Holy Spirit Moments

As long as I can remember I have had vivid dreams and sensations that someone was near. You know those dreams you wake up from and you can recall every detail right down to numbers and colors. Or those moments when the hair stands up on the back of your neck. Even when you get goosebumps when someone shares something with you. I bet others have JUST KNOWN they should do something and WOW later learn it was a good thing they did. How about those moments when an image flashes through your mind. I can’t be the only one. Whose with me?

I have had many moments over the past 30 years, but I will focus today on moments in the past 10 years. One day I recall feeling a great disconnect with God and frustrated in with feeling at my whits end. I was sitting in the middle of my living room and cried out to Him to show me my purpose. Just then a song played that told me my purpose for that season was to raise up my children to be Children of God.

Another moment not long after that I was once again praying in my living room (so strange since I spend the least amount of my time in that room). Feeling wrought with fear, anxiety, and worry. This was an ongoing fear for most of my life. I had lived with great fear of loss and anytime I prayed I heard in my head different versions of “you have nothing to fear” or “you all are guarded”. Yet, in this moment I just seemed to be so lost. I cried, “Lord, I am over this. I can not continue to feel this way. I will not pass this anxiety on to my kids. Please take it. Please show me, in my human weakness, that You GOT THIS!” I felt a wave wash over me. I turned towards a window that gave me a clear view of our entry door to see a soldier angel standing guard, saw flash in my mind of the same type of angels hovering around our house, and heard in my mind what seemed to be an audible voice, but was not, “Now do you believe me. Go be Bold! Your family is heavily guarded!” Those angels had the most beautiful wings with browns & golds that radiated light. The one at our door was armored up and I have since learned wearing the exact armor Paul writes about in Ephesians 6. It was within that year I had lunch with a friend, who without knowing this happened, grabbed my hand in prayer and said, “Be bold, Kelly, BE BOLD!” Well, that was my conviction. Boldness out of a person that spent years avoiding confrontation and living with fear of bad news was no easy transition.

It took about five years for me to get to a place where I felt more comfortable speaking up. Which is about the same time I restarted my blog. Also, around this time God placed a heavy burden on my heart, but before I get to that I want to share two other visions I had that are also connected. The first was before I went to vote in the 2016 election. I really struggled and prayed a great deal about this election. In my mind, there was no clear direction for casting my vote. I prayed without ceasing going up to the vote. I asked God to give me something to confirm my vote was the right vote and to trust that His will would prevail. As I placed my pencil down, I saw a white angel wing press down upon my hand. This confirmed I was casting my vote correctly. Then in March, 2019, my dearest friend went home to be with the Lord. In May of that year, I was back in church for the first time since her funeral, feeling her loss, and the weight of this burden I mentioned above. I was kneeling in prayer, asking God to once again show me He is in fact here working. To show me He is with me. To show me He needs me to be bold. I looked up to the front of our big, beautiful church to see the biggest angel hovering over our altar with wings spread wide and dressed again for battle. It was all I could do to keep from bursting out in tears from the sight of it. Tears did fall, but I kept them under control. To this day I believe it was St Michael the Archangel. I felt God was reminding me of this burden to pray, telling me it was time to pick up my sword, and sharing a grand message that He was engaged in a spiritual battle.

This burden I was led to pray about, that I saw everywhere in all areas of my life, the burden of division, of the great divide, of our inability to listen. Almost simultaneously I was drawn to the Holy Spirit. I felt like the Holy Spirit was the warrior our world needed. In fact, Jesus told the disciples he had to leave so the Spirit of Truth could come. Jesus knew we needed the Holy Spirit. I began almost a meditative prayer anytime I felt called. I would pray “Come, Holy Spirit, Come. Please move like a wave across our land revealing ALL truth. Opening all eyes, including mine, to the lies of the devil & all who do his will. Please Holy Spirit cleanse our world from all corruption & lies. Your people are hurting. Your world is hurting. Save us.” Then it happened one night while praying this, I saw a ribbon of light that was winding itself, like a figure-eight, over our land. I could feel a change coming. I thought it was a fluke thing until it began to happen over and over again. Then I began to see things coming to light in our world. Facts and evidence being revealed. In recent months, this vision has moved through the following phases to the one it is at today. From the figure-eight ribbon over the United States. Second, a circular ribbon flowing like a wheel around the entire earth that has gradually increased in speed. Third, a wideband still around the earth moving so fast you can barely see that it is moving. (The best I can explain this is, if you have seen the Thor movies and can visualize the bridge between worlds, that is what this looks like but wrapped around the world.) Fourth, the same wideband but racing on it, almost as if to keep it moving, was a silver-white pegasus with a male rider. Fifth, no rider, but a thin wheel moving extremely fast. Finally, the band is gone and there are two horses/pegasus racing around the earth. I can see dirt flying from their hooves. I can see they are larger than life on earth. I can see they are the white-silver one and a brown-gold one. I can see there are two riders. They are armored again like Paul describes to battle the enemy. I hear them calling us to armor ourselves up and prepare to battle the enemy.

