lost and found

 

Hello again ...

It has been quite some time since I even cracked my laptop to even write anything.

My heart hasn't been in it and I am not one who will force something. I want whatever I share here to be from the heart and authentic.

I am glad I took the time to step away and examine myself and find what I felt I had lost in myself.

I have learned as I searched, prayed, cried, and even screamed into my pillow!  learned that what was missing was me, who did not care what others thought of her. The authentic me. The authentic me God made me without mistakes or second thoughts.

I realized I had allowed fear to paralyze me. 

To keep me from embracing all the things I had fought so hard to truly embrace!

An authentic God-fearing woman who dares to stand out! To fight even more challenging for what I believe in than ever before.

My amazing husband isn't just my husband he's my pastor as well! On mothers day he preached the most amazing eye-opening sermon, I have needed for some time now! Reminding me I am not just anyone... Rather I am and get to be fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of my Daddy! This is an honor because my Daddy is Father God! 

How I lost sight of that I am truly ashamed because I am so unsure!

However stepping away and taking time to pray, cry, and argue it out within me was just what I needed! It helped me to focus on those things. To allow me to see a glimpse of what my Daddy sees when He looks at His creation!

He sees a daughter that He poured His very best into to reach the world for Him! I want to fulfill that on every level, platform, and social outlet He opens for me to use!

Beauty is not just marked by what the eye beholds when it looks in the mirror. Beauty is marked by the kindness that leaves the lips to build someone up who is having trouble finding stable ground.

Beauty is the extended hand to make the person who feels like a misfit feel like they belong. Because no one should be made to feel they are unwanted.

So how do we begin to retrain the heart and the mind satan has worked so hard to make her believe she was anything but what her Daddy said.

I began spending extra time in His Word! Reading familiar scriptures.

I spent time claiming and receiving those truths!

I spent time reminding myself I was born to stand out and be different to embrace those things that make me. Quit fighting against them trying to fit into a box I was never meant to fit inside of. If those who love me can not accept the things that make me all these things God created me to be. The problem lies with them not me.

It is okay not to receive what they speak over you! it doesn't make you hateful or disrespectful.

It makes you confident in the amazing person He's made you be! 

I had to fall in love with me all over again. I had to not look at a size or even think about the number on the scale Because those are not the things that make me beautiful. However, I need to love the curves I see. The strong body that has fought for me is strong and empowering. Each scar should be worn with honor as a medal because it shows the strength it fought and added to my battle cry to share all the Lord has done just for me.

He showed me that it's important not to be scared to share my story! It may save someone else from going through what I did. It may help them to tell and stop the abuse that may be happening.

When we take the time away and allow healing to take place in the deep broken apart scabs that are oozing. We allow the Word of God, His promises, and His love to fill the cracks and wounds.

His healing will shine through those cuts and His healing for you will also bring healing for others!

As I allowed myself to heal and let go of words others have said, events that robbed me of feeling loved and not good enough. Made me feel worthless....

I began to feel the healing of parts of me that I had blocked off-put chains around and dug a moat. To keep people out and also to prevent me from dealing with them.

I have never felt so light when it took place and each day a little, more each time I spend time with Him. Each time I talk to Him I can feel Him wrapping me up in His arms whispering to His daughter. All the things He created me to be and the things I am supposed to do!

It has been such a beautiful thing to just let it go! 

Also to accept things aren't always going to go how I want. I am teaching myself, that I can be happy and love someone with all that I am. Even if we can't come to an agreement. It's okay to feel differently from what someone else may think>. It can be empowering if we allow it, for the is, simple reason that it will help us grow if we allow it.

Just the other night as I was praying My Daddy reminded me of Esther 4:14 I was created for such a time as this! 

I am so thankful for this time to do all the things He laid on my heart!

Because after all, I want to please Him above all! 

Also, I am fearfully and wonderfully made! I am more than the number on a scale more than the curves I have embraced! 

I am worth the hard work to do the hard work to be the happiest I can be! I am worthy to advocate for a cure!

Before I begin to close this entry, let me share some of May's happenings with you!

So you can see how good our Daddy is to me!

