wow, Random....

So, I have some random thoughts today.  Something I've been thinking about for a while, then something just brought to my attention yesterday, and something we did this weekend...

First, Matthew 4:22... It says "and they IMMEDIATELY  left the boat and their father and followed HIM."  Really, immediately?!?!?!  WOW!  They left their comfort zone and their father, to follow someone they hardly knew.  REALLY?!?!?!  Again, WOW!!!  How many are truly willing to do that?  I mean, sure, it's easy to leave the crappy parts of your life to follow Jesus, but to love him more than your family?  To trust him enough to leave everything you've ever known?  To leave your life as you know it and follow someone who tells who how hard it's gonna be but that the blessings will far outweigh the heartache?!  To trust enough to do that....  REALLY?!?!  I don't know about you but that is soooooo not easy for me.  That is a daily decision I make.  "Ok, Lord, today I'm gonna follow you.  I'm going to make every decision for the day based on what you would do."  And then... an hour later I've COMPLETELY failed already!!!!  So maybe it's an hourly decision, an extremely hard one at that!!!  It is my goal daily to follow him.  I'm soooooooooo grateful for such a merciful Lord!  I'm so grateful that, undeserving as I am, He loves me enough to pick me up, wipe off the dust, kiss the boo boo's, and encourage me to try again!

Now, the second thing going through my head...  The newest bible study I'm doing is "Breaking Free" by Beth Moore.  I must say, so far it's a huge smack in the face to the truth about what's holding me captive; what is keeping me from the abundant life God is trying so desperately to give me.  One of the things that hold our hearts captive from God is pride.  Did you know, "pride often disguises itself... "  people think they are "too far gone to save, too wicked, too sinful.  Such people would be shocked to hear that their attitude is a form of pride as well.  They think their sin or problem is bigger than God."  WOW!!!!  Never thought of it that way.

Next, Matthew 5:6...  This past weekend our youth participated in a Disciple Now weekend.  The theme was "hunger".  "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."  Hunger for Christ, He is the only thing that can completely satisfy us!  He will never "dry up", He will forever overflow, with mercy and grace and love and... well the list goes on.  Whatever you need He has and is ready and begging to share it with us!!

Well, I just thought of something else from my bible study that I'd never thought of.  I would say that faith is not  a huge issue for me.  I'm just not a person who has to touch, see, feel, etc. to believe.  However, I also acknowledge the fact that MANY people are.  Now, saying that I also must say that I have a hard time understanding why.  How can you not, after Him showing you umpteen times, have faith that he's gonna do it again?!  Well, here's the wake up call I got....  "If you are not struggling with belief, be careful not to judge another's weaker faith (Rom 14:1 - As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions).  Some believers have been in chains for so long and have tried so hard to break free in the past, they have almost given up hope for the future." - Yeah, Joybeth, don't push them farther away by "judging" or questioning!  Pray for them, give them a break, show them through your faith that God will provide, again and again!

I pray that my life will glorify christ in all I do!  Please forgive me, Lord, of my impatience and misunderstanding!  Please show me how to help those around me come closer to you, and please continue to bring me closer to you!

Be courageous enough....

Well, let's go back.  It's 9:00 pm, the date is 2/19/10.  John and I are trying to be quiet, get comfortable, be confident, be positive, all these things while our son is laying in a hospital bed in the picu after over 6 hours of surgery.  It was a year ago today that God blessed us so much I can't even put it into words.  There were truly so many amazing blessings and miraculous moments in the few weeks leading up to that day and every day since.  God showed up more than we could have ever imagined.  I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of you who prayed for John John, John, me and the rest of our family.  It was felt and appreciated more than you'll ever know.
I heard an interview on the radio the other day and the woman was talking about her children.  She was discussing how worrisome our childrens lives and decisions are for us as parents.  She commented on how for months everytime she prayed she would feel God whisper to her heart, "Be courageous enough to let me write their testimony".  That is such a true statement.  Why can't we?  Why is it so hard to know that his will will be done in their lives, no matter what we do?  It's our job to teach them to trust Him but we can't "save" them.  We has parents have to be courageous enough to let Him write their testimony.  We know he won't mess that up, there have been many moments in my childrens lives that He has proven that.  Some so small as showing me when they may be about to make a wrong choice.  Some so big as to trust that he will carry them through excruciating pain, major surgery, and a not so fun recovery.  If we can truly let go and be courageous think of the lives our children could have.  God's will for their lives is gonna come to fruition whether we "butt in" or not, but I'd imagine it'd probably be a much less bumpy road for them, and definitely for us as parents if we could just....

BE COURAGEOUS ENOUGH TO LET HIM WRITE THEIR TESTIMONY!!


Just a few reminder pics of where the last year has brought us....

 12/09

 1/10

 2/21/10

 7/10

What if....

So, there's a song by Matthew West called "My Own Little World".  I've come to LOVE it and have decided it totally describes who I want to be this year!  I've heard it so many times in the past week and it really makes me think.  Am I doing enough?  Am I thinking outside the box?  Is what I'm doing making a difference?  I don't know.  Sometimes I like to think so but when I really get down to it is it pride or am I really giving selflessly of myself or time?  I mean sure, I help out a lot at church.  Between the preschool, children's department, and youth I'm always doing something; but am I really giving it all I have, or thinking about what this could really mean in the life of someone else?  I think this is my challenge.  It's easy for me to "love" people.  I'm good at that, I enjoy giving and helping; but I'm beginning to think that there's more to it.  I think maybe what I really should be doing shouldn't be so easy.  If I was being sacrificial it wouldn't enjoy it so much right?  I don't know, I'm still trying to figure that out.  Clearly God doesn't want us to not be happy, to not enjoy what we do; maybe I'm beginning to think it just should be more of a challenge.  Maybe step out of my comfort zone a little.  I believe it'll still make me happy, it'll just be God making me happy instead of me choosing to do something because "I know I can easily and maybe it'll be fun on the way. "
Anyway, if you haven't listened to the song you should.  It's really inspiring!

