Hey, Everybody! We are super excited about this year of ministry both on the road and off the road but it occurred to me in Phoenix two weeks ago that it might be time to ask you prayer warriors to really press in if you’re willing.  I know your plates are all full just like ours are. I also know that your intercessory list is probably a mile long. None of us can cover everything but, if God makes room on those knees of yours for our Living Proof staff and the ministry He’s assigned to us, and for my family and me, we would try not to let a single second of it go to waste. We would actively receive with gratitude and humility and with much praise to God for you.

Things have really heated up around here. We were blessed out of our minds to have a fresh sense of God’s presence in Phoenix at our last LPL but, boy, did we ever have some obstacles. It truly was uncanny and caused us to realize that we can’t just approach the coming year like the previous year. At our last LPL, many of us on the team got sick almost instantly upon arriving. It’s one of the few times in all these years that I taught so hoarse that I was afraid I’d lose my voice completely before the event was over. Just so you’ll know how unusual that was, I literally have not been to the doctor in over three years for any kind of sickness. God has really blessed me in this season will wellness but my experience in Phoenix reminded me not to take that for granted. One of our praise members ended up in the emergency room twice that weekend. It was just nuts. Add to that the warfare and we were truly in the hornet’s nest. We LOVED the group! They were fantastic and God was gloriously faithful but He called us to vividly fight for the victory at that event.

My beloved family and I could also use some added prayer right now. Please know that God is showing such faithfulness to us and revealing Himself in multiple ways. He reminds us continually that He is committed to us. Where would we be if He were not?? I don’t want anyone worrying. I just want to make sure I’ve humbled myself and asked for a solid prayer covering. As James 4:2 says, we have not because we ask not. The first thing on the prayer docket this week is the Greensboro, North Carolina Living Proof Live. We are ecstatic to be heading there and ask that you request such a revelation of Christ’s presence and power among us that we never forget it. Two weeks later we will be in Eugene, Oregon for Living Proof Live and we can hardly wait. I have a feeling Jesus has something special for us there. In mid-May I have the LifeWay taping for the next Bible study series (won’t be on the shelves for a year though!) and trust me when I tell you that we will be getting VERY specific with you about prayer mobilization for that week. For now, just get that on your radar. We will be desperate for your prayers and very dependent upon them.

I love you so much that I always feel a little reluctant to ask something more of you. You are the most giving, serving community I’ve ever experienced. I do not take one moment of your time for granted. Every time a sister tells me that she prays often for me, I am moved to the core. Faith-driven intercession takes effort. You could give us no greater gift. We deeply want to please God and have pure hearts and clear minds and servant-attitudes. And above all else for me personally, pray that I will love Jesus more than anything in this entire world. Pray the same for my whole family and for this ministry staff as a whole. Pray that for Travis Cottrell, my co-laborer and spiritual son. When you don’t know exactly how to direct your prayers for any of us, PRAY THAT! All else hinges on that one thing. We want to love Jesus.We NEED to love Jesus. Loving Him is the only thing that cleanses our hearts and makes them whole enough to love others well.

Thank you, dear sisters. You are so dear to me.

Here are a few links that will connect you to mobilized prayer here at LPM for those of you who are willing or interested:

This link will take you to our interactive prayer board on our website. It is very user friendly and an encouragement to the many people who use it.

Then, if you feel led by God to do so, you can click here to sign up to be a part of our prayer team. We are so grateful.

Sisters, in closing, I’d be so honored to pray for each one of you. I hope you’ll enter into it individually and take it personally. It is heartfelt.

My faithful, most holy Father and my God,

With tremendous love I lift my sister to you. You know what stirs in her heart, what awakens her at night, what causes her to shudder, and what seeks to devour her. You have seen her in the secret place and you know her longings and her questions and her dreams and her hopes. You know the very place that doubt seeks to swallow her and deceit desires to seed in her. Spring her eyes open to cleansing, delivering Truth. Minister to her in such a personal way throughout the coming days that she is floored once again by Your all-knowingness and complete attentiveness. Sprout signs of harvest in a field where she has sown so faithfully and seen so little. Help her to see that her labor is not in vain. Soak the fleece in such a way that she’ll know You are with her.  Send someone to encourage her in such a specific area that she’ll know You alone could have prompted it.