 May is one of my favorite months of the year! It has so many things to be celebrated.

The biggest celebration is our wedding anniversary! We celebrated 28 years on the 21st. 

The crazy thing is we had covid. our day consisted of having dinner brought in and watching movies all day.

As crazy as this is going to sound, it is one of my favorite celebrations to date. 

Mainly because it was low-key. Also, the past 6 years have been so trying. Having a lupus diagnosis has brought a lot of unexpected to our lives. Making some genuine strains on our marriage.

We have been working very hard on ourselves! We have come so far and grown in many ways. Opening up new areas of trust and a stronger love for one another!

Covid was a huge thing for me. the person who has been by my side through everything. was so sick, I watched him sleep because I was worried it may take him away from me! That was not okay, I spent many hours praying over him! I knew he was very sick, but I also knew we served a God who was in the healing business, and my faith and hope were in what I knew He would do!

I was given a medicine to lessen my symptoms and try to protect my already sick lungs. My precious husband was battling this without the help of an anti-viral. 

So our simple celebration may not have been what most would think you celebrate 28 years!

I can say for us it was a perfect celebration of us and the healing God was doing in our very tired bodies!

I want to say this about my husband! I am so thankful for each day we have! He has been my best friend, lover, comforter, daddy to our beautiful kids, and Pappa JoJo to our grandbabies, he's been, my nurse and caregiver, spiritual leader, and he's for sure my king charming and all I need!

I can't wait to celebrate the next 28 yrs together!

May also brought Mother's day, which is such a precious holiday! To celebrate our Momma's but also being Mom! My Mom is a lung cancer survivor and was told at the time of diagnosis they didn't expect her to live past six months. God has given her the past ten years! So to have each bonus year to celebrate her is such a blessing!

celebrating each year I was blessed to be a mom I don't take for granted. I know so many who just love to have a child of their own. Or they have lost their child! She may have the title but there is a hole in her heart that makes celebrating very difficult! Being a Mom is the most precious gift! I am so thankful my Daddy allowed me to have the gift of motherhood! 

So when our family came together this year we made sure we got a group picture! knowing that time and health is a precious gifts that should be worn and celebrated like a precious jeweled crown! 

Also, May is Lupus awareness month! 

For some, this is only for the month. For others like me, it is 365 days a year! Because for me I am my best advocate. I know what I am feeling. All though ii have had a great team of doctors over the past six years. there has been more than one time. I have been correct and they were wrong. If I had not kept pushing I would not be here today!

So I have set a goal to be a lupus advocate! 

I want to keep those around me informed about this disease. I meet so many who have no idea what this disease is and that there is no cure. No two people have the same symptoms. No two people feel the same or need all the same meds. some only take three to four meds. I on the other hand take 24 pills to get to start each day! Yes, each is very needed and yes each has a different job and is what is keeping me here. 

I pray each and every day for a cure to this devastating disease. Lupus has affected my major organs. It continues to change my life every day.

It changed how I live life. Changed the way that I love and want to be loved...

When you have almost lost your life as many years as you have had lupus. You look at the world much differently. 

It makes you look at each day as a gift waiting to be unwrapped! 

The last reason May is my favorite month! Our first grandbaby celebrated his 3rd birthday at the beginning of the month!

This sweet most amazing boy was the first to make Granny and has stolen my heart and has me wrapped very tight around his pinky! I would have it no other way!

Due to special circumstances, I won't post his pictures today! However I can say this, he is the cutest thing ever!

If you have hung in there and read all of this thank you so much! I promise to be more active here again! Also to announce a new and 

exciting journey soon! I hope that each of you knows you're beautiful and loved for exactly how God created you!

He makes no mistakes He just loves us with the perfection He poured into all of us! 

Thank you for stopping by and sharing a part of your day with me! Time is precious the fact you were willing to spend some time with me. Over joys my heart to have you here!

I hope you know I am praying for you always!

If you are on Facebook or Insta 

Follow me on Foot Steps of Grace there!

Until next time< I hope you will be walking in the footsteps of grace with Jesus and me!

Prayerfully  Yours,

~Shellie~

A Cord Of Three

 There is truly something about this time of the year.

