things I have loved this week

in no particular order
{besides that which I come across in my photo file}

1. nature

2. date with hubby

3. my parents

{I took this at a bad expression moment! Oops!}

4. roses

{Wynelle}

{Shirley}

{Ethel}

{my newest rose bush. I named her ‘Lucille’… after Lucille Ball}

5. good finds

{fridge = $10 at a thrift sale – needs a magic eraser taken to the markings, but still a great find. full of plastic and wooden food to boot! elephant = $.50, from Nana}

{mom got this Keurig for … $9!!! from Dirt Cheap!!}

{not pictured: 5 long-sleeved shirts for Benjamin for the fall and one fleece jacket for me, each $1… hello Wal-Mart clearance!}

6. blue skies

7. benjamin

and things I don’t have pictures of:

manicures with mom
benjamin’s fun times with nana and papaw
eating out and having a good time
hugs
chatting with strangers
anne of green gables

most of all, love.

Morning Glories : Peace, Be Still!

“And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, ‘Peace, be still.’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” Mark 4:39

A few weeks ago I was subbing for a class on Wednesday night and it was just me and this sweet little girl in there learning about the Sea of Galilee. We got to the passage about Jesus calming the storm and as I explained it to the young girl, I too came to a deeper realization about the words of our Master, “Peace, be still.”

There are some times in my life when I feel I have nothing but turmoil around me. I know that whatever I have faced is never the worst thing in the world. There are many other people who have faced much worse, but you all know that when you’re in the thick of it, sometimes you just can’t find any sort of silver lining on any of the clouds. You are just in the biggest storm of your life!

Isn’t it true that all we need in this life to calm our storms is the Master? Whatever it may be, if we lean on Christ, we know that He, the Good Shepherd, will guide us through! How amazing is it when we allow Him to say “Peace, be still.” to the storms of life! If only we would put our trust fully on Him. Jesus Christ alone can calm the storms of life and take away our burdens.

1. I’ve found my Lord and He is mine,
   He won me by His love;
   I’ll serve Him all my years of time,
   And dwell with Him above.
   • Refrain:
     His yoke is easy, His burden is light,
     I’ve found it so, I’ve found it so;
     His service is my sweetest delight,
     His blessings ever flow.
2. No other Lord but Christ I know,
   I walk with Him alone;
   His streams of love forever flow,
   Within my heart His throne.
3. He’s dearer to my heart than life,
   He found me lost in sin;
   He calmed the sea of inward strife,
   And bade me come to Him.
4. I’ve tried the road of sin and found,
   Its prospects all deceive;
   I’ve proved the Lord, and joys abound,
   More than I could believe.

Think on that today, and every day, especially as you face life’s hardships! Have a beautiful day! Don’t forget to pray!

Visiting With Mom (aka: Nana)

This week has been so nice. Last week was nice because of all the fellowship we took part in and the lessons from God’s word that we were able to hear. This week has been nice because my mom has  been visiting all week with us {as she came home with us from Memphis}, and it has been a very nice visit. I have loved having her here for a visit, and most of all Benjamin has. He has been getting a lot of Nana time in this week and he’s been loving every minute of it. He has been all the time bringing books to her for her to read and she has been so nice to read every single one of them to him, no matter how many times she already had in the past five minutes.

She’s also been taking him outside a lot this week and they have just had such a good time together. Benjamin really loves spending time with his Nana. I just let them play as much as they want to because I know come Sunday she will be leaving and who knows when we will get to spend moments like these together again?

Besides all the time she has been spending with Benjamin, my mom has been nothing but helpful all week. I have to brag a little bit because I love her dearly and she doesn’t get near enough credit for what she does. She is the picture of servitude. I am sure we all know that Christ set the example in the Bible of serving others and placing others before yourself. If there is one person who exemplifies this over and over in her every day life it is my mother. I guess when I was younger I didn’t see things for what they really were but now I can see clearly that all my life I have had this great example for me and now I pray I can be like her in this aspect.

My mom is just amazing. She is always willing to help even if you don’t ask her to. She has been in the kitchen much of this week taking care of the dishes before I could get to them, and asking me what she could do when I was cooking. I know that she does this when we visit her mom too and my dad’s mom. She has always been willing to step up and take to teaching Bible classes, even age groups she wasn’t comfortable with, because she felt it was her duty. She has never refused to sit with the elderly or sit with someone at the hospital. She cooks for people, she sends out cards on birthdays and anniversaries…

I could go on. I really could. I don’t know how she does it, but my mom is amazing. What a servant she is! I hope I can be this way. I want to be like her.

I am really going to miss my mom when she goes back home. I am proud to say that besides my husband, my mom is my best friend here on earth. I love her dearly. I am definitely going to cherish these last couple of days that she is here with us. These memories are priceless and I wouldn’t change a moment for anything in the world.

Morning Glories : Meditate!

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2

Yesterday’s verse had to do with ‘oh how happy’ is the man, and so does today’s! I had a different verse picked out, one that was stuck in my head all day yesterday, but then I got to thinking about these two verses, mainly because of what verse two says about meditating on the law of the Lord. The reason this really stuck out to me was because yesterday I had a different Psalm stuck in my head and I found myself thinking about it all day and I did find that I was pretty much happy all day long.

These two verses say that the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly, who doesn’t stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of the scornful is a happy man – because his delight is in the law of the Lord and he meditates on it day and night. I found this to be true with me yesterday! As long as I had my thoughts on scripture, on godly thoughts, on things that really uplifted me… I was happy!

