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This morning I was putting gas in my car at a Chevron station, and I saw someone approaching me out of the corner of my eye. I quickly turned my head because, for some strange reason, I'm paranoid about gas stations. :) It was a very nice woman holding something in her hand. As it turns out, she's a Jehovah's Witness and she was offering me information about Jesus because "everyone is thinking about Jesus this time of year" (her words, not mine). :) Although I may beg to differ on how some people handle the holidays (even those who claim to celebrate Christ's birthday often don't do much during this time of year to show that's their main focus), I was surprised to find myself touched that of everyone at the gas station, she approached me. She went back to her car after that. I'm not sure if she was only comfortable talking to women, or what, but I was honestly touched.
It got me to thinking about something I remember hearing when I was more active with Mary Kay. When you are a Mary Kay consultant who is trying to grow her business, your directors will encourage you to approach strangers to talk to them about the business or the product. Because most people aren't comfortable doing this, I remember a director encouraging a unit to do so one time, and she put it like this. If this is truly a company, product, and business opportunity in which you believe, why wouldn't you want to tell everyone you meet about it? Strangely enough, that made sense.
The same is true about the gospel. We have such a precious gift. Why would we not want to tell everyone we see? I've been guilty of not even sharing it with some of my closest friends. It's something I'm working on, but it seems to be hard, and I can't figure out why. Maybe fear of rejection? Another thing I remember from Mary Kay...consider it like offering a stick of gum. If they refuse, they aren't refusing you; they are refusing the gum. Most people, when approached appropriately about something won't immediately hate you because you approached them. And if they do, there is a problem within their own perspective or attitude.
So, I'm not sure why I was thinking so much about Jehovah's Witnesses and Mary Kay this morning and I how I managed to turn it into a post, but there you go. :) Just some things to think about. And while I may believe that the Mormans and Jehovah's Witnesses are wrong in many of their teachings and beliefs, what would the church be like if we were all as diligent as they are in trying to spread the gospel?
On a separate note. I got to take yesterday off, so I was able to get a bunch of stuff done that I didn't know when I was going to do. :) I managed to sleep some extra, too! Yea! So, today is much more optimistic about completing the necessary holidays tasks. :) Tonight I just have to roll out and bake and frost the cookies, and wrap about 4 more gifts. The rest of the wrapping can be done after tomorrow. :)
I'm off to Jeremy's school this afternoon to help with the holiday party. I'm so excited. It should be really fun. :)
Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend as the holidays quickly approach! Happy Friday! |
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Well, it's been a completely crazy few weeks. I'm sorry I haven't posted much. Also, if you've emailed and I haven't responded, I appreciate it, and I'm sorry. Many days, I just don't know what to say. Then, I get caught up in dealing with other things and don't always get back to those emails. Thank you, though. I love all you guys who've been so encouraging to us during some tough times.
All that aside, I am excited about the holidays. I know there will be hard times throughout them, but we're working to stay positive and be thankful for the good times we can have throughout the season. We had some friends over Friday night and just hung out and played a game, then more of Jeremy's friends came in Saturday. It was a really nice weekend of spending time with friends and each other.
This week is going to be nuts! I was so proud of myself for getting the shopping done early, then Christmas majorly sneaked up on me! We're doing our family Christmas on Saturday, and I have NO gifts wrapped! Aaaaaugh! Tonight I'm going to an ornament exchange with Mom, tomorrow night we're going downtown for dinner and White Christmas at the Hobby Center, Wednesday is church night, Thursday I have dinner with some friends, and I volunteer for the holiday party in Jeremy's class on Friday afternoon. Hmmm...somewhere in there I need to make the candy I'm planning to send with Jeremy for his team and bosses and bring to work for my department, and I need to make the cutout cookies I make every year for Hutson Christmas by Saturday. My sweet sister tried to give me an out this year and told me I could bring whatever dessert I wanted (the cookies are somewhat time-consuming), but we won't have most of the treats we're used to, so I'd like to at least bring those for everyone. Isn't this time of year kinda ridiculous? Oh, well. It's usually such fun stuff, I try to delay the exhaustion until January. :)
Next week will probably actually be quite a bit calmer! :) We're spending Christmas day with Jeremy's family. Then we'll leave the following day to head to Oklahoma for Christmas with the Rowell (Mom's side) bunch. I'm VERY much looking forward to that. It will be lots of fun!
