i find you when i fall apart.

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blaming God, cancer, chemo, Christian music, Christianity, death, faith, Fall Apart, falling apart, finding God, God, hope, Josh Wilson, pain, postaday2011, storms of life, strength

Twizzler is currently at the Veterinary Emergency Center. Since her last chemo treatment on June 16th, she has slowly taken a downward spiral. Her lymph nodes have greatly enlarged, she’s been nauseous and has had difficulty breathing. Things aren’t looking good, but hopefully I’ll hear some kind of good news today when I pick her up…

I can’t help but think about losing her. I try not to; I try to focus on the time we do have with her, but it’s so hard. My heart aches continually and every time I leave the house, I can’t help but think that it might be the last time I see her. I’m normally a pretty optimistic person, but with her.. I’m anything but. She brings so much joy to my life that it’s hard to imagine life without her.

And as I sit here and think about the journey we’ve had thus far, I am constantly reminded how much my faith has grown throughout the treatment process.

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a mission to serve.

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Costa Rica, faith, God, God's calling, mission team, mission trip, mission trip to Costa Rica, missions, New Life UMC, New Life United Methodist Church, postaday2011, prayer, prayer for mission team, serving others, travel

New Life UMC Costa Rica Mission Trip Shirt

My father and sister (and some other members of New Life UMC) are leaving tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn to jump on a plane bound for Costa Rica. What an incredible experience they will have, I’m sure. The affects mission trips have on someone can be so transforming and I know that God will work wonders in their lives throughout these next ten days. I absolutely cannot wait to hear all about their experiences.. with the people of Costa Rica and their culture, the serving they will be doing, their free time exploring the country.. everything!

As my father prepared for the devotion he is supposed to lead one of the days during the trip, I could already see his faith growing. He isn’t one to talk openly about his faith or to even read scripture aloud amongst a group. And even though he doesn’t really have much of a choice, he is willingly giving this devotion. He has spent many hours preparing and fine tuning what he is going to say and I know his words will touch someone who hears them. And I KNOW, without question, he will surprise someone. As I said, my dad isn’t open about his feelings and to be completely honest, my dad is more of a goofball than anything else. And for the mission team to witness something so personal and deep will truly be amazing. I wish I could be a fly on the wall at the moment. Oh, what I would give…

a little bit of a slump.

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blogging, career, faith, God, slump, strength, writer's block, writing, writing slump

I’m going to be completely honest with you…

As you may (or may not have) noticed, I’ve been in bit of a slump lately. I haven’t been writing as often, especially not as much as I’d like. And yes, I’ve been busy, but I’m not sure that is truly an accurate excuse.

My mind has just been empty. I feel like I have nothing to say. And when I do think of something, I end up not writing it. Either because I didn’t find the time that day to blog or because I later feel like it’s a topic not worthy of a post.

But.. the thing is.. I’ve been kinda feeling like this a lot lately and not just with my writing. It’s like my mind is just a blank sheet of paper, as if I’m just going through the emotions. But, I’ve realized I need to wake myself up.. shake things up. I’m not sure how, but I have faith that God is going to bring me out of this slump and bring me out stronger than before.

Have you ever felt like your life was in a slump? Maybe with your career or maybe just with life in general. Well, it’s time to shake things up. Let’s no longer just go through the emotions, but rather let’s get energized about life and about moving forward. Won’t you join me as we work our way out of the slump?

turn our mourning into dancing.

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anger, bitterness, Casting Crowns, celebration, Christianity, death, faith, God, hope, hope in the Lord, hopelessness, Jesus, joy, overcoming anger, pain, postaday2011, praise, Praise You with a Dance, Psalms 30, Romans 8:28, thanksgiving, trust

A lot of crappy things have been going on in the lives of some of my friends.. like majorly crappy things. A friend, who I went to elementary school with in Ohio, just lost her dad. A friend from high school lost her mom as well. She was fine one day, had an allergic reaction, went into anaphylactic shock and then she was gone. Another close friend of mine just found out her mom has cancer. The list could go on and on… and I’m sure you know of someone who is facing similar pain, if not yourself.

Life can be the pits sometimes. We all experience various life battles throughout our time here on earth. But unfortunately many people think that Christians live this awesome, glorious life without any problems or tragedies. Well, news flash… we don’t. We still have tragedies; it’s just that when they happen we have someone to turn to in order to help us overcome. We have hope in the Lord for a better tomorrow, for a greater plan. But, even though God helps us get through times of trial and tribulation, the pain is still the same. Pain still exists and the hurt is just as deep. However, when we put our trust in God and in His plan, He will help us turn our mourning into dancing.

the weight of a kettlebell.