It has been so surreal to watch these events unfold before my eyes and know that the Holy Spirit is at work in a big, powerful way. Here we are facing a great divide that stands to defeat us if we don’t armor up against the real enemy, the invisible enemy, that comes to seek & destroy. I feel like my role in this is to share my visions with you and to continue to pray for truth to be revealed.

I will end with this, I have also had several dreams and so have my kids. I will share those with you, but friends have shared with me other visions from different people they have read. One calls us to STAND FIRM as the waves come pouring in. Another saw a demon and when he asked the demon who it was the response was three things, but the greatest was GREED. The corruption to be revealed is rooted in centuries of greed by principalities & rulers of this world, that have sought to hold God’s people in bondage so they can control the wealth of the world. Only time will tell, but it is my belief we will see it all unfold at a rapid rate.

Remember Ephesians 6. It is time to put on your Armor of God!

Nudges From God

A great deal has been happening in the Knieper home the past six months, but before I get to all that I will give some of our back story in a quick paragraph. First, we started homeschooling in 2009 with our now 14 year old son. Over the course of our schooling we have had struggles with dyslexia. Next, we reached a stage where we decided I would look for some sort of job online to help out with things. I began teaching online classes for The Academy at Bright Ideas Press. I have loved it and have learned a tremendous amount. Finally, over the past two years our Meredith mentioned at different times she thought she would want to attend a school. We were okay with that, but wanted to give her more time to work through her dyslexia struggles and we wanted to make sure it was a Christian education. Also, during these two years I always felt like I was fighting to get into routine. Like we were always under a spiritual attack. I was praying protection over our family, finances, health, and homeschool. I just could not shake that feeling that something was not right.

Onto the past six months that will eventually overlap into events in that first paragraph.

On February 4, 2019 I had a dream of myself and my girls walking into a school. I woke up during the night startled. See I have had dreams in the past that have come true. I laid there thinking about my dream. I remembered the girls were dressed similar and were wearing blue. I remember trying to remember if Joe was with us. He was not, but I remember feeling like he was also in school. I fell back asleep and in the morning I was looking at my Bible App daily scripture. It was from Isiah 43:19 “I am about to do something new.” So, NOW I am definitely startled. Is God really talking to me through my dreams? Will we really have to end our homeschool journey? What about my online job that I love? About this same time my best friend’s health started failing so I was able to ignore that this was even a possibility.

Skip ahead to April when I noticed New Lothrop had a posting for a high school teacher, which I was relieved to see was not my certification. Relieved because I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back to work and put our kids in school. Yet, I found myself also a little sad I couldn’t apply. So, after mulling that over a bit I realized it might be worth looking to see what might be available. I mean…the dream, Meredith’s desire, and our prayers over our finances, etc.

Now we are in May and I decided to look again and notice TWO positions were available at a Catholic school in Lansing. BOTH were in my certification, but 45 minutes away. I spoke with my husband and his reply went something like this “No way! You are not driving to Lansing. What would you do about the kids? You’d have to leave at like 6:30. What about winter? I do not want you working full-time while I am on 2nd shift. It is too much! Maybe if it was at St. Paul’s we would consider it.” End of story…I am not sure he even took a breath. Ha!

Our June was extremely busy and kept my mind occupied with things other than a Ladies Weekend trip my friend from Owosso invited me on. I was interested in going, but too busy to think about it. Then I had been so busy I was thinking I may rather just stay home. BUT the trip NEVER left my mind or my gut…like I knew I had to go, but my flesh was tired. Ha!

