This just isn't fitting...

Rylan was four years old and loved cowboy boots. The only problem is the cowboy boots that used to fit him when he was three no longer fit him. One morning he was so sad because he wanted to wear those boots to school. I pleaded my case as to why the boots don't fit and that he would be so uncomfortable all day long if he chose to wear him. Even with all my good points he did not believe me. In his eyes he was still the same size and hadn't grown at all. In these moments you can either let them trust what you are saying is true or you can let them have their way so they can experience what you have told them is true. Needless to say that was one of the longest days of his life he came home and his feet hurt so bad. He was adamant that he would NEVER wear those boots again.
Unfortunately the mind of a four year old only remembers pain for a few days then he wanted to wear those boots again....Thus we went thru the whole ordeal again. After this time though I got rid of the boots so they would no longer tempt him any longer.
Rylan's story with his boots seems like a silly and obvious story in that he had outgrown the boots and shouldn't wear them right?
I have found though so many times in our life it isn't boots that we are trying to squeeze into it is relationships, attitudes, lifestyles, and a world that we don't fit into.

1Corinthians 4:10(msg)
We are the Messiah's misfits......

The further you go into the goodness of God the more you realize that the world you fit into a few years ago, months ago, weeks ago maybe days ago just doesn't fit you the same anymore. I have found that Christians are filled with pain and disappointment because we live in a way that we were never supposed to live. The Bible calls you a MISFIT not most popular. Sure we live in this world, but the moment you got saved you got the seed of everything that Jesus is on the inside of you. In that there are things in you that are bound to change in time.

Before I got pregnant with Rylan I hated tomatoes. Just the sight of them would make my stomach turn....That is until I got pregnant with him. I would dream of biting into large whole tomatoes. The sight of them would make my mouth begin to water. Finally I told my husband I can't stop thinking about eating tomatoes. What is wrong with me? He told me maybe you should try them again. I did and it was the most glorious thing I had eaten in weeks. To this day I love tomatoes now.

You see what was growing inside of me changed what I was hungry for. Changed my desires from what I used to like to new things that would have never appealed to me prior. It is much like when you begin in Christ the things that never appealed to you now is what you look forward to. There begins to develop a hunger that can't be quenched in anything else. I tried to be satisfied without eating the tomatoes however nothing worked. So many times we are hungry for what only the presence of God can bring and we try to fill it with careers, money, friends and other things. When what we are hungry for is more of Him.

I believe when we got saved there was a yearning inside of us to shine forth this light that has been implanted in us. To not just blend into the crowd but to stand up and stand out for Christ. To step out into miracles that are beyond our understanding. There is a longing on the inside of us to encounter this Messiah in ways that we never thought possible. I think when we get to Heaven we will see what all we could have accomplished if only we would have not worried about fitting in and just would have stood up for what God wanted us to do.

Isaiah 60:1,2
Arise and shine for your light has come. And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold darkness shall cover the earth and deep darkness the people; but the LORD shall arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.

There are several things that is happening in this verse let's look at it:
1. The Lord is telling you to arise. To get up means that first you must have fallen down right? So He is telling us no matter what problem has pushed you down it is time to get up again. That you can stand again.
2. Tells us that our light has come. Past tense. It is done. There is a light that is on you even when you are down or when you are standing. That the light is a fact no matter your position. He has placed this in you, and as you awaken to it there will be a response. That is response is that you will get up!
3. Next thing the Lord tells us is that we have light but that there is going to be a darkness around us, but not to worry that the light is still there. So many times the light of Christ in us if we got real honest makes us feel awkward because we don't see things like other people. We don't desire to live like other people, but being a light in a dark place makes us feel out of place and uncomfortable. So instead of shinning we just try to fit in where we were never made to fit in.

Again 1 Corinthians calls you a MISFIT! Paul calls us aliens in another text.

So I encourage you to SHINE. Don't worry about fitting into a world that you were never called to fit! When you decide to let the hunger of what is growing inside of you dictate your actions you will begin to walk in a fulfillment you didn't know was even possible. Together we can bring change to our world....It won't be done by trying to be like everyone else. It will come as we begin to step up and step out into what God has called us to!

Summer is....

