All that and a bag of chips...

Well, I went to the doctor tonight and they said that all of my pain is due to my endo (surprise, surprise) and that there is nothing they can do about it. I am so shocked! ;-)
Have I ever mentioned how much I love my doctor??? She is the GREATEST! She scheduled an after hours appointment for me at 6:45. I don't know many other doctors that will do that. And she did an ultrasound on me to make sure everything looked good and then tells me that she won't be charging me for the ultrasound either. She only charges for ultrasounds when the tech does them. That is wonderful news because Dr. Dunn has done quite a few ultrasounds on me. She also said that from the looks of my ovaries (which looked good too...one cyst on my right ovary but looking good over all) that I need to light some candles and spend some alone time with my husband this weekend. Doctor's orders is what she said! :-)

I am so thankful and blessed that God has put her in my life. He knew exactly who to send me to. Still praying for our miracle baby!

Be blessed dear friends. God is so good ALL the time!

Some Old School Pics

Me, Kevin (giving me bunny ears), Jody Cunningham, Angela & Emily Ferrari

Total white girl overbite at the age of 6. I disliked this dress!

JD, me, and Steve

My big brother Jimmy pimpin his leisure suit in May of 1976 going to his 8th grade graduation

Skyla age 5...look how cute

Garrett age 2 & 1/2 and me age 24 (taken in 2000)

I really needed this today!

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Luke 12:34 (NIV)



Devotion:

Say the word “test” and most people cringe. That’s because tests bring undue stress and pressure that we’d rather live without. Nonetheless, tests have many purposes. They analyze our intelligence or skill; determine what we have learned, and reveal who we are. Then there are spiritual tests. They often try our faith and commitment to God.



Remember the story of Abraham and his beloved son, Isaac, found in Genesis chapter 22? Pause to read it if you haven’t. Through Isaac God was going to build a nation! Can you imagine the pride Abraham must have had for his son? Nothing makes me prouder than to see one of my children succeed, and Abraham knew God had great plans for his son. What on earth could go wrong—especially with a promised child?



You and I both know a lot can go wrong. We’ve probably stood in Abraham’s sandals once or twice in our life times too. And like Abraham, we’ve clung to the promises of God. Yet, sickness lingers, financial troubles invade, friends betray us, and eventually death calls. How do we respond?



Abraham responded with great love, trust, and commitment when God asked for his only son to be sacrificed. Don’t think it was easy for him. Just because you and I know the outcome of the story doesn’t mean Abraham did. He had to trust God every step of the way. Abraham’s mind must have been plagued with thoughts such as, “This doesn’t make sense, Lord.” “You promised, Lord.” “Help me, Lord.”



Determined to obey God no matter the cost, Abraham prepared to take his son’s life. In that dramatic moment, and just in the nick of time, God called from heaven and released both the child and Abraham from the test.



It was only a test. God never wanted the death of Isaac. He wanted the surrendered heart of Abraham. Just as God planned, the test revealed Abraham’s undying love and commitment to God. I believe that Abraham’s faith was expanded too that day in the sufficiency and care of his loving Father.



Unfortunately, this is an area God will always test you and me. More than anything God wants our whole and committed hearts. As painful as some tests are, God is using them to grow us into all He has designed us to be. When our trials don’t make sense, we can trust God. He has promised to set limits on our trials—to walk with us in the midst of them, and to bring forth good.



The question for you and me today is this. When God doesn’t behave like we think He should, when it seems like He has turned the other way and broken every promise, will we still love and trust Him?



When the pregnancy test is negative, will you still love Him? When your loved one dies, will you still love Him? When the job interview falls flat, will you still love Him? When no treatment can be found, will you still love Him?



Dear Lord, I’m guilty of chasing your blessings more than chasing after You. You are all I need. I recommit my heart to you and I will trust you in my present situation. May your will—not mine—be done, In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Blame it on the pain