It is the ending of summer and the new beginnings of fall. We begin to yearn for cooler weather the beauty of the different colors of leaves!

Time spent around fire pits and listening to giggles and chatter. 

While we pull out our sweaters and sweatshirts and say goodbye to swimsuits and shorts.

We prepare for shorter days and longer nights.

I think the past two years have taught us to appreciate things much differently.

How to slow down and enjoy the smell of homemade bread. It has the smell of home... I love when it comes fresh from the oven and you spread butter and strawberry preserves on it. Oh my goodness just the thought makes my mouth water.

It's the way a blanket feels while you're snuggled up reading a book or watching a show, snuggled up on the couch. 

While you're wearing your favorite leggings and oversized shirt, your favorite socks!

The way your home smells of apples and cinnamon. As we see the soft glow of warmers or candles flicker in our homes.

The warm cup of pumpkin spice everything! We count days down to enjoying again.

This time of the year makes me want to slow down and create memories. To take in the sounds and smells all around me.

To take pictures in my mind as we make memories and less on my cell phone,

The past six years have taught me to slow down and rest. To enjoy the sweetest and the smallest joys in this life.

However, the pandemic has made sure that we prioritize the things we love most. To not take for granted the gift of time. Or those who make a difference in our world.

 Something about this time of the year makes me nostalgic.

As my husband and my youngest daughter were spending time together this afternoon. We were discussing how her children will never know the world she grew up in if things continue the way they are now, I couldn't help but feel a little sad. Because in every generation there are always things passed on and left behind.

I feel that we have lost the art of making sure we pass on things that really count. We live in such a virtual world, we almost don't know how to have friendships and relationships past our screens.

However, there has to be an art to this time of our lives as well! Where we embrace the screen and use it to our advantage to grow! Especially in true relationships.

I have been recently studying for the girls club we host and I teach, and we plan to begin Zoom meetings with the girls in hope of teaching the importance of friendship. Teach them also how to continually grow in a life of faith in Jesus. I love that no matter what lesson I am working on or studying. God teaches it to me first. 

my scripture for them was from Ecclesiastes 4:12.

I truly love how the msg version says it!

By yourself, you're unprotected.

With a friend, we can face the worst.

Can you round up a third?

A three-stranded cord isn't easily snapped.

God's Word makes it clear we need friends! He didn't make us be alone. He actually tells us groups of three are stronger.

I know what some of you will argue, He is teaching us that He should be the third strand. Yes, you are very correct, He should always be at the center of all of our friendships. I went on a little further and dug into how he would like for us to grow those strong relationships.

It was by spending time together. Eating together, and sharing our world with one another! These same relationships should be built inside our places of worship as well! We are not meant to set with just my family and with for my church relationships to grow past that,

As a pastor's wife, I can tell you it won't work that way.

Our growth as people, families, communities, and our world. Will continue to become more and more withdrawn if we don't find a way to use our screens for more than YouTube and tic toc.

As I studied to teach the girls how things were certainly different in 1840 even more so today. The pandemic has made it very uncomfortable for getting together in-person tea parties for girls like me.

Not just me though, all of us. We have to find ways to stay connected and make memories, and not put people we love in danger of getting sick.

I can see your eye roll now and your thoughts going to this girl lives into much fear. Nope, not at all, I use the good common sense my Daddy gave me. I chose to vaccinate for those I love. My Mom is immune-compromised, my grandbabies are not old enough to be vaccinated yet, also for those who work on the front lines. Oh yeah, After all, that is someone's child, parent, or spouse. I would not want to risk giving them a germ that would take them away from those who love them. It has been made very clear covid would kill me! Each doctor reminds us at each appointment we have.

So I need to make choices that are safe for me and my family.

The Bible said relationships grew because people went from house to house, and they broke bread with one another!

So how can we do this safely even for people like me who are on lockdown because of a very fragile immune system?

