I made it through school with a breeze, college was challenging for me, but I somehow managed to get through four years with only a few all-nighters.  I’m not the smartest girl, I did graduate salutatorian of my class, but before you get impressed, my class size was only five people.  My saving grace through most exams in my life is memorization.  I would just memorize the charts and definitions, and then breeze through the exam.

This all changed when I started having children.  My brain seemed to have rolled out of my head.  I lost my ability to concentrate and memorize like I once could.  My husband and co-workers viewed me as the one who always had-it-all-together so to speak.  I always had everything in order, organized and on-time.  After I got pregnant with my oldest, I was fortunate if I had my purse with me at the check out line in Wal-Mart.

One morning on the news, they were reporting on a condition called “baby brain.”  It’s a true disorder that happens due to hormones in pregnancy.  They say this is a temporary condition and when hormone levels balance out again memory and sharpness should return to normal.  Well, I’m not sure I know anyone who has made it all the way back to normal after a pregnancy, but my symptoms of “baby brain” lingered well beyond the pregnancy and nursing months!

We have a well known evangelist that we are very close with who has an excellent memory.  He actually memorizes all of his texts and manuscripts when preaching and we speculate he has most of the Bible memorized.  He inspired several people in our former church in Kentucky to memorize lengthy texts of Scripture.  First a young man in his thirties that had recently been saved and was rapidly growing in his walk with the Lord stood up in front of the congregation and quoted a chapter of about thirty verses.  This inspired an old man in our church in his eighties with very little education  to memorize chapter one of the book of John.  This inspired me to memorize Ephesians chapter 5.

Josh was in his first semester of seminary back in 2004 when he was informed that the students in the class had to each memorize one chapter of the Bible for an assignment.  He was pretty nervous since this was his first real experience memorizing such a lengthy passage.  He chose Revelation 21, and he blew through the assignment that day quoting it for the class.  A young girl in the class memorized and quoted James chapter 1.  But, by the end of the semester, she stood up on a requested day and quoted the entire book of James!  She spoke every word verbatim from the text.  All of the students were amazed at the skill of this young woman.   James has five chapters, contains 2,307 words 108 verses.

Back in March we were invited to Nashville, TN for Josh to be on an ordination counsel for a former neighbor of ours that had been called into the ministry.  He also invited another preacher friend that he was close friends with.  When we arrived at their home that Sunday afternoon, Josh immediately recognized the other preacher’s wife.  He remembered that she was the girl in the class back six years before that had memorized the book of James.  It is a small world after all!

We challenged our college students to memorize a chapter and three of them took advantage of the opportunity.  They all stood before the class and quoted James chapter 1.  It’s neat having discussions with Christians once they have accomplished this task.  Memorization is a very rewarding discipline and it’s a very neat experience to hear that passage preached on once it’s in your mind.  The words become very personal to your heart and they are embedded where no one can take them away- it’s like you own them!  I’m challenged once again to memorize more Scripture.  We work with our daughter every night on her verses, but how much more should mommy be practicing this awesome discipline.

“Thank you Father for freely giving me Scripture to have.  I pray you will give me the excitement to memorize like I once had.  Thank you for men like David Miller and women like Terra who inspire me to hide Your Word in my heart. Amen.”

Psalm 119:11 “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

This past week we went to Disney World Magic Kingdom.  Josh and I both went as young children so this was our first time as a family.  I do not agree with all Disney does and supports, but it certainly was a family atmosphere and we felt completely comfortable with everything we saw there.  This was a part of our daughter’s fifth birthday, and her main birthday gift from us was lunch at The Royal Table in Cinderella’s Castle.  This was the highlight of our Disney trip.  We reserved it six months in advance and it was not cheap.  I was explaining to Karis before we went that most children do not get to eat here and that this was a huge privilege.

As we entered the door of the castle, everything became so real.  It really felt like Karis was a princess, and it really felt like we were eating as royalty.  The staff of the castle were dressed for the part, Karis was in her princess dress, and the castle was as beautiful as a real castle in England.  We did not imagine how much one-on-one time we would get with each princess.  Every princess came to the lunch and came to our table.  It was really surreal for Karis as she really thought all these princesses were the real thing.

Our lunch was fantastic and we were treated just like royalty.  It was an experience I will never forget.  I also felt like a child getting exciting when each princess would come to our table.  When I looked around at all the decor and all the beautiful surroundings, I could not help but to think about the castle I will receive one day.  One day there will be a mansion for me.  I was not raised in royalty, the closest I have ever been was when Josh and I toured a castle in England one time.  It was grand and beautiful, but this simple Georgia girl cannot imagine life outside of 2000 square feet.  One day I will get to eat a large feast and rest in my own castle.  I am, after all, a princess in the eyes of my Savior!