Well...Aaron played a show in Waverly, OH today. We had been planning on going for a few weeks and alas I did not get to attend. I have been in bed since Thursday with major pains. Something I should be used to, I know. Is this what it means when it says in the bible that you will pay for the sins of your ancestors? Or maybe I am paying for my past sins....God knows I have made more than my fair share of mistakes. I can't help but wonder if all of these wonderful female problems I have been given are results of my past actions. I would hate for my sins and previous mistakes to be taken out on Aaron. He is such a wonderful dad and I so badly want to be able to give him a McKim of his own. I will gladly pay for all of my past mistakes, but don't take my stupidity out on those I love the most. I know that not only would Aaron love a little McKim, but Garrett and Skyla would as well. Yes, Skyla has Leland but Garrett tells me on a regular basis that he doesn't want to be an only child forever. He is lucky to have Skyla as a sister (and vice versa) but they see each other more as friends and for that I am grateful. At least they will have each other if I cannot carry a baby to term or if adoption is not the path we are supposed to take either.
I keep praying and know that God will answer my prayer one way or another. It might not be how I would want it to be answered. He might answer it exactly how I want it, He might have some more lessons for me to learn, or He might have something else in mind for us. With that being said I have come to a few conclusions of my own:
1. I need to spend more time in His Word and with Him every day. I always find time to lounge and watch tv but have a hard time finding time to spend with the creator of our magnificent world.
2. I need to learn what God is trying to teach me. There are always lessons to be learned I just need to make sure my eyes are open to them.
3. I don't become as easily upset as I used to about finding about other women who are pregnant (especially those not trying for a baby). We have been trying for over two years now. We have been blessed with three pregnancies. Those three angels will be waiting for us in heaven. We have also been blessed with two amazing children. Garrett and Skyla are wonderful and I am so thankful that we are their parents and get to help guide them through life.
4. I am going to volunteer at the Choices for Women Center. I truly feel God is calling me to help other mothers in need. It might be painful, but I know he will use me in ways I can't even imagine. And everything is for a season so it could be a long or short season that I am there, but I know that I will benefit greatly from it.
5. This time next year I will be without all of my wonderful female parts that cause me so much pain. Regardless of whether we have a baby or not I will have a total hysterectomy.
I cried today while Aaron drove down the road to meet up with everyone to go to Ohio. I didn't cry because he was leaving...I cried because I was unable to go with him. I cried because I feel that these wonderful pains that I have, that are becoming more painful and more frequent, are causing me to miss out on parts of our life that I don't want to miss out on. I was sad when Aaron left today because I have been home during the day either with the kids or by myself, I have been working nights, Aaron has band practice on night a week, and I have really been looking forward to our time we get to spend together on the weekends. I didn't get that today. I stayed home, in bed, by myself, all day. These are things that I am growing more easily aggravated at and irritated with. I become frustrated knowing that I have to go to the doctor every 3-4 months for testing and painful testing at that. All of these things will no longer be a concern when there are no parts to cause pain.
I will continue to pray that God will bless us with a viable pregnancy that will be carried to term, with a healthy baby, and with an easy delivery. I pray this every day. I know that God creates miracles every day and has the power to create a miracle with us if he so chooses. I pray that he will allow us to have our baby Arabella...our answer to our prayers.

Randy Pausch

Patience

Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was
using him to rescue them, but they did not.
-- Acts 7:25

Dear Heavenly Father, I am often impatient and frustrated by
having to wait. Forgive me, dear God, for trying to rush your
timetable and for assuming my plan is your plan. Please give me
wisdom to know what do, where to go, and when to act. In Jesus'
name I pray for this patience and wisdom. Amen.

Dinner with the girls!

Tonight I got to go to dinner with the girls. It was wonderful! I hadn't seen them in almost a year! (Let's not do that again please.) Ang, Rachel, Jenni, and I all had a great time catching up, chatting, and enjoying the nice patio of the restaurant that I can't remember the name of, but it is right next to the Grand. Thanks for a great time girls! Let's get together again soon! Love ya!

Here is a pic of Ang and one of Rachel and baby Gabi. Sorry, but I don't have a pic of Jenni to put on here. If you send me one I will put in on here Jenni! :-)

Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Beers

Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Beers
====================

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours
in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers .

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in
front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large
and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He
then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the
jar He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas
between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was
full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the
jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured
the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space
between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to
recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the
important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends
and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only
they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house
and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff. 'If you put the sand into
the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the
golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and
energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that
are important to you.

'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend
time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with
grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to
dinner.

Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix
the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really
matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer
represented. The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.'

The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.'
--
An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.
Proverbs 24:26

Thanks for the prayers!

“Never stop praying, especially for others. Always pray by the power of the Spirit. Stay alert and keep praying for God's people.” Ephesians 6:18 (CEV)

God is teaching me much about prayer. For someone who hates to impose on others, I need to be reminded that asking for prayer isn't about putting burdens on my friends. It's about letting them walk by my side down a path that I was never intended to walk alone. In return, they let me do the same.