Summer. Just the word brings excitement weather you are 3 or 93. Summer brings memories of back yard BBQ's with friends, watermelon, fresh tomatoes bought at a local fruit stand, small town snocone stands, and lots of fun with family and friends. There is something about summer that when it begins you feel as though it will be here forever.....and when it is over brings a realization that nothing is forever.

Here are a few things of what summer was for us...

Summer is loosing teeth

and gaining new sons and daughters.

It is never being so busy that you can't have time for the people that matter most.

It is playing dress up with Daddy's glasses and hat.

It is rides on the church bus for ice cream with Papa.

It is trips to the nail salon for girl time.

Summer is making time to get away and make memories that will last a lifetime.

Summer is overcoming fears that bound us for so long and realizing that thing that we feared all our life was nothing scary at all!
(Brailey used to be frightened of people in a costume)

Summer is lots of time spent at the pool and playing basketball. With sunburnt cheeks.

Summer is taking time to get away from it all and gathering with people you love for cook outs.

So tonight I am just looking through the pages of my life and all I can say is thankful. So thankful God allowed me to be Rylan and Brailey's mommy. So thankful to be given the gift to bring them up in the things of God. So thankful to be their mommy. Tomorrow Brailey starts 1st grade. I am overwhelmed in emotion. One part of me so thankful for the little girl that she has become and the other part sad that the baby she was is now over. Saying goodbye to the care free days of summer and going back into homework, field trips, and full schedules. I wouldn't have it any other way.....

So now the house is silent the night before with backpacks ready, lunchboxes full, and a little girl ready to face anything the world will bring her way.....

Scared of me.

Meet Rosey.

She is a product of going to a beauty supply store. I know what you are thinking how did you get a dog at a beauty supply store right?

Well my daughter Brailey is six now and can read (which has it's good points and not so good points). I was pulling into the parking lot of the beauty supply store and Brailey reads a sign out front "PET ADOPTION TODAY ONLY". Her being the animal lover that she is lets out the biggest squeel asking me to please go and look at the pets.

We call daddy to tell him about the dog we just met, and I know you know the end of this story....We now have Rosseitta (aka Rosey)

Rosey is a great dog.

She is loving.

She is obedient.

She loves our kids.

Rosey was born and raised in a shelter. She has never had a family.

Ever since we had her she has been loosing weight. We were starting to grow concerned as to why.

My husband's aunt came in town for a few days. While she was at our house she watched Rosey with her shiny metal dog bowls. She asked if we had realized that Rosey was afraid of her bowls. We laughed it off thinking what dog would be afraid of her bowls? Then his aunt began to explain it isn't the bowls she is afraid of it is what she sees when she goes to eat from the bowls.

We look and realize that the bowls cast a reflection....She was scared of herself.

His aunt then put down food for her to eat on the floor and immediately she ate it all up. Rosey is putting on weight now.

All this time she had the thing she needed, but fear of herself had kept her out of a place of receiving it.

Isn't this how we are as people. We aren't afraid of success so much as we are afraid of our self....

What if I fail? What if I am not good enough? What if everything "they" said all my life is right? What if I don't make it? What if I don't have what it takes....

I have always said if you want to find your greatest enemy go to the bathroom and look in the mirror. That person staring back at you will talk you out of your greatest blessings and will back you into a place of feeling isolated. We will disqualify our self before anyone else gets a chance.

What is holding you back today from what you desire....Is it you?

It's Wednesday night...Got to cook for the family, feed the kids, clean the kids from feeding the kids and then it is off to make the kitchen look like something that didn't get hit by a Texas tornado. In the midst of cleaning the kitchen, wiping little faces and hands what was on their faces and in the kitchen somehow got all over my outfit. So it is off to change clothes only to realize that the jeans are still in the washer, because I stopped laundry to cook dinner. So now it is a wet washcloth and quick "spot" clean instead. Load the kids in the car and drive with the air on high pointed at my pants so the spots will dry before I walk into church.

Pull into church spots still on pants. So I flip the mirror on my visor down to see if maybe I can fix my hair because I don't remember looking in the mirror since I brushed my teeth this morning....or did I even brush my teeth this morning....In contemplating my teeth I realize part of my sons dinner got on my shoulder when I lifted him out of his high chair....GREAT! Now I have spotty wet pants and spaghetti all over my shirt...and teeth that well....Let's just all pretend they got brushed ok!