Let's put these things that take up so much of our time to good use. Have a virtual tea party. Fix a meal and ask a friend to do the same and have a dinner date. Cook together, share recipes that you bake at your own homes! Have someone put together a cooking class! If it's safe for you to be in the company of other's go on a picnic, have a movie date chose the movie get your favorite snacks, and facetime your bestie as you watch it together. I know what you all are thinking. You have done lost your mind. I hope not, because the Washington Post shared an article this morning, 1 in 500 people have died of covid. I hope that 2022 offers the hope of being able to get past the spread of this virus. We can come together as we once did. Until that time comes, and we face more and more spread.

Let's embrace the change that is not only in the air but in our world. Teach your kids it's okay to have that facetime with her bestie, play dolls with each other! Find a book they can even read together and inspire their imagination! It's okay to host a group tea party and dress up in your living room by yourself, just as you would have for a group of 10. Remember, the face of the church is also changing during this time! The Bible said they met from house to house! We can still have those same things we have always loved! Maybe just in a much different way than we are used to.

Still, in a powerful way that draws you together and makes us family! Because when we come together in groups we are so much stronger than one and even more so than two, we are the strongest with 3 or more!

There is strength in numbers. How can you create a new tradition or host something fun to help those around you feel safe and included?

I can tell you now that there are more people like me in this world who are like me. Who is not supposed to be out in the world right now? Who would love to feel included in something fun!

If you have a small group, you feel safe coming together with making a rotation of fun things you can host for adults and kids alike! Kids often are not sure what to do with all of these feelings that have come with such a crazy time!

Make a fun autumn bucket list, plan to make some fun fall snacks, maybe share them with a neighbor or a church shut-in!

The days ahead may be ever-changing and sometimes feel very unpredictable!

Still, there is such beauty around and so many memories just waiting to be made!

Let's come together and make this a fall to remember! Come back here and share with me what you did to make memories! Or how you brought a group together and came closer to Jesus and each other!

No matter where this leads us! I hope you have a beautiful cup of tea, talk with our Daddy to increase your faith, Always walk in the footsteps of Grace.

Prayerfully Yours Always,

~Shellie~

 

 

A Little Bit of Kindness

Hi guys! I hope you're having a wonderful day! 

I really enjoyed all the interactions with you last week!

It allowed me to get to know each of you a little better!

I really want to share my heart with you. So go grab yourself a good cup of coffee, tea, or whatever you like.

Let's pretend we are all hanging out and having girl time!!!

Last Thursday I went for my weekly blood work at the local hospital. I have been doing this for a while now. To the point, they know who I am before I even register. 

I am not sure the place you want to go that everyone knows your name is the hospital, just saying!
We had waited longer that day than we had in the past for a blood draw.

When we finally got called back, and we decide which arm is going to be our friend. I always small talk with the nurses as they are drawing my blood. When I asked her how she was, she told me she was tired. Her feet hurt and she and all the others were so overwhelmed. Someone had walked off after doing a urine sample and left without waiting to have 9 tubes of blood drawn. She looked at me dead in my eyes and told me she hoped she wasn't wrong. She was glad she needed a break. I smiled and told her I was so very sorry she was having such a hard day. I would be praying for her and the other staff members working,

That's when she truly broke my heart. She looked at me and said honey, please do! She said I am so tired of seeing people die! Not only that, but she has seen more body bags. Than living patients on the floors. Each day was worse than the day before. She shared with me every night when she got home, she cried. She was so tired of seeing death.

When Jody and I got in the car. We really were burdened for the staff. Could you imagine that being what you saw? Each and every day, how burdened you would feel for the families!

  My heart was incredibly heavy.

So when I went to bed that night, I made a point to talk to my Daddy about the hospital staff. 

I have to admit, I prayed a little harder for the respiratory therapist who works so closely with patients. Respiratory therapists work with those struggling to breathe. My oldest is actually on a travel assignment right now at a hospital.

I knew what my nurse was referring to!

My daughter confirmed each night, when she calls me on her way home, each day is worse than the day before.

Our medical staff all around our country needs to be lifted up in prayer daily!  No matter what your thoughts are about Covid. 

They are truly on the front lines each and every day. A recent life event had me thinking even more. Is there something I might, can do to lift spirits and let them know they are seen they are heard and prayed for. 

I think I have decided when I go this week I am going to bake a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies and take them with a card of appreciation. 

