Sweet Sixteen

Here I am showing off!!

Just kidding.

Look who came to help me in the store yesterday.

My sweet Lexie, my 16 year old. She was feeling quite sassy in her new dress. She was away with her "other" dad & he bought it for her. So looking at Lex is like looking at me a bizillion years ago, poor kid. She was a big help to me & I must say she has merchandising talent for certain. I like to bring her in and she "fixes" everything I have done. I had moved this candle on a rope display to the front of the store because I think they are totally cool & deserve a front row seat. So she saw where I moved them to and was like , mom no. So she tells me to adjust it a little and retouches some things & of course it looked better. Stinker.

I have a CD that my choir director gave all of us to learn some new songs & I have been playing it in my store. It is live recordings of Free Chapel's choir from Pastor Jentzen Franklin's church. Amazing. Sometimes you would laugh if you saw me in my store when I am the only one in here. I have the CD cranked up loud & I am jumping up & down & lifting my hands to God singing my heart out. I especially love "Say So". Sometimes I crack myself up that I am having such a good time worshiping God & singing to Him. I wrote on Wed. how chaotic our practices have been & how nobody ever sings "parts" so the choir can hear what to sing. I had to laugh because Wed. nite was the most productive practice we have had since I rejoined the choir a few months ago. Imagine my suprise when "parts" were sung & the front line turned around to sing where we could actually hear them. Everyone was happy that all were included & I was glad. I gave my choir a director a magnet from my store that says "When In Doubt.... Mumble". She laughed & thought it was hysterical because last Sunday during the song "Majesty" everyone kept forgetting the words & was mumbling in the mics. I am glad she laughed about it.

I am excited because I know God is at work in me & my family. I cannot see any outward immediate rescue coming but I have His comfort & He has shown me that He is with me. He knows everything about me & He loves me. He is at work & I can feel it. Resting in God is being revealed to me more & more. I am excited about Him. I am also feeling compelled to spend more of my prayer time & also extra prayer time praying for others. God compelled me to begin praying for anyone who had ever "hurt me" a few weeks ago & I can't believe how freeing that was & still is. Can you imagine praying for the people who were so mean to you that it drove you out of church for 2 and a half years? Can you imagine praying blessings & the love of God to come over an abusive ex husband? Thankfully I have a short list. I have also been praying for people who have not hurt me but have lifted me up & for people who are in ministry who have the promise of being able to life people up. I have noticed that people in full time ministry have a tendencey to become hardened to the hurts & needs of people around them. They see it so much it does not become a priority for them but an annoyance. I pray ferverently for compassionate hearts for them. I am really enjoying this special time of prayer. It is in fact better to give than to receive & that is true even in prayer. I have been a "giver" always & now I am in financial peril & have had to receive I realize how true this saying is. I encourage everyone to spend a special time in prayer for others. Anyone who has EVER hurt you, anyone you don't like, anyone who doesn't like you, mean people and also people you know that need to be lifted up, your church, church staff & volunteers & anyone else you can pray for. Pray for your children. Just pray. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is FREEDOM. Do you need to be FREE today? I know I do.