Go into church frazled from the day. Walk in to find a handful of teens (ok not a handful there was two) hanging out in the lobby. As I walk in I am thinking "Lord really how am I supposed to be cool and relevant to these kids when I can't even keep any part of me clean!"

Bryan would preach his heart out to 2 teenagers in a room with 50 chairs. Bryan had decided to put the 50 chairs out in the room to stir up their faith. To me though it just made our two seem even smaller in the sea of chairs. I would try to connect with them but neither one of the two liked me to much. I felt like I spoke Spanish and they spoke a language that the world didn't know or even knew existed. We would turn out the lights in our then youth room and I would look at the 50 chairs and ask myself "Lord I know you have me here for a reason but why? These kids don't even like me! I am not cool enough. I am not smart enough."

The Lord spoke to me in those moments and said this in my heart: "I am not calling you to be cool enough and I am not calling you to be smart enough....I am calling you to mother a generation."

Something happened in my heart that night....I determined that anyone the Lord sent us I would be their mom.

What is a mother?
A mother is one who brings forth life. They are protectors and the responders to the children's cries in the night. Comforter of any and all injuries. She reminds them why they are great. She cleans, cooks, drives, directs, nurtures, protects and listens.


Ever since that moment I am mom. I am mom to any and all kids. Not to take the place of their natural mom, but to rather mother them in the spiritual. I love them, comfort them, believe in them, stand by them, stick up for them and most of all never give up on them.

All of this is leading me to this last Tuesday. Our interns and staff surprised us with an amazing gift and a wonderful card. The card was each intern's little one liner of what we meant to them. Tonight....The night before conference....I am being mom....my counters are lined with baked goods for my student babies...I am up praying for them thinking about them...reading their card at the kitchen counter and crying.....and remembering back to wet spotted jeans and spaghetti stained shirts.....

My heart full of gratitude that I didn't quit when it looked like we were not making progress. Hundreds have come to our student ministry since then....There has been a lot of hard times, but there has been a lot of happy times to....Moments that will forever be written on my heart.....

Some only have children born out of their womb...I thankfully get the honor and the privilege of birthing hundreds out of my heart....I am thankful to be...mom.

Delivery for me please!

I love the book of Colossians. It is for sure in my top three books in the Bible along with Genesis and John. The other day I was reading Colossians in chapter one verses 12, 13:

Giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified and made us fit to share the portion which is the inheritance of the saints (God's holy people) in the Light. [The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.

What a powerful scripture this is right?!

What stood out to me in reading this the other day is simple the word delivered. How many of my girls out there after a long day at the office or the home love delivery pizza? Even better is delivery of an entire meal that gives an appearance that you made it yourself. When the truth is the delivery bag is in garage with loads of Styrofoam containers that are now emptied after contents were shoved onto elegant platters. Don't act like you have never done it!!

The thing I love about delivery is that I don't have to do anything. I call and then it comes ready to go. All I get to do now is enjoy what someone else had to work for.

Isaiah 30:18,19
The Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you......He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, He will answer you.

One of the greatest revelations we can have is that Jesus has done everything for us. There is no good works that we can ever do that will supersede the blood that was shed on the cross. We can spend all our life trying to make it on our own. However there is another way. Isaiah let's us know that this God that formed the Heavens and the Earth is waiting to do good to us. We are His hearts desire He is just waiting for us to call out to him.....

Think of this. I get in from the office from a long day. Guests are due to arrive anytime. I am breaking myself to go through the grocery store at 5p.m. while kids cry because they want to go home. I get home cook a dinner and quickly try to clean a kitchen to not look like a disaster zone. To now open the door and put on a smile to greet the people that just made me go through the last two hours of work.

Or you could just call for delivery as I described at the first of my blog.

So many times we are desperately trying to do it all on our own. So afraid to cry out to be delivered. So afraid to admit that in reality we can't do it on our own. While all this is happening in our life the truth still remains.....Christ has delivered us. All we have to do is accept what has been given.

Could it be that your joy, peace, prosperity, love, acceptance and dreams are all waiting for you? Jesus has paid for it...You have been delivered! You don't have to have one more day of measuring up and striving to keep your head above water! You just have to accept what He has already paid for.....