Lord, thank You for never seeing my prayers as a burden. Please teach me more about the power and the purpose of prayer in my life and in my friendships. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

From our Women's Minister

Hey ladies, I wanted to pass this onto you...I know I have told some of you how amazing the deeper still conference was....I still think about what Kay Arthur said that day....another lady put it into perfect words...read the email below (it was truly a moment I will never forget...and my passion has grown everyday since...)
Print this email off and look at these verses...it is incredible!!

Christi Peak

This is a very sobering email, you may want to wait to read it when you have time to contemplate its meaning. For those of you that are out of the Louisville KY area, this is from a pastor at one of our local churches; so it isn't from someone that we aren't familiar with. This is one of those emails that you don't want to pass on if this truly is a 'forewarning' from the Lord, I don't want to be one of those that wouldn't help to warn people either. Gloria

I didn't know that Pastor had a blog , but I got this from Cindi Carman a friend at church and she is the one that retreived this.
Most of you will know Kay Arthur. She is a true servant of the Most High God. A very wonderful teacher for decades. Thought I would share this with you.

This was on the pastor's blog at Valley View.
Dear Ones, On June 27th and 28th I attended a conference in Atlanta called Deeper Still. Internationally known speakers Kay Arthur, Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer were there and I looked forward to a special time of worship and having God convict me of my sins and lead me to areas in my life where I need to change. I have been to similar conferences for years, although none this large and with so many well-known speakers. There were over 20,000 women in attendance at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta - they said it was the largest crowd ever. I had an idea of what to expect from the conference, but nothing prepared me for what actually happened. I feel led to share my experience with family and friends. This is important, so stay with me!
When Kay Arthur took the stage you could just tell that her spirit was heavy and there was a certain “heaviness” in the atmosphere even before she started to speak. She said that she had been literally physically sick to have to bring us this message and right out the gate she said,”We are in grave danger.” She said that God had revealed to her that a literal famine is coming to America . Physical, not spiritual. She said that God is moving in judgement against our nation. I know I can’t describe this well enough, but the atmosphere was ominous. Kay is a seasoned speaker and she had to BATTLE to get through her message. She stumbled over scriptures and had an extremely difficult time.
At times I was almost expecting her to collapse. At one point she just had to stop and pray. There was no person, myself included, that I could see who did not have tears streaming down their faces. As you may know, Kay Arthur is normally a very confident, composed speaker, but she was literally in a spiritual battle and it was taking place right before my eyes.
I have never seen anything like it. She went on to give 7 things that Christians must do during this time and I am going to give those to you now:
1. Jer 4:3 - Jeremiah 4:3
Here's another Message from God
to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:
"Plow your unplowed fields,
but then don't plant weeds in the soil!
Yes, circumcise your lives for God's sake.
Plow your unplowed hearts,
all you people of Judah and Jerusalem.
Prevent fire—the fire of my anger—
for once it starts it can't be put out.
Your wicked ways
are fuel for the fire.
- Break up the fallow ground- return to Me. Repent. Get on your face before God and ask him to break your heart with the things that break His heart.
2. Mourn- Jer. 9:17-18 - Jeremiah 9:17-18
17-19 A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies
"Look over the trouble we're in and call for help.
Send for some singers who can help us mourn our loss.
Tell them to hurry—
to help us express our loss and lament,
Help us get our tears flowing,
make tearful music of our crying.
Listen to it!
Listen to that torrent of tears out of Zion:
'We're a ruined people,
we're a shamed people!
We've been driven from our homes
and must leave our land!'"
and Ezekial 9. It is time to weep because our nation’s sin is incredible.
3. Pray- Jer 36:7 - Jeremiah 36:7
"Maybe, just maybe, they'll start praying and God will hear their prayers. Maybe they'll turn back from their bad lives. This is no light matter. God has certainly let them know how angry he is
- Pray fervently, passionately for America .
4. Love God’s Word- Jer. 20. You MUST love the Word of God and be in the Word of God. I was particularly convicted here because I know I have not been as deeply in His Word as I need to be. She said we must get serious about this.
5. Love others as Jesus loved them. Jer. 31:3 and John13:34
"Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other
6. Introduce people to Jesus Christ. It’s time to get serious about this. This is no time for timidity. Jer 31:31; Jer 33:1-9
Things You Could Never Figure Out on Your Own
While Jeremiah was still locked up in jail, a second Message from God was given to him: "This is God's Message, the God who made earth, made it livable and lasting, known everywhere as 'Call to me and I will answer you. I'll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.' "This is what God, the God of Israel, has to say about what's going on in this city, about the homes of both people and kings that have been demolished, about all the ravages of war and the killing by the Chaldeans, and about the streets littered with the dead bodies of those killed because of my raging anger—about all that's happened because the evil actions in this city have turned my stomach in disgust. "But now take another look. I'm going to give this city a thorough renovation, working a true healing inside and out. I'm going to show them life whole, life brimming with blessings. I'll restore everything that was lost to Judah and Jerusalem. I'll build everything back as good as new. I'll scrub them clean from the dirt they've done against me. I'll forgive everything they've done wrong, forgive all their rebellions. And Jerusalem will be a center of joy and praise and glory for all the countries on earth. They'll get reports on all the good I'm doing for her. They'll be in awe of the blessings I am pouring on her.
7. Rest. If you will do these things, then rest in the fact that you have done God’s will. She said that it is going to be vitally important for us to get enough physical rest. She went on to say that God has not given us a spirit of fear and that if we are obedient to Him, we will be protected.

