Celebrating Life

This past week I celebrated my 28th birthday which was a little surreal for me. I can't believe I'm this old. It just seems like yesterday that I was having birthday parties with my elementary girlfriends or hanging out with teenage friends or going on trips with my college roommates/friends to celebrate. Most of the time I just forget...but I'm an adult now! Maybe it's bc I hang out with teenagers all the time or bc I don't dress or act my age or maybe it's just bc I don't feel my age, but regardless I just don't feel 28! But wow, I really only have 2 more yrs til I'm in my 30's!!!

My birthday fell on a Wednesday this yr, so of course we were with all the kids that night. I got a million hugs, heard the birthday song 20x's and had a surprise cake from my mom and sister. It's not your typical birthday celebration spending the whole night with 60+ teenagers, but I wouldn't have it any other way. After a day full of sweet texts and phone calls, a wonderful birthday lunch with my hubs and a night of celebrating with the kids I just sat back and felt so blessed! I would have never imagined years ago that this is where God would have taken my life. My life is so full of LIFE and I'm so thankful that He has brought me to this place. I might be getting older and I'm definitely an icky, old adult now, but if this is what growing up looks like then I'm perfectly happy getting older.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 "Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life, and He will give you many years..."

Writing His Commandments on Our Hearts!

Polka Dotted Treasures

Teaching Kindergarten at a Private Christian School is such a blessing for so many reasons: you have one-on-one time with all your students, you have the support of parents 100%, you don't have to meet the ridiculous state requirements, you teach on the level of each child individually, the atmosphere and the other teachers are incredible and the list goes on, but the biggest blessing is being able to incorporate Christ into ALL my teaching. In my lesson plans I can talk about the Lord, we have character traits we work on weekly that have a bible verse to memorize along with it, in my discipline I can quote scripture, we pray together daily and I have the privilege of hearing the most precious thoughts about Christ from the mouths of children!!

In Phonics we have memory verses from A-Z like "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" or "Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right" or "Keep your tongue from evil." We often talk about the meanings of these verses and we usually follow them up with an applicable story. Our "N" verse is "No man can serve two masters," which is kind of a difficult idea for a child to understand...so I thought. I proceeded to summarize the whole scripture passage for them in a "5 year old" kind of way, but little did I know that my sweet Caitlin would summarize it back to me in a "life-changing, faith provoking" kind of way.

Matthew 6:19-24: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, then your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your eyes will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, then how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

This is the paraphrased conversation that followed:

Mrs. Holmes my mom went through my closet this weekend to get rid of the clothes that didn't fit me anymore. She put my pink polka dotted dress that I love in the trash bag for donations bc my little sister isn't big enough to wear it, so it can't be a hand-me-down yet. I asked her if we could keep if for when Elizabeth gets older, but she said no. I started crying and crying. My dad took me with him to this dumpster for the donations and told me that giving my dress away would make some other little girl very happy. He told me we shouldn't keep it if it didn't fit anymore when some other little girl could feel pretty in it now. I thought when she found that pretty polka dotted dress she would be so happy, just like I was when I got to wear it. My daddy gave me the bag to help him toss it into the donation dumpster and I stopped crying bc I knew another little girl would be happy now. "Is that what it means to not serve two masters, Mrs. Holmes?"

My heart melted listening to her precious story told through the eyes of a child. There was such simplicity behind her story, but the profound meaning behind her polka dotted dress is exactly what Christ was saying when He told us to be "devoted to one" and "not serve two masters." She chose to dump the treasures (literally) that this world offers and serve Christ. She chose Christ over the pleasures of this world! What a reminder to me that Christ has called us to live for the Kingdom, storing things up for eternity, not this present life. And what a reminder that we are called to have the faith of a child; what a blessing to be able to hear that childlike faith, see that innocence and experience His beauty through the life of a child.