I was getting ready to speak at a conference a few years ago, and at this conference I would be speaking in front of some people that in my opinion were more talented then me. All of a sudden I was feeling insecure and not qualified. I know we all know what that feeling is like. In praying I was asking God for a super powerful message. Something that would drop their jaws and flood the alters.

In praying the Holy Spirit spoke to me: "If you go in there as a communicator then it can go two ways really good or really bad. If you go in there as my daughter then every time you get up to speak it will be good."

This is total reverse of how I have always thought. I always thought if you could be a better speaker, with amazing illustrations and powerful points then that makes you a good preacher. Developing your gift is always something we should do as we go thru life, but that should never be our focus. So many times as leaders we fall more in love with our gift then we do with our Father. In these moments we take God out of our central reliance and put our reliance on the gift.

God calls us sons and daughters, no longer slaves we have been adopted in to the family. That means our development of our gift does not determine our position in Christ. Our position in Christ determines the development of our gift.

If every leader got real honest it is really easy to enter into a business transaction with God instead of a ongoing relationship with Him. The most powerful messages preached come out of a place of intimacy first, not from books read, or study time spent.

So I am saying all this to say
The earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.--Romans 8:19

The Earth doesn't have expectation for a better business man, sales person, preacher or evangelist. The Earth is waiting for a people to rise up as sons and daughters and thru that become a vessel for the Father's heart beat to be shown. Could it be that you aren't waiting for your destiny to come to fruition but rather your destiny is waiting for you to take your position?

Daniel in the Bible understood this as he kept close to God then God put the spirit of excellence on him. The best fruit in life comes in a place of abiding. After all Jesus said it best that you will produce no fruit apart from Him(John 15:5). You can have fish bumper stickers, head usher at your church, know scripture by heart and still not be in a place of abiding. Abiding happens as we get away and spend time with the amazing Father.

In closing the definition of insanity is doing the same thing time and time again expecting a different result. If what you are doing isn't working why not just try a place of resting in Him? I promise with Jesus you will get places you never dreamed possible.

The power of a single question....

I was running the other morning on the treadmill. I began to think about things....When you are in minsitry you get the priviledcge of meeting people in all kinds of different walks in life. Some you walk with in good times others in hard times and few you walk with thru both. In all people in life I have noticed one constant theme. They refuse to challenge what they have always known.

It is as though thru life we begin to get a settledness in our mind of this is the way it has always been so this is the way it will always be. Why are we ok with life dictating to us who will be and what will become of us?

Words. Words in and of themself are nothing. As you read this they are just black font against a stark white background. Words have no power until they are released over someones life. That is when everything begins to radically change.

You know growing up I was always rejected by every coach that came my way. I was never given a second look as being an athlete. I was poked and ridiculed by peers for my obvious lack of ability to do anything athletic. I now get to go into schools all over east Texas and preach the Gospel to sports teams. Kind of funny when you think of it. For the last four years I have seen countless salvations and peoples lives radically transformed with the Gospel of Jesus on baseball fields, dugouts, and locker rooms. A coach looked at me at one of those schools recently and commented "Man I bet when you were in school you were a star athlete". He then began to list all the reasons why he thought so from my height, build etc. I couldn't help but laugh out loud and say no it was quiet the oposite I was always told all the reasons why wasn't good enough. He then said "Sounds like the problem was never your potential because the potential is still there today. The problem is you didn't have the right coach to see beyond where you were to what you could be."

WOW!! I stood there in awe as I listened to his words. So many times we take everything that has been said over all our life as the truth, and refuse to ever question its validity. I was running on the treadmill that morning and my mind became flooded with all of the people in life that I have watched with huge potential on their life yet they refused to question if the negative stuff that had been spoken over them was actually true.

You see words are powerful they have the ability to affect our entire being yet at the same time words when challenged can make a radical impact. So I have to ask you a question.....

What if everything that has been spoken over you all your life was a lie?

What if you really can do more with your life than where you are now?

What if it isn't too late to restart your life over?

What if this is the day that will change everything?

What if this is the moment you seize and decide to fully grab ahold of everything God is doing in and thru you?

What if you are valuable?

What if you are worthy of love and affection?

What if life is more than a mortgage a car payment and a job?

What if God sees you differently than you see yourself?

What if this is the first day of the rest of your life......