Inherited?

I posted this on my other blog, but I thought I would share it here as well...

I am not sure if this is true or if the bible says anything at all remotely close to the statement I am about to make, but I feel like one of my spiritual gifts I inherited from my mother. Don’t get me wrong, I know that I was given these gifts from Holy Spirit, but sometimes I wonder if Holy Spirit gives families similar gifts. I may be totally off base, but I feel like I received the gift and the heart of intercessor because of my mom.

Growing up I feel like there were hundreds of times I would come home from school, or wake up on a lazy Saturday morning/afternoon to find my mom sitting in her “devotional” spot. (Far left side of the couch, under a lamp, next to a side table, bible open, glasses on, coffee steaming). My mom not only LOVES the word of God, but she LOVES praying for her family. I know she carries a photo of all of us in her Bible and moves along the picture praying over each of our lives. I fully believe it is partly due to my mom’s dedication, consistency, and “ferocious” prayers that I made it to where I am today. Heck, it’s due to those prayers that I made it out of my teenage years alive…seriously.

I believe that the prayers of the saints move things that wouldn’t have moved had they not prayed. Marriages stay together, depression is broken, bodies are healed, minds are renewed, and hearts are restored. My mom did that/does that for all of us. She is gluing everything together with her prayers. She is sealing the metaphorical seal in the heavenly realms of our destinies and moving mountains through her warrior intercession.

Now that I am on the other side of my parents raising me and I am carving out my own path and walk with the Lord, I feel the spirit of an intercessor growing inside of me. Ministry time at church/small group has become one of my favorite parts of the week and some of my most intimate moments with the Lord are when I am in prayer for others. Be it someone standing right in front of me, our country, our president, my family, etc. the Lord continues to give me the words to pray and draw me deeper into his chamber and his arms. And even if she didn’t exactly give me the gift her self, she gave me the gift of her example and I am thankful.

Keep Pressing Play - Bring it!

On May 11^th Josh and I started a new work out program called P90X (stands for “Power 90 Extreme” in case you were curious). Basically, this is a 7 day a week work out and eating healthily boot camp for 90 days. So far the results have been great. We are both feeling stronger, we have more energy and our clothes fit better. Neither of us have seen dramatic weight loss yet, but I am chalking that up to muscle gain partnered with weight loss to balance things out. Today was day 24 and we are actually on our “rest” week which includes some intense core work, yoga, and stretching. (tons of rest eh?)

I never thought I would be like this but since starting P90X on the average day since starting this is now my schedule:

• 5:45 a.m. – roll out of bed trying to get my dried out contacts back into place on my eye balls while simultaneously trying to cover my body in some sort of decent work out clothing and “Shush” willow while she whines to get out of her cage.
• 5:50 a.m. – Take willow out to go potty, hopefully avoiding the neighbors so I don’t look like a crazy person with my hair probably still tucked down my shirt because I was to tired to flip it out after getting dressed.
• 5:55 a.m. – Feed willow, wake up my cute hubby. Wash face, put on tennis shoes. Wake Josh up again. Put willow in her crate. Go downstairs and put in P90X dvd.
• 6:00 a.m. – Fumble through the fridge trying to find Me and Josh’s smart water
• 6:05 a.m. – Start “BRINING IT!!!!!!!” read: push play on the dvd player, fast forward through all the legal stuff at the beginning, listen to Tony Horton be weird and tell us why this work out is important and finally start the work out 3.5 mins. Later.
• 6:30 a.m. – About to die. Part of me is burning (legs, arms, back, lungs?). I am chugging water and dripping sweat from everywhere on my body. (are knees supposed to sweat?!?!?!)
• 7:00 a.m. – Depending on the day of the week…time for ab ripper…this video does exactly what the title says…
• 7:20 a.m. – done with work out. Fumble my now shaking body back up the stairs to shower.
• 8:20 a.m. – Finished getting ready…probably after yelling at willow about 8 times to stop getting in the bathroom trash can…head down stairs for a healthy b-fast consisting of 6 egg whites with some sort of veggie in them and skim milk.
• 8:40 a.m. – head to work.
• 10:30 a.m. – try to avoid thinking about bread.
• 11:30 a.m. – protein bar craving…I love you peanut butter!
• 12:30 p.m. – lunch big ole salad with chicken and veggies or a Tuna Sandwhich
• 3:30 p.m. – hello baby carrots.
• 4:30 p.m. – wish I had more carrots
• 5:30 p.m. – home, waiting for dinner…hello banana!
• 6:00 p.m. – dinner with the housemates and willow begging at our feet (so cute!) Consisting of loads of protein, loads of veggies.
• 6:30 p.m. – quality family time/self time.
• 8:30 p.m. – Fro-Yo anyone? (aka frozen yogurt)
• 10:30 p.m. – Crash into bed so I can get up and do it again!

