Faith Inspiration Happiness

Faith is something you have but often you loose, Inspiration helps you regain your faith and when you have them both you will have pure happiness. I have lost my faith, went into a long deep dark hole. This place was lonely, I am sure everyone has been there. In the rut of life. You have everything your job, the people around you and even yourself. Well let me show you how I regain my faith and found my happiness again through some wonderful inspiration of wonderful scriptures, quotes, and thoughts.

First we must PRAY...

"And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith." - Matthew 21:22

This does not mean pray and you will receive a new car, home or tons of money. You are not praying for worldly items. The first thing that you need to pray for is forgiveness for straying away, strength to stand tall. I found the simple prayer for each day is just to thank God for the day that he gave you, because we are so blessed to have each and everyday.

Next, and I never believed this but I have found that this to be so true that you have to worship wot like believers. 

"I in them and you in me-so that truly may be brought to complete unity. The the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." - John 17:23


You can work alone on faith, you can read your bible, pray, but you will not grow and  become happy until you surround yourself with people that love God as much as you do.

OK-- so we have talked about praying, we have talked about worshiping with other Christians..what do you ask..what is next..
Elsa and Anna from Frozen said it best
LET IT GO..LET IT GO...

I found this to be the hardest to do and I still have a hard time with this. For a long time I felt like I had to please everyone, everyone except the one that I needed to...GOD. I let people and thier views that I should have never agreed with, that I was not raised to agree with matter the most to me. I almost lost my husband, my family and myself. I felt like at times that I was loosing my mind. One day I was riding in the car with my mom and she was listening to K-Love a christian radio station and the song "In the Eye of the Storm" by Ryan Stevenson came on. (FYI if you have not heard this song you must.)

Eye of Storm

It touched me, gave me goose bumps, like God was sitting right there beside me. Then it hit me, I was the one that left not him. 




"For we walk by faith, not by sight." - 2 Corinthians 5:7

That's right as long as we have faith we can walk with out heads held high. I started to study my bible, and when I say this I actually read the words. When I had questions I asked I had never done this before but I wanted to learn more. I have a lady at work and we find ourselves talking about the bible and I learn so much from her and I am blessed to have her in my life. 

OK so verses for thoughts..

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous, Do not be afraid. Do not be discourage, for the Lord God will be with you wherever you go." - Joshua 1:9

If  this verse does not speak volumes with that God is in your corner, that you just have to have faith in him, you don't have to be afraid, You are strong, stand tall and you can face anything.

"Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? or am I trying to please people? It I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ." - Galatians 1:10

This also means that the only person that you need to please is God. You need to make sure you follow the word and do as he wants you to not what others want you to do.

So we will recap, we need to pray we need to surround ourselves with like minded people and people that love God as much as you do. Have faith in God that he will always be there. Have faith in yourself that you can as a Christian. Be excited about it, share your experiences with others. 

One last verse (I promise)

"Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, "Don't be afraid;Just believe." - Mark 5:36

Remember
Have Faith, Inspire someone, and Be full of Happiness!

Seeing God though the eyes of a Child

This weekend I had the joy and the pleasure to take my eight year old nephew to his first real christian concert. We traveled to Charlotte, NC and saw Tobymac along with a lot of other wonderful artist.

Before going his mother and I were not sure if he was ready for such a huge event, the crowds, lights, and the many different ways people worshiped. We prayed to God that he would guide us in our discussion, and to help us know that we were not making the wrong decision. After praying and talking to my brother and husband we all decided that he was ready. Matt and I bought the tickets as his birthday present and gave them to him back in January, so for the past 3 months we have been building to this past weekend. Making sure that he understood what he would encounter, also that he made sure that he knew that music that he would hear so he could sing along. He knows most of the music but not all.

Well the day came for us to leave and that boy was over the moon he talked on the four hour car drive all the way, about how excited he was, and that he was ready to praise God with millions of people... His mother and I looked at each other and smiled and we asked him to repeat himself, He said "Yes we are going to sing and praise God with MILLIONS of people and God I know will be there." Such an amazing thing for a small child to say. Know he does go to christian school and he is a little wiser beyond his years but sometimes I am just amazed at what he can say,

We get to the Venue and there are a lot of people and we can not contain him, he is all over the place and to our surprise there are so many kids, some younger than my nephew. They are all standing there with a special sparkle in there eye waiting patiently for the doors to open. We had to wait about an hour and to an eight year and and us (LOL) it seemed to take forever, but the time came and we enter the building. His eyes are as big as Christmas morning, he said that there are so many people and he needs to know if God is going to be able to hear all of us. In that moment, I began to think about that comment, can God hear all those prayers, all the praise all at once.

In 1 John 5:14 " And this is the confidence that we have towards him, that if we ask anything according to his will he will hear us."

In this verse I feel that he tells us that if we have faith in him that we will be able to ask anything and he will hear us, we told this to my nephew and he said that he kinda understood let me remind you that he is eight. So we went and found our sets, as we sat we had tons of kids that sat around us, kids of all ages. We opened the concert in prayer, asking for a fun and safe night and then the fun began.

