Thursday, April 30, 2009

The Simple Life

yesterday I was driving down the road with the windows down, cause it's just that perfect weather and my nostrils were filled with that faint but familiar smell of honeysuckle. Sometimes it smells like fruitloops to me :). I smiled to myself and got all giddy inside for one, because I LOVE that smell in the summer, and for two, I felt like it was God just telling me how much he loved me. That he remembers the things I love and He wants me to enjoy this life.

I'm trying something new right now, and that is to just do the things I've always wanted to do but made excuses for because of this or that. Last night, I went DANCING!!! It was SO much fun and something that was scary and exciting..I LOVED IT! I'm trying to figure out the things that I am interested in and not what I think will be best for me or what everyone else thinks I should do. It's not anyone else's fault, but now I'm learning to do the things I love to do. And it is FUNN and different but I LOVE BEING ME!! It's the BEST! I feel like I am more ME than ever before.

I love HIM and I love the Life He gave me. He is a great God. Thank you for being EVERYTHING I could've ever wanted or needed!

Monday, April 20, 2009

He has not forgotten

Isaiah 49:16 "Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hand. Your walls are ever before me."

This scripture has been burning in me all day, for the past 2 days really and I felt compelled to share it. I feel like it's a timely word for alot of people. In the verses before that it says, "Sing for joy O heavens! Rejoice O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on them in their sorrow. Yet Jerusalem says, "The Lord has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us." "NEVER! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for a child she has borne? But even if that were possible, i would not forget you!"

Read further...it's good. But I was just so swept away by this as I have been many times before, just today it hit me harder, in a deeper place. God is showing me things about me that I never thought were there. He's healing things that I didn't know needed healing. When i read that verse tonight..."your walls are ever before me"....wow! He knows all my brokenness, all my sin, all my shortcomings, all the attacks that the enemy has brought against me...and HE still hasn't forsaken me. In fact, they are ALWAYS before him. I am constantly on HIS mind (Psalm 139)...WOW!! He has loved me more than I ever thought possible..and actually He has always loved me that way, I'm just realizing it! Sometimes God MAKES me lie down in green pastures so he can restore my soul! He makes me just CHILL and stop doing and going...so that He can show me His love. He lets me be ME. and then little by little He sets me FREE from ME!

He reminded me this past Sunday that all the things I've cried out to Him for...HE has heard them and HE has not forgotten and HE will give me power to do all that HE created me to do. I feel so obligated to people all the time and I KNOW HE wants to break me of that. Because if I am living my life to please man than I am not living my life to please God. And whatever I do, in word or deed, I should be doing it all in the name of Jesus Christ. All for HIM and not for anyone else.

I love HIM. My whole life has been for HIM. I don't want anything else but to please HIM. So that is my goal, every day. I am so thankful that He loves me, that He has called me and CHOSEN me. "He will not crush those who are weak or quench the smallest hope.." (Isaiah 42:3) He loves the WEAK. And in our weakness His strength is made perfect! I pray for that. For my life to bring HIM glory.

So, you are NOT forgotten! You have been INSCRIBED on the palms of His hands, Your walls are ever before Him!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Time is Tickin

You know that old DC Talk song "Time is Tickin Away"? Great song, great time, great group. Anyways, I've been thinking lately about TIME and how much we have of it. Sometimes it feels like I have no time at all. That all my time is just stolen away by this or that project or this or that meeting. It's a poor excuse really because God has given me 24 hours in one day to do all that I need to do. Whatever I do with that is up to me. I could get up early and make the most of my morning or I "could" just sleep in til the last possible second and feel worse than I did if I would've just gotten up early. It's all a choice. I could NOT watch TV and start painting and use the artistic gift I was given. I can do anything that I want to do with my time.

For me, it's being motivated to do that things that I am gifted to do. Normally, I can just sit around the house and talk to my family and watch movies and eat and be just as happy as a clam, (are clams happy?) but when am I finally going to do all that I was meant to do? All that I've been talking about doing for so long. My dreams are never going to just fall into my lap. I have to start somewhere.
My other obstacle is the time I feel like I have to give to everyone else. I am a simple person, or maybe I'm complicated and everyone else is simple?, but I need time alone and time with people and time to do all these things and most of the time you can't do those at the same time. I'm used to giving every night of the week to something and to be honest it is exausting. Maybe I am just not strong enough but I think maybe for once I'm ready to NOT have something to do every night. To enjoy all the times I missed with my family while I was doing something else. I enjoy getting away and doing something with friends but there are seasons to everyone's lives right? I guess my season now is a time of doing something different instead of just saying I'm going to do. Actually painting instead of just saying that "yeah, I paint" or actually reading and studying about Reflexology instead of just buying a book about it and letting it sit there...