I’m not going to lie, it has been really tough. However, I am really proud of how well Josh and I have been doing. We haven’t missed a single work out day yet even on vacation! AND on that vacation we did pretty well with our eating up through the first part of the vacation. The last 3 or 4 days of the vaycay were rough though, because we were in the south and EVERYTHING in the south is so yummy! (haha)

I find myself actually looking forward to the workouts and wanting more! Over vacation, when I had extra time to spare I sometimes would add an extra work out in (kayaking, yoga, elliptical etc.) It was a good addition. I never would have thought that I would WANT more time to do a double. (Volleyball speak…during training we would have practice 2 times a day 10 – 12 and then 1 – 3, it’s called a double).

We are supposed to take before, 30 day, 60 day, and 90 day photos so I am looking forward to comparing the before with the 30 days next week.

Okay…I am officially crazy and have been rambling for a while now. If you are still reading I am impressed. Hopefully we can stick with it all 90 days. If you are ever up early in the morning, a prayer for strength for both of us is always a good thing.

Good and Gracious

I am sure I have already said this before, but I just want to reiterate what a good God He is. Over Easter I was in Bloomington, IL visiting my in-laws and when we were about to leave to head back to Nashville I started to panic because I couldn’t find my purse Bible. I received this Bible from my mom about 4 years ago and it is tiny… the size of a check book and convenient to carry in my purse. Older people are always amazed at how small the font is and they will make some comment when they see me reading it like: “give it 10 years missy…” or “I remember when I could read fonts that small...” As fun as those comments are they aren’t the reason that I love my purse Bible so much.

I love my purse Bible because it is the Bible that I started to really dig into the word with. I literally carry it around with me everywhere switching it from purse to purse and pulling it out when I have 5 or 10 spare minutes somewhere. It is underlined all over the place and I have written special notes in the margins on some of my favorite verses.

When I thought I had lost my purse in Bloomington I was devastated and frustrated beyond belief. I couldn’t understand how it went missing nor could I remember the last place I had it. Was it in the car ride down? Did I leave it at the Church Easter morning? Had it fallen out of my purse at some restaurant? Was it at Small group the previous Thursday? Argh! Losing things is not fun…especially when it is something so important to your daily life.

When we got home to Nashville I tore the condo apart looking for it everywhere. Couch cushions. Car. Car trunk. Side table. Mattress. Office desk. It was no where to be found. I eventually gave up hope and started carrying my large bible around, forgetting it for important bible study/church events 85% of the time. Over the next few weeks my frustration grew. I was so angry at the injustice of my BIBLE being lost! Why would my favorite Bible be lost for all time. Why?!

One day while driving home from work I was thinking about how it had been an especially frustrating day at work and I could use some good bible study. I had recently heard a story about a believer who lost his favorite pocket knife and went through a similar situation I was going through - frustration, sadness, frantic searching, giving up -- This particular believer finally at the end of his rope said out loud to the Lord in an empty hotel room “I want my knife back” and out of the sky…the pocket knife appeared and dropped into his lap. Thinking about that story got me thinking about my bible and I thought if God will give a guy his pocket knife back, how much more important is His word! So getting a burst of hope and energy I said out loud in my car “I want my Bible back!” Again I said louder “I want my Bible back!” and finally shouting over and over “I want my Bible back!” I glanced around to see if it had appeared out of thin air…nothing. I reverted to my sad, frustrated state yet again.

That night we had small group. I wasn’t feeling it. During the prayer time at the end all I could think about was my bible so I prayed that he would give it back to me. At the end I was still in cranky mood and left actually crying because of such a frustrating day and feeling lonely and abandoned due to the lack of an answer.

Later that evening while sitting on the couch at home I felt the urge to check the couch one more time for my bible. I shrugged it off thinking…I have already checked there a few times before and there is no way I missed it. Again later, I felt the same urge and I shrugged it off again. Finally, one more time before I went to bed I felt the same urge so I thought, “what can it hurt” I pulled back the couch cushion and there in plain sight sat my purse Bible right next to my “reading the bible in a year” study guide. I shouted and I think I scared my housemates because I was so happy! Right away I went up stairs and started reading it again.

