Women of Faith and Grace

A couple of weekends ago, I had the opportunity to experience God's amazing love and grace through the Women of Faith conference. I had always heard about it but it was my very first time to attend. There are so many things that encouraged me and warmed my heart. It is so hard to pick just one thing that stood out. Patsy Clairmont completely blew me away with her firecracker personality, her wonderful humor, and great insight to God's word and to what is relevant to women today. She spoke of the woman in the Bible that had been stooped over, crippled for many years. ( see Luke 13: 10-17) She related to us as women we sometimes live our life like that. We live stooped over lives; carrying our burdens as wives, mothers, sisters, and friends. We finally come to the point where we meet Jesus and He heals us of being 'crippled' and we have the opportunity to stand up and shout and thank Him for what He has done and what do we do? We continue to live stooped over and unthankful. What words of wisdom and relativety to my own life.

Another aspect of the weekend was the wonderful music. I would go back just for that. I am a singer just waiting to come out any chance I can get so it was such a blessing to hear these women praise God with their voices. Natalie Grant, Sandi Patty, and Nicole C. Mullen each spoke of the grace of God in their own lives. What inspiring words. As I attended the conference, I had been carrying in the back of my mind some words from our worship leader that really struck a chord with me. He had said that the more you and I are around the Word, the more 'churched' we are, the less aware we become of how God's grace touched our lives. We lose that excitement and wonder at God's grace that was once there when we first came to know Him. As I thought of his words and experienced God's grace, I was very humbled. I do not ever want to take that for granted. I want to always remember what God's grace looks like in my life. Nicole spoke of the woman in the Bible who was bleeding and she wanted to just touch Jesus. To be made whole. I want to daily remember when I was first touched by Jesus and my life was made whole.

This weekend encouraged me in ways that I never thought possible. To God be the glory!

the concert

Those who know me know that I am a huge Keith Urban fan to the very core. Tim's cousins wives (my cousin-in-laws, I guess that is what you call them!) and I went to a Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban concert. What a fun time! We got to know a little more about each other and enjoy some great music...not to mention great seats! I would not trade it for the world. I had a blast and realized these women are not just family, they are my friends.

p.s. more pics of Kenny to follow :)

A Lesson

Have you ever had one of those weeks that you feel completely overwhelmed and such a mess? Well...it happened to me a couple weeks ago. It started off great. A wonderful and beautiful time spent with my sister and her family. A time of connecting and sharing. Another beautiful moment happened that monday night at a restaurant in Ft.Worth. Moments shared. Experiences heard. Wisdom given. Then...all of sudden it happened. The moment where I could not breathe and everything started staring me in the face. As I took a breath and started to make sense of it all, the tears started to come . In that moment of despair I realized that the peace, the peace that I have spoken about before, was becoming more real to me. This had been a hard week for me yet I finally caught a glimpse of the here and now and knew that God was growing me to be more like Him. Each day I am learning this...one breath at a time.

the beach

We had a lot of fun at the beach this year. William had an amazing time- boogie boarding, body surfing, and jumping off a 15ft. diving platform into a spring that is 68 degrees year round. There were lots of firsts for this trip to Florida and we look forward to many more!

At Peace

Have you ever wondered that as you grow older you are becoming the worst case of yourself? Those little annoying things that someone in your family does or that one friend that gets on your nerves and then all of sudden, you are becoming those things...displaying attitudes or little annoyances in your own life that you always thought, 'oh, I will never do that'. God has been slowly and painfully working on my heart about those things. Whether it is an annoying behavior or something that is not Christ-like, I need to come to terms with who I am. I need to daily give my whole self over to Him and walk in His ways. I know that each day brings new 'things' but I also know that they are never going to go away if I never take them to Christ. I have been looking through the scripture tonight trying to find an application, something to make this make sense and these are what I found. Colossians 3:15 says " Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts...you were called to peace and be thankful." Instead of focusing on all those things that I do not want to be or do, I need to break free from them and be at peace. At peace with myself. At peace with who I am. The annoying and the not-so annoying. And then I need to be thankful. This leads into the other verse. Colossians 4:6 says "Let your conversation be always full of grace...so that you know how to answer everyone." When I look at the worst case of myself, I am not thankful. My words are not filled with grace. So...do you see the worst case of yourself? or Are you at peace? That is where I want to be.

My View Point

Last week William attended the Central Charger soccer camp. He was so excited to get all the gear: the cleats, the shin guards, and socks. As he was appointed to his team, I observed a sense of excitement and of hestitation. Each day became a little easier and familiar. Throughout the week he learned skills such as dribbling, passing, and blocking. The view from the side of the track was heartwarming as he listened with such intensity to his coaches. He thrived on seeing and talking to Coach Mahr and Coach Melissa. His desire to do good and be able to kick the ball was evident; his frustation and disappointment when he didn't get to the ball was also evident. I am proud of his dedication; his desire to learn and I look forward to watching many games this fall.

A Hope and a Future

As many of you know, Tim, William, and I have been a part of a new church plant for almost four years now. We have seen many trials and growth pains come our way as a church and as individuals. As I look back at where we have come from and where we are going, I am reminded of Jeremiah 29:11. " For I know the plans I have for you" says the Lord. "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future." I see that hope and our future in the lives of our small group every week. I am encouraged by our growth and humbled by how God is using the lives of these men and women. We had no idea of the plans for our family...for our church. God did. He knew that we would prosper and for His ultimate glory. What an amazing thing to experience and be a part of.

Dondra