Grant her a heart to love You with an abounding affection that could only be supernatural and cause her to feel her heart teeming with love toward someone who is loveless toward her. Protect her heart and heal her mind where it may be bent or twisted. Take all shame off of her and cast out her self-loathing once and for all and lift her chin to see her redemption drawing near. Give her faith enough to believe that she has truly been forgiven and that You who began a good work in her will most assuredly complete it. Put a new relationship in her life that brings much joy to her in You and revives her faith-walk and makes her laugh. Healthy friendships, Lord! Help her to finally release a relationship that You have clearly brought to an end and to do so without resentment or bitterness, trusting You entirely with the future. Be radiant upon her face. Tell her forthrightly how lovely she is to You and how significant. Quiet that part of her that seeks to perform for acceptance. Give her joy in a more honest version of herself. Reveal Your gorgeous self to her, Lord Jesus. Let every false Christ in her life bow to the One and Only True so that she can see it is You. Make every competing voice hush to Yours.

In Your beautiful, saving, redeeming Name, Jesus, I bring these earnest requests.

Amen

Saturday shortly after noon, I filled up the dog bowl on the back porch with water and pitched dishes in the dishwasher so that I could head out with Melissa for a bite to eat and maybe a little shoe shopping. She’d spent the night with Keith and me in the country and we’d had a lazy Saturday morning over coffee and conversation. I’d set out my purse and keys and decided to wipe down the kitchen counter before we walked out the door. Just as I sprayed the cleaner and grabbed the dishtowel, Melissa walked in staring at the screen of her phone with the oddest expression.

“Mom, I don’t know if it’s true or not but I’m seeing references on Twitter to Rick and Kay Warren losing a son.”

She was ashen. My stomach flipped and, over the next few minutes as she read to me bits and pieces of breaking news, we feared the worst. I felt a hot sickness in my throat. My relationship with the Warrens is the same as most of yours. I have simply been served and led well by them. Although I had the joy of ministering to women on the Saddleback campus some years ago, my stay was brief and our schedules were wrapped entirely around the event. I have not had the opportunity to get to know the Warrens in the way that personal friends know one another but I always knew in my heart that I’d like them so much. We’re similar ages and in similar seasons with our families. Meanwhile, I have  loved them and esteemed them in Christ as faithful and mighty servants of the living Lord Jesus Christ. And quite possibly, among the mightiest to ever serve this generation.

Within an hour of Melissa walking into the kitchen with those first pieces of news, someone very close to the Warren family confirmed the tragedy on Twitter. We were heartsick and not for media personalities or even public servants. We were heartsick for a family of real people with breakable hearts. And we wept. Many of you undoubtedly did as well.

An odd mix of feelings overtook me with increasing force through the afternoon and into the early evening. The sadder I got, the madder I got. Mad at an astonishing satanic force that stoops viciously and swoops in unscrupulously to attack children and to prey on their weaknesses as they grow up, shooting so relentlessly at one spot that they can barely get to their feet between arrows. I’ve been that child and many of you have, too. Madder still that the devil in all likelihood delights in nothing more than targeting the children and dearest loved ones of true servants of God. Nothing tries our faith like the suffering of our children. At the end of the day, our faith is what the devil is after most. Without it, it’s impossible to please God. This is why Paul could say with relief nearly palpable on the page of his final letter, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”

We’ll all finally make it to our finish lines but the cliffhanger along the way will be this: will we keep our faith? That isn’t the same thing as keeping our salvation. I don’t believe my salvation is something I can give back. I received it by grace through faith from Christ Himself and my works don’t secure it no matter how my woes obscure it. His grip never loosens. Nothing can snatch us out of our Father’s hand. What’s at risk is our active belief in who God says He is, what He says He is like, and what He says He can do.

Is He good? Is He faithful?

So the enemy sets out to knock the feet of our faith out from under our walk. And there is nothing more effective toward that end than targeting the ones we love most on this planet.

