GratiTuesday- Stained Glass Hearts, A Book Review

Don’t you just love when you pick up a book and can’t put it down?  Or when you can literally hear the author’s voice as you read along?  It really doesn’t happen that often for me, but it sure did when I read Stained Glass Hearts, by Pasty Clairmont.Patsy was the key note speaker at Women of Faith when I attended in October.  I absolutely loved listening to her talk!  She has a wit about her that I can really relate to, and I want to be just like her when I grow up .  She’s been through some stuff- haven’t we all?- and she is using it to glorify God and bring others closer to Him. 

From the first page of this book I was hooked.  It is hilariously funny, brutally honest, heart-wrenchingly raw, and just what the doctor ordered.  She moves through different pieces of life, and relates to them each as broken pieces, that when put together, become a beautiful patchwork of stained glass.  She encourages us to take the brokenness of our lives and see the beauty in it that God sees.  She reminisces about her own brokenness and how it consumed her at one time.

Not a chapter went by that I couldn’t relate to.  Each one brought a new piece of my own broken life to the light so that I could inspect it, and shape in a new way. 

At the end of each chapter she has the “Art Gallery” where she gives you other places to look to deepen the message of that particular chapter.  These stretched me to find new appreciation for things I hadn’t taken the time to look at before.

I can not recommend this book enough.  It is a must have for every woman if you ask me.  I rarely rarely read a book more than once, but this will be one I will do so with.  I only got the E-book, so now I feel the need to buy the hard cover too, to lay by my bedside for when I need a minute to regroup.

Take a look around her website- I think you’ll fall in love with her as I did

I hope you’ll consider this for your reading in 2012.

 

 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

GratiTuesday- Faith Journeys

It’s been a bit since I visited this section of the blog.  Not because I haven’t been grateful, I am ever grateful, but because all of the things I am so grateful for have been consuming my time!  So, over the next few weeks as we enter the holiday season I can’t promise I’ll be diligent and blog every day like normal, but I’ll definitely do my best to post as often as possible.

Today I want to touch on how thankful I am for faith journeys.  Isn’t it special that God puts us each in different parts of our faith journeys at the same time so that, in the end we need each other?  It isn’t that He is punishing us, or abandoning us, but that He’s teaching us.  Sometimes it’s so difficult to get outside of our own mess to see the wonderful family we have in other Christians. 

Do we get hurt by our church family?  Of course we do.  We get hurt by our birth family, or our adopted family, or our chosen family too.  It doesn’t mean there isn’t love there.  Sometimes having the truth spoken in love to you by someone in your Christian family is hurtful…. but necessary.  It’s when we take the pieces of our lives, the different people, the different backgrounds, and *gasp* the different denominations and let them fit together like the beautiful puzzle God is creating in our lives that we get to see the true beauty of a life in Christ, and realize what others who don’t have that are missing out on. 

I have many people in my life who are not Christians.  I have some in my life who claim to be Christians, but they are either not walking in their faith, or it is so weak it is not really helping them.  I know some people look upon those outside our faith with judgment and disgust.  I do not.  I hate to say I feel sorry for them, because I don’t really feel sorry for them – this is a choice THEY are making after all – but I do wish better for them.  I wish for them to be touched by the love of God, not hurt by sinning Christians.  I wish for them to see the magic, not the misery.  I wish for them to experience the acceptance, not the judgment. 

It’s not that I think we as Christians shouldn’t call sin sin.  It’s that we need to acknowledge that WE as Christians are ALSO sinners, and that ultimately, GOD will judge us ALL.  And, for the record…..  From someone who is currently in an in depth study of Revelation…. most of the people in our lives who have wronged us, hurt us, are not Christians, etc have not done nearly enough to us for us to want God’s judgment upon them.  It’s nothing to squabble with. 

But here’s the thing.  God judges ALL sin.  Did you hear that?  God judges ALL sin.  Equally.  He loves us ALL.  Equally.  We chose to become part of His family by accepting Jesus as our savior, but that doesn’t mean that we are now without sin, nor are we allowed to sin.  It doesn’t make my sin any cleaner than yours.  You may be in an adulterous affair, and I may be practicing a bit of gluttony with the pan of brownies.  Both are sin.  There is no greater or lesser sin.  They are both sin and we both have to answer to God for our sins.

