I Got Saved

One of my all-time favorite praise songs is I Got Saved by Selah.  I have been singing it all day remembering our beautiful service of Baptism last night at Hungry Mother State Park.  Eight of our youth that participated in our Philly mission trip took a big step in their faith and got baptized.  It was beautiful and wonderful and made this youth leader so very happy!! 


There was a river of gladness
That pours from Emmanuel's veins
This sinner was plunged beneath the flood
and got Saved.

Since then I walk in forgiveness
All of my guilt was erased
The chains of the past
Are broken at last
I got saved
Oh, I got saved

I'm undone by the mercy of Jesus
I'm undone by the goodness of the Lord
I'm restored and made right
He got a hold of my life
I've got Jesus
How could I want more

I've received nothing but goodness
I've tested and tasted your grace
I was so lost
Till I fell at the cross
and got saved
Oh, I got saved


Jesus-he is worth it all.  As a youth leader I desperately want these youth to taste and see how FUN and GLORIOUS a life with Jesus is.  I want them to see that life with Jesus is not guaranteed to be an easy life but it will be a full and beautiful life.  To see Him show up in our darkest times and then also to  bless us with mercy, grace, and provision is worth it all.

I want them to know He will never let us down.   My meager words could not portray what I wanted to say which was choosing Jesus is the best decision you will ever make.  You have now secured your heavenly home and signed up for a life of joy pursuing God. 

That trip to Philly was just that wonderful.  We worked hard, oh so hard, yet we grew as we were stretched in our faith.  We heard powerful sermons each night and heard testimonies from our youth hosts (Micah and Dalton) who encouraged us with their different testimonies.  It was a hard and exhausting week but God did a mighty work in these youths lives and last night they took the next step in their faith.  It was beautiful...simply beautiful. 

Beauty from Ashes

I have fallen in love with gardening.  I was so excited this spring to plant my new plants in my newly tilled garden.  Back in May I was so optimistic my injury was on the mend and I had a summer full of fun, veggies, and quality time with my kids.  I love summer and I was so excited!

So it grieves my heart to see my gorgeous garden look like this.  I have named it the hot mess express because it is so full of weeds, grass, bugs, and more bugs.  My tomatoes have blight, my green bean leaves are so bug-infested they look like swiss cheese.  I am so embarrassed how ugly my garden is.  My heart is broken that I did not get to spend many hours lovingly working and weeding my garden.  My ankle injury sidelined me and hence my garden is the ultimate hot mess express.  

But guess what..... it does not know it is a hot mess.  That little garden is the little engine that could and has no idea how ugly it looks.  It has produced sooo many vegetables this summer.  From the ugly and blighted leaves ....

All this beauty has emerged.  All this goodness not only has fed us healthy awesomeness, but it provided a great multi-generational day this past weekend with four generations under one roof cooking, eating, and sharing around the table together.  Saturday was a beautiful day of love and good food brought to us by the ugliest garden in southwest Virginia.  My grandma (who was recently diagnosed with cancer), came to my house from her nursing home and spent the day here prepping and eating this wonderful food.  Well, to be clear, I am on a scooter and she is in a wheelchair so my Mom did all the big cooking and Mike manned the grill. 

How like our God to use this ugly garden to teach/remind me that beauty does indeed come from ashes.  That is one of our God's specialties....beauty from ashes.  Over and over in the bible there are examples of evil that man tried to conjure up but God brought goodness and beauty from it.  We on this Earth deal with evil everyday-mean people, spiteful situations, jealousy, laziness, .... sometimes it seems like evil is everywhere and navigating it all is so hard and exhausting. 

Yet God is in the business of bringing beauty from the ashes of our hard times.  It is no secret that this has been a rough season for me and this stupid ankle.I will never understand why it has been so hard yet I trust and believe that our God will bring so much beauty from the past few months of despair.  I have spent so much time with Him that I know I will look back on this as precious spiritual growth time for me.  Life is hard folks, but our God has our back.  Everyday.

