1000 Gifts

Forgot to post my 1000 things on yesterday, so here they are:

11.Quiet mornings
12. personal devotion time
13. late nite talks with my girlfriend who is overseas
14. long distance :)
15. MWR trips...where else do you know of that you can take a trip to the beach in Destin, Fl (3hr trip) for $10 a person...woo hooo
16. My laptop
17 My nikon
18. Pancakes on a stick...yummmm...i love those things,i have to limit myself
19. rustic fresh fruit/veggie stands..nothing taste better than fresh peaches or green tomoatoes
20. Cobblers ( peach, blueberry, apple and whatever else can go into it)
21. Netflix..ahhh the joys of being able to watch anything at anytime
22. i love being natural and not having to waste my saturdays sitting a salon with gossiping women, for HOURS
23. Natural hair videos on youtube
24. spending time with my daughter (priceless)
25. the Navy!!! hurah..
26. two strand twists, such a versatile and easy hairstyle for naturalistas!!
27. Kindle case....oops..lol
28. loooooooooong bubble baths.
29. warm towels fresh out of the dryer...ummm
30. Yankee candles..
31. Grills (the one you cook one..lol) my hubby is the "grill masta"
32. Gas prices dropping (thankful for even half a penny drop)
33. after dinner walks with my family
34. Morning runs with Me,My IPOD and God...
35. My IPOD and mY determination to keep moving
36. blue bell ice cream (lived 8yrs without and I never want to leave it again..:))

Cleaning Your Closet

Many of us have been through the process of cleaning out the old closet. Yesterday my husband was looking for a particular shirt to wear to the gym, and he didn’t find it in his drawer so he went to the closet..ahhh. He pulled out bins that were overflowing with clothes that we probably haven’t worn in months, some even years. Not only are there clothes in there that we don’t wear anymore, but it shoes as well. There is so much stuff in there and it’s really just a mess. I hate to go in there myself. I’m so glad that mess is behind closed doors. Or is it??
As I begin to go through the process of "cleaning out my closet" a couple of things go through my mind as it relates to our Christian walk, so I decided to share them with you. I wonder how many of us need to clean out our closets "spiritually". We have this stuff that we have collected over the years. Things that used to fit that no longer fit, but we still hang on to them. Things that are no longer in fashion or things that simply just don’t fit who we are anymore. When going through my clothes I noticed the length or fit of certain pieces or even some of the over the top things that I can’t believe I had the nerve to wear out of the house. But that goes to show where my mind was at the time lol.
Of course spiritually I’m not thinking literally about clothes, although there are some articles of clothing that I am definitely convicted about lol. I’m thinking more on the lines of our behavior, our conversations, our attitudes and the list can go on and on , I’m sure some of you can insert a few things in that line up yourselves (by all means feel free). When we become Christians a transformation takes place and we are no longer the same!! Praise God! Everything about us changes. Our conduct, character, and conversation all get an extreme makeover. It’s really put so plainly in Ephesians 4:22 -24 that says: 22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy (NLT).
Well these are the things that are SUPPOSED to happen but the problem is that a lot of times we don’t really clean out our closet. We sort of surface clean, we straighten it up put and hang a few things back up that fell off the hangers . We fold a few things up and put them in labeled boxes or bins so that we can find them later on.
The Problem with a Messy Closet
Closets are places that we don’t really talk about. We sort of just put all of our junk in there and then forget about them until we need them. We don’t really care about the orderliness of them because we can just close the door and no one will ever be aware of the chaos that is lurking behind it. So we think. The thing is just because no one can see the mess in the closet, doesn’t mean they don’t know it’s there. The mess in our closets has a funny little way of showing up in other aspects of our lives. All the disorder and chaos begins to seep into our relationships causing confusion, depression, anxiety and other things. People start noticing our behavior and the door is no longer closed. We are now exposed; we can longer hide all of this mess we have allowed to build up. We have become short with people, compassion fatigued and burnt out. Some of us have even mastered the art, as one preacher put it, of “functioning in dysfunction”. How could this have happened!! Well, we have been so busy being a “good Christian” and helping others clean out their closets that we have allowed ours to come undone. We even find ourselves taking on others junk and adding to mess behind the door!! We mustn’t forget that during all of our “ministering” or helping that we not forget that we must continue doing maintenance in our own closets. When we see things out of place we need to put them back. When things fall off the hangers we need to hang them back up. Don’t let the stuff pile up, deal with it immediately and most importantly, don’t be afraid to throw stuff away.

The Problem with Holding On to Stuff
The problem with holding on to stuff is that we were supposed to GET RID of it. Not pack it up or tuck it away for later use. All those old sinful ways were to have been removed, not stored away to be unpacked again at our convenience. We all know how it is; we remember a certain thing we use to wear so we go taking down boxes and bins searching for it. Once you find this thing and you put it on and wear it you realize ok I made a big mistake, this doesn’t fit like or like it or some of us may not even get past the trying on process before we realize that it was fit for the garbage. I know I have, and when you look back at your closet you realize that you have allowed it to become junky again!! You went in looking for a certain thing but let other things spill out along the way. Now you’re to overwhelmed and too tired to clean it up, so you just find yourself closing the door again and allowing it to continue to build up again. That’s why it’s important to deal with sin properly. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you and teach you how to cast down and take captive those things that want to continue to resurface in your life. Ask God to help us get rid of these things completely because just moving them to the side makes it so easy for us to put them on again!!
I could definitely go on and on but I must finish cleaning out my own closet. LOL. I hope that I have encouraged you today. Be Blessed.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow (Psalms 51:7)

1000 Gifts :Dare To Live Fully Right Where You Are

8Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon His name; make known His deeds among the people ( 1Chronicles 16:8)

