I Dare Ya

I triple dog dare ya! We all know that line from A Christmas Story, right? You know, right before the boy puts his tongue on the flagpole and gets stuck! Some dares are like that - just to get you to do something crazy. But then there are dares that people give because they've done something that's made a huge difference in their life and they want you to experience the same thing- this dare is THAT kind of dare.

I am currently reading a book by Ann Voskamp entitled One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are. If you haven't already read this book, oh, how I wish you would! This may surprise some of you, but I am not always a happy, bubbly, positive person. (SHOCK) I find myself grumbling and complaining more times than I care to admit. Can anyone else relate to that? And a lot of times it's not over substantial, awful, dreadful things - it's just the in and out, everyday happenings of life. How can I change this? How do I stop being so critical and negative?

Did you know we can change from being pessimists to optimists? We can! It's all about focus, all about what we notice, what we choose to say, what we choose to focus on. Ann talks about this in her book - how we're surrounded every day with these wonderful gifts, and yet we fail to see them, to notice them, to name them, to thank God for them. We have to renew our mind - how does that happen? It's a daily practice - the renewING of our mind - notice the ING. That means it's still happening, it's a journey, it's something we have to work on - on purpose! That's where my dare comes in. Ann's friend dared her to write a list - not a list of things to do, not a list of things to change, but a list of God's gifts - of the little things that God gives her every day. One thousand gifts. I'm taking that dare! I've started my list, and does it surprise you that I'm smiling more, that I'm noticing more of the "little" things that God gives me, that I'm a more positive person? I haven't arrived, but I'm renewING my mind. As I write items on my list, I'm renewING and it's becoming easier to notice and be thankful for the little things.

Sweet sister (and brother) loved by God, I would love to have you join me! I triple dog dare ya to get a notebook and start listing:

1. Extra hugs from my precious son this morning
2. The sun shining in our breakfast nook and warming my back as I write this
3. Spiced cider - mmm.......

Peculiar Jewel

I've had this post swirling around in my head for a bit and was waiting for the right time to sit down and write/post it. What better day than Valentine's Day!

Let's start with a confession - I have journal envy. That's right. I am so jealous of those of you who take the time every day or once a week to write something sweet in your child's journal. I've had that desire for my children since before I even had children. I remember sitting in the living room of my parent's house with my mom and her friend, Amy. Amy was talking about how she'd kept a journal for her 2 boys since they were tiny. She'd write the funny things they said or did, things that made her proud, thoughts she had - whatever. What an absolute treasure, right? I remember thinking, "That is SO awesome!" I wish I had a journal like that from my parents (who are the parents of 9 children mind you, HA!). At that time I knew, I am going to steal that idea and have journals for my children.

So...umm...my boys are now 13 (almost 14) and 11. I DO have journals for them. I mean, I have the physical book you can hold in your hands. I DO have a few posts in them. Most posts are in January of each year since their birth and pretty much say the same thing. "This year I have decided to make it a point to write in your journal at least once a week." They may have a couple posts in there from February, March is highly unlikely, and hey - we have pictures to prove what they did in the summer so I really don't need to journal all of that. Pause - shout out to all of my fellow sanguine personalities!!! We love to jump into things with both feet. We're excited about it. We have great intentions. We do it for a bit, and then we get bored with it, right? Yep, story of my life. So, sadly, my boys don't really have great journals that I will be able to give them when they're 18.

Side note (I'm also a little A.D.D. so just smile and jump with me here) - there are a couple GREAT apps I know of that can help with journaling. There's an app called Posterity (pictured below) - you can create a "book" in their app for each kid and every time your kid says something funny you just type in their quote and it will save it for you, and even date it for you. What a GREAT idea! Also, there's a program that my friend, Angela, shared with me that helps with journaling (Penzu). You can type your journal right online AND you can even set it up to have the program send you email reminders to write in your journal. You'd think those things would help me. Sadly...no. 

Ok, so here's where I'm going with all of this. I was reading a few weeks ago and came across this verse. Hebrews 6:10 - "For God is not unrighteous to forget or overlook your labor and the love which you have shown for His name's sake in ministering to the needs of the saints (His own consecrated people), as you still do." So, this gets me to thinking - God does not forget the things we do. Why is that? Well, He must be keeping a journal about us. He must be writing down the things we do that make Him laugh, what we do that makes Him proud, the unique things about us that He absolutely loves. Of course, the verse didn't say anything about a journal. But wait - there's more! 