Another life lesson has been taken away from this experience. God wanted me to ask Him for help. He wanted me to know that I can’t do everything on my own and he wanted to reveal to me how good He is and how much He wants to bless me. Also, I didn’t even ask for it or know it was missing, but he gave me my “reading the bible in a year” guide back as well so He even gave me something back that I didn’t know I needed! I am so happy and blessed. Every time I see my purse bible now I am reminded of His amazing love and goodness and my heart bursts with thanksgiving and joy!

Seasons of Change...but not for me.

I find myself being taught some weird life lessons lately. Lessons, that I honestly didn’t see coming at all. One of these lessons being that post school friends are hard to make and keep. Now, don’t get me wrong, Josh and I have many friends, but there aren’t many, if any, really close unbreakable friendships that have been established outside of college. Yes I am aware that last Saturday it has been 2 years since I walked across that stage in Anderson, IN and moved my tassel to the left side and I maybe should have realized this “lesson” a little sooner than now…but alas, now it is coming to light.

I think the reason I am noticing this now is that all of a sudden the seasons seem to be changing for everyone around me. College and High School graduates of 2009 are preparing for their big walk across the stage. Friends are moving out of state. Friends are having babies left and right. Friends are planning for babies left and right. Friends are leaving the country for extended periods of time. Friends are getting married. And so on and so on…I however, have nothing even remotely like that on the horizon.

I don’t feel like it is bad that I don’t have anything HUGE going on. I actually feel pretty good about it. I guess Josh and I feel like we have kinda “put down our roots” here in Tennessee and we are happy. I am just used to being the one who is having the seasons change. It’s difficult when people drift in and out of our lives, and we can’t easily follow. It makes it hard to stay connected with people and develop deep tight-knit friendships.

People get busy in their own lives and it seems as though they forget about all they left behind. I am totally guilty of this as well. Actually, I am probably one of the worst offenders. I am HORRIBLE at keeping in touch with the people I love and care about most. I guess it’s easy to “forget” about things that aren’t right in front of your face, which is sort of ridiculous…

Anyway, all of this to say that I am waiting on God to see what the “next big thing” is for my life. And as always I am looking forward to hear what He has to say.

What a Glance Can Do

Since getting our new puppy Willow (aka will-bomb, willster, willhimena, willie, and any variation hence forth...) life has been a little bit different...who am I kidding, it has been A LOT different.

She is a puppy, so there is quite a bit that she still needs to learn about being a good house dog. (read: not pooping on the floor, chewing on my scarves, biting my toes, chewing/playing tug-of-war with my pant legs, or trying to jump up on me while I am going to the bathroom). We are training her with this method called "clicker training." The clicker is a unique sound which helps her to realize what she is doing right faster than just saying "good dog." This is Pavlov at his best. You reward the dog for good behaviors by clicking a metal tounge thingy and then give her a treat right afterward. To sum it up, you click and treat the dog for the good behaviors and ignore the bad behaviors.

Willbomb is really smart and picked up "sit" and "down" fairly quickly. She is also, for the most part, potty trained. We still have to keep a pretty close eye on her, but she can go for several hours with out having and accident and she notifys us that she needs to go by sitting by the back door. The next big thing to tackel is "stay." I have been trying to teach her this command and she just follows me to where ever I go (even if it is just one step) and sits between my feet. It's pretty cute, but I am at a loss at what to do.

It's so funny to me that this little pup, who has only been with us for 2.5 weeks can be so loyal and attached to me and Josh already. We get one step away from her and she has to come and sit between our feet and stare at us. Even though she is not understanding what I am trying to teach her, and is "misbehaving" in a way, my heart melts when her little furry paw reaches out and sets on my foot. Kind of an obvious spiritual lesson to take away there.

If my heart melts at a puppy, putting her paw on my foot because she wants to be close to me, how much more does God's heart melt when we come and want to spend time with and be close to Him even if it is just for a few minutes a day? He loves when we look at Him even if we did just mess up and are coming to him dirty, broken, and sinful! The more we look at Him the more we realize how much we love Him back and the more we become like Him.

This is a reminder to myself that even though I have a little pupster now, and life is busier and more hecktic with her I still need to make time to spend with God, no interruptions, no distractions. Who knows, maybe in that time God will click and treat.