Now we are in the 1st week of July and I am still going back and forth with the Ladies Weekend. I have some down time and up comes that dream again and my thoughts that God was truly doing something new. In all honesty though I was also afraid to let go of homeschooling…friendships, my shelves of curriculum, our time together, our individualized education, etc. All good stuff right? Yet, something told me I needed to jump in and let God have control. I looked again at jobs and Googled “Teaching Jobs in Shiawassee County”. You all … on that list was St Paul’s Middle School Social Studies Teacher. If you remember above that was the school my husband rattled off in his deep breath argument against the Lansing school. Of all schools…he mentioned St Paul’s…and NOW there is was a job at St Paul’s. I thought my heart stopped. I couldn’t believe it. THEN I realized I was excited. WHAT? Why was I excited? I don’t want a job, right? I couldn’t work full-time with Antony on 2nd shift. I would be running from 8am to 8pm every day. Plus, my ministry at our church what would I do there? I did mention it to Anthony. He was concerned about the same things…full-time, running kids every night, tuition costs for the girls, would pay be worth all my work, etc. So, for about 7 days we mulled it over and my head kept saying no, but my damn (sorry it is fitting) gut/intuition KNEW there was more to the story. MEANWHILE, my friend that invited me on the Ladies weekend and another friend attending are connected with St Paul’s. So, I asked them a few questions and asked them to PRAY for discernment. I was praying hard (had been for 3 months now) that God would open doors and close doors. I needed a clear path. Ha!

Now before I continue ALOT happened after this. It was back and forth fast. July 8 I had access to my online classes for the first time and learned my numbers were small. Was this a closing door? I am going on the ladies weekend, but still looking for a ride. I learn one of the ladies going TEACHES at St Paul’s. Really? Skip ahead to Thursday…I have a ride and we leave Friday…I am packing and find myself sitting at the computer revising my resume and submitting it for the job. WHAT? I am not really sure why I did it, other than I have really felt like God had a plan AND I couldn’t get answers to the unknowns unless I did. I wrote a 3 paragraph cover letter explaining why I was hesitating in applying, but ended it with “I am only applying because I feel like I am supposed to and I am well aware that sometimes what we want is not what God wants for us.”

We arrive to the Ladies Weekend and through the course of conversations I learned that the position was part-time and I had a better idea about the tuition expense. I kept texting my hubby, who kept replying “Great, but go have fun!” That Friday (the 12th) night I received an email asking if I would want to interview Tuesday, the 16th, at 9:30am. Everyone was very excited and began praying all the little details would work out and for my discernment. That night on FB I saw a prayer “Rest tonight knowing what is on your mind is in God’s hands.” I shared it the next day I couldn’t believe how fitting it was.

July 16th interview day. Everything went great!! Yet, my anxiety was high not really knowing how it went on their end. Then I kept telling myself “Whatever God had planned would be a blessing and perfect.” That weekend my two different devotionals focused on waiting on the lord…one Saturday and one Sunday. The most powerful line in Sunday’s devotion I read that night was “Remember you are waiting on the Lord.” I had an instant wave of peace come over me and KNEW the job was mine and God worked out all the details. I even have a text message trail to prove it. Ha!

July 22 on my 4 mile walk while I was ending mile 3 my phone rings. The principal was calling to offer me the part-time position and ran through all the details, which I repeated back to her, because I truly did not believe the blessings were real. I told her I would let her know that afternoon after I spoke with my husband and kids again. We hung up and I SOBBED…I know many of you know I am a crier, but this was different. I SOBBED. I almost got down on my knees right in the middle of the road to praise all He did. Instead I walked and praised and gave thanks. After we ran all the numbers we realized He DOUBLED what we had been asking in prayer for two years. Yep…there is that two years again. Almost to the day of when I started praying for it. I have a journal record to prove it. Ha!

July 23 TobyMac’s daily post was “Never be afraid to change, you may lose something good, but you many gain something even better.” There was my conviction…as if I needed another one…that it was ALL God. Add in our girls were very excited AND the dress code/uniform colors are BLUE, tan, and white. Recall my girls were wearing BLUE in my dream. God is GOOD! Yes, He speaks to us anyway He can reach you.

