Monday, November 25, 2013

Happy Monday Morning! ~ Thankful

Hi friend!



Happy Monday Morning !


Yes, He is forever faithful and His love for me never ends. 
How can I not praise Him?!

* ~ * ~ * ~ *
These last two weeks I've been talking to the kiddos in my Sunday School class about being thankful.

Here are a few things that these four year olds are thankful for:

~ God
~ mommy & daddy
~ grandma & grandpa
~ my cat, gerbil, fish and rat {one child, a girl}
~ food
~ E-pass at Disney
~ toys
~ teachers {awww, melts my heart}
~ Jesus
~ my dogs - Turbo & Riley {so I ask, "Does Turbo run really fast?" "No, he has a hurt leg, he's slow." "Oh, ok. Next."}
~ church
~ friends

* ~ * ~ * ~  *

Wonderful things to be thankful for, don't you think?

Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving! May you enjoy special time with family and friends, good food and football. And if you're at Disney an E-pass.

Giving thanks to the Lord for He is good!
And thanking Him for you, dear friend.

Love ya, 

Friday, November 22, 2013

5 Minute Friday Fun: Fly

Hi friend!
Happy Friday to YOU!

Every Friday for nearly four years writers have gathered over at Lisa-Jo's place in blog land for something she calls 5 Minute Friday. It's a linky party / blogger flash mob / free writing exercise. Whatever you want to call it, I say it's just plain fun - blog land style.

Everyone spends five minutes writing on the same topic. If they have a blog, they link up to Lisa-Jo's post on that week's topic. No blog? No problem! Just leave your five minutes of writing in the comments section at Lisa Jo's place.


~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
and GO!

FLY

Sometimes it feels like I'm flying through life at supersonic speed.

I'm very goal oriented and hate to sit still. My mind is always going. Many times I'm thinking of the next thing to do while I'm still doing the first thing.

In fact, one evening when my boys were young, I told them - "I'm gonna get supper in the tub, so go jump in the oven". True story.

Yep, I was at warp speed after ball practice and before dinner and homework. Glad the kiddos were used to my craziness on these evenings and just giggled at their silly mom and got in the tub.

I don't really think this is the best way to fly live life.

I probably miss a lot of stuff. I mean, how much can get noticed and enjoyed traveling that fast. It's all just a blur as I whiz by.

Maybe I'll never just be gliding along. That would be too slow for a gal like me.

But, I do realize that this is truly not how I want to do life. I need to slow down.

I want and need to slow down enough to enjoy the moments that make up the minutes that make up the hours that make up the days that will add up to my life.


and STOP!

Five Minute Friday


Love ya,

Thursday, November 14, 2013

be yourself

Hey there friend!

Well, this has been a very frustrating post to write.
I'm trying to write something fabulous and inspired,  yet encouraging and witty. Ha!

All I wanted to do is write a post to link up with Bonnie at Faith Barista.
It's her first Thursday Faith Jam in months and I want to be a part of it.

Between yesterday and today I've spent a few hours trying to get it typed out and just right.

But now it's all gone. Like deleted gone. And there's no getting it back.
And now I'm whining keeping it real by telling you what's happened. 

So, this is me - I'm being myself.
Not a writer, bothered by my own dumb mistakes, but never a quitter.

I'm taking a deep breath and whispering a prayer that hubby won't mind if it takes a while longer. Hope the game he's watching is a good one. Maybe he won't miss me. *wink*

Anyways, Bonnie's prompt for this week is - be yourself.

So here's plan B - I'm giving myself five or ten minutes to write and if it's worth hitting that publish button than great. And if not, than I'm hitting delete and calling it a night.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ 

Sometimes it's hard to be yourself if you don't know who you are. Or what you're supposed to be doing with your life. Or where you're going in life.

But, I don't really think being yourself has as much to do with your journey in life as it has to do with who God created you to be.

Did you know God counted and named each and every star in the sky?
They all have names - so they know who they are.
They do what they're supposed to be doing - lighting the night sky.
And I don't think they wonder where they're going in life because they're already fulfilling their God-given purpose and just follow the plan God laid out for them. {ummm, is that spinning or orbiting? definitely twinkling}

All throughout the Bible we see that names and their meanings are important to God.  And since He did name the stars when He hung them in the sky, I'd say yea, names are really important to Him.

I recently looked up what my name means and was pretty amazed at how it's meaning matches up so well with my God-given personality. 

Here's some of what I found:

Debra - bee
busy
stings
helps

Ann - graceful
gracious
giving
favored by God


It got me to thinking that maybe when my mom & dad were trying to think of the prefect name to give me, God placed in their hearts Debra Ann.
It went something like...
Victoria Lee? umm, no
Donna Jane? nope
Debra Ann? Yes!