Anywho, I didn’t mean to go into that detail, but I guess that’s what God wanted me to say today, because these words just flew out of me.  I want to encourage you today to not feel like you have to have all together.  I want to encourage you to not feel like you have to be perfect.  I want to encourage you today that you are not the judge of others.  I want to encourage you today that other humans are not the judge of you.  Sure, you may suffer some consequences on earth for your actions, and sometimes, even forgiven sin has consequences, but ultimately who we answer to is our maker.

Give a kind smile to those around you and I hope today you are as grateful for our faith journeys as I am

GratiTuesday, Book Review and a Giveaway!

 

Recently I was given a copy of Max Lucado’s new book, God's Story, Your Story: When His Becomes Yoursto review on my blog.  I was so excited at the opportunity to review this book, because I really, really enjoy Max Lucado

At first glance of the book, I was not disappointed at all.  As I expected, the book is very easy to read, and grabs you in right away.  The book is a collection of stories of things that have happened to people, and how those stories intertwine with God’s Story.  The purpose of the book is to help you, as the reader to be able to relate the seemingly insignificant things, or maybe even the tragedies of your life into the “Bigger Picture”.

Reading this book has really changed the way I’m looking at life.  And isn’t that what we’re supposed to be doing in the first place?  As Christian’s, we are called to keep our eyes not on earthly things, but on the things of heaven.  We’re called to focus on our inheritance, especially in times of trouble.  And, for me, this has helped me so much during trials in my life.  God has a story for all of us.  He has the ultimate story, we are all a part of a great story, a novel of history.  And our life, is just a page, a chapter, a lesson in the great story of time.  When we’re able to take our eyes off this small piece and see it for what it is, it gives our lives purpose.

There are days when it seems like nothing I do matters.  Nothing significant happens in my day, it’s just the normal hum drum of laundry and dishes.  Most days, I’m very grateful for these sorts of days, because there isn’t a crisis   But, sometimes I wonder- am I doing anything significant in this world?  Yes, the answer is yes.  The story of my life intertwines with God’s Story in ways I never really considered.  And why haven’t we considered them?  Do we really think the people of the Bible, especially those in the smaller stories of the Old Testament thought their lives would have eternal significance?  Probably not.  Yet they do.  Their lives mirror ours in different ways at different times.  Seeing the fulfillment of God’s plan in their lives helps us to believe there is fulfillment in our own.  It gives us hope.  And, that is what the purpose of this book is as well.

I hope reading my review has encouraged you to go buy the book.  I am very grateful for the opportunity to have read it. 

And…….  The kind people at Zondervan have provided a copy for me to give away to one of my readers!  Here’s what you need to do to be entered in the drawing:

• Commit to writing a review/ His Is Mine story and linking to Nailing Jello- 5 entries
• Leave a comment below with why you are interested in the book- 1 entry
• Leave a comment/ post on our facebook page with why you are interested in reading the book- 1 entry
• Advertise the giveaway on your blog/facebook page- 2 entries

I’ll draw the winners for the giveaway next Wednesday and announce the winner in Thursday’s post

Good Luck!

If you’d like, you can read an excerpt here

GratiTuesday- Overwhelmed by Gratitude :)

I have so much to be thankful for this week!  First, I became a Grandma by heart:

My oldest son turned 15 on Saturday and we went to Rainforest Café to celebrate.  I wasn’t sure how the babies would do, but they really had a great time

Our Niece Calley drove in to town to surprise Auston for his birthday!  It was so great to see her.  I just really, really like her

I’ve said it before, our kids behave more like siblings with their cousin than cousins, and I’m so thankful for that. 

And, yesterday Auston got his Learner’s Permit, which I’m not sure if I should be thankful for or not LOL   

AND, this weekend I’m going to San Antonio with my very very dear friend Gwenn for Women of Faith…..

And, as if that’s not enough….  I’m lucky enough to share this crazy life with my best friend, favorite person, fun loving, husband

Yep…  I’ve got a LOT to be thankful for! 