She said to read Ezekial 14 over and over until you understand it. This is what God will do if a country turns against Him. She said that this is going to be a calamity ( she used the word calamity in such a way that you knew this is going to be no small thing) for our country, and gave many more scripture references, but what I have given you are the main points that she made. I hope you know that I would not have sent this to you if I had not been profoundly affected by it and feel it is of great importance to share it. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you will do with this information what you feel led by God to do
Love in Christ Jesus

Ezekiel 14
Idols in Their Hearts
Some of the leaders of Israel approached me and sat down with me. God's Message came to me: "Son of Man, these people have installed idols in their hearts. They have embraced the wickedness that will ruin them. Why should I even bother with their prayers? Therefore tell them, 'The Message of God, the Master: All in Israel who install idols in their hearts and embrace the wickedness that will ruin them and still have the gall to come to a prophet, be on notice: I, God, will step in and personally answer them as they come dragging along their mob of idols. I am ready to go to work on the hearts of the house of Israel, all of whom have left me for their idols. "Therefore, say to the house of Israel: 'God, the Master, says, Repent! Turn your backs on your no-god idols. Turn your backs on all your outrageous obscenities. To every last person from the house of Israel, including any of the resident aliens who live in Israel—all who turn their backs on me and embrace idols, who install the wickedness that will ruin them at the center of their lives and then have the gall to go to the prophet to ask me questions—I, God, will step in and give the answer myself. I'll oppose those people to their faces, make an example of them—a warning lesson—and get rid of them so you will realize that I am God. "'If a prophet is deceived and tells these idolaters the lies they want to hear, I, God, get blamed for those lies. He won't get by with it. I'll grab him by the scruff of the neck and get him out of there. They'll be equally guilty, the prophet and the one who goes to the prophet, so that the house of Israel will never again wander off my paths and make themselves filthy in their rebellions, but will rather be my people, just as I am their God. Decree of God, the Master.'" God's Message came to me: "Son of man, when a country sins against me by living faithlessly and I reach out and destroy its food supply by bringing on a famine, wiping out humans and animals alike, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job—the Big Three—were alive at the time, it wouldn't do the population any good. Their righteousness would only save their own lives." Decree of God, the Master. "Or, if I make wild animals go through the country so that everyone has to leave and the country becomes wilderness and no one dares enter it anymore because of the wild animals, even if these three men were living there, as sure as I am the living God, neither their sons nor daughters would be rescued, but only those three, and the country would revert to wilderness. "Or, if I bring war on that country and give the order, 'Let the killing begin!' leaving both people and animals dead, even if those three men were alive at the time, as sure as I am the living God, neither sons nor daughters would be rescued, but only these three. "Or, if I visit a deadly disease on that country, pouring out my lethal anger, killing both people and animals, and Noah, Daniel, and Job happened to be alive at the time, as sure as I am the living God, not a son, not a daughter, would be rescued. Only these three would be delivered because of their righteousness. "Now then, that's the picture," says God, the Master, "once I've sent my four catastrophic judgments on Jerusalem—war, famine, wild animals, disease—to kill off people and animals alike. But look! Believe it or not, there'll be survivors. Some of their sons and daughters will be brought out. When they come out to you and their salvation is right in your face, you'll see for yourself the life they've been saved from. You'll know that this severe judgment I brought on Jerusalem was worth it, that it had to be. Yes, when you see in detail the kind of lives they've been living, you'll feel much better. You'll see the reason behind all that I've done in Jerusalem." Decree of God, the Master.

