I am an Heiress!

I just joined a new Bible Study group tonight.  It was filled with some ladies I have known for years, and some I just met tonight.  I am excited to learn and grow with these women who shared struggles and joys in their lives.  I am thankful for the sharing as it brings us closer and gives us specific things to pray for.  And I look forward to the sharing that is to come.  I mostly look forward to growing in God's word.

Our study is a wonderful Beth Moore study:

I am about to head for bed, but cannot get this verse out of my head, nor do I want to.

 The lines have fallen

 for me in pleasant places;

    indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

Psalm 16:6

English Standard Version

My King

The Creator of all that is good,

Has called me His child

His Daughter

His Beloved

I am an Heiress in His Riches:

In faith and forgiveness, 

In glory and goodness, 

in love.

Moving over to let him take over

Getting ready for the wild ride

I want reckless abandonment, 

but still have fear.

I want Godly glory,

but still have questions.

He knows this, and loves me still.

May my love for Him grow stronger

May my year be one for Jesus

And may I never grow bored.

I pray that I will show my daughter that she is an heiress as well.

I pray I will show my sons that they are called to be His heirs.

And I pray that I will not forget His whisper that says,

"You belong to me."

May you have MOMents of royal joy this week!

Blessings,

Angie

Movie Munchies

I just got back from a wonderful night out with a friend of mine.  She also has four children. We have known each other for years.  We have shared play dates and prayer requests.  She is a joy to be around and my movie go-to friend!  We specialize in funny chick flicks, but have seen the occasional serious film.  Oh, I don't know...Is "All About Steve" serious?

We had a great night filled with refreshing MOMents.

I got her text 24 hours late asking me if I wanted to catch a late night movie, but it still worked out for tonight.  I was very excited.  The last thing my husband said to me before I left was, "You are not going to get all your food, right?"


"My food" means my movie munchies:


My Sweet Treat:

A Classic

Then, my salty chew:

Fill half way, add lots of butter, fill to the top, add more butter.

 Then, my drink...never Diet...

 And the straws to go with the drink:

It really does work.  Bite off both ends and enjoy!

I get these every time I go to the movies.  And I seriously eat the whole time.  It makes watching the movie more fun.

I think we forget sometimes that we are supposed to have fun.  We were made to laugh, we were created to smile.  Can't you imagine the smile in God's face as he created the sweet bunny, or the laughter as he thought up the camel?

He created friends to bring us joy.  Marriages to bring us fun.  Children to bring us laughter.

Yes, the Christian life can be hard.  The bible tells us it is like a race.  Races are not easy.  God never promised us easy.

But in His wonderful creation of life, he did create fun, laughter, and joy.

And I am pretty sure he helped the guy who created Twizzlers!

Enjoy a moment of joy and laughter this week!

Blessings,
Angie

Happy Anniversary To My Best Friend!

You're still the one who makes me laugh

The joy to me you bring

You're still the one who makes me smile

When out in song you sing

The father you have become 

To our blessings counting four

I realize over and over,

I really couldn't ask for more.

God has given me a Godly man

who I get to love each day

And I can't wait for the next forever

To see what comes our way!

From the fullness of His grace, 

we have all received one blessing after another.

John 1:16

And I hear her still....

I had her daughter over the other day.

Three days after the new year.  Six days after the death of her mama.  Five days before her mama's memorial service.

I had her daughter over and my friend, who is with Jesus now, still managed to teach me something.

This time I heard her voice not with the same usual confident, yet kind, voice.  This time it was a younger voice.  Her daughter's voice.  And in that voice, she taught me how to cut brownies.  

I was trying to cut warm chocolate brownies for a young girl's get together and the knife was not cutting, but smooshing the brownies with deep ridges that turned each brownie from a tasty morsel of a sweet square shaped treat to a jagged piece of chocolate dough.

The voice quietly came.
With confidence, yet humility.
With sweet humor and help.
Just like her mother...

"My mom always used a plastic knife when she cut brownies.  She said it cut better and I always asked her why she kept washing a plastic knife and she always kept it."

I looked at her.  A deep sadness in the depths of her eyes, so deep in the souls of her spirit that you could barely see it, yet also showing so clearly on the face of the child who loved...loves... her mama so.

I went to the drawer because in God's crazy yet ever present provision, I had just gotten take out with a knife the few days before.

So I grabbed the knife and proceeded to cut...to really cut, the brownies into beautiful sweet squares with crisp chewy edges.

I  laughed then because I can hear my friend still.  Teaching me like she did when she was here.  Teaching me to be a better mom, a better friend, and a better lover of Jesus.  I hear her still.

In the voice of her daughter as she taught me how to cut brownies.

What a moment!

   Angie

She died on Christmas.

I don't know the time exactly.

All that matters is that it was on Christmas.

Every Christmas from here after her daughter will think of that.

Instead of a day filled with hope and happiness,

It will be filled with sorrow and questions.

Do the questions get answered or does the grief just fade?

I have heard it never fully goes away.

So years from now as her daughter watches her children's eyes

 dance with delight at a stocking full of joy,

her thoughts will be on her mom and

 her last Christmas, her last day, her last hug with her mom.

Many years ago a baby was born to save the world,

Crying, cold, coming to bring us peace.

She knew this baby

And called Him her Savior,

She trusted him

all the way until the end,

And even then,

her husband says

"We have seen His blessings in all this.

From day one of the cancer until the very end.

We have seen the blessings in all this."

We have seen the blessings in all of this.

His blessings.

My questions fade, and my longing increases,

My longing to be where she is at this moment.

Seeing His face and knowing His grace

 more fully 

than I will ever know this side of the open door.

My friend has walked through 

the winter of pain and has found the place He has prepared for her.

He led her through this open door.

Her family will still know this pain.

Her husband missing her laugh,

Her son missing her smile,

and her daughter missing her mom when years from now, 

she holds her own sweet baby on Christmas day.

But she has found peace.