GratiTuesday- Thankful for the People in our Life

I write this post on the heels of a terrible migraine….  It’s hard not to be grateful after feeling so terrible   This morning I’m filled with gratitude for the people that are in our kids’ lives.  My boys had a Court of Honor for Scouts last night and they are both in a position of leadership, (Gregory is Senior Patrol Leader and Auston is Assistant Senior Patrol Leader).  I wasn’t able to go to the COH last night because of my migraine and when I got up this morning I had two messages on facebook telling me the boys did great and another telling me they did great and that she “just loves watching Gregory because he’s so calm under pressure”.  These types of compliments mean so much to a mom.  And I think they are so important to the kids too.  I fail a lot at giving compliments to the other scouts and their parents, but I do try to whenever I think about it.  It was so nice to be on the receiving end of this today  

GratiTuesday- New Size for Life

I have a friend who goes to Weight Watchers with me and is my walking buddy.  She started out smaller than me, so as we have now both lost a good bit of weight we’re not fitting into our clothes anymore.  Well….  She came by last night and gave me some of the clothes that she no longer fits into…  They’re size 14 and THEY FIT!!!!  I’m so excited!  It’s always fun to get new clothes.  And, I’ve never cared whether my new cloths were actually “new” or “new to me”…  But I DO care that they are a smaller size!!!!

I also got some new bras in the mail that I had ordered from Bare Necessities.  They are the only place I can find my size of bra for a decent price.  For those few men who read my blog, you can stop reading now…. 

Ok….  Is it just us girls now?????

I wear a 34 DDD, and it seems the retailers think 2 things.  If you’re a 34, you’re not a DDD…  And if you’re a DDD you’re not interested in cute bras, you just want an over the shoulder boulder holder.  I have, in the past gone to specialty bra shops in the area, but end up paying close to $75 per bra that way.  I just plain can’t afford that.  I love Bare Necessities because they have every size known to man (literally), and their prices are good.  I got 3 bras for less than $55 shipped!    And they’re cute too! 

So, today, I’m thankful that I’m in a different size – a smaller size – which means I need new clothes and new bras

I can’t believe I just broadcasted my bra size to the world……….

FYI- I was not compensated in ANY WAY for my endorsement of Bare Necessities.  I just love the site

GratiTuesday

I have so much to be thankful for.  But this week I’ll focus on God’s perfect timing.  You see, my husband took a 20% pay cut back in March, and we’ve been hanging on, but barely.  We were already tight when that happened, and now we’re even tighter.  Over the summer we’ve sold furniture to make up the difference, he’s been working a ton of “extra jobs”, and we’ve cut all non-essentials.  For example, my husband has only 3 days off the entire month of September.  It’s tough, and it’s tight, but we’re ok

3 1/2 years ago my husband was in a car accident.  He was hit from behind and our car was totaled and he was out of work for 6 weeks.  It was rough.  The other person’s insurance company did not want to pay for our expenses (and in the end, still didn’t pay them all), so we had to hire an attorney.  GRRR.  Well, the money from that accident finally came in this week. .. And, the next day the battery died on my van…..  And, the day after that the coffee pot died…..  Are you seeing what I’m talking about?  These things may not seem like big deals to you, but when you’re already down to literally no money, something like a $100 battery or a $50 coffee pot IS a big deal.  There have been a few other emergencies as well, and in the end we’ve not been able to do what we wanted with this money.

We could have looked at it one of two ways: 

1. Why????  Why is that we finally have some money and can get this or that that something freakin breaks?????????  AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!    or…..
2. Wow!  God made sure we had that money to cover these expenses when they happened

We choose option 2.  And, it serves as a reminder that, while God works in our lives ALL the time, we don’t ALWAYS see or feel it.  If we went with number 1 we wouldn’t see God.

I hope this reminds you to always look for God in every situation.  Because He’s there, it’s just a matter of whether you’re seeing Him or not

GratiTuesday-Grateful for almost 2 year old wisdom

Just a quick funny today with some back story.  My baby boy was born early, and has some other issues which have caused him to be a little developmentally delayed.  He’s almost 2, but is just now starting to really talk.  And, like he’s done everything he’s done he’s just taking off now that he decided to talk   He is non-stop lately and it’s great!  I have a new nickname for him, I’ve been calling him Yummy.  It’s short for Will-Yummy.  I just think he’s so yummy I could just eat him up, so I call him yummy.   

Today as we were coming home from the pool my son Gregory asked me, “Mom, why are you calling him Yummy lately?”  (we’re a nickname family, and all of the nicknames have a story, that’s why he asked)..

I answered him, while getting William out of the car seat and tickling him, “because, he’s just so yummy I could just eat him up!”

William responds, “No, no, no, no!  Be nice to everyone!” 

2 year olds are so cute.  That’s what I’m thankful for today