So, here we go on a whole new adventure. We are under no delusions that it will be an easy transition. We are praying for our protection since it is obvious God wants us there that probably means Satan does not. In it all though I know God’s plans for the adventure are ONLY JUST BEGINNING.

God is nudging you, too. Are you listening? He communicates through ANYthing to get your attention…people, music, books, etc. Are you feeling something in your gut? Are you fighting a “force” all the time and in constant frustration? Discern…is God sending you a message? This has been a VERY humbling experience and I can honestly say it has felt so good I hope more of His hand in our life is just around the corner.

I am praying for you all. Please pray for me?

 

 

 

Can You Make Too Many Memories?

Well, I am back to recording life and thoughts this morning.  Today I need to talk about why I haven’t been here most of the summer. Part of me wants to blame just this summer, but the past few weeks in my reflections I can honestly say it has been more like the past 18 months. It seems I have been running against the clock planning and planning ahead to “save time” later. Can we really save time? I think it’s like clipping coupons. We clip them and save, but most of the time the $10-$20 gets spent on something else. Same with time we prep meals, we stock the pantry and freezer, we plan our calendars (BTW I ALWAYS spell calendars calanders the first time … just being real and I wonder why EVERY SINGLE time), etc. This is me … this was me … it will be me again it’s who I am, but I am working on slowing down, being intentional about relaxing more, and cutting out the urgency to get things done.

So, back to our summer that started 18 months ago. My husband has worked 2nd shift 98% of the past 10 years, except when he was laid off for 3 years, which means I did the majority of the kid running, meals, home stuff, planning, etc. I will not say most of everything … I was tempted to, but he worked 6-7 days a week and 10-12 hour days. So, I did a lot around here, but in his few hours home he took care of the garden, cars, yard, and farming. Yet, since he was only home and awake a few hours at a time I never realized how much I did for our home and four kids. I just did them. Then over the past 8 weeks he has been home much more no longer working any overtime and working 1st shift. It is like I can breathe again. I just told my aunt the other day I still find myself walking through the house thinking I need to do something, but I don’t. I mean there are always things I could do, but I used to always have something that NEEDED to be done. Those things that should be done or I wanted to do rarely ever were touched. I no longer have that never ending list of items that NEED to be done. It gets done and sometimes there is time to spare. Still not much time for reading or watching my favorite shows, but the fact that I have favorite shows must mean I do get some TV time.

Yet, my husband’s crazy work hours were not the only thing going on, it was also the season of life we were or are in. Four very involved kids and our own desire to do certain things. In the past 24-18 months, I planned 12 birthday parties, 2 First Communions, 2 Confirmations, had 2 girls in 2 dance recitals, fundraisers for a black belt test, typical activities of karate, dance, riding lessons, scouts, catechism classes, sacrament preparation classes, vacations, VBS, county fair, and holiday prep. NOT COMPLAINING ONE TINY TINY bit it is our life and I love it. When I realized the other day that Spring 2018 would not include 3 birthdays, recital, AND Sacraments I let out a deep sigh of relief. That’s when it hit me that we have had a lot going on, but when I thought about what we could cut out I struggled with that.  The majority of what we do isn’t that it’s too much it was just the timing of everything.

Over the past 8 weeks we have discussed how to better plan out our 12 month calendar (I spelled it right maybe I just needed to confess) so we are not over scheduling our commitments or time. This year went like this March sons 12th birthday (cake here for a “drop in if you can” party and a friends Nerf Wars party), #4’s 4th birthday party with family, #3’s Confirmation and First Communion (and all the prep classes), #3’s 8th birthday party with family, 2 in dance recital, Up North vacation, Kentucky vacation, VBS week, fair week, prepping for a new school year, a day with the kids friends here, and then a 10 day UP/Wisconsin vacation. Now here we are rolling in our school year planning Halloween costumes, Christmas lists, my #2’s 10th birthday with friends (no friends parties until age 10 … one thing I never put on my plate) and haven’t thought about anything farther. So, we looked at that and said we decided to put on the calendar the things that just have to be done and decide from there if or what we add in. Granted dance, riding, karate, scouts, youth group, clubs, etc don’t have to be done, but they are limited to 2 things besides church stuff. So, with 4 it can be a bit much, but trust me they always WANT or should I say THINK THEY NEED to do more.