  ..and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes.  the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.  Isaiah 61:3 

So I do not know about you but I am eagerly waiting for that display of His splendor that is talked about in Isaiah 61:3 I am ready to wear my garment of praise and witness 7 youth getting baptized this upcoming weekend!!!  I am excited to begin another year of morning youth group time at McDonalds that we call Breakfast Club this week with our youth.  I am ready to see how the Lord is going to use this stupid ankle for His glory. 

I am so thankful for the lessons learned from the ugliest garden in Smyth County.  Because of God... beauty can and will come from the ashes.

July 2018

I am stunned that it is the time of year again to drag out those backpacks and head back to school.  This has certainly been a different summer than I pictured, yet for lots of reasons it has been one of my favorites.  Watching my boy work his first job ever (cutest lifeguard I have ever seen), working my garden on my hands and knees, and lots and lots of time in God's word and Netflix have all been good for my soul.  God is up to something with a close group of people I adore and we are trying to pray and follow His lead.  I wish I could tell you more, but we have no idea what God is up to....just that it involves service and as families being the hands and feet of Christ. 

God and I have also wrestled a little bit this summer.  I have no idea why this ankle injury has been so freakishly awful.  I have very little faith in the medical community and just know that there has to be a special place in heaven for Mike Robinson for what that man has done and endured for me.  It has been so hard to travel on a scooter and the most I have mustered is some housework via my scooter and some garden time on my hands and knees.  On this side of heaven I will never understand why this happened but this is what I know.  God loves me.  God's plan is perfect for me.  God understands my anguish and even can handle some hard questions I threw at him.  He is sovereign, perfect and in total control.  Those are the truths that have helped me this past month.  Without Jesus this would have been a very hard month. 

On a different note this past Saturday was our fourth annual trip to VT for Buzz's Bunch.  For real, this is David's favorite day of the year.  We all love Coach Buzz and of course my boys love basketball. 

Here is David with his favorite basketball coach!  Buzz! 

This year David loved Buzz's beautiful daughter as much as the basketball!  Ha!  We had such a good day with them and Dave announced to Coach Buzz he wanted to date his daughter.  Crazy boy-we need to coach him on his gentlemen skills!  This day is so special because of the love and enthusiasm from the players, the Williams family, and the staff. 

Caroline also was there and here she is with Hope and another of Buzz's daughters.  So much fun!

After returning from our trip to Philly we traveled to Greensboro for Kyle's basketball live period.  Our last tournament of the season was then to Myrtle Beach.  I learned a scooter is really hard to use on sand (God bless Mike for getting me out there once) but it such a fun trip. 

Here is Kyle with most of our 16u  guys and a few 15's that had to fill in.  Kyle was challenged and had to play post most of the weekend which is hard around those big guys.  There is such amazing talent at these tournaments and we just wanted him not to get hurt while getting better. 

Kyle loves his teammates and they have such fun together.  Between games they had some beach time, ate of course, and just enjoyed their time together.  They all go to different schools between east Tennessee and southwest Virginia.  They are a great group of guys.  We have such fun traveling with these families and making memories. 

Our three growing babes on the beach.  Kyle got stung on his neck by a jellyfish on this trip.  That was a new one for us.  Me being the one that often gets a little dramatic, almost called 911 but wise Mike called a pharmacists and was told a Bendryl and warm compress should suffice. 

Of course Coach Buzz is our favorite college basketball coach ever, but I did happen to run into this famous Duke coach in Greensboro.  He was at the same tournament we were at recruiting.  He was very gracious:)

I captured this sweet picture of my Kyle working the projector at church.  This is what he does on Sunday mornings.... perfect way for a shy guy to serve the Lord.   I am so excited for our youth activities to get back into full swing.  I am so thankful God called me (and therefore our family) into youth ministry.  We have a service of baptism coming up later in August and I already have a lump in my throat thinking of those teenagers who are taking that big step in their faith. 



So as the new school year begins I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for us.  For me personally it has been a hard season but I know that God makes beauty from ashes.  He is so very faithful.  Even to this grumpy, peg-leg, drama queen!