Psalm 31 Woman

I have recently been studying women of the bible and the guidelines God has set for women in his ministry.  I came across Psalm 31 which has several principles of a godly woman.  The ones listed below are an overview of what all woman of Jesus should be striving for. 

This is one of my favorite bible verses:  Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.  Proverbs 31:30. 

Cool verse, huh?  I like it!  Beauty is fleeting…we can’t all be beauty queens for ever, but we can all be spiritual forever.  I want to be beautiful on the inside and outside-not just the outside.  I have know several people throughout my life who might be skinnier or prettier than me, but were horrible women.  They talked bad about you and to you, were unfaithful to their partners, unethical and pushed everyone out of their way.  That’s the world’s way, not God’s way.  The sad thing is that they were taught that, they weren’t made to be like that.  The world has taught them to gossip, talk behind people’s back, claw and scratch their way to the top.

I strive to be nice to everyone, but I am not one to be hurt by someone and them pretend that it didn’t happen.  I try not to be mean to anyone just because they hurt me, but I will stay as far away as possible from them.  If I don’t like you I am not one to still hang around you.  If you ask me a question I will answer, but I am not going to go have lunch with you or listen to your stories.  Who actually wants to hang out with someone who they can’t stand?  I don’t need the negativity and the DRAMA in my life.  Drama free is for me (did you like my rhyme-he he?).  Negativity and drama only breed negativity and drama.  If you are creating drama in my life I just want to stay away from you. Jesus doesn’t create drama, he helps smooth it out and help you learn from it.

Principles of the Psalm 31 Woman

1. Pursues an ongoing, personal relationship with Jesus Christ

2. Loves, honors, and greatly enriches the life of her husband, encouraging and supporting his leadership within his family and his church

3. Nurtures the next generation, shaping and molding the children who will one day define who we are as a community and as a nation

4. Creates a warm and loving environment for family and friends

5. Is a faithful steward of the time and money God has entrusted to her

6. Speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction as she encourages others and develops godly friendships

7. Shares the love of Christ by extending her hands to help the poor and opening her arms to the needy

It’s Good to Have a Goal

My newest goal/hobby is running.  I have never really liked to run. Actually I have never felt like I could actually run for miles and miles without stopping so I made myself believe that I didn’t like to run.  That’s not true.

Once I started believing in myself a bit more (working on it), I knew I could do it.  Ever since I have had my breast reduction surgery I have started to work out more.  I used to workout at an all women’s gym (Curves) because I was so uncomfortable with myself and my big boobs that I didn’t want guys to look at me.  I have never been one to wear really revealing clothes because I think that is just sort tacky.  I don’t want guys to look at me for what I am wearing, but for what I am saying or doing.  If a guy is only interested in me for my looks or who he can show me off too then I don’t want him!  I am the first to admit that if I’m not attracted to someone I won’t date them (I LOVE guys with great arm muscles and baseball hats), but if a guy can only see what I wear and how I look in the clothes then I don’t want them.  I really could never be a gold digger or trophy wife because that would get really annoying!  I don’t want your money, I can make my own!  I will glady sign a prenup so no one can ever say that about me.

Anyway, back to running.  So after my surgery I started working out at a regular gym and venturing out into the non women’s only section (which took awhile).  Then I started walking at the park and running a lap (1/2 mile around).  Recently I have been thinking about the idea of running a 5K.  I started researching them and a friend at work mentioned the Astros Race for the Pennant on May 30^th 2011….which happens to be my 29^th birthday! 

So my goal is to 1. Complete a 5K race by my 29^th birthday jogging the entire time 2. Get a big bunch of people to complete the race with me!

I can now run 2.5 miles without stopping, and I am working my way up to 3.1 miles.  I try and increase it by .5 miles each week.  Once I finish doing that I will start increasing my time.  WISH ME LUCK!

If you want to sign up for the race with me go HERE (it’s only $25 and you get two Astros tickets and a tshirt including in your registration packet).