And God smiled at that name because the person He was creating me to be was going to be....
- busy as a bee {I hate sitting still}
- may sting at times {can be sarcastic and speak the honest truth when needed}
- helpful {LOVE to help others}
- graceful {oops! guess I should have taken those ballet classes; not a klutzt; I'd say  more of a tomboy}
- gracious {try to be; very difficult when I'm hungry or tired so just get out of my way during those times}
- giving {Love to give to others - goes with helping}
- favored by God {always and all ways}

If I look at it from this perspective then, by the grace of God, I'm doing pretty good at just being myself.

So friend, I believe now more than ever that being yourself is not about what but who.
Who has God created you to be?

Have you ever looked up the meaning of your name?
If not, please do. You may be pleasantly surprised like I was at what you'll discover.

If you have a personal relationship with God, than one name you hold for sure is beloved daughter.

I'll end this with sharing a simple prayer I sometimes say ~
Dear Lord, 
Please help me to be
the person You created me to be
when You first thought of me and
placed me in my mother's womb. 
Your daughter, 
Debra Ann

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Please stop by Faith Barista and see what Bonnie has to say about being yourself.




Since I obviously hit the publish button I'm hoping that there is something here worth reading and somehow God speaks to your heart.... which has always been my main purpose of writing here at FH&J. Thanks again for stopping by.

Love ya,

Monday, November 11, 2013

Happy Monday Morning! ~ Choose Joy

Hey there friend!



Happy Monday Morning!


 
 "I will celebrate and be joyful
because you, LORD,
have saved me."
Psalm 35:9



Choose Joy! 
Just two words.

Two words made "famous" in bloggy land by sweet Sara (aka Gitzen Girl). And if there was ever someone who had a reason, actually more like a half dozen reasons, to choose anything but joy it was that Gitzen Girl.

I'm choosing joy today... how about you?


Love ya,

Monday, November 4, 2013

Happy Monday Morning! ~ The Best Path

Hi friend!



Happy Monday Morning!



 The Lord says, "I will guide you 
along the best pathway for your life.
I will advise you and watch over you."
Psalm 32:8




My prayer most mornings is -

Dear Jesus,
Thank You for this new day.
Please lead me, guide me and walk beside me. 
Amen

Simple, but heartfelt. 

What better path to be on than the one chosen by Him.
What better person to walk it with than my Jesus. 
 

Love ya,

Friday, November 1, 2013

5 Minute Friday Fun: GRACE

Hey there friend!
And a Happy Friday to ya!

I'm joining the Friday fun once again with another Five Minute Friday writing exercise.

These one word prompts and writing for five minutes -
free and easy..... no pressure to get it just right.... just write
- have been a joy.

You see, I usually stress forever over just the right words to say and how to say them so that a normal post takes a bazillion edits before I'm ready to hit the publish button.

Tonight I'm reliving some of a conversation hubby and I had just the other day. As soon as I saw the one word prompt Lisa-Jo had given us, I knew what I'd write about - my wonderful grace giving guy. 

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

and GO!

GRACE

I tell him, "I'm sorry."

"What for?", he asks.

I try to explain, "Not always understanding. About your pain. But, since I pulled the muscle in my back I've realized a few things. It hurts! And it's not fun. And it's tiring being in pain all day."

"It's ok." is his reply.

"No, I'm not as helpful or patient or kind. At least not like you've been to me. I don't give you much grace."

Always the grace giver, he says, "I said it's ok, and it really is."

So I try to explain a bit more, "I mean like when we're out somewhere and you maybe get a twinge of pain and groan out loud. I teasingly tell you not to do that in public because you'll scare old people and children. Well, that's not grace, that's being embarrassed."

He takes my hand and now it's his turn to explain.

"I get it that you don't understand my chronic pain. Now that you've had some yourself, you can understand better. Nobody can understand if they haven't experienced it themselves. And as far as me scaring people- I know it's your weird sense of humor when you feel self-conscience. It's ok. I understand and I love you."

I guess that is grace..... understanding and loving even if I don't deserve it.


and STOP!



Five Minute Friday


Besides having a quick, fun and stress-free writing time on Friday evenings, I love one other aspect of FMF just as much, maybe even a bit more. And that would be Lisa-Jo's rule of visiting our FMF neighbors {person who linked up right before} and leaving a comment to let them know we stopped by. I enjoy reading what others have to say about our one word for the week. Of course, getting a few comments and some bloggy love in return makes my heart sing.


Love ya,