I saw another blogger post this book on her site and I decided to check it out. I havent read it yet but I have decided to go ahead and take the authors challenge while Im reading it. Take a look at the book description below I got from amazon:

Just like you, Ann Voskamp hungers to live her one life well. Forget the bucket lists that have us escaping our everyday lives for exotic experiences. 'How,' Ann wondered, 'do we find joy in the midst of deadlines, debt, drama, and daily duties? What does the Christ-life really look like when your days are gritty, long---and sometimes even dark? How is God even here?' In One Thousand Gifts, Ann invites you to embrace everyday blessings and embark on the transformative spiritual discipline of chronicling God's gifts. It's only in this expressing of gratitude for the life we already have, we discover the life we've always wanted ... a life we can take, give thanks for, and break for others. We come to feel and know the impossible right down in our bones: we are wildly loved --- by God. Let Ann's beautiful, heart-aching stories of the everyday give you a way of seeng that opens your eyes to ordinary amazing grace, a way of being present to God that makes you deeply happy, and a way of living that is finally fully alive. Come live the best dare of all!

So basically the challenge is to journal 1000 things that you are thankful for things that you already possess (not things want) but things that are seemingly ordinary that you probably dont even pay attention to on a daily basis. Things that you dont normally think to stop and thank God for. The little,bitty, teensy tiny things , and the big ones too of course!! Join me as I thank and celebrate all the things that God has blessed me with!!

1. Salvation
2. my husband

3. my children

4. my family

5. mexican food!!

6. the gym :)

7. my church

8. the library

9. my kindle

10. blogs

I know these things may seem random or insignificant but a lot of these things I enjoy and I am trully thankful for them...lol.

Hope you will join me, cant wait to see what you guys are thankful for.

Pool Side Revelations

The pool here on base opened up on last with a huge luau and every since then the Ingrams have been there like clockwork. I get up go to the gym, come home check some emails, do some homework and by 12 noon we are pool side.
Yesterday as I was sitting pool there was a situation and a revelation:

rev-e-la-tion
–noun
1. the act of revealing or disclosing; disclosure.
2. something revealed or disclosed, especially a striking disclosure, as of something not before realized.
3. Theology .
a. God's disclosure of Himself and His will to His creatures.
b. an instance of such communication or disclosure.
c. something thus communicated or disclosed.
d. something that contains such disclosure, as the Bible.

While at the pool, there was a young girl and her little brother who came into pool area together. The little girl who had to be about 7 or 8 walked to the side of the pool and immediately jumped in, the little boy who was like 3 or 4 saw this. He walked to the edge of the pool and was talking to the little girl as she was trying to fix her goggles. I was watching the little guy and thinking to myself the whole time, "I hope he doesnt jump in", and I was also wondering if he could swim. I saw him get closer to edge of the pool , but I didnt say anything because I figured mom was close behind, and plus , I have seen women get really crazy about other people saying things to their kids.

So, as I was doing all of this self talk, the little boy JUMPED in, and I took off. He jumped in with his arms wide open , thinking that the little girl would catch him, but she wasnt even paying attention, she was doing her own thing. The lifeguards (teens) were on the other side of the pool and it would have took them too long to get there so I took off ,jumping over chairs and bags and into the water. When I got in the water the little boy was under with his eyes wide open, reaching out to me, so I quickly scooped him up. By this time the lifeguards had made their way over to me and I handed him to them, so they could check him out. His parents thanked me and were grateful that I got thier little boy.

I didnt even have on a bathing suit, I wasnt planning on getting in the water at all..LOL..I went in fully dressed...LOL.

Thinking about all that had happened yesterday, reminded me of the Fathers Love and how we are as his children:

Many times as christians we find ourselves in situations where we run ahead of him. We want to do something so badly but instead of waiting until we have been fully equipped to do the task, we jump into it head first and find ourselves struggling to keep our head above water. We were tempted by how easy or effortless others made things look, when in fact we dont know what all they had to go through to be where they are.

Unlike me and the little boy, the father knows what we are going to do before we do it and even though he knows we are not ready, he lets us jump in anyway.

He watches as we look at others and think to ourselves that if they can do it, then we can do it. He watches as we put our trust in man instead of him. He watches as inch closer and closer to the edge. He watches as we struggle. But most importantly he HEARS us when we call, and he comes to our rescue!!

We must not get ahead of the father! We must not move until he says move! He knows when its time to be released to do what it is that we desire! He knows the exact time, place, minute and hour, and thats why I love him.

When I think about my own journey to the pool today I realize that it took some time prepare before we went. My children asked to go and I said, Yes. They then got on their swimsuits, and their towels, their goggles etc. They took swim lessons when they were 6 and I know that they know how to swim so I give them a lot of freedom at the pool, but every now and then I have to remind to put on sunblock so they wont get burned!! Wow..that spoke to me just then. Even though we have been doing a thing for years , we shouldnt get so beside ourselves and think that we have arrived...I have heard of people who have been swimming for years drown...some people get to cocky and think they are beyond reproach but find themselves in a situation that they cant handle...believe me , a Lake is whole different than a Pool!!! You cant see all the dangers lurking in a lake! Putting on the full armour of God DAILY, is a must regardless of how long you have been walking this walk. Without the use of sunburn we get burned! We know this but sometimes we think , oh Im not going to be out there long enough to get burned, but the thing is you never know.

Christians find themseleves in some hairy situations sometimes because they thought they could handle it. Please friends let us not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to. Let us gird ourselves up everyday with prayer and the word. Let us be in a position to help others, but let us not be so arrogant as to think we are better than them, because it could just as easily been us. Let us always listen to our Father, and FOLLOW him and not run ahead. We can avoid so many snares if we do! I love you and God Bless you all!