Honestly, I don't quite understand this season of my life, so to try to explain it to you may be futile but these are my thoughts lately and maybe you'll get something out of it. I don't know? I've been asking God every EVERY day to help me understand this season...so far I'm just taking it one day at a time.

Anyways, in closing (that sounds so formal, like the letters we used to have to write in 3rd grade), CELEBRATE LIFE TODAY! Celebrate the God who gave you life, who set you FREE. Celebrate the family He has given you, Celebrate the friends He has blessed you with and make the most of the TIME you've been give. Don't have any regrets!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

The Right Thing

"Conversation with God also leads us to praise, adore, and love Him nonstop for being so good and so perfect. We should never let our sins discourage us or shut us off. Instead, we should pray for God's favor and be confident that His grace is ours because we rest on the merit of Jesus Christ. It's all about Him, not us." (Practicing God's Presence, Brother Lawrence)

This was awesome to me. So many times i've let my sin discourage me from coming to God. For one, sin does separate you from God but because of what Jesus did on the cross, we are set free from that and we can come before His throne with confidence. I compare it to when I did something wrong or bad when I was a kid and I would try to hide it from my parents so I wouldn't get in trouble or because I was ashamed. But God is not my parents..he's much bigger than that.

I'm going to rest in the fact, in the TRUTH, that He loves me and I am made complete in that Love. Leave the worries behind and just trust and rest. I make things harder than they are don't I?

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Dreaming

this was my morning:

...dream, dream, dream...wake up, look at the clock, FREAK OUT..it's 7:52 a.m. and you are supposed to be at work 20 minutes ago!!!...JUMP, no LEAP out of the bed, scrounge for clothes, 'good thing I took a shower last night', turn the iron on, text Laura to tell her i'll be late...really late, brush my teeth cause i fell asleep without brushing them last night...EEeewwww, iron my clothes, throw water on my face, try to make my hair look not so crazy, RUNNN out the door...good thing i only live 2 minutes from my work. Get to work at 8:01 a.m. (good thing the clock is slow at work cause it was really 8:07 on my clock)

...i still wish i were dreaming though, it must have been a good one if it made me not hear my alarm and forget to wake up. Thank you God for sleep, even if it makes me late for work. Thank you God for your new mercies every morning and for waking me up to praise you one more day. Thank you God for understanding me in all my craziness! Thank you for still loving me after it:)! Thank you God for the days ahead...YOU ARE the Lord of them. I love you.

...dream a little dream....daydream...get back to work Jacque.............;)

Monday, April 6, 2009

Fun with the Family

Krista's face while getting a massage...she's going to kill me!














So I went to see my sister and her babies this weekend and we had such a great time. We laughed and ate and played games and went shopping and all the things that sisters do when they are together! Some of my favorite things from this weekend...

Zachary:--to Katie, "you're not skinny anymore!"
--to me, "look Jacque, I can run SUPER fast!"
--to me, (i was about to leave and I was sad..) "are you going to get in your car/van so you can cry all the way home?"

Katie taking pictures of Krista's face in the massage table hole! Katie sticking a Hershey kiss in my mouth while my face was in the the massage table hole! Katie just being Katie! Picking out an Easter dress for Kenna..so precious!

Waking up to see my sweet Kenna's smiley face! When Zachary called me "honey" all weekend. "do you want to come have peanut butter and crackers with me...HONEY?" ABSOLUTELY the cutest thing EVER!

I just love being with family. There is nothing better! Hope you cherish the moments you have when you have them. If you don't have any family, adopt some! It's the best!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Crazy Massage Lady

Yup! That's me!

Yesterday I worked my 8-5 job and then drove 2 hours to massage 5 people. I didn't get done til 1 am. Went to bed at 2 am and then woke up at 5 am to drive to be at work at 8 am. So does that make me crazy? Yes, I think! I'm crazy tired, I know that and I think my arms just might fall off. But I still LOVE helping others feel better and hopefully 5 incredible people went to sleep and little better last night and woke up refreshed and hopefully not too bruised up;).

Happy Stormy Day on this beautiful Thursday...this is Jacque ONtheSpot signing out!
See ya! Wouldn't wanna be ya!;) (cause i like being ME:)