I don’t say that to scare you. I say it because I believe it is the hair-raising truth. No, we are not abandoned here as victims on this damaged sod. We are not abandoned at all. Our God is with us. The Spirit of His Son is in us. We are more than conquerors through the One who loves us. We are not at the mercy of Satan. We are at the glorious, life-breathing mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, a mercy that leads, as Jude 21 says, to eternal life and will ultimately spill like a river into a sea of reality where no sufferings of our past will compare with the glory of our present. In the meantime, greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world but make no mistake. This is a vicious world we’ve been left to serve. One God still loves or we would not still be here.

And then, in that mixture of emotions Saturday afternoon, I got madder and madder at the bullies in the Body of Christ. I thought how much it turns out that the Warrens have been through personally and, if they are like most leaders, all the while putting out fires and putting up with a bunch of trash-talk from people who would call the same Jesus Lord.

God help us. In the words of James, These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters.

I don’t believe one of us here in this community thinks that leaders should be immune to questions, constructive criticism, and accountability.  That’s not the kind of thing I’m talking about here. I’m talking about bullying. There are Scriptural means for going to a brother or sister to reason with them about matters we genuinely consider to be off base, misleading, or in error. You and I both know that much of what happens out there in public forums is the furthest thing from biblical.

It is slander.

I went on a walk through the woods Saturday late afternoon and did something I don’t often do. I cried angry tears. I got so mad that I could have hit somebody. I kept thinking how believers attack one another and sling stones at each other like the other can’t bruise or break. And all the while that person may be in so much personal pain that it’s nearly unbearable. I’m not transferring this to the Warrens. I do not know them personally. I’m telling you what I know to be true about most people out there. Most of us are in significant pain of some kind. That doesn’t mean defeat necessarily. It just means pain.

Life is hard enough without hatefulness rife in the Body of Christ. We are called to carry one another’s burdens, not pile relentlessly on top of them. We can still hold one another accountable. We can still ask questions. We can still disagree. But we can do it with respect.

I’m sick of the bullying. The mud-slinging and the meanness. I’m sick of careless, idle words thrown out there in the public square and professing believers in Christ standing on the necks of their own brothers and sisters to sound smart and superior. As if it’s not enough that we are surrounded in this culture by Christian haters, we’ve got to have our own hater-Christians. It’s insane.

When we turn people into caricatures, everything’s game. The moment we depersonalize them, our consciences harden and we can mock and slander at will and have a blast doing it. Snide blogs and tweets and Facebook posts about various leaders can also be effective ways to jump in their spotlight. Bullies aren’t just mean. They’re self-serving. They’re platform-hunting. They have to borrow one to perform.

No, I don’t think that saying all of this will change it much but some things still need to be said. Sometimes we need to speak up and call something wrong. There’s a bigger issue in the Body of Christ than immorality. It’s hatefulness. If the greatest priority Christ assigned to us was love, the gravest offender is hate.

Just about the time cynicism threatens to overwhelm us and turn us into the very people we can’t stand, genuine love – the real thing – erupts right here on this earth like concrete breaking open to a spring. Compassion and tremendous affection are pouring forth from the Body of Christ for the Warrens right now. It is right and it is lovely. We have been served well by them and have learned so much from them. To respond with expressions of love, comfort, and intercession is our honor and privilege. We must and we will.

But even now at the hardest moment of their lives the Warrens can teach something vital if we are willing to learn. Their heartbreak demonstrates what has always been true but has never been more profoundly overlooked: these who serve us publicly also suffer privately. They are not caricatures. They are not just personalities. They are people living on a painful planet with the rest of us.

The Warrens will come forth like gold. The enemy will not win. They will fight the good fight. They will finish the race. They will keep the faith.

I love the Body of Christ. I don’t want want to get cynical. I don’t want to sit around and hate the haters or I become one. But this morning I just want to say this. We can love each other better. Let’s do. People have enough hurt. Let’s be careful with one another.

And panic.

A week ago I had jury duty. I realize that it is my civic duty, or rather, my civic honor as they kept explaining to us, but it felt more like a duty and less like an honor. While I went to college in the land of prisons and criminal justice, I’ve never had the burning desire to be put on a panel of jurors, so to me the whole concept makes me sweat bullets.