When I was in the hospital last year, I saw my nurses go all day long without eating lunch!  I may even make a fruit basket to take as well. Our world is in such turmoil. I am not sure if we will ever truly be the same again. My heart hurts for our country and those in Afghanistan. It's like someone shook a snow globe and everything is topsy-turvy. My heart hurts for my grandbabies. I want them to grow up in a safe ad healthy world.

What can we do to make an impact on those around us who serve? I'm not talking about just our hospital staff. It could be our mail person, a grocery store clerk, someone who serves in our churches, a friend, or even a neighbor.

Check on your friends and make sure they are holding up through all of this! Let them know you are there for them!

How can we impact those around us that feel as if they are drowning! 

Acts of kindness and serving are some of the best medicine there is.

Jesus once said that whatever we do to the least of our neighbors, we do to Him! So, ladies, let's be those hands and feet. 

We don't have to do gigantic things to show we care. Or even be in a leadership role. We just have to be willing....

After all, we are called to be servants for Jesus in our own ways. 

So let me challenge you if I may? Find some way this week to lift their spirits. With an act of kindness. Not to be seen, but to serve! After all, when we serve others, we are serving Jesus!

Spend some time with me this week, pray and ask Jesus who would you like me to show kindness to this week?

After all, we are called to serve. What a beautiful world it would be if all would serve one another. 

I can not thank you enough for spending some time with me today! I know your time is precious! Not only that, but I don't take it for granted! I am honored you chose to share some with me!

As always, I pray we find ourselves walking in the footsteps of grace!

In acts of kindness to those who are around us!

Until next time!

Prayerfully Yours,

 ~Shellie~

A Time To Be Still

                                

Some days just make more sense than others.

Then there are those days we wonder why we bothered getting out of bed for.

I have had one of the latter weeks!

It has been a hard week at the Almond household for me.

I still very much want to be a super Wife and Mom.

Well a very pale comparison of that lady has existed lately.

It's during these trying weeks like this week. When I just knew the knock it out of this world steroids would make me super Wife! Instead it  did everything but make me feel better.

That my Daddy was still coming up beside me cheering me on! 

Encouraging me to go just a little longer He promises to be there and I won’t let you fall!

Hold on to me even when it’s scary!

Trust me pericarditis can be scary when it wakes you up out of your sleep!

I wonder honestly if this is how some of the sainted women of the Bible felt when they were struggling?

Like Hannah when she continually seeked God for a baby?

She had been taunted by others for her lack of having a child! 

She prayed and sought and seeked some more!

Until she shows up in the temple so beside herself praying so hard there are no words leaving her lips! Eli thought she was drunk! 1 Samuel 1:12-14

My morning thoughts went to Hannah and her prayers! When was the last time we sought after something so hard from our heavenly Daddy we could mistaken us for drunk for our continual prayers! Because we refuse to give up?

Those thoughts laid heavy on my heart for sometime.I know My Daddy has a plan and it is different from what I thought it would ever be! Still I don’t want to get so caught up in the world around me. That I quit calling out in prayer or things I am still waiting for Him to show up and show out in!

He is after all the very same God who heard Hannah’s cries and blessed her with a son. When she had weaned him she took him to the temple to live as promised!

God blessed Hannah with more children! For her obedience to Him!

Guys! I just totally lost it right there! Tears are streaming down my cheeks because for me it is a reminder yet again His timing not mine! I have so much I still want to do for my Daddy! I don't want to be laid up on the couch all week. 

This morning He shared something with me though! He hears my cries! Not just that though! I can be used just as much on this couch as if I were traveling the globe.

I have to be willing to allow Him! 

Sometimes He needs to quieten us though, so we can hear Him. Just because we get so busy ourselves. We don’t take that time to just be still and listen.

Hannah Cried out to God and He listened ! It was just as important to Him she slowed down and listened so she could be blessed!

I realized that my week of not feeling well and resting has not all gone up in smoke. I am always so much more in tune with my Daddy when life has those moments. I learn and glean more in those moments than I do in the chaos.

So as I look back over this week and realize the mental list of things that didn’t get done. 