If I didn’t have a goal then I would never have made myself get out and enjoy running.  I really am starting to enjoy it!  Why else would I get up and I am at the park by 5:30 am every morning running?  I am only half crazy.  If I didn’t have a goal I would sleep in never work out.  I invited lots of people to this so I can’t let them beat me!  That’s really my goal. lol

I get up every morning by my alarm clock named Jabba the Hutt.  He wants food and he doesn’t let me sleep in.  Some days he knows I am tired so he lets me stay asleep til 6 but other that, I am awake by 5:15!

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/hou/community/race.jsp

A few good men

My new nephew Cole was born yesterday and I have already fallen in love with him.  How can someone so tiny capture your heart so quickly?  Actually, he is not very tiny-he weighed in at a whopping 9lbs 15oz. 

I got there around 11:15 am and he was still in the nursery.  I stopped by and saw my sister in her hospital room and chit chatted with her for a bit.  Everyone wants to see the baby, but they forget the mom! Lol. After a while I couldn’t take it anymore so I went to the nursery.  My other nephew Hunter proudly led the way like the big brother he is.  He was laying there with his eyes closed just bunched up like a little burrito.  There was another baby in the crib next to his that looked half his size!  He definitely wasn’t a whopper of a baby like Cole is.

The nurse started giving Cole a bath and his little lip was quivering, soooo cute!  Then she styled his hair into a Mohawk (which he sported proudly-he’s going to be a rockstar!).  After he calmed back down we left to go to lunch at the Egg and I (yummy).

When we got back they brought him in and I got to hold him.  I was actually the 4^th person to hold him after my sister since I am lower on the totem pole of the family baby holding privileges.  Aunts/Uncles come after parents, grandparents, and great grandparents.  Then it goes in birth order of aunts/uncles.  I’m ok with it.  He was sleeping and grunting while I was holding him, a few times he actually opened up his eyes.

I knew Hunter would be feeling a bit left out with all the attention being on the baby so I got him a cool Darth Vader shirt.  He love Star Wars so he will probably wear it to school soon to show everyone.  I am really a cool aunt. I’m just sayin’.  Since Hunter likes Star Wars, maybe Cole will like flamingos like me!  Maybe not.

My husband

I have been recently praying to God that he bring me a husband.  What single woman isn’t right? Lol. I have made a list in my head of what I want and I hope God will bring him to me.  What I have learned however is that God has the perfect man already picked out, I just need to be patient for him.  Patience is one of the fruits of the spirit that I am working very hard on.  I can’t make him come any faster than when we are both ready to meet (or have I already met him????).  God’s idea of a perfect man for me may not be my idea of a perfect man for me. 

I think that this list I am going to share with you is good, but I haven’t found him yet so God might have another list in mind.  I heard that when people make plans, God laughs. I believe that God is laughing at my list right now, but I am still going to share it so when I do find a husband we can all laugh with God at the comparison. Ok? I am very picky so this list is long.

My list-in no particular order expect the first 3:

-Christian man

-Great with children-and wants them!

-Has great arm muscles and wears baseball hats (yummy!)

-Ethical man

-A man who isn’t afraid to stand up for what is right

-Has a wonderful smile

-Someone who I love their eyes (green eyes are beautiful-did you know that I have one blue eye and one eye that has a speck of green-I think it’s a sign that my husband will have green eyes, lol)

-A man who is well liked and respected

-A hard working man

-A man with a great work ethic, who doesn’t stop until the work is done

-Great with money-since I am working on it he needs to be great with money so he can keep me in line when I try and buy to many shoes.  Love me some shoes.

-A man who loves animals-Jabba can be a handful sometimes

-A man who loves me-I can be a handful sometimes

-Back to the first one-I want a Christian man who goes to church and not just uses ‘Christian’ as a name to describe himself.  Walk the walk buddy.

-A laid back guy-who would rather hang out than go out every night

-Not a big partier or drinker-I’m over that!

-A leader

-A Jello guy-I am more Jello than crème-brulee, more cheese sticks and cheddar peppers than crepes and shrimp cocktail

-A business guy during the day and a flip flops and shorts at night (Do I have a secret obsession with Superman maybe?)

-A man who is ok with no sex until marriage

-A guy who is ok with me being a talker, and doesn’t think it’s obnoxious!

-A guy who would rather talk with me than text me

-A guy who does his own thing, and doesn’t need me 24 hours a day-have a hobby!