You may have heard my sigh of relief when, after four hours of literally doing nothing but waiting, I was finally released to go home. No jury for me. At least this time.

Anyway, the entire day was a hurry up and wait kind of deal.

For instance, you have to be there at 8:00 AM or they’ll shut the doors on you, lock them and throw away the key. However, when I arrived at 7:15 in a slight panic not knowing what the day would hold, I made my way to the jury courthouse, got checked in, found my seat in a frenzy among 1300 other jurors, then proceeded to sit there until 8:45 AM when they actually shut the doors and locked them.

You see what I mean? Hurry up and wait.

And in my case, panic and sweat for fear the day might not end up in my favor.

When all was said and done, my state of panic was worthless. Thank you, Lord.

However, it stirred up in me something greater.

I don’t know about you, but that is how I always find myself waiting.

I wait in a panic.

A few summers ago during one of the Siesta Summer Bible studies, one of the questions on the first evening was to go around and share one word that describes the current season you were in. When it got to me, I didn’t even think twice before I blurted out the word “waiting”.

Nearly two years later, if asked the same question, I’d be inclined to share the same word.

Because I am, after all, in a season of waiting.

I’ve said it before and I’’ll say it again, waiting is the one thing God has used in my life to make me more like Him. The relief that statement alone brings me makes me thankful for the way He holds me in places that makes me more like Him. Far from easy, and even sometimes lonely, but at least I know He has a purpose for me in the waiting. I didn’t always think like that.

Since I get the joy of moderating the comments that come through this blog, that means that on SSMT days, I’m seeing a lot of scripture. It is impossible for me to read each and every one, or I’d be here for days, but on those days I’ve become a pro at skimming them. However, on this last SSMT post, at the top of nearly every page moderated, Psalm 27:14 popped up, “Wait for the Lord;
 be strong, and let your heart take courage; 
wait for the Lord!” It wasn’t the verse I’d chosen, but I took it as a sweet reminder from the Lord.

That as He keeps me in a season of waiting, it’s not to bully me, but to strengthen me.

I’m no scholar, but I do see a theme in scripture when the Lord speaks of waiting, He often speaks of strength.

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? 
The Lord is the everlasting God, 
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
 He does not faint or grow weary;
 his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint,
 and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary,
 and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
 they shall mount up with wings like eagles; 
they shall run and not be weary; 
they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:28-31

I think of a bride getting ready to see her husband at the end of the aisle. I’ve not yet been a bride, but I’ve been in my fair share of weddings and I think we all know the length of time it takes for the wedding party (particularly the girls) to get ready for the ceremony, and rightfully so. We spend all day primping (while the guys play golf and then get ready in 30 minutes tops!), then, about an hour before the ceremony, all of the sudden everything comes to a complete halt and we sit, and wait. And often have a moment of panic. All of our hustling and hurrying and scurrying around all day, to sit and wait. That hour before the ceremony is the hardest hour of the day, in my opinion, but the expectation of what’s ahead brings unspeakable joy. She waits with expectation.

Often times, I’ve noticed my weariness in the waiting comes when I am tempted to manipulate things to go my way. I get lonely, so I try to replace that with busyness. Then I get burned out. Or, I get antsy, so I try to manipulate relationships, only to watch them fall apart. Or maybe I need a job so bad I take my first offer, only to realize it was a terrible fit, instead of just trusting in God’s perfect provision. My timetable looks terribly different than His, so when I try to push my timing on others, whether it be people or things, I’ll always end up selling myself short. The moment I lose sight of the true prize, I fall.

But most times, our waiting is much longer than any of us like to think or wait, but if we only knew what He had in store for us, we know the waiting would be worth it.

My sweet coworker KMac said it best, “We wouldn’t appreciate ANYTHING without a little delay and anticipation.” And all the people said amen.

That’s why in the waiting we wait with hope.

We wait with expectancy.
We wait in patience.
We wait in prayer.
We wait in strength.

Most times, the waiting really isn’t about the waiting, it’s about becoming.

“And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]!” Isaiah 30:18 (Amplified)

Those who wait win the prize.

But know that even when you become tired in the waiting, the Lord is still working out every little detail.

“Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” Romans 8:26-28 (The Message)

You and I are waiting on the Lord to move in different ways, provide different things, and surprise us along the way. Instead of growing weaker, let us grow stronger. If you find yourself in any kind of waiting season, find things that stir your affections for Christ and pursue those.  Maybe the Lord’s given you a gift you’ve let get dusty, pick it up and start practicing that craft. Whatever you do, don’t put your life on hold. Panic and worry do nothing but drain us of any energy or hope we may have had.  This may sound harsh, but is there anything more unfulfiling that becoming selfish and living for yourself in our season of waiting?

And lest you think I’m writing this to preach to you, I’m writing this to preach to myself.

I recently saw this quote, on twitter of all things, by Charles Spurgeon, “The Lord’s “quickly” may not be my “quickly”; and if so, let him do what seems good to him!”

Expect, look and long for Him, dear Sister. At the end of the day, if you wait on God, no matter the outcome, I’m willing to bet by His promises alone, that the odds will always be in your favor.

Hey, Darling Things! 

I am about to write one of the fastest posts of my life because it’s almost time for the ministry to close for the day and I don’t like for any of the support staff to feel like they have to stay around and wait for me. My man will also be ready for his wife to come home. I don’t have time to think about how I should say this or to proof it and rehash it for the next two hours. I’m just going to spit it out there because I can’t shake it from my mind and I feel it pressing on me in such a way that I’ve got to release it.

In the wonderful (and I really do mean wonderful) world of blogs and Twitter-follows, a pile-up can happen with the potential to profoundly hinder the Gospel. We can find ourselves suddenly feeling panicked, or confused, or left out, or just plain lame because our follow-ship of Christ doesn’t look like someone else’s that we admire. I know that’s a yawner. I mean, who doesn’t already know that can happen? Talk about an elementary grasp of the obvious. But stay with me here a second and hash this out a bit because this very thing happened to me yesterday. And I feel like if it happened to me – and I’ve been pretty convinced of the direction of my calling for years now – that it could happen to a lot of us. Especially those who haven’t quite gotten their footing yet. See if you relate:

I read a fabulous post by a young woman I greatly respect and I was moved and convicted by it but over the next few hours I fell into the (self-induced!) trap of thinking things like, “I should have taken that same stand. That’s what’s really important. We should have vastly downsized. We should have moved to the inner city. Not out to the country. I need to get rid of more stuff. ” (And I do, for crying out loud.)  “And I need to be more active globally.” And on and on and on. Now, listen to me carefully when I tell you that it was not her post. The post was tremendous, filled with the love of Jesus, and such a portrayal of the Gospel. The problem was what my mind then did with it.

I started thinking of all the people who are doing effectual things for the Kingdom, who I admire tremendously and often wish I were more like. For instance, I started thinking of some Bible professors who I follow who spend all of their work lives training up students in the Scriptures then watch them walk out into the world and take their places. Now, that’s huge. And I started thinking of my dear friends who do amazing and courageous work to fight the atrocities of human trafficking and I think, “Now, THAT’S enormous! What a reflection of the heart of God! Freedom!!! Does it get any bigger than that?? THAT’S what God’s prioritizing right now!” They impact and motivate me every day. And then I start thinking of people who’ve adopted numerous orphans and those who put their hearts at risk over and over as fabulous, loving foster parents. I love children! What could be more Christ-like than that??? And I have so many missionary friends who have left every worldly comfort for the Gospel of the living Lord Jesus Christ, sometimes at the daily risk of their lives. That is the Great Commission! The main thing Jesus sent us out to do!

AND, SISTER, IT IS.

But which cause do we take up? Where do we begin? Which one is God’s favorite?? Who’s God’s favorite??? Because I want to be like God’s favorite, don’t you? Yes, yes, Jesus is God’s favorite. And He is the one and only Person we should want to be just like. But, let’s admit it. Sometimes we can get a little confused in this lens we have to the world through one quick gleaming glance at our screen. The works of God taking place out there are astounding! And some of them we now have the privilege to give ear to every single day through Twitter. It’s fabulous. I absolutely love it. But it can also be bewildering as we try to figure out where we fit in all of that. And maybe we can’t see a fit at all.

