I think it might finally be spring!!! I mean... it was winter on Sunday, but since then it's been sooo nice outside. Just windy though. But I can't complain about the wind~ it's better than being freezing cold, and in August, we'll probably be wishing there was some wind around!

Big Needs (a celebration of grace)

I recently shared the story about the rummage sale/scrambled egg couch with a friend. She liked the story and said, "Those who live with big needs, they understand a good gift."

Wow. That really struck me. Don't all of us live with big needs? Or shouldn't we? Do any of us deserve the priceless gift of life and salvation that we have been given?

Fortunately, I have enough deficiencies within my own abilities to require daily God-size servings of grace.

Fortunately? (Did she say fortunately?) Yes, I did. No, I don't get some sick pleasure out of constantly falling short of my goals and realizing my human limitations. In fact, it's a constant source of frustration for me. But there, in my imperfections, is where I really learn to lean on God and see His work in my life!

Do I think we all live with big needs? Yes. Do I think we all realize it? No. And I think that is absolutely tragic. Instead of trying to gloss over our imperfections, it's ok to realize that His grace is sufficient where we are insufficient, and His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses!

And fortunately, I have enough weaknesses to allow God to flex His muscles in me for a very long time. :)

I love blogging.

I don't just mean that I love to blog. I mean, I do enjoy the act of blogging for myself. But I love blogging as a whole.
Blogging can be really therapuetic, and provide an outlet for expression, creativity, or just updating people on your day to day happenings.
Even more than I like to blog, I like to read blogs. Reading blogs can give you so much insight into who people are. Sometimes you get the good, the bad, and the very, very ugly, but ultimately you come away with a better understanding of how their mind works.
People like to be understood, and like to know that others are interested in them. Reading people's blog has enhanced my relationships with people because it allowed me to understand them better, and then let them know that I am interested in what they have to say. Sometimes just knowing that someone cared enough to take a few minutes from their day to read their blog causes people to open up even more.
If you have a blog and I don't already know about it, drop me a line! I'd love to subscribe to your blog!!
You can find another blog of mine at www.xanga.com/glimpsesof. I mostly post pictures on that blog.

So I have yet another blog. I'm going to do better about keeping up with this one though.... really I am.

I posted a link to one of my other blog as my "website" link, feel free to check it out if you would like. I haven't posted on it in forever, but it will be updated soon. The thing about blogging is, I always have a hundred ideas on things to write about.... until I sit down at the computer! Oh, well.

The weather has been so gloriously warm lately, it's making me wonder if we might possibly be done with all the cold. I hope so, and I really wish it could just stay nice like this, instead of heating up into the humid, sticky mess that is an Oklahoma summer.

Speaking of warm weather, once we are sure the warm weather is here to stay, and once school is out, we will be having another Student Ministries rummage sale. I have such a like/dislike relationship with rummage sales. They are a REALLY good way to raise money in just a couple of days though, so I try to make myself just love them. :) And I have gone from seeing the rummage sale as just a way to raise money for our ministries as a ministry in itself. In each rummage sale, it isn't hard to spot God working through it! We meet some interesting people, and have an opportunity to meet quite a few people in our community, as well as meet their needs by providing them with really good deals!

One of my favorite stories from this last rummage sale is about the lady who bought a couch. She had been shopping at the sale, and had bought a few things when she asked if we had any furniture. I remembered that we had a couple of things inside that we hadn't brought out yet, so we took her in to show her. There was an older couch that they youth have been wanting out of their classroom, they called it the "scrambled egg" couch. She came out saying she liked and wanted the couch, but she didn't have a way to get it home. I remembered that we had borrowed my dad's pickup for hauling "rummage," so I told her we could deliver it once we got some men around to help.

We delivered the couch the next morning, and Thomas said her apartment was completely bare. She had a dining room table, and a shelf (like the kind in stores) with a few toys on it for her granddaughter who lives with her. There was nowhere to sit. Thomas said she kept saying, "Thank you so much. You just don't know how much I appreciate this!"

I was so amazed. God really does make old things new!! That couch is probably 30 years old, and the youth have been wanting to get rid of it pretty badly (we have another donated couch that will take its place.) And somehow, God worked it out so we forgot to bring it out until that lady wanted it- and she turned out to be the person who was probably blessed by it more than anyone else could have been! It makes me happy to think about her & her granddaughter getting some good use out of that old couch!

That's just one story. The entire weekend was full of divine appointments, and although I was happy to close up shop, I was also kind of sad to see it end. I'm looking forward to the next one though!


Hmm. I didn't mean to make this so long. I'm going to leave you now, and go eat some cereal.

How exciting! The blogs are set up!

More to follow!