ABCs Thanksgiving Style

From Christy Rose over at The Secret Life of an American Wife and Mom. I thought it would be fun to think of a word for each letter of the alphabet for something that I am thankful for. Feel free to try it yourself.

So I will! Thanks Christy Rose. :O)

A. Apple Cranberry Crisp
B. Buddy - my 8 year old long-hair chihuahua - he's a little sweetheart!
C. Clothes that fit and that are clean
D. Dogs!
E. Eatzi's (nice little eaterie/store in Dallas)
F. Food that fills my pantry and refrigerator
G. God, Who is SO real in my life
H. Heaven - a place I can look forward to living, for eternity!
I. Inspiration
J. Jesus who died, that I might live
K. Kittens -- and especially my 7 month old KitKit. I never thought I'd love a cat this much! (especially when I first got her! )
L. Louie - my oldest son and such a blessing in my life. What an amazing young man he is. Thank you Lord for him.
M. Michael - my youngest son and also a great blessing in my life. He is a bit more strong-willed than Louie - but I adore him just the same!
N. New beginnings
O. Opportunities
P. Praise music -- love it!
Q. Quality time with family
R. Revelation of truth
S. Salvation
T. Tea (iced!)
U. Unity of heart & spirit with friends
V. Vacation
W. Wisdom
X. eXtra to bless others (I copied off Christy Rose - couldn't think of a thing!)
Y. You who are reading this
Z. Zeal for life

Touched By The Father's Love; He Never Gave Up On Me!

Daveda over at Grace Talk With Daveda is hosting this special Thanksgiving blog event. If you would like to join us, hop on over and link up. We all have so much to be thankful for, that's for sure! :O)

I will try to keep this short, but am not sure how I can do that. There's so much to the story. There will be many blank spots, but I hope it all makes sense to you.

I was raised from about the age of 4 years old in the United Pentecostal Church. I never felt secure in my relationship with Christ and always ran to the altar every Sunday begging and pleading with God to have mercy on me even though I was already saved. Weird, huh? I did this for many years. And I can even remember thinking to myself as a child, "why did I have to become a part of this church/religion?" It was a painful and scary childhood.

I got married at 19 and my husband (now ex-husband) and I joined the UPC church locally when I was 21. (I was out of church from about 17 to 21.) I never felt like what I did or who I was was ever good enough. NEVER. It was always about what we couldn't do (wear pants, cut our hair, wear make-up, watch television, etc...) and I always felt like that song by Casting Crowns, East to West, where it says "But today I feel like I'm just one mistake away, from your leaving me this way"...

Years went by and after 17 years of marriage, I found myself divorced and out of church (2004). I won't go into all the gory details, but at this point, I was at my lowest. I didn't know how I could go on. The guilt and shame was almost more than I could bear. I didn't know how I would ever feel normal again. I just wanted to die. My oldest son found me crying on the floor one day and wanted my reassurance that I wasn't going to do anything stupid. Thank goodness I wasn't suicidal.

Now to the good part!! This is what I remember about my "turnaround". I was in my master bathroom (2007) and was just talking to the Lord, saying, "Lord, please change me, I want to be different." And I meant it. Oh how I meant it! And He DID! Life became worth living again. And I didn't feel the bondage or condemnation I'd felt for most of my life. I didn't feel like I had to be a part of the UPC to go to heaven. I didn't feel like I had to earn my way into heaven (not by works!). That in and of itself is a miracle! There's SO much more to the story, but I'll stop right here. :)

The best part is that God has continued to show Himself faithful to me and it just gets sweeter all the time. I'm so thankful that my Jesus never gave up on me!

Happy Thanksgiving friends!!! Love y'all!

(Thank you Daveda!)

Fearless Friday

Join Angela at Free Spirit Haven if you'd like to participate in Fearless Friday!

"Fear imprisons, faith liberates; fear paralyzes, faith empowers; fear disheartens, faith encourages; fear sickens, faith heals; fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable."
Harry Emerson Fosdick

If you are reading this (and even if you aren't), I'm praying for you!

Psalm 66:16-20 says, “Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he did for me. For I cried out to him for help praising him as I spoke. If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, my Lord would not have listened. But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer. Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer and did not withdraw his unfailing love from me.”

We have hope -- YOU have hope.

Trust today dear friends because God is listening and hears your heart's cry!

Love & Hugs,

Keepin' it real

Dear friends,

I come here tonight to pour my heart out. I need your prayers. In a bad way. So much is going on/wrong and only God can turn things around.

I am still without a job, but not terribly concerned about that part. What I am concerned about is this: my boyfriend, who owns his own business, is about to lose it. He has not had any work come in for quite some time (due to the recession I suppose, just like everyone else), so is about to lose EVERYTHING! I don't know if that is God's plan or not, but it's about to become a reality unless God intervenes. We have been praying for so long for this situation and we need Divine Intervention RIGHT NOW!

He (John) has a lot of pride and feels like he is letting my boys and I down. Of course we don't feel that way at all, but it doesn't change the sorrow he is feeling.

John is not a Christian, and that is why we are still not married. He has his own place and I have mine, but it may come to the point that he has to move into my house; not in my room, of course. :) Lord, thy will be done.

I know it sometimes seems darkest before the dawn and let me tell you, it's pretty dark right now. Maybe dawn is just around the corner. :)

I have my own battles I'm dealing with (as we all do) which includes my brother living in my home. I can't tell you how difficult this is for me. However, I'm trying to wait for God as I want to be a servant and do what he wants me to do. My brother is also unsaved and I want to be the light to him that Christ would have me be.

Please also pray that I will wake up and find my purpose and the deliverance that only our God can bring.

Praise Him ~ for He is worthy!!!

Love and hugs,

100th post!

This is my 100th post! And to celebrate that, I'm sending my first commenter a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble. :) This is not to gain more followers and I won't do giveaways all the time (sorry), I just felt like it would be a fun thing to do today!!!

I hope you all have a blessed Sunday!

Love & great big hugs,

More than Wonderful

I remember this song growing up in the UPC church. May it bless you as it blessed me then, and still blesses me to this day. He is More than Wonderful! :)

Sang by Sandi Patty & Larnelle Harris (video is not very good quality, but audio is perfect!)


More than Wonderful

White Rock Lake Ride and a Book!

Originally written on 11/5 (while I was trying to figure out how to get my pictures on here!)

My new cycling friend Cindy and I did a 20-mile ride around White Rock Lake today. The beauty was breathtaking and I found myself saying over and over again, "thank you Jesus!". The weather was just gorgeous and the ride was really nice, too!

(I took pictures and wanted to add them; however, I'm not able to right now)




We had Chipotle for lunch at 1ish and here it is after 7 pm and I'm still stuffed. Yuck. (it was yummy, though!)



I'm reading a book right now that is truly life-changing, if you apply the principles given in it. If you get the chance, please friends, check this book out. The Blessed Life, by Robert Morris. The author happens to be my pastor. :) Having grown up in the United Pentecostal Church, it's truly a miracle that I am now attending this church. I thought that I could NEVER attend another church/religion and make it to heaven. But God is in the business of miracles, isn't He? He worked one on my heart. It's AMAZING!!

I'm not touting this book for any reason other than I feel it has the key to living a blessed life, truly. I actually bought it off amazon instead of at the church. So much to say about the changes God has made in my life/mind, but I don't have the time right now. Maybe I'll get it all down in writing one of these days.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!