Mark 10:14-15: "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It's simply taking God at His word... ~Joni Erickson Tada

Childlike faith focuses on our Heavenly Father -not on our fears. ~Unknown

Insanely Busy, but Crazy Blessed

February flew by and was packed with so many activities as most months are in youth ministry. To sum it up as quick as possible we had a Super Bowl Party, a Valentine's Banquet Fundraiser open to the whole church to help raise money for PlanetWisdom (our annual February youth conference), we got snowed in like the rest of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and had a wonderful time relaxing and enjoying God's creation, we had our annual Valentine's Bake-Off which is always fun for everyone who either participates in the eating or wins the prize money, we put on a concert, and the biggest event of the month was PlanetWisdom. The busyness of this month was at times exhausting, but how blessed Jacob and I feel to be so busy doing "works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Eph. 2:10)

The reoccurring thing that God was teaching me this month was to empty myself of my own selfishness, surrender to His will, and be willing to walk in obedience. What a hard thing to do in a month that was so busy and I so badly wanted to take things into my own control. Now as I come to the end of this month though, I look back and feel so blessed bc He taught me so much!

The top 3 things God taught me this month:

1. When we allow the Holy Spirit to work, God's power is manifested in incredible ways! His power is truly "made perfect in our weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9)

2. God provides strength unimaginable to His children when they call upon His name. "In my distress I called to the Lord; I called out to my God...He arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." (2 Sam 22:7;33)

3. When I ask God to give me a heart that yearns for the things He loves. Or a life that reflects His mercy. Or a mouth that speaks His truth. Or hands that serve in a manor that is pleasing to Him. I better be surrendered to Him doing just that...using my life to show others Himself! "Create in me a pure heart, O God..." (Psalm 51:10). Oh that my heart would be pure and moldable in the hands of my Creator, so that my life would be a better reflection of who He is...

On the way to PlanetWisdom

Gotta love Jr. Highers :)
Waiting for the doors to open...
And waiting...

Our "stretched-out" Justin Bieber was pulled up on stage :)

Christian was pulled on stage to dance

Everyone!!

Concert...

Some of the Bake-Off contestants...

1st Place!!

Snow day with the family...

Valentine's Banquet...

My sweet husband got me flowers and showered praises on his Valentine :)

Wonderful Kitchen Help

Wouldn't be a youth event without a little fun :)

Super Bowl Party Weirdness

Some slept...

Others played video games...

Some played basketball...

Lots of them talked...

But all of them were crazy :)

Chocolate Chips Cookies and The Word

In a few short hours we're taking all the youth (50+) to play broomball and won't be home until 1:00 in the morning!!! I took a nice little nap this afternoon to prepare for this long, late adventure and now I find myself wondering what to do for the next 2 hours before we leave. I've felt totally convicted about memorizing the references that go with the scriptures I so often use when talking with teens and made that one of my New Year's Resolutions...to memorize the scripture with the reference so I can point people to exactly where I'm talking. So I decided with the short window of relaxing time, before we go out on our crazy endeavor this evening, that I would make some cookies and sit down with the Word. I so often just read my devotional books or go thru a book in the Bible, but I don't make a deliberate effort to write upon my heart the very words that sustain my life. I have so many scriptures memorized that have gotten me thru tough times or brought joy to my soul or directed my paths, but I've never been very good at finding them for others. Being in ministry this is of course an important thing, so starting tonight I'm beginning my journal of the most meaningful, life-altering verses with their reference. I'm so thankful for these times God gives me to just spend in His word and enjoy the simplicity of my faith...eating cookies and soaking up His Truth.

Keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apples of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 2:1-3

Every Moment is a Moment Made for Worshipping

So December was a crazy month and many times I found myself caught up in the busyness. One day at the beginning of this month, as I came home from one of our many events, I sat down on our living room couch and just took a deep breath. I found myself just thanking the Lord for a warm, cozy home to come home to and find refuge from the busyness of life. It then dawned on me that in all matters, big and small, I should be praising His name and I felt convicted for getting too wrapped up in the things of this world. This time of the year is supposed to be focused on the precious gift of His life and I was too busy doing and going and wrapping and buying and decorating and baking and...the list goes on.

