Fun 4th of July T-Shirts

Every year I like to buy a new patriotic t-shirt for the 4th. This year since money is very tight I can't afford to buy one, but I can make one. I was looking for inspiration on Pinterest and found these great shirts. Most of them only take a little fabric paint.

Easy Patriotic Bleach Tees

Fireworks T-Shirt

FireCracker Tie Dye

I Heart America Shirt

Handprint Flag Shirt

Potato Stamp Shirt

Spray Paint Tank Top

Tie Dye Shirts

Saying "Yes" to God When It is Hard

Have you ever had one of those moments where you know that you were created for such a time?

The story of Esther is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. When Mordecai says to Esther, "And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" I get a sense of excitement and destiny, but what the Lord was asking her to do wasn't easy. She was laying her life on the line, but when she said "Yes" to the Lord, He made a new way for her and her people.

Last year I had one of those moments when I knew that I was fulfilling part of my destiny and receiving a call to help those who are brokenhearted, but for the last 1 1/2 years I have been fighting the Lord on this calling. and now I want to share with you the story of how I know what my calling is.

This is the story of a young girl whose life touched mine in a great way. I am going to call her Alyssa (although that is not her real name) and this is the story of how my struggle to help her has broken me and led me to my true calling.

Alyssa was a very troubled little girl. In many ways, she had been forced to grow up before her time. She was a huge bundle of pain and grief and she was only 5 years old. A 5 year old shouldn't be a bundle of pain, grief and anger. A 5 year old should be happy and mischievous.

Her behavior was out of control, and as her teacher, I was at my wit's end. I had even reached the point where I had gone to my supervisor & said that I couldn't help this little girl. I recognized that she had been through some type of trauma in her life, but I didn't know what it was. I just know that she was hurting the other children, she was hurting herself, and she was destroying my classroom.

But I also knew that this one little girl was loving and funny and adventurous. She just needed help that I didn't think I could give her...

About a week after telling my director that I didn't feel like I could help her, things changed with Alyssa and they changed for the better and all it took was holding her and praying over her as she cried.

It was nap time at the center and because of Alyssa's behavior and the behavior of some of the other children, I had 6 adults in my classroom.

To say that nap time in my classroom was chaotic was an understatement, but this day changed that...at least for a little while.

This day Alyssa was at her worst. She wouldn't lay down, and since I was the only one who get her settled, she was running around the room while I tucked in some of the other children for nap time. After I helped get everyone else settled I went and sat down next to Alyssa's cot. She was crying and screaming  and the adult who was trying to help her was not getting anywhere.

When I finally sat down with her, I gave her a choice. She could lay quietly on her cot, or she could sit quietly in my lap. She chose my lap, but after a while she decided to lay on her. Instead of getting on her cot though she tried to run through the classroom and so I blocked her and gave her the choice again. She told me, "NO!" and tried to run again, but I blocked her and then sat down with her on my lap.

She started crying and screaming. We sat like that for an hour...Eventually she stopped screaming and was just crying, and the entire time I just held her and told her she was safe and prayed for her. I was also crying with her. Not loudly. Just silent tears streaming down my face. She cried like her heart was broken, deep sobs, and I just held on to her.

The other adults in the room would come over occasionally and ask if I wanted them to switch with me, and while I admit that i would have loved for someone else to take over, I knew that at that moment switching places was the worst thing that I could do to Alyssa so I just sat there and continued to hold her.

And at that moment I knew that I was called to help children like Alyssa, and in the months that followed that calling was confirmed in many ways and at first I was happy about it, but as the months passed and I started suffering from compassion fatigue I started fighting the calling.

But now I recognize that I have been going through a stage of growth. I know that God has a plan for me. He has given me a dream, and even though He seems silent I am finding that I have to depend on Him in ways I never dreamed. I also know that I can't make this dream happen on my own and that He has to make it happen. I have discovered that this is what I was created for. It is a part of my destiny.

So I covet your prayers and pray that He opens the doors and provides me with what is needed. I know that I need more training and that takes money that I don't have, but He will provide a way.

What dream has God given you that you are fighting? Are you ready to say "Yes" and let Him make the way?

Fighting with the Lord

Photo courtesy of  HeartLight

Have you ever had one of those “God moments” where you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are called by the Lord to do something? Did you obey that calling or did you fight with the Lord?

I realized recently that for the past 1 ½ years I have been fighting with the Lord about my calling in life. I had one of those “God moments” and knew what I should do, but as time went by I started letting doubt and fear creep in and I started fighting what I was called to do.

Every time I heard God’s voice in this matter, I would say, “But…

·         I’m not qualified.

·         I don’t want to go back to school.

·         I’m tired of this.

·         How can I help others when I can’t even help myself?

·         The list of excuses could go on and on.

Or I would say…

·         Lord, I would much rather do _____.

·         Hey, Lord, wouldn’t this be a much better option for me?

·         Oh! I think it would so much more exciting to _______.