I will say we did have a great summer, but I feel like I never really relaxed to truly take it all in … So can you make too many memories? I think you can never make too many memories, but you can make too many plans.

A summing up with one more thought about this before I end … I know why we over do our planning. Do you? See my Dad died when I was 8 (our kids are 12, 9, 8, and 4), my husbands Dad always worked and died nearly 10 years ago. Time is important to us. My husband put it best a few months ago when he seen a friend of ours that is battling cancer. I could tell he was being thoughtful and said to me “I always think I don’t have enough time.”  Right….? We can rush around putting the spending of time off, because we are too busy trying to save time. And there you have it … we can be pretty good about our money and intentional about where and how we spend it, but are we intentional about how we spend our time. Is it quality time or just time spent?  See I think we really need to stop storing up … spending time to save or make money … spending money to save or spend time … LOOK BACK … Are you ahead? … Have your TRULY MADE more money or time? … Have you laughed with your kids? Your aging Grandparent? Had dinner with the parents? Taught your daughter how to use the camera she is always carrying around? Told them stories about when you were a kid? Caught fire flies with them? Made a meal for a friend that just had a baby? Offered to clean her house or do her laundry even though yours is piled high? Sent a card to say whatever needs to be said before it can’t be said?  …….. on and on I could go. I am speaking to myself as much as anyone else. Yet, I decided THESE were the things I wanted to teach our kids to do. Spending time and even money on time with the people God put in our lives and in our hearts. Being like Mary (not Martha) and taking it all in while we can.

Take moments to breathe, notice, take account, really be there, remember, and share.

God Bless!

I am praying for you. Please pray for me.

I Am… Verses I Am Not…

Hello! Here I go again journaling through my thoughts with you…

This weekend I was thinking about how we have people in our life that we are not Catholic enough for them. Then I thought about how that was funny because then we have other people in our lives that we are too Catholic or Christian for them. So, those of you that know me and have had conversations with me know that my mind or thoughts can go ON AND ON AND ON….

So, I then began thinking about ALL THE things about myself that are enough for some people in my life, but to others is not enough at all.

Let us see…

I am enough Mom for child 1 today, but not for children 2, 3, or 4. Tomorrow it will be some other combination.

Today my husband is perfectly happy with my not being the best meal planner, but last week he was looking for something to eat and yep mumbling under his breath.

Oh, then there are the parents that think we are doing great with the ‘grand kid raising’ one minute, then the next are all to willing to offer assistance.

How about that boss … happy one day, but the next wanting more.

What about those people who do not want to be around you because you are too good? I have in my life been told I need to drink more, I need to stop talking about God, I need to quit being just so nice, etc. Ummm….okay … could it just be that my spirit makes them uncomfortable? They are being moved to change, change is hard, so they ignore it, but being around someone who has those good habits makes them uncomfortable. Many times they/we do not even know why that is why we don’t want to be around someone.

Do you see how this list could go on and on. How about adding in our OWN self-talk. Geez…who do you think is harder to make happy them or yourself?

Anyway … not sure my rambling has a point to it other than I am pretty sure we all FAIL everyday. EACH. AND. EVERY. DAY. We have all told ourselves and heard how we can not possibly make everyone happy all of the time. Well, do we really believe it ALL the time? I know I have to remind myself at least once a day that it is okay that those friends are not my ‘close’ friends because I am not __________ enough for them. I am who am I am, because God has me on my own journey, which I ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide me on each day. If as a result, I fail at being enough to someone on this journey, but am enough for Him each day then all will be okay.

We will NEVER be enough for ourselves or this world. Our flesh and their flesh are always wanting MORE … more time, more money, more food, more perfection, etc. People have expectations, they most likely have no clue they even hold, that get placed on us and we will never meet them. Thus, we can not be their friend, or the perfect parent, or the best spouse, etc. Please just understand in His eyes you ARE PERFECTION, you ARE ENOUGH, you WILL SUCCEED…. just keep your eyes on Him. Let go of the things of the past, the things of this world, and cling to Him and all He has waiting for you.

 

Ha … do you all realize I am 99% of the time talking to myself in these posts. Shoot sometimes yelling or crying. Keeping it all real.

As always I am praying for you. Would you please pray for me? Good Night!

A Moment

Just a moment can change your life. Everyone has defining moments. What are yours? Have you put them in perspective? Have you allowed them to define your life or you? Have you let them moment consume you?