I was thankful for that small moment because it put things in perspective for me and reminded me that in all things I should worship Him. Every thing that we do, every breath that we take, every moment of our lives, is a moment to worship our Creator, the One who gave us that very moment. As the month of December went on my spirits began to change and I made a deliberate effort to be thankful for each moment. These are a few I took note of over the past month:

• Jesus Christ came as a baby to be raised up in this horrible world, to suffer at the hands of those He created and loved, to die for the sins of all mankind, to save a wretched sinner like myself, so that I may be saved from eternal damnation, intimately know Him, walk with Him and spend an eternity alongside Him as His child!! ~1 John 3:1- What great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
• Because of Christ sacrifice, and God's love for us, I have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit to convict me, to draw me close to the Lord, to guide me, to provide peace, to empower me, to intercede for me. ~John 14:26- "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."
• I have been blessed to have a home with warmth, water and food. I get so caught up in my American mindset that I forget I am not entitled to those things, I have been given those things because of the grace of my Provider! So much of the world goes without anything, dying because they go without the very things I take for granted everyday. ~ Matthew 6:31-33: Do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'...your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be given to you as well.
• I am beyond thankful for my adoring husband and the gift of his very life. He is my best friend and I am so grateful to be able to share every moment of this life with him. While marriage is definitely not a walk in the park, I am so thankful that I have a husband that will work through the issues and the hard times with me. I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed me with marriage and the beautiful things I learn daily about my relationship with the Lord through my earthly relationship with my husband. What beauty He has intended for our earthly marriages and what wonderful lessons we learn about our Father's love through the gift of marriage. ~Isaiah 62:5 & 12: "As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you...[you] will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and you will be called Sought After..."
• I praise Him for my healthy family and the gift of fellowship. What a blessing that everyone is safe and nearby, that I have sisters that are such close friends and parents that have raised me to know the Lord and have loved us unconditionally. ~Proverbs 17:17- A friend loves at all times and a brother (or sister) is born for adversity.
• It's easy to get overwhelmed with the crazy life of youth ministry, but Jacob and I constanly remind each other that it's the Lord we are serving and what a blessing to be able to be a part of His ministry. We feel incredibly blessed that God would use us in any way as imperfect vessels for His glory. We are constantly reminded of the purpose of our lives and learn valuable lessons through the lives of our teenagers. I so often forget to worship the Lord when the kids come to us with so much pain and heartache, but He is so faithful to give me beautiful glimpses of Himself through their words and actions. To be allowed to see into some of their most intimate thoughts and feelings is such a privelge and it blesses both Jacob and I to even be a part of their growth. What incredible moments the Lord gives us to see His hand at work and watch Him transform the lives of the one's He loves. ~Ephesians 2:10-For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
• He is worthy of worship in every small moment of our day from the joy our sweet dogs bring us, to the opportunity of helping out those in need, to the delight I find in decorating my home, to the ability to exercise and move our legs, to the passion my husband has for competing in triathlons, to the joy I see in my kindergartners faces, to the deep theological conversations Jacob has with youth searching for the answers to hard biblical questions, to the blessing of spending however much money I need at the grocery store to feed our small family of 2, and the blessings and moments of worship continue!

How richly He has blessed us and I so often forget to stand in awe of those moments because I just "get used to them" or take them for granted. Every moment that is created and given from our Creator is a moment to worship Him for who He is...Magnificent. Glorious. Beautiful. Indescribable.

Moments during the month of December to Worship our Creator:

Standing around the New Year's Eve bonfire sharing our Spiritual New Year's Resolutions

Looking at the fireworks together :)

Decorating our Christmas dogs...they love this annual tradition :)

Winning 2nd Place at our annual Family Christmas bake-off

My sweet grandmother and the matching hat & scarf she knitted

Christmas Pictures with the cousin

Sisters. Sisters. There were never such devoted sisters. :)

Our college graduate!!

Walking up and down the nursing home hallways caroling with the youth

Getting in the mood for Christmas :)

Highschool Progessive Dinner...making fun of Shmanie bc she got her wisdom teeth pulled

This is what happens in the Holmes' home...every youth activity something is destroyed!

My wonderful helpmate :)

Love Her!!

Junior High Christmas Party