Jesus loves me this I know....

“Now let your unfailing love comfort me, just as you promised me, your servant.”

Psalm 119:76 (NLT)

Do not be fooled by the promises of this world; believe the promises of God’s Word. You are His precious child. He loves you. He desires a relationship with you no matter what has happened to you or what you’ve done. Trust and give Him the chance to be the One who fills your heart with love.

Dear Lord, I don’t even have to ask to You to love me, because You already do. Oh God, please remind me often of how much You love me and help me not to give into what the world is offering me to make me feel better. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

CAMP!

We are leaving for camp today and we are all SO excited! Can't wait to show you the pics when we get back! Pray that all will be successful and that God will give the kindness, love, wisdom, and words to use with these kids. I am so excited to go to camp and do God's work.

God is so good, all the time....ALL the time God is so good!

Psalm 95:6 "Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God."

Daybreak Testimony

This is a testimony that I gave to a group of single moms on April 10th. I wanted to share it on here.

Hello! My name is Jenny McKim. I am a 31 year old mom to a son who turned 10 yesterday. I also teach kindergarten so if you sneeze don’t take offense if I tell you to blow your nose and wash your hands. It is a habit that I have. I am also very nervous to be here in front of a group of women. I might have to pretend that you are all in kindergarten so if someone could pick their nose I would feel more at ease. J

All kidding aside I am here to talk with you about when I was a single mom. At the age of 16 I met my ex-husband, got pregnant and married at the age of 21, had Garrett, moved out when Garrett was 1 and ½, moved back in 6 months later, and finally left for good on my 26^th birthday when Garrett was 4 and ½. Happy birthday to me, right? I’m sure many of you are wondering why I chose to go back. Because I couldn’t live with myself not knowing whether or not we could have worked out our differences. A few months after I moved back in on my 24^th b-day I realized I had made a mistake when I was made aware that my ex had left my two year old at home by himself while he ran to the liquor store to get some beer. I was devastated, but others around me told me not to over react and leave again. So I stayed in hopes of trying to make my marriage work mainly for my son. I was going to school full-time, working full-time, and trying to be a mom and a wife full-time. I soon came to realize that even though we were still living in the same house that we were living two separate lives and I was essentially a single mom. On my 26^th birthday I showed up at the house to find ALL of my belongings packed up and moved into the drive way. Even though leaving was my choice I was still devastated. I cried the whole entire day, yes even while moving. I had tried to build a life with this person and now all of our hopes and dreams were shattered and gone. I felt like a failure for being divorced at the age of 26, I felt like I didn’t know where my life was supposed to go. I had to drop out of the education program because I couldn’t finish school and be a single parent. I felt like my life was in shambles.

I wish I could say that I was like Lisa who spoke last week. She prayed to God and stayed faithful, I didn’t. Did I know God? Yes. My parents were not church going people. Yes we went on the major holidays, but I came to know Christ through the Hargett family. Angie Hargett was my best friend from 2^nd grade on and her dad was a pastor. They were the ones who taught me about God. But Angie moved to a different school our freshman year of high school and I followed the other path because I no longer had her and her family to be an influence on me. So, when I left my ex I turned to a bottle instead of the bible. Thankfully God made me realize after about two weeks of that, that I was turning into the exact same thing I swore I would never become because my mom was an alcoholic who died when I was 6 and I DID NOT want that for Garrett.

From that point on I continued to feel like a failure and continued to feel sorry for myself. Even though I was far from God He was always with me in my journey. He was trying to guide me and nudge me in the right direction. One day I was sitting on my couch with Garrett when an overwhelming feeling came over me. I looked at Garrett and told him to get up because we were going to get up and do something. He turned and asked me why and I told him because I was going to stop feeling sorry for myself…it was getting me no where. That, my friends, was a God thing. If it weren’t for Him continuing to nudge I might still be sitting there on that couch right now. That is not a place I want to go back to. I mean, the pity parties were so extravagant that I should have busted out the balloons and streamers! Thank God for divine intervention.

Last week when I was driving home from our first Daybreak class I was wracking my brain trying to think of what I would say in my talk. I was reminded of a song by Joy Williams called God Only Knows. The chorus of the song says:

God only knows all your broken pieces

Only he knows what you’re going thru

God only knows what you hide inside

And he’s holding onto you

I felt like that this song was perfect for me. Looking back I can see how God was still holding onto me even after all of the things I had done in my life, after turning my back on Him, He knew all of my faults and yet He was still there…knowing all of these things and still loving and holding onto me. That is something that at times is still hard for me to completely understand.