I won’t be upset for it allowed my extra time with my Daddy! That is never ever time wasted!

I will thank him for the few things I wanted to do. He allowed me to do it! After It is so important to praise Him for the little things as much as the big!

I never want to take either for granted! Today is a gift lets see what it's going to hold!

Take time to slow down and refill your cup!

Thank you for stopping by and spending some time here today!

I pray you and your family have a safe and healthy weekend!
Prayerfully Yours ~Shellie 

Enjoy The Day Your In....

I have some very fond memories of my Momaw! She was a shear definition of a lady. She would get up every morning have her coffee and breakfast and then it was time for her makeup and hair to be done. She dressed up even if she was staying home! She wore lipstick to bed and her earrings  didn't come off till she was ready to lay down.  

I can still smell her face cream and her perfume she wore. She left many impressions on my life! One of the most important ones was how much she loved Jesus.

She often said if the the Lord willing tomorrow I will..... She knew that no matter what she had planned was not what He wanted it wasn't going to matter if God had other plans, for the day!

There is much to be learned there! We are all anxiously awaiting the lift of the stay at home order! Planning and talking about what we can't wait to do when we are set free again.  

Dreaming is a wonderful thing. Living in the day we have everything is even greater.

We have fallen away from what it means to cherish the moment we are in right now. Instead we are swallowed up in the fast pace of doing and cramming as much as we can into the 24 hrs we have been given. Often rushing through each task so fast we never acknowledge the gifts before us.

The Bible teaches us 

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day May bring forth.

Proverbs 27:1.

I woke up yesterday and went to church in my home spent the afternoon sewing. Made plans to finish the small project pile I had left on my desk today. Until last night I had a episode with my heart due to pericarditis. All of my plans for today was suddenly canceled and a day of rest was what ordered.

We get so excited on what we want to do next.I am just as guilty! That we miss the blessing of now. I have learned so much during this whole virus mess. 

The biggest lesson is to live in the now! Love taking care of your family! Get dressed even if you are staying home. Take care of your home, it's a gift not all have! So when you have to pick that same toy up for billionth time just remember some would love that opportunity. We don't have to go out and spend money to make wonderful memories. We just have to be together for the fun to begin. We all have wished for more time to be with our families or to take care of our home. Spend more time doing things God has laid on our hearts to do. Like blog, write a book, sew, call a friend to catch up. God has given us the gift of time. However He wants us to spend some of that time with Him! 
     This virus has actually been a blessing and a curse. It has taken many and infected many more. It's caused some to lose jobs and cause uncertainty. For others we are able to be at home knowing we will be okay in the end.

                 No matter where we find ourselves today. What has God given you today to be thankful for it? Maybe it's to make your family that meal that takes awhile and hard to do during the week. Or spend time making cookies with your child. Maybe there is a book the Lord has laid on your heart to read or even write. Maybe you finally have time to have that tea party you have been promising your daughter. Or you are meant to dig in the dirt with your son today. You and I are called to live in this moment. Not tomorrow's moments 
   Because only Jesus knows what tomorrow truly holds. What if this virus is was meant to draw out families closer again and slow us down. To teach us to rely more on Him because of the unknown. To Teach us to be happy with what we have instead of never being satisfied. 

                                           

   Today I choose to be happy in today and wait to see what tomorrow brings. After all He is not surprised by it! I plan to pop popcorn and watch a movie with my family tonight! 
  I don't know what tomorrow may bring I trust my Daddy will take care of me no matter what it shall bring. I am not saying you should never plan for anything. I am saying don't cram your day so full you miss the gift of being present in the day  your in!

                   Thank you for stopping by and allowing me to share my thoughts with you! I hope you will stop back by again soon!  
              Prayerfully Yours ~Shellie 

Just The Ramblings Of A Jesus Girl Who has Lupus

Where has August disappeared too? I think I blinked and it was gone!

August has been a hard month for me. We have transitioned my pain meds to a higher long acting pain meds to give me better control. This has not been a easy transition. I have been to the emergency room again for uncontrollable pain.

However God is so good even when everything seems so blah and not what you expected.

He's moved in my spiritual many times this month.