-A guy who can stand my temper and help calm me down-I’m working on it, but it’s a slower process

-A faithful man-no cheaters please

-A guy who will stand beside me, not in front of me

-A guy who says ‘we’ instead of ‘I’.  Don’t take all the credit for yourself

-A guy who leads me and our family

-A man who likes to talk it out rather than walk away

-A guy who likes to travel-ROADTRIPS to tropical places are great!

-A guy who likes the outdoors-there are so many things I have always wanted to go do, but I don’t have anyone to go with like hunting, 4 wheeling, paintballing, hiking, etc.

-A man who only wants to be married once and believes that marriage is forever

-A man who is not PERFECT, but is PERFECT for me.  We can work it out.

Happy Jesus has Risen Day!

Today over 2,000 years ago Jesus rose from the grave to go to Heaven and sit on the throne next to God.  He died for me and you because he loves us!  He loves me? Yes, he loves me very much.  He loves YOU very much. 

I don’t know about you but I have never heard of the Easter Bunny dying for me, all I have heard was the Easter Bunny dropping some eggs in the yard and putting a basket at the foot of my bed with candy in it.

Hmmm.  I would much rather celebrate a death, resurrection, and ascension to the throne than some brightly colored hard boiled eggs.  Hard boiled eggs rot, Jesus is eternal!

Now, when I see my nephew on Sunday I will wish him Happy Easter and ask him what the Easter Bunny brought him, watch him find hidden eggs and eat all the candy he will ever need, but I will make sure he knows what Jesus did. 

Lessons brought through obstacles

My nephew Jeremiah (my little sister Bridgette’s son) was born with a birth defect where his esophagus is not connected to his stomach.  He has been at Texas Children’s since he was born almost 3 months ago.  On Thursday he was finally healthy and big enough to withstand surgery to correct the problem.  I have seen and help him 3 times since he was born (that’s another story as to why I haven’t seen him more-another day).  All three times he has been connected to tubes and fighting to breathe properly.  On Thursday after his surgery he had many more tubes in him and several in his mouth.  You could tell he was crying but with all the tubes in his mouth you couldn’t hear it because they were all blocking the sound.  It really hurt my heart.  It was really hard seeing a helpless baby go through that. 

But as I sat in the hospital room watching my little sister Bridgette (who’s only 19 btw) hold and care for her baby it made me realize that God has a plan for this little family.  Bridgette was talking about how when she was pregnant before they found out that he would have problems that she was imagining taking him on walks, giving him baths, feeding him, etc.  She was saying that she took all that stuff for granted that she would be able to do all that.  She has never fed him since he is fed through a tube.  He has never been outside, much less gone on a walk.  She has only been able to give him a sponge bath on certain days of the week.  She is worried that he will be developmentally behind since when he gets out he will have to learn how to do everything-even drink out of a bottle!

 Then I heard a voice in my head say that he won’t be behind and to tell her not to worry, he will catch up very quickly and she will look back and cherish the first 3 months of his life.  She basically has been by herself with him at TX Children’s because her boyfriend/baby daddy lives in Beaumont so he can work.  I told her not to worry and that he will be just fine.  The nurses say that when she is not there he (baby Jeremiah) gets more worked up and anxious than when she is there.  They have really bonded over the past 3 months.  It is really sweet. 

God has used this illness as a teaching tool to make a mother not take for granted all the things a regular mother sometimes takes for granted.  He also showed me not to take for granted all the things that I sometimes overlook. 

So while it hurt my hurt to see him with all the tubes and hurting very badly, I can see why God put this obstacle in place.  He knew that she can handle it and learn from it.  I invited her to church with me on Sunday at New Hope.  I really hope she can come with me and learn from a great church!  I love me some New Hope Church!

 

What a Good Friday Indeed

In my church C.A.R.E. Group on Wednesdays we are doing a study on “Singles and the Serendipity.”  It’s a 8 week course studying different singles that lived in biblical times that were on a great mission for God.  Ruth, Paul, Mary Magdalene are just a few that we have studied. 