John 14:2-3  “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also.”

“Thank you Lord for the wonderful family time we spent in the Disney Castle.  Thank you most of all for the fresh reminder that we have the undeserved privilege of getting to live with You forever.  Thank you for the wonderful place You are preparing even now for us.  I do not know if it will be a castle or a mansion, but I do know it will put to shame the Disney Castle and anything man can construct.  Thank you for placing the blood of Jesus over my sin and making me a child of the King!  I am a true princess. Amen.”

All I can say after today is WOW!  We are in Orlando, FL for the annual Southern Baptist Convention.  For all you pastor’s wives out there,  some wonderful ladies came up with a new event a few years ago for all the wives that travel to the convention with their husbands.  The speakers are usually the wives behind these great men we always hear about and read books from.  This year was just as good as last year.  One particular pastor’s wife, Sherry Blankenship, spoke and her story moved me to tears, okay, weeping my ever living eyes out!

Sherry is a pastor’s wife and she has authored a book that everyone should read titled, Draw Near: One Pilgrim’s Journey Through Grief to the Lap of Jesus.

Sherry gave her wonderful testimony of God’s strength in her life while going through some really tough trials and life situations.  She was given a diagnosis just before their marriage that it was be nearly impossible to have children of their own. Through a miracle God allowed her to conceive triplets. She birthed two boys and a little red head girl named Anna.  When her triplets were born, they were premature and all three weighed under four pounds.  Her Anna only weighed 2 lbs. 14 oz.  She prayed that day that if God would allow them to survive, she would always say, “thank you.”  She would be like the one leaper out of the ten that went back to thank Jesus for healing him.  She knew that these babies were a gift from God that she did not deserve.

Through a series of devastating events in their family such as a house fire, she was most devastated by a diagnoses of Leukemia in her precious Anna.  Anna was a young teenager that was a very good christian girl.  She was a very loving daughter that truly sought to be close to Jesus.  She was immediately placed in the hospital to undergo treatments.  She received the most radiation one body can handle in a lifetime in one week.  She remained in the hospital for fifteen months until she walked out cancer free!  A few months later she was ill due to rare complications from all the treatments.  She was lying in the hospital with her mother by her bedside as was the case all through the illness.  Sherry took Anna by the hand and told her that if Jesus comes calling her home, please let go of momma’s hand and take His hand.  That very next morning she obeyed her mother and went home to be with her Lord.

Through Anna’s short life she was able to show many the way to a life changing experience with Christ.  Her oncologist was an agnostic and believed in science.  After encountering Anna during her care, he prayed and asked the Lord to save him, acknowledging He was indeed God of all.  Her daddy was able to baptize him in the church and see him walk faithfully with the Lord.  She was also able to lead a nurse and a tech from the hospital to faith in Christ through her constant witness and sharing what God had done for her. Many lives were touched by Jesus as a result of Anna’s witness.

Through Anna’s words she never was bitter with God.  She even spoke of her time in the hospital as a blessing and was glad to have had the opportunity to see these lives saved by Jesus.  Sherry has had many people ask her if she ever had gotten bitter with God far taking her precious Anna.  She has honestly answered them.  Her answer is that she realizes that her Lord Jesus died a cruel, unjust, horrific, and humiliating death on the cross.  God the Father loved her enough to turn His back on His precious Son while He died this death.  How could she shake her fist at a God who would do this for her.  Her Anna did not die a death that was humiliating or horrific.

I cannot wait to read her book and learn more about praising God through tragedy.  She is a wonderful woman that I truly admire.  If anyone you know is experiencing grief right now, please refer them to this book.

“Thank you God for allowing me to hear this powerful testimony.  Thank you for precious Anna and her amazing courage to face cancer and death with victory.  Thank you for saving her and giving her such a passion for lost souls.  Please make me more like Anna and willing to share Christ to anyone and everyone that you place in my path.  Please give me courage to always look at each person as a soul.  Help me to see people as You see people.  Thank you for crushing Your Son to rescue me from my sin.  Thank you. Amen.”

God brought me a best friend while I was in Kentucky. We had moved out to the country and I was then an hour away from all my seminary friends. I recently wrote a post about how God brought Amy and I together, because that is a wonderful story of God’s grace in our lives. Amy and I would walk together with our strollers about four miles every day all throughout the spring, summer and fall. I would park my car at her house and we would leave from her driveway. Her husband would be home because he worked night shift as a police officer. My husband was also home during most days because his office was at home, just a few miles down the road.

