Faith

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
Hebrews 11:1

Faith...I often ask myself what is so complicated about having faith. The bible lays it out for us that we are to have faith. So what is so hard about this? Well, I guess the answer is that it is hard to have faith in things that we can't see. A quote from "Santa Clause" the movie says ...Have you ever see one million dollars? (no) Just because you have never seen it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist." What a thought. He, of course, was talking about Santa Clause but I see it as something that can be used in our Christian Walk. God has actually made it a bit easier for us because his word says that you can not look at the wonderful creations in this world and not know that HE exists. Nicola has a picture of a beautiful sunset on her page and she has labeled it as one of Gods many glorious creations. That is what that scripture is talking about. I say all of this to explain what this verse means to me. Often times I say that I have faith but I continue to question what God is doing. This verse reminds me that faith is more than just saying that you believe...its living that belief out through your actions. Sometimes I go through my list of prayer requests and I hand pick certain things that I continue to worry about. Its like I tell God...you can have this one...and this one...and this one...but I am going to hang on to this one because I think that I can deal with it better than you . WHAT?!?!?! I should turn EVERYTHING over to him and have faith that he will work it out according to his divine plan.

This verse was part of my reading this morning and I just felt like posting it. I hope it speaks to you as it spoke to me.

Womens Retreat '08

Well, I made it through a busy weekend. On Friday I went to Falls Creek to attend the 2008 Womens Retreat. It was really great but it definately came with its obstacles. Women are seriously territorial!

Somehow our paperwork got lost so we had no where to stay. They put us in a really nice cabin right next to the taberbackle! YEAH!!! We attended a break-out session and then the key-note speaker session on Friday night. The speaker was very wonderful! Her name is Jennifer Rothschild and she was diagnosed with an eye disease at age 15 and soon after became completely blind. Her testimoney is incredible and she has written several books that you all must check out. Here is her story:

Jennifer understands what it means to live by faith and not by sight. At the young ate of fifteen, Jennifer was diagnosed with a rare, degenerative eye disease that would eventually steal her sight. It was more than a turning point. Her dreams of becoming a commercial artist and cartoonist faded. Words and music have replaced her canvas and palette for more than 25 years.Jennifer has taken her message of encouragement across the country speaking at national and regional gatherings of busy professionals, dedicated volunteers, and overwhelmed moms and dads. Jennifer has been a featured speaker for the nations largest conference for women, Women of Faith, and has teamed up with Beth Moore and others to lead national women's conferences. Thousands have come away with a new vision for their work, their family, and their future.

As the evening service was complete and we made it back to our cabin, we discussed that we would grap all of our snack goods and bring them to a central area in the cabin. We did as we had discussed only to find that as soon as we put our stuff down in a corner, we were receiving several dirty looks. One lady even pushed a couch so far back into the corner that we were almost trapped... rude! We quickly discovered that we may not be welcomed there. We moved our little party upstairs and had our group devotion! Their loss...i guess.

Saturday went great too. It was a long trip home due to all the construction in Pauls Valley but whats new about that? I finally made it home and much to my surprise...my husband aactually cleaned the house! yeah, thats right ladies... he moved all the little stacks of stuff from a visual position in the house to a position behind a closed door. Well, at least he tried!

Sunday was a great and beautiful day. We had a great service on Sunday morning about jahing joy and it quickly reminded me that we should have joy in every aspect of our lives, not just the positive ones. Because of that, I should be looking at my inability to live in my own house a blessing because I will now graduate in December 2008 rather than December 2009. What a blessing! I also get to spend an incredible amount of time with the Winn's and they are definately mentors to Andrew and I. Joy should come in every situation because we should have joy knowing that we are going to spend an eternity with our savior. If He went through all that pain and suffering for me, I should be grateful and joyful that I will spend my life on earth praising his beautiful name.

Going home...

ok, so i made it through my day with nothing as exciting as yesterday. I am in the middle of working on a group project but the "group" part of the equation seems to be missing. I am not sure why but it always seems to happen to me! Anyway... I have been working pretty much round the clock to finish the project. The maddness will soon end because tomorrow is the big day. We give our presentation at 9:30! I think it will be especially great!

My life continues to grow busier and busier. I did, however, find out that I may not have to take a summer class! That means that I will be free as a bird this summer...well sorta! Ok, not at all but it will be great to get to live with my husband again.

Oh how I look forward to the days that I get to go home...

Nothing better to do!

So, thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law, I am officially a blogger. I am not really sure what that entails yet but I am sure that I am in for a great ride!

It's about 11:45 p.m. and it appears that I have nothing better to do than to create my first blog entry! I have had quite a day today. Stay with me as I reflect...

It all started at 3:38 a.m. when I was suddenly awakened by the biggest roll of thunder that I have ever heard! I was certain that the roof was about to cave in on me. I tried to continue my snooze however my heart was racing so fast one might have thought that I just completed a marathon. I suddenly had the urge to "relieve" myself so I managed to get up and go to the restroom...need I remind you that I am not at my own home... I went to "sit down" but I soon realized that I had forgotten to turn on the bathroom light. There was a night light so I didn't think I needed to...boy was i wrong. Just as I was lowering myself to that well know position on the porceline thrown, another roll of thunder came and I became one with the floor. Yep, you guessed it...scared me so bad I completely missed the toilet and landed right on the ground. Now, before you get to far with your imagination...nothing came out! I was so scared, I guess i sucked it right back up!

Well, i finally fell asleep again about 30 minutes later only to wake up at what felt like 10 minutes later...but it was longer. It was 7:10 a.m. I hit snooze. Alarm went off at 7:20a.m. I hit snooze. Alarm went off at 7:30 a.m. I hit snooze. Alarm went off at 7:40 a.m. I hit snooze...but then got out of bed. Well, needeless to say, I was off to a late start!

I have practicums every morning for the rest of the semester. I have to be there about 8 am and I finish about 9:15 a.m. I made it there today about 8:15 a.m...oops. I blame the thunder!

I have a class at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I have to book it out of the school that I go to. I finally made it to campus about 9:25 a.m. and I was scurrying off to class when a nice gust of Oklahoma wind came along and decided to go up my skirt. Yep, you guessed it again! The whole world got a peep at my spring polka dot unders!

After class I managed to make it back to the Winn's house to change into less revealing clothing. I was only there for about 10 minutes and then it was back to school for me. I am helping out on a project for one of my professors so I went to see what she needed help with. Nothing too exciting happened during this section of my story but I could make something up if you like.

I had class at 1 p.m. but I got to skip it since I am being a good Samaritan. I finally had to leave at 3 p.m. to go to Norman to give lessons. I only had three lessons tonight so I was able to make it back to town by 7:30 p.m. I went to see if the project people needed any help and when they told me that htey were almost done, I zipped out of there so that I could work on my own issues.

I went to the computer lab to work on a project that I am doing with two other girls. It was then that I realized that there is one member of my tema that is playing blind-folded. I use that term for many reasons but primarily because she is clueless... We each had a part of the lesson to complete and lets just say her part was ... well... crappy. Like putting fish guts on ice cream kind of bad! Anyway... I worked my butt off and finally left about 10:40 p.m.

There really isn't too much more that is interesting to my day but I just thought that I would finish it with the times because it is now 12:12 a.m. and I am still working on this blog thing. I guess it is because I had nothing better to do...