Blessed and Challenged

Tonight on this Sunday night I am feeling blessed and challenged. This weekend has been wonderful with family and home time, church, and a wonderful gathering last night with friends at their beautiful property. Life is busy, but we are so blessed.

At church over the last few weeks Jonathan has been doing a sermon series entitled How to Hug a Vampire. It has been wonderful and has challenged me in my walk with Jesus. We all have those people and situations who attempt to suck the life out of us. Between his sermons and the daily scripture readings, I have been challenged and convicted. One day at church I told him to stop stepping on my toes or I was going to have to limp out of there!

Challenging people and situations are everywhere and God has used this sermon series to teach me to speak the truth in love. God has spoken to my heart about several things that I have been grappling with. My righteousness and judgmentalness often try to rear their ugly heads at times with me. I pray I am never a vampire to those around me and that I will practice speaking the truth in love.

Around our household here are the big topics of conversation:

1) David today snagged the part of Woodstock in the church Charlie Brown Christmas Play! How brillant because he will have a meaningful part without having to learn lines!

2) We are loving our new car even if the kids think it stinks! I told them the new car smell is something people pay big bucks for but they still think it stinks.

3) Kyle camped for the first time this weekend and loved it.

4) Mike and David both are struggling with ear infections. David's has not cleared up after a whole round of antibiotics and he is now on his second medicine:( Mike started medicine Friday afternoon and he is still in as much pain as he was Friday:( I feel sorry for them both. David has not complained of ear pain, but he has been whiny and a handfull. I do worry that all the high-powered antibiotics that he received during chemo when his port got infected have made him immune to normal antibiotics now. Thank goodness for doctors that will talk me down when I freak out!

5) I am so thankful for Jesus who is not finished with me yet. I am in a season of learning and growing and I am so thankful for that. It hurts to get your toes stepped on in scripture but I am so thankful that He is showing me places where I can still mature and grow in my faith.



This song is one of my favorites and it reminds me that to be the person that God wants me to be I need him-everyday and every hour. If I am left to my own devices, I often do not represent Jesus well. I hope you enjoy this song as much as Hope and I do:)