One particular day we were walking it was ninety-five degrees and about three o’clock in the afternoon. We were drinking water like crazy and we even turned around short of our full distance due to the extreme heat. Although our children were getting a free ride in the stroller, even this day they were sweating when we got back to her house. I buckled Karis in her car seat as I normally did and then went to put the stroller in the trunk. I decided to go ahead and get the car cranked so the air could get the car cooled off. As I went to open the driver door it was locked. I went to open her door since I left the key in the seat, but her door was locked. I ran around the car and tried every door but all doors were locked. My little two-year-old was sitting in this hot sauna smiling happily at me. I screamed to Amy and she ran in to wake up her husband. I smiled at her through the window trying to hide my panic. I am not very good at hiding my emotions and pretending but I could have gotten an Emmy for this job. I was singing all her favorite tunes and dancing a little. She was singing with me. Her husband came out calling a wrecker service he knows well, but I knew they were a good twenty minutes away. I called Josh to come but I also knew he would take at least ten minutes as well. I was not sure she would make it that long. Amy’s husband was trying his best to get into the vehicle but this particular car was like Fort Knox. When Josh pulled up Karis had just lost her cool- no pun intended. She was screaming and panicking. When Josh looked through the window he could not handle seeing his baby strapped in while withstanding temperatures over one hundred twenty degrees inside that car. I had stopped looking in because she was so pitiful. Josh grabbed a hammer out of his truck and busted the small back corner window. He grabbed the keys in the seat and we got the car unlocked.

We both climbed in and started unbuckling her. We knew the situation was desperate, but we were not prepared for what we saw. She was as wet as being thrown into a swimming pool. Her skin was pale and clammy. Under her car seat on the leather was a large puddle of water from her soaking body. We were so thankful to have our little girl in our arms.

Josh has used this story several times as an illustration of our human desperation. We are so desperate to be saved. We can not help ourselves or rescue ourselves from our situation. We are as hopeless and desperate for a Savior as our little girl was desperate for us to save her. If Christ did not come to our rescue we would not have survived our situation. Most of us did not even realize how serious our situation was until after we were rescued.

“Thank you Jesus for protecting my children when I make really dumb mistakes. Thank you for keeping her safe while exposed to high temperatures that hot day. Thank you for coming to our rescue and sending a Savior for our soul. Amen.”

After a year of living one hour from our church we decided we had to move closer. We sold our city house in Louisville, Kentucky and bought a little country farm house. We knew this was the best thing for our family. Karis was six months old when we made this move. I felt like I had left all my friends from work and seminary. I sat at home most days because I was a stay-at-home mom but there was no where to go this far out into the country. Most days were pretty lonely. I prayed several times that God would bring a friend to our church that was my age that we could hang out. Most young ladies I knew in the area were working and really had nothing in common with me.

It was my birthday and we were at church service on a Wednesday night. My friend Cheryl came and gave me a small piece of paper with a name and number on it. She said her friend’s daughter had just given birth to a baby that day and the baby had Down Syndrome. She wanted us to pray for her and she requested that I call her. Josh visited with them at the hospital and prayed with them. He said they had a wonderful attitude about the situation and were just eager to get their baby home. It was some time later they actually got to bring him home. They bought a small farm house just down the road from us. They decided to move closer to her parents out in the country since such a turn of events had just happened.

A few months later Amy came to our church and brought her little baby with her. Our babies were only six weeks apart and they were both just a few months old. She requested prayer for baby Hunter since he was scheduled for a major open heart surgery. I asked her the day, time and hospital. The day of the surgery I showed up at the hospital. I brought Karis and we camped out all day with Amy and her family in the waiting room. We spent all day chatting and getting to know one another. I had intended on just being their for spiritual support, but I gained so much more that day. She kept insisting that I get home and get back to my busy life. I only had Karis and she was being really good that day. I had an hour drive home but nothing else to do really. I told her I wanted to stay until the doctor came in and told the family that everything was good. God answered our prayers that day and Hunter did just fine!

From that day forward we grew closer and closer. We have so much in common. Amy told me her side of the story one day. She said after Hunter was born she was having to drive back and forth to the hospital each day to be with him. She had to make most drives by herself since her husband was working. One day while driving she cried out to God. She realized that she could not go on living life for herself and by herself. She begged God to save her and help her through this. She also prayed that God would send her someone to help encourage her and keep her focused on Christ. She prayed that God would send her someone to be a friend that was a christian and had the same values and standards. Little did she know that I already had a paper with her name and number on it!

“Thank you God for bringing us together in Your providence. Thank you for giving two lonely girls that lived out in the country a christian bond with each other. Thank you for little Hunter and now little Parker. Thank you for keeping Hunter safe through his many surgeries and procedures he has had and still has to have. Thank you for giving Hunter a wonderful mommy that loves him and makes sure he gets the best! Thank you for giving Hunter and I the same birthday- it sure was a nice little added bonus! Amen.”

Please continue to pray for Hunter as he faces further testings and possible surgeries. He is tough little guy but God uses him in so many ways! Pray for Amy as she juggles doctor appointments, medical bills and continual stress with concerns for his life. Thank you!