So I will share with you the verse that was ‘stuck’ in my head all day long, which I thought about as I went about my way:

“This is the day that the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24

Keep that in your heart today and think about it every chance you get and see if you don’t feel happy. Doesn’t that verse, just reading it, bring a smile to your face? Each and every day that we wake up to is a blessing from God and we should rejoice and be glad in it! We may be dealing with many trials all at once, we may be sick or have sick loved ones, or maybe we just don’t feel like we got enough sleep… maybe we are dealing with money issues or find ourselves without a job, but just think… God has blessed you with another day on this earth. Why not make the best of it while you can? Rejoice. Be glad in it. You are able to choose the mood that you are in, why not choose to be thankful to God? See if you don’t feel blessed if you do.

I hope you all face the new day with a mind to meditate on God’s word! Have a blessed day and don’t forget to pray!

Morning Glories–Be Blessed!

Brand new to Bringing Up Benjamin!! I am going to start trying to do a short little devo in the morning here on my blog, just to start out my day with something uplifting. I’m calling it “Morning Glories” and I hope that you will enjoy these as much as I anticipate myself enjoying them! Feel free to snag the idea yourself.

“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.” Jeremiah 17:7

 

I always enjoy the passages that open up with “Blessed is the man…” because it always brings a smile to my face. I know that whatever is going to follow that phrase is going to be something good. I love that the word “blessed” is literally translated as “oh how happy!”. “Oh how happy is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.” How can you read that passage and others like it and not feel happy?

Trusting in God is something that I have had to learn to do ‘the hard way’. I never really knew what it meant to trust in God until I had no other option than to do just that. But as soon as I did, things just … fell into place and I did become happy because I knew that God was taking care of me – I did have hope!

Our God is an awesome God! He cares for me, and He cares for YOU! I pray that today whatever might be weighing our minds down, we might give it up to God and let Him take the burden off of us. Trust in God! Find your hope in Him and let yourself be blessed!

I hope you all have a beautiful day! Don’t forget to pray!

 

Pressing On …

There have been times, even recently, where people have thanked me for my example of a Christian woman, wife, and mother. I am humbled by such a statement and truly do not find myself worthy of that sort of gratitude. I do strive to live my life in front of others to be an example of purity. I suppose I know my faults and my flaws better than anyone else, and this is why I have such a hard time thinking myself a good example. To those who have said such to me recently, I want you to know that you have touched my heart. I am far from perfect in my actions and words and thoughts, but I am striving. I discussed this with my husband not too long ago and he told me that I’m not perfect, but I am faithful, and that’s what matters. It’s hard dealing with imperfections. But I am ever so thankful for Christ’s blood which covers  me and continuously cleanses me. Each and every day I am more and more thankful for my decision on September 15, 2003 to become baptized into Christ, to wash my sins away and free me from the bondage of sin.

After spending nearly a week at the Memphis School of Preaching lectureship, learning about the Behavior of Faith, I have been really looking inward. I have been reflecting on myself and I see what I need to change – not a want, a need – and I am learning how. I never knew that this life would be such a journey, filled with the twists and turns and bumps and dips. I try to think  back and see how I got to where I am now, who it was that helped me along the way so much… I can name a few people, and I just attempted to but deleted because I did not want to leave anyone out and feel bad for it later.

I owe it most of all to God, because HE is the One who has blessed me with all the other people who have helped me along the way. God is so good. It saddens me to know that there are people out there who live without Him in their lives and are perfectly fine with it. I feel so sorry for those who will never know the blessings found only in Christ Jesus.

A sincere thank you to all my friends who have helped me along the way, even in the smallest ways. I hope that you will continue to help me. I’ve decided that now is the time to transform my life, renew my spirit and zeal and love for Christ. I’m going to blog about it when I get the chance. I hope you don’t mind. :)

I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I’m onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s tableland,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay;
Though some may dwell where those abound,
My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.

I want to live above the world,
Though Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught the joyful sound,
The song of saints on higher ground.

I want to scale the utmost height
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray till heav’n I’ve found,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

Project 365; Week Five and Six

Since I missed last week on account of being away in Memphis, I will post the last two weeks of my 365 Project! So double the fun! Here we go…

Day 29. 3/20/2011 – Just hanging out watching Blues Clues in the afternoon. It appears that I was preparing for the Young Adult devo in the midst of it all.

Day 30. 3/21/2011 – My future soccer star?  Heehee

Day 31. 3/22/2011 – Blowing bubbles on a pleasant spring afternoon.

Day 32. 3/23/2011 – Taking pix.

Day 33. 3/24/2011 – Making a shadow.

Day 34. 3/25/2011 – Pomegranate buds.

Day 35. 3/26/2011 – Stuffin’ his face! Ha!

Day 36. 3/27/2011 – It had been a while since we had Starbucks! This was in Memphis!

Day 37. 3/28/2011 – Someone parked next to us at the Hotel and it reminded me of all our Alabama friends so I had to take a picture!

Day 38. 3/29/2011 – Reunited with Papaw at the Memphis School of Preaching lectureship!

Day 39. 3/30/2011 – Haunting the book store. We did this often.

Day 40. 3/31/2007 – On our way home from Memphis… so tired from such a long week!

Day 41. 4/1/2011 – Stunna shades.

Day 42. 4/2/2011 – Hanging out in the boat… and you can tell Benjamin has been suffering from allergies.

Phew! That sure was an eyeful! We had a great week last week at the lectures and I just didn’t  have the time to sit down and upload all of these. It’s all good!