I've not posted much in the way of spiritual issues lately. To be honest, my mind is all over the place in this area. I usually have a specific topic in my head a few days as something fuels the wheels to start turning in my head and I study it otherwise. However, the last few weeks, I almost feel like I'm in overload. My thoughts aren't consistently in one place. I frantically take notes during sermons and sometimes classes so I can go back and look at them later. So many things from the Scriptures jump out at me right now, from comfort to condemnation of sin to salvation through grace by obedience to much more. I think if I tried to write about many of the thoughts, it wouldn't be much encouragement to anyone. There are a few things I've been trying to formulate in my head to get thoughts from others on, so I'll be trying to refine that a bit better in the days to come.
I hope everyone is doing well. I'm sorry if I've been at all distant or preoccupied. I really am trying to keep up with everyone and trying to encourage those around me as they've encouraged me. Thanks for everything.
I do have a few prayer requests:
- Please continue to remember our family. I'm not sure things will get any easier any time soon, but I know we can endure it, especially with the wonderful encouragement we've all received from our brethren.
- My friend Susan found out her mother has breast cancer. I believe that they haven't found any evidence thus far that it is anywhere beyond just the breast, so I'm praying that is true. She'll be undergoing whatever treatment is best for that in the near future, I'm sure.
- Please remember my friends Neil and Jenelle. Jenelle is having a c-section today, I believe, and they found out there is some fluid in the baby's head. I'm praying that there is no brain damage, but it is my understanding that they won't know until after the baby is born, and may not know then.
I hope that everyone is doing well, and I keep many of you in my prayers daily, and most of you in my prayers periodically. Thanks for being who you are! Happy Holidays! |
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Well, I broke down and went gold. I will probably not do private posts. That's not really why I went gold, but I may from time to time make my posts private. If you want to be added to my friend list, just let me know.
In the meantime, I would like any feedback I can get on my questions below about weddings and funerals in the church building. Thanks, everyone. I hope you are edified by services tonight! |
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Well, I've kinda avoided posting because my last post was such a more cheerful one. Most of you probably know now that our family is going through some really hard times right now. Many of you are praying for us, and we really appreciate all those prayers. If you don't know what's going on, please feel free to contact me for more detail, and I will provide whatever is I can, but most of all, please just pray for us. Thank you so much for all the nice words of encouragement. I don't know that it will get a lot better very soon, but we have each other and all of you and most of all, God to help us through.
Hopefully, on a bit of a brighter note...I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Jeremy and I spent Thanksgiving with his family and had a great, relaxing time. We met Mom to see a movie on Thursday night. Then on Friday, we dropped Windy off at a friend's house to stay overnight. We went to see Body Worlds at the Museum of Natural Science, stayed the night at Hotel ZaZa, then went to the zoo on Saturday. It was a WONDERFUL and much needed "getaway." We felt like we were on vacation. It was great! We had lunch at Yia Yia Mary's, ordered cheeseburger room service, then went to the Chocolate Bar for dessert Friday night, and ate lunch at Star Pizza on Saturday! Yea! My friend Judy from work kept Windy and spoiled her rotten. :)
We got to run some errands Saturday afternoon to get a few things at Bed Bath & Beyond and at Pier 1. I buy my Christmas wrapping paper at Pier 1 every year. I know, I'm weird. :) Sunday we were able to spend some time working on Christmas decorations. Then, I decided I wanted a nap, so the boxes and everything are still all over the living room, but we'll get it all done eventually. :)
I would like to ask for a little feedback from anyone who reads this that would like to provide feedback. In our Sunday morning class (that I've discussed on here previously), we are currently discussing whether we are authorized to have weddings and funerals in the church building. I would like to know from any or all of you what you believe regarding this. Either way you believe, can you show me scripture? It's turned into quite the discussion, and I'm really interested to see if there are outside perspectives that would help in deciphering some of the perspectives we're getting in class. Thanks!
Anyway, thanks again to everyone for all the support. I love you guys!
I almost forgot to post a couple of pics of Windy. :) She's growing very fast! Sorry these are a little fuzzy - I took them with my cell. This is her enjoying the new little "house" ("kennel" is evidently a bad word for her) and her new bed. Both of these pics are after she put herself there with no coaxing from me. Yea! :)
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So, here are a few pics from the tournament this weekend. We had a good time, even though it was COLD! Yes, it was cold enough for us to be this bundled up!
I know I already posted about something serious today, but I want to just leave you with some verses that are very much helping me this week, so maybe they will be exactly what someone else needs to hear. No commentary from me on these.
Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths."
Sorry for the multiple posts in one day. Just wanted to get these up while I was thinking about it! Happy almost weekend! |
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