As the night went on I admired and watch these small kids along with my small nephew as they sang their hearts out and raised their hands high praising God. They never missed a beat, never sat down, and never stopped singing until the lights came back on 4 hours later.

Yes we were all so tired but I stood in amazement to see how God was there with a packed house, the holy spirit shined through each and everyone of us. I know that some feel that God may not be real. I beg to differ, I have known all my life that he has been by my side but that night just reaffirmed that I know he is real and through all those innocent children he shined his light.

If each child in the world could be touch like those children were that night, many of the horrible things that go on in this world would not be, I wish we could keep those kids so innocent. I know as parents that one day we will have to let them step in the world, but as long as we instill the beliefs that  Jesus is our savior and God is ALWAYS there we will have hope that we can save some of our precious children.

I am blessed beyond measure that God allowed me to be my nephews aunt and I am able to take him to Christian events, show him christian ways, and show him that we are Christians and we still are able to go and have an awesome time. My hope is that you take a moment to cherish your kids, tell them how special they are and that God loves them.

"All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children." Isaiah 54:13

Rising Above

Rising above is so hard at times, you always want to take the high road but at times it is so much easier to take the slum road and play dirty with others. Some people live their lives this way. I know a person that this is how they live their everyday life, they tear people down, criticize everything that they do and they feel that this is ok. 
I have always asked how people can be this way, the answer I get is maybe that is the way they are raised, that is their personality, or I just don't know. People that are so negative and want to bring everyone down like that are just miserable people. They rarely are happy, they have few things in life to be happy about and I feel like their mission in life is to make you to feel as miserable as they are.

Many times in my life I have felt like that I did not know why I was here but never did I get to the point that I wanted to make someone feel so horrible about themselves. I know that I am not the only one in the boat, it took me a long time to find my self esteem again after being told by this person over and over again that I was dumb, stupid, a drama queen (lets mention I was diagnosed with lupus during all this) and too crazy to be a parent. Everyone around me knew what I was going through and knew what I was dealing with infertility and just being diagnosed with lupus.  This person was suppose to be a person that was suppose to be a support, but they were so miserable that they could not see what they were doing.

So what I had to do is RISE UP, find who my true support system was, I found that I had an amazing family that stood behind Matt and I. I could not have asked for better. I began to pray for God to help me find the strength to stand tall. 
I will always remember 
"Stand firm, and you will win life." Luke 21:19

I had to remember to stand without the negativity. I know the person that I am, I am a good person, a honest and Godly person. I can not believe that I let one person have so much control over me. But never again. I hope that this post helps just one person know that you can stand tall, rise above and step out on faith. 


"I can do all this through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

Our Fur Babies

"A Righteous man cares for the need of his Animals" Proverbs 12:10

It has been the two of us from the beginning. I had a miscarriage in 2003, this was after being married 5 months at the age of 18 and the first time being away from home. Matt and I were devastated, we were crushed is more like it. My husband the big bad Marine was in tears in the waiting room that day.  A couple days after that he came home with a surprise this sweet black and white hound dog that also had been through a ruff couple of weeks, he had been taken back to the shelter 3 times and was going to be put down the day that Matt went to get us a puppy, Matt said that he was meant to bring him home. We named him Chesty (yes ooh-rah) and he was the sweetest dog that we could have asked for, he traveled the 6 hour drive back and forth from Beaufort, SC and Grifton, NC twice a month with no problem. I feel that God put our sweet Chesty in our life. 

Once we moved back home in 2006 we got our Bandit, sweet and innocent, not a mean bone in his body. He was the runt of the litter of puppies that my mother in laws dog had and he was the last to be picked and since he was also black and white we felt that Chesty and Bandit would make the best of brothers.

Then we went crazy, knocked our head or something but decided that two dogs are not enough..NO!! Lets add a Dalmatian, Matt was on the fire department and he wanted a fire dog and I said why not. Ember came into our lives in 2011. What a joy she is, she is a great joy full of energy but so lovable all in the same.

 On a January 31, 2017 our sweet Chesty crossed the rainbow bridge after a long battle with congestive heart failure. That day I laid with him for the last time, kissed his sweet nose for the last time and told him that I loved him for the last time. That was so hard, it was like loosing a child, we saved him from death and this time we could not, the vet said that we gave him a wonderful life but the road was at the end and the rainbow has begun, that was the worst words that I have ever heard. That day we said good bye and be a good boy for the last time.

Many people criticized us for the money that we spent on Chesty to keep hi alive and comfortable for the last two years of his life. What people do not understand that we do not have kids, our fur babies are our kids, and I ask what is wrong with that. Yes we spoil them, yes we plan most of our lives around them but they are our family and as I sit here writing this I have one one either side of me. Dogs will show you the most unconditional love, they are always there for you when you are happy, sad, mad and anywhere in between. You can not say that for many humans.