I miss you Amy!!! We will always be forever friends!

After our daughter was born I decided I really wanted the next one to be a surprise.  When I got pregnant again, I was surprised at how easy it was for me to wait the entire pregnancy.  Waiting was an incredible experience.  I really wanted to do it again this pregnancy but Josh was just as determined to find out the gender early.  Me, being the submissive wife that I am, was really left with no choice.  I did, however, know of a fun way to find out.  I had seen about a year ago on the Duggar’s from 19 Kids and Counting, Josh and Anna had a great idea about finding out the gender.  I decided we would do something fun like that.

A lady from my parents church in Georgia bakes cakes.  We had the nurse write the gender of the baby in a card and put in into a sealed envelope.  I mailed the envelope to the lady that baked a cake.  She was the only one that knew the secret and she baked a pink or blue cake for us.  She decorated the cake with white fondant(icing) and green dots, but the inside would not be revealed until the cake was cut.  Our families met together at Olive Garden and we had dinner together.  After dinner we cut the cake.  To our surprise it was pink inside- revealing it was a girl.

This was a fun time for us and I highly recommend this for couples that still want a surprise, but cannot wait until the birth day.  My ultrasound was changed due to a scare with the pregnancy, so the hardest part was that we had to wait eight days before we went to Georgia.  The week long wait made the anticipation of the cake cutting much more intense.

“Thank you Jesus for the gift of children.  Thank you for the little girl you have placed in our family.  Please allow her to grow into a healthy, beautiful young lady that honors you with her life.  I pray she, along with our other children, will have the blessed privilege of salvation and live their lives changing this world. Amen.”

Josh and I were sitting on the couch after a long day.  We had just put the kids down for the night and we were enjoying our nightly ritual of watching a few minutes of television enjoying the quiet.  We enjoy Animal Planet and the shows that come on at night.  We were into a show where a man was fishing in Alaska and some grizzlies were stalking him.  One had already come to catch the salmon right off his line, and now that bear was back, and there was no salmon to grab this time.  It was an intense moment in the show and we were literally on the edge of our seats.  Just at that moment out of the corner of my eye I saw something crawling up Josh’s t-shirt and on to his neck.  I slapped it away as soon as I saw and realized it was a spider.  We jumped around the room frantic trying to find it.  I knew if it was not found I would not be sitting on that couch for a long time, and neither would my children.  We lifted the heavy sofa and did not find it. Just as we sat it back down I saw it on the wood floor behind us.  I grabbed a shoe and smashed it.  Just upon observing it Josh recognized it to be a Brown Recluse.  His observation proved to be accurate as I googled it and found a picture.

It took us a while to get to sleep that night.  Frightful of what could be in the bed with us.  It has always been a fear of mine that a dangerous spider would bite one of my small children during the night in their beds and I would not know it until morning.  We did manage to get to sleep, but that spider was on my mind as I walked through the house the next morning.

I am so thankful that I was able to see the spider and kill it.  I could have just as easily been engrossed in the television that I was not able to see it, or Josh could have been resting his back against the couch and we would have not known it was present.  It sure saved us a lot of heartache, money, time, pain, and possible a death.  Josh is allergic to several things, and this could have been one of them.

I could not help but think about how each of us have a responsibility to watch out for each other.  God has given us the task of warning one another and holding one another accountable.  I am thankful in my own life for the times people have cared enough about me to warn me of things I was doing to cause danger to myself.  I am blessed to have people in my life that constantly push me to avoid these dangers.  I am also grateful for the Scripture that teaches me what to avoid that could cause me harm.

Josh was very upset with me after I slapped his neck.  His first thought was that I was trying to startle him on purpose while watching that bear encounter.  It was an uncomfortable moment for him and myself.  Once the situation was clear, he was grateful for the slap.  He realized that the quick pain of the slap was minimal in comparison to the deadly poison of a spider.

I have lost several friendships over having to warn people of their danger.  They did not appreciate the correction in their lives and they continued in their destructive ways.  Unfortunately they have had to walk down difficult roads hurting themselves and others.  Sometimes they have even blamed God for their being in their situation, even after they were warned.  I have also had a friend thank me years later because she realized that she was making wrong decisions that were affecting a lot of people.  I have been on both sides of the spectrum and neither situation is fun.  It was not fun to slap my husband on his neck, but it was a life changing decision.  If we love one another as Christ loves us and commands us to, then we will always seek to love one another enough to lovingly warn.

“Thank you God for allowing me to see the spider.  Thank you for giving us the assurance that You are protecting us.  Amen.”

Ezekiel 3:21  “Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous [man], that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.

1 Thes. 5:14 “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all [men].”

Ezekiel 33:9  “Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”