Here’s what I want to throw at you to consider. This is what I felt God placed upon my heart as I wrestled with this last night.

What do you look like when you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength?

Because THAT person, Girlfriend, is who He’s looking for in you.

When we’re trying to hash out God’s priorities for us, that’s IT in a nutshell. “Teacher, which commandment is the most important of all?”

And that’s what He told them.

So, let me ask you this: when you are teeming with love for the Lord your God, who are you right then? What is your passion? What is it that you are bursting to do? That’s probably the stream of your calling. I’m not asking you who you see in front of you when you feel the most love for Jesus because that could be your pastor or your teacher or your worship leader. I’m asking you who is INSIDE OF YOU when you are flooded with the fiery love of Christ? Right there in that passion you’ll start discovering that purpose.

You following Christ will not always look the same as someone else following Christ. Why on earth would He have bothered to form you in your mother’s womb with your own DNA and life experience ahead just to copy what someone else you’re seeing is doing?

Who are you supposed to look like in your calling here on earth and in the way you follow Christ? You’re supposed to look like the version of you that loves Jesus with everything in you.

That’s the real you.

And that’s the road down which you will find what He put you on the planet to do. You don’t have to figure out what to surrender to. Just surrender your heart to Jesus. Every single ounce of it. Ask Him to give you a love for Him that surpasses anything in your human experience. A supernatural capacity. And ask Him for it every day until He does it and then ask Him to do it some more. If you’re a writer, your exploding love for Him will bring it out. If you’re a liberator, you will not be able to keep yourself from seeing to the oppressed. If you’re a teacher, you won’t be able to quit studying except to share what you learned with somebody. If you love Him with your whole heart and that whole heart bursts to sell everything and move to China, Girl, get your passport!

Who would you be if you loved Jesus with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength?

That’s what you’re meant to look like.

Let THAT person follow Him, and He, Child, will make you a fisher of men.

My fastest post ever. But I feel better.

I love you guys so much.

Well, I think we all know by now that typically, a Siesta ticket giveaway post is followed by the recap video. They’re just too fun not to share! Don’t you agree?

(Also, I’ll have you know that just before I pressed “Publish” I realized I spelled Phoenix with the e before the o in the title. Pheonix. How embarrassing would that have been? Bless my heart.)

Our friend and amazing photographer, Rich, burned the midnight oil to get this done for us by today. We are so grateful. And y’all, it’s rockin’. He has a gift not only for taking amazing pictures, but capturing the weekend so well in the recap videos. You get a tiny glimpse of what it may have been like if you could have been there. At this point, I think I might offer to pay him to help me perfect my craft in the small videos we make here. Grin.

Without further ado, here is the video, friends.

Oh, and while I’m here, would you pray wellness on our Beth? She came home from the event with an upper respiratory thing and we all can understand that’s no fun and has the potential to stick around longer than we want. Thanks so much, y’all!

Living Proof Live | Phoenix from LifeWay Women on Vimeo.

Happy Thursday, y’all!

I write to you with great joy today as Beth and then entire Living Proof Live team make their way to Phoenix, Arizona for the first LPL of 2013. Woohoo! How many of you are getting the chance to attend this SOLD OUT event? We prayed each of you up on Monday and not just on Monday, but all week long it’s been our mind, and certainly at the forefront of our dear Siesta Mama’s mind! It’s been nearly four months since the last LPL, so it’ll be fun to have the recaps and the stories back as well.

With that said, even with the event sold out, we have SEVEN, I repeat, only SEVEN Siesta Scholarship tickets to give away to those of you that would love to attend, but financially, just don’t have the means to do so right now.

IF that is is you, please call the office and ask for Kimberly. You can call 281-257-3344 or call toll free at 888.700.1999. She will get you squared and away and good to go! If you happen to call during the lunch hour, please leave a message and we’ll get back to you ASAP.

I think it goes without saying, but would you please pray that God would do what only HE can do this weekend? The Lord has allowed the team to do this for 15 years, and they’re not taking it any lighter this year! In fact, they’re pressing in all the more. Press in with us, will you? And, if by chance you happened to miss the video earlier, you might get a kick out of Travis and Beth here. So fun!