Around this same time my sister, Dawn, posted a passage on her Facebook page. Here's the passage - Malachi 3:16-17 - "Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who reverenced and worship-fully feared the Lord and who thought on His name. And they shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I publicly recognize and openly declare them to be My jewels (My special possession, My peculiar treasure). And I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him." Ahhh - He DOES write a journal about us. I don't have to be jealous because some of you have journals from your parents. God's got one on me! What?!? Beat that! Not only does He have a journal about me, did you get what He calls me? I'm not just Shari. I'm His jewel! His special possession! His peculiar treasure! :) You know what's great? Jordan and Justin are His special possession and His peculiar treasure too. He's got a journal on them (so why am I worried about it)! Seriously, how cool is that?

THIS Valentine's Day, I pray that you will know HIS amazing love for you! His thoughts about you! His adoration of you! YOU are His precious jewel! Live like it, speak like it, believe it!!!  He's put some people in your life that can demonstrate His love to you, but they are not the answer -HE is! They will fail you, He will not! They will not fill every single void inside of you, HE will! Happy Valentine's Day - don't forget to make it the best Valentine's Day ever by spending some quality time with your TRUE Valentine!

2014's 100 Most Beautiful Women - How to Get Your Name on the List

Do you guys ever find yourselves in the comparison trap? We can compare ourselves to others in so many ways, but as women I think one of the biggest comparison traps we fall into is with our outward appearance.

I took some time to look at the magazine covers from January of this year. Here are some of the article titles - I Lost 172 Pounds, Wrinkle Fighting Snacks, Magic Meals for a Speedy Metabolism, The 5 Day Slimdown, Hot Looks Under $50, 5 Cellulite Fixes That Actually Work, Get To Your Best Weight Ever, 5 Super Skin Fixes From Your Fridge...and the list goes on and on. You're probably familiar with the list of the most beautiful men and women that comes out every year. These messages are all around us, yelling at us, begging for us to pay attention, and I know I'm not the only one who can get caught up in all the hype.

Here's a question - who gets to pick the 100 most beautiful people? And if they really ARE the 100 most beautiful people, why aren't some people on the list that I KNOW should be? I have 5 sisters and 5 sister-in-laws that I am 100% sure should be on that list, yet I don't see their names anywhere. I have an amazing mother and mother-in-law - I don't see their names anywhere? What is the criteria used when these people are trying to decide who should be on this list?

Oh friends, we can get so busy thinking about and putting our time and attention into the wrong things, can't we? I'm sorry, but somebody who has the time and money to botox their face 4 times a year isn't going to make my list. Somebody who's a size 0 doesn't necessarily make the cut. If I'm defining beauty the way God defines beauty, you know who should be on that top 100 list? How about a mom with dark bags under her eyes - she's up all day taking care of her kiddos, and up almost all night cuddling, feeding, loving on and trying to calm a fussy infant? How about a woman who drops in bed completely exhausted at the end of the day because she now finds herself not only taking care of her household, but also taking care of aging parents who truly need her help every day? How about a woman whose husband cheated on her, who went through an awful divorce, but is still using her voice and her life to praise God? How about a woman who walked through the dark valley of losing one of her own precious children, but still has the strength to make sure others know that God is her rock? How about the woman that was sexually abused as a child, but now has the strength, through Christ, to forgive her abuser? How about the woman - the single mom, who works her butt off all day so she can provide for her kids, comes home exhausted, and still makes dinner and plays games with her children because she knows quality time is important? How about the woman who kisses her husband goodbye and willingly takes on the role of a single parent for 9 months or longer while that husband goes overseas to fight for our freedom? How about the woman that ___________ (your story here)? We all have heard the phrase - man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart, right? Haven't we? Do we believe it?

Beloved, God looks at your HEART - that is the true measure of your beauty! Oh, that you would embrace that and believe it! Proverbs 31:30 speaks to this - "Charm and grace are deceptive, and beauty is vain (because it is not lasting), but a woman who reverently and worshipfully fears the Lord, she shall be praised!" Who shall be praised? A woman who fears the Lord! So, if that is true (and if you believe the Bible, you know that it is), can I ask you something? Are you spending as much time beautifying your heart as you do your face and body? How much time do you devote to working out? How much time does it take you to get ready in the morning? How much time have you spent with God today? Yes, it's convicting - it slapped me across the face! We all need to be working on actively beautifying our HEART! When we do, we will be on God's list of most beautiful women (and I'll take that over a magazine cover ANY day)!

A Picture of Grace

Amazing grace - do we truly grasp how amazing? I've chosen the topic of grace to dig into and learn more about over the last couple of months. I've learned so much and have been awakened to what God's grace really is about. Now, isn't it just like God to show me a perfect picture of His grace while I'm studying and trying to learn more about it? 

