Easter.........

My favorite holiday is, and always has been, Easter. I have many great memories of great Sunrise Services, yummy homemade Easter meals and Easter Egg Hunts at my grandmother's house. This year my family will be coming to my house (as has become tradition) and I am SO excited. We will also be celebrating Abby's 13th birthday this weekend and I am so thankful for her! She was born on Easter Sunday 1997 and this is yet another reason Easter is so special to my heart.

As we draw closer to the day we remember Christ's crucifixion and point our eyes towards the cross, let us all be thankful and remember the ultimate Sacrifice. Are we sacrificing it all for him? Do our lives generate sacrificial giving and do our lives shine for Christ? Take time to ponder on His journey to the cross. Take time to reflect on your own journey to the cross. Are you making one daily?

God's Timing

"But everything has it time, and the main thing is that we keep step with God, and do not keep stepping on a few steps ahead - NOR keep dawdling a step behind.

- Listening Hearts

Discernment in Your Calling....

Discernment comes from the Latin word discernere, which means "to separate", "to distinguish", "to determine", "to sort out". In classical spirituality, discernment means identifying what spirit is at work in a situation: the Spirit of God or some other spirit. Discernment is "sifting through" our interior and exterior experiences to determine their origin. Discernment helps a person understand the source of a call, to whom it is directed, its content, and what response is appropriate. Discernment also involves learning if one is dodging a call, is deaf to a call, or is rejecting a call. (from Listening Hearts)

Lord, give us discernment.

A Calling.....

I am currently reading a book called "Listening Hearts" and for the next few weeks am planning on sharing some excerpts from the book with you. As I am discerning with prayer and scripture, God's own call on my life, I encourage you to do the same. From the first excerpt I think it is most important that we realize that God "calls" each of us. We, each and everyone one of us, have a calling. That's so cool! So, here we go, Exerpt #1

"God calls each of us. There are a variety of calls, and no one call is inherently better or higher than any other. The call of a priest, monk, or nun, however sacred, is, in and of itself, not a suuerior call to the call of an architect designing a house or a mechanic repairing a car, or a nurse caring for the sick. It is our faithfulness to God not our station in life that honors a call."

Advice from Melissa.......

Even though you have extensively off planned and actually pullled a pretty cool Middle School Lesson for your Wednesday night group, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, let them burn their sins in a coffee can INSIDE the church. That is all I have to say about that........

How to Live!

From my friend Tammy Maltby:

The book is called “In a Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day”, by Mark Batterson. Mark calls this the “Lion Chaser Manifesto”.

Loved this quote...

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Grab life by the mane. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lilies. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshipping what’s right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze new trails. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don’t try to be who you’re not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away.

Random Thought for the Day......

I was staring out my window during work yesterday (one of the benefits of working from home!), and noticed a female cardinal hopping around in the little area beneath a butterfly bush near our house. I immediately thought of how God's eye is on the sparrow and how he provides for even the birds of the field. I have grown up knowing this all my life and boy am I glad! Something yesterday, however, sort of just knocked me for a loop - one of those "struck by lightning" moments. The bird was having to cock her head and LISTEN for the worms! Well, duh, Melissa....I am sure you are saying, but to me is was so profound. We must try hard to listen to what the Lord is telling us - where He is directing us, etc. Lots of times there are many distractions, as we know, just as there were for the cardinal (cars, wind, man sawing next door), but she still kept cocking her head to listen! I pray that I take that lesson to the spiritual bank and deposit it. I pray for God to reveal Himself to me, but most of all I pray that I make the time to sit and listen for Him.

Let's Hear it for Friday!

WOW I am ready for the weekend! It has been a great week, but also a trying one mentally so I am ready to get out enjoy this beautiful TN sunshine and take some time this weekend to reflect and meditate on what God is saying to me right now in this season of life. We are going to be meeting up with my Dad tomorrow and hiking near the Ocoee River or maybe somewhere closer to Chattanooga (not sure yet). I am so thankful to be able to get outside with the kids and also get some exercise. As for the rest of the weekend - nothing.........yay!!!

God has really placed on my heart this week to be in a time of prayer and to be living in a spirit of constant prayer. If you have prayer requests, please email me and I will be in prayer this weekend for you! Love to all - Melissa

Whew!

I am completely not kidding you when I tell you that it took me until yesterday (TUESDAY) to completely recover from the Famine. I am getting old my peeps! We had a wonderful 30 hours of fasting which ended in Communion and a break-fast feast! Total raised to date is right around $3300.00! All proceeds will go to feed children in Haiti.