The Best Yes

My online Bible Study "The Best Yes" has just begun, yesterday, as a matter of fact!  It is already challenging me, this is the stuff I love, conviction, change, new found knowledge of who God is, the list goes on and on.

A few insights...

"We must not confuse the command to love with the disease to please." - tby (the Best Yes)

"What is my best yes?  The Best Yes is you playing your part.  If you know it and believe it, you'll live it." - tby

~ I feel like I've searched this out for a long time and have actually made some headway on this journey for this particular issue.  I know I'm supposed to, am called to, music ministry and I'm being used in this way already.  I have tried to weed out the things I'm not "called" to and have had to use the word "no", much to the surprise of some.  This is only the beginning.  I did a study last year, maybe 2 years ago about surrendering.  In many ways this goes along with that "anything", the titles seem completely opposite of one another but saying you'll do "anything" - surrendering yourself to God means you are opening yourself to God's "Best Yes" for you.  I don't believe that His will and plan for your life is to say "yes" to anything that comes along.  That kind of thinking keeps us busy and distracted for what God's purpose is for us.

Start chasing your "Best Yes".

The Church Secretary

Yesterday, someone introduced me and said "this is our church secretary", it happens quite frequently, and almost every time, I cringe.  I don't blame anyone who does this, it's perfectly natural, it's my problem.  I don't know why but somehow I feel it's derogatory, maybe it's because of the pay or the difficulties of the job, or because I've felt "less than", or maybe because people run the other way or don't make direct eye contact when they see me approaching them because they just know I'm going to ask them to serve somewhere.

 

But I don't want to be defined as the church secretary.  Now, don't get me wrong, I really love my job...most days ;)  I love serving my Pastors and my church family...all of them.  I am not just a church secretary.  I am a wife, mother, musician, a friend, a missionary, and most importantly a child of the King.  I need to remind myself that Jesus being mine and me His, is the best definition of who I am and that's all that matters. 

Fantasy Football is NO Fantasy

I admit it...I'm addicted to Fantasy Football.  Well, not as addicted as my oldest son but I do really love it.

I really used to think it was quite silly or annoying but Christian started a family league "The Hoagland Cup" a couple years ago and I've been hooked ever since.  This is year 3 and I plan to win it all this year, I came so close last season but Christian's stinkin' kicker scored an unbelievable amount of points to overthrow me.

I participate in mock drafts before the season begins.  Christian schedules a Fantasy Football Draft night and I wait in anticipation.  The order is random and this time I got to choose my first player last, I knew who I wanted to pick first but was afraid one of my offspring was going to pick him.  I threatened them with something but Cameron still picked my first choice.

I talk to my players.  I know they can't hear me but I talk to them anyway, I threaten to bench them, I cheer for them, urge them to run faster!  I've always like football but this, this is something else.  I played in 3 leagues last year...too many, I would sometimes be playing against a player I had on another team and I just didn't like that.  I am playing in 2, our family league and a friend's league, my friend, one other person I know and a bunch of his friends from college.  Yes, I'm the only girl but that makes it all the sweeter when I kick their butts and I do kick their butts.

I get to name my teams anything I want, my Hoagland Cup team is named "Mama's Monkeymen", don't ask me why...I don't have any answer but for some reason I like to name them with two words that start with the same letter.  My other team is "Porky Passers"...I know, I know...cool name.

James laughs at me, I'm not sure if he thinks it's cute when I talk football or thinks I'm completely out of my mind.  Maybe a little bit of both...

That's Laughable

If you really know me, then you know I'm a laugher...even though I don't think that's a real word but whatever.  I laugh at almost everything, I just can't help myself, things are funny to me.  Is that strange? 

And I may laugh at the weirdest stuff...gross boy humor (of course, because I have boys!), people falling down (don't even lie, that stuff is funny), and the list goes on and on.  I actually recently had two laughing episodes that I had to leave the room, I just couldn't control myself.  I have to admit, it was a bit much and I am blaming it on my lack of sleep.

So, is it strange that I laugh sooo much?  Only if it is pointed out by many people...right?  The first that I can remember is Kyle Burney, 4th grade, he looked at me one day and said "you laugh at everything"....I can't remember my reaction and people say that quite frequently but my reply now is "I am a happy person, okay? I am filled with joy!"  I think this is actually a gift from the Lord, He gave me laughter, how awesome is that?  If you're annoyed by that....sorry, I really can't help it.

I thought I'd add a picture of myself laughing but found this one instead because it made me laugh out loud.

Ok...so maybe it started when I got a little older.

What I'm Reading

What am I reading?  Sometimes it's hard to keep them straight.  I think I have (I don't even know) ____ many books I'm reading all at once.  I used to read all kinds of Christian fiction but lately I really just want to grow in the Lord so I'm doing multiple Bible studies, reading books that show me who God is, how I can be closer to Him, the list goes on and on.

This year....

Here's the one Christian fiction I've read, Christian got this for me for Christmas so of course, I had to read it and it's by one of my favorite Christian fiction authors, Karen Kingsbury.

 

I started this one "Worship Matters" by Bob Kauflin in the Fall of 2013 but am still reading it to this day...it's a lot to take in but oh, so good.  It's for the Worship Leader but speaks to so many issues of the heart of Worship that anyone reading it would be effected by it.  It is also very practical for the Worship Leader or musician.  Highly recommended!!

 

I read this in the Spring, James and I were starting this community Bible Study and we wanted something to read for ourselves before we began.  Everything revolves around the gospel and so we wanted to immerse ourselves in a greater understanding of how to relate that in a deeper way to others.  So appropriately, I read "Gospel" by J.D. Greear.



 

I Am a Church Member by Thom Rainer, a short book showing what a church member should look like.  Really good, our Pastor did a Wednesday Night Bible study with it.

 

The Ultimate Pardon by Bill Corum, now this was a doozy.  Bill came to our Celebrate Recovery meeting one Monday and shared his testimony. 

He wrote this book about his life and gave anyone that wanted one a copy.  His story is intense and not for young readers, he wrote about his sin and how God delivered him.  Really, really good...I read this one in only a few days time.

 



Here's a description and a link to his personal testimony.

 

Bill Corum rode over 2500 miles in handcuffs, leg-irons and waist-chains in his first twenty one years of life. After his release from prison, he finally returned to his home in Kansas City, MO determined to never go back. Yet, he had no intentions of ever becoming a law-abiding citizen...only covering his tracks. Bill's insatiable hunger for money, power, and influence drove him. He spent the next eighteen years evading the law. Like a frog in a slowly boiling pot, he found himself in the ever tightening vise-grip of drugs, pornography, prostitution and organized crime, until he found himself in so deep... there was no way out. After being arrested, he faced the probability of spending the rest of his life behind prison walls. Will Bill Corum receive the Ultimate Pardon?

 

http://www.prisonpowerministries.org/testimony-1.html

 

Right now I'm still reading "Worship Matters", I'll probably have to read it for the next several years to really "get" all of it.  I just started to read "Restless" by Jennie Allen but have discovered a study guide and have decided to put it on hold because I ordered "The Best Yes" by Lysa Terkeurst which will coincide with an online Bible Study with Proverbs 31 Ministries starting September 22nd.  Meanwhile, I'm doing the Esther Study with loveGodgreatly.com.  I really like online studies, they are convenient for us "busy" moms...ironically enough, "The Best Yes" is about making wise decisions in the midst of endless demands.

 

What are you reading?