We love y’all!

A last minute dentist appointment. That is exactly what kept this post from going up yesterday morning. And really, I said last minute, but it was more like an emergency. That sounds so serious, and really all is well. I just had a tooth that was giving me more pain than I could bear, so to the doctor I went.

The saddest part is I didn’t learn anything new. I was simply told to do what I’ve put off for a year now. What is that, you ask? Oh, just to have my wisdom teeth removed. (Can someome please explain to me why we have wisdom teeth anyway? If we just have to get them removed? It makes zero sense to me.) I know it’s not that big of a deal to most of you, but if you knew how much I loathed the dentist you would understand. It’s an honest fear of mine that I don’t know how to explain. If you’re a dentist, I have nothing against you personally, I just don’t enjoy like my mouth is feeling violated. And the gagging? Well, that’s the absolute worst.

That is all just really TMI and has no connection to this post in any way, shape or form. I am so sorry. How did we get here anyway? My bad.

Moving on.

Last week most of Houston was on spring break. And while I didn’t get an actual break since I’m not a teacher, a student, a mom of young children or any other breakers you can think of, I did enjoy some of the perks.

In all honesty, last week was the calmest and slowest week I’ve had in a long time. It was both nice and weird at the same time. Nice, because I had been going ninety to nothing, but annoying, because it came to a complete hault, and I had a lot of downtime. I don’t do well with a lot of downtime. I like to be on the go! But that’s just me. Let’s just say I had a lot of quality time with my roommate.

In no particular order, here are the top three moments of my non-spring break 2013. (Don’t get your hopes up. It wasn’t that riveting!)

(Also, I spent the first half of the week recovering from my couch. I know you have spring break envy now.)

1) Family dinner

My little brother who is finishing his last year at Texas A&M was home for the week, so we got to have dinner one night. As a whole family. Whoa! We had none other than some fabulous tex-mex, and then took the party to my parent’s house where we watched countless hilarious YouTube videos. We laughed until we cried! And then we took this awkward family photo with my mom’s iPad. We’re fancy like that.

2) The Houston Rodeo

Y’all. The Rodeo is a BIG deal here. And rightfully so! It always lands during spring break and they are brilliant for doing that. So, I took full advantage of that Houston entertainment and took a few of my Bible study girls down there for the day. A few highlights from our day were getting to walk through the livestock show and seeing a mama sheep give birth to a baby lamb (you may be grossed out by this, but I thought it was fascinating and really neat!), eating rodeo food – YUM, watching mutton bustin’, and the pig races. None of us really had much interest in the carnival. Not to mention, the weather was fantastic! It was chilly in the morning, then got a little too warm as we were leaving that afternoon. Thank you, Lord!

A few of us before heading out that morning!

Among other things, I at this cinnamon roll. Yes, it is as big as my hand. Yes, I ate the entire thing. No shame. So delicious.

This is what you would call hanging on for dear life! In other words, a little mutton bustin’. It is by far my favorite thing about the rodeo. How could you not love a little four or five year old riding a sheep? Or, a mutton? Grin.

Our clan for the day. It was a smaller group since spring break is so give and take, but we loved it!

A girl and her cowboy boots. Yes.

3) Coloring and Swinging

I spent Saturday watching a few of my favorite kiddos on earth. Jen and I were on babysitting duty and we had a blast! Do you realize how cathartic coloring is? And swinging? Spending the day with a four year old, a kindergartener and a baby will make you so happy you could bust. And so tired you fall asleep at 9:00 PM. I know those of you with young kids are laughing!

Mr. Dean and I created this lovely art together. Are you impressed with our coloring skills?

Life is good upside-down on a swing set. The sign of a good day.

Oh, and how could I forget to add our friend pollen?

This is the sidewalk of our office. That’s pollen. Not yellow chalk. And we wonder why we can’t breathe? Mercy.

What was one highlight for you over spring break? That is, if you had one. Or, you can make up spring break like me. It works like a charm!

Listen, y’all. I know it’s now the middle of the week, but who said you can’t blog about your weekend on a Wednesday morning? Better late than never, right?