See some people think that allowing a moment define you or your life means that you have allowed yourself to dwell on that moment. Not at all…dwelling on or living in means you have parked yourself in that moment. Having a defining moment or several moments means that you have experienced the moment to its fullest good or bad, then you have allowed God to use that moment to move you where He needed to move you. Have you felt God move you?

I have, but most of the time it is when I look back and I see that He moved me. When you are in a moment many times it can be so consuming that you might know He is there, but you simply do not know or feel Him working until time has past and you can look back.

Moments that forever change the way you look at or understand pretty much everything around you.

Moments that forever change the way you love people.

Moments that forever change what you believe to be true.

Moments that forever change the look in your eyes.

Moments that forever change things like what you read, eat, watch, etc.

Moments that forever change where you live.

Moments that change YOU and YOUR perspective…view of YOUR world.

My moments have made me the me I am today. My moments drive me and I feel God behind the wheel as He turns those moments…those defining moments…into something He is using for His plan.

So, look at your defining moments, leave them as the moment, and FEEL HIM working them for good.

Please Pray for me I am praying for you.

 

What is Their Love for You Rooted In?

It has been a few days since I shared anything with you and I am sorry, but with our weather and a head cold I have been trying to get through the MUST do’s of each day.

The other day my husband and I were talking about a day we have coming up that two kids would have to be somewhere at the same time, but in opposite directions AND it is a day that he worked the night before so will need to sleep. We discussed a strategy, which will work out beautifully. I even talked about it with the kids so they knew what to expect that day.

Later that day I was washing a few dishes, looking out a window into our back yard, and like my mind always does it wondered into a stream of thoughts. You know the kind that take you to somewhere glorious, but when you try to share it with someone they are all confused as to why you were thinking about that and how in the world one thought took you all the way to that final thought…you know, right? ANYWAY, I was looking out the window (I will spare you the thought trail) when eventually it occurred to me “I hope our kids are learning about our love for them by observing the sacrifices we make and not because of what they are gaining due to those sacrifices!”

First of all, with four children and a Daddy that works 6-7 days a week so Momma can stay home (I just had to break to dress a Barbie doll…I knew you would want to know) there are plenty of events that both or at least one parent cannot make it to. Whether it be because we are both running kids somewhere, or one is running and one is home with the others, or one is working/sleeping, or as in the case of horse riding Mom is severely allergic to the barn and cannot go in. It occurred to me that dish washing day that I hoped our kids choose not see us NOT there, but rather chose to see all the other stuff. Do they see how much Dad has to miss, because it was important Mom was home?  I hope they grasp how much of his income goes to pay for the activities they are in. I began reflecting on this and thinking I hope they would grow up to love us more for that and not grow up wondering why we were not always there.

Secondly, I hoped they were not growing up loving the stuff Daddy’s money bought them, but rather loving the time it took to earn that money and loving the fact that he willingly choose to spend it on their desires, dreams, and passions instead of his own. Or are they loving the recital costumes or riding equipment rather than the Daddy that worked really hard to earn the money to buy those things. Are they loving Mom for being there every day for them or for the time she gives up being her own person so she can do what God called her to do?

So, I reflected on this and thought the only way to ensure that our kids are seeing and getting all this that we desire for them is to ALWAYS talk to them. We talk to them sometimes people are baffled by our choice to explain things to kids. You know “They are the kids. You are the parent. They should just deal with it!” mentality? For whatever reason, we do not always take that route. We tell our kids how it is. That it is not all about money, but money is needed to pay bills and such. That we are a family and families work together to achieve the family goal first and then the individual goals.

They may not completely get it. They may wish Mom and Dad BOTH could be at everything, but we are a part of a team … and that they get and respect. They know Daddy doesn’t CHOOSE to work every day of the week because he wants to, but because Mom and Dad want other things for the family that require Daddy to work. As a result, they do not whine about where we are. They never question why someone isn’t there. They are grasping the idea that we all work together to clean house, do laundry, and get everyone everywhere they want to be. It is a TEAM effort.

Final thought…Is their love for you rooted in the fact that you were there or is it in the fact that they know why you were not? Do they love you because you bought them that prized toy or because they know what it took for you to buy it? Do they love you because you are there at practice all the time or because you made it happen for them to be at practice? I think they should understand it both ways and love/respect you for it all.