As a family, we use Heritage Builders for family night ideas. During one of our family nights, we talked about some not so good things that had happened that week (fighting with brother, bad attitude, chores not done, etc). Eric and I made a list of these things and we assigned a payment/consequence with each one - no technology, rake the back yard, clean out the garage, etc. We talked about all of this with the boys and let them know what their payment was for each item. You can imagine the reactions from the boys and how fun that part of the family night was for them (NOT). They were so upset as they thought about what their weekend was going to look like. After going through all of their consequences with them, Eric said - "you know what, because I love both of you so much I'm going to take care of every payment on this list." Of course, this was to lead up to talking about how Jesus paid the price for every sin that we have committed or will commit. That's a great picture, right? Something that the boys will remember probably for life, but that's not the part that really stood out to me. Eric went through each item one by one and said - "Jordan, I will clean the garage for you this weekend. Justin, I will take your grounding from technology for the weekend," and on and on down the list. Here's where it gets good - every time Eric said a consequence that he was going to do for the boys, they immediately offered their help. Eric would say - "Jordan, I'll rake the leaves for you," and immediately Jordan said, "I'll help you!" Eric said - "Justin, I'll clean the garage for you," and Justin immediately said, "I'll do it with you!" 

This may not seem like much to you, but this reaction brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't help but think of people who are somewhat fearful to preach/teach about God's grace, because won't people take advantage of it? Won't people keep doing things they shouldn't do because they know it's been taken care of? Here's the deal - knowing how much God has covered for you doesn't make you want to take advantage of that. The boys response to Eric taking their payment for them was to turn around and help, to do what they could for their father. Their reaction was an overflow of the gratefulness in their heart for all that their father was doing for them. This should be the same with us. God has covered our sins and that is GREAT, He's poured out His grace on us and once we truly start to grasp the concept of His grace, our natural reaction is to want to live our lives for Him, to be devoted completely to Him, to do whatever He tells us to do. An understanding of God's grace only deepens our relationship with our Father and creates within us a desire to live in a way that is constantly showing our gratitude to Him.

I smile because God was a part of our family night that night, and He was whispering to me - "Shari, this is what grace looks like. This is what a heart that understands grace looks like." I've said it before and I'll say it again - I just LOVE God winks - those times when you know that God allowed something to happen JUST FOR YOU!" Amazing grace - I pray that as you continue to grow in your relationship with God you will truly understand why His grace is so amazing!

The Math of Heaven

I've been reading in Joni Eareckson Tada's book A Lifetime of Wisdom. Yesterday I came across a part that really stood out to me regarding time. I'd love to share part of that with you.

"Do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." 2 Peter 3:8

We all know the old adage that God looks at the last two thousand years as only a couple of days gone by. But what about the other half of that verse? The part about seeing each day as a thousand years?
What kind of math is that?

It's the math of the One who lives outside of time, is not bound by time, and can step in and out of time whenever He pleases to accomplish His purposes. If we really come to grips with the fact that God can pick up any twenty-four-hour day He chooses and give it an eternal impact of a thousand years, then each day of our lives becomes immeasurably important - and brimming with opportunity. Each day God gives us precious hours to invest in the lives of others - investments which will have eternal repercussions in our lives AND theirs.

But let's carry the math out just a bit further. If twenty-four hours can have the impact of a thousand years, then what kind of impact could a single hour have?

I figure about forty-one and a half years.

And then what about a single minute?

Maybe something like eight and a half months.

So, as I'm reading this I'm thinking - WOW! Wouldn't we all live different if we could keep in mind that every MINUTE can have the impact of 8 and 1/2 months in eternity!!! No wonder why Satan is trying to distract us each and every minute - he knows the value of those minutes!!! I'm challenging myself and all of you - recapture those minutes! Keep in mind the value of that time that's passing by! Remember how much it's worth and what an impact it can have for eternity! To quote my friend Cindy Rushton - "Satan will use either destruction or distraction!" How about we don't let him use either!!!

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What Are You Living For?

Have you guys ever heard a quote that just stood out to you and made you ponder for a bit? Last night I was flipping through the channels trying to prove to myself that there IS a reason that we pay for cable, when I stopped on the INSP network. They were in the middle of a worship service and in between songs the worship leader said something that totally jumped out to me! I'm going to print it and post it around the house. I'd give the guy credit, but I have no idea who he was.

"Is what you're living for worth Christ dying for?"

I'll leave you to think about it.


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Christian Commitment

Our pastor shared this in a sermon a few years ago. I had printed it and posted it in our house, but we have since moved and I truly forgot all about it. I came across it while cleaning out some folders on the computer and it's too good not to share with all of you. I think I'm going to make it into a canvas and hang it.

Christian Commitment
I'm part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past has been redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure.

I'm finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotion, plaudits or popularity.

I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded.

I now live by faith, lean on his presence, work by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear.

I cannot be bought, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, or meander in the face of mediocrity.