We’ll start with Friday:

I had the great joy of meeting my coworkers at Luby’s for lunch to start out my day. After a full day at the office on Thursday because of Girl’s Bible study that evening, I had a slow morning at home on Friday. Little did I know, it was just a snapshot of what my weekend would hold because low and behold, Friday morning (well, it really all started Thursday moring) I woke up feeling about 50% like myself.

That was a low.

But, that meant I got to drink out of my favorite coffee cup. I’m here to testify that there’s not a cup on earth that makes me happier than this one.

That was was a high.

(For those that are curious, the mug is from Anthropologie. They make great gifts! In fact, I’ve been given two. Double the pleasure!)

Once I made it to the office I diagnosed myself with a head cold, a sinus infection and a bad case of allergies. You know I wasn’t’ feeling great when I turned down a free ticket to the Houston Rodeo to see Tim McGraw. Can you say bummer? Mentally I was dying to go, and had one foot in the door, but physically, my body was begging me not to give in. I ended up not going afterall. Although it was wise, that was a low.

However, after administering drugs to myself in the form of Tylenol Sinus and Congestion I was able to attend a party hosted by my friend where she was selling cute jewelry and fun things where the proceeds went towards an adoption fund. That turned into a hilarious, tear-inducing, stomach hurting laughter girls night. Is there anything better? That was a high.

Saturday.

I slept in. That was obviously a high.

Then, in quite the foggy state, I was able to get myself somewhat presentable to meet my BFF for an early lunch at a local Chinese restaurant. Our favorite. The fogginess was lifted by Ellie. Also known as Jen’s baby, and my current obsession.

How could you not be in love with this eight-month-old bundle of love? Sigh.

That was an obvious high.

Right after that I went to a one year old birthday party for another friend. I joked at lunch that I need to borrow a baby for the party! I was right. I may have been the only one without a child. Except I’m totally kidding. Kind of.

Can you even stand this smash cake cuteness? Too much. Happy birthday, Moses!

By now you may realize that my life has no lack of cute children in it, and for that I am very grateful.

Straight from the party, I headed to the Woodlands to attend the Chris Tomlin Burning Lights tour. It was the perfect evening to sit on the lawn. Beautiful weather. Beautiful music. The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion is an outdoor concert venue that is really neat when Houston decides to have pretty weather. When Chris Tomlin and Kari Jobe sang Crown Him I was done. And I mean that in the most endearing way. What is it about that song, y’all? If you’ve not heard their rendition, I feel sorry for you. It is incredible.

The entire concert was a high. (If the tour is coming to a city near you, I’d encourage you to do all you can to get a ticket and GO). The minute I left I felt myself crashing, and quickly. On top of that, I officially sounded like a man. It was lovely.

That was a low.

I was supposed to sing the next morning at church, but decided right then that it would not be a sweet sound to the Lord, nor to anybody else. So feeling terrible, I bowed out gracefully.

I skipped church the next morning, got a really good night of sleep and nursed my wounds, both emotionally and physically. I hate missing church! My sweet mom brought me chicken noodle soup, and by 5:00 I was feeling good enough to go to the evening service. And I am so glad I did. It was so good! Pastor Curtis brought a strong word on unity in the church, and worship was just sweet.

That was a high.

Although I was on the mend, I woke up Monday morning still sounding very manly (an obvious low), decided I didn’t need an entire sick day, just half of one, but when Sabrina told me to stay home and rest, I didn’t argue. It was best for all involved. You never know how great you don’t feel until you sleep the day away. Apparently I needed the rest.

So, here I am, back and work, grateful to be here and feeling 85% like myself. Praise God!

And now I’m not sure how to end this post. And I’m laughing. Maybe I should just ask you to share a high and low from your week should you care to share it! You know, since it’s Wednesday and all.

Oh, wait! You want to know another high from my weekend? The Passion 2013 “Let the Future Begin” CD was released. I don’t think I need to explain to you that it’s been on repeat since I retrieved it from my mailbox on Sunday. You have to get it!

(You can get it practically anywhere. Target, Walmart, iTunes, and so on. Just don’t miss out on the blessing it is!)

Okay, that was a much better way to end this post. At the very least, it was a takeaway for you, my friends.

Happy Wednesday!