One of my favorite scripture verses is

Psalm 50:15

Call on me when you are in trouble and I will rescue you and you will give me glory.

Oh, how I wish that I would have had that scripture when I was going through these trials. God will rescue us, it might not be the way we would like or want, it might not have been as quickly as we would like, but He will rescue us. It won’t always be easy.

I was sent a daily devotional that I know came from God. The scripture is:

Psalm 84:6

When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs, where pools of blessing collect after the rains!

God doesn’t promise us a trouble-free life, but He does say that Valleys of Weeping will eventually become pools of blessing. We can decide to trust Him during the difficult seasons or we can bury ourselves in self-pity. I am thankful that he nudged me to trust Him.

Prayer is amazing

Hello Friends!
I know that the power of prayer is amazing and I am here asking for some prayer for my family and me. My husband is a wonderful father to two children that are not his. He is an amazing example to my son and I am in awe of my husband for still being a dad to his step-daughter from his previous marriage. I am praying that I will be able to give my husband a child of his own flesh and blood.
I am asking for your prayers this week. I am ovulating this week and am praying that God will allow us to conceive a miracle of our own. I have conceived three other times in July (one resulting in my son and two resulting in miscarriages) so I am thinking that this is my most fertile time of the year. I am praying that God will allow us to conceive and to carry this baby to term. If we lose this baby then God had bigger and better plans for it with Him and we will not be trying again. Please pray that God's plans are the same as ours, but if they aren't pray that we will gain peace knowing that our creator has our best interest at heart all the time.
Thank you so much!
God is so good, ALL the time!

4th of July Fun

Have a little faith

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Matthew 14:31 (NIV)

Have you ever felt like you were in a big storm in life? Life was going along just fine… then one phone call, one bad decision, one major storm in your life … and you get tossed into a situation where you struggle to keep yourself together. At times, storms rage into our lives without warning, and we can find ourselves sinking into despair. Yet we have hope for survival. We have a Savior who promises to be our life raft in even the worst of storms, but we have to choose to grab onto that raft and look straight into the eyes of Jesus.

When we take our eyes off Jesus during our storms, and doubt His power in our life, we begin to sink as well. We can feel as if we are drowning in our problems, unable to get back onto safe ground. However when we cry out to Jesus will catch us by the hand and raise us back up.

Maybe you feel as if you have been tossed about by a storm today, and if you do, cry out to Jesus. He will hear you. He will calm your fears. He will raise you up. He wants you to be aware of His presence, even if you do not recognize Him at first.

Although the storms of our life may not cease immediately when we cry out to Jesus, we can have faith knowing He is there to rescue us. And that gives us the strength and courage to survive the toss.

Dear Lord, thank You for always being there for me. Help me to be aware of Your presence during my storms. Forgive me for my doubts and lack of faith and help me to learn to trust in You fully. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Great Devotional!

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

Jeremiah 33:3 (NIV)

Over the years I have discovered that the cure for answer envy is not always easy because I must play an active role in my own healing. What I need is a shift in perspective. When I “call to God” as encouraged in today’s verse, I must trust that He will keep His word. He will tell me “great and unsearchable things” that I do not know. Sometimes those things are the answers to my request. However, do you know what those great and unsearchable things more often are? They are the reasons He seems not to be answering my original request!

So, instead of only begging God to “sell my house” or “take away my pain” or “fix my kid,” I need also to ask myself some questions. Questions like, “What is my Creator trying to teach me that I might never learn if He were to suddenly pluck me out of this situation?” Or, “What character qualities is He trying to grow in me? Patience, trust, compassion, contentment?”

Not available in quick microwave form, the cure for answer envy must be cultivated moment by moment. We must believe that God will answer. He will clearly say “yes”, “no”, or “not right now.” He is able, ready and willing to answer our prayers—here is the catch—as He sees fit and to grow us to be more like His Son in the process.

So, our “for sale” sign has remained and I continue my stay in God’s waiting room. However, I now know this to be true: I must not merely seek the answer to my prayer. Instead, I must seek a deeper relationship with the answer Giver.

Dear Lord, as I bring my requests before You, please help me be mindful of what You are doing in my heart while I walk through life and its storms. As I wait for Your answers, make me more like your Son. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.