I won't give up, shut up, let up, until i have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go 'til he comes, give 'til I drop, preach 'til all know, and work 'til he stops me.

And when he comes for his own, he will have no problem recognizing me - my banner will be clear.


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Advent Wreath

A new tradition our family is starting this year is a personal advent wreath. We bought candle holders and candles from Christian Book Distributors and we are taking the time to light each candle and discuss it's meaning each week. Along with this we are reading Jotham's Journey by Arnold Ytreeide - "In this widely popular, exciting story for the advent season, readers follow ten-year-old Jotham across Israel as he searches for his family. Though he faces thieves, robbers, and kidnappers, Jotham also encounters the wise men, shepherds, and innkeepers until at last he finds his way to the Savior born in Bethlehem." Jotham's Journey has a reading for every day during Advent. What a GREAT way to keep your family's focus on Jesus. Arnold has written two other books that are great for Advent reading - Bartholamew's Passage and Tabitha's Travels. We're actually reading 2 books by him - we do one reading in the morning and one reading after dinner. I think it's a GREAT way to keep our focus where it should be!

Traditions - Why Do You Do What You Do

This isn't hard because most Christmas traditions already have a spiritual meaning. The problem is we take the time to DO our Christmas traditions, but a lot of times we don't take the time to explain why we're doing them to our children. A GREAT book for helping children find Jesus in our holiday traditions is The ADVENTure of Christmas by Lisa Whelchel. There are 25 different sections, so you can cover a section a day starting on December 1st. For example, did you know that an English missionary was the first person to use the evergreen tree as a symbol for God? He referred to it's triangular shape and said that it represented the trinity. Also, we know that Jesus died for us on a cross (from a tree) - remind your children of that.

From Lisa's book - Have you ever noticed that the boughs of your tree extend out like the arms of Jesus stretched upon the cross as He offered His life to anyone who would come to Him in faith? And your Christmas tree is very definitely pointing toward heaven and, as Jesus did with His words and His actions, drawing our attention to the Father who loves us.

Take some time with your traditions and find a spiritual lesson for each one. Your children will remember why you do the things you do for Christmas and they will remember that each one reflects Jesus!

Marvel at God's Majesty

Taken from Have a Mary Christmas by Karen Kingsbury

Author Robert Ketchum tells of a Sunday school teacher who asked her students if anyone could quote the entire 23rd Psalm. A girl - not quite 5 years old - raised her hand. Doubting the child's ability, the teacher asked the girl if she could really recite the entire Scripture. She smiled, nodded and walked to the front of the room. With the joy of the Lord shining in her eyes, she said, "The Lord is my shepherd, that's all I want." And she sat back down.

If only we could spend more of our Christmas hours holding tight to that single thought. The Lord is everything to us. He is truly all we need, all we could ever want. For only God can give us the best gifts of all - the fruit of the Holy Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).

As Christmas draws near again, I am reminded once more of Kelsey's precious card: a Christmas tree, a cross and the two of us holding hands. What else could anyone want? I will spend the rest of my Christmases determined to experience December in a way I will remember. I will mend relationships, make time for traditions, and marvel at His majesty - and I will teach my children the same precious habits. By doing so, I can always be sure to do what Kelsey wanted me to do so many years ago - Have a Mary Christmas.

Make Time for Traditions

Taken from Have a Mary Christmas by Karen Kingsbury

I recently tried an experiment with my kids. During a family dinner I asked them to tell me about the Christmas presents they received last year. The kids - all 6 of them - drew a blank. They looked at me and then at one another, and panic appeared in their eyes.
"Ok," I said, "what do you remember?"
Their faces lit up.
"Our gingerbread house competition!" Austin shouted.
"Baking cookies and caroling," EJ and Sean cried out.

The conversation that followed was on I'll always remember. We talked about our favorite family traditions. Every year our kids form teams of two and decorate gingerbread houses. EAch team is awarded a prize - something like "Most Creative," "Best Effort," and so forth. We play Christmas music, laugh a lot, and take a ton of pictures. The gingerbread houses remain a part of our Christmas decorations for the entire season.

We also love baking our favorite Christmas cookies, placing them on decorative trays, and delivering them to friends and family. We wear Christmas hats and bring along others who want to join us. Then we stand at front doors and sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," and "Deck the Halls." Sometimes my husband, Don, brings his guitar. It's always a wonderful night.

In addition, we have an old fashioned wooden Advent calendar - complete with little compartments and tiny painted wooden doors. We fill the 24 hiding places with Scripture verses, notes detailing a kind thing that one child can do for another child in the family, and candy. Each of the kids opens four doors throughout the month of December. We also read aloud The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever, and we have a handful of Christmas movies we watch. Family traditions are a great way to take Christmas slowly and make the days count.