Another Good One...

I have stumbled across another good site, She Seeks. This site is filled with some great and inspirational blogs and other resources. I really loved this post about doubt and especially this excerpt...

"I sobbed into the carpet in the privacy of my bedroom. I beat my fist against tables demanding answers. In a way, I did whatever I could to provoke a response from the silent God. I was convinced I was the only one left in the relationship He and I used to have.

One day God’s voice burst through with a violence that left me in awe. He spoke through the sermon of my pastor who reminded me that God’s glory is of the utmost importance to Him and He is willing to withhold things I want if He sees a greater glory for Him and a better good for me coming in a different way....And, in the meantime, I’m going to choose not to be offended when God doesn’t give me what I want."

Grateful...

I've been struggling lately. Not bad. Just the kind of internal wrestling that comes with change when you are used to everything being the same. The new is wearing off my "new" life; not that I love it any less...but, well, it isn't shiny and bright anymore. :)

I've recently discovered the lovely little (In)Courage site that daily has provided me with encouragement and a little "lift" when I need it most. And today's blog was worth sharing, because sometimes (read: every single day) I need to be reminded of this...

Am I thankful? Sure I am. As long as it’s convenient.
As long as the gift-giver is within ear’s reach of my thank you. And as long as what I’m thankful for is good, comfortable, pleasant and smells great.

I never thank anyone for rolling over my toe with their cart in the grocery store or thank someone for an unkind word. And I never thank God for struggles.

I mean, how stupid would I sound:
Thank you, God, for NO MONEY to pay the mortgage.
Thank you that my seven-year-old has emotional outbursts every morning before school that reduce her to a pile of unbrushed auburn waves and tears on the bathroom floor. Thanks for spilled apple juice, dried and sticky on the floor.
Thank you, God, for the rejection of friends and that crazy mean email last week. Thank you for the tears it cost.
Thank you for the argument I had with my husband last night. Thank you, God, that he doesn’t understand me.

No.

We are usually thankful for blessings.

Gifts. Encouragement. Provision.

We send thank-you notes to mothers and cousins for baby gifts and Christmas packages. We call our pastors and thank them for the sermon. We are grateful for warm beds and fireplaces that glow in our family rooms.

We are thankful because it’s easy and expected.

But the sweet times, the easy-flowing happy times are not what shape me. I am comfortable and will stay the same if everything always goes my way.

Discomfort is the only way I grow. And I am never grateful for sitting in the valley of hurt and pain. I’m never thankful when things don’t work out like I planned.

I stamp my feet instead and no-fair God. I tell Him He doesn’t know what its like to be me.

I’m not changed in the lots-of-money, kids-are-well, husband-adores-me days.

But I am changed in the I’m-fat, second-argument-this-week-with-my-mom, worried-about-my-kids days.

This is when I’m moved to trust. I have to because nothing else works.

These are the days when God comes in and under-girds my heart with His own, turns my head to refocus my attention and then asks me to trust.

And I should be grateful that He thinks enough of me to carefully craft difficulty to edge me toward beauty, kindness, and grace with pressure.

I don’t want to just be thankful for the easy. I want to be grateful for the hard. And that involves a choice...one I'm making today.

Will you join me?
by Sarah Markley

Red River Rivalry...

It's OU/Texas weekend...my first one as a resident of Texas! It's odd...but i have loved seeing all the visiting Sooner fans around town!

I also love this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnx2MungsGI&feature=youtube_gdata

BOOMER SOONER!!!!!

Sent from my iPhone

Nobel Peace Prize...

So, I have something blog-worthy today.

Obama + the Nobel Peace prize = SERIOUSLY?!!?
For "inspiring hope"....SERIOUSLY?!?!

Here is a list of people I think should have won it instead of him. People who probably will never be nominated because they are not self-seeking and ridiculous.

The HoodMama
Her family gave up their own "comforts" to move to the "wrong" side of town and love on children and people without hope. Her husband founded a ministry that provides opportunity to people who for all accounts had no opportunity. They surely "inspire hope" in an entire community.

The Pioneer Woman
Ummm....she "inspires hope" in women everywhere. She supplies the gals in my office with laughter via her blog EVERY SINGLE DAY. Plus, she gives away GREAT prizes, documents her life in AMAZING photography, LOVES people....AND has a new cookbook!

Paula Deen
Need I say more? The woman pulled herself up by her own bootstraps and has created a deep-fried empire and sisterhood that "inspires hope" in all southern-cooking gals everywhere. I hang on her every butter-filled word...and I know I'm not the only one!


I would nominate all the mommas I know...for "inspiring hope" in their children. And all the student ministers I know...for "inspiring hope" in countless students. And all my very best friends for "inspiring hope" in me.



I could go on...but I think you get my drift.

As blah as the weather...

Sometimes it is fun to take a sick day due to a massive and insanely ridiculous headache. The kind where your eyeballs hurt and it really feels like something is dancing with the stars on the base of your skull...you know, where your head and neck meet? It produces such pain that you think if you venture to try to lift your head off your pillow it just MIGHT fall off your neck. I'm sure all of you know that type of headache. For some reason, they've been more frequent the past few months. I probably should go to a Dr. or therapist or Diet Coke rehab to figure out the cause....hmm.

Today after taking really LOVELY leftover pain meds to tackle the massive headache and sleeping WELL past noon I decided I might need some fresh fall air. Sometimes it is fun to come to Starbucks in the middle of a work day (I say sometimes...but this is actually the FIRST time I've ever done that!) Starbucks helps headaches a little bit. I think it's the soothing music and smell of coffee brewing. And although it was fantastically fall-ish yesterday....today, it's sunny and warm. In October. So much for my fresh fall air. Ugh. Oh...newsflash according to the gentleman currently waiting for his tall decaf caramel macchiato....we are expecting hail and 60 mph winds tonight. GRREEEATTTT.

I realize that I am a blog-slacker. I feel a little sad/pathetic that I don't have more to share than my massive headache and weather updates. I'm hoping to remedy that soon...I have visitors coming next week, we'll be going to the pumpkin patch...and hopefully more fun, fun things will be to come!

In the mean time....I just added Google AdSense to my page...down there, on the right. Go ahead, click an ad if it looks interesting. I get paid if you do (allegedly).

And, happy fall :)

Happy Fall...

Fall. My favorite season for so many reasons...crisp morning air, pretty leaves and FOOTBALL!!!

Boomer Sooner!!!

Mercy...

Loved this post on my favorite blog.

If you don't want to follow the link and read her blog...here is the bit I loved the most:

"Mercy is a door. It is a portal through which we catch a glimpse of the heart of God. A gentle tug on our heartstrings draws us in. But soon we encounter brokenness so overwhelming that neither the tender-hearted nor the inventive problem-solver feel up to the task. Our solutions fall short. Pathologies are too deep, poverty too entrenched. And we descend into our own poverty, a poverty of spirit, a crisis of confidence in our own abilities to rescue. We are tempted to withdraw, to retreat to a more manageable world. Yet our hearts constrain us. Or our guilt. We feel trapped. And, like the broken, we find ourselves calling out to God for answers. When our best efforts have failed us, we are left with nothing to cling to but frail faith. In a strange twist of divine irony, those who would extend mercy discover that they themselves are in need of mercy." - Bob Lupton