God Bless! I am praying for you please pray for me!

 

Sometimes In Life…

Do you ever have a saying, song, words, or phrase that just rolls around in your head? Sometimes for an hour, a day, a week, or goodness forever? Many times it gets almost annoying that whatever is in your head playing over and over again just will not quit.

Well, for about 6 months now at completely off the wall and random moments suddenly I find myself thinking or even speaking out loud the words “Sometimes in life…” and that is just were it stops….nothing comes after this. Well, you can imagine at this point my INFJ Empath Learner personality is analyzing this and wondering what sort of message I am supposed to be getting with this. What is it that isn’t quite getting through?

  • Sometimes in Life bad things happen.
  • Sometimes in Life good things happen.
  • Sometimes in Life things are not fair.
  • Sometimes in Life people play and win the lottery.
  • Sometimes in Life we wonder where God is.
  • Sometimes in Life we feel so low we can’t image ever rising again.
  • Sometimes in Life our heart breaks into tiny little pieces.
  • Sometimes in Life we find a person to put all those pieces back together.
  • Sometimes in Life we can run and run, but we will never escape.
  • Sometimes in Life there is someone there to catch us when we fall.
  • Sometimes in Life …

So, on we could go, right? Maybe I just figured out at least one reason this is in my head and as tears come to my eyes I realize we are all in the middle of a “Sometimes in Life…” moment. For some of us it is a painful moment, some it is joyous, or for some it is mundane. We are all there though…together…or we have all been there…together. Yes, right now in this moment I believe God created “Sometimes in Life…” moments to connect us in a common sense of empathy.

Do not withdrawal from those moments. He needs us to FEEL each moment to enable us to FEEL it with someone else later. Empathy (funny I mentioned Empath above when this thought hadn’t occurred to me until now) isn’t about understanding someone’s emotion it is about SHARING IN someone’s emotion. Feeling exactly how they feel. I believe today not everyone has this ability and I believe it is because we stopped allowing others and our selves to truly FEEL the emotions as they come. Once we FEEL them we can let them go to God, but if we don’t they stay with us forever. They will forever be apart of us that is what enables us to feel with others, but they will not consume us. We will be allowed to move on to our next “Sometimes in Life…” moment.

Final Thought…FEEL whatever your heart and soul needs to feel.

God Bless! I am praying for you please pray for me!

Will You Be My Valentine?

Throughout my 41 years of life I have grown up on and shared with my girls the wonder of the Princess and Prince stories. As I have grown up I have read the many opinion’s about how WRONG it is to allow your daughter to have those false ideas about what relationships are or what a marriage is. I found myself wondering about that for … a moment….

See I LOVE romance. I LOVE watching chick-flicks. I LOVE watching all things princess with my girls. Yet, they also see me with their Daddy, who does not meet any of those romantic standards at all. He isn’t the buy my flowers, candy, or similar gifts. He doesn’t plan or organize spontaneous weekends away.  Believe you and me there are times when I have wondered why in the heck doesn’t he do these things. There are plenty of times I missed or longed for that in our relationship. PRAYER does wonders for things we feel we are missing out on. A funny thing happens when you pray for someone sometimes God shows you what YOU WERE MISSING the entire time.

My girls and I enjoy those movies. We also enjoy time talking about God’s will for our lives. They also see their Daddy and Mommy having a kiss or hug in the kitchen. They see Mom sit on Dads lap every once in awhile. They see us being silly. They see us working together to haul wood into the basement. They see their Dad cooking meals. They see their Dad changing their baby sister’s diaper. They see their Dad taking their Mom on a date…that yes Mom planned, but Dad is willing to go and spend time with their Mom. See they see us making time for each other; however, that maybe.

Even though my husband, their Dad, isn’t the sort to make a mix tape (ha!) for their Mom he is the type to love her, pray for her, work like hell to make her dreams come true, provide for her and their kids, work like hell to make THEIR dreams come true, and finally he is the type to grow and change to become a better man for us all.

Forever Blessed God brought me this amazing man to be my Valentine! Guess what….watching Princess movies and romantic movies did not ruin me or my relationship they just forced me to see that romance comes in MANY forms. My girls will learn they same thing.  Yet, in full disclosure Valentines Day isn’t much of anything in our home. Again, because

God Bless! Happy Valentines Day! I am praying for you please pray for me!

