actually. But probably at the top of the list is how much time I put aside for the Lord. Truthfully, I most likely rate a “not-so” good in this area. And I need to focus on doing much better.

A Heartfelt Prayer, just for today, help me to cultivate a hot heart by...
Remembering the question: “Lord, what would you have me do?” and then ACTING in that manner. Help me to resist any temptation to focus on negativity or let Satan get the best of my mind. I will honor my husband, praise him for what he does for our family and show him respect. I will not lose my patience with my daughter and I will remind myself of all the blessings in our lives. I will thank Him for giving me new life each day and praise him for all the grace He has shown me.

In 100 words or less, write out one instance when I was aware that I actively chose God as a priority over something or someone this week.
I was having a really tough day on Thursday. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed (mainly irritated about something at work) and was taking it out on my innocent hubby for no good reason at all. (EEK!) Instead of going to straight to work and venting to my girlfriend - I blasted MercyMe on the way while singing my heart out, refocused my energies, prayed and after parking, decided to open up my book and read through the whole first chapter, while sitting in my car.


What are some of the things that keep me from having a daily quiet time?
Busyness. Laziness. Watching television - thinking I need ME-time instead of GOD-time. Yuck, how sick is that? It’s not intentional and it’s not that I consciously say that in my head but by the end of the day, I convince myself that zoning out while watching t.v. will give me relief - when in reality, spending time with God would very likely give me more.
 
What do I think are the key ingredients to a quality quiet time? 
Consistency. Trying to do it in the morning BEFORE the evil one has time to contaminate the mind. It’s so terrible because sometimes I’m so negative before I even roll out of bed!! I say to myself, OH.. just a few more minutes of laying here, when I should eagerly awake to spend that time with God since I know the rest of the day is going to get busy!

2.24.2011

Embrace the Camera: Nasher Sculpture Center

Last weekend, we took a rare trip to downtown Dallas to support Daddy's photography assignment. We stopped at the Nasher for some good family time!!

Duckie!

Hamming it up! Just being Duckie!

No... you could NOT be any cuter!!

Mommy & Duckie
(serious artsy faces and happy faces)

Embrace the Camera People!!


2.21.2011

Coolest New (to me) Inspiration Site: Pintrest

My girl LINDSAY (super cool gal who has a GRRREAT EYE for beautiful things)
turned me onto this AWESOME new site called Pintrest.
All I can say is it's THE BOMB!!
Check it out!
If you're into design, cool ideas, DIY projects or need inspiration for, well, pretty much anything, you need to become a member of this site. For me, this applies to every aspect of my life, even work. 
 Which makes it even more.... (say it with me) AWESOME!! 


*Yes, this post was (and still is) in my book, one that is glorious enough to be called AWESOME (all caps) more than once. Three times exactly, including this one.*

2.18.2011

Verse of the Week {7} Psalm 139:14


I know that this passage is true. Wonderful are HIS works.
Only He can bring healing to my heart or soul is hurting and it is only He
who we should thank for all of the abundant blessings in our lives.

2.16.2011

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Today has been one of those days that could really get me down.
SO... instead of wallowing in yuck,
I decided to start thinking of all the things that make me HAPPY!!
And remembered this link!....

This is my first time to link up with Jamie. 
Here we go!...


Here's what I'm LOVING...

...these SAH-WEET vintage flash cards for kids!
Aren't they cool???



...this "love" headboard!!
I hope my husband can recreate a version of this for our room!!

image:  Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

...this precious picture of Duckie and
how blessed she is we are to have cousins who ADORE her! :)


...the way that this girl doesn't even need to use her hands to eat cake!!
MMMMMM!!



What do you LOVE today??

2.14.2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, DADDY!!

Thank you for being you and for loving us. We are the luckiest girls in the world!

WE LOVE YOU!!

2.09.2011

Verse of the Week {6} 1 Peter 4:8

This one is a great verse too.
LOVE
How easy is it to take that little four-letter word for granted.

But did you ever stop and think about how God intended for us to really love each other, in every situation, the way He loves us. As humans, we tend to not treat each other lovingly if we are mad or upset at someone who we're close to. Or, it's easy for us to judge others we don't know. I think if God were to literally speak to us about LOVE, we would all realize we haven't been loving each other the way he commands. I think He would say we are to show love to each other, at all time, no matter if we have had our feelings hurt or don't agree with one another in all matters. And we are to fight hate, resentment and resist sin with by out-loving them.

Join in!


2.08.2011

Snow Antics

So, last Thursday it snowed almost 6 inches - yeah, again, for Texas this is NUTS! Just wanted to share some of our great day we spent with my brother and his family!

Did I mention that Duckie HATES having her feet in the snow?



This is me and my brother boogie boarding down a hill!


What a BLAST! Snow days are the BEST!

2.07.2011

Cabin Fever!

Last week was probably the craziest snow/ice/wintry mix that I have ever experienced in my 33+ years in Dallas! It iced over so badly, we missed 3.5 work days. Plus, on the last day, it snowed almost 6 inches! (Anyone who knows Texas understands that actually means we were in a BLIZZARD!) And since I had taken Monday off, I only worked a few hours on Thursday! WOO HOO!

I loved every moment of the week spent with the hubs and Duckie! We stayed in on Tuesday but Wednesday, we started to get cabin fever so we ended up killing a few hours with a 5mph trip to Best Buy and Target!

(left) Like father, like daughter, huh?
(right) Poor Emmie... It's hard work being a toy sometimes. Duckie wedged Emmie in the chair by her feet and then vigorously pushed her while squealing "WWEEEEE!! WWEEEEE!"

I know some people went a little nuts with the week off but I LOVED IT! We haven't spent that much time together as a family (maybe ever) with no obligations. What a life!!

2.04.2011

SNOW!

I am still in shock that Duckie cannot stand putting her feet in the snow. I figured that last year was just because she was too little and didn't know what all the white stuff was all over the place. But this is the second time in the last few weeks and her reaction is still the same: to scream bloody murder when you try to set her in it.

Last year....
I thought she was only screaming because
of the 10 ft gargantuan snowman behind her.

This year....
Nope. She just simply hates her feet touching snow.

2.02.2011

Project 365: January 2011

So, my friend Lindsay showed me this COOL app called Project 365. I am what you could only classify as picture hoarder. Let me just say (admit) I have over 4000 (eek!) photos on my iPhone (yup, that's over 7.5 GIGAbytes! I know, I know... I need help.) Imagine my delight when she told me how this app catalogs one picture from each day and then at the end of each month, you can download a page that reminds you of the highlights during the month. I can't wait to relive this year!!

Here is January!!

2.01.2011

Verse of the Week {5} Jeremiah 1:5


Great verse. AMAZING verse.

This one is more powerful now that I've actually experienced motherhood. Carrying our baby for all of those months and all of the emotion wrapped up into that. Overwhelming. Incredible. And then to think, God created her way before she was even conceived. She is just a one little piece of His grand plan.

And even bigger than that, to think of my life story. How I was abandoned at birth but adopted by a wonderful Christ-centered family who would show me the first piece of God's abundant love for me. There just aren't any words to describe how all of this makes me feel. Brings me to my knees. Tears to my eyes. Surrounded by God's grace.

AWESOME.

Click to Join In!

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