Before I started to study the bible more I thought everyone significant in the bible was married and God did things through those people only.  I have come to find out that that is not true.  You don’t have to be married, beautiful, skinny, perfect, or even have a spotless past.  God wants to use you where you are, imperfections and all.  You don’t have to be someone who is rich, powerful, or ‘important.’  God thinks you are important where you are.  He equips the called, not calls the equipped.

I read a blog posting on Proverbs 31 ministries website about how Jesus was ‘just a carpenter’.  ‘Just’.  That carpenter turned out to save the world and die for you and me (today-Good Friday actually-but if you don’t know that story he rises on Sunday and goes and sits next to God on the throne in Heaven!).  God used his son as a regular person with a regular job to do some mighty irregular things, all for you and me.

I have recently been struggling with being ‘just’ a this or that.  I am ‘just’ a single person, I am ‘just’ a mom to the coolest cat in town (Jabba the Hutt), I am ‘just’ an unimportant accounting coordinator at a very large global company, I am ‘just’ a person who has tons of student debt, I am ‘just’ a person who is overweight (but working on it).

I decided that those things don’t define me, they will propel me to do great things!  I am a daughter of God.  I am a single person who can use that to minister to other singles to use their life for Christ.  I am a mom to a cool cat who can use that to minister to other pet owners (that might be a stretch!), I can use my job to glorify God with my work and not myself, I can pay off my student loans and use it as a testimony to how God helped me get through it (hopefully really quickly!), I can use my extra weight to inspire all my friends to run a 5K with me (currently about 20 people) on my birthday (which is May 30^th…don’t forget-it’s IMPORTANT!) because if I can run a 5k, then anyone can.

Think about what you ‘just’ are and see how you can use it to turn it around and give back to God. He died today over 2,000 years ago and inspired a lot of ‘normal’ people to do extraordinary things.  I know he will use me to do some amazing things!  BELIEVE IT!

Faith the size of a mustand seed...

I have a friend at church who I admire very much.  She is a very christian woman who is a good influence on the way I should live my life.  We have been hanging out more and more as I am trying to bring more christian friends around me when I can. 

We are both struggling with our jobs.  Hers is because her company is not doing very well and her new boss is not a christian man and is doing and saying things that make her not trust him.  My struggles with my job are not having a career path and not being appreciated for all the work that I do.  There are people at the company and even my department that do a lot less and seem to get rewarded with promotions, praise, and raises.  It seems that the people who do good work are stomped on and the people who do shady things get everything. 

I read a verse from the bible recently honoring God with your work.  I believe myself to be a hard worker and want to do good at everything I can, but I feel that it’s not worth it to do good work here because it won’t get me anywhere.  I will be stuck here forever if I stay, and not much to show for the work that I have done.  I am trying very hard to do great work to honor God, not myself, my career goals, or my paycheck.  God needs me to work hard and I will be rewarded for it for following him and not the world.  The world says just don’t care or just quit.  I don’t want to not care or just quit.  I really want it to work out.  I am here until God moves me.  There is something else I need to learn here or do here before he does move me.  I just wish for my sanity I hurry up and learn it before I go CRAZY! Lol.

I have been praying nightly that God show me the direction he wants me to go with my life.  I know I have to keep faith that He is working behind the scenes to move me to greatness in whatever will honor him.  I know there is a plan, I just can’t see it.

Anyway, back to my friend.  She had gone on a few interviews and was offered a new position, but she didn’t take it.  God had plans for her.  She had a meeting with her boss and they had a talk about the things that were upsetting her with her job.  She came out of that meeting with and $8k raise.  $8,000?!?!  Wow.  God really blesses his people.  She kept praying and believing and God took care of her and he did in a big way. 

Knowing my company, and knowing things about my supervisors I will never be appreciated enough to get a $8K raise.  Last year when I did get a raise they told me to write down a number and when I did they didn’t like it or me enough to give me anywhere close to it.  They keep saying that they want to keep me but with their actions especially lately they seem to not care what I do.

But God cares what I do, and God cares about me.  So I will continue to pray and keep faith and work to honor him until he shows me what to do next.  I have to have faith of a mustard seed, right?  God has a plan for me and God has a plan for YOU!  I know that God will bless me abundantly throughout my life.  I just need to be open to receiving them.

Hola!

First blog posts are always the best...