My heart needed to know that Jesus girl still had a purpose for all of this pain. 

The first part of August I received a phone call asking everyone to speak at our ladies conference.

I know what your thinking your the pastor's wife you should speak when ever you feel led. I don't handle myself in that way as a Pastors Wife. I try to let whom ever is over the ministry do what they feel led to do by Jesus! I do however find it a great honor to be asked!

I would love for you to join us! I can't wait to spend to days with Jesus loving women who just want to glean from His word in worship, teaching and fellowship!

just leave me a  comment If your interested and I will get you the info you need!

The sweltering heat has kept me inside most of this month! I haven't been able to enjoy my wonderful patio!

However it has been nice to get out some during the day with Christian getting her permit! That has been a huge blessing we both have enjoyed! Probably me more than her!

I have finished the second chapter in A Place For Hollie and will begin working on the third one today! I hope to write a 9 chapter children's book and have it published! I am very excited I can't wait. Please pray for the adventure! I really want to make a children's book as well that goes along with the chapter book for younger kids.

As crazy as this month has been and as sick as I have been! I have so many wonderful things to be thankful for. I don't have time to set around and feel sorry for myself because  I have lupus!and I am in pain... Instead I can thank Jesus. For all the things I have learned during this time with my Daddy!

These past few years have been a time of learning and strengthening for me ! I wouldn't change a thing!

I almost forgot to tell one my most exciting things yet! Our ALOF girls were asked to be apart of a demonstration for a historical day event in September! We are over the moon excited and honored to be asked to be apart of the special day!
 Yes, yes one more thing! We went shopping for the bridal party dresses for my oldest daughters wedding! Now that was an event with in it's self lol! However I found a formal gown with pockets eeek!!! I was so excited excited the girls could here me outside the dressing room!

I am over moon with this dress it's prettier on than on the hanger. Those pockets won me over! lol
I am excited for the day when all this comes together!
Welp I have rambled enough this morning. 
So in closing I want to say this.... My life may not be what I had in mind! It's exactly what Jesus had in mind though! He makes no mistakes at all!
I am very thankful for the me He has created for such a time as this!
Thanks for stopping by! If you would please pray for me! I hope you are as excited for September as I am!!!
The pumpkins are coming! Sigh......

Deciding For Yourself

I was on the couch earlier tonight and my daughter showed me a post that someone who had posted that offended her. 

It gave me the opportunity to share with her that just because someone feels something is inadequate , doesn't mean that it truly is.

I couldn't get that out of my head even when it came time to go to bed tonight....

How many times have we let someones thoughts, opinions, and voices shape how we view things.

Oh my goodness for my own self more times than not in the past. I was so eager to be accepted especially in the ministry world. I often followed what others thought and said just because I trusted the people who I let influence my life and shape my opinions.

But my oh my did that get me in more trouble than I had bargained for!

Because years later when I grew in my relationship with Jesus and truly understood what true grace meant. I soon learned what I had been told by others instead of really seeking the truth and reading up on things and truly seeing for myself what my Jesus said ! I was truly trapped in a pit of opinions and religious rules. Not what my Daddy in heaven truly wanted for me!

It taught me to research who I read behind, Who I listen too, Who I allow in my personal circle, who gets to shape my opinions. More importantly does it line up with Gods Word. No two people will always agree or even always interpret things the same way...

My heart was at such ease when I grabbed my chrome book tonight to type my thoughts out! I am over joyed and so blessed that God has allowed me to grow in Him! To bring me to a place where I can decide for myself. If Iam unsure, agree, or disagree. I can reserach and decide for me! 

My heart was even happier to know that I have been able to be the God girl I am the best version of me ....

Because I let Him shape me...

I have been able to teach my own girls the same thing! This is a big big world.

Let God use you and grow you in the ways He chooses ! Because the person He is calling you to be is not the person He called me to be! The person I may help needs what He equiped me with, The same for you! 

So don't take someone elses word, find out for yourself! Then still remain calm and cool and carry on being who God called you to be! Let the other person do the same! 

I just had to share...

I hope you have wonderful day filled with blessings! Thank you for stopping by ! 

Prayerfully Yours 

~Shellie