Well, enough of that...  I hope everyone is having a fabulous year so far and I look forward to seeing who we will all be this time next year!

family fun...

Well, we just got home from our annual trip to TN!  We have been VERY much looking forward to this since we didn't get to go last year due to John John's broken back and all.  We booked this vaca last year, paid and everything so it was even more fantabulous that we didn't have to pay!!!!!!  We stayed in a gorgeous cabin about 1/4 up a mountain.  We woke up our first morning there to about 6 or more inches of snow!!  It was BEAUTIFUL! (I know for you that live in it every year it's nothing special but for my children it's better than sliced bread!)  We had so much fun playing and relaxing.  It was a perfect family vacation.  I love thinking of vacations that I took as a little girl and hoping that I can help my kids make memories just as fun or even better.
Here are a few pics (or more) from our snow days and touristy play days...

New Years "resolutions"?

So, I was listening to the radio this morning on the way home from dropping kids off at school.  I generally listen to the local christian radio station here.  This morning a girl called in and gave her "two cents" about the new year.  I was so inspired by what she had to say.  Apparently this past Sunday her pastor was talking about new years resolutions.  His take on it is... why make a resolution to DO something when you can make a resolution to BE someone!!!  I am going to, this week, decide who I want to be by this time next year, not what I want to have done.  Deciding to be someone will automatically cause me to do something.  I believe that choosing to be instead of do will also bring me closer to God.  As humans we think we can DO most things on our own.  The person I'd like to BE can only be done by God, I do truly believe that!!  I have full faith that reading his word and keeping an open communication with him will turn me into the person I want to be; not only for me, but for my husband and children!

I hope all those that know me will see a better me soon!

Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and New Year!!

See ya soon...

Oh my... WOW!!!

So, apparently it's been a while and a lot has happened in the last month.  (Well, not a whole lot that's really noteworthy but...)
We celebrated Thanksgiving a little different this year.  We skipped John's family completely and spent the whole day with my sister.  We missed John's family but it was so nice to just be in one place all day and not feel rushed to get to the next place.  I will also say that, I didn't think about it until just now but, I totally think it was a God thing.  We had a REALLY rough day last Thanksgiving and I think God was giving us a completely relaxing spend time with just us kinda day.  It was really special, though I didn't realize it then.  Thank you Jesus for the little things that clearly we take advantage of until we sit down and really think about them!
We had a quite interesting night with Jordyn that night though.  Her whole "croup" crap came out with a vengience that night and we were up ALL night.  Thank God again though, we ended up at the dr the next day and have finally been given and inhaler and nebulizer!!!  I never thought I'd be so happy/relieved to have drugs for my kid!!!
We did all our decorating for Christmas.  The kids have a tree in each of their rooms and I have mine.  (That way they don't need to "help" with mine, they can decorate their own all by themselves.  It's FABULOUS!!)
We started a tradition a couple of years ago where for every christmas book we've aquired we read one a night before christmas.  Well, we are up to about 13 I think.  Tonights book was called "Finally" by Ellen Thomas.  I highly recommend it, it is an amazing story about the true meaning of Christmas.
Anyway, I think that's kinda all I got for now.  A lot going on around here, but not a whole different than anybody else this time of year I'm sure.
I hope all of you have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

how time flies....

So yesterday, November 22, 2010, my husband and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary.  (This is gonna be a long one)...
I moved to Florida when I was in the 9th grade, I was 15.  My family was always a church going family so naturally we started visiting churches.  We settled at a fabulous church (where my own family and I still worship today) called Mandarin Baptist.  We started going very regularly, as we always did, and I began making lots of friends.  My very first sunday school teacher was Debby Turner (anyone see the resemblance?).  She was a fabulous woman who loved God and her "students" very much.  She and her husband, who was also a SS teacher, had 3 sons.  The oldest, John, was in the youth with me.  He was a BIG trouble maker.  I fell in love!!!  (Not sure what it is/was about me and bad boys).  I had a major crush for a while, he would never give me the time of day.  Finally, in June after my 10th grade year and his 11th, he was punished!  I had had a rough few weeks.  I was hoping to go back to SC, where we had moved from, to visit and my parents had decided we weren't going.  I was very upset.  My sister and mom convinced me to go to a lock-in at church to get me out of the house.  I decided why not, I had nothing better to do.  Here he comes, wheeling in in his white low rider with his hat on backwards, his long hair hanging out the back, and his bad attitude (he actually was quite angry this day).  Apparently he had gotten in trouble and his parents made him come.  He, obviously, DID have better things to do!!  As the event went on it became very apparent that everyone there had a "significant other", except he and I.  He figured, why not; my heart melted!  He just wanted a "friend" for the time, I prayed it would last forever!  17 1/2 years later we've been married for 15 years and have 3 BEAUTIFUL (if I must say so myself) children.  Now, this is the SHORT version, just of how we got together.  The next 3 years of our lives were HARD, to say the least.  I truly believe we beat the odds and everyones expectations.  The hard times we went through, caused by ourselves and others, made us who we are today.  I believe we love each other more because of the obstacles we overcame.  There is no one on earth that inspires me and makes me a better person, except him.
I love you John Turner, for the rest of my life!!!!!!