By Nicole

Whew!  It has been a while since I've posted. But this read was worth coming out of the woodwork for.  I'd never heard of Bekah Hamrick Martin before requesting to review her book as part of a Litfuse blog tour.  Then I realized that it's because this is her first book!  Yay!  Now I think I might have to keep her on my reading list .  Her and many of the women she spotlighted in her book. Bekah's book outlines the ten lies the world tells us about sex and waiting for marriage.  Every chapter has a spotlight or two (stories from another perspective/person), a quiz, and journal prompts.  While some of the stories and references are tied together across chapters, the topics or sections could easily be used as stand-alone conversation starters for a small group or discussion with a teen.  She ends with references and information about each spotlighted individual. It's not a secret to most of you who have read this blog for some time that I ...

Three weeks ago, I read a newspaper article about a family I know.  About a boy that I have visited with and given hugs and yelled at to slow down in the hallways of the church.  About his frustrating condition that I've known about and prayed about for a long time.  I've known about it all, but the article gave me chills.  I immediately felt like I needed to write about Phoenix and try to help "spread the word".  Teresa gave me permission to dedicate a blog post to Phoenix and to link up to their website .  I wanted to link up to the article too, but it isn't online any more.  Their letter explains it all. Right now my Missionette's class is working on the Healing badge.  We are learning how, no matter what our sickness is, God wants us to pray for healing and to have faith and hope that we will be healed (James 5:13-14).  We covered some sensitive issues around why people get sick.  Many people argue that God c...

I spent a good part of this weekend cleaning backwards.  Every few months or so I clean backwards.  And here is why.  Saturday or Sunday usually have at least a section of the day devoted to cleaning up the aftermath of the week's tornado.  The usual culprits: dishes, laundry, vacuuming, and picking up, picking up, picking up.... overwhelm and exhaust me.  They are insurmountable chores that dirty themselves faster than I clean.  I've read blogs about laundry piles that have the reproductive proficiency of rabbits.  Seen it.  It happens at my house too! So, overwhelmed and frazzled , I go on strike.  And I turn my back on the dishes.  I waltz from the kitchen.  I sashay away from the living room.  I act as if I don't care about the crumbs in the couch or the pillows strewn across the floor.  I may step lightly away from my usual foes, but they don't see the grimace on my face or the beads of sweat growing on my brow...

"Don't hold in your emotions; get them out now.  Or else you'll end up like me, cynical and unpredictable."  This was my advice to my coworker as we traveled out of state for a work conference.  Next to me, our other coworker burst out laughing... only because she knows it's true.  I'm not sure at what point I realized that I might be too cynical... but I can at least explain the unpredictable. About a month and a half ago, my brother and his wife told our family that he was going over to Afghanistan for a year in the middle of October.  When he told me, I was kind of shocked, but otherwise just asked questions about how R was going to handle being a new bride in their apartment all alone for a year.  About three weeks ago, my sister and I brought our kids to stay the weekend with them.  We went shopping and went to the zoo and had pizza and played X-box together.  The kids had a blast, which was what AJ wanted.  As we ...

Okay, where to start with this one?  First of all, this is probably going to go along with the Bible verse of "Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." And it is going to coincide with a lot of different things that are going on in my life right now and a lot of different frustrations.  I have constantly been reminding myself that I am not the judge and I have no business judging others.... but it is so dang hard not too!!!  So anyway, here goes... and I will start with something a little less stressful. We are going to talk about this show that I have been watching.  I just started watching the first season of Ugly Betty, and while there are some things (okay a lot of things) that I don't support and shouldn't be watching at all probably and that I don't know that if Jesus was in my living room that I would sit and watch that show... okay I probably wouldn't watch any shows and I would try and throw a blanket or something over t...

I was so excited to get this book in the mail!  Voices of the Faithful: Book 2 is the second series of daily devotions complied by Kim P Davis.  It also includes an introduction written by Beth Moore (love her! ).   The daily devotion consists of a memory verse, a short, real-life story from a missionary and a prayer.  Each section of the day's devotion is clearly divided and in a different font. Each month has a certain theme along which the devotions connect.  January's theme is prayer, February's is love, etc.  The cover and inside art is very elegant.  A friend of mine showed me this book before I even requested it from Booksneeze.  It had been a gift to her from her husband.  Once I saw it, I remembered that it was an available title, and I made up my mind that I had to have a copy. Since I received this in the middle of January, I decided to catch up by reading the first two weeks worth of devotions.  The stories a...

So, I spent a good deal of last night working out why I was so upset and what God is really wanting to do work out in me through Leilee's medical issues, my little sister, the hurting families and the lost loved ones. I didn't really figure anything out and just spent most of today feeling sleep deprived and a little foggy. On my way to work this morning I did hear a great sermon on 88.1. Pastor So-and-So was talking about how we should examine ourselves for something that we see is holding us back. He gave the idea of focusing on one thing we truly feel God would want us to work on - for example, wanting to please people. He said to write down the negative thought on a card and then make a stop sign. On the back, he said to write a verse from the Bible that would help encourage us in changing that specific behavior. For a couple months during my pregnancy with Leilee, I went through some severe anxiety... a couple times I came the closest to a panic attack I think I have eve...

The thing I dread the most is losing one of my children. Just the thought terrifies me. And of course, being a paranoid, crazy mother, just about everything sends my thoughts in that direction. That being said, I then begin to feel guilty about being so terrified of death and dying when I serve a God who is in total control. We can't run from death, we can't avoid the inevitable, and we live in a fallen world where tragedy happens every day. I do my best to comfort myself with the thought that my faith and relationship with God could get me through the worst possible thing. Recently God has been working on me. On my pride, on my procrastination and on my presumption that He doesn't care or need to know about every little thing. Leilee was recently diagnosed with a branchial cleft cyst or fistula, which is, most simply put, a hole in her neck. We are waiting for our appointment at Children's... they can't get us in until December. Instead of falling on my kne...