And the truth of the matter is

1.     I am not qualified, but He is.

·         “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” –John 15:4-5

·         “For with God nothing will be impossible.” –Luke 1:37

·         “I can of myself do nothing,”—John 5:30a

2.    If I love Him, I have to be obedient to the calling that He has placed on my life.

·         “If you love Me, keep my commandmants.” –John 14:15

·         “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”—John 15:10

3.    Even when I am tired, weak and worn, He will give me the strength to keep on moving forward.

·         “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”—Philippians 4:13

·         “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles; They shall run and not be weary; They shall walk and not faint.”—Isaiah 40:28-31

4.   I’m not supposed to help myself…My healing comes from Him. There is nothing I can do to make it better.

·         “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted…”—Isaiah 61:1a

5.    Yes, there might be things that look better on paper…but NOTHING is better for my life than the plans that He has for me.

·         “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name He may give you.”—John 15:16

·         “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”—Jeremiah 29:11

·         “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”—Ephesians 2:10

So do I keep fighting or do I surrender to the call that He has placed on my life?

Review: Jennifer by Dee Henderson

Jennifer O’Malley is the youngest of the O’Malleys (a group of children who adopted each other and changed their last names to O’Malley when they turned 18). She is a pediatric general practitioner who works with children who are critically ill. Tom Peterson is a surgeon at the hospital where Jennifer works. They meet and fall in love.

Tom introduces Jennifer to Jesus too. And she falls in love with Him also. But her faith is quickly tested in an unexpected way. Will she still cling to the One who gave His life for her? What will happen to her relationship with Tom? And how will she ever explain to her family all that has changed in her life?

I have to admit that while I have heard of Dee Henderson, I had never read any of her books until now. I fell in love with Jennifer and Tom to the point that I was disappointed with the end of the story, and immediately went and downloaded The Negotiator (which has been free on Amazon Kindle lately). Dee Henderson is a gripping writer, and Jennifer is not your typical love story and leaves you longing for more. I recommend adding it to your summer reading list.

25 Christian Pick Up Lines to Make You Smile

I have found these pick up lines around the web, on Pinterest.com, on Tumblr.com, and on a couple of blogs like www.kevinhalloran.com. I hope that you get at least a smile out of them.

Worry: The Thief of Trust

About a year and a half ago, I was having a lot of health issues. I wasn’t sleeping at night. I wasn’t eating. I lost about 20 lbs in 6 weeks. I was working 50+ hours a week at my place of employment. I was working an additional 30+ hours a week at home to finish what I couldn’t get done at work. When I was at work I was busy from the moment that I walked in the door until the moment I left. The only down time I had was when I was driving to and from work. I was stressed out and worried.

I was worried about my job, and I was worried about my health. I was so stressed out and worried that I went to the doctor afraid that I had something horrible and was dying. All of the tests came back clear.

About 6 months later, I started taking a series of training workshops on working with children who have been traumatized.  In the first session, they described the symptoms of compassion fatigue (also called secondary post traumatic stress disorder). I had every single one of the symptoms that they listed. 

The reason why I have compassion fatigue?

I was so busy trying to control everything that I wasn’t trusting anybody, and most importantly I wasn’t trusting God.

Worry and stress comes when we try to control everything and trying to do everything for ourselves.

So how do you stop worrying? How do you learn to trust?

1)     Pray: Ask the Lord to help you relax and let go. Ask Him to teach you to trust. Next time something happens that you can’t control pray. Give to Him right then. Don’t hang on to it.

2)   Opposite action: I learned about this in the workshops. In opposite action, you do the opposite of what your initial reaction is. For example, if you are like me and you are a people pleaser, when someone asks you to do something you usually say yes even if you don’t have time or don’t want to do it. Well, next time, say “no”.

3)   Let go. I know that it is easier said than done, but you are not God. You can’t control everybody and everything.

4)   Take time for you.  Spend time each day doing something you love. Exercise, Eat right. Read a book. Take care of YOU because if you don’t you won’t be able to take care of others.

5)   Turn your focus to Christ. This last one is probably the most important. If you are focused on Christ, then you know that He can handle it and that He will give you what you need.

“Therefore I tell you, don not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on, is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

~Matthew 6:25

God Bless You

Misty

Review: Secrets to a Happy Life

Do you long to be happy? Not just a temporary feeling of happiness, but a deep down feeling of joy that never leaves?

In Secrets to a Happy Life, Bill Giovannetti takes us on a journey through the life of Joseph to teach the secrets that made Joseph a happy and resilient person. Mr. Giovannetti is honest in his book about what he believes and about the fact that while he can teach you the secrets to happiness it is up to you to take the journey.

He teaches 11 secrets to happiness and practical ways to apply them to your life. Hopefully as you read the book you will learn to see how God is working for your joy, learn to let go of what is holding you back, and how to find your own happiness.

My copy of the book has highlights and notes on every page. Mr. Giovanetti packs a lot of information into less than 200 pages which I think is great. I now look at Joseph’s life in a way that I hadn’t before and I am starting to look at my own life in a way that I haven’t before.  His writing is direct and to the point with examples from Joseph’s life and other Biblical examples.  I strongly recommend reading this book if you are ready to begin your journey to happiness