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Academy of Strength, American Family Fitness, burdens, faith, fitness, giving our burdens to God, giving up, God, Jesus, kettlebells, life, postaday2011, sacrifice

In the Academy of Strength classes I take at my local gym, there is a portion of the class devoted to kettlebell training. If you don’t know what kettlebells are, run far, far away. Haha. No, I’m just kidding. It’s a great workout, but be prepared to get your butt kicked.

The other day in class we were carrying kettlebells around the indoor track. But, we weren’t just walking around the track.. no, we were doing squats the entire way around. It was painful to say the least. And the closer I got to the end, the more and more I wanted to give up. The weight was so heavy and it was weighing me down on my knees more than I ever wanted it to. I could have paid someone to carry that weight for me.. anything to not have to bear the weight of that kettlebell alone. It was becoming unbearable. My hands were burning…my thighs were throbbing… my calves were screaming for help.. I was sweating profusely (oh wait, you probably didn’t want to know that…). But, I didn’t give up…. I stuck it out and made it all the way around.

pray without ceasing.

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communication with God, faith, God, Jesus, learning to pray, postaday2011, pray about all things, pray without ceasing, prayer, prayer life

Luke 11:1 says, “Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught His disciples.”

Jesus lived a life of prayer. Even when others thought He may have stopped praying, He was still praying. Jesus demonstrated that prayer isn’t something we just do on a whim, but rather it’s a way of life. He made it very clear that it isn’t something we just squeeze in throughout the day, but that our communication with God should lead the way we live. We shouldn’t just pray when we want something or when we’re in desperate need of a miracle. Praying should be a way of life. Jesus was the perfect example of living a life of prayer. He not only looked to God for strength to fulfill the Lord’s will, but He used that prayer time in order to know God better and to develop a relationship. Jesus also revealed all-perfect love for God throughout every circumstance, every single minute of His life. This love for God carried over into how He showed love for others, and that in and of itself is way of prayer. Both His thoughts and actions were bringing praise to God.

intrigued to touch the boiling pot.

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Corinthians, faith, God, grace, hypocrisy, mercy, postaday2011, repentance, sin, temptation, trust, trust in God, turning against God

As a kid, I was into everything I shouldn’t have been. If my parents told me the warnings about something, I pretty much did the opposite. And I always questioned why things were the way they were. For instance.. If my mom was cooking dinner and told me not to touch the pot on the stove, I would ask why. I simply wondered why I couldn’t touch the pot. She would go on to say how hot it was and that it was dangerous. And then.. what would I do..? Touch the pot. No matter the warning signs my mother gave me, I was intrigued and needed to find out for myself. I should have known better. Even if I hadn’t known how badly it would have hurt, I should have trusted my mother.

But don’t we do this all the time? Don’t we touch or pick up something we know we should have left alone? The Corinthians did. They were continually fed lies and it began to tear apart their community of faith. The list of sin was long… sexual immorality, conflicts within marriage, divorce, disbelief, alienation, bigotry, heresy… the list goes on. But the book of Corinthians is more than a list of sins; it’s really a letter about patience, not just to the Corinthians but to each of us. Paul began his letter without discrimination. He didn’t call them hypocrites, but rather welcomed them by referring to them as his brothers. He was addressing the church not only to warn them of their sin, but to encourage them towards repentance.

gratitude for a job you hate?

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economy, employment, gratitude, hard work, job, K-love radio, making a difference, optimism, postaday2011, recession, Seth Godin, thankfulness, unemployment, work, work ethic

The recession killed off 7.9 million jobs. It would take the creation of 10.6 million jobs immediately for the same percentage of the population to be working as was the case three to four years ago. And we all know that it takes time to create jobs. If it takes three years, more than 3.5 million additional jobs will be needed because of continued population growth. The Federal Reserve predicts that unemployment will stay around 7% or above through 2012 and in the 5% to 5.3% range in the long-run. In March 2011, the unemployment rate for adult women was 7.7%. Just released, the unemployment rate as of May rose slightly to 8.0%. The same statistics grew for adult men, but slightly decreased for teenagers. Our economy has a long road ahead… to say the very least. (All facts and figures came from CNN.com and The Bureau of Labor Satistics from the US Department of Labor)

After reading all those statistics, you can’t help but feel a little bit more blessed. This week, the company I work for performed a set of layoffs and made company-wide pay cuts. A friend of mine who lives near Virginia Beach found out her husband was also laid off this week. After strolling through the mall with Christopher last night, I noticed three new store closings. Just when we think we’re on the upswing, something like this happens. Like I said, we have a long road ahead of us.