How to Handle a Party as an Introvert?

Many people I know are quite familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality test or those that are similar. So, I will refer to myself as an INFJ, which apparently is the rarest of types. You can Google INFJ and find all sorts of information about us and how we operate. That is not what this is about.

This evening my husband and I will be going out. We have a sitter and we are going to the home of some of our friends. Over the past 6 years we have gotten out very little due to our kid’s ages, sitter complications, and my husband working 2nd shift. Now we have found ourselves in a different season where we are enjoying date night more often. Typically, though he still has to work 6-7 days a week so we are usually out and about on our own and still missing group gatherings. I will be horribly honest here I really don’t mind missing events with people. People and the thought of people give me anxiety. My dear friend, also an INFJ, calls me an out-going introvert. She thinks I am much more comfortable with people that she is so thus the name. Yet, I think what helps me is years of being surrounded by STRONG extrovert personalities and the fact that according to Now Know Your Strengths I am a Learner. This is about as true as my Introvert self I do LOVE to learn. So, people are one of the things I LOVE to learn about and to learn from.

Back to the party though … AUGH … I am excited to chat with friends we have not seen in a while, but the whole thought of going brings anxiety. If you have never experienced anxiety you are lucky. Those butterflies in your tummy. The thoughts of walking into a room filled with people. Then for me as an Empath the energy that just gets drained from me. Have you ever heard someone say “People exhaust me”? Well, they do. It is not intended to be a mean statement I love people, but to explain that statement is something that is best understood through experience. I guess I just get my understanding for other Empath’s.

We are already to do this evening and 90% of me is excited, but 10% of my is trying to come up with a reason to stay home. AGAIN, NOT BECAUSE we are stuck up or trying to avoid people, but just because we do not function … or I do not function at my best with lots of people. Most likely at large parties you will find me sitting at the same table all night or standing in the same location. I will talk myself into roaming and mingling and will do some of that, but then work myself back into some alone time. HA!

Final thoughts…just because someone appears to not be socializing doesn’t mean they are a snob or not having fun it might just mean they are like me and prefer to be on the sidelines at larger gatherings. After all, God made Extroverts to enjoy the lime light I will let them!

Understanding personality types is a huge benefit to ALL RELATIONSHIPS I highly recommend it.

God Bless! I am praying for you please pray for me!

One Day At A Time…

I wrote this title MONTHS ago. You know how many times people say this to themselves or others in a lifetime. I am guessing many times in a DAY. So, this blogger has been quiet for quite some time. I can honestly say it is because the “voices” around me were louder then my own voice and more importantly the voice of the Holy Spirit. I reached a point where I couldn’t hear direction anymore. That may sound funny to some of you and REAL to others. For me it is my reality to look back on my life and really see the times that I was the happiest were the times when things were quiet….times when I was writing in my journal every night…times when I was just reading His word…times when I was reading…times when I was taking time to myself allowing my mind to take a break.

So, over the past couple of months of my quiet time I have realized that this blog is just going to not have a focus at all. Have you ever let things carry you away? Or let the ASSUMED perceptions of others change your direction? Well, I struggle with that a great deal. I have very strong convictions, but I also want the best. So, in many ways I am like my #3 child that wants to try everything. This is where the “voices” around my became a problem. Yet, my heart and soul knew exactly the direction I was supposed to be headed. As a result, I was in a tug of war between my true self where God was leading me and with what it looked like I should be doing. Not sure if that makes sense, but I needed to quiet things down and listen.

Going forward this blog will be going back to whatever comes to mind each night … HOPEFULLY. ALSO, I WILL NOT BE EDITING and if that bothers you go read someone else’s blog. I am and always will be a writer of journals NOT a writer or an editor. I will not be worried about run on sentences, clauses, proper comma location, etc. I just feel like I need to share my thoughts as they come to mind.

Final thought for tonight … Are you struggling with direction? Do you have too many voices in your head? I promise if you turn to Him He will surprise you with a Love and Blessings all around you and before you know it you will have your direction. Just Take It One Day At A Time with Him leading you every step of the way!

God Bless! I am praying for you. Please pray for me.