Conformed or Transformed?

Music amazes me. It can set the mood and tone for your day. It can change your day. It can lift you up. The flip side...it can bring you down, as well depending on what you are listening to. For the past couple of weeks, I have set my alarm to wake me up to the song "Trading My Sorrows". I have been amazed at how it has changed my view on the day. If I wake up with anything heavy on my heart, it is a reminder that I need to give that to the Lord and trade my frustration, anger, worry, sadness, ect.... for the joy of the Lord. Listen to the song....let it speak to your heart as it does every morning to mine...

I was outside pulling weeds in my garden and was reminded of the spiritual impact of "pullin' weeds". If the weeds are left to themselves in the garden, they will take over the beautiful flowers and vegetables that should be growing there. The garden was meant for beauty and producing fruit (or vegetables). We may think that now that we are a Christian that we have our ticket to heaven and that is enough. IT'S NOT! We have to pull the weeds, the sin, to be what God created us to be. He desires that we grow, flourish and bear fruit, but sin left untreated, will take over our life and choke us out. I can go out on any given day and pull at least ONE weed. Spiritually, I can go to prayer and seek my heart and almost always find at least ONE weed (sin, bad attitude, ect.) that needs to be removed. How about you? When was that last time you opened your heart up and let God reveal improper motives, attitudes and sin? Does your heart break over the sin or have you become in...

Last week was an amazing week with Vacation Bible School. It was a long week and took an extra 40+ hours out of my week, but worth it. I trust that God is going to grow the seeds we have planted at VBS. This week I have been working diligently on the youth group plans. We are doing Alien Youth and I have been writing all the lessons for the next 6 weeks. I am very excited about it all. We are going to have a ton of fun and learn what it means to be a Christian in this world, but not of it. I have to save the details, so it will be a surprise for the youth, but I WILL be sharing as it unfolds. Looking forward to the last weekend of "freedom". School starts on Tuesday with Andrew in high school and Olivia in 3rd grade. We were going to go away for the weekend, but think we will just relax at home and maybe spend some time out on the boat and have a few friends over for a cookout.

For the past 24 hours, Olivia has had a fever and a headache. She woke up this morning and took some more Tylenol and was finally feeling like eating. She asked for a smoothie for breakfast and then said "Mom, I really want crabmeat cheese. Can we make some in our new deep fryer?" So, we cooked together this morning and made just that and enjoyed our cooking creation together for lunch. Since she was sick, I got the day off work. It's a blessing to spend the day home today. Thank You, Lord for knowing when we need to slow down and giving us opportunitites for that to happen. I feel blessed this day! TONIGHT STARTS VBS....gonna need this time! I am very excited about this week!

"making a difference with our time here on earth" This is the new youth group name. It should be a lot of fun starting up again this fall. I am working on writing some materials about how we are in this world, but not of it. What does it mean to be a Christian in this world? How are we aliens and strangers here on earth? How does that translate into the way I interact with the world? We are going to be looking at 1 Peter. I am excited about it. Do you have any ideas for me? Talk to me....

We spent a great week at Family Camp. It was so much fun seeing friends who we don't get to visit with often. I had 5 kids with me, so I didn't get to visit as much as I wanted to, but we did get to share a potluck on Sunday with our Midland friends and then the Schloemann's generously make a pancake breakfast for the Midland group (the sausage balls are the best!) We had numerous campfires with smores and cherry pies and whatever else kind of pie the kids could come up with.....smore pie, pizza pie, and grilled cheese. One friend made snowcones for all the kids in the area and I made a bit of homemade icecream. Let's not forget the endless trips to the beach. My niece, Cassandra, for the first time jumped off the blob (a tall platform that you jump off on to a big inflatable, which sends the person at the other end of the blog flying up into the air and into the water) Andrew had his friend, Brad, stay with us for the week, and they had fun pulling pranks on peopl...