As we embark on our adoption adventure we want to make sure that we do not leave our first born out, we want to make sure that they know that they are still loved and they are not put on the back burner. I know that this is not going to be easy as they are not use to having a little person in the house but as time goes on I hope that they can get use to the idea, and enjoy being a big brother and sister.

Life

Life is crazy sometimes, you seem to get wrapped up in work, kids, housework and seem to forget to stop and smell the roses. In the rat race of life I forgot sometimes that I needed to make time for the the one that truly mattered, yes my family means everything, yes I need my job but GOD. He is the one that will never fail you, will always be there to listen and never judge you.

"the lord will fight for you, you will only need to be still." Exodus 14:14

This spoke to me this morning, I read this and this is so true. I try to do everything, please everyone and there is only one that I need to answer to, the only one that will always be in my corner. 

I am blessed to have an amazing sister in law (she is more like a sister), we are able to grow in our faith together. When life drags us down we are able to call on each other and we are there to find a helpful scripture that brings us up. 

"Listen to good ADVICE if you want to live well" Proverbs 15:31

Life is the reason it has been a week since I have blogged, I can make every excuse in the book but in the end your decisions are what you make and that is what you have to answer for, I have decided to live for life, live for myself and love life!!

" His Love Gives Life" John 10: 10-11

Life

No strength and Afraid

Strength is a big word, a word hard for most of us to ever achieve in life. For me I always have been the follower, the yes ma'am girl, the what do you think girl, the I will have what they are having person.  I was raised raised to listen to my parents, respect my elders and not to question authority. 

As I said before many things have happen in my short life to question my faith, my reason for being here. I lost track of myself God, and my marriage. When my grandmothers died within 6 months of each other my world crashed to the ground. I pushed everyone away, my husband, that stood beside me, held me when I cried, and never strayed from me. My parents who where hurting as well, and my brother who was going through all this and trying to start a new marriage with a wife and a young son, All these people needed me and I checked out on them all. Above all that I closed God out the one that is always there. I have no strength to get through this at all. 
I had no strength and I was afraid. I wanted to crawl in a hole and give up on the world, give up on everyone. I had found that the people that I hung with that I thought were my friends were not my friends at all, they were stabbed me in my back and used me. I fell in a rut of negativity, I was mean, hateful and wanting nothing to with GOD. THIS WAS NOT ME!

One day I was scrolling through Instagram and I saw this verse posted by a dear friend that I had lost contact with,
    
 " Be Strong and let your heart be Courageous, all you who put              hope in the Lord." - Psalms 31:24

This verse spoke to me, actually it yelled, screamed, and hit me between the eyes. I needed to find the strength in the Lord again to stand on my own two feet, I needed to learn how to talk in his path again. Pull myself out of the hole and away from the horrible people that I thought where the only ones that loved me and find my way back to the ones that loved me and never left me in the first place. 

Since that day I am a new person, I walk with my head held high, I know that I have a brighter future, my relationship with God has never been stronger. My relationship with the family that I once pushed away has gotten so much better. My husband now attends church with me, we are going to expand our family through adoption and I started this blog. At times I am not sure what I am doing but I know that if I can reach just one person then I know that my story is getting out there. 

Remember stand up to those negative people in your life, tell them no more and live your life for you not anyone else.

Lving with MCTD

I never thought that at 33 I would be diagnosed with disease!! When I got told that I had a disease I was devastated. I didn't know what to do, where to turn. I blocked everyone out, I didn't want to talk about it. I turned to the internet...... That was the wrong choice. You find every horrible thing that can come from MCTD. A long life dealing with pain, and a lot of pain, to the point that you may not be able to work. WHAT!?! Not be able to work, I have to work, we are trying to adopt a child, then it hit me is that going to crush my dreams of having a child. All the thoughts that I had where me in a bed, not being able to move and my husband having to wait on me hand and foot. That is not me. I went into a depression to the point that I tried to give up. Then one day it hit me. I AM NOT A QUITTER and I don't give up. I got back into church, found friends that cared about me (that is another entry) and the will to stand up to MCTD.

In the Beginning

When we met that day on the school bus almost 20 years ago, I never thought that I would be sitting here today with that red headed aggravating boy. But we are here, the road has been rocky, bumpy and everything in the between but an adventure. We never do anything in life easy, married at 18, moved 500 miles away never being away from home. We grew up together. We probably made some bad decisions, we strayed away from God but he always held our hand.  When we were young we had dreams, BIG dreams. A house, cars, good jobs and a big family. Well we have accomplished many of those dreams except one, having kids of our own. It is heart ache that we deal with all the time, everyday the thought of having kids are there. But big plans are in our future and we are planning on telling the world about them. In this blog that I am starting today I am hoping to help that couple that is in the same boat that we are, always wanting to hear the words of Mommy and Daddy and the thought that they will never get to. I have decided to stand up and speak